Author's Note: Thank you again to all of you who keep reviewing, and inspiring me to keep writing, You have all been amazing. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
You Only Live Twice
Part 28
Without You
House swiveled in his desk chair, bored with the lack of Ddx-ing in his life.
The day he'd brought in Chen, Cole and CB to diagnose Masters' patient, Brennan- in pure spite had gone to Dominika, who had turned up in the middle of him calling Master's a square bear. Needless to say, she'd wanted to reprimand him and House had a feeling that her way of reprimanding did actually include her in a leather pantsuit.
Dominika had stood at the entrance of his office, with her arms crossed in a very Cuddy way. For a second it had made him smile at her, though when she returned it something in House snapped and he'd shooed everyone out.
That had been the end of him and doing differentials- at least with everyone except Masters. He'd find her knocking on his door while he rifled through stupid papers about numbers and grants- all very boorish stuff, and she'd give him the scoop on who was treating which patient and what idiotic decisions they'd made.
He also had Chase calling him every once in a while, on cases where he'd get stumped. Those two things were honestly the only things keeping him sane.
It had worked out great for a while. He'd get his zebra fix, he'd let Chase ask him for consults, and in turn he'd get an update on Cuddy and Wilson. Obviously he wouldn't ask straight out, but Chase would just add in at the end that Cuddy had been looking in over each case- or if she'd had a day where she'd bring Madeline to work. It was an unspoken fact that although House didn't ask about them, Chase knew that he wanted to know.
He looked down at the pile of useless paperwork that he was supposed to push for funding, articles his staff had written- unable to focus on any of it. It wasn't that his job was hard, it just involved an exorbitant amount of reading which House was no fan of- if it didn't involve him actually learning something about diseases he didn't know before.
The first day in, House had thought about walking out and just heading back to Princeton, no doubt that Cuddy would instantly give him his job back. But there was no way he'd go running back. So he'd stuck through the boring paper-pushing job and for once, listened to his boss.
He felt his leg twitch with pain, and dug into his pocket pulling out his pills, plopping one in his mouth. At the same time, Dominika walked into his office, with an exaggerated thrust to her hips that he knew she was doing solely for him.
"Dr House, you are not answering my calls. I want to speak to you about Dr Brennan", Dominika pretended to be mildly annoyed.
It was only a smoke screen though, what she really wanted was an excuse to blatantly flirt with him. That too was boring. House sighed, he was in a continuous state of boredom in Minnesota. There weren't even any good hookers.
House pretended to be confused, "You've tried calling me? Is that what that ringing was? I thought it was just a reminder to take my vitamins."
Dominika smiled seductively, as she propped herself up on his desk, "I don't understand why you let him go."
"Because he's an idiot. Besides, its my department so its my decision", he shrugged actually paying attention to the papers in front of him. He wasn't in the mood to indulge her flirting.
"My hospital, my problem", she said with a bit of a thick accent.
House shrugged, and read over the article that Adams had written and left for his approval to get pushed up- he signed it without really reading it and moved on to the next thing.
"Perhaps we could discuss it over dinner", she suggested, placing her hand on top of the pile of papers he'd been looking at to get his attention.
House dropped his shoulders in a sigh, and looked up at her, "I don't date my bosses- it makes for a hostile work environment. Haven't you taken that HR class they have everyone go to?"
Dominika smiled, "I like a man who plays hard to get."
"I'm not playing. I don't play at all actually."
"You certainly seemed keen in Vegas, before we were interrupted by Dr Cuddy", she mused, pushing her lips together.
He clicked his jaw to the side at the mention of Cuddy, and tapped his hand on his desk a couple of times, "I have a lot of work to do."
She stood up, and began walking to the front of his door, "When you get back from vacation, we will have dinner Dr House."
Once she was out of his office, House shuddered at the thought and plopped another pill.
xxxoxxxo
Five Days Later
Wilson had passed by the terminal three times, trying to spot House through the rain, and then looked down at the clock in his car. it was ten-thirty, House had told him to be there by nine-thirty and he'd be waiting for him. He looked into his rear view mirror at the surprise he had waiting for him, hoping she wouldn't wake up before House got in the car- if he ever got in the car.
Madeline. She was dressed in a long sleeve white shirt, with a black dress over it and black and white dotted leggings, with the hair that she did have up in a little tiny ponytail with a pink bow in the front. Wilson couldn't help at smile, just thinking about how excited House would be-though he knew he'd pretend he wasn't at all, and continued to look for him through the rain.
