I'm feeling philosophic and a little misanthropic

Always a dangerous sign, but the effects are usually benign

Madness has been said to come from depression, and not aggression.

Great writers, one and most all, had mental problems which appalled

I question not my sanity, but rather my incongruity.

I fear I may become a bore and my stories you will abhor.

I give you twist and turns, enough to make your stomachs churn

I give you the good with the bad, but not to make you sad

The story has become rather bold, it has taken me under its control

I sit and begin to write, words which give me a fright

But on this journey I have embarked, with you and the Snark

So before the day is through, the disclaimer I must give you.

These characters are not mine, in any shape, form, or kind

I only use them to entertain, without, hopefully, too much disdain.

"Be a man!" said the Bellman in wrath, as he heard

The Butcher beginning to sob.

"Should we meet we a Jubjub, that desperate bird,

We shall need all our strength for the job!"

(The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carrol

'You absolute idiot,' Lisa Cuddy looked at the man lying on his stomach on the emergency room table. He was nude except the sheet across his buttocks. 'When you and Cameron finally got together, I was actually relieved. I thought now House would be less suicidal, he had something to live for. When Emma was born I did a jig, while thinking halleluiah, now he will definitely act better.' The man yelped loudly as Cuddy used tweezers to lift a large piece of gravel which had been embedded in his back and add it to her growing pile debris. 'Obviously, I was wrong.'

'Anesthesia would be nice here,' groaned House through gritted teeth as Cuddy took perverse pleasure in digging out a piece of grit and dropping it with a clunk into a metal pan.

"Not on your life.' Dipping a cotton swap in disinfect, Cuddy wiped away blood from the open wound, smirking as House's body lurched from the sting.

'For God's sakes blow on it or something,' whined House loudly.

Cuddy smiled seductively and stooped so she could look House directly in the eye. 'Do you know what your mandatory tox screen told me? Not only where you high, but you were drunk and high. And,' she raised an eyebrow for emphasis, 'if you can ride a motorcycle without a coat in a snow storm, destroy my flag pole and shrubbery, and get me out of bed at three in the morning, you don't need anyone to blow on it. You have a pretty young wife who can do that when I'm done with you.' Puckering her lips, Cuddy blew House a mock kiss as she returned to her task. 'Now shut up, so I can personally dig my parking lot out of you piece by piece.'

Gritting his teeth, House gave Cuddy an evil glance, yelping as she sought another pebbles. 'Could you try a little gentleness at least?'

'Only when you tell me what the hell you thought you were doing.'

'It's private,' mumbled House swearing under his breath. Clank, another pebble hit the dish. 'Can I recommend a nice saline wash rather than taking them out one by one?'

'Nope,' Cuddy started to reply, but stopped as the door opened and Jack Parkes, the intern on duty, entered the room.

'Dr. Cuddy?' The look on Parkes face was solemn, 'May I speak with you a moment?'

'What is it?' asked Cuddy, 'Did Cameron say to leave this idiot here and she would collect him in the morning?'

'Uh, not quite,' hesitated Parkes. House tried to turn his head to look at the intern, but found it too painful. Cuddy sensing something was serious wrong laid down her tweezers and turned on him.

'What did she say?'

Shifting his weight from foot to foot, the intern glanced at House, who was pushing himself up on his elbows, pained expression mixed with questioning on his face, and to Cuddy. 'The phone was off the hook when I called, so I tried her pager and no one answered. But…' Parkes stopped and looked as if he wanted to bolt from the room.

'But what?' asked House apprehensively as he forced himself up to a sitting position and gingerly pulled the sheet more securely around his waist.

'Spit it out,' snapped Cuddy.

'Well, I gave it a while, then I forgot, so I tried to call again, but Annabella, I mean Dr. Stewart, just told me Dr. Cameron has been in examining room ten for the last forty minutes.'

House and Cuddy looked at each other before turning back to Parkes. 'And?' said each simultaneously.

'She thought she had a miscarriage,' mumbled Parkes looking at his shoes. 'But, but, but,' he stammered quickly as House moved to climb off the table and a look of shock, sadness, and fury crossed Cuddy's face, 'she didn't, or at least we don't think she did.'

