"Patient's pregnancy test was negative, it's not Rh factor incompatibility", Foreman announced, walking into the lounge purposefully. Looking between the two men standing there Foreman could feel the tension between them, but did not say anything more. House, for his part, merely looked at Foreman and nodded.
"Page the ducklings to my office, we need a new idea. And you," he continued, turning towards Wilson, "don't start packing yet, we're not done talking."
"Packing?" Foreman asked, "where are you going?"
"I'm leaving", Wilson stated simply.
Foreman was speechless. He had seen Wilson stand by House through betrayal, scandal, addiction, and every other test a friendship could sustain. Why would he leave now? Admittedly, their friendship had never had to take a blow like the one caused by Amber's death.
"Really?" he finally said.
"I just," Wilson sighed softly, "need a change of scenery."
"Get a plant," came House's biting retort.
"Come on," he indicated to Foreman and made his way towards the door.
"Be right there," Foreman said casually, his mind working quickly.
"My office, post haste," House threw over his shoulder as he walked away.
"Right," Foreman threw back.
"Listen," he said urgently, turning to Wilson, "I have to go, but can we talk later? Meet me in the cafeteria at seven."
"I don't-" Wilson began.
"Please," Foreman said, looking into the oncologist's face.
"Okay," Wilson said, nodding.
Foreman, seemingly satisfied, nodded and left.
As Wilson walked into the cafeteria he found it relatively empty. The three familiar faces of House's old team were looking at him, however, from a corner table. Cameron stood up, waving him over.
"What are you all doing here?" Wilson said, expecting only Foreman.
"I paged them here," Foreman said, a slightly guilty look on his face.
"And when he told us you were leaving we were glad he did," Cameron said forcefully.
Wilson sighed, taking his seat wearily.
"I guess it's only right I should say goodbye to all of you," Wilson said, "you were almost as much my ducklings as House's," he said, smiling slightly.
"Are you really leaving the hospital for good?" Chase finally said, speaking for the first time.
Wilson nodded.
"You can't," Cameron said, a pleading note in her voice.
"I have to," Wilson countered, running his hands through his hair, "Cuddy once told me Amber would take everything until there was nothing but a Wilson chalk outline on the floor. Right concept, wrong person."
"We know Amber's death has been awful for you to bear," Cameron said softly, "but that's precisely why you shouldn't be making this decision right now. Give yourself a chance to heal first."
"How?" Wilson said, bringing one fist down on the table in frustration, "everywhere I go in this hospital I remember something we did there. The first time I saw her was in my own office," he said, his voice breaking. For a long moment none spoke, and when Wilson continued his voice was much stronger.
"And being around House…it's all too much."
Several long moments passed before Cameron spoke again, her voice soft and compassionate.
"Do you blame him?" she asked.
For a long moment Wilson considered not answering, but he could not pretend he didn't know what she meant, nor could he deny the relevance of the question.
"I don't know," he said, and he sounded wearier than the team had ever heard him.
"I want to…it would be so easy. But deep down I know he's not responsible."
"Then why are you leaving?" Cameron asked.
Wilson said nothing for a long moment, but it was Chase, surprisingly, who spoke next.
"Because there's a limit," he said, and there was a hard edge to his voice that even the cultured Australian accent could not soften, "there's a limit to what one person can take from House. You ask me, Wilson's name should be up for canonization for putting up with it as long as he did."
Wilson understood. It was Wilson who had been the first to notice the bruise on Chase's jaw after House had punched him. For Wilson that had been the breaking point which had prompted him to cut his ill-fated deal.
"I never did thank you, did I?" Chase continued thoughtfully, still looking at Wilson.
"For what?" Wilson said.
Chase looked at Wilson as if the other were insane.
"You have to ask? You stood up for me. I don't think I would have been able to stay at this hospital if you hadn't."
"What do you mean?" Wilson asked.
"You let me know that House wasn't the beginning and the end of my career. 'You found the answer and helped a patient, Chase, that had better be enough for you'. Once House fired me, I finally realized that it was."
Wilson looked at the younger doctor, nodding. Foreman, however, now had a small smile on his face.
"What are you smiling about?" Cameron asked, looking at Foreman.
"I was just remembering something Wilson told me," he said, now looking at the oncologist himself, "granted he was on speed at the time, but still."
Wilson smiled, remembering.
"Could you even understand what I was saying? I was speaking like a five year old on a sugar high."
Foreman smiled in his turn.
"I understood enough," Foreman said, "and what you told me was that I was a good doctor, but that House would make me a better one. Turns out this is where I belong. You knew that before I did."
Wilson shrugged self-deprecatingly.
"You can be a good doctor without becoming House," Wilson said, "that's got nothing to do with me."
"I know that now," Foreman said, "because I've seen what you do every day."
"Thanks," Wilson said, nodding.
"Cameron, what's wrong?" Chase said quietly.
Wilson had not noticed anything wrong with the lone woman at the table. Now that he was looking at her properly, though, he could see tears welling in her eyes.
"I was just remembering my lesson from Professor Wilson," Cameron said, smiling despite her tears, "and it was a good one. One I should have learned a long time ago. Be a doctor first. Give what you can but protect yourself too. I see trauma and death on a daily basis now. I would never have been able to be head of the E.R. without learning that."
"I-" Wilson looked at the three young doctors, all looking at him with admiration and it suddenly struck him. It wasn't just House that he had affected in his time at Princeton-Plainsborough. He had never realized that what he had said to these three had impacted them at all. It filled him with pride, despite his sorrow and his confusion.
"Listen to me, you three," he said, looking around at them all, "the only reason I've been able to help you is that you were smart enough to take what turned out to be good advice. You weren't too proud or stubborn to change or grow. Don't lose that. There's a good chance I won't be back so it's up to you guys to look out for the newbies. House has a lot to teach them, but not if he destroys their confidence first. Make sure that doesn't happen."
Wilson turned to Chase.
"Don't let Kutner's admiration of House blind him to House's mistakes."
He then turned to Cameron.
"Don't let House push Thirteen until she breaks."
Turning to Foreman last, Wilson looked him in the eyes.
"Make sure Taub becomes the same leader you are without becoming lost in House's quagmire."
The three nodded, and it seemed that they were saying good-bye to a mentor they never even knew they had.
Wilson nodded back, standing and shaking hands with first Chase, then Foreman. Finally, he allowed Cameron to embrace him fiercely, but briefly.
As Wilson walked back through the doors of the cafeteria he wondered how many more good-byes he could handle before leaving this place.
A/N: I started this one with the image of Wilson saying "I just...need a change of scenery" in the promo with Foreman in the background. From there it just came out and I started thinking about the moments each of the team had with Wilson that must have had an impact on them.