AN – Here's Chapter 2! I hope that you like it, you can look forward to much more House!Whump as I'm a huge fan of making characters sick/injured for maximum amount of feels. Enjoy!

Thank you all for my reviews, and a special shout out to KKBK2 for your kind comment. I was really worried about whether my dialogue was OOC, so it was great to hear that you think it's okay. I hope you like what I've done in this chapter.

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The next few days dragged on with little change in House's condition. As he lay unconscious in his hospital bed, his heart beat steadily on, pulse rapid but consistent, his vitals stable. His team, though they were kept busy by the need to run diagnostics in House's place, insisted on checking in on him as often as their schedules would allow. Even Foreman, who had a conspicuous disliking for House, made sure to visit his superior as soon as he heard the news of what happened, and kept himself updated on the man's status over the following days. Although he disagreed with House's rude and arrogant treatment of his colleagues, he would not have wished such severe pain on him, and wanted to help keep House as comfortable as possible.

While the diagnostics team frequently visited House's room to check his stats and change his IV lines, it was Wilson who was by far the most attentive. He was constantly hovering around the room, anxious to see any improvement in House's condition. His fingers were itching to unplug the morphine as soon as possible and reduce the likelihood of House getting addicted to yet another drug; he knew he often acted as an enabler for the diagnostician's addictions, and was reluctant to let that happen again.

Every hour, Wilson would run his hands over House's injury, trying to inspect the condition of the muscles. Every time, his heart would sink as he felt them continuing to spasm beneath his fingertips. The spasms were decreasing in intensity, but not enough that he could risk reducing the painkillers.

Eventually, on the third day of House's induced rest, Wilson was able to breathe a sigh of relief as he carried out his routine inspection and discovered House's thigh muscles to be sitting calmly beneath the skin. Not wasting any time, he immediately adjusted the morphine to a lower dose, then moved over to the chair next to the bed and sat down, waiting for his friend to wake up. He didn't want House to be alone when he finally came around.

Wilson was almost dozing off when a slight twitch of House's hand caught his attention. He looked up just in time to see House's eyes opening slowly, blinking several times before looking around the room to take in his surroundings. He seemed confused at first, unable to make sense of where he was, but then his gaze fell on Wilson and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Welcome back," Wilson greeted softly.

"You look awful," were House's first words, his signature teasing smirk lighting up his face.

Wilson chuckled. "That's supposed to be my line." He paused before adding, "how do you feel?"

"Like I collapsed in a hallway," House responded, deadpan. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I can't feel my leg. You didn't cut it off, did you?" His tone was mostly teasing, but with a hint of fear underneath.

"Don't worry, everything's still there that's supposed to be. Well, aside from your liver and kidneys, we took those out to sell on the black market, but your leg's fine," Wilson replied with a playful smile.

House laughed softly, feeling a weight being lifted off his chest as he realised that no one had tried to amputate him again. Seeing his closest friend sat by his side, it reassured him that he was in good hands. He usually preferred to handle all of his own medical issues by himself, not trusting anyone else to do it as well as he could, but he decided this time to relent and allow Wilson to help him.

The two doctors sat in silence for several minutes, before House broke it as his usual curiosity flared up. "So," he began, "any good cases come through while I was out?"

"Nothing too interesting. The usual maladies coming through the clinic, and only one new patient in your department. Your team are working on it at the moment, in fact."

"What are the symptoms?" House asked immediately, his face becoming serious as his brain began to speed through all the options he could be presented with.

Wilson gave House a warning glare. "I'm not going to tell you. House, you're lying in a hospital bed. It's time for you to be the patient, not the doctor. Leave your team to handle this, you just focus on getting some rest."

"But mom!" House whined, causing Wilson to roll his eyes. House knew there was no point in pressing the matter, as Wilson could be surprisingly strict with those under his care. Instead, he let his head fall back onto the pillow, staring at the ceiling as his vision began to blur slightly. As much as he wanted to deny it, Wilson was right about him needing rest. The morphine still coursing through his system was causing his head to feel fuzzy, his usually sharp mind dulled slightly. A wave of fatigue rolled over him, and he closed his eyes against it, trying his best to stay focused.

Wilson noticed House's sudden struggle to stay awake and realised that the effects of the morphine were catching up with him. He leaned forward and placed a hand gently on House's arm, being careful to avoid the sites where the cannulas were attached. The diagnostician opened his eyes at the contact and looked over at his friend. Wilson smiled softly. "You should get some sleep," he advised.

House scoffed. "I've been asleep for what I assume has been days. I'm fine."

"You know I no longer believe you when you say that," Wilson teased. "But seriously, you've had a lot of morphine. It'll take some time for the drowsiness to wear off, you should get as much rest as you can until you're feeling stronger."

Sighing resentfully, House knew he had to consent. As much as he enjoyed ignoring the opinions of other doctors, he had to admit that sleep sounded very appealing right now. "Fine," he said grudgingly. "But you better not start chopping bits off me while I'm asleep."

Wilson nodded. "That seems like a fair deal. Goodnight, House."

"It's the middle of the day," House pointed out pedantically after glancing at the clock on the wall.

"You know what I mean. Go to sleep," was Wilson's exasperated reply.

House nested his head into the pillow and closed his eyes once more. He felt the drowsiness overtaking him within minutes and it wasn't long before he was out like a light.

AN – So what did you think? I know this is a shorter chapter, but hopefully the next one will be longer as there's a new issue I'm going to explore. Spoiler alert, it's going to be even more House!Whump. See you all soon!