Chapter Fourteen

The next morning House had showered before Erin's shift started; by nine Monroe had arrived and was examining Dom and showing House and Erin, the latest test results. There was no evidence of damage on the scans and the tumour had been completely removed.

"All good" House commented "But still she sleeps"

"Have you had any response at all?" Monroe addressed Erin.

"She appears to be slightly more responsive, especially her feet when she is being washed or when the physiotherapist works with her." She looked at House for conformation; he nodded in agreement then added.

"She can hear her pulse accelerates when you talk to her, not all the time but it does happen especially when the children come to see her."

"Are you sure it's not just coincidence?" Monroe asked

"No. At first I thought it was just wishful thinking, but sometimes it is definite and instant, other times not so much."

"Joan said she noticed when you were in pain the other night both Dom's Blood pressure and pulse were elevated." She told House then turned to Monroe "We are sure that she has an awareness of things going on around her also."

"Well that's a good sign" agreed Monroe "Isn't that your boy?" he pointed out of the room. House turned to see the long slender form of Billy waiting outside.

"Yeah" then House added in a concerned voice "he looks hurt!"

Erin bought Monroe's attention to the monitor as Dom's pulse began to accelerate. House had already left the room.

House put his hand on the boys shoulder and his blood ran cold when the boy's eyes met his!

"What's wrong?"

The boy had no time to answer. Around the corner came a posy, who were obviously looking for the boy. Two boys of a similar age to Billy were with the principal and the school board chairman, but it was the third man that caused House's heart to drop to his Nikes.

"William Timms?" Billy nodded "I'm Detective Michael Tritter, it is alleged that you assaulted two of your fellow students at your high school this morning. What do you have to say?"

House looked at the two boys, one was sporting a black eye, and the other had obviously had a punch to his nose and top lip.

"I hit them" Billy said quietly, he knew nothing he could say would make a difference, he would be going back to jail, he couldn't even look at House.

"You just up and hit them?" House asked in disbelief, he turned to Tritter and the other adults "Can I have a moment alone with him."

"I'm afraid not" said Tritter "He is on a strict good behaviour bond I have to take him in."

House turned to the school principal "Look, he has never been in any kind of trouble at your school for nearly three years, can we just talk about this?" House found himself in unfamiliar territory as he pleaded to the school hierarchy. He added quietly "Please. Please don't do this."

Peter Bow the principal had no time for House, he thought him rude and obnoxious, and had it not been for his charming wife he would not have even considered putting the plans in place to ease the boy back into society. But even he had to concede the boy had worked hard and kept out of trouble, even though he knew he had been subjected to a lot of ridicule from the other students. He didn't feel good about turning the boy in, but he had no choice. He looked at House and said

"I'm sorry I had no choice," he turned to Tritter "What Dr House has said is true, Billy has been a model student in his time with us, both academically and we have had no problems socially. I am aware he has been provoked before and he has never reacted like this. I rang you because it is in the terms of his release that I had to. I would be prepared to handle this in school, with the support of the board of course." He looked at John McDonald "do you have discretion in this case?"

"If it was a case of self-defence, or serve provocation, I could issue a warning and let the school handle it, but I'm not sure that happened here, he doesn't appear to have a mark on him." Tritter replied.

A man with a teenage girl joined the group, the girl had obviously been crying. Billy looked up and seemed even more uncomfortable. House ran his hand through his hair, this was not looking good. The man was introduced as the father of one of the boys and of course the girl was the sister of the boy with the black eye.

"They started it" the girl who had been introduced as Becky said earnestly. House looked at her she was tall and slender with dark eyes that reminded him of Dom, and even her dishevelled state, House could see that she was extremely beautiful. "We had just come out of the library, before school, Billy had been helping me with my science, we have an exam at the end of the week."

"Yeah sure!" Her brother Jed mocked

"Quiet Jed, let her speak." The father cautioned his son. The boy was sullen, but quiet.

