A completely different course of events for "House's head" (4x15). After the bus accident House wakes up in a hospital bed. (Forget everything about that episode, including Amber's death)
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May 13
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I had this idea watching one of the last scenes of "Wilson's heart" (4x16), the one with a sleeping Cuddy by House's hospital bed after the brain stimulation he tried to diagnose Amber and save her from death. Honestly I just focused on that (very sweet Huddy) scene forgetting everything about the episode itself and the previous one, except for the bus accident in which House was involved..
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Chapter 1 - House's head
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The thick fog began to fade, revealing the light all around and brightening the faded colours.
Was he drunk?
Music... people... frenetic movements of bodies to the music... frantic lightning effects all around like the ones of a stroboscopic ball... little spots of light all around but colourless, like in a sort of black and white movie... sort of pictures from a continuous freeze-frame, piling up in his mind...
A naked body... white soft skin... long hair tickling his nose...
A moan...
A chuckle...
And those eyes...
The blue of his eyes suddenly fixed the ceiling, fighting the heaviness of his eyelids.
"Hey... I'm here. Blink if you can hear me"
Cuddy covered House's hand with hers and slightly squeezed it as his eyes still just stared at a fixed point in front of them. She bend a little more toward him to be in his visual field, holding both his hand and her own breath in what looked like the longest seconds of her life. He didn't move at first... then he finally blinked.
Air left her lungs like from a deflating balloon and she held his hand tighter as his confused eyes looked for hers this time and his lips parted.
"No, shh, don't try to talk. Just rest,"
His eyelids seemed to surrender again to the fog wrapping his head on that thin line between sleep and wakefulness...
Clouded thoughts swirling inside his skull like on a crazed carousel...
Cuddy's look suddenly and instinctively moved on the monitor by the bed and then down at his hand again at the feeling of his thumb that slowly moved to touch hers.
"You're here..."
His voice came in a gasp, breaking the sound of the rhythmic beeps coming from the monitors set on his vital functions. A breathless gruffly whisper because of the tongue almost glued to the palate in his dried mouth. A question... or just a statement.
"Of course I'm here,"
Her hand travelled from his hand to his forearm in a reassuring way, resting there for a few seconds before sliding down to his hand again.
"Wh- what...?"
House's eyes met hers for a fraction of second, then succumbing once again at the heaviness of his eyelids and she held his hand tighter, just careful of not ripping off the needle from his vein.
Didn't he remember anything? Ok... Well, no, it wasn't ok, but it was normal, right? Well, again, not normal, but normal after such a head trauma. Post-traumatic amnesia. Frequently patients with head trauma don't remember the event which lead to it.
"A bus accident..." Cuddy whispered, wondering if he could actually hear her voice or if he had instead crossed again the line of unconsciousness "You have a chest contusion, a contused lacerated wound which required suturing, three broken ribs and a bad head trauma. Temporal bone fracture. No bleeding. You need rest. Just rest. Don't talk"
Her soul smiled as soon as his lips parted instead, obviously ignoring her words. Maybe she should have been more upset by his 'being still the same House' even half-dead in a hospital bed... but she didn't, and she felt relieved instead.
He coughed in an attempt to clear his throat and swallowed a nonexistent amount of saliva as his features deformed at the sudden pain which burst in his chest like a deflagration.
His eyes shut tighter and he held his breath, increasing the grip around Cuddy's fingers, so hard he almost hurt her.
Not that pain was enough to stop him anyway. His lips parted despite his still closed eyes, and a few words exited in another gasp.
"I-I'm sorry-"
He inhaled and exhaled again.
"I'm sorry I didn't call you"
Cuddy's lips parted in turn at that weak whisper.
"Shhh... don't talk... it's ok. It's ok," She just said meeting his gaze again "I know I can't compete with Wilson" She tried to joke as a playful smile lit up her eyes and a sort of faint one mirrored on his lips.
She looked at him as he closed his eyes, probably falling in the doze for the third time in that couple of minutes. Or maybe, for once in his life he was just listening to her. She let go of his hand and ran a hand on his forehead before turning to look at her heels, still abandoned by the armchair.
She had jumped on her feet so quickly as soon he had regained consciousness that she hadn't bothered about how cold the floor felt under her bare soles. Now she was getting aware of it though.
A sense of relief filled her. Thank goodness he was out of coma and his mind seemed clear. Well, not that she had time for a full neurologic test but... he could recognize her, talk... for now it was enough. He was ok. Well, again, ok for a man who got involved in a bus accident, had a bad head trauma and a fracture of the temporal bone who sent him in the ICU.
"L-Lisa?"
She stopped, abruptly turning toward him.
His eyes were still shut but he was clearly talking to her since there was anybody else in that room.
By first name? Really? Well, anyway it could be counted as a point on his neurologic test, right?
"We- we ok then?" He breathlessly asked, looking into her eyes as his hand reached for hers this time.
The slight nod of her head came more because of instinct than awareness. The blue of his eyes... God, it was hypnotic, even more when he looked at her in that way. A spellbinding gaze which not even the red rim of his eyelids or the dark shadows under them could deaden.
Blue got lost in blue till, again, he couldn't fight tiredness anymore. The grip on Cuddy's hand suddenly weakened and she immediately gave a concerned look at the monitor by the bed. Normal heart rate, normal oxygen saturation.
Oh, don't freak out, Lisa! Being in and out of consciousness was normal after such a head trauma.
She looked down at him again, from his closed eyes to his lips. And she felt it again... his thumb caressing her fingers.
"It's ok, just rest" she tried again. Not that it had ever worked with him.
And, as a matter of fact, it didn't work this time either.
"Babe?"
The fact that he gasped again didn't prevent her from understanding that word thought. And the 'I'm sorry' he repeated her for the second time in just a few minutes.
What was it? He had no reason to say it... well, actually he would have had more reasons to apologize than anyone else, but honestly she couldn't remember having heard those words from his lips before. And...babe?Really? At any other time she could have ripped his ball off for much less.
He forced himself to open his eyes again, locking eyes with her and the course of her thoughts abruptly stopped at the three words which followed.
"I love you"
It came like a thunder in a summer day. An almost imperceptible whisper, yet clear like he had cried it out loud.
Cuddy stood there, frozen, as House's eyelids failed again their attempt to fight the incipient thick fog which enveloped his mind.
Holy -!
Her lungs finally freed the air they had refused to let out till the need of oxygen sent an alarm signal to her brain, and she just stared at him. Astonished. Dumbfounded. Bewildered. Parted lips as the pale skin of her face stretched even more the blush on her cheeks.
She was aware she shouldn't be upset by an half-unconscious man's words... and yet... her heart was racing and her hands sweating and her mouth dried.
He wouldn't have remembered anything of that conversation the day after. And yet...
"Hey"
Cuddy gulped, almost startling, and turned toward the door as Wilson walked in.
"How is he?" He asked nodding his head toward House.
His eyes lingered for a moment on his friends' joined hands as Cuddy quickly freed hers from House's.
...He just said he loves me. Except this...
"Er... fine, I suppose" she just said as Wilson nodded.
