So I really suck for leaving you guys at that cliffhanger. I'm so so so so so sorry I haven't updated lately. School wants to kill me, I swear. I've actually been working on this chapter bits and pieces for a really long time. I hope you like it, and I hope you've been liking it!
Oh, I really hope the medicine stuff is okay. I've been doing my best with that!
Disclaimer & Copyright.
So as always, read, review, and enjoy!
"What do you mean something is wrong?"
"She... she woke up with a fever in the middle of the night... and after Neil gave her some Motrin then she had a seizure." House was silent, unsure of what to say. He slowly, hesitantly wrapped his arms around her as she began to cry into his chest, balling her hands into fists. House pressed his face into her curls, the aroma her pineapple shampoo and her jasmine and vanilla scented perfume tantalizing his sense of smell.
"You can fix her – you have to fix her House," Cuddy sobbed, looking up at him. House hesitated, her words mulling over in his mind, and Cuddy hit her balled fists into his chests. "House – I've seen you work miracles, diagnose and treat when no one else could. You're telling me that you can't fix my daughter?" She shrieked and he squeezed her tighter, stroking her hair and planting a few small kisses on the top of her head.
"Okay," he gave in, just to stop her tears.
They headed out of the bathroom discreetly, as Cuddy smoothed her skirt and blouse, wiping under her eyes to prevent mascara stains.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, and she nodded, refusing to look into his eyes.
"I should go... tell Wilson, and everyone," she said, turning around and walking away. He watched her go, and even though he knew it was the last time that they would ever be intimate, the last time he would taste her lips.
"Lisa!" Cuddy stopped and turned around, exposing her tear stained face.
"What, House?" Her voice sounded weary, matching the painful, heartbroken look in her eyes, the stress leaning on her shoulders. He hesitated for the second time, afraid to break her even more.
"Nothing," he said, holding in his feelings again. He wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her, to tell her that everything will be alright. He couldn't do that, couldn't promise her something he couldn't. She sighed, her expectations flowing out of her as quickly as they had bubbled up. She walked away, leaving him standing there in awe. At the end of the hallway she turned and looked at him, feeling the intense blue of his eyes from yards away. She shook her head softly as tears rolled down her face, and turned and left, going to find Wilson.
They were gathered now in the differential room, House and the four team members around the table. Wilson was with Cuddy in Rachel's hospital room after House had made it perfectly and loudly clear she couldn't be part of the differential.
"Fever and seizure. Those are the only two symptoms we have to go off of," Taub said sounding annoyed. "It could just be a bad case of pneumonia."
"It's not pneumonia. No breathing problems nothing like that. Stop complaining and think about it for a second before dismissing it," House snapped sharply, banging his fist loudly on the table. He wanted to scream at them, to let them know once again that they were dealing with Lisa Cuddy's daughter, that if they couldn't save Rachel, she would have nothing to live for anymore. That everything that she had ever gone through would have been for absolutely nothing. There was silence as they stared at the file, lost for words.
"It could be porphyria," Thirteen said softly.
"No skin symptoms, muscle pain, etcetera, etcetera."
"What if it's a rare onset of porphyria? A small percentage of porphyria patients present with fever and seizures from the beginning." House was silent for a moment, considering the possibility.
"Good. What else?"
"Osteomyelitis."
"No. Cuddy didn't mention any pain."
"Lupus," Foreman suggested softly, and although House hadn't wanted to consider the possibility, it was the first idea that had popped into his head.
"Go run a blood, urine, stool analysis for the porphyria and an ANA for the lupus." He said, waving them out of the room, leaving him to his thoughts. He decided to see go see Rachel and Cuddy, limping down the hall to the private room that Cuddy had insisted on her having.
"Did you find something?" Cuddy automatically asked, jumping out of her chair. House shook his head.
"The team is running a test for porphyria."
"One test – that's it?" Cuddy shrieked and House looked away, unable to look into her eyes. "What else did you run?" she asked, and House was silent. "What else did you run?" she asked more fiercely and he couldn't ignore her.
"An... ANA. To test for Lupus." Cuddy was silent, looking over at the sleeping Rachel.
"It can't be lupus... It can't," she said softly. Wilson watched, surprised, as House reached out a hand and squeezed her arm.
"We're just being safe," he mumbled. She looked up at him, surprised at his gentleness.
"House...," she murmured, feeling the electricity bubble through her again.
"Did they find something?" Another voice came from the doorway. Cuddy turned, moving herself out of House's grasp. House watched as he walked in, giving Cuddy a kiss on the cheek and moving to Rachel's bedside, smoothing the hair out of her face. He felt a twinge of jealousy at his apparent love for Cuddy and their child and after a moment, walked out of the room without a word. He stood outside, watching the happy family from afar. Cuddy looked up and met his eyes through the glass. A familiar twinge of guilt and love ran through her veins again as she sighed, wishing she could be with him in the way that she wanted to.
"I'll be right back," she said to Neil, giving him a half-hearted kiss on the cheek.
"Do you need me to get you something?"
"No... I'll just be right back," she snapped, walking out on him.
"House – wait," she called after the limping man ahead of her in the hallway. He refused to turn around, turning the hallway in an attempt to stay away from her.
"You know you can't outrun me," Cuddy called, quickening her pace and in a few moments she had caught up to him completely. She grasped onto his arm, her nails digging into his flesh tightly, the intenseness of her grip sending pulses of passion through his body.
"Ooh, ouch – you really know how to hit a hard one," House said sarcastically and she tightened her grip, looking up into his eyes. He looked away, unable to look at her without feeling everything that he felt for her.
"I'm done, Lisa." There were multiple meanings to that simple phrase and Cuddy stared at him, attempting to decipher which particular one.
