Help Me - Recap

House sits in the bathroom of his apartment, bloody and battered. There's a hole in the wall and he's holding a bottle of Vicodin.

Eight hours earlier, House gives Cuddy her great-grandfather's medical book as a housewarming gift for her and Lucas' new home. When she hesitates, House suspects that something is wrong but Cuddy ignores his question and says they're needed at a crane accident that occurred in Trenton. He reluctantly goes with her and helps triage the wounded. The crane operator, Dolce admits that he dozed off for just a second and lost control. As the EMTs take him away, Foreman and House examines him, and House realizes he dozed off despite the fact he was taking coffee and caffeine pills. House figures it's a neurological disorder and prepares to leave with the man. Cuddy orders him to stay but House would rather take the intriguing case. She overrides him and tells him to leave Dolce to the rest of the team.

House calls Wilson at the ER and asks what's up with Cuddy and Lucas. Wilson doesn't think there's anything suspicious but House figures that Cuddy is having second thoughts about moving in with Lucas and asks Wilson to check with her realtor. As House finishes his call, he hears someone banging on a nearby pipe from beneath the rubble. The rescue team doesn't find anything and dismiss House's concerns. He crawls down into the wreckage and finds a woman, Hanna, who has her leg trapped beneath a support beam.

Hanna talks about how she was there to pick up a framed picture for her husband, Charlie. When he goes to get help, she begs him to stay but House climbs out, notifies the EMTs, and calls the team in the ER. They do a differential and Taub figures that Dolce just fell asleep. House orders them to do a MRI in case Dolce has lesions, and notices that Hadley isn't there. He then consults with the rescue worker, who needs to run an IV. When House realizes he doesn't know how to do it, House goes down again. Captain McCreavey warns that they can't break the beam so they'll use airbags. Hanna asks House to stay but he leaves as soon as he can. He then apologizes to Cuddy for making things uncomfortable, and she finally admits she thought House was giving her an engagement gift. Cuddy explains that they just got engaged the previous night. House notes she isn't wearing a ring and figures she's hiding it, but Cuddy explains that she left it in her drawer when she was called to the accident site.

Taub and Chase do the MRI and it comes up negative. However, he starts bleeding from the eyes and nose.

House and Cuddy go back down and McCreavey explains they can't move the beam without endangering everyone else. The only option appears to be amputation of the leg. Cuddy warns that if the leg doesn't get circulation, the muscle will die and release poison into the rest of her body. House says they have at least two hours and insists they shouldn't amputate, but McCreavey warns that there could be secondary fires and collapses. Cuddy asks for a couple of more hours since Hanna doesn't want to undergo amputation, and McCreavey reluctantly agrees. Hanna gets House to promise they won't amputate the leg. He then gets a call from the team providing an update. Hadley arrives and she claims that she was at physical therapy. House snaps at them and tells them to runt he tests and goes despite Hanna's desperate requests. (23:30)

Up above, House prepares to go when Cuddy says Hanna is panicking and wants House. He goes back and tends to her, and reluctantly loans her his phone. She calls Charlie, who is coming to the accident site to be with her. Her BP increases due to the stress, increasing the bleeding, and House tells her to cut off the call. When she notices him rubbing his leg, she asks what happened to it and House passes it off with a sarcastic remarks. Hanna then asks him to pray with her, and he refuses at first. She admits she doesn't believe in God either and House gives in. Once they're done, Hanna wonders why bad things happen to good people, and House admits that he hadn't tried it himself until recently.

As Hadley and Taub check Dolce, Taub points out that she's lying but Hadley denies it. He admits that he's worried about her, but Hadley insists she's fine.

McCreavey places the airbag to lift the beam, but the roof collapses on them. House and the captain are okay, but Hanna's lung has collapsed and House works to reinflate it. House's chest is injured and once he stabilizes Hanna, he goes up top. Cuddy treats his wound while the team calls to tell him that Dolce now has a fever. House tells them to do a LP and Taub reluctantly agrees. The rescue workers inform them that the airbags won't work and Cuddy advises amputation. House suggests they remove the potassium buildup from crush syndrome by administering insulin and glucose, and Cuddy tells him not to put her life at risk because he's mad at her for getting engaged. She insists that she doesn't love House and tells him to move on. When House snaps at her, she tells him she's sick of making excuses for him while everyone else moves on. Cuddy tells him to stay out of it and let her convince Hanna to agree to the amputation.

Cuddy tries to explain to Hanna that she has no other options. House comes down and says that they have no other choices. Much to Cuddy's surprise, House explains how he refused to let the doctors amputate his leg, but he would rather he hadn't. He ended up in constant pain and alone, and he tells Hanna she doesn't want to be like him because she has friends and a loving husband. Hanna agrees and House tells Cuddy to leave while he handles the amputation.

House prepares the procedure and warns her it will hurt like nothing she's ever felt before. Once House cuts off the leg, the rescue workers get her out and into an ambulance bound for the hospital. House and her husband Charlie ride along with her. The team calls House to tell him that Dolce fell into a coma when a policeman interrogated him. House realizes that Dolce's BP is spiking each time he has stress, and it's caused by blockage of the spinal column generated by an arachnoid cyst on his lower spine. The caffeine caused the heightened BP at the accident site.

Hanna suddenly stops breathing and House believes that it's a clot. He administers blood thinner but it has no effect, and he realizes that she has a fat embolism caused by the amputation. There's nothing they can do except watch as she dies.

Later, House leaves for the night. Foreman insists that he shouldn't be alone and that it's not his fault that Hanna died. House snaps at him that it doesn't make him feel any better even though he did everything right. He then orders Foreman to get out of his way.

Hadley goes to House's office and leaves an envelope on the desk. Taub notices her and asks what she's doing, and Hadley explains that she's asking for time off. When he wonders if she's okay, she says that she clearly isn't.

House arrives home, goes to the bathroom, and smashes the mirror. He has two bottles of Vicodin hidden in the wall behind the mirror. House collapses to the floor and contemplates the bottles, then takes out a couple of pills. Before he can take them, Cuddy comes in and says she won't stop him because it's his choice. She then admits that she broke up with Lucas because she can't move on from House, and asks if they can be a couple. House wonders if he can fix himself, and warns that he's the most screwed up person in the world. Cuddy admits she loves him, whether she wants to or not. She helps House stand and he kisses her, and then wonders if he's hallucinating. She points out he hasn't taken the Vicodin, and House drops the pills on the floor before kissing her again.

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