Wilson skidded to a halt as he came up to a bridge, the tyres on his car squealing adequately much to the amusement of several police officers who were manning a road block ahead.
He jumped out of the vehicle and jogged up to the bemused men. "What happened?" he asked breathlessly as he peered past them to the chaos beyond. There were floodlights, fire engines, ambulances and cops everywhere – there was even a helicopter circling overhead; but no sign of Cuddy or House.
"A vehicle has crashed over the verge" a cop replied, unwilling to divulge too much information to the nearly-manic man.
"Over the verge…" Wilson repeated, walking over to the bridge to take a look. He cursed as the sight of track marks running down the steep embankment came into view; it was then that he saw the battered ambulance. Its wheels were well and truly mangled; the whole vehicle seemed to be sunk partially into the soft ground, and it was clear from the line of mud trailing behind it, that it was progressively sliding towards the edge of the river.
"Well - what are they waiting for?" Wilson asked as he witnessed some specialist rescue teams with harnesses on just waiting around by the roadside. "Shouldn't they be securing it or something?"
"Ah, they can't do anything 'till they've been briefed by their supervisor – health and safety gone mad" the officer replied dryly as he leant against the bridge nonchalantly. "They could slip and hurt themselves – that bank is steep, you know!"
Wilson gaped for a second before his attention was caught by many people shouting from the other side of the bridge; the ambulance was moving once again towards the water, and its front wheels were now almost touching the choppy river.
"Bloody hell, can you imagine that – being picked up by an ambulance, only to crash and be faced with the possibility of drowning in 12 feet of water?" the cop asked a shaky looking Wilson.
"Yeah but it's not 12 feet on the edge of the river is it?" Wilson asked, common sense telling him that the bank gradually gets lower and lower as the water gets higher.
"That's the thing – it's not a river, it's an old canal; the bank ends there and drops straight down…" the officer explained, pausing as he took a look at his companion, "hey, are you okay – you look a little pale?"
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"House – we need a neck brace…is there one back there?" Cuddy called through the gap to her colleague, "House?" she got no reply. Cursing, she clambered into the back to get the brace herself; she stopped dead as she saw her diagnostician hunched over and leaning against the wall uncomfortably, seemingly unconscious and barely breathing.
"House – shit…the drugs wore off then…" she knelt down in front of him and was alarmed at his poor respiratory rate. She grabbed the previously discarded O2 mask and desperately thrust it over his mouth and nose; he flinched at the contact and blearily opened his eyes.
"Couldn't get…" he gasped before he could finish as Cuddy pulled his t shirt up, putting her hand over her mouth as she saw the extent of internal bleeding. He pulled her out of her shock by jabbing her in the arm and pointing to the empty IV bag; Cuddy wasted no time in swapping the bag over for a fresh one, knowing that this was the only thing keeping him from passing out completely – the only thing she had control over in the condemned ambulance.
"Okay…we just need to get you out" she stated calmly as she moved carefully to the rear of the van, grabbing hold of the door handles and pulling them with all of her strength. "Oh no…" she groaned miserably.
"They're jammed" came a muffled knowing statement from her patient, as if he'd known about the stuck doors for a while.
"Its fine…it's fine, we can get out through the front." Cuddy explained with desperate optimism as she felt the van slide further down the embankment.
"Yeah, good luck with that." House mumbled dejectedly; Cuddy's optimistic disposition was beginning to grate on his already wounded nerves; just the thought of having to squeeze his tall frame through the tiny gap was instantly depressing.
"Just wait there" she ordered sharply as she grabbed a brace and made her way cautiously back through to the front. House would have snorted at the obvious stupidity of the statement had it not been for the agony his kidney was inflicting on him at that moment in time.
Cuddy's return to the cab was welcomed by Colin, who was beginning to think the two strangers in the back had bailed out on him. "He doesn't seem to have any other injuries" he said, referring to his companion, Nick.
"We need to get out of here" Cuddy said calmly as she reached up for the radio transmitter; Colin had been using it to relay the condition of his patients to the emergency services, but they weren't being told anything particularly useful in return.
"This is Dr Cuddy…I need to speak to the person in charge of this rescue…" she waited for a distorted reply before she carried on. "I have a patient with a serious head injury – who needs urgent medical attention…we have to get him out of here right now" she began, her tone oozing with professionalism yet not fully masking her panic, "I have another patient with severe internal bleeding…if we don't get him out of here soon…he'll die" she dropped the receiver back into its holder and stared at the shocked EMT looking back at her.
