Cuddy didn't stare at House miserably for long hours as Wilson did, but rather flung herself into her work. Wilson, however, flung himself into becoming one with the chair next to House's hospital bed. He refused to leave his post at House's side, pitching an uncharacteristically vehement argument with anyone that even suggested leaving;Cuddy was still mad at him, even though she had no concrete grounds to be, but she was obviously worried about them both.
If this kept up, she probably would lose both of them. House hadn't woken up, or even moved at all for that matter. The begs covers were only mussed where Wilson leaned so restlessly against them.
"You know we can't give him anything, Wilson!"Protested Cuddy helplessly.
"He's in pain!"Tossed Wilson, his face twisting into worry as he threw his good hand wide, and his other swayed a little bit in it's sling, as if asking her for help, for anything. "The time he actually,truly needs a strong dose of pain medication you won't give it to him!"
"Wilson, you know it would compromise the tests- you of all people should know that-"
"He's had head trauma- he doesn't need to be sober if he's in a coma!" Wilson's jaw set in a firm line, and his lips thinned. He glowered up at her from his uncomfortable chair, and Cuddy narrowed her eyes.
"Wilson, if you can't make rational decisions, I am going to pull you from all your patients." Cuddy's face was firm, and her mouth set as she stared him down.
"You can't do that! They need me-"
"Yes we all know about your need for needy people, Wilson!" Shot Cuddy, her face growing red as she became angrier.
"Yes, and we all know how you repel them, Cuddy. Look at him for God's sake! You're the one who told his parents to come out in the first place!" Wilson was grabbing at tender strings to hang from in this battle of words, and didn't care where he'd fall. But the look on her face was enough for him at the moment. She turned on heel and marched out of the room, not a word more or less, and no sounds to be heard.
Wilson's eyes widened as he realized what he'd done, and he stood up to leave, but turned to look at House at he last second. His face was drawn together in the brows, and his lips white from being pressed together so hard. His eyes squinted in his sleep as he tried to block out the pain. Wilson's heart ached to know what he had done to his friend;his best friend.
Cuddy was his only other friend, his only real friend that he could actually talk to, and he couldn't do this to her, at least not without feeling like a crept over to House, and wiped the sweat off his forehead. House grimaced at the pressure on his already pounding head, and his breathing jumped up to speed. Wilson removed his hand just as quickly, and House's face relaxed ever so slightly. Wilson rubbed his hand on his pants wiping off the sweat;all the while marveling at hot House's head was. That was the last thing they needed: for House's brain to melt.
"What is wrong with the air-conditioning?" Panted House, glaring at Cuddy from across the desk. She sat back with sigh.
"No idea.A work is coming in soon, but there's nothing we can do for now." She yanked her hair back into a ponytail, something she rarely did, and House scowled as he limped from her office.
His leg hurt something terrible, and he couldn't believe that the Vicodin wasn't granting even the slightest help. He forced himself down the hall, avoiding the pile of puke in the middle of it, and the person it belonged to in a wide and the others fell into step behind him, rattling off the latest news about the patient. He had convinced himself that they were playing a practical joke on him, and that they knew who the new team was.
A sudden pain in his head halted his walking and he nearly passed out due to the intensity of the immense pain. His team rushed forward to catch him,and he let them. House's head throbbed with pain, and he moaned loudly on the floor.
Cameron shifted his body so that he lay in a straight line,and with a gently finger pulled one of House's eyelids open, shining her pocket-light in his eye to check for dilation and nerve response. House yelped and batted the light from her hand, and rubbed his eyes rose swaying to a sitting position, and leaned on one hand while he rubbed with the other. "House! You didn't have to-"
House's eyes glazed over, and Chase sighed."House if you're not going to listen, we might as well spare the lecture." Usually at this point House would nod and come up with some sassy retort, but House sat frozen upon the floor.
