Ch. 6 Possession is 9 tenths of Sirius's Actions

When Wilson and Lily came into the hospital, they were both surprised to see James, Sirius, and House sitting together in the waiting room. House looked down, and Sirius looked beside himself with worry and guilt. And James… his expression was indecipherable. He saw Lily and stood up, going to her giving her a wordless hug. Lily pulled back slightly.

"Oh, God, it's Harry. What happened?" James shook his head.

"H-Harry's fine. R-Remus is with him. Lily… Angela's been hurt. She… she shattered her ankle. Bad." Lily looked at the other two.

"Wh- How? James, tell me what's going on."

"It's my fault," Sirius said, in an oddly flat voice. Lily looked at him.

"Sirius, what do you mean, it's your fault?"

"Voldemort possessed me," he said, looking at her. "I didn't know, I didn't know. I just felt this… essence, this energy enter me, and… I was in the Ministry. Then earlier, I…" James took over the story.

"Sirius confronted me and Dr. House. I used Cruciatus and expelled Voldemort, but the energy release threw Angela off the 3rd floor balcony." Lily sank into a seat.

"Oh, my God." James sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. Wilson looked at House who looked like he was going to break down any minute.

"House?" No response. "Greg?" Still nothing. Then, without warning, House lunged out of his seat at Sirius. He tackled him to the floor and started hitting him, all the anger and frustration pouring out of him. Sirius had tried to take Angela away from him, now he sat there calmly after he caused her a critical injury.

"How could you do this to me? To HER! WHY! Answer me, you son of a bitch!" Wilson pulled on House as James and Lily tried to get between the two. James restrained Sirius, while Wilson kept a tight grip on House's arms, half restraining, half supporting him. Lily stood between the two, ready to shove them apart, if need be.

"Settle down, both of you!" Lily said, sharply. "This isn't helping. Now both of you need to settle down and think rationally. James, you and Sirius should go see Harry and Remus." She looked at House and Wilson. "Dr. House, you should go be with Angela."

House didn't move, but instead looked at Sirius. "If anything happens to her, I'm holding you responsible." That was what he said. The look House tried to convey was, 'If anything happens to Angela, I'll kill you.' Wilson pulled on House's arm and after a time, the two headed upstairs to the ICU. Lily, meanwhile, went up to Sirius and slapped him hard on the face. Sirius was stunned; Angela was one thing. Now Lily was slapping him? But Lily wasn't about to let him say anything.

"How DARE you, Sirius! I can NOT believe that you of all people w-would let yourself be helped by VOLDEMORT!" Sirius looked shocked.

"Lily, I didn't know! I didn't know until it was too late. What was I supposed to do? Just stay dead?"

"You could have tried other ways of freeing yourself! Sirius, you just committed the most Slytherin of acts! For God's sake, WHY?" Sirius started to cry.

"I just wanted to be back with Harry. I couldn't bear to think of him alone. When I saw this blob of energy, I could feel that it was my way out. I swear, Lily, I never knew it was Voldemort's spirit." Lily was silent, though her eyes blazed. She wanted to believe him. She so wanted to believe, but still…. It was hard to trust him.

"You have to tell Harry," She said, finally. Sirius looked horror-struck. "Lily, I can't. I…"

"He deserves to hear it from you. You have to tell him, Sirius." Sirius deflated.

"Fine." He then wrenched himself free of James's grip and walked out of the room. James sighed and sank into a chair. He looked up at Lily.

"You know this is going to crush Harry, knowing what Sirius did." Lily nodded. "I know. But Harry deserves to hear it from his godfather." She sat down next to James. "I just hope Angela's going to be okay. After all she's been through, she deserves some measure of happiness."

Dr. William Tonks was checking over his newest patient's chart when he saw House and Wilson come in. "Hello, gentlemen." House nodded curtly, and said, "I'm looking for Angela McKeaten."

"You're her boyfriend, yeah? Good timing. I was just about to come find you."

