A Call To Apathy – Chapter XI
Wilson walked into Joe's behind Addison and took off his coat as he entered through the door.
"What do you want, a glass of wine? A cocktail maybe?" He asked, shaking off the rain from his jacket and running his hands through his hair. Addison turned and smiled.
"A double scotch thanks."
Wilson raised his eyebrows. "Oh! Ok. I'll go get one."
As he walked up to the bar Addison moved to a small table in the corner of the bar.
"A double scotch and beer thanks."
"Wilson."
Wilson looked to his side where Forman was sitting next to him at the counter, drink in hand.
"Foreman, what are you doing here?"
"Relaxing after a hard day's work, or so they tell me." He indicated to his left where Izzie, Chase and Alex where sitting, Chase and Izzie talking and laughing while Alex sitting in silence, sipping at his beer.
Joe put his drinks on the bar and Wilson picked them up. "Guess you're going to have a wild night."
Foreman smirked. "Yeah, may I join you? I mean, not much conversation here."
"Ah, I don't know…" He said awkwardly. "I mean, I'd love you to…it's just that…" He looked quickly at Addison sitting alone in the corner. Foreman noticed.
"Oh, no that's fine. I understand. I think I'll have an early night anyway."
Wilson smiled and walked over to Addison, drinks in hand.
"Here you go." He said, putting the glasses on the table and sitting on the opposite side of the table, facing her.
"Thanks." She said, smiling as she looked up at him.
Wilson took a sip of his beer. "So did she agree to the delivery?"
"Yeah, she's going to leave tomorrow and come in later. I think it's best. Wouldn't want to spend the last weeks of my life in the hospital."
"Even though we spend our whole lives in it." Wilson added.
"Yeah," Addison sighed, taking a sip of her scotch. "I guess we do." Addison looked down at her left hand, the tan line from her ring still there. "Have you ever been married James?"
Wilson laughed. "Twice."
Addison raised her eyebrows. "Really? What happened?"
"The first marriage didn't work and the second, well, the second cheated on me."
"Tell me about it." She smiled. "I've only been married once, but somehow we both cheated twice. Looking back I just wonder if it's all worth it."
"Of course it is. If you didn't go through with it you'd always have the feeling of 'what if'."
"Like, what if I had cheated on her as well?"
"Oh, I did." Wilson laughed. Addison smiled brightly and took another swig of her drink.
"Marriage sucks." She smiled.
"It does indeed."
Addison picked up her glass and raised it in the air. Wilson followed. Clinking them together they grinned into each other's eyes then took another sip of their drinks.
"Were are you staying?" Wilson asked.
"The Archfield."
"Really? Me too."
"I've got a suite there." Addison remarked, eyes sparkling.
Wilson leaned back in the seat. "I've never seen the suites at the Archfield."
Addison smiled slyly and took another sip. "I guess I'll have to show you then."
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Foreman looked over in dismay at Wilson and Addison sitting in the corner then turned back to his drink. The tension here was unbearable. Chase and Izzie were immersed in their own little conversation while Alex sat and brooded the whole time. The only conversation Foreman had had was with the bartender, who he had desperately tried to stay with him, but unfortunately still had a business to run. Foreman looked at his watch. 8:32.
"Damn," Forman got up. "Look at the time. I have to go."
Alex looked quickly at the clock. "What do you mean? It's still early." Chase and Izzie looked up.
"Yeah, but I promised I'd call my girlfriend tonight."
Chase looked surprised. "You have a girlfriend?"
"The pedes nurse. Remember?"
Chase nodded and looked back at his drink. Foreman put some money on the counter. "I'll see you back at the hospital. Night."
"Night."
Foreman walked to the door and sighed with relief as he opened it and walked up the stars and out of the bar.
Alex looked back at his drink. Dammit. He was now left alone with Izzie and the Aussie.
Izzie took another sip of her cocktail and then whispered in Chase's ear. Getting up from the stool she walked over to the bathroom. Alex took a swig from his beer and coughed. Chase looked up.
"You've got a problem?"
"I'm the jerk. I've got a problem with everything." Alex smirked.
Chase smiled at himself and looked at his drink. "You have no idea how many times I've been called a jerk." He looked up at Alex. "I guess Izzie must have a thing for them!"
Alex tried to hold back a smile. "I guess so."
Chase took another sip. "Izzie told me about you. About you guys before Denny. You must have hated the guy."
Alex laughed wryly. "I did indeed."
"I guess you must hate me now."
Alex looked up. "I don't hate you. Hell, I practically am you. Except for the hair and the accent and all."
Chase laughed. "Yeah."
Alex put his glass down and moved his stool closer to Chase. "Hey, you find with Izzie she can be so smart but say the stupidest things, like she wants to be blond?"
"Oh yeah, this morning in elevator she asked: 'do you know you can grow pineapples?' " Alex laughed with Chase. "What about when she curls her hair with her fingers all the time!"
"And saying 'seriously'!" Alex added. "I mean, seriously, how many times can she say it?"
"I swear it's contagious!"
On the other side of the bar, Joe heard the sound of laughter and quickly turned around to see Alex and the Aussie guy giggling together and toasting each other's drinks. Two minutes ago they would have killed each other with their glares and now they were sharing jokes. Joe quickly shook his head and turned to another costumer. It was the Apocalypse.
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"What are you making?"
Meredith sat down at the table in Derek's trailer, legs crossed on the seat, nibbling on some chips. Derek looked up from the stove.
"What else? Trout! Caught it this afternoon."
"You caught a trout this afternoon?"
Derek flung the tea towel over his shoulder and smiled. "Yep."
Meredith chuckled. "That's ridiculous. Where did you find the time to go fishing for trout?"
