Chapter 3

Wilson's Office

Wilson signed off on his last report for the day. That night, he would pack his things and leave House's spare key on the table before he left. Maybe Julie might be willing to talk. Too bad about Cuddy though. Why was House so upset about my being with her? It's not like he cares!

"James?" his wife asked.

"Julie, what are you doing here?" he asked.

She shut the door and took a seat. "I just wanted to see you." She smiled at him. "Ready to move back in?"

"Yeah. Living with House is a handful," he agreed.

"Meet me at the office. I'll have dinner ordered in. Oh…and I hear the salmon filets are really good but you had those last night, didn't you?" she directed.

He rolled his eyes. "You know about that too? Maybe everyone does!"

"James, we need to talk. I just finished talking with Lisa Cuddy about last night," she informed him. "When we do speak tonight, just be honest, all right?" With that, she left.

Great. Here we go! He frowned, thinking that he was in big trouble now.

Chapter 4 House's Office

Meantime, House had decided to take his frustration out on his favorite (and convenient) targets. As they worked on their next case, a woman with an unknown clotting disorder, he baited his team relentlessly.

"So we've tried blood thinners and going in but there's nothing there," Foreman protested.

House considered the neurologist with mock-approval. "Convinced? Good thing, I'm in charge and not you."

"We haven't tried magnetic resonance imaging yet," Chase noted.

"That might be one way if we didn't already have this picture. Wake up, Kiddies! Dad's really not in the mood to be wiping up after you," the diagnostician lectured, holding up the image.

"What is with you?" Cameron queried.

House stared blankly at her. "I was wondering when you were going to step into it. Patient, Cameron, not the omnipotent leader. Focus on the patient instead of those desires of yours."

"Excuse me?" she rebutted.

House glared at her sarcastically. "Wow….I think I struck a nerve."

"First, you're deluding yourself. Secondly, how can we? You've got some burr up your ass! What is wrong with you?" she demanded.

He arched his brow. "I don't know. What's wrong with you?"

"You're pissing me off!" she retorted.

He stared at her blankly, adding a pronounced taunt. "Oooh….I'm scared!"

Before anyone else could say anything, Cuddy interrupted, "What's going on here?"

"We're trying to diagnose a patient. House is playing games," Cameron pointed out.

Foreman rolled his eyes, not wanting to get in between Cuddy and House again.

"I need a few minutes alone with House. You three take a break," Cuddy directed, pointing toward the door. After his crew had taken off, she closed the door. "All right, House, care to tell me what that whole deal upstairs was about?"

He winced. "Stuff."

"Stuff?" She snickered. "Stuff, you say."

"Either there's an echo in here or you're stuck on that word. Better do something. Brain cramping is catching," he declared.

"If I caught it, it's from you," she countered dryly. "Okay, humor me. Why did you come upstairs?"

"I needed to talk with you."

She considered those words, reading his facial and body language as she did so. He's nervous again. "This had better not be about the sperm donors again."

He snorted. "What you stick into yourself is your business!"

"You've got that right!" she growled. "I'm a big girl, House. Cut it out!"

"You said it, not me. That's a first," he argued.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't bring my body into this discussion!"

"Why not? Your clock's going tick tock and your brain turns to mush!" he snapped. "Damn it!" He grabbed his cane. "Look, Cuddy, as hard as you find this to believe, I don't want you blowing yourself up! All right?"

The emotion in his eyes made her backpedal for a minute. Instead of anger, she saw caring and desperation there. "Julie's right. You are jealous!"

"Jealous? ME? Yeah right!" He made a rude noise before limping out. "Tell the three geniuses I went home sick! See ya!"

She set her pad on the table and thought about that interaction. He did all of that because he cares. Of course, that didn't surprise her. In their own weird way, they had been friends since college even minimally so after the infarction surgery.

But the look in his eyes went beyond friendship…..

She sat in his chair and considered the previous two years. Especially since Vogler, he had been more caring (granted, it was in his own condescending way) toward her. In fact, he had set her straight on several counts and tried to protect her in others. And in this case, he was trying to talk me out of it…or rather, into letting him be my donor. Wow. Her head started to pound at that thought.

Not hearing anything, the Ducklings entered the area cautiously.

"Where did he go?" Foreman queried before frowning.

"He went home." She took a deep breath. "Why don't you get a consult with Regan? He might have some ideas."

"House hates him," Cameron reminded her.

"Since he had a tantrum and this woman's critical, I'm saying get Regan. That's final," Cuddy ordered firmly. With that, she left leaving them to the case at hand.