Red Snow 10/?
Title: Red Snow (10/?)
Fandom: House, M.D.
Characters/Pairings: House/Cameron
Rating: R
Spoilers: Season 3
Summary: House...Cameron...a snowy night..a crumpled motorcycle....a secret plot?
DISCLAIMER: House, M.D. is the property of Fox and various other corporations
Chapt 1, Chapt 2, Chapt 3, Chapt 4, Chapt 5, Chapt 6, Chapt 7, Chapt 8, Chapt 9,
The whiteboard had been set up per House’s instructions. Cuddy had barged in at one point demanding to know what was going on, but was soon run out by House. He told her who better to solve Cameron’s current medical mystery than himself. She had left with a warning glance to Foreman and Chase that said that they were not to let either patient become overtired. Walking to her office, Cuddy smiled to herself, House being involved with Cameron’s case was just the distraction that he needed, and she knew that once deeply involved it would take no less than an act of God to get him out of the hospital. Perfect.
It had been several hours of hashing out Cameron’s symptoms, Chase had been productive although quieter than usual. He had had a hard time meeting Cameron’s eyes when he had drawn her blood earlier. House had watched it all in interest, he had kept his promise though, he hadn’t thrown their relationship into Chase’s face. Cameron had noticed it too.
“Alright, well, we’ll have to wait until tomorrow for some of the test to be conclusive. Start her on a broad spectrum of antibiotics.” He looked over at Cameron, she had already fallen asleep. She looked so peaceful, he could almost forget the seriousness of her situation. He turned his attention back to his remaining team. “You two should head home, I’ll need you in here bright and early tomorrow morning with fresh ideas.”
“Do you need help getting back to your room?” It had been Foreman that spoke, Chase stopped by the door to look toward him, but didn’t offer any help. House couldn’t help but be intrigued by the expression on Chase’s face, Envy, hate, jealousy, or…guilt?
“House?” He shook his head.
“Nope, I’ll get back. Just get those antibiotics ordered. Once they’ve been administered, I’ll head back to my own room.” He’d need help getting back, but he didn’t want to head back yet, he wanted to sit with Cameron and watch her sleep. Foreman nodded and they both left. A nurse came in shortly after they left and hung a bag of antibiotics. House watched her silently. Once she left, he again maneuvered his chair close to Cameron’s bed and took her hand in his, holding it lightly, his thumb drawing circles on the back of her hand. He thought about his parent’s visit in the morning, there wasn’t any way to get out of seeing them, but he could at least make it as short as possible.
He closed his eyes for a second, god, he was exhausted. Before he knew it, someone was shaking him awake. He woke up and squinted his eyes, groggy from sleep. The first thing he noticed was that he was still holding Cameron’s hand, he let her hand go. She was still sound asleep. Wilson was smiling at him.
“Hey, let’s get you back to your bed.” His voice low to keep from disturbing Cameron.
“What time is it? How did you know I was still in here?” Wilson had managed to deftly guide the wheelchair out of the room and was headed down the hall before he answered.
“Foreman called me about an hour ago and let me know that you were still in Cameron’s room, and then about ten minutes ago, the nurse said that you had been sleeping in your chair for about 30 minutes and would I mind coming down and getting you back to your own bed.”
“Ahhhh, so now you’re moonlighting as an orderly to supplement your income, alimony finally got you, huh?”
“No, it’s just that the nurses don’t get paid combat duty and they didn’t want to risk their lives waking you. You do realize what a miserable, cranky, rude, mean, obnoxious….”
“Ok, I get the idea, I’m not the best patient…”
“Actually, I think that I was talking about how you are towards the nursing staff on a daily basis.”
“Ha” House was quiet until they got back to his room. He let Wilson help him back into bed. The movement had cost him, he could feel his leg give him a tug of protest.
“That vicodin handy, Jimmy?” Two appeared in his hand, he threw them into his mouth and dry swallowed them with practice, closing his eyes waiting for them to take effect. He felt a blood pressure cuff on his arm, and opened his eyes to see the floor nurse taking his vitals. He was too tired to protest, much to the delight of said nurse.
“Dr. House?” She woke him from dozing. “I need to change the catheter bag,” He just nodded as she and Wilson maneuvered him so that she could get it un-taped from his leg. She had a concerned look on her face when she had the bag in her hand. Wilson caught her gaze as she held up the bag, there was barely any urine in it.
“Hang a bad of 9% sodium chloride to get him re-hydrated.” Wilson shook House awake again.
“House. House, wake up.”
“WHAT?” One eye opening to send a piercing blue stare at Wilson.
“How was your fluid intake today?”
“Normal I guess, I don’t know. Why?”
“You’re a little dehydrated. I’m hanging a bag of sodium chloride.” The nurse was pointing something out in his chart to Wilson. “You’re also running a low grade fever.”
This sentence brought House fully awake again.
“Wilson, pull my blood and submit it for the same tests that we have scheduled for Cameron.” Wilson held his hand up.
“Ok, I’ll have her draw your blood, and have it sent to the lab. You need to sleep now. How’s your leg? Do you need anything to help you sleep?” He wrote something in he chart and by the time that he even finished his question and looked up, House was asleep. Wilson ran a hand behind his neck, What the hell was going on? With one last look at his sleeping friend, he headed toward his office to make a phone call to Cuddy. He couldn’t shake the feeling that both House and Cameron’s fevers were related.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Foreman watched as a late Dr. Chase arrived for the day looking a little rumpled, but with a bounce in his step. It was irritating…their co-workers, their friends were currently hospitalized with a fever of unknown origin..and he came bouncing in without a care in the world and late. “Nice of you to finally show up.”