"We shouldn't really move him until we know for sure that he hasn't got any other injuries…" Colin said desperately, trailing off as a man's voice came back over the radio.
"I know…" Cuddy said quietly in reply, listening intently to the transmission for any sign that they were close to being rescued. "I'm just trying to get them to hurry up; I don't fancy having to get my feet wet – but I do think it would be better if we weren't stuck in here any longer" she admitted. "Just swing his door open and see if you can get out" she ordered as she allowed the young EMT to pass her and clamber over his partner.
It was getting fairly dark outside, it was difficult to see where the mud and grass ended and the water began; she only hoped that the bank was stable enough to stand on, or else her plan would fail miserably.
"It's fine" Colin said as he jumped a little, testing the ground; he spared a glance up the steep bank to where bright floodlights were shining down upon them. "It's gonna take them a while to make it down here…" he announced, shaking his head in disappointment and wincing when he was brutally reminded of his own head injury.
"Well, we don't have a while" Cuddy said harshly as she fastened the neck brace carefully on the driver; "Can you lift him?" she asked quickly, hearing an agonising groan coming from the rear – "House – hang on!"
Colin gave her a nod and set about pulling his co-worker from the ambulance, while Cuddy scrambled through to see how she would delicately get House out…if that was even possible.
"House – we're getting out of here, can you stand?" she asked hopefully, her entire plan being arranged on the condition that he could carry himself out. Unfortunately, from the look of him, he wasn't going to be physically able to drag himself out of there; not that Cuddy was going to let him off that easy, "Colin's out, Nick's out – and he was unconscious" she started, attempting to call upon House's natural male instinct of 'well, if he did it, then I can definitely do it!'
He swallowed painfully, giving her a half-confused, half-pained look as he grasped hold of the driver's headrest to pull himself up; the action proved too much for his body as his plummeting blood pressure forced him to drop heavily back down on the gurney.
Cuddy managed to grab hold of his forearm before he doubled over in agony; "Shit – sorry...this is madness..." she laughed humourlessly as the realisation dawned on her, overwhelming her completely – there was no way House was going to get out of here without serious help.
His blood pressure was still dropping despite the IV's; he needed a surgeon now more than ever, and Cuddy couldn't shake that familiar feeling of guilt. She couldn't just leave him now, but she needed to alert Colin of the slight hitch in their plan...
"Just go...not your fault..." House mumbled, keenly aware of her indecisive behaviour despite the fact that he wasn't even face to face with her. In fact, he was pretty much face to bust with her...'not an unattractive position to be ailing in really' he thought.
"It's all my fault...if I hadn't called the ambulance, we wouldn't-"
"Okay, it is your fault...shut up already" he cut her off, groaning with a little more gusto, "do you seriously think I wanna hear you moaning as I live my last precious moments on this Earth?" he grumbled lightly, attempting to hide the fact that he was actually more scared now than he'd ever been in his whole miserable life.
"You're not going to die..." Cuddy dead panned, pulling his head firmly off of her chest; his eyes were beginning to travel further than she'd permit – dying or not dying, House was taking liberties.
"You don't know that..." he said softly, his eyes travelling from her hand on his face to her own eyes – a gesture that made her swallow uncomfortably at their stranglingly close proximity.
"House, you're not going to die." she repeated, keeping her hand planted firmly on his cheek, ignoring the startling discovery, found by her fingertips, that he was no longer burning up.
"Does that mean I don't get a last request?" he asked, his voice barely audible, but the cheeky undertone coming through loud and clear from the glint in his eyes.
"No – you don't" came the smooth reply as Cuddy attempted to refrain from grinning like a fourteen year old girl, instead opting to turn and leave. She made it about two feet before his hand shot out and grabbed her good wrist, turning her to face him once more.
He pulled her back with more strength than he believed he had left, she was now feeling completely helpless with her one good arm being held so firmly. "Cuddy, I-" House was sharply cut off by a shocking jolt as the ambulance seemed to lose whatever grip it had on the muddy bank, sending its occupants crashing into the side wall.
"Shit" he groaned whilst hitting the floor, as his ribs lodged further out of place, probably tearing up more organs in the process. "Get out - now!" he ordered weakly as Cuddy tried in vain to help him up.
But it was too late, the ambulance was in the canal...and it seemed a little deeper than they'd initially imagined. The lights flicked off, leaving them together, in darkness...
Author's Note: This is probably getting painfully OOC now...but I'm having fun – so go easy on me! I won't leave you hanging for too long...depending on how many reviews tell me to hurry and wrap this fic up (once I start getting them, it disheartens me from writing more!) Enjoy! x