Sitting alone in the diagnostics office, Foreman stared numbly into space. His mind was blank with shock. Late afternoon light from a February sun streamed through the windows, giving the office a surreal glow.
Chase was with the nurses, settling Cameron into the ward. Foreman had left, being unable to help. Unable to face, too, what he knew was a terrifying possibility.
When he had left, Chase was talking anxiously to the nurses. Foreman didn't need to.
He knew the victim of a seizure when he saw one.
Foreman knew Cameron had been taking aspirin for a headache. She'd had a laughing fit, distinctly out of character. And now she'd had a seizure, leaving her unconscious.
Headaches; personality changes; seizures. They added together to a nasty conclusion.
There was something wrong in her head.
Infection, Cancer; either option had the chance of liquefying her brain to pulp if they couldn't find it in time.
The door creaked open. Wilson stood at the door, face pale.
"So, you heard."
Foreman nodded once, insides curled into nothing. By the look on the oncologists face, they had both come to the same conclusion.
For a long time, they sat in silence.
"It might be in the early stages." said Wilson finally. "She only started to present symptoms today, after all." He sounded hopeful. With a job like his, Wilson needed to hope.
Foreman didn't have that luxury.
"Maybe." he said, without conviction. But maybe not.
"Have you seen her yet?"
Foreman nodded. "They wheeled her into the ward about twenty minutes ago. Chase is still with her."
A look of confusion flitted across Wilson's face. "Wait...you mean the ward Waterhouse was in?"
"Yes..." It suddenly clicked. Foreman nearly rolled his eyes in disbelief. He couldn't believe House would be pulling a prank at a time like this. "She isn't supposed to be there, is she?"
Wilson didn't answer. Just raced for the door.
He found House coming out of the lift.
"Are you insane!"
"If you go by general opinion in this hospital, probably. And that's not a very nice hello."
House looked pleased with himself. The shock of seeing Cameron in a hospital bed seemed to have worn off him slightly. Or addled his brain enough to doing something so stupid as this.
"Cuddy said you couldn't move her. She's going to castrate you."
"I had nothing to do with this. Dr Lambert transferred her of his own free will." They were at the work desk now. House started reshuffling the stacks of files, looking for a pad of paper. Wilson felt a clash of emotions. Cameron would be under the best care with Dr House.
"No offense, but Dr Lambert hates you. There's no way he would-"
"I appealed to his good side." he found a pad of paper. "Or more accurately, I gave him a fifty. Plus my parking space." he scribbled 'IUO- House ($50)' and stuck the note into Cuddy's pigeon hole.
"He wanted your car parking space?" he said, momentarily sidetracked.
"Yep. Guess he doesn't like the birds crapping on his Porsche." As he started past him, Wilson grabbed House by the arm. A pair of blue eyes met his, cold and blank with emotion.
Almost.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked Wilson.
House pulled his arm calmly away and headed to the diagnostics office.
Cameron woke in pain.
Though 'woke' was a bit of overstatement, really. More like a gradual ease into consciousness.
A dull, bone deep ache drew her from darkness. Through her muddled thoughts, Cameron wondered faintly if she had fallen asleep in the cab. She didn't seem to be moving though. Strange...
There was a taste of blood in her mouth, coppery and rancid. In reflex, she swallowed.
Ahhh! A white-hot knife of agony was rammed into her mouth, splitting her tongue in two.
That woke her up. Her eyes snapped open as she coughed, pain choking her. Her hand went to her mouth, but hit plastic. She froze.
There was an oxygen mask clamped to her face. Humid air over-rich with oxygen swept painfully into her lungs.
The first touch of fear fell cold in her stomach. The pain was ebbing, but she wasn't interested anymore. Her eyes flicked around, taking it in. Her eyesight had gotten worse; everything was smeared like a watercolour. But she could tell where she was.
It made no sense.
She was in a hospital bed. By the looks of it, the same room that had held Mr. Waterhouse hours ago. Unable to comprehend, she just stared.
What...?
Gingerly, she sat up, looking down. She was wearing a paper gown, a band wrapped around her wrist.
Everything felt real. But it couldn't be.
Cameron could feel her heart beating anxiously against her ribcage. The air from the mask wasn't helping either, making her feel light-headed. She wanted to take it off, but her medical training stopped her. Looking around again, she spied a clipboard left on her beside table.
She fumbled forward, feeling like she was moving through water. Clumsily she grasped it and held it close to her face.
Her eyes were an inch from the paper as she struggled to read. A scrawl she recognised as Wilson's had scribbled hectically in the symptoms section.
'Patient suffered Tonic Seizure in Hospital hall, (2:25pm). Duration- 85 seconds (approx.). In an unconscious state afterwards. Held for further observation. Cause- Unknown'.
Seizure?
"Cam!" A white blur came in. It revealed itself to be Chase.
She tried to speak, but the words came out muffled. Frustrated, she pulled the oxygen mask off. Fresh air hit her face.
"It's okay. You had a seizure." he pulled up a chair and sat beside her.
"It's okay I had a seizure?" she said almost angrily. She was scared, not surprisingly.
"No, I meant-"
"I know." she took a breath, trying to fight down panic. "I'm sorry." She looked at him again, almost desperately. She wished someone could just tell her it was all a joke, but her heart knew it was true. And her mind whispered that this wasn't going to end happily ever after.
Chase grasped her wrist in the pretense of taking her pulse, but Cameron knew he was offering her some form of comfort.
"Don't worry." he said softly. "House is looking after you. Whatever it is, he'll find it."
She looked up at him through blurry eyes, and hoped House wasn't going to have his usual track record of nearly killing the patient before he got it right.
House had an inner bet that it would take twenty minutes before word got to Cuddy what he had done. She beat him by nine. He hadn't even managed to make it back to the diagnostics office when she found him, nearly apoplectic with rage.
"Did you have anything to do with this?" she snapped, shoving a patient transferal file in his face. He took it, pretending to read.
"Why do you always blame me for everything that happens?" he said, sounding hurt.
"Because I know you, House." she hissed.
"Go ask Dr. Lambert yourself. He transferred her. Besides, I'd thought you'd be pleased."
"Oh, right. Of course I'm pleased that you ordered a transfer of a patient that could loose my job as well as yours!"
House had finally had enough.
"Look," he said finally, turning to face her fully for the first time since the conversation started.
"Who runs this hospital, you or Vogler?"
She was silent. "He doesn't own you, or me. Not yet anyway. He can't stop you from running the hospital the way you want. Besides, you didn't know this was happening, right? He may be a moron, but he doesn't blame innocent people." I hope, he added silently. Cuddy tapped her fingers against the desk, thinking. Then she sighed, deflating like a balloon.
"Fine. Do what ever you have to. But if Vogler fires you, I won't be able to stand in his way." The words hung in the air like a knife as she walked away.
"Dr. House!" House glanced behind him. A nurse rushed up.
"Dr. Chase needs you. Something's wrong with-" she didn't get to finish. House had already gone.
Foreman and Wilson were arriving just as he reached the door. They both looked anxious.
"Do you know what this is about?" Wilson asked him. House didn't answer, heading through the door.
Chase glanced up as he entered, mouth set in a grim line. He had Cameron's head tilted back, shining a small eye torch into her eyes. Foreman and Wilson walked up behind him, shoes scuffling on the floor. At the sound Cameron's head jerked towards them. Her eyes flickered across them, but didn't focus.
House felt his throat close up as he stared into her scared, unseeing eyes.
She was blind.