Hi guys!

This is my first House story! I started watching the series again and I realised how much I have missed it! I totally got into it and I decided I should write down my own story about it.

It takes place during the third season, after the Tritter arc and episode 3x15, "Half-Wit". So we still have House's first team and Chase and Cameron are already sleeping together. I'm in love with Hilson pairing so it will contain slash (I still don't know if it would turn explicit or not, but I don't think) and there will be a female OC among the main characters (no romance between her and a canon, maybe only mentions! So don't worry). I'm trying to keep the characters stuck to the original, let me know if you think I'm going too much OOC!

This first chapter is just an introduction, the story will contain a case! I'm not a doctor but I've done some researches about the diseases and the treatments. I'll try to make it as realistic as I can!

English is not my mother language and I don't have a beta, so forgive me lexical and grammar errors! I'm doing my best to improve my English! I hope it's not too bad!

Every comment or criticism is welcomed! Let me know what you think about it! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own nothing apart from the plot and the original characters. House - M.D. belongs to its rightful owners!

Note: Eventual slash (House/Wilson), don't like, don't read please!

Chapter 1 - There's nothing new under the sun

It was a sunny morning. The air was pleasantly cool and a gentle breeze blew on the buildings of the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. James Wilson was standing on the roof, his gaze absently wandering on the landscape. He had left his office some minutes before, after a quite difficult conversation with one of his patients. All the treatments he had tried had failed without giving any positive results. When the young man had come to him the first time he was almost sure he would have saved him. He had a small malignant adenocarcinoma in his left lung but the analysis showed that it was at the first stages and it was operable. He hadn't expected the fast degeneration. In a small time the tumour had metastasized and had affected also the patient's liver and pancreas. The only thing the oncologist was allowed to do had been trying to find the best way to sooth the man's pain and to permit him to spend his last months in a decent way.

Wilson sighed tiredly. Brian was only thirty-four, he had a nice job as a graphic designer and he had been planning to propose to his girlfriend. And now he was going to die. The man had shaken his hand and had thanked him, like almost all his patients did when he sentenced them to death. House was right, he didn't understand why they always said "thank you", even if he would have never admitted that to his best friend. Why should they be grateful if they were dying? Of course, he did his best to extend their lives and to sooth their sufferings, but he could never stop the pain and, above all, he could not stop death. If people thought that dealing with it everyday helped you to get used, they were totally wrong.

"Hey, James!" a voice called from behind him, making him starting. "I was looking for you and a nurse told me she saw you going up here."

Wilson turned around, caught unawares, and faced a younger woman with dark red hair and light freckles. "Oh, good morning, Sophia. Can I do something for you?"

She smiled jokingly. "Well, you asked me out for lunch yesterday, or have you forgotten about it?" she said approaching him. Then her expression became serious. "Is something wrong?"

"It's…I had a bad morning" he answered rubbing his neck. "I'm sorry, I totally forgot about our date…I have too many things going around in my head."

"Ah, no problem! I imagined that. I heard about Brian from one of the nurses. I'm sorry, James". She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "You know how it works. We can't save everybody. We can just do our better. That's what doctors do."

"Yeah, you're right. But sometimes…I just think it's not fair" he muttered under his breath.

"Life is never fair, James" Sophia smiled sympathetically and winked. "But there's no point in staying here and getting depressed about it! Come and have lunch with your favourite intensivist! We're still in time for that."

He couldn't help but smile a bit in turn. "Ok, let's go" he nodded. "And…Thanks."

"That's what friends are for! And, by the way, why the roof? Usually you locked yourself in your office when you are in the dumps."

"Well, I needed some fresh air…and I have a friend who always comes here when he is in a bad mood. So I thought it could help me as well."

"House, isn't he? What a silly question! It's always him!"

James shook his head but didn't answer quickening his pace to walk by her side. He knew Sophia was just teasing him. He could tell from the amused sparkle in her green eyes.

They had met while doing Clinic some months before. Sophia Ure worked in the E.R. and she was a really brilliant doctor besides being a beautiful and fascinating woman. He had asked her out but she immediately turned him down saying that she was sorry but she was already involved with someone else. The day after she had come to his office and invited him to have a coffee with her. He had accepted and coffees had turned in lunches and dinners (when he wasn't busy with House) and they had become quite close friends.

"Anyway, how about you?" he asked while they were heading towards the elevator. "Busy morning?"