Both House and Cuddy began yelling at him at the same time, 'Why the hell didn't anyone tell me when she came in?' yelled House as Cuddy demanded to know 'Why am I just now being informed of this?' Holding up his hands in surrender, Parkes backed towards the door while shushing his two superiors. 'I'll just go check on her,' he declared before dashing out of the room.

As the door swung closed, House gathered the sheet tightly around his waist with one hand, and tentatively lowered a foot to the floor.

'What are you doing?' demanded Cuddy.

'Going to see about my wife,' House gently applied pressure to his leg before wincing in pain, 'and my daughter, get that moron back in here and find out where my child is.'

'You can't go out there.'

'Why not?' demanded House.

'Uh,' Cuddy held out a hand indicating House's leg and back, both of which were extremely bruised and covered in scraps and gashes from his accident. 'No cane, no wheelchair, no clothes. You're not running around here naked, and you can't walk till I sew up your good leg you bashed.' Crossing to the door, Cuddy turned to House, 'don't move.' Opening the door, she disappeared into the corridor only to immediately return with a wheelchair and a robe.

'This is going to hurt like hell,' said Cuddy holding out the robe for House to slip it on, 'but maybe Cameron doesn't know what you did.' With the robe in place, Cuddy helped him off the table and into the wheelchair. 'Can you lean back into the chair; blood is already coming through the robe.'

'Don't worry about it,' breathed House through gritted teeth, 'she'll just think I'm still bleeding from her nails.'

'I thought some of those scraps looked a bit odd,' mumbled Cuddy under her breath as she tucked the flaps of the sheet House still had wrapped around his over his legs to hide his scraps. Satisfying herself House was settled and looking as well as he could under the circumstances, Cuddy pushed him out the door. 'We will check on Cameron, and then I will numb your leg and back, wash out the pavement, and stitch you up.'

'Thank you,' said House, which was followed immediately by the sound of Emma's call of 'Daddy,' as she toddled from behind the nursing station at the sound of her father's voice. Cheryl, the night nurse, instantly scooped up the child and held her as she stooped next to House and Cuddy.

'Hi sweetie,' smiled Cuddy. While House smiled at his daughter and took her hand in his.

'Emma,' he said gently in a low voice, 'are you being a good girl?'

Emma grinned and tried to wiggle her way from the nursing grasp to climb into her father's lap.

'No, honey, you need to stay with the nurse for a few more minutes,' House looked up at Cheryl. 'Do you mind?'

Slightly taken aback that House was politely asking her for help, Cheryl smiled reassuring, 'We're fine. Besides, Dr. Stewart says we can bring her in to see her mother in a few minutes now the exam is over and the test results are back.'

House nodded as Cheryl stood with Emma who was still squirming to be let loose. Letting go of his daughter's hand, House smiled brightly at her, 'Daddy will be right back, OK?' He could tell Emma was getting ready to scream. 'You play here for two more minutes, then the nice nurse will bring you in to Mommy.'

Cuddy seeing the child's face start to scrunch up, quickly pushed House into Cameron's room.

As the door opened and she saw who was entering her room, Cameron could not help but to start to cry. 'Greg.'

Cuddy wheeled House next to the bed where he took his wife's hand in his own.

'How are you?' he asked. There was tenderness in his voice Cuddy had never heard before. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, she quickly excused herself from the room.

House squeezed his wife's hand as she began to sob deeply. He wanted to hold her, but he knew at current moment that was out of the question. Between his wounds and the fetal monitors Cameron was hooked to, they were each slightly immoveable.

'Greg, they said you were in an accident.'

'I wrecked the bike,' said House gently as he stroked Cameron's arm, 'but as you can see, I'm going to be fine.' He hesitated, unsure what next to say. Raising Cameron's hand to his lips, House gently kissed it before lowering it back to the bed. With his thumb he traced small circles where his lips had been. He found he could not look at his wife. 'I…I'm sorry.' There were depths of emotion in the simple statement. 'If I had known…this would happen,' House felt a great lump rise in his throat as tears threatened to come to his eyes; swallowing, he tried to continue. 'I would never have…' He couldn't finish the sentence.

'Greg,' wailed Cameron between sobs, 'I didn't loose the baby. It's alright. They are just being careful, I'm still pregnant.' Cameron wanted desperately to hold him. House looked up at her, his eyes blazing. Cameron could see he was on the verge of tears.

'Are you sure?' He wanted so much to believe most of the evening was just a horrible dream.

