"Life and Limb"
Chapter Nine – "The Game of Life"
By: Purpleu
House made it to the doors of recovery first, with Lydia right on his heels. He hadn't bothered to grab his cane, but Lydia saw that it had fallen to the floor when House jumped up; she retrieved it, and brought it along with her. They could hear the nurses begging Wilson to calm down, that everything was OK, he was in PPTH and House was taking care of him. But no words of comfort that any of them provided could calm Wilson down. The nurses and aides moved aside as they realized that House and Lydia had come over to the bed. When they moved, and Wilson could be seen in full view, it was a pathetic sight: he looked like a scared little boy, sweat running down his face and mixing with his tears.
"H…House." It seemed to Lydia that Wilson was shivering, too. "Help me. Why…why am I here? Was I…being held prisoner?" he asked indicating his now freed wrists. If it wasn't so heartbreaking, Lydia would have laughed. Wilson was obviously startled out of his medicated sleep and very confused.
"The only prisoner you are is a prisoner of love, held captive by one Annie Harris, AKA Songbird and Medusa." Wilson's request of "Help me," hit House right in the gut. No matter how many years passed, whether it was Lydia asking him to reach something off the shelf, or one of the kids wanting help with homework, or Annie seeing if he could accompany her on piano so she could rehearse something…"Help me," would always sting at House's psyche.
"Where is she? Where's Annie? He killed her, didn't he?" Wilson threw his head back on the bed. "He killed her…" Wilson's voice trailed off as he started to cry. Lydia gave a quick glance to House who was clearly uncomfortable; she thought she might as well see what she could do to help.
"James…James, look at me. Look at me." Wilson turned his head to the left and slowly smiled through his tears when he saw her there. "You know who I am." Wilson nodded.
"Of course…Lydia," he said quietly.
"Right," she said. "Now if anything had happened to Annie, would I be standing here, calmly talking to you and smiling?" Wilson shook his head. "Of course not. Annie is fine. She's laying down up in the office that you and Eric share. She's trying to get a little rest. That's what you should be doing," Lydia said in a soothing voice. She reached over, took a tissue and began to wipe his face. "Could someone get a wash cloth and a basin of cool water?" Lydia asked. One of the aides turned, and left to get the requested items. "Now, relax and take it easy. Annie would be sleeping here with you in the recovery room if they'd let her." House had gone over to the nurses' station while Lydia was talking to Wilson to look at his chart.
"What prompted the death scene from 'Camille?'" House asked looking over his shoulder at Wilson.
"I don't know what set him off," Bonnie said. "The aide went over to empty and measure the contents of his Foley bag…and he started yelling. I was afraid with the way he was moving and thrashing about, and the fact that he undid the restraints, that he was going to start pulling tubes out."
"I didn't tighten those restraints the way they're usually placed," House said. "Didn't think he'd wake up like The Creature." The nurse didn't fully understand House's comment, but for the briefest moment, it brought a slight smile to his face as he looked at Lydia calming Wilson down. "I'm going to order a call to pain management; let's aim to move him up to I.C.U. around ten rather than twelve. Have them meet him up there." House glanced at Bonnie; he saw she was smiling and shaking her head. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, but we had a patient in here last week…he was hysterical. They put him on the self-administered morphine while he was still here," she said. "He tried so hard to get the machine to give him more medication; he was holding up the push button like a signaling device from 'Jeopardy!' and just kept…" Bonnie made the frantic thumb movement so often seen by contestants on the game show. "We kept picking categories for him; 'Outer Planets' for two hundred, 'Artic Biology' for six hundred…" The nurse was really laughing heartily at that point. "I know that sounds terrible, but sometimes you just have to have some gallows humor around you to get you through the job." House nodded.
"Too bad more of your compatriots don't recognize that," House said as he finished his notes on Wilson's chart. "If they did, I'd put up with a lot less grief around here." He turned the binder around and handed it to Bonnie. "I suppose you're going to want to read my latest novel." She took the book and read over the orders; she noticed he was still printing in capital letters.
"Still don't trust us?" she asked. House looked away from her and over to Lydia and Wilson.
"I trust very few people with anything," he said as he hobbled over to the bed. House picked up his cane from the foot or the bed where Lydia had rested it. "So you calmed down yet?" he asked Wilson.
"Yes," Wilson said opening his eyes. "I…I don't know what I was thinking before…" Lydia had been given the basin of water, wash cloth, and the usual toiletry selections that a patient gets including a comb. She washed down Wilson's face and neck, and combed his hair as best she could. House could see that Wilson was doing better by the improved numbers on his monitor.
"You're not thinking, at least not at your usual level," House said. "Since you seem to be more with it than you were earlier, let me give you the lowdown on what's going on with you. You're alert and competent enough to make your own decisions about things. I'm relinquishing my duties as your healthcare proxy for now."
"Yeah, well…look what you did to me when you did invoke the privilege; you ignored my wishes for a DNR," Wilson said bitterly. House and Lydia looked at each other; Wilson was right. Rayner, the vascular surgeon even tried to call House out on it, until Lydia intervened with a lie. But Wilson questioning it to the wrong person, could be a real problem.
