Well, here is the next fic in the little series I have been writing. While this probably can be read as a stand alone it might make more sense in some places if you go and read Infectious Personalities and Toxic Lives first.
As usual - I don't own 'em though I wish I did.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1
House pushed the door to the Diagnostic Medicine conference room open and snorted with sour amusement when he realised it was empty. No doubt his team were hiding somewhere in the hospital, avoiding him with impunity since they currently did not have a patient. He limped across the room towards his office, scowling and jerking the door to his office open. He rather supposed they had a reason for wanting to be as far away from him as possible these days. His temper had been uncertain ever since Stacy had arrived at the hospital with all her worry and concern for her sick husband.
He slumped down in his chair, leaning his cane against the desk then turning to look out the windows. He knew his team had hoped for life to be a little easier for a while after their most recent cases. First Vincent Armitage and his hideous virus that had killed five women and his personal attack on House himself. Then the lengthy illness and recuperation of the young man with thallium poisoning and the cancer patients with Nocardiosis. It had been three days after Andrew Watson had finally been discharged, recovered but with persistent weakness in his hands and occasional bouts of pain in his feet being the lasting neurological effects caused by the level of exposure he'd suffered, that Stacy had appeared in the clinic.
House knew his team thought his mood was due to Stacy and they were partially right. Stacy was a major part of it. She brought with her an incredible number of memories. Most of them were good, he had to admit, but the more recent ones were largely bad. What she had done to him was something he could never forget, for reasons that were both obvious and subtle, and he could never forgive her either. He wasn't sure anyone else would understand the way he felt; Wilson had after all admitted he would have done the same thing. It was the single difference between them that made the difference. Stacy had not told him of the 'middle ground', she had waited until he could not object and made the decision. Wilson would have told him; he still would have made the same decision but House would at least have had some warning, time to prepare for the worst.
House took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He knew his behaviour lately had been irritating many people, not just his team, and that most of them thought that his attitude was due to the fact that he wanted Stacy back. He snorted derisively; Stacy was married and in his eyes that was that. He was not Wilson, whose reputation as a panty peeler had been well earned. That reputation sent an occasional paranoid shiver through House except that Wilson had said more than once that he was not going to cheat on House. Though House was sure Wilson had said that to his wives as well…
Wilson. House's lips curled in a tiny smile at the thought of the man and he snorted again. Why would he want Stacy back when he had Wilson? Their current relationship may only be a couple of months old but it was already better than the five years he had spent with Stacy. Maybe it was because they had been friends for so long before taking this step into something more. Maybe it was because Wilson had a patience with all his quirks that Stacy and every other person he'd been involved in had lacked. Maybe it was because Wilson had a sense of humour that worked so well with his own. Or maybe it was because Wilson was one of the few people who didn't get fussed about his leg and didn't treat him like he was disabled. Or maybe it was all of the above; any way you looked at it, it worked and House had no intention of giving it up. Not after he'd let Wilson into his well-guarded and fortified heart and even admitted he loved the man.
The smile fell away as he remembered the argument they'd had this morning after he'd mentioned Stacy had dropped in twice the previous day.
"She seems to be spending a hell of a lot of time in your office," Wilson said, his lips thinning.
"What can I say, I have a magnetic personality," House tossed off with a smirk.
Wilson pushed his chair back abruptly and picked up his bowl, stalking over to the bench and dumping the bowl in the sink with a clatter. House looked over with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, that was an incredibly sulky move," he observed. "Are we being teenagers again?"
Wilson stared down at the bench, his hands gripping the edge tightly. "I thought she was supposed to be married. To Mark."
House blinked. "Are you…jealous?" he asked incredulously.
"No!" Wilson said sharply.
House smirked. "You are! Last time I looked, James, I wasn't you."
Wilson's hands tightened on the bench. "You encourage her. You've been chasing after her ever since she got here."
"Don't be stupid!" House said dismissively.
Wilson whirled around and glared at House. "You fawn all over her. You'll kick me out of your office with impunity while she's all but enthroned in there so don't tell me I'm being stupid."
With that Wilson stalked out of the kitchen and House heard the front door slam shortly afterwards.
