Chapter 11
Elle
My alarm clock went off at 6AM. I quickly shut it off and lay back down. I looked over at House, and he was still sleeping. I was glad it had not disturbed him. I slept really well; I did not have any nightmares. Guess I should give the Ativan the credit. I lay there for a minute, watching House sleep. I wondered why he was being so nice to me. I put my hand on his cheek; I really liked touching his scruffy beard. He sighed in his sleep as a little smile formed on his face. He looked very peaceful. I left my hand there for a minute, and then quietly crept out of bed.
I went through my usual morning routine: shower, clean clothes, coffee and breakfast. I left the coffee carafe on House's kitchen counter as usual. Today, I also left him a note.
Slept well. No nightmares!!
Dinner later??
Elle
I headed out to work, arriving at my usual time. We stayed busy all morning, but not crazy busy. I lunched with Bonnie in the cafeteria. On my way to Wilson's office to pick up today's patient files, I received a text message from House.
Test results back.
My office, 5
H
I suddenly felt nervous. Why wouldn't he just call me on my cell? Oh, crap, could this be bad news? I started to worry. I got off the elevator at his floor and headed right to his office. He could just give it to me now; I didn't want to wait. But his office was empty and so was the conference room. I felt so frustrated, but headed on to Wilson's office to pick up the files. Wilson wasn't in his office either. This was very strange that no one was around, but I shrugged it off. I grabbed the files I needed and headed back upstairs.
I settled myself into my desk chair and picked up the first file to familiarize myself with the patient who was due to see me in 5 minutes. I was having trouble concentrating on the file. I was wondering what House needed to tell me. I sent him back a quick text just saying 'OK', so that he would know that I would meet him.
I had 4 patients today. The first two patients needed their meds changed so that their insurance company would pay for them, just like Jonathan Adams last week. I wrote out my recommendations and sent them off to see Dr Wilson for the prescriptions. My 3:00 was Betty Schultz. She was much more relaxed than she had been on our first visit. The Oxycontin was helping, but she still needed 6 tablets of oxycodone for breakthrough pain almost every day. Her quality of life had greatly improved. She was sleeping better, getting about 5 hours of sleep a night, and she had cooked dinner twice in the last week. It was an improvement and she was happy about it. She had followed all of my recommendations about laxative use and keeping track of her medicines. I felt sure we could improve things a little bit more. I told her that I was recommending a small increase in her Oxycontin dose to 20 mg twice a day. I wanted her to continue recording her breakthrough doses and come back to see me next week. I gave her my recommendation to take back to Dr. Wilson. Mrs. Schultz seemed improved and I was happy about that.
I had about 15 minutes before the next patient. I checked my cell phone but there were no new messages. I was hoping that House would get back to me, but I guess I would just have to wait until 5PM.
My 4PM patient was a bit more complicated. He was a transfer from another doctor into Dr. Guskiewicz's care. He was on multiple pain meds and Chris felt it needed to be condensed down into 2 or 3 meds depending on his needs. I took those extra 15 minutes before he walked in to review his pain questionnaire and his current meds. He was on Morphine sustained-release, oxycodone and Dilaudid for breakthrough pain, Neurontin and Lyrica for neuropathic pain, Paxil for depression, Flexeril for muscle relaxant, Elavil and Ambien for sleep, and Celebrex and Motrin as adjunct pain meds. He complained of severe constipation and an inability to concentrate. I wasn't surprised that he was having issues! It turned out that he had seen 2 doctors in the same practice. They kept adding meds to his regimen and not subtracting any. One doctor didn't seem to know what the other was doing, so the patient had a lot of therapeutic duplication.
I spoke with the patient at length about his pain level and the quality of his pain. He said the Dilaudid helped more for his breakthrough pain than the oxycodone did. I decided that I would recommend to Chris that he up the patient's morphine dose so that he wouldn't need as much breakthrough medicine. I also recommended that he stop the oxycodone and only use Dilaudid for breakthrough pain, wean off of the Neurontin and when it was gone, bump up the Lyrica dose a little bit. The patient said that the Flexeril didn't really help very much and made him extremely groggy, so I recommended discontinuing that. I felt that if we could get his pain under control that he would not need 2 sleeps meds, so I recommended weaning off of the Ambien. We could always increase the Elavil dose in the future, if we needed to. He wanted to stay on both Celebrex and Motrin as he felt that they both helped him. I reminded him of the potential for stomach irritation and ulcer from using too much of those meds and he assured me that he always took them with food and was not experiencing any gastrointestinal side effects. I wrote up my rather lengthy recommendations and sent him off to see Dr. Guskiewicz.