"Who told you that Greg ignored the DNR?" Lydia asked. Wilson gave her a look.
"Annie. She stood right…there…and said my heart stopped. I must have coded, which means you must have used the paddles on me. Which means…you ignored my DNR." Wilson had talked quickly at first, but then as he realized what he was saying, he knew House did the right thing.
"As best as you could you conveyed the fact that you wanted help. What was the point of asking me to take care of Annie if you weren't around to enjoy the benfits of her company? Besides, we wouldn't be having this conversation if we hadn't used the zappers on you," House said. "I'm sure you'd rather take advantage of your newly found loose lips." Wilson put his head down.
"House…please…fill me in. Other than I can't feel my legs, I'm…confused about what's going on with me. I… I think I know what happened, but…"
"Let me get rid of the fluff and go straight for the peanut butter," House said as he shifted his weight uncomfortably. All of the physical movements plus the plasma donation and lack of sleep were still eating away at House's ability to hang tough. He was determined not to let Wilson see him hurt. "You do remember being mugged?"
"Yeah, the…guy pointed a gun at Annie and me. He said to put our things into a bag that he was holding. Then…I remember Annie pissed him off…"
"James, I'm sorry." House and Lydia turned around to see Annie walking toward them.
"Sweetie, what are you doing down here?" Lydia said as Annie came and stood next to her. "You should be getting some rest."
"Yeah, I was," Annie said as she yawned. "But I hate to say it Hon; your father really snores."
"He's done that for years," Wilson said shaking his head. "Why don't you lay down in the waiting room? You know how raggy you look when you don't get enough sleep." Wilson knew right away what he said was wrong; if he didn't know it instinctively, he could see it by the look in Annie's eyes. "House…what is going on with me?"
"You lost a tremendous amount of blood," House began. "In total from the time you came into the E.R. through the end of your operation, you had five units of red blood cells and two units of my plasma." Wilson's eyes open wide with shock and fear. He was cognisant enough to know the consequences of that kind of blood loss.
"Frontal Cortex damage." The words stuck in Wilson's throat as he thought about what that meant.
"Yeah, but I'm hoping it's temporary." House said looking away to his right at the monitors that were following Wilson. He wanted to make sure the conversation wasn't too upsetting to him. "I'm placing my bet on the fact that it's swelling; a combination of lack of blood and shock to the body, and not bleeding. I've moved up the time you're going to I.C.U. to ten a.m.; once you're settled in there, you'll be prepped for an MRI."
"An MRI? Why not a CT?" House walked to the front right side of Wilson's bed and held up the Foley bag so Wilson could see the brownish urine. "My God…what…?" House saw Wilson heart rate and BP go up and he knew he had to say something moderately distracting.
"Come on, Wilson; first year med school. What's one of the ways the body responds to damaged tissue?"
"I know…I know," Wilson said leaning his head back against his pillow. "And the slight red color is shredded red blood cells because of the high volume of blood I received. And it probably doesn't help that I have plasma from you floating around in my body. If I was wasn't a snarky S.O.B. before this, I sure as hell will be now." Wilson dropped his chin down onto his chest. "It's because of the swelling in the Frontal Cortex, right?" He looked at House, hoping for confirmation.
"You didn't turn into me in a matter of hours," House said. "Like I said, I'm hoping it's just swelling and not bleeding. You're with it enough to sign the consent form, probably even more so by the time you get to the I.C.U. We'll run the test, get an answer, go from there." Wilson nodded, then looked over at Annie, who was standing back and listening to what House had to say.
"Babe? Come here…please?" Annie smiled as she approached the bed. Wilson had sounded so sweet asking her to come over, but she knew to be ready for anything Wilson said. "I'm…I'm going to sound like a real ass the next few days. And…I can't even fall back on the excuse that…I'm saying things I don't mean." Wilson took Annie's hand. "But that doesn't mean every…unfiltered thing I say has to be bad, or hurtful…or whatever."
"I know. I don't want you to worry about that now. I want you to concentrate on getting better; doing your therapy with Tom…" Wilson looked confused.
"Why…why am I going to be doing therapy with Tom? What…" Wilson began to pull at the sheets that covered his legs.
"James, be careful; you're going to pull out your IV or your drains," Lydia said trying to stop him.
"I want to know what happened…" said Wilson as he tried in vain to move his legs.
"You femoral artery was ripped to shreds and the head of your femur was shattered. You were shot at point blank range three times; you're lucky to be alive," House said in rapid succession. "You have a titanium/polymer replacement hip. And you're going to learn to walk, run, skip, jump, and hop with it, like everyone who gets a new piece of equipment learns to do." House gave Wilson a hard stare; he knew it was far too easy to start feeling sorry for yourself. A little self-pity could be allowed, but House wouldn't let his friend sink to level that he did over the years with his leg.
"I…I have an artificial hip?" Wilson whispered in disbelief. Annie squeezed his hand lightly; she feared his reaction to the news and now tried to steel herself for the aftermath.
