A/N: Okay..time to switch gears. This chapter is dark and angsty..not something I'm used to writing so bear with me.

WARNING: This chapter contains violence and rape.

Disclaimer: House belongs to David Shore and Fox..blah blah blah..

Chapter 14

House and Cameron had been secretly seeing each other for weeks. Nobody knew except Wilson, and he was having a hard time keeping it to himself.

"Why don't you just go public? I doubt many will be surprised," Wilson asked his friend as they walked toward House's office.

"I don't need Cuddy threatening to transfer Cameron out of Diagnostics because I'm sleeping with her. Or worse, firing her should it not work out down the road."

"Cuddy wouldn't do that. And if she did, all you'd have to do is threaten to leave too and she'd be putty in your hands."

House knew Wilson was right. Cuddy would go ballistic if House threatened to leave. And since it was too soon to tell if the relationship had staying power, although he suspected it did, it was best to keep things quiet for now.

He entered the office to find Chase, Foreman and Cameron chatting about the upcoming weekend. There was a thunderstorm warning and the rain outside was crazy as it was. Getting home was going to be treacherous.

"No case?"

"Nope."

"Well then, in case you haven't noticed, the weather sucks, so let's get out of here."

"You can't ride your bike in the rain, House," Cameron pointed out as he put on his leather jacket and picked up his helmet.

"Are you offering me a ride, Dr. Cameron?"

Both Chase and Foreman paused to watch the exchange.

"Well it's better than hearing that you wiped out on your crotch rocket at 80 miles an hour."

House had to admit she had a valid point. Damn her, anyway. "Fine, let's go then." He pointed to the door. "Home, Jeeves!"

Clearly, Cameron didn't get the reference and just stared at him blankly as she went past, but Chase snickered as he turned off the lights and shut the office door behind them.

Once House and Cameron were in her car, she groaned. "Fuck. I left my other bag in the office. I have to go get it."

"I'll go with you," he said, unbuckling his belt.

"No, you don't have to. I'll be less than 5 minutes."

"Cameron, it's late. I'm not going to have you wandering those halls at night."

"Fine, House. Whatever."

They got into the elevator and made their way back to his office. But House stopped her. Something was wrong.

"Stay here."

"What? Why?"

"Didn't Chase turn off the lights when we all left?"

"As far as I know."

"Well they're on now."

He heard someone moving about in his office and inched a little closer, still remaining out of sight while trying to get a better look at the intruder. Reaching for the door handle, Cameron grabbed his arm. "Shouldn't we call security or something first?"

"That won't be necessary," a voice from behind said quietly. Slowly, Cameron and House both turned to face another intruder holding a gun at them. "Get inside. Now!"

Both doctors backed up into his office where the other man was still searching House's desk.

"What do you want?"

"You can start by giving us your money and your jewelry."

House saw Cameron just barely glance down at the necklace he gave her. It wasn't missed by the other guy. "Take it off."

"It's just a simple gold necklace," House spat out. "You wouldn't get more than $5 for it."

"Isn't that your name on the door, old man?"

House sighed and nodded.

"Well I would think a man with his name on the door would be able to afford something worth more than $5 at a fucking pawn shop. Now hand it over, little girl. Now!"

With shaking hands she slowly reached behind her neck to unclasp it, but the guy ripped it from her, and then pushed her onto the floor.

"Son of a bitch!" House yelled as he swung his cane like a golf club and smacked the guy behind his knees, causing him to fall. He grabbed the necklace out of his hand just as the other guy turned and fired the gun he carried.

"House!" Cameron shouted.

House's head connected with the corner of his desk as he fell and it knocked him out instantly. There was a large gash on his forehead that was quickly bleeding into a puddle next to his head.

"Not so fast, girl." The guy who just shot House had the gun pointed at her. "Wow..you're really pretty, ya know that."

Cameron knew that this wasn't going to end well. "Please..I'll give you whatever you want. There are cameras in here and if you leave now you probably won't get caught by security."

Both guys looked at each other, exchanging glances before the bigger one advanced on her, pushing her onto House's desk after the other one cleared it off with one sweep of his arm.

"Just keep your mouth shut, little girl, and we won't kill ya."

All she could do was concentrate on anything else but what they were doing to her. It was rough, brutal and completely demoralizing. Her eyes kept glancing down at House who remained unconscious on the floor the entire time.

She closed her eyes and wished for it to be over, or that she was dead. Suddenly, a pain in the back of her skull knocked her out and darkness enveloped her.

***

Cuddy was still in her office working late. Having some papers for House to sign, she decided to leave them in his office for him to take care of in the morning. She thought it was odd that the light in his office was on, since she saw he and Cameron leaving a few hours earlier. Of course, she never saw them return because they came through the parking garage entrance.

What she saw made her legs buckle and she fell onto her knees at the sight. House was lying in a pool of his own blood with a very noticeable gash on his head and a bullet wound in his shoulder. If that wasn't enough to make her want to vomit, the sight of Cameron bruised, beaten and unconscious on House's desk was what did it for sure. She grabbed her stomach and retched in the middle of the hallway.

