April, Spring: Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, Princeton, New Jersey

Hours Later:

It almost seemed automatic to her, like she almost did not have to think twice. The way she took charge over the cacophony, panic and chaos, even surprised her. She had always imagined in the past how she would react to a potential panic or crisis, but nothing on this scale, especially for all intents and purposes a "terrorist attack" on her hospital. No drill in the world could have prepared her for this: an entire floor of her hospital blowing up! But, she wasn't any ordinary woman and she knew what to do.

Gone was the concern for her daily appearance, long hours ago she had traded her stiletto heels and carefully selected, expensive clothing for scrubs, white jacket and surgical sneakers. Her well kept hair now was formed into a pony tail and strands of hair had fallen and cascaded down her face and become soaked with perspiration.

"Bringing more people down!" Came the voice of a police officer.

For what seemed like hours, patients were carefully moved out so that they could be taken to another hospital for treatment. Already a dozen times now, Lisa Cuddy saw people, hospital staff- people she hired, people she saw every day, the counter girl, janitors, chaplains and nurses- so many in body bags. No drill could ever have prepared her for this. Cuddy turned around the hall way of her beloved hospital, her "baby," and saw how it had become a triage center. She saw Taub and Mason performing CPR on an ancient looking old man.

"We're losing him!" She heard Taub say in a near panic. Cuddy caught sight of Cameron directing where patients should go. She saw one of her best nurses out of the corner of her eye shake her head and lay a sheet over the top of a body. She directed more nurses to help other patients who were still coming down exit doors. It was a sea of people. She kept looking, but didn't see them; there was no sight of House, Thirteen and Sullivan. She felt like she was spinning.

"Dr. Cuddy?" She nearly screamed, as her arm was touched. She reacted quickly with a yelp. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, Detective Tritter! I…I'm sorry, I'm a little overwhelmed here."

"I can see that. That's okay, just take a breath. I need your help to help me direct my men to where you need them most."

"Thank you." Cuddy replied through fatigue.

"You don't look too good, Dr. Cuddy." Tritter said. Cuddy suddenly took note of what he meant. Her mouth felt like cotton, dry and arid. She felt perspiration from the top of her forehead to her ankles. She could feel parts of clothes sticking to her. A protective arm, Tritter's, started to direct her to a nearby chair.

"I'm fine." She insisted, trying to push past his helping hand."

"You look like you need a second and that's exactly what you need to do now." Exhaustion made Cuddy give into his order and she sat down with a huff. The ceasing of pressure on her feet immediately allowed her to relax. Tritter handed her a water bottle, "Drink this."

Cuddy tried to smile, "Who's the doctor here?" she joked. Tritter laughed and returned her smile with a smirk. Cuddy found the brief smile to be unusual on a face such as Tritter's.

"You'll be no good to anyone if you run yourself into the ground." Cuddy shook her head, suppressing any emotions that were trying to make their way to the surface. She ran a hand over her face, trying to compose herself. "You need to keep yourself together. You're doing a great job so far." Tritter encouraged. Cuddy took a breath and released it and shook her head. She took another sip from the water bottle, and then stood up, surprising Tritter with her suddenly renewed strength.

"Okay." She whispered to herself. She immediately started to walk back to the center of the action, Tritter following close behind her. Cuddy updated him on where they needed help the most with Tritter informing her that more police and rescue responders were on their way. They stood for a moment and looked at the same carnage that Cuddy had been looking at five minutes ago. The elevators opened again as more patients were evacuated.

"Do you know the status of Dr. House?" Tritter asked, asking the one question that was flying in the air. Cuddy took a moment while feelings of worry began building up in her mind. She still had to check on Rachel, her baby.

"House and two of his associates are still unaccounted for. We've presumed he's among the missing." Cuddy noticed a look of concern come across Tritter's face. Tritter and House had been working closely together for months and though neither would speak of it, but they had formed a close alliance and partnership. The way the investigation had been building, once the serial killer had been captured, House stood to be Tritter's star witness. For both of them, a lot was riding on whether or not House was still alive.

Doctors Wilson and Foreman are looking for him right now." Cuddy finished saying as both she and Tritter looked at the elevator terminals.

Foreman held his flash light up just in time to see sparks from a destroyed fluorescent light spray from the ceiling and onto the ruble strewn floor. "Isn't this the part where the zombies attack?" He tried joking to himself. Just ahead of him was Wilson, who stopped every five feet to push away debris and burned plants, trying desperately to find House and the others. Firemen were to his left and right, moving cautiously and reminding the two doctors not to get too far ahead of them.

"Damn it!" He heard Wilson say again. Things were becoming more and more desperate. Neither House nor the other two answered to any pages or their cell phones. They were just three among dozens who were still unaccounted for. The hardest thing Foreman was dealing with was seeing countless people, nurses, doctors and guards, who he saw every day were now dead. Two of his friends were already dead. So much of this was beyond belief. Who would do this? Why do this?