"What for?" House asked, again, curtly. Dr. Tonks looked at the chart.

"Let's go sit down. There's some things I need to discuss with you." The three doctors went to sit down in the waiting room. Dr. Tonks said, "We have a very difficult situation. Ms. McKeaten's ankle was very badly shattered by her fall, and due to the fact that she has a very rapid healing ability, this presents us with very few options for her treatment." Wilson looked at him.

"What do you mean?" Dr. Tonks held out the file.

"You're an oncologist, right?" Wilson nodded as he took the file. "I think you'll understand the severity." Wilson looked over the history. "Her mother died of cancer."

"This makes her genetically susceptible. If we dose Ms. McKeaten with enough immunosuppressant drugs to make reparative surgery possible, she's most likely going to develop cancer." House didn't exactly like the sound of that. There had to be something better for Angela.

He asked, "What's the other option?" Dr. Tonks looked at House and gave a short sigh.

"The only other option is to amputate just above the damage." House leaned back. The first option was bad, and the second didn't seem much better. Wilson looked at the chart again. "With amputation, though, don't you also have to…?"

"We can accelerate the surgery, so she isn't down as long. We'll… saw off the leg, then neaten the wound. It's not exactly recommended, but in this case, it's what we would have to do to be mindful of the patient's health." Wilson looked at Dr. Tonks, then at House. "What do you want to do?" House said nothing. Instead, he stood up and left the waiting room. Wilson looked at Dr. Tonks again. "How long can she wait?"

"24 hours at most. But I'd like to get her prepped tomorrow morning either way." Wilson nodded. "What would you do?"

"If it were someone I love in this situation… I'd choose to amputate." Wilson sighed and went to follow House. He found him in Angela's room, sitting in a chair on the right side, holding her hand. Wilson just stood in the doorway, not saying nor doing anything. True, he was married, but even still, he didn't love his wife to the degree House obviously loved Angela McKeaten. After a few moments, Wilson stepped into the room.

"House?"

"Tell him to go ahead for the amputation," House said, not bothering to turn around. Wilson said nothing, but nodded at House's back and left. He relayed the message to Dr. Tonks and decided to go inform Angela's friends of the decision.

House barely registered Wilson's departure. Angela was still unconscious, but her breathing was even and her heart rate was normal. House held her hand tightly, afraid that if he let go she would slip away. This couldn't be happening. She was the one woman who put up with him no matter what. After an hour, though, he felt her squeeze back. Her blue-green eyes opened slowly. "Oww," she said, slightly groggy. "Okay, next time a mass of energy comes flying at me… please remind me to get out of the way."

"You're awake," House said, relieved. Angela blinked at him and said, "And your eyes are kinda bloodshot from crying." House said nothing, making Angela smile, vaguely. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were having a 'state the obvious' contest. I'm competitive by nature." House grinned wider. He remembered sharing that little quip with her. He liked that she remembered. Angela laughed, mildly.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" House asked, giving her hand another loving squeeze. Angela shrugged lightly.

"I don't know. I wanted to ask you the same thing."

"Tonight I'll ask the stars above

How did I ever win your love?

What did I do?

What did I say?

To turn your angel eyes my way

Angela took a deep breath then asked, "So how bad is my ankle? I mean, I still feel it, so it can't be that bad."

"You shattered it. And you can't have it fixed." Angela's smile was bittersweet.

"Because my mother died of cancer. So they have to take it, don't they?" House nodded.

"I'm afraid so." Angela swallowed.

"It's kind of funny, isn't it? Soon we'll be a limping couple. Don't worry about me, Greg. As long as you're here, I'm okay."

"Is there anyone I can call for you?" Angela closed her eyes. She knew who she should tell. He deserved to know. He should be there.

"Yeah, she finally said, quietly. "My brother. His number's in my wallet." House nodded and Angela gave a short sigh before giving back in to the realm of unconsciousness. House slid his hand from hers and stood up. His leg gave him a sharp throb of pain, but he ignored it. He had more important things to think about.

