Hello everybody!
Here goes the second chapter of the story! I'm introducing the medical case in this one, but we will enter in the full development only from next chapter! I hope you'll like it!

I want to thank all he people who have read and who is fallowing the story! Please, let me know what you think, it would help me a lot!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own nothing apart from the plot and the original characters. House - M.D. belongs to its rightful owners!

Note: Eventual slash (House/Wilson), don't like, don't read please!

Chapter 2 – Under the surface

"I don't know. The atmosphere wasn't tense, quite on the contrary actually. There was nothing different from the usual but, at the same time, something was…awkward". Wilson sighed shrugging a bit. He had spent the evening at his best friend's place the day before. They had ordered Chinese takeaway (obviously he had paid for it) and eaten on House's sofa while watching TV. They had drunk a couple of beers and spoke about everything and nothing as they always did. The diagnostician had spoken in his usual sarcastic tone and had made his usual questionable comments. James had laughed at his best friend's jokes and had complained about his meanness. Nothing really new. But, at the same time, he had sensed that something was going on between them, something out of place that made him uncomfortable. For days he had tried to convince himself that they were fine once again, that they had solved their contrasts, even after House's brilliant plan to trick the doctors of the hospital in Massachusetts into implanting a "cool drug" into the pleasure centre of his brain. James had been furious and disappointed, like everybody else, but he had forgiven his friend in a quite short time. After all, besides the bitterness, unfortunately he couldn't have said that he was surprised by the diagnostician's actions. It was House being House. However, under the surface, there was still something undone, he could sense it. The problem was he had no clue of what it could be. "Since that mess with Tritter things have been awkward between us. I'm not sure of what's going on. Our bond has always been some sort of God-only-knows-how-it-can-work screwed up friendship. But it never bothered me. It's something else."

"Maybe it's just the way you see this situation. You two had a fight, a serious fight, and you can't just pretend it never happened. People need time to assimilate that kind of earthquakes in their relationships. Things often keep shaking for some time before settling down again" Sophia stated trying to sound reassuring and biting back another yawn as they walked through the doors of the Clinic. "He also said you he was sorry, something you'd have never expected from him, and now you're on your toes all the time, looking for some other unusual behaviour. And since he is acting like his normal self again, maybe your mind is just desperately looking for some little details that it can consider strange and that normally it wouldn't even see. You're rushing things and misinterpreting nothings. Just give you two some more time and everything will start working again by its own."

"Are you saying I'm being paranoid?" he asked unhappily glancing at her. "That I'm just exaggerating if not inventing everything?"

"You said that, not me!" she joked, drinking a big sip of her coffee. "I'm here only to listen to your problems as a good friend should do and to try to help you. I would also tease you but I'm too sleepy at the moment. I'm using all my energy for the serious part of this conversation and there's no left for mocking you today. I guess the bags under my eyes show it too well. Sorry, sweety, I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow!"

"Don't worry, I know you are exhausted. I've already told you to go home. You got off two hours ago after all."

"And you're at work an hour early!" she talked back with a little grin. "And that's strange since you came in with House. You told me that he usually doesn't come at work until ten."

"He comes at ten when he is in a really good mood. Usually he arrives at noon" James smiled shaking his head. "Cuddy forced him to come early today and I took advantage of that since I promised him I would have driven him to the hospital. I needed some time away from him."

"And I guessed you're also driving him back home tonight. Spending the night at his place once again?"

"Yeah, I think so. And since I have to wait for him to finish his work, it also means that, if he gets a case, I would be forced to stay here until he decides he can leave the patient under his team's care."

"And you also could have to spend all the night in the hospital if he got too intrigued. If tomorrow you will be the one with bags under your eyes I'll know why!"

"It wouldn't be a first for me, so don't worry. I'm used to much worse."

"I have no doubts about that! You must introduce House to me, James! It could as well help me sooth your paranoia! If I got to know how he behaves around you normally I could tell you if he's truly acting strange or if it's just you imaging it."

"I told you I would think about it. Do not insist. Now you should really go home. Sorry if I stole you so much time."

"It's ok. You needed somebody to talk to and I needed a place where I could sleep for a couple of hours. Derek usually practices with the drums early in the morning and the last thing I need in this moment is a headache."

"Yeah, you're right. I confess, I was hoping to find you here. But now I'm done with the talking and you're brother would be leaving for work in few minutes. So you must go home and sleep."

"You are the doctor at the present moment so I must obey!". The intensivist smiled and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry too much, I'm sure everything is going to be OK with House. Relax!"

The oncologist nodded. "I hope so. Maybe you're right, I'm just paranoid. Now go home, Sophia. Do you need a ride?"

"No, I phoned Matt. He'll be here in ten minutes. And I promise to sleep the whole day!"

"Good". Wilson smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Sophia opened her mouth to answer but a sudden noise and a scream made them both turn quickly toward the almost empty waiting room. Two men were standing in the centre of it and one of them was holding a nurse, drawing a gun on her head.

"If one of you is enough stupid to make a move I'll shot her dead, understood?" he warned. "Stay away from the doors. No security guards. No phone calls. Just stay still and silent, everybody, and you'll go home unharmed."

