Things Change Pt 21/?
Alrighty here is the next chapter of Things Change :D i hope you all like it, lots more angst (and more on the way!)...
i'd also like to take a moment and thank ponks19. she's been doing last-minute beta's for me for a long time and ive never acknowledged or thanked her on here (yeah im great). sooo i wanted to say:
ok enjoy! :D
Title: Things Change Pt. 21/?
Author: ZeppoGrl7
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, except Dan and Aiden.
Pairings: House/Cameron, Cameron/other
Spoilers: assume anything from season 2
Raitings: chpt: pg; fic: R
Summary: Cameron’s return to PPTH turns her and House’s lives upside down.
Fic Theme Song: “Desperately” by Michelle Branch
”I hear you say
It’s not the same,
I’m sorry
It’s something I just can’t explain.”
Lay Me Down - The Wreckers
Cameron stayed by her son’s side and could do nothing to console him when nurses took blood and doctors ran tests. They started Aiden on Rifampin and by 8 pm Cuddy had changed the dosage twice. His temperature had gotten up to 105.2 before he was given the Rifampin and was now slowly beginning to go down.
Now that he was just being monitored, Dan got a book from the hospital’s gift shop and Cameron tried to sit and relax a little bit. She didn’t realize that she fell asleep until she was awoken at 9 pm by a nurse.
“Dr. Cameron, we’ve been trying to page you.” The nurse said quietly so as not to wake Aiden.
“I don’t have my pager… and I must’ve fallen asleep.” Cameron replied groggily, sitting up straight in her chair.
Dan had looked up from his book, curious of what the nurse had to say.
“What do you need? I’m here with my son right now.” Cameron said.
“I know, I’m sorry.” The nurse frowned. “There’s a situation that I was told to bring to your attention.”
“What kid of situation?” Cameron asked tiredly.
“Um, Dr. Wilson asked me to page you.”
Confused, Cameron stood up, told Dan she’d be right back, and followed the nurse into the hallway. The nurse told her to go to the emergency ward and to find Dr. Wilson. Cameron found him standing outside of room 1305. She could tell he had come to the hospital very quickly by the way he was dressed; jeans and his gray McGill sweatshirt.
“Wilson, what’s going on?” She asked. “Why did you have me paged?”
“Cameron,” he said gently. “House was in an accident.”
“What??” She tried to look into the room they were standing in front of. “Is he in there? Is he ok??”
He caught her arm to stop her from going into the room. “Besides having a broken leg, he’s fine.”
She nodded and tried to go into the room again but Wilson didn’t let go of her arm.
“Cameron.”
She gave him a questioning look.
Wilson sighed. “He was drunk.”
“What??”
“I stopped at his office before I left earlier and he was drinking… heavily. With Aiden here, I didn’t think he would be leaving the hospital or I would’ve given him a ride home.”
“Ohmigod…” She said quietly, putting her hands over her face. After a moment, she looked at Wilson. “This is all my fault.”
“No.” He said firmly. “This is not your fault. He’s the one that was drinking-“
“Of course this is my fault! He’s going through hell,” She motioned to House’s hospital room with her arm. “All because I’m too scared-“ She forced herself to shut her mouth before she yelled out her secret for the whole ward - and eventually the whole hospital - to hear.
Wilson looked away, unsure of what to tell her.
She turned and walked into House’s room.
House was asleep in his hospital bed, his right leg in a full cast and up in traction. Once Cameron reached him, she saw he had small scratches on his arms, and on the left side of his face he had a bruise and a cut above his eyebrow that was covered with two small butterfly stitches. There was also a medium-sized gauze bandage covering a spot on his arm that, she guessed, covered a very bad scrape from where his arm had come in hard contact with the road.
“Oh god, Greg.” She said softly, trying to keep herself from crying. She sat down on the edge of his bed, causing him to wake up from the light sleep he had been in.
“Allison…” He mumbled groggily, opening his eyes almost half way.
“Yeah,” she took his hand. “What happened?”
“I don’t remember…” He said slowly, closing his eyes and turning his head towards her.
