House could feel the adrenaline leaving his body and pulled himself to the night stand grabbing his phone off. He laid on his back and dialed Wilson. He still couldn't hear anything not even his own words so he waited for five seconds and just started talking.

Wilson pick up the phone on the first ring of House's ring-tone. "What is it House?" Wilson said and heard breathing on the other end.

"Wilson? I don't know if you can hear me but..." House started coughing hard and could feel the fluid in his lungs. "Damn rib." He said rolling slightly on his left side.

Wilson blinked rapidly at the odd start of the conversation. "House are..."

"I better make this quick in case it's your voice mail. Don't come over, I'm not sure I got them all, send an ambulance..(cough) to my place. You've been a great.. (hacking cough) friend. Don't let them take me to our hospital, don't want them to see me like this." House's body was shaking from the pain and he's vision was fading. "Not gonna make it, you were the best..." House dropped the phone as he went unconscious.

Wilson could feel his heart beating in his throat, "House? HOUSE!" he yelled and grabbed his keys making his way to his car. He dialed 911 as he turned on his hazard lights and peeled out towards House's place.

"What kind of emergency is this?" asked the woman on the other line.

"I... I don't know." Wilson answered trying to make sure he didn't kill himself or anyone else on the road.

"Calm down sir, what has happened?" asked operator.

Wilson thought about it, "My friend just called said that he needs an ambulance at his place, there might be other there. He said he wasn't sure he got them all." Wilson almost hit a car when going through a stop sign. "Fuck," Wilson said and then remembered he was on the phone. "Sorry that wasn't towards you."

"Sir what's your friends name and where does he live?" the operator asked.

"Dr. Gregory House at 221B Elm Street in Plansboro, New Jersey." He said honking his horn as he went through another stop light. He pulled up and parked his car.

"Sir I have them dispatched, please stay on the line." said the operator.

Wilson jumped out of the car and ran to the door which to his surprise was unlocked and opened it. "House," he said walking in finding everything looking normal, "I swear if this is some kind of prank I'll kill you." Wilson said still holding the phone to his ear.

"Sir, what's your name and are you at your friends place?" asked the operator.

"Yes I'm at his place and my name is Dr. James Wilson." he said looking around and then finally going into the bedroom. "Shit.. House!" Wilson yelled looking around at the bodies in the floor of the dark room. "House!" Wilson yelled almost slipping in the blood that coated the floor. He looked around and saw that all the men were wearing army clothing except on who was covered in only his underwear. Wilson made his way over and saw the phone beside the body that had to be House. Wilson could hear the police as he bent down over House and felt for a pulse. It was very weak, but it was there. "What the hell happened?" He asked looking around the dark room at the bodies and then at House who was hard to see but Wilson could smell and see the shine of the blood that coated him.

"Police coming in!" Yelled a man outside of Houses apartment and came in the living room pointing a gun.

Wilson yelled back, "In here," as he hung up the phone, he wasn't about to leave House's side.

Two police officer came in and turned on the light. "Sir we are going to need you to step away from the body." Said the woman with her hand on the holster of her gun.

"No! I'm who called it in, he's my best friend. I'm his doctor." Wilson rambled not making an inch away from House.

"Sir, we have to take pictures before the ambulances get here." The man said putting his gun away.

Wilson shook his head, "I can't," he said now looking down and seeing that House's body and face were so badly beaten he was unrecognizable.

The police started taking pictures quickly knowing that as soon as the ambulance got there the whole crime scene would be disturbed. Wilson kept his hand on Houses neck making sure there was still a pulse until he suddenly felt someone pulling him away. "Let go of me!" he yelled looking back to see paramedics.

"Sir if you want your friend to live you need to get out of the way," Said a large man staring him down.

Wilson looked around to see more paramedics and moved away from House. He hadn't even heard the siren on the ambulances or when they had come in. Wilson stood up and watched as they felt for a pulse, "I'm riding with him, I'm his doctor." Wilson said.

"What Hospital do you need him taken to?" Asked the paramedic.

"Princet..." Wilson stopped and thought about what House had said, "scratch that take him to New Jersey Medical." Then moved out of the way as a gurney was put down to put House on.

"Alright New Jersey Medical it is," The paramedic said to him and started rolling House out with Wilson following then they piled into the ambulance.

"What have we got?" asked the driver as he pulled out.

"Need to go to New Jersey Medical. Male with a collapsed lung, multiple broken bones, maybe a skull fracture, electrical and fire burns covering at least a forth of his body, and something's going on with his leg, that's all I can tell right now." Said the paramedic.

