They were quite a bit behind the ambulance, since they had needed to pack up their stuff and could not go much over the legal speed limit with their car.
Cameron had ended the phone call when the ambulance had arrived at the hospital claiming she was not able to speak with more than two people at the same time and House seemed glad for it as well. While his adrenaline had helped keeping him going for the last hour, he clearly felt his exhaustion and pain by now again.
Closing his eyes, he hoped for a moment alone, and was clearly not amused to be interrupted by his partner a while later: "House, since we have to go to the hospital either way, do you want me to check out Catherine?"
"What?" came the unintelligent response.
"I noticed some blood in her urine earlier, I think she should have a general physical as soon as possible." Chase explained his thinking.
Before House could answer, his phone rang again, and it became clear that they had a new case. They would be needed to treat Mrs. Baker, since nobody could figure out why she deteriorated that quickly and Cuddy obviously had ended the dispute between the departments with her decision to assign it to him. Since they would have to rule out cancer, Wilson might be needed soon as well, not an ideal situation at all, but it could not be avoided. Giving Cameron some more instructions on how to start the treatment and which tests to schedule, House hung up to call Wilson.
"Hey, tell Foreman we have a new case and need to stay at the hospital for a while. You can crash either on your sofa or in my chair or you can take a cab home, you okay with that?" he informed the only moderately surprised oncologist.
"House says you have a case, we need to go directly to the hospital." he heard Wilson inform the neurologist, before continuing unenthusiastically through the phone: "I'll stay at the hospital. See you there."
House just hoped that Wilson would ask Foreman for help should he need it and that Foreman would be attentive enough to realize if something was wrong even if Wilson hid it as he was wont to do.
Then he remembered Chase's request again and turned to him: "Let's just take some blood and if possible a urine sample from Cathy for now. She has had more than enough procedures done lately that did not yield any results. We can simply check her records, if we need them." He made his decision, and after a moment added: "Can you handle that while I check on Mrs. Baker and hopefully we can all go home in a few hours?"
"Of course." Chase replied calmly after a brief look at House. He wanted to ask whether House was sure that he did not want to examine Cathy himself, but figured there was some reason behind the tired request, even if it only was to spare the small girl from the mood House would surely be in as soon as he was forced to walk around the hospital.
Additionally he wondered if House was sure he would be able to deal with their patient without his help. As an intensivist her care right now fell right into his specialty, but House was well able to get other doctors to do his bidding if necessary and he would have both Cameron and Foreman at his beck and call, possible in addition to his new ducklings as soon as they showed up. They were a well-oiled team and worked well together whereas Cathy would probably not accept Foreman nevertheless Cameron to treat her.
He thought about using the emergency entrance to drop off House and Mr. Baker but decided to park the car directly in House's spot instead. While it increased the amount of walking House would have to do, it gave him a better opportunity to walk off the stiffness before he had to face people he knew. He considered picking Cathy up first, but she was still sleeping deeply, so he figured, he better gave first Mr. Baker a hand up out of the car. He just considered walking the man in and coming back to check on House and fetching Catherine, when a nurse came out the Main Entrance, smiling reassuringly towards the husband and greeting him: "Hi, you must be Mr. Baker. Your wife woke up a minute ago and started asking for you. I'll take you to her if you allow?" and started guiding the older man away.
House had opened the door in the meanwhile and started to lift his bad leg out of the car but was now sitting halfway curled around it. Chase really wished he had Cathy's magic hands and would be able to calm down the spasms as easily as she had done earlier, but he was determined to at least give it a try. Without hesitation he squatted down in front of House.
Observing the diagnostician carefully, he gently placed his hands House's thigh. When they were not pushed away immediately and he did not hear any verbal complaints, he started a mild massage, using his hands as heating pads and trying to soothe the muscle first. After a while he intensified his efforts steadily until he had managed to dispense the worst knots and the muscle stopped clenching. It took a few minutes but then his partner uncurled and looked oddly grateful and ashamed at the same time: "Hey, don't." he admonished him slightly. "Remember when I had the headache last month? Your massage was definitely a lot more professional and longer!"
Reluctantly House nodded, carefully moving the left leg out of the car and beginning the process of levering himself up to a standing position. To his surprise his leg did not cramp up again and he nearly smiled leaning against the car while he waited for Chase to hand him his cane. He just hoped the effect would hold on until he was done for the day.
Chase lifted Cathy carefully onto his left hip, leaning her head against his shoulder without waking her, and together they made their way to the door, where House went directly to the Emergency Department, while Chase looked for an empty exam room.
Foreman had wondered where to park a car with a trailer on the hospital parking area before he realized that it was late enough that most employees had already left for the day, and only the much smaller night shift was on duty. So he took two of the nearest parking spaces that were not handicapped spots or reserved for one of the department heads and pulled the car in so he was taking up both spots. Even though he knew he was needed inside, he had not forgotten how hard it had been for Wilson to get out of the car earlier, so he stepped around to give him a hand.