"Yeah, and your vascular system has been re-arranged. Saphenous vein from your left calf was used to repair the femoral. He took it with a keyhole opening, and Taub helped close you up after the hip placement. Unfortunately, Rayner didn't offer the same to end his handiwork, so that scar will be noticeable; what Ellis did, won't." House saw that the monitor numbers were rising. "Hey, look at it this way: you'll still look like a pasty white amoeba in your bathing suit, so nothing's really changed."
"James," Annie began. "I know it's hard finding all of this out in such a short amount of time, but you know you have me, and Greg and Lydia and all your other friends around you to help. I can even do some of your exercises with you to make sure you're doing them right," she said in a teasing voice. Annie leaned in and gave Wilson a lingering kiss that started his monitor alarm ringing.
"Is everything OK?" Bonnie asked as she hurried over.
"Yeah, Wilson's girlfriend is giving him mouth to mouth resuscitation and he's really happy about it," House said reaching up to shut off the alarm. Bonnie laughed and turned to Annie.
"Hi, I'm…" Bonnie realized that telling them her name was something House suggested she avoid. Too late now. "…Bonnie. I've been one of the nurses taking care of Dr. Wilson." Annie shook her hand.
"Yeah, Bonnie's been taking care of ALL of Wilson's needs," said House with a smirk on his face.
"House…please. Would you please not do that? You're just making everyone uncomfortable. Besides," Wilson said as he looked at the nurse, "She's too old for me." It took Wilson just a second to realize that what he said was far worse than House's busting chops. "I…I am so sorry…"
"Don't worry about it, Dr. Wilson," Bonnie said laughing. "Dr. House clued us in that you wouldn't be yourself for a little bit. And you're right, I am too old for you; I became a grandma a few months ago."
"Congratulations!" Lydia said. "Boy or girl?"
"A girl…Amber Rose." The happy expression on Wilson's face clouded over at the mention of the baby's name.
"Amber…that's…a beautiful name. I had a girlfriend named Amber. She was killed in an accident…that never should have happened," Wilson said looking straight at House. It was something he thought was buried in the past between him and Wilson; under the circumstances, it was not.
"Oh…Oh, I'm so very sorry," Bonnie said. This time it was Wilson's turn to make people feel uncomfortable. He quickly knew he was treading on dangerous territory, and changed the subject.
"It was a long time ago," he said with a wave of his hand. "I have this beautiful lady now." Wilson looked at Annie and smiled, but he saw the tears in her eyes. Damn it, he thought, how much longer am I going to be acting like a self-centered jerk like House, not caring who I hurt with what I say?
"I'll be around if you need anything." With that, Bonnie went to check on another patient.
"You want something other than water to drink?" Wilson realized that House was talking to him; he had avoided eye contact for the past few minutes.
"Yeah…please…I'm starving. I know I can't eat any solids yet, but…even some juice would be great."
"I'll go see what they have," Annie said. "I know you'd prefer apple, but if not, is cranberry OK?"
"Anything. Now is not the time to be fussy," Wilson said.
"As opposed to the way you usually are?" Annie said with a smile. She thought that maybe taking the tactic of engaging in some playful banter with her boyfriend might be the way to handle the situation. Wilson was about to respond, when he took a good look at his girlfriend.
"Now who's talking without a filter?" he said laughing. "I'm not too fussy, you're too easy to please." Annie walked back over to the side of Wilson's bed.
"And I've never heard you complain about it." She gave him a kiss and went off in search of juice. Wilson laid his head back against the pillow.
"She didn't set off your alarms this time; must have held back on using the tongue," House commented as he looked at Wilson's numbers.
"She did." Wilson put his hand up to his forehead. "House, do me a favor…put the tube back down my throat. Or I'm not going to have a relationship or any friendships left when all of this is over."
"James, Annie understands what's going on. It frightens her because she's never dealt with anything like this before whereas I have," Lydia said. Wilson cocked his head to the side and looked at her curiously.
"When…Oh, when your parents had the car accident. Did they both have head trauma?"
"Mainly my mother; my father to a lesser extent. But considering that she lived five years longer than my father, it was five more years of being told all sorts of nasty things," Lydia said sadly. "I wish it had been temporary. There were some things my mother said that could have opened up lines of communication for us; it could have been a good thing." Lydia saw that Annie was returning with a triumphant smile and several drink containers.
"They didn't have anything here," Annie said putting the drinks on the bed tray. "But, as I came in before, Cherry Valley was setting up breakfast selections for us, so I grabbed some drinks from there. I have three apple and one cranapple."
"Cherry Valley?" Wilson questioned. The name of one of their favorite food sources made him salivate like Pavlov's dog. Sadly, he knew it was too soon for him to eat.
"Eric arranged for food to be delivered to the waiting area by surgery and down here after you were moved," Annie said.
"Who…" Wilson started to say.
"It didn't come out of anyone's budget, so don't worry," said Lydia putting her hand on Wilson's arm. "Greg's team paid for it out of their own pockets." Wilson's mouth fell open.
"They did what? W…why?"
"I asked the same question," House said as he gulped down the container of juice sitting closest to him. "Turns out they wanted to be nice to your fan club."
"What fan club?"
