As they walked through the woods, House's mind swarmed with questions. The pieces were adding up, but not in any form that he liked. House was logical by nature. If this was the place he thought, there was nothing logical about it. He was drawn out of his thoughts by Cuddy tugging on his hand. She was trying to pull him along faster.
"I know your leg hurts, but we need to hurry," she urged, checking the sky once more. On top of the sun setting, there were storm clouds rolling in. They looked far from friendly. "We need to hurry," she urged, quietly. Looking around she paused for a moment, trying to gauge their location. "This place is more dangerous than it looks," she added, trying to smile weakly at him. "As soon as we get to my cottage I can give you something to help."
"Right," he grumbled, sarcastically. House studied her skeptically, if she could fix his leg, or even lessen the pain, she would have done it years ago. Having no real choice but to trust her, he nodded his head and began to walk. As they kept moving, his thoughts once more trailed to those of panic. She had been right; he was definitely out of his element.
Cuddy shot a few worried glances in his direction. She wished that she could explain everything to him, right then. Her first priority had to be to get them to shelter though. With a newfound determination, Cuddy led them through the narrow paths of the forest.
Looking around, House noticed that the trees were growing closer together the deeper they went. It wasn't that there were more of them they were just much wider. These trees in this section of the forest seemed older than those along the outskirts. House looked towards the sky and realized he could no longer see it. The visual canopy was nothing but branches and leaves. Despite the overhang, the rain began to beat down on them.
Cuddy turned down, yet, another path. It seemed confusing at first, but she had spent plenty of time roaming them. She could navigate these woods as well as she could the halls of her own hospital. Cuddy knew that to strangers the wandered paths all looked the same. Checking the sky once more she silently cursed, she needed to get them home before dark.
House would never be able to navigate through the forest on his own. The idea of losing him shook her nerves more than she would like to admit. Stopping briefly, she turned to make sure House was still relatively close. His silence worried her. She couldn't help but wonder if he was scared. She tried to offer him a smile, but knew he could see through her façade of confidence. The guilt she normally felt towards House had doubled; he was only caught up in this because of her.
As they continued to walk, House tilted his head back, occasionally taking in mouthfuls of rain. Not having any idea how Cuddy was navigating, House spent his time studying her. Her once slow and sultry movements were now quick and purposeful. Instead of being her calm and controlled self, he could practically see her calculating each and every decision. She was alert and aware of everything around them.
A loud screech echoed through the forest. House blood ran cold as the sound shot straight to his bones. Looking to Cuddy for an explanation, he noticed that she'd stopped moving completely.
Cuddy took several deep breaths, before she could function again. She knew that noise and wanted nothing to do with the creature that made it, the creature that had hunted her both in this world and her dreams. "We need to move faster," she said.
Her words were so quiet that House had to move closer to hear. "Show me where," he said, resting a hand on her lower back. She was soaked and shivering and he wanted nothing more than to pull her to him.
Strands of her now drenched hair stuck to the sides of her face. Looking up at him with wide terrified eyes, Cuddy nodded. "Okay," she said, trying to act brave. She began to lead him once more, deeper into the woods.
As the rain picked up, House began to have trouble navigating the dirt paths. More than once he'd almost lost his balance. He'd never been one to ask for help, but he knew she was serious about needing to get to shelter.
Just as he'd made up his mind to ask her, she'd moved next to him. Slipping his right arm around her shoulder, she smiled up at him in understanding. She didn't want him to have to ask. Her only fear was that he wouldn't accept the gesture.
He hated needing help and he couldn't ever tell her how grateful he was that she didn't feel the need to talk about it. Squeezing her shoulder in thanks, he made an effort to move as fast as he was now able.
After about ten more minutes, Cuddy stopped in front of one of the more massive trees. It was in a small clearing that didn't seem to have any distinguishing features from any of the other clearing's they'd passed. "We're here," Cuddy said, obviously relieved.
"It's a tree," House deadpanned. If this was their sanctuary, he realized, they were screwed. He glanced around the forest, not sure what sort of danger he was looking for. He wasn't even sure he'd recognize danger in a place like this.
Cuddy looked up at him grinning, it was the happiest she had looked since they got there. "Not just any tree." She wiped the hair and water off her face, before moving directly in front of the overgrowth. Moving vines out of her way, Cuddy traced the outline of a door, which obviously wasn't there. Reaching for the nonexistent doorknob, she began to turn it.
"What are you doing?" House asked, clearly worrying for her sanity. Running nervous fingers through his own drenched hair, he suddenly realized how cold he was.
"Unlocking my door," she said, laughing, "unless, you want to stay out here in the rain." Turning the knob first to the left, then twice to the right, a wooden door appeared and opened. Grabbing his hand, she began to lead him downwards on narrow spiraling steps.
House noticed that even though they seemed to be going lower and lower underground, the lighting never dimmed. He saw no visible source for the lights, but the entire stairwell seemed to be basked in a dull golden haze.
Cuddy stopped when she reached the dead end at the bottom of the stairs. Reaching above her blindly into the one small dark abyss, she pulled down on a root that was hanging. The door opened with a whoosh and they stepped forward. The door shut once more, as they stepped into a darkened room.
