Candeh – Chapter Five. Sorry it took so long. Blame it on school, blame it all on school.
Chapter 5-
House could feel the world spinning; the breath he could usually grasp so easily was slipping away. He spun his head around, wagged his doggy hair for some kind of condolence, but before he knew it, Cuddy, Cameron, Chase, Foreman and Wilson all turned black. Then went the rest of the room.
Soon, House found himself standing in front of a large audience, the whole medical unit crowded in one particular room. He gaped before them, wondering what he was supposed to say, and they raised their eyebrows in his direction only wondering when he would begin.
From the corner of his right, sparkling arctic eye, House could see Cuddy motioning to him, whispering from behind the curtains. He knew that he was in the hospital still, just unaware of what he was supposed to do, or say.
"Talk," Cuddy said looking nervous. He made hand signals with her hands and gave him a look of pure worry, and when House stuttered for words, Cuddy rushed to the stage, moving his gently aside.
"This is Dr. House, as some of you already know," she said, smiling. "One of the greatest doctors of all time," she said, looking House in the eyes. House looked at her with pleading eyes, but she didn't not see it.
"Feel free to ask away," Cuddy said, laughing nervously. The room clapped and slowly Cuddy clip-clopped off the stage giving House the 'thumbs-up' from behind the curtain once more. House faced the crowd, loosening his tie.
"Um," he said, stalling, looking around for papers that might give him some kind of clue to what he was supposed to say. "I'm Dr. House." He paused. "…Any questions?" he laughed nervously, looking at Cuddy who nodded, as if this was what he was supposed to do.
Adoring fans and Cuddy likes me, House thought to himself with satisfaction, this isn't that bad for a hallucination.
"Yes," said a tall, overweight standing up and holding a pen, "I'm Linda Brooks. I'd like to ask you how it feels to be soaked in a bucket of ice."
"Oh," House said, "You see, when a patient gets too hot, as in a fever, we think that it's best to put them in a cold environment," House sarcastically implied, "You see that way it gets their high temperature low."
The blonde raised an eyebrow, her under neck forming a double chin from cocking her head back too far. House had the sudden impulse to say something, but refrained from it.
"I wasn't talking about the patient, Doctor House," she said, snorting triumphantly.
"Oh," House said, a little taken back. "Sorry, I thought –"
The blonde laughed, only to be joined by the entire room. Confused, House stood on the stage, overlooking hundreds of howling doctors, nurses and patients; some even pulled from their hospital beds. He looked at Cuddy, who was also laughing wildly, and Wilson, Chase, Cameron and Foreman joined in.
Tensely, stood, until the laughter died and the blonde spoke again.
"Isn't it true, Doctor House," she said resembling the other faces, "That you were put in a tub full of ice?"
House felt his knees lock, "W-what?"
"So it is true?" she mocked, her smiling still painted on.
House gazed, his eyes falling on the crowd, who all looked up at him, smiling and some still chuckling. He turned to Wilson who smiled along with the others, Foreman particularly snickering.
"I have to be hallucinating," he said out loud.
"Oh, no, House," said the blonde. "It's all too real."
- - -
House lay, shaking on the bed, clutching hard onto the bed handles. Cuddy quickly rushed to get a wet towel and placed it on his head. Then, turning to the gawking nurses, snapped, "He's in pain! Make yourself useful!"
The nurses fret, squirmed, bounced in opposite directions and left the room.
"Cuddy," Foreman said, "He doesn't need any more morphine."
Cuddy pushed him off. "I'm not getting him morphine," she said making her way out the door. "Wilson," she said turning to him sharply.
Wilson perked. The sound of Cuddy saying his name made his frown for House disappear. His hands, which were sweaty from seeing House suffer, dropped to his sides like he was in the army.
House moaned, gripped on his covers and subliminally pulled them up over his head. From under them, however, Cameron and the rest of them cringed as they could hear his groans and muttering. "No, I-" he said.
"Wilson," Cuddy said, closing her eyes, wishing she could shut out the sounds of House's almost unclear words, "Where did you hide his Vicodin?"
