rp for mcgill_pride
Cuddy took one last quick glimpse in the mirror to make sure she was presentable before leaving her room. Her hair was still a bit damp from her morning swim, but otherwise she looked reasonably put together. And that was saying something these days. She'd gotten herself into such a mess, started to even lose her sense of who she was. Some of that
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Unfortunately, she could feel her cheeks heating up as she thought of those moments so she quickly pushed those memories to the back of her mind. The last thing she needed was to get all hot and bothered in front of Wilson.
Her lips curved into a genuine smile as Wilson covered her hand. She turned her hand over within his grasp so she could return the gesture. Wilson's presence was always a soothing one. Back home he'd been a necessary balance to House's intensity. The fact that she'd never seen Wilson lose it before was no excuse for not being around when the hotel proved too much to handle.
"You're not going to disappear again. We won't let you," she said, unthinkingly including House in her statement. "But you're absolutely right. We can deal with this better together than we can separately." She smiled again. "We make a good team, always have."
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"Yes," he agreed as brightly as possible. "Always have." He nodded once more and then let go of her hand and pressed his fingertips over his eyelids, rubbing them for a moment. Headaches were a frequent thing of late, but the bottle of aspirin was back in his room. He figured this one wasn't so much from alcohol withdrawal as it was from the stress he was under, but the pounding behind his eyes persisted exactly the same regardless. He slid his palm down his face. Now that he'd eaten and done his best to speak without saying too much, too little, or anything too awkward in between, Wilson felt drained.
He crunched his napkin into a ball and tossed it onto his plate, then smiled back at Cuddy.
"Thanks for this," said Wilson lowly, his eyes still retaining a shred of guilt despite their weariness. "I'm afraid I didn't sleep well last night, and I need to catch up on that evidently. Amazing how that works, isn't it? You'd think after staying in bed for so damn long I'd never be tired again."
He reached across the table and seized her hand gently once more. "I'll see you again soon, won't I? Provided I don't make it impossible this time?"
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"Get some rest. And push the fluids. You're probably dehydrated," she advised. Sure, he was a doctor and knew as well as she did the dehydrating effects of alcohol. But he was a doctor and doctors really were the worst patients.
She squeezed his hand and nodded. She was relieved to have reconnected a little bit with Wilson. She had missed him, even if she'd hadn't always been consciously aware of the fact. And, admittedly, she was relieved to have gotten through the conversation without letting anything slip about her relationship with House. Though she still intended to find out why House hadn't wanted her to say anything.
"I promise. Even if it is hard to keep track of time in this place, no more of this going for days or weeks without so much as saying hello."
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Wilson smiled at her warmly once more and released her hand, clasping the back of his neck habitually before he turned to walk away. Before exiting, he grabbed a bottle of water from the beverage stand just as Cuddy had advised and turned around to wave to her with it.
That could've gone worse, he thought. By the same token, Wilson hoped that there would come a time when he could breathe the air a bit easier when in Cuddy's presence. That went for House too.
Easier said than done, of course.
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