# 178 The Card
Title: The Card
Author: Nodakgirl
Rating: R for language
Beta: Thank you Plunderbunny and Wollem. You guys are the best!
Word Count: 4135
Prompt #178: After his divorce is final Wilson finds a card on his desk saying “Hear you’re single…..wanna make out.”
Spoilers: None to speak of
The sky was a dull gray. The clouds were heavy with rain. He stood looking out his living room window, sipping a cup of coffee. The weather matched his mood today. He glanced over at the couch to the legal papers he had thrown there last night. The divorce was final. He’d known it was coming but seeing it on legal paper brought pain and a feeling of total failure flooding over him. He’d thought of ripping them up but he didn’t. James Wilson didn’t do those kinds of things. So he left them lying scattered on the couch and floor.
Sighing, he put his coffee cup in the kitchen and walked out of his lonely, sterile apartment.
By the time he got to the hospital, the clouds had released their liquid. He got soaked coming in from the parking lot.
Scowling and dripping wet, he made his way to the elevators. Ignoring the good mornings of the staff he finally reached the sanctuary of his office. And he reached his office without running into House or any of his team, for which he was grateful. He was in no mood for House’s torment. He closed his door, hung up his sodden coat, wiped off his brief case and set it down beside his desk before pulling out his chair and sitting down.
It was then that he noticed a single white envelope in the center of his desk. There was nothing written on the envelope, it just stared blankly at him. He picked it up, turned it over and opened it. There was a card inside. It looked like the type of card that you make on a computer.
The front of the card was decorated with colorful balloons and an innocent looking cat sat in the middle of the balloons. On top, black letters read: “Hear you’re single now……”
With a wry smile he opened the card. More bright balloons and the same cat but now the cat’s expression was leering. The caption read “Wanna make out?’ The card was unsigned. Grinning now, Wilson turned it over. There were no marks or clues as to the sender.
“House,” Wilson thought. He put the card in the center of his desk and looked at it. It was just like House to do this. Just to get him to smile. And it worked.
The phone rang and he forgot about the card as he picked up the phone. In the middle of the conversation, the door to the balcony opened. He glanced up as House walked in and sat on the couch with an impatient glance toward the phone.
Trying to ignore the increasingly ridiculous expressions on House’s face, Wilson finished the conversation, congratulating himself on being able to at least sound intelligent.
“Finally!!” House grumbled as Wilson hung up the phone.
“What’s the big emergency?” Wilson asked.
“No emergency, just think phones are a total waste of time.” House answered leaning back on the couch. “Let’s go get some breakfast.”
“Can’t. I haven’t made rounds yet and I have a meeting in an hour.” Wilson informed him.
House rolled his eyes and stood up. “Always the good boy, aren’t you?”
“I try.” Wilson replied softly, thinking about three failed marriages.
House moved toward the door but the envelope on the side of Wilson’s desk caught his eye. He leaned over and picked it up, turned it over and then opened it.
Wilson watched his expression carefully but if House had seen this card before he gave no indication.
With a short laugh, House put the card back on Wilson’s desk and said. “Wow, you’ve got them in line waiting for you. Who’s the lucky girl?”
Wilson shrugged. “I have no idea, it’s unsigned. I thought you’d left it there although I don’t know how anyone knew the divorce was final. I just got the papers last night.”
“Me??” House laughed. “You think I want to make out with you?”
Wilson found himself blushing as he stared into his friend’s bright blue eyes. “No, of course not. I thought you put it there to make me laugh but of course that would require feelings and we both know you’re incapable of those.” He replied.
House scowled. He leaned closer to Wilson without breaking eye contact. It took all of Wilson’s will not to move away from the piercing gaze. “And we both also know that you wouldn’t make out with me until you’ve run through all the available women in the world. Looking for wife # 4 already?” House said shaking his head. “I never thought you were stupid but I might have to rethink that.”
Without waiting for an answer House turned and limped out of the office. Puzzled, Wilson watched him go then pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed, put on his lab coat and went to do rounds.
He examined patients, ordered new treatments and medication, listened to reports from the residents and the nurses, joked with the patients, hugged the kids and all the time one part off his mind was on what House had said.
What was he talking about? Yes, he had three failed marriages. Did that mean that he was a complete failure at relationships? Was he supposed to live the rest of his life alone? That was ridiculous. Of course he wouldn’t rush into another marriage but if the right woman came along he didn’t see why he shouldn’t try again. After all he deserved to be happy. He started to get irritated. Did House want him to be miserable?