"Oh, I have my ways. Anyway, it helps me relax."
Meredith raised her eyebrows. "Does it?"
"Mm-hmm. You know what else makes me relax?" Derek smiled mischievously.
Meredith glared at him. "Why do you always make everything so porny?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who thought of it. I was talking about surgery!"
"Surgery?" Meredith asked sceptically.
"Yup!"
"You were so not, you porny, porny man!"
Derek grinned as he laid the cooked trout on a platter then brought it to the table, putting it down in the middle then refilling both glasses with wine.
"My, my Derek, you are trying to get me drunk!"
Derek sat down opposite Meredith. "At least I shall be as drunk as you. We have ten more bottles to go through, now: eat up."
Meredith glared at him playfully then served herself some trout from the plate in front of her and took another sip of her wine, all the time looking into Derek's blue eyes. She realised how long it had been since she had actually looked into them. After Addison came she forced herself not to, worried that one look would make her fall for him all over again. She looked into them at the prom when she was dancing with Finn, and look where that put her.
Finishing off the fish, she refilled both glasses while Derek took the plates and put them in the sink, joining her at the table once more.
"I'm afraid we don't have any desert. I left the ice cream in the car so you can have melted goo if you really want."
Meredith smiled once more. "I'm fine, Derek, thank you. It was the best date I've ever had."
"So it's a date?"
"Well, we are dating."
"We are indeed." Derek looked away through the window to the outside. Meredith sensed he wanted to here something. She put down her glass.
"Mr Dunn…"
Derek looked at her. "So we're talking now?"
"Shut up Derek." She sighed. "Michael had Lupus. I was there with House when everybody left and I got paged. He had an allergic reaction."
Derek looked serious, but comforting. "To what?"
"To the treatment. House and I, we had a fight. I thought he wanted to… that he wanted us to… But House didn't want to do anything. But there was only one thing we could do. Only one thing that was right…"
"You helped him pass away."
Meredith brushed away a tear. "Yeah. It was right, I know. But I'm a doctor. I just can't do it."
"Did you talk about it to House?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Sorry about today, I had no idea." He moved his hand to hers.
"It's fine. Really. It's not your fault. I just didn't want to talk." She looked down. Derek moved his hand under her chin and softly lifted her face up, smiling dreamily at her. Wiping away her last tear she smiled back. Derek quickly stood up and walked next to where Meredith was sitting. Before she realised what he was doing, Derek lifter her up in his arms and brought her over to his bed, laying her down over the covers. Meredith flung over the covers and snuggled herself underneath them, rolling over to her side. Derek slipped into the bed and moved next to her, hugging her softly as she looked away.
After a while of lying there together, Meredith rolled over and faced Derek, his eyes once again comforting her more than anyone else could. Derek lifted up his hand, softly wiped the moisture from her eyes and smiled. Meredith ran her hands slowly through Derek's black hair, remembering how it had felt on the prom night and the days before Addison. Derek moved his face closer to hers, so that they were only inches away. Meredith looked into his eyes once more, then down to his lips. They kissed, soft at first then deeper again. Meredith tensed up as she felt Derek's hand run down the front of her shirt then up underneath it, brushing his hand on her skin as ran up her body. She grinned at Derek and rolled over on top of him.
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Cameron woke up with a start. Staring blankly into the darkness she looked over to the harsh fluorescent light on the bedside table. It was 11:24. She had left the hospital at 9:30 and had only got an hour of sleep, why did she wake up? Suddenly there was a pounding at the door. Oh. That's why.
Pulling herself out of bed she stretched a bit then plodded to the door, feeling blindly for the light switch then moving to the door, still being pounded. She opened up the door and her stomach instantly tied into a knot.
"House…"
House stood in front of the door, breathing deeply, obvious that he had been pacing rapidly.
"You are the most annoying woman I have ever met."
Cameron was stunned. "I'm sorry?"
House began to pace again. "You're amazingly naïve, infuriatingly moralistic, you either blindly follow me like a sheep or obstinately oppose everything I do! You have a pathetic belief that everyone is kind and sweet when they are most obviously not. You believe in patient's rights when they're not even you're patient! You study people, try to pick them apart so you can figure out how they tick so you can manipulate them, even though you have the façade of sweetness! You just, you get in the way of everything with your morals and your naivety, you get under my skin because you're so damn annoying!" House stopped and looked at Cameron. "But for some reason, I love you. Way too much."
Cameron stopped breathing. She stood still at the door, still holding the handle in her hand. House looked at her and then down at the ground. "Sorry about waking you up. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight."
House swiftly turned around and headed down the hallway. Cameron remained still, looking at the air in front of her where House had been. It felt like she had been hit by a bus. But in a good way. Eyebrows still raised in shock, she moved back into the room and closed the door. Turing off the lights she lay back down on her bed and turned away from the alarm clock. Staring into the darkness she grinned. House said he loved her.
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NB: Woo! House/Cameron forever! Didn't know whether he should 'I like you' or 'I love you' but in the end I just said fuck it, it's my fan fiction, even if it's politically incorrect!
Ok, well, I think that might be the longest chapter I've ever written. Yay! And oh, I'm already a LOTR's + Doctor Who fanatic who writes fan fiction, I have no life already. But I've got a road trip, my birthday, Christmas, new years and Finland coming up so I don't think I'll have the time to write another chapter, even though I'd love to. Plus, I've run out of ideas! You'll get a half rate story where all the characters just giggle for two chapters and you don't want that! And yey! I have now two fans! Cheers!
Ok, will definitely shutup now but just wanted to say: REVIEW!!! Please please please??? I need reviews! I live off reviews!! Well, not really, but you get what I mean. REVIEW!!