Disclaimer - they're not mine. Just Shelly and Diedre.

..:3

This can't be happening. It isn't true.

The mantra kept repeating in his head like a broken record, and nothing he did could silence it. In the far reaches of his conscience, James recognized a small twinge of guilt at being so useless today, but it wasn't enough to shake him out of his comatose state. Doing anything more than staring out the window lost in his own personal nightmare was too much. Death was his arch Nemesis, and as much as James excelled in diverting him in his professional life, he felt that somehow the Grim Reaper was exacting his revenge in his personal one. How ironic that he was the Head of Oncology, a job that does nothing but cheat, deter, and elude premature death, but alone as a friend, a brother, a boyfriend, he was helpless. He couldn't save the ones he loved from dying no matter how hard he tried.

This is how Cuddy found him. She was high on a wave of anger and disbelief that Wilson had missed the quarterly board meeting with no notice, and therefore she almost didn't stop to make eye contact before she launched into her lecture. But the sight before her made her stop short. She doubled back to re-check the name on the office door she had entered before realizing that no, this really was her department head staring out the window from his position on the floor. Wilson had abandoned his office chair to lean his back against the side of his couch, allowing him an unimpeded view of the trees and sky through the balcony door of his office. And at the same time able to look into House's office and conference room for signs of his arrival. Cuddy wasn't sure he was even aware she was there until she saw him extend a wrinkled piece of paper towards her.

"What is this?" she asked, taking the crinkled sheet and trying to smooth it against her legs before scanning its contents. "This blood test shows classic symptoms of beginning liver failure. Best chance the patient has is to get a liver transplant, but if I'm reading the level of narcotics in his system correctly, its most likely that the donor criteria won't allow him on the list." The bitter snort made her look up and then she realized what she was holding. The paper dropped from her hand like it burned her, and she sank into the couch next to where Wilson's head was propped. Both of them stared at the offending messenger as if it might come to life and mock them at any moment.

"Being House's closest friend, I'm not even going to ask you how you came across those lab results, but I just need to know when this happened. House has called in sick for the past three days, I can't imagine how you got him to come in for a blood sample..." Cuddy trailed off as her mind worked. House had called in sick Monday claiming he had a stomach bug. She wouldn't have believed him if she hadn't witnessed him swigging Immodium AD on Friday night while he was working late on his latest case. Nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, diarrhea, Lisa ticked off the early symptoms of liver failure in her head, and felt the cold grip of fear tighten around her heart. She looked at Wilson, his sad eyes mirroring her unvoiced thoughts.

"This morning, I ran into Chase in the elevator with a lab tray," James began softly in a detached voice. "He was acting strange, and, well, one of the vials dropped off so I picked it up. The patient's name was Luke N. Laura. House's pet name for running tests that he doesn't want showing up on patient files," Wilson added after seeing the confusion in Lisa's face. "It was for a full liver panel. Hep tests, everything. Chase didn't even have to say a word. When I had come in this morning I thought I saw someone who looked like House walking around with a phlebotomy cart. And I just put two and two together."

Wilson thought over the days events again in his head. Was it really just this morning? He felt as if he had waited days spying outside the lab as the techs prepared the samples and ran the tests. The minute he noticed one technician entering the results he had ran upstairs and hacked into the system, desperate to see the outcome himself. The one lone sheet he had printed out was balled in anger and then smoothed out repeatedly as he had tried to come to grips with the news, resulting in the wrinkled condition Cuddy had accepted it in. And now, sitting on the floor, the small thought of why she was there broke through his mind and he muttered a small oath. Cuddy smiled crookedly at his uncharacteristic slip.

"Finally remembered the board meeting, huh? I was so ready to ream you out the moment I walked in here. I couldn't imagine anything being so important..." but here she faltered, and stopped. Composing herself after a moment she stood and extended her hand to Wilson. "Come on, get up. It's 4 o'clock and I'm not even going to bother to ask you if you've eaten anything yet today. Let's go grab something and then we can figure out our options."

Wilson felt a light wave of relief wash over him at Cuddy's words (or maybe it was just dizziness). He was no longer alone with his burden. If anyone could still function under pressure it was Lisa, and he obediently slipped on his suit jacket and followed Cuddy out of his office. It was then that the small whisper of memory came at the back of his mind, and a face flashed before his eyes. Shelly. If anyone held the key to options for House it was her. Wilson just needed to get up the nerve to make the call.

-tbc