“Hey, I’m only five minutes late, give me a break.”
“Maybe you don’t understand the gravity of the situation.”
Chase spun around to face Foreman. “Of course I understand! But I can’t live my whole life here, not anymore. I’m not you or House or Cameron, I have to have some distractions outside of this, outside of them.” Chase looked down, and Foreman didn’t know what to say. He knew that Chase still cared about Cameron and seeing her with House, it killed him.
“Chase, she’s happy.” Chase only nodded at that. “We need to draw some more blood. House is running a low grade fever which presented last night, but might have been present for longer - “
“Vicodin”
Foreman nodded in response, “He could have manifested the fever first and we would have never known. We need to draw more blood, I’ll check on House and you check on Cameron. She’s been on antibiotics all night, maybe she’ll show some improvement.”
MDMDMDMDMDMD
House was awoken by a needle prick into his arm. “Hey!” It was meant to come out gruff, but came out as a hoarse whisper. He squinted his eyes open, wanting to bring his good arm up to wipe the sleep from his eyes, only to find that it was restrained. He looked at the offender, a sheepish Foreman was drawing blood.
He didn’t wait for House to voice the question. “We’re starting you on the same broad spectrum antibiotics that Cameron is on until we can figure out what this is. How are you feeling?”
“Tired.” He closed his eyes and took a breath. “My head is killing me, and I’m feeling a little bit nauseous. Any change with Cameron?”
Foreman was looking at House’s arm, concern etched his features. “Did you notice this rash last night?”
House looked over at the arm that Foreman was holding, there was a large red rash on his forearm, and then shook his head no, instantly regretting the action.
“We think that you’ve had the same low grade fever as Cameron, but your vicodin intake masked it, controlling the fever.” He gave Foreman an irritated look.
“I know what vicodin does.” He sat up in bed, “When did Cameron’s fever show up? She didn’t have one before yesterday?”
“No, all of her vitals were fine before yesterday. What are you thinking?”
“That I had the fever before she did.” He looked up to where his IV was hanging, “Have you started me on antibiotics yet?” Foreman shook his head.
“Don’t.”
“House, what are you talking about?”
“I’ll be the control so that we can figure this out. Cameron needs to have that surgery sooner than later.” He closed his eyes, the light was too bright in the room. “Any theories. I mean we could have both picked up the infection here.” Foreman shook his head.
“Did the blood tests show anything?”
“Not yet. We’re taking more blood from both of you this morning.” Foreman took a deep breath before he continued, he knew that the next thing he was about to bring up was going to be an uphill battle. “Cuddy thinks that maybe the two of you should take it easy and not be part of the differential.”
“Not happening.” He was getting ready to continue when the door to his room slid open admitting Wilson followed closely by his parents. His mother came to his bedside and gave him a heartfelt if not awkward hug. She was treating him as if he was glass.
“I’ll let you know about the results.” With that parting statement, Foreman left.
“Mom, I’m not going to break, I’m fine. You shouldn’t worry.” His mother took his hand and squeezed it.
“I’m your mother, I’m allowed to worry. It’s in my job description.” She looked over at her husband smiling, “He looks much better today, doesn’t he John?” House chanced a fleeting glance at his father who had taken a chair in the corner of the room. It was just as it was in his childhood, his mother cheery, pointing out the good and his father waiting to catch him alone to let him know that it really wasn’t.
His mother could sense the tension automatically, how could she not, she had been their family’s stress barometer for 47 years. “John, why don’t you run down and get us both a coffee and a roll. I think it would be nice to sit and have breakfast with Greg.” At this last comment, she turned to House, “Dr. Wilson said that they should have your breakfast in here in about ten minutes, we could eat with you.” Wilson nodded toward House and then followed the Colonel out into the hall.
His father nodded his head and then left for presumably the cafeteria. “Mom, I’m working a case, so I won’t have a lot of time to visit. Dr. Cameron is getting ready for surgery, and we need to resolve her fever in order for that to happen.” A quick flash of disappointment appeared on Blythe’s face, but it faded so quickly, that House wasn’t sure if it had been there or not.
“Please, it will make the difference if she’ll ever walk again.” He reached over and patted his mother’s hand.
The Colonel appeared in the doorway with Wilson in tow, each of them carrying a tray.
”Hey, I figured that you would probably never eat what they were bound to bring you, so I brought you pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs.” He laid the tray on the table in front of House and then helped him adjust the bed so that he could easily eat.
“Coffee?” House sounded irritated.
Wilson was just getting ready to speak when the Colonel interrupted him, “Can’t you ever be grateful for anything?” It was the first time that he had spoken to his son since the day before.
House froze, his appetite disappearing under his father’s gaze. He put his fork down, the whole tray looked positively unappealing to him.
Wilson watched the interaction with interest, then spoke to break the tension. “Hey, I wanted to bring you some coffee but your attending physician gave it a ‘nay’ because of your dehydration”
“Ahh, the evil Dr. Cuddy.” House smirked a little at Wilson, but still didn’t touch his food. The Colonel didn’t seem to have a problem, he ate with vigor, as if the confrontation with his son had energized him. Blythe was picking on her muffin, sipping at her coffee watching her son.
“Greg, you need to eat.”
“I’m not too hungry this morning, the nurses actually brought me the floor breakfast early and then I fell back to sleep.” He didn’t meet her eyes when he said it. She didn’t believe him, but she also didn’t want to upset him further.
“Why didn’t you say something? We wouldn’t have wasted the time, money and energy on that tray.” House’s posture became tense, and his left hand came touched his right leg. It was the beginning of a spasm and the last thing that he needed in that room when that happened were his parents.
