When House awoke next, it was to the sound of a much busier hospital. He glanced around, catching sight of Wilson talking to a nurse just outside of the door. 'Ah, my saviour…' House thought amusedly when the Oncologist entered the room in a fluster as he realised the patient was awake.

"Hey, are you in any pain?" came the breathless question as he did his own check of the various monitors and sats; House shook his head slowly, savouring the high that he was happily riding for the time being. Wilson looked relieved, even managing a small smile as he made sure House had access to his PCA control.

"Hows Cuddy?" House croaked uncomfortably, vaguely remembering his hazy conversation with her before he was put out earlier.

"She said something about needing to go to the bathroom..." Wilson replied, a little freaked out by the grin House flashed at him at this admission. "What?"

"She's got Salmonellosis..." House whispered, still grinning like a loon; he blamed the combination of painkillers and the still-fading general anaesthetic for his reasonably pleasant mood.

"Huh, food poisoning?"

House attempted a lazy eye-roll; "No, from the water" he stated patronisingly slowly. Wilson nodded in indication that he understood before frowning at the diagnostician, who seemed to be mulling over something important in his head.

"What's wrong?"

"Why did you ask to be my attending?" House asked calmly, keeping his eyes locked onto Wilson's own, watching the other man squirm momentarily under his scrutiny and deepen his frown.

"Who told you?" Wilson replied sceptically; he turned away from House and pretended to be busy with writing in his chart.

"I heard you…" House answered enigmatically, capturing his friend's curiosity; "when I came out of surgery; you practically begged the surgeon to let you take my surgery report…which makes me wonder…why?"

Wilson scoffed in disbelief; "You were unconscious, House…you heard nothing" but he didn't sound too sure. The nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him that House wouldn't have brought it up if he wasn't sure about it – 'He was unconscious, wasn't he?' "Does it matter?"

"Maybe…I don't know what you're hiding yet, do I?" the lazy reply came. "What reason did you give Cuddy for wanting to be my attending?"

"I…don't remember." Wilson lied, hoping House would drop it and go back to sleep.

"You're lying" House said, becoming more alert as each second passed; Wilson lying was one thing, Wilson lying to Cuddy was something else entirely – and very interesting.

"This means you've probably lied about something else...something big" House knew he was getting close when his friend got that 'guiltily hunched over shoulders' look going on – yet he couldn't put his finger on it...too hazy 'Damn Anaesthetic'

"I can always ask Cuddy when she gets back-"

"I had to lie to her – you asked me to!" Wilson hissed angrily, glancing around the room as though Cuddy would jump out from behind the door.

House frowned, "What…did you tell her you're really a Nephrologist?" he asked indolently, desperately trying to clear his head enough to be able to decipher the puzzle.

"No…I just skipped over a few important facts when I filled her in on your condition" the Oncologist replied, looking completely guilt ridden and desperate to get it off his chest.

"What facts?" House asked curiously; he still hadn't been coherent enough to hold an entire conversation with anyone since he had awakened early in the night, so he hadn't been filled in on how his surgery actually went.

Wilson was only too aware of this fact. "They lost you before they could get you in the OR. Luckily, you were right outside the ER when it happened…they managed to get you back after less than two minutes…"

Unnervingly, Wilson seemed to have the entire journey logged and memorised. "You were intubated in the hallway by someone on the late shift…" he took a deep breath as he recalled what the surgeon had told him whilst waiting for House to come out of the Anaesthesia; "About half an hour into the operation…the tube wasn't placed right; your sats fell and you had to be re-intubated…then they lost you too."

"How long?" House asked firmly, seemingly unfazed by the account of how he lost another two of his nine lives. Which probably only left approximately...one life to go.

Wilson swallowed nervously; "Three minutes…The rib had to be removed because it was badly bent, there was no way it would have healed properly and it was restricting their access to your kidney...after all the blood that had to be pumped back into you - they were afraid you wouldn't make it through the night with such poor O2 sats…"

"Apparently they were wrong." House said nonchalantly, feeling the need to fill in the awkward gap that was hosting silence between them after Wilson had paused to breathe.

"They had to take out a rib, House!" Wilson shouted, unable to see how his friend could take this so calmly; "You've got a 10 inch incision down your right hand side and only one kidney!"

"I'm aware that I'm missing a rib and a kidney – what I want to know is why you're so angry about it?" House countered heatedly, furiously wishing he wasn't stuck in his pathetic position in the bed, and cursing the Anaesthesiologist – who would most definitely not be receiving a fruit basket.

"You almost died...you did die, twice and...and..." Wilson threw his hands out in defeat, unable to shout at his vulnerable, heavily medicated friend much more.

"You told Cuddy that everything was fine." House stated knowingly, finishing his statement for him; Wilson rewarded him with a small nod. "Everything is fine…Cuddy doesn't need to know anything – but I do not want you as my attending" he finished, completely knackered. Wilson opened his mouth to retort and argue; House cut him off, "you're too subjective, too worried, too caring" House listed, spitting the last word as though it were a curse.

Luckily, the Oncologist didn't take this as an insult. "Well, who do you want?" he asked, making a mental list of doctor's at PPTH who may not have been pissed off by House, one way or another…it was a very small list.

"Chase" House mumbled into his pillow.

"Chase? As in…Chase?" Wilson replied disbelievingly.

"Is there more than one Chase working here?" House asked, trying to push away the headache currently forming from having to let Wilson down gently.

"Not that I'm aware of. Why Chase?" Wilson was quickly becoming annoying; he was relieved at House for not wanting him to be his attending, but couldn't help feeling hurt too.

"He's an Intensivest, he doesn't give a crap about my private life and he has the distinct advantage of being located right outside the door…" House reasoned unenthusiastically; the argument with Wilson had taken everything he had to give – now he wanted more sleep.

True to House's words, Chase was actually out in the hallway, looking thoroughly confused after having been told by a couple of nurse's that his boss had been brought in during the night shift.

"You want me to get him?"

"Nah..." House mumbled into his pillow, "lets see what rumours he hears about me and Cuddy first..."

"You do realise I haven't forgotten what you told me on that riverbank" Wilson stated smugly – the mere mention of Cuddy reminding him of their whole laboured conversation, "and if you don't tell her – I will."

"I don't know what you're talking about" House grumbled, flinching just enough at Wilson's statement to prove that he remembered every word.

"I can reinact the scene if you like? I think it started-"

"I'll tell her" House interrupted, grimacing at the thought of how awkward it would be.

"Really?" the statement caught Wilson completely off guard. "When?"

House glanced up at his friend exasperatedly. "I'll tell her when I'm ready."

"Ready for what?" Cuddy's voice came dancing over from the doorway.

'Oh shit' House thought, catching Wilson's self-satisfied look as he cottoned onto the slight increase on the heart monitor. 'You are not my friend.'

"Can you look after him for a few minutes – I need to go...somewhere" Wilson's lies were less than convincing; but that didn't stop Cuddy from stepping aside and letting him leave though, much to House's horror.

'Oh crap...'

TBC...

Author's Note: Twenty minute chapter for you...hope it doesn't show! Fills in some gaps and moves the fic along – what more can you ask for? R&R pretty please! x