CUDDY stormed her way from the lobby to the ER with House trailing her. He shook his head as he watched her take one heavy step after another. It didn't take long after they reached the ER and Cuddy asked, "How are they? Talk to me, people."
Cameron answered without stopping on her way to getting a request for a mechanical ventilator, "Security Officer Luke Bernard is not in a good shape. He was shot through a lung. We did a chest tube insertion to drain blood and try to regain negative pressure in the lungs. We're making a reservation for a MechVEnt machine and getting him ready for surgery."
Cuddy approached the other guy, the delivery guy, as he lay in pain in bed slipping in and out of consciousness. "And him? Who the hell is he?"
"No wallet, no info."
"What delivery company is he working for?" House asked, leaning his weight to his cane.
"None" Foreman said, as he checked for pupillary response with his penlight, going through the Glasglow coma scale item by item. Cuddy on the other hand pinched the guy on his arm as hard as she could.
"Cuddy, you want pain response? Take the bullet from his abdomen with your bare hands! The guy is already in pain. Your assessment will be inconclusive." House said.
"I'm not assessing for pain response! I'm assessing turgor. I think he's bleeding from the inside. He's going to Hypovolemic shock." Cuddy moved as fast as she could with repositioning the patient to a Trendelenburg position (with the feet slightly higher than his head). "Rush the security officer to the OR already!"
"Taub, go to the OR with Chase. Do the damn surgery." House ordered.
"And you, Foreman, Kutner and Hadley---save the delivery guy. He can't die." It's Cuddy's turn to deliver an order. Obviously, the stressful event exhausted her. "I have a lot of questions for him to answer."
House's eyes narrowed as he watch Cuddy pass him by, pick her cell phone and dialed the number of local police office to report the incident. "Cameron."
"Yes?"
"Call me when he wakes up. Call her when he dies."
HOUSE entered Cuddy's office which right now appeared like a hundred stallions had stampeded through the room. He intently observed her as she rummaged through some files from one cabinet after another, emptying drawers after drawers. He could say that knowing her, it's her way of deliberately engaging herself to trying to organize her thoughts.
"I'm sorry." House said, slightly startling her.
"Why are you---?"
"You okay?"
"Do I look okay?" She paused to look at him as she answered.
"No." He looked at her as she closed her eyes and sighed. He can tell that she's frustrated, anxious and stressed. "But your ass is as stunning as ever!"
She allowed a weak smile be drawn across her face. Well, he was House. He could make her smile with almost anything that he said unless it was about some insane procedure he'd throw at her. "Thank you. I felt better."
"I always knew that some sick complement about your ass would always make you feel better. Not to mention the twins---"
"That's enough." She snapped at him as she closes a folder in his face.
"I---"
"I have lots of things to do. I have a shooting incident, a stalker and patients dying---"
"It's a hospital?!"
"---due to some reason I cannot identify!"
"Machine failure?" House offered.
She shook her head. "It's not. One thing about nurses is that they are pretty responsible with things that concern equipments. They are pretty reliable, you know." Then she picked up another folder as she blurted out "Of course, you didn't notice! You were too busy insulting them." under her breath.
"Human error?" He asked again, arousing his curiosity.
"No."
House pulled the folder from Cuddy's hand and read the file. He paused to read it for a while and then spoke after he noticed the pattern, "It's 'human'. Not much of an 'error' cause it's not. It's 'intentional'."
"What do you mean?"
"Read it Cuddy. The note from the delivery guy…" He tilted his head to the direction of her table to tell her that the note was somewhere under there.
She didn't entirely know where he was going with this but she did what he said. She rummaged through the paperwork above her desk and picked up the familiar scented stationary and read it:
Last night was painful for me.
Watching you with him was torture for me!
Why would you do that? Why would you sleep with him?
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?
I told you I loved you.
I do love you very much.
You wanted proof?
1-4-3-4-4.
-H
Cuddy paused and looked at House who pointed out the cases on her folder:
Neuro-ICU Bed 1: Post Craniotomy, died past midnight of suffocation leading to increased intracranial pressure, to brain matter herniation.
Geriatrics Ward Bed 4: Severe degenerative anemia, died at 2:12AM due to ventilator failure.
Oncology Ward Bed 3:Liver CA stage 3, died at 2:33AM due to respiratory acidosis. Oxygen mask tube from tank, cut.
"They are all intentional with human intervention. Plus, the timeline. Look."
Cuddy was shocked. She hadn't see it coming from any direction. God, this guy is insane. "Okay. I'll get right on calling the proper authorities."
"You should. He's got two more patients to kill to prove to you his love."
Nobody knows
Just why we're here
Could it be fate
Or random circumstance
At the right place
At the right time
Two roads intertwine
House stopped singing for a while then adjusted the Spanish guitar's string and plucked it again so that he'd hear if it was out of tune. After he found out that it was still a little off, he re-adjusted it and turned to adjust the next string. Then he went on to sing the next stanza of his newly written song:
And if the universe conspired
To meld our lives
To make us
Fuel and fire
Then know
Where ever you will be
So too shall I be
"Hey, I've been looking for you."