"He had a surgery ten years ago were they removed some of his muscle." Wilson watched as the leg shook. "He has spasms."

"You know him pretty well?" The paramedic ask watching how Wilson was looking at the body with disbelief.

"He's my best friend and one of the best Doctors in the world, he can't die." Wilson said staring at him.

"What's his name?" asked the paramedic.

"Dr. Gregory House." Wilson answered.

The paramedic looked at Wilson with a stunned expression, "The Dr. House, as in the best diagnostician in the world. That Dr. House?"

Wilson nodded still unable to look away from what was left of House's body.

1111111111

It had been two hours and Wilson was now sitting in a waiting room since House had been rushed into surgery. Wilson opened his cell phone and called Cuddy.

"I don't even want to know his excuse," Cuddy said as soon as she answered the phone. She had been waiting for almost five hours for House to show up at her place and was just about to get in bed.

Wilson didn't know what to say, he was still in shock from everything. "I'm at New Jersey Medical." He said softly.

Cuddy could tell something was wrong, "Are you okay?" she asked now with concern.

"You should be here," Wilson said just now noticing the blood that covered his hands from touching House.

Cuddy swallowed, "Wilson are you alright?"

Wilson stared at the blood, "I'll be fine, but you need to come." he said softly again.

Cuddy didn't know what was going on, but she knew that Wilson wouldn't have called her unless he thought it was important. "Okay, I'll see if I can get someone to watch Rachel."

"Bring her if you have to. He needs you." Wilson said closing his eyes to get away from looking at the blood.

Cuddy felt her chest tighten, this was about House. "I'll be there Wilson." She said taking off her night clothes and pulling out some jeans and a shirt from her closet and then she heard Wilson hang up. She looked at the cell phone and with an odd expression and got dressed. She called Stacy a girl she had used to watch Rachel some nights, and was relieved to find that she could watch Rachel until noon the next day.

Cuddy wondered why House would be at New Jersey Medical instead of their Hospital and found herself getting mad. Almost every time House ended up at the Hospital it was because of his own doings. She was tired of him pulling stunts that caused Wilson and her to worry about him, when he didn't even care enough to try and be careful. It took almost an hour for Cuddy to get to the Hospital because of traffic.

She looked down at her phone and realized it had been two hours since Wilson had called and now was almost three in the morning. She grabbed a scrunchy from the glove box and pulled her hair into a ponytail and entered the Hospital. She looked around the waiting room but didn't see him.

"I need the room number for Dr. Gregory House." Cuddy asked the woman at the nurses station.

The woman looked up at Cuddy and then typed the name in her system. "He's in room 503, but visiting hours aren't for another two hours."

Cuddy smiled, "Well then it's good I'm not visiting, I'm one of his Doctors."

The woman eyed Cuddy, "You have any proof of that?"

Cuddy pulled out a wallet sized Doctors license and handed it to the woman.

The woman read it and gave it back to Cuddy, "Like I said room 503."

Cuddy put it back in her wallet and got on the elevator taking it up to the fifth floor. She was tired and pissed at House before the call and now even though she was worried she was even more pissed that he had pulled some stunt that had once again landed him in a Hospital.

As the doors opened she looked to see that the floor was almost completely empty of life at three in the morning and walked down the hall finding Wilson sitting by room 503.

"Hey," he said watching her walk up to him.

"How many times has he put you through this?" Cuddy asked looking down at him.

"I don't know," Wilson said tiredly looking down.

Cuddy sighed looking at Wilson, "Well I'm going in there to let him know this shit has to stop." She said walking towards the door.

"You might not want to go in just yet." Wilson said standing on unsteady feet.

Cuddy opened the door and went in. She stopped as two nurses looked at her and she saw a purple, red and black covered body hooked up to a respirator that they were trying to clean gently with bandages and stitches holding it together. She felt sick as she shook her head not believing this could be House. Then she saw his leg with the muscle missing but instead of the scar it was half burnt black while the other half was red and seeping from having the burnt skin removed. Cuddy turned back and left. She felt her stomach lurch and ran past Wilson into the restroom she had passed walking to his room and vomited.

Wilson was waiting outside the womens bathroom when she came back out. "You alright?"

Cuddy shook her head, "That can't be him Wilson... there just no way that it's him." She said looking up at him with watery eyes.

Wilson licked his lips and frowned, "But it is... some how he's in there Lisa. He has to be."

Cuddy looked over at the closed door. "What happened to him?"