He'd already called the airport asking if there had been a delay in his flight, thinking the worst imaginable thing, after all the weather was horrible for flying. But the attendant he'd spoken to had assured him they'd already arrived, and that the passengers including House -he'd had him check- had gotten off safely.
It was a conundrum to him. He took out his phone and was about to call him, when he finally spotted House coming out through the front entrance, wearing a black flat-cap and black wayfarers in his classic ensemble of dark jeans, and a heavy winter coat. What struck Wilson though, was that he was holding a cane under his arm, while his other hand pulled his rolling suitcase.
Wilson parked his car in the waiting area, and got out to open the trunk to his car, "Where have you been? I've been circling the terminal for an hour."
House shrugged, handing over the cane and suitcase for him to place in the trunk, "The flight was delayed."
Wilson froze and noted that House had just blatantly lied, then looked at the cane House had handed him, "Why do you have this?"
He closed the trunk and got back into his car, looking over at House who was looking back at a sleeping Madeline.
"What's she doing here?"
"I thought you'd want to see her, so I asked Cuddy if she could tag along", Wilson boasted, then asked, "Why do you have the cane?"
House looked at him, though he hadn't taken his sunglasses off yet, "Why would you think I want to see her?"
"I asked first. Why do you have the cane? You were walking fine."
"For sympathy. People see a cripple, they have to be nice", he said as it were the most apparent thing in the world.
Wilson rolled his eyes, not buying it, but dropped the subject for the moment.
He looked back at Madeline again, who was stirring awake, "It's like she can sense you."
Wilson couldn't tell for sure, but he got the feeling that House was rolling his eyes underneath his sunglasses, and motioned for Wilson to be quiet with his finger.
He whispered sorry, but turned to look at House taking notice his more pronounced jawline. Wilson frowned, "Have you lost weight?"
House sighed, "Dude, I told you to shut up", he looked back at her,"Great, now she's awake."
He was right, Madeline was blinking her eyes open and yawning and within a few seconds she'd spotted House, and smiled, "Dada."
House turned back to the road, "Awesome."
Wilson looked at him, studying him for a while, "Why were you wearing sunglasses inside the airport?"
"Why aren't you looking at the road? You have a baby in the car." House motioned with his hand.
"Dada." Madeline kept trying to get House's attention- who in turn just covered his face with the flap-cap and ignored her.
They kept driving for a while, and Madeline kept calling out for House who pretended to be the one that was asleep, until she started crying.
House turned to her with a sharp voice, "Stop crying."
It took her a minute, but House yelling at her actually worked. She calmed down, and pouted but didn't cry again. Instead she just looked at him and kept calling out for him to pay attention to her, which House didn't do.
He kept his eyes straight ahead, sighing, "Where are we going? We passed the Hilton."
"Tux fitting."
"And you brought a baby to go with us to a tux fitting? What's wrong with you?"
Wilson turned over to him with a smile, "Then we're going to go have lunch, and we'll have dinner at my place. You're going to be staying there. I have your whole stay planned out."
"Uh…no I'm not. I booked at room at the hilton." There was a hint of apprehension in House's voice that Wilson found puzzling.
"I called and cancelled it", He bragged with a smile- it wasn't true, but Wilson wanted to see how it would play out.
"Well call and un-cancel it. I'm serious Wilson, I'm not staying with you and Cameron."
Wilson rolled his eyes, "Why not? We have an extra room. It would save you money."
"Money isn't an issue Jimmy. I just don't want to be smothered by the both of you."
"Fine. I didn't cancel it", he admitted, he'd never been a good liar anyway.
"Yippee", he muttered.
Wilson remembered something he'd wanted to ask House then, "So Cameron and I have been planning the wedding-"
"You're helping her?" House asked in disbelief, "Do you have any respect for your gender at all?"
He rolled his eyes at House, "Anyway. We've been planning the wedding, and the topic came up about what the musical entertainment should be for the evening-"
"You can't afford me."
It was uncanny how House could always guess what he was thinking. It was both amusing and annoying to Wilson. He sighed and looked over at his best friend, "House. I'm asking for one song. It's my wedding and I want to surprise Cameron. I know it would make her night to see you perform."
House scoffed, "Not in a million years."
There was no point in asking again. Once House made up his mind about something, there was no changing it, and Wilson knew that. So he dropped the subject and instead focused on how unconventionally more depressed he was.
