Chapter 10

The group was back in House's apartment. Keen was on his computer researching while Kate and Wilson was in the kitchen making tea. Cameron followed Angel around the room as he paced, talking to someone on his cell phone.

Faith sat down next to House on the couch. He was staring intently at the television screen. "What are you watching?" she asked.

He didn't even look over at her as he took a bite of leftovers Wilson had baked for him last week. "Not Another Teen Movie," he said. "It calms me down to watch raunchy teen movies."

Faith took the fork he offered her and stabbed a noodle. "Me too."

They sat in silence as they watched Jake sing "Janie's got a gun."

Angel clamped his cell shut and finally stopped pacing, causing Cameron to walk into him. He caught her, his hands on her upper arms. She tried to ignore her sudden need for breath when she felt his thumbs rub her skin. Her hair swayed over her shoulder as she looked up at him.

But he wasn't looking into her eyes.

Angel was staring at her lips.

She blinked and asked quietly, "What happened?"

"I caught you," he said equally as quiet.

She shook her head. "I don't mean—"

He stuttered, shaken. "Oh, on the phone. He's thankfully in New York right now. He can be here in a few hours."

"And he'll be able to help me?"

Neither realized that he was still holding her arms. He pulled her slightly closer. "I don't know," he said with all of that earnestness he had. "But I promise you that we'll make this okay."

And with all the honesty illuminated in those green eyes, she said, "I believe you."

Wilson was leaning against House's kitchen counter, his long legs stretched in front of him. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he was holding the edge of the counter with his hands. He watched as Kate moved about the kitchen as if it were her own.

Had they not been amidst an apocalypse, anyone would have taken them for a happy couple enjoying a weekend at home.

She laughed softly as she took tea from the cabinet.

"What is it?" he asked.

On her tiptoes and with an arched back she looked over at him. "I guess your date tonight was sufficiently ruined."

His eyebrows went up and he looked down at the tile. "It had been ruined long before the vampires showed up."

"Bad first date?" Kate asked. She had always been observant. A decade as a police officer had only honed that skill.

He smiled. "Well, yes, it was. But the date stopped as soon as I saw you," he said like an embarrassed schoolboy.

She blushed back. "I guess I won't be able to take that dress back to the store," she joked thinking how her new little black dress was dust rags now.

"I'd happily buy you another one just like."

His frankness startled her. She didn't know that it startled him, too.

He leaned towards her, saying, "You'll just have to promise to wear it to a dinner with me instead of hunting vampires in it."

Running her hand through her thick, blonde hair, she said, "We get through this alive and I'll be ecstatic to go to McDonalds in a trash bag with you."

He laughed boyishly.

"Oh," she winced. "That sounded really desperate, didn't it?" Damn. She was always sounding slutty when she first met men. She recalled the first time she met Angel. The dark and handsome of the society always fried her speech abilities.

"No," he said reassuringly. "I haven't heard anything that appealing for a long time."

……………………………………

The blackened fog in front of Chase's eyes started to clear. At first he couldn't remember where he was, but he awoke with Cuddy on his mind. He could smell her scent thickly swirling around him. He could almost feel her there next to him, lying next to his body.

His body. It was stiff, and not in the way he wanted it to be. His arms tingled with the loss of circulation. His right knee hurt from lying in the same place too long.

He closed his eyes again and breathed deeply, taking all of his goddess in. Then he realized why he could smell her. He was in her bedroom. He was tied up in her bedroom.

Having been tied up before by his previous banker girlfriend, his heart beat a little faster at the thought that Cuddy was just as wild. But then he realized that most women don't tie their lovers to the floor.

He looked around him, finding the note Cuddy left for him. The darkness of knowing she wasn't there with him was enough to swallow his soul. He had to find her. To protect her from whatever it was that was wanting Cameron because, he reasoned, if it wanted Cameron then it would finally realize that Cuddy was the much better choice because of her beauty, strength, and intelligence and would eventually decide to take his Lisa instead.

Slowly standing up, he examined the belt tied to his hands and the bedpost. Then he put his foot on the post and yanked as hard as he could, breaking the wood into two pieces. He then wriggled his wrists until the belt came loose.

He put Cuddy's love note in his pocket and nearly skipped out of the apartment.

…………………………………

House limped into the kitchen and set the empty food container in the sink. Wilson was sitting at the table by himself. Kate had gone into the other room to check in with Angel.

"What are you doing?" House sat down next to him.

Wilson's hands were folded together on the tabletop. "Praying."

"You mean you're wasting your time."

Wilson shot him a tired look. "You know what God is going to tell you when you stand at the gates pleading for your soul?"

House tilted his head up, his eyes to the ceiling as if he was thinking. "There's a harem of hot blondes just waiting to please you in thousands of ways?"

Wilson shook his head. "No. He's going to say, 'You're wasting my time.'"

House looked down at the table. "You must be tired. That wasn't even very good sarcasm."

