A/N: Before anyone says anything, I know Coldplay's song Green Eyes had not been released yet, but it was too perfect to pass up.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Leave A Tender Moment Alone, Please.

--

House was in charge of most of the driving whereas Wilson was put in charge of reading the map. He preferred being referred to as The Navigator, while House agreed to refer to him as Mr. Navigator. But regardless of what his title was, he did his job and did it well. So much so he was doing a good job that House even consulted him a hunch about a shortcut.

"I think we should stay on this straightaway, we'll burn just as much time trying to get to the road and no telling what the speed limit is and if there are any cops waiting for someone to go racing by." He informed as he looked over on the atlas opened in his lap.

House rolled his eye, "You never wanna have fun! The fun about this trip is to let go and get lost every once and a while." And to show his restlessness House stepped on the gas and started to shoot faster down the highway.

"Hey, I consented to driving across country in a corvette. I didn't, however, agree to getting lost in said country in said corvette." He closed the atlas and slipped it behind his seat.

"Alright, Mom." He teased.

But soon enough, hunger pains were starting to get the best of the driver and something soon had to done, 'less Wilson want a cranky House on his hands. "I'm getting hungry. You wanna stop somewhere?"

"I have sandwiches."

House blinked once or twice before shooting his friend a suspicious glare. "Where the hell did you magically get sandwiches?" he made a small glanced over at Wilson to see him turn and start digging in a bag behind his seat before pulling out a paper bag.

"I got them from the lunch buffet at the hotel." He dug in the bag and pulled out a sub-like ham, turkey, and cheese sandwich wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. House nearly started to drool on himself he was so hungry.

"You had that meaty treasure the whole time and didn't bother to let me know? I see how it is! I get to drive all day and starve to death while you get to lay back and take in the sun and get cancer."

The oncologist shot him a halfhearted glare. "Obviously, you weren't listening when I told you we had them. I told you as we were leaving. You even said, Later, I'm not hungry." Wilson tossed the sandwich with it landing onto the driver's lap.

He eyed the sandwich before looking back to the road and asking, "Is it safe?"

"No, it's a landmine. What do you mean is it safe? It's a sandwich."

"It's been in the car all day, is it safe to eat?" Wilson took the unappreciated sandwich from the driver's lap.

"Do you really think I would offer you food if I thought it wasn't safe to eat?" He didn't say anything. "I wouldn't' offer you bad food if I knew it was bad, that's just cruel. And it's still good. Look, it's wrapped tightly, it hasn't been sitting in the sun, there's no mayo or anything like that to go bad. And feel; it's still relatively cool to the touch!" Still not saying anything, House glanced at the sandwich and turned his attention once again to the road. "Fine! I'll eat the damn sandwich."

As if to try and tease his friend into eating, Wilson unwrapped the sandwich and started to dig in the paper bag for some packets of mayo and mustard. Once he had his sandwich dressed and to his liking he took a bite.

Oh, such torture he was subjected to. Wilson probably wasn't even hungry. And as if to voice in discontent to the whole situation, House's stomach let out a loud growl. He was ready to just snatch that sandwich from Wilson and wolf it down in one bite. "I know your plan, you just want me to keep on driving and eat sandwiches because you know when we stop and it becomes time to get back on the road it's gonna be your turn to drive!"

"Ahh, well," He swallowed his mouthful of food, "can't blame a guy for trying."

"See, I knew you weren't all sunshine and rainbows! I knew there was a conniving raincloud somewhere in there!" House laughed, knowing he was right about his friend. Because really, he was still the same guy from med school; just older.

But soon Wilson's cruel and vicious torture he was putting House through (in House's opinion, of course) was becoming too much. Before Wilson could take another bite, House all but growled his demand.

"Give me that damn sandwich."

--

The desert sunset was just as amazing and beautiful sight as everyone says it was. Maybe it was the fact that one could spy desert as far as the eye could see, so nothing was obstructing the view, or maybe it was because everyone said it was a wonderful sight that made it just that. Whatever the reason, Wilson made sure to take out his camera to take a shot. He even managed to trick his friend into a picture by getting his attention and snapping it candidly just as he looked.