"Your mom and dad are up in your first floor office, Thirteen is on the couch in your Oncology office, Chris, Robert and Eric are in the doctors' lounge," said Lydia, making sure she was covering everyone. "Slick hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours by the time you got down here, so he went home; and Tom had some patients to see in his office this morning, so he went home once you were settled in. The kids had stopped by too, but I finally convinced them that you wouldn't be awake for a while. They're not going to school today; there was no way they were going to be able to get up this morning." Wilson shook his head.
"I'm…I'm shocked. Everyone just came running when they heard what happened? Even the kids?"
"They drove Marianne crazy; they insisted on coming over. The initial news reports said that I was shot, too. They spoke to me on the phone, and I told them that wasn't true but they wanted to check everyone out."
"I really appreciate everything that people did," Wilson said, still amazed at the concern and kindness shown him. "Although…I wish you didn't call my parents," he said to Annie.
"Sweetie, you know if I didn't call them, they'd be very upset with me…and you," she replied. "You know it was for the best."
"Hey, Songbird; had they set up the coffee yet?" House asked.
"They were plugging it in when I came in before, so it should be done by now. Do you want me to get you a cup?" Annie offered.
"No, I need to move around a little," House said stretching. "Two eggs over easy, ham steak, home fries and toast?" he asked Wilson.
"You son-of-a-bitch. You…you think that's funny, don't you?"
"Absolutely hilarious," House said as he made his way out of the room. Wilson shook his head.
"Here you go, Hon," Annie said offering the apple juice to Wilson. "Do you want me to hold the container for you?"
"Yes, please; I don't think with all these things hooked up to me I'd do very well." Wilson took the straw in his mouth and took a few sips. "That feels and tastes so good." Wilson looked at Lydia, who was enjoying her own juice. "Lydia, is he OK?" Wilson said nodding to the doors that House had just left through. "He looks like hell. That's not me being nasty; I'm genuinely concerned."
"Not that I'm lessening anything that you went through, but he's had a very rough night, too. He was signing out at the front desk so he could leave to meet us, when Eric came running through the lobby yelling that an ambulance was bringing three shooting victims from outside Frankly Thai. Now, granted it could have been any three people, but his gut instinct told him it was us."
"And I'm sure he must have freaked when he saw me come out of the ambulance under my own power, and realized that you two were on the stretcher. Probably only took a few seconds for him to figure out who was shot, but those had to be a few seconds of hell," Annie said as she put a straw into her container of cranapple juice.
"I'm sure he was glad I was shot instead of you," Wilson said to Lydia.
"I'm not sure he could have made a choice at that point; everything was utter chaos. Greg didn't have time to think, he just did," Lydia said. "He ran from the front desk to the E.R. without his cane, you know. He fell and crashed into things a bunch of times; he has cuts and bruises all over him. And I'm sure the sight of me kneeling between your legs with my hand in your groin area must have thrown him for a loop."
"I hope you enjoyed it while you were there," Wilson said. He closed his eyes as he grimaced. "Whoa! That one needs a double apology; one to you and one to you," he said looking at Lydia and then at Annie.
"Sorry, my hands were a little too busy with other things to enjoy the terrain," said Lydia as she laughed. Wilson looked at her hands.
"You were the one putting pressure on my femoral artery. I…I would have bled out if it wasn't for you. How badly are your fingers burned?"
"Second-degree, there and on my head. You know, when you watch a movie or something on TV, they never address the fact that it's not just the pain of the bullet entering the body…it burns like hell," noted Lydia.
"Something House and I can now share: being shot," Wilson said dryly. He looked at the two women. "Could you…fill in the blanks? Make sense of some of these…jumbled images I have in my head? Tell me what happened…straight through from the beginning." Lydia and Annie began the whole sorry story with Lydia leaving the hospital to join them at the restaurant through to the present moment in recovery, with stops along the way at the E.R., the O.R., the blood lab where House wanted to give Wilson a third unit of plasma, and Detective Williams coming into the waiting room to tell them about their assailant.
"So as much as everyone was thinking that Annie should have just handed over the necklace and this wouldn't have happened," Lydia said indicating Wilson's hip. "In fact, it was her refusal and your stepping in to protect her that threw the guy off his rhythm, and kept the three of us alive."
"My hero," Annie said giving Wilson a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, please…I've never been anyone's hero and I'm certainly not starting now," he said shaking his head. "The Executioner? Really? I mean…that's… And the guy…he looked like a kid. How many killings could he have pulled off?"
"Slick's ambulance crew had to clean up after one of his robberies; a mother and two kids, dead. He was a nasty, vicious man who never left any witnesses; we were lucky we survived our run-in with him," said Lydia as she brushed her hair away from the bandage on her forehead. Wilson let out a deep breath.
"Wow; here I am sitting here feeling sorry for myself…with good reason…but what you two went through… And you didn't get hurt?" Wilson asked Annie.
"I just have a scrape on my back," she said waving her hand. "I'm fine."
"The scrape goes across her entire back," House said as he returned with his coffee. "The bricks were architectural in style; they did a number on her. Thirteen treated the area and bandaged it after she helped Songbird take a shower. I figured between the two of us, Thirteen would be the one you'd object to the least. Gave them both," he said nodding toward Lydia as well as Annie "fast release ibuprofen. As a matter of fact, you're both ready for a regular dose if you want it." House set his coffee down on the bed tray and reached into the pocket of his scrub shirt, and pulled out the packages of pills.
