Chapter 25: A Night at The Hospital
Gabrielle sat in her room and stared out the window. She could hear Rachel crying out in the living room, and her father asking Cuddy to get the kid to stop so he could go to bed. There was something wrong, and she could sense it, but right now she couldn't trust her own senses. Everything that she had felt today was completely unlike her, and she hated herself for it. In the back of her head, she also knew that all of her complaints about herself were all distractions from what she had seen earlier.
Gabrielle stood up and looked through her bag to make sure that everything was packed. The only things still out were her laptop, which was charging, and her clothes for tomorrow. "Well, there it is," she said to herself. She felt as if she were in the ending of a movie. In a way, it sort of was and ending, she would go back to Toledo and finish up with her school year, and then start over, most likely in New Jersey with her Father. She had known that all along, but now it all seemed so final.
There was a knock at the door which brought Gabrielle back to reality. "It's open," she called out.
House pushed the door open with his cane and stepped into the room. "Kids got a high fever, we're leaving now," House announced and then left the room. Gabrielle just quickly got up and followed.
House and Gabrielle sat out in the waiting room of the ER while Cuddy was with Rachel. Gabrielle sat there the entire time trying to see how House felt about Rachel getting sick. It was hard to believe, but he was t he hardest one for her to read. But, just because it was hard didn't mean that it was impossible. "So, how long do you figure we're gonna be here for?" she asked trying her best to sound completely bored.
House didn't even look down at her, but he could tell what she was trying to do. He knew that she was truly worried. "I don't know. All depends on what's wrong," he answered without emotion. He figured if he gave her a short, blunt answer without any emotion, that it should confuse her. Quite honestly, he wanted to see how good she was, how far she would go to read some one.
Gabrielle sat back and sighed. "Well, you're the diagnostic," she said and then looked over at him. "Tell me, what do you think is wrong?"
House arched his eyebrow and looked down at her and then went into deep thought. "High fever, restlessness, when I picked her up there was cold sweat but that is also just a sign of a fever. Of course the last couple of days she has been going from cold to warm within seconds which would weaken her immune system. What it could also do is mess with her sinuses." He then focused his attention back on Gabrielle. "I'm going to say either the flu, a cold, or a sinus infection."
"Isn't that a bit vague for you?" Gabrielle asked.
"What do I have to work off of? Until you give me some kind of list of how her vitals or even a temp, I can't do anything," House said. "Seems like some one wanted to overate her daddy."
"Would you have rather me underrate you?" she asked. She knew she was going to get some where if she kept up the questioning.
"Nah, then I would have surprised you," he said in his usual sarcastic tone, which made Gabrielle roll her eyes.
Cuddy softly and slowly walked thru the door and entered the waiting room. House and Gabrielle both looked up and carefully watched her. Cuddy walked over and sat down beside House. It was easy to tell how nervous she was, but no one knew exactly why. It was starting to make Gabrielle wonder what was really wrong with Rachel. Cuddy could feel the curious eyes on her. "Strep throat. All they can do is give her the penicillin and watch her fever. It's at a hundred and four right now. She's asleep," Cuddy plainly stated everything as she stared with a glazed look.
"Babies often have high fevers, their body temperatures are higher then ours." House looked over only to see that there hadn't been any change in her expression. "Strep throat is easily cured."
Cuddy slowly turned and looked over at him. There was a questionable look in her eyes. Her maternal feelings were starting to kick in and caused a guilt trip. Her eyes were glazed over and distant.
"You'd never catch me with a strep patient," House stated.
Gabrielle looked over at Cuddy and then back at House. "And you would give me strep throat to teach another lesson wouldn't you?" she asked trying to help prove his point.
House looked down at her and arched his eyebrows. "You're allergic to mold," he stated. "Giving you penicillin would only make you worse off."
Gabrielle crossed her arms. "The only reaction I get to penicillin are hives that last a few hours. My doctor said it was okay to give it to me," Gabrielle explained.
"Now there's something I can use," House said and then went into deep thought.
"Sure, worry about giving me penicillin, but it's okay to set off an asthma attack and induce allergic reactions, which is basically what giving me penicillin would do," Gabrielle said.
Cuddy closed her eyes and put up her hands. "Please," she said getting their attention. "I don't mind if you fight, but do it somewhere else." She seemed to have snapped out of her trance like state from before, but still had a distant look to her eye. Cuddy looked over and saw the two watching her. "What? You two working together to figure out what's wrong with me? Decided that maybe if you team up you could read my personal thoughts?" Cuddy just shook her head and left to the opposite side of the room.
Gabrielle looked down and sighed. She then looked up and saw House staring after Cuddy, but not with his usual horny, I want her look. Instead, he looked to her with a guilt. "Aw, you're worried," Gabrielle said putting her hand on his shoulder. "That's cute," she said.
