"If he wakes up, make sure he stays still." Foreman ordered as he pulled House's jeans off and chose the catheter insertion area in his groin; Cameron and Cuddy had shown the decency to turn away, even though House still had his boxers on.
"Can't you sedate him?" Cuddy asked, still turned away from the bed, but glancing back occasionally to see what was going on.
"Ideally we need him to be awake for this; plus, if we sedate him, he won't wake up for a while – I don't want to be stuck in here waiting for him to wake up." Foreman said nervously as he spared a look at Howard, who was impatiently waiting by the door.
Wilson cleared his throat loudly, catching everyone's attention. "You'd better start soon – his right eye is filling up quick" he said calmly as he double checked House's pupils to make sure he wasn't mistaken.
Foreman, jumping into action, swabbed the area of insertion with a numbing agent then lowered the head of the bed and began the procedure with Chase and Wilson assisting as best they could by taking the pillows away and monitoring the patient. The doctors were aware that as soon as Foreman sealed the aneurysms they had to reduce the inter-cranial pressure with the I.V fluids asap or House would end up needing serious surgery.
Cuddy observed the procedure from her position on the floor, by the window; she had to watch, not because she doubted the ability of her best doctors, she just needed to know what was happening.
She watched Wilson as he juggled holding House's head still, checking his pupils every two minutes and holding the receiver on House's head for Foreman to get the imaging from for the procedure.
She was unable to see Chase clearly as he had his back to her; he was in charge of the o2 mask and taking House's pulse; he seemed overly tense all of a sudden when he made a point of wiping his hand on the side of his coat then reapplying it to House's neck, his own pulse messing with his concentration.
It was dedication at the highest level and Cuddy could only think how proud she felt that these were her doctors working so efficiently under impossible circumstances.
Cuddy's intense viewing was interrupted by a gasp from Cameron as Andrew slumped forward, seemingly asleep; it broke the silence in the room and was enough to get Howard agitated again.
"What are you doing?" He asked angrily as he saw Cuddy and Cameron carefully lay Andrew flat on the floor and start taking his vitals; they both ignored him and carried on, "what is he doing?" he pressed again, pointing the gun at them in an idle threat.
"He's unconscious." Cuddy snapped back at him; this man was really getting on her nerves now and she wanted to shove that stupid gun where the sun doesn't shine, "probably passed out from the shock of seeing his father holding a gun to his doctors!"
"Stupid child." Howard muttered, making Cuddy even more disgusted.
"I think he's in a coma…" Cameron said quietly as she tried, unsuccessfully, to rouse Andrew from his deep sleep.
"House said he had Anaemia." Cuddy stated; Cameron shook her head in disagreement.
"He didn't respond to treatment."
Wilson, who had been listening in whilst performing his 'juggling House' act, cut in - "its Iron deficiency Anaemia – he'll be ok when you get him on the right I.V."
"Are you sure?" Cameron asked disbelievingly, never the optimist she made out she was.
"House was sure." Wilson replied flatly, turning back to the task at hand; this seemed to satisfy Cuddy who left it to Cameron to keep Andrew stable whilst she stood up to take a better look at her diagnostician on the bed.
"How far along are we?" Chase asked urgently from his position by House's head.
"I'm there – don't rush me, I don't want to be the one to brain damage the guy!" Foreman responded sounding slightly annoyed that Chase had broken his concentration to ask questions.
"His pulse is all over the shop – he's gonna be brain damaged anyway if he can't get enough oxygen to his brain." Chase said frankly as he rubbed his fingers along the vein in House's neck, attempting to help the blood flow along. He didn't like the fact that his mentor's skin was becoming cold and clammy and his breathing seemed to be more and more laboured; he definitely didn't want to think about what Howard would do if House died now...
"Chase! Can you keep him stable for 2 minutes?" Foreman asked again, failing to keep the hint of panic out of his voice as he attempted to speed up the procedure without killing the patient.
Chase nodded and switched the o2 mask he had been using to a bag valve mask; if House couldn't breathe in enough oxygen on his own then Chase would have to pump it for him until the aneurysms were dealt with.
It was a tense few minutes as Foreman tried to remain calm under pressure while holding his boss' life in his hands; if he brain damaged House now, neither of their lives would be worth living! He managed to get rid of the threat of the second aneurysm just as a small groan was heard from under the o2 mask.
"He's waking up." Wilson said calmly, looking to Foreman as he started to pull out the micro-catheter slowly, "Chase, get the I.V set up."
Chase made some quick checks before he dared to stop pumping the o2 mask; House's pulse was stronger but still irregular, not enough to require immediate panic though. He hurriedly grabbed the I.V treatment that Foreman had conveniently set up earlier; in his haste to ship House out of his care as soon as possible, Foreman had made the room ideally suited for an emergency – at least one good thing had come out of House being a crappy patient!
"Is he awake?" Howard's voice cut through the tense atmosphere like a knife; the doctor's glared at him as they made it clear they were more worried about getting the I.V in than entertaining him with an answer.
"House can you hear me?" Foreman asked; he didn't want to admit it out loud but he was worried about long term brain issues from the apparent stroke House had suffered.
House tried to clear his throat and then he mumbled something incoherent; he hadn't made an attempt to open his eyes as of yet, so Wilson stood back to allow Foreman to check his pupils.
"The meds should reduce the bleed over the next hour or so; then you'll regain your vision" Foreman reassured everyone as he carried out his checks.
"I don't have time for this!" Howard cried as he pulled Foreman and Wilson out of the way in frustration so that he could get to House, "where is the money?"
House frowned, eyes still closed; then he replied, to the surprise of his colleagues "He's still here?"
"Where is the money?" Howard practically screamed whilst grabbing House by his shoulder and aiming the gun back to his head.
"You waited all this time for him to wake up and now you're going to shoot him?" Foreman said in a condescending tone of voice, enraging Howard further.
"I'm not going to shoot him – but I can shoot every one of you until he tells me." Howard said soberly as he aimed the gun at his first victim…Bang!
Author's Note: I am mean! Next update will be very soon - I won't leave you guys hanging too long...