Wilson ran his hands over his face, "I don't know for sure, the police were able to get a statement from one of the men, but the others..." Wilson shook his head looking back at the room.

She took a hold of his hand, "Let me take you somewhere and we can get something to eat. There isn't anything we can do for him right now Wilson, and you can tell me what happened."

"No! I wont leave him," Wilson looked up at her with glassy eyes, "I can't." He said with a worried and sad face.

Cuddy frowned, "Wilson he needs you to be strong, you have to eat and get away from this place in order to do that." She pulled on his arm and although he watched Houses door he went with Cuddy.

11111111111

They were at a small 24 hour dinner across from the Hospital sitting silently.

"We use to come here." Wilson said out of no where.

Cuddy smiled, "I'm sure you will again, you know House, he's a fighter." She wasn't sure if House could recover from this, but knew Wilson needed to hear positive things.

Wilson took a sip of the coffee. "He was attacked in his own home." He blinked a couple of time as he thought about it. "Can you imagine waking up tied down with four men watching you?"

"Who attacked him and how did they get in?" Cuddy asked watching Wilson.

Wilson sighed, "Well all I can tell you is what one of the attackers told the police. He said that they used chloroform to keep House out when they found him asleep and tied him down. They tortured him with numerous things that they had brought with them and then House convinced them to let him die fighting and they untied him. He said the House snapped one of the guys neck and hit him with something and that's all he knew. Police said that the guy gave them specifics on what they did, but that I shouldn't read it yet. They said it's pretty sick and graphic to read about someone you don't know, and would be even worse imagining a friend going through it. They gave me a copy though of the offical statement." Wilson said putting the file on the table.

Cuddy looked at it and then looked back at Wilson. "Yeah I'm not reading that for a while, maybe ever. So why the hell did these guys break into House's place?"

Wilson swallowed and looked away from Cuddy, "You remember Corporal Young?"

Cuddy thought about it for a second, "The soldier who hit me?" She said with wide eyes.

"He planned the whole thing and ordered three of his men to help him. They were suppose to kill House." Wilson couldn't help but wonder if House would be better off dead then the condition they left him in.

"What happened to the Young and the other men did the police catch them?" Cuddy asked with a panicked face.

"No, House killed the bastards." Wilson said looking back at her.

As Cuddy thought of this a small sad smile fell on her lips, "Is it wrong of me to think that they got off better than they deserved?"

Wilsons jaw tightened and his hands were fisted, "No, they definitely got off a lot easier than House. I wish that they could be suffering like they made him."

"So did you get a call from the Hospital or the police?" Cuddy asked taking a sip of the coffee.

"House called me instead of 911. He said not to let the ambulance take him to Princeton Plainsboro, because he didn't' want them to see him like this. He said I had been a great friend." Wilson said swallowing hard, "Even after all the crap I've put him through, he called me to tell me I was a great friend when he thought he was dying."

"You have been a great friend to him Wilson." Cuddy said and held on of his fisted hands.

"No I haven't! I've been a terrible friend. I slept with the woman he was trying to marry, and then I didn't tell him why she left until ten years later. I've caused him so much physical pain with the detoxing and the DBS. I've ratted him out to the cops when, if I'd listened to him when the pain returned and given him a prescription none of that ever would have happened. I've blamed him for my marriages failing, when it wasn't his fault it was mine and all the time Cuddy he's been there for me, given me strength and guided me to do better and instead of letting him know how important he was to me I would shift blame on him and lecture him about being a lousy friend." Wilson had tears running down his face by the end of his rant. "He deserved better than that."

Cuddy sat there in silence letting Wilson get it all out of his system. "No one's perfect Wilson, you tried and now he's going to need both of us more than ever." she said softly.

Wilson nodded slowly, "I'll do what ever it takes to get him better."

Cuddy was able to get him to eat a little and then they both went back to the Hospital.

Wilson looked at the door, "I'm afraid to go in... he looked bad when I found him, but he was covered in so much blood I really couldn't see how bad it was."

Cuddy swallowed remembering how the sight of him had made her vomit earlier. "He looks bad Wilson, but he needs us to be strong." she said putting her hand on the door knob and pushing it open.