By the time he was in his meeting, he was almost angry with House. It was hard to keep his mind on the agenda at hand. After Cuddy had to ask him twice to explain his budget increases to the group, he pushed it all to the back of his mind.
He skipped lunch with House and worked on the revisions that he was asked to make in his budget. It was a good excuse not to have to spend time with the man. About two o’clock he got up and went down to the cafeteria to have a sandwich. He figured that House would have eaten long ago and he’d be left alone.
He sat at a table by himself and started thinking about Julie. What had gone wrong and when did it start going badly? He really couldn’t remember. He figured it was his work that took him away from home so much and she finally got tired of it. He wondered if there was a pattern. Did his work mean more to him than his wives? He thought back to his first marriage. He was just finishing medical school and the rigors of residency had torn him and Jessica apart. Then came Heather as he was getting started in his practice PPTH. That had lasted a year and a half and ended because of an affair he’d stupidly had with an Oncology resident assigned to him. Thoroughly depressed and angry with himself, he got up and walked to the clinic.
Brenda, the charge nurse, was surprised to see him but quickly assigned him some patients. For a while he lost himself in the simple diagnoses of a clinic setting. He was sitting at the desk charting when a voice close to his ear made him jump and turn.
“Feeling sorry for yourself?” House asked a second time with a sneer.
Wilson just glared at him. “Go away, House.”
When the other man didn’t move, Wilson got up, threw the chart in the out basket and walked out of the clinic as House called after him.
“Awww….Jimmy’s mad at me. Too many painful truths? WAKE UP, WILSON!” House’s voice got louder and louder as Wilson tried to flee with some dignity.
He got back to his office and the card was still sitting on his desk. The little cat was still leering up at him. “Wanna make out?”
He picked it up and looked at it. “Go away, you little troublemaker.” Wilson said as he dropped the card into the wastebasket.
***
At home, he was once again confronted with the divorce papers all over the floor. He bent over, picked them all up, stuffed them back into their envelope and threw it in the bottom drawer of the desk.
He sat staring out the window for a while just mulling over the mess his personal life was in. Finally he got up and went into the bedroom. Opening the closet he found a box buried under several other boxes in the back of the closet. He pulled it out and set it on the floor. The box was battered, the top didn’t fit right and there were water stains on the bottom of it. This box had been with him since high school. It contained a few picture albums, award certificates, his diplomas from high school, college and medical school and a few other mementos. He sat staring at the contents of the box, the contents of his life, for several seconds before he reached in and brought out a picture album.
Opening it he flipped through pictures of his family, his brothers and parents during happy times. There were pictures of Jessica and him when they first started dating. He smiled a little. It was a happy time. At the end of his relationship with Jessica the pictures were fewer. A year went by according to the dates on the bottom of the pictures and then there were more pictures. The second picture was a picture of Greg House. Wilson stared at the picture. He remembered taking it. He and House had just met and they had gone out to a lake for speed boat races. He was taking a picture of one of the boats when House jumped in the picture. He smiled at that memory. Then there were pictures of Heather, Heather and himself, House and Stacy and the four of them. He looked closer at the picture of the four of them. Someone had taken it when they weren’t quite ready. Heather and Stacy were smiling into the camera. He and House were grinning at each other. The camera locked the two of them together in a world of their own. He stared at the picture for a long time trying to remember happy moments during his marriage with Heather. Every time he remembered a pleasant moment he was startled to realize that House was a part of it.
He sat with the photo album in his lap, staring at the pictures. House was always there during the good times. Badgering him, getting him drunk during the bad times. He remembered during House’s infarction, the nights he spend taking care of House after he was out of the hospital and Stacy had left. It had been the beginning of the end of his marriage with Heather. She disliked House and she resented the time that her husband spent with the older doctor. The more she pushed Wilson to stay away from House, the more time he spent with his friend. Until the night that he arrived home and she was gone with only a note on the kitchen table.
He closed the album and picked up the photo album containing the pictures of Julie. During their courtship, their wedding and marriage, there was always House. A couple of pictures that he’d taken when Julie was unaware showed her glaring at House or looking very unhappy as she watched her husband’s best friend. Looking back over their marriage, he remembered more moments with House than with his own wife. Conferences, Monster Truck rallies, Hockey games, just sitting and watching bad movies in his living room or in House’s apartment. When House called in pain in the middle of the night, he always he got up, went out in the cold to be with his friend. Wilson sighed deeply. No wonder Julie left. He slammed the book shut and threw it back into the box.