It was now 4:55PM. I gathered up the files and my purse and headed to the elevator. I would drop off the files at Wilson's office and go see House for my results. The elevator was taking its sweet time coming and I repeatedly pressed the button trying to hurry it along.
HOUSE
It was 8:40AM when I woke up. Her side of the bed was empty, but I knew it would be. It was a workday after all. Still, I felt a tad disappointed. I pulled her pillow to my face and inhaled her scent. Then, feeling like an idiot for sniffing a pillow, I hauled myself out of bed. After heading into the bathroom to do my morning business, I limped to the kitchen, hoping for coffee. Elle didn't disappoint me. The coffee carafe was full. I poured myself a mug as I read her short note. I was happy that she had slept well, but I also felt a tinge of sadness. If she were to get over her nightmares, she might not sleep with me anymore. And although I barely could admit it even to myself, I liked her sleeping with me. I realized I was sleeping better on the nights that she slept with me. I woke up feeling more rested.
I tried to think of the reason for that. Was it her warm body creating heat on my aching thigh? Was the rhythm of another heartbeat somehow calming to my over-tired brain? Was it the soothing comfort of her body next to mine? It bothered me that I couldn't figure out the scientific reason for my better sleep. I would have to ponder this some more.
I headed back to the bathroom and turned on the shower. I stripped while waiting for the water to heat up. I like my showers really hot. The hot water makes my thigh feel better, if only temporarily. I showered, dressed and headed out to PPTH.
The weather was warm and sunny so I took my bike today. It felt good having the wind in my face. Being on the bike was one of the few times when I felt normal; the condition of my leg didn't bother me on the bike.
It was too short a ride to the hospital on such a glorious day. I would have liked to keep riding, but, alas, duty called.
Cuddy cornered me the minute that I walked in the door. "How's the patient doing? I thought you figured out what was wrong with her, so why is she still here?"
I kept walking towards the elevator, hoping she would go away: "She is still here, so I can look at her ass again. Once I deem it acceptable, I will discharge her."
I stopped in front of the elevator and hit the up button with my cane. Cuddy caught up to me there. "Please try to discharge her today. His wife comes home tomorrow and I don't want any fireworks at my hospital."
"Hmmm, well it IS almost the 4th of July, so why not? Don't you like fireworks? How un-American of you not to like them".
"House," she growled at me.
"If I discharge her today, I get two weeks off of clinic duty."
She frowned: "One week. And that's my final offer."
"Done." I said smilingly. "Barring any unforeseen complications, she will be out of here before the day is over. And I get a week off of clinic duty. Do I need a witness to hold you to your end of the bargain?"
She sighed heavily: "No witness. You can trust me. Now, go look at her ass and discharge her already." With that, Cuddy turned and stalked off to her office.
I smiled. I was planning on discharging her anyway, and I still get a week off of clinic duty. This morning was starting out very well.
I limped into my office and set my backpack on the floor next to my desk. The ducklings were all in the conference room. Foreman was reading a journal, Cameron was sorting my mail and Chase was just sitting and staring off into space. He looked quite sullen. Hmm, he's probably pissed at me about Saturday night. This could be interesting.
I headed over to the coffee pot, grabbed my favorite red mug and poured myself a cup. I added 2 sugars before I turned around and addressed the group: "So, how's the patient today?"
Chase answered in a sullen voice: "She's doing better. The itching has improved; there is no fever. The blistering is looking better."
I sipped my coffee: "Great. We'll just go look at her ass one more time and then send her and her boyfriend home."
Just then I saw a familiar white envelope with a blue stripe in the pile of mail that Cameron was sorting. That would be Elle's test results. I grabbed that envelope before Cameron could get to it. It was marked 'confidential' but she opened all of my mail for me anyway. I didn't want her to see this one. I shoved it into my jacket pocket.
Cameron gave me a look: "Why did you take that one?"
