Here is the big, explosive chapter for those of you who have been faithfully reading this story! Sorry it took me a day or two to get to this chapter after the last; I had a great trip! I was mulling this chapter over on the ride home and was wondering the right way to go about this, but there really is no wrong way, I decided. It all depends on what angle I want to go from. So, this is what I decided! Onward!
Falling Snow
House's back hurt as he bent over to put the box in the trunk of the car. He stiffened and straightened inch by inch until he heard a snap; pain flooded his nerves and then there was a release. House sighed. He still had four more boxes of stuff waiting for him in his office. Cuddy was a monster for not letting anyone assist him in moving out of the hospital, knowing the cripple would have a hard time. Well, thought House bitterly, what if this cripple were to slip and fall and hurt himself and sue her?
The doctor realized the foolishness he was telling himself and turned from the car to start another climb to his office and many more corridors to navigate with one hand on a box. It was freezing outside. The snow was coming down in little more than wisps of frost; autumn had officially ended. This was not the first snowfall but it was the first one House had been in for the year. He made a mental note to find a spare jacket in the boxes; he knew he had packed one away.
"House, get a coat on, you're going to freeze."
House was startled to find Foreman and Wilson coming up to him, each holding a box. Neither of them were smiling, but they moved past House and placed the boxes in the rest of the space in the trunk.
"What are you doing?" he asked, frowning, displeasure in his voice. "Cuddy is going to hang you with your own neckties if she finds you helping me. Now go away."
"We're not leaving you out here in the cold to battle with-"
"What does it matter?" House cried, frustrated. Why couldn't these idiots see that he just wanted to be left alone, to leave without having to battle his own emotions in front of others. Wilson, who knew House better than most, saw this look and grimaced.
"You know, House, you got yourself fired and all of us in trouble-" Wilson started, but House cut him off.
"What? You don't have a part to play in this, or Foreman, or Chase?"
"House, listen for once. Instead of talking, listen."
Wilson took control of the situation. He wasn't going to let House walk away from this, like he had walked away from everything he didn't want to deal with.
"We know that you haven't been taking your painkiller and that can make bad problems worse. You've reached the point where you can't function properly without those damn pills and you chose now, in the middle of all this mess, to detox?"
"Not in the middle, at the beginning of all this mess. Get it right, Wilson, or don't talk at all."
"You can't be who you were. You just have to be who you are!" Wilson's voice was raised so that it traveled the length of the parking lot, voice choked with emotion. House didn't roll his eyes, or make a smart comeback. He just stared at Wilson, and Wilson stared right back.
"What do you think is going on inside, Wilson," House muttered, uncertainty creeping into his voice, breathing ragged. "How do you think it feels to lose your job, to never see your staff again, for your team to disband? How do you think it feels to live with unbearable pain every day, but still be willing to toss the pills for the sake of those I work with? How do you think it feels to be so wrong it's deadly?"
The snow fell around the three doctors, not even a wind to stir the rest of the world into action after those words.
"House!"
A voice called to him across the parking lot and House looked over Wilson's shoulder, the other two doctors turning around to see who the voice belonged to.
Cameron came running through the snow, her hair flying behind her, lab coat casting a billowing cloud of white around her legs. She held an envelope in her hands, a lavender envelope, and there were tears running down her face. Chase was right behind her, calling after her.
"House," she said, crying, stopping at his side and clinging to his sleeve. "You can't go yet. I have to tell you something! You just can't go yet!"
"What do you think you are doing?" asked Foreman, looking to Chase for an explanation. Chase shrugged his shoulders.
"Cameron, what is going on?" House asked calmly, looking at her closely. She was in an obvious state of distress, circles under her eyes, skin almost as pale as the snow.
"There you are," said a man's voice.
Everything seemed to stop as the doctors turned and saw Mr. Deleyney's eldest son raise the gun he had taken from Chase's desk and point it straight at House.
Foreman and Wilson ducked, on their elbows in the snow; Chase backed up against a car; Cameron and House stood where they were, unable to move for the shock of it all.
The gun went off, the crack splitting the air, disturbing the silent fall of snow. House felt something hit him and, reaching to where the pressure had been in his abdomen, he felt blood. The man with the gun ran, throwing the gun to the ground. Foreman stood and ran to the fallen weapon, picking it up and shooting after the man. None of the bullets hit their target and the man disappeared behind the hospital and there was the faint sound of a car starting and wheels screeching.
There was no sound after that, everyone staring in shock at House. Foreman, seeing House, dropped the gun before looking at his own hands. Wilson gasped, unable to get off the ground, afraid that, once he moved, he would realize this wasn't a dream. Chase could only stare in horror, tears welling in his eyes.
House felt a limp form falling and he caught it, unaware of what it was until he looked down. Cameron's face was turned up, her eyes shut, her body powerless. It was not his own blood, House realized, but Cameron's. What force he had felt was her hitting him as the bullet went into her body.
Doctor's rushed out of the hospital, a stretcher rolled out the doors. Nurses and doctor's alike ran to House, who still held the limp form of Cameron in his arms, blood covering his hands. A group of doctors took her from him and placed her on the stretcher, running back into the hospital, other doctors asking if they were all alright. They nodded, still in shock, and the nurses and doctors left with Cameron, leaving Foreman, Chase, Wilson, and House alone. Cuddy ran outside, past Cameron, standing by Chase. Stacy followed, stopping in the doorway of the hospital, looking at the pitiful scene.
House stared down at the droplets of blood that had fallen on the snow and marveled at how much they resembled rose petals, wet rose petals. He sank to his knees, astonished at his own weakness, his leg throbbing unbearably hard, but he ignored it. Cameron was shot. She had taken the bullet that had his name on it. Why?
Cuddy walked to House, extending her hand, and House took it, his own hand covered in Cameron's blood. Wilson grasped Chase's shoulder, who had started to sob, while Stacy beckoned to Foreman from the doorway. In pairs, the doctors went back into the hospital, to find where they had taken Cameron, and if anything could be done for her.
The sound of sirens in the distance followed them, the snow still falling.
A really dramatic chapter. Sorry for all you Cameron fans! I am a Cameron fan, too, but doing this was what I had planned since the beginning of the story. I have another chapter or two to go yet, to wrap everything up. Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think. Thanks so much and I look forward to some reviews.
