Chapter 14:
Tuesday morning's weather in Princeton, New Jersey brought a dark and dreary sky, and swirling bitter winds, with the temperature dropping dramatically. In two weeks, November would come to a close, and winter would really set in with December approaching.
Inside Princeton Plainsboro's Intensive Care Unit in Room 8, there was no hint whatsoever of whatever weather may have been brewing outside.
Gregory House was lying beside Lisa Cuddy in her hospital bed. His one arm was wrapped protectively around her back, as she was snuggled up against his side, as close as she possibly could get while still being mindful of her fractured ribs; her hand was placed upon her abdomen, safely securing her unborn child, while her other hand was intertwined with House's hand, resting on top of his chest.
House opened his eyes, and turned his head, smiling at the woman who was sleeping beside him. He withdrew his hand from around Cuddy's upper back, and brought it to rest on top of her hand that was on top of her stomach. Brushing Cuddy's hair away from her face, House softly captured her lips in a tender kiss. She stirred sleepily, and opened her eyes.
House stroked her cheek. "Morning."
"Hey," she whispered.
He captured her lips once more in a passionate but soft kiss.
"Is that my wake-up kiss?" Cuddy asked with a smile once they broke apart.
"Yup," House said with a grin.
Immediately a look of concern crossed his face as he saw Cuddy close her eyes for a brief second. "What's wrong?" he said quickly.
"I think I'm gunna be sick," Cuddy said, bringing her hand to her stomach.
No time to grab a basin, House immediately stood up, and turned Cuddy's head to the side. She retched, emptying her stomach contents onto the speckled tile floor.
"I hate this," Cuddy scoffed when she was done.
"It'll get better," House told her as he bent down and kissed her on the forehead.
"I hope so."
"I should go," he said softly. "I'll have someone clean this up," he continued, mentioning towards the mess on the floor. He squeezed Cuddy's hand. "Get some rest," he said quietly. Grabbing his cane, he limped from the room, sliding the door shut behind him.
Stopping at the ICU circulation desk, House told the nurse to have someone clean the floor in Cuddy's room. After that, he continued down the hallway. Pushing the door to the conference room open, he noticed Foreman and Cameron were already sitting at the table.
"What time is it?" he asked, as he limped over to the coffee machine and grabbed a mug from the upper cabinet.
"About ten-thirty," Foreman muttered, checking his watch. House finished pouring his mug of coffee, and then he turned around.
Foreman opened a blue folder that sat in front of him on the table, and read aloud. "Forty two year old male, came in disoriented and confused; freaked out, hallucinated bugs crawling on his arms, slight fever…"
"Tox screen?" House asked, staring at Foreman.
"Negative for heroin and cocaine," the other doctor replied.
At this, House cocked his left eyebrow. "Negative, huh? Interesting…"
Cameron looked over at House for a second, and then moved her gaze over to Foreman. "Foreman, House is not taking the case. He has enough on his plate right now," she said, in an authoritative voice, with her hands on either side of her hips. She noticed House was smirking. "What? This is NOT funny!" she demanded.
"You remind me of someone…" House said sarcastically, "You should take over as Dean of Medicine. Oh wait, but first, you might have to get a boob job."
"Haha, Very funny," Cameron said, rolling her eyes. "I'm serious, House!"
House rubbed his chin mockingly as if in deep thought. "Here's an idea: go ask Cuddy if I can have the case. If she says no, then I won't take it. If she says yes, then…:"
Cameron glared at him. If looks could kill, Foreman thought, House would have been dead right now.
"We both know I won't do that," Cameron said. "Nice try," she finished with a sly smile crossing her lips.
Very quickly, House made a grab for the blue folder that was in front of Foreman. Before Cameron could react, House already had the folder in his hand. He sat down, leaning his cane against the corner of the table.
Foreman smiled, impressed. Cameron however scowled. Ignoring her scowl, House paged through the file.
Not even five minutes later, the phone on House's desk rang.
"Going to answer that?" Cameron asked, after the third ring.
House, who was still concentrating on the folder in front of him, did not answer her. Cameron sighed, got up, and rushed across the room to pick up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi. I'm looking for Dr. House."
Cameron looked over at House. "He's right here. May I ask whose calling?"
"Elizabeth Cuddy."
Cameron's eyes widened slightly as she heard who was on the other line. "H-Hold on," she stammered. She put the phone down, and stared over at her boss. "Um House," she said, somewhat hesitantly, "…phone."
House didn't even bother looking up. "Tell whoever it is to call back later. I'm busy," he said, sounding bored.
"House… its Elizabeth Cuddy."
The folder that House was holding almost slipped out of his grasp and onto the floor. Foreman caught it just in time. House grabbed his cane, stood up, and limped over to Cameron, who handed him the phone. Very slowly, he put the receiver up to his ear.
"This is House."
"Greg? It's Beth Cuddy."
"Beth, hi. How are you?"
"Worried. You?"
House sighed. "Been better."
"So," Beth started. "A friend showed me the paper. Is Lisa there?"
"Yes, she is." House paused for a brief second. "Beth…I think it would be best…" He cleared his throat. "I mean if you can…to come to the hospital…"
Silence on the other line. Finally, when Beth spoke, her voice quivered a bit.
"So it's bad?"
House exhaled. He didn't dare look towards Foreman or Cameron. When he spoke, Cameron noticed a slight tremor in his voice.
"She's…getting better, but yea, it's not pretty." He cleared his throat, and turned so he was facing the window.
"Ok." Beth tried to remain calm. "Ok…" She took a much needed breath.
"Beth, calm down," House said quietly into the phone. He gripped the phone tightly in his hand. "Where are you?"
"Just flew in an hour ago. I'll- I'll probably be there in an hour to an hour-and-a-half, depending on the traffic," Beth heard herself saying into the phone, as she merged her car onto the Turnpike.
"Ok. I'll see you then. My office is on the second floor, second door on the right."
"Alright. Thanks. Bye Greg."
House brought the phone away from his ear, and just held it out in front of him, staring at it. He turned around, and limped over to the cradle that sat on the desk. He put the phone back into its holder, and looked over at the conference table.
"When's she coming?" Cameron asked quietly.
"An hour," House said, limping over to the table, and sitting down. He ran a hand over his face, and exhaled.
'It was going to be a long couple of hours,' he thought to himself.
...TBC...