House was standing and looking at the white board filled with the patient's problems. He was still going over the fact that Cameron came to him to ask to have the night off and how willing he had been to give it to her. He didn't mind the fact that Foreman and Chase were going to be up all night working on the blood work. If anything, it just amused him to torture the two men on his team. He sat down and re-read everything on the board before getting up and hobbling over to underline cancer. He knew that the scans that were done showed there was no cancer shown there. But he felt in his bones that it had to be cancer, even if nobody believed him right now. Nobody usually does he thought to himself as he sat down with a sigh. He turned his head to the sound of someone coming into the room though. "What?"
"I was just coming to see if you were ready to go," Wilson said as he came up beside House. "You still think it is cancer?" he asked.
"Yeah," House replied with a sigh. "I know the scans don't show anything, but I think it is."
"Are you basing that on the facts you know or because you want the easy way out?" Wilson asked gently as he came up to House's side and offered the cane. "I think you need a break though."
House nodded a yes as he took the cane. He didn't get up as Wilson went to go get House's coat and bag. "The cancer could be hiding in the bones," he said as he thought on it. "Or it could be the state before it decides to show itself."
"House, let's go home so you can get some rest," Wilson gently said as he helped to get House up and the coat on. He gently led House out of the room. "You're not in charge anymore, remember? And most of the times when you don't sleep, you doubled your usage."
"So you're worried a sleepless night worrying about the patient will put me back on? It takes more than that," House said and sighed. "It's hurting again."
"Considering I had to help you up, I know," Wilson replied quietly with a soft smile. "Did you think on it?"
"I haven't had time today," House counters. "Maybe I should stay here if you're just going to ask me about that all night."
"Not all night," Wilson said and looked at House. "Why is it wrong that I want an answer?"
"Because it is not just one answer," House pointed out. "It is one answer and then a million others that come after it due to the fact that we are now committed beyond getting away from each other without creating a major rift."
"You're still afraid of loss," Wilson said after a long moment of silence.
"Gee, that's a shocker," House said as he moved into the elevator that open its doors for them. He sort of glared at Wilson as Wilson got into the elevator before pressing the button for the bottom floor. He wasn't sure why this rubbed him the wrong way, but it did. Maybe Wilson was right in the fact that he didn't want to commit to something that, if it went wrong, would cost him his best friend. But, on the same hand, he didn't want to admit that he needed Wilson that much. He didn't want to admit that he needed anybody that much, especially after just losing Cuddy to another guy. He didn't want the same situation happening with Wilson. "How long are you going to wait for an answer again?"
"Until your case is done," Wilson replied as the elevator reached their floor and held the door open for House to walk through. "Which is going to be a couple days and you're always saying that you can tackle a few things at once. So why not this on top of everything else?"
"Because I didn't know the patient was going to be the one that I tried to help before and failed," House said with a sigh. "Fine – after this case is done."
"Thank you," Wilson said as he looked at House. "You're becoming more agreeable."
"I blame you," House replied as they quickly walked through the lobby and out the door of the hospital. "Did you say home or restaurant?"
"Do you want to cook or do you think the food can wait until tomorrow?" Wilson asked as he unlocked the car.
"It can wait," House said as he got into the car. He turned to ask Wilson something and didn't mind when instead he got a full kiss on the lips. He kissed Wilson back before gently breaking the kiss to let the both of them breathe. "We've needed that all day."
"Yeah," Wilson said quietly as he moved to properly sit in his seat, buckle himself in, and drove to their favorite restaurant.
*~*~*~*
"Where's Cameron?" Foreman asked as he looked up from the microscope to Chase. He slowly realized that his colleague had been quiet nearly the entire time they had been in the lab. "Are you two doing any better?"
"She's out with an old college friend," Chase replied to the first question and ignored the second as he did his own little work in his space. He knew that Cameron and himself were having a rough patch at the moment. He tried to remind himself that all couples had rough patches, but he knew that he was the one who was making his marriage fall apart. It was his fault, nearly all of it.