"I'll definitely take one," Lydia said reaching for the pill.
"Me, too," Annie said.
"Ah…ah! What's the magic word?" asked House as he held the package up above their heads.
"What?" Annie asked looking over at her friend.
"Don't worry; I'll handle this." Lydia walked over, stood toe to toe with House and said, "Nookie."
"Ding, ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" House said as he lowered his arm and handed one pill to each of the women.
"House…you…have such a one track mind, it…it's ridiculous." Wilson turned to Lydia. "Aren't you giving him enough?"
"James!" Annie exclaimed.
"Well, I really thought that…once he had a steady girlfriend, he'd be getting it regularly, and not be so… crude about things. Then again, I didn't think he'd ever have a steady girlfriend again. I thought Stacy was a one shot deal." Wilson quickly put up his hands. "House…Lydia, I'm…sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"
"No problem," House said as he picked his coffee up again. "You're just calling 'em the way you really see 'em."
"And for your information," Lydia said as she picked up the wash basin to empty it out. "I'm giving him all he can handle…and more." She smiled and winked at House, who raised his cup to her in a toast. As she started to walk away, an aide came over and took the basin from her.
"Thank you," Lydia said.
"No problem; does Dr. Wilson need anything else?" the aide asked.
"Dr. Wilson needs to have his head examined," Wilson said.
"In a few more hours we can see what…if anything…is up there," House said taking a sip of his coffee. Wilson turned his attention to Lydia.
"Seriously, how do you do it? How do you deal with this jerk? Better yet…why do you put up with him? I had told House, when you first came back to New Jersey, that if things didn't work out between you two, I wanted first crack at your phone number. Things could have…been better for the both of us."
"So you think you would have been better off with Lydia than me?" Annie asked trying to maintain her cool. She had always thought that things were very good between the two of them; good enough to talk about plans for the future, in fact. But now…
"No, I hadn't met you at that point," Wilson said. "I was concerned for her," he said pointing at Lydia. "I knew that House could wind up getting scared, and push her away and I could see her with her heart broken. He would be his usual callous, self-centered jerk and I didn't want Lydia to go through that. She seemed like a sweet lady, which she is. Bad enough he did it to Stacy." Wilson motioned for his juice; Annie helped him with it with just a tinge of reluctance.
"Well may I remind you that I came back to New Jersey looking for Dr. Gregory House, not Dr. James Wilson? You never even stood a chance." She placed her arm around House's shoulders and snuggled in. Wilson shrugged.
"If you want to prove what a real glutton for punishment you are, be my guest. You'd think after putting up with the crap your ex handed out all those years, you'd pick someone a little easier to deal with." Wilson closed his eyes and tossed his head back and forth. "Damn it! House put me back under, knock me out, please! I can't stand this anymore!"
"James, there's nothing wrong with saying what you really feel. I'd much rather have that than the reaction I get from some of the people who work around here," Lydia said putting her juice down and folding her arms. "When people either get told or figure out that Greg and I are a couple, they put this phony, insipid smile on their faces and say 'Oh...how…nice…' like I can't figure out what they're thinking. But the best part? I don't care what they're thinking. I know what we have; and just because they don't see it…too damn bad." Lydia looked at House and smiled. "As much as people may wonder what I see in him…I see all the things that they don't bother to take the time to see. And I'm sure Greg never imagined he'd be with a woman who walks around the house singing the songs from 'The Sound of Music' so much."
"I can handle you singing it; it's when the kids, Songbird and Franz over here start joining in that I need to hide," House said as he sipped his coffee and shot the three of them a look.
"Since I'm in no shape to climb up and down the stairs at the moment for our rousing rendition of 'Do-Re-Me,' you're safe…for now. However, 'Build Me Up Buttercup' is right…at the tip of my tongue; and the only choreography that it requires, uses the arms," Wilson said with a smile.
"Thanks for the warning." House glanced at the clock over the nurses' station. "Change of shift is starting soon. Some of the nurses are here already getting briefed on the charts. I want to make sure the…'situation'…with you is understood."
"Thought you were referring to your handwriting; you give doctors' scrawl a bad name," Wilson said as he took another drink of the juice Annie offered.
"Which is why I printed all of your orders in capital letters," House called over his shoulder as he headed to the desk where Bonnie and one of the incoming nurses were standing. The new nurse introduced herself as Alicia.
"Bonnie was just telling me about Dr. Wilson's case," Alicia said. "I'm shocked. I heard about the shooting on the news last night, but never took note of the names of the people involved."
"That's OK, the media got it wrong; in their rush to report the news, they had my girlfriend shot, too, which scared the poop out of her kids who were at a friends' house." House looked over at the three of them talking away and smiling; it took a lot of bumps in the road to get there, but this is the way their evening was supposed to be.
"Dr. House?" House looked at Alicia and realized she was talking to him. "Ms. Strohman is your girlfriend?" Here it comes; what the hell is she doing with you? House simply nodded his head in response to the nurse's question.
