They ended up going to a small pizza joint 20 minutes from the hospital. Standing in front of the teeny building, Wilson raised an eyebrow and turned to House.
"Why do you want to eat here?"
"They make good calzones." Sighing, Wilson followed House through the door and was immediately hit by a scent that had his stomach grumbling loudly. All of a sudden, he didn't mind having to pay for both himself and House quite as much as he had moments ago.
Neither one of them spoke about anything of importance while waiting to be served. New cases, the weather, House's team and Cuddy's breasts were all discussed, but both men shied away from the issue they were there to discuss. It wasn't until a waitress had set their food in front of them that Wilson broached the subject.
"So, why'd you kiss me?" He asked, so casually that it had House choking on his drink.
"To shut you up." The older man finally spat out once he managed to stop coughing, and it was mostly -if not entirely- true. There was a small part of him, a part that still nagged him whenever he was around Wilson, to just grab the other man and kiss him senseless. Then again, there was also a small part that made him want to slap Cuddy's ass whenever she turned to walk away, and another even smaller part of him that sometimes made him want to light Chase on fire, but he had managed to ignore these parts just fine. Well, most of the time. Wilson thought for a moment, but seemed to accept it as something House would do, but he didn't seem to be done discussing it.
"There are a hundred different ways that you could have shut me up, but you chose to kiss me. Why is that?" It was true. Number one on the list would have been escaping to a different room or leaving the apartment all together and second was pelting Wilson with small objects until he chose to stop talking. House had a snarky comeback ready, and had just opened his mouth to deliver it, when his phone went off. With a sigh, he fished the offending device out of his pocket and flipped it open.
"What do you want?" He spat, knowing it was the ducklings on the other end. Foreman was the first to speak up.
"House?" The diagnostician grimaced.
"No, really? I thought I was Cuddy today." He rolled his eyes at the show of stupidity and waited for whatever was so important that it had to interrupt his lunch. He heard a muffled sigh, most likely Foreman. "Are you going to tell me whatever bit of gossip you picked up or not? But if it's about Cuddy's butt, I probably already know about it. Oh wait, but I'm Cuddy today," He paused and ate a bite of his calzone, "what are you doing talking about my butt?" Across the table, Wilson laughed and took a bite of his food. House put a hand over his phone's mouthpiece and whispered conspiratorially,
"What do you want to bet it's about Cuddy's butt?" Then pulled the phone back up to his ear, not waiting for a response, as Cameron's voice came over the line.
"We're having a bit of trouble with Brandy Dillenger."
"Who?" House asked, not recognizing the name.
"Your newest case. 17 year old girl, internal bleeding and stomach pains that were completely unrelated to the bleeding?" House stared off into the distance, having lost interest in what Cameron was saying after 'Your newest case'.
"What's wrong with her, besides having a hooker's name?"
"Well, she's upsetting some of the other patients and won't listen to the nurses." Chase cut in at this point.
"Okay, but how?" House asked, annoyed that no one seemed to want to get to the point. Wilson watched him listen for a moment, then roll his eyes and snap the phone shut.
"Sorry, but my presence is absolutely necessary." He said, standing up and shoving the remaining bit of calzone in his mouth. Wilson frowned, concerned.
"What's wrong?" He asked as House limped to the door.
"Musical emergency." The older man called back cryptically over his shoulder. Musical emergency? Wilson frowned, confused, but didn't get a chance to clarify what House meant as he walked out the door at that moment. Taking another bite of his calzone, Wilson relaxed for a moment before leaping up in his seat, cursing, as he remembered that he had driven himself and House there in his car.
The door slid open and House walked into the room to be assaulted by the chorus of a song he identified as being sung by Guns N' Roses. On the only bed in the room was a young girl in her teens, writhing about atop the bedclothes to the music in the midst of an energetic air guitar solo. After a few seconds, House was able to pick her voice out from the rest of the music, singing along to the lyrics at the top of her lungs.
The sound of his footsteps obscured by the blaring music, House made his way, unnoticed, over to the bed stand where the speakers were, and switched them off. The room was suddenly silent, except for the girl's enthusiastic singing which quickly died as the music cut out. Having frozen when the music was turned off, she was still twisted so that her head was off the side of the bed, her body bent, making a C-shape with her legs stretched out to the foot of the bed. Her eyes, which had been shut, flew open and she stared up at him, upside down.
