CHAPTER TWELVE – Get out of Jail Free

House lay on the bed of a dark hotel room, with a beautiful woman lying next to him, and reveled in the sweet sound of her breathing on his neck. He couldn't ignore the feeling of her soft, naked body next to his and the heat from their entangled bodies rising under the sheet.

''How the hell did she get here?' House racked his brain trying to remember how she'd gotten in his bed, but at that point he didn't really care. It felt too good to have her next to him – a live, warm body snuggling up next to him.

'Better than a hooker…or Stacy, for that matter, but maybe not as good as Cameron …'

A retching sound interrupted his thoughts as he tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. There was echo to it, bathroom, maybe?

Suddenly his body jolted awake and he was expecting to feel Kathi's warm body next to his but there was no one there; just the coldness of empty space. The toilet flushed and a bright light shown in his face for just a second before it was dark in the room again. He heard, more than saw, Kathi walk from the bathroom to her bed and got under the sheets. She moaned just as her head hit the pillow.

House wanted to ask her if she was okay, but figured she just had bad Chinese food. "I warned you about those noodles."

"Yeah, you did," Kathi told him, holding her stomach with both arms willing the pain in her right side to go away and groaning over the severe back pain.

House sat up in bed then threw his legs over the side and started to rub his right thigh. He hated waking up – that was when the pain was the worst. He looked over and barely made out Kathi on her bed. He reached over and turned on the light hanging over his bed and gasped at Kathi's complexion.

"You're pale," he told her.

"I'm Irish, what can I say?" she moaned.

House turned off the light, stood, grabbed his bottle from under the mattress and walked to the bathroom, making every attempt to keep his toe away from the corner of her bed so he wouldn't stub his toe. He closed the bathroom door behind him and only then turned on the light, placing his bottle of Vicodin on the counter. He shuffled to the toilet and just happened to look in before he'd started. There was blood on the edge of the water - very light, but there nonetheless. 'Why in the hell can't women remember to flush the toilet when they're on the curse?' He did his business, flushed the toilet and turned to the mirror.

There, on the counter, were two prescription bottles, neither one his own. He picked them up and noted they were Telmisartan and Lisinopril. 'Why both medications? That's not common.'

House walked back out and sat on the edge of the bed again, facing Kathi, her back to him, turning on the light over his headboard. He sat looking at her for a second before she said, "What are you staring at?"

"Kathi, are you sick? You've got a 'Get out of Jail Free card' if you are."

She softly groaned again before she turned over and looked at him. The look of concern on his face comforted her, but then she balled herself up in a fetal position when another spasm of pain went through her body.

"It's nothing," she told him, hoping it was enough to make him stop prying. She just wanted to get back to sleep.

"You need something for the pain?"

She shook her head. "It'll go away."

"Oh, PMS sucks, doesn't it?" House asked, now starting to wonder if that was the case.

"I'm not on my period, jerk," she snapped

"Then how long have you had blood in your urine?" Her eyes fluttered closed and she didn't answer the question. "It could be a side effect to the Telmisartan you're taking."

"Yeah, I'll go to the doctor's office after the trial," she told him. "Look, I'm tired and we have to get up in a few hours."

"Kathi, I am a doctor. What other symptoms are you having?"

"Greg, stop it. I'm fine," she said irritably.

House stood and approached her bed. "Lie on your back," he ordered.

"No."

"Now, I know you Irish are stubborn but …" House started to say but Kathi moaned louder and he saw a tear run down the outside of her eye. "Kathi, please, let me help you."

She opened her eyes and hesitated before she turned over her back, pain registering across her face as she did so. House stood, took half a step and sat down softly on her bed beside her. "Where's the pain?"

"Here," she said, pointing to her side right under her rib cage. "And my back."

House put his right hand on the spot on her side she pointed out and let his fingers gently massage the spot. He then stopped and with his left hand tapped the back of his right hand a few times. That sent Kathi into giving a loud scream and full tears were now streaming down her face. He pulled the blanket down to her waist and stopped, his face contorted in partial disgust and trepidation at the blood seeping through the sheets from under her right hip. He then replaced the blanket.

"How long have you had the pain? And how long have you been on the medications?" he asked, leaned back and waited for her answers.

"I've been on them for two years now for high blood pressure. The meds are work…" She let out another soft scream. "The pain started about six months ago."

"What about the blood in the urine…and now?"

"That's only happened twice … what do you mean, 'now?'" Kathi closed her eyes and her head seemed to meld into the pillow; House knew she had passed out from the pain.

He needed to call an ambulance. He reached for the nightstand and realized there was no phone there. He cursed out loud, walked to the door, turned on the light in the hall and opened it, bent at the waist as if looking for a midget to attack him with a machete for leaving his room in the middle of the night. But no one was there. He stuck his head out further and peered right. No one. He turned to the left and was faced with the pot belly of a security guard.

"And where do you think you are going?" the man asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Oh, got milk?" House said sarcastically as he stood. "Look, we've got to get her to a hospital."

The guard frowned, thinking it was just a ruse to get out of the room. "Unless either one of you are dead you are not leaving this room."

House told the guard to hold open the door, walked to Kathi's bed, ran his fingers across the blood on the sheet and returned to the door. "How's this for 'almost dead?' House asked, showing his blood soaked fingers to the guard.

The guard raised his walky talky to his mouth and said, "Officer Temple in room 219. We need an ambulance, pronto."

IS KATHI'S ILLNESS ENOUGH TO GET HER OFF THE JURY? MORE IMPORTANTLY, IS IT ENOUGH TO GET HOUSE HIMSELF OFF OF JURY DUTY IF HE CLAIMED TO BE KATHI'S PHYSICIAN?

JOIN US LATER ON THE SAME HOUSE CHANNEL, SAME HOUSE TIME…

Okay, that's my poor attempt at Batman, but you get the angst…I mean idea. :o)