They both peeked in looking at the body that seemed impossible to be alive. Cuddy stood at the door looking in and Wilson walked in slowly looking at House's legs and feet that were facing the door without any covers. He took another couple of steps to find that the only part of House's body that was covered were his privates with a one and half foot wide strip of Satin like material. Wilson looked at his right hand that was taped up and then at his left leg with had bandages wrapped around it. Wilson noticed the burnes on his scar, nipple, neck, and there were red blisters scattered all of his body from some kind of burn but Wilson wasn't sure what kind. He noticed that the red blisters were close together along where the satin strip laid and pulled it down slightly to see that they continued and pulled it back up swallowing hard. He noticed that House's left ribs were bandaged and finally got the courage to look at his face. It was almost nothing but bandages. The top of his head was bandaged along with his his nose, both cheekbones, his jaw and most of his neck. Wilson stepped back and noticed that besides the respirator and normal equipment, House also had a colostomy bag, which meant they didn't expect him to be able to move anytime soon. Wilson searched for any flesh tone skin and all he could find was his toes and a couple of patches on his arms where the bruises were broken up.

Wilson looked back to see Cuddy sitting down in one of the chairs looking at House with a horrid expression. "This doesn't seem real." she said looking at him.

Wilson walked over to sit down beside her and pulled her to him. "We'll get him through this, you're right about him being strong and stubborn. He'll pull through this some way."

The nurse walked in and looked at them, "Visiting hours haven't started yet."

Wilson stood up, "I'm his medical proxy, and we are the closest thing he has to family."

The nurse looked over at House and back at Wilson and Cuddy. "His doctor should be coming by soon. You can stay just make sure not to touch him, his skin really needs to air to heal from the burns and that makes him more vulnerable to infections."

"We are both Doctors as well." Cuddy said putting out a hand to the woman, "I'm Dr. Cuddy and this is Dr. Wilson." She said shaking the nurses hand. "I was noticing that there wasn't a chart on his bed."

"I'm Jessica and we don't keep the charts on the bed, we believe keeping them at the nurses station gives our customers more privacy." Jessica smiled and walked past them to House and made sure his status looked good then checked on his waste and left.

Wilson and Cuddy sat back down and suddenly Cuddy laughed. Wilson gave her an odd look and she tried to stop but she laughed even harder. "I just could help but think House could never work here." She said smiling, "He would hate having to tip toe around for patients privacy." She said as her laughter started to fade.

Wilson gave her a smile as he tried to imagine House getting irritated by rules and policies. "He would hate it here." Wilson said with a smile.

"Who would hate it here?" asked the doctor standing in the doorway with a slight Russian accent.

Wilson stood up, "It's not important, are you House's doctor?"

Cuddy stayed seat but turned toward the door.

"Yes, my name is Dr. Douglas Tucker and you are?" Tucker asked.

"I'm his best friend and medical proxy, my name is Dr. James Wilson, and this is his boss and girlfriend, Dr. Lisa Cuddy. We are pretty much his family so any news you could give us would be great." Wilson said

"That's not true," said Tucker said putting on gloves.

Wilson swallowed and sat down as the doctor looked over at House. "Is he going to make it?" he asked shaken by what the doctor had said.

"He shouldn't have made it this far, so no one knows." Tucker said looking back at Wilson and Cuddy. "So how do you want to do this you can sit there and I can tell you his injuries and then check to see their progress, or we can do both at the same time."

Cuddy swallowed, "Both, I want to see his progress as well."

Tucker nodded, "Great we shall begin from the bottom and work our way up then." Tucker started removing the bandages on the souls of House's feet, "As you can see he was branded with the same kind of iron that would be used on herding animals on his feet, we cleaned the wound as you can see it seems to be healing slowly which means he wouldn't be able to walk for a while but I'm guessing he was in a wheelchair anyways."

"No, he used a cane." Wilson said staring at the burned markings on Houses feet.

"He should have been, but this one is full of surprises, no?" Tucker said and looked at the other foot too, making sure it was progressing at the same pace as the first. "Next is the right leg which has third degree burns on a old scar, since the scar tissue was thick it caused less damage, but is still going to take at least six weeks to completely heal. Dr. Wilson, you should think of weither or not you want to do a skin graph over it, or leave it the way it is."

Wilson looked at him surprised, "It's not my call, as soon as House wakes up he'll..."

Tucker interupted him, "Dr. Wilson, there is a good chance he will not wake up, and even if he does, it's even more unlikely that he will be the man you knew him to be."

Wilson looked at the doctor with an open mouth and Cuddy grabbed his elbow. Wilson looked at her and then back at the doctor, "Why? Why is there a good chance he wont wake up or he'll be different?"