"What's wrong? You're unusually moody today."
"I didn't know you were going to bring her", House mumbled looking out the window.
He was vexed and Wilson found that concerning, House might sometimes pretend to find her annoying but he'd never been upset to see her before.
"I thought you'd be thrilled to see her. Cuddy said you were going to go over her file."
"Yes, her file- not examine her. Or don't you not know? I don't relish seeing my patients."
Wilson pulled the car up to the curb, and parked it. He got out, and waited to see what House would do once he got out of the car. After he was out and closed the door, House started to walk towards the Tux shop, leaving Madeline in the car for Wilson to get her out.
He sighed, and went to take out Madeline from her carseat, and began unbuckling her belt as she looked at him strangely. Wilson and Madeline hadn't really bonded all that much, actually he hadn't really ever bonded with any baby. And he got the feeling she could tell he wasn't all that familiar in the child department, from the fact that he was having lots of trouble figuring out her seatbelt.
When he'd picked her up from Cuddy's house, she'd placed the carseat in the car and buckled Madeline up herself. He looked at her and sighed, "I'm new at this."
Madeline sighed.
"Need help?"
Wilson looked up to see House had come back and was very amused that he couldn't figure out how to take her out. He moved aside and watched as House instantly pressed on the button holding her in, and picked her up.
Madeline smiled at House while gurgling incomprehensibly to him. And although he desperately tried to hide it, Wilson could tell that there was a smile threatening to spread on his lips.
"it sounds like she has a lot to tell you", Wilson mused after closing the car door behind them and made their way into the Tux shop.
House scoffed, "She's just making fun at your idiocy. Who doesn't know how to take a baby out of a carseat?"
"Maybe those of us who don't have kids?"
Wilson went up to the front counter and rang the bell, hearing House ask, "So are they giving you a discount? Get married three times get the fourth Tux for free?"
He made a face at House, but he was too caught up with Madeline resting her head on his shoulder that he hadn't seen the expression on Wilson's face.
But then he looked up at Wilson, "I thought she just took a nap?"
Wilson shrugged, "Maybe she's still tired?"
House shook his head and finally took off his sunglasses to get a better look at her, "She's pale."
"Well she's a baby, I'm sure she doesn't get out in the sun that much. Plus its been raining for what feels like forever."
Wilson stretched out his head behind the counter as much as he could, trying to see if someone was coming. After all, he'd made an appointment for noon.
"Wilson." House called for him.
"I made an appointment. And you think they'd have someone out here. I'm a little surprised by their lack of -"
"Wilson!"
He turned his head, "What?"
But his eyes found what House was yelling at him for. Madeline had began throwing up bile and her body had gone limp in House's arms.
xxxoxxxo
Cuddy rushed into the cafe to get away from the rain. She was meeting up with Stacy to talk about her restraining order on Atticus. He was attempting to challenge it, and kept insisting to meet Madeline. He'd even served her with papers demanding visitation rights.
She spotted the tall brunette sitting by the cafe window, and walked over taking off her coat in the process.
"I'm sorry I'm late, there was an accident on the way here", she said giving Stacy a loose hug, then sitting down across from her.
Stacy waved her hand, "Its fine. It gave me time to catch up on some of my other cases. Where's Madeline? I was hoping to meet her."
Her stomach did a tiny summersault at the thought of Madeline, and where she was.
"She's with Wilson, picking up House from the airport", she said, before pausing to explain, "She loves House, and although he'll deny it to his grave- he likes her too and he hasn't seen her in almost two months. It was Wilson's idea."
Stacy turned down to her purse, and rummaged through it pulling a card out, "I remembered that your birthday is this friday."
"Thank you. Can you believe I hadn't even given it any thought? With the hospital, Madeline, and now Atticus berating me about meeting her, I'd completely forgotten."
"You said she was with Wilson, picking up House?"
"Yep."
Stacy raised her eyebrows, and rested her head in her hand, "House actually likes a child? I never thought I'd see the day. When we went to thanksgiving at my sister's the last year we were together, he made every child cry."
A waitress came up and Cuddy ordered a hot chocolate, before responding back to Stacy, "They have a connection. I think it's because he was around when I was pregnant, and he was the first one to hold her when she was born", she licked her lips and smiled, "Its not just that though, they have the same humor- Madeline would always understand when House was being funny. And you should have seen the way they would fall asleep- exactly the same way."