She sighed again. “You don’t remember… because you were drunk?”
He let out a small groan. “That could possibly be the reason.” He replied slowly. He opened his eyes again and saw the concern that was written all over her face. “I didn’t hit anybody.” He continued. “Just a pole.”
“Well that’s comforting.” She said sarcastically.
“Look on the bright side; I broke the leg that’s already in constant pain.”
She was quiet for a moment, trying to stay calm. “Driving into a pole is how you deal with your son being severely ill?”
“Drinking is how I deal with not being able to see my son when he is severely ill.”
Cameron looked down at his hand in hers.
“How is he?” he asked a moment later.
“Cuddy’s watching him closely. I think we’re at the right Rifampin dosage now.” She shook her head at herself. “God, I’m a doctor but as soon as my child gets sick it’s like I’ve never even been to medical school.”
“You’re so emotional.”
She looked up quickly at him, wondering if she was supposed to be upset by his comment.
“Allison, we get patients - people you’ve never seen before in your life - and the worried, caring part of you goes into hyper drive. I’m not surprised you’re like this when it comes to Aiden.” He explained.
She didn’t reply.
“Go back upstairs.” He said.
“Are you going to be ok? Do you need-“
“I’m fine.” He cut her off. “Go stay with Aiden.” He gave a little nod towards his leg. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Cameron smiled the tiniest bit, gave his hand a little squeeze and left the room. As she made her way back to Pediatrics, she tried to put her attention on Aiden and not worry so much about House. She felt horrible about everything that was going on; she was convinced it was all her fault. Of course, she knew what she had to do, but she was afraid of the aftermath. Telling Dan that he wasn’t Aiden’s father made her so scared that every time she thought about it, she quickly came up with an excuse and talked herself out of it.
This time it was no different.
****
Cameron and Dan slept at the hospital that night and woke up the next morning before Aiden. While Cameron stayed at the hospital, Dan ran home to pick up some clean clothes for her to wear. After bringing her clean clothes, Dan decided to go to work since Aiden was on his way to recovery.
As Aiden slept, Cameron went to the women’s locker room, took a shower and changed into her clean clothes. She was a little surprised to see Cuddy in Aiden’s room when she got back; Aiden had been stable when she’d left the room.
“What’s going on?” She asked Cuddy as she walked over to the side of Aiden’s bed.
“Just a quick check over.” Cuddy smiled a little, uncertainty written all over her face.
When Cameron had entered the room, Aiden had seemed to forget all about Cuddy and focused on his mother.
Cuddy frowned as Aiden remained uncooperative. She had to ask Cameron to leave the room for a few minutes so she could finish with Aiden.
Cameron paced in the hallway as she waited for Cuddy. Of course she was still worried about her son, but he seemed to be doing ok on the Rifampin. When Cuddy finally came out of Aiden’s room, the look on her face only made Cameron feel worse. “What’s wrong?”
“I wish I could honestly say that he was not just paying attention to me… but I think the increased pressure around his brain caused some hearing loss.”
Cameron paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “How much hearing loss?”
“I’m not sure just yet. I want to do a couple of tests, and then we’ll see what’s going on.” Cuddy replied sadly.
Cameron nodded slowly. “Ok,” she said quietly. “Whatever needs to be done…”
Cuddy gave her what she hoped was an encouraging smile and walked away.
A little while after that, Aiden was having hearing tests and getting a couple of more scans of his head and brain. Cameron waited in his room during this time so that she wouldn’t be a distraction to him. A few minutes after he had been taken for tests, House came rolling into Aiden’s room in a wheelchair. His broken leg was propped up by a part of the chair, straight out in front of him. He’d gotten a pair of scrubs to wear instead of the standard hospital gown and had cut almost the whole right pant leg off to accommodate the cast. He stopped his wheelchair just inside the door.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed yet.” Cameron said plainly, sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed.
“I do a lot of things I shouldn’t.” He said and nodded toward the empty bed. “Where is he?”
“They took him for more tests.” She replied.