She hit the nearest emergency button and security came running within minutes, as well as several other staff. They had Cameron taken to the ER and House was sent to the OR to have the bullet removed. As they were cleaning him up, Cuddy saw his hand clutching onto something for dear life. Carefully moving his fingers, she discovered a gold necklace with a pendant of a small house. The chain was broken like someone had ripped it and she stuffed it in her pocket for safe keeping.

House was in surgery for two hours. Everything seemed to be going well until they located the bullet and tried to take it out. That's when he crashed and all hell broke loose.

***

Cameron lay still in her bed. She'd been hit hard with some object yet to be determined and her head was throbbing. The rest of her body wasn't in great shape either.

"Cameron," Cuddy said to her softly as she stood by her bed.

Cameron screamed and sat up. Or tried to. Her whole lower body felt like it had been through the wringer.

"Relax..it's okay. You're safe."

"House!?"

"He's in surgery. You can see him when he comes out of recovery."

"Oh God..this is..it was all my fault…"

"Cameron.."

"No! I forgot my bag in his office. If I'd just left it until morning, none of this would've happened."

"What exactly did happen?"

Cameron gave Cuddy a look, which made the older doctor swallow hard. "Before that."

"It all happened so fast."

She told Cuddy all that she remembered but when it came down to telling her what happened after House was shot, she burst into tears and couldn't go on."

"Don't talk now. Just rest. We've done a rape kit and everything will be fine."

"Everything will not be fine!"

Cuddy called out to one of the nurses to bring her something. "I'm going to give you a mild sedative. You're getting upset and you need to calm down. When you wake up, House will be out of surgery and you can go see him. I promise."

Cameron nodded as she watched Cuddy administer the sedative and then closed her eyes into a peaceful, but worrisome sleep.

***

House opened his eyes but the light was so bright that he closed them again. "What the hell.."

"I wouldn't use those words if I were you," a voice said from behind him.

He opened one eye and then the other but didn't see anyone. What he did see was a very green field and a creek nearby.

"Where am I?"

"You're not dead if that's what you're thinking. That's not what this place is."

"Then..what is this?"

"Just consider it sort of like limbo," the voice laughed.

"What's going on?"

"You crashed. They're bringing you back to life as we speak. I'm just here to say it's not your time yet, and that you can't stay."

House took a step toward the voice, instantly noticing he had no problem doing so, because he didn't have any pain. Then he touched his forehead and his fingers were stained with blood. "What the.."

"You hit your head. Listen, Greg, it's time to go. You've got a bumpy road ahead of you. Just don't lose focus. You have people who love you. Don't push them away."

House felt like he was being sucked into a black hole. His body was falling, gaining speed and when he woke up, he startled the other doctors around him before he passed out again.

They stitched up the wound on his head, and the hole from the bullet, and sent him on his way to recovery.

***

Cuddy sat in a chair on one side of House's bed while Wilson sat on the other. He'd been asleep for hours. Much longer than normal and they were worried out of their minds.

"What if he doesn't come out of it?" Cuddy whispered. "He hit his head hard. He crashed twice on the operating table."

Wilson looked at her. " Yeah, and they would've called time of death if you hadn't barged in there and ordered them to keep trying. He's alive, thanks to you."

"Yeah but at what cost? He might have serious brain damage for being without oxygen that long."

"Guess we'll have to wait and see. His vitals are strong and his 02 sats are fine. Let's not jump to any conclusions."

House slept for several more hours and then finally began to come around. Cuddy was on her feet instantly, and paged Wilson to return with Cameron.

He groaned for a minute and then opened one eye, very warily.

"What..what happened?"

"You had an accident, House. Do you know where you are?"

House opened the other eye and looked around. "House?"

"No, hospital," Wilson said with a smile, causing his friend to look up at him. He looked like he was going to say something but didn't. Then he glanced over at Cuddy and gave her a smile. She was shocked.

"Hi," he said, simply, like it was something he did every day. The way he was looking at her...almost as if he were...interested, made her flush. Then he winced as his head started pounding again.

"House?"

"House…I thought you said this was a hospital."

"It is."

"Then why do you keep saying 'House?"

Wilson and Cuddy exchanged worried glances, which House saw. "What's happening? What happened to me and where the hell am I?"

"You're at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. You were shot and you hit your head."

"Shot?" He asked in a panic and tried to sit up but they stopped him.

"Hold on..you can't get out of bed."

"Why not?"

"Your leg..."

"What about it?"

Again, the other doctors exchanged glances just as Cameron walked slowly into the room. House glanced at her with interest as well.

"House! Thank God!" Cameron sighed as she grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

He looked at her curiously. "Do I know you?"

Cameron took a step back in shock as she let go of his hand like she'd been burned.

Wilson placed a hand on her shoulder. "You don't know who this is?"

House studied her and then shook his head. "Nope."

"What about me?"

"Not a clue."

"Surely you must remember me," Cuddy said, trying to make light the situation.

"Nope. And that's a shame because you are both beautiful women. What a waste."

Cameron was overwhelmed and flopped down in a chair. "Jesus Christ."

"Good Lord," Cuddy groaned.

"My God," Wilson sighed as they all stood staring at Greg House, and he stared back at them in utter confusion.

A/N: So..whaddya think? I have ideas as to where this story can go, but I'm open to suggestions as always. Please R&R! Luv ya!