House let out a loud yawn and offhandedly offered, "You know what this means, right?"

"What, what means?" Wilson groaned as he noticed some sandwich crumbs on his shirt from earlier and started to brush them off.

"Since you've successfully conned me into driving all today mean that tomorrow you'll be driving all day, Mr. Navigator."

"Yeah.. Fine. Wait, why are we pulling over?" There was an unsure tone in his voice.

House picked up on it right away, "I'm not making you drive. So relax, that's for tomorrow. I gotta take a piss." Not even bothering with the door, he leapt out of the convertible and onto the road.

"There's a perfectly good bathroom just few miles up the road." He contested and watched his friend walk around the car.

"And there's a perfectly good… something over there I can piss on." He pointed in the general direction of the desert.

"Is that right?" he laughed in return.

"Yep. I'll be right back." He tossed nonchalantly over his shoulder as he casually made his way into the desert. About ten minutes went by before he returned. "Hey, help me get the hood up."

"Huh, what's wrong?" Wilson sat up from his short nap and yawned to find House making his way from the sands and rocks of the desert floor. There was something strangely alluring about the light of dusk and House wandering around in the desert.

"It's starting to rain. I felt some drops while I was trying to avoid killing myself on a snake. And besides, it gets cold in the desert at night." The top was easy enough to get back up and for the next hour or so the rain was hardly enough to even call it a drizzle but in the drop of a hat the sky opened and the rain started to fall hard and didn't show any signs of stopping. Soon it was raining harder and harder and was getting even more difficult to see the road in front of them.

"H-House, it's really starting to rain pretty hard..I think we should pull over. You know.. just until it calms down." Wilson offered, trying his best to hide the fear inkling in his voice.

House wasn't about to let some bad weather show him up. "Stop freaking out, you scaredy-cat. I got this." Wilson tried to convince himself to look away from the road but there was something about it that wouldn't let him. It felt almost like if he looked away they were doomed. He knew that was bullshit and poppycock, but he just didn't like the feeling of not knowing what was going on, not that he could really tell to begin with.

When it started to rain down even harder, that was when Wilson couldn't hold it in any longer. Fear was suddenly his best friend and he didn't like it at all. He was never really a fan of roller coasters.. "Come on, please? I-I-I'm begging you..You can't even see past the hood!" his voice trembled even as he tried with all his might to keep it from doing so.

"OH MY GOD! FINE!" House let out frustrated. He knew if he put his concentration into it he could drive, but there was no way he could do it if Wilson was whining and crying in his ear the whole time. "Look, Tyler's just a mile or so up ahead. We'll take the next exit, stop there and get a nap in or something while the rain calms down so you can do the same. A man can't think straight when you're crying.." He tried to hide the smile that suddenly appeared on his face at his last comment.

A man can't think straight just looking at you.

House managed to keep his devilish smile hidden well enough from his passenger. The idea seemed good enough for Wilson being that he hadn't objected, but sat quietly, staring pensively at the rain soaked windshield.

Just as House said, the city of Tyler, Texas was right up the road and only took but a few minutes before they were pulling into the first motel they could find. At first it almost looked as if House was going to get his wish of lodging at a seedy motel when they walked into the lobby to enquire about a room soaked from the downpour, but once they got into the room itself things were in much better state than it's less so curbside appeal.

Wilson wanted to know why they kept running into the luck of rooms or places that only had one bed per room. Only this place didn't have a couch only a small recliner pushed back against the wall and a small table in the corner of the room.

"You can have the bed since you're gonna be driving tomorrow." House offered as he pulled the lever at the right side of his seat and stretched back.

Wilson stared back absently. Why should he get the bed? "But you've been driving all day. I'll take the recliner, it's fine." House really didn't see why Wilson was putting up a fuss about this; he was quite used to sleeping in places that wasn't a bed. It would always come in big handy when he was on clinic duty.

