A/N : This is my first fanfic and I messed it up big time because I accidentally uploaded a rough draft of the first several chapters. I am sure this version could use some more revisions as well but I feel the urge to correct my uploading error more compelling than precision.

Disclaimer: I do not own House…

Please read and review I need all the feedback humanly possible.

House awoke with the sun in his eyes he had slept on the couch again. Looking around bleary eyed he thought to himself 'I woke up before Wilson… Hmmm a mystery' he pulled his legs around and grabbed his cane off the coffee table and prepared for the arduous daily task of standing on his leg. House pulled himself up and grunted with effort ,the flash of pain evoking a small gasp from him. Standing and massaging his leg to get the blood going he headed to the john . On the way he decided to wake Wilson … with a small grin he banged on his friends door as loud and as hard as was humanly possible and shouted "WILSON!!!!!! Wake up!!! We are late to work!!!' When Wilson didn't answer he began to wonder if he had already left …"Okay I am coming in so don't be in any embarrassing positions!!!"

House opened his friends door with a broad flourish, and heard Wilson's soft whisper "House, please…I think I have the flu". House's eyes took everything in around him and approached Wilson's bed and said "Flu? Don't you get the vaccines? "House plopped down on the edge of the bed and reached out to feel Wilson's forehead surprised to see how hot Wilson was to the touch…"Wilson you have a fever. You need to rest to day and I will tell Cuddy you are sick." He walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen to get his friend some water, Gatorade, and Ibuprofen. "Wilson, wake up ! You need to take these."House helped him sit up to take the pills, Wilson looked up at his scruffy friend and whispered 'thanks'. " Just don't give it to ME!" was all House could muster in the way of acknowledging his friends thanks. House wondered if he ought to stay but figured Wilson would feel better after his fever went down in a couple of hours, he would check on him during his lunch break.

Wilson was awake now and aware of his miserable aching muscles, he felt awful, his throat was sore and the fever made him shiver as it was rising. He hated being sick, so much so he was hyper vigilant in his precautions. Being an oncologist he couldn't allow himself to accidentally infect his immunocompromised patients, so he made sure he had every vaccine for every flu strain that was available. For him to get the flu was a statistical anomaly. He mulled this over in his febrile mind for a few seconds and soon fell back asleep.

When house arrived at work he stopped by Cuddy's office to inform her about Wilson. He was nervous considering the whole Lucas thing and her rejection of him. He swept it under his rug of imperviousness and walked into her office as if the whole thing had never happened. Cuddy looked up at him trying to hide her surprise and play her own denial game. House said " Wilson's sick." He announced. " What's wrong with him?" she asked. " House took a breath and said " He thinks it's the flu." Cuddy raised her eyebrows in a questioning arc and said " How in the world would Wilson of all people get the flu? He is so OCD about preventing it." House smiled and said " I know, kinda funny isn't it? I am going to check on him in a few hours because he is running a fever " Cuddy smiled warmly at this because this was a new House standing here admitting he cared for his friend and wanting to show it. House snorted at her look and said " Don't get any ideas about me being 'CARING' I just want to make sure that's what it is." With that House turned and stalked out of her office . She sighed and said to the empty room "Of course I should have known it was about the puzzle".

House stopped by the pharmacy to stock up on some things for Wilson, and went to the clinic and "borrowed" a thermometer. He told his team he was leaving for the day as they had no case and Wilson was at home sick with the flu. They looked at him quizzically, Mayfield really had made an impact on House after all.

