Chapter Ten

House shuffled into Cuddy's hospital room. He was beyond tired, but he couldn't sleep even if he wanted to. He had sent Foreman to assist Cameron in the lab while he had gone on ahead. Wilson was there, like a loyal sentry, holding Cuddy's hand. Chase was monitoring her heart rate, a silent strength to a fading light. House leaned against the door jamb and his cane, feeling the weight of a long day on his shoulders and a long night that waited.

Nodding to Wilson as the other man looked up, House limped closer to her bedside. "Her stats?"

Wilson shot him an exasperated look. "She's holding stable so far, but until we figure out what's causing this, she's not out of the woods yet."

House nodded. Then he shot Chase a look. "Take Wilson and get something to drink. I'll take over here."

Chase nodded, turning to leave the room, standing at the door to wait for Wilson. Wilson stood with a groan, having been sitting for so long.

"House…"

"It'll be okay, Wilson."

They exchanged a silent glance for a moment, their emotionally charged expressions doing all the communication for each other. Wilson nodded and left.

Turning to Cuddy, House sat in the seat vacated by Wilson. Slipping his hand in hers, he tried to speak. "Cuddy, it's me." He swallowed thickly, trying to get past the strange lump in his throat. "I know what happened. I swear to you, we're working on it. We're gonna find the antidote and we're gonna cure you. You're gonna wake up, and everything will be…" he stopped speaking, because his voice started to come out sounding strange, and there was a stinging in his eyes that was unfamiliar. He leaned close to Cuddy's face, pressing a kiss to the smooth skin of her forehead.

"I don't want it to be too late, so you hold on. Lisa, you hold on, because… because I love you. I need you to wake up and smile at me and tell me you love me too." House didn't care in that moment how sappy he sounded. He didn't care that he sounded like a love song, or the lead role in one of Cuddy's sappy harlequin novels. All he cared about was Cuddy.

Suddenly, an alarm begin to blare out, and he looked up to the monitor to see runs of tachycardia before her heart gave out. "No!" He started compressions. "You stay with me, Lisa! Stay with me!"

Chase and Wilson ran in. They hadn't gone far, it seemed, and nurses flooded the room, bringing in crash carts. Chase looked at the monitors and ordered a round of heart stimulating drugs. Injecting the heart stimulators in her iv. Chase firmly took over compressions, while Wilson gently pulled House away. The nurses sacrificed Cuddy's modesty to apply the shock pads, and Chase ordered the defibrillator to be charged to three fifty.

Distraught, House could only stare at Cuddy, silently pleading with her to stay. He couldn't take it if she left him now.

"Clear!" Chase hollered before he applied the electrical shock to stimulate Cuddy's heart back into normal sinus. All personnel surrounding Cuddy stepped back, raising their hands. Cuddy's body jerked briefly. Anguished, House shut his eyes at the sight.

"Normal sinus, Doctor."

Everyone in the room shared a sigh of relief. Chase nodded to the nurses. "Good work, everyone." In short order, Cuddy was cleaned up, and Wilson guided a numbed House to a chair close to her. The shock was beginning to wear off, and House felt the adrenaline buzzing through his veins, far more potent than a cup of coffee or a douse of ice cold water.

"Please don't do that again, Cuddy," House said to her, heedless of Wilson and Chase's hearing. They kindly let the moment pass without comment. House was grateful, but of course, he didn't show it.

Cuddy lay in the bed, showing no signs of her earlier distress. Peaceful in her coma. House hoped that she hadn't been aware of her near death experience. It was a thought too awful to contemplate; being trapped in unconsciousness and knowing it, and not being able to do anything about it.

Just didn't bear thinking on at all.