He called it a gift.

"You'll be driving all day tomorrow. Take the bed." House retorted without even opening an eye.

Wilson didn't know exactly what he should do. He could take the bed, but he'd feel bad for it. Why should he get the one luxury this place provided? But that was Wilson, always willing to take the suffering in order for his friends to be comfortable.

Hearing no noise of the bed being prepared, House cracked open an eye to see Wilson still sitting in the small wooden chair next to the table. "Are you too lazy to get in the bed?" House asked, his voice holding a small hint of annoyance.

"You should take it. Really, I'll be fine with the recliner." But before he could think or say anything else, House let out a sigh and pushed the foot rest in his with legs and stood from the chair and walked toward the bathroom.

He could use a shower. "Look, you take the damn bed; if it makes you feel better you can buy me lunch tomorrow."

"I always buy lunch.." he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" came from inside the bathroom.

Wilson shook his head and answered in that charming sarcastic way of his. "Oh, nothing." He let out a yawn before casually closing his eyes and resting his head on his arms as he leaned over the table. It turned out, if tired enough, Wilson could sleep in just as strange places as House could. This was evident enough being in that short amount of time of closing his eyes, he had fallen asleep.

This was short lived. Before he knew it House was shaking him awake. "Do I need to throw you in that goddamn bed myself? You're not getting out of driving tomorrow, no matter what aches and pains you get from sleeping like that." House made his way back to the recliner and stretched back.

God, he wanted it…the bed that is! Not House, well, no he.. - he found it better not to finish that thought. He wanted the bed, he would love to just go and crash for a good few hours but his conscience wouldn't let him… wait, what if he..

"We could share the bed. It's..big enough, well, for one and a half people. I mean, we shared the bed in Vegas.." Wilson said in a quiet and vaguely unsure voice.

House cracked open and eye and looked at him, "hm?"

"The bed, we could both use it." He offered again. God, he sounded like a fool.

Of course, House wasn't going to let an offer like that go to waste. Teasing wise, that is. "You just don't want to sleep in a bed alone. Don't want to be reminded about how pathetically lonely you are? It would be the first time you slept alone in a bed since the divorce, isn't it, Jimmy?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to be nice here." Wilson sat down on the edge of the bed as House stood once again from the recliner and stretched.

"Yeah, and I'm just pointing out that your niceness has a motive behind it. It's not as pure as you had hoped."

"Yeah, whatever. You want to share the bed or not?" Wilson asked one last time as he started to pull off his shoes.

He sat a moment before giving a small nod. "sure."

--

That night each man stuck to his side of the bed well enough for the size of the mattress. That is, until the storm started to get worse. Suddenly a clash thunder woke the resident light sleeper. Tired blue eyes glanced around the room before he carefully pulled himself out of the bed and pushed back the curtains and glanced out the window. The rain wasn't as bad, but he knew where there was thunder there was lightning. Besides, they needed sleep anyways; they might as well wait until morning before heading out again.

After coming to this decision he crawled back into the bed, but it was another sudden clash of thunder that finally brought his attention to the man next to him. In the sudden loudness he felt Wilson flinch through the mattress. This was probably what actually what woke him up, not the thunder. When he looked he could see that the man looked asleep.. and curled up in what looked like a lazy fetal position.

House continued to watch his sleeping friend until yet another rather loud clash of thunder caused Wilson to let out a quiet whimper and tried hopelessly to curl into a tighter jumble.

Great. Just absolutely perfect. Jimmy's subconscious is afraid of thunderstorms.

He thought sarcastically to himself as he sighed and thought on what to do. It took another clash of thunder for House to make up his mind. He knew he couldn't leave Wilson to whimper all night; the both of them would get no actual rest and who would drive? It was Wilson's turn, by the way.