Before he could say anything, two pills appeared in a cup on his tray. He swallowed them dry, and closed his eyes briefly, waiting for the medicine to take effect. When he opened them, he could see the stern look his father was giving him.
“WHAT?!” Wilson jumped at the sound of House’s voice. The Colonel had looked up, his ice blue eyes meeting his son’s.
“Nothing. You’ve let this” he waved his hand, his voice was low, calm when he spoke, “beat you, turn you into an addict, not that I’m surprised. You’ve always looked for the easy way out.” Wilson could see House’s face turning red, Blythe was staring wide eyed, the cup in her hands was trembling, drops of coffee spilling on her lap, she didn’t even notice.
”I think that it would be best if you let Hou-Greg rest now. He is working on a case, we are just waiting for test results to come back.”
House finally broke his father’s gaze and looked down at the discarded breakfast in front of him. He needed to refocus, and not let that man control him. He could hear them gathering their things, and could practically feel his father’s anger radiating from across the room. Before he knew it, he felt the calming presence of his mother standing next to him, her hand on his arm.
“We’d better go, Greg. Call me in a few days to let me know how you’re doing, please?”
House nodded his head and then looked out the window, hearing the door open and close. He looked around the room, he was alone. Wilson must have followed his parent’s out. Wilson, the great peacekeeper, was probably apologizing for his behavior. House readjusted the bed and closed his eyes, he was so tired. A nap would serve two purposes, refresh him and most importantly, save him from another Wilson sermon on the ‘evils of being a misanthrope s.o.b.’ His last thought before sleep claimed him was of Allison, and it was that thought that eased him into a dreamless sleep.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Wilson had followed the elder Houses out into the hallway. The Colonel hadn’t said anything that Wilson basically hadn’t told House himself before, but it was the way that he said it. He knew that it was the pain that dictated his friend’s life, and the fear of failure probably even more so, when those two were combined together, it was a deadly combination.
“What was that? He’s injured, in pain, and you’re goading him into a fight?”
Both parents stopped, John House just looked at Wilson, mouth agape, as if surprised that anyone would have the audacity to question his motives….his authority, especially where his son was concerned.
“It’s none of your concern. His anger toward me will end up spurring him on to recovery. The more anger that he has, the more his pushes himself to prove me wrong.” Blythe remained quiet next to her husband.
“Mrs. House, surely you don’t believe that is the case.”
“Let’s go, Blythe.” Again, the Colonel held his hand in the small of her back, guiding her toward the elevators. She turned, almost reluctantly, towards Wilson and gave a small smile. It was a smile of resignation.
Wilson went back to the room, shaking his head in disbelief. He opened the door, posed to say something comforting or humorous to House, but found that his friend had gone back to sleep. He checked his vitals, he was still running a low temperature, otherwise everything looked good, until he checked the catheter bag, it was still low. After two bags of fluids, it should be filling up. He wrote on the chart and then ordered another bag of saline. He could feel his pager vibrating on his hip, it read simply one word, “CUDDY”.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Cameron awoke similar to House with Chase poking and prodding her to draw more blood. “God, Chase, get a nurse in here, you suck at this.”
“Hey, I can’t help it if you have rolling veins! Be happy that I’m up here and not Foreman, we had to paper, rock, scissors on who got to get House’s blood….”, Chase grinned wide, “he lost.” Cameron smiled at their antics, and was sure that House wouldn’t be too happy if Foreman couldn’t draw his blood the first time around.
“Wait why are you taking his blood?”
“Well, House developed a fever last night. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Same. I’m guessing that the bloodwork must have been inconclusive if you are taking more blood.”
“The good news is that the antibiotics seem to be working, your fever is gone. We haven’t found anything, but maybe testing both your and House’s blood we can narrow down what caused it. Actually, Foreman is thinking that House had the infection first and then passed it to you. The fever didn’t show because of his vicodin intake. It hid the symptoms from us.”
Chase seemed uneasy when he spoke of their boss. Cameron knew that he was uncomfortable with her relationship with House. She watched him as he put a bandage where he had drawn her blood. His hands lingering a little longer and then he stood up and smiled at her, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Cuddy wanted me to let you know that the police will be here this afternoon to question you and House about the accident.” He paused and sat in the chair next to her bed. “I know that it will be hard, do you remember much?”
Cameron closed her eyes for a second, trying to visualize, to force her mind to remember. She opened them, and found that Chase was watching her, his gaze intense, yet unreadable.
“The last thing I remember was the car coming up fast behind us….and then nothing until I woke up here.”
He watched her for a minute and let out a breath. “I have to know Cameron, does..”, he paused and rubbed his hand over his face, “This thing with you….with House, is it serious? Does he treat it seriously or is it a game with him?”
Cameron smiled, she knew that Chase still had feelings for her. “Yes, I think that it’s serious. And House…well, he’s House, but when he is with me, he’s different. I think that he is treading carefully, but it isn’t a game, that much I know.” Chase nodded once and got up to leave. “Chase?” He turned to look at her. “Thanks for being such a good friend.” For a moment, a looked passed over his face that she couldn’t identify, but it faded and he smiled.
“Foreman and I will be up after we get the test results. House should be here by then, and maybe we can work it out so that you can get your surgery scheduled.”
As Cameron watched him leave, she had a nagging feeling that he was hiding something.
MDMDMDMDMD
House awoke with a start, breathing hard. The room was dark, pitch black. His eyes were wide trying to draw in light. He moved his hand toward the edge of the bed and felt someone there, he gasped, and moved toward the other side of the bed. The light came on, and he shielded his eyes from it’s brightness. Cameron looked up at him, her hair messy, eyes squinting at him in concern.
