Chapter 6

The next morning, Nicky was at her desk by six, catching up on the work she'd fallen behind on. She found it hard to concentrate, but forced herself to keep focussing on what she was doing. By seven thirty Chase walked into House's office and saw her through the glass wall.

"Hey, early bird," Chase said walking through the interconnecting doors.

"I'm trying to catch up," Nicky said, trying to perk up.

"You look tired, are you okay?" Chase said, immediately walking over and put a hand on her forehead.

"I'm fine, stop fussing," Nicky replied brushing his hand away, smiling. "Don't you have patients to see?"

He rolled his eyes and walked back through to House's office, picked up the files and waved to Nicky before setting off down the corridor towards the wards.

At eight, House walked into his office with Foreman and Cameron hot on his tail. Nicky's stomach flipped over when she saw him, she'd regretted telling him so much last night, but when she had started, she just couldn't stop. She wondered if he felt the same way.

Before sitting down at the table with his doctors, he walked through to her office.

"How are you feeling today?" House asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm okay," Nicky replied, although shakily, "thanks for last night."

"Nicky, I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here for you," he said and gave her a ghost of a smile, which she returned.

"Thanks, it means a lot, but I won't burden you, I promise," Nicky said.

Before he could reply, Foreman was tapping on the door and beckoning House to follow him up to the wards, obviously an emergency.

"You should go," Nicky said, smiling again.

"Yeah," House replied regrettably.

It was around mid morning when Wilson came looking for her.

"Did you forget the time?" he asked as they walked down the corridor.

"I was hoping you would have actually," Nicky replied, a wicked smile playing on her lips. She was always the same when she was nervous.

Wilson smiled back and shook his head. "You'll be fine, I promise," he said reassuringly, "I'm doing the procedure."

They walked into the theatre and she stripped off whilst he gowned up. She hopped onto the table and lifted her arm above her head, then a nurse covered her over, leaving a patch of skin just below her underarm and her breast.

"You've done this before," Wilson smiled at her wickedly, putting her at ease.

Nicky nodded but said nothing.

"Okay, sharp scratch," Wilson said as he inserted the anaesthetic.

It took her breath away and made her eyes water, but she didn't flinch.

"Shouldn't be long before it goes numb," Wilson said, turning to get the rest of his instruments ready for the next part.

Suddenly, the door swung open and House stood there. Neither Wilson nor Nicky had ever seen him look so anxious.

"How far have you gone?" House asked uneasily.

"I've just given Nicky the anaesthetic, why?" Wilson asked.

"Oh good," House said relieved, "I thought I'd missed it."

Nicky looked at Wilson and he looked as confused as she did. House hobbled over and stood at the head of the bed, then took her hand in his.

"You shouldn't be in here," Wilson said protesting.

"But I want to be in here," House replied almost defiantly. "I want to make sure Nicky's okay," he added.

"It's okay," Nicky said, looking appreciative. "I want him here."

Wilson nodded, his thoughts running crazily through his head. "Okay, can you feel this?" He prodded Nicky's skin with a needle and she shook her head. "Just relax and we'll get this done as soon as possible."

As he cut into her flesh, Nicky turned away and House held her hand a little tighter, she breathed deeply while Wilson worked and soon he was stitching her up.

"You're going to be sore for a while," Wilson said finally as the nurse dressed her wound, "I'll give you something for that, but keep them away from House, he'll steal anyone's painkillers." They both grinned sardonically at each other.

"Nicky, I'll leave you now as I want to order a C.A.T. scan for you," he said, "and I want to get these off to the lab to be analysed."

She nodded as she slid stiffly off the bed. "Okay, James," she said, "thanks."

House was waiting for her in the corridor, twirling his stick to pass the time.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Great, anaesthetic hasn't worn off yet," Nicky replied.

"So, do you want some lunch?"

She shook her head, she was feeling sick and the last thing she wanted was food, especially hospital food.

"Wait until you see what I've got for you before you make your mind up first," House said mysteriously as he set off down the corridor.

"Greg, wait," Nicky said. It was the first time she'd called him by his first name and he discovered that he loved the way she said it, she rolled her R's and it sounded lovely. "Thanks for coming today, I know you didn't need to." She reached up and kissed him briefly on the cheek.

They walked back to House's office in amiable silence. He sat her down at his table and produced a huge piece of chocolate fudge cake, then limped over and brought her a coffee. He sat down next to her and grinned.

"Now, how about lunch?"

She smiled and shook her head disbelieving what he'd just done.

"We should tell the rest of the team," House said.

"Not yet," Nicky said, her smiling fading.

"They'll rally around you," House coaxed, "you know how they all love you."

Nicky's smile was back again. "Alright, but you can do it," Nicky agreed. "It'll make up for being so appalling to me in the past."

"I deserved that," House agreed, grinning. "But I'm glad you said it was in the past. Now eat up."

As she put the fork to her lips, she winced, the pain ripped through her and she dropped the fork back onto the plate.

House took her hand, "Anaesthetic wearing off?"

Nicky nodded, tears springing to her eyes.

"I'll fetch your prescription in a minute," he said and Nicky looked at him as if he was deranged.

"You're going to fetch my prescription?"

"Yeah," House replied, puffing out his chest. "Now try this cake, I've heard it's to die for." He winced a little at his insensitivity as he brought the fork up to her mouth.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Foreman looked at Chase incredulously.

"I certainly am," Chase replied, his jaw dropping.

Cameron walked straight past them and into House's office. The look of surprise said it all. She stopped dead in her tracks and stammered her apologies before trying to back out of the office.

"It's all right, come in," House said, "all of you." He turned to call Chase and Foreman in too.

As they sat down and eyed the cake, House's bleeper went off. He looked at it, then excused himself.

"Be back in a moment," he said, he grabbed Nicky's prescription off the table and limped off down the corridor.

Nicky took a deep breath and looked around at the expectant faces.

"I've got cancer," she said quietly. The stunned silence was almost deafening. "Please don't make a big thing of this."

The shock on their faces was too much for Nicky to handle. "Excuse me," she said and hurried out. She kept walking until she got outside and sat down on a bench.

Chase wasn't far behind her though. He sat down and looked straight at her.

"How long have you known?" he asked her quietly.

"I found out yesterday," Nicky replied. "It's breast cancer."

"Nicky, I'm so sorry," he said.

"Thanks."

They sat in silence for a time then Nicky said, "Chase, can I be alone for a while?"

"Sure, will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine, I just need some time, that's all."

He gave her hand a squeeze before leaving.

House was back in his office when Chase walked in, "Is Nicky okay?" House asked.

His team looked at one another, House had never called her by her name before, she was always 'the Brit'.

"Yeah, she's getting some fresh air, she'll be back in a while."

House nodded relieved that she hadn't decided to go home.

"Okay, people, so you know what's up, normality would be good for her right now. She knows she can count on you for support and I'm sure she'll ask you for it if she needs it," House said calmly, although he was feeling anything but.

Before he got down to the events of the day, he watched Nicky walk into her office and sit down. She smiled to herself when she saw the pill bottle House had left for her on her desk and he couldn't help but smile either. She took them and nodded at House reassuringly.