So with an act (that if he was asked he would try to play off that he was trying to get Wilson to shut up so he himself could get to sleep) he slowly tried to pull Wilson out of his curled up position. For the first time he was thankful that the man was such a hard sleeper. Once he had him stretched out, more thunder hit causing Wilson to turn from him but to House the only thing that mattered was that he was still stretched out.

Cautiously, he laid back down and spooned against Wilson's back as he draped an arm over his waist, trying to add any bit or reassurance that he could. He knew things were good and fine when he felt Wilson try and snuggle down into the sheets. The man only snuggled when he was comfortable and relaxed. And as if to help him even further, House leaned forward and placed a very sweet and gentle kiss against the soft skin of the back of Wilson's neck.

He suddenly wanted to bite off his tongue. What was he doing?! He was somewhere in the middle of Texas, stranded in some thunder storm, curled up with his best friend and he just kissed him. What? Had he lost his mind?

He was almost certain he had.

With closed eyes, it didn't take long for House to fall back to sleep.

--

"Hey, I'm going to go get my phone." House turned around as he stood on an expansive front porch and watched as Wilson race off to the Corvette. The drive out of Texas that morning was relatively uneventful (definitely with Wilson's safe driving) and House was just happy to be somewhere he can possibly stir up some commotion.

Feeling slightly like a fool and a stalker just standing out on a stranger's front porch, he opted to just knock on the door. But just as House raised his hand to knock it opened and suddenly he was standing face to face with the prettiest green eyes he had ever seen.

..I think you should know, that green eyes, you're the one that I wanted to find and anyone who tried to deny you must be out of their mind…

"Uncle Dami!" He pushed the song from his mind when he heard a very chipper Wilson cry out from behind him. He stepped back and watched as Wilson went to his uncle's boyfriend as if he had always been in his life like his Uncle Thomas had.

"Hey, Jim! It's a treat to find you out here on the porch when yer tryin' to get the mail." Damien hugged his nephew. "Why, I didn't even know you were comin'!"

Wilson laughed, "Yeah, we were going to be in the area, so we decided to come on by!"

"In the area?" Damien eyed his nephew suspiciously.

House smiled and kept quiet. "We were on our way back from Las Vegas! Honest!" He held his hands playfully in the air as if to surrender. "Oh! Uncle Damien, this is Greg. Greg, this is Damien." The two shook hands and House introduced himself as a friend from work.

"So, did Thomas know you two were comin'?"

"No, I wanted to surprise him."

"Ah, that explains why I didn't know. You know Thomas, can't keep a secret to save his life. Ahh, but where are my manners, come in! Thomas is in the kitchen working on a crawfish stew." House and Wilson followed Damien through the parlor room into the living room and to the kitchen. "Hey, Thomas! You have some visitors."

There standing at the stove was the younger of the two older Wilson boys working on stirring and keeping the roux from over cooking. After one look House had no doubt in his mind that this was Jimmy's flesh and blood. He looked so much like Jack there was no denying it, but those hazel eyes were a dead giveaway.

Another thing that caught House's attention right away was the large steel bowl nearly halfway still full of unpeeled boil crawfish that two men were at the table working on peeling. "Jimmy boy! What are you doing here?" Thomas laughed before quickly adding, "I'd go over there and give you a hug if this roux wasn't so demanding. If I so much as think about leaving it be it would burn."

"We were on our way home from Vegas and thought we'd stop for a quick visit."

"Quick?" Max, the fellow sitting at the end of the table asked and gestured for Wilson to pass him a paper towel, which he did without complaint.

"Yeah, we can only stay the day. Hey, Max! Sammy! We have to be back at work for Thursday and we're driving." Being tempted by an empty stomach and the enticing smell of boiled crawfish, Jimmy snatched a few crawfish tails from the bowl that Samuel had been working on filling.

"I wouldn't do that again if you want to keep yer hand, Jimmy." Samuel informed as he continued to keep his attention on peeling crawfish. "Next time I may bite it off." He winked playfully.

"Jimmy, don't you know that old saying? Don't get between a Cajun and his food." House supplied with Samuel smiling in return.