House tried to move around, but his muscles were locked, and they all trembled and spasmed in rapid succession. His whole body was quite literally shaking as his whole body convulsed. Chase and Foreman pinned him down, and he could vaguely here someone shouting for Ativan-stat. Someone was screaming. Or were they? He wasn't sure. Should he be screaming? Could he even scream? He wondered if he was. He was loosing feeling in everything now. It swam before his eyes, and he was number now than he ever was on Vicodin.
He couldn't remember where he was now, and he fought it with every once of strength he had, and it was slowly slipping from him. House heard a noise of metal on metal and was reminded harshly of a the sound of the hood of a car being peeled back into a window shield. Glass shattered somewhere..... This made no sense to him... That or it made perfect sense, he just didn't understand the answer it gave him.
Wilson scowled as the nurse banged the bedside table against the hospital bed, knocking Wilson's root beer bottle to the floor. House lay dormant now, the violent shaking of a few moments ago gone. He'd been shaking something terribly, his whole body tossing in a single shaking motion as he convulsed. Wilson ran a hand through his hair. He glanced down at himself and sighed. He was a mess. He hadn't taken a shower in two days, and he hadn't shaved either.
"Wilson, I can stay with him if you need." Offered Cameron. "Or I can bring you something-"
"I'll do it." Shrugged Foreman. "There's nothing I can do at the moment, and besides- you need to stay with him too. If he seizes again-"
"Okay, fine. We get it. Just- go." Kutner blurted, leaning against the wall with a huff of worry.
Foreman shrugged and departed, leaving Wilson, Kutner,Cameron, and Taub with House. His pain lines were gone, and his face was finally completely relaxed. His leg was in a bulky cast, and Wilson knew he wouldn't be happy about that- he wouldn't be able to massage his leg when it started to really hurt. Which Wilson was sure it would.
Wilson sighed and stood up from his chair, stretched and then flopped helplessly back down. He didn't know what to do other than stay with House.
Cameron sighed before trotting out of the room, her face downcast as she loftily spoke of running more tests. Her voice was a little too cheery to be authentic, and Chase groaned before jogging after her. She might still have feelings for House, but they were currently a thing. Chase wondered how long this would last- he could only take so much of her pining away for a man in a coma.
Wilson eaves-dropped for a few moments before pulling himself half-heartedly out their heated discussion. He remembered arguing like that with Amber, and with a pang of guilt remembered that this was House's second vehicular crash, at least that he knew of. He wondered absently how House had taken it when he'd left- he'd sure as hell been miserable, but he knew House took things more personally, even though when given a chance he was quick to forgive. Wilson was surprised that House had fallen back into step so quickly when he came back, and the fact that he didn't even get that mad. He'd sure as hell be mad if he was in that situation...
He stood up suddenly, not knowing why the idea came to him- but it did. Maybe it was the fact that his throat was swelling painfully as he tried to repress his emotions..."Hey,Cameron!" He called out, and he beckoned her close as Chase followed behind her."I want to get him down for an MRI."
"We can't- it's booked solid! The weather's been terrible, and any other time we'd be fine, but-"
"Cameron he needs it. I think he's got brain swelling,along with whatever else happened to him. I'm pretty sure he had a concussion- he flew out headfirst you know-"
"Alright-look- I'll see what I can do, okay? Try to cool him down. He's been running that damn fever all day, and it's not doing him any good."Chase interrupted, turning on heel to leave. Wilson sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair, and noticed that it was indeed growing greasy. He grimaced and then shook his head, and focused on the task at hand.
"Well, what do you say to an ice bath, Cameron?" Cameron furrowed her brows and nodded before paging Cuddy.
Chase trotted down to the MRI room to see if there was any possible way to move someone around. He groaned as he saw the immensely long list, and huffed out a determined breath.
