A/N: thanks for all the support. Feel free to add any constructive criticism too : )

What Happened

The whole room fell completely silent. Cameron, who had been standing, now found herself also in a seat, jaw dropped and eyes bulging. Foreman simply sat with his face behind steepled fingers. House stayed where he had collapsed, seated and head on his cane. The whole room felt completely drained of all energy.

Suddenly the door burst open again. Cuddy rushed in and quickly took the scene in. House had written everything that he knew about Wilson's condition on the board but judging by the postures and faces of everyone in there, they hadn't gotten very far on the diagnosis yet.

"Wilson's stable," she said breathlessly. "He's intubated and unconscious, but he's stable for now."

"Cameron, draw some blood and test for anything and everything that you can think of. Foreman, MRI." House said quietly, not once moving form his position. "Where's Chase?" he asked Cuddy.

"He's still with him. I expect that he's waiting for you to join him," Cuddy answered.

"I have work to do and so does he. Send him up here so I can give him his orders."

Cameron and Foreman were on their way out the door already but they froze and stared back at their boss along with his boss as he spoke.

"House, he's your friend. Don't you want to see him?" Cameron asked, shocked.

"I've seen dying people before, they all look the same. Now I thought I told you to get going."

Foreman and Cameron exchanged another glance before they left the room to do what they had been told.

Cuddy stayed, staring down at the man who had just said the coldest statement that she had ever come from him. "This is not just another patient House… It's Wilson! You can't just sit there like this is just another case. You should be down there. You should be with him, not up here…"

"Not up here trying to save his life?!" House suddenly snapped, leaping from his chair and glaring at Cuddy. "Not trying my hardest to find out what the hell is wrong with him? Not driving myself mad, racking my brain to think what might heal him?"

Cuddy just stared at him, completely taken off guard by his out burst.

"You think it would be better for me to be standing over him, watching him slip form my life like everyone else rather than working to keep him in it? Is that what you want from me?"

"House, I didn't say that."

"Well that's what it sounded like to me," he bellowed as he stared her down for a moment. "Now, I asked you to send Chase up here."

Cuddy just stared at him for a moment before she shook herself and realized that there was nothing more that she as going to be able to do here. She turned and walked out, deciding that there was no way that she was going to get from House the reaction she wanted. All she could do was go along with him and pray that he wasn't too close to this to not be able to do his job.

Cameron walked into the room to find Chase hovering over Wilson. She knew now that it was Wilson, but that lifeless form lying on the bed seemed to have nothing in common with the light hearted, energetic man that she knew. There were wires and tubes everywhere. As a doctor, she had seen people in this condition before, but it was always hardest when it was someone that you knew and cared for.

She stopped right in the entrance and just stared for a moment, trying to take it all in. Chase was currently shining his pen light into the eye lid that he had just pried open. There was very minimal reaction from the pupil, they were loosing the man to a coma.

He sighed and looked up to see Cameron staring at his patient. "I can't believe this," Chase said to her.

"What happened?" she asked, hardly knowing how to proceed.

"All I know is I was working in the ER when they brought him in. I was right there at the door and I didn't even realize it was him at first. They said that he had crashed once but someone on the scene had brought him back but he crashed again right as the ambulance had pulled up to the door. It took us several minute to bring him back again."

"Oh my God," Cameron whispered as she came the rest of the way into the room and came alongside the bed.

"I thought I saw House leaving the ER right after we brought him back again," Chase commented.

"You probably did. Foreman and I had just gotten in when he came storming in and began writing symptoms on the board, demanding a differential. He was acting as if it was just another patient and it took us a while to get him to tell us what was happening. Then Cuddy came in and told us that you had Wilson stable. Now House has us out to run tests and he is refusing to come down."

Chase shook his head. It sounded just like the man but it was still difficult to grasp. If it was his friend that was sick, they wouldn't be able to tear him away. But they were now talking about a man who was without heart, what else could they expect from him?

Cameron finally remembered the reason she had been sent down and pulled the needle and vial from her lab coat to collect the blood samples for testing.

"What are you testing for?" Chase asked, curious what House thought it might be.

"Anything, everything. He doesn't know what it is."

Chase shook his head again.

Cameron finished up with the vials and then a question suddenly hit her. "One of the symptoms that House wrote was hallucinations, but if Wilson was crashed before he even got here, how would House know that he was hallucinating?"

"Because it was House who found him," Cuddy's voice answered from the door.

"It was House who brought him back the first time?" Chase asked, rather surprised by the news.

Cuddy nodded as she walked into the room as well and stared down at her employee and friend. She was having much the same thoughts as Cameron had had when she had first seen him.

"What could have happened?" she asked almost to herself.

"If anyone can figure it out, it's House," Cameron said and then she silently left the room to begin her tests.

Cuddy stood for a little while longer, studying Wilson, wishing that this was all just a bad dream. Finally she pulled herself form her musings and looked back up at Chase who had stood silently nearby. "House wants to see you," she said simply. As their eyes meet, Chase could just make out the shine of moistness in her eyes. He held her gaze for a moment before nodding and leaving as well.

Damn it House, you should be here too, she thought as she pulled up a chair alongside Wilson's bed and sat down, never taking her eyes from his face.