“Greg?” When he backed away toward the headboard of the bed, she became fully awake, “Greg, what’s wrong?”
“I’m dreaming, or was dreaming.” His voice was barely above a whisper, he shook his head, rubbing his forehead with his right hand and then laughed a little nervously. She moved toward him on the bed, her hand coming up to cup his cheek, his hand covering hers. “You’re alright. Really alright.” He pulled her to him, holding her tightly. A wave of relief rushing through him as he held her tight, nuzzling his face into her neck, kissing her lightly there. She returned the embrace, he was scaring her a little. It was obvious that he had had a nightmare, he’d had them before, but none of them had affected him this deeply. His let out a shaky breath that he hadn’t known that he was holding.
Cameron pulled back from his embrace so that she could look at him face to face, she kissed him lightly on the lips and then lowered her forehead to his. “I’m fine. You’re fine. Everything’s fine.” She smiled and straddled him, on her knees she put her hands on both sides of his face and then leaned in, her lips met his, her tongue gently caressing his lips, until they opened. He could feel her fingers brushing gently through the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him even closer. Her warm naked body against his body, her wetness against his growing erection. He moaned into her mouth as their kiss intensified. He gasped, something wasn’t right. Cameron pulled back, concern written on her face.
”What’s going on? Is it your leg?” He shook his head, grimacing, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, Cameron was standing across the room, a sweet smile on her face, her body bathed in the moonlight, he smiled back.....
“Cameron?” He whispered, a small smile playing on his lips, he opened his eyes to the dimmed light of a hospital room. Dammit.
He grimaced when he realized that the catheter combined with his excitement was causing his discomfort. It didn’t help that Wilson was standing next to his bed with a big stupid grin on his face. “Good dream?” House couldn’t help the blush that crept up his face.
“Wilson…”, he tried to put as much menace as he could in his voice, where was his cane when he needed it, Wilson’s shins were just begging to be whacked.
“I’m just saying, that you should be careful, did you know that you talk in your sleep? Be glad it was me standing here and not Nurse Brenda”, and evil grin lit his face, “or better Cuddy.”
House rolled his eyes, “What time is it?”
“It’s around 2.”
“What?! Why didn’t you wake me up? I promised Allison that I would be there for the differential.” He was pushing the blankets down and trying to unhook all of the plugs that were attached to him.
“Whoa, House.” His hands moving to his friends shoulders. “Cameron is fine, her fever is gone, the antibiotics seemed to have done the trick. She’s more worried about you. I started you on the same antibiotics, in fact, the nurse just hung the second bag. We just got your fever under control about a half an hour ago. I didn’t wake you because you weren’t sleeping …you were unconscious.” House pushed Wilson’s hands off of him, eyeing him suspiciously.
“How do I know that this isn’t really the dream?” His eyes were glassy from the fever.
Wilson held his hands up in defeat. “It’s not, you’re just going to have to trust me on that. How are you feeling? You aren’t responding as quickly as I would like.” He watched as House closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, his complexion had gone pale. “Hey, talk to me.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” It was barely audible through his gritted teeth, Wilson grabbed the emesis dish next to his bed and helped his friend turn to his side as he emptied his stomach. He could see down the scrub top with House turned toward him and alarms went off, the rash had spread all the way down his back. Wilson pushed the call key and within moments a nurse had appeared at the door.
“I need you to page Drs. Cuddy, Foreman, and Chase, immediately.” He looked back down at House, his dry heaves had stopped, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his body from the effort. Wilson could feel the heat radiating from him, why aren’t the antibiotics working like they had for Cameron? He’s on his second bag. House shivered underneath his hands as he helped him lie down on his back, his teeth slightly chattering.
“I’m fr-freezing, Oh GOD, my head - .” House closed his eyes, his hand going to his head, what was happening?
Wilson grabbed the blanket from the end of the bed and covered his friend, trying to remain the doctor. He had just grabbed the digital thermometer from the side of the bed and put it in House’s mouth to get his temp, he looked up at them but before he could say anything, the machine beeped. His eyes widened at the display….104. Cuddy had just entered the room, closely followed by Chase and Foreman.
“We’ve got to get some ice bags in here! He’s burning up, his fever just spiked to 104.”
Cuddy looked at him in disbelief. “That’s impossible, you just said that his fever was under control!”
“I know what I said, but now it’s not.”
“Hey….I’m r-right h-here.” Both Cuddy and Wilson turned to see a chattering House looking at them, trying to scowl but failing miserably. His eyes rolled back into his head as he lost consciousness.
Foreman and Chase both came in with ice packs, a nurse following them with a cart full. They both began placing them all over House, emptying some of the ice directly on him to try to bring the fever down.
MDMDMDMDMDMDMD
Cameron had paged everyone that she could think of, yet no one had answered her. She had even resorted to putting a 911 on Wilson’s pager, but a nurse appeared in his stead to make sure that she was alright. It was at this point that she lost her temper.
“Where is Dr. Wilson?”, the nurse had the decency to look a little flustered. “I want to know what’s going and I want to know it right now!”
“Dr. Cameron…you’re not supposed to get excited, too much activity - “, the nurse barely had time to duck as a cup that had been sitting near Cameron flew towards her head. She ducked out, no matter what, she wasn’t going to go back into that room. She could still hear Dr. Cameron shouting from inside her room from the nurses station. “Dr. Wilson, I think that you had better get down here.” She snapped her head up just in time to see the pitcher of water hitting the glass door, “And you’d better hurry before Dr. Cameron takes the room apart.” A second floor nurse had joined her at the desk. “Dr. House and Dr. Cameron…surprisingly…made for each other.”
