She hid them this time, the dark circles from a restless night. The questions she'd be asked would be more than she could handle this day, and so her mask had been dusted out of the closet once more.
"Hey, Mark? This is Lis," she quietly said into her phone. "What's going on now?"
She could barely say anything as her brother explained what had happened since this morning with their mother.
"Are you sure? I mean, there are--. Yeah."
She sighed and leaned on her desk while rubbing her forehead in true House-like fashion.
"No, I can be there this evening if I leave now. No, I know it's not life threatening but I-. Okay, Mark, I'm coming, so deal with it. I'll see you later."
"You've...you've got-got to be kidding me. What the hell is the matter with you!? No!" Wilson stood and ran a hand through his hair.
"No! What were you thinking? I told you that-that-she was-and you didn't-and now... Well, the only left to do is go talk to her. I mean, she won't want to listen to you so we'll have to ambush her, but still. You'll ask for forgiveness for being an ass on your knees and hope she'll take you back. What the hell is wrong with you!?"
He looked up at the all powerful Wilson with his mouth slightly slack. For the first time, he was in awe.
As a doctor, she knew death.
The hand she reached for was her brother's, and in that instant, she almost didn't want it to be his.
She'd breathed death.
Only one day without her grumpy doctor, but it was one day she wanted him most.
And death?
When had her life turned for the worst?
It had just breathed her mother.
For the first time in a long time, she held her brother, with no one to hold her.
Time of death was 21:22.
"So, I haven't seen you in ages. What's new?"
"Mark..."
"Lis," he stopped and covered his mouth. "I can't...right now."
She watched that almost long lock of brilliant dark hair nearly run into his eyes. He'd never looked so tired before.
"I just...want to know how my little sis is doing."
"I'm fine."
"Really? You don't seem fine. What about you and that doctor?"
'That doctor,' she thought in her exhausted mind. What was between them now? She should have been afraid that she didn't know in the slightest.
"It's over, I think. He's not very forthcoming. He can't trust anyone. I just thought that maybe... I don't know. It's complicated."
"Sounds complicated." He looked over at his little sister and put his arm around her shoulders. "Need me to straighten him out? 'Cause you know I will."
It was strange to laugh, or try to at least. "You, hit a cripple?"
"What are you doing here?"
He kept looking through the glass at his former patient. Cuddy wasn't a priority right now.
"House...you did everything you could."
There was nothing to say to that, and so he didn't. If he was honest, he would admit that he was thinking about Cameron as he stared at the almost dead man. She'd left him, or in her mind, he'd been leaving her this whole time.
"House, what did you do?"
"You were there when-."
"Cameron. What did you do to Cameron?" She should have known better than to think she'd get an answer. "She left here in a hurry. Whatever you did, fix it. I don't care how you do it, just get it over with."
"I'm taking advice from a 40 year old non-virgin scantily clad woman?"
"No, as an employer I'm saying get this worked out. Either you two break up and one of you leaves the hospital, or you become Bonnie and Clyde."
"Is that what we were supposed to be?"
"Excuse me?"
"Me and you."
"I don't know. It doesn't even matter. "
She walked away with arms folded, and he pushed himself from the wall. Slowly, he made his way down the corridor listening to the solid thunk and step of him.
It was nearly four in the morning when she began to trudge her way up the stairs to her apartment door. When the small elevator doors opened to her floor, she nearly missed the silver wrapped Hershey's kisses trailing down the hallway. It never crossed her mind they were for her until she turned the corner and saw where they ended - and who they ended with.
"House?"
Slowly, he opened his eyes and began to focus on her figure standing over him. She looked tired.
"Figured the only way I could get you was by tempting you by following the chocolate littered road."
She couldn't help but look behind her to see the road in its glory again. Her mind couldn't quite understand what he'd done, or why he'd done it.
"Why did you do this?"
"Where'd you go?"
"Why do you care?"
"Were you scared?"
"Does it look like it?"
"Honestly?"
This game of theirs made her want to wring his neck. It was so uncharacteristic of him to do this, but in the same sense, it wasn't. He always called her the romantic. She didn't have the guts to tell him he was the die hard romantic. Only a romantic would have a Hersheys trail leading to her door.
"House," she adjusted the bag over her shoulder. "I'm very tired. I can't argue with you right now, nor do I want to."
Reaching over him, she placed her key in the lock.
"You didn't say goodbye."
"What?"
He raised himself with his cane and stood so close to her, she couldn't turn around to face him.
"You ran away. At my apartment the other day and at work."
"I didn't run away."
She turned the key more forcefully than she needed to. He noticed.
"What did you expect from me?"
"What did you expect from me?" She asked in response.
The silence started and he couldn't break it. Her breathing was becoming intense, her muscles were tense,and her fingers were trembling. He didn't know what was the right thing to say. A lie would keep him safe. The truth would knock him off his even keel.
His non-answer was her answer. She turned the knob, done with waiting. And then she heard his voice, a whisper of a whisper.
"Wait."
"I've been waiting for months, House. And I...I can't wait any more. There's just too much now."
"This isn't easy for me."
"I know." She pushed the door open. "What makes you think it is for me, though?"
The door shut and he couldn't move. His hand absently went into his blazer pocket and found a handful of almost melting chocolate. He was stupid. He was stupid to lay down the chocolate trail. He was stupid to wait for her at her door. He was stupid to think he could get away with it. He was stupid for finally realizing, he wasn't about to give up.
