Disclaimer: Oh look at that, I still own nothing.
A/N: Well...hi there. Hopefully some of you saw my author note so you know I didn't really abandon this story (or at least, I didn't avoid writing it for no reason). As it stands, I didn't actually finish the other story, or even make terrible amounts of progress on it. HOWEVER, I did finish this one. Yes - you read right, this story is officially done. All chapters except the last two are completely beta'd and ready to post. So, I will be posting them very quickly, do not fear. Think of it as a prize for your patience. Thank you very kindly to everyone who reviewed last time, especially my anonymous reviewers. You're all amazing.
I am also going to apologize for what happens in this chapter. I know it's not what most of you wanted, but...yeah. I'm sorry.
A/N: My lifeline, Melissa, I brain you.
This could not have happened.
House was paralyzed, unable to do more than stare blankly as CPR was attempted. He knew the efforts were futile, but he could not bring himself to tell her to stop. He could hear Cameron crying quietly behind him and Sid scuffling his feet. He had eyes only for Cuddy, as she leaned over again and again, blowing air into now useless lungs.
"I didn't…I didn't…" Sid's voice sounded oddly strangled. "But I – I – I wasn't aiming for his – I was only trying to shoot his-"
"Shut up," House said through clenched teeth. "Just shut the hell up." His gaze stayed transfixed on Cuddy as he watched her continue CPR. He knew there was no chance, no hope at all, and he had known it from the beginning. The bullet had sliced through Wilson's head, killing him instantly. House found no comfort in the fact that his friend had died quickly, painlessly. The fact still remained that he was dead, and that was all that mattered.
Cuddy sat back on her heels, tears streaming down her face. She had given up. House wanted to say something, tell her to continue, but he couldn't. Cameron's sobs increased behind him, and House knew that she had seen it, too. Cuddy slowly reached out a hand and closed Wilson's eyes. Her hand lingered over his face, and she seemed unable to pull away. House fought the unwanted emotion welling in his chest as he watched her gently stroke Wilson's cheek. He saw her lean closer and whisper something in his ear. He couldn't hear the words, but he could imagine what they were. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…
"Cuddy," he said quietly. He didn't step forward, couldn't bring himself to move any closer to Wilson's body. She did not turn to look at him. House tried to focus anywhere else but at Wilson, but it was impossible to ignore him. His best friend, his oldest friend…and now he was – had been –
"I'm – I'm sorry," Sid stammered. "I didn't mean-"
"You're sorry?" House rounded on him. "You're sorry? You shot a man point blank, and your aim was so good, his frontal lobe is splattered on the wall!"
"But I wasn't trying to – I was only aiming for his shoulder-"
"Your aim is beyond pathetic," House snapped, "if you think that a person's shoulder and head are the same thing. Missed just a few high school biology classes there, didn't we?"
"I didn't want to kill him," Sid protested. "I only wanted to hurt him so that-"
"If you didn't want anyone to die, perhaps you could have considered the route of not shooting anyone," House retorted. "Or better yet, not setting up this scenario in the first place. You came in here with a gun and told me to tell you who to kill. How did you not expect it to end in someone's death?"
"But you didn't care about him."
"Like hell I didn't!" House yelled. "You brought him here because you knew he was my friend." He felt anger, fear, and every other emotion that had been inside of him for the past two hours rising to the boiling point. He didn't care that he was screaming. "You can't do things like this. You can't just play with people's lives this way.
"You play with people's lives all the time," Sid interjected.
House gave an angry yell. "You think that because you've murdered my best friend, my decision is going to get easier? You think this will make me want to tell you to kill one of them even more? You're wrong. The only person I want to kill here is you!"
Sid's eyes flashed with anger. "None of this would have happened if you had just saved my family. You may not have told me to shoot your best friend, but you as good as caused his death when you couldn't make a choice. You could have saved him, could have sacrificed the lives of the other two people in the room. But you didn't. Instead, you made me kill him. It's your fault that he's dead."
