James Wilson lay on the familiar hospital bed, although he had never been in it as a patient before. House watched his best friend, who was attached to the usual heart monitor and pulse oximeter but in addition was also attached to a continuous EEG via several electrodes on various parts of his head. The seizure had subsided, and Wison's EEG had returned to normal brain wave activity, but he had still not regained consciousness.
Lisa Cuddy walked quietly into Wilson's hospital room, remaining silent for several long moments. Taking in the scene before her was surreal; her head of oncology was unconscious after just having suffered a seizure and her head of diagnostics was at his bedside, seemingly lost. It was completely unexpected, and she was unsure of what to do next. It was a feeling she was unfamiliar with; one didn't become a dean of medicine, especially as a woman, without knowing how to handle adversity. Still, she did not know how to handle this one.
"How is he?" she asked quietly.
"Same," House said curtly.
Cuddy nodded. It was not unusual for a patient to remain unconscious for some time after a seizure, but it was small comfort. Pulling up a chair on the opposite side of Wilson's bed she sat down and began adjusting his blanket unnecessarily, just so that she could be doing something. Suddenly she was overcome with the weight of seeing her friend in such a vulnerable state and gripped his hand. Looking up at House, her breath almost caught; she had been so focused on Wilson she had not looked at House properly since walking into the room. As she looked at her cold, abrasive, rebellious head of diagnostics she saw something in the piercing blue eyes she had not seen since the day he had suffered his infarction; fear. It was not a typical fear; House was not susceptible to normal fear in any case. This was a fear born of the prospect of losing something; something too important to lose without irreparable damage.
"He'll be okay, House," Cuddy said softly.
"You don't know that," House said, his voice hard and seemingly straining for control.
"He's young, he's been healthy-" Cuddy began, but House cut across her.
"I know, I know!" House said, getting to his feet and crossing the room to stare out of the glass windows which allowed a full view of the hallway beyond. "He's got a strong heart, lungs, brain, I know the medical stuff as well as you do. That's the point. Someone like him, who doesn't eat anything but health food and avoids every vice imaginable doesn't just have a seizure for no reason."
"Is that your Dr. House insight talking or are you just scared for your best friend?"
House turned to look at Cuddy, blue eyes boring into her as if he could drill holes into her with his gaze. He did not answer, however, but simply sat back down and continued his vigil in silence.
A/N: Sorry these first two chapters were so short, I'm still in set-up mode here...more to come soon, though... thanks for the reviews, all!