House looked down on her strangely. "What? You hitting on me?" he jokingly asked.
Gabrielle smirked. "What is it sticky hands? Afraid to let some one other than fictitious girls on the computer to allow you some pleasure in your life?" she asked.
"And I'm the perverted one," House scoffed.
"I wouldn't be so perverted if I wasn't given the situations that you seem to encounter all too often," Gabrielle stated and then innocently looked up at House. "Look," she said and then looked over towards where Cuddy was. "Why don't you go over there and be Cat Stevens to Sad Lisa over there and just talk to her. It won't kill you to show her that you care a little."
"Wouldn't it seem a little played out coming from me?" House asked trying to prolong his awkward approach.
"Maybe, but either way it'll show her that you cared enough to put some effort into it," Gabrielle answered and then gave him a reassuring smile. "Just do it."
House stood up and then looked down at her. "Since when do I listen to you?" he asked.
"Since you know that I am right," she smugly answered.
"If that's what you think," he said.
"It's not what I think, it's what I know," she stated.
"Sure, your huge life experience with this subject is soo helpful for all of us here," he childishly remarked.
Gabrielle started to laugh and sat forward. "Stop acting like such a coward and get you butt over there," she said.
House just turned and walked over to Cuddy and stood there behind her for a minute. He did care. He wanted to tell her that, to get her to believe that, but who would? If the positions were switched, he would have a hard time believing it. He kept trying to tell her what he wanted to say, but Gabrielle's words kept ringing in his ears. That he was a coward, and in many ways he was. She had been right about when she had stated that he was afraid of being rejected.
Cuddy stood there as she blankly stared. Her arms were crossed as she leaned to the side against the wall. She could feel his presence, but wanted to give him a minute before she acknowledged him. Right now the last thing that she wanted to do was to argue with him. "What is it House?" she asked without looking back at him.
"She's going to be fine. You're over reacting," he said. There was nothing much else that he could say, but did start to regret telling her that she was over reacting. He knew that she was going to get mad at that. "Kids get sick, it's known fact. You're never going to completely protect them from the little germs and parasites that are everywhere."
Cuddy lifted her head up and slowly looked back over her shoulder. "You telling me that I shouldn't be worried about my daughter?" she asked. Her voice was stern and stung House.
"I just don't want you to panic, that's all," he said and then turned around to leave.
Cuddy stood up and turned around. "Wait," she said as she dropped her arms to her sides.
House stopped in his tracks and then turned back to her. "Yes?" he asked.
"Why do you care?" Cuddy asked. She shook her head as her eyes started to water with the unshed tears that she had been trying to fight. "Why are you even here?" Cuddy looked down and walked over to House. She stopped before him and looked up into his eyes, as if trying to figure out what he was thinking about. "You don't care about Rachel, I know you don't. You could have just dropped me off. Instead, you chose to stay. Why?" she asked.
House stared down into her eyes. He didn't know what to say. One wrong statement could ruin everything, and he now felt as if this were his last chance, like fro some reason that what happened now could either make them or break them as a couple. "Gabrielle wanted to stay," he answered without anything better to say at the moment.
Cuddy backed up a bit, but still kept her eye contact. "I know that she would want to stay, but you could have just dropped her off to." Cuddy sighed and looked straight forward. "I don't want to hear why Gabrielle is here though, I want to hear about why you're here," she said.
"Look, why does it matter so much to you? I'm here aren't I? Isn't that what you wanted? God you boss types are hard to please," he said.
"I just want to know, do you care about Rachel? I mean, I look over and I see you and Gabrielle together. You two are like perfect matches for each other. Your exchanges of insults are like a normal person's exchange of hugs and kisses. Trust me, she is the only one who can tolerate everything you do. But you two get along great, and when I see you two, I hope that I can get along with Rachel that well. But then, I also would hope that you would give Rachel a chance," Cuddy said. She shook her head and started to walk away. Her back was turned to him as she stopped and looked up. She gathered her thoughts and then turned around. "House, I'm going to have your baby. Will you pay attention to him or her? If you do, don't you think that Rachel will feel left out?" she put her hands on her hips and let out a small laugh. "I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into. I don't think you understand any of this."
House narrowed his eyes on her. "If I'm such a horrible person, why did you me? Why are you having my child? Why would you leave Rachel with me?" he asked. It was now obvious that she had struck a nerve some where.
Cuddy just stared. "Oddly enough I trust you, and I left you and Rachel to see how you would be as a father. I know you care, I just wish that you would show it every once in a while." Cuddy shook her head and then started to walk away. She knew he had his little ways of showing every once in a while, like he had today, but she had a point to get across to him.
"I'm still here aren't I?" he asked and then turned around and went back over to Gabrielle.
Cuddy just stopped and slowly turned back to see him walking away.