The Face You See: A House fan fiction
DISCLAIMER: House belongs to Fox, not me.
AN. Hope you enjoy this, feel free to read and review, but praise and constructive criticism only please! House may be OOC, but the story needs it otherwise it's not any good. Also, I have no idea about anything medical so I just rambled with things that sounded like they could make sense- a tactic that has served me well in assignments and exams.
Chapter 1: Life changing decision
"What about celiac disease?"
"It would explain the fatigue and nausea but not the joint pain."
"Bone cancer? Oesteosocoma?"
"Doesn't explain the nausea."
Dr. Gregory House, world-renowned diagnostician stared at the whiteboard in frustration. His brow furrowed in thought as he stared at the list of symptoms, mentally summarizing the symptoms of every disease he could think of, eliminating those that didn't fit with what he saw before him. Past the whiteboard out the window, fierce winds blew a heavy snowfall around Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.
House sighed and unhooked his cane from the top of the whiteboard as he turned to face his three Diagnostic fellows sitting around the glass conference table. Dr. Eric Foreman, neurologist, also had his gaze fixed on the whiteboard, trying desperately to see the missing piece of the puzzle. Next to him, Dr. Robert Chase absently stirred his cold cup of coffee with a straw, his eyes seeing past the whiteboard and through the falling snow outside the window, his tie askew and shirt sleeves rolled up as a result of a late night of inconclusive tests and procedures. Opposite Chase, the lone female of the Diagnostics' department, Dr. Allison Cameron had her chin resting on one hand, the other over her mouth as she resolutely stared at the file, trying to think of possibilities. Her eyes were filled with worry for their fifteen-year-old patient, and there were dark circles under her eyes from a sleepless night. Under the table, House could see her leg restlessly tapping upon the carpet, and her hair was loose in unruly curls, dark tresses falling in front of her eyes.
Just looking at her made House tired, and he stepped aside to pour himself another cup of coffee, only pausing to dry swallow two Vicodin before drinking. "Has Jemima-"
"Jemma," Cameron corrected automatically, her voice muffled by the hand she still held over her mouth to suppress a yawn.
"Whatever," House continued, waving his coffee mug dismissively in the air. "Has she had her flu shot?"
Chase's gaze returned from the window to stare at his boss in confusion. "You think this is a simple case of the flu? If it was, the ER wouldn't have given it to us."
House rolled his eyes. "No, I don't think this is the flu. However, if she had a flu shot and had a reaction to it her body could-"
Puzzled by his sudden silence, Cameron wearily lifted her gaze from the file, to see House staring at the doorway like he'd seen a ghost. Turning around in her chair, Cameron saw what had made that strange expression come across House's face.
"Hi, Greg."
"Stacy," he replied, his voice expressionless but his eyes showing the confusion and surprise he was feeling.
An awkward tension filled the office, which was broken by Foreman's slight and purposeful cough. "Uh, House?"
House was startled from his reverie and tore his gaze away from his former girlfriend. "Right. Chase, Foreman, test for auto-immune, take a bone-marrow and test for cancer, test for celiac, and do new blood cultures. Cameron-"
He looked down at his immunologist and felt something that could only be described as pity. "Go home- get some sleep. The family like you, and you can't manipulate her emotions if you're dead on your feet."
Without waiting for a reaction, he limped through the conference room to his office, not giving any sign or indication to the visitor in the doorway. Chase and Foreman swept past her with awkward nods on their way to perform the tests, whilst Cameron, still surprised by House's orders gathered her laptop and coat to go home.
"Do you think it's safe to enter?" Stacy asked the young doctor, eyeing House's office door apprehensively.
Cameron chuckled. "Your guess is as good as mine." She passed through into the hallway, and turned to face the other woman.
"It was good to see you again," she said sincerely and Stacy gave a small smile.
"Thanks. At least that's one person."
Cameron returned the smile. "Good luck."
House sat in his desk chair, tossing his oversized tennis ball in one hand. Stacy's arrival had taken him completely by surprise, after no contact of any kind for the past year and a half. Of course, that had been the effect of his decision, which made her visit even more strange. When he glanced up at the doorway again, there she was.
