The ride to the hospital was quick. House was glad that some people actually were working even on Christmas Eve.
Wilson was still extremely pale, but he was on antibiotics and pain meds so even House was relieved and let the EMTs do their job.
The hospital corridors were mostly empty - just some night nurses quietly doing their duty. It was weird. House had never been in the hospital on Christmas night and he could bet that Wilson had not either. Everything seemed somehow magical.
They prepared Wilson quickly. He was hooked on the IV fluids and looked very vulnerable in his white hospital gown and lying under sterile sheets. He wasn't unconscious, so a visible fear lay on his face, which was still wet from the sweat caused by the fever. He studied the cool sterile room with his eyes. Where is House? He promised to go with me.
Then finally he saw a figure limping slowly towards his side. House in scrubs was weird but anyway, he felt safer now.
"Dr. Wilson, please count backwards from ten," the nurse said as she administered some drugs into his IV.
His friend gave him a strange-looking, but somehow encouraging glare.
"Ten, nine, eight, se- - ven...," the last thing he saw was the fluorescent lamp on the ceiling.
House stayed, because he had promised it and because even the bastard in him felt sympathy with the other man. However, it wasn't easy. He had already seen hundreds of operations but Wilson's sleeping face on the table was something different. And so when the surgeon sewed up the incision and thanked his team for the co-operation, House was glad it was over and without problems.
It was early in the morning when Wilson decided to wake himself up. His fever was already down due to the antibiotics and he felt much better.
He stirred, opened his eyes and smiled when he found House slumped in the chair, sleeping.
He tried to make himself comfortable, but hissed from the pain, which shot from his lower abdomen immediately through his entire body. This rustle woke up House, who groaned and stretched his legs.
It took a moment until he realized that Wilson was actually looking at him.
"Hey," Wilson said weakly.
"Bad news," House said dramatically, and Wilson looked at him with alarmed face.
"You missed Santa again!" House smirked.
Wilson grinned.
"But he left something here for you." He bent down and picked up a small thing wrapped in the most horrible paper in the world. He handed it to his friend.
Wilson was stunned. House was giving him a present? He played with the thing in his non-IV hand and finally removed the covering. A broad smile appeared on his face when he found a small 'travel' chess game inside.
The end.
A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope it was worth of it! All final reviews (even flames) would be nice and welcome: )