"Jed and Patrick and few of the football team blocked our way and started pushing Billy around, he tripped and they kicked him, he did nothing until I tried to stop them and got knocked over. It was an accident Dad" she reassured her father. He was visibly angry now, "I tried to stop them but I stumbled and fell down the steps. Until then Billy had done nothing, then he got up and hit both Jed and Patrick, that was when Miss Simpson arrived and broke things up."

"Is this true?" Tritter asked the two boys. When neither of them answered he turned to Billy "take your shirt off."

Billy's head shot up; there was panic in his eyes that only House could understand. "No, I can't" he looked at House in desperation.

"Just do it Billy, not for them, do it for Dom. When she wakes up, if you're not here….." he shook his head.

The boy turned to look thought the glass wall at the woman who along with House had fought the system and spent thousands of dollars to have him released. He slowly pulled his T shirt over his head. The young man had a stunning lean torso, broad and muscular. He had several bruises that were obviously caused by shoes, but it was not what caused the small group to gasp in shock and horror. The scars from years of abuse by his drug addicted father were clearly evident. Until now House was the only one to see them since the boys release from prison, and he knew what it cost him to publicly reveal what he considered to be his shame. To House's surprise it was Tritter who stepped forward shielding the boy from the shocked gaze of the onlookers.

"You can put your shirt back on, Billy." He said gently after the boy had done so Tritter looked at House and asked "Do you think you could get someone to look at these three, while we discuss what needs to happen."

House had not even noticed Cuddy, Chase and Wilson, who had been standing behind him soon after Tritter had arrived; Erin had rung Cuddy who contacted Wilson. Wilson had picked up Chase on the way.

Cuddy took charge, Chase had taken the three boys to check them out, Wilson was staying with Dom, and Cuddy told the remainder to follow her.

In the meeting that followed, Tritter told Peter Bow and John McDonald that he would not be taking the fight any further, but he expected the school to discipline all three of them. Becky let out a sigh of indignation, that earned her a warning glance from her father and he suggested that she wait outside, which she did. It was agreed that the boys would be in Peter Bow's office at 1pm that afternoon to discuss their punishment. They all left, except Tritter who lingered to speak to House.

"Will that be all, Detective Tritter?" Cuddy asked anxiously she did not want him to be around House any longer than was necessary.

"Relax Dr Cuddy; I'm not going to frisk your boyfriend." He replied. Cuddy was outraged, House was amused.

"Ex-boyfriend, actually." House stated earning him a glare from the dean. He rubbed his thigh absently "I'm a married man you know."

Tritter turned to House "How long have you been clean?"

"What makes you think I am?"

"I don't think. I know. Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Three years or so….." House shrugged

"Well done! I see that you and your wife are legal guardians for the boy" To Cuddy's surprise the two men spent the next twenty minutes discussing Billy Timms. Tritter was outraged at the way the boy had been treated by the system and House was relieved and surprised to have the man as an advocate for the boy.

"He should have never been sent to prison at all, and then to put a strict behaviour clause on his release, it's a joke he's a teenage boy! What the hell did they expect give him no help then drop into a den of bloody vipers at the local high school and he can't even defend himself!"

Tritter ranted. He was angry. House wondered what had happened in the man's past to make him hate drug addicts so much, he vowed to find out. Cuddy could see where he was headed and shot him a warning glance. The phone on Cuddy's desk rang.

"I told them to hold my calls" she said as she picked up the receiver. She was annoyed. "Dr Cuddy" she answered. As she listened to the caller her expression changed. House's heart hit his boots went she shot him a sympathetic look and said "I'll send him straight up"

House was gone before she had time to hang up.

Some hours later Dom was heavily sedated and House was slouched in the ugly brown chair, discussing the use of the controversial drug flumazenil. Monroe was telling both Cuddy and House of the success in the treatment of drug induced coma patients.

"We are talking addicts that have overdosed though." Cuddy was still not convinced that she could approve the use of the drug in Dom's circumstances. "There is no indication that it will work in this case." She argued.