TBC
Chapter 11
Fandom: House, M.D.
Characters/Pairings: House/Cameron
Rating: R
Spoilers: Season 3
Summary: House...Cameron...a snowy night..a crumpled motorcycle....a secret plot?
DISCLAIMER: House, M.D. is the property of Fox and various other corporations
Chapt 1, Chapt 2, Chapt 3, Chapt 4, Chapt 5, Chapt 6, Chapt 7, Chapt 8, Chapt 9,
The whiteboard had been set up per House’s instructions. Cuddy had barged in at one point demanding to know what was going on, but was soon run out by House. He told her who better to solve Cameron’s current medical mystery than himself. She had left with a warning glance to Foreman and Chase that said that they were not to let either patient become overtired. Walking to her office, Cuddy smiled to herself, House being involved with Cameron’s case was just the distraction that he needed, and she knew that once deeply involved it would take no less than an act of God to get him out of the hospital. Perfect.
It had been several hours of hashing out Cameron’s symptoms, Chase had been productive although quieter than usual. He had had a hard time meeting Cameron’s eyes when he had drawn her blood earlier. House had watched it all in interest, he had kept his promise though, he hadn’t thrown their relationship into Chase’s face. Cameron had noticed it too.
“Alright, well, we’ll have to wait until tomorrow for some of the test to be conclusive. Start her on a broad spectrum of antibiotics.” He looked over at Cameron, she had already fallen asleep. She looked so peaceful, he could almost forget the seriousness of her situation. He turned his attention back to his remaining team. “You two should head home, I’ll need you in here bright and early tomorrow morning with fresh ideas.”
“Do you need help getting back to your room?” It had been Foreman that spoke, Chase stopped by the door to look toward him, but didn’t offer any help. House couldn’t help but be intrigued by the expression on Chase’s face, Envy, hate, jealousy, or…guilt?
“House?” He shook his head.
“Nope, I’ll get back. Just get those antibiotics ordered. Once they’ve been administered, I’ll head back to my own room.” He’d need help getting back, but he didn’t want to head back yet, he wanted to sit with Cameron and watch her sleep. Foreman nodded and they both left. A nurse came in shortly after they left and hung a bag of antibiotics. House watched her silently. Once she left, he again maneuvered his chair close to Cameron’s bed and took her hand in his, holding it lightly, his thumb drawing circles on the back of her hand. He thought about his parent’s visit in the morning, there wasn’t any way to get out of seeing them, but he could at least make it as short as possible.
He closed his eyes for a second, god, he was exhausted. Before he knew it, someone was shaking him awake. He woke up and squinted his eyes, groggy from sleep. The first thing he noticed was that he was still holding Cameron’s hand, he let her hand go. She was still sound asleep. Wilson was smiling at him.
“Hey, let’s get you back to your bed.” His voice low to keep from disturbing Cameron.
“What time is it? How did you know I was still in here?” Wilson had managed to deftly guide the wheelchair out of the room and was headed down the hall before he answered.
“Foreman called me about an hour ago and let me know that you were still in Cameron’s room, and then about ten minutes ago, the nurse said that you had been sleeping in your chair for about 30 minutes and would I mind coming down and getting you back to your own bed.”
“Ahhhh, so now you’re moonlighting as an orderly to supplement your income, alimony finally got you, huh?”
“No, it’s just that the nurses don’t get paid combat duty and they didn’t want to risk their lives waking you. You do realize what a miserable, cranky, rude, mean, obnoxious….”
“Ok, I get the idea, I’m not the best patient…”
“Actually, I think that I was talking about how you are towards the nursing staff on a daily basis.”
“Ha” House was quiet until they got back to his room. He let Wilson help him back into bed. The movement had cost him, he could feel his leg give him a tug of protest.
“That vicodin handy, Jimmy?” Two appeared in his hand, he threw them into his mouth and dry swallowed them with practice, closing his eyes waiting for them to take effect. He felt a blood pressure cuff on his arm, and opened his eyes to see the floor nurse taking his vitals. He was too tired to protest, much to the delight of said nurse.
“Dr. House?” She woke him from dozing. “I need to change the catheter bag,” He just nodded as she and Wilson maneuvered him so that she could get it un-taped from his leg. She had a concerned look on her face when she had the bag in her hand. Wilson caught her gaze as she held up the bag, there was barely any urine in it.
“Hang a bad of 9% sodium chloride to get him re-hydrated.” Wilson shook House awake again.
“House. House, wake up.”
“WHAT?” One eye opening to send a piercing blue stare at Wilson.
“How was your fluid intake today?”
“Normal I guess, I don’t know. Why?”
“You’re a little dehydrated. I’m hanging a bag of sodium chloride.” The nurse was pointing something out in his chart to Wilson. “You’re also running a low grade fever.”
This sentence brought House fully awake again.
“Wilson, pull my blood and submit it for the same tests that we have scheduled for Cameron.” Wilson held his hand up.
“Ok, I’ll have her draw your blood, and have it sent to the lab. You need to sleep now. How’s your leg? Do you need anything to help you sleep?” He wrote something in he chart and by the time that he even finished his question and looked up, House was asleep. Wilson ran a hand behind his neck, What the hell was going on? With one last look at his sleeping friend, he headed toward his office to make a phone call to Cuddy. He couldn’t shake the feeling that both House and Cameron’s fevers were related.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Foreman watched as a late Dr. Chase arrived for the day looking a little rumpled, but with a bounce in his step. It was irritating…their co-workers, their friends were currently hospitalized with a fever of unknown origin..and he came bouncing in without a care in the world and late. “Nice of you to finally show up.”