"Deemed it safe to enter?" he asked sarcastically.
"For now. How are you?"
"Super."
"I heard you got shot."
House shrugged. "You know me, my fan club has one or two eccentrics."
Stacy smirked. "Right. Because if they can't have you, no-one can."
"Damn straight."
They fell silent again, and Stacy took a few short steps further into the room. "What are you doing here Stacy? Marc sick again?"
"I wouldn't know."
House raised an eyebrow. "Is he doing that non-communicative thing again? Group therapy obviously isn't working, I'd try a different shrink."
"Marc and I are divorced," Stacy said bluntly.
House nodded shortly. "Right. Have a sense of déjà vu? Crippled man angry, takes it out on partner. Partner leaves? At least being married, you get half of everything."
Stacy sighed in exasperation. "No! He's doing fine, or so his divorce attorney tells me. It didn't happen like us."
House was curious now. "So, how did it happen?"
Stacy grimaced slightly and sat down opposite his desk. "After we left here... everything was fine. And then, I told him about us. We tried to make it work for a while, but in the end... it was only finalised a few months ago."
"And how does that lead you here?" House asked her.
Stacy took a deep breath. "Where we left. Greg, I still love you. And despite the way things ended between us, I'd really like to give us another try."
House's eyebrows darted up. "You want me back?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
House wasn't sure what to say. "Look, Stacy-"
"You don't have to decide right now," she interrupted him. "I'm in Princeton for the weekend, at the Hyatt. Just... at least consider it. Or pretend to consider it. Please?"
Unsurely, House nodded his mind already a million miles away. He didn't even register Stacy leaving, or anything else until Chase dashed into his office, thrusting a file in his hands.
"All the test are negative," he announced dramatically.
House looked up at him, startled. Trying to cover it, he picked up the file to study the results. "What time is it?" he asked.
Chase glanced at his watch. "Uh, just after two."
Four hours he had been sitting there, lost in thought. House stood up, stretched and grabbed his cane. "Is Cameron back?"
He looked surprised. "Yeah, she's been back for an hour. Didn't she bring you in a cup of coffee?" he asked uncertainly.
House looked down, and sure enough a stale cup of coffee sat unobtrusively on the corner of his desk. He picked it up, took a sip and grimaced as the cold liquid ran down his throat. "Come on," he said brusquely to Chase and led the intevist into the conference room. Only Cameron was there, she smiled at House as he entered and swapped his mug for another as he passed her.
"Fresh cup," she explained simply.
House nodded his thanks to her and sat down at the conference table. "Did you sleep?"
He caught a glimmer of surprise cross her face, but she nodded. "Yeah, a little."
"Where's Foreman?"
"He'll be up in a minute, he's doing his clinic hours," she replied.
House drained his coffee in a few big swallows and stood up again. "Chase, go inspect the home. Cameron... you and Foreman do a full body scan."
He strode out of the conference room without another word, faintly registering Cameron's inquisitive concerned stare on his back as he left. House headed straight next door, and opened the door without knocking, entering the office and lying down on the couch, his bad leg stretched out in front of him. The office's occupant, Dr. James Wilson, looked up from his paperwork with a smile.
"You're late today. Lunch was two hours ago."
"I was busy," House replied, staring up at the ceiling.
Wilson frowned. "You're never too busy to get a free lunch. What's up?"
House sighed, twirling his cane in his hand. "Stacy came back."
His friend's eyes widened and he completely abandoned his paperwork. "Stacy? When? Why?"
"This morning... she just showed up at my office door."
"Why?" Wilson repeated.
"She and Marc are divorced, and she wants me back," House replied with little expression.
Wilson didn't know whether to act excited or confused first, so his expression came across as though he had been told a joke and laughed, but was left wondering what the joke was.
"Is- is this good news?"
House met his friend's gaze and shrugged. "I'm not sure how I feel."
Wilson was still stunned. "Well, remember the last time she came back?"
"Faintly," House answered casually.
"House, you need to decide what your feelings for her are," Wilson said reasonably. "If you think there's a chance for you to be happy again, why not take it?"
House heaved a sigh and stood up. "Right," he murmured, leaving the room.
