Chapter 2
Cameron studied herself in the mirror from head to toe. The scars from her C-section remained clearly visible and she touched the haunting reminder lightly. It had been a year now since she had left Princeton without a trace.
She didn't know how she could look at herself in the mirror. How could she have gone against every moral belief she had and taken away an innocent life, when she tried to save one every day? Her child, she had named him Talon, had been born May twenty-third, died on the twenty-ninth.
It had been all her fault.
And
She
Couldn't
Forgive herself….
"Open wide."
"Like this?"
"No you idiot, when you ask your mouth closes." House tapped his cane as he tried to get a good look into his newest clinic patient's esophagus with his doctors flashlight. His patient obliged and opened further without comment, looking disgruntled at the name calling. "Now say 'ah'"
"Ahhhhh" His patient held her note.
"Clever, so you think this clinic is like the rolling hills in Europe and this is the sound of music, everything's a song right?"
"Uh?"
"What is this the stone age?"
"Umm"
House glared at his patient who looked completely confused and slightly upset by the rough treatment she was receiving.
"You don't have any swelling, your tonsils look fine and there's no abnormal redness. That rules out tonsillitis and strep throat. Your vowels sound perfect and your keys are fine. I'm prescribing you singing lessons and a placebo for the next time you think you have something that you don't."
"A placebo? Is that like a relaxing drug or something?"
"Like, totally!" House pepped, putting on his valley girl imitation.
Shrugging the girl who must have been in her late teens snatched her prescription and left the room immediately.
House was just about to settle in the corner of the room, television remote already in hand when his blasted pager went off. When he read 'Cuddy, urgent', he sighed in frustration and turned on the television. They had no cases at the moment and if he was 'urgently' needed, she'd find him.
Ten minutes later she did just that, barging into the room, hands on her hips, chest heaving and a stormy glare in her eyes that suggested she meant business.
"Cuddy, I was just about to come find you."
Cuddy gestured to the way he was sitting. One chair used as a footstool, the other housing himself, a gurney pillow behind his back. He looked too comfortable at work for her to foolishly believe that old one liner.
"House, when I page urgent, you're supposed to come to my office immediately, not watch General Hospital. In fact, you're not supposed to watch General Hospital at all! I could have you fired for this!"
"Oh Cuddy, let's not play games here. You know this is how it's always been, you're just angry about something and it's causing you to act irrationally. Come, sit down, we'll watch General Hospital together, if you're lucky, I might get really into it and feel you up a bit." House wagged his eyebrows in mock sexual reference.
Cuddy glared. Usually she resorted to rolling her eyes, yelling came next. This time she looked stern and genuinely frustrated. House was at her attention now.
"What is it?" House demanded.
"I don't know if I should tell you now, seeing as how urgent means nothing to you". Cuddy turned and marched out of the room, knowing House would follow her.
House, limping behind as fast as he could manage, had caught up to her in no time.
"Where are we heading? New patient?"
"You could call it that." Intrigued, House pressed further.
"Abnormal case?"
"In her…condition, I would say so." Cuddy's eyes never strayed from her gaze ahead, and her heals were beginning to pick up speed with every step as they closed in on their destination.
"ER?" House questioned. "That stuff has nothing to do with me, you know that."
"I don't care House, could you just be a little bit quieter right now, it's important that you do not touch anything, I'm only doing this because she requested it. Do you understand me? No touching of anything." Cuddy persisted, turning to stand in front of the double sliding doors that entered the emergency room, blockading it.
House was becoming more and more anxious to get into the room. He knew that whatever was back there was not going to be a pleasing sight in any way, and not just because it was the ER after all. For his own protection and for whoever it was that had requested him to come, he slid his hand behind his back.
"Fine." House agreed. Cuddy searched his face once more, as if to make sure, as well as clearly showing that she knew he was lying. She flashed him one last warning look and turned to the doors, allowing them to slide open and House to fly past her
"House!" She called after him but he did not respond. "Room 209" Cuddy shouted helpfully. The nurses at their station glared at her for her shout but one flash of her superior look and they instantly averted their gazes and continued on.
House, having heard, detoured left and saw the room he was looking for. Behind the large gallery glass walls, which had not yet been covered, lay Cameron, pale, thin and defenseless.
House wasted no time in barging into the room, scrubbing his hands quickly and heading to the operating table, his cane lay forgotten near the door and the pain in his leg was momentarily absent.
He watched her heart monitor, 45,43,39. It was reaching critical and he panicked. After almost a year of not seeing her, he was not about to let her die on the operating table. Her heart stopped.
Quickly grabbing a set of paddles from their station, shoving a shouting doctor out of the way, he interfered. More doctors began yelling at him but he managed to shut them out. All he heard was her heart beat, and all he saw was her heart. He cleared and paddled several times until her heart rate slowly rose back up to normal. Intubating her he announced his work complete.
"Dr.House I thought I told you not to touch anything." Cuddy stormed in, anger but relief written all over her face.
"I crossed my fingers. Why the hell didn't you tell me it was Cameron?" House asked angrily, marching back across the room to grab his cane, before heading back to Cameron's side. By now, all the angry emergency doctors had left save one. Apparently Cuddy overruled in every aspect.
"Personal interest could lead to risks."
"Who says I have personal interest?"
"Please House. Don't even make me start on it."
"What happened to her?" House demanded, choosing to ignore Cuddy and instead focusing on the lone doctor. Opting for peace rather then war, the doctor gave the information freely.
"Drug overdose on painkillers. It must have been a bottle of aspirin, her heart stops every so often, we need to pump her stomach."
"Where was she when you found her?"
"A hotel room somewhere nearby, that's all I know. The doctors are prepping for the pumping."
House nodded as the doctor excused himself. What had happened? An overdose on drugs was rarely enforced. That meant she had turned suicidal. There was only one way of finding out for certain. He began by lifting up her hands but found no signs of burning. He looked at her wrists and found light scars. Evidence pointed to the obvious.
"House what are you doing?" Cuddy demanded. House chose to ignore her as he investigated further. Lifting her shirt he looked at her stomach and quickly snatched it back down as Cuddy came closer. Of course this had not been before he saw something completely unexpected.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Take a look at her wrists though."
"I know." Cuddy sighed heavily.
"You knew and you didn't care to tell me?" House pressed, the suppressed anger could not be hidden from his voice.
"I'm sorry House. She's been suicidal a while now. I couldn't tell you." Cuddy looked relieved to finally share this bit of information, but at the same time uncertain of whether or not she should have leaked the information.
"How many times?" House asked, his eyes burning holes into Cameron's skin, his anger was heightening the more he was learning.
"Two separate incidents that I've known about. I had to track down her file after the first time. One alcohol poisoning, one wrist slit."
So if she had tracked down Cameron's file, there was no way she didn't know about the C-section.
"She was admitted to the abortion clinic a year ago, but she never made it there did she?" House had to know. His curiosity was sickly sliding around to a point where it wasn't even interest or intrigue, it was need.
"House, I can't discuss it." Cuddy turned quickly, making to leave.
"Why not? Did you guys do girl scouts honor? No boys allowed?"
She snapped back towards his direction.
"I know you're upset House, but please, it's not my place to tell. She came to me in confidentiality about everything a little while back. I can't so stop trying to get any information from me. It's not happening House. And I meant what I said, don't touch her again or I will place a security team around her." Cuddy threatened and shook her head as she walked out of the ER room.
House took out his bottle of Vicadin and popped one back quickly. He understood what she had been through and he understood what she had tried to do. The question was why?
