House painfully knelt down in front of Rachel, and she threw her arms around his neck.
"Don't go away again." she said, almost tearfully.
"I'm not going to go away...well, not if I can help it anyway."
Arlene couldn't help but shake her head at the sight in front of her.
"Look at you two. A few days together and all of the sudden you're father of the year?" and then she added. "This newfound attachment might not be such a good idea, especially if you plan to..."
"Arlene!" he interrupted hastily. "Your jealousy is showing."
"I'm not jealous. I'm realistic."
"Whatever."
"Why didn't you come get me today?" Rachel sniffed . "I thought you left."
House's heart was breaking. How had he managed to allow himself, or her for that matter, to get so attached in such a short period of time? He knew that Arlene was right, it wasn't going to be good for anyone involved. Sooner or later, he was going to have to turn himself in, and be out of her life again. Hopefully by that time, Cuddy would be recovered and Rachel wouldn't even give him a second thought. But one thing was obvious, it was too late to worry about any of that now.
"I just thought you might want to spend some time with Grandma." he said, watching as Arlene winced at the term , then whispered into her ear. "I'll make you a deal. I won't ever leave you without saying goodbye, okay?"
She nodded, as the promise seemed to satisfy her, at least for the moment.
"It's late. She might as well stay here for the night. I probably shouldn't stay all night in the hospital anyway. The less people that see me the better."
"Agreed. But sooner or later..."
"Look," he snapped "It was your idea to bring me here. Now that I am, you don't get to play the part of gloom and doom Jewish mother. It's too late to worry about it now."
She nodded, deciding it best to let it go for the moment.
"Rachel, do you want to stay with House tonight?"
"Wilson." she said, looking perplexed. "His name is Wilson. Don't you know about the game?"
"That's my girl." House said proudly. "I always knew you were going to be a braniac."
"Oh please..."
"You can stay too, if you would like." he said sarcastically.
"Well tempting as that sounds, I think I will stay in the hospital room tonight." she headed for the door, then turned back around. "The Doctor called me awhile ago. He thinks that it's time to cut back on the medications - see if they can bring Lisa out of this."
House managed to get to his feet, gingerly putting weight on his leg. Rachel ran over and grabbed his cane, taking it to him, and he forced a smile. He was unsure of how to feel, on one hand this is what he wanted. To see Cuddy open her eyes, breathe on her own, and come out of this coma with no damage. But there was no guarantee that would happen, and part of him feared the worst.
"I'll be there first thing. You call me if anything happens?"
He started to reach for a pen to scribble his number down but she waved him off.
"No need for that. Foreman gave it to me."
"Of course."
And with that, she was gone, leaving House to tuck Rachel in for the night. Once she was finally settled in, he sat on the edge of the bed, running things through his mind. He had a strange sense of deja vu. The feeling was familiar to him, and he didn't like it. It was fear. Through everything that had happened in his life, nothing had ever made him feel so helpless as the thought of losing Cuddy. As terrifying as it was, though, he was glad that he had ditched the Vicodin. This time there would be no drugs to dull the pain, no taking the easy way out. He was going to feel every bit of it.
After tossing and turning most of the night, he glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. 5:30 am. Too soon to wake Rachel, but he made his way to the shower. He braced himself against the stall as the water rained down on him. There was so much that he wanted to say to Cuddy, so much to explain. Part of him was afraid that she would take one look at him and scream for the police. He couldn't really blame her if she did. But was there a chance that Arlene was right? Did she still care about him, or was it just guilt that would fade as soon as she saw that he was alive?
He stepped out of the shower, drying himself and pulling on a pair of jeans. Leaning foward against the sink, he looked at the face in the mirror. The stress of losing Wilson, combined with the events of the last few days had taken its toll. Running a hand over his face, he realized that he looked and felt like hell.
By the time he got Rachel dressed and off to daycare, it was almost 9 am. Anxious as he was to get back to Cuddy, he knew that it was going to take awhile to bring her out of her coma. It was going to take hours, or if something was wrong, maybe days, but still he wanted to get back to her side. When he arrived, he saw Arlene sitting in the chair beside the bed, a worried look on her face.
"Has something happened?" he asked, concerned.
"No," she shook her head. "The doctor was in. He said they cut back on her medicines first thing this morning."
His eyes quickly scanned the numbers on the machines, and he could see there was no change in the numbers. Even though he knew that it would take hours, he still found himself worrying.
"As long as you're here, I'm going to go get some coffee." she said
House nodded and took a seat beside the bed, sliding the chair closer. Once she was gone, he covered Cuddy's hand with his, and lowered his head.
It was well into the afternoon before he began to see a significant change in the vitals. Her brainwave activity was picking up, and her heart rate had increased steadily throughout the day. House could feel his own heart beating so hard it felt like it would burst from his chest. Though he wouldn't admit it to himself, he had been longing to speak with her again ever since the incident. The whole time that he was in prison, he tried to push thoughts of her out of his mind. Even though he tried to convince everyone that he didn't care about her, the one person that he couldn't convince was himself. Now all he wanted was a chance to apologize, to try and make things right.
Arlene stood up and started pacing the room.
"Why is it taking so long?" she asked nervously.
"They have to bring her out it slowly. If she's going to come out of this, it should be anytime now."
"If?"
"We have to be realistic."
He knew that he shouldn't have phrased it that way, but he was never one to be anything less than blunt. They both had to be prepared for the worst of all possibilities. He glanced at his watch, frustrated when he saw that it was almost time for Rachel's daycare to close.
"I'll go take care of Rachel." Arlene volunteered, as if reading his mind.
"Are you sure?"
"I want you to be here when she wakes up. That damned doctor of hers has been MIA all day. And besides, I know that you will take care of her."
"Thank you," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll call you when I have news. "
Arlene leaned down and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek before turning and leaving the room.
House leaned back in the chair, tapping his cane nervously on the floor. It was barely fifteen minutes after Arlene had left the room when he began to notice things changing quickly. The heart monitor was beeping faster, more at a normal rate, and she appeared to be getting restless. He knew it wasn't going to be very long now. He took hold of her hand, knowing that she was going to be struggling when she regained consciousness.
"Cuddy...can you hear me?"
Arlene had picked up Rachel from daycare, and was just putting her in the car when she heard the sirens. She turned her head in time to see two police cars come to a screeching halt in front of the hospital doors. Her heart sank as she quickly got Rachel back out of the car.
"Where are we going, Grandma?"
"Come on, Rachel. We have to hurry."
