AN: I am sorry that it has taken so long to give you guys an update. I know it's not long, but I hope that you enjoy this chapter!
Foreman and Chase dealt their warning to Michael when they told him he would be having an LP done. It didn't seem to have the effect that they wanted. During the LP Chase decided to play the 'good cop'. HE looked down at Michael as he prepared his back. "How are you holding up?" he asked. "I know what you were told earlier is scary but-"
"I couldn't tackle the bear!" Michael pleaded as he turned and grabbed Chases arm, "They took my stain!"
House looked over to the bathroom door as he heard the sound of the shower turning off, distracting him from the tv show that he'd found on the small television that sat in their room. "Everything okay in there?" he asked, just loud enough for his voice to be heard, hearing Cameron laugh in response.
"I'm fine Greg."
Using first names… wonder what's going on in her mind, he thought as he adjusted himself to sit up against the headboard of the bed. "Are you sure? I could always be of assistance you know."
Allison opened the bathroom door, still wrapped in her towel, and leaned against the doorframe. "How much assistance could you give me?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at him. She watched as his eyes grew wide and he quickly moved to sit on the edge of the bed, which only made her giggle.
"As much as my lady desires," he replied.
"Your lady?" she asked with a smirk as she walked up to him, but stayed just out of his reach.
House grinned wryly. "Of course. You are my lady aren't you?" he teased.
"Yes I am," she replied with a giggle as he lunged out to grip her around the waist and pull her to stand between his legs, making her let out a squeak of surprise. Allison ran her hands though his hair as he rested his head on her stomach and stared into her eyes. "You're awful cuddly tonight," she murmured.
"Nothing wrong with that I hope," he answered softly.
She smiled down at him and shook her head. "Not at all."
House stood then and ran his hands up her sides to rest on her upper back. "Good," he whispered before he leaned down to press his lips against hers. He felt her respond instantly as she wrapped her arms around his neck to bring him closer to her. His hands moved to untie her towel just as his cellphone began to ring on the night stand.
Allison made a sound of frustration and dropped her head to his shoulder, making him chuckle. "You might want to get that," she grumbled.
"If I must," he replied as he leaned to the side and answered the phone. "House."
"You're on speakerphone," Foreman responded on the other end of the line.
House pulled Allison to his chest and continued to run his free hand up and down her back. "How did the LP go? Condensed version please."
Chase scooted closer to the speaker and cleared his throat. "Preliminary results are some kind of infection, which... narrows it down..."
"From infinity," House interrupted just as he pulled away from Allison's tender kiss.
"At the rate his organs are deteriorating, he's got maybe a day or two," Foreman added.
House sighed as he felt Allison nip at his jaw, then at his neck. "Ok! Well, call me back when you have something." He pulled the phone away from his ear and quickly kissed Allison deeply, his free hand moving to grip into her hair, when he faintly heard Chase before he could hang up.
"He tried to tell us something!"
Reluctantly House put the phone back up to his ear as he slowly pulled away from Allison's lips. "What did he say?"
"You were wrong, it wasn't the fear," Chase stated, "He opened up to me when I..."
House looked at Allison apologetically and reluctantly let go of her to sit on the edge of the bed again. "It was a sympathetic presence after a traumatic moment, a classic interrogation technique. What did he say?"
Chase sighed openly, knowing that House knew their patient would respond to someone being sympathetic. "He couldn't tackle the bear."
Foreman rolled his eyes. "Now all we need is the English to aphasic dictionary."
"A fluent aphasic retrieves words that are stored somewhere close to the one he wants," House explained, "They can be filed by sounds or by meaning. So, if he wants to say table, he could say... label, or he could say chair. Or he could just say Jabberwocky, there's no way to tell." He watched as Allison removed her towel in front of him before she quickly donned a pair of boy shorts and one of his shirts. Minx, he thought.
"He also said that they took his stain," Chase said.
House furrowed his brow in thought. "Hold on," he pulled the phone from his ear to talk to Allison, "I'm going to take this phone downstairs, so I don't disturb you. Is that ok?" he asked her, who was now sitting on the bed beside him.
She nodded. "If you need help, just call me," she answered, and then leaned behind her to grab his cane that rested on the bed, and then handed it to him.
He took the cane from her gently and smiled at her before he put the phone back up to his ear. "Keep him talking. Write down everything he says." He paused from opening the door of the hotel room, and then turned back to Allison. "Did you bring any make up with you?" he asked. "A dark shade?"
She quickly nodded and walked over to their suitcase and pulled out a red lipstick and turned to give it to him. "Don't lose it."
"I won't," he replied and pecked her lips before he left the hotel room.
Back at the hospital Chase and Foreman sat in front of Michael with pads of paper. "What do you mean by stain?" Foreman asked. "Dirty? Soiled?"
Michael shook his head. "No." he stated.
"What about something that rhymes?" Chase asked. "Pain or brain?"
Michael's wife sighed as she watched on. "He's dying and the both of you are playing brain games with him?"
Foreman sighed. "Let's try this again. What do you mean when you say bear? Do you mean naked?" He watched as Michael sighed and laid his head back on his pillow, looking defeated.
House sat on the floor of the airport under the announcement screens. The opposite wall made of plasterboard had been written over in lipstick with the two sentences Michael kept repeating. Branching off of the two sentences was anything that Michael could be meaning when he said them. House stared at the words he wrote while bouncing a pink ball he'd found in one of the seats. He glanced at the clock to see it had just turned Three thirty in the morning, causing him to sigh.
Allison walked into the large empty room and walked up to House with a phone charger in hand. "You've been down here for a while," she said softly.
"Russian red shows up well on sheet rock."
She chuckled as she sat down beside him and stared at the opposite wall. "That's why I bought it, you know."
He smiles at her and takes the charge from her and quickly plugs up his cellphone before he looks back at the wall with a sigh.
"Any luck?" she asked.
House shook his head. "Not yet."
Foreman and Chase stared at the white board in the office, which was filled with possible meanings to every word that Michael kept repeating. "Well you must have gotten one new phrase out of him, something?" House asked, his voice coming through the speaker that sat in the middle of the table.
"We have been talking to him for hours, maybe he's given up," Chase said solemnly.
House sighed as he paced in front of the wall he'd written on, and glanced over at Allison to see her curled up in one of the chairs asleep. "Are you sure that you've told me everything that you found in his home and his office?" he asked, hoping they'd missed something that would give them the answer.
"No, we're hiding something," Chase said sarcastically.
Foreman shrugged. "Maybe it's not a rhyme or synonym."
Chase sighed, "Maybe House is wrong,"
"I hope that's not the end of the thought," House interrupted as he continued to pace.
"He mentioned stain once before when Chase was giving him the MRI, before we scared him," Foreman stated.
"He did?" Chase questioned.
"It's in your notes."
Chase furrowed his brow. "So, he only talked during an MRI or an LP? Your theory is based on him only talking when he has a needle in his back or,"
"When his wife is not in the room," House finished.