"Oh, you were not informed, of course not, you aren't family. Dr. House suffered many hits to the head which resulted in reopening a prior skull fracture and creating a new one along with bruising the brain badly. He also died two times on the table during surgeries. This," Tucker said gesturing at House's still lifeless body, "isn't us, he is in a coma."

Wilson grabbed the bed rails to keep himself up right and Cuddy put her right hand on the bed rail and her left hand on Wilson's back.

"I can see that this is a surprise to you, would you like to continue, or should I come back?" Tucker said.

"Continue," Cuddy said softly looking at House.

"As you wish," Tucker said going around the bed to the left leg, and peeling back the bandages, "His left leg was broken and is now being held by titanium plates and screws it will take at least 3 months for the bone to heal, then if he's able at least 3 months in rehab." Dr. Tucker felt of the stitches through gloved hands and seemed satisfied covering it back up then pulling off the satin fabric that covered House's privates.

Cuddy looked alarmed at the blisters from the burns and Wilson looked at the doctor with angry eyes, "Was that necessary?"

Tucker raised an eyebrow at Wilson, "You said you were doctors, am I wrong. I assume you knew your friend was a man."

Wilson couldn't believe this guy, "Yes I knew he was a man, but he might appreciate keeping a little modesty."

"I told you I was going to check his wounds while telling you of the extent of his injuries and you agreed. I do not take my job lightly Dr. Wilson or the care of my patients as I hope you don't either. Now, he sustained second degree electrical burns which has caused the redness of the skin and the blisters that are seen all over his body and cover his complete pelvic region." Tuck said looking at the blisters.

"What kind of electrical burn?" Cuddy asked unable to look away from House blistered flesh.

"I'm told he had water poured on him and was electrocuted with a cattle prod, the water his underwear soaked up is the reason for damage here being consistent here while the other burns are spread out to where the water beads were. It should heal completely with in two to four weeks and we honestly can't say if he will lose any function in the area." Dr. Tucker said covering House again, then moving on. "He has three cracked ribs on the right side of his chest and had a broken rip on his left side, which punctured his lung filling it with blood and then causing it to collapse. We stitched the lung and removed the floating piece of rib." Tucker said looking under the bandages at the stitches that ran along his rib where they had cut.

"This seems to be recovering better than I had hoped for. The right nipple was also burned by the cattle prod through a metal vice grip that was attached to the nipple causing third degree burns. He pulled his left shoulder out of its socked, but it was put back in and shattered his right hand, which will be put in a splint today. His neck was burned as well, because of a chain metal dog collar that was apparently on him. He is lucky one of the spikes didn't push a hole all the way through his throat. He did also get a lot of bruising from the collar and cut flesh, that is why we had it covered." Tucker said now looking under the bandages, "We stitched over sixty stitches around his neck, hopefully they will all heal properly leaving nothing more than faint scars."

Tucker looked at both of them. "Are you sure you wish to be in the room as I inspect his facial and skull injuries?"

Wilson looked down and closed his eyes trying to decide.

"I'm sure," Cuddy said softly.

"No Cuddy, I'm not sure that's a good idea." Wilson said looking at her.

"You may want listen to your friend, his head sustained a lot of damage." Tucker said looking at Cuddy.

Cuddy swallowed, "I need to see," she said not moving.

Wilson look at her and then Dr. Tucker, "We'll both stay."

Tucker nodded and started taking off the bandages on Houses face. "He fractured his jaw, broke his nose, and has a fracture on the left cheek bone, all of which are scheduled to be fixed today since he had to be under so long and had two scares on the table. His skull fractures where here and here," Tucker said indicating the spots with his fingers. "He did have a small brain bleed that has been taken care of. Are there any questions I might answer for you?"

Cuddy stared down at House's battered face and couldn't see any part of House, it was just a blob of purple bruises. "If he comes out of the coma, what would be ideal for his recovery."

Tucker looked at her and then at House. "Three weeks in the Hospital, then he could go home, as long as there was someone there to help him, in a electric wheelchair for one to two months depending on how fast he heals, then he should be ready to go back to work, using the wheelchair of course until he's out of rehab. It is possible for him to be completely healed in six to eight months." Tucker walked over to Cuddy, "I say it is possible Dr. Cuddy, but please remember that it isn't probable. It is good to hope for the best, but not to forget the reality of the situation." Cuddy nodded, and Dr. Tucker walked over to Wilson, "And you need to think about how long you want to keep him on life support, in case he doesn't wake up. If either of you have anymore questions just tell the nurses and they will pass them along and I'll get back to you." Dr. Tucker said now walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.