Cuddy looked around. She liked that office. It was not a typical doctor's office with 100 diploma on the wall, although House did not have to hide his ones. And everywhere his toys, his video games, this old ball and that old TV. She knew him all those years but she didn't know him at all.
" Did you ever see him, when he works?"
" Almost every day.", Wilson said.
" No, I mean really observed. How he sits in his chair looking at that white board for hours, reading through all that books, going through the chart over and over again. He sees things on MRIs on the first view, that we would need 3 days for. And then he gets that special face expression when he finally finds that answer. Whatever happens around him, when he gets the answer nothing else matters to him. He's lightyears ahead of us."
" On a medical base, maybe."
Cuddy laughed. " Let's forget about the rest. I think as long as he has his puzzles, he will survive."
Chase, Foreman and Cameron entered the office.
" What are you doing here?", Cameron asked.
" It's the only working coffeemaker we could find at this time.", Cuddy answered.
" Thank God.", Chase said, pouring himself a cup.
" Any news?", Cameron asked.
Cuddy shook her head.
" Anybody knows what he was doing in town?", Foreman asked.
Cuddy looked at Wilson.
" He wanted to help me.", Wilson said.
" Are you alright? You sound weird at the phone.", Cameron asked.
" I'm fine!"
„What's going on?", Chase interrupted. He looked angry.
" I mean, you don't talk to him the entire day but in the middle of the night you take him away from work. Cameron said you were drunk. Now he's in surgery and could lose his healthy leg."
" Stop it!", Cuddy shouted.
" No. I've had it with you two. All the time you want to change him and tell him how to live, instead of letting him do his job."
" Chase, you know he's got problems in his life.", Cuddy yelled at him.
" Yeah, but it's his life, his problems. I don't interfere with it. I could sue him every other day for insulting me or discrimination, yeah hell, he even hit me once. But I shut up and do my job because I can learn so much from hin."
Everyone was looking at him. They've never seen Chase like this.
" I gotta get out of here. I'll get some breakfast."
Then he left.
„What a great time to grow a backbone!", Wilson sighed.
The others stayed in the office and kept silent. They all felt the same. Every day they work with House, try to deal with his issues, his ego and wish him to hell every now and then.
But now at the moment everybody thought about his own relationship to House and even Foreman had to admit that he liked the old jerk a little.
Cameron also left for a while. She went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. She never knew for sure what to think about House. First she was in love with him, than she almost hated him. But now at the moment she wanted to help him. Finally she wiped some tears from her eyes and went back to the office. Chase was back, too.
At half past six Gillick came into the office.
„ Does he have any relatives I could talk to?", he asked.
" Well his parents, they live in California.", Wilson said.
" Actually, I can't tell you about him, you guys are no relatives."
" Oh cut it out. Come on, Gillick!", Cuddy said annoyed.
„ We could save the spleen. It was not as bad as we thought. He still has the leg but just because he forbid me to amputate. It was like a puzzle. Ever built a Femur out of matches? Not to mention the knee. The lower leg looks promising. Tibia is broken, that's about it. But now he's got so much metall in his leg, every compass around will point at him."
" Will it function?", Foreman asked.
" Only heaven knows. It will take weeks to heal. Few more surgeries. Then physio and in half a year we will know. He'll spend some time in a wheelchair, but he will keep the leg. Now it's his willpower we must rely on."
" Well, nothing to worry about then.", Cuddy said.
" I'll grab some sleep.", Gillick said. " You guys should do the same, you look horrible."
" Good night, Gillick. Thank you!", Cuddy said.
But they didn't have time to sleep. The three young doctors took care for their patient but they couldn't find a diagnosis.
" I hope he wakes up pretty soon, we could need his help.", Foreman said.
" Foreman!", Cameron shouted, " He's got other thinks to worry about, don't you think?"
" Actually no, I don't. You know him! Everything is better than dealing with his own problems."
Wilson was tired, he had a headache. But he had to check on his cancer patients, especially Sara. But first he went to ICU. House was not awake yet. His leg was in a bandage. So was his left arm, obviously his shoulder was hurt as well. He looked totally exhausted. Actually he could be happy to be still alive.
Wilson stayed 5 minutes and looked at his sleeping friend. Then he went back in his department and back to work. That always kept his mind of his private problems.
But unfortunately part of his work was his ex wife right now. He went to see her, to encourage her but probably he was looking for someone to talk to. He told her what happened.
" I'm sorry, Sara.", he eventually said. " You are sick and I keep talking about House. You never could stand him."
" I just thought he never deserved you. You take care for him, he doesn't return the favor. You are just too good for that world!"
" Oh come on, that's not true."
" It is, James. Why do you think I spent so many nights waiting for you? I always hoped you would finally understand, that there are other things but work, for example me."
" You were important, Sara.", Wilson replied. He thought about last night. " Tell her.", House had said to him. Probably because he didn't wanna hear it, but perhaps he was right.
" I still regret that I lost you. You were the right woman for me.", he finally said and looked at her.
" I know, James. It's the same for me. There was no other man after you in my life."
They were silent for a while. Wilson knew he should look after his other patients but he didn't want to go. Eventually he got up and left. " I'll be there for you now!", he said to Sara.
House's patient had a problem. He was dying and his attending was still asleep after the surgery. The team tried all they could but they had to admit that they needed House. Foreman went to look into the patient's apartment again.
" We miss something.", Cameron said going again through the file.
" I know that!", Chase said angrily.
He looked at her. " I'm sorry. I'm in a bad mood."
" We are all pretty tired."
She sighed.
" What if he doesn't come back?"
Chase looked up from his book.
" Why should he do that?"
" Who knows what happens? Imagine the leg does not work anymore. He won't be the same."
" There is really something good coming out of everything.", Chase smiled.
" You know what I mean. Let's be honest. Without House we can't do that. He is out of here for one day and the patient is always dead."
" We've been in this before, even with House. We finally made it.", Chase said.
" Yeah, because of House."
" I think you should relax a little. Go get home and get some sleep."
" Are you sure?", Cameron asked.
Chase nodded. „ I'll monitor the patient and wait for Foreman. I'll go to sleep when he returns."
Cameron was grateful and went home.
That's what Chase was waiting for. He was on his way to ICU and stood in front of House's room.
" He woke up, about an hour ago. But he still is dizzy. Dr. Gillick will look after him pretty soon. We can tell you more after this.", the nurse said.
" I have to talk to him now.", Chase said.
" You can't do that. I shouldn't tell you anything. You are not family."
" I work with him every day for 10 hours, believe me, his parents didn't spend so much time with him."
" You could live with him in the same apartment, I still can't allow this. The doctor has to check him first. You know that, Dr. Chase!"
" It's important. We got a dying patient. You think I should let him die, because Gillick has his lunch right now?" He pointed at House. " House could know the answer."
" You wanna talk about a case?", the nurse got angry.
" Trust me, he doesn't wanna talk about anything else."
She smiled. " Well, you're probably right."
" Listen, Dr. Chase. Ich will take my coffeebreak now. Takes about 15 minutes. After this I have to change his infusion. You get this?"
„ Thank you.", Chase said and entered the room.