Chapter 3
Day 40 (Continued)
House inspected Allie's shoulders very carefully. If what the medics had said, that she'd been found with them behind her back, and they'd released them, she could have permanent damage with those joints. Of course he would have no way of knowing until she regained consciousness. For he was certain she would; she just simply couldn't die. She couldn't.
"Do you have any paralytics?" He asked one of the EMT's, who moments later procured one and handed it over to House. Sighing, he injected it into shoulder, knowing he'd never be able to find a vein in her current condition. When the paramedic looked at him curiously he rolled his eyes and started to get angry. "Do you know anything about hypothermia victims?!" He growled at the man, who quickly turned around and went back to filling out the necessary paperwork.
Alone again, House brushed some hair once more from the girl's face. He wanted nothing more than to start rubbing her skin, or even worse, strip down and try and have her draw his body heat into her, but he knew at this point it wouldn't help. And any friction or jerking to her skin could cause worse damage. He just had to wait will they arrived at the hospital; that's all he could do now.
*****
Wilson reached a hand out to his former boss and was pained when she shrank back from him, not taking it. "Lisa? It's only me: Wilson." The woman knew perfectly well who he was, but the throng of reporters that had started to surround the back of the ambulance was panicking her. How were they expected to get into the hospital through all that? She looked over to Robbie, who also was thinking the same thing, then down at Remy, who hadn't reemerged from beneath her blanket.
Sighing, Wilson climbed into the ambulance and placed a tentative hand on Cuddy's shoulder, snapping her attention to him. Immediately tears formed in her eyes and if not for the children holding on to her, she'd have leapt up into his arms. "We can't go out there.." She whispered, indicating the reporters and onlookers. "The children won't be able to handle it."
Unsure how to respond to this, Wilson decided it was best to go with it, realizing painfully that he had no idea what had been done to them for the six weeks they'd been missing. He looked to Chase and Thirteen, who was barely visible beneath the blankets, assuming they were the children Cuddy was referring to. "Um, okay. We'll, we have to get you inside. I'll try my best to keep them away from you guys, okay? And the door's not far; they aren't allowed inside."
Cuddy bit her lip and nodded, knowing they couldn't stay in the ambulance forever. "Okay." She says just as quietly as before, then looked down at her baby in her lap. "Sweety, we have to get out now and into the hospital, okay? You're gonna have to let go of Momma though." It was when the girl started to move that she remembered the state of all their dress. Looking up at Wilson she pointed at his lab coat. "Please?"
He nodded and immediately handed it over and watched as Cuddy very gently wrapped it around the mostly nude young doctor, buttoning it up as far as it would go. It wasn't perfect but it did the job. Unfortunately, she would have to exit in just her bra and panties, while Robbie was only in his boxers.
Pushing aside her modesty, as she had done for the past few weeks, she stood and started towards the steps of the vehicle, taking her friends hand. Slowly he helped her to the pavement and they both turned to help the other two doctors out. As soon as all three were in sight, that's when the media closed in around them, and as Wilson had feared, all hell soon broke loose.
*****
"We're almost there kiddo." House reassured, recognizing the landmarks they were passing. "Just hold on for Daddy, okay?" He was making no effort to hold back the tears streaming down his cheeks. "Almost there." Unfortunately he wasn't aware of the gauntlet they would have to get through before they could officially be within the hospital; officially be in the presence of trained doctors who would help revive his girl.
*****
Remy was screaming, practically immobile as she clutched for dear life to her mothers torso as camera flashes and microphones were being aimed at them from every direction. Robbie was handling it only a little better, but instead of being terrified, he was growing angry; angry that these people were scaring his sister.
"Please, just let us pass." Cuddy pleaded, pushing past a blockade of camera's as Wilson desperately tried to created a path for them. Other doctors were trying to do the same, holding back the more adventurous paparazzi.
Suddenly there was a loud shriek coming from the girl clutching to Cuddy's side and before she could react, Robbie had lunged at the reporter who had had the audacity to touch her, trying to turn her to face the camera. The boy started to pummel the reporter, unable to do much damage for he was soon pushed off by the much larger and stronger man. "Don't touch my sister!" He cried at the man as he felt his mother grab his shoulders and drag him away.