"It's for me."
Waving her hand over the pile on the table, she said: "This is all for you, and yet I open all of it except that one. What's with that?"
"Cranky, today, aren't we? Is it that time of the month again?"
Her face looked like a boiled lobster. No matter how she answered that, she would sound bad and she knew it. She made a frustrated growl and turned back to sorting out the mail. I escaped into my office.
I sat drinking my coffee and staring at the envelope. I really should just give it to Elle and let her open it. But, as her doctor, it was standard practice for me to see the test results first. Of course, I'm not really her doctor. But then, I did order the tests and I have written her a prescription, so I could make a case that I am her doctor. I let this flip back and forth in my mind for a few minutes, and then I tore open the envelope.
It was just as I thought. Everything was negative. Elle was HIV-negative. I let out the breath that I didn't even know I was holding. This would be a load off of her mind. I wanted to tell her right away, and I was debating if I should call her cell or just head up to the pharmacy, when Foreman walked in.
I looked up at him: "What?"
"Our favorite politician is raising a fuss. Cuddy just paged us to her room."
I stood up: "Well, let's go look at some ass."
He motioned to the others and they followed me out of the door.
We headed to Amy Spencer's room. Once again, the goons were guarding the door, but they stepped aside and let us all in.
Amy was lying on her right side, silently crying and Politician Guy was pacing around the room. He turned to face us as we walked in.
"So, can Amy be discharged yet? I'd like to get her home today."
Amy sniffled: "Yeah, he wants to get rid of me before his wifey gets home."
"Now, cupcake, it's not like that. Aren't you ready to go home and get out of the hospital?"
She wailed: "But who's going to take care of me? I have this big hole in my butt and I can't sit down."
I rolled my eyes at all of the commotion. I walked around to the far side of the bed and tugged at the blanket. She was holding onto it with determination.
"I need to see the wound and make sure it is healing properly."
Amy sniffled, but allowed me to pull the blanket down. I examined her tuckus. It was firm and shapely. It was a nice looking derriere except for the large hole in her left cheek. The blistering was improving and it did look a lot better than it had on Saturday.
"OK. I think you can go home today. Chase, give her one more dose of Rocephin before she leaves. She needs a prescription for Vantin 200 mg twice a day for a week. Give her the usual wound care instructions."
Amy wailed: "But how am I going to take care of it? It's on my butt! I can't see it. I need help."
Furiously, she looked at Politician Guy: "If your wife wasn't coming home, you could stay with me and help me. Now I'll be all alone." She started wailing louder. Politician Guy ran to her and started to try to soothe her.
The scene was more than I could bear: "If you are stupid enough to get involved with a married man, especially a public figure, what do you expect? You are going to spend a LOT of time alone. He won't be there for Christmas or Thanksgiving and you're going to have to take care of this little problem yourself. Do yourself a favor. Next time; find a single guy. For instance, Dr Chase here is single. You'd be better off with him, AND he's a doctor.
Chase shot me a dirty look and Politician Guy looked like he wanted to choke me. However, Amy was looking at Chase in a whole new light. I smirked and limped out of the room.
It was almost lunchtime. I went in search of my usual 'date'. After all, I could always count on Wilson to pay.
After lunch, I made my way back to my office. As I reached into my pocket for my Vicodin, I rediscovered the envelope containing the lab results.
Shoot. I could have had lunch with Elle and told her. It was almost 1PM now, and I knew she had pain patients to see this afternoon. I decided to send her a text to meet me in my office later. After a few minutes, I received a reply that just said 'OK'. She must be busy. Well, she got the message and I would see her later.
I had an hour to kill until General Hospital. So I put some Eric Clapton on the stereo and leaned back in my chair to enjoy.
After General Hospital, Chase came by to let me know the patient had been discharged without any further incident. He was still acting sullen and did not look me in the eye as he spoke. He said what he needed to say and turned to leave without waiting for a reply.
Before he made it to the door, I asked: "So did you get her phone number?"
He turned around slowly: "Whose phone number?"
"The patient's number."
"House, she's not giving me her number. Where do you come up with these things?"
"Hmmm, yeah, she's not going to give it to you in front of her boyfriend. Well, she knows where to find you. I'm sure you'll hear from her in a few days."
He smirked: "Yeah, right."
