***Sorry trying to post as quickly as possible- having a hard time moving this one along. All suggestions welcome. *****
Confessions
The car ride home was mostly silent. In fact the only thing Wilson had said to him all morning was, "Get your stuff, I got you discharged."
House knew his friend was pissed off. He had a pounding headache himself, so it was easy to just lay his head back and shut his eyes.
Eventually, as the silence between them grew, House cleared his throat. "You called Nolan?" It was a question than a statement.
Wilson smacked his hands on the steering wheel, "Yes, I called Nolan. What did you expect? You almost fucking killed yourself Greg!"
He shut his eyes again, "Jesus, calm down." He muttered.
He felt the car suddenly swerve to the right, and he opened his eyes to see Wilson pulling out of the main stream of traffic and onto the side of the road. He slammed on the brakes, put the car in park, and turned on the hazards.
"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" he said loudly enunciating every word with great care. "I am your friend, your only friend and your best friend." He said turning to face him. "I took you to Mayfield; I supported you when you were in there. I took you into my home when you got out, and you pull this shit?! No, I will not calm down."
House looked at him stunned by the outburst. He looked out the windshield for a moment then turned to face his friend. "I'm sorry." He said simply.
Wilson shook his head from side to side. "Sorry just doesn't cut it House." He said under his breath, taking off the hazards and putting on his blinker before merging back onto the main road. "Not this time."
House nodded his head and kept his eyes on the road. "Are you kicking me out?" He asked quietly.
Wilson turned to look at him briefly, "Do you even care?" he asked. "Do you care about anything? I mean I really though you had changed."
"Not that it would matter to you," House said under his breath, his eyes still trained on the road ahead, not his friend ranting besides him, "But it was an accident."
"Oh," Wilson smirked, "The pills and the booze accidentally fell down your throat."
"No," answered House quietly, "I took them on purpose; I just didn't think they would….have that effect."
"Well why the FUCK did you take them?" Wilson shouted, "Did you forget the three months you spent at Mayfield?"
House inhaled deeply and shut his eyes. "No, "he answered tersely "I did not."
The rest of the ride was silent. House was surprise, pleasantly so, when Wilson pulled up in front of his apartment building. They rode the elevator up in silence and Wilson unlocked the door, letting House in before him.
House took a step inside and waited for Wilson to shut the door behind him before turning around. "Look," he said "I can be out of here by tomorrow. I just need to…sleep this off."
Wilson shook his head and threw his keys onto the table, "Don't…..just go to sleep House. We can talk later."
House limped down the hallway into his room. Quietly he changed into pajama pants and a fresh t-shirt. He wanted to shower, but his head was pounding and he felt like shit. Barefooted and without his cane he limped across the hallway and into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and splashed cold water on his face.
"Fuck" he said looking into the mirror. Losing Cuddy was hard. Losing Wilson was not a possibility. He shook his head and gripped the edge of the sink. There was no way he could go through it alone. By "it" he meant his life. Wilson was all he had. He just, he just couldn't be completely alone.
He walked out of the bathroom and limped down the hallway towards the living room and kitchen. Wilson had his back to him and was making coffee.
"Last night," he started, talking to Wilsons back, "after I talked to you, I bumped into Cuddy." Wilson turned on the coffee maker then turned to face him leaning his back against the counter. "We talked a little in the elevator, then in her car." House leaned against the door jamb and absentmindedly rubbed his thigh, "I guess I was pretty forthright, as forthright as I've ever been, about….us…and well," he looked down and smirked shrugging, "I guess she made it pretty clear that there never was an 'us'….or will be, for that matter."
"House," Wilson said softly, "You should have called me; I could have come to…."
"When I was done talking with her," House continued, cutting him off, "I was getting on my bike, and I got…accosted, by that douche bag Lucas."
"What do you mean 'accosted'"? Wilson asked narrowing his eyes.
"He just, tried to intimidate me." House laughed, "the guys such an ass. But," he started, pinching his fingers over his eyes, "after having had that talk with Cuddy. He just got to me. I was pissed off. I got some booze went home to play my piano." He looked up and met Wilson eye to eye, "I wasn't looking for those pills. I just couldn't avoid taking them."
"I'm sorry." Wilson said slowly, "I never even gave you a chance to explain."
"Yeah well," House turned around hoping to avoid anything further.
"House," Wilson called out, "I know this has been hard, living here, the Cuddy thing. Just…just don't go back to the pills."
House paused as he was heading down the hall, and nodded once, his back to Wilson before entering his room.
Wilson waited until he heard House's door shut. He poured himself a coffee, and looked up at the clock. He still had a couple of hours before going in. He picked up the phone and dialed.
"Cuddy its Wilson." He said quietly.
She took a deep breath before answering. "How is he?" she asked.
"You should have told me you had a talk with him last night." He said coldly.
She was quiet on the other end.
"I mean this morning," he added quickly. "When we were at the hospital."
"Is that why….did he?" She asked slowly.
"No, no but, Jesus Cuddy, how bad was the talk?" he asked rubbing his forehead.
She leaned back in her chair in her office and shut her eyes. "It was…it's very hard to face him. I didn't know that he would come out of that place and…Wilson, I'm with Lucas now and he needs to face that."
"He's facing it every day." Wilson said under his breath.
"I should have told you." She said quietly, "I should have told you a lot of things."
"Well," he answered tersely, "I think you need to pull the security tapes from last night, hospital parking lot and take a look at them."
"What?" she asked, "Security? James, I may have talked to him, but NOTHING happened. Are you insinuating…."
"Cuddy," he started, "I'm not….just pull the tapes."
"James," she said firmly "What is this about?"
He shut his eyes. "Lucas. It's about Lucas. Just….pull the tapes. I have to run."
"Lucas?" she asked into the dead telephone. What on earth had he meant? She picked up her phone and dialed the extension for security. "It's Dr Cuddy," she said briskly, "I need to see a copy of the security tapes from last night. Administrative and handicap parking zones, between 8 and 10 pm. Please send them up as soon as possible. Thank you." She hung up and leaned back in her chair. What could possibly be on those tapes, she thought.
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