3

There was not a single trace of Allison Cameron.

They had spent hours searching—only to find Nurse Heather under there, but not Cameron. The site was filled with broken pieces of the building, yet it was so empty. The air was filled with dust and toxic chemicals, while it was slowly getting dark.

Gregory House was the most miserable of all.

He had rushed to the site right after hearing the news, and what's more, he didn't even bring his pills. His thigh had been burning with pain for the past few hours, and he wasn't sure if it was due to the infarction a few years ago or due to the thought that he would never see Cameron again.

House had called her multiple times, wishing that she had carried her phone inside with her. But even if she did, she probably wouldn't still be conscious and wouldn't be able to answer.

That was exactly why his whole world was dim and darkened. 

"We'll be able to find her, not all hope is lost." That's what the firefighters, Cuddy, Wilson and all the other doctors said to him. Yet hours have passed and they couldn't find her.

Kelly had tried to comfort him, but what angered him the most was that it was Cameron who was down there and not her. Even a nurse decided to go with her and Kelly wouldn't even accompany a colleague to go and maybe save a few lives.

"I'm sorry," Kelly said softly. She tried to cheer him up. "We'll be able to find her, okay?"

"If you're so sure that we're going to find her, why not get your ass off and start searching? Even with this bum leg, I'm still digging as hard as I can to find her. Problem is, you're faking sympathy. You don't give a crap about Allison—you just want me to be happy with you for trying to comfort me," House muttered angrily to her.

Kelly took a step backwards. "That's just mean. Of course I care that she's down there, but right now your leg is hurting a lot and I'm trying to make you feel better."

"Yeah. I'm the one who can't be found and is close to death. I'm just the old forty year old man with a dead muscle. I'm not the one who is a saint yet gets hurt all the time. Now can you get up and start looking?" House was completely covered by mud and dust at the point, and he could barely stand up.

If only Cameron was here. She'd be giving him a massage and cooking him warm meals. She'd be bringing Vicodin to him. She'd be having sex with him and taking away all his pain.

His phone was almost out of battery from calling Cameron so many times. And his energy was running out.

He had seen tons of patients rushed out of the mess still alive. Each time that happened, his inner self screamed and prayed that it was Cameron. But there was no sign of her and everybody was starting to lose hope.

Finally, his leg gave up on him and he collapsed onto the ground. Kelly rushed over and put her hand on his shoulder. "House! Are you okay?"

"I...I need pain pills," he muttered. "Now."

"Where can I get them?" Kelly yelled frantically. "There's morphine in the first aid kit, dumbass," House mumbled. "Go get it now."

Kelly rushed to get the syringe and came back with it, injecting it into his thigh. House sighed and laid back, relaxing his thigh, feeling the pain gradually decreasing. "How is it now?" Kelly asked.

"Fine." He got back up and started digging once again, calling Cameron numerous times but still not getting any answers. 

"Dr. House," Aaron said from beside him. "We've been searching for hours. It's getting late, you should all get home and rest first. We'll continue searching first thing in the morning."

"She'll be dead by then," House heaved angrily. "There's not enough oxygen down there, and she doesn't have any medical help. By then, she'd be dead. Are you going to pay for her funeral? Are you going to find someone to replace her? Find the exact same Allison Cameron for me? Even with a bum leg I'm still digging as hard as I can. You, with all the fancy equipments, are doing nothing."

"Please, Dr. House. If it gets dark and we can't see anything, we'll put more people in danger. She might not be hurt at all down there, don't lose all hope."

"Not be hurt at all? A fucking gigantic building just fell on her! It could have crushed her lungs! She can't breathe! She can't find anyone to help her!"

Aaron sighed. "We'll search for thirty minutes more. That's it. Thirty minutes. We don't find her, we'll come back tomorrow." House nodded and continued digging and calling out her name while calling her on his phone.

Kelly finally decided to get her ass up and help. She used a torch to look under the pieces of the building. House called Chase and Foreman, and within minutes they arrived to help search for her.

"She has to be under here somewhere," Chase said.

Foreman agreed. "The firefighters are removing the pieces one by one. It's going to take too long though. She might be at the bottom of the building." He turned to Aaron. "Which floor or layer was she on just now?"

Aaron gulped before saying, "She was at the bottom of the building trying to save some patients, Dr. Foreman."

Nurse Heather was beside them, getting her injuries treated, while listening to their conversation. She kept her tears hidden as she heard them talking about the situation. There was a chance that her friend would be down there forever until she took her last breath.

"Heather!" Chase shouted as he ran over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered. "You should go ahead and search for her." The young nurse was surprised why Chase seemed so concerned. Back at the hospital, they barely said a word to each other. The only doctor she knew was Dr. Cameron.

