A vague melodic sound started to grow louder in his ears.
House opened his eyes, where the hell am I ? Parking lot…
He sat half upright but then quickly stopped moving as a shooting pain went through his right knee and thigh, as well as the ribs on his right side.
The sound that woke him up had stopped.
Cell phone, he thought.
His head suddenly getting clearer again. What time is it, how long have I been out ?
He reached in his pocket, grabbed his cell and the bottle of Vicodin. Took two pills and while he waited for them to take the worst off, he glanced at his watch. 10 minutes, only 10 minutes at most had passed. No concussion or blows to the head, I just passed out.
Those ninja-kids by now are long gone of course.
What on earth had he been thinking ! Trying to stop two delinquents from stealing someone else's radio.
He saw his cane a few feet from where he sat.
Again tried to move, something was definitely wrong with his knee. A different pain from what he was used to. He managed to drag himself to where his cane was and struggled for a moment to pull himself up. He couldn't much bend his right leg, couldn't put any weight on it.
You idiot ! he told himself, as he slowly hopped to his car heavily leaning on his cane. Fumbled with shaky hands for the keys, opened the door and lowered himself on to the drivers seat. He quickly tried to assess the damage. Bruised ribs, but probably not broken, few scrapes from where his hands and face had connected with the asphalt. Slightly bruised upper arm making leaning on the cane unpleasant. And very likely some damage to a ligament in his knee.
Not that bad, but enough to make the knee unstable and in combination with the results from the infarction it was impossible to walk on it. He let out a heavy sigh. Nothing that couldn't heal giving some time passed. Thank God no irreversible damage done, Thank God it wasn't his left leg..
Still.. so stupid !
Pushing the chair back as far as it would go he could just stretch his leg out in front of him without bending it too much, and as he closed the door he realized there would be no way on earth he was able to drive himself home.
He rested his head against the glass of the window, then got his phone and punched in a number.
" God House ! We're in the middle of a conference here ! ", Wilson whispered.
"Yeah, sorry, I know how much you like attending those things." He said sarcasticly. Then a bit softer : "I need you to pick me up, I'm in the parking lot at Danny's. " He hang up before Wilson could ask anything else and checked his phone to see who's call it had been earlier. Clearly Wilson and Cuddy were still busy listening to one boring speech after the other, none of them would have called. The Caller ID read "Stacey"...He turned the phone off and flipped it closed again, didn't feel like calling her back anyway, and sat with his eyes closed waiting for Wilson to turn up.
Half an hour later the headlights of a familiar car approached and Wilson pulled up beside him, got out and tapped on Houses window.
House opened the door but didn't get out.