A/N Apologies for the gap in updates. Life has been hectic.. I've just graduated, lots of birthdays, work and I am struggling through a grim cold. So yes...I'm sorry. But I thought I should give this another update while I sit here sucking menthol sweets and blowing into tissues. Again thank you for the reviews and to the subscribers.
House pushed the door to Cuddy's office open with intent before stopping a few feet away from where she sat behind her coffee coloured desk.
She carried on scribbling away, trying her best to ignore the noise House was making by tapping the end of his cane on the floor. "No you can't."
"You don't even know what I was going to ask."
Cuddy put down her pen and clasped her hands together. "You only ever disturb me for a set number of reasons. You've either came to insult my breasts, ass, and my ability as a doctor. Or you want to do something wildly off the wall and you want my backing. Or you've done something that has offended a member of staff or a patient and you want to get here before they do. Take your pick." She opened her hands and cupped her face.
House winced before inhaling a large breath. "Your breasts look ludicrous in your bra. This is deliberate attempt to deflect from your humongous ass which has grown substantially since you stopped being a proper doctor. I want to drill into my patient's head to alleviate what we real doctors call inter-cranial pressure. But..." House mocked surprise "...I've done that already and his mom was not happy."
Cuddy, unsure whether House was lying or being truthful, merely gave a sarcastic smile before picking up her pen to continue writing.
House took a step forward. "We need to keep Wilson here."
Cuddy stopped. "Why? Cameron has gave him the all clear. He can be discharged in a few hours."
"I know that. I just think keeping him here is better."
"I get it. You feel bad about his situation but leaving him here is not going to make it better. Wilson doesn't need to be in a hospital especially a one he nearly died in. He wants to be at home, trying to normalise things. That includes you, bad TV and take out meals."
House rolled his eyes. "I've tried that. He either gets mad or wants me to leave." House scratched his chin. "Now I'm going to move him upstairs. This is not an autocracy you know." He held two fingers aloft. "Power to the people man."
"House!" Cuddy bellowed at the departing doctor. "You can't keep him here against his will. He doesn't need to be here and I doubt he wants to be here."
"I doubt he doesn't want to be here." House poked out his tongue.
"Have you asked him?" Cuddy came around from the back of the desk and perched herself on the front of it.
"No. But I know Wilson." House grabbed for the door handle.
"Stop trying to control him. He doesn't need that. He needs you just to be there to make things normal. Wheeling him around a hospital is not going to do that."
"Trust you to ruin this. You said I should help him." House poked his cane at Cuddy. "So that's what I'm doing."
"I'm coming with you." Cuddy strutted towards House purposefully. "I want to make sure you're not going to drug him or use some other illegal method you are dreaming up inside your head."
House groaned and opened the door, letting Cuddy barge past out of her office. "A thank you wouldn't have gone a miss. Neither would your ass."
He closed the door behind him and followed Cuddy, observing the unamused looks drawn on the nurse's faces. He gave a perverted smile and declared, "I hit that."
Wilson was drifting off before he was rudely disturbed by the clicking heels of his boss followed by the familiar, gentle thud of a cane hitting the floor. He could hear the distant fuzz of their bickering voices but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. His eyes were too heavy to open and he couldn't be bothered to get caught in the middle of another verbal jousting between the two of them.
Wilson kept his eyes firmly shut. The sedative he had been administered should help him sleep through the outside disturbance. He could here both of them call his name over and over again. Wilson clenched his jaw loosely.
Why can't they just leave me alone?
He felt a gentle prod on his side, which he knew to be House's cane.
Please leave me alone.
"He's out." Wilson made out the final utterance before they both left, pulling across the curtain behind them.
Wilson let out a deep breath when he was sure they had both gone. A mix of relief and pleasure diffused through his body.
He was glad to be alone but at the same time he knew he wasn't completely alone. There were nurses and doctors here to keep him safe and well, to make sure he was okay. He wouldn't have to worry about every little noise outside his apartment or curtain flutters in his bedroom.
No. Here he would be fine. Absolutely fine.
He smiled a gentle smile before letting himself ease into a comforting sleep.
Cameron had been as fast as possible in trying to get to House's office. He had paged her more than once in the space of ten minutes meaning it was somewhat urgent. She expected to see House and his team bashing out a differential with their brows furrowed and House standing over them with marker in hand.
But House's team weren't there. It was just House sitting in his chair tossing a large tennis ball in the air with Cuddy standing, hands on hips, looking reasonably pissed off.
She was beckoned in by House with a subtle wave of his cane. "You paged me."
"Yes I did. Now get yourself in here."
Cameron sheepishly approached House's desk, aware of Cuddy staring at her every move.
House clapped his hands together making both women jump on the spot. "Wilson. I think he should stay. Cold hearted robot boss thinks he should be discharged. We need an impartial opinion and since you are so moral and ethical that you actually respect Cuddy but at the same time you are obviously in love with me, we think you are the perfect candidate."
Cameron gawped at Cuddy, who merely shrugged in response. "He's right. Foreman and Chase are too pig headed, judgemental and stubborn."
Cameron nodded slowly. "Um...I see no medical reason why he should be kept here."
"No. No. What you're meant to say is 'Yes Dr House. There is a medical reason why he should be kept here.'You're not meant to side with the enemy. Didn't I teach you anything when I was your boss?" House threw his head back in a fit of disgust.
"Shut up House." Cuddy turned her attention to Cameron. "So you think Wilson is fine to be discharged?"
