Disclaimer: Probably should've done this a bit earlier, but I don't own House M.D. or any of the characters in it. I also don't own the storyline in this. Well I kind of do since some of the scenes are mine. Alright, never mind. I don't own the scenes also featured in the episode Last Resort.
Allison had been pacing back and forth for the past few minutes. Nurses were rushing everywhere, tending to the ER patients who were whining just because they were transferred to a different place than usual. She should've been taking care of patients, but her assistance wasn't necessarily needed. She wouldn't have been able to take care of them anyways. Her head was wrapped around the hostage situation nearby. Her old boss was in there, sure, but Remy was in there too. For some reason, the fact that Remy was in there changed everything. Allison had just talked to the brunette moments before some asshole decided to wave a gun around and take control of the clinic.
It's all my fault. I should've realized what Remy was feeling. I could've said something differently, maybe even kept her there longer. If we were in the cafeteria for just a few more minutes, maybe she could've avoided everything.
The thoughts of guilt that passed through the blonde's head didn't help her. She felt worse with every passing minute. She felt the tap of a finger on her shoulder and turning around, she discovered that it was Chase. He pulled her over to an empty room, away from all the chaos. "You seem distracted," the Aussie whispered. "Are you okay?"
Allison just couldn't handle it. She shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks frantically, as if they were running away from her eyes. She buried her face in his chest, "I-It's all my fault."
Oblivious to what had happened earlier, Chase held Allison in his arms. "It's not your fault honey. There's nothing you could've done to prevent it." He wanted to make her feel better, but he didn't really want to ask why. In his mind, he imagined Allison telling some long story about why she felt guilty and he just wanted her to smile. That's usually what happened whenever she told a story.
Allison nodded as she held back her tears. She couldn't remember the last time she felt that upset, "I'm just worried about her, you know?"
"Her?"
"Her? I said 'them'."
"Uh…no," Chase responded, showing a bit of frustration. "You said 'I'm just worried about her'. And by her, I'm assuming you mean Thirteen, unless House decided to get a last minute sex change."
Cameron took a step back, not responding. She wasn't sure how to respond.
"Why are you thinking about her?" he asked, crossing his arms. "You never see the woman."
"I don't know."
"Of course you know or else you wouldn't have mentioned just her."
"W-Well, you know House," Allison answered, trying on her best poker face. "He's not scared of anything. You should be scared for her too. She's got a gun to her head and you're acting like it's just a regular day."
"Having a gun to her head is probably what she wants. Ever since that Huntington's diagnosis, I heard she's been picking up strangers and living on one night stands. She's absolutely crazy."
Allison's tears dried up as soon as she heard him say crazy. She'd been upset this whole time, but now she just felt offended, even if she wasn't the one being insulted. "She's not crazy, she's hurt," the girl replied, trying not to yell. "You try handling a terminal disease."
"She's dying, I know, but Allison, you're actually siding with her? She could go to counseling, see a therapist, talk it out. She's out there, sleeping with everything that walks. I wouldn't be surprised if catches another disease to match the one she's got now."
"Why are you being such a jerk to her Robert? What did she ever do to you? She's adjusting. Plus, there's a difference between being bisexual and fucking everything that walks."
"Oh yeah, sorry that I'm not the expert on being bisexual," he retorted. "But you can't criticize either."
"And why is that?" she responded, still trying to stay as quiet as possible while still showing that she was angry.
"You've got to be kidding me Allison!"
"I'm bisexual, but obviously, you have a thing against them." Okay, so maybe she wasn't bisexual and she was lying through her teeth, but still. It's not cool to persecute Remy just because she likes boobs just as much as boys. Although, taking a second to process what she just said, she wasn't even sure about what she was. She liked men before so she's not gay, she'd always been with men so she assumed she was straight, but something about the brunette just seemed so…alluring. Remy was like this massive puzzle and the blonde was dying to solve it. Was she bisexual?
"You're not bisexual Allison. I've been with you for a while and I think I'd know if my girlfriend was checking out other women. You're just as straight as me, hence this relationship."
"Well if I'm as straight as you," the woman continued. "Maybe you're just not as straight as you thought. And maybe I don't even want this relationship anymore."
Chase scoffed, stopping a moment to make sure he wasn't imagining things, "Are you breaking up with me?"
"Maybe I am," Allison replied, crossing her arms.