“Hey, I’m only five minutes late, give me a break.”
“Maybe you don’t understand the gravity of the situation.”
Chase spun around to face Foreman. “Of course I understand! But I can’t live my whole life here, not anymore. I’m not you or House or Cameron, I have to have some distractions outside of this, outside of them.” Chase looked down, and Foreman didn’t know what to say. He knew that Chase still cared about Cameron and seeing her with House, it killed him.
“Chase, she’s happy.” Chase only nodded at that. “We need to draw some more blood. House is running a low grade fever which presented last night, but might have been present for longer - “
“Vicodin”
Foreman nodded in response, “He could have manifested the fever first and we would have never known. We need to draw more blood, I’ll check on House and you check on Cameron. She’s been on antibiotics all night, maybe she’ll show some improvement.”
MDMDMDMDMDMD
House was awoken by a needle prick into his arm. “Hey!” It was meant to come out gruff, but came out as a hoarse whisper. He squinted his eyes open, wanting to bring his good arm up to wipe the sleep from his eyes, only to find that it was restrained. He looked at the offender, a sheepish Foreman was drawing blood.
He didn’t wait for House to voice the question. “We’re starting you on the same broad spectrum antibiotics that Cameron is on until we can figure out what this is. How are you feeling?”
“Tired.” He closed his eyes and took a breath. “My head is killing me, and I’m feeling a little bit nauseous. Any change with Cameron?”
Foreman was looking at House’s arm, concern etched his features. “Did you notice this rash last night?”
House looked over at the arm that Foreman was holding, there was a large red rash on his forearm, and then shook his head no, instantly regretting the action.
“We think that you’ve had the same low grade fever as Cameron, but your vicodin intake masked it, controlling the fever.” He gave Foreman an irritated look.
“I know what vicodin does.” He sat up in bed, “When did Cameron’s fever show up? She didn’t have one before yesterday?”
“No, all of her vitals were fine before yesterday. What are you thinking?”
“That I had the fever before she did.” He looked up to where his IV was hanging, “Have you started me on antibiotics yet?” Foreman shook his head.
“Don’t.”
“House, what are you talking about?”
“I’ll be the control so that we can figure this out. Cameron needs to have that surgery sooner than later.” He closed his eyes, the light was too bright in the room. “Any theories. I mean we could have both picked up the infection here.” Foreman shook his head.
“Did the blood tests show anything?”
“Not yet. We’re taking more blood from both of you this morning.” Foreman took a deep breath before he continued, he knew that the next thing he was about to bring up was going to be an uphill battle. “Cuddy thinks that maybe the two of you should take it easy and not be part of the differential.”
“Not happening.” He was getting ready to continue when the door to his room slid open admitting Wilson followed closely by his parents. His mother came to his bedside and gave him a heartfelt if not awkward hug. She was treating him as if he was glass.
“I’ll let you know about the results.” With that parting statement, Foreman left.
“Mom, I’m not going to break, I’m fine. You shouldn’t worry.” His mother took his hand and squeezed it.
“I’m your mother, I’m allowed to worry. It’s in my job description.” She looked over at her husband smiling, “He looks much better today, doesn’t he John?” House chanced a fleeting glance at his father who had taken a chair in the corner of the room. It was just as it was in his childhood, his mother cheery, pointing out the good and his father waiting to catch him alone to let him know that it really wasn’t.
His mother could sense the tension automatically, how could she not, she had been their family’s stress barometer for 47 years. “John, why don’t you run down and get us both a coffee and a roll. I think it would be nice to sit and have breakfast with Greg.” At this last comment, she turned to House, “Dr. Wilson said that they should have your breakfast in here in about ten minutes, we could eat with you.” Wilson nodded toward House and then followed the Colonel out into the hall.
His father nodded his head and then left for presumably the cafeteria. “Mom, I’m working a case, so I won’t have a lot of time to visit. Dr. Cameron is getting ready for surgery, and we need to resolve her fever in order for that to happen.” A quick flash of disappointment appeared on Blythe’s face, but it faded so quickly, that House wasn’t sure if it had been there or not.
“Please, it will make the difference if she’ll ever walk again.” He reached over and patted his mother’s hand.
The Colonel appeared in the doorway with Wilson in tow, each of them carrying a tray.
”Hey, I figured that you would probably never eat what they were bound to bring you, so I brought you pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs.” He laid the tray on the table in front of House and then helped him adjust the bed so that he could easily eat.
“Coffee?” House sounded irritated.
Wilson was just getting ready to speak when the Colonel interrupted him, “Can’t you ever be grateful for anything?” It was the first time that he had spoken to his son since the day before.
House froze, his appetite disappearing under his father’s gaze. He put his fork down, the whole tray looked positively unappealing to him.
Wilson watched the interaction with interest, then spoke to break the tension. “Hey, I wanted to bring you some coffee but your attending physician gave it a ‘nay’ because of your dehydration”
“Ahh, the evil Dr. Cuddy.” House smirked a little at Wilson, but still didn’t touch his food. The Colonel didn’t seem to have a problem, he ate with vigor, as if the confrontation with his son had energized him. Blythe was picking on her muffin, sipping at her coffee watching her son.
“Greg, you need to eat.”
“I’m not too hungry this morning, the nurses actually brought me the floor breakfast early and then I fell back to sleep.” He didn’t meet her eyes when he said it. She didn’t believe him, but she also didn’t want to upset him further.
“Why didn’t you say something? We wouldn’t have wasted the time, money and energy on that tray.” House’s posture became tense, and his left hand came touched his right leg. It was the beginning of a spasm and the last thing that he needed in that room when that happened were his parents.
