Chapter Thirty-Six
Like Shootin' Ducks In A Barrel Of Honey…
Back at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital…
Cuddy straightened her clothes as best as she could, trying to look as presentable as possible, despite the lack of sleep and food she'd had in the last few days. She grabbed her prepared meeting minutes, downed a quick paper cup of water from her cooler and emerged from her office and towards the lecture hall.
For the state of New Jersey, Hurricane Katrina had affected its people very little, but to those at Princeton-Plainsboro, news spread like wildfire and for some, their lives were practically spent living and breathing the news.
Clearing her throat, Lisa pushed open the speaker's entrance door and ascended the stage. To her surprise, her audience was more than slightly large; every chair was filled and the surrounding walls were lined with anxious doctors, co-workers and family members. She swallowed hard at the sight, but beamed with pride, knowing and appreciating everyone's concern for two people who she'd grown to become so close to.
She approached the podium and took out her notes before addressing the crowd. When she looked up to speak, her words caught in her throat when she noticed a little girl in the front row, holding up a sign that read "Please come home, Aunt Allie!" She felt tears stinging her eyes at the thought of neither one of them making it home to ever see it. She lowered her head and pushed back her tears, struggling to put her strong mask back on.
Not one person spoke in the entire room. It was eerily silent; much like that of a funeral. As she regained her professional composure, she glanced up once again to see every set of hopeful and worried eyes boring into her. Taking a deep breath, she gave the people the warmest smile she could, trying not to let the sadness show in it. Ok, Lisa, first thing's first…introduction.
"Good evening and Welcome to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I am Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine."
Alright, that was good. Now to thank people for coming and fill them in on who House and Cameron are and why they're sitting here listening to your boring speech…
"First off, I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to come here tonight."
Word by word, she began to feel more confident.
"You've either been called here because you are a relative, friend or co-worker to Dr. Allison Cameron or Dr. Gregory House. For those of you who are unaware of the current situation, I'd like to take a few moments to bring you up to speed."
Ok, give 'em a little background.
"Dr. Gregory House is our Certified Head of Diagnostics here at PPTH who specializes in Infectious Diseases and Nephrology. Dr. Allison Cameron is currently interning in a fellowship under Dr. House and specializes in Immunology."
Ok, now lay the bad news on them.
"As most of you may know, not long ago, Hurricane Katrina tore through a good part of the U.S.'s southern states. Many people have traveled down south to help out with cleaning and rebuilding a lot of the damage that was caused. It gives me great pride to say that one of those wonderful and caring souls is our very own Dr. Allison Cameron. Accompanying her, for safety and moral support, is Dr. House."
The room still remained quiet.
"A couple of days ago, we received word from Drs. Cameron and House that they'd arrived in Batesville, Mississippi and would be lodging there for a few days on account of some transportation difficulties they had," she explained.
"What kind of difficulties?" shouted someone in the audience.
The question caught her off-guard. "We were told that they traded rental vehicles somewhere around Illinois and their newly acquired vehicle would need repaired."
"Why did they go to Illinois?" someone else shouted.
"Dr. Cameron stated that there was some required documentation she needed to pick up before making their way down to Louisiana," she answered.
"Dr. Cuddy," said a woman sitting in the front row next to an older gentleman that must've been her husband. Upon closer examination, she realized that the inquirer was none other than Blythe House, Greg's mother. "Where is my son? Is he alright?"
"What about our daughter, Allison?" asked Cameron's mother, also sitting next to her husband. "Is she safe? Of they're in Mississippi, let's go get them!"
At this point, a soft murmur of voices filled the room.
Cuddy understood. These people cared about them, and they wanted answers. They deserved answers. She just hoped she could answer them all. Raising her hands to signal that she needed the noise to calm, she went on to explain.
"Dr. House and Dr. Cameron both found a ride down to New Orleans while their rental car is still in Mississippi, waiting to be repaired. The owner of the garage was nice enough to take them down there. Unfortunately, civilians are not allowed to enter the city at this time, therefore ruining any rescue attempts we seem to be able to make."
"Are they safe?"
Cuddy sighed. "As far as we know, they've both sought shelter from this storm. I don't have any details, but the last time we made contact with them, they were holding up well."
"So, what can we do, now?"
"Pray."
After the meeting, Cuddy stopped by Wilson's office to speak with him. Finding no one there, she headed over to Diagnostics.
There was Wilson, sitting at House's desk, holding House's giant red and grey tennis ball in his hands, slowly turning it as he sat there in deep thought. The sound of metal against metal and glass caught his attention as she pushed the door open, her ring hitting the steel frame of the door.
She smiled sympathetically at him. "Hungry?"
He smiled back at her, just as sadly. "I can't seem to eat right now. It's too weird going through the line and only paying for meal, sitting down and being able to eat all of it."
She chuckled slightly. "Well, if you miss it that much, I'll gladly let you pay for mine."
He smiled. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I could sit and eat when all I can think about it whether or not they have anything to eat."
"James, I know you're worried. We all are. But you have to eat. Even if it's just a bag of chips."
He nodded. "I know. I just feel so guilty having everything in front of me at my disposal and they could be in the rain with no food, no water, no shelter…"
She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "We can't think like that. We've got to hope for the best." She could tell that he wasn't about to leave House's office anytime soon. They spent so much time in there; it must've been comforting for him to be in there. "Tell you what," Cuddy bargained, "why don't you turn on the news and I'll find the number for some good take-out? We'll just keep an eye out for them."