Stacy smiled, "Are you sure she's not his?"
She laughed, "Believe me, its crossed my mind once."
When she didn't correct herself, Stacy's eyes went wide, "Well, what happened? If you don't mind me asking, why did you guys break up?"
"Oh no we didn't break up. I dumped him."
Stacy blinked and took a sip of her coffee, "What? Why?"
"I found Vicodin pills on Madeline's bedroom floor- where she plays. He relapsed, and he put her life in danger. And I thought It just cemented the fact for me, that he'll always think about himself before others…"
"You said you thought?"
Cuddy sighed, unsure of how to begin explaining herself, "Everything pointed to him relapsing, but when I spoke to Wilson I had doubts. I didn't even give him a chance to explain himself."
"Don't let him fool you. Greg is…an enigma no doubt, but if you found Vicodin on him, there's no way it wasn't his."
She couldn't help herself then, and felt hot tears fill her eyes, "I know. I just don't understand what set him off. I thought we were happy."
Stacy sighed, and smiled at Cuddy, "You probably didn't do anything. He does what he wants without a consequence of how it might affect the people around him. You can't fix him, I learned that the hard way. You did the right thing Lisa, letting go of Gregory House is always the right thing."
"He was different though. I knew he cared about me, he cared about Madeline- hell parenting came naturally to him, I was the one that struggled." She let out a tiny laugh in between her tears.
As Stacy opened her mouth to say something, Cuddy's phone went off, and she glanced at the screen- Wilson had left her a voicemail.
"Excuse me", she said while she listened to his message.
There was yelling in the background, and she could hear that he was driving, "Cuddy. Madeline got sick, she started throwing up. House thinks there's something wrong so we're taking her into the hospital. She seems fine now, but House is insisting. So I just thought I'd let you know. Ok, bye."
It wouldn't have been a big deal because kids threw up all the time, had it not been for the fact that Cuddy realized Madeline had thrown up that morning right after she'd fed her breakfast. Cuddy stood still for a few moments, gathering her thoughts, before she picked up her coat and slipped out of the booth, "I have to go back to the hospital, Madeline is sick."
xxxoxxxo
"I'm telling you to do a spinal tap, what part of that is difficult for you?" House spat at Taub, who was examining an apathetic Madeline.
She was laying down on her side in her diaper, with her eyes barely open, unmoving while Taub and Thirteen looked over her with frowns on their faces.
"It's a UTI. It's common for babies to get them at her age. We should start her on antibiotics for her fever and the infection."
House laughed, "Obviously its an infection, the question is why?"
Wilson watched from where he stood up against the wall, while House argued heatedly about Madeline's level of severity.
He kept pacing the exam room, yelling at both of them when they'd suggest it was nothing. And Wilson had started noticing a slight limp when he walked, and how his face would contort with pain. It wasn't noticeable to any other observer, but he who had known House and all his limping stages, could easily tell that he was in pain.
House spoke animatedly about their idiocy, and Wilson noted a layer of perspiration that he had on his face from arguing with them.
Thirteen looked up at House, "House, you don't work here anymore, and you know we need permission from a parent to do a spinal tap- which she obviously doesn't need since we know its an infection."
House scoffed and turned to look at Wilson, in utter amazement at their irrelevance to what he was asking them to do. At that same moment, Cuddy barged in and stopped only for a moment by the shock of seeing House- then walked over to where Madeline lay.
"What happened?"
"Did you not hear the message Wilson left you? I'm pretty sure he gave you a play by play", House snapped at her angrily.
"Yes. I got it, thank you", she said through gritted teeth,
House scoffed, running a hand through his hair, "What have you been doing? letting her room around on the floor freely? Do you even watch her?"
Wilson stood up straight, his eyes opening wide and going back and forth, "House-"
Cuddy didn't say anything though, she took a deep breath and smiled at Madeline, holding back obvious tears and ignoring House.
Wilson saw her inhale deeply after a minute and run a hand down Madeline's hair, "Did you figure out what it was?"
"We think it's a UTI. We're going to give her nitrofurantoin for the infection."
Cuddy nodded, and picked her up, placing her against her chest and rubbing her back slowly, "She's burning up."
House was standing a couple feet away, writhing in pain from what Wilson could tell, and angry, "She needs an LP."
Cuddy turned to scoff at him, "My baby is not about to get a lumbar puncture."
