Chapter 27: I'll Be Gone (part 1)

Gabrielle sat in Wilson's office, she sat on the couch with a tissue in her hand, trying to keep herself from freaking out over her newest discovery. "He cracked," she stated, her voice shaky. "The one time that he is truly being counted on, and he cracks."

Wilson let out a heavy sigh. "Maybe it's not as bad as you're thinking," he suggested, only in attempt to calm her down and stall until he figured out something more productive.

Wilson looked through the glass door and saw House just sitting at his desk. "Maybe he just needs a break from everything," Wilson offered.

Gabrielle nodded. "You think you can take him somewhere or something just for a few days?" she requested.

Right now, Gabrielle felt that she was too worried about everything to be able to take him somewhere. She was shook up from the thought of her dad losing his mind, and then she knew that if he didn't get better, that she would have to be the one to tell Cuddy if she hadn't noticed anything yet.

Wilson really didn't want to be House's keeper right now, but he knew that it was important to House's family. "All right," he answered. He himself was irritated at House for not saying anything to him about any of this. All of this, at least he felt, could have been avoided.

House was the man who kept everything to himself until he blew up somehow, but even when he would blow up, it would be in private. He would take everything out on himself. That process usually wasn't something that was too bad, he would go through it and get it over with, but now, the process wasn't working. Instead of just taking it out, he was slowly letting the guilt and fear eat away at him and destroy him.

Wilson stood up and walked around to the other side of his desk. "Just let me go get some blood samples from him first. I wanna make sure that he isn't taking any other drugs that he might have found," he said before leaving the office.

Gabrielle just sat there and watched as he left. She wanted to get up and follow him, but it was best if she stayed there and gathered her composure before she left. She knew that when she left, she might see Cuddy, and the last thing that she wanted to do was get her upset over something that might be nothing right now.

ooo

Elisabeth and Jessica sat on the swing set in the park. It wasn't a far walk from the house and Elisabeth was feeling better. She wanted to get out of the house. After being there for so long, she was starting to feel almost trapped in there.

Elisabeth looked over and clapped to get Jessica's attention.

"Yeah?" Jessica responded, looking over to her.

Elisabeth asked her if she noticed that Gerald and Rachel were starting to sneak around a little more. Elisabeth knew that she shouldn't be amused with the idea that Rachel was starting to sneak out of the house, but it gave her the reassurance that no matter what, life went on for everyone else. Rachel didn't stop being Rachel because of her.

"Really?" Jessica asked, a little concerned.

Elisabeth nodded and then admitted that she had no idea what it was for though. That was the part that worried her. Looking up to her, she asked if she wanted to help her go through her room later.

"I guess," Jessica replied, uneasy with the whole thing. She hated to go through other people's things, but this was different. "I know that tonight she is meeting up with her friends, so we should be able to get in there then," she explained.

Elisabeth nodded, agreeing with her.

"Tommy's been quiet lately. You think he has anything to hide?" Jessica questioned.

Elisabeth had noticed the difference in Tommy's behavior and was starting to wonder the same thing. The only reason why she wasn't worried though was because she knew that he wasn't trying to hurt himself. She knew that he could be self destructive if he really wanted to be.

Elisabeth shrugged over to Jessica and asked if she wanted to go through his room too.

"Daddy already went through his room, remember?" she reminded her.

Elisabeth looked down to the ground. Yes, she had remembered, but she also noticed that House hadn't been himself lately either. No one really had, and it was scaring her. She was getting better, and they were still getting worse. It made no sense to her. She thought that maybe showing them that she could get out and walk somewhere that it would ease their minds. Of course though, Cuddy put up a fight when she asked to leave, so she might just be at home worrying.

Elisabeth stood up and looked over to Jessica, urging her to follow her. Jessica saw the look and obliged. "Okay," she said.

The two started walking to the sidewalk. "Do you think something is wrong with daddy?" Jessica asked, getting more and more concern about everything that was going on around her.

Elisabeth could sense the fear and nervousness from her, and even though it wouldn't help for long, she decided to lie. She shook her head and continued walking.

ooo

Cuddy sat on the couch, attempting to read a book. Just something to distract her for a moment.

