Flare

Chapter VI:

Author's Note: Thank you for sticking with me! I know it took five chapters to get to some smut but I promise if you stay even longer it'll get even better! What else did I want to say? Like I did say in my last A/N the story is NOT over when they are rescued, hell this is just the beginning of the story! I needed a premise for what I am about to do LoL! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

They brought in a replacement for Cuddy on the seventh day. Her name was Amber McKay and she looked like a bitch on wheels. That morning Cameron had decided to greet her with coffee, never having seen her before in her life. When she entered what used to be Cuddy's office (and she had to remind herself it still was, Cuddy wasn't necessarily dead) she saw a gorgeous but pissed off looking woman.

Amber, was placing a new placard on the desk, moving Cuddy's into the top drawer. It seemed like she somehow knew that she was going to be moving in for a while. Cameron already didn't like her. How dare she come in and try to usurp Cuddy's power. The body hadn't even been found yet. Amber was tall, almost six feet in the heels she was wearing. Her brown hair had been tied back in a severe bun and her green eyes were slanted just slightly. She wore a business suit, much like Cuddy would, but she had a perfect figure and filled out much better. Cameron was sort of glad House wasn't there, he would have made things all the worse for them.

"Hi, I'm Allison Cameron, I work with House in diagnostics." She said, faking a cheery voice and really pushing a smile. Amber looked at her sideways and sat down behind the desk. An involuntary chill ran through Cameron's body. Was this it? Was this how it was going to be from now on?

"I want you and your little team in the clinic. Seeing as how Dr. House is AWOL his department no longer exists. Spread the news." Were the first words from Amber's perfectly pouted lips. At that moment, Cameron despised her. House's department would always exist, she would see to that even if he did turn up...well she didn't want to think that.

"Yes Dr. McKay." Was all she could think to say. She set down the second cup of coffee and continued smiling even though now it was truly forced. This woman was a bitch, nothing like Cuddy, and she knew there was no way in hell they would ever be friends. "I brought you coffee."

"Thank you. No brownie points." Amber said, taking the coffee and taking a sip. She then made a flippant motion with her hand as if to dismiss Cameron. The other doctor turned and rolled her eyes, she couldn't wait for Chase and Foreman to meet this piece of work.

"Cuddy...CUDDY!" House shouted, he had given her an extra hour to sleep before trying to wake her. He wanted to leave at the break of dawn but no matter what he tried she wouldn't get up or even be coherent at that hour. Finally her eyes opened and immediately she reached for the half smoked joint on her side of the tent.

"I'm awake, I swear." She said as she lit up.

"Good. I brought two bottles of water in here, some berries, and two eggs I found in a nest in a tree. Hopefully they are fresh enough to eat but I don't know. There is a massive pile of herb behind you and I also cooked part of a fish for you." He held out one of the metal plates from her mess kit, which had a large fish filet on it. She took it, after exhaling, and started to eat, the lit joint still in her hand.

"Thank you. Please don't go." She said defeatedly.

"We both know I have to." He said, deciding to gloss over the fact that she had given him a blow job the night before. If she even remembered it, he didn't want to have to bring it up. "I have one more thing." With that he produced her iPod touch from his back pocket. The screen was cracked but the iPod was on and working. For some reason the battery hadn't drained, it was that or the screen wasn't working properly. Either way, Cuddy would have at least one song before it gave out.

"Oh my God House, you fixed it?" She said, her shaky hands taking it from him. The iPod had internal speakers so she wouldn't need headphones to listen to it.

"Yeah, I was bored this morning." He said with a smile. He wanted to do something extra nice for her considering what she had done for him the night before. A few happy tears rolled down her cheeks and her arms flew around him, pulling him into a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said happily, kissing his cheek and ear and just about any other skin that would come into contact with her lips. "House I love you."

"I know." He replied gently, kicking himself for not being able to say it back to her yet. He felt it, completely and truly, but he was not a man to launch into "I love you" speeches. "I emptied out the rest of the pack so I can take it with me. I am also taking the matches, a flashlight, the flare gun, and a windbreaker. I know it's pink, but who's going to see me?"

"Are you sure you want to do this? House, help could be coming in three minutes. You don't know." Cuddy tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't hear it.

"It could be coming, but it most likely isn't. It's been seven days, we need to take action." House said and then kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be back in two shakes."

"House, please..."

"Cuddy." He said, "Trust me." He looked her deep in the eyes and she nodded, swallowing hard. He leaned in and kissed her on the lips and then smiled, before leaving the tent. Five minutes later, Cuddy was still crying.

"Wilson, calm down." Cameron said as she watched him pace the office. God only knew what was going through his head at that point. The truth was he had been coming into work since they had found out about the missing plane, but instead of working he was on the phone calling anyone and everyone trying to find out progress of the investigation.

"I should go out there, I should be looking for him myself." Wilson declared. Amber the bitch had told him to either show up for work or take unpaid time off. Besides, Wilson would rather be surrounded by friends than sit at home doing nothing but worrying. "I can charter a plane, I know just as much about the woods as House, I-"

"WILSON!" Cameron snapped, "We can't do anything. The right people are on this right now." She tried to reassure him, even though she wasn't sure of anything at that point.