He flapped his arms in utter frustration, "Fine, let your kid die, its clearly what you've been aiming for", and walked out of the exam room obviously resentful.
Cuddy turned to Wilson, "What's gotten into him?"
"He's in pain", he mumbled pushing himself off the wall and following House out of the room.
Wilson followed after him, and tried catching up to where House was headed to, "House-wait- House!"
But he ignored Wilson and continued his quick pace out of the hospital.
"Will you wait up? Where are you going?"
Finally House stopped and looked back at Wilson, pointing to his vomit smeared shirt with an edge, "I'm tired of smelling puke on myself."
"Don't you think it can wait? You know you're right about Madeline needing a spinal tap. She's been getting sick a lot. And Cuddy knows you're right too."
"Yeah well tell that to the she-devil. Maybe she'll listen if it comes out of you", he muttered as he winced while walking.
"Your leg hurts."
"You're metrosexual."
Wilson sighed, "House, when did your pain come back? When you moved away?"
He laughed, "Oh you'd love that, wouldn't you? It would play right in to your view on my supposed psychosomatic pain. Seriously, I get that you're regretting having gone into the wrong specialty. But don't take up your psychological diagnosing desires on me. Go play shrink with someone else's feelings."
And he walked off leaving Wilson behind, walking into the rain without his coat or anything to hide him away from it.
xxxoxxxo
Cuddy held Madeline, in an effort to soothe her after Thirteen had administered a shot of antibiotics. She cried a little bit, and Cuddy tried rubbing her back and walking her around, but every attempt to pacify her failed.
She had hot tears rolling down her face, and Madeline cried out in baby talk, making Cuddy feel worse for dismissing House and his suggestion of an LP.
He was right, he was objective as he always was, and that's what made her upset. He hadn't stopped for one second to acknowledge her at all. Not that Cuddy expected him too, if anything he'd done just what she thought he'd do. Insulted her, questioned her ability as a parent, made snide remarks about the health of her child- classic House.
There was a knock on the door, and Cuddy turned to see Wilson peek his head back inside the room. Her shoulders fell mildly disheartened by the fact that it was him and not House.
Cuddy smiled at him for a moment, "She's a little fussy."
He nodded, standing up against the wall with a sigh, "Cuddy…you should listen to House. You know he knows what he's talking about."
"I know, I know. It's just seeing him start attacking me made me irrational."
"His leg pain is back", Wilson commented then.
Cuddy looked up at him, feeling her heart skip a beat, "When did it come back?"
"I don't know. Probably when he moved to Minnesota? Of course when I tried to ask him about it, he denied it. But he brought his cane with him, and he was limping earlier- the pain is back, at least in his head."
She bit her lip, and tried hard not to cry, but she couldn't help it. Cuddy knew it was partially her fault, she'd pushed him away, "Its my fault."
Wilson exhaled and shrugged his shoulders, "Well no offense, but I'm not going to disagree. Dumping him certainly didn't help…I know i've said this before, but I feel like something else is going on."
Cuddy let out a sob, "I'm pregnant."
He blinked a couple times, "What?"
"That's-that's not what you were referring to?" she asked, her crying subsiding and sniffing her nose.
Wilson who's eyes were huge shook his head, "I was talking about House…you're pregnant? Again? With House's-?"
She nodded, her eyes filling up with tears again, "I don't know what to do."
"Uh…how about telling him?" He suggested sarcastically.
Cuddy shook her head, "I've tried to. I've wanted to. He called me a couple weeks ago and I almost did. But every time I try and tell him, something stops me."
"How far along are you?"
"About fifteen weeks."
Wilson nodded profusely, "He needs to know Lisa."
She winced at the use of her name. He only did that when he was completely serious about something, she hated it.
"I know, I know. Just do me a favor? Don't tell him, I need to be the one to do it."
Wilson nodded with a sigh.
xxxoxxxo
A couple hours had gone by since House had gone to change his dirty t-shirt. Wilson had waited with Cuddy for a while, thinking that he'd come back, but he'd given up and instead decided to go finish some paperwork in his office, knowing that House would know to look for him there.
Wilson ultimately found House laying on the couch of his office, donning a new t-shirt, and playing with his red thinking ball, looking much more relaxed. When he saw Wilson walk in, he sat up slowly picking up his coat with a hint of a smile, "Ready to ditch this joint?"
He frowned at his friends complete one-eighty change in behavior, "Almost…first I think you need to go speak to Cuddy."