“Tests for what?” He asked, a hint of irritation in his voice; he thought they had already diagnosed Aiden.
“They’re checking his hearing.”
House knew exactly what Cuddy had been thinking when she had ordered those tests; the pressure on Aiden’s brain from the meningitis could damage his hearing. Maneuvering his wheelchair around, he wheeled himself out of the room. A nurse at the nurse’s station told him where Cuddy had taken Aiden and House headed that way. When he found the room they were all in, House knocked the door open and wheeled in.
Cuddy gasped when the door banged open, then relaxed when she saw House. She turned back towards the imaging computer. “House, what’re you-“
“You don’t have to do these tests.” He interrupted her. “His hearing isn’t damaged.”
Cuddy frowned. “I already ran the tests.” She said, motioning to the information she had on the computer screen.
“Ok, then you don’t need me to tell you that he’s fine. Get him back up to his room so he can get better.”
“House… Aiden is not fine.” She said, looking over at him sadly.
“Yes, he is.” He argued.
“Look at the scans if you want.” She turned the computer’s monitor a little so he could see it better. “His hearing’s been damaged.”
He didn’t respond.
“He’s going to need hearing aids.” She added gently. “And possibly, surgery.”
“No. My kid is not disabled.” He said angrily.
“Is that what this is all about?” She asked, shocked. “House, if he has hearing aids he’ll be fine. You know the meningitis could have done much worse to him than this.”
He became quiet again.
“I’m sorry.” She said after a moment. “I need to go tell Cameron.” Cuddy stood up and left the room, having to make her way around him without knocking his leg.
House couldn’t tell how he felt; he was angry and crushed at the same time. Ever since he had become crippled, every minute of every day was filled with things that reminded him of how damaged he was. He didn’t want that for Aiden. Granted, Aiden was young and wouldn’t be as preoccupied as House was about having a disability, but what about when he was older? Kids in school would alienate him for being disabled - because kids can be stupid, petty and cruel.
House ran his hand over his face and winced as he accidentally pulled on the cut above his eyebrow. After taking a moment to regroup himself, he turned his wheelchair and headed back to Aiden’s room.
Next Chapter
i'd also like to take a moment and thank ponks19. she's been doing last-minute beta's for me for a long time and ive never acknowledged or thanked her on here (yeah im great). sooo i wanted to say:
ok enjoy! :D
Title: Things Change Pt. 21/?
Author: ZeppoGrl7
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, except Dan and Aiden.
Pairings: House/Cameron, Cameron/other
Spoilers: assume anything from season 2
Raitings: chpt: pg; fic: R
Summary: Cameron’s return to PPTH turns her and House’s lives upside down.
Fic Theme Song: “Desperately” by Michelle Branch
”I hear you say
It’s not the same,
I’m sorry
It’s something I just can’t explain.”
Lay Me Down - The Wreckers
Cameron stayed by her son’s side and could do nothing to console him when nurses took blood and doctors ran tests. They started Aiden on Rifampin and by 8 pm Cuddy had changed the dosage twice. His temperature had gotten up to 105.2 before he was given the Rifampin and was now slowly beginning to go down.
Now that he was just being monitored, Dan got a book from the hospital’s gift shop and Cameron tried to sit and relax a little bit. She didn’t realize that she fell asleep until she was awoken at 9 pm by a nurse.
“Dr. Cameron, we’ve been trying to page you.” The nurse said quietly so as not to wake Aiden.
“I don’t have my pager… and I must’ve fallen asleep.” Cameron replied groggily, sitting up straight in her chair.
Dan had looked up from his book, curious of what the nurse had to say.
“What do you need? I’m here with my son right now.” Cameron said.
“I know, I’m sorry.” The nurse frowned. “There’s a situation that I was told to bring to your attention.”
“What kid of situation?” Cameron asked tiredly.
“Um, Dr. Wilson asked me to page you.”
Confused, Cameron stood up, told Dan she’d be right back, and followed the nurse into the hallway. The nurse told her to go to the emergency ward and to find Dr. Wilson. Cameron found him standing outside of room 1305. She could tell he had come to the hospital very quickly by the way he was dressed; jeans and his gray McGill sweatshirt.