"I saw how she was looking at you. She'll call you. 50 bucks says she will call you within a week."
"Yeah, you're on."
"Or you could always get her number from her file and just call her yourself. Save yourself all that waiting time. I'm sure she would like you to come over and examine her ass, Dr Chase."
"I'm not interested in her, House. I've no reason to call her."
"That hot little number is interested in you. Maybe you should take advantage of that." Yeah, and stay away from Elle who is definitely not interested in you.
He smirked: "I'll collect my 50 bucks from you in a week. Now I'm going to finish my clinic hours for the month." And with that last remark, he headed out the door.
I chuckled and brought up Spider Solitaire on my computer and played a couple of games. Even the advanced level was getting easy for me, so I dug out my PSP from my backpack and settled back in my chair.
At 4:30, Cameron dropped a load of charts on my desk. I stared at the pile and then asked: "What's all this?"
She huffed: "I did all your charting. All YOU have to do is sign off on them. Just open each folder and sign the top page. Easy. Now that I've done all of your work today, I'm going home." With that, she stalked into the conference room, grabbed her things and left.
I smirked. This was great. Cameron did 2 months worth of charts today. Cuddy would be pleased. I opened the top folder and started signing.
Elle
Finally the elevator arrived. I rode down to the second floor and quickly exited. I glanced at House's office as I passed; he had a big pile of charts on his desk and he looked busy. I hurried to Wilson's office and knocked once. There was no answer, but the door was unlocked, so I just set the charts down on his desk. I hurried back to House's office and walked in. He looked up as I entered. I thought I saw a small smile on his face, but it quickly faded to his usual expression of disinterest.
Well, I was hoping for good news, so I flashed him a big smile. "So, you have something for me?"
He grinned lasciviously at me: "Oh, yeah, baby, I've got something big for you."
I played along: "Oh, goody. I like 'em big." I leaned over his desk, threatening to make the pile of charts topple.
I saw the momentary surprise on his face at my comment, but he quickly recovered. "Good to know that. But as you can see I'm kinda busy for that right now, so I'll just give you some big news instead." With a flourish, he pulled the envelope out of his pocket and handed it to me.
The envelope was already open so he knew what the results were. They had to be good otherwise he would have to be one cold bastard to be acting like this if I were HIV-positive. My hands shook a little as I pulled out the paper.
I scanned the sheet quickly. Negative. Every test was negative. I felt the smile take over my face. I looked up at House. He had a full-blown smile on his face. I'd never seen him like that before, and he looked incredibly handsome. I so wanted to kiss him, but we were at work in his glass-walled office and the sensible part of my brain stopped me.
I bit my lip and said: "Thank you. This really takes a load off my mind."
He shrugged: "Hey, I just drew the blood and ordered the test. Any bozo could have done that."
"Yeah, but you did all the tests. This is 100. Not 95 or 97. 100 percent negative, and I can't tell you how good that makes me feel."
He squirmed a bit and looked down at his charts. I could tell I was making him uncomfortable.
"Are you free for dinner? I've got a big ass steak that's way too big for just little old me. I was hoping you might help me with that."
I could see the flicker of a smile in his eyes as he nodded. "Sure, I need about a half hour to finish this up and then I'll be outta here."
"Great. I'll head on home and get things started. Just come on over whenever you get home."
He looked at me with soft eyes and nodded. I threw him a big smile and turned and walked to the door. As I turned left towards the elevators, I could see, out of the corner of my eye, that he was watching me. I just kept going. There was no way I would be anything other than professional in the hospital. I didn't want any rumors to start and I didn't want to cause House any problems by hinting he might be a nice guy. I would uphold his 'cranky' reputation.
I got home and changed into some jeans and a t-shirt. I pulled out the huge porterhouse steak that I bought yesterday and seasoned it. Then I started on the potatoes. I was in the mood for fried potatoes with onions and I was hoping that House liked that. I also made an avocado & tomato salad, just so there was something green on the table. I opened a bottle of merlot to let it breathe before dinner. The potatoes were almost ready and I was about to put the steak under the broiler when there was a knock at the door.
