Ch 49: Walls Come Crashing Down

"House? What are you doing?" House asked his friend.

"I fucked up big time Wilson," House muttered, rubbing his temples.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I had sex with all the girls at the party last night," he replied his heart breaking when he imagined Cuddy's reaction to his unfaithfulness.

"House? Are you alright?" the oncologist asked, studying his friend with concern filling his eyes.

"Not really. She's going to hate me?"

"Cuddy?" Wilson asked.

"Yes, Cuddy. My fiancé is going to hate me for fucking around. Are you still confused about the concept?"

"Do you even know where you are?" Wilson asked, placing a hand on House's chest.

House surveyed his surroundings and was more than a bit shocked to find himself alone in a room with Wilson, still fully clothed and aroused beyond measure. He didn't bother to hide his obviously tented jeans. He looked pleadingly up at his best friend and found more confusion and concern than he would have thought possible in such a situation. He would have expected anger or disappointment, but this was beyond him. "I'm at your apartment," he answered after a moment.

"Yeah, where the party's been over for hours. And you didn't sleep with anyone."

"I had sex with every stripper here at the same time…Sundai too!" House protested, wanting Wilson to berate him…hit him, something to punish him for his misdeeds. He turned toward the door, only to be stopped by a hand on his arm.

"Where are you going?" Wilson asked.

"To confess. Forgive me father for I have sinned," he said, his eyes rolling back into his head. He collapsed in a heap across the couch that he had slept on and Wilson yelled for Thirteen to come out of the bedroom.

"What's going on?" she asked groggily, wrapped in nothing but a sheet. She spotted House and made her way over to her boyfriend's side. "Is he ok?"

"I think he's sick," Wilson told her. "Call 911."

Thirteen got dressed and then she and Wilson followed the ambulance to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. House was rushed into the emergency room and Cameron had them wait outside as House's stomach was pumped. She came out to them, grim faced and sweating. "What's going on?" Wilson asked.

"He overdosed on Vicodin again," she told them.

"What? He hasn't been taking Vicodin since his episode last year," Wilson informed her. "I would have noticed...Cuddy would have noticed."

"There's enough in his system to kill him," she replied. "If he slipped up, he could have accidentally took too many to handle. His body's not used to it anymore."

"He didn't slip up," Wilson argued.

"Look. We had his bachelor party last night. He had a lot to drink…do you think someone could have slipped him something?" Thirteen asked.

"It's possible," Cameron replied. "He'll be fine, but most likely this is going to go onto his record and he'll have to see the board about it…he's been in this situation before and they aren't likely to be forgiving."

"Have you called Cuddy?" Thirteen questioned the blonde.

"Yeah, I had a nurse phone her as soon as he came in. She'll be in shortly."

"She's not going to be happy," Wilson said. "She didn't even want him to come to this party."
"Do you think she could keep it off the record?" Thirteen asked.

"I won't file anything until she gets here," Cameron told them, looking back toward the closed curtains that hid House from view.

"I want to know how that Vicodin got into his system," Wilson told Thirteen when Cameron returned to her job.

"A stripper?" she asked. "You said he was hallucinating a bunch of stuff about strippers."

"I'm going to find out," he replied, steeling himself for the lecture that was sure to come as Cuddy entered the room.

"Where is he?" she asked. They pointed her toward his curtain and she went straight to him, not bothering to ask questions. Tears had stained her face and Wilson couldn't have felt sorrier for her if he House had been killed. She had been worried about him and he had ended up in the hospital. The outcome couldn't be good.