Wilson rolled over and groaned, as he awoke. His fever seemed to have abated for now, and the achiness was much improved. He had to pee, that was a good sign too, so he strode to the bathroom ,by the time he got there he was panting and fatigued . 'dehydrated' he thought just as the headache assaulted his temples and filled his head with the pounding of his heart. He decided he would sit a bit longer…He had fallen asleep when the bang of the door jolted him into reality. "Wilson? WILSON!!!! Where the hell are you?" House's yelling was a comfort to him, he was relieved to hear him. House found him there asleep on the pot, if Wilson were more conscious he would be mortified, as it was now all he could muster was a whispered 'thank you House'. "Come on you ninny, let's get you back to bed, so I can check you out"

By the next morning the fever had passed and Wilson was ready to get back to work. House was relieved but still wanted to be cautious." House you are being overprotective, I am fine, it was just a bug after all, and I am not dehydrated. I need to get back to work, I have patients waiting." House looked at him and knew that what he was saying was true, Wilson looked fine but something in the back of the diagnostician's mind was troubling him. He couldn't say what it was yet so he just said "Okay boy wonder oncologist, go back to work, but take it easy" Wilson laughed "Yes mom" privately he was a bit shocked by the real change he was seeing in his misanthropic friend.

By the time they arrived at Princeton Plainsboro ,they had resumed their banter. Wilson was glad because he was somewhat unnerved by House's sudden evolution into an almost 'demonstrative' human being. House had decided that he was being overly cautious and moved on to the day ahead .

Wilson walked into his office and said "Bye House see you at lunch?" House replied "Yeah, I need to steal your fries…" and waggled his brows at his friend as he limped on to his team and office. Inside his office alone finally Wilson kept the lights off, and sank onto the couch feeling exhausted already. He knew he should have stayed home but he couldn't take House's "helicoptering" he laughed to himself this was quite a role reversal. He was so tired, he would just rest his eyes for a few minutes. He was out in seconds.

House's team was sitting around sharing Danish and coffee waiting for him "Oooh Danish! To whom do I owe for this ?" He looked at Cameron assuming it was she who brought them in. Cameron said " It was Chase." House fought the urge to make a snide comment about Chase being a suck up and turned to the blonde demi-god and said "Thanks, Chase." And walked over to the coffee , his back to the team. He knew they were staring at him slightly shocked and he didn't want to see their surprise. Foreman broke the stunned silence and asked " How is Wilson?" Glad for the help " House turned to him and said " Fever's gone and he insisted on coming to work, so I guess he's fine…Now do we have a case?" pointing at the blue file in Foreman's hand. They settled in for the differential.

A few hours later the team had decided on the tests they were going to do for their patient and were busy following them up, House realized he was hungry and went in search of Wilson. He passed by Wilson's office , as he could see no lights on and went to Cuddy's office.

Lisa Cuddy was working on her millioneth piece of paperwork and all the numbers were running together, so she almost, welcomed it when House barged in asking her " Hey Cuddy. You seen Wilson? I have a lunch date with his fries."Cuddy couldn't help but smile at the overgrown boy in front of her and said "No , I haven't seen him. Maybe he beat you to the cafeteria so he could have his fries to himself…" she let the thought hang in the air and smirked when she saw a look of mock horror on House's face and he replied "He wouldn't…" and turned on his cane and rushed out the door.

Wilson woke with a start, thinking he had just been asleep for a few minutes…but the glowing numbers on his digital clock told him otherwise. He nearly jumped up off the couch when he realized he had been asleep for nearly four hours. A second realization hit him after he regained his equilibrium 'House…he will be looking for me and there is no way I am going to let him find out I've been sleeping all this time." In fact Wilson couldn't believe his fortune that House hadn't already caught him. He made haste to the cafeteria hoping he would beat House there. By the time Wilson arrived in the line to purchase his food House was walking in the door a few steps behind him. Wilson knew he was there, but waited for House to speak first, as he was a bit out of breath from the near dash he made to get here before his friend. "Don't forget the fries!" House said loudly in an effort to make him jump, he was unsuccessful. " I won't don't worry" Wilson smiled.

