Chapter 5

Awake

Chase looked at the monitors again and sighed. Things were not looking good. Kelly's fever had not abated; if anything it seemed to be getting worse, and she now refused all food and water. If she didn't start eating and drinking soon they were going to have to give her a feeding tube. Mrs. Walton had not reappeared, and while Chance expected it, it still angered him. People who fostered children like this should not be allowed to be arrogant asses. Chase looked up in surprise when he heard the telltale sound of House entering the room.

"How is she?" House asked gruffly.

"Not so good, her fever hasn't gone down and she's not eating." Chase replied, wondering why it was the crazy ones that always interested House.

"I just got a call from Foreman, it's Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis, they found a huge mouse infestation at her last home." House looked at the frail figure lying in the bed and then back to Chase. "You can go, I'll sit with her for a bit."

:Pain:

The sensation that was as familiar as breathing to her. She slowly came to awareness but kept her eyes closed. Opening up her senses she listened to the room move around her. There was a rumbling noise off to her left that was soothing and colored her vision with a soft teal. Colors were another thing that she knew well. Her whole world was a color. Pulling her consciousness towards the sound, her brain filtered the other sounds out, and she recognized that the noise was a voice.

:Nice:

The thought entered her head before she could stop it. She fought down the idea that something nice might be near her. She never had anything nice. The sound suddenly stopped and she involuntarily opened her eyes. She wanted to know where it went.

"I see you're awake." The noise said. Teal filled her vision again and a small sigh escaped her lips. Teal was a good color. It was nothing like the angry blood red that caused her so much pain. That was a bad noise. She allowed the noise to enter her brain slowly and the words became meaning. The noise, no the voice, was talking to her. Should she respond?

:Pain:

Her body reminded her of what responding caused.

:Hot:

:Sore:

Thoughts and feelings filtered in one by one, and she tried to make meaning of all of them. She slowly rolled her head towards the voice. It was Him. The one with the smooth. Smooth what, her brain asked. She reached for the side of the bed, and her fingers met the smooth. She liked the hardness and smoothness all combined. The width was perfect for her fingers to wrap slowly around.

:Nice:

She gave a small smile. It was nice, and there was no pain, well at least not the fire that she had come to know whenever she was fine.

"You like my cane, huh?" the voice entered her brain again and she smiled again at the teal that filled her vision. Should she respond? So far the nice hadn't gone away. She carefully pulled her fingers into her palm and made a small fist. Lifting her arm just a little she brought her fist down in a quick, smooth motion. 'Yes.' The sign was an easy one, she knew it was right, but there was no response from the voice. She frowned a little, missing the nice teal that she was growing more and more fond of. 'Yes' she signed again.

"Wait, that's a sign! Um, it's yes, right?" Filtering the words, and trying hard to not get lost in the teal she signed it again. 'yes.'

:Pain:

It entered her thoughts again, and this time she could not ignore the fact that it was growing. The pain in her knee and her back was growing into a white-hot agony. She considered signing for help, but didn't know if she would be punished for it.

:Hot:

:Pain:

She retreated back into her gray world where these things would not be felt. As she drifted away the teal faded to gray and she felt a great sense of loss.

House had been sitting and talking to Kelly for almost an hour. He told her about his issues with Cuddy and the Clinic and how she was getting him out of Clinic Duty. He also told her about some of the strange cases he had seen over the years, and he found that when you didn't know if the person was listening or not, it was a lot easier to talk. When he paused for a minute he saw that Kelly was awake. And looking at him.

"I see you're awake." He said softly trying to keep her attention on him. He was really worried about her. So far their treatment hadn't worked. Her fever was still lingering around 103 and they had been unable to get her to eat anything. House watched as wandering fingers found his cane that was again propped against the edge of the bed. When they softly closed around it he saw a smile ghost across her face and he had to smile a little himself.

"You like my cane, huh?" For some reason talking to her didn't seem like a waste of time. A look of deep concentration on her face made him look more closely at her. When she brought up one frail arm and folded her fingers into a fist he almost jumped out of his chair. She was trying to communicate, or at least she was trying to do something. When she brought the fist down in a "nod" he thought quickly to the web pages he had been researching for the past few days. A fist that was used to "nod" was the sign for yes.

"Wait, that's a sign! Um, it's yes, right?" he asked quickly when he was granted another "nod" from her fist. He almost cheered when he received the sign a third time. He was about to ask her another question when he saw a wave of pain flow across her face. Her eyes glazed over and the tension in her body could almost be felt.

"Kelly? Kelly! What's wrong?" He turned to the monitors over her bed and his heart hell. Her blood pressure was dropping and when he reached a hand over to feel her forehead, the heat that he felt told him that her fever was spiking. "Shit!"