Los Angeles, California

Cordelia Chase was cleaning Angel's book shelves at the front of the Hyperion Hotel when the phone rang. "Angel Investigations," she chirped. "How may I help you? Sure, just a minute." She covered the mouth piece and shouted upstairs, "Angel, you have a phone call." Angel came down, wondering who would want to call and just speak to him. Maybe it was Buffy wanting to get together for some reason or Willow saying she's be in town for some reason. Picking up the phone, he said succinctly, "Angel." Cordelia watched her boss's face for any clues as far as the nature of the call. She saw Angel's face go from his usual moody to puzzled, and then troubled. Something was wrong, she knew it.

"Sure. I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye." Angel hung up and wordlessly went upstairs to pack, Cordelia following him.

"Angel, what is it? And don't tell me 'nothing' because I know it's something."

"It's Angela." Cordelia had only met Angel's twin sister once, but the two women had liked each other. Cordelia watched Angel throw clothes into a bag and then head out the door again. "How are you getting there? Cause it is still daylight. Where is she anyway?" Angel didn't reply, but instead went to the phone again and quickly dialed Angela's company number. He made quick arrangements to use Angela's jet to get to England and then turned to talk to Cordelia who had disappeared. "Cordy?"

"Just a minute!" Her voice said, coming from her own room in the hotel. After a few minutes, she came down, holding a bag. "Didn't think I'd let you go off on your own did you? When are we leaving?" Angel smiled. Cordelia may have been a vain, carefree person in her high school years, but now she was a warm, considerate person. Angel was honestly happy that she was coming with him.

"Angela's company's sending a car to take us to the jet. We'll be there around 7."

"Are you okay?" Angel shrugged.

"I don't know. Angela's the last blood family I have left."

"It'll be okay, Angel. I know it will." Angel looked doubtful until Cordelia gave a quick grin. "I had a vision." Angel gave a brief little smile back.

London, England

Angela slipped in and out of consciousness the rest of the day. James and Lily took turns watching over her when House stepped out. Lily had forbid Sirius from joining in the vigil, saying that she didn't think it a good idea for Angela to see him. Sirius, therefore, took to pacing around the hallways.

Harry had been upset at Sirius's actions, but slowly forgave him. Remus hadn't been so lenient. Remus had sided with Lily is saying that Sirius should have known better. James hadn't sided one way or the other, as he didn't know exactly what to think about the whole thing.

Around 8 o'clock, Sirius paused his pacing when he saw Angela's twin brother. There was a woman with him… and what a woman! Chocolate brown eyes in a smooth, tan, Californian complexion, and her face was framed by short brown hair streaked with blonde. "Hi," she said, cheerfully. "We're looking for Angela McKeaten." Sirius quirked a grin at her.

"Sure. I'll take you to her room." He held out a hand. "I'm Sirius Black."

"Angel," Angela's brother said, shaking his hand. Cordelia offered her hand to Sirius, saying, "I'm Cordelia Chase." Sirius took her hand and kissed it.

"I'm absolutely enchanted."

"Very smooth, Mr. Black."

"Please… call me Sirius." He offered his arm to Cordelia who took it eagerly. Angel followed the two upstairs to the ICU and Angela's room. Lily saw Sirius coming and looked surprised.

"Sirius, I thought I said-" He cut her off.

"This is Cordelia Chase and Angela's brother, Angel. I was just escorting them." Lily's eyes soften somewhat. "Okay. Angel, she's awake, if you want to see her. Don't stay too long, though. She's tired." Angel nodded and went into the room. Cordelia caught Lily's warning look to Sirius so she decided to ease the tension.

"Do you want to just take a walk?" Sirius seemed happy for an excuse to leave. "Sure. This way."

The two left, with Lily looking irritated. One minute Sirius was getting all possessive over Angela, (though he had been possessed at the time) and the next he was being all smooth with this young woman. Couldn't the man ever make up his mind when it came to women?