House looked pensive for a moment, and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess. Is she still down in the clinic with Madeline?"
Wilson shook his head, "She's in her office now", then watched as House walked out and noted that his limp had gone away again.
xxxoxxxo
Madeline had eventually fallen asleep, allowing Cuddy to go to her office and get some work done, while Taub and Thirteen did a spinal tap. She was in the middle of trying to figure out how to cut costs in orthopedics, when House knocked lightly on her glass door.
Cuddy took a deep breath, "Come in."
House tentatively walked in, and sat in the chair across from her. He had a smile while airily asking, "You called for me?"
She swallowed, "I'm sorry I didn't listen about the LP, you were right they're doing one right now."
He shrugged with a yawn and glassy eyes, "I don't care."
"How long are you here for?"
"Just until thursday night."
She laughed, because of course he would leave the night before her birthday. There wasn't any use in reminding him about it either- she knew he wouldn't care anymore. After a moment of self-pity, Cuddy cleared her throat, "Can we have lunch on thursday then?"
He winced, "I don't know. Wilson's bachelorette party is on Wednesday night, things might get too crazy for me to function on thursday."
Cuddy gave him a reproachful look, and he rolled his eyes, "Fine. When and where? And what are we talking about?"
She opened her mouth a couple of times before responding, "I just have- some of your things. I thought you'd want them back."
He got up with a intake of breath, "Great. It's a date then-not."
xxxoxxxo
It would always mystify Wilson, how House had the ability to pull off epic bachelor parties, without an ounce of preparation or regards to what he wanted.
There were strobe lights in the pent-suite of the Borgata Hotel and Resort in Atlantic City. House had suggested Vegas, as he had very fond memories of the city, but Wilson hadn't wanted to give Cameron the illusion that it was an actual bachelor party- strippers and all. He'd told her that it was going to be a very lowdown event. He'd said they'd probably go to a cigar lounge and play some poker.
But of course the truth was far from that. As soon as they'd all gotten into the limo at the beginning of the night; which had included Chase, Foreman, Taub, Kutner, Tucker- a friend of his that House had great disdain for, O'shea- on House's insistence and somehow Thirteen, the course in which the evening would progress was evident with the first round of fire whiskey shots.
House had made their first stop, his favorite strip joint. Where they had an oxygen bar where you could inhale your favorite type of alcoholic beverage. It certainly was a first for Wilson, and he'd partaken in all the events, even in the penthouse suite, licking gummy bears off of Karamel's stomach- a stripper he had history with, from his past House-thrown bachelor parties.
Once they'd gotten to the penthouse suite, somehow he found himself solely in his underwear, socks and shirt, wearing House's wayfarers and dancing around as if he were Tom Cruise from Risky Business.
After a rather provocative dance with Karamel, he found House standing up against a while, sipping from a clear cup, Watching as the scene in front of him progressed.
Wilson walked up to him, putting an arm around his shoulders, "Why don't you dance with Karamel? You have to try a gummy bear off of her- they're so good."
House chuckled and shook his head, sipping from his drink, "I don't like gummy bears."
Wilson shrugged his shoulders and took his arm off from around House's shoulders, and began dancing obnoxiously to the music.
House put his drink down on a table next to them, and looked over at him, "Think you kids can handle being unsupervised for a few minutes? I have to call my other kids in Minnesota and make sure they haven't killed anyone today."
Wilson nodded absentmindedly while moving to the music and drinking from his AMF- adios mother fucker, as House gave him one last look with a laugh and walked off. He went to take another sip of his drink, but realized he'd finished it, then eyed the cup House had left.
He looked around, figuring House could simply order another one once he came back, and gulped it down, but spit it out once he realized it was club soda. He shuddered and put the cup down, dancing his way back over to the bar.
xxxoxxxo
"I hate you. I don't know how you always talk me into these things", Wilson groaned, before spilling his guts back into the toilet, as House watched from the frame of the bathroom door with an amused smile.
House laughed, "On the plus side, I have some very memorable pictures to add to your bachelor scrapbook that I'm making."
Wilson swallowed and took in a big breath of air, "Why didn't you drink last night?"
"Are you kidding? Someone had to watch all you kids. Both of your last bachelor parties you ended up being arrested, I think the third time they put you away for life, or something like that- Cameron wouldn't have forgiven me."
"Sure you watched me. You dissapeared for two and a half hours and I almost made it up to the roof."
House chuckled, "What were you looking for?"