"Done with what?" She pleaded. "House – look at me!"
"Done with this... thing.... Cuddy, goddamnit, you have a husband! What was I, just some late night booty call whenever you got bored?" Cuddy looked away, ashamed, even though he wasn't even remotely close to her reasoning. "So, I'm done entertaining your little fantasies. You can't have your cake and eat it too."
"Do you... not want to be with me?" Cuddy whispered and House slammed his fist into the wall, making her jump. He clenched his teeth as the pain flooded through him, his knuckles dented and sore.
"That's the dumbest fucking question I've ever heard," House seethed at her and she stared at him dumbfounded. "Do you think that I have ever not wanted to be with you? But you... you're married and you made your choice." Cuddy watched him in utter silence as she slowly, tentatively reached up a hand to stroke his cheek. Her fingertips gently traced patterns around his stubble, as she closed her eyes, sighing in ecstasy. They inched closer together, her emotions raging in a frenzy, but forcing herself to slow down, to stop and think, when suddenly they heard her name being called from down the hall. She pulled away, embarrassed as she turned and headed in the direction of her daughter's room, leaving House at the end of the hallway, angry and heartbroken.
"What's going on?" Lisa asked as she hurried into the room and over to Rachel's bedside, smoothing her hair out of her face as Neil held a bucket under her lips.
"She just started vomiting out of no where," Neil explained as Rachel keeled over into the bucket again.
"Her fever is back too," Cuddy noted as she pressed her lips to her daughter's warm forehead. House was in the room in seconds, just behind Cuddy as she watched the scene.
"House," Cuddy pleaded desperately, probing his ice blue eyes with her own. "Do something," she begged. House stood there, unable to move his throbbing leg and unable to tear his eyes from the heart-wrenching scene in front of him.
"Vomiting crosses out lupus. Did you get the test results for porphryia?"
"Negative," Kutner said, crossing something off on the chart.
"We're back to square one now, negative test results and another symptom," Thirteen said and House shot her a "No, really?" glare.
"We need some new theories," House stated, erasing the board and writing down the three symptoms.
"Brown-Symmers Disease – she's got the fever, the seizure, the vomiting – the symptoms usually start as quickly as hers did." House winced, hoping it wasn't true, but the possibility was just as likely as any other.
"What else?" he asked, moving away from the subject as quickly as possible.
"Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis."
"Kawasaki's." House nodded – they were all stretches, but he had decided to start with the graver diagnosis, then move into the less severe ones, such as Chagas' disease or meliodosis. It was what he did – insane, impossible theories that usually ended up being right.
"Go – run the tests," he ordered, then headed over to his section of the office to sit and think. He grabbed one of his balls from the desk and began to aimlessly throw it against the wall. He looked down, unable to control his train of thoughts. She was all he could think about, ever since he had shown up at her door the night before her wedding. Frankly, he was still pissed that after everything, she still managed to walk down the aisle. He threw the ball harder against the wall, the constant slam a strange comfort.
"So you're just going to hide in here?" House looked up at Wilson, but was unable to look him in the eyes.
"Catch," he said simply, tossing the ball to Wilson. Wilson caught it, but made no motion to throw it back.
"What are you doing in here House?" He asked, sitting down on the couch, folding his hands in his lap. House remained quiet, knowing Wilson knew the answer to that question.
"You can't hide from her forever – and you know that."
"I'm treating Rachel – not her. She self medicates enough as it is," House spat bitterly and Wilson raised an eyebrow, but shook his head, not pressing any further.
"Go see her... go see them," Wilson pleaded, knowing it would help calm Cuddy down for him to be there with her.
"No."
"House – you are acting like a small child right now. You really thought that she wouldn't walk down that aisle? She certainly isn't doing it to hurt you. She loves you so much, and you know that. You know how it would be with the two of you... You know exactly how it would be... and she did this for Rachel, not to hurt you. You don't know the kind of pain she has been going through. So please just come with me... and see them."
"Hey everyone." Wilson announced their presence with a smile, a stark contrast to House's glum expression. Cuddy looked up and smiled at Wilson, then turned to smile at House. Her expression mildly changed between the two friends, a certain glimmer lighting in her eyes as she met House's. He looked down, embarrassed, but returned her gesture with a small smile.
"How is she doing?" Wilson asked, looking at Rachel who was lying on the bed, happily chattering to Cuddy.
"She's good. Have you guys found anything yet?" House shook his head.
"They're running tests."
"What are they testing for?" House hesitated once more, knowing she would take offense to the diseases that he had had the team test for.
"Just a few diseases." Cuddy's face turned red with anger as she clenched her fists and stood up and stood close to him, angrily gazing into his eyes, her increasing temper making up for her short stature.
"What aren't you telling me, House?"
"Cuddy..." Wilson said, tired of their bickering.
"No, tell me House! I'm tired of you messing with people's heads like that! Will you tell me what you are testing for?"
"Rachel!" Neil suddenly called out and Cuddy turned to the bed. They shook Rachel repeatedly, calling out her name and checking her stats. They had dropped significantly, but not to a dangerous low. Wilson pulled out his light, looking into her eyes.
"No reaction to the light," he said softly, looking over at House, who was standing in the doorway, an unreadable expression on his face.
"What does it mean?" Cuddy asked, biting her lip, even though she already knew.
"Lisa... she's in a coma," Wilson answered, wrapping his friend into a hug as the uncontrollable sobs began.
"House! Do something!" Cuddy shrieked, looking at him over Wilson's shoulder. He stood there, looking between the woman he loved, her daughter, and her husband. He couldn't let her down – not now. And maybe, just maybe, he could prove to be the man that she needed.