"I had seen you two having lunch in the cafeteria a few times, but I didn't want to presume anything. I mean, you've been here…a long time, but I had never seen you with anyone. Now, Ms. Strohman starts working here and you two wind up together…it's sort of sweet." House finished writing his last few notes on Wilson's chart and handed it to her.
"Actually we'd known each other for a while. When she moved back to New Jersey a few months ago, she looked me up…and the rest, as they say…is history. Are my notes clear?" Alicia nodded.
"Dr. Wilson will be up in I.C.U. on the dot of ten," she said. "Do you want him to sign the consent for the MRI before he goes up so the saline can be started immediately?" House thought it over.
"No, he's going to have his fan club visiting him. If he gives us a hard time about signing the consent, they can help us by ganging up on him," he replied.
"OK," she said with a smile. House made his way over to Wilson's bed. He glanced up at the monitors; they were holding steady, which pleased him to no end.
"Ladies, I think it's time we give this one a chance to rest; I know I could sure use a few extra zzz's. They're going to start to move you just before ten, settle you into I.C.U., and have you sign the consent form. One or more of my team will be up there with me and these two hot on your wheels."
"Don't you mean heels?" Wilson corrected.
"No, wheels," House said as he kicked one of the wheels on Wilson's bed. "For the first time in fifteen or so years, I have more self-propelled mobility that you do."
"Enjoy it while you can;" Wilson said. "I'm going to be back on my feet in no time."
"Sure, sure; big talk for now," Annie said teasing Wilson. "I'll be right beside you every step of the way, Sweetie. Count on it." She touched his face, then dropped her hand down to his.
"Annie…we…talked about so much the day you came home, including…a life together. We said we'd wait a bit…but after this, I don't want to…I…"
"Shhh! James! The only thing you are going to think about right now, is getting better. I'm not going anywhere…we can talk about future plans later."
"Yes, you wouldn't want me to have to be pushed down the aisle…I'll have to do it on my own two feet when I take the plunge again," Wilson said ruefully. "Then again, you stopped me from even asking the question."
"I told you: you can ask me when the time is right. You'll know when that time is…and you know what my answer will be." Annie leaned in and gave Wilson a kiss which set off his alarms again.
"You two crazy kids are going to have to stop doing this," House said as he waved off the nurse and aides.
"Nice to know I still have that effect on you," Annie said.
"That's the only way to tell; I still can't feel a thing from my waist down," Wilson said looking at House.
"When we get you up to I.C.U. pain management will come in and set you up with the morphine pump, and we'll lower the epidural way down. You'll still have decent pain relief; it'll be good enough to get you through your first therapy sessions. Be aware of one thing: you'll start to feel a lot of things down there again including charming Frankie Foley having residence in your little Jimmy. That's staying in until your kidneys start to show some improvement. We can work with Tom and see which pain meds he recommends to start you on in a day or two so you can go home with them. If it was up to me, I have a nice long list of wicked good drugs for you; the thing is, you might wind up liking them a little too much."
"Oh, please; the last thing I need is to be strung out and addicted like you were," Wilson said with a wave of his hand. "Sorry, House," he said as he turned his head away from his friend.
"No problem. I wouldn't want to see you like that either. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight." Wilson still wouldn't make eye contact with his friend.
"It's frightening…it's heartbreaking…I can't tell you…how many times I either sat at home or in my car or my office…crying in frustration…that I couldn't figure out how to help you." Wilson looked up at House; it was now his turn to avoid eye contact. "Lydia, I swear…you have the patience of a saint, and I'm really glad that you do." House remembered how emotional Wilson got the other night with just a few beers in him; with the recesses of his mind fully oiled and ready to go from the trauma he experienced, House knew he'd better take control of the conversation before Wilson wound up proposing to him instead of Annie.
"Sorry to get you all twisted in a knot about me, but yes, I'm just fine now that I have Fraulein," House said quickly to distract Wilson. "Do you think you can fall back to sleep on your own or are you going to need some help?"
"No, no…I'm tired enough to drift off for a while." Wilson almost seemed disappointed that House didn't want to continue the emotional conversation; House was just as glad to get away from it.
"Sweetie, you rest," Annie said as she gave Wilson a kiss. "I'll be with you when you head up to I.C.U." Wilson nodded.
"James, our cars are still over by the restaurant," Lydia said. "I'm going to get some help to pick them up; I'll have yours brought to the house, since that's where you'll be coming back to. Is there anything I can bring you from home?"
"My razor," Wilson said looking at Lydia. "I guess get my laptop out of my office…"
"Do you really want your razor?" Annie asked. "I was hoping you'd use this opportunity to finally grow some facial hair," she teased.
"It might be an idea," House said. "At least just to prove you can."
"Just because you can…walk around looking like you forgot what a comb and razor are for…and still look hot, doesn't mean all of us want to go that route." House gave Wilson a look.
"You did not just call me hot."
"What? Of course not!" Lydia and Annie could not control themselves; they both laughed until they had tears coming from their eyes.
"Remember: all filters are off," Lydia said taking House's hand in hers.
"And what am I supposed to think?" Annie asked, trying not to laugh.
"Don't…think anything. Just…" Wilson looked at the three of them. "Let me get some rest."