As they conducted the scan, Foreman suddenly turned to Cameron. "What do you think Stacy was here for?"
Cameron shook her head, still focused on the screen. "I don't know. But whatever reason she's here for, it's thrown House. And I really hope that's not bad for Jemma."
Foreman frowned. "How can you tell it's thrown him?"
She sighed and took off her reading glasses. "Well, for one thing he ordered a full body scan. He hates full body scans!"
"Yeah, I know. I don't know why though," Foreman replied.
Cameron smiled. "Because we use it to tell us what part of the body we should be focusing on. But Greg House, diagnostician connoisseur-"
"Should know instinctively where to look?" Foreman finished.
She grinned. "Exactly. It's a sign of weakness in House's eyes."
Foreman shook his head in admiration. "You've really got him wired, Cameron."
His friend shrugged modestly. "Not really. I'm just observant. It comes from doing a minor in psychology as an undergrad," she laughed.
Chase was already in the conference room when they returned from doing the scan, and he nodded towards the results in Cameron's hand. "What did you find?"
She handed him the results to see for himself. "Swelling of her glands. Looks like meningitis. Where's House?"
"With Wilson, I think. Want me to page him?" Chase offered.
Cameron shook her head. "That's a waste. I'll go get him."
House sat once again on Wilson's couch, not saying much. Wilson on the other hand, was compensating for his friend's silence.
"This is big... I mean, after your history I can understand why you'd be wary of getting back with her; but she everything she did she did because she loves you."
"Yeah, yeah. You said all this six years ago," House cut him off.
Wilson sighed. "You can't keep her hanging House. You have to give her an answer one way or the other. I guess, it just comes down to how strong any feelings you still have for her are."
There was a small knock on the door and Cameron stuck her head through the ajar door. "Hey, Wilson. House, the results are back. It looks like meningitis."
House immediately got up off the couch and headed for the door. "Sorry Jimmy, some of us have lives to save," he said as he left.
The meningitis confirmed, Chase and Foreman disappeared to start the treatment whilst House returned to his office and switched on his TV. Just seconds later, there was a tentative tap on the door, and House glanced up at Cameron, now standing where Stacy had been standing earlier that day.
"I assume you overheard what Wilson said and want me to share my feelings?" House asked finally, deciding she wasn't going to speak first.
Cameron smiled faintly. "Hardly. I just wanted to offer some advice."
"Advice from a cancer widow? Please, go ahead."
Cameron hesitated. "Forget it."
She turned to leave and House sighed heavily. "Cameron."
She turned back and House jerked his head at the seat opposite his desk. "Get in here."
Unsurely, she did so and stared at her clasped hands on her lap, trying to decide what to say. "Everyone has one great love."
House frowned in confusion. "That's your advice? Everyone has one great love?"
She frowned. "Can I finish? I've never actually put this in words before."
When he was silent, she continued. "Everyone has one great love. You can love or even fall in love more than once, but there's always one great love that changes you forever. And it doesn't always end in happily ever after, it won't always be perfect or a classic love story. But if you can get a chance to relive that relationship, it can still change you."
House was startled to see tears forming in her eyes, and her throat became suddenly clogged. "I know... if I could have even another minute with my husband, I'd take it in a heartbeat, and forgo whatever consequences. If you walk away because you're afraid of the consequences, then you'll always regret it. But this is one situation, if you have an automatic reaction... it's probably the wrong one. Thought means consideration, which means there's an emotional connection. Those are the ones generally worth complying with."
With that, Cameron rose silently and left the office leaving House staring at his TV. Fifteen minutes later, House left his office bike helmet in hand. Stacy's eyes widened hopefully when she opened her hotel door, but she remained wary.
"Hi, Greg."
"Hi," he replied. She stood back to let him in, and he turned to face her, but his gaze never met hers for long, continuously moving around the room. "If we do this, we can't rush into it."
"Ok," she agreed cautiously.
"You get your own place, at least for now. I have to be able to trust you again."
"I have to be able to trust you too."
"I know."
Stacy regarded him for a moment, and then smiled. "Ok, then."
House finally met her gaze and held it, then smiled faintly. "Ok."