Despite the tiredness he must surely feel by now, Wilson had not sat still at all during the last bit of their ride but rather been fidgeting around. Opening the door for him now, Foreman realized why: He had been moving his joints, so they would not stiffen up as badly and was therefore able to turn around and get up with only minimal assistance. Like before he kept holding onto Wilson's elbow for a few steps until he was sure, that the oncologist would not fall down if left to his own devices. Inside their ways parted, Wilson would try to find a spot to lie down for a while, whereas Foreman hurried to the Emergency Department.
Chase used the opportunity while Catherine was still sleeping to perform a quick evaluation, and take some blood. As he had expected the last procedure woke her up, but she was not complaining about the pain, only watching him closely. "I see, you are a pro at that!" he commented friendly, and inquired: "Do you think you can go to the toilet again, so we can take a urine sample as well?"
Seeing her nod hesitantly, he gave her something to drink, and quickly tidied up the room before taking her to the restroom. A few minutes later they were on their way to the lab and the rocking of his steady pace lulled her back to sleep quickly. He had raided a storage closet on the way, and shortly after their arrival in the lab, Cathy was laying in a bed made out of several blankets on the floor of the lab, so he could watch her while he tested the samples.
It did not take long to figure out, that it was a simple urinary tract infection, which should be going away on its own, if her immune system was working correctly or they could assist the process giving her antibiotics. He would have to check with House what he wanted to do. He was not sure, whether the little girl had any known allergies. To his astonishment her blood work otherwise had not shown any abnormal levels. Obviously formula was more balanced that he would have thought possible.
As suspected he found his partner half sitting, half laying in the recliner that somebody had moved into the conference room. Wilson was sleeping uneasily on the floor on what appeared to be about ten blankets and had deep pain lines in his face, but did not seem to be disturbed by the quiet DDX that was going on. Foreman looked dead on his feet standing next to the white board and trying to keep up with House, who was as usual brainstorming over the symptoms and possible treatments.
They had obviously not called in the new ducklings, which could have two reasons: Either House did not want to disturb them unnecessarily on a Friday evening for a simple case, or he did not want them to see him in his current state and Wilson in pain. Having known House for several years, he was pretty sure the second option was the reason.
He waited for a break in their discussion before announcing his presence: "Hey, Cameron still with the patient?" On their confirming nod he continued: "You want me here or with her?"
House shrugged: "She is stable for now, Cameron will page us, if they need help with her."
"Okay, then let me ask one more question before you update me on the patient: Is Cathy allergic to any antibiotics? She has a common urine tract infection, I was not sure whether you wanted to wait for her immune system to fight it off or whether you want me to prescribe something for her directly."
"She has a fever?" House sounded surprised.
Chase frowned: "No, she doesn't, I checked."
"So her immune system is not fighting the infection. Start her on Augmentin, the liquid form, I know that she tolerates that fairly well. We'll figure out why her immune system is not working correctly, when we know more about her other habits."
After that they went back to their differential and when they had decided the next course of treatment, they left Cathy with House and both Chase and Foreman went to the pharmacy to fetch the drugs for their respective patients. Chase used that chance to restock their emergency kit and doctor's bag as well. It would just not do, should something happen and they did not have their usual medications and equipment at hand.
Chase could not avoid the smile that crossed his face, when he came back to the diagnostic department: Cathy was curled up half kneeling on House again with House's big hands holding her in place safely, and both of them seemed to be fast asleep. Seeing that, Chase left a bottle for Cathy already prepared in the warmer, the medicine as well as the diaper bag well within House's reach on a chair he had dragged close, before he left again to give Foreman a hand.
They had a few close calls with Mrs. Baker and considered paging House several times, but always managed to stabilize her just in time. Finally the treatment helped, she was stable and her values improved steadily. It was early morning already, and for a moment Foreman and Chase debated whether it wouldn't be wiser to just stay at the hospital and handle whatever the next day would bring, but since it was Saturday and their case was hopefully solved, they decided sleeping in their own beds would do everybody good, especially House and Wilson.
Cameron decided to stay at the hospital, she was on call for the Emergency Department during Saturday either way and would not have the time to go home. She volunteered to stay with their patient for another hour, and then grab a quick shower and breakfast before starting her shift.
So Chase and Foreman headed back up to the Diagnostic Department, and Chase offered: "You want to crash on our couch?"
When Foreman just raised his eyebrow he elaborated: "Wilson will be sleeping in the guest room and I would appreciate a hand getting him there safely. We need to unload the trailer and your car at our place either way, so you could just come over now when people are starting their day and you will definitely get a decent parking spot."
Foreman smirked: "A totally selfless offer, I see, but yeah, let's do it that way. I am not looking forward to driving through half the city at the weekend with all the shopping traffic either way, your place is much more convenient."
House was awake by the time they got to the department and had obviously just fed and changed Cathy without getting up once.
"Mrs. Baker is stable – again – and her values are finally improving. Cameron will stay here and watch her for a while longer. They should be able to transfer her to a regular room in internal medicine or geriatrics later. Currently they are trying to find another relative who can take care of her so they can send her home in a few days." Chase reported, before he related their plan: "We thought we all head to our place and sleep for a while before we unload Foreman's car and the trailer. You okay with that?"
