Chloe2007 messaged me with this wonderful prompt, so prompt as well as title are hers entirely. I also want to shout out Florence1 for inspiration.

[H]

"I'm fine." House said as he stared into Wilson's sympathetic eyes.

"Okay." Wilson said as he followed House into his apartment.

"I assume you're here because Cuddy told you she dumped me." House said glumly as he plopped himself onto the couch.

Wilson noticed an unhealthy number of empty bottles on the side table as well as surrounding the floor. "She did." Wilson said as he tiptoed around the liquor and made his way next to House.

"And that I'm back on Vicodin." House muttered

"She told me you took a Vicodin."

"Then I took a lot more." House said as he fetched out another pill and swallowed it dry.

Wilson winced at the sight of his heartbroken friend. "But you're fine?" Wilson asked again.

"Well, I'm not fine as in fine but I'm fine in the sense that you don't have to worry about me."

"Because this is clearly a healthy coping environment." Wilson said looking at House's surroundings.

House shrugged.

"You haven't shown up to work in a week." Wilson stated.

"my leg hurt."

"You've been able to manage the pain."

"It's gotten worse."

"Not physically worse."

"Pain is pain. It doesn't discriminate."

"So, you don't want to just avoid the issue. You want to avoid avoiding the issue."

"Exactly." House said refusing to move from his position on the couch

Wilson sighed. "I think you should talk to someone."

"Already scheduled."

"Seriously?"

"I'm not an idiot. I know I need help."

After a moment's silence Wilson said, "you know I meant a counselor, right?"

"Yeah."

"But you meant… hooker, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Baby steps."

Wilson sighed. He knew House didn't schedule a counselor or even a hooker. He saw House like this after Stacy this was true depression.

[H]

After Wilson left House's apartment he stormed into Cuddy's office.

"You knew he was an addict before you got involved!" Wilson yelled at Cuddy as soon as her double doors closed.

"I didn't end the relationship…"

"You knew he was an ass!"

"I didn't end it…"

"You told him you didn't want him to change!"

"I was wrong!"

"You don't know that! You thought you were dying is it really the time to make a serious decision like that?!"

"No. But I thought about it. A lot. And I haven't changed my mind."

"He thought you were dying nobody knows how to react in that situation. Give him another chance. He deserves it."

"I know. I know he does! But it's not about what he deserves when things go wrong I don't want to hope I'm not alone I want to know it. With House…" Cuddy trailed off.

"Well. He's sitting at home, back on Vicodin and self-medicating with alcohol. He's the one who looks like he's dying now." Wilson said and turned to leave her office.

Cuddy placed her head in her palms, as if she didn't have enough guilt.

As Cuddy made her way through the hospital she could feel the silent glares of judgement. She was surprised so many people took House's side considering his reputation.

[H]

Cuddy entered her home after a long day at work. She could feel the cold stares of her employees as she made her way between meetings. She had no idea how many people were on House's side of the breakup but after today it seemed like not many agreed with her decision.

"Mommy!" Rachel yelled excitedly as she jumped into her mother's arms.

"At least one person missed me." Cuddy thought as she gave her daughter a light squeeze.

"Where's Howse?" Rachel asked.

There it is, the question Cuddy has been dreading.

"Honey, House isn't here…" Cuddy began.

"When will he be back? School has father daughter breakfast on Monday."

Cuddy sighed, this is exactly why she was nervous about introducing House into Rachel's life and suddenly being home wasn't a relaxing space.

[H]

Cuddy knocked softly at the familiar door. She hasn't seen House in a month. He decided to take a two-month vacation from work. Since he never used his vacation days he had a lot saved up.

House opened it slowly. His beard was longer, his hair more messy than normal and it looked like he'd been wearing the same shirt for a whole week.

"Mind if I come in?" Cuddy asked.

"I do." House said softly. It sounded like he just woke up from a nap.

Cuddy sighed. "I want to make sure you're okay."

"No, you don't. You knew I wasn't okay so why are you here?"

"I… I wanted to see you."

House scoffed as he opened the door wider and went inside. "I told you in the beginning this wouldn't work out. You could have prevented all of this."

"I know." Cuddy said as she stepped into the familiar apartment but it had a sadder scent; it smelled of ramen, alcohol, and coffee.

She looked around and saw clothes left on the floor and dishes in the sink. House was normally messy but this was a disaster, even for him.

"Let me help you clean up." She offered as she bent down and grabbed a pair of boxers of the floor.