Cameron nodded, unable to speak.

'What happened?' asked House, trying to pull himself under control.

'I could ask you the same thing,' smiled Cameron, sniffing loudly. 'You look horrible and I know I didn't do that.' She nodded towards the robe which had come open revealing a large bruise on his shoulder.

'Ice,' said House simply, 'You?'

'Panic attack.'

House nodded. For several moments each was silent. Cameron's sniffs lessened to minor snuffles and House sat, staring at the railing on the bed. Uneasiness grew in the room. Cameron loudly cleared her throat, causing House to jump.

'We need to…talk,' Cameron said quietly.

Letting go of her hand, House rested his arms on the wheels of the chair. 'I don't want to.'

'We need to.'

'Why?' The question sounded like a gun going off in the room, 'Why do we need to?' House rolled the chair backwards, away from the bed, ignoring the blasts of pain it send to his back.

'Greg,' Cameron started to say, but House cut her off. His words were spoken slowly and heavily accented so she could not miss his point. 'I don't want to know you are attracted to him. I don't want to know it started out innocently enough, a little flirting, then a little more over dinner, and then what, a kiss good night and it got out of hand?' Cameron sat staring at him wide-eyed. 'I don't want to know you said no, but he was persistent, even a little forceful, forceful enough he frightened you.' House glanced at Cameron. He knew he was hitting some raw nerves. 'We don't need to talk, because there is too much I already know.'

Cameron opened her mouth to speak, to tell him he was wrong, but again House cut her off. 'Do you want to know what I know?' He did not wait for her to answer. 'I know you were attracted to him the moment the two of you met; I saw it in your eyes. I know a part of you was enjoying where the evening was going, I heard that in your voice when you called. I know he held you and with force, your wrists are bruised and I could smell his cologne on you. I think he took you by surprise and came on way to strong. I also think when you said no, he got violent with you.' Cameron glanced at her wrists as House took a deep breath, his eyes searching her face, 'I know you didn't sleep with him, but…' Cameron looked at her husband, their eyes locking as his anger was replaced with a note of deep sadness. 'You didn't sleep with him,' his voice dropped to no more than a whisper, 'but you wanted to. In fact, you seriously thought about it.' With force, House tore his eyes away from hers.

Cameron sat stunned for several seconds, opening and closing her mouth shaking her head no, looking remarkably like a fish out of water. Finally she found her voice, 'That's not…It was…How?' she stammered.

'I know' said House quietly, 'because you wanted me to…you needed me to hurt you. The more you begged, to more I knew. People don't change Cameron; you still punish yourself for the most damnable things.'

'And you're still an ass,' replied Cameron, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

House nodded his head, a thin sad smile playing at the corners of his lips. 'An ass who loves you.' House rolled the chair back towards the bed.

'I love you too,' whispered Cameron holding out her hand to him. House took Cameron's hand and she squeezed it gently. 'You don't need to worry Greg, you really don't.'

House pressed his lips together in a half-hearted smile of acknowledgement just as the door opened and Cuddy entered the room, followed closely by Emma and Wilson.

'Right,' announced Cuddy to Cameron, 'Lets get you up to maternity for observation,' she turned to House, 'and you lets de-gravel. But first, I want to know what is going on.'

Dragging a stool between House and Cameron, Cuddy sat and crossed her legs, 'Let's hear it.'

Wilson nodding, sat Emma gently next to Cameron. 'I about had a heart attack when you called, then hung up without saying a word, then answered when I called back and dropped the phone. I could hear you puking so I rushed right over and you wouldn't answer the door.'

House and Cameron looked at each other, unspoken communication flowing between them. Cameron gave him a slight nod as Emma placed her thumb in her mouth and curled next to her mother.

'Wendum made a pass at Cameron and when she said no, he became violent.' House looked from Cuddy to Wilson; both their mouths were dropped open. 'Don't worry,' smiled House, 'I intend to speak with him about it.'

They sought it with thimbles; they sought it with care;

They pursued it with forks and hope;

They threatened its life with a railway-share

They charmed it with smiles and soap.

Author's note:

Thank you for the reviews they are appreciated. I also tried not to leave you with too much of a cliffhanger this time, but then again…what will House say to Wendum? Also, I have right to be using Lewis Carroll's Hunting of the Snark.