They made their way to their usual table, House grabbing fries the whole way. Wilson was relieved to be able to sit down he was feeling a bit shaky…'must be low blood sugar ' he mused. He didn't notice House "noticing" him silently as he scarfed the fries at an impressive rate. Wilson drank his soda hoping that would help him feel better, and paid no attention to his food, he wasn't really hungry anyway. House eyed him curiously as he reached across the fries to steal half of his sandwich thinking that would get a response from Wilson. Wilson sighed and said "You can have it House, I am not all that hungry, just thirsty. I think I am still recuperating." House's piercing gaze silently assessed his friends condition and said " Thanks… don't mind if I do!" hoping Wilson hadn't noticed the pause or the scrutiny. Wilson was beginning to feel better the soda was helping, and he looked up when he realized House had stopped talking. "Crap" he thought. He saw that look in House's eye and knew he had screwed up and given himself away. He decided to engage in damage control before House got any further with the white board in his mind and began trying to diagnose him. "House!Stop!. I am just tired leave it. What is this sudden need to mother me?" House thought about that a moment and came to the conclusion Wilson was probably right he was acting like a 'girl'. "Yeah, yeah your right Wilson, I guess this is the new touchy feely me…ICK!" They laughed together at that. And House finished off the rest of Wilson's food.

Wilson grabbed a cup of coffee on their way out of the cafeteria and headed back to his office determined to get some work done. He left House to his team and sat down at his desk and began working on the mountain of charts before him. He was pleased when House walked in three hours later and said "C'mon Wilson it's five and you are still getting over that bug so finish up we are going home." Wilson looked at the charts he'd finished and felt like he accomplished something so he agreed "Okay, MOM" he sneered enjoying his opportunity to tease House. House just ignored him and they walked out to the car.

The ride home was filled with House briefing him on the case they had caught. Wilson was grateful to listen as his energy had plummeted again and didn't want House to pick up on it. House rambled on like he didn't notice Wilson's near silence, but he did, and he was starting to get that nagging prickle in the back of his neck, the one that told him something is wrong. His mind said 'You are being stupid House. The guy just has the flu' but his gut felt differently.' You're just scared because things are going pretty well and you want to manufacture a crisis to make you feel better…Wow, Nolan would be proud' he thought with a smile. He decided to let it go and just let Wilson recover his own way. Wilson was so exhausted he didn't clue into what was happening in House's head like he normally would. For the time being he was safe from House's tendency to diagnose everyone.

They trudged up the stairs to the apartment and Wilson flopped onto the sofa slightly breathless. House through his backpack down by the door and limped to the kitchen to get Wilson a drink, he figured his roommate was still a quart low from all the sweating he did yesterday. Not wanting Wilson to give him a hard time he said from the fridge "Hey, you want some water too?" Wilson sighed and said "Yeah that would be great" he wished he had asked him if he wanted a beer instead, the whole water thing just meant House was still concerned. "What should we eat? House asked as he handed the bottle of Fiji water to him. Wilson wasn't hungry but knew he had to eat or this was going to become a 'thing' quickly. He replied to House " Pizza?" "Sounds good!" House agreed. At that Wilson decided to drag himself to the bathroom and take a shower before the food arrived. He stood up cautiously and went to get some sweats from his room and then to the bathroom. "Gonna shower and change, why don't you check out what you have Tivoed while I do that" " Do I get to pick?" House asked surprised. "Wilson laughed as he walked down the hall and said " When do you EVER not pick?" 'Things were getting back to normal there was no need for all that wasted energy of worry' Wilson thought.

The evening was fun in a quiet way but House could see Wilson was still tired so he yawned loudly about nine o'clock, and announced he was "going to his shrine to catch some z's." Wilson was glad he could finally drag himself to bed…He said "Night House." But he stayed up a while longer to try to throw House off the scent. Fifteen minutes later , Wilson collapsed into his bed and fell into a deep sleep.

House stood in the hall watching Wilson sleep and wondered why he was being such a worrywart. He had nothing to go on other than the obvious symptoms of the flu, and Wilson was recovering well, so why was he still so concerned? He paced for a few minutes and decided he had had enough and went to bed himself.