"Usually I'd agree" said Monroe in his heavy Irish brogue "I would rather wait, but if she has another episode like this afternoon, I not sure the outcome will be the same. The next time she could in all likelihood stroke out! Keep in mind that she has just a few days ago had major brain surgery at which time she haemorrhaged!"

"Do we know what caused the attack?" House asked he was weary emotionally rung out. He leg ached and he felt that his so called genius brain was letting him down. He couldn't think straight.

"There is no way of knowing. We have repeated scans, blood tests ultra sounds and nothing has changed." Monroe was puzzled "The only thing we know is that after you left her pulse got rapidly quicker and weaker. It didn't respond to the usual meds. We were dammed lucky to get her through this."

"Sorry House, this is risky. If you want to go ahead I will have to have legal come see you to cover the hospital. This is your decision. I can't OK it without all the I's dotted and the T's crossed."

"So essentially you are approving it?" asked Monroe

"She is washing her hands of it. The Pontus Pilot approach, if it goes OK she will glory in it, if it doesn't she will have her piece of paper to say that she didn't agree! She is just covering her arse. Nothing really changes."

"No it doesn't! You are still an arse."

Monroe looked on in amazement as House and Cuddy bickered at each other he smiled and commented "It's a wonder either of you survived an actual relationship without killing each other!"

Cuddy glared at him and said to House "I'll send a lawyer up to see you." Then she turned to Gabe Monroe. "You do nothing until I have that paperwork in my hand." With that she turned and left the room. Both men watched that famous rear appreciatively until it was out of view.

"Seriously how the hell did either of you think a relationship would work?"

"Obviously not a lot of thinking went on!" he ran his hand tiredly through his hair. "I knew it couldn't work, but I couldn't stop, it was like a runaway train. Twenty years of foreplay I guess, she was happy for about a week the rest of the time she spent trying to convince us both she was happy. I hurt her; it's one of the few things in my life that I truly regret."

"If you hadn't taken the pill, do you think it would have lasted?"

"You have obviously been indulging in some pillow talk about ex-lovers, anyone point out to you that that's not a good idea?"

"She told me you defected all the time! We talked it was a couple of years after the break up but she was still pretty screwed up about it! My marriage had broken up about the same time so I wasn't much better."

"Why did your marriage end?"

"I had an affair, it's a long story."

"Where did you meet Cuddy?"

"I came over to a conference, I was speaking on neurosurgery, we met, hooked up and she convinced me to start over in New Jersey."

"Was it a good move?"

"I don't know! I've just been back to tie up loose ends, my wife is remarrying, some tool of a lawyer. My son hates my guts because I cheated on his mother and I still love his mother. It's totally screwed up"

"No wonder Cuddy found you irresistible!"

"We are kind of on a break at the moment. Seeing you again really shook her up, I was pretty jealous and pissed about it!"

"Sounds like you have feelings for her, you just gonna let her go without a fight."

"I don't like being second best" Monroe replied seriously.

"Yet you have just told me you still love your wife. You're a hypocrite!"

"I love her, we have history, but I'm not in love with her anymore I don't think. I'm grieving for how thing might have been."

"Cuddy and I will always care about each other I think. I don't like to call it love. Being with Dom has taught me that there are different ways to love. Some are constructive, some destructive. Cuddy and I were a great team at work, we balanced each other and challenged each other, but looking back it just didn't work as a true relationship. We were dysfunctional at work and at home. I spent my whole time trying not to screw up too much, and she spent her time trying act like it didn't matter. We were never what the other needed. It nearly destroyed me though, the longer we were together the more I loved her and the more she realised just how screwed up I was. When she thought she was going to die the realisation that she couldn't rely on me hit home. I don't blame her she was right."

"Yet here you are being the stoic rock for another woman, and your children. That must really be rubbing salt in her wounds."

"It shouldn't. She was right I needed to lose everything. I would have never made her happy. I wouldn't change anything."

A member of the hospital legal team came into the room and spoke to both House and Monroe. It seemed by the next morning they would have the OK to try the controversial drug.

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