“Wilson, what’s going on?” She asked. “Why did you have me paged?”
“Cameron,” he said gently. “House was in an accident.”
“What??” She tried to look into the room they were standing in front of. “Is he in there? Is he ok??”
He caught her arm to stop her from going into the room. “Besides having a broken leg, he’s fine.”
She nodded and tried to go into the room again but Wilson didn’t let go of her arm.
“Cameron.”
She gave him a questioning look.
Wilson sighed. “He was drunk.”
“What??”
“I stopped at his office before I left earlier and he was drinking… heavily. With Aiden here, I didn’t think he would be leaving the hospital or I would’ve given him a ride home.”
“Ohmigod…” She said quietly, putting her hands over her face. After a moment, she looked at Wilson. “This is all my fault.”
“No.” He said firmly. “This is not your fault. He’s the one that was drinking-“
“Of course this is my fault! He’s going through hell,” She motioned to House’s hospital room with her arm. “All because I’m too scared-“ She forced herself to shut her mouth before she yelled out her secret for the whole ward - and eventually the whole hospital - to hear.
Wilson looked away, unsure of what to tell her.
She turned and walked into House’s room.
House was asleep in his hospital bed, his right leg in a full cast and up in traction. Once Cameron reached him, she saw he had small scratches on his arms, and on the left side of his face he had a bruise and a cut above his eyebrow that was covered with two small butterfly stitches. There was also a medium-sized gauze bandage covering a spot on his arm that, she guessed, covered a very bad scrape from where his arm had come in hard contact with the road.
“Oh god, Greg.” She said softly, trying to keep herself from crying. She sat down on the edge of his bed, causing him to wake up from the light sleep he had been in.
“Allison…” He mumbled groggily, opening his eyes almost half way.
“Yeah,” she took his hand. “What happened?”
“I don’t remember…” He said slowly, closing his eyes and turning his head towards her.
She sighed again. “You don’t remember… because you were drunk?”
He let out a small groan. “That could possibly be the reason.” He replied slowly. He opened his eyes again and saw the concern that was written all over her face. “I didn’t hit anybody.” He continued. “Just a pole.”
“Well that’s comforting.” She said sarcastically.
“Look on the bright side; I broke the leg that’s already in constant pain.”
She was quiet for a moment, trying to stay calm. “Driving into a pole is how you deal with your son being severely ill?”
“Drinking is how I deal with not being able to see my son when he is severely ill.”
Cameron looked down at his hand in hers.
“How is he?” he asked a moment later.
“Cuddy’s watching him closely. I think we’re at the right Rifampin dosage now.” She shook her head at herself. “God, I’m a doctor but as soon as my child gets sick it’s like I’ve never even been to medical school.”
“You’re so emotional.”
She looked up quickly at him, wondering if she was supposed to be upset by his comment.
“Allison, we get patients - people you’ve never seen before in your life - and the worried, caring part of you goes into hyper drive. I’m not surprised you’re like this when it comes to Aiden.” He explained.
She didn’t reply.
“Go back upstairs.” He said.
“Are you going to be ok? Do you need-“
“I’m fine.” He cut her off. “Go stay with Aiden.” He gave a little nod towards his leg. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Cameron smiled the tiniest bit, gave his hand a little squeeze and left the room. As she made her way back to Pediatrics, she tried to put her attention on Aiden and not worry so much about House. She felt horrible about everything that was going on; she was convinced it was all her fault. Of course, she knew what she had to do, but she was afraid of the aftermath. Telling Dan that he wasn’t Aiden’s father made her so scared that every time she thought about it, she quickly came up with an excuse and talked herself out of it.
This time it was no different.
****
Cameron and Dan slept at the hospital that night and woke up the next morning before Aiden. While Cameron stayed at the hospital, Dan ran home to pick up some clean clothes for her to wear. After bringing her clean clothes, Dan decided to go to work since Aiden was on his way to recovery.
