House and Thomas both were pacing, with Thomas being careful most of the time and House occasionally to avoid near collisions. So far, they hadn't actually run into each other yet. They were in a small waiting room, and Cuddy had been taken back to surgery a few minutes ago. The only other occupant of the waiting room was Wilson, staying with them during the surgery. That had been Cuddy's request, although he probably would have anyway. He alone was seated, trying to lead by example, and he watched the two of them. So far, he wasn't sure how well he was doing on his assignment. The operation had barely started, and the tension in the room was palpable. He tossed out another bite of reassurance, hoping this one would be accepted.
"This shouldn't take too long. Nice, simple fixation."
"It had better be," House grumbled.
Thomas looked at his watch. "How long is not too long?" he asked.
Wilson deferred to House, both because House's answer would be more accurate and because he was hoping to get House occupied thinking about medicine. "What do you think, House?"
House stopped briefly in his tour of the room as he considered. "Thirty minutes at most for the surgery. Of course, anesthesia and prep take some time, too. An hour or under total would be okay. Anything over that…" He resumed pacing.
Thomas looked at his watch again to see how much it had advanced in the last minute. "This should be simple, though," he stated again, a half question and one he had already asked.
"Easy." Wilson was confident answering that. It should be a simple operation, and that was a medical fact. The fracture wasn't a complex one, and the orthopedist could have done it in his sleep. If the patient hadn't been Cuddy, the surgeon probably would have let a resident take the wheel under his supervision instead of being primary operator himself. "This is a very common operation. He's done hundreds of them." Of course, no operation was 100% safe, but he didn't point that out. The very small chance for complications was what had both men wired right now.
Wilson wondered how much sleep House had had last night at the hospital. He looked rough to put it mildly this morning. Thomas looked a little better but not that much. Watching him, Wilson reminded himself again that everyone close to Thomas, all of them prior to his newfound family, had died. He couldn't blame the older man for being tense at the thought of any risk to another loved one. Wilson wondered himself how he would have handled something like that, a whole string of accidents, not just losing his family due to his own and their errors but permanently losing them by circumstances totally beyond control.
Thomas, to Wilson's relief, made a move toward distraction himself. "Greg, how long should it take her to heal?" he asked. He'd already heard that answer, but it never hurt to get it repeated.
"Probably six weeks in a cast," House replied. "Then she'll have to work out the stiffness. Three months, she probably will be back to herself. She might have to have the hardware removed later this year after the bone is totally healed. Sometimes the hardware starts causing irritation, but that's simple. Wouldn't even require a cast again on that one."
"And Rachel can teach her how to climb stairs again," Thomas said with a nervous smile. He resumed pacing and looked at his watch again for an update. "She was talking about that last night. She's all ready to volunteer."
"Cuddy ought to love that," Wilson noted. "Not that she'd mind Rachel, of course, but she's probably already calling herself all sorts of names for missing that step in the first place."
House half smiled. "She is. I've heard from a few people who saw it; she was simply going too fast, and she turned back around while still going forward. Trying to do two things at once as usual. But she doesn't think she should be allowed to make mistakes."
"We're all only human," Thomas noted. "We all make our share of them. Did she mention the back-yard tree to you last night, Greg?"
House paused in his pacing tour, his interest caught briefly. "No. What back-yard tree?"
"When we had just moved to St. Louis, Tim kept saying what a great climbing tree we had in the back yard. He was a teen then, not really into climbing much anymore. He had other things to do then. Back in his younger childhood, he was an absolute monkey. Anyway, he said he wished he had had that tree available several years earlier. So one day when he and Emily were out somewhere, I got to looking at it and decided he was right. Perfect climbing tree. So I thought I'd climb it once, just for the experience."
Wilson started laughing. "Let me guess. They came back home and caught you up there not acting your age?"
Thomas shook his head. "No, I slipped and fell out. Broke my arm." He rubbed the spot. "They had plenty to say when they did come home, though. So did the doctor and the nurses and everybody else at the hospital. I was 39."
House stopped his pacing tour with a sudden look of triumph in his eyes. "So you fell out?"
"Yes. Way too old for tree climbing."
House grinned. "I was only 38, but I made it up and back down. I didn't fall."
"What tree were you climbing at 38?" Wilson demanded.
"Stacy's parents' house. We had gone there for a few days over Thanksgiving. I had gone out jogging, and when I came back, they had run to the store for something. Left a note. So I thought it was the perfect opportunity. I'd noticed that tree in the back yard for the last day. It just begged to be climbed."
Thomas laughed. "I bow to your superior arboreal skills, Greg."
Wilson shook his head, marveling again at the experience of seeing these two together. They were still tentative at times, moving cautiously, but they were so much alike. No DNA test needed here.
Thomas paced another few turns of the room and looked at his watch. "Did I tell you about Rachel last night?"
"What specifically?" House asked.
"They were apparently playing with the Breyers when you came in to tell them about Lisa."
"Yeah. Rusty had a hurt leg, and they wanted me to fix it."
"Well, Lightning had apparently gotten out again and run into the mountains, and Goldie had been going after him. When we came into the house, Rachel picked up Lightning off the couch and put him back with the others himself. She said he wanted to be with his family."
House stopped in whirlwind tour and nodded. He understood that sentiment. All three of the men did.
"Soon she will be again," Wilson predicted. "Cuddy will probably be home tonight as long as she can navigate on crutches."
"She'll have to slow down," House said. He ran a hand along his bad thigh.
"Yes," Thomas agreed. "That will be hard for her, even just for a little while."
The door to the waiting room opened then, and Thomas and House both spun around, House hurting himself doing it. The orthopedist walked in, still in scrubs. "All done," he said. "She's fine, House. Textbook case. The anesthesiologist is reversing her now, and then they'll take her to recovery.
Three audible sighs of relief filled the room in unison.