Chase would've started yelling if it weren't for the knock on the door. They had both totally forgotten that they were still technically working. "Guys, get out of here," Foreman shouted from the other side. "I can hear muffled yells from downstairs. Put those voices to use and come do some work."
Chase stormed out of the door while Allison followed. Foreman stopped her while the Aussie left. "What happened in there?" he asked, only hearing gibberish syllables behind the door.
"Long story," Allison answered, walking away. She decided to go wander around, maybe waste a bit of time. Surprisingly while she was in the hallway, she found Taub and Kutner debating over the whole hostage situation.
"House is gonna get someone killed," the short, balding man said bluntly.
"The guy's ready to kill for a diagnosis," Kutner replied. "I can't think of a better doctor to be trapped in there with him."
Cameron crossed her arms in frustration, still more worried about her colleague, "How about someone who's not gonna keep pushing the whack job's buttons until he cracks?"
Taub looked at her strangely, as he would've expected her to say something about how House can handle it because he's the best, but all of their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Kutner's pager going off. "It's House," the man said, walking quickly to the door. "Cameron, head down to House's office. Taub, you go get Chase. I'll get Foreman, and we'll all meet there." The three nodded in unison as they all rushed off in different directions.
I wonder if everyone who confesses their feelings and gets rejected winds up in these situations. Wouldn't that be just fan-fuckin-tastic?
Remy stayed with Mitch, tried to keep him calm. She and Regina had moved him onto a chair to keep the wound elevated. The bullet didn't do any major damage and could easily be removed. She would do it herself if she had the right tools, but she assumed that the only tools in the room were a pen and stapler, and unless she were to write to the bullet, asking it to leave, he would have to suck it up for now.
Suddenly, House's cell phone began to go off. The sick doctor jumped a bit out of surprise, but managed to remain quiet. The slightest sound seemed to piss Jason off and she didn't want to end up like Mitch.
The doctor picked up his phone, answering with a joke. The differential didn't begin well, Chase leaving before any suggestions were even spoken of. House began writing on Cuddy's wall, an unnecessary although oddly amusing move on his part. They summed it all down to either lung infection, cancer, nerve paralysis, or a heart defect. Mitch was going into shock, although Thirteen wasn't paying as much attention now. Although she would just deny it, she was listening to Allison's voice, taking in every word the blonde said almost like it would be the last word she would ever hear. She was so upset and angry about this whole day. She was let down, then taken away by a crazy person, and the one person that she wanted to see was on the other end of a cell phone.
House took a moment to think then began shouting out orders like he was some sort of drill sergeant. Foreman was to run tests for infections and cancer in Jason's blood, Cameron was to search through medical records, while Taub and Kutner were sent off to go do a home search for neurotoxins. Jason gave the two his address, telling them how to get in. Then House hung up and called the lobby, where Cuddy was.
A strong looking man answered the phone, "I'm Lieutenant Bowman. How's everyone doing in there?"
"One lower limb flesh wound, another guy unconscious. Unfortunately, not the guy we hoped for. We're gonna need someone to deliver his blood," House began. He would've been able to finish if Jason didn't hang up. "It's gonna be hard to play doctor-"
"Shut up," Jason replied. He turned to the young girl with the fungal infection and arm cast. "Open that blind. Just a few inches."
"Why me?" the girl asked, obviously scared to death.
"Just open it," he answered immediately, beginning to scream. "Open it!"
"Why me?" she asked again, screaming herself. "Anyone can do it. Why pick me?"
She practically folded over to be sick the moment he raised his gun at her. Remy moved to the closest window and opened the blinds, revealing a few SWAT members outside in the courtyard.
"Get back! Get back!" the man yelled, running to the brunette. Pointing the gun right at her chest, he continued shouting through the window, "I will kill her unless you back the hell out of there now!"
Thirteen silently panicked, looking at Jason, then the gun, then the floor. I'm going to die. I can't believe this. I'm actually going to die. Could this day possibly get any worse? Fortunately for Remy, the men backed away and Jason calmed down. She let out a large exhale of relief and looked over to House, who had his "I've Got a Break Through Thought" face on.
"Interesting…anybody else hear those guys outside?" he asked, pausing for a response. "Anybody? He's got hyperacusis."
"What does that mean?"
"It means we have a favorite. It's nerve related."