"To be continued," Lydia said as she gave Wilson a kiss good bye. Wilson rolled his eyes.
"Bye, sweetie; don't do anything without me," Annie said giving him a kiss and walked toward Lydia who was heading to the doors.
"I'll be right there," House said over his shoulder. He looked back at Wilson. "Nice going, moron."
"I meant to say that…women thought you looked hot with the scruffy look. Not that the women you paid to be with you had any choice in the matter." Wilson winced and shook his head. "House…"
"Quit apologizing; it's beginning to get annoying. I'm just glad you didn't say that in front of Lydia."
"Your vast experience with women still bothering her?"
"Had the unfortunate experience of running into one of my former playmates the other day. The dizz brain didn't think not to say anything in front of Fraulein about the nature of our prior relationship." House's gaze was focused on the ladies as he spoke. "I worked my way out of it by reminding her that the bimbo was my past and she was my present; that and a quickie before the kids came home did the trick." Wilson shook his head.
"Leave it to you to find a way to get out of these things," he said. House shrugged.
"Get some rest; I know I need sleep." House turned and started to walk away.
"House?" He turned to look at Wilson. "Thanks for saving my life." House looked away.
"It wasn't just me; you've got a bunch of people to grovel to. Besides, if anything ever happened to you…things would get kind of boring around here." Wilson smiled, put his head back against the pillow, and closed his eyes. House joined Lydia and Annie, and the three exited recovery.
"He's doing well…isn't he?" Annie asked nervously.
"His numbers are good," House said. "Didn't say anything to him, but as he peed into the Foley bag, the color was already starting to lighten up."
"But you're still going to want to do the MRI rather than the CT scan because the urine isn't completely clear yet?" Lydia asked. House knew she was playing student as well as concerned friend; and she was right.
"The MRI will be safer for him for now," House said as he entered the waiting area. Lydia and Annie were right behind him, and almost walked right into House as he stopped and surveyed the scene. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were busy fixing themselves coffee, Taub had a muffin on a plate, along with an apple, and Chase was finishing what appeared to be his second OJ as he scanned the pastries that were spread out before him.
"Aren't we all early birds this morning?" House asked as he grabbed the very donut that Chase was about to select. "Why are you up at the crack of dawn?"
"Greg?" Lydia pointed to the clock up on the wall. "We were in with James for over an hour."
"Time flies…etc., etc," House said as he talked around the donut he held in his mouth.
"Did you find my note?" Annie asked the Wilsons.
"Yes, we did, dear." Mrs. Wilson said. "I was concerned that you hadn't gotten enough rest, but I knew you'd rather be with James than with his two old fogey parents." She gave Annie a quick hug. "I have to say, you look wonderful for getting so little sleep."
"Thank you; James wanted me to go get some more sleep because I look 'raggy' when I don't get enough," Annie said laughing.
"He what?" Henry Wilson said. "He's definitely sick! Granted, this is only the second time I've seen you, but you've always looked lovely. And it's especially amazing under these conditions."
"I know that there is going to be a point where this is going to be very difficult for the two of you," Annie said taking Claudia Wilson's hand. "You're going to be hearing James being completely honest…and that includes good and bad. If he never told you how much he appreciated you having a family dinner every Sunday, he just may come out and say it. Then again if there's an issue he always had a problem with, it won't matter who's in the room…he's going to come out and say what he has to say." Claudia and Henry Wilson looked at each other.
"I suppose we…could look at this as a good opportunity to finally clear the air on some things," Henry said with a sigh.
"Don't dwell on it for now," Lydia said as she fixed herself a cup of coffee. "Just enjoy the fact that you still have him; he came very close to dying, but I'm sure his love for his family and friends got him through it." The Wilsons nodded and went over to the food table to pick out something to eat. "Hon, do you want anything to eat?"
"The only thing I want right now is to be in the arms of Morpheus. I grabbed half a bagel when I came in to get coffee and I had the donut I stole from Chase. I'm good for now." He sat down on the couch where the pillows and blankets that he and Lydia had been using earlier still remained. House swung his feet up and closed his eyes.
"Lucky for me there was a second chocolate glazed donut," Chase said. "I was ready to fight you for that one."
"And they call me the human garbage can," House noted. "Didn't you scoff down enough of the spread when you got out of surgery? It sure as hell seemed like you did."
"House, what we ate when we got out of the O.R. was our dinner," said Taub. House opened his eyes and looked at the members of his team who were in the room.
"I guess none of us ate a regularly scheduled meal yesterday," he said closing his eyes again. "Where's Thirteen?"
"She texted me that she was going to re-culture the wound on the patient's leg. Said the one the main lab here did looked blurry," noted Foreman.
"Either that or she needs glasses," House mumbled.
"You know, seriously," Taub said. "With all those migraines she's been having, maybe she does need glasses."
"I was being serious," said House in an annoyed voice. He was in no mood to engage in chit-chat; the idea of telling the nurses in recovery that he was parking his butt in there was immensely appealing at this point.
"Why don't you go up to the lounger in your office? Or the couch in James' office?" Lydia quietly suggested. "It sounds like Thirteen's up and moving around, so it's available." House shook his head.