"The bathroom. Where were you?"
"I told you I had to call my team- they're treating a scary African dictator."
Wilson groaned in pain, feeling a pounding in his head he hadn't missed, "Well I still hate you."
There was a knock on the hotel door, and Wilson watched as House turned for a moment, "I think that's my taxi. I'll see you later. I'll be ready at six."
Wilson nodded remembering that he'd promised to take him to the airport. But as soon as he'd moved his head he regretted it immediately and held it in pain, whimpering at the onset of nausea that hit him. All the while he could hear House laugh as he walked out of the hotel room.
xxxoxxxo
The pain had become unbearable, and though he'd taken his pills, and he'd walked around his hotel room, with a layer of perspiration on his forehead- waiting for it to kick in- it still wasn't working. This had been going on for the past week and a half, and the pain just kept getting more insufferable by the day.
House had forgotten just how deep the pain could get, how intolerable it felt, and how to deal with it.
He shook, looking over at the bottle of pills, limping over to pick up the bottle and shook as he took another one out, dropping it on the counter of the sink, and began to crush it. It was the only way it worked lately- by breaking the blood- brain barrier. For some reason swallowing just wasn't working as well as snorting them anymore. He'd wait until that very last moment, where it would become so unbearable he missed having his emergency stash of morphine.
Yes it looked bad but it was medicinally understandable, at least that's what he kept repeating to himself every time he'd do it. He'd done the same thing with his antihistamine medicine, when swallowing the pills weren't working- this was the same thing, he kept reminding himself.
After he'd snorted the last line, though his chest tightened from the pill, he still felt a sense of relief. He knew that within a couple minutes his leg would feel ok. He looked back up, and into the mirror, rubbing his nose. And then his heart stopped, because Cuddy was standing behind him.
Neither of them said anything for a couple seconds, until House finally looked away.
"What are you doing here?"
"Is that- cocaine?" he could hear the fright in her voice.
"No", he scoffed, "Are you insane? It's Oxycodone- my leg hurt."
"Like that's any better", she scorned at him.
House licked his lips, picking up his prescription bottle and shaking it, "It's legal, I have a prescription."
"Whoever gave you that script obviously didn't know about your addiction."
"He knows I'm in pain."
"Then you take Vicodin House!"
He shrugged, "It wasn't working anymore."
"Then you swallow it."
"Takes too long to help the pain."
"So you decided to snort it?" she asked in disbelief, "What are you? A teenager? You know what that stuff can do to you."
He turned to look at her, feeling the pain gradually start to fade away and a feeling of heaviness fill him. He slowly walked over to his bed and grabbed his blazer, "Like I said, my leg hurt. And this way it breaks a blood-brain barrier thing, I get why you don't get it though, its a doctor thing."
"You can't do this." She stressed not taking her eyes off his face.
"What I put in my body is my business."
She looked at him gravely, "If you keep doing this you could die."
"See if you'd said, if I keep doing this you could die- then it would be your business", he said emanating a lightness to the subject, that he knew Cuddy found disturbing. Then again he'd never really been one to care much of what others thought and now was no different.
"House, I care about what happens to you."
He interrupted her, "Why are you even here?"
Cuddy froze, "We were going to go to lunch-"
"Yeah. But why sneak into my room? What is so important that it couldn't wait?"
House saw her swallow, and she moved her eyes around the room, "It can wait until we go eat."
"No. Just spit it out, and then you can be on your way. I have an appointment at two with a masseuse."
Cuddy clenched her jaw- he knew that she knew, that masseuse was just a euphemism for hooker. And House wanted to hurt her even if he was lying about a masseuse.
For a minute it looked like she might cry, or storm off. Though instead Cuddy took a deep breath and smiled instead, "Its not that important."
"Really? You came all the way here to tell me its not that important?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
She gave him a shrug, "I was just going to ask if you wanted to come to Madeline's birthday party."
House felt some of the residue in the back of his throat and swallowed, "You're lying."
Cuddy scoffed, "Maybe. But its not important anymore…goodbye House."
xxxoxxxo
Cuddy raced down to the elevator, feeling like the walls were closing in on her. She couldn't believe what she'd just seen. Sure she'd known him to act irrational about his pain and go to extremities to make it go away, but she never thought he'd resort to snorting oxy to make the pain subside.
