AN: I saw Young Frankenstein the musical! Oh my God it was amazing and so funny! Roger Bart was brilliant as Dr. Frankenstein! It was just like the movie only better! My dad argues nothing can beat the movie, but we'll see what he thinks after we go next month. I saw it on a "class trip" with school. Honestly I think my teachers just wanted to see it so they rallied a buncha students together and called it a class trip so the school would pay. But if you wanna go see it I suggest you do so now before the cast changes, they were great.

But anyway I was babbaling about things you guys probably don't care to much about; I'm a theatre major, sorry. On with the chapter with no further disturbances.

My Final Words

It was official, James was now deemed no longer infectious. This meant that House could spend as much time as he liked in the room without the other doctors worrying over him getting sick as well. Now he no longer had to wear a mask, he could just sit in the isolated room and watch the antibiotics flow into his young friends system. He was getting steadily worse looking as time went on. His cheeks were sunken in making the bones in his face jut out obnoxiously. He had deep dark bags under his eyes and whenever he did gain consciousness it was to cough up more blood being passing out again.

But House kept sitting with him, talking to him about the old times when they were in school. When House first took James to a bar so he could by his first drink on his twenty first birthday. When the pair went on a road trip during the summer between James's third and fourth year of college. When James convinced House to see a Broadway musical, said if he could watch soap opera he could watch this. House almost walked out in the middle of it, but James suspected it was all for show, he think he liked it.

So many things they went through together, the good and the bad. He was there when he broke up with Mindy, his first wife, and again when he broke up with Bonnie, his second, and finally Julie his third ex-wife. But just as House was there for him, he was there for House when he and Stacy slip up. They've been through just about everything together, now House just might have had to go through the death of his best friend, but the thing was, he needed his best friend in order to do that. It was a paradox.

All he did was sit there and stare at him in complete silence. His once rich chocolate hair that was so well groomed was now sticking to his forehead. He looked awful close to death, anybody could see that, it looked like at any moment that little beeping noise that gave House all his reassurance would suddenly stop and a flat line would go straight across the screen all numbers at zero and he would hear that dreaded flat line.

But he wouldn't let that happen, no. He was a world renowned doctor for cripes sake. People came from all over the place to see him specifically he solved all the cases and healed all the people, save for a few but you can't cure the incurable. But this… he should have seen it, he should have been able to figure it out. To cure him before the disease took its full course, but he didn't. He couldn't stop it, he couldn't prevent it, there was nothing he could do but hope the antibiotics took effect and worked. Gregory House had never been a religious man, but now he was praying for James to get well.

Cuddy was standing in the room where all the equipment to watch James sat, staring at him through the glass. Normally he would be annoyed and rudely tell her to back off, but right now he didn't care. He didn't care she was worried sick about not only James but him as well, or the fact that the rest of his team was stressing over his health as well. He didn't care about much of anything outside the room right now. All he cared about was the man in the bed.

It seemed like forever before James's eyes fluttered open, House didn't notice at first. He thought it was some sort of illusion or hallucination that his mind was making up because he wanted it so badly, but it wasn't. James opened his eyes and stared up around the room in a haze, his eyes were unfocused and he was slowly blinking and lobbing his head from side to side.

"James?" House asked quietly trying to get his attention. "James are you awake?"

"Urg… Uh…" James moaned and tried to concentrate his blurred and scrambled vision on the man standing over him. He could barley tell who it was, his eyes were tearing and it seemed like the whole world was spinning. But the voice kept calling his name, desperately it seemed. It sounded familiar, it sounded almost like… "Gr… Gre…" he gave up, he couldn't say the name it was too much strength. It seemed like he couldn't get enough air, his throat was dry and he wouldn't get words out.

"Yeah, it's me, it's Greg." He said. "Try not to talk to much."

"Greg…" He choked out hoarsely after a few attempts.

"Shh."

"No… pl-ease… listen."

House could tell James was firmly set on talking right now, even though he knew very well he shouldn't be. He should be sleeping, letting the antibiotics take their effect and make him better. But he knew James; he knew that nothing could stop him from speaking his mind when he felt he had to, so it was best to simply let him get whatever he had to say off his chest.

"What is it?" He asked with his voice cracking slightly.

"House… If I die…"

Those words felt like a knife stabbing House in the chest. He didn't need to hear that, he knew it was a possibility sure; he was a Doctor he knew the odds but he didn't need to hear them out loud.