"We had two victims of a car accident but luckily nothing fatal" she answered pressing the button. "But I have to do the night shift today and I have the feeling that something big is going to happen before I'll be free to go home! When will I see a day with no emergencies?"

"Life is never fair, Sophia" Wilson chuckled patting her arm. "And you were the one who chose to study emergency medicine. Critic illness is part of your job."

"Says the oncologist" she talked back with a grin. "Can we forget about work for a while? I still have more than twelve hours of work waiting for me after three p.m.!"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. So, what do you want to talk about instead?"

"Let me think…Why don't we discuss for example why you keep hiding our friendship from most of people, and especially House and his team?" A worrisome grin appeared on her face. "Are you somehow embarrassed about going out with me as a friend? Are you worried I'll ruin your fame as a womanizer?"

"I'm…I'm not embarrassed of our friendship! It's just…I don't want people to start gossiping about us. If Chase, Cameron or Foreman got to know I'm going out with you then House would know and he would assume I'm dating you, no matter how many times I say it's not true. And he'll start firstly bothering me about the fact I'm "getting into the fourth biggest mistake of my life", alias fourth marriage, and then he'll start following us around. It would be annoying. So I prefer to let him think I'm seeing someone, even if it's not true, but leave him without a certainty."

"My, my, you are so complicated sometimes!" Sophia commented shaking her head. "Who cares about the rumours? They're fake, we know, our friends know. I don't care what the rest of the world thinks. And for House…Come on, he can't be that annoying! You can be evil, "Saint" James!"

"Oh, you don't know House! And, trust me, you're not sure you want to!"

"I'd really like instead. He's your best friend, I'm curious. And, besides, everyone in the hospital talks about him at least once in a day. They say he is the biggest misanthropic bastard one gets to know in his life! I'm intrigued. You know I like rebus!"

"Not this one, Sophia."

"So you're not going to introduce me to him?"

James looked at the intensivist who was staring at him almost pleading. He knew it was only a façade but you could hardly say no to those gorgeous green eyes when they were sparkling like that. "Uh, maybe" he granted sighing. "I'll think about it. Especially because I know that if I don't introduce you two you would just go straight to House's office and introduce yourself. And I'll be ruined if you do it."

"So melodramatic! Even ruined!" she teased but her voice sounded satisfied. "Changing the subject, do you mind if Derek joins us? Well, he and Matt actually."

"I don't mind your brother coming. I like him, he's a nice guy. But who is Matt? You've never mentioned him, if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Matthew is Derek's boyfriend."

"B-Boyfriend? You mean…?"

"Yes, his lover, partner, whatever you want to call him. Why are you so surprised?"

"I just…I don't know. I should have expected it."

Sophia laughed. "It seems it's a family thing. Being "normal" it's not for us" she joked. "Derek is more "extreme" then me, though. At least I'm bi!"

The oncologist allowed himself to laugh with her as they left the hospital. "I wouldn't spend so much time with you if you were normal, Sophia. I like exiting normality sometimes."

"More than sometimes, I dare to say! You spend most of your time around House after all!"

"Hey, that's not completely true! It's also the other way around! He spends a lot of time around me as well!"

"Really? I find it hard to believe…but not too much!"

They kept discussing while they walked through the streets, heading for their usual bar that was owned by a friend of Sophia's. James felt much more relax and Brian was almost forgotten at least for the moment. That was what he loved about the intensivist's company. She seemed to be able to wash his worries away for some time, allowing him to recharge. He smiled at her. He didn't regret they hadn't become romantically involved. He would have lost the chance to share such a good bond.

xxx

House set in a chair, all his attention focused on the little TV that was broadcasting one of his soap operas. In the bed besides him the coma man kept sleeping in his unconscious state, completely oblivious of the open packet of chips that was lying on his lap. The diagnostician had no case that day and should have been in the Clinic at the moment, but he was definitely not in the mood. So he had decided to try his luck by hiding and hoping that Cuddy wouldn't find him. After pondering his options he had chose a place that was so obvious that maybe the Dean of Medicine wouldn't have checked while looking for him. And he was right. The woman would have never looked for him in there, but she also usually asked somebody else to help her in the research, somebody she was sure would have exactly known where House was. So it wasn't so unexpected when the door opened revealing Wilson.

"House, Cuddy is looking for you" the oncologist stated closing the door behind him. "You have Clinic duty and you know too well."