House
I was really glad that I hadn't called her to give her the news. Seeing the expression on her face was priceless. I don't think I've ever seen anyone that happy. I found myself grinning like a fool at her joy. I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her, but I couldn't move from my chair. She thanked me for doing the tests, but I waved that off. However, I did accept her dinner invitation, telling her I could be there in a little while. I watched her walk out of my office. She has a great ass and looks so sexy with that long hair swinging as she walks. I was beginning to get a hard-on watching her, so I was glad I was sitting behind my desk. I pulled the next chart towards me and went back to my signing.
Half an hour later, I was climbing on my bike to head home. I found myself looking forward to having dinner with her again. I realized that I really did enjoy her company. She was relaxed and easy to be around, well, except for the nightmare stuff. And her cooking was excellent. As much as I love Chinese take-out with Wilson, Elle's home-cooked meals were so much better.
I parked the bike and limped into my building. I could hear music from Elle's place. I smiled; she always had music playing. I couldn't smell the steak yet; maybe she was waiting for me to get there to throw it on. I hurried into my apartment and tossed my backpack onto the couch. After hanging up my leather jacket and putting my helmet into the closet, I headed into the bathroom. After doing my business and washing my hands, I checked over my appearance. I ran my fingers through my hair to smooth it down a bit and decided to put on a clean shirt. I limped into the bedroom, tore off my shirt and t-shirt and searched for something clean to wear. Ah, there was my favorite vintage 'The Who' t-shirt. That would do just fine. I tossed that over my head and headed over to Elle's place.
I knocked and she opened the door in a few seconds. She had a big smile on her face as she stood back to let me in. Again, I felt this twinge of surprise that she was actually happy to see me.
"Hey, come on in. I was just getting ready to put the steak on. How do you like it cooked?"
"I like medium rare, but I can live with medium if that's more to your liking."
"I think I can cook it to both our preferences. But, um, I wanted to do one thing first." With that, she threw her arms around my neck. I almost lost my balance and grabbed her with my free arm to steady myself. She pressed her cheek against mine, and then I felt her lips brush my cheek and then kiss the corner of my mouth. I turned my head slightly and lightly kissed her lips.
My lips were tingling as I asked: "And what was that for?"
"I wanted to do that in your office, but I thought it wouldn't be a good idea at work. I'm just, um, really happy about the results and I wanted to hug you to thank you." She was blushing now.
I found myself smiling at her and my left arm, of its own accord, cinched her closer to me. "It's probably good that you didn't do it at work since my office has glass walls. But really, you don't have to thank me. I told you that I just ran the tests; that's all."
"Well, I realize that it might not sound like much to you, but it's a big deal for me." She kissed my cheek again and stepped back. I let my arm drop from her waist. "Are you hungry? I'll go throw the steak on."
Without waiting for a reply, Elle headed into the kitchen and I followed. It was a huge steak and I watched as she placed it on a pan and stuck it under the broiler. Then she started sautéing some potatoes, which smelled divine. She glanced over her shoulder at one moment and chuckled. "You really do like to watch me cook, huh?"
I just nodded.
She laughed: "Well, I opened a bottle of wine. It's on the table. Glasses are in the cabinet to your left. Why don't you pour for us?"
I did as she asked, and then she passed me some silverware and condiments, which I set on the table. When the food was ready, she placed the steak on a large serving plate and took it to the table. The potatoes were in a large bowl and there was another plate with salad. She served me and then herself, and we dug in. It was absolutely delicious. We didn't talk much while we ate and I realized that was another thing I liked about Elle. There was no need for constant chatter. We could be quiet together and it was comfortable. There was some Beethoven was playing on the boom box and it was a relaxing evening.
We finished and Elle took care of the dishes. I did attempt to help, but she refused. I wandered around her living room. Every time I came over, she had hung up another photo or two. I liked looking at them. Then I noticed her laptop was open and running. She was on a site comparing TV brands.
Elle had just finished in the kitchen and had walked back into the living room when we heard a banging across the hall. She looked at me and said: "Sounds like someone is knocking on your door."
I glanced at my watch; it was 8:00. "Oh, yeah, it's Jimmy. He's coming to watch WWE."
Elle was closer to the door so she opened it and called to Wilson. He walked in carrying a 12 pack of Grolsch.
He glanced back and forth between Elle and me and then asked: "Am I interrupting? I thought we were watching wrestling."