As he flipped through page after page he let his thoughts meander, and he soon found himself thinking about House. In all honesty to himself, the man was more like a father to him than his own was. He was stimulating, and competitive, fun even. His own father had pushed him so hard to succeed, but without insensitive but for his mother's rage. She'd been quite a card, and he was almost glad to be rid of her. But one can only be so glad of such things as that. He missed his own father as well, but he was assuming, with obviously no intent of finding out, that he would miss the unintended surrogate father much more. He wondered if House ever thought of him as a sort of son, and then shrugged it off. He wouldn't- he couldn't. He didn't have time for such things, and didn't have any reason to think them. Did he?
Chase smiled suddenly as he found an opening, and he picked up the phone to dial the man in charge of running the MRI unit.
House awoke to the cold feeling spreading icily through his limbs. He was so cold it felt like he was on fire. He was apt to stop drop and roll, but he was too damn tired and groggy. It was so dark... Why was it... so dark? His thoughts were slow, very slow... too slow...
Everything was murky,and he couldn't lift his eyelids. His body trembled violently with each even remotely small contact with the ice of metal side of the tub he was in. He felt cold hands on his shoulders, and something being pressed to his forehead, but he couldn't move or see anything at all. "Hello?" He couldn't tell if his mouth was moving or not. He was trapped; inside he was panicking with the knowledge that there was nothing he could do. He was so used to being able to connive his way around corners and past problems, but this was the mother-load of problems for him. He couldn't solve it if he couldn't move.
With a leap he heard Wilson's voice. "We need more 's melting!" Melting... Ice?
"Wilson!" He didn't if the sound even came out- but it was as loud as he could shout. He abandoned the thought and moved on to the matter at hand.
He was wet, wasn't he? Was he naked? No, he could feel the fabric of his boxers swishing around as more ice was added. He let out a sigh with the knowledge he was wearing boxers. Briefs were for old people. If he was going to be seen in his underwear, at least he'd look cool doing it. He forced his mind back on track, even though the medicine made if hard. It would be so easy to just slip back into obscurity, and slip under the surface... No. House grit his teeth, one of the few things he could do, and set to work solving his greatest medical mystery. His own.
"His temperatures down, so it's not dangerous anymore. Did he... Did you hear him try to say something to you?"Asked Wilson nervously.
"I don't kn- did you hear something?"Prodded Cuddy anxiously.
"I really don't know. It could've been him breathing, but... I don't know." Confessed Wilson drawing his eyebrows together. "It sounded kind of gurgley, and throaty, kind of like when he's upset, you know?"
"As soon as we get him down to the MRI, we can see if we have pain response, and- Wilson- you need to calm down." Wilson was pacing restlessly. "You need sleep-You need to sleep, take a shower, and get a good meal in you. You're not doing House a service by making yourself sick!" Her voice was soothing, and her demeanor genuinely worried.
Wilson nodded, and rubbed the back of his neck with an open palm. "Foreman is bringing me stuff from Am-my apartment, and I'm figuring I can crash in the hospital bed over there. I'm sure the nurses wouldn't mind, right?"
Cuddy nodded; sighing heavily she plopped herself down into Wilson's chair, and gazed forlornly at House. "Do you think he's ever going to get better?"
"Knowing House, he'll put up the best damn fight you've ever seen, even if he doesn't know he's doing it. " Snorted Wilson in a half-laugh. "You know, I bet he's going to kiss your ass for a week, and then go back to 'House' right like that." He frowned. "God knows he did that when I left..."
"He's sure a trooper. And, granted, he's an ass most of the time, but, Wilson..." Cuddy searched for the words, and even though it was exactly how she'd planned it to come out, she spoke. "You to have this weird bromance thing going on, and when you left... It was like you'd died, and he was grieving- in House's way, at least. You're the only real friend that he has in this world. You understand him and his crazy deranged logic; no one else in this hospital does, hell probably his whole life!Wilson,without you he doesn't function. He bounces ideas off you when his team isn't there to help him- and you give him ideas. There are too many times for me to count that you've come to me complaining of him going all glassy-eyed as he solves the case in his head! He needs you to save lives, and whether you want to admit it or not, you need him to function like-well like Wilson!"