She wanted to cry. For House, for what she'd done to him to drive him to where he was at. She wanted to cry because she knew he'd never be able to be there for her, for Madeline or the baby she was expecting. He was selfish and only cared about making his own suffering go away, regardless of how it would affect others.
Whatever mistake Cuddy had thought she'd made by dumping him- seeing what she'd just seen had reassured her that she'd made the right choice.
Every part that she'd seen about him the past few days had reminded her of the real person he was. It hurt, it was the most painful thing she'd endured to realize that the one person in the world that you were molded for, didn't fit you.
When the doors to the elevators opened, she wiped away her tears and attempted to compose herself, as she walked down the lobby of the Hilton. She kept her head down and realized that she couldn't stop crying, because she was going to be alone without him.
In between her thoughts, she didn't register that she was walking straight into someone, who took her arms in his hands.
Cuddy looked up at Wilson who looked worried, "What's wrong?"
xxxoxxxo
The entire ride to the airport was silent. Wilson wasn't sure what to say to House. And he had a feeling that he was only staying quiet, because he guessed that he'd spoken to Cuddy and she'd told him what he'd seen.
But looking back, he felt like a fool for not piecing everything together. All the signs that he was doing something had been there. The recurring leg pain made sense now, and why he'd been walking off for a while, and coming back much relaxed. It drove him crazy with fury, especially because he felt helpless.
When they finally pulled up to the curb, as House went to open the door handle, Wilson pushed the lock button and House looked at him strangely.
"You know I looked up what 'Straightedge' means on Urban dictionary dot com. The day you become straightedge, is the day I'm the misanthropic one."
House raised an eyebrow at him, "Hey now, don't dismiss the last time you said I couldn't be selfless- I'm still waiting for you to buy that Maserati."
"You need help."
House's shoulders fell, "Damn. You did talk to Cuddy."
"You need help." he repeated, refusing to let Him deflect, like he usually did.
He rubbed his face, "My leg hurts- I have a prescription, which I'm not abusing by the way."
Wilson griped his steering wheel, and looked ahead, "You need help."
"At least I'm not doing real drugs- that would be worse."
Wilson scoffed, and shook his head once, "House- you need help."
House finally cracked, "Fine! I do. I know I do", and paused looking blankly at the floor with a shrug of his shoulders as he opened his door, "But I don't want it."
He got off, and grabbed his suitcase, and neither of them said anything else.
xxxoxxxo
At 12:01 Cuddy heard her alarm go off, and got a message alert on her phone that she knew would be from Julia. Ever since they were little, they'd made a tradition of being the first to wish each other a happy birthday. Usually she'd respond back right away, but this year she couldn't bring herself to look at her phone.
She was heavy with pain of her own. Pain that radiated in her chest, and felt like it was drowning her. Love wasn't supposed to hurt this bad, love was supposed to be good. She wiped away her never ending tears, taking a deep breath and attempting to fall asleep.
Madeline would be up early the next morning and she knew she'd have to be awake to take care of her, as Marina had taken the day off because it was her birthday. But now she just wanted to lie in bed for possibly forever. And it made Cuddy feel horrible to feel that way with a daughter who was depending on her.
Her doorbell went off then, and it rang repeatedly.
She panicked and got up, getting a baseball bat that she had under her bed- she'd had it since House had left, and raced to the front door to see who was ringing her doorbell incessantly. Cuddy looked through the peephole, to see whoever it was had ran off and gotten on to a bike. Cuddy opened the door and looked at the person that had run off. She wasn't sure, but from where she was standing, the person with a hood on looked like Kutner, which didn't make any sense.
She took a step out and felt her foot hit something, she looked down at a small package that had been left at the foot of her door. She bent down to pick up the rectangular shaped object, that had a note on the very front. It read;
Happy Birthday.
There wasn't a name on it, or anything and Cuddy curiously ripped the brown paper off the object, and did an intake of breath as she realized what it was. A book, her grandfather's book.
Approach to The Acute Abdomen by Earnest T. Cuddy.
It was the exact same copy she'd found at House's apartment a year ago.
Part 29 Preview:
He shook his head, "Don't flirt."
"I was just thanking you."
"You were teasing me."
He was right. But it was too easy for her to do, and the atmosphere certainly didn't help. Having him in her arms, brought her back to the good times, to when it was simple- if that had ever existed.
"You've ruined me", he breathed out while they swayed to the rhythmic movements of an instrumental version to Breathe Me. House swallowed, and looked gravely at Cuddy, with sorrow, "I was fine before you."
