What Happened in the End? Chapter 9.
Title: What Happened in the End? Chapter 9.
Author: orange450
Pairing: House/Stacy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Although this story takes place in the future, it was originally written in mid-S3, just after the Tritter arc. It contains some earlier canon references, but takes no account of canon from that point on.
Summary: It's a little over four years since House parted from Stacy in her office at PPTH during "Need to Know". Mark has died, and fate (in the form of Wilson) will place House and Stacy back in each other's orbit. Stacy has an adopted daughter, and House has a new puzzle to work on.
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Wish I did.
Notes: The action takes place four years out from the start of S3 (at the end of a mythical S6), and forms part of how I'd like to see the series end. It was written at a simpler time in the House-verse, and may feel somewhat dated after the S4 finale, but who knows what could happen in two years? I'm trying to make the chapters feel like they could be parts of episodes, and to keep the personalities as in-character as possible.
Eternal gratitude to sassydew for encouraging me to write this story 1.5 years ago. And also for explaining how to bring it over to LJ!
Chapter 9. Between a Rock
“James, I need some advice.”
Stacy is standing in the door of Wilson’s office, on her way over to Lisa’s with the case file she’s been working on.
Wilson is looking through a pile of MRIs, occasionally holding one up to the light.
“Are you doing an oncology case?” he inquires. “I didn’t think we had any pending.”
“No, it’s not about a case. But if anyone comes in, can we pretend we’re talking about a case?” Stacy looks at him in appeal. “It’s about Greg.”
“What about him? Is he making your life miserable?” He continues to leaf through the films.
“Not exactly….” she hesitates.
Wilson looks up.
“Oh,” he says.
He’s not terribly surprised; he’d expected this to happen, but not so soon. He puts down the film he’s been holding, and motions to her to come in and close the door behind her.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks.
Stacy sits down in the chair across from him and proceeds to fill him in. She tells him about Greg’s first visit out to Short Hills, and the long and surprising conversation they had that day. She tells him about introducing Greg to Isabella. The time they’ve been spending together on the weekends - sometimes the three of them, sometimes just Greg and she. Phone calls in between. Wilson hasn’t been aware of any of this. Greg hadn’t told him, and he hadn’t thought to ask.
He asks her how things have been going.
“I’ve really enjoyed spending time with him, and we’ve been getting along well, if you can believe that. But James, we’ve gone in such different directions.”
She shakes her head and sighs.
“If this was only about me, it would be one thing - but I have Isabella to think of now, and I just don’t know how I see this panning out.”
Knowing Greg, he wonders how far things have gone, and why she picked just now to talk to him, but he doesn’t ask her that. Instead he asks how Greg gets along with Isabella.
“You know Greg,” she says. “He’s terrific with kids when he wants to be, like he’s terrific with anyone when he wants to be. But what does he really want? Can he handle relationships? I asked Lisa that four years ago and she didn’t have an answer then. Will he ever be ready? You know him better than anyone - what do you think? Is there any chance this can end well? Or am I kidding myself again?”
Wilson remembers asking House a similar question four years ago, too. He’s sympathetic, but he’s never pretended to be clairvoyant - especially where his best friend is concerned.
“Stacy, you’re going to have to talk to him yourself. I don’t know exactly what’s on his mind. I wish I did. I know you’re not the same person now that you were then. Being with Mark and Isabella …..”
His voice trails off. He’s not sure whether it’s a good idea to start talking about Mark, but Stacy goes on.
“Mark was a good man. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. Not any of it, including what I did to him.”
She bites her lower lip and stops speaking for a moment, lost in thought.
“I tried to make him happy afterwards,” she continues. “And I think he was, especially after Isabella came. But you know, James, it was never ….”
She has difficulty speaking, and Wilson holds up his hand to stop her.
“You’ve changed a lot over the past few years, Stacy. And I know that House says no one ever changes, but I think maybe he has too.”
He gives her a wry look.
“You know, once I would have had a vested interest in telling you it wouldn’t work.”
At first she’s puzzled, but her expression quickly changes to consternation as his meaning becomes clear to her. She doesn't know what to say. She’s upset with herself at the way she’s been talking to him; it’s insensitive in the face of what he seems to be alluding to. But he’s never given her the least idea that he might ever have felt this way. Wilson gives her a reassuring smile, as if he can read the jumbled thoughts going through her mind.
“Stacy, it’s okay. I think you should go for it. At least talk to him. And try to get him to talk to you.”
He rolls his eyes at her skeptical expression.
“I know, I know,” he says. “Easier said than done.”
She gets up to leave.
“James, you’re a good friend," she replies softly. “Thank you for what you’re telling me. And for what you’re not telling me.”
Wilson’s expression is resigned.
“Frankly, I don’t know whose friend I’m being here. Have you talked to Lisa?”
“No, I’m still smarting from the last time I did that.”
She smiles ruefully as she goes out, and Wilson grins. He knows about Lisa’s no-nonsense approach to Stacy’s dilemmas with Greg House, and he doesn’t blame her for avoiding Lisa’s trenchant tactics.
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Greg sees Stacy leaving Wilson’s office, but she walks down the hall in the opposite direction, and doesn’t see him. He’s piqued that she would she go into Wilson’s office, when she still hasn’t stopped by his.
Greg knows that Wilson has always liked her; they’ve been good friends for a very long time. He kept in touch after she left. Both times. Wilson’s always been there for her. Gd, he hates that expression.
He supposes it makes sense for Wilson to make a move soon, if he’s ever going to make one - he’s between entanglements for once, and she’s free too. He’ll wait for “a decent interval”, though, before he says anything to her. Just what is “a decent interval” anyway? he wonders. Whatever it is, Wilson will wait for it.
Well, if he wants to know what Wilson is up to, he can think of at least one very good way to find out.
TBC