"There's someone down there!" Suddenly, Aaron shouted at the top of her lungs. House's head shot up to look at his direction. He ran, nearly ran, with his cane, over to him and looked down at the person he was pointing at.

"N-no, that's n-not h-her," he stuttered. 

"It's not, but we found somebody and she might be near. I need the rescue team here!" Aaron shouted. The rescue team arrived and started lowering their men down to fetch the person.

"It's a woman, Sir," the man down there said to the head of the team. "We're going to bring her up in 3, 2, 1!" They took a deep breath and brought the woman up. The woman, luckily, could breathe normally without needing an airbag.

"She'll be fine," Aaron concluded. He turned to the three firefighters that he trusted the most. Thomas, David and Elias. "You three, go down there and search. Once we've found one person, the others might be near."

"Aaron!" Heather shouted from the safe zone she was sitting in. "There are three people down there, as much as I know. Two men, who we were trying to treat, and Cameron. One of the men isn't stable yet, and barely has a pulse. I think, just before the building collapsed, Cameron shielded the patient with her own body."

Aaron thanked her for the information, and the three men quickly headed down to continue with their search. "It's all just dust and pieces here," Thomas said through the handheld transceiver (a walkie talkie). "The left side of the mess is clear. Over."

"No one on the left side, either. Over," David reported. "Elias, you find anything?"

There was no reply from Elias, but they could hear faint breathing from his radio. "ELIAS!" David hollered. "DID YOU FIND ANYONE?"

They didn't know that Elias indeed found someone, but they were nearly dead and he didn't have the time to say anything through the radio. As soon as he saw them, he threw the radio down to the ground and rushed over to them.

House held his breath as he prayed to the Gods that Cameron was down there and that Elias had found her. He didn't care if she was injured or not, because that could be treated, but death, on the other hand, is untreatable.

Meanwhile, the rescue team were still trying to remove the pieces one by one. Slowly, half of the broken building was removed and the crowd could see the three firemen down there, searching.

When Elias looked up to see everyone, he immediately motioned for the rescue team to get down there, and also the doctors. Lying next to him, was exactly who Heather had described. Two men, and Cameron.

"The men are safe," he panted. "But the doctor..."

"What's wrong with the doctor!?" House yelled at the top of his lungs. "Is she okay?"

"I don't think so," Elias said quietly. "She can breathe, but a long pole is stabbed right into her waist." House gasped to himself as he took a step closer to take a closer look. Indeed, was Cameron lying on top of the man, with a pole at least 40 cm long stabbed into her waist.

"I need to go down there," House said, already changing into the suits. "The building's not gonna collapse again, right?"

"That's unlikely," Aaron agreed. "Half of it is removed, it would be very hard for it to collapse again."

"Good," House said as the men started to lower him down to where Elias was standing. "Elias, prepare some cutting tools. If we don't remove the pole immediately, she'll die from blood loss. First, get her up from the man."

Elias placed some cutting tools next to Cameron, and when House got there, the two of them began to slowly carry her up from the man. The man was stable for now, and only had a few scratches, thanks to Cameron.

They made sure not to move the pole too much. "Once the pole is removed, she will start bleeding so much she'll not have enough blood. Prepare the blood bags."

Elias did as he said, although he wasn't a doctor, but he knew these simple procedures to save a life. "Okay," House took a very deep breath. "Pick up the tool and start at the top." Elias carefully put it to the pole and started sawing the pole.

Cameron's eyes started to flutter open at the exact same time. "H-house?" Then she looked down to her waist and started screaming in pain.

"We need to give her morphine STAT! The pain alone is going to kill her!" Elias yelled. House immediately injected her with morphine and soon she calmed down, but her breath was still very harsh and full of pain. 

"Ally, it'll be over soon," House whispered into her ear. "Just give us a minute and we'll pull the pole out."

"You can do it at the hospital," she mumbled softly. "Please. Then you can do the procedure while I'm unconscious."

"By then, you wouldn't feel anything anymore. The pole is straight through your waist and if we don't remove it in time, it'll be very dangerous and risky."

"The Gregory House I know always takes risks. How is it different right now? Treat me like any other patient, House. Choose the dangerous path like you always do."

"I can't."

"Why not? You always succeed in treating your patients when you do that."

"I had to diagnose them when I did that. Now, I just have to treat you."

"Then diagnose me," she whispered as her eyes started to close. "I'm getting tired now. I hope I can still see you when I wake up."

"Cameron..." House began, but was cut off by the sudden weight on his hand as Cameron's head  slowly relaxed. She had falling asleep or became unconscious.

Elias said, "Dr. House, what do we do? Do we take the pole out now or do it at the hospital?"

"Do what she said," he said after hesitating. "Least we can do is follow her wishes." Elias nodded and called the men up there to come down and get her. They safely lowered themselves down into the mess, and started securing Cameron with a stretcher and ropes. 

