just_muse_me: Listen in on a private conversation
Note: This takes place following this season's finale, so there will be spoilers. Also, Wilson and Murphy are both borrowed with love.
She had made the decision sometime around 3:45am that she wasn't going to school -- about the time that she had decided to stop watching reruns of M*A*S*H with Murphy and head to bed. So with her alarm turned off, it was no surprise that she slept til nearly ten. What was a surprise, were the voices coming from the living room as she opened her door.
"...up for visitors sometime either today or tomorrow. How is she?"
"She's a wreck. She won't talk about it, puts on a good front but she's a wreck inside."
There was silence there and Bree could almost see Wilson nodding, taking a moment to decide on his next words.
"And you? How are you handl..."
"Me? I'm fine. It's not my dad in the loony bin."
"Murphy..."
"I'm fine. And even if I wasn't, it wouldn't matter. What matters now is Bree."
"What matters is both of you. House would want..."
"House would want to know Bree was taken care of. I'm going to stay here with her until he comes home. Unless..."
"No. You being here is probably good. She'll just accuse me of hovering. But I'll be over a lot. Provided you don't mind."
Bree couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. The two of them out there, both wanting to fix everything, but not wanting to step on the other's toes in the process. It would be funny, if she wasn't kind of pissed. She wasn't a little kid anymore. She didn't need Mommy there to check on her every few hours.
"Please. It may get her to eat something that's not Chinese takeout."
"When he went to rehab it was Hot Pockets and Ben & Jerry's. At least there's some semblance of vegetables in Chinese. I'll swing by the store on my way over tonight."
"I'm gonna run back by my place when you get here. Pick up enough stuff to at least get me through the week." There was another brief bit of silence before Murphy continued. "I should let you go say hi. She and Toby are holed up in his room."
"She let the dog on his bed? Oh he is not going to be pleased." There was a bit of a smile in Wilson's voice. He was trying his hardest to make light of the situation.
Of course, at the sound of his name, Toby went charging down the hall to greet Wilson. And at that point there was no use in pretending she wasn't in the hall -- so she followed him towards the living room, leaning back against the wall by the bookshelf and offering Wilson a small smile.
"How long have you been listening?" Neither Wilson nor Murphy was stupid enough to think Toby had just coincidentally appeared at the right moment.
"Just a few minutes. Enough to hear you planning to switch shifts like you're afraid I'm gonna off myself or something. I'm fine."
"Bree...sit down." Wilson motioned to the couch. "Murphy and I know you're not going to 'off yourself'. And we know that you think you're fine. But honey, there's no way you can be fine. I'm not fine. What your Dad is going through is affecting us all and the best thing we can do right now is take care of each other. Because if he's stressing out worrying about you, it's not going to help him. He needs to see we're okay, so that he can be okay. Understand?"
It made sense. She hated when Wilson made sense. With a sigh, she nodded, looking between the two of them. "There better be pancakes involved."
She had made the decision sometime around 3:45am that she wasn't going to school -- about the time that she had decided to stop watching reruns of M*A*S*H with Murphy and head to bed. So with her alarm turned off, it was no surprise that she slept til nearly ten. What was a surprise, were the voices coming from the living room as she opened her door.
"...up for visitors sometime either today or tomorrow. How is she?"
"She's a wreck. She won't talk about it, puts on a good front but she's a wreck inside."
There was silence there and Bree could almost see Wilson nodding, taking a moment to decide on his next words.
"And you? How are you handl..."
"Me? I'm fine. It's not my dad in the loony bin."
"Murphy..."
"I'm fine. And even if I wasn't, it wouldn't matter. What matters now is Bree."
"What matters is both of you. House would want..."
"House would want to know Bree was taken care of. I'm going to stay here with her until he comes home. Unless..."
"No. You being here is probably good. She'll just accuse me of hovering. But I'll be over a lot. Provided you don't mind."
Bree couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. The two of them out there, both wanting to fix everything, but not wanting to step on the other's toes in the process. It would be funny, if she wasn't kind of pissed. She wasn't a little kid anymore. She didn't need Mommy there to check on her every few hours.
"Please. It may get her to eat something that's not Chinese takeout."
"When he went to rehab it was Hot Pockets and Ben & Jerry's. At least there's some semblance of vegetables in Chinese. I'll swing by the store on my way over tonight."
"I'm gonna run back by my place when you get here. Pick up enough stuff to at least get me through the week." There was another brief bit of silence before Murphy continued. "I should let you go say hi. She and Toby are holed up in his room."
"She let the dog on his bed? Oh he is not going to be pleased." There was a bit of a smile in Wilson's voice. He was trying his hardest to make light of the situation.
Of course, at the sound of his name, Toby went charging down the hall to greet Wilson. And at that point there was no use in pretending she wasn't in the hall -- so she followed him towards the living room, leaning back against the wall by the bookshelf and offering Wilson a small smile.
"How long have you been listening?" Neither Wilson nor Murphy was stupid enough to think Toby had just coincidentally appeared at the right moment.
"Just a few minutes. Enough to hear you planning to switch shifts like you're afraid I'm gonna off myself or something. I'm fine."
"Bree...sit down." Wilson motioned to the couch. "Murphy and I know you're not going to 'off yourself'. And we know that you think you're fine. But honey, there's no way you can be fine. I'm not fine. What your Dad is going through is affecting us all and the best thing we can do right now is take care of each other. Because if he's stressing out worrying about you, it's not going to help him. He needs to see we're okay, so that he can be okay. Understand?"
It made sense. She hated when Wilson made sense. With a sigh, she nodded, looking between the two of them. "There better be pancakes involved."