Elle smiled and said: "You're not interrupting. We just finished eating."
Wilson looked stunned: "You ate already? We usually get Chinese on Mondays."
I shrugged: "You can still order Chinese. Golden Wok will deliver one dinner as easily as two." I couldn't see why he was making a big deal out of that fact that I had already eaten. He actually looked hurt.
Elle seemed to pick up on that and said: "Wilson, I have some leftover pot roast that I can heat up for you. It's from last night."
I snarked: "Hey, that's my pot roast."
She laughed: "Yeah, and you ate it last night. And tonight you had a porterhouse steak. Wilson can have some leftovers. Go park yourselves in front of the TV and I'll bring it over." She shooed us out of the apartment.
I grumbled as I unlocked my door: "She's giving you my food."
"Well you didn't finish it last night so it's fair game. Payback for all the times you've stolen my food. Want a beer?" He pulled two beers out of the pack and placed the rest in my refrigerator. We parked in our usual spots on the couch and I turned on the TV. We both propped our feet up on the coffee table and settled back to drink and watch. After a few minutes, Elle walked in with a plate for Wilson. Even though I had just eaten, it smelled wonderful. Elle handed it to him and he thanked her, propping the plate in his lap to eat.
Elle turned to leave and I said: "Where are you going?"
She pointed across the hall: "Home."
I tilted my head towards the TV: "Come watch with us. There's beer in the frig."
"I think I'll stick with my wine tonight. Let me just go get it. I'll be right back."
She headed out the door and I turned back to the TV. Then I felt Wilson's eyes on me. "What?" I snarled at him.
He swallowed his food and said: "You want her to watch with us? You likeeee her, don't you?"
"Oh, shut up. She made dinner, why shouldn't she watch TV with us?"
He smirked and went back to eating.
Then I heard this sing-songy voice: "House and Elle, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,"
I hissed at him: "SHUT UP before she comes back and hears you."
"Ah, you don't want her to know you have feelings for her. Why the hell not? What's wrong with you? She's a hot babe who cooks and seems to like you. Go for it. Live a little, for crying out loud."
I could hear the doorknob turning. Between clenched teeth, I hissed: "Shut up, she's coming back." I gave him my meanest scowl.
He shut up and concentrated on his food.
Elle walked back in with her glass of wine and a plate of brownies, which she set on the coffee table. She started to sit in the chair and I patted the couch next to me. I wanted her next to me, but I didn't want to be so blatant about it in front of Wilson. I tilted my head towards the empty spot and she got the message. She had to step over my out-stretched legs to get to the spot, placing her hand on my shoulder for balance. My shoulder felt nicely warm where she held on for that brief moment. Finally she was settled on the couch between Wilson and myself. She propped her legs up on the coffee table too. Her legs were just inches from mine and I could feel the heat running down the entire length of my left leg. I could have sighed from the warm feeling but I restrained myself. Wilson has already noticed too much, I don't want to give him more ammunition.
Elle watched with us for a while. She had never seen the WWE before, so we did a little explaining about the main characters. We told her about Mr. McMahon and his son Shane, Triple H and Shane Michaels and all the others. There are a lot of competitors and she was having some trouble keeping them all straight. She seemed amused by the fighting though.
Sometime after 10, I felt her head resting on my shoulder. I didn't look down cuz I didn't want to draw Wilson's attention to her. Her body felt relaxed next to mine, and if Wilson hadn't been there, I would have wrapped my arm around her.
About 15 minutes later, Wilson said quietly: "House." I looked at him and he pointed at Elle. I looked down and she had fallen asleep resting on my shoulder and still holding her wineglass. I smiled. I couldn't help it even though I knew Jimmy was watching. Silently I cursed my leg. I badly wanted to just pick her up and carry her to bed, but there was no way that I could do that. I had to settle for gently waking her.
I wrapped my hand around the hand that was holding the wineglass so that it wouldn't spill and I whispered in her ear. "Elle. Hey, Elle, you need to wake up and go to bed."
She hummed and said "OK." But she didn't wake up. It was kinda cute. It would have been a lot more fun without Wilson watching.
I had to wake her up. I took my other hand and shook her shoulder a little bit while whispering in her ear. That worked, she woke up with a start.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I guess I was more tired than I thought. I should go."