He heard a crackling on his portable walkie talkie. He quickly picked it up and brought it to his lips.

"This is Foreman." He replied.

"Foreman, it's Chase, what's your progress? How is it up there?"

"Dude, you do not want to see what I am seeing right now." Foreman said as he found another dead nurse.

"I can only imagine. Cuddy's holding things together down here pretty well. Any sign of House or the others?"

"Not yet. Wilson's taken point with some of the other firemen. This floor was the hardest hit and was the epicenter of the blast. We're not finding a lot of people alive up here."

"What was that?" Foreman could suddenly hear Cuddy over the radio.

"Nothing!" Chase replied and then proceeded to distract Cuddy with other matters.

"Don't try to pass to hide anything from me, Chase. What is it, what's going on? Hand that to me!" Cuddy ordered. Chase took his hand off the button, stopping the communication.

"No." Chase said.

"What did you just say? Dr. Chase, hand me your radio."

"No Cuddy, I won't." A furious, frustrated anger took over Cuddy's face, to Chase's dismay. He watched as the woman jumped down from the information desk, where she had been working on a patient, and slowly marched toward him. Chase felt a lump in his throat, but was able to swallow it. A few years back, the very notion of standing up to Cuddy like this was scary to him. Hell, she was scary right now! But he had to take a stand. Cuddy's efforts were instrumental in getting injured patients to triage, and others moved to different hospitals. She could not be allowed to falter.

"Chase!" Cuddy demanded. Chase quickly closed the distance between them.

"You listen, I can't let you talk to Foreman right now, and it would not be good right now."

"Your empathy is well noted, Dr. Chase. Now give me the God damn radio!" Cuddy almost shouted.

"Cuddy, stop!" Chase said with clenched teeth. "Look around you, Cuddy. You're single handedly holding this place together. But, you're falling apart at the seams. Your nervous, you're scared, we all are! My wife is outside right now making sure that the dead patients are well surrounded by black ice! No matter how much you want this walkie talkie, Dr. Cuddy, I'm not going to give it to you!"

It was true, Cuddy felt exhausted, her thoughts were focused, but she was nervous, though she was not letting on yet. This was the second time tonight that someone had to give her a pep talk. She wasn't used to those. She wasn't used to this. She was barely holding it together. She wanted to punch Chase as hard as she could, but it wouldn't solve anything. It would just be a vent for her anger. It wouldn't do any good. Once again, she had to make a decision that benefitted the hospital over herself.

Cuddy took this for a moment to compose herself. An emotional outburst of any kind would not do well here. Her people needed a clear and strong chain of command. She took a few deep breaths, and ran through a mental check list:

Rachel was alright, she's at your sisters. Check.

Tritter's men are helping with the evacuations. Check.

There are responsible doctors in place performing triage, emergency surgeries and evacuations. Check.

The fire department has ensured structural integrity on all floors. Check.

House's current patient is safe and still alive. Check.

House, Thirteen and Sullivan….still unaccounted for.

The mad man who caused this- still at large.

She removed one of her rubber gloves, and ran her hand over her brow. If she continued on with making the list, it would only serve to frustrate and worry her. Already she could feel adrenaline leave her and exhaustion on the edges of her eyes. Lisa Cuddy willed herself to act, to be Lisa Cuddy.

"What's that?" Chase suddenly said, breaking her reverie. She looked at Chase with a tired and anxious feeling. Chase shook his head in the affirmative, a tired smile appearing on his face.

"They found them, they are still alive. They are going to bring them down on the pulleys."

James Wilson felt a strong sense of relief and anxiousness as he and Foreman descended down a complex system of pulleys and ropes set up in the elevator system. He looked to Foreman who smiled back at him with a reassuring smile of relief over their prize: the safe discovery of House, Thirteen and Sullivan. All three were safely secured in gurneys and being slowly lowered down to the lobby.

The three of them were still unconscious, dirty, but alive. Wilson had looked over each of them very carefully. Soot, dust and dirt had imbedded itself into House's unshaven face and outlined the deep wrinkles forming on his face and around his eyes. Foreman looked over Sullivan and Thirteen who were both alright, though there was a sizable cut on Sullivan's forehead. But they were alive Wilson kept repeating to himself.

It really had been a stroke of luck that Wilson spotted them. All he had seen on the fourth floor was a maze of death, twisted destruction and darkness. There was no sign of life anywhere, only mangled limbs and other strewn wreckage and human remains. The fourth floor was home to many labs and he was about to make his way over to that particular wing when he spotted a familiar cane. He called Foreman immediately and some firemen and amidst all that burned wreckage, they found the three of them, the heavy metal door leading to the lab had absorbed and taken the brunt of the explosion and had actually protected them from the blast.