"Yeah. I checked him this morning and he seemed fine."
House stuck up a finger. "Aha! He seemed fine. Doesn't mean he was fine."
Cuddy sighed. "You can't base your argument around semantics. Cameron said he was fine. Cameron is a good doctor so I will take her opinion. I assume you will too as you taught her how to be a good doctor." Cuddy smiled smugly.
"She's a terrible doctor." House rubbed his eyes.
Cameron's jaw dropped open. "What?"
"You really don't know when to play along do you." House turned to Cuddy. "See. She can't even tell when I'm lying. How would she notice if Wilson was lying?"
Cuddy gave Cameron a defeated glance and shook her head. "Fine. Go and talk to Wilson and see if he's okay. Again."
Cameron turned and left the room, leaving House and Cuddy in the same stand-off positions as they were before she entered.
"Cameron said he was fine."
"Cameron also didn't tell you a crucial piece of information." House began balancing the ball on the end of his cane.
"And..."
House stared opened eyed.
"You can't just say that and not tell me. I'm his boss."
"Cameron caught him crying."
Cuddy blinked. "That's it? She was stitching him up. I'm pretty sure that hurts."
House shook his head. "He was anaesthetised. He shouldn't have felt anything."
"You want to keep Wilson in hospital purely because he cried in his sleep?"
"Yes."
"No. This is a stretch even for you."
Wilson opened his eyes and was greeted with the blurry outline of Cameron's face. He groaned at the bright light that hit his eyes and covered them with his arm.
"Cuddy told me to come down and see how you were doing before you were discharged."
Wilson gulped hard and nodded his head. He didn't want to be discharged, he just got the best night's sleep he had had in over two weeks. Please don't let me go.
"So how you feeling?"
Scared shitless. "I'm okay. Just a bit tired that's all." Fuck. No matter how hard Wilson tried he couldn't bring himself to admit that he really didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay, cocooned in the safety blanket that was this hospital and its staff.
He tried his best to plead covertly, painfully staring at Cameron hoping she would get the message but it was pointless. All she did was smile that patronising, condescending smile.
"Any discomfort or pain?"
"No. Not at all. Feels better than it did before." Wilson gratefully smiled.
"Great. Well I'll go and sort of the papers and we can get you out of here as soon as possible okay?"
Wilson nodded as Cameron whisked open the curtain and headed off to the desk. Pushing himself up on his bed he dropped his head and sunk it into his hands before gently pushing his hair out of his tired brown eyes.
He sniffed back hard to hold back the tears he could feel welling up.
Rain. Wilson sniffed. He could smell rain. That scent of a warm night mixed with rain mingled in his nostrils.
He looked around bemused, trying to locate where the smell was coming from. Had a cleaner left an old bucket of water out somewhere? Did someone have wet shoes? He frantically looked around his bed for the source but saw nothing.
Wilson's almost choked on thin air when he caught a glance at the person who was standing at the corner of the corridor.
The familiar figure stood, swathed in black, twiddling the blade in between the thumb and index finger on his other hand. He smiled and winked in Wilson direction before storming towards him, holding the blade above his head.
In a frenetic movement of limbs, Wilson hopped up off his bed and grabbed the stand holding his IV fluids.
"You stay away from me!" Patients yelped in fear as Wilson violently swung the stand in the direction of the corridor.
"Page Dr House now!" Cameron stood to the side and tried to grab Wilson's attention. "Wilson! It's Cameron. Put that down before you hurt somebody.!" She reached out to grab the stand from Wilson's grasp but he swung it the other way and flung a cart full of syringes onto the floor.
All Wilson could hear was rain beating down on wet ground. He wasn't in the hospital any more, he was in the street. The man was still cackling as he came ever closer in spite of Wilson's attempts to warn him off. "I'll fucking kill you! Why won't you leave me alone?!"
The man merely licked his lips, like a lion who has discovered fresh flesh to devour.
"Please leave me alone?" Wilson strength was decreasing with every swing he took. He couldn't fend of the man much longer and in this knowledge he began to sob. "I'm sorry."
Wilson began backing off. "I don't know what I've gotta do! Please leave me alone. I'm begging you."
Wilson jumped at the touch of a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned slowly to see Cameron, her face drenched with fear and alarm.
What the hell?
"Wilson. Put it down." He felt Cameron gently push the stand down onto the ground before eventually removing it from his hands.
He looked around to find himself in the hospital with patients staring at him in horror. He felt Cameron place a hand on his back before slinging his arm over her shoulders.
Everything began blurring into one. The voices and gasps of patients were becoming ever quieter. His body felt increasingly light. Then everything went black.
House and Cuddy both made it down to the Emergency room to time to see Cameron propping up a sedated Wilson.
The floor was littered with surgical gloves, paper and syringes and one patient had been scared so badly that they had urinated themselves.
She stepped forward into the mess. "What happened?"
"He had an hallucination. He was fine and then he got up swinging his IV stand around. He keep telling somebody to leave him alone. I don't know who he was talking to."
Cuddy rubbed her forehead. "Is anybody injured?"
"No. Just a few who are a bit shaken." She gently pulled a sheet over Wilson. "I've gave him a sedative. Should wear off in a couple of hours."
Cuddy muttered under her breath before saying thank you and heading back towards the corridor where House stood leaning on his cane.
"So now do you think he is fine to be discharged?"
A/N Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed. I am off to stick my head in a bowl of menthol.
Sea Legs-Frank Turner © 2008