"When I was brought in after the crane collapse, Wilson stayed with me for three nights straight; he only went home after Thirteen and Chase agreed to babysit me. I intend on breaking his record," House said as he grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over his head. Lydia rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm going to leave in a little bit to get the cars from the restaurant. When I stop at home, I'll pick up a change of clothes for you. Anything else?" House pulled the blanket down.
"The remainder of that bottle of whiskey on the bar," he said. "And a few gingerbread cookies." Lydia made a face.
"That's not a very appetizing combo; plus, I don't think drinking on the job would be looked upon too kindly." House considered her comment for a moment.
"Yeah, the cookies will be enough of a comfort factor for now; I'll save the whiskey for when I can openly enjoy it without well-meaning but stupid comments. Make it a bunch of cookies instead of just a few." With that, House pulled the blanket over himself again.
"Lydia, would you mind if we gave you a hand picking up the cars?" Mr. Wilson asked. "If you don't mind, Annie, we'd like to take you up on that offer to stay at either your place or James'."
"No problem; stay at mine. It's more likely that people will be going back and forth there and you can wind up carpooling with someone." Annie patted the pants pocket on her scrubs, then shook her head. "I was going to say, 'Here, take my keys,' but I forgot I don't have them."
"I think I can help with that," a voice said. Detective Williams walked into the room, holding a bag and smiling. "I have some items here that I'm sure belong to you and Dr. Wilson. Just need you to confirm their ownership, sign a receipt for me, and they're all yours." The smile on Annie's face lit up the room and it spread to everyone else. Even House threw the blanket off his face and sat up. Lydia sat down next to him; though she knew it would need repair, she couldn't wait to get back the necklace the creep took from her. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, made more so by the fact that it was a gift from House, given to her "just because."
"Why don't you have a seat?" Williams said indicating the other couch. "And we can go over this." Annie sat down; she was as fidgety as kid on Christmas morning. "OK…describe what your pocketbook looks like."
"It's an envelope clutch, light brown leather…" Williams reached into the canvas bag he had, marked "Princeton P.D.," and pulled out Annie's pocketbook.
"Not that the guy had time to stop and take anything out, but I'd like you to verify the contents," the detective said. It didn't take Annie long to see that her wallet, cell phone and keys were all there. "And I believe these items are also yours." Annie smiled when she saw her claddagh ring, her watch, and the emerald heart bracelet that she always wore.
"Thank God, my hair hid my earrings," said Annie pushing her locks back so her ears could be seen. "He probably would have just grabbed them and ripped," she said shuddering.
"I wouldn't doubt it," Williams said. "I've had the chance to delve into his background a bit more. That kid had some rap sheet for someone so young. Sadly, it's something my task force is seeing more and more."
"How old was he?" Lydia asked.
"Sixteen." The gasp heard in the room came from almost everyone, shocked that someone so young could be so vicious.
"I know…considering what he put us through and what he did to James, I should have no pity," Lydia said shaking her head. "But all I can do is think of the pain his mother is going through…"
"Look, for all you know, he would have had the cell next to his mother," House said as he rubbed his eyes.
"No matter what, Greg, he still was someone's child."
"Maybe Wilson was right; maybe you two would have been a better match," House said wryly.
"Do you have James' things in there?" Annie asked, ignoring House.
"Yes; I should have Dr. Wilson I.D. them, but I don't doubt that you can name the items." Sure enough, Annie reeled off a description of Wilson's wallet, watch and cell phone. "Great; if you'll just initial by each item on the list, and then sign at the bottom, you'll be all set." As Annie was about to sign, she realized that something was missing.
"What about Lydia's necklace?" she asked. Williams made a face and looked over at Lydia.
"I'm sorry…at this point it's still missing. The area along the side street is still a crime scene, because several shell casings are unaccounted for. I've made the CSI's handling the investigation aware to keep their eyes open for it. He may have tossed it aside when he started shooting at my officers." Lydia put her head down and fought back tears.
"Thank you, Detective Williams. I appreciate the effort to find it; it's very special to me," Lydia said as she stood, and took a napkin to wipe her eyes with.
"I appreciate the fact that you're still here to bawl your eyes out over something that can easily be replaced," House said as she sat back down next to him.
"As opposed to me, who is one of a kind?" Lydia said still sniffling.
"A fact you go out of your way to prove to me over and over again." House allowed Lydia to snuggle in against him; he usually kept such displays for only select groups like Wilson and Annie, occasionally his team. Now he was too tired to care that the Wilsons and Williams were in the room, too.
"House?" he cringed as he recognized Thirteen's voice.
"Goody, the prodigal child has come for her share of the breakfast spread; lucky for us, it looks like Cherry Valley has already killed the fatted donut," House quipped. "How's the new culture going?"
"I…I didn't take it yet. House, we have a problem," Thirteen said looking extremely upset. "I don't know what the hell this bacteria is…"
"And you probably never will unless we pull the culture as opposed to the clowns down in the flea circus of a general lab we have here," noted House.
"House…some of his toes and part of the top of his foot are starting to discolor. I don't know how it could be happening so quickly…but it looks like gangrene is setting in."