While House would have preferred to be alone with Chase, he knew that Wilson could not be left to his own devices and he had the responsibility for Cathy now, who on the other hand needed her things. So he agreed to their plan, handing Chase two pills for Wilson and instructed: "Give these to him with a glass of water, they should take effect in about ten minutes. Use that time to get everything ready, so we can get out of here." which Chase and Foreman translated to: Wilson will not be able to get up or do anything before that time is up, and he will probably be in a lot of pain, which he does not want anybody to see, so scam.
Foreman took the soiled and bagged diaper and went out of the office to find a suitable trash can. Than he remembered that Chase had used the lab before and checked whether that needed to be cleaned up. He was not sure how much in a hurry his coworker had been earlier, especially since he had had Catherine with him.
Chase on the other hand woke Wilson, helped him to take the medicine and then went to pack up the stuff, he had taken out for Cathy and House earlier. He managed to keep his back to Wilson most of the time and tried not to listen too obviously for the harsh breathing sounds to calm down again.
A good ten minutes later, he could not find anything else to do, but move House's recliner back to the office and put back the numerous blankets Wilson was laying on. For obvious reasons that was not possible yet and just then Foreman came back from whatever task he had managed to find. It took them nearly ten more minutes until Wilson was up and able to walk without crying out of pain. After a glance at Chase Foreman slung the diaper bag over his shoulder and without further comments walked with Wilson to his car, leaving Chase to deal with Cathy and House.
To Chase's slight surprise the older diagnostician insisted that he put away the blankets first and moved the foot rest back to the office. Putting Cathy on the floor, House then tried to get up from the recliner. Chase was quickly finished with his task and headed back to the conference room, positioning himself right next to the recliner, so he could give House a hand, whenever it was accepted, but did not offer any help.
While House loved the Eames chair and it was fairly comfortable to sleep in, it was also pretty low compared to other chairs which made it harder to get up from. Usually standing up was not a big problem, though, especially compared to taking the first steps, and a moment later House was standing on his left leg, knuckles on his right hand completely white from his hard grip on his cane and the right leg barely touching the floor. After Chase was sure that he did not want to sit back down again, he quickly brought the chair back to the office as well, picked up Cathy from the floor and turned to head to the door.
Looking back at House he noticed that the older doctor had yet to put any weight on his right leg. "Right or left side?" he inquired, already heading back to House, who seemed to be considering his options.
"Left." came shortly thereafter the quiet decision and Chase took his usual spot right next to the diagnosticians left shoulder, leaving it up to House to accept further help or not. He was glad, that his partner for once decided not to be more stubborn than necessary and put his arm over his shoulders. Steadying him with his right arm around the waist, they slowly made their way to the elevator. It was still early enough, that nobody saw them in the hallway and the elevator was completely empty as well.
This time, walking it off seemed not to help at all, and House was resting heavily against the walls of the elevator on their ride down. Even though there would be eyes on them while they crossed the lobby, he was too tired to care about that any longer and leaned heavily on Chase on their remaining way to the car. It was one of the days that made it painfully clear why House needed the handicapped parking space. Without help he would not have been able to reach his car even though it was parked in the closest spot the hospital offered.
He helped House to slide down into the passenger seat and proceeded to get Cathy strapped into her car seat. Thankfully, the little girl was again sleeping soundly and did not really care what happened to her as long and she had something warm to hold onto – and was okay with replacing Chase's shirt with her teddy bear. Even though it had taken him over a minute to get Cathy situated, House had not yet closed the door and when Chase went around the car he saw that his partner had not moved from the position he had left him in at all.
His breathing was ragged and he was shaking slightly from the pain, thereby aggravating his leg even more. Intending to repeat his earlier successful massage Chase squatted down and put his hands near the offending thigh only to be stopped with a forceful: "Don't!"
Carefully he stood up again, and stepped closer to House without touching either leg and started to slowly stroke his back. With a mumbled: "Oh God! Chase!" House put his arms around Chase's waist, pulled him even closer and buried his face in Chase's stomach, hiding further moans.
Calmly combing House's hair and rubbing his back, all the time murmuring: "I am here, House. It's okay. Let it out, it will get better." over and over again like a mantra, Chase offered all the support he could think of and allowed House to finally break down. He was not sure whether the intense leg pain or the emotional turmoil was the bigger issue at the moment, but it did not matter. House was finally able to let go and not be strong for a moment, but to allow help and Chase was not in any hurry to end that.
About fifteen minutes later Chase's shirt was soaked in the front and all crumpled up in the back, but he did not care. Slowly House relaxed and leaned back into the car seat, exhaustion clear on his face. A moment later, he turned around, put his legs into the car with Chase's help and fastened the seat belt.
Without a comment Chase zipped up the light jacket he had been wearing open so far, thereby hiding any evidence of what had happened recently, which prompted House to send a grateful glance in his direction, before he closed his eyes for the ride home.
Chase closed the door, and walked around to the driver's seat. Finally they would be able to head home. House was already asleep and did not notice it any longer.
