I DO NOT OWN HOUSE, M.D.

Saving Wilson

A couple minutes after the call was placed, Foreman and Chase came out of the elevator with a gurney and various medical supplies on it. Once the gurney was stopped and locked into place, they made their way over to House and Wilson. "What do we got?" Foreman dropped to his knees by Wilson.

"Well, if you'd been listening, you would've heard me tell you that Wilson's been shot!"

Foreman, ignoring House's comment, began to assess Wilson. He took out his penlight and lifted Wilson's eyelids to check for any response. "Dr. Wilson, can you hear me?"

"Of course he can't hear you, idiot! He's unconscious!"

"Chase, hand me the first aid kit." Chase grabbed it off the gurney and handed it to Foreman. He grabbed the other supplies and knelt down to help Foreman and House. Foreman handed some gauze and gloves to House. "House, here's some gauze. Put pressure on Wilson's wound." House put on the gloves he was handed and used the gauze to put pressure on Wilson's chest wound. Foreman wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Wilson's left forearm. In the meantime, Chase hung a couple bags of saline, a couple bags of vitamins and minerals, and a bag of blood on the IV poles attached to the gurney. He quickly prepared the tubing for the IV that Foreman inserted into Wilson's left hand. "Come on, Chase! Move faster!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

House looked at them. "Will you two shut up and focus? While you're at it, get more help!" He looked back down at his unconscious friend. "I don't think Wilson's gonna last much longer with just the three of us."

Forman yelled over his shoulder, "We need some help over here!" A few nurses who were at the front desk rushed over.

Cameron, who was at the front desk in the clinic, looked up from her file when she heard commotion in the lobby. Her pager went off and she took it out of her lab coat pocket, reading it. She made a dash to the lobby and saw what the commotion was. Nurses were rushing toward the nook area by the windows. She rushed over as well and saw House, Chase, and Foreman crouched over someone. When she got closer, she saw that it was Wilson. "Oh my god!" She ran over to them. "What happened?"

Foreman said, "Wilson got shot. We're trying to stabilize him." Cameron just seemed frozen to her spot and was speechless. Wilson? Sweet little Wilson? Shot? Her thoughts were interrupted. "Cameron! Don't just stand there! Help!" She snapped out of it and kneeled down to help.

Chase got Wilson hooked up to the portable cardiac monitor and got everything ready. "Okay. Everything's all ready. Lift him on three. One, two, three." Everyone lifted Wilson up, careful not to injure him or nudge anything out, and placed him on the gurney. House checked to see if Wilson's wound stopped bleeding by carefully removing the gauze. When he did, blood started squirting everywhere and the monitor started beeping wildly.

"Dammit!" House climbed onto the gurney and straddled Wilson, putting pressure on his chest wound with fresh gauze. "Come on, we gotta move!" The rails were put up and the brakes were unlocked. "We gotta move now! Go! Go!" They quickly wheeled Wilson away and toward the elevators. Chase started pumping air into Wilson with the bag mask. Foreman ran ahead and pressed the button. The right one opened and he held it. Everyone piled in and the gurney was wheeled in head first. The elevator closed and they waited as it went up. When it stopped on the second floor, the other door opened up and Wilson was wheeled out. He was wheeled down the hallway and everyone was doing their part. Cameron was on the right side, her hand on House's back so he wouldn't fall. Chase and Foreman were on the other side, Chase continuing to pump air into Wilson while Foreman was making sure everything ran smoothly as they were transporting the patient. The cardiac monitor was still beeping wildly.

They rounded a corner and a couple of nurses jumped out of the way from being run over by the gurney that was flying down the hallway. As they were approaching the operating room, House looked up to the three nurses that were helping and said, "Everyone start scrubbing in. Go!" The nurses nodded and went to do as they were told. That left the four doctors, three of them pushing the gurney and one of them putting pressure on his friend to keep him from bleeding out.

The four doctors burst through the doors and parked the gurney by the table. House got off and all four of them transferred Wilson to the table with ease. The three nurses came out, all scrubbed in and ready to go. The four doctors went off to do the same thing. The nurses got Wilson all prepped and ready to go with intubation and everything else. Monitors were set up to read his vitals and various instruments were laid out on the tray table. Everything was all set and good to go. The four doctors came out, all scrubbed up and ready to go too. "Okay everybody. Let's save a life." House limped over to the table. He then started barking orders. "Call the blood bank. Tell them we need two units of O negative blood. Wilson's gonna need a transfusion."