The pulley system of robes finally touched down and Cuddy was the first one he heard. House was the first one to be extricated from the elevator, with Cuddy giving orders and Chase quickly checking his vitals. Thirteen and Sullivan followed next with similar orders barked by Cuddy to get the three into the clinic where they could be checked out. Wilson unhooked himself from the pulley system and slowly emerged from the elevator. He saw Foreman and the others following behind the gurneys of the three rescued doctors. He saw Cuddy and saw her looking at the teams bring House and the others into the clinic. She seemed frozen in time for a moment, she stood, idle. He slowly walked up and put his arm around her shoulder.

"They're okay. He's okay." Wilson said reassuringly. Cuddy nodded her head, but took a moment to lean on Wilson. She had used so much of her energy already, and she was going to need more to see this crisis through and get it under control. But for that moment, Lisa Cuddy was allowed to be a human being and feel relief.

House was the last to awaken. Unbeknownst to him at that moment his other two fellows had regained consciousness first. Thirteen required some stitches as did Sullivan for his head. Both were still taking it easy. House felt very groggily, disoriented and had even forgotten where he was. He felt the saline drip in his hand next, followed by a monstrous headache.

"He's coming to!" He heard Cameron say.

"Tone down the joy." He said disoriented.

"Yes, uncle scrooge." Cameron replied.

"Shut up." House said as he placed his hand on his head.

"Careful, you needed a few stitches in your head. We took a CT of your head to make sure you're okay."

"How thoughtful." House replied.

"Well, we have to make sure you can finish the current case."

"What the hell is going on?" House asked.

"The hospital is recovering from what only can be termed as a 'terrorist attack.' The whole fourth floor got blown up."

"Where's Cuddy? Is she…"

"Cuddy's fine, she's actually been running the whole response effort for the last eight hours."

"Of course she is. I wouldn't expect her to be doing anything less."

"You'd be proud of her, she's been holding up really well." Cameron said reassuringly. House started to remove the electrodes and other wires he was hooked up to. Cameron protested, 'What are you doing? You can't move yet."

"This blast is serial killer related. I've got to call Tritter…"

"Tritter is already here." Cameron informed him.

"Good, that will make communicating with him easier. Gather the teams, I need to check on the status of our patient and we need to keep a close eye on her and make sure we protect her."

"Why?" Cameron asked.

"This explosion, though well thought out and calculated, is defiantly a desperate attempt. He's running out of options. I need to find Tritter and then meet with the team."

"But…" Cameron tried to protest further.

"The game is a foot, Cameron! We've almost got this bastard. Now, I need a cane." House said as he got up from his gurney.

Thirteen and Taub had met up first. He was relieved to see that she was alright. He had taken care of the stitches she required, taking his usual care to make sure she would have no scars as a result. They had gotten coffee and Taub had filled her in on what she had been going on with the patient and hospital while she was missing. While he was updating her on the current case, Foreman suddenly appeared.

"House is awake. Find Sullivan, House wants a differential now."

The two of them knew it was crazy, but it was useless to argue about it because House was House, and they expected nothing less of him. They got up from the area that was the outdoor lunch area and began their search for Sullivan. He wasn't discovered in any of the triage areas where they expected him. They asked nurses and other people who pointed the, in the right direction.

Taub and Thirteen discovered him, lying on a low level wall. At first he looked like he was resting, but then they saw smoking escaping from his mouth. They got closer and saw that he was smoking and that there were twelve or more buds that had been put out on the ground around him.

"House wants us." Taub said and turned and walked back to where the differential would take place, not taking notice of Sullivan's surprise habit. Thirteen put her hands in her lab coat and looked on surprised as Sullivan took a long drag on his cigarette.

"Did you smoke all of those already?" Thirteen asked in astonishment." Sullivan slowly sat up and threw the cigarette out of his mouth and on to the ground.

"I quit like three years ago. Cold turkey. I've been cold turkey for almost four years." He opened up a pack that he had, took out another cigarette and lit it up immediately and took another long drag. "I hope they catch this son of a bitch soon. I'm so on edge that son of a bitch made me crawl back to this habit."

"Where did you get them?" Thirteen once again inspected the ground and saw a bunch in the bush garden behind him. "And how many have you smoked so far?"

"Just found em on a people who are nothing going to need them. A cop or two as well."

"How many?" Thirteen asked with a growing smile.

"About two packs so far." Sullivan said in reply as he threw the cigarette away, fished out another and lit it, taking another long drag. "Let's go." He said. He and Thirteen fell in step and walked back into the main lobby to head to one of the lecture halls where House would be setting up shop. Thirteen quickly grabbed Sullivan's hand and he responded by squeezing back with his.

End of Part XXI. Part XXII coming soon.

Please forgive the long, long, long delay. There have been so many personal family crisises happening in my life right now. Thank you for being patient and I hope you are all still interested. I'm going to try and bring the resolution to this story by the next part. Hope you enjoyed this part. Thank you for reading.