"Seriously?" House snapped startling her and making her drop his underwear. "Why the fuck are you here? To show me how much better my life is with you in it?"

"No. I just…"

"I don't need you to come over here and apologize or clean up or whatever. I should have trusted myself that history repeats itself and I would never be able to be the man you need. I'm the reason I'm depressed! I was an idiot for listening to my emotions and not logic." House said.

House shook his head after a moment, "Whatever." He muttered.

"I came by because I'm pregnant."

"How do you know it's mine?" House asked after a moment of silence.

Cuddy was shocked, "How dare you! Who do you take me for? Do you think this is easy for me? Coming here seeing you like this? I had to let you know you are the father of a child and have an adult discussion about this."

"Do you want me in your baby's life?"

"Our baby." Cuddy corrected, "and I don't want to take away the opportunity to be a father."

"You already have." House said quietly.

"What are you talking about?"

"You took Rachel away from me."

"She isn't yours."

Her words stung like venom in his veins. "I know." House muttered. "Why is the pregnancy my problem. You won't carry it to term anyway so this whole situation won't be an issue." He said in his anger.

"Fuck you, House. You're so angry with me you're lashing out."

"Yeah I'm angry!" House screams as he slams his cane hard against the table causing Cuddy to jump. "I'm furious that you broke up with me then have the nerve to rub it in my face of what we could have been. You'll never want me back, you'll never want to have a family. You're honestly... being an asshole."

Cuddy was taken aback, not only by his harsh words but by his pure honesty. "I just want to know if you want to be a part of this child's life."

"A child's life where I only see the kid, I don't see you or Rachel. Pass." He muttered.

Cuddy nodded and turned towards the door, "I'm sorry." She said and left House alone in his apartment.

[H]

House tried hard to lengthen his stride and lighten his step as he entered his office but the pain and stiffness were just too powerful to ignore. He'd hoped that the methadone would have more effect but he'd barely made it in from the parking lot, there was no way that he was going to make it through the day without drawing attention to his injuries. He should have gone with plan B, which was to call in sick with stomach flu or something equally innocuous, but then, he had been fairly sure that Cuddy wouldn't buy that, he's out of vacation leave and if she happened to send someone over to check up on him... Well that was what had made plan A seem that much more attractive. All he had to do was claim that he had fallen down the stairs, play down his injuries and hope that he didn't get told he had to do anything energetic, like giving flu shots.

House scanned the area around his office, the good news was that his team wasn't there yet, so he might make it to his seat without too much trouble. Then, all he had to do was pray that his case could all be solved by him sitting at his desk, not much chance of that, he really hadn't thought this through properly. Wilson was there on the other hand. House forgot Wilson would be the kind of person who would be there to greet him on his day back, but he looked like he was engrossed in some paper work so House took the chance and continued to shuffle forward towards his desk. He froze as Wilson looked up.

"Hey House," Wilson began, ready to start off with some of their usual banter, but taking in his appearance Wilson's face registered some concern. "My God, what happened to you?"

House swallowed, "I had a run in with some stairs and I think they won." He paused, pasting on his best smile, "But I gave them a good fight and they look almost as bad as I do."

"Stairs?" Wilson questioned, "You live in a ground floor apartment."

House smirked and raised an eyebrow, "I didn't say the stairs were at my place," he stated, beginning the slow shuffle forward again.

"You're sure that some jealous husband didn't give you a hand with your 'fall'?"

House was about to reply when familiar but unwelcome tones chimed in from behind. "Got a case from the ED." Chase said waving a file

House looked heavenward, and waited until Chase was fully past him and focused on taking a sip of his coffee before starting forward again, he moved as quickly as he could, aiming to sit down before Chase got himself settled in House's Eames chair.

House stopped and gasped as a sharp pain lanced up from his lower back, pulling his focus from everything else. Chase was seated and reading the file over when he looked up, "House?" Chase questioned, "are you sure that you are fit for work today?" He paused, taking in House's pale complexion and traces of a mark just around the hairline. " 'Cause I'm sure Cuddy will let you go home."

House took in a deep breath and tried to relax as he willed the pain to subside. "No, I'm fine I just need to sit down for a while, it's just a few bruises and I'm a little sore," he stated, forcing a stoic face.

Chase took another sip of his coffee to cover further scrutiny

Wilson winced as he watched House resume his slow shuffle to his chair behind the desk. It looked like more than a little stiffness from where she was sitting.