"You two with the white coat". The other man, a bit shorter than his partner-in-crime, pointed the two doctors. He was holding a gun as well. "Shut the doors and close the curtains. Then bring me that damned phone and call the boss of this fucking hospital!"

Sophia nodded quickly and ran towards the exit, locking the glass doors, while James reached for the phone and handed it to the man.

"You call, doctor" said the one who was holding the scared to death but unharmed nurse. "What's your name?"

"Dr. James Wilson" the oncologist answered cautiously. He let his gaze wander around the room for a brief moment. The few patients and the nurses were all staring at them, holding their breaths anxiously, but, apart from that, everybody seemed fine enough. The intensivist was right behind him and her face was a little pale but she nodded to him as their gazes met assuring she was OK too. He looked back at the attackers. They were both really nervous and often exchanges glances full of hesitation. "May I ask why you two are doing this?"

The shorter man glanced at him as he was crazy, his eyes showing the first sign of panic. "Now, you're not in the position to ask question, Dr. Wilson. I'm Steven Mitchell and the other guy is Harry Allen. Phone your boss."

"I don't think it will be necessary" Sophia interrupted shyly. "She is already here, outside the Clinic."

"What?!" Allen exclaimed, rage and fear in his voice.

"Dr. Cuddy is always around the Clinic, she has to be sure that all her doctors do their duty in here" James explained trying to keep his voice calm. The situation was getting really bad. "You want me to talk to her?"

The two men exchanged few words in a whisper and then the taller spoke again. "Come here, Doc" Allen ordered and, as soon as the oncologist reached them he grabbed him letting the nurse go in exchange. "You, female doctor. Your name?"

"Sophia Ure" she breathed out her eyes full of anxiety and locked on the oncologist.

"Ok. Now, Sophia, if you want your friend to stay safe, take all these people out of here and go and talk to your boss. Tell her we what's going on and that need the best doctor of this hospital. She mustn't call the police or Dr. Wilson is dead. No tricks. His life is in your hands."

As soon as he finished talking all the people in the room moved towards the doors, hoping to get out as soon as possible. Sophia pushed the button and let them out before exiting in turn after shooting Wilson another worried look. Mitchell quickly locked the doors again behind her and then approached the other two again.

"If you were ill you could just have said it" the oncologist said staring at the one who was holding him, forgetting for a moment in which situation he was. "We are in a hospital, we are doctors! Treating ill people is our job! And you clearly are one of them. You're burning, I can feel it. You have fever!"

"I used to believe that too, at least until I was visited by five doctors and all of them said there was nothing wrong and that I was just hypochondriac. They said it was just a bad flu and prescribed me antibiotics. Oh, yeah, and one of them gave me the number of a psychiatrist. So, sorry if I lost my trust in the normal procedure!". Allen's voice was full of sarcasm. "Maybe this way I'll finally convince someone to try harder and find what's wrong with me!"

Wilson stared at him. "Nobody can understand what you have? Well, you are in the right place. In this hospital there is a doctor who can solve the cases the others can't. But you have to stimulate his curiosity in the right way or he won't even look at you."

"Who is he?" Mitchell asked still sceptical but with a glint of hope in his eyes. He lifted his hands, not caring about the gun he was holding. He caught the oncologist's worried glance at his movement and he lowered the weapon. "Ah, no worries, Doc! I think we can tell you now since you seem so ready to help us. The guns are fake! We are good people, even if we are desperate! The last thing we want is to hurt somebody."

Allen nodded letting go of James. "Yeah, sorry for scaring you and the others out. But please, can you keep on the act, at least until this doctor you mentioned accepts my case?" he asked rubbing his left arm. "I'm an office clerk and Steven is a teacher in high school. We haven't the money for a private clinic. We didn't want to create panic but we couldn't find a better way to get the attention I need."

"I hope you don't mind if I disagree about this last thing" Wilson breathed finally relaxing. He handed the phone to the shorter man and pressed a button. "Here. They'll answer from the hall. Say who you are and ask for Dr. House. Tell them to get him down here."

"How do you know he will accept to treat me?" Allen questioned while his partner-in-crime spoke on the phone.

"You've been lucky. Among the people you could hold hostage you chose me. I'm his best friend and I'm also a close friend of the Dean of the hospital. He will get a look at you if you tell that it is the price for my life" he answered. "And even if he doesn't believe you and doesn't agree to follow your orders, Dr. Cuddy would force him to accept anyway. If none of this options work I'll speak to him through the phone and try to convince him that your case is not boring."

"We've attacked this hospital, we're holding you hostage…Why do you help me so willingly? I don't get it."

"I'm a doctor and you're a patient. I'm just doing my job".

The two men stared silently at each other for a while.

"Thanks, Dr. Wilson. Steven and I are really grateful. Maybe not all doctors are so bad." Allen said, smiling quickly.

The oncologist nodded. "You're welcome. Just…Next time, please, ask before putting on such a mess in a hospital, ok? You risked giving somebody a heart attack."

