A/N: Well apparently Firefox and Google Docs don't mix well. I'll have to continue to use Chrome to post this. Sorry about the gobbledy-gook.
2012
House began seeing Doctor Davis every Thursday afternoon at two-thirty. She prescribed an antidepressant for him and once she gained his trust, he told her everything. For an hour each week, he opened up to her about the abuse, his parents, his leg, his relationships with Stacy, Cameron, Cuddy, Wilson, Niamh and Reilly. They discussed the underlying causes of his addiction and how to avoid triggers. She listened and helped him in ways he didn't know were possible. On a Thursday afternoon in August, he admitted he was in love with Reilly.
"Are you going to tell her?" Doctor Davis asked.
"I don't know how."
"You've known her most of your life. How do you want to tell her?"
He shrugged. "I can't just blurt it out. What if she doesn't feel the same way about me?"
"Then we'll deal with that. But, here's a fun question. What if she's in love with you? You said she hasn't dated anyone since her divorce. You have dinner with her every Friday night even if it's just take out in your office. Why not ask her out?"
House sighed. "Fine. I'll ask her out."
Doctor Davis smiled.
As he drove back to the hospital, he grew more excited about the idea of being with Reilly and taking their relationship to a new level. He put a blues CD in the car stereo, turned up the sound and put the top down. He smiled as the wind flowed over him. He parked and rushed into the hospital. He impatiently pushed the elevator button until the doors opened. When he reached the fourth floor, he made his way as quickly as possible to the Diagnostics department. It was empty. He turned and went to check all the areas he knew Reilly liked to go to when she needed some quiet time. She was nowhere to be found. Pulling out his phone, he dialed her number. It went straight to voicemail. He walked to Cuddy's office. He knew the girls were due to return to college soon. Maybe she was out running errands with them.
House flung open the door to Cuddy's office. She was wearing scrubs and pulling on dark blue coveralls with the hospital logo on them.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Crane collapsed on a building in Trenton," she told him. "What do you want?"
"You know where Reilly is?" he asked. "She isn't in any of her usual hidey-holes and she isn't answering her phone. Did she ask for the afternoon off?"
She zipped up the coveralls and grabbed a hair band off her desk. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "No. She's with the rest of your team at the accident site."
House frowned. "I'll come, too."
House pulled up to the crash site. He parked and got out, grabbing his cane as he did. Rows of injured people stretched out as far as he could see. The crane lay on its side and there was a huge crater where a building once stood. Lifting the tape surrounding the scene, he began looking for Reilly. He finally found her crawling out of a hole in a pile of rubble.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as she brushed dust and debris off her dark blue coverall. Dust covered her hair and face. House reached out and brushed it away. He planned to ask her out but now he'd have to wait.
"I'm here to help," he told her.
"Find Doctor Cuddy," she told him. "You can do triage."
"Someone trapped down there?" he asked.
She nodded. "A woman. Her name's Hanna. Her leg is trapped beneath the roof of the parking garage. I'm going to have to amputate."
"Hold on," House told her grabbing her arm. He looked over her shoulder and saw Cuddy. He gave a sharp whistle. Cuddy looked over at them and he inclined his head. She rushed over to them.
"What's going on?" she asked as she approached them.
"Reilly's going to lop off some woman's leg," he told her.
Reilly pulled her arm free of his hold. "It's trapped beneath a pile of rubble. I have to get her out."
"I think we should get the fire chief over here," House told her. "And see if they can get her leg free before you go down there with your big saw and start cutting her up."
Reilly looked at Cuddy who looked at House. "I'll go find the fire marshall," she told them and left.
"What the hell are you doing?" Reilly demanded. "Hanna will die if we don't get her out of there."
"And if we can free her leg, all the better," House told her. Leaning his cane against a pile of rubble, he bent to crawl down the hole.
Reilly shook her head and followed him down.
House crawled along, putting most of his weight on his left leg and trying not to hit his head on the concrete. Finally, the tunnel opened out into a larger area. He still couldn't stand but he could scoot toward the frightened young black woman covered in concrete dust and sit beside her. Reilly checked the IV she started on Hanna and then moved to allow House access to her. He immediately began to examine her leg. Hanna watched watched him with wide, frightened eyes. A hand held lamp hung on a sharp section of rubble. Reilly moved to sit beside him.
"Who are you?" Hanna gasped.
"I'm Greg. I'm a doctor," he told her as he tried to lift the beam pinning down her leg. It didn't budge and some loose concrete slid down.
"Bring the light closer," he told Reilly.