Carefully, they pulled the ropes and she was lifted upwards to the safe sites. It was House's and Elias' turn next, and after they were lifted, House immediately went to Cameron's side and accompanied her to the ambulance.

"Can I get in with her?" He asked, exhausted. The paramedics nodded. "What's your relationship with Allison Cameron?"

"She's my...wife," he found himself shocked at the choice of his words. Fortunately, the paramedic nodded and let him hop in with her. The whole time, he held her hand and made sure she wasn't bleeding too much.

Soon, they were at the hospital. People were rushing everywhere. Ninety percent of all the patients were from the collapsed building accident. All the televisions in the hospital were on, and all of them were about the accident.

House quickly glanced at the news for a fast second. They were still talking about how four people went missing under the building, and apparently haven't updated the news yet. He tore his eyes off from the screen and focused on Cameron.

She was quickly escorted into the surgery room, and the doctors quickly removed the pole and stopped the bleeding. The doctors told House that she was fine, and he instantly felt much better, feeling a huge stone lifted up from his heart.

When he saw her lying lifeless beside Elias just now, he felt like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Suddenly, a  hand appeared in front of him. He stopped thinking about Cameron and turned to the person who the hand came from.

It was Kelly, holding a cup of coffee. "House, I'm sure you've been very tired. Here, drink some coffee." Without saying a word, he grabbed it from his hands and drank it in a few sips, handing it back to Kelly. Kelly threw the now empty cup in the bin and sat down next to House on the small little bench outside the surgery room.

"She'll be fine, House. You're worrying too much."

Again, House didn't say a thing. Kelly, seeing this, continued, "You can be more open to me, you know. You can be more human to the world. I won't leak any of your secrets." Still, he didn't budge.

Sighing, the young female doctor stood up and extended her hand to him. "Come on, we're colleagues now. We should at least shake hands." House looked up from the floor and looked at the hand. It reminded him of the time when Cameron tried to shake his hand before giving him her resignation letter.

"Exactly. We're just colleagues," he said harshly. And this sentence reminded him of the time when Foreman told Cameron they weren't friends. Why did everything remind him of Cameron? The coffee, the handshake, even a simple sentence.

Kelly accepted reality finally, and nodded. "If you say so. Tell Cameron I wish her a quick recovery." With that, she left. What she said didn't sound sincere, at least not to House.

Hours later, House found himself sitting beside Cameron's bed in the ICU. He remembered the time when he got shot and Cameron sat next to his bed for at least three days. He could tell because her hair was greasy, meaning she didn't take a shower or go home.

"You're pathetic," said a small, timid and raspy voice from beside him. He looked up to see Cameron finally woken up, staring at him with her blue-greenish eyes.

"You're pathetic," that was what House said first thing to her when he woke up after getting shot. Shockingly enough, the first person he saw in his hallucination was her.

"I am, aren't I? I'm pathetic to sit here for four whole hours waiting for you to wake up."

"Did you get that pole out at the hospital or at the site?" Cameron asked, as if the answer was so important her life depended on it. "Hospital," House replied swiftly. Cameron smiled. "I'm glad you did."

"Why? Don't you want to feel special that I won't take risks on you?" House was genuinely confused about the whole situation. "Don't you want to feel like I won't treat you like any other patient?"

"I don't," she answered, "because that would be unfair."

"It's unfair?" He said with a mocking laugh. "That's it? Because it's unfair?"

"Not everything has complicated answers, House. Yes, that's all it is. It's unfair. It's unfair to other patients when their life is on the line and yet you're using all those risky methods to heal them. I'm surprised you didn't think about doing that to me."

House sighed in surrender. "Fine. Maybe that's it. There's more to it, though, Allison. And let me finish it for you. You feel guilty when I treat you differently from other patients, because you need to be the saint. You need to be the one with all the justice and fairness."

"I don't. I'm not a saint, but I'm also not an ass. I'm not abrasive and rude."

"And now you're just mocking me," House growled.

"Do we have to argue over this when I'm here, lying in a patient's bed, with a twenty centimetre cut on my waist?" Cameron was getting very frustrated.

"You started it."

"I did, and I'm going to end it now."

"By the way, Kelly said wish you a good recovery."

This caught her attention. "You spoke to Kelly?"

"Is that jealously I'm hearing in your voice?"

"I hope not," Cameron shot back. "Besides, why would I feel jealous about her talking to you? It was a question."

"Tones are very easy to hear through," House implied as he got a cup from the table beside Cameron's bed. There was a water filler at side, and he carefully poured the cup full with water. He brought it to Cameron's lips and she sipped at it slowly.

"Thanks," she said as House put the cup away. "Feeling better?" He asked. She nodded. "A lot better."

"Great."

An awkward silence between them. House turned to the clock on the wall, ticking second by second.

"You sure you're not jealous?"

"Positive."