"It's more like an unwritten law."

"If you want some, you can have some. You just have to peel it yourself." Max reassured his cousin. This was how the visit was. There was much poking fun and kindhearted teasing on all parts and House felt himself fitting in just fine. He didn't get to meet everyone in the family being that one of the daughter's, Ali, had gone to a friend's house after school and Paul had gone to band practice. But that was fine; there were still many people to meet.

There was Thomas and his boyfriend Damien. Also, there was Samuel, Dillon, and Courtney, all Damien's kids and Max, who was of course Thomas's boy. They were all a lively bunch and like the Wilson household back in Philly, were all very family oriented. All in all it was a good visit. House even got to pick a little fun with Wilson when he realized that Thomas and Damien were a couple with a crap load of kids between them. This had better not be a glimpse into the future. House thought to himself. Sure, being with Jimmy would be nice but having that many kinds from god knows where would be too much.

But when it was all said and done and it was time to get back on the road there was planning to do. "So, where are we off to now, Mr. Navigator?" House sat back in the passenger seat as he watched a stray cat trying to persuade a teen for some of her hamburger.

Wilson waited for the red-light to turn green but looked over to his friend with a somewhat forlorn smile, "You feel like a drink?"

"Hah! I thought you'd never ask! To come all the way to New Orleans and not visits Bourbon Street would be a crime!" He turned back in time to see the teen giving in and handing over a quarter of her burger patty to the cat.

--

There was something deeply affecting his friend, he just didn't know what. House had been trying to figure it out all day. There was something that was just dragging Wilson down and he didn't seem like his happy self. His mind kept running through the events of today but he really didn't see anything that would upset him. It had to be something if he wanted to drink but what seemed to be wearing very hard of the man's nerves at the moment seemed to be a song playing on the jukebox.

Sure the song had been playing on repeat since they had arrived, but it was him watching his friend's every movement that told him he was right. It was after a few more times of playing on repeat it was definitely getting on Wilson's nerves.

When Billy Joel's Leave a Tender Moment started to play for what seemed like the millionth time, Wilson cut House off in midsentence by holding up a finger and excusing himself. House arched a brow and watched as Wilson walked across the room to the jukebox and spoke to the man who had been to blame for the song playing all evening and spoke calmly to him. He didn't know what the fellow had just told Wilson, but whever it was certainly didn't help. Wilson walk back to the bar and took a seat back next to House. "So, did you get what you wanted?"

Wilson took a swig from his beer and answered simply, "We'll find out in a few minutes." But of course, courtesy made no impression and when the song started up again, House watched his friend stiffen and take a deep breath as he tried to ignore the fact that Billy Joel was singing once again about being afraid of messing up a tender moment. House took it all in and watched his friend's movements and subtle body language curiously and closely. Oh, something was going to happen sooner or later. He even silently gave his friend kudos when he managed to ignore the song when it played once more. He knew Wilson hadn't gone and done anything just yet because the jukebox was still running on the money the patron had put in when Wilson first confronted him.

But when the song played a fourth time, Wilson couldn't hold it in any longer; it was obvious the man had put more cash into the jukebox. "Oh my god, House, please.. please, pleeeeease make him stop! He won't listen to me! Just make him stop playing that song; he can play any song he wants! Just not that one! It's driving me mad! Please, I know you can! If anyone could make an idiot stop something it's you!" But House only stared at his friend. He wasn't Wilson's lapdog and it was times like this when he really tried to get that across to his friend. Yes, he could most definitely get that man to stop, and even leave the bar and go home or where ever, but Wilson needed to get some backbone and do it himself.

House knew if it was really bothering him that much he could do it himself. And that was just what he did.

"Well, if you're not going to do anything, I will." And with that Wilson stormed off in the direction of the jukebox. House only shook his head and turned his attention back to his beer. Jimmy was going to get himself killed. No matter, if anything started to go down he would jump in a save-

His thought was quickly cut short at the sound of shattering glass. Quickly he shot up just in time to see the fellow who had been feeding the jukebox all evening eyes wide in fear as a large antique mirror that had been hanging near the jukebox now laid shattered on the floor with Wilson's beer bottle broken and shattered along with it.