"Not in the mood. And moreover they're broadcasting a quite intriguing episode!" his best friend grunted without looking away from the screen. "Cuddy disconnected the poor coma guy's TV! I'm striking to get it working again! He needs it! Everybody knows it is supposed to help him."

James shook his head sighing. "Don't pretend you care about this man, House. You're upset because you can't watch it anymore" he said crossing his arm. "And you're not striking. You're just avoiding work. It's different."

House rolled his eyes. "You're no fun, Jimmy! You could at least pretend to back me up" he complained. "What are you going to do now? Reporting me so I'm forced to face those idiots?"

"First of all, "those idiots" are patients and we have the duty to help them, even if they are just exaggerating their state. And second, actually I have no intention of telling Cuddy where you are. If I pretend I'm looking for you I can avoid Clinic myself."

"Oooh! Little Jimmy is playing hookie, eh? Am I finally succeeding in shaping you? Or are you in a bad mood because one of your bald kids is not too happy after today chemo?"

"Not in the mood". Wilson's face darkened a little. "And it's not a child today, but a nice and promising young man."

"Is he dead?"

"Not yet. But he'll be gone too soon. And it's my fault. I had been too confident about his case. Maybe I could have saved him. I almost couldn't look at his or his girlfriend's face today when they thanked me…"

"So I owe you other ten dollars. Great!" the diagnostician commented sarcastically. "I will keep on saying you put a spell on them when you talk them into dying or suffering! You're incredible."

"I wish I wasn't…" the oncologist whispered more to himself.

"Why didn't you come to my office if you were so upset? You could have paid for my lunch and I would have talked your depression away with my fine jokes!". House looked at his friend mockingly but he kept studying him. The truth was he was trying to distract the younger man from those nasty thoughts even if he would have never admitted that even to himself. "Instead you are still depressed and I had to make Foreman buy my lunch. You're going to give him his money back, don't forget!"

"Sorry, I already had other plans" Wilson answered a bit too quickly, grabbing a chair and sitting next to the other doctor. He hoped that House would have dropped the argument but he also knew he would have been a dupe if he'd really believed that. "I went out with a friend, her brother and her brother's…partner. And before you say it, we're not romantically involved."

"You stole my words, Wilson. A friend? A female friend? Are you trying to make me believe you're seeing a woman without hitting on her?". The diagnostician's voice filled with scepticism. "I'm not that naïve! Besides, nobody would believe that, not even Cameron. Mr. Panty Peeler has no female friends! And that meeting you had really sounded like a double date to me."

"Instead it wasn't! I'm not lying, House" the oncologist sighed exasperated. "She's just a friend, nothing more. I'm sorry this is shocking you but I can have female friends that are not my exs and I can hang out with women without going for them!"

"You're not friend with you exs. Anyway, you never cease to amaze me, Wilson. You keep denying the obvious, I'm astonished!" the older man mocked, but his eyes kept a serious sparkle, never leaving his friend's figure. "But I must admit you're becoming a better liar! I'm almost tempted to believe you. Almost. You still have to do much better to fool me."

"Again, I'm telling the truth". James crossed his arms sighing again. There was only one way out. "Listen, if you don't want to believe me, why don't you meet her? I can introduce her to you. Moreover, she's eager to meet you as well."

"She knows me, uh? Is she one of the nurses again? No, wait they hate me, they would never say they would be happy to meet me. So or she is one of your patients, again, and you have told her about me, or she's a doctor. Maybe that new girl in cardiology? I heard she is so desperate above her cat's death! You like them when they're like that, I know, Mr. Pretty Saviour!"

"She's not one of my patients. After Grace I swore I would have never done that mistake again and I'm not failing my promise. And she's not the cardiology girl. She works in the E.R., you don't know her. And she's not desperate, so quit it."

'E.R? Interesting. Chase must know her' House thought. Then he spoke aloud: "Not desperate? Sorry but I don't believe this either. Introduce her to me, if you want. But don't blame me if your little girl-friend falls for my charm". He got up, grabbing his cane. "I'd really like to spend the rest of my time gossiping with you, but one of us, clearly not me, has homework to do. I, instead, have to harass our dear teacher and her twins."

The oncologist stood up in turn and went to open the door for his friends. "You never change. Try not to make Cuddy too much upset. I'm not protecting your sorry ass from her rage again. Last time she gave me your same punishment" he warned, shaking his head. "She still hasn't forgiven you your last trick."