"If… if I die… thanks…"

"For what?" House asked. "I'm not exactly your typical best friend." Did he just say that? Best friend? They never actually said that to one another, it was always just implied, it had never really truly been acknowledged.

James laughed shortly and dryly. "No… not exa-cly, but you've always been... there." It sounded as though he struggled and forced the last few words out. "I've known you… for twen-ty years, Greg… you helped me through Med. School… my divorces… you always pull through… even now." He whispered.

"And so will you, you'll pull through, you'll get better and in a weeks time you'll be up and about and we'll be laughing about this. Okay well, maybe not laughing but…"

"You're rambling on… we both know I might die… the chances… are not in my… favor… I just want you to know… You're my best friend… you're like a bro-ther to me… you're closer to me them my own brother is…" He sighed and allowed his voice to take a break before continuing to speak. "And thanks… for every-thing… and for finding me… I would have died… before anyone would ha-ve gone up there to look… Maids don't come up to my room until the evening…" He chuckled slightly, causing his body to convulse in violent coughs.

"You wouldn't have died." House said as he held a tissue in front of his mouth to catch the blood and whipped off the drops that were making their way down out of the corner of his mouth.

"I would have… I would have bled out, or… collapsed lung… disease…" He trailed off and his head fell to the side.

House panicked. He thought for a moment he had died but when his eyes scanned the monitors he saw that all his vitals were still working properly. He let out his held in breath and leaned back in the chair. He thought for a moment that he had died on him, but it turned out it seemed that he just fell asleep, or passed out. One or the other.

He closed his own eyes and thought this painful conversation was over, but apparently James wasn't quite ready to end it.

"I'm sorry… I'm going too soon… too many things… haven't done… can't… leaving everyone… you…" His breathing became labored and all House wanted to do was block out the wet breathy voice of his friend.

"No, stop talking, I'm revoking your talking privileges. All you get to do now is sleep. You're getting delirious. Rest." He ordered and laid his hand down on James's chest, he immediately regretted it. He could feel the ragged breathing, the hot and clammy touch of his skin, even though the blanket and hospital gown, the stillness and horrific shape of his body.

"Not… delirious…"

He shook his head even though he knew James still had his eyes closed. "I don't say this too often Jimmy, but please, please just rest. Just sleep, you need to get better. You will get better."

"I won't… won't… get…"

"Yes, you will, now say it." He struggled to speak now.

"Greg…"

"Just say it."

"I'll… get bet-ter…" He grunted and coughed lightly.

House sighed and leaned back. That's all he needed. Just those words, those three words was all he needed. "Thank you, now get some rest, you sound awful."

"Yeah…" James said and House could see him drift off into sleep.

Cuddy watched this display from the sealed off glass room. Her real intention on coming here was too go in and make House go home and get some rest. But now she wasn't sure that she could do that, she couldn't hear them in there, but she knew they were talking. She would see James's chest heave up and down as he struggled to speak, the regret House felt for not figuring it out sooner.

She felt like she was intruding on a private moment between the two, but she couldn't force herself to look or walk away. Never had she expected House to be able to act like this, so caring an compassionate, of course James she knew he had it in him. He was always caring and sweet, he was the nicest person in the whole hospital and at times could be the funniest as well his pranks on House never ceased to amaze her. Why did things like this always happen to the nice ones? The good people. James would go out of his way to help someone, she had seen him do it in this very hospital, helping patients that weren't his own. He didn't disserve all of this, not that so many other people did... but not him... not James Wilson. She couldn't watch him die.

She looked down to the ground as she saw James's head fall to the side, holding her breath she peeked over to the many monitors in the room she was standing in and saw that he was still alive. She looked back up with releif and saw the same same paniked look on House's face that she had on her own only moments ago. His shoulders fell and he leaned back against the chair. The two spoke a little more she saw which she noted suprised House, he must have thought that he was sleeping. He would have all reasons to, James still had his eyes shut, he was getting tired. Soon he would fall asleep.

She finally got herself to turn away and leave the room. She stepped back out into the hallway where the three young doctors stood. She told them she would go in and talk to House, that she would stay with James as House went home or even to his office and got some sleep.

She shugged her shoulders to them and opened her mouth to speak. "I can't do it." She said simply and walked down the hallway and to her office.

They all remained in silence for several moments, no one knew what to say or what to do. They all just knew this, if Lisa Cuddy couldn't intervene what chance did any of them have? They all soon left, went to the clinic try and get all the thoughts of death out of their minds. They had to stop thinking about it.