"I'm the one who goaded him into making the stupid bet. I certainly didn't stop him. This my fault." Wilson declared. Cameron took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"This is no one's fault." Cameron said, "They are alive, we know they are." She said wishing that she could feel some sort of presence or anything that would tell her that House was okay.

"I can charter a plane, I have the money, I-"

"No. I am not going to risk the same thing happening to you. As much as I want to go out there and look for them too, we both know that it's not going to work." Cameron said gently. Wilson looked at her and in that moment it seemed as if he might burst into tears, but he was holding back, probably for her sake. She would have let him cry, maybe even encouraged it, but if he wanted to be the strong one then she'd let him. "They will be found and they will be alive."

"We can only hope." Wilson said softly. "We can only hope."

It took him about two hours to reach the bottom of the hill and his leg was screaming at him to stop, so he did. He found a big spot in the shade and dropped the pack down. He hadn't had a vicodin yet so he decided to take one out and down it with a healthy dose of water. Conserving water was something he had to do, and although the day was cool he was sweating profusely. It was hard enough walking through the forest, and on top of it all he had a bum leg.

The hill was a steep one and he didn't know how well he'd be able to get up it. As he went alone he had been marking his path with stones, although he was almost positive that he had just been walking in a straight line from where he had left. He knew in the woods it was easy to get disoriented so that's why he had been leaving markers.

How long would it take him to get to the top of the hill? Hours? A day? It wasn't a short climb, that was for sure, and with his leg the way it was...it could take a lot longer. When he was walking he also picked berries and other fruit along the way. He took the moment to wonder about Cuddy and how she was doing. Hopefully she had smoked herself into oblivion and was sleeping right now. He worried that without a fire at night to protect her that animals would start coming around. Sure he left with the fire still going but if she didn't have the presence of mind to tend to it then it would go out.

Cuddy had a lighter with her, but House doubted she would be in the correct state of mind to even start a fire once it went out. Then again, Cuddy didn't like to stay in the tent all of the time. She would wander her way out and towards the fire, he could only hope that would happen.

All he could think about was her fever getting to the point where she would need medical attention. If he wasn't there to give it to her then she would have no way of realizing it herself. Besides, how would he cool down her fever? It wasn't like they had an endless supply of ice cold water to dump on her. Sure there was the lake, but if she submerged herself in that her foot could get even more infected. Who the hell knew what was in that lake water?

He pulled an apple from the pack and bit into it. This would help with dehydration as well and give him more stamina. Before leaving the camp he had collected a few apples that he could find. They were small and very tart, but it was better than nothing. Looking at the hill with disdain, he rose to his feet. He didn't want to have to climb this monstrosity but he was doing it for the love of his life.

"Cuddy..." he muttered as he started up, "I'll be damned if I don't love you."

Cuddy was back in the tent. It took a full fifteen minutes for her to stop crying after House had left. Minutes that seemed like an eternity. As she cried she smoked and slowly the reason why she was crying escaped her. She was now aware that House was gone but she was a lot less panicked and scared. For some reason she wished that she had a real cigarette to smoke. She made up her mind to buy a pack as soon as she got back. She didn't know why.

Her jerry-rigged iPod would only let her choose from one of three playlists. One of them ironically called "Camping Fun". When she had made that list she assumed that she was going to be having a good time. Boy was she wrong. The speakers made the music a bit distorted, but she knew all of her songs by heart so it didn't matter if they were a little off key or out of sync.

In order to keep her sanity, and hear a voice, she sang with the songs loudly as she tried to keep herself busy. A big part of her wanted to unwrap the bandages and look at her foot again but she was convinced if she did she would pass out from the pain or throw up and pass out.

There was a plate of berries next to her and she picked one up and popped it into her mouth. It was sweet and juicy, much better than anything she could have picked up at the market. She let her mind start to drift again but this time it turned to dark thoughts instead of light. She didn't know why but she was remembering the scary tale House had recounted to her on the fifth night when she had begged him to tell her something scary.

House was a wealth of information and he pulled a story from his archives that she just laughed at. Now she wasn't laughing, she was scared. It was about a monster called "Slenderman" he lurks in the trees and eats children before they can become evil. He stalks you in the light or in the dark. Before you know it he's upon you and you don't even have time to cry out and-

"Jesus I hate you House." Cuddy said to no one, feeling chills run through her body. She looked out of what could be called a window in the tent towards the trees. Of course she didn't see anything there...now. But that didn't matter, she told herself, he can be as tall and skinny as a tree. Dressed in all black with a featureless face. "DAMN IT!" She shouted and shut the little flap that was the window to the tent. Little did she know her encounter with Slenderman was only hours away.

A/N: No this did not all of a sudden turn into a paranormal story...trust me, all will be explained in the next chapter. If you want to know more about Slenderman, google him, although I've explained him as well as he's been explained to me LoL!