Rachel carefully walked down the first couple of steps and peeked over at her mother. Once that she saw that she wasn't that busy, she took a deep breath and continued down the stairs.

"Mom?" Rachel gently called over to her as she approached the couch.

Cuddy looked up from her book. "Yes?" she responded.

Rachel walked up and leaned on the back of the couch. "How did you know that you loved daddy?" she implored.

Cuddy smiled as she set her book down on the table beside her. "You're not thinking about Gerald are you? Because honey, you're only twelve yet, and I don't what you tying yourself to any boys yet," she explained.

Rachel shook her head. "I just wonder sometimes. I mean, like now, he's late from work. He's been spending less time here, he bails out on the worst times. You put up with a lot from him," she stated.

Cuddy sighed. "Come here," she instructed, patting the cushion before her.

Rachel obliged and walked around to the other side of the couch where she sat down. She looked up to Cuddy's eyes, wondering what was truly going on between the two anymore.

"Greg does a lot of things for people that go unnoticed. He likes to keep his favors a secret. And there are a lot of things that he has done for me. He knows when I need cheering up, he knows when he has gone over board with things, and when to try and make things up to me. We know each other, and we put up with each other's flaws. The bottom line is, we need each other," Cuddy explained.

Rachel nodded. "So you really think that he's going to come back after all of this?" she implored.

Cuddy nodded without hesitation. "Yes, I do. I know because he always comes back. He always needs me, and he knows that I need him and doesn't want to hurt me that bad," she informed her.

Cuddy did truly believe that. He had promised her that he would come back, and she trusted him enough to believe that he would return.

Rachel looked down to her hands. "I hope you're right," she said and then stood up and left.

Cuddy sat there and watched her for a second. "Is that what's really bothering you?" she asked.

Rachel stopped and turned around to her. She was about to say something, but quickly decided against it. "Yes," she lied and then continued on her way up to her room.

Cuddy's shoulder's slumped as she heavily sighed in despair.

ooo

Jessica stopped at the corner of the street as she waited for Elisabeth to catch her breath. "Am I going to fast for you?" she inquired, even though she thought that she had been going pretty slow.

Elisabeth, who was still heavily breathing, looked up to her and shook her head. She tried her hardest to control her breathing as she started walking. She told Jessica that she was fine when she got up beside her.

"If you say so," Jessica replied, not too sure of what to do at this point. They were only a minute away from home though, so she didn't really worry about it that much. All they had to do was pass six houses and they were home.

The two crossed the street together, with Jessica closely watching her sister. Once they got onto the sidewalk, she looked back forward. "You know, it's weird. This is the first time that I have been looking out for you. It seems like most of the time you were looking out for me," she said and then looked beside her.

"Ellie?" she called out, looking behind her, spotting her sister still back at the corner. She could her starting to sway. "Ellie!" she called again as she started running to her. It was too late though, she saw Elisabeth's eyes roll to the back of her head and then her body hit the ground.

Jessica stood there, starting to panic. It took her a second, but she was finally able to figure out what she should do. Without any further hesitation, she turned and sprinted towards home to get Cuddy.

ooo

Wilson sat at his desk, waiting. As soon as he heard a knock at the door, he perked his head up and looked towards the door with anticipation.

"Come in!" he called out to them.

A nurse walked in and set a file down on his desk in front of him. There were no words exchanged between the two.

Wilson waited until she had left and then opened the file and pulled out the one paper that he had been looking for. "All right House," he mumbled, scanning over the results.

Sighing, he left his arm fall, tearing the paper away from his sight and setting it down on the desk. His eyes blankly stared forward. He took his other hand and ran it through his hair, trying to think of the best thing to do now.

ooo

House sat at his desk, waiting for Wilson to come back and talk to him. Hopefully, he had something good to tell him.

"Hello?"

House looked up to the doorway and saw Morgan, smirking to him. "Go away," he gruffly ordered.

"Why? I think you like me here," she argued.

House sighed as he got up and grabbed his cane. "Fine, I'll leave," he said as he limped past her and out the door.

Morgan was about to turn and leave herself, but she spotted his cellphone on the floor. "Well look here," she mentioned to herself as she walked over and picked up the item. "Looks like someone dropped something important," she said, examine the phone.