*****
House's ambulance pulled into the spot next to the other one, and as the back doors opened he immediately grew red in the face and it took all his willpower to keep from leaping into the crowd and beating them away. He didn't want any of his family being filmed or photographed, especially Allie, who for all intents and purposes appeared dead. He knew, as a doctor, that no one is dead until they are warm and dead, but the reporters didn't and he did not want to see any misleading headlines. He didn't want to see any headlines at all.
Without haste he climbed carefully out of the ambulance and let the paramedics pull Allie's gurney out. Thankfully, the moving stretcher made it a little easier to navigate through the crowd, but it didn't block the numerous camera flashes and video recorders from being aimed at them. At least a dozen microphones had been shoved in his face but he'd swatted them all away, not wanting anything to do with any news reports. All he wanted to do was focus on his family. All he cared about now was his family; he would give up anything, his career, his old life, his music, if it meant keeping his family safe and together.
*****
Finally they were inside the hospital doors and the crowd around them switched from almost violent reporters, to just as pushy nurses and doctors. Immediately Cuddy was being lead towards a stretcher, her two children being pried from her side towards their own. Of course this was not well received and the moment contact had been broken between her and her daughter, the girls screams could be heard all around the ER.
"No, you don't understand, you can't separate us." Cuddy was pleading, but it seemed like no one was listening. She was being pushed at a frantic pace towards a walled trauma room, two nurses trying to hold her down as she began struggling to get off the stretcher and towards her children. Robbie had begun to cry now, though his voice was much lower and harder to hear than Remy's. Cuddy could hear it though; she would always be able to hear her babies crying, no matter where they were.
"Please." She begged as an unfamiliar ER attending draped a gown over her and began to check her pupils and blood pressure. Cuddy fought tooth and nail and soon she was strapped down to the gurney like one would a violent drunk. "Please... My babies." She cried again; but as before, no one was listening.
*****
As House and Allie entered the ER, he immediately began barking orders at the doctors and nurses who began running towards them. "She's been in stage four hypothermia for over a half hour. She's got faint vital signs, but hasn't regained consciousness. I gave her a paralytic about ten minutes ago and applied cold compresses to her hands and feet." He was limping as fast he could alongside the gurney as it was placed in a trauma room. He wasn't at first aware who his neighbor was until the screaming broke through his own panic and fear. "Remy?"
Turning around he peered through the glass at the girl, who was being strapped down to the gurney just like her mother. House could see the nurses grabbing a syringe of adivan and felt his heart ache as it was administered. He didn't know why they'd separated the three, but if the young girl had to be away from her mother in a traumatizing situation, the best thing for her was to be asleep through it.
Turning back to his older daughter, he watched as the blanket and water bottles were removed and the doctors began a full body inspection of her cold, stiff, blue tinted body. "Her core temp was 28 celsius in transport." House informed them, causing nearly all the individuals in the room to turn and look at him sympathetically. "Don't do that, don't you dare do that! Don't look at me as if she's already dead!" He moved towards the gurney and removed the compresses on the girls hands and feet, glad that her toes appeared to be doing better. Her hands though... If she did survive, she would most likely be living the rest of her life with only seven fingers.
"Alright, you guys should know the drill. Set up some warmed saline, we have to do this carefully, no more than two degrees an hour. Do we have a warming ventilator?" When one of the nurses nodded, he immediately sent her out to get it. "Hook her up to the monitors, and if her heart rate even nears V-fib I want to hear about it. Yell, scream, do whatever you can, but get me back here immediately. I'm going to go check on the rest of my family."
*****
Robbie was still screaming low in his throat as the doctors and nurses moved around him, checking him for signs of frost bite. He was wet, just like Dr. Cameron, so they needed to make sure it wasn't for the same reason. The boy couldn't hear his younger sister crying anymore and begged the nearest technician to tell him why, but everyone was ignoring him. Just as he was about to struggle away from the doctors to go check on his sister himself, a figure appeared in the doorway of his room. A figure he didn't at first recognize, not until he heard their voice.
"Dr. Chase? Oh god... What happened to you?"