Emergency Room Romance

It's Just Smoke and Mirrors

*Chase’s POV*

“For the last time, I am perfectly fine! I just needed some oxygen.” I said, pushing Wilson away as he moved to examine me for the fifth time.

“Yes, well it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Wilson insisted, handing me the oxygen mask again.

“You should be focusing more on Blair and the other patients.”

“House has got her. We should just be thankful that most of the hospital building survived the fire.”

He was right. A lot of the damage done was contained to the back end of the hospital. It meant that there was damage to a number of maternity units that would take time to fix and rebuild but luckily a lot of the rest was equipment could easily be replaced. In fact, there were interns and janitorial staff already inside, cleaning away debris and washing away the soot damage so that we could get as many of the rooms up and running again. It was still unknown as to what caused the fire, but Cuddy did mention something about loose wiring and fuses. It would explain the fire and why we had the problem with the lights earlier that day, if it was true.

“How is she?” Wilson didn’t need me to elaborate who I was talking about.

“I don’t know the details, but she’s still unconscious and she’s got some smoke inhalation damage. That’s all I know right now.” He said honestly, trying to stop me from standing up out of the seat.

“I never should have let her go to the evacuation alone.” I mumbled.

“Chase, don’t blame yourself for this. No one could have predicted how fast the fire would spread or how badly Blair would be affected,” Wilson told me, stopping me from leaving the room.

“Think about it Wilson, it’s Blair. She would have let the flames consume her if it meant she could save a life. She had no intention of leaving the hospital until everyone else was out first, no matter what the damage to herself would be. I know what she’s like, I know what she did and I know I could have stopped her before she ended up nearly dead.” I explained, angry at myself for not being able to prevent her getting hurt again.

“Chase, come on. Calm down. You and I both know that Blair is a strong woman. She’ll be fine and she’ll be better knowing that you’re not freaking out over her. Listen, why don’t you go and check on her? Just take it easy and no rushing. You’re still a little pale and shaky yourself.” Wilson said, turning the oxygen off and glancing at me once more.

“Where is she?”

“House took her to one of the side rooms, just outside of ICU. There’s no damage to that part of the hospital, luckily.” Wilson told me, guiding me from the room.

I followed his directions and found myself standing outside ICU watching Cuddy emerge from a side room, letting out a long, weary sigh as she did so.

“How’s Blair?” I asked her, startling her slightly.

“She’s stable Chase.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Super Girl learnt that it’s not safe to play with fire.” I turned around and saw House walking towards us, a file in hand. “Pretty chunky this thing, isn’t it? I mean for a woman so rarely out of this hospital, and with no social life whatsoever, makes one wonder how she ended up with this.” I remained silent, knowing that there was nothing I could do to hide Blair’s secret now.

“Did you know, Chase?” Cuddy asked me quietly.

“What’s wrong with Blair now?” I asked, avoiding the question.

“That’s a ‘yes’ then.” House said, waving the folder at Cuddy before making his way into the room where I assumed Blair was.

“That’s why she came back.” Cuddy said quietly as though she was just realising something.

“Cuddy, please, back to Blair’s current condition.” I said, not wanting to reveal anything about Blair’s past whilst she was unconscious.

“Smoke inhalation Chase. We don’t know the severity of the damage just yet, but we’ve done blood gasses, ECG’s, pulse oximeter…the usual.” She seemed tired and more worn down than Blair usually did.

“Nothing come back yet?” I asked, annoyed slightly.

“She’s got elevated plasma lactate but, we won’t know anything definite about the rest until the other tests are back. We’re giving her what we can for now.” Cuddy walked away slowly after she’d finished, not caring if I wanted to push the matter.

I watched her leave and then entered the room. House glanced up at me and then back at the machine he was adjusting. “You should be resting.” He said without emotion.

I stared at Blair’s still body. An oxygen tube ran under her nose, supplying her with the humidified oxygen that she needed, an intravenous drip flowed from the stand into her pale, slender arm, providing her with fluids lost by the smoke damage. Heart monitors were hooked up to her, underneath the hospital gown she wore, making sure that she didn’t have coronary failure.

“She’s lucky. No burns and she didn’t need mechanical ventilation either. Seems like you got to her just in time.” House’s voice didn’t contain any praise or sympathy. He was just stating facts.

I didn’t reply. I couldn’t reply. My eyes were fixed on Blair. She looked so weak, fragile, almost non existent in the bed. It was as if everything was drained from her. There was no life in her whatsoever, in fact, the only thing that remotely suggested she was alive was the slow and steady rise and fall of her chest along with the beeping heart monitor.

“You should go home. You look like hell.” House told me as he limped from the room once Blair’s stats had been checked.

I ignored his words, instead getting a chair and falling into it. I felt like hell, but I wasn’t going to leave Blair just yet. I couldn’t believe how she looked. She was exposed to everyone, vulnerable to her past that everyone now knew about. It would kill her to discover that everyone knew, especially when she worked so hard to keep it a secret from the world.

My eyes felt heavy and I knew I needed to rest, properly, at home. I pushed myself up and walked over to the bed, slowly, wishing Blair was awake and rushing around in her usual energetic, busy manner. I gently moved a lock of hair from her face and let out a soft sigh. She looked so meek, I hated seeing her like this. I bent down and softly placed a kiss on her forehead, glad I’d reached her when I did.

If I hadn’t then…

I didn’t even want to think about that.