"You're still waiting?" Cuddy asked exasperatedly as she returned, cast on her wrist and cup of coffee in her other hand. House was slumped in the chair, tapping his cane on the tiled floor of the waiting room; he looked close to breaking point, as did the burly construction worker who flinched every time the rubber tip bounced off of the hard surface.

"We're up next, provided you can outrun Rambo there" he said, pointing at the giant man with the broken thumb; Cuddy turned to look at who he was referring to, meaning that House used that opportunity to grab her coffee and take a few huge gulps, almost emptying the container thirstily.

"He was here before you" Cuddy reminded him in a hushed tone as she surrendered her well earned coffee to him; clearly the two men had been participating in some sort of standoff since she'd been gone, "have you really not been seen yet?" she asked in disbelief as she noted the, now almost empty, waiting room.

"I know it must be hard for you to believe…but your hospital has crappy waiting periods – especially when you're not here to crack the whip" House mumbled as he saw the door to the x ray department move as the last patient exited; he shot a look to the construction worker who'd also seen the development and was shifting about in his seat.

"We've got the best ER turnover in the state-" Cuddy started defending her baby as House braced his left foot against the wall beside her, dropped the coffee cup and thrust his file into her hands. "What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously as it quickly dawned on her what was about to happen, "House, no!"

Too late. House pushed himself with his foot and sent the wheelchair, and himself, hurtling towards the construction worker's legs just as the doctor came out and called "Who's next?" Before the hefty worker could get his body out of the way, he'd found himself trapped between two chairs, a look of bewilderment plastered over his features; it didn't help that House had begun to wave to get Cuddy's attention, "go go go!" he hissed as he felt the man behind him trying to break free from his trap.

Cuddy looked just as confused as the other guy as she walked over to the double doors and handed the doctor House's file; she turned around just in time to see House grinning smugly to himself as he prepared to fake an apology to his victim.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry – I didn't see you there!" House bumbled convincingly as he hunched himself lower in the chair, "I don't suppose you could push me over there, could you?" he asked cheekily as the big man sighed, seeing that he was beaten by the cripple once again, "broken ribs you see – as well as the bum leg"

House managed to get pushed all the way to the double doors before Cuddy wisely took over, 'surely there has to be a limit to this man's tolerance for House's obnoxious behaviour' she thought as the man returned angrily to his seat.

"Was it so important to get in front of him?" she asked when they were clear of the waiting room, having entered the x ray room.

"Absolutely" House replied as he gingerly pulled himself out of the chair using his cane and the nearby wall to help him.

"You don't think you were being just a little rude to that guy?"

"Absolutely" he gasped as he found once again that there was no way he was going to be able to stand for the x ray; he could swear that the pain in his ribs had moved – it almost seemed lower down that before…weird.

Cuddy could see the transformation his face went through as he stood; it went from pink to white in the space of about three seconds. She grabbed hold of his arm as he swayed slightly, testing which was a good place to lean with his cane; when he didn't scowl at her for the moment, Cuddy had that nagging feeling, in the back of her mind, that he was in a lot more pain than he was letting on.

"Are you okay?" she asked cautiously as she remembered what happened last time they were in this position; she braced herself against the wall with her elbow, thankful that they were in a small room for once. "You gonna pass out on me again?" she asked warily, getting a scowl in return.

"I did not pass out" House argued as he carefully limped the three steps to the small gurney and dropped down onto it with an "oomph"

"Then the whole 'collapsing on top of me and using me to break your fall' thing was probably a bad idea" Cuddy said, holding up her casted wrist and wincing.

"You should have that in a sling" House said quietly, a slight tinge of red colouring his cheeks and the tips of his ears, "…just for a few days"

Cuddy smirked at his apparent embarrassment, "this is fun, I don't think I've ever seen you this sheepish before" she said as the nurse came in to help House get prepared for the x ray, "but seriously, get someone to page me when you're done" she ordered as she collected her things to leave.

"Whoa - where're you going?" House asked more urgently than he'd planned. Cuddy stopped in her tracks and turned to face him; he could feel his face flushing again as he did his best not to look worried. 'What's the matter with you?' he thought warily as he tried to avoid Cuddy's bemused look.

