Never Stopped Dreaming

Chapter Five

By GirlX2

OOOoooOOO

"Now what do we do?"

The two men had come to the end of the stone path. The stones petered out into a dirt path that vanished into the woods surrounding the garden.

"Do we keep going?"

"Yes, unless you have a better suggestion." House limped on.

"I don't like doing this when we're this small. Who knows what kind of things are in these woods. Even regular animals could be dangerous." Wilson said grimly, matching his pace to the older man's. Gigantic flora toward over them, but none had spoke, thank God. No sign of any fauna as of yet.

"Yeah, those flowers looked like real killers. Did the rose even have thorns?"

"Okay, if it's not dangerous out here, where did that come from?" Wilson spotted what looked like fresh bloodstains seeping into the ground.

"So a squirrel got eaten." House shrugged, but slowed his pace slightly. "We'll…keep a lookout. Just in case."

"Good idea."

The two went on at an ever-slowing pace. House wasn't used to walking so far over bumpy ground, and Wilson was tired from work. Night was falling fast as the two chose to stop in a deserted looking stretch of soft grass.

"I don't know anything about wilderness survival." Wilson said.

"Leaves of three, let it be." House rolled his eyes. "It's warm out, and there's a brook and what appear to be strawberry bushes and some other stuff right over there. We should be fine until morning."

"Yeah. Sleeping on the ground will be great for your leg. Do you have any ibuprofen?"

"No. Not that it'd do me much good: those pills would be way too big to swallow right now."

"How's your leg?" Wilson asked, concerned.

"Not that bad, actually. It hurts, but not much worse than if I had the drug." House frowned pensively. "Maybe our mysterious gift-leaver thought of that too."

"Well, whoever it was seems to have deserted us." Wilson wandered over to the brook and scooped up a handful of water, hoping it wouldn't make him sick. The water was cool and tasted clean, anyway. Wilson stopped for a moment and grabbed a few strawberries off the nearby bush. Or what looked like strawberries: they were easily the size of hand fruit.

'Of course that's because we're so small.' Wilson thought. The towering trees were one thing, but if they were to run into anything with the ability to move itself…

Well, they'd just have to hope it was friendly. Wilson joined House, who had settled into the thick grass.

"You're willing to try those things after what's happened?" House eyed the fruit greedily.

"These look normal and they don't say 'eat me'." Wilson handed House a strawberry. "So, yeah. We can't just sit here and starve."

"Good point." House bit into the fruit. Wilson nibbled at his own strawberry. He really didn't like the idea of sleeping outside, but they didn't have a choice.

"I'm still hungry." House announced after they'd finished the fruit. He looked pitifully at Wilson. "Get me another one?"

Wilson rolled his eyes, but got up. "I swear, if you weren't crippled you'd still be pulling this crap on me."

"Yeah, but now you really can't say no." House grinned.

Wilson just shook his head, chuckling to himself. He foraged into the bush, looking for smaller fruit: his own appetite was nearly sated.

That was when he spotted the mushroom.

It was a large yellow spotted thing, probably about eight inches high. To Wilson's unease, a small scrap of paper was tied around it's stem. He gingerly untied it and read it.

"Oh boy…House, you'd better see this." He called over his shoulder.

"What is it?"

"I found another note."

Wilson could hear House scramble in the grass, trying to hurry over. "What's it say?"

"One side will make you grow larger-the other will make you grow shorter." Wilson read.

"That's just stupid-you can't grow shorter." House snorted. "What was it attached to?"

"A mushroom." Wilson pointed out the large fungus. House inspected it for a moment before reaching down and tearing off a small piece, then ripping it in half.

"You wouldn't."

"You're the one complaining about being so small." House pointed out, offering the oncologist a bit. "So take a bite."

"What if it's from the side that'll make us shrink?" Wilson held the piece gingerly.

"Then we'll try the other side." House replied. "Do you really want to spend the whole night this size?"

"I'd rather spend it this size than get shrunk again."

"Wuss." House responded, popping his own piece into his mouth.

"House!"

"Oh, what's the worst that could-ooh." House blanched slightly. "You don't think that mushroom is poisonous, do you?"

"It shouldn't work that fast if it was." Wilson said worriedly. "You're probably just going to change size-that made me feel sick too."

"I should really stop eating things we find laying around." House groaned and sat down.

Wilson watched as House began to grow. The Diagnostician slowly expanded until he reached his proper height, the clothes they'd found stretching admirably over his frame.

"Told ya." House grinned down at his friend.

"Okay, so you were right." Wilson anxiously chewed his piece. "That's good."

"Yeah. We're in a place where reality is a suggestion, but at least we'll be taller." House rolled his eyes.

"At least it's one thing less to worry about." Wilson felt his stomach contract uncomfortably. "That really feels weird."

"Is it like a sneeze, but better?"

Wilson rolled his eyes. "No, but I do feel a little sick. I guess that's to be expected."

"Well, there's nothing remotely like...Wilson!"

Whatever joke House was in the process of making was curtailed by his horrified shout. To Wilson's own horror, his friend seemed to shoot even further upwards. Wilson gave out a cry of his own; House wasn't growing-the oncologist was shrinking!

"House!" Wilson's shout was drawn out as he collapsed into his clothing (again). "Damn it, how did you do that?"
"I didn't do it on purpose!" House's voice thundered from above. "You saw me tear the mushroom!"

The cloth was lifted away, and Wilson found himself staring at an utterly gigantic House. His friend looked equally horrified. The mushroom toward above Wilson's head-he was less than half it's size.

"You're telling me you managed to rip it right down the line?"

"Do you have a better explanation? The mushroom isn't marked!"

Wilson buried his face in his hands. "I'm three inches tall. I don't believe this."

"Here, I'll fix it." House tore another piece off the mushroom. "I'll try this, and if it makes me shrink we'll know which side is which."

"And if it makes you grow you'll squish me, the mushroom, and everything else in the vicinity."

"…Maybe." House murmured. "But you can't try it. It could shrink you down to nothing. You could go out like a candle."

"It's still safer than letting you do it." Wilson sighed. "Hand it to me, House."

"No." House popped the fungus into his mouth. He scooped Wilson into one hand. "Now just be quiet for a minute until I figure out which way this thing is going to send me."

"I just hope you didn't eat too much. Although, the amount of stuff eaten seems to have little bearing on how much you change size." Wilson puzzled over this. "It's actually quite interesting."

"Shit. What if it makes me too small to reach the mushroom?"

"Or makes you too big to find it?"

The two let this sink in for a moment. House hurriedly reached down, tore off a piece from the opposite side, and gave it to Wilson.

"Just in case."

"Good idea."

OOOoooOOO

To be continued...