Disclaimer: I do not own House or any of the show's characters. In fact, I'm not sure I even want to own this fic. It's my first real but shaky attempt at any fanfiction...anyone want it?

Second Time's the Charm - Chapter 1

"I don't want to be in pain. I don't want to be...miserable. And I don't want him to hate me."

House suddenly woke up in his bed with a jolt, catching his breath. The words were still echoing in his head like a self-assuring mantra. I don't want him to hate me, I don't want him to hate me, I don't want him to hate me…

He had been dreaming about it again. Wilson's unforgiving, unnerving stare. And the images of the ill-fated bus crash came back to House every night without the help of electrical probes in his head. It had already been two months since he first went through that procedure to get his memories back. Now, he didn't want them anymore.

House turned his head to look at the alarm clock. 5:00 AM. It was still a few hours before he was expected to be back at work at Princeton-Plainsboro. House reached for his phone, and his finger automatically pressed the first number on his speed dial.

"Cuddy? I need you to do me a favor."

Foreman pushed open the glass doors to the differential room and dropped a manila envelope on the table. "Okay, guys. New case. Twenty-year-old male presented with high fever, fatigue,…"

Kutner held up his hand. "Hold on a minute. Shouldn't we wait for House?" Foreman glanced over at Thirteen and Taub. Kutner went on in a not so confident tone, "He's supposed to be coming back today."

"Oh, is that why you put a cake on his desk that says 'WELCOME BACK, HOUSE!' in bold blue letters?" Thirteen turned to smirk sarcastically at Kutner.

"What? I thought he might like it."

Taub suggested as he looked up from his coffee cup, "How about we turn our attention to the case and not Kutner kissing up to the boss?"

"Hey! I'm still your boss until House shows up," Foreman responded.

"Which could be God knows when!" shouted back Thirteen with eyes wider than usual and hands thrown in the air.

Kutner looked sharply at Thirteen. "What's your deal?"

"House only cares about himself. So, why should we care about him? He doesn't bother coming to work on time…"

"Give the guy a break! He's still recovering from a coma," Kutner defended.

Thirteen continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "He's never been here on time. Since before he was even in a coma. Who cares if time is a factor in saving a patient's life?? The great Gregory House getting a good night's sleep always outranks a patient's right to…I don't know…actually have a decent diagnostician care if they live or die. He only needs three things in life: sleep, a solution to every problem, and someone to harass. He's a selfish bastard, and you know it. I don't get why you worship him so much." She crossed her arms to say she was finished with her argument and then opened her mouth again. "Dr. Foreman, what were the symptoms again?"

"Dr. Cuddy, I went by your office, but someone told me you were here. By the way, where's House? Isn't today his first day back?" A blonde senior attending stepped into the clinic and rested her arms on the waiting room desk where Cuddy was also leaning.

"Yeah. He's in one of the rooms with a patient. House will be spending the next four weeks catching up on his clinic duty. He still needs time to get back on his feet, and Foreman can handle the Diagnostics Department for another month."

Cameron was taken aback as soon as she heard the words House and clinic duty in the same sentence without the words will do anything to get out of in between them. "So, wait. You got House in the clinic for a month? And your persuasive argument that won him over was…that he isn't ready to take on cases? No way. House would never accept that. What's he getting out of this?"

Cuddy let out a long sigh. She leaned closer to Cameron and whispered in her ear, "House is doing clinic duty…in exchange for information on where Wilson is at all times."

Cameron straightened up right away. "And how is he supposed to get that? Did he have you assign one of the nurses to watch over Wilson?"

"No, of course not. How would the hospital look if I had a nurse stalking a doctor around the building?" She paused and then continued in the calmest and quietest tone, "I placed a tracking device on the back of Wilson's ID card."

"You did what?!" Cameron could barely contain herself. The entire waiting room stared at her – half in shock, half in annoyance.

Cuddy shot her the famous "Keep it down!" look that she usually gave House and went on as quiet as before. "And sensors right outside the door of his office. House has a monitoring device that goes off when Wilson's ID tag passes the sensors."

"Wow." Cameron looked genuinely stunned. "I know House pulls some crazy and unbelievable stunts sometimes…but tracking his best friend's every move? Without Wilson even knowing it? That's a whole other level for House."

BEEP BEEP. BEEP BEEP.

Cuddy's eyes and Cameron's eyes were searching for the source of the electronic beeping when they both saw House exiting Exam Room 1.

"Dammit. He's moving," House muttered to himself as he walked past them, not even noticing that they were there. His only focus was on the screen of his handheld monitor that lit up and vibrated at a rhythmic pace. The lights flashed faster when he approached the elevators outside the clinic, so he turned the other way and made a hurried limp to the stairs.