House scowled as he stared out the windows. That had been a rather impressive display of jealousy from Wilson and it had only occurred to him after he'd gotten into the hospital that he'd never actually told Wilson that he had no interest in Stacy any more. He was mostly just enjoying pushing her buttons since while he'd gotten over her, it didn't seem like she'd gotten over him. And he was childish enough to be enjoying that.
He leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. This was always the part of a relationship he hated the most; the need to sort out disagreements and have deep and meaningful conversations. He grabbed his cane and levered himself to his feet before limping slowly out of his office for a conversation he was sure was going to be uncomfortable.
Wilson propped his feet up on the table in the exam room in the clinic. He couldn't believe he'd resorted to House's usual trick of hiding in the clinic to avoid other people but he had to admit it was effective. As long as the nurses believed you were treating someone in the room, they wouldn't disturb you and you had a bit of a haven. He assuaged his conscience by occasionally emerging and actually treating a patient but mostly he just brooded.
There was probably a certain amount of irony in using House's trick for avoiding people to avoid House but he wanted to think things through so that he didn't end up saying something he'd end up regretting.
He already regretted his words and actions of this morning. He knew he was probably the last person who should be getting jealous but Stacy just had that effect on him. Or rather Stacy had that effect on him when she was anywhere in the vicinity of House. He didn't know where the possessiveness came from since he'd never been possessive with any of his wives or girlfriends. And a large part of him kept screaming that it probably wasn't a good idea to be that way with House.
He scrubbed his face with one hand and sighed. He was afraid that House was still in love with Stacy. There…he'd finally admitted it to himself. He was afraid that House was still in love with Stacy, that Stacy was still in love with House and that he was going to be left out in the cold. Which now that he thought about it was really kind of…stupid. House had told him that he loved him. He'd actually admitted it freely and without being coerced. And House did not cheat.
If anybody should be jealous or paranoid it really should be House. Considering Wilson's past record, House would have every right to be dogging his every step. But House had shown no signs of paranoia…or at least none that Wilson had been able to pick up and he was probably the closest thing to an expert on House's body language that there was.
"Well, isn't this an interesting reversal of roles."
Wilson started and his feet slapped down on the floor. He whipped around to see House leaning in the doorway of the exam room.
"I, er…needed to think," Wilson said slowly.
House limped into the room, closing the door behind him.
"Yeah, I can guess what about," he said sourly before taking a deep breath. "I'm not in love with Stacy."
Wilson bowed his head, feeling relief flood through him with those words. He looked over at House, his expression more than a touch penitent.
"I'm sorry," he said a little helplessly. "I…I had no right to…to…"
"Yes, you did," House interrupted. "You're my lover, you're my…partner. I think if anyone's got a right to get jealous over the way I've been acting, it's you."
Wilson mulled that over for a moment. "Why have you been acting that way? If you don't love Stacy anymore, why have you been…with her all the time?" he demanded.
House looked down and tapped his cane on the floor a couple of times. When he looked up, wicked amusement was gleaming in his eyes.
"I like watching her react," he admitted with a smirk. "She hasn't really changed that much and I have. I can still push her buttons pretty effectively but she can't really do the same to me."
Wilson stared at House with disbelief for a moment then started laughing rather helplessly.
"You're…tormenting her?" he asked incredulously.
House gave an amused shrug and grinned. "Hey, I gotta be me."
"Greg, leave the woman alone," Wilson chided, still laughing. "And I mean that in so many ways."
"Aww, Mom!" House mock-whined. "You're spoiling all my fun."
Wilson's eyes narrowed and he got to his feet, advancing on House with a fixed look on his face. House raised his eyebrows then looked surprised and interested when Wilson didn't stop but instead backed him up against the wall next to the door.
"I…am not…your mother," Wilson said intently as he pressed himself against his lover.
He kissed House as fiercely as he could manage as he ran his hands down his lover's body, finally cupping House's growing erection as he ended the kiss.
"And don't I always spoil your fun?" he asked almost cheerfully as he pulled away and slipped out the door with a smirk of his own.
