CHAPTER SEVEN

Cameron wasn't able to get away from the ER until her shift ended. Without changing out of her work clothes and lab coat, she found Wilson's name and room number on the patient list at the nurses station and went in search of him. She found him on the second floor, in the corner ward, with the blinds closed and lights off. Hesitantly, she tiptoed through the door and slid it shut behind her, taking care not to make too much noise.

Wilson was lying prostrate, his face relaxed and his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling steadily. His wrists and ankles were loosely clamped in the psychiatric hospital shackles, holding him to the bed should he wake up. Cameron's breath hitched in her chest at the sight of them, and she paused before moving closer. Taking out her penlight, she bent down to examine Wilson's left hand – she had to prove to herself that the story House had provided behind the deep scratches was true, although she desperately wanted him to be lying. Finding nothing, she picked up Wilson's right hand. There — beneath the nails he'd kept clean and trimmed so diligently, something was collected as if it had been shoved there. Reddish brown flecked with white. House's skin.

Cameron flinched and stood upright again, backing away and willing herself not to throw up. She'd seen horrible things in hundreds of patients, even some colleagues… but Wilson? How on earth could this happen to him? Oh, God, and she'd told House not to do anything! How could she have been so stupid? She'd worked under him for long enough to know that he was always right; why hadn't she listened?

A soft groan brought Cameron back to her senses. The sedatives were wearing off. She returned to the side of the bed as Wilson slowly returned to consciousness.

"Hey," she whispered when his eyes fluttered open. "How are you feeling?"

He said nothing, but only allowed his eyes to travel around the room, looking everywhere but at her. When he finally did make eye contact, his brow knitted in confusion and he blinked a few times. Cameron comfortingly placed her hand on his burning forehead. "You doing okay?"

"What happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

Cameron sighed, unsure of what to tell him. "You had a little episode," she finally said.

Even more puzzled, he tried to sit up, then his eyes flew wide open in shock upon discovering his restraints. "What—?"

"It – it's okay," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Why are these on me?" he cried.

"Wilson, just – please, relax," Cameron pleaded.

"What are you doing to me?" Tears started to leak out of his eyes and his voice rose in hysterics. "Please…take them off…"

Cameron struggled with the rock in her throat, trying to calm him down. "Listen, Wilson, listen to me," she said, forcing him to look her in the eye. "You have to keep those on for awhile, all right? There's nothing we can do about it. They just want to make sure that you don't do anything—"

"Take them off!" he screamed, breathing hard. "Please, I'm not going to hurt anybody—"

"You hurt House."

"It was an accident! I promise, I won't do anything, just take them off!"

"Wilson, I can't—" Cameron choked up. It was unbelievably hard to see someone she had looked up to for so long in this position of helplessness, and it was breaking her inconveniently large heart. She was the softie of House's original team, after all. "I'm going to give you some more sedatives, okay? So you can sleep through this."

"No!" He thrashed against his bonds, making Cameron jump. "No more drugs! I just – just want to get the cuffs off…" his voice slowly calmed, dropping in volume. "I swear…"

Cameron sighed, torn. "How about a compromise? I'll take them off, but only for a few minutes until I leave. Then they have to go back on."

He nodded, whispering, "Okay."

She drew a deep breath and freed his ankles, and then his hands. He seemed to relax after that, a small smile crossing his features as he settled back into his pillows, his eyes wearily sliding shut. "Thank you…"

Cameron was hesitant to ask, but she did anyway. "Wilson, do you…remember what made you try to hurt House?"

His eyes clicked open again, and he gave her a strange look. "What do you mean?"

Cameron frowned. "You… you scratched him. You said so yourself only a minute ago." There was no recognition in his face. "Don't you remember?"

He shook his head in denial, his hands curling into fists on his temples. "No… You're trying to confuse me," he accused quietly. "I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything."

"Wilson," she gently tried to get his attention.

"I didn't do anything," he repeated.

Resuming her battle with the rock in her throat, she reached forward to give him a consoling pat on his shoulder. His arm shot up and his fingers snaked around her wrist, making her gasp and try unsuccessfully to pull away. "Don't. Touch. Me," he snarled.

She yanked her hand free of his grasp, her entire body tense. He returned her frightened gaze with a relentless stare, the air thick enough to be cut with a knife. Cameron drew a long, deep breath to steady her nerves, and made a move to put the shackles back on.

"NO!" he shouted in protest went he saw what she was doing. He lashed out and backhanded her across the cheek; she staggered backwards and reached for the drawer where the sedatives were stored. When she turned around again, her eyes widened in shock – he'd jumped out of the bed and was standing in front of her, everything about his body language reading as absolute fury.

"Get back in bed," she ordered, trying and failing to keep her voice from trembling.

The corners of his mouth tugged up. "You're gonna make me?" he challenged.

"Do you want me to call the nurses to put you in the cuffs again?"

The malicious smile vanished, and in the blink of an eye, he lunged forward and shoved her, hard. The move caught her off guard, and she fell back against the cupboard, the syringe with the sedative clattering across the floor and vanishing underneath the bed.

By the time she regained her breath, he was gone.

A/N: Okay, sorry I didn't get this posted before I left, there was a huge rush and I got tangled up in packing etc. Anyways, here it is, it's 6:30pm here which means it's about 11:30am on the East Coast, and I hope you liked it! Reviews are MORE than welcome!