"Did you perchance do something sensible like I don't know, visit the Emergency Room after your little dispute with the stairs? Get yourself checked out?" Chase asked not daring to make eye contact with his boss.

House stopped once more and turned to look at him, the ER was the last place he could afford to go with his injuries, too many questions would be asked. "Ahh Chase, careful. better not ask questions like that, people might actually think you cared about me, besides, I told you I'm fine, just bruised." House said.

"Don't worry I don't care." Chase stated, "It's just the last thing we need is you sitting there grimacing and groaning at us all day so I think it might be an idea if you go and get yourself checked out."

House reached his chair with a mixture of relief and triumph. He had made it this far, and even that had seemed a little uncertain at one point, with a bit of luck he could get away without moving for the rest of the day. He gripped the desk and gently lowered himself into his seat, stifling the sharp intake of breath, he forced himself to respond to the friendly banter. He was working on damage limitation now. He should have gone with plan B, he'd known that since climbing from his car, but even at that point he had been committed, too many people had seen him to just turn tail and run. Maybe if he kept things as normal as possible people would cut him some slack. "Hey, I haven't groaned once since I got here, and I wouldn't know how to grimace. That sort of facial distortion is reserved for people like..." he swiveled his chair round to look at Chase, who gave him one of his 'go on I dare ya' glares. When Taub and Masters entered the room House quickly switched his attention to the short doctor. "...Taub." House smiled confidently

"Having fun making jokes at my expense?" Taub asked without looking up from his phone.

'He's trying way too hard, something's wrong,' Wilson thought, that thought made Wilson frown, he knew House far too well, if he had hurt himself the way he said, then he would be doing his best to elicit sympathy and licking his wounds, not trying hard to pretend that there was nothing wrong with him. His injuries were also clearly worse than he claimed, time to find out exactly how bad. He threw his pen down onto the floor and watched it roll right next to House's desk. "Hey House, I dropped my pen, could you get that for me?" Wilson asked looking at him pointedly.

House glared, "you're going to make the cripple reach down and grab a pen you intentionally threw on the floor?" House asked, stalling for time.

"Well, since you're clearly trying to show everyone you aren't in any extra pain this morning, I know you'll be able to get it for me without any issues." Wilson said

House drew in as deep a breath as he could manage, the deliberate gesture wasn't lost on him, he glanced over at Chase and then at Taub, so much for not drawing too much attention to himself.

House looked down at the object on the floor, it was about six feet away but it felt like there was a chasm between him and it. "And you're testing a cripple who has a chronic pain problem to do a physical exercise to prove he's not in pain?" House asked

"You've picked up many things off the floor, even while detoxing. Unless you want to admit your too injured and need to go to the ED" Wilson said.

House forced his best smile, "of course," he said with false confidence, bracing himself before pushing himself to his feet. It took far too long and far too much effort, and he was acutely aware that all eyes were on him, He took a step unable this time to hide the grimace as another pain lanced through his back.

Chase exchanged a worried glance with Masters, "Er, why don't you let me get that for you," Masters said, directing her comment at Wilson as she walked towards the two men nervously. She could see how much pain House was in and it went against her grain to see anyone struggling like this.

"Stay back" Chase said softly, his tone was commanding, leaving no room for argument. Chase knew House and Wilson and getting in the middle of this was about as smart as breaking up a fight between two tigers.

"It's alright." Wilson said as he tilted his head up, "House said he would get it for me, didn't you?" The challenge was clearly there.

House nodded, the thin sheen of sweat clearly visible now, he concentrated on taking the next step but again the knife-like pain took his breath away. He forced himself to ignore it as he pushed his foot forward 'just gotta take the next step'.

Wilson's eyes never left House as he carried on his visual assessment, and he didn't like the conclusions he was beginning to draw. Chase had been right it didn't look like House belonged at work or even at home resting, he needed medical attention. He idly wondered how far House would push himself to cover whatever it was he was trying to cover, no matter, the time had come to bring this charade to a halt. House was almost in position to bend to pick up the pen when his knees buckled, his focus had been entirely on his objective and he hadn't noticed Wilson coming towards him, but he felt the strong hands that caught him and pulled him back to standing, felt his arm being draped over a firm shoulder, and tried to process the other sensations as the nausea hit. The edges of the world grayed and then swirled before he pulled it back into focus.

