House had closed his eyes as soon as he sat down in the car and since he was in desperate need for some sleep, he had soon drifted off. Only a few minutes later though he was roughly awoken again by a small pot hole they rolled through while driving onto the interstate again. Right now he would have preferred to be alone or at least only to have Chase around. He was not sure how much longer he would be able to keep up his mask and not let on, how bad he was feeling, but being alone was not possible at the moment and he did not want to show any weakness in front of Cameron.
He was still not sure whether he was more sad or angry, but the amount of his emotions resulted in him tensing up more and more, which in turn increased the pain in his leg. Despite the pillow he could barely tolerate the car ride and waited fervently for it to be over.
Chase had noticed the uneven breathing and asked him quietly whether he should pull over. Sometimes a while outside the car, walking around and not having to endure the aggravating vibrations helped a lot, but they had only been in the car for about half an hour. While he would have preferred to get out of the car right now, he mainly wanted to be home, and it would only be later until they reached their destination if they kept stopping so often. So House told him to keep driving, and closed his eyes again, not because he was relaxed or asleep, but to prevent the others from speaking to him. For a while Chase had tried to distract him from the pain, but when he realized that House wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a while, he let him be. For a moment he rested his hand silently on House's left leg to offer some comfort, and as always tried to do his best to avoid all potholes and other unevenness in his driving.
House was miserable. Usually after a hard case he used the next day or two to relax away from other people besides his closest friends, which allowed him to keep off his leg as much as he needed. After their last case he would have loved to do that as well, but instead they had gotten up early in the morning, and his leg had already been in more pain than he wanted to when they started out the day. The strain he had put on it during the funeral had not helped at all, and by now he was working hard to keep himself from groaning. He could not suppress some tears any longer, though, and so he turned towards the side window, hoping to prevent Chase that way from noticing how bad it was. It would not do to distract Chase while he was driving, and Cameron definitely did not need to know either. Unfortunately this position put even more pressure on his right leg, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to hold back his moans. Several times he shifted around again to find a more comfortable position.
Thankfully even Cameron seemed tired by now. She was sitting in the back with her eyes closed, and was probably asleep already. For quite some while not one word was spoken in the car, and the only sound was the rustling of House's clothes when he moved a bit once more.
They had driven for quite some time, when Cathy woke up. At first she nearly panicked due to the fact that she was sitting in the car and Cameron right next to her, but Chase managed to calm her down by talking to her, while keeping his steady driving pace of seventy-five miles per hour. When she looked around and realized that Chase and House were there as well, she relaxed back into her seat, watching the scenery flying by.
When Cameron opened her eyes shortly thereafter, Cathy even accepted her offer to read out loud the book, that House had left on the back seat earlier. Seeing her water bottle closeby Cathy tried to reach for it, but the brace together with the seat belt were holding her back, efficiently preventing her action. Cameron had noticed her attempt and fetched the normal water bottle first, but then she quickly realized that the baby bottle had to be for Catherine and handed it over instead. Not the worst idea actually, she quite agreed with their approach, otherwise she would have surely needed cleaning up.
After Cameron had read several chapters Cathy asked shyly for a toilet. Chase was amazed that she had taken the initiative and just hoped she was able to hold it in until they would reach the next rest area. Thankfully they were quite near to a Welcome Center, and Chase signaled Foreman to get off the interstate. While Foreman had to park his car further away again to accommodate the trailer, Chase pulled onto one of the closer handicapped parking spots.
Without waiting for the other passengers, he grabbed the diaper bag and lifted Cathy on his arms, hurrying to the nearest toilet. They made it in time, and when he afterwards noticed that her diaper was still completely try, he could not hold back his praises any longer. Unfortunately it looked like there was blood in her urine. He was not sure whether that was a new thing or had been going on for longer. Her last diaper had been so dirty that he could not be sure. Even though he was determined to get that tested as soon as possible, she did not seem to be in more pain than usual and did not have a fever, so he would definitely not call an ambulance or make a stop at an unknown Emergency Center on their way. Unfortunately he did not bring anything with him to collect a sample now, but he figured he could not do anything while they were still driving either way, and as long as her condition did not worsen drastically, tomorrow would be early enough for a test. For a moment he considered taking her to the hospital first thing when they were back, but in the end decided to wait for House's opinion.
After cleaning her up carefully once more and applying some more healing cream onto the sore spots, he put a new diaper on – and then had his hands full with a hyperventilating obviously panicking little girl. He tried his best to calm her down, but at the moment he was not sure whether they would manage without an ambulance and strong sedatives. He even considered carrying her back to House during her attack since he assumed that she would respond better to his voice, but getting through the crowd of people outside would probably increase her anxiety. Additionally, House had not really been in the condition to deal with anybody else's problems when he left the car.
Finally her breathing began to slow down again a bit, it seemed he might be able to handle the situation without outside help. It still took him nearly ten minutes until she was calm enough to explain to him, that diapers were very expensive and she could only have one per day.
Well, he thought, if they taught her how to use a toilet, it might even make sense to put the same diaper on again afterwards as long as it was still clean and only changing to a new one the next day. Using a diaper instead of underwear was not the worst idea for some kids that felt insecure, but the one they had taken off earlier had definitely been on longer than reasonable.
