House M.D. stuffs
So, two chapters in one day. Feeling much better after 8 hours at work and a delicious rerun of House. Ta da!
Title: Delicate
Chapter: You Can't Always Get What You Want (four)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Alas, they do not belong to me. If they did, buying a lottery ticket would no longer be necessary.
Summary: House is changed in a way that no one could have seen coming, and Wilson is left to pick up and take care of what's remaining. Can he handle it?
Warnings: sick!vulnerable!House, House/Wilson slash.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Once House had been scrubbed clean and was pain free, Wilson had again left the man with Cameron. House seemed less hesitant, now that he was aware of when he was exchanging hands, but he still looked desperately at Wilson as Cameron pulled him down the hallway.
“It’s only for a few hours,” Wilson had told him when they were in the locker room, as he tugged House’s shirt over his head. “I just have to talk to some patients, and I swear, it’s going to be really boring. You wouldn’t want to stay anyways.”
House reached out a hand and touched Wilson’s face, “But I wanna stay with you.”
Wilson stopped trying to style House’s hair into something manageable and looked at him, “You will, just give me a little time, okay? Cameron’s more fun than I am anyways.”
“Okay...” he still hadn’t been sure about the idea, but let Wilson pass him off for a while, regardless.
Cameron took him into a room that was all glass except for one wall. There were lots of books, and a TV, and a chair that looked squashy and comfortable. She walked behind the desk at the back of the room and dropped his bag on it. “This is an office. But no one’s using it right now. I thought you’d like it in here. There’s a balcony outside if you want to sit out there, there’s TV in here, or you can just nap,” she said, dropping herself into the chair behind the desk. “We can do whatever you want.” Even when House wasn’t himself, she was desperate for him to like her.
“Um...” he turned slowly on the spot, taking in the room. “I’m hungry.”
“Food’s easy!” she chirped, getting out of her chair. “We need to go down to the cafeteria, but we can take the elevator.” But he had stopped paying attention to her in favour of a photograph hidden among the many books. He hobbled over to it, and picked it up with long, nervous fingers.
“This is me and Wilson.”
“Wilson and me,” she corrected him lightly, because she was nervous. She hadn’t foreseen a situation like this one arising and wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. “But yes, that is a picture of you two.”
“We look...different,” rubbing his thumb over the picture, he clamped his hand down tightly on the frame so that his fingers started to turn white. As she looked at it over his shoulder, Cameron could tell it was probably at least 8 years old. House didn’t have his cane, he and Wilson were golfing. And House was wearing a cross, so that meant he was probably still dating Stacy at the time that it had been taken.
“Um...that was a long time ago,” she moved to gently take the photo from him, but he pulled away.
“I don’t remember,” the words were empty, and it broke Cameron’s heart.
“We all forget some things,” she forced out before finally getting him to give up the death grip on the picture. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”
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When their four hours was up, Cameron walked House back to Wilson’s office and knocked on the door. She heard a muffled noise from inside, and a moment later Wilson opened the door a crack. “Sorry,” he said, “I’m just finishing up with a patient. Can you guys wait 15 minutes, or so?”
“Sure, no problem,” Cameron grimaced, trying to push House off of her foot. In his desperate attempt to see Wilson, he cared not what he trampled. As the door shut, she turned to him. “Have a seat on this bench, and why don’t you play with your game boy? He’s not quite done yet.”
House situated himself comfortably on the cushions, his cane between his bent legs and accepted the toy from her. In no time it was making quiet explosion noises, and Cameron found herself with little to occupy her mind. She sat down next to House and put her hands on her lap. It had occurred to her, in the little time she had spent with House, that Wilson was going to need professional help. Not on the day to day stuff, she had found House to be extremely cooperative. But even as a brain damaged individual, he was inquisitive and bright. How many times could memory loss be explained with “We all forget some things”?
Wilson’s door opened and he ushered out a couple, both of whom seemed to have cried very much in the confined of his office. “Don’t hesitate to call me, ever,” he said sincerely, a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “If either of you have any questions, or just need someone to talk to. You have my number.” The woman nodded gratefully and her husband thanked Wilson before pulling her away. Wilson walked over to where House was sitting and put a hand on his head. “How was he?”
“Fine,” Cameron answered honestly. “We went and got some food-“
“How much was it?” he asked, reaching into his pocket, “I’ll pay you back.”
“Don’t be silly,” she waved her hand to dismiss him, “you don’t have to pay all of his costs. And then we just hung out. But Dr. Wilson...” she stood up and walked a few steps away from House. “I’ve been thinking,” she said as she turned her back to the man with the game boy, “you might want to think about getting some help with caring for House.”
“Well, that was the plan,” he said, rubbing his neck.
“No...I mean...he’s really curious. He’s been asking questions already about why he doesn’t remember anything beyond the last week. Maybe he hasn’t asked you yet, but I’m sure he will. I don’t know how to answer those questions...and unless you do...” she seemed uncomfortable. She felt like was infringing on Wilson’s territory, but at the same time, she wanted to make sure her ex-boss was well taken care of.
“I...see. Well, I guess I hadn’t really thought of that. I’ll um...I’ll look into it,” he didn’t necessarily look receptive, but Cameron had gotten it out there, and that was what she intended to do. “Thanks for looking after him. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem,” she walked back to kneel in front of House, putting a hand on the screen of the video game. “Hey, bud,” she pulled it down so he looked at her face, “I’m going to go now. Look who came out of his office.” She pointed over her shoulder at Wilson before getting up. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“Bye,” said House, dropping his game, without turning it off, and getting up to walk over to Wilson. He enveloped the man in an awkward hug, his cane hitting Wilson’s backside lightly. “I missed you,” he whispered softly.
“I missed you, too.” Hugging him back was easily the best part of Wilson’s day.
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