Wilson slumped down a little in his position leaning against the wall with a soft sigh. "You know, when I left that night, I didn't care what I'd said, as long as I didn't have to feel sad. Being angry at him and hating him was so much easier than knowing that he did all he could. I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, it was kind of the same thing, you know? Life without him isn't the same, even if it might be easier. He's the peanut-butter to my jelly sandwich. Or vice-versa- it doesn't matter. Ha! I remember that time...." He trailed off into oblivion, his eyes sinking lower and lower as he slid down the wall a little. He jerked awake with a start, and sheepishly grinned. "I guess I am pretty tired..."
"I'll say. I'm dead tired, and I've been sleeping, albeit not well, but sleeping. You've been up for more than twenty-four hours!"
"I've been taking... cat naps!"Wilson half-heartedly joked defensively.
"Yeah, well, those don't count. Now, as soon as you take a shower- sorry, you need one- you get some sleep. Or I'll be forced to take alternatives." Cuddy rose a brow and then smiled. "You know, I'm ashamed to say that I already tried. I slipped you a Lunesta in that coffee about an hour ago."
"I knew there was something in there!" Wilson smiled fiendishly. "That's why I switched our coffees."
"What!?" Cuddy groaned. "No wonder I'm so tired..."
"Cuddy, I've been House's best friend for a while now. You think I don't know when I've been drugged?"
"He's drugged you?" Cuddy deadpanned.
"Oh, you know a little of this, a little of that." Wilson caved at the look Cuddy gave him. "He gave me some- er, uppers, to see if I was on anti-depressants...."
"What did he give you? And how did he-"
"Speed." Wilson groggily did the jazz hands as he'd done when arguing with House. "I yawned... Yawned. If I was on uppers and yawning, it meant I was on anti-depressants. Why the hell hadn't I thought about that? I bet he's drugged me before, you know... Sometimes things aren't quite right...Oh well, I guess he knows me well enough not to overdose me. Even if it is a huge invasion of my privacy." The last sentence was directed to House, in the belief that maybe it would reach him 's eyebrows merely trembled in response. Wilson sighed.
"Do you think he can here us?" Asked Cuddy,pulling her gaze from House to look at Wilson.
"I have no idea. But I'm hoping he can. Otherwise, I'll feel pretty stupid when he wakes up."
"Why?" Asked Cuddy raising his eyebrows.
"Cuddy, I've been talking to him the whole time I've been here. If he wakes up and doesn't remember a word of it, I'll feel like a right fool. " Wilson's voice had its fighting edge back to it, its vibrancy and life for a moment-they were there, and it warmed Cuddy's heart to see him take passion in something again.
"Hey, Wilson, I've got your stuff."Foreman raised the items in question, and Wilson smiled.
"You don't know how much I'd love to hug you right now." Cuddy breathed. Wilson shot her an offended look and she reddened, murmuring apologies. "I'll let you get to your business. And make sure House gets that MRI, okay Foreman?"
Foreman nodded,"You know I won't." He smiled slightly as he readjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder, and Cuddy eyed it questioningly.
"What's that?" Questioned Wilson absently as he collected his bag.
"Oh, it's just some stuff for me and my team. We're going to town on this. Like it or not, we all need House. And we could all stand to be a little bit like him, couldn't we?"
Author's Note- Sorry I took so long, I just couldn't bring myself to stop! So you got a really long chapter as a reward or my ceaseless writing! :D Reviews are always wonderful, and I'd appreciate you to stick around for the next chapter and too offer suggestions. Also, do you think the fifth season of House is a little bit of a let-down? I saw it in a poll. Personally, I think it's fine, but I would like it to be more exciting and unpredictable. They need to lose a patient or something- with a totally common disease. It would be a total shocker!
Lauren/Mellokai
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