However, he had no time now to ponder the standards in her old household, he needed to come up with a good answer, that would work in her view of the world. Even though he was quite sure he would regret it later, he finally explained to her, that her Uncle House had some money – which she believed easily since the nice furniture had been from him as well – and was well able to afford a new diaper every time it was dirty. Seeing her still not fully convinced face he added, that for now she even got a new one as present for every time she managed to go on the toilet.
Crisis averted, he thought, when she smiled brilliantly at that statement and he started to pack together their things and washing their hands.
When they finally got back to the cars, Cameron had just left for the restroom and Foreman was clearly waiting for him. Chase could not see Wilson or House, but was not surprised about the second one, he was probably still sitting in the car, enjoying the absence of vibrations.
Without further ado Foreman inquired: "Do you know what is wrong with Wilson?"
Chase thought back over all the situations during the last days and weeks, that he had not really registered at that time and responded slowly: "I am not sure, he seems to be having trouble getting up from a sitting position from time to time, sometimes so bad that he accepts House's help. Earlier he appeared to be in pain as well. I had not really noticed until today, but House knows what is going on and apparently controls the medication as well. Did you ask him?"
On Foreman's unbelieving frown, Chase added: "Right, let me try. I'll join you shortly."
Clearly hearing the dismissal, Foreman went back to their car and Wilson, who had by now managed to undo the seat belt, and started to turn a bit towards the door, even though it was still closed.
Chase went back to their own car to figure out what to do next, but getting closer, he noticed that House was starting to get worked up. He had to bite down a sigh, he did not want to deal with another panic attack right now. Hoping to starve it off before it really started, he kept up a running commentary while he quickly put Cathy back in her car seat. He would not fasten the seat belt for now, and she was easily content with the situation when he handed her the bear she had been playing with earlier.
As soon as she was safely deposited and busy, he headed around the car to House's seat, squatted down, placed his right hand on House's left leg and with his left hand stroking along on House's right arm he inquired quietly: "Hey, what's going on?"
"You are asking me? What were you doing? You were gone forever!" The irritated reply came without hesitation, but House was simultaneously working hard on getting his breathing under control again and clearly trying not to shout too loud for Cathy's sake.
"We had a discussion about your financial assets." tried Chase to joke before he explained calmly and more seriously: "I had to convince Cathy that you are able to afford a new diaper whenever the old one is dirty and that for now she gets a new one as a present every time she manages to use the toilet. Unfortunately it took me a while to figure out what the problem was."
By now House was relaxed enough to notice the sweat patches all over Chase and the slightly worn out features. Knowing his intensivist's ability to handle stressful situations, he was pretty sure that his little sister had had a full-blown panic attack and Chase had not been sure he would be able to handle it without medication.
"She okay now?" House inquired.
"Yeah, she is much better." After a glance towards the back seat, he amended: "She is already asleep from the exhaustion."
"You okay?" House checked next.
"I'm fine." Chase replied without delay.
House snorted, but did not comment on that obvious lie.
Chase stood up to check that Cameron was not back yet before he requested: "Tell me what I need to know about Wilson. He is not doing so hot right now."
"Shit." swore House, already preparing to get up. But Chase stopped him with a firm hand on the shoulder.
"Hey, stop that. You are not helping, if you pass out trying to get to him and somebody needs to stay with Cathy. Just tell me what I need to do." Chase insisted.
"I need to see how bad it is to be able to tell you that." came the resigned response.
Chase tried to see what was going on at the other car. "He stayed in the car while Foreman came to meet me. It looked like he started to turn to get out, but the door was still closed. At the moment Foreman is standing in the open door and obviously wondering how to help him exactly. Wilson is facing outward by now but does not do anything to get out, his arms are still on his lap." he reported dutifully.
"Damn!" was House first response. "He can probably not lift his arms right now. You will have to guide his movements. If you feel resistance, watch his face closely, usually you can push past it and it gets better, but the pain might get too bad before you reach that point. Try to get him up and moving a bit, he should do his exercises as well. If he does not tell you: Mobility for all joints and especially the spine."
Chase nodded: "You okay here for now?"
"Yeah." came the answer, not really reassuring Chase, when House simultaneously leaned back and closed his eyes again.
But he promised to help Foreman, so Chase made sure that House had his cell phone close by and prompted: "Call me – if you need anything or if we take too long or you have a better idea." Then he headed over to Foreman's car.
Wilson was facing the floor at the moment, and was obviously trying to avoid any movement. With a glance Chase directed Foreman to the other side of the car and knelled down before Wilson, resting his hands on Wilson's legs. "Hi" Chase greeted Wilson quietly. He got no answer, which was probably to contribute to the amount of pain Wilson seemed to be in, but he did not really want to work without having established a way for feedback first.
"Can you place your hands on top of mine?" he tried again. He was already determined to mix massage and mobility exercises, feeling how tense Wilson was. Even though their hands were already close together, it took quite some time until Wilson had managed to move his arms so far, that their fingers partially overlapped. Prompting Foreman with a slight gesture to massage Wilson's back, he started with mobility exercises for hands, arms and shoulders. They could easily do most of these in the car.
It took more than quarter of an hour of their combined efforts until Wilson was able to get out of the car with their assistance and they were able to finish guiding him through the exercises for his spine and hips on the blanket-covered grass between the parking lanes. Wilson clearly had been in a serious amount of pain several times during the therapy routine, but every time they asked him, he told them to go on and at the end he apparently felt much better.
