Title: One Is Too Many, A Thousand Never Enough
Summary: A package arrives at the hospital for Charlotte. House has an unquenchable need to know everything and some things just weren't meant to be known.
Disclaimer: Can't we all just share? …probably not. The title and some quotes come from NA readings. The characters come from this great TV show.
He had a key. He didn't have to look under the welcome mat for it, so he wasn't breaking in. He needed to know what was in that box that he had seen Charlotte taking to her car during her lunch break the other day.
The box had been sitting on the information desk when he had walked in to the hospital a week ago. From his path around the desk, he couldn't read the name on the top line of the address, but he could tell it was long. Later, his curiosity was satisfied when he saw Charlotte walking down the hall with it.
Later in the week, he had gone to visit her in her office. (He made it a point to see her at least once a week now. He didn't want her to know rehab gave him the heebie jeebies.) In his first cursory glance around the room, he spotted the box sitting in the corner behind her desk. It wasn't a large box and he tried to figure out what was in there. Two pairs of shoes. No, that was unlikely. Charlotte always had her sneakers on or those ugly black loafers. A police scanner. No, she wasn't a superhero-in-disguise. It was probably some grotesque art piece to go in her living room. Yes, that was probably it. He had stumbled into Cuddy's office a few weeks ago and found the two of them ogling over some decorating magazine. Now that Chase had officially moved into Charlotte's house, Cuddy started planning the redecoration to make it more "boyfriend friendly."
That made House gag.
And look over his shoulder. He forgot about Chase and forgot to check if he was still at the hospital. Damn. He might be home.
House made his way into the kitchen and quietly opened the door that led to the garage. No car. Score.
Now, if he were Charlotte, where would he have put an important, highly sensitive package?
(This was assumed, but she refused to open it in the hospital, so it was something she either knew was coming and/or knew she shouldn't open there. Normally when Charlotte got a package, she ripped it open with a gleeful, greedy gleam in her eye. When she carried it to her car, she held it like a baby but the packing tape was still intact.)
To his surprise, he turned around and saw the package sitting on the island next to a stack of junk mail.
The package seemed to sing. Light seemed to be radiating from inside the box, which sat there with a warm glow of triumph surrounding it. Sweet, succulent triumph. House could almost taste the anticipation as he stepped closer. He stopped cold when he saw the packing tape was still unbroken.
After some quick thinking and a steaming teapot, the tape was gone. The box was a little soggy, but at least the tape was gone. Oh, a soggy box. Whatever is inside would certainly be ruined…
Unabashedly, he opened the top flaps and pushed aside the packing peanuts and frowned.
Books. Only Charlotte would be so protective of books. Not even interesting books.
A little piece of hot pink paper stuck out from between the pages of the first book. He pulled it out and read it quickly: Hey, I saw these books and I thought of you. –Anna. Oh, P.S.: I found something of yours.
Ah, there we go. He pulled out the first book and threw it to the side. Book after book, he frowned as he read the title and put it aside. He didn't know what he was looking for until he reached in a pulled out a black leather book with no title.
Ah-ha.
He ran his finger down the spine and flipped it over, taking in every gently worn corner. This book definitely belonged to Charlotte. As if he was uncovering a lost treasure, he cautiously opened the front cover and saw "For This Addict…" written in Charlotte's small, round print. Confused, he flipped through the book and found pages and pages of handwritten material, almost like a journal. Most likely, it was something she had kept while she was working in rehabs in New York, House assumed.
He slipped the book in his pocket and started piling the books back in the box when he heard the garage door open. In a swift movement, he grabbed his cane he had leaned up against the table and bolted out of the house.
As he was closing the front door, Chase was opening the garage door and stepping into the kitchen. After he closed the door and turned around, he noticed the box sitting wide open out the table and packing peanuts all over the floor.