Before he could say anything, two pills appeared in a cup on his tray. He swallowed them dry, and closed his eyes briefly, waiting for the medicine to take effect. When he opened them, he could see the stern look his father was giving him.
“WHAT?!” Wilson jumped at the sound of House’s voice. The Colonel had looked up, his ice blue eyes meeting his son’s.
“Nothing. You’ve let this” he waved his hand, his voice was low, calm when he spoke, “beat you, turn you into an addict, not that I’m surprised. You’ve always looked for the easy way out.” Wilson could see House’s face turning red, Blythe was staring wide eyed, the cup in her hands was trembling, drops of coffee spilling on her lap, she didn’t even notice.
”I think that it would be best if you let Hou-Greg rest now. He is working on a case, we are just waiting for test results to come back.”
House finally broke his father’s gaze and looked down at the discarded breakfast in front of him. He needed to refocus, and not let that man control him. He could hear them gathering their things, and could practically feel his father’s anger radiating from across the room. Before he knew it, he felt the calming presence of his mother standing next to him, her hand on his arm.
“We’d better go, Greg. Call me in a few days to let me know how you’re doing, please?”
House nodded his head and then looked out the window, hearing the door open and close. He looked around the room, he was alone. Wilson must have followed his parent’s out. Wilson, the great peacekeeper, was probably apologizing for his behavior. House readjusted the bed and closed his eyes, he was so tired. A nap would serve two purposes, refresh him and most importantly, save him from another Wilson sermon on the ‘evils of being a misanthrope s.o.b.’ His last thought before sleep claimed him was of Allison, and it was that thought that eased him into a dreamless sleep.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Wilson had followed the elder Houses out into the hallway. The Colonel hadn’t said anything that Wilson basically hadn’t told House himself before, but it was the way that he said it. He knew that it was the pain that dictated his friend’s life, and the fear of failure probably even more so, when those two were combined together, it was a deadly combination.
“What was that? He’s injured, in pain, and you’re goading him into a fight?”
Both parents stopped, John House just looked at Wilson, mouth agape, as if surprised that anyone would have the audacity to question his motives….his authority, especially where his son was concerned.
“It’s none of your concern. His anger toward me will end up spurring him on to recovery. The more anger that he has, the more his pushes himself to prove me wrong.” Blythe remained quiet next to her husband.
“Mrs. House, surely you don’t believe that is the case.”
“Let’s go, Blythe.” Again, the Colonel held his hand in the small of her back, guiding her toward the elevators. She turned, almost reluctantly, towards Wilson and gave a small smile. It was a smile of resignation.
Wilson went back to the room, shaking his head in disbelief. He opened the door, posed to say something comforting or humorous to House, but found that his friend had gone back to sleep. He checked his vitals, he was still running a low temperature, otherwise everything looked good, until he checked the catheter bag, it was still low. After two bags of fluids, it should be filling up. He wrote on the chart and then ordered another bag of saline. He could feel his pager vibrating on his hip, it read simply one word, “CUDDY”.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Cameron awoke similar to House with Chase poking and prodding her to draw more blood. “God, Chase, get a nurse in here, you suck at this.”
“Hey, I can’t help it if you have rolling veins! Be happy that I’m up here and not Foreman, we had to paper, rock, scissors on who got to get House’s blood….”, Chase grinned wide, “he lost.” Cameron smiled at their antics, and was sure that House wouldn’t be too happy if Foreman couldn’t draw his blood the first time around.
“Wait why are you taking his blood?”
“Well, House developed a fever last night. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Same. I’m guessing that the bloodwork must have been inconclusive if you are taking more blood.”
“The good news is that the antibiotics seem to be working, your fever is gone. We haven’t found anything, but maybe testing both your and House’s blood we can narrow down what caused it. Actually, Foreman is thinking that House had the infection first and then passed it to you. The fever didn’t show because of his vicodin intake. It hid the symptoms from us.”
Chase seemed uneasy when he spoke of their boss. Cameron knew that he was uncomfortable with her relationship with House. She watched him as he put a bandage where he had drawn her blood. His hands lingering a little longer and then he stood up and smiled at her, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Cuddy wanted me to let you know that the police will be here this afternoon to question you and House about the accident.” He paused and sat in the chair next to her bed. “I know that it will be hard, do you remember much?”
Cameron closed her eyes for a second, trying to visualize, to force her mind to remember. She opened them, and found that Chase was watching her, his gaze intense, yet unreadable.
“The last thing I remember was the car coming up fast behind us….and then nothing until I woke up here.”
He watched her for a minute and let out a breath. “I have to know Cameron, does..”, he paused and rubbed his hand over his face, “This thing with you….with House, is it serious? Does he treat it seriously or is it a game with him?”
Cameron smiled, she knew that Chase still had feelings for her. “Yes, I think that it’s serious. And House…well, he’s House, but when he is with me, he’s different. I think that he is treading carefully, but it isn’t a game, that much I know.” Chase nodded once and got up to leave. “Chase?” He turned to look at her. “Thanks for being such a good friend.” For a moment, a looked passed over his face that she couldn’t identify, but it faded and he smiled.
“Foreman and I will be up after we get the test results. House should be here by then, and maybe we can work it out so that you can get your surgery scheduled.”
As Cameron watched him leave, she had a nagging feeling that he was hiding something.
MDMDMDMDMD
House awoke with a start, breathing hard. The room was dark, pitch black. His eyes were wide trying to draw in light. He moved his hand toward the edge of the bed and felt someone there, he gasped, and moved toward the other side of the bed. The light came on, and he shielded his eyes from it’s brightness. Cameron looked up at him, her hair messy, eyes squinting at him in concern.