One of the nurses nodded. "Got it."

"Great. Now, as I said a few seconds ago... let's save a life." Then the procedure began. Wilson's chest was cut into first. His ribcage had to be opened up in order to get to his lungs. The amount of excess blood that pooled up made House sick.

Chase said, "There's a lot of blood. I need suction." Foreman handed him the suctioning tool. Chase went ahead and suctioned the excess blood out. After that was done, Cameron helped him work and assess the damage that was done and how severe it was. "Looks like his right lung is punctured. The bullet must've went right through."

Cameron added, "Or it could've got punctured because of a broken rib... which he's got."

"No. That's definitely a puncture wound from the bullet. It must've lodged into his lung. We're gonna have to cut it open to get it."

"Chase, that's a huge risk."

"Well, I can't get it any other way." Chase carefully cut into Wilson's lung. As he did, blood was pooling up. "Cameron, gauze. Now." Cameron quickly grabbed some gauze and helped control the bleeding. Chase picked up the suction tool again and used it to get the blood. As he dug deeper, he said, "Looks like the bullet nicked his pulmonary artery. Crap! We're gonna have to clamp it." Wilson's heart monitor started beeping loudly and franticly.

Cameron turned her head and read Wilson's vitals. "Heart rate's rising!" The numbers were climbing—60, 100, 130, 160, 200, 230. "He's going into cardiac arrest! Paddles!"

Foreman quickly got the defibrillator from behind him and handed the paddles to Cameron. House took the paddles from her. "I've got it. Clear!" Wilson's chest was already open, so it took one shock directly to the heart to get it back to its normal rhythm.

Cameron looked at the monitor. "Heart rate's back to normal now."

House sighed in relief. "Good. Now, get back to work." He backed up and turned around, starting to leave.

"You're not gonna help anymore?"

"Why should I? Looks like you got everything under control." He was about to leave the operating room when he heard the sound he was dreading: a flatline.

Cameron yelled, "He's flatlined! Paddles!" She was about to shock Wilson again, but House took over.

"Give me those! Clear!" He shocked Wilson once, but nothing happened. He said to himself, "Come on, Wilson. Don't do this." He shocked Wilson again. Nothing happened still. He was prepared to do it again, but a little blip was heard on the monitor, followed by another and another. Wilson's heart was beating again. He sighed in relief again. "I take back what I said! It's obvious that you idiots don't know what you're doing!"

Foreman said, "We're doing the best we can, House."

"Well, obviously you're not!"

Chase, who was still deep in Wilson's chest, said, "Everyone, shut up! I'm trying to concentrate." At that moment, he spotted something shiny and looked closer. "Bingo!"

Cameron asked, "You got the bullet?"

"Yeah. Forceps." She handed the instrument over, and he went in to get the bullet. Once he got a hold of it, he pulled it out. "Got it." He examined it like it was a precious artifact. "Pesky little sucker too." He dropped it in a little dish. "That's one."

House asked all snarky, "You guys got this under control this time, right? Cause if so, I'll be going now." He backed up from the table.

Cameron asked, "You're leaving?"

He shrugged. "No reason for me to stay."

She was appalled. "We need you. Wilson is–"

"I don't care." He turned around. "Just page me when you're done." He stormed out of the operating room, all angry. House wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he really did care. He just had a reputation and image to uphold as a manipulative, narcissistic, uncaring bastard.

Chase said, "We can finish up without him." He went back to work.

Meanwhile, House was in his office. He was currently bouncing his tennis ball against the wall, thinking while doing so. He thought about what had happened earlier. If he wasn't there, Wilson would've probably died. If no one was there, Wilson would've definitely died. He shook that thought and all others, before going back to tossing his ball.

Back in the operating room, Chase was now working on getting the second bullet out of Wilson's lower left abdomen. "Looks like the bullet didn't pierce his stomach, but it did nick the bowel and lodged itself in there."

Cameron asked, "Can you get it?"

"Yeah, I think so." He grabbed the forceps again and went to get the bullet. Grabbing it, he pulled it out. "And that's two." He dropped it in the dish with the other one. "Okay, then. Just gotta fix the bowel and then he can be closed up."

The rest of the surgery didn't last much longer and didn't have any more complications... or so they thought. What they didn't know was that there would be one major complication.