Wilson reacted swiftly as he watched House's legs give out, "Dammit," he uttered softly, acknowledging to himself that his test had gone too far, he should have realised how bad things were without pushing. He caught House and was relieved to feel some strength and not just a dead weight, so he turned him and provided the support needed to keep him on his feet. "Give me a hand," Wilson said, the order was terse, "Masters, get on the phone to the ED tell them we've got a patient for them and we're on the way down."

Chase came up on the opposite side of House and took some of his weight as House draped his other arm over Chase's shoulder. Wilson barely waited until Chase was in position before he started the three of them moving.

"Greg," Wilson tried to get his attention the uncharacteristic use of his first name signaling his concern, but House didn't respond, he tried again. "Come on House talk to me?"

"Sorry," House managed to mutter as he attempted to force his breathing to slow, "Didn't get your pen." His lower back seemed to be on fire, dulling the rest of his pains to insignificance, there was more agony with every step, he did his best to focus his thoughts, to try to figure a way out of this. There was no way they were going to believe his story once they got a look under his shirt. He lamented again the fact that he had not just stayed home and taken his chances. "Should've gone with plan B," he mumbled, unaware that he was thinking aloud.

Wilson strained to hear him, he had caught the apology but not what followed. He looked across at Chase "What was that?"

"Something about a plan B, I didn't catch it all." Chase stated, worried by the way House's head was beginning to loll forward and the pasty pallor of his skin.

"House?" Wilson tried again, but there was no indication that he had been heard.

By the time they made it into the elevator, they were taking more and more of House's weight as he became weaker, so it was a relief to be able to lean back against the walls and let it take some of the burden.

Wilson exchanged another worried look with Chase, House's eyes were clenched shut and sweat now rolled down his face, from this close he could see what looked like traces of blood, still concealed by the hair, there had been an attempt to clean it, but part of a cut was visible. He let out a frustrated sigh, 'Dammit House what happened to you and why don't you want me to know?' Wilson thought

The ED staff was waiting for them as they entered the trauma room. "Bring him over here," a nurse gestured to the empty bed nearest to the door, it was clearly clean and waiting for its next occupant.

Chase and Wilson were now supporting most of House's weight between them, although he was still making efforts to help, his movements were uncoordinated at best. The bed was a little high as they turned him to lean against it, working as a team they gripped under his shoulders and with a nod from Chase, lifted him into a sitting position on the edge of the mattress. The action was so smooth it was almost as if they had rehearsed it, but the movement still elicited a strangled cry of pain. House, still aware enough to try to play down his injuries, attempted to bite it off as he rode out the ensuing waves. He closed his eyes tightly once more, not that he had managed to open them much since the brief respite from movement in the elevator, he had managed slits, making out shape and color but no detail. He tried to concentrate on his breathing, fighting the urge to take short shallow breaths.

Hospital staff wasn't wasting any time, from their first assessment of their patient they hadn't liked what they saw, every instinct in them now drove urgent actions at a pace that is reserved for the most critical of care.

"Help me to get his shirt off, let's see what we're dealing with." The ED nurse said.

"He has some sort of cut on his head," Wilson stated as he moved to pull the clothing away. "It's hidden under the hairline, so I couldn't get a good look at it."

The nurse nodded his acknowledgement that she had heard, as she positioned his stethoscope in her ears. Wilson pulled the shirt back. The exclamations were simultaneous.

"Oh my God!" Chase let out an audible breath and took a slight step back.

"Damn!" Wilson's hands froze mid action.

"Holy shit," The young nurse uttered, as she stared open mouthed at the ugly black and purple bruising that covered the whole of House's chest and abdomen and disappeared below his waistline and round the back.

It was Chase who recovered first, moving forward to start his examination. "What happened to him?" He addressed his comment at Wilson as House's eyes were still closed, his face a mask of tension.

"He said he fell down the stairs," Wilson replied, his tone revealing how much he believed the explanation.

"Only if the stairs had fists," The nurse stated.

Wilson and Chase both watched as the emergency room doctor began his examination.

Masters and Taub came rushing into the room and turned to look at Wilson. "What the hell happened to him?" Masters shuttered

The fact that masters brought herself to utter a curse word just showed how serious this situation is.

Wilson stared back, the question was delivered as though she expected him to have the answers, and it took a moment for him to process the fact that it was rhetorical. He read the concern and frustration on Masters' face, and shook his head, waiting as she read his expression, knowing that it mirrored hers. They both turned back as the young emergency room doctor finally spoke.