“Greg?” When he backed away toward the headboard of the bed, she became fully awake, “Greg, what’s wrong?”
“I’m dreaming, or was dreaming.” His voice was barely above a whisper, he shook his head, rubbing his forehead with his right hand and then laughed a little nervously. She moved toward him on the bed, her hand coming up to cup his cheek, his hand covering hers. “You’re alright. Really alright.” He pulled her to him, holding her tightly. A wave of relief rushing through him as he held her tight, nuzzling his face into her neck, kissing her lightly there. She returned the embrace, he was scaring her a little. It was obvious that he had had a nightmare, he’d had them before, but none of them had affected him this deeply. His let out a shaky breath that he hadn’t known that he was holding.
Cameron pulled back from his embrace so that she could look at him face to face, she kissed him lightly on the lips and then lowered her forehead to his. “I’m fine. You’re fine. Everything’s fine.” She smiled and straddled him, on her knees she put her hands on both sides of his face and then leaned in, her lips met his, her tongue gently caressing his lips, until they opened. He could feel her fingers brushing gently through the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him even closer. Her warm naked body against his body, her wetness against his growing erection. He moaned into her mouth as their kiss intensified. He gasped, something wasn’t right. Cameron pulled back, concern written on her face.
”What’s going on? Is it your leg?” He shook his head, grimacing, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, Cameron was standing across the room, a sweet smile on her face, her body bathed in the moonlight, he smiled back.....
“Cameron?” He whispered, a small smile playing on his lips, he opened his eyes to the dimmed light of a hospital room. Dammit.
He grimaced when he realized that the catheter combined with his excitement was causing his discomfort. It didn’t help that Wilson was standing next to his bed with a big stupid grin on his face. “Good dream?” House couldn’t help the blush that crept up his face.
“Wilson…”, he tried to put as much menace as he could in his voice, where was his cane when he needed it, Wilson’s shins were just begging to be whacked.
“I’m just saying, that you should be careful, did you know that you talk in your sleep? Be glad it was me standing here and not Nurse Brenda”, and evil grin lit his face, “or better Cuddy.”
House rolled his eyes, “What time is it?”
“It’s around 2.”
“What?! Why didn’t you wake me up? I promised Allison that I would be there for the differential.” He was pushing the blankets down and trying to unhook all of the plugs that were attached to him.
“Whoa, House.” His hands moving to his friends shoulders. “Cameron is fine, her fever is gone, the antibiotics seemed to have done the trick. She’s more worried about you. I started you on the same antibiotics, in fact, the nurse just hung the second bag. We just got your fever under control about a half an hour ago. I didn’t wake you because you weren’t sleeping …you were unconscious.” House pushed Wilson’s hands off of him, eyeing him suspiciously.
“How do I know that this isn’t really the dream?” His eyes were glassy from the fever.
Wilson held his hands up in defeat. “It’s not, you’re just going to have to trust me on that. How are you feeling? You aren’t responding as quickly as I would like.” He watched as House closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, his complexion had gone pale. “Hey, talk to me.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” It was barely audible through his gritted teeth, Wilson grabbed the emesis dish next to his bed and helped his friend turn to his side as he emptied his stomach. He could see down the scrub top with House turned toward him and alarms went off, the rash had spread all the way down his back. Wilson pushed the call key and within moments a nurse had appeared at the door.
“I need you to page Drs. Cuddy, Foreman, and Chase, immediately.” He looked back down at House, his dry heaves had stopped, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his body from the effort. Wilson could feel the heat radiating from him, why aren’t the antibiotics working like they had for Cameron? He’s on his second bag. House shivered underneath his hands as he helped him lie down on his back, his teeth slightly chattering.
“I’m fr-freezing, Oh GOD, my head - .” House closed his eyes, his hand going to his head, what was happening?
Wilson grabbed the blanket from the end of the bed and covered his friend, trying to remain the doctor. He had just grabbed the digital thermometer from the side of the bed and put it in House’s mouth to get his temp, he looked up at them but before he could say anything, the machine beeped. His eyes widened at the display….104. Cuddy had just entered the room, closely followed by Chase and Foreman.
“We’ve got to get some ice bags in here! He’s burning up, his fever just spiked to 104.”
Cuddy looked at him in disbelief. “That’s impossible, you just said that his fever was under control!”
“I know what I said, but now it’s not.”
“Hey….I’m r-right h-here.” Both Cuddy and Wilson turned to see a chattering House looking at them, trying to scowl but failing miserably. His eyes rolled back into his head as he lost consciousness.
Foreman and Chase both came in with ice packs, a nurse following them with a cart full. They both began placing them all over House, emptying some of the ice directly on him to try to bring the fever down.
MDMDMDMDMDMDMD
Cameron had paged everyone that she could think of, yet no one had answered her. She had even resorted to putting a 911 on Wilson’s pager, but a nurse appeared in his stead to make sure that she was alright. It was at this point that she lost her temper.
“Where is Dr. Wilson?”, the nurse had the decency to look a little flustered. “I want to know what’s going and I want to know it right now!”
“Dr. Cameron…you’re not supposed to get excited, too much activity - “, the nurse barely had time to duck as a cup that had been sitting near Cameron flew towards her head. She ducked out, no matter what, she wasn’t going to go back into that room. She could still hear Dr. Cameron shouting from inside her room from the nurses station. “Dr. Wilson, I think that you had better get down here.” She snapped her head up just in time to see the pitcher of water hitting the glass door, “And you’d better hurry before Dr. Cameron takes the room apart.” A second floor nurse had joined her at the desk. “Dr. House and Dr. Cameron…surprisingly…made for each other.”
TBC
Chapter 11