Title: Intervention
By: Sy Dedalus
Rating: Somewhere between TV-14 and TV-MA. Contains naughty language, adult situations, adult themes, graphic grossness; no sex.
Paring: Gen (House/Wilson strong friendship)
Spoilers: Season One.
Summary: The missing scenes from "Detox" plus some. Wilson helps House as House faces himself and his addiction. Mostly hurt/comfort and angst.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to FOX and the producers of the show, etc. I'm not making any profit from this. Please don't sue me, etc.

Not much to this one. Just posting as a write.

Chapter 35: Sleepy

House slept through the observation period, giving the correct answers when he was wakened, and drifted in and out as he was moved, loaded, and in transit. The jolt of the gurney landing on pavement woke him up and he was confused for a moment, seeing a familiar building from an unfamiliar entrance. He wondered what he was doing outside the ambulance entrance; it took him more than a moment to piece together the morning's events and by that time he was being rolled through the doors. He watched an unfamiliar clerk sign papers presented by one of the ambulance crew and then he was being parked against a wall near the elevator.

The ambulance crew left and then he was alone. Alone on a gurney on the floor Cuddy frequented most. He cursed to himself.

Not relishing a meeting with her at the present moment, he closed his eyes and tried to look dead. Doctors didn't actually notice patients and he didn't know any ER nurses who would recognize him…but Cuddy had some sort of radar that told her where he was and the precise moment when his situation was the most compromising, so he pulled the sheet up over his head, leaving his feet exposed and cold. No toe tag: there wasn't much chance of him being taken to the morgue. As much as he disliked Cuddy, he had to admit that she ran a tight ship.

He felt himself slipping back to dreamland, the voices of the staff around him starting to blend and fade, when a deep male voice said, "Dr. House?"

Must be the orderly. "What?" he said from underneath the sheet.

"Okay," the voice said and he felt the gurney start to move. Good. Get him out of sight. There was something not right about this, though. Something he wanted to address. But he was so fuzzy. He couldn't think of it. He started to fade again, letting the drugs take him. Cuddy knew what she was doing. Cuddy...something...

A rush of cool air and a voice woke him again. What? He squinted in the light and looked around. Oh. A room. A nurse talking to him. The sheet had been taken off of his head. Damn.

She introduced herself and started taking his vitals.

Someone else started talking to his right. Was that…a roommate?

Wonderful.

The nurse was asking him a question and he tried to focus his attention on her again.

What was it? Oh. The pain question.

He considered it. He was numb enough bodily but he was awake now. Might drift back into sleep, might not. But he had a roommate.He decided to hedge his bet.

"Six."

It wasn't really a lie. He'd be at a six in half an hour or so—or as soon as his roommate started talking to him.

And whatever his reputation, a six on the pain scale would get him enough of whatever the special du jour was to put him down for a while. Anything to avoid the roommie. And he'd much rather be going up than coming down.

The doctor would see him within the hour.

Great. Another pointless examination. Come to think of it, he'd gotten what he wanted already, blood and platelets, his labs had been relatively clean…and that thing he'd been trying to remember earlier, he had it now: it was time to bust out.

But he couldn't focus on the words 'sign out AMA.' They were jumbled and nonsensical in his head. And suddenly blood was coming up his esophagus again. What? He hadn't even felt sick. Having to turn on his side again…ow. He was earning those pain meds now.

The nurse gave him a tissue to wipe his mouth and said something about paging the doctor.

He was still trying to formulate the words 'let me the hell out of here' when she left to do that thing she said she was going to do. What had it been? He couldn't think. He couldn't keep his eyes open either.

"Hey, buddy, what you in for?" he heard dimly as sleep overtook him. A thought drifted away with him: God bless drugs.