"Well, it's been a long day. I don't have the capacity for assiness as you do, oh wise one," Wilson said with a sigh. In reality, though, he was comforted by the conversation.

"Why didn't you tell me about all of this? How did I not know?"

Wilson shrugged. "This is the one thing I didn't want you to know about."

House squinted. "You don't trust me."

"I didn't want to endanger you. I trust you more than anyone, House," he said. Then he blinked thoughtfully. "But I guess that's not really saying much about the people I know."

"So how did this all start?"

"Remember when I told you about my brother being homeless?" When House nodded, Wilson kept talking. "I lied. When I was nineteen years old, he was turned into a vampire. My mother didn't realize it and invited him into our house." House saw Wilson's eyes water as he tried to continue. "Thankfully I was home that weekend from college." He laughed, but not with humor. "I didn't want to do my own laundry."

"What happened?" House asked. The stillness in the small kitchen was hot, suffocating.

"Jack attacked her. He tried to kill our mother." Wilson's eyes were far away, glazed. "I saw him bite her and ran towards them. I pushed him as hard as I could." Putting his head down, he swiped his hand through his hair. "He fell backward onto the floor. The window was open and it had just become morning."

House waited for him to finish. He still didn't understand.

Wilson looked him straight in the eye. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell onto the table. House stared at that salty pain as Wilson said, "He went into flames. And then he just turned into dust. I killed my own brother."

And then House understood. The puzzle that was James Wilson was complete.

House did something he never expected himself to do. Putting his hand on Wilson's shoulder, he said softly, "You're stronger than I am."

………………………………………

Cuddy burst into House's apartment, the door swinging quickly enough to hit the wall. "We've got a problem," she said, repeating herself from earlier that night.

"Tell us something we don't have," Angel said.

House and Wilson came into the living room from the kitchen. "How did you get in here?" House asked.

Cuddy waved him off. "I made Wilson make me a spare copy." House looked at them both with a gaped mouth. She shrugged. "Just in case."

"In case what?" House asked. "In case you decide you want my sperm and need to steal my sheets?"

Angel shook his head. "You people actually put up with this guy? How has no one killed you yet?"

Faith stood up from the couch and faced Cuddy. "What's the problem? Is it Chase?"

Cuddy tried to catch her breath. "No, he's passed in my bedroom."

House looked at Wilson with a cocky face. "I told you she was so good in the sack that a man would collapse afterward."

"Can you stop being a five year old for two seconds?" Cameron said with a glare. "What's going on?" she asked Cuddy.

Cuddy stepped further into the room. "I went back to your hotel," she told Wilson. "I had to flirt with the night clerk, but he let me see the security tapes."

"What did you find out?" Kate asked. She cursed herself for not thinking of it in the first place.

"Foreman took the prophecies."

The PPTH gang nearly fell over.

"Why?" Cameron asked, looking up at Angel next to her.

Before Angel could answer, House said with his nose turned up, "Because he's evil. Duh."

"Is he evil?" Kate asked to the group.

Cuddy shrugged. "Well, he passed the psychological assessment when he was hired, but so did House, so I'm not sure."

Cuddy had been too excited to relock the door. It swung open again. Faith lifted the axe in her hand, ready to behead the first thing that walked through.

It was Chase.

Faith didn't put her axe.

Chase ran to Cuddy and took her hand. "I'm here to protect you, my love."

House made a disappointed cluck with his tongue. "Guess you're not as good as you think you are," he told Cuddy.

"Seriously," Angel said with incredulity. "How are you still alive?"

Cam looked at him. "If it helps any, someone shot him last year."

Angel smiled down at her. "It does actually. Thanks."

House's eyes widened. "Hey! I'm standing right here."

"Can we focus, here?" Cuddy the Administrator asked. "What are we going to do about Foreman?"

Angel took the lead. "My friend should be here soon. We need to talk to him before we do anything else.

As if the The Powers that Be were granting magical wishes that day, there was a polite knock on the door.

Angel went over to the door.

"Do I not even get to answer my own door anymore?" House whined.

Wilson whispered, "If it's a pissed off demon, it might be better to let the badass vampire answer it."

Angel opened the door and smiled with relief. "I have never been so glad to see you."

"Considering the past we share, I suppose this is rather difficult apocalypse if you are content to see me," he answered.

"I hope everything is water under the bridge," Angel said.

The man smiled geekishly. "Better water under the bridge than raining fire I always say."

Cuddy looked the man up and down. He was charming, handsome, and sweet. Something she wasn't used to. "Welcome to our very own hell on earth," she told him with a disarming smile.

"I assure you madam, I've seen hell on earth…well hell right under the earth actually and it's much worse than this." He sat down his leather bag and shook her hand.

Angel said to the group, "Guys, it's a shame it's not under better circumstances, but I'd like you to meet Rupert Giles.

TBC