"Amped-up hearing could be link to nerve palsy," Remy spoke out, trying to still contribute.
"Puff out your cheeks," House said, showing the man what he should do. "Now big mug shot smile."
Jason flashed his widest smile. It would've been fine if the left side of his mouth decided to cooperate.
"Left side facial weakness," the brunette said, although she realized immediately after that she had just stated the obvious.
"Seventh nerve palsy," House agreed, deciding not to mock his colleague. "Plus intermittent rashes. Plus migraines…it's post-herpetic neuralgia."
"Herpetic?!" Jason repeated, shocked. "You think I have herpes?"
"I'm not judging here. This thing is just as likely to be caused by chicken pox."
Remy rolled her eyes. And there's the joke. Didn't know how much longer he could live without being a smartass. House was on the phone with Cuddy while Thirteen realized that her phone had been in her back pocket the whole time. She snuck over to the corner of the room successfully, everyone else's eyes transfixed on either House or Jason.
She turned it on, placing her thumb on the microphone to silence the device. Because she was on duty, her phone was already on silent so she was able to do whatever she pleased without a sound. On the screen was a notification of 32 new text messages, something that didn't surprise her considering that she was currently in the middle of a hostage situation.
What did surprise her was that all 32 messages were from Cameron. She scanned through them all, although she wasn't really paying attention to what they actually said. It's not like she really had the time to read each one word by word anyways. She did however read the last few, but the last one caught her attention:
"don't do anything too dangerous. me and chase are gonna get you out of there"
The brunette put her phone back almost instantly. It was like Chase was some virus that you couldn't shake off. His name was everywhere and now it was on her phone. They were doing such a great job too, especially since he decided to walk out of the differential before it even began. On the other hand, if Remy looked at the time and wasn't stuck in Cuddy's office, she would've seen that the text was sent before the differential and Allison hadn't broken up with her Australian beau yet.
She made her way back to House's side, glad that no one noticed her slight absence.
"And two syringes this time," Jason mentioned.
The brunette spoke up to convince everyone that she had been painstakingly paying attention this whole time, "And we'll give you the blood and his records."
The rest of the conversation was short, nothing more than pure negotiation. Not to mention that the captor offered to release not only one, but two hostages, because he's just that kind. A few minutes later, the sound of knocking echoed through the room. House went first while Remy and Regina helped Mitch onto the wheelchair that had been arranged for him. The large man with the grudge against the brunette was the second hostage allowed to leave. House quickly made the exchange with Cuddy and everyone went back to where they were supposed to be.
Jason was rubbing his finger on the gun, "Who's taking the first dose?"
"Anybody here got a longstanding case of neuralgia that's killed their nerves so this won't hurt at all?" House asked, talking through the syringe cap that was in his mouth.
"How bad does it hurt?" the young boy asked. He'd helped them before by offering up his lighter and out of all the hostages, he seemed to be the most helpful. Thirteen wasn't positive, but she thought she heard him say that his name was Oliver.
"You're looking to be the hero?" the doctor replied, placing the syringe cap down.
"I've been beaten up a lot and I can handle pain."
"How old are you?" Regina asked, looking a bit concerned.
"Guy's got a gun," House answered. "I think that covers the parental consent issues."
"And that stuff can also cause nerve and muscle damage."
By the end of their little argument, Oliver seemed to be having second thoughts. House realized it and put his finger on his nose, deciding that a game of "nosies" would decide who would be the one to take the test. Oliver and the women followed, Regina reluctantly placing her finger on her nose, leaving the pregnant woman's partner to be the one who has to withstand the pain. She whacked him in the arm to make him pay attention again and he instantly realized what had just happened.
"Uh, no way am I taking that crap. Come on," he pleaded.
"You have to," House replied, limping over. It's the rules."
The man looked somewhat afraid and his partner looked equally as such, holding onto his arm. Remy didn't even play the game, but House ruled her out. She wasn't paying attention just like he was so she found it a bit unfair. She was going to do nothing, but then the thought of that text came back to mind.
What's the point anymore? Allison is probably with Chase, crying in his arms about all of the poor people down here while he "comforts" her and leads her to an empty room for a "comforting" make out session. House probably has the same amount of messages on his phone, if not more. She just sent those to me because she feels bad. I can handle myself just fine. The brunette stepped up, "I'll do it."