House growled an obscenity and thumped his head against the wall lightly as he conjured up the most disgusting image he could remember from his days as a student. Once he'd calmed down, he chuckled. Now this was why he appreciated James Wilson so much. He was much more fun than Stacy had ever been…
When House got back up to his office, he ducked out onto the balcony and saw that Wilson was in his office with a patient. As he watched, his lover seemed to realise he was out there and Wilson glanced up briefly. House snorted at the gleam of mischievous amusement he received then turned and limped back into his office. Revenge could wait.
As he sat down, he saw his team coming striding into the conference room with very familiar expressions on their faces. He rolled his eyes; he knew those looks. They thought they had a case for him. He sighed and stood up again, making his way out into the conference room and over to the coffeepot. He pulled a mug out of the cupboard and filled it up then turned around and looked expectantly at the three young doctors.
"Well?" he barked.
"Nineteen year old male with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. His name's Aaron O'Connell," Cameron announced expectantly.
House blinked. "FOP? Ossification in the musculature? Okay, rare, particularly in males. Kind of interesting but sort of boring as well in that…what's it got to do with us? It's a genetic disorder, nothing to do with diagnostic medicine if he's actually been diagnosed."
"The bone's becoming necrotic," Cameron replied. "Both the skeletal bones and the ectopic bone growth in his musculature."
"Osteomyelitis?" House said with a frown. "Do a needle biopsy into one of the bones and find out which bacteria is causing it and start him on antibiotics. Boring."
"He doesn't want that," Foreman said. "He kind of likes the idea that the bone growing in his muscles is disappearing."
"Have you told him that the bone isn't actually disappearing, it's just becoming necrotic and will be replaced by new bone?" House asked, sounding annoyed.
"Yes," Foreman replied. "He wants to know if the bone in the musculature can be removed once it becomes necrotic."
"Osteomyelitis isn't that specific," House snapped. "He'll end up with necrosis in his skeleton and if we don't treat it, he'll end up with chronic osteomyelitis. He really won't enjoy that. Go back and tell him to stop being an idiot. Then do the biopsy and find out which damn bacteria is causing this."
Foreman rolled his eyes and the three doctors headed out of the conference room. House watched them go then headed back into his office.
The young man in the bed looked up awkwardly as Foreman, Chase and Cameron walked into his room. He looked a touch strange; his right shoulder was frozen in an awkward raised position and his head was tilted at a slight angle to the left.
"Well?" he said eagerly. "What did he say?"
"Exactly what I told you," Foreman replied firmly. "Osteomyelitis isn't that specific. There's no way to make it go after just the bone growth in your muscles. It'll attack all your bone tissue and if we don't start treating it, you could end up with chronic osteomyelitis."
"If I did end up with chronic osteomyelitis, would it still attack the bone growth?" Aaron asked.
Foreman prevaricated for a moment. "Well, yes, but if you have chronic osteomyelitis, it'll be much worse than it is now. It won't just be the bone infection. You'll end up with sequestrum. That's…dead bone that becomes separated during the process of necrosis. Then you end up with involucrum which is a bony encasement of the sequestrum. There's bone loss, sinus formation, purulent drainage…that's pus. And if one of these sinus tracts becomes blocked, there can be localised abscess formation and infection of the soft tissue. It becomes incredibly difficult to stop the infection and there's a risk of squamous cell carcinoma or amyloidosis. You'll end up in chronic pain and it won't help the FOP. It could just make it worse."
Aaron shifted awkwardly and frowned. "There's…no way of…keeping it at a low level? Just enough to…to damage the bone but not turn into the chronic form?"
"It's a bacterial infection," Cameron replied. "They're not that specific. Yes, it may attack the bone growth in your muscle but it's also going to attack the bones of your skeleton. Osteomyelitis most commonly attacks the tibias and femurs. Larger bones. It may not even go after the bone growth caused by the FOP."
The young man stared down at the blanket covering his legs then sighed reluctantly. "I had to ask," he said earnestly. "I had to."
"We need to do a bone biopsy to determine what bacteria is causing the infection," Foreman said firmly. "We'll do an X-ray and a CT scan to find which bones are being affected then we'll do a needle biopsy."
Aaron was silent for a long moment then he nodded as best as he could. "Okay."
