Disclaimer: I do not own House MD

Chapter 3

Colours of red, orange, pink and yellow spread across the sky, leaving those unaware of the happenings in Princeton believing that a more beautiful night had never existed. The darkened corridors of PPTH now held only 7 lives instead of the normally hundreds of lives that occupied the halls. Flames shot through the air where the plane had hit, slowly descending towards the main level, seemingly determined to destroy the only lives that remained inside its walls.

7 residents sat crouched in the nurse's station of the main lobby. Chunks of debris were still falling haphazardly around them as they sat silently staring towards the front entrance. A crowd normally busy with conversation sat silently as the after effects of Foreman's recent death and the explosion outside weighed heavily on their minds, wondering when it would be safe to exit the hospital without endangering their already doomed lives. Tears filled the eyes of every inhabitant excluding one. Gregory House. His mind was no doubt processing the same information as everybody else's, but tears were something he rarely showed. He kept his gaze away from the familiar faces that surrounded him, afraid that their pain would add to his already throbbing pain. Never one to show his feelings, didn't mean that he didn't have any. His face was a mask that he had spent years building up to hide his feelings, and he would be dammed if he let them show now.

Thirteen sat motionless her gaze never leaving Foreman's lifeless from. She had had to be basically dragged away from Foreman's side into the safer confinements of the nurse's station where she now sat. Her arms hung lazily at her sides, her feet stretched out in front of her, body slouched carelessly against the desk, eyes glistening from the tears that still inhabited them. She couldn't believe that only a few short hours ago she had been sitting crunched behind Wilson's desk next to Foreman, not really listening to the people complaining about the cramped space but instead mulling over what she would wear to dinner with Foreman later on that night. Now that was all gone, her dinner plans, Foreman and probably sooner then later she would be too.

Wilson thrived on these types of situations. It wasn't that he enjoyed seeing people grieving over their loss, or enjoyed seeing others hurt, but he enjoyed helping them back onto their feet. He liked being needed. He looked around at the six people surrounding him, Cuddy grieving over the destruction of her hospital, Thirteen and Cameron grieving openly over the loss of Foreman, and he suspected that somewhere below the surface Heather, Chase and House were grieving too. Wilson set a protective hand on Cuddy's knee as if silently asking if she was okay, he smiled slightly when he saw her nod her head in return. He moved his gaze from Cuddy to everyone else noticing that every one of them wore a blank stare and he noted that their minds were probably millions of miles away. Wilson let out a sigh; he had a feeling he was going to be needed a lot over the next few days.

Chase sat staring out the front doors of the hospital his mind entranced by the flames that danced across the parking lot slowly dying down. The screams from the fire victims had finally quieted as the last of them had suffered their painful death. He felt Cameron's head fall onto his shoulder but didn't remove his gaze from the entrance. He knew that if Foreman had not been hit by the chunk of debris, everyone of them sitting in the nurse's station now would have been wandering through the parking lot, pushing through the crowd when the fire had erupted licking up those who had just escaped the hospital. Putting it simpler, they would all be dead. He felt a pang of guilt when he realized that he was actually relieved at the fact that Foreman had been killed because although Foreman had suffered he had saved the rest.

House suddenly noticed the smoke that was hovering throughout the lobby that had obviously gone unnoticed by the other residents. He turned his gaze towards the stairwell noticing the rapidly expanding fire that was racing towards them. House jumped to his feet as fast as one could with a bummed leg just as the building began to shake once again. Everyone turned their thoughts to House as they watched him curiously, but never made a move to stand.

"Fire." House stated nodding to the fire before exiting the nurse's station and again heading towards the main entrance. When he got the feeling no one was following him he turned towards them "I'm sorry, was I being too subtle? Unless you exit the building immediately you will all be nothing but a chalk outline on the floor." When his comment still received little movement from his audience he marched back into the nurse's station and began to wave his hands wildly in front of their faces. "Hello, am I the only one concerned by the fact that unless we leave now, we are all going to burn to death."

"What's your point?" Cameron asked. House scrunched his eyebrows up obviously confused by her question.

"My point is, were going to die unless you all get your asses in gear."

"Did you see what happened to everyone else who left House? They were destroyed by a raging fire the minute they exited through that door. We're doomed either way." Chase explained. Everyone seemed to nod their heads in agreement.

"Are you all serious? You'd rather sit in here and wait for the smoke to fill your lungs, suffocating you as you try to breath, making your last breaths painful instead of chancing stepping outside, into possible freedom?" When no one answered House became frustrated. "Seriously you guys. Quit moping and get up, before we all end up like Foreman over there." As if on cue the building trembled with more force then before and the entire ceiling seemed to be falling. Everyone jumped to their feet as if suddenly deciding House was right, there had to be something better then dying like this. Everyone rushed towards the doors except for Thirteen who stopped at Foreman's side.

"We can't leave him in here! He deserves better then this. We can't let him burn to nothing but a pile of ashes."

"Thirteen, let's go." House said impatiently.

Tears were streaming wildly down her face again. He watched impatiently as Thirteen struggled to move Foreman's dead weight towards the entrance. House looked over at Wilson and nodded at him in silent conversation. Wilson walked over to Thirteen, grabbed her wrist and tossed her over his shoulder easily, seeing no other way to get the young doctor to leave. She watched Foreman over Wilson's shoulder and swore she saw him move.

"He moved I saw him. Let me down Wilson he is still alive!" Thirteen shouted as she kicked her feet and hammered her fists against Wilson's back. "No, we have to go back," she shouted, as tears clouded her vision, and breathing became difficult due to the never ending sobs and the smoke filling her lungs. As Wilson stepped outside into the fading daylight, Thirteen wailed hysterically as her last view of Foreman was cut off by the closing of the front doors of PPTH.

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Author's note: Thanks again for reading and reviewing : )

Not too much excitement in this chapter but there will hopefully be a little more excitement in the next chapter.

Please Review : )