"Come on, I know you love the smart bastard I am! And don't worry, no extra Clinic hours for you this time" the diagnostician reassured. "Go and do your job, Dr. Wilson, I'm going to my office, I bet my ducklings have a case for me. And if they haven't I'll find something nasty for them to do. I'll see you at dinner time?"

"Yeah, of course. Your place?"

"That's a rhetorical question. And bring food. I have the alcohol. Don't forget your clothes. You're driving me to work tomorrow morning!"

"Sure. I won't."

The two men parted the older going towards the elevator and the younger headed to the Clinic, both hoping not to meet their boss before they reached their destination.

xxx

Cameron sighed, shutting down her personal computer and glancing at the clock. House was late. He paged them forty-five minutes before commanding to meet him in his office immediately but he still hadn't showed up. She had chosen to while away the time by dealing her boss' electronic mail and had just finished with it. Chase was sat in the chair next to her, busy with another crossword puzzle, while Foreman was reading one of his medical magazines.

"I wonder where House is" she said after another moment of silence. "He seemed quite in a hurry when he paged us."

"You should know him by now. He was probably just making fun of us" Foreman answered rising his eyes from the pages. "He almost surely wants to talk to us, but there's no urgency. Besides if we had a new case we would have known almost immediately. So relax. He is just making fun of us again."

"Oh you're always so right, Foreman!" House's voice said making the three doctors turn towards the door where he was standing. "So! Female, young, surely good-looking, one of the doctor working in the E.R.! Chase?"

"What should I tell you? You haven't told us any of her symptoms yet!" the blond complained confused. "Is this a new kind of game? Guess the patient symptoms?"

"Patient? I never told you we have a case! Foreman said we haven't, remember?" the diagnostician stated limping inside and going to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"Then why are you talking about her?" Cameron asked, fearing the answer. She was sure it would have been something stupid and inappropriate.

"She's Wilson's new date, the one I was sure he had, even if he keeps saying they're just friends. I need to know who she is! You worked in the E.R. for some time, Chase, you must know her!" House exclaimed happily, facing his team. "So? Any information? I need to spy on her before Wilson introduces us."

"And why you would you spy on her?" she insisted. "I'm sure that Dr. Wilson is old enough to take care of himself. Or maybe are you jealous? Are you afraid that this unknown woman will steal your best friend or something similar?"

"Oh yes! I'm turning into a green-eyed monster, can't you see?". The older man's tone was almost literally dripping sarcasm. "Wilson can't take care of himself. He is a selfless idiot when it comes to relationships! He can't see where he is going. His ex-wives are the proof!"

"Says the misanthrope" Foreman muttered annoyed. "Well, if you want to mess up with all the women Wilson's going to see, help yourself! But let us out. We are here to work, not to play your idiotic games."

House ignored him a d turned to Chase. "So? Any possible identity for her?" he demanded impatiently.

"Well, there are some pretty women working in the E.R., but the majority are nurses. If I have to give you a name I would say Sophia Ure. She's around my age, she's one of the best from that department and she is really a cute chick" the blond answered. "I had a drink with her a few time. Charming, beautiful but never interested. As far as I know she had always refused any kind of serious romantic attention since when she started working here. Only one-night rendezvouses if yuo are lucky."

"Poor Wilson, maybe he wasn't lying after all" the diagnostician mumbled pensive. "I'll check her. Anyway! Do you three have something for me? Some strange and inexplicable medical mystery?". The three doctors shook their head. "Ow, that's bad. Well, since you've nothing to do, you can take care of my Clinic hours. I have to perform an investigation!". And with that he left the room without giving his team a chance to complain or retort.

"And here he is gone again!" Foreman sighed. "What do we do now?"

"I think we have lots of Clinic hours waiting for us! My God, I'm so eager!" Chase answered rolling his eyes and getting up.

"Are you seriously going to do them for him?"

"Of course! He is House! You never know what could happen if we don't do what he said!"

"And what about that woman, Sophia?" Cameron stepped in, a bit of worry in her voice.

"She's gonna be fine, better than us for sure" the blond stated untouched. "House is just going to scare her away as usual. There's nothing new under the sun. So, why don't we get to the Clinic?"

His co-workers nodded and followed him out of the room, Foreman clearly reluctantly and the immunologist not so convinced by his answer. Even so, none of them said a word as they stepped into the elevator and the neurologist pushed the low ground button.