21

House sat, staring at Maddy's bedroom door. He was sure that Maddy had put the stethoscope there just to annoy him, pay him back for reminding her of the stethoscope 'rule/joke', but something in the back of his mind, aroused his curiosity. He walked towards the door, and on hearing the sounds of the TV decided to call it a night and head to his bed, working on the assumption that the Sci-Fi marathon was still going.

When he woke in the morning, he noticed that the stethoscope was still there, and his curiosity grew. he slowly pushed the door open. Wilson lay on one side of Maddy's double bed, still fully clothed facing towards House, arm lazily draped over Maddy, snoring lightly, while Maddy lay, also asleep, facing House. He quietly switched off the TV and walked back out again. He was watching kids cartoons on TV when Wilson appeared behind him.

"Morning House." He yawned, as he sat down beside him on the sofa.

"Not get enough sleep?" House asked Wilson, as he yawned again, Wilson merely shrugged. "Saw the stethoscope, very funny. Whose idea was that?" House's eyes didn't move from the TV.

"Ah." Wilson answered, shifting uneasily in his seat.

"Morning boys." Maddy smiled, walking out of her bedroom. She yawned as she sat down on the opposite couch.

"Sleep well?" House asked her, watching her and Wilson suspiciously.

"Didn't get that much sleep." She answered him, focussing on the TV.

"Wha-" House started, fuming.

"I thought you gave us your blessing with the stethoscope thing..." She answered, Wilson looked down at the floor. "Oops." She didn't look as if she was joking.

"Wilson, you didn't."

"House, my wife left me two days ago, give me some credit."

"I'm tired because we watched TV til 4. Chill." Maddy told House, as she stood up and headed into the kitchen to put the kettle on. "Coffee?" She called out to House and Wilson.

"I'll help you." Wilson offered and followed her into the kitchen. "I think he's fallen for it." He told Maddy quietly, taking the milk from the refrigerator. "I'll take this out to him." He walked out with a coffee for both House and himself.

(Flashback)

2004

"So, are you going to meet up with Maddy after your conference, I'm sure she'd like to see you." House asked Wilson, as they sat in the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I called her last week to arrange it."

"I think you speak to her more often than I do." House commented, his daughter was an adult now and didn't need him checking up on her all the time.

"She's a friend, and she doesn't steal my food." He pointed out, as House helped himself to Wilson's potato chips. "I've got a lot of time for her."

"Well, while you're there, maybe you can check up on this Nathan guy she's been seeing, I don't like not being able to scope out potential son-in-law's."

"You want me to spy for you?" Wilson asked him, laughing. "I'm sure he's a nice guy."

"Yeah, well you'd describe Satan as a nice guy, who's just a little misguided." House clarified, glancing at his pager as it went off. "Ooh, new symptom, gotta go." And he stood up and left.

Two days later, Wilson was stood outside Maddy's dorm, knocking the door. "Maddy? It's James."

He heard sniffing, "Go away."

"Maddy? I've come all the way from New Jersey, I'm not going away. What's wrong?"

"No, you came all the way from the other end of campus, you came to Baltimore for the conference."

"Ok, you got me. Open the door. I'm starving and I thought we were going to dinner."

The door slowly opened, and a tear stained Maddy opened it. "Come in."

He followed her inside, "What's wrong? Have you and Nathan had a fight?"

"Fight? You could say that."

"Maddy?"

"Nathan and I, we're finished." She told him, sitting down on her bed.

"Oh." Wilson reached over to hug Maddy, but she winced when he touched her shoulder. He gently pulled her jumper over to see her shoulder, a large bruise obvious. "He did this?" Wilson was silently furious. Maddy was silent, then just nodded.

"Maddy? We need to talk." A voice called at the door, still angry, possibly drunk."Maddy!"

"Come on, I'm taking you out of here." He grabbed a backpack and started putting some of Maddy's clothes into it. "You can come back to my hotel, ok?"

"Thanks James."

Wilson finished packing clothes, then opened the door, "I think you should go, and not bother her again." Wilson warned the guy who had been shouting.

"Oh yeah?"

"Don't push it. Come on Maddy." Maddy followed him out of the room. They caught a cab back to his hotel, and settled on his bed. "Have you taken pain killers?" Wilson asked her, she shook her head. "Ok, stay here, I'll go and get some." He headed out to a local pharmacy, toying with the idea of calling House, but deciding against it. He walked back to his room. "Here, take these." He handed Maddy two pills, and a glass of water.

"Thanks."

"Does he make a habit of doing that to you?"

"No, that was the first and the last. He just lost control. " She told him, "Don't tell Dad, he'll just freak and demand I go home."

"Ok, I won't tell him." Wilson assured her, gently pulling her into a hug. "Room service for dinner?"

"I don't know, I-"

"PPTH is paying."

"Ok then, maybe just a salad."

"One salad coming up." He grabbed the phone, ordering a salad, some water, steak and fries for himself.

"You can do so much better than that loser." Wilson told her, trying to cheer her up.

"News flash, not every guy is as caring as you." She stared at the duvet. "It's easy to be so positive when you're happily married."

"Maddy..." He sighed, gently turning her head so that he could look her straight in the eye. "You don't need to put up with guys like that." She nodded slightly. "Why don't I order a bottle of wine with dinner? Help you relax."

"Sure." Wilson called and added a Pinot Grigio to his order. "Would you mind if I showered before dinner, see if it eases my shoulder?" Wilson shook his head, and switched on the TV.

A short while later, Maddy reappeared towel drying her hair, just in time for dinner. "Feel better?" She nodded, joining Wilson at the small table for dinner.

"I'm sorry about dinner."

"That's ok, room service is not too shabby. Try some." He pointed to the steak, Maddy speared a bit with her fork, nodding in agreement that it was nice. "Wine?" She nodded again, and Wilson filled a glass for each of them. "So, you have classes tomorrow?"

"Kacey, my room mate, is going to cover for me." She explained, "It's only lectures tomorrow."

"And Nathan?"

"I'll just avoid him, he'll get the message."

"You promise me you won't go back to him." Wilson stopped eating, and waited for her response. "Maddy?" He sighed, "Promise?"

"Yes James I promise, ok?" They finished eating and sat on the bed watching TV. "Thanks for everything tonight."

"Your welcome, I just wish you hadn't gone through any of that."

"I'm not that 11 year old needing a cast anymore, I'm an adult, I made a bad choice, you don't need to try and fix me."

"I'm not trying to fix you, I just want you to realise that you deserve better." He put his arm around her, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. Maddy, turned to face him, planting a kiss on his lips.

"I know." She smiled, and snuggled down under the duvet.

(Present Day)

"So, you were just having a joke with the stethoscope then?" House confirmed to Wilson as they sipped their coffee.

"What do you think?" Wilson rolled his eyes, certain that if House really did think something had gone on, he would soon be looking for somewhere else to live.