Peering into the box again, he pulled out a ticket that he’d kept. It was to a Monster Truck Rally. Why had he kept this? He had gone with House. Julie was out of town and they both ended up drunk in his living room. He remembered waking up the next morning with House draped over him. He blushed remembering lying there enjoying the warmth of his friend and falling back to sleep listening to House’s even breathing.
He reached in again and pulled out a program from a rock concert that he and House had gone to. Julie had not been interested so he went with House. He pulled out a few more bits of memories from the box. Nothing saved from his wives. All of it mementos of his times with House. Abruptly he threw everything back in the box, got up, grabbed a jacket and went out for a walk.
Two hours of walking cleared his head a little but the thoughts were still spinning around. He felt more like a failure than ever. He had ignored his wives because of his attachment to House. He felt like a fool. He wanted to call them and beg forgiveness. He wanted Julie back. Maybe if he went to her and told her he’d realized what he’d done, maybe they could start over. He’d break all ties with House. Never see him again. They could make the marriage work.
Even as he was thinking these thoughts, the part of his mind that he was trying to silence was nagging at him that he could never break all ties with House. He pushed those thoughts away. He’d never felt closer to anyone in his life. They fit together. House was the one person in his life that he felt totally in sync with. He only felt whole when he was with House.
He looked at his watch. It was midnight. Too late to call Julie tonight. He walked back to his apartment and his cell phone was chirping at him. He cursed himself for forgetting to bring it. He picked it up. He had 4 missed calls. He scanned through them. 3 were from the hospital. He returned those immediately. Just nurses wanting order changes on a couple of his patients. Thank goodness no emergencies. After he had taken care of those calls he scrolled to the last one. It was from House’s cell phone. There were no messages on his voice mail. He stared at the phone trying to decide if he should call House. He shook himself mentally. He shut the phone abruptly. House could wait until morning. Putting the phone down, he walked into the bedroom and got ready for bed. He lay in bed staring into the dark. The world didn’t feel right. He felt adrift and at odds with the “normal” world.
At some point he fell asleep. Waking to bright sunlight streaming in the window, he blinked and checked the clock. It was early. He shut his eyes thinking he’d sleep for another half hour. But the thoughts from the night before started whirling around in his head once again. After 10 minutes he gave up and headed for the shower.
As he drove into the hospital parking lot, he found himself looking at the handicap spots for House’s motorcycle. Of course he wasn’t in yet….it was way too early for House.
Walking into his office, the first thing he spotted was the card once again in the middle of his immaculate desk. He walked over and picked it up. The same cat smiled up at him. “Hear you’re single….”
He threw the card on his desk and went out on the balcony. He could see the three younger doctors in the Diagnostic office but no sign of House. It had to be House that left the card. Wilson wasn’t sure whether to smile or be irritated. He walked back to his office, stared at the card on his desk for a few seconds then picked it up and threw it into his bottom desk drawer. He hoped by shutting the card in the drawer that he could shut all those questions in there with it.
Putting on his lab coat he went to make rounds on his patients. It was a long morning. A couple of his patients had been admitted with infections. He did the workups himself and stayed with them until all the tests were completed.
It was 1:30 before he got back to his office. His gaze fell on his desk. No cat leering up at him. He gave a little sigh of relief as he picked up his packet of notes and headed to a board meeting. As he passed by the Diagnostic Office, he glanced in. House was at the board and glanced up as Wilson went by. They made eye contact for a split second but Wilson felt the intensity of House’s look all the way to his toes.
The feeling was nothing to get overly analytical about, he thought. It was House. His friend….nothing more. He found himself only paying half attention to the meeting until Cuddy asked him for his report on his department. He opened the folder containing his notes and there was the card. The leering cat stared up at him. “Wanna make out?” Dr Syvertson sitting to the left of him snorted a laugh as he saw the card and Wilson felt himself turning beet red. Syvertson nudged him and said loudly. “You don’t waste time, do you, James?”
Cuddy looked at him questioningly. He shrugged and said. “House’s idea of a joke.” She smiled slightly as he stood and gave his presentation.
As soon as the meeting was over, he got up quickly and left, smiling tolerantly at the jabs from his coworkers as he made his way to the door. He was half way back to his office when he realized that he’d left his pager on the table in the boardroom. Cursing softly he made his way back to the meeting room. As he was about to enter, he heard his name mentioned. He stopped outside the door and listened.
“So James’s divorce is final?” Asked a voice he recognized as Dr Goldman, the head of the nephrology department. “Women today are quite aggressive when it comes to letting men know they are interested.” The voice continued in an amazed tone.
Another male laughed and then said. “I agree, women are more aggressive but I don’t think that card was from a female.”
