Chapter 11

Connection

House had a hard time admitting to himself that he was still fascinated by Kiara. Strangely, he could always tell when she was in the hospital at the same time he was. The first time he had felt her presence, he made his way to the basement to verify that she was, in fact, where he felt she was. He looked through the window of her lab and saw her bent over a station looking at several petrie dishes. The flash of desire he felt for her took him by surprise. His entire body stirred at the sight of her profile and he remembered the small hands that were now gripping the plate of agar, the way her brow pinched together when she was deep in thought, the way she moved gracefully around the laboratory. She slowly pulled up and looked towards the door, but he had quickly ducked out of sight. Unsure of what he was feeling or doing, House slipped quietly back up to his office, hovering over his desk as he thought about what had drawn him downstairs.

The truth was that there was something about her that had lingered since New Year's Eve. Whenever he made love to Lana, he tried desperately to block Kiara out, but her smell, the smoothness of her skin and the feel of her body wrapped around him invaded his mind no matter how hard he tried to block the memories. The sex with Lana didn't measure up against the yardstick that was established that winter night with Kiara.

But, as much as he was drawn to her, he was also repelled. Kiara was strange, her friends were weird and this cult she belonged to gave him the creeps. House couldn't understand why such an intelligent woman harbored such ridiculous ideas. Still, the time that he had spent with her had been more exciting and fulfilling than he had experienced in years and he was having a hard time shaking the feelings that he had—good and bad—for her.

Cuddy had staunchly refused to let him go with Wilson to the London Symposium. He'd discovered that Kiara was a key speaker at the conference and he had an overwhelming desire to go. By the second day of her absence he could no longer take it and bought a ticket to go to London whether Cuddy agreed to let him go or not. It was only dumb luck that Wilson had his accident (after a night of heavy boozing with House at the Sports Bar) and House was between patients. Having quickly read Wilson's paper, he ran down to her office and suggested himself as a substitute. He gave Cuddy a dazzling recap of it as he tried to convince her that he should be the one to go. Impressed with the presentation and swayed by the convenience of him being between patients, Cuddy agreed. House almost felt guilty for being so happy to see his friend so miserable. Almost.

Arriving in London, House had rented the car and paid the city fee to drive into London. He was trying to find St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the convention hall, but he was having a difficult time locating it. He kept making turns in the wrong direction, as if he was being drawn somewhere else. The rain didn't help. Despite the fact that the GPS was telling him to take a left, he pulled into the right turn lane and waited for the green filter before turning down the road. Even now House wasn't sure how he had found her, but he knew immediately that she was in the crowd on the curb. When Kiara emerged from the herd without an umbrella, looking like a wet cat, he smiled to himself and felt relief at having found her. His heart started to pound as he pulled to the curb and called out for her to get into the car.

Watching her give her lecture, he was surprised that he was jealous and yet proud of her proficiency in her field, the respect the audience had for her and how witty she was. Part of his reason for coming was to see if the attraction was real, if it was as strong in person as it was in absence. It was stronger. Despite his jealousy of her professional success, he found a strong need to possess her and it made him feel unsettled. He hadn't been this drawn to anyone like this, not even Stacy.

It took everything he could muster to pull himself away to give Wilson's presentation. Away from her, he took a deep breath and tried to clear his head. What was it about her? More importantly, what should he do about it? His relationship with Lana was as rocky as his relationship had been with Stacy; they fought constantly, made up passionately. But still, Lana was sane, unconnected to any cults, enjoyed the company of others, didn't hide herself away on the graveyard shift and usually tolerated his erratic and recently cranky behavior.

When this Caleb showed up, with his lithe body and sophisticated ways, House could tell that there was something between them and, once again, his body flooded with jealousy as he watched their affection for one another pour out. He tried to think about Lana, imagine her naked, but it wasn't working, his images kept morphing into those of Kiara.

"Where's the waiter? I'm hungry," House grumbled.

"I'm not sure." Kiara responded.

Caleb stood up, his 6'3" frame stretching up above them. Looking around, he politely motioned for a server to come to their table.

The male server, dressed in his starched white shirt and black trousers, gave them a plastic smile. "Are you ready to order?"

"I've eaten, but I would like a glass of Cabernet." Caleb said.

House quipped, "Already had a little O negative?"

"B positive." Caleb returned with a slight curve up of his lip.

"I'll have the Chicken Korma, the Dahl and an order of nan." Kiara said, ignoring the play between the men.

The remainder of the orders were placed as Kiara expertly steered the conversation in the direction of medicine, a subject that immediately garnered a cease fire between all the parties. House grudgingly had to admit that Caleb was not only brilliant, but he knew a tremendous amount about the history of medicine, even more than House.

After a brief lull in the conversation, Caleb turned to Kiara, "When are you leaving for Italy?"

Kiara immediately glanced at House to see his reaction. There was a glimpse of curiosity and then his face returned to its usual smirk. "I plan to leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? What? I just got here! I booked a week in London. I thought you'd show me around!" House's hands were gripping his eating utensils tightly as he glared at Kiara.

"Me?" Kiara was astonished. "Why me?"

"Because you're here, I'm here. I just thought..."

Caleb chuckled, "It seems, Kiara, that Dr. House had this all planned out."

"I'm sorry, Greg, but I'm leaving tomorrow for Bagnoli Irpino. I guess if you want to go--"

House could tell that she was going to half-heartedly invite him to Italy, but that she would probably phrase it so he wouldn't accept. Cutting her off, he bellowed, "Fine, I'll change my reservations and purchase a ticket to Italy."

Kiara gulped the air as she tried to regroup. The idea that Caleb, House and her father would all be together in their five bedroom villa was overwhelming. Kiara wished that she was safely ensconced in her little basement flat in Princeton.

"Greg, uh, it's pretty boring in Bagnoli Irpino. During the summer it's just a quiet little town with nice places to hike and a lake to put around on. You probably won't like it."

"Boring? You can't mean that. I can't imagine a boring day with you around. So do I fly into Rome?"

Shaking her head, Kiara corrected him, "Naples, you'll want to fly into Naples."

"Great, then I'll make my arrangements when I get back to the hotel."

Kiara looked at Caleb and tried to smile. He had a hard time holding back his laughter at her awkward situation.

Later, after House had returned to the hotel and Caleb walked with Kiara through Covent Gardens he put an arm around her and whispered, "I love to hunt here. There's something romantic about feeding on someone after they've spent a night here drinking, eating and dancing."

"Yes, all these little alleys would make it easier to find someone and feed. By the way, whatever happened to Vladimir?"

Caleb winced, realizing he had opened the door by talking about feeding. "I banished him from Britain and the last I heard he went to Gvor in Turkey."

"Oh, well I guess that's punishment enough."

"I doubt seriously that he's still there, Gvor would never tolerate his mouth. Besides, he's turned a woman, one that apparently knows how to handle him."

Kiara had to agree. Vladimir was handsome, but he didn't know when to shut up. Kiara thought back to the story of Caleb, Isadora and Vladimir.