We both took our legs off of the coffee table at the same time. I had to use both hands to move my right leg as it had gotten terribly stiff sitting for that length of time. Elle noticed but she was kind enough not to say anything.
"I'll leave you guys the brownies, OK? I'll get the plate back later."
I stood up and limped into the kitchen for another beer. My leg was really stiff and I needed to walk around on it. Wilson stood up and walked Elle to the door. He shot me a look and tilted his head towards Elle, obviously trying to tell me something. I chose to ignore his antics. So he brought it out in the open: "House, aren't you going to walk Elle home? You need to stretch your leg anyway."
Elle laughed: "It's right across the hall. Thanks for worrying about me Wilson, but you can just watch to be sure I get home safely."
"OO-Kay" Wilson drew that small word out so it lasted about 30 seconds.
I hobbled to the door and opened it for her: "I'll watch you walk. The scenery is nice." I raised my eyebrows suggestively.
She gave me a look that I couldn't describe. I wasn't sure what it meant, but I knew I was glad that Wilson couldn't see her face right at that moment.
I said in a low voice: "Thanks for dinner. It was really good."
She smirked: "You're welcome. Only 48 more to go. Enjoy them while you can." She playfully squeezed my arm and headed over to her place. Jimmy and I both watched her walk the few steps and unlock the door. She stepped inside, blew us a kiss, and then shut the door behind her.
I shut the door. Jimmy headed to the kitchen to get a fresh beer. I walked around the room for a bit, stretching my thigh. Then we both reparked ourselves back on the couch.
We were staring at the TV and then I heard him say: "You like her."
"Shut up, moron."
"Why don't you take her out on a date?"
"I said, shut up. Watch TV and be quiet or go home."
"I know you like her. You want to do her."
For some reason, that phase sounded really vulgar connected with Elle. I growled at him: "I want to DO Angelina Jolie, but you don't see me doing that, do ya?"
"Everyone wants to do Angelina, but that's unrealistic. This is a real possibility. You could DO Elle. You just need to make the first move, you jerk."
"Leave me alone, you idiot."
"You're the moron. You have a hot babe, living across the hall from you, who cooks for you, has slept in your bed and you haven't put a move on her. What's with you? Is the Vicodin affecting your sex drive?"
I was furious with him for mentioning that. "No asshole, it hasn't affected that. Thank you very much for your concern!"
"Then what is it?"
I just shook my head. "Do I have to say it again? Don't you get it by now? She is young and beautiful. She can do so much better than this old cripple."
Now he looked pissed. "Fuck. I'm so sick of your whining. You'd rather be miserable than to try for happiness. You're so afraid of getting hurt again that you won't make a move. Stacy left 5 years ago, House. It's time to move on."
"I have no interest in Stacy anymore. Proved that back in February." I took a long swig of my beer. If he kept this up, I was going to hit the scotch pretty soon.
"Riggggght. So Stacy is out of the picture. What's holding you back? Elle knows who you are. She realizes that you have some physical limitations. It's not like she knew you before and can make comparisons like Stacy could. Elle really seems to like you. So, come on. Spill it. Being a cripple is not an excuse."
I slowly shook my head: "I'll just end up hurting her. I was doing it to Stacy before the infarction, getting lost in my work and ignoring her. I don't want to do that to Elle. She's has enough pain in her life."
"You don't know that you'll do that again. Elle's a different person than Stacy."
I repeated myself: "I don't want to hurt her. Now shut up and watch TV or go home."
He shut up. We continued watching Monday Night Raw. The Spirit Squad got green paint dumped all over them courtesy of Triple H and Shawn Michaels. That was gross. Then Coachman got his head put through a wall, and his pants pulled down revealing a very thin thong. It was not a pretty sight, so HBK and the Game spray-painted DX on his exposed derriere.
After that, Wilson called it a night. He grabbed one of the brownies to take with him, and headed out the door. Thankfully, he didn't say any more about Elle. I think he knew I had reached my limit with that conversation.
I sat there drinking my beer. I wanted Elle in my bed tonight. If Wilson hadn't been over, I'm sure I could have convinced her to sleep here. It was late, almost 11. She was probably asleep by now. I decided to text her just in case. The little beep that the text message makes wouldn't be enough to wake her if she was already asleep. I kept the message short: U asleep?