Wilson held his breath and listened. The voice he recognized as Carl Syvertson continued.
“Oh c’mon, Bob. The man has been divorced 3 times in how many years….15 maybe less. And he’s always with House. They’re inseparable. They walk down the hall practically holding hands. I think House is finally sick of waiting for him to wake up.”
Wilson’s face turned bright red. His mother was right. Eavesdroppers never heard anything good.
He heard Goldman gasp. “You really think that James’s is……… shall we say……. ‘a little light in the loafers’?” The man sounded shocked and a little disgusted. “I never thought about House like that though.”
“He’s House…he’s naturally deviant.” Carl laughed harshly
Wilson groaned softly and turned around to walk away but the voices came closer to the door, so he continued into the boardroom doing his best to smile at his colleagues. He nodded as they walked past him. Carl smirking knowingly and Bob staring at him like he was some kind of a new and exotic animal.
There were 3 other people still seated at the table as he muttered something about getting forgetful, picked up his pager, turned and exited the room.
His face was still burning as he walked back to his office, closed and locked the door. He sank onto his couch and cradled his head in his hands.
“House!” He thought as his face turned red again. Sure he enjoyed House’s company, they had a lot in common. Being with him was comfortable and exciting. He never felt more alive then when they were together. Neither of them had a problem with the lack of personal space between them. Sometimes Wilson felt an urge to touch his friend, to throw an arm around him. He never did. House would have been irritated or would tease him mercilessly. He was content to enjoy the closeness they had without exploring why it happened or trying to change it in any way.
Suddenly he got off the couch and paced, running his hand through his hair. His thoughts were in chaos. Could he be that much in denial? He wasn’t in love with his best friend and House certainly was NOT in love with him.
His pager went off and he jumped. It was a consult. He put his lab coat on and headed to the Cancer floor.
He did the workup on the new patient, was cheerful and optimistic with him and his family but his mind kept going back to House, the card, what he had overheard. The charge nurse on the floor looked at him oddly a couple of times and he tried to smile reassuringly at her.
It was a long time before he could escape back to his office. Finally he reached the sanctuary of his office and closed the door and locked it again. He walked over to the blinds, intending to close them. House was out on the balcony and regarded him with a piercing stare. Wilson returned the gaze for a long minute. Just as he was going to break eye contact and turn away from the door, House limped to the wall. Throwing his bad leg over the wall, he hopped over and came to the door of Wilson’s office. Wilson stepped back as House pushed the door open and entered.
House stopped just inside the door and regarded Wilson again. “You look like shit.” He commented. “Too many late nights?”
Wilson shook his head slightly and said softly. “Not the way you mean.”
Looking at House, he was suddenly aware of the twin feelings of excitement and belonging that always accompanied being with him. Wilson suddenly felt as the sky had opened up letting the sun in. This moment, this man, this was where he belonged. He shivered with the knowledge and almost without thinking, took a step closer to House. He fully expected House would back up a step but the other doctor held his ground regarding Wilson with an odd expression.
They were quiet for a few heartbeats until Wilson broke the silence. “You sent the card.” He said. “Were you messing with me or something else?’
House smiled slightly suddenly regarding the poster on Wilson’s wall with interest.
“Always messing with you, Jimmy-boy. What better time to observe James Wilson then when he’s on the prowl for another relationship.” He said looking at Wilson again.
Wilson took another step forward and whispered. “Bullshit.”
He was so close to House now that he could feel the warmth of the other man’s breath on his face. He leaned in and softly kissed House’s lips. He could hear House’s sharp intake of breath. Wilson drew slowly back, shaking slightly.
Now he waited. He’d stepped over the line. You don’t kiss your best friend and not change things. He didn’t wait long.
House grabbed Wilson’s tie and shirt in his fist and with a half growl pulled Wilson toward him. Wilson gasped as House’s lips assaulted his, tongue pushing into his mouth. With a groan he responded, opening his mouth and his tongue dueled House’s for dominance. Wilson reached up with his left hand and grasped House’s neck, running his hand up into the coarse hair on the back of his head.
Finally they drew back from each other. Wilson saw lust, hope and maybe surprise in the other man’s eyes. House continued to regard him, as if waiting.
Wilson smiled and said almost in surprise. “You were always there. I just wasn’t looking in the right place.”
House smirked as he said. “You never were all that bright when it came to love. I met all your wives and girlfriends and not one of them….…….”
Wilson put it hand on the back of House’s neck again. He massaged gently and said. “Shut up, House.”
House shut up. Wilson leaned toward the other man again as he asked. “So…. Do you wanna make out?”
end