THE THINGS THAT ONE TAMES - CHAPTER 31/39
A Forever Knight/House, M.D. Crossover
AUTHOR: A.S. NightBird
WRITTEN: April 2006
PAIRINGS: House/Cameron, Nick/Natalie, Strong Wilson/House Friendship
RATING: FOR MATURE ADULTS - This story contains profanity and adult sexual situations.
SUMMARY: A Forever Knight/House, M.D. Crossover - House meets the ultimate medical challenge. For Steve McQueen fans, he plays a prominent role in this story.
See Disclaimers, Author's Notes, etc. in Part 1.
CHAPTER 31
Cuddy and Wilson sat by Nick's side. The marrow had been running in for about an hour. She rose to do a vitals check. "How're you feeling, Nick?" she said softly, not wanting to startle him. He appeared to be asleep.
Eyes opening, he responded, "I think my head hurts a little, but otherwise, I seem okay." He ran his hand over his face.
Wilson sat up. "That's not unusual to get a headache from a blood transfusion, which this essentially is. If it gets too bad, let us know and we'll try giving you some Tylenol for the pain."
"All right. It's not that bad right now." Cuddy handed him the thermometer. He put it under his tongue.
When it beeped, Cuddy took the thermometer from his mouth. "Your body temperature has come up some more. It's now 97.2. This is good." She smiled. His heart rate had risen to 32 beats per minute and blood pressure now registered at 60 over 40. He was definitely making progress.
"There's not much we can do for now," Wilson said, "so we should all try to get some rest. The three of them dozed off.
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Two hours later, they were awakened by the insistent chirping of the IVAC. The marrow bag was empty. Cuddy rubbed her eyes and rose to disconnect it and silence the alarm. It was almost six in the morning on Saturday.
"Did you get any sleep?" Wilson asked Nick.
"Yeah. Slept like a log. I feel pretty good, too. Headache seems to be almost gone now."
"Good," Cuddy said. "Any other complaints?"
"No, none."
"Normally, engraftment takes 15 to 30 days, meaning it takes that long for Allison's marrow to establish itself inside your bones and start to produce blood cells," Cuddy explained, "but with you, we have no idea how fast this will occur. We'll just have to wait and see. We'll test your blood and also do bone marrow biopsies later on."
"Okay," Nick replied.
"I'll see about getting us all some breakfast," Wilson volunteered. "Feel like trying some solid food, Nick?"
"Sure. The liquids aren't very filling. I always feel hungry."
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Wilson went to Cameron's room. He looked in the window to see House asleep in a recliner pulled up against Allison's bed. She was rolled over on her side facing him, his arm over her. He smiled. It was good to see that Greg was finally giving in to his feelings, at least a little. He'd certainly been acting protective lately.
Rapping on the door, he slowly opened it. "Time to get up, Sleepy-heads."
Cameron rolled onto her back and looked over to the door. "Hi, Dr. Wilson." She yawned.
House stirred and rubbed a hand over his face. "What do you want?" he grumped.
"I'm taking orders for breakfast."
"I'd like some scrambled eggs, oatmeal, bacon, orange juice, a banana, toast and whatever jam they happen to have. Oh, coffee, too!"
House's eyes widened. "You won't keep that girlie figure eating like that." He waggled his eyebrows.
Chuckling, she replied, "Other than ice cream and chicken broth, I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast yesterday. I'm hungry."
"Hell, bring me the same thing," House said. "My girlie figure's just fine."
Cameron and Wilson laughed.
"Back in a bit."
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Wilson returned 30 minutes later with a service cart from the cafeteria. He delivered the meals to Cameron and House and then went into Nick's room.
"Here you go, Nick." He put a plate containing scrambled eggs, toast, margarine and jam on the rolling bedside table and a couple of cups, one with orange juice and one with coffee.
"Wow! This smells really good!" He picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of egg.
A voice came from the speaker on his nightstand. "Someone definitely hasn't eaten in over 800 years if he thinks this crappy excuse for food smells good."
Everyone laughed. "No comments from the peanut gallery," Nick quipped.
"Oooo, gotcha, House!" Wilson chuckled.
"Shut up, Wilson! Remind me to take you out for a really good meal when this is all over, Nick."
"Okay, Greg." Everyone began eating.
The vampire managed to eat all his food, but complained of some minor nausea and a slight stomachache, though he kept everything down.
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When Cameron finished eating, she became drowsy and dozed off. House smiled, reached out and brushed a wisp of hair off her face, tenderly pushing it behind her ear. He rose, leaned over her and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, turned off the monitor's speaker, then went next door.
He walked in. They'd all finished eating. "Why don't you let me go shower and change my clothes, then you two take off. I can manage by myself. I'll page you if there're any problems. You both need some decent rest."
Cuddy studied him for a moment. "What about you? You're not Superman, you know."
"Oh, come on now. Surely you've seen my cape tucked underneath my jacket."
She scowled. "You're going to go home tonight to your own bed."
House's brow furrowed. He opened his mouth to say something, hesitated, looked down at the floor and finally said in a barely audible voice, "Not while Cameron's here."
Cuddy's eyes went wide and Wilson's eyebrows rose. Nick just smiled. Recovering, James spoke up, looking Lisa in the eye. "I'll come in tonight and make sure he sleeps. There's a bed in one of the other rooms across the hall."
"Okay. You be sure he does." She glared at House.
"Yes, Mom," Greg sing-songed.
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When House returned, he checked on Cameron, who was still asleep, then entered Nick's room to relieve Cuddy and Wilson. Once they were alone, House sat down next to the bed. He regarded Nick with suspicion. The vampire scrutinized House in return. "What is it?" he finally asked Greg.
"You know, don't you?"
"Excuse me?"
"Cameron's bone marrow. It's essentially blood. I saw the telltale look in your eyes when it was running in." His harsh gaze drilled into the vampire. "I need to know, Nick. How does Cameron really feel about me?"
"I told you, Greg. She loves you. I know that's really hard for you to accept, but it's true."
"Why?" His blue eyes conveyed a longing to understand what to him was unfathomable.
"It wouldn't be right for me to tell you what I learned from her blood, any more than it'd be right to tell her what I learned from yours. You know that, Greg. Just talk to her."
"I did. She told me why she likes me, but I just don't understand it."
"Don't try, Greg. Just accept it as the precious gift that it is."
House cocked his head and studied the man lying in front of him. Suddenly, over the monitor, he heard Cameron stirring. He rose. "I'll be back. Just holler if you need anything."
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