Jason and House both looked at her strangely, but no objections were made. The brunette and the old man both walked over to the side of the room. She turned to face away from him and lifted her shirt in the back. House, in coordination, stood behind her to place the syringe in her lower back.
"This is a level of risk-taking beyond anonymous girl-on-girl action," he mentioned.
He just had to mention that. I did that for like a month at most. Stopped a bit after Spencer. Realized that women seizing in your bed room right after you fuck them isn't as fun as it looks. "They're patients. I'm a doctor," she lied to justify her actions. If she had mentioned Allison, House would've figured it all out or at least commented on how she switched to collegial girl-on-girl action.
"With a degenerative, drug-unfriendly illness."
Remy hit her hand on the desk in front of her, trying to grip something to ease the oncoming pain, "Everything's not some fascinating character flaw."
"This is a genetic flaw," he continued. "This is your Huntington's speaking. This is you waving a white flag at the world."
"Yes, I have a shortened life span. Another reason why I'm objectively the right choice," the brunette answered. She groaned in pain, doubling over.
"Wow, I would've laid money you had herpes," he stated bluntly, watching her in pain on the floor. He grabbed the second syringe and turned to Jason. "Your turn."
House performed the test on Jason. Meanwhile, he was trying to figure out the man's motivation for storming the clinic, Jason trying to tell him that he just wanted an answer.
"Looks like we were wrong," House said after watching Jason fall to the floor in pain. "But it was a fun test nonetheless."
Remy had recovered by the time Jason took the test. "Shut up," the brunette mumbled. "You're gonna get people killed."
"No I won't," he responded with a tone of confidence. "He needs me unless he wants to walk out of here in handcuffs without an answer."
She sighed and walked to Jason to help the man up. "Just call everyone, see what they found."
House limped over to the phone and then to the "whiteboard wall" with a smile, as if he was content with the situation. "Foreman, what'd you find?"
"White blood cell count's normal. It's not infection," he answered. His voice blared through the quiet room. House crossed out "lung infection", something that once again wasn't absolutely necessary, especially for someone as smart as Gregory House.
"Found a picture of his mom," Kutner interjected. The whole team was sharing a phone call even though they were split into groups. "She's got a droopy eye, fat face, think neck."
"Classic signs of an upper-lobe tumor," Allison suggested. Remy took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. Every word broke the sick doctor's heart. She had confidence in House, but she was doubtful of his experience with men with guns. She looked over to the average sized gun that kept everyone from going crazy and then up to Jason.
"It's his heart," she said, interrupting House calling Jason's mother ugly.
"You can't be sure what-"
"His neck. Distended jugular," the brunette interrupted, hurrying towards Jason. She leaned on the chair so she could stand up, her back still in a bit of pain.
Jason freaked out while House reached for his neck, "What are you doing?!"
"I am going to try to strangle you faster than you can pull a trigger."
Thirteen explained, hoping that Jason wouldn't take him seriously and actually pull the trigger, "He needs to check your pulse."
"It's racing," the handicapped man said, looking at his watch. "160."
"We need to get paddles."
"Or maybe we can just do nothing," suggested the man with the pregnant woman.
"If I getting any weaker," Jason began, his frustration evident. "And they don't fix it…I'll shoot you!" He pointed the gun straight to the man and the couple held onto each other for protection.
Hesitantly, the pregnant girl spoke, "Don't. H-He didn't mean to-"
"Shut up," House interrupted. "All of you." He placed the stethoscope on Jason's chest and listened closely. Moments later, he removed it and reached his hands back over for the sick man's neck. It was no surprise that Jason would begin to panic. "What are- what are you doing? What are you doing?!"
"Carotid massage. Gotta slow your heart," House explained, not bothering with a joke. "It's 200."
"Well get the paddles." Jason was slowly turning into one of those clinic patients who think they know more than the doc with the medical degree.
House merely shook his head, "Whole point of those things is to make your muscles contract. They don't discriminate against trigger fingers."
"Nobody gets my gun," Jason stated, now yelling towards the phone. "Send in the paddles!"
"Don't!" House interrupted, his voice now matching the volume of Jason's. Thirteen could tell that things were getting heated. She blocked out the next few moments of the argument where everyone yelled and things slowly drifted into chaos. Think Remy think…what's just as good as paddles? Dammit, these people are louder than high school kids in the middle of science class. Wait- science…chemicals. Chemicals! That's it. "We can cardiovert chemically," she suggested, keeping her voice at a calm level.