As Aiden slept, Cameron went to the women’s locker room, took a shower and changed into her clean clothes. She was a little surprised to see Cuddy in Aiden’s room when she got back; Aiden had been stable when she’d left the room.
“What’s going on?” She asked Cuddy as she walked over to the side of Aiden’s bed.
“Just a quick check over.” Cuddy smiled a little, uncertainty written all over her face.
When Cameron had entered the room, Aiden had seemed to forget all about Cuddy and focused on his mother.
Cuddy frowned as Aiden remained uncooperative. She had to ask Cameron to leave the room for a few minutes so she could finish with Aiden.
Cameron paced in the hallway as she waited for Cuddy. Of course she was still worried about her son, but he seemed to be doing ok on the Rifampin. When Cuddy finally came out of Aiden’s room, the look on her face only made Cameron feel worse. “What’s wrong?”
“I wish I could honestly say that he was not just paying attention to me… but I think the increased pressure around his brain caused some hearing loss.”
Cameron paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “How much hearing loss?”
“I’m not sure just yet. I want to do a couple of tests, and then we’ll see what’s going on.” Cuddy replied sadly.
Cameron nodded slowly. “Ok,” she said quietly. “Whatever needs to be done…”
Cuddy gave her what she hoped was an encouraging smile and walked away.
A little while after that, Aiden was having hearing tests and getting a couple of more scans of his head and brain. Cameron waited in his room during this time so that she wouldn’t be a distraction to him. A few minutes after he had been taken for tests, House came rolling into Aiden’s room in a wheelchair. His broken leg was propped up by a part of the chair, straight out in front of him. He’d gotten a pair of scrubs to wear instead of the standard hospital gown and had cut almost the whole right pant leg off to accommodate the cast. He stopped his wheelchair just inside the door.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed yet.” Cameron said plainly, sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed.
“I do a lot of things I shouldn’t.” He said and nodded toward the empty bed. “Where is he?”
“They took him for more tests.” She replied.
“Tests for what?” He asked, a hint of irritation in his voice; he thought they had already diagnosed Aiden.
“They’re checking his hearing.”
House knew exactly what Cuddy had been thinking when she had ordered those tests; the pressure on Aiden’s brain from the meningitis could damage his hearing. Maneuvering his wheelchair around, he wheeled himself out of the room. A nurse at the nurse’s station told him where Cuddy had taken Aiden and House headed that way. When he found the room they were all in, House knocked the door open and wheeled in.
Cuddy gasped when the door banged open, then relaxed when she saw House. She turned back towards the imaging computer. “House, what’re you-“
“You don’t have to do these tests.” He interrupted her. “His hearing isn’t damaged.”
Cuddy frowned. “I already ran the tests.” She said, motioning to the information she had on the computer screen.
“Ok, then you don’t need me to tell you that he’s fine. Get him back up to his room so he can get better.”
“House… Aiden is not fine.” She said, looking over at him sadly.
“Yes, he is.” He argued.
“Look at the scans if you want.” She turned the computer’s monitor a little so he could see it better. “His hearing’s been damaged.”
He didn’t respond.
“He’s going to need hearing aids.” She added gently. “And possibly, surgery.”
“No. My kid is not disabled.” He said angrily.
“Is that what this is all about?” She asked, shocked. “House, if he has hearing aids he’ll be fine. You know the meningitis could have done much worse to him than this.”
He became quiet again.
“I’m sorry.” She said after a moment. “I need to go tell Cameron.” Cuddy stood up and left the room, having to make her way around him without knocking his leg.
House couldn’t tell how he felt; he was angry and crushed at the same time. Ever since he had become crippled, every minute of every day was filled with things that reminded him of how damaged he was. He didn’t want that for Aiden. Granted, Aiden was young and wouldn’t be as preoccupied as House was about having a disability, but what about when he was older? Kids in school would alienate him for being disabled - because kids can be stupid, petty and cruel.
House ran his hand over his face and winced as he accidentally pulled on the cut above his eyebrow. After taking a moment to regroup himself, he turned his wheelchair and headed back to Aiden’s room.
Next Chapter