"Dr. House can you hear me?" He asked as he took House's blood pressure, an unmistakable frown creasing his brow.

It took a moment, but House forced a reply through gritted teeth. "Yeah?"

The young doctor pulled the cuff off, looking even less happy than before. "Can you tell me where the pain is worst?" There was no point in asking where it hurt, since the answer to that would clearly be everywhere, but the severe pain, the pain that kept taking his friend's breath from him, could indicate complications beyond the obvious bruising. He began to palpitate House's ribs as he waited for a reply, apologizing when hitting a tender spot elicited another groan.

House tried to concentrate his mind on the question, surprised that Wilson wasn't all over him for an explanation of his injuries, he had been attempting to come up with something that they would believe, catching enough of the exchange between his team to know that the 'stairs' story, as he'd known it would be, was a non-starter. If only this pain would settle down enough to let him think.

"Gregory!" The doctor yelled, his sharp tones brought him back again, he'd asked him a question, guess he really wanted the answer. "I can't help you properly until I know where it hurts most."

"Lower Back," House stated weakly, "Like being... stabbed."

Wilson was shocked, this was the first time, well ever, since the infarction that the answer wasn't 'it hurts most in my leg.'

"I could do with a hand." The emergency room doctor said

House's team moved forwards obligingly, grateful to be able to do something other than exchange worried glances with each other.

"OK, Masters and Taub give him some support. Wilson and Chase, I need you to help me get his shirt off the rest of the way." The doctor began to move round the exam table. Wilson and Chase followed while Taub and Masters went the opposite way until they were all in position around House. They pulled the shirt away, this time Taub swore as he caught sight of House's back.

"What the... What do you think did that, what could cause..." Masters babbled.

Chase winced, interrupting "Let's just concentrate on treatment for the moment, we'll talk about who or what did the damage later."

Reluctantly Masters nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just support his shoulders while I..." He broke off as the team complied and he moved in to palpitate the skin once more, this time House's reaction was instantaneous, he stiffened and let out another cry of pain. The young doctor moved to look round House, "Nurse Spaulding," he spoke to his assistant who to this point had just been observing, hovering just far enough back not to get in the way. "I think you'd better get us an operating room, tell them that we need it urgently."

House struggled to take in enough breath to word a protest. "No...don't need ... surgery. Just need ... to rest, I... "

What he was going to say next was lost as his body went limp and he fell forwards. Masters was taken by surprise, barely managing to stop what would have been a headlong tumble off the table. She caught him on her shoulder, her hands pressed awkwardly to her body as his weight rested on her. She leaned back into him in an effort to keep them both upright. "Guys!"

Her exclamation wasn't needed as the team was already back around the table helping to ease House off her and into a lying position. Once he was prone, IVs were inserted, heart monitors were attached and oxygen was given.

"So?" Taub managed to say over all the chaos. "What's wrong with him? What caused those marks?"

Wilson sighed, "It looked like someone hit him with something hard, my guess would be an iron pipe or bar."

"The tenderness is over one of his kidneys and he has all the indications of internal bleeding." Chase continued.

"Whatever possessed him to try to keep going with injuries like those?" Masters asked.

"Well you know House, he'll take Macho over common sense every time?" Chase said as he tried to lighten the tone

[H]

"What did he say to you?" Wilson asked his words coming out angrier than he intended.

Cuddy jumped at the obnoxious entrance into her office, "what are you talking about? Who said what to me?"

"House!" Wilson almost yelled, assuming it would be obvious.

"I haven't spoken to House in a month. I haven't even seen him today."

"That makes sense. He's in the OR right now."

"What? What happened?" Cuddy asked as she tried to hide the panic in her tone.

"That is the million-dollar question. Did he say anything to you at all about how he was going to spend his time off?"

"No. Nothing like that. He was angry. I told him I was pregnant and I don't think either of us were ready for that conversation..."

Wilson composed himself as he processed the news. House is an enigma, but deep down he's like everyone else. Wilson knows this pregnancy caused a wave of conflicting emotions and who knows what kind of stupid things he has done to cope with the news "I think we need to get the police involved."

"You think it's that serious?"

"Cuddy he was beaten, almost to death, whoever did this might strongly consider finishing the job and we need to figure out who this person, or people are and what the hell House got himself into."

Cuddy sighed, the thought of her ex-boyfriend dying with their last exchange being hostile made her sick. Cuddy nodded, "I'll make some calls."