"If we don't know what kind of a heart rhythm it is-"
"If we don't try something, he's gonna kill someone," she interrupted. This wasn't one of their differentials where they could bicker for minutes without any consequences. This man had his finger on the gun and they all knew that he wasn't hesitant to shoot. He already proved himself with Mitch. "I'm gonna get the drugs."
She started towards the door, but Jason began yelling, causing her to stop dead in her tracks, "No one goes anywhere!"
"If she doesn't come back, you've got plenty of other people you can shoot," House responded. She was sure if she should be glad or worried about how nonchalantly he said that.
"You. Come here," Jason made Oliver move over to him. "All right…30 seconds."
Remy dashed out of the room, making her way through two sets of doors and finding the drug cart. She typed in the code that unlocked the cart and she quickly made a mess to find the drugs and syringes that were needed. The next thing she heard was a loud banging and when she turned her head, she saw several SWAT men standing by the clinic door, a couple of them gesturing for her to go over to them so she could escape.
Remy knew that she had a choice to make, stay or run away? If she stayed, she would prevent Jason from shooting all of the hostages and House. Perhaps they would even find out what was wrong with him. On the other hand, if she ran away, she could see Allison and she would guarantee her own safety. However, who knows what Jason would do to everyone. The next thing she knew, she found herself running towards Cuddy's office and she couldn't stop herself. She burst through the door, "It's me!"
Jason pointed the gun at her out of surprised, but lowered it after a second. Oliver and Regina looked like they were about to pass out, the relief and fear filling their bodies. Remy handed House the syringes when Jason shook his head and gestured to her, "She takes it first."
This was exactly what she had feared would happen. She saved everyone's lives, but she was putting hers at risk now and nothing scared her more. "Adenosine slows the heart, which is fine if it's beating fast like yours, not fine if it's normal like hers. Following the math on this?"
"She takes everything I take. I don't want anything that cross-reacts."
The brunette would've objected, but she realized that speaking up would've been useless. There was almost no way to get out of this. She had made her choice and she had to stick to it, even if it was going to kill her.
Remy swallowed hard even though her mouth was mostly dry as she wrapped a tourniquet around her arm and injected herself with the drug. She was able to unwrap the plastic band and toss it on the floor, but soon after that she felt as if she had lost control of everything. Her legs gave out and she could feel her heart rate change from a nervous, rapid beat to a slow thump. There was nothing she could do now, it was too late to fix whatever mistakes she could've made, and the sick girl began to fall. Managing to slightly break her fall with her arms, she hit the ground with a hard impact, her body feeling almost paralyzed while still feeling all of the pain.
Why is it so black? Who shut off the lights? House…this…this isn't funny. Stop it, please…just stop it. Live up to your own name and have an epiphany. Something, anything. Fix him. Fix Jason. Before it's too late.
Remy's eyes shut as she lost consciousness. She knew that a slow heart rate most likely wouldn't kill her, but the rational part of her brain wouldn't…couldn't function anymore. She was now left to drown in her own despair and thoughts and even if she wasn't really dying, this was the closest she's ever come. Blurred voices went in her ears, but she couldn't process them.
I'm so sorry, Allison. I can't do this anymore…just let me die.
A/N: So uh…this took me quite a bit. I have no idea what took me so long, but I had this like half written out and then I just stopped. I was kind of stuck with summer work, but after I finished it, I just didn't bother finishing this. As you can see though, I finally got around to it. So Remy's all emo now as I would imagine when you're having about the worst day of your life and you're passed out on the ground with a heart rate under 50. I hope this chapter's alright since I know that it's been quite a while (almost a month) and I wanted to update this.
Also, it's come to my attention that this story was marked 'Complete'. Well that's obviously not the case. I might've been updating some story while half asleep and must've marked this Complete by accident. I just noticed it today because one of my readers, siege98, pointed it out to me. So I want to thank you again because I really would not have even noticed it. So don't have a heart attack you guys and if you already had a heart attack, I'm sorry for that.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I hope to be updating soon. School started last week for me so I'm obviously going to be busy with that, but I'll still try to take some time to write and hopefully it won't take me a month to write something. See ya~
