Okay, I did a little research on comas, and I believe I've provided the correct information. But if it is wrong, please don't sue me. I'll just write you in a future chapter. lol

CHAPTER SIXTEEN – The Ex Is Back

Cameron sulkily walks to the conference room that morning after she visited House to see how his condition is. She is afraid to check on Wilson, yet she doesn't really know why. She walks in, oblivious to Chase and Foreman sitting at the table, and heads straight for House's office. She sits in his chair behind his desk and puts on the headphones, leans back and closes her eyes.

"Wow, she's really taking this hard, isn't she?" Foreman asks Chase.

"Yeah, we were both up til dawn talking. Long story, but he's still her boss, and it is a little unnerving having him 'gone'."

"Chase, why don't you go in there with her?"

"No, I'll give her some space. I think she needs it." Foreman only nods his head and doesn't press the issue of 'him and Cameron being up til dawn', because he thinks he already knows the answer. And deep down, Foreman is glad the two have finally come to their senses.

HOUSE M.D. HOUSE M.D. HOUSE M.D

"James, I am so sorry. I didn't want this to happen to you. I just couldn't live with you anymore. It doesn't mean I've stopped loving you," a voice says. The person is sitting talking to Wilson, holding his hand and fighting back further tears. "We've just grown apart after all these years; granted they were only six, but still. I never meant to hurt you."

"Excuse me, can I help you?" Cuddy asks as she enters Wilson's room and sees a woman at his bedside.

The woman looks at Cuddy, wipes her tear soaked cheeks and says, "I'm Julie, his wife…soon to be…," she cuts herself off as she tries to hold back more tears.

"Oh, Julie, I'm Dr. Cuddy, his physician slash boss," she says as she approaches the bed.

"The nurse told me he's fallen into a coma," Julie asks as she stands and walks to the window and looks out, crossing her arms as if hugging herself.

"Julie, let's go outside and talk." Julie turns to look at Cuddy, nods her head, wipes her cheek again and they both walk out into the hall.

Cuddy directs Julie to sit on a bench in a waiting area, closes the door and sits down next to her, taking a deep breath in preparation for updating Julie on his condition.

"He fell into the coma early this morning, about 4 a.m., although it's only a Stage One on the Glasgow Coma Scale. That just means the brain is registering pain but he can't respond to it. An EEG and BSER were done immediately to determine if there was bleeding in his brain, which there is none." Julie lets out a sigh of relief.

"Now, while he is responding to the stimuli and has shown some movement that just means the nerves' responses are being sent to the brain. He is not responding to verbal commands or voluntarily moving his body or verbally acknowledging the pain. The brain stem controls his breathing and blood pressure, that's why he's on the respirator, to breathe for him. But there is also damage in his brain, but only minimal, we believe. It is very rare to have just a severe brain stem injury."

"What does that mean?" Julie asks with a shaky voice.

"It means he can be in the coma for days, weeks, even possibly months."

"Oh, God," Julie stutters.

"Julie, I've already lined up a Dr. Timothy Sutherland. He is the best in coma research and rehabilitation…"

Julie cuts her off by asking, "rehabilitation?"

Cuddy nods her head and continues. "He's the top in his field for medical research on coma recovery. He worked 12 years at the Mayo Clinic and wrote two papers on the subject, receiving high accolades."

"Well good for him, but what does that have to do with Jim?"

Cuddy realizes Julie's shortness and doesn't let it affect her. "He'll be personally treating Wil…James to get him to come around out of the coma, hopefully sooner."

Julie stares at Cuddy blankly, trying to process all of the information she's just received.

"The way it works," Cuddy starts to further explain, "is Dr. Sutherland will do a series of procedures with him. It'll start with a mild massage twice a day intermixed with communication; it's referred to as Reactivity and Perceptivity. What that means is through touch and talk, it will hopefully stimulate the brain to respond, stronger and stronger until James breaks through the coma."

Julie shakes her head at first then slowly lets the information sink in. "If he moves and/or opens his eyes how will you know if he is fully out of it?"

"Good question. We'll know when he starts to respond to verbal commands, like moving a limb or blinking when asked, and the monitor he's connected to will indicate brain waves, telling us he is indeed responding as he should be. The next thing we want to look for is him breathing on his own, where as then we can remove the respirator."

"And there's no telling when that will happen?" Julie asks quietly.

"I'm afraid not. Right now we just have to wait and see."

"Is there anything I can do?" she asks as she stands, Cuddy does the same.

"It won't hurt to talk to him, but in a positive way, like good, happy memories or people in his family. Dr. Sutherland will be in around noon for the first session."

Julie nods her head, thanks Cuddy and heads back to Wilson's room. Cuddy takes a deep breath and silently prays that indeed things will be more positive than she presented it to Julie. She slowly walks back to her office but she tells herself she really must go home, but she can't. Not now. She's been running almost 48 hours now and it is beginning to take a toll on her.

Well, she did have the two hours with House. The thought made her smile. But that quickly disappeared when her thoughts went back to Wilson.

'You've GOT to be okay, Wilson. I won't let you die. I WON'T.'