"I'm going to get myself another coffee…did you want me to stay and hold your hand or something?" she asked boldly, 'Oh, its nice having the upper hand for a change' her inner demon chuckled as she watched him squirm.

"Just make sure you're back before King Kong gets his ugly butt in here, demanding his x ray, need you to push me…and make sure you put at least two sugars in your next coffee" he added pathetically as she smiled disconcertingly at him, then left.

He sighed unconsciously as he watched her leave, completely oblivious to the nurse who was trying to get him to lay down; 'you're definitely losing it' he thought miserably as he painfully lowered himself down and prepared for his second set of x rays...

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Wilson sighed as House's home phone once again went through to the machine after several rings. "Maybe I should just shoot round there – make sure everything's okay…" he said to his date, who seemed more interested in the drink she was cradling as she sat on his lap.

"He's probably with Dr Cuddy – from what I hear, they're pretty close these days" she replied exasperatedly as she fiddled with his tie, attempting to seduce him away from his cell. "Oh my God! He's a grown man!" she exclaimed as he put the cell to his ear again.

"He's…disabled" Wilson said quietly, as though House may be able to hear him from wherever he was, "he needs someone to watch out for him"

"Yeah, like a personal assistant – not you!"

"He needs a friend" Wilson said angrily as he pushed the young nurse off of his lap; House's machine had once again been kicked into action. 'What were you thinking – House was right, she's an immature, life-sized Barbie doll!' he thought as he watched her pout.

"Look - I've got to go" he said, hastily leaving the small booth and heading to the door. He briefly heard the young woman hurl a number of abusive curses at him over the loud music and he smirked to himself, 'maybe she's more of House's kind of girl after all…'

He reached his car, thankful that he had decided to drive tonight and not drink; he sat in it for a moment, waiting for his hearing to return to something resembling normal. He got his cell out again, 'maybe you should ring Cuddy' he thought as he recalled the 5 missed calls he'd ignored earlier in the night, 'she's going to be so annoyed that you haven't returned her call…but, she's probably in bed'

Sighing, he chucked his phone on the seat beside him, started the car and set off to House's apartment; 'hopefully by now, he'll be in a better mood…oh, who are you kidding – this is House!'

It took barely ten minutes for Wilson to reach the door of House's apartment; now that he was outside, he didn't know what to do, he had one hand on the doorknob and the other one pressed against his forehead.

"Okay…" he whispered as he unlocked the door and made his way inside; he was a little unprepared to find the lights off and no sign of House on the couch where he'd been left.

"House?" Wilson called out as his curiosity drew him down the hall, 'maybe he's gone to bed…' he thought as he leant in through the bedroom door, trying to listen out for any sounds coming from within.

Puzzled by his friend's apparent disappearing act, Wilson wandered into the kitchen to investigate further; House had, in total, 10 messages on his answering machine, three from Wilson and seven from Cuddy.

'Time to ring Cuddy then' he thought warily, pulling out his cell and dialling her number; he frowned as he saw the towel that House had wrapped around his mid section, discarded on the floor, 'please don't be semi naked when I find you!' he thought as he heard Cuddy sharply answer her cell.

"Err, hi – its Wilson…I was – err - just wondering if you'd seen House?" he stammered, trying to sound casual.

"He's in the hospital" Cuddy said on the other end of the line, attempting to hold her cell and a rather hot cup of coffee in the same hand…it wasn't working too well.

"He's what?" Wilson snapped, 'oh no – this is all your fault!'

"He's fine – just getting his second x ray – look, I'd really appreciate it is you can get down here and pick him up - provided your family emergency is all sorted now?"

"My what?" Wilson asked, clearly confused.

"House said you had a family emergency or something…?"

"Oh yeah, yeah…it's fine, err, sorted – I'll be right over!" Wilson replied nervously as he strode towards the door and put the phone down sharply. 'Oh well, at least House didn't tell her about the date…'

On the other end of the line Cuddy couldn't help feeling like there was something amiss with the whole conversation; she didn't have long to ponder over it before a young nurse jogged up to her.

"Dr Cuddy – it's Dr House" the nurse said breathlessly, "he's passed out in radiology"