Her reply came back in a minute: Just crawled into bed. What's up?
Wilson's gone. Come sleep here. And you're not bothering me; so don't start with that.
A minute went by and then another. I wondered what she was thinking.
Then I got the beep: OK. 2 minutes.
I smiled. I would have warmth in my bed again tonight. Maybe if she kept sleeping with me, I would figure how why I was sleeping better with her here. Yeah, that's it. I need for data to figure out the question, just like a DDX. The door was already unlocked, so I went into the bedroom to change into my pajamas. It was early for me to go to bed, but I was going to try to fall asleep with her tonight.
ELLE
Boy, I can't believe I fell asleep watching TV with the guys. Hope House wasn't too embarrassed by that. He seemed nice enough about it. I changed into my PJ's and brushed my teeth. I made the futon into bed form and put on the sheets. I finished my bedtime routine of turning on the nightlights and putting on my sleep-inducing CD. I set my cell phone alarm and placed the phone on the coffee table. I had just crawled into bed when I got a text message beep. I checked the message; it was House. I texted him back and he replied that he wanted me to come and sleep over. I pondered that for a minute. I really liked sleeping with him. I felt so warm and safe with him. But I was starting to have feelings for him so I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. I knew he could never have feelings for me; I'm sure he thought I was too damaged for anything more than being a friend. And he was being a good friend. He wanted me to feel safe and sleep well. I made up my mind and texted him back that I was coming over. I walked around turning off the nightlights, grabbed my cell and keys and went over to House's place.
The door was open, so I just walked in. I called to him and he answered from the bedroom. I left my keys on the table and headed back there. He was standing shirtless, in his pajama bottoms, digging out a t-shirt from the dresser. I couldn't help staring; he really had a nice chest. Again, I felt the urge to run my fingers through his chest hair. He caught me staring and smirked: "Earth to Elle. Please return from the Twilight Zone."
Oh, crap. He caught me again. I'm sure I was blushing as he was chuckling away as he slipped the shirt on. Tilting his head towards the bed, he said: "Get in." He stepped out of the room for a minute and I heard a light flick on. I knew he was leaving on the bathroom light for me. He walked back in; his limp seemed more pronounced tonight. I wished I could do something to help him, but I was afraid to offer assistance. I wasn't sure how he would take it. He sat down heavily on the side of the bed and picked up his Vicodin bottle. He swallowed 2 before lying down. The heating pad appeared from under the bed and he carefully arranged it on his thigh and turned it on. Now that he was comfortably settled, House picked up the Carl Hiaasen book and turned to me: "Your turn to read tonight."
I took the book from him and moved closer to him. I had him lean forward for a minute so I could plump up the pillows a bit. Then we leaned back and I curled up against his left shoulder. He put his arm around me and drew me closer.
I opened the book: "OK. We left off on chapter 6." And I started reading.
I finished chapter 6 and by then I was feeling pretty sleepy. I told him I needed to pack it in.
"No problem." He took the book from me and placed it on the nightstand. We rearranged the pillows and he turned off the lamp. I started to roll away from him, but he pulled me closer. My head was on his left shoulder and we faced each other. He draped one arm across my waist, kissed my forehead and said: "Night, Elle."
I placed my hand on his chest, right over his heart. I could feel it beating. It was quite soothing. I snuggled inches closer and whispered: "Good night, House." With that, I closed my eyes and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.
House
Elle walked in as I was changing. I caught her staring at me and made her blush. Ha, she's so gorgeous when she blushes. We got into bed and she plumped the pillows up so nicely. I handed her the book and she read to me. She only read one chapter, as she was really sleepy. I turned off the lamp and she cuddled up to me. I threw my arm around her and kissed her goodnight, just on the forehead. After a few minutes, I knew she had fallen asleep by the even sound of her breathing. There was just enough light from the bathroom that I could make out her features, peaceful in sleep. I gently moved some stray hairs away from her face. I pressed my lips to her forehead again, my nose in her hair inhaling her citrus-scented shampoo. My hand slipped under her shirt and tentatively stroked her bare back. She let out a sigh and snuggled a bit closer to me. I dozed off with my hand still resting on her bare back and my lips pressed against her forehead.