"So a yes for the second question?" Foreman asked. "Or a no?"
"No," Chase replied quietly. "And I don't know if I want the marriage to be fixed. Maybe it was wrong to get married. I chased her for the entire thing and she didn't once chase me. Save for a small part, but everything was on my shoulders. I wonder if I left her to her own devices if we would be married in the first place."
Foreman checked to see if someone was coming before going over to Chase and gently hugging him. "It'll be alright," he said quietly. "And if not, there are always other options."
"Right," Chase said quietly as a buzzer went off on one of the tests. "Go look at it – we need to get done in order to get some sleep."
"Yeah," Foreman said as he left Chase to his own devices. He let the silence speak as it was comfortably wrapping around both of them.
*~*~*~*
Eliot sat up in bed as he heard something odd going off. His eyes were already adjusted to the dark with the knife in his hand that he kept beneath his pillow. He turned on the light, his eyes adjusting quickly as he realized that nobody else was in the room. "What the hell then?" He asked quietly to himself as he put the knife down on the nightstand.
"Hrm?" Cameron asked as she blinked awake. "Oh, that's me," she said as she got up and went over to her purse. She didn't mind going without the sheet – she had nothing to be ashamed of and he had seen it before anyways. She got out her pager and looked it over before throwing it back in. She got dressed in a hurry.
"Nate?" He asked of her, looking worried.
"Yeah," she admitted quietly and didn't even blink when he was ready in five minutes. What she wasn't expecting was, when they got into the car Eliot rented for the trip, pulling out the police light and siren that he used in order to speed to the hospital. She just made sure that her seatbelt was secure and that she held onto anything she could. She got out of the car quickly with Eliot on her heels as they used the stairs to get up to the floor. She moved into the room, putting on gloves as she moved to help Foreman get the tube down Nate's throat. "Foreman move!" She yelled as she tilted Nate so that he threw up on the floor.
"His liver is failing," Foreman said. "We need to get more oxygen in and stabilize him!" It took a few more minutes before the two doctors were able to stabilize Nate and get the oxygen into him via the nose line.
Eliot just watched what they were doing, looking tense. He turned to Sophie and quietly said "He's my half brother. I want to be in there and you need to know in case something happens and I just take over."
Sophie nodded a yes to what Eliot said and turned to look at Hardison. "Where's Parker?" She asked.
"I'll find her," Hardison said as he went off to do so.
"Thanks," Sophie said quietly as she moved and gave Eliot a motherly hug. She was worried as well but she wouldn't let it show. She just hoped that the doctors knew what they were doing in the end. She went in with Eliot when they were allowed in, raising an eyebrow as she heard Nate start to cough. "Is that normal?"
"Yes – he's getting used to the oxygen," Cameron said with a soft smile to Sophie. She felt a bit more relaxed talking to Sophie. Sophie had a feel like Eliot and something else she couldn't put her finger on. She wasn't going to question it though and tried to make Nate a bit more comfortable. "Better?" She asked of him.
"Yeah," Nate said as he breathed deeply before starting to cough again.
"Foreman," Cameron said as she pulled over an ultrasound.
"Folks, you might want to leave the room. We need to double check on something," Foreman said.
"No," Eliot said as he stood his ground. "He's my brother. I'm not going anywhere."
Cameron looked at Eliot a bit shocked before she broke out of it to help Foreman. "Pleurisy," she said quietly as she saw the tell-tale sign of the fluid around the heart.
"We need to get him into an OR and get that pressure off of his heart," Foreman said as he started to wheel the bed out of the room. "We're going to get him in and out as soon as we can."
"Eliot," Nate said quietly and waited for Eliot to get over there. "Call mom," he said as he took the man's hand and squeezed it. "Call her."
Eliot just stared at Nate in shock as Nate was wheeled off to surgery. The last thing he felt was Sophie taking him, along with the help of Parker and Hardison, off to a waiting area. He sat down and waved them off to just be by himself.