"We will. It's a promise."

xxx

"What the hell is going on here?" House shouted as he got out of the elevator and headed towards Cuddy who was standing near the front desk, holding the phone with shaking hands.

"He's here" she said in the receiver and then handed it towards the diagnostician. "There are two armed man locked up in the Clinic. One of them apparently is ill and he wants you to treat him. They have a hostage and…"

"My god! The security in this hospital is dreadful! But we already know that. No wonder one can get in and out with whatever he want without anyone noticing!" he interrupted sarcastically. "You should take more care of it instead of spending all your time trying to be deadly sexy and forcing me to see idiotic people!"

"House, please, it's important! They have…" she tried again, but he cut her off for the second time.

"A hostage, I know. You've already told me!". He brought the receiver to his ear before she could open her mouth once more. "Dr. House speaking. Listen, you two, whoever you are! Haven't you read the sign out of the buildings?". He saw the Dean of Medicine getting paler at his words but decided to ignore her. She was always too emotional. "This is a hospital, guys. You don't need to have a gun and to threaten random people if you want to see a doctor! Asking and waiting for your turn is enough, trust me. And it's also less dangerous and tiring. Don't you agree? Or maybe are you too fond of drama? Stop acting like the idiots you are and get your asses out of the Clinic. I'm not going to accept you as my patient only because you are showing off. I'll look at your case and then decide if it is worth my attention."

"They had warned me about you being an ass. Nice, I like that!" Allen's calm voice answered. "But I was underestimating you, I admit it. You should thank the fact I'm not a quick tempered person or I would have done something really stupid to my guest here. I have to inform you that I'm not giving you a choice. Or you accept my case or the young man who's keeping us company will endure a bad experience."

"Oh, are you threatening me now? I'm so scared! I think I'm going to cry!" House mocked. "If you were as bad as you want me to believe you wouldn't have released all the other hostages."

"Nice deduction, Doc. But I guess you didn't give your boss the time to tell you who my hostage is. If it was a stranger I would have reacted like you had in the same situation but, well, this little detail change everything, I guess…Why don't you speak to him?"

"Yeah…Give him the phone" the diagnostician said slowly, glancing at Cuddy questioning. She shot him a deadly glare as an answer and shook her head.

"House". Wilson's voice came out from the phone, making him start. He sounded nervous but not really scared. "Care to stop being your usual bastard self for a moment, please?"

"Wilson?! You idiot! How did you get in this mess? I told you not to talk to strangers with guns!" he exclaimed, mentally cursing. Now he knew why the Dean of Medicine was so agitated and why she was trying to kill him with her glance. Why had it to be his damned best friend among all the people of the hospital?

"Damn you, House! It's not the moment for jokes! Just help me out of here! I'm not getting shot because you're a spoiled child" the oncologist pleaded. "Listen. This man has been seen by five doctors and none of them have succeeded in finding out what's wrong with him. They just thought it was flu and hypochondria. He has fever and shows signs of general weakness. And he may have some ventilation problems."

"Do you understand that it could really be just a bad cold?" the diagnostician pointed out. "But I guess I'll have to treat the eventual flu as well."

"It's not flu, House. They cure him for that but he kept on getting worse. None of the treatments has given positive results. It has started five month ago."

House kept silent for a moment. Five months of apparently incurable flu? Could be something. Besides he really needed to get Wilson out of trouble. He was a bit worried about his friend's safety even if he had no intention of admitting it.

"Hang in, Jimmy, I'm coming to rescue you!" he stated and hung up. He turned towards Cuddy. "Go and get my team. Tell them to wait in my office. It seems we have a case. And it could be quite promising!" he declared in a fake happy tone, before limping towards the Clinic doors. "And you could have told me it was Wilson!"

"I tried to! You didn't give me a chance to speak!" she protested, her voice filled with annoyance and worry, as she tried to follow him. "House, what do you want to do?"

"I said, get my team! I'm accepting the case, so no worries! I'll take care of Wilson!" he reassured ignoring her sceptical glance. Then he raised his voice and spoke to the presents: "Come on, this is the end of the show! Don't you have work to do? The Clinic will be available in a few minutes so, if someone is dying, please hold tight!". Since everybody just kept staring at him shocked, he shook his head and turned around, knocking on the glass. "Hey, come out, you idiots! I'm taking the case, so you don't need those guns anymore. I need my favourite oncologist back!"

The doors opened almost immediately and Wilson stepped out, a concerned glance on his face. House's eyes wandered briefly on his figure, making sure his best friend was OK, and the diagnostician fought back the relief he felt. No way was he giving somebody the satisfaction to see him worried.

"Cuddy, don't called the police, their guns are fake. It was just a bad act on" the oncologist said urgently ignoring his friend's look. "And we need a room quickly. I'm afraid he will need assisted ventilation soon."

Behind him Allen was standing with an arm on Mitchell shoulders, his breath getting quicker and more difficult. The shorter man looked at House, desperate. "Please, you must do something!"

The diagnostician stared at the two men, lost in thought. "That definitely isn't a bad cold…" he muttered slowly. He had the feelings this was going to be a nice rebus.