Author's Note: Still don't own House. Thanks for the reviews - keep 'em coming!
Thirteen smuggled Maggie to House's room late that afternoon. She'd taken the dog outside but when they'd returned to House's office, the little dog had run around. She seemed to be looking for the diagnostician. It made Thirteen feel sad. First her owner didn't come home and now the man who'd taken care of her had also gone missing. She was in a strange place, surrounded by people she didn't know.
"You have to be quiet," Thirteen told her, scooping up the dog. She took the stairs to the floor where House's room was and slipped down the hall.
House was lying still in the bed, his left arm in a sling. At first Thirteen thought he was asleep, until she saw his right hand clenched tight in the blanket. The dog began to squirm in her arms, her tail wagging. Thirteen carried her over toward the bed.
"House," she said quietly, not wanting to startle him. A glance at the monitors showed that his heart rate and blood pressure were elevated. Maggie squirmed some more. Thirteen carefully set her on the bed by House's side and the dog moved forward, putting herself between House's right side and his arm. He opened his eyes.
"What are you doing?" he asked, looking from Thirteen to the dog.
"She was trying to find you." House unclenched his hand and ran it along Maggie's side. The dog leaned into him, her tail still wagging. "Have they given you any pain medication?"
"Tylenol. It's useless." Thirteen shuddered. She'd tried Tylenol for headaches a few times and found it to have no effect on her pain. She couldn't imagine having to rely on it for anything more serious. "Cuddy didn't want to try the methadone."
"Well, that whole not-breathing thing was pretty scary."
"Yeah. What about Sarah?"
"We haven't heard from her," Thirteen said. "I could try to call her. Your cell phone is up in your office."
"Cuddy," House said.
"Wha…"
"In the hall."
"Crap!" Thirteen turned to see Cuddy looking through the room's glass wall. She looked back to Maggie. "Stay!" She told her before hurrying out of the room and meeting Cuddy at the door.
"Why is there a dog in House's bed?" the older woman demanded. Thirteen slid the door shut behind her.
"The dog was trying to find him in the office." She glanced back into the room. "His blood pressure's gone down since she got here."
"Why is House taking care of his neighbor's dog? Who is she to him?" Thirteen wasn't sure if Cuddy was asking her or talking to herself until Cuddy narrowed her eyes at her.
"She's his neighbor. They're… friends, I think."
"You met her. When?"
"Friday night. She had the flu and was dehydrated. I took House some supplies so he could treat her."
"You…" Cuddy was surprised. She looked past Thirteen, frowning into House's room. Thirteen turned to look. House's eyes were closed. His hand rested on Maggie, who was lying beside him.
Sarah had turned off her cell phone after deleting Todd's latest message. She paced her room, still debating on whether or not she should move hotels. She wanted to do something, take some kind of action, but venturing outside was still terrifying.
She replayed Todd's message in her head. "Your limping friend wouldn't tell me where you are," he'd said. He'd gone to see Greg. What had he done? Did he hurt Greg? Sarah froze in her pacing, feeling anger course through her. If he'd hurt Greg…
"I am tired of running," she said out loud. "I am tired of being frightened all the time. How dare he! How dare he come here and terrorize me and threaten my friend!" She pounded a fist into her palm. She pulled her coat on, grabbed her purse, and started toward the door. She froze with her hand on the handle. Going outside was still terrifying.
Thirteen paced in House's office. She held House's cell phone in her hands. She was debating on whether or not to call Sarah. House hadn't had the chance to tell her if that's what he wanted. When she'd finished talking to Cuddy and returned to his room to get the dog, he'd been asleep. She'd brought Maggie back here and now she was curled up in his chair sleeping.
Thirteen scrolled through the Contacts listing in the phone until she found Sarah, and hit send. The call went straight to voice mail. She spoke after the tone.
"Sarah, this is Dr. Hadley at Princeton Plainsboro. Dr. House… has been hurt. We tried to warn him as you asked, but he was being attacked when we got to him. His attacker escaped. House is going to be alright but he's very worried about you. Please, call us. Let me come and get you. I really think House needs to see you." She hung up and stared at the phone, willing it to ring. She hoped she had done the right thing.
When House woke up he found Cuddy sitting by his bed. He could see through the room's windows that it was dark outside. He'd been out for a few hours then. He wasn't hurting as badly as he had been before and he wondered what they'd given him besides the Tylenol. Cuddy got up and came to stand beside the bed.
"Hi," she said. "How are you feeling?"
"Where's Thirteen?" he asked. He wanted to know if she'd heard from Sarah. Cuddy frowned at him.
"She's with the rest of your team, taking care of your patient. The dog is still in your office."
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be home with your baby and your boy-toy?" House just wanted Cuddy to go away. He needed to figure out how to find Sarah.
"I was just leaving," Cuddy said with an exasperated sigh. "Get some rest." She patted his arm once and walked away. Cuddy was almost to the door when House called out to her. He'd had an idea, if he had the nerve to go through with it.
"Cuddy!" She turned and looked back at him.
"What, House?"
"Lucas… Maybe Lucas could find Sarah." Cuddy stared at him for what seemed like a long time.
"I'll ask him to come by and see you," she said finally.
Thirteen was the last person left in the office. Taub had left first, wanting to get home to his wife. Foreman had gone next. Their patient had finally responded to the treatment, giving them the clues they needed to diagnose him correctly. He was on the right treatment now. Thirteen had volunteered to stay and monitor the patient.
Chase had gone to get dog food for Maggie. He'd said that he would stay to monitor the patient as well, despite having drawn the short straw the night before. Thirteen suspected that he wanted to monitor House as well.
Neither of them was sure what to do about Maggie. Taub and Foreman had done their best to ignore the dog all afternoon. Taub had failed; Thirteen caught him petting her on more than one occasion. Thirteen shook her head; Foreman had to be cold-hearted to ignore Maggie's sweet face. Breaking up with him had definitely been the right decision.
Thirteen looked up as the conference room door opened. She expected to see Chase returning but instead Lucas Douglas walked in.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. She'd been shocked to learn that Cuddy was dating the private investigator, and had been for some time.
"House asked to see me. He wants me to find his friend."
"The police are looking for her."
"They're more concerned with finding the man who attacked House," Lucas said. "Lisa says he's really worried about this woman, Sarah."
"He is," Thirteen admitted, leading the way into House's office. "I tried to call her earlier." She picked up House's cell phone and pulled up Sarah's number. Lucas jotted it down before collecting House's keys from his coat pocket.
"You going to stay here tonight?" he asked, glancing at Maggie.
"Yes," Thirteen said. She didn't want to leave House alone.
Sarah felt ashamed of herself. She'd just frozen, too frightened to leave her hotel room. She'd backed away from the door and sank down onto the edge of the bed. Todd was out there somewhere. She didn't know what he had done to Greg.
"I am such a coward," she muttered. She pulled out her cell phone and powered it on again. Her voice mail notification came up again. She stared at it for a minute, dreading the thought of hearing another message from Todd. "Come on, Coward." She keyed in her password and raised the phone to her ear.
"Sarah, this is Dr. Hadley at Princeton Plainsboro. Dr. House… has been hurt. We tried to warn him as you asked, but he was being attacked when we got to him. His attacker escaped. House is going to be alright but he's very worried about you. Please, call us. Let me come and get you. I really think House needs to see you." Sarah hung up the phone and sat, feeling her heart pound. Now she knew what Todd had done. Dr. Hadley thought Greg needed to see her but Sarah didn't know how she could ever face him again.