Sounding like a better plan as any, Wilson nodded. "That sounds good. But you know what? I've got the China Buffet on speed dial. Why don't I order and you can turn on CNN?"
"Good idea," Cuddy smiled, grabbing House's remote. Turning on the television, she found his television static-filled and jumpy. Beating on the top of it, like she'd seen House do before, she received no better picture quality. "It looks like it's on the fritz."
Wilson looked over at her, watching her beat on it while he waited for someone to pick up the phone. He snapped his fingers. "That's right, I remember now. House's been spending time in the OB/GYN lounge."
Cuddy looked at him, confused.
"Because they have the new plasma in there," he elaborated, before greeting the caller.
Because, oddly enough, that explained everything to her, Cuddy grabbed her cell phone from her lab coat pocket and paged the janitor to House's office.
"What would you like, Lisa?" Wilson asked, holding the microphone end of his cell away from his face.
"Oh! Uh, I'll have the sweet and sour chicken with a side of white rice and two egg rolls."
Wilson nodded, repeating her order to the woman on the receiving end.
"That sounds great. Thank you very much," he said hanging up. "Should be here in about twenty minutes," he told her. She nodded and turned around as the door to the office opened. Joe the janitor stuck his head through the door. "Yes, Dr. Cuddy? What can I do for you?"
"Joe! Would you mind doing me a favor?"
"Not at all, Dr. Cuddy. What is it that I can do for you?" he asked with a smile.
She returned it. "I need the television from the Maternity lounge brought up here."
Joe's eyes widened. "The plasma screen?"
"Yes," she nodded.
"The one on the wall?" he asked, his eyes growing larger.
Cuddy nodded once again. "Is that a problem?"
Joe blew air from his puffed up cheeks. "Well, not with help it's not, but it's not a one-man job. I'll see if I can go find someone to help me."
"If you need assistance, Dr. Foreman and Dr. Chase can help you. I believe they're down there somewhere," Cuddy suggested, sitting down in House's yellow recliner.
"Will do," he said, escaping back out the door.
Wilson turned curiously to Cuddy. "I know this is a pretty far-fetched suggestion, but you could always try actually walking down to the lounge to use the T.V."
She shrugged. "Why go to the lounge when the lounge can come to you?"
He shook his head and grinned. "Lazier words were never spoken."
"I just want to make sure we're notified the moment something happens. This feels like the only way to stay informed. It's the only thing I can think of to do my share of helping them, anyway I can."
"I understand; you don't have to explain your motives to me," he said, rolling House's desk chair across the room and positioning it next to the recliner before collapsing into it.
They both turned as they saw Joe, Foreman and Chase struggling to carry it down the hall, through the conference room and into the office. They set it down for a brief moment.
"Where would you like it, Dr. Cuddy?" Joe asked.
"Uh, let's see," she said, gazing around the room until she found the most suitable spot. "How about there?"
They nodded and sat it down long enough for Joe to install the mounting kit to the wall. When he was finished, Foreman and Chase each grabbed a side and lifted it up, sliding it down the wall until it caught onto the brackets.
"You know you're just going to have to have it hauled back in there later on, right?" Wilson chuckled.
She smiled sadly. "Actually, I think it looks pretty good from where I'm sitting."
"But you won't always be sitting there," he pointed out.
"Yeah," Chase joined in. "If you really wanted it, we could've installed it in your office."
Everyone looked dumbly at Chase, amazed that he hadn't picked up on the fact that she wanted the T.V. to stay in House's office.
"That's alright. I don't watch much television, anyway," she replied, winking at Wilson who looked at her, knowingly.
As everything continued to go over his head, Chase shrugged and began to follow Foreman out of the office.
"Thanks, guys!" Cuddy shouted as the three each went their separate ways. She then leaned over for the remote and turned on the big-screen, flipping channels until she found CNN News. As it had been for weeks on end, the screen was filled with depressing pictures of flooded streets, stranded people, and damage caused by the great storms.
"Is this really all we can do?" Cuddy asked, her chopsticks closing in on a piece of Sweet and Sour Chicken.
Wilson nodded, slurping a long lo mien noodle up over his chin and into his mouth. "You seem to have it covered. You tried to find them a ride and you informed their families and friends. Now, all we can do is watch the news and pray that they're alright. You're all over this, Lisa."
"I wish I could do more."
"Yeah," he said absentmindedly, "but there's several news channels. You can't watch them all at the same time!"
Cuddy raised a brow at him, intrigued by the thought. "Is that a challenge?"
He looked at her in confusion. "Can you?"
She swallowed her mouthful and grinned. "Watch me."
Within minutes of being on her cell phone, each wing of the hospital had been assigned to keep its lounge television set tuned into a designated news channel. The doctors and nursing staff took turns watching the destruction, looking for any signs of their beloved friends. Well, perhaps just Dr. Cameron.
She hung up and set it down on the side table next to her. Both Wilson and Cuddy surprised each other by sighing. There was nothing else to be done and nothing else they could do. They both watched the screen before them, thinking the same thing.
Lord, Please let them be alright.