She grabbed the light and held it over Hanna's trapped leg. He knew it was completely crushed. He looked at Reilly. He motioned her to follow him out. Reilly leaned over Hanna and spoke softly to her. Hanna nodded. Reilly and House crawled out and stood next to the hole. All around them medical personnel rushed around tending to patients. Helicopters flew overhead shining bright lights over the destruction. Firefighters and police officers worked to remove the rubble.
"What'd you give her?" House asked.
"IV fluids. Her BP was low," Reilly told him. "The leg is crushed. The longer we wait, the greater the chance she'll die."
"She should be the one to decide that," he told her firmly. "You tell me that often enough."
"She already refused, Greg," Reilly said in frustration. "We're running out of time. She's been down there for at least four hours. I know I say it's the patient's choice but she's going to die if we don't get her out of there. I refuse to let her die!"
Cuddy ran up to them. "The fire marshall is getting men and supplies to move the beam trapping Reilly's patient. They should be here any minute."
"I'm going back down," Reilly told them. "She's scared and alone." Turning, she ducked down and disappeared down the hole. House and Cuddy followed her. When they got to the area where Hanna was trapped, the fire marshall and two men crawled out behind them. The area was crowded so Cuddy went back up to the surface.
House leaned over Hanna. "I know you're in pain," he told her. "But we have to get you out of here. These men are here to try to move the beam off your leg. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Tears coursed through the dust and dirt on her face. "Yes" she gasped. She turned to look at Reilly. "It hurts," she cried. "Can't you put me under or something?"
"I know it does," Reilly said soothingly. "But we need you to be awake. If we sedate you, you might stop breathing. I'm sorry."
"I'm Captain Anderson," the fire marshall whispered to House. "I don't know if this will work. Doc over there said she was going to amputate to get the woman out."
"Well," House whispered back. "At least try this."
"The building is resting on this beam. If we move it too much, everything could come down on top of us," Captain Anderson told him softly.
"Just do it," House hissed.
Anderson crawled over to Hanna and Reilly.
"I'm Captain Anderson," he told them. "We're going to use those airbags to try to lift the beam off your leg. I have to warn you, though, it may bring down more of the building. You want us to try?"
"Yes," Hanna sobbed. "I just want to get out of here and home to my husband."
Anderson nodded and pulled two wooden wedges from the pockets of his coat. He turned on the headlamp on his helmet and the two men with him did the same. The two firefighters began to pump up the airbags wedged beneath the large beam. Captain Anderson pushed wooden wedges beneath it on either side of Hanna's leg. There was a loud creaking sound and then concrete rubble rained down on them. House saw Reilly dive to cover Hanna before everything went black.
When House came to, a weak light spread over the debris covering all of them. Reilly groaned and tried to sit up. House got up on his hands and knees and crawled over to her. He took her arm and helped her sit up. Blood trickled down her face.
"Okay, so that didn't work," he said.
She coughed. "You think?"
"Let me tell her," House said.
"Is everyone okay?" Anderson asked. The two firefighters coughed and told him they were. Reilly nodded at him. House looked down at Hanna. She looked up at him with frightened eyes.
"I don't want to lose my leg," she told him.
"I know. I had a blood clot in mine several years ago. They wanted to amputate and I refused. They cut out a huge chunk of dead muscle. I ended up in pain. That pain changed me. It made me harder. It made me miserable. But my leg wasn't crushed, Hanna. Yours is. Even if we did manage to get it out, you'd develop something called crush syndrome. Trust me, you don't want to go through that. But, if you let Reilly amputate, we can get you out of here and to the hospital. Will you let her cut off your leg so we can get you out of here?"
"Is it really the only option?" she asked.
"I'm afraid so. You saw what happened when they tried to lift the beam."
She began to sob. Then she nodded. "Okay. She can do it."
"Reilly will do it as fast as she can," he told her.
House held Hanna's hand as Reilly amputated her leg. Hanna's screams of pain mixed with the sound of the saw. House noticed that tears ran down Reilly's face and dripped onto Hanna's thigh. When Hanna was free, the medics moved in and took over. Reilly and House followed them out and up to the surface. Hanna's husband was waiting for them beside the ambulance. He rushed forward and took Hanna's hand.
"I'm sorry," she gasped. "I know you love my legs, Charlie."
Charlie leaned down and kissed her. "It doesn't matter," he told her. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she told him.
The medics lifted her into the back of the ambulance. Charlie climbed up and sat beside her. House and Reilly also climbed in and Reilly hooked her up to an IV. She put an oxygen mask over Hanna's nose and mouth. Then she and House hooked Hanna up to the monitors. The siren droned as they sped to the hospital.