"Keep telling yourself that," House shot back. "Whatever you have to say to make yourself feel more like a man and less like a-"
He broke off at the sudden sound of knocking at the door. The room fell silent immediately. House exchanged a quick glance with Cuddy. Had security found them at last?
"Cameron?" It was Chase. "Are you in there?"
Cameron opened her mouth to reply, but Sid raised his gun and hissed, "Not a word."
"He already knows I'm in here," she pointed out quietly. House was surprised to hear the defiance in her tone, despite staring at the barrel of the gun.
Sid moved closer and pressed the gun to the side of her head. "He doesn't know anything, and if you give us away, I'm going to pull the trigger and you'll go the same way as him." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate Wilson.
"Don't do anything stupid," House warned. The words fell from his mouth before he could stop them.
Cameron rolled her eyes. "Never stopped me before, has it?"
"It's not worth it," House insisted. He wasn't sure why he was pushing this so much more now, but he knew he couldn't stand to see anyone else die before his eyes. Cameron wasn't thinking clearly; she couldn't rationalize the situation. He still could. He knew that Chase was outside and wouldn't leave until he spoke to her. If she never responded, he would no doubt sense something suspicious and run off to find security. If he just played his cards right, he could get the rest of them out of this situation alive.
"Wilson thought it was," Cameron whispered.
Wilson was an idiot, House replied automatically. Then he realized he hadn't actually said the words out loud.
House looked at her. Both of her hands were still pressed to the wound on her leg, so she hadn't been able to wipe the tears away from her cheeks. She was a mess. She had been willing to sacrifice herself to save her unborn child, and then had found out Sid never intended to let her save anyone, only to see one of her friends murdered right in front of her. And now she was still willing to allow herself to be killed because she felt some sense of…what, guilt? Love?
House shook his head. "You want to tell Chase about your son. What's the point of having him come into the room if all he's going to see is your dead body?"
"Cameron!" Chase called again, more urgently this time. "Cameron, I know you're in there. You said you had to talk to me, and I'm here now, so let's talk." He pounded on the door again. "Come on, I'm sorry I hung up on you, but don't be mad."
"Don't say anything," Sid told her, jabbing the gun to her skull again.
"Oh, what's the point?" House said, looking at Sid. "What's the point of not letting her answer? I'm sure he already heard my dulcet tones from across the hallway. Everyone knows we're here by now. " House could feel his frustration building again, but he fought to keep it down. Angering Sid further would not help with situation. With great effort, he said with forced calmness, "You don't want this to become messy. You don't want him to run off to find security, because then you're really going to be screwed. Just let her answer. What's the worst that could happen?"
Sid's eyes narrowed. "I could think of plenty things that could happen that I don't want to happen."
"Like what?" House challenged. "You might try to shoot someone in the shoulder, but miss and hit their head? Oh, wait, that already happened."
The gun shook slightly in Sid's hand. House could tell that he was making Sid nervous, although he wasn't entirely sure why. Sid steadied the gun in his hand and readjusted his grip on the trigger.
Cameron met House's gaze. He realized what she was going to do, but it was too late for him to stop her. She closed her eyes, waiting for Sid to pull the trigger.
"I'm here."
House frowned, watching for Sid's reaction. It seemed as though Sid hadn't realized what had happened. House wondered if Cameron had called loud enough for Chase to hear her, or if he were even still at the door. Sid finally seemed to register Cameron's words and made to fire, but a split second later, seemed to think better of it. Cameron hadn't noticed his indecision, and Cuddy hadn't been looking at Sid's hand. Only House seemed to have noticed that Sid's telling flinch.
A/N: Before I posted this chapter, I reread all the chapters remaining to be posted, and the action definitely really picks up. It's going to be extremely exciting! So review and come along for the ride! Oh - and also. I wrote a crackfic after the House episode on Monday (Chase's subplot begged for a crackfic, let's be honest) I'll post it if there's enough interest in reading something extremely OOC...for the characters and for me.