"I SAID, STOP PLAYING THAT DAMN SONG!!"

House sighed to himself and sat back down. "I guess that's one way to do it." But before the distraught patron could answer or respond back the sound of more glass shattering could be heard as a shot glass collided with a wall and nearly hitting another man with him tossing his in a retaliation fire.

Monkey see, monkey do. House thought. He knew he'd need to get Wilson out of here and fast.

But it was too late. Before he could even think of standing up back up he knew his buddy was in big trouble when an off duty officer stood up and flashed his badge. He made no attempts to stand up or speak as a pair of handcuffs were strapped onto the normally very cautious James Wilson's wrists or when he was being escorted out of the bar along with two other patrons who threw shot glasses.

House simply turned to finish his beer. It was going to be a little while before he could get his friend anyway, might as well not let a good beer go to waste. After fifteen minutes and a glass of bourbon later, he simply asked the bartender how to get to the police station being that he had to get his recently arrested friend out of jail.

--

Wilson sat quietly on the floor of his cell with his back against the wall and his gaze to the ceiling. Great, just what he needed to happen. He declined his phone call, giving the excuse that he was from out of town and anyone he called would be states away. He really didn't want his uncle to know he was arrested anyways.

But that didn't explain where House was. He could only hope that he didn't get into trouble on the way to get him. It was only after a few more minutes of self loathing for letting his temper get the best of him and feeling absolutely alone was when an officer can in. "James Wilson?" He looked up to see an officer at his cell door with House standing next to him with a proud smile on his face. "You made bail. You're free to go."

No words were said between the walk from the station to the car. It was minutes after they were back to driving when House finally spoke, "So, you successfully managed to get that idiot to stop playing that song." He glanced over to Wilson. It was obvious just by his posture that he wasn't celebrating anything in the least. Wilson was leaning on the door and staring off at the view of the city and the Mississippi river from the Crescent City Connection Bridge, not even bothering to join in on the conversation.

"So, you wanna go back to your Uncle's? We can take the next exit and turn around." He offered kindly.

"No."

House sighed and rubbed his forehead. He hated being in situations like these. He never knew the kinder way to pull someone and make them feel better. "So, what did the big bad wolf say that got you piss off enough to break a ten foot mirror?"

Wilson sat up and glared. "You want to know what he told me, what he had the nerve to tell me when I asked him to stop? He told me, Leave a tender moment alone." House didn't even bother to hide his smile. That was a good one. "I guess I just… lost it." He shrugged. "I wasn't trying to hurt or assault him; I was just trying to make him listen."

"That you did, the whole bar was listening by that point. By the way, you own me three thousand bucks." House tossed in.

"What? For bail?"

"No, for that mirror you broke. I paid the owner before I left. A thanks would be nice." He added teasingly.

"Yeah thanks. That cop was there, he saw everything. I shouldn't have the assault charge.."

"Don't worry about it. When we get back home I'll call a lawyer and get it taken care of. Just forget about all this bull and think about having fun for the rest of this trip!"

But Wilson was done with this fun. "I don't feel like this road trip anymore. Can't we just fly home?" He didn't even bother to look at House; he only stared out the window.

House gave a sad smile. "Someone's gotta drive the Corvette to New York. You can fly home if you're not up for it anymore." There were times when House did see the line and knew when not to cross it (That is when he didn't miss it by flying over it). Somewhere between Wilson's arrest and bailing him out, he had figured out that it was all this family stuff was just reminding Wilson over and over about him being newly divorced and alone, so if he wanted to go home, he wasn't going to stop him.

But Wilson didn't want to be alone just yet. "No.." he answered, "I'll just suck it up. No point in me spoiling our road trip by going home early." He pulled on a smile to try and set his friend at ease.

House saw right through it but didn't say anything, only nodded.