"I was listening to that." She said, making no move to right herself on the bed. Tilting her head a bit further back, so that she could see the floor, she looked House up and down and only then did she right herself, shifting so that she was sitting cross-legged facing him. She was clad in a black t-shirt and a pair of plaid flannel sleep pants, not a regulation hospital gown. Thick brown hair cropped to just below her ears partially obscured her dark green eyes until she pushed it back impatiently with one hand. It stuck up funny on one side where it had been crushed against the bed and resisted her attempts to smooth it back down.
"Who are you?" She asked bluntly, looking House over again.
"Dr. Wilson, why?" Now that he had dealt with the music problem, all House wanted to do was escape back to his office and hide from Wilson, who he had stranded at the pizza joint, but he knew that that was the first place he'd be looked for. His patient's room, however? He'd never be found.
"You don't look like a doctor."
"Yeah, well you don't look like a stripper, but your name sure sounds like one." A look of shock and hurt crossed Brandy's face as House threw himself into the chair beside her bed. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she glared at him as he grabbed the remote off the nightstand and switched on the TV that was situated on the far wall. He heard her mutter something that sounded like 'dick' and raised an eyebrow, glancing at her briefly. Her attention had been captured by the television and she seemed to be ignoring him.
"I see you were able to get her to turn off her music." A nurse said as she walked into the room with a tray of food. Her name tag read 'Jennifer'. She was one of the nurses who had been trying to get Brandy to turn her music off earlier in the day.
"Hi, my name's Nurse Jennifer." She said, holding out her hand. House just stared at it, not taking it and replied,
"Dr. House." Dropping her hand back down to her side, the nurse busied herself with neatening the room. Feeling eyes on the side of his head, House turned to find Brandy glaring at him.
"You said your name was Dr. Wilson."
"And?"
"You lied." House just shrugged and turned his attention back to the TV.
"Everyone lies." Brandy huffed in annoyance and Nurse Jennifer seemed to think this was a good time to cut in.
"Brandy? Do you think you could try eating something?" She asked, indicating the tray she had brought in with her. Brandy thought about it for a moment, lifting the lid on the tray to see what delicious treats it held. Underneath was soup, most likely vegetable and beef from the smell. Beside it was some crackers. She seemed torn, knowing she should eat the food, but not feeling the need to, despite the fact that she hadn't eaten more than a few bites over the past few days, most of which had been thrown up minutes after eating.
"I could try." She said, eyeing the soup. Nurse Jennifer smiled at this, and set her up on the bed with the tray of food, then left the room, entrusting her to House's care. She must be new. House thought, knowing that any nurse who had worked at the hospital for more than a few weeks would have heard the stories and know to never leave him alone with a patient for fear of a harassment suit against the hospital. Turning his attention back to the TV, he managed to forget where he was for almost 20 minutes, before the crash of a tray hitting the floor and frantic footsteps following seconds after pulled him back to reality. He looked away from the TV in time to see Brandy bolt into the bathroom and seconds later the sound of retching reached his ears. Mildly concerned, House was about to get up and make sure the girl wasn't dying when the door slid open and a mildly annoyed Wilson walked in.
"So this is where you've been hiding." He said, raising an eyebrow at the splattered remains of Brandy's lunch…or maybe it was dinner? House hadn't checked the time recently.
"I spend any time in my office and I'm accused of hiding. I go to see my newest case and I'm hiding again, just not in my usual place. Either I'm being unjustly accused or I'm going to be the best Hide and Seek player ever." Wilson crossed his arms over his chest.
"So you weren't hiding, then?"
"Who said I wasn't? Now either be quiet or go check to see if my newest case has died in the bathroom there." House said, nodding briefly in the direction Brandy had run. Wilson frowned before walking over to the bathroom door.
"Hi." House heard a hoarse voice from inside the small room. "You look like a real doctor. What's your name?" Wilson's eyebrows raised. Brandy was seated on the floor in front of the toilet, looking up over her shoulder at him.
"My name's Dr. Wilson. Nice to meet you?" He was surprised when she gave an annoyed huff.
"Okay, is this an inside joke or am I missing something? Is everyone Dr. Wilson today?"
A.N: I took way too long getting around to this chapter. Here I was, thinking I'd have more free time over the Christmas break. Well, at least this chapter's longer than the last 3. I'm going to try for more chapters around this length or longer from now on. I've also decided to up the rating on this fic, because from what I can tell, Brandy's going to have a bit of a foul mouth and there will eventually be adult themes, so it's better to do it now while I remember than to forget and have to deal with the consequences.
