Author's note: Thank you for the reviews! I got a couple of questions about Dominica. She's not mine, she was in the last episode of House 7x17 "Fall from Grace." All I can say is that you need to go watch that, if possible, because, obviously, she's mentioned in this story...quite a bit. :-)

Thanks again to damigella_314 for her beta work. Hope you guys like this one.

Plausible Deniability: 2

He dreams in disjointed images and loud sounds.

Dammit, House! Get out of the car!

House!

"House!"

His eyes open with a snap and a gasp, and he feels a hand on his arm, guiding him to lie back down on the bed.

"Just a dream."

He looks to the side to see Cuddy standing there, her hand still on his shoulder. She takes it off as if touching him burns. "Your MRI is in a few minutes, thought I'd get you down there."

"We don't have nurses to do that anymore?"

"None that want to deal with you when you're not patient, let alone when you are."

This is true. "Is Wilson okay? Why isn't he here?"

Cuddy looks at him like she's never seen him before, or ever seen him express concern for another person that wasn't himself before. But House can't shake the feeling that there's something he's missing about Wilson, something he'd seen that he just can't put his finger on.

"…finally got him to sleep, He's in his office though, but he wouldn't leave the hospital," Cuddy's saying.

Well, that's good, House thinks. He won't have to go far to figure out what's wrong with Wilson. He'll go harass him when the MRI is done.

"Fine," House says, "Let's go do this, then."

Sleep does him some good…he's glad he listened to Cuddy when she told him that he should get some. He's able to get his emotions under control. He knows that when this all blows over, everything will be okay…they just need a few more days…and then it won't matter what House remembers.

He's rubbing his eyes wearily as his door bangs open. He jumps and glares at House, who's standing in the doorway with a triumphant grin.

"Gotcha," House says cheerfully as he hobbles over and sits down next to Wilson on the couch.

"Yes," Wilson says dryly. "Thank you for scaring the crap out of me."

"No problem," House chirps. "You weren't there for my MRI."

Wilson groans and looks at his watch. Sure enough, the MRI was scheduled an hour ago.

"Sorry," Wilson says, standing up. "Cuddy told me to get some sleep."

"Cuddy told you to go home and get some sleep."

"It was only a strong suggestion. She told me to sleep on the couch when she realized I didn't want to go home."

"Wilson, that couch couldn't have been that comfortable with your injuries."

Wilson frowns and looks at him while blinking a few times. Since when have you cared about when I'm comfortable, he thinks, but decides to keep that thought to himself.

House doesn't miss the look on Wilson's face…he just wish he knew when he was thinking.

Wilson sighs. "Look, the sleep helped. I'm fine. We need to worry about you. Anything on the MRI?"

House stares for a second, but lets it go for now. "Localized swelling around the memory centers of the brain. To be expected. When it goes down, I should get my memory back."

Wilson had expected this, but hopefully it buys them some time, because despite his earlier prayer, he knows that nothing is ever that easy.

"…you can feed me pancakes."

Wilson looks up at House and blinks. "What?"

House lets out an extremely put upon sigh. "I'm hungry. Let's go back to your place. You can make pancakes."

"I'm not sure I can stand at the stove long enough to do that. So unless you want burnt pancakes…or you could do something completely revolutionary and make your own."

"Yeah," House says contemplatively. "You would think so, wouldn't you? Nope. Let's go out then and you can buy me pancakes."

Wilson rolls his eyes with a sigh and stands up. Before he can make it to the coat stand to get his coat, though, House is already standing in front of him, holding it out.

"Uh," Wilson says, looking down at the jacket, then back at House's face. Which, as usual, doesn't give anything away that House doesn't want him to know. "Thanks."

"Gotta stay off that ankle," House says. "Speaking of which, why aren't you on crutches?"

"Because it's in a brace. I don't need crutches."

House is giving him that look…the same look that Cuddy was giving him earlier in the hallway. Clearly, even though neither of them wants to admit it, they certainly rubbed off on each other when they were dating.

But where Cuddy had let it go, House doesn't. "I think you're in more pain then you're letting on."

"I think you should leave it alone, House, please."

"Wilson…physically, I can tell that you're hurting. I know pain when I see it." House waves a hand at him, "Emotionally, you're all over the place. What's going on with you?"

"Why do you care?"

House blinks at him. "What?"

Wilson can't hold back now, the anger against House he's been trying to hold in since the balcony incident.

"I've let a lot go by, House," Wilson bites out. "The balcony, the Vicodin….all those damn hookers….then you get married to a woman, who, by the way, is nowhere to be found. In all this, you've only thought about you. Not Cuddy. Not me. You."

"Wilson-"

And just as soon as it started, the anger is gone, because he knows House. Knows who he is…Wilson has been putting up with House for years…because….

No. Wilson thinks forcefully, stopping that train of thought before it even gets out of the station.

It's just all too much.

"Wilson," House says slowly. "I think you're falling apart."

He's pretty sure House is right, but he's not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. Instead, he takes a deep breath. "I'm fine. Just tired."

"Okay," House says, reluctantly. "I can see I'm getting nowhere. Let's just go to your place. We can scrounge something up."

Wilson nods and follows House out of the office.

"Doctor Wilson," his assistant is suddenly in front of him, and he curses her ability to appear out of thin air with his messages in her hand. Usually, it's useful. Today, it just annoys him. "There's an Officer Hanlon on the line for you. Says he has questions about the accident."

Wilson blows out a breath. "Did he say it was urgent?"

"No. Just that he wanted to talk to you."

"Take a message. I'm going home for the day."

If she notices his irritability, she doesn't let on. "Okay. I figured you would be, so I rescheduled all of your appointments."

This time, the breath he releases is in relief. "Thank you."

"Of course. Feel better."

She walks away and House is nice enough to remark, "You must be really tired if even her perkyness annoys you."

This makes Wilson smile, for some unfathomable reason. "Shut up."

They banter all the way down the hallway, and Wilson allows himself to believe, for just one tiny moment, that the last year never happened, that they're the House and Wilson who were always just a little bit more then friends, the House and Wilson they were before Cuddy, Sam, and the farce that is House's marriage to Dominica.

He decides to hold onto the feeling of closeness with House for just a little while longer…

Because he knows it can't last.

tbc