Flooded ch. 3- Minor Meltdown

This chapter and the next one are a little shorter than the first two, but I felt that the break between chapter 3 and 4 were necessary. Enjoy.

House led Cuddy into the kitchen to get their coffee. He had walked the same path many times before, but for some reason he stumbled and lost his balance. He caught himself with his right leg which sent a shooting pain into his whole leg. He put his back to the nearest wall and tried to get his balance back. The pain was so bad he ended up sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor in the kitchen. He almost forgot that Cuddy was there until he saw her come into the kitchen doorway. She had witnessed the whole occurrence which made House swear under his breath. His whole incident caught Cuddy off guard as much as it did House and she didn't know what to do. House's leg suddenly started to cramp and spasm.

"DAMN IT!" She was startled by House's outburst which was in reaction to the sudden increase in pain and she decided to try to talk to him. She sat on the floor next to him and tried to talk in a calm and even tone.

"Greg, are you ok?"

"What does it look like?"

Cuddy paused, she didn't want an argument. While she was thinking House continued the conversation.

"Cuddy, I apologize. I was ticked at you, but you only came over to help and yet again, I'm being an ass. Could you help me to the table?"

She helped him, but was taken back by his sudden change. She didn't expect him to be ready to open up a little but maybe he realized that if he didn't de-stress a little he might breakdown again like he did years ago.

"I'll get the coffee; you need to rest that leg. Where's the sugar and do you have milk?"

They got their coffee and made their way back to the living room. They both sat down on the couch, Cuddy felt that she wanted to be a little closer to Greg, he was going to open up to her, she could feel it.

House sat down but didn't drink his coffee, he was rapidly approaching another breakdown and he didn't want to do it in front of Cuddy, on top of his stress his leg hurt even more after the stumble in the kitchen.

"It's getting late. I'm thinking of hitting the hay early."

"House its only 8:30 but if you want me to leave then I will."

"No I…you can stay. Why don't you find something on TV and I'll be back."

With that he went to his room. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he might have been upset, his eyes were teary but she didn't know what was causing it. She watched TV for about fifteen minutes and he still hadn't returned. She decided to go and check on him, maybe he needed help or something, she thought he would be back by now.

She slowly approached his room, half not sure what to see when she finally reached the door. His door was open and she could see him sitting on the bed with his feet hanging off, holding his head in his hands. He was silent and she could see from the door that his right thigh was quivering he had a muscle spasm.

"House?"

There was a pause. "Yeah?"

He didn't move, just responded. He was thinking, "Maybe she's leaving. I hope she doesn't see me like this." Instead of what he hoped she came in and sat next to him on the bed.

"That spasm can't feel good, what can I do to help?"

With that he turned and looked at her, his eyes were red and his face was wet with sweat and several tears.

"It gets like this when I get too worked up. It doesn't happen a lot so I don't really know how or remember how to fix it."

She wasn't sure what to do either, but she knew he needed her.

"Why don't you put it up on the bed? Put a pillow under it. Taken any Vicodin lately?"

"That's a negative on the Vicodin. There's some in my coat pocket in the living room."

Cuddy retrieved the Vicodin, a box of tissues and some ice.

"Just in case." She said in regards to the tissues. House smiled, but he didn't know why he did. He was all set in bed, so she crawled around next to him, hoping he might want to talk. She sat even closer than she did on the couch. She was close enough to touch him, to hold his hand or rest her head on his shoulder or chest. She didn't know how she felt about how close she had placed herself, but she hoped he didn't mind. He didn't say anything so she just let herself stay there.