"Hey!" House said, acknowledging Cuddy's presence. She looked tired. He held the guitar to his arm and patted the floor beside him in a gesture, asking Cuddy to sit beside him on the floor. She obliged.
"Did you stay here the entire time after we talked?" She said while sitting down on his right side, folding her legs and pulling her skirt lower to cover it well. She then leaned her back to the wall. House offered her his coat. She shook her head no but he insisted. He rested his coat on her knees, as if it was a blanket.
"Yeah. It's actually a good thing you found me. I'm hiding here, you know." He said as if spilling her his secret. They are in a stock room full of kidney basins, urinary catheters, KY Jellies and bedpans.
She chuckled. "Yeah, I searched for you 'coz I know you'd be hiding."
"Why? I don't have a case."
"To hide with you."
For a few seconds both of them were quiet. House took the opportunity to find a melody for his song. He strummed while Cuddy closed her eyes and buried her face to her hands. He continued singing while looking at her:
Close your eyes
Dry your tears
'Coz when nothing seems clear
You'll be safe here
From the sheer weight
Of your doubts and fears
Weary heart
You'll be safe here
Cuddy opened her eyes and looked at him. It was one of those rare moments when he seems to have the power to ease her pain. He had always been protective of her in his own little ways: protective of her from her dates, from college professors who attempted to make a move on her and even on her own past bosses and current employees. She watched him sing intently. He sang the next line as if it was written entirely for her:
Save your eyes
From your tears
When everything's unclear
You'll be safe here
From the sheer weight
Of your doubts and fears
Wounded heart
"It's nice." She smiled with genuine feeling of peacefulness as he sang. He watched on as the mask of strength slipped from her face. She looked exteremly vulnerable. The staring game went on a few seconds more until she decided to withdraw and took a rubber band out of her pocket and started playing with it. She played with it trying hard not to look in House's direction again.
"I'm sorry." He decided to break the silence.
Cuddy paused. "Stop apologizing to me, House."
"It's my fault."
She paused. "Now, you're out of character."
"It's my fault. I led him to you."
The rubber band in her hand snapped. It broke. She turned to him and threw him a questioning look. "W-what do you mean?"
He took it: her stare, her anxiety, her desire to be enlightened, and prepared himself to tell the tale. "You remember Hawdon? I saw him at a CDC Conference."
"Hawdon?" She frowned, searching a face in her memory. "Who's he?"
"The guy from the library we used to go, back when you were in college. We met there, remember? He was the guy constantly waiting for you in the English Literature Section."
She stayed there beside him, looking straight to his eyes, trying hard to remember.
"The…the guy who calls himself Hawdon and named you 'his Lady Dedlock'. Now you remember?"
"Charles Dickens' Blake House…" Cuddy's eyes widen in surprise. "Mikhail?"
"Yes! Mikhail-something. I can't remember his surname."
"Mikhail Estrada? He did all these?"
"For sure, he was the one who sent you the tulips and carnation. It's his signature."
"I think so, but kill people? I don't think so."
"Don't doubt it Cuddy! He already did." There were cases of rape-murder at Michigan this past decade. All linked to a man that sent tulips and carnation in the last two weeks before they went missing. The last two lines he dared not to say to her. He refused to reveal that information to prevent her from having some sort of nervous breakdown.
"Wait, you saw him from the CDC-held Conference? What is he doing there?"
"I think he was kind of hoping to see you there. Instead, he came to me. Of course, knowing me, I mocked him. I gave him your…your contact details. Just email address and---"
"How could you?!" Actual tears started to form like pearls in the corner of her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I thought it would be fun for all three of us if an old stalker---Cuddy?"
"Shut up. Just shut up."
"You're mad?" House dared to ask although he obviously knows the answer.
"What do you think?!" She motioned to get up from his side when he held her hand and stopped her from leaving.
"Don't go. You're safe here." He said, not letting go of her hand. Not looking at her eyes either.
She threw him a sharp look but repositioned herself beside him. She shook her head in dismay. "You should protect me. You owe me big time."
"Yeah. Go to sleep and I'll watch the door." He closed her eyes with his hand and pulled her head to rest it on his shoulder. He pulled the coat to her shoulders. He couldn't keep his eyes from the view down her blouse every time he'd stare at her face. He had to do that in order for him to concentrate.
When she tried to protest, he 'shushed' her and continued his song:
When the light disappears
And when this world's insincere
You'll be safe here
In my arms
Through the long cold night
Sleep tight
You'll be safe here
When no one understands
I'll believe
You'll be safe,
You'll be safe
You'll be safe here
Put your heart in my hands
You'll be safe here
angcatalonan: That's it. I think it's long enough. Please review. And beware, more twists are coming.
Oh, credits: Song is You'll be Safe Here by Rivermaya (Cool song and I find it fitting. Go watch it in YouTube.) And beta--- Queen Nefertiri Amun (Jen, thank you so much for your time and patience) also Charles Dickens' Blake House.
Ciao!
Uh, and review.