Disclaimer: I don't own House M.D., or any of the House characters used in this fic. They all belong to David Shore: the genius behind the fantastic medical drama that has grabbed my attention. I only own any of my original characters that I choose to include, as well as any of my own original plot ideas.
Beaten and Broken
Lyric Prompt: Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri
A/N: Wilson's POV regarding House and Cuddy.
It was miserable, watching them clawing away at each other like this. They were both hurt, angry, because of what the other had done. Mistakes had been made on both ends, but there would be no telling them that. Both were far too prideful to admit that they'd screwed up. If anything, they were made for each other, but they were to blind to remember that. Everything had become a competition. From her low-cut blouses right down to his game of marrying a Russian woman he barely even knew. Each retaliation was just another lashing across both their backs, another heavy brick thrown upon the scale, forcing them to struggle beneath the weight of their battles.
For House, there was no hope. He was everything that embodied, and inevitably led to, misery: Arrogant, self-centered, impossible. Expecting him to apologize, let alone accept an apology, was like asking a comatose two-year-old to deal out the proper amount of anesthetic before performing open heart surgery. If anything, he'd end up destroying what little he had left before he so much as dreamed of humbling himself. Years of a mangled friendship, not unlike his leg, had taught James at least that much.
Cuddy was the opposite. Despite being hospital administrator and his boss, she had opened up to him as a friend in the quiet confines of House's apartment, admitting that his actions had hurt her, just as they'd been designed to do. As a single mother with a full-time job, James didn't expect her to let go of the pain so freely. She had a right to grieve, but he also believed that there was such a thing as expecting too much. And she, in his opinion, had expected House to remain strong in the face of overwhelming adversity. House, as Cuddy needed to understand, was a creature who acted upon impulse, interest, and fulfillment. Training a dog like him would be far more than she was up to.
Perhaps this was a stretch, but she was beginning to exhibit behaviors and demands similar to Cameron. She had fallen in love with a man that most women wouldn't have looked at twice. He wasn't sweet, charming, or attentive in the slightest. He was different, broken, and James assumed that that had been the lure. Her motherly instincts still in play, she had wanted someone she could hold and comfort, someone she could fix with time. Without even meaning to, Cuddy had fallen for the hook, and was now trying to free herself from the pull on the fishing line before she ended up beaten and lying on the dock.
They both thought they were being strong, but he knew better. He'd seen through both of them; seen the gaping wounds within their now bleeding hearts. What with all the animosity between them, the two people who had made the perfect match, he feared that there would never be peace. That reconciliation and compromise would never come. But it was up to them. He couldn't sit around and place them on his lap like a doting daddy.
They were left to make their own plays, and he was the referee.