Lize, thank you so much! I felt that Wilson would want to make sure the team handles this professionally, even if House can be an ass of a patient, because House does deserve the best of care. I had fun writing it because Wilson is rarely tough with anyone other than House and loved the idea of them getting to see a darker and more protective side of him. Hope you like the new chapter and thanks for the lovely review. - Nicole
Dr. Roberts looked at the message and then back at the door and walked in. He was a little stunned as he saw 'HIM' sitting in a wheelchair, cold calculating blue eyes already challenging his. For what, he wasn't sure. Dr. Roberts had been working in the hospital for six years now and never spoken to the man he'd heard so much about. His eyes quickly darted around the room looking for the man who he was suppose to be meeting, but Dr. Wilson was no where to be seen.
"You look lost," House said bluntly as he recognized the man as a doctor in the Oncology department. The man's eyes quickly went back to his and House saw a flicker of irritation in him that made him want to smile, but he didn't.
"I was left a message to meet Dr. Wilson in here because he wants me to help him with a case," Dr. Roberts said with a slight annoyance at having to work with Dr. House too. He respected and liked Dr. Wilson, but from what he'd heard of Dr. House there was nothing to like and little to respect. "So I guess you'll be working on the case with us then."
House raised an eyebrow as he realized that this man evidently didn't know he was the patient. For a moment he thought the guy should catch on since he was wearing jogging pants and a tee shirt with a hoodie half way zipped up, but then again it wasn't like he was known for dressing like a doctor. This was going to be fun. "You might want to curb you enthusiasm, wouldn't want Wilson to get jealous of how eager you are to work with me, Jason."
"Dr. Roberts," he corrected as his jaw tightened some. "I'm surprised you know my name considering that you seem to think that your the only doctor here that can do anything right."
House kept the smirk off his lips and kept his cold eyes on the man. "I've learned it's better to know the doctors here so that when I call them an idiot they don't get offended, people are so fragile when you get their names wrong."
Dr. Roberts rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Of course. Listen, it's been lovely getting to know you Greg," he said condescendingly, "but I'd rather keep this professional. Have you met the patient yet because..." then he stopped, "nevermind, look at who I'm talking to."
House narrowed his eyes on Roberts. "Just because I can do a better job having never seen a patient then most doctors can do after weeks of knowing and treating the patient, isn't my fault. You guys should just try harder, but yes, I've met the patient."
"The whole point of becoming a doctor is to help people, something you seem to forget about," Dr. Roberts pointed out.
House rolled his eyes, "Oh yes, that's a logical argument coming from a guy that has a 54% success rate talking to a man with a 98% success rate."
"But you don't do it to help them, you do it for the challenge. It's all about you House, not the patient, which makes me wonder why you're even here. I was under the impression you don't worry about follow-up care, that's for us lesser doctors to worry about." Dr. Roberts said as he narrowed his eyes on House.
House was starting to actually take a disliking to this man, "Why I do what I do isn't any of your concern, and by the way, I don't see you talking down to the people who do it for the money. Which there are a lot of, but doing it to challenge your mind... that's just wrong. You know what you little sack of...
"HOUSE!" Wilson yelled from the door as he had walked in on Greg's last sentence. "What the hell is wrong with you? It's like you're incapable of acting like an adult for more than an hour."
House watched as James walked in the room towards him and then glanced at Dr. Roberts with a glare. "He started it," barked out bitterly.
Wilson rolled his eyes, "Sure, now get changed into your gown. I don't have all day."
House hated how much it hurt that James didn't believe him or even care enough to see who was right. He swallowed, "Find someone else."
Dr. Roberts was at a loss as he observed the two.
"No, I'm not going to find someone else. He's more than capable and until today he'd never even met you, so he'll be the most objective person I can find." Wilson argued.
"I don't care, I don't want him on this case," House complained.
Wilson tried to keep his temper in check. "Listen to me. I'm not getting someone else, that's final. You've pissed off almost ever employee in this God forsaken hospital and he's the least likely to slip you something that will kill you, so you're just going to have to make friends."
Dr. Roberts eyes got big as the pieces of this puzzle started fitting into place. Dr. House wasn't there to help with the case, he was the case. He could feel his stomach tighten as his nerves were on edge.
House swallowed as he rolled into the prep room for the doctors, "Whatever you say DOCTOR Wilson," he said loudly and then the door closed behind him.
Wilson sighed and looked to Dr. Roberts, "Sorry about that, he's a difficult patient."
Dr. Roberts looked at him with still shocked features, "You want me to help you treat HIM?!"
Wilson glared at Dr. Roberts with dark eyes, "What do you mean by 'HIM'?"
"Nothing bad," Roberts answered quickly as he was almost positive he heard a growl in there somewhere. "It's just... he's a legend, and I'm not even the second best Oncologist in this hospital."
Wilson's death glare vanished, "You can't look at it like that. He's just a patient, like anyone else."
Roberts sighed, "I know that's the way it's suppose to be, but he's not and you know it. If he dies everything we did is going to be analyzed with a fine tooth comb."
"I know that," Wilson said, "but if everyone looked at it like that then no one would treat him and he'd definitely die. We can't concentrate on 'what happens if he dies', we have to just stay focused on making sure he lives."
Roberts sighed as he knew Wilson was right, "Do you know what we're dealing with?"
"Burkitt Lymphoma, stage four," Wilson answered as he watched House roll back out in a gown. "You need help getting on the table?" he asked House.
House narrowed his eyes on James, still feeling hurt and a little pissed, "No," he answered stubbornly as he rolled up to the table and stood up quickly grabbing the edge of the table for support.
Dr. Roberts frowned as he could tell House was very under weight and his knees seemed unsteady and looked to Wilson wondering if they should help, but Wilson shook his head no slightly. He looked back to see House breathing deeply as he slowly managed to get on the table, hissing through his teeth as he moved his right leg up.
"It's cold," House gave as an excuse for the hiss.
Wilson knew it wasn't the reason as he sighed, "We'll be right back, need to get prepped." He waited for House to say something for a little while but realized it wasn't going to happen and walked into the prep room with Dr. Roberts following.
"How much does he weigh?" Dr. Roberts asked as he took off his jacket and got ready.
Wilson swallowed looking into the room at Greg, "A hundred and twenty-one pounds," he said softly.
"Jesus," Roberts said as he looked through the glass as he got ready. "So, what all are you wanting to do today?"
Wilson finished up drying his hands and putting on gloves, "A PICC IV, put in a catheter and a feeding tube, then we'll start his first dose of chemo." He said looking back at Roberts.
Roberts nodded in agreement but when Wilson reached the door to go back in he spoke up, "I was being a dick to him," he said in a low soft voice and swallowed as Wilson looked at him. "There is a reason I've never worked with Dr. House, I've been extremely careful to never have to because of how I've heard he treats other doctors, and when I saw him I assumed I'd be working with him on a case." He said with his head lowered as he tried to explain his actions some.
Wilson sighed, "I'm not going to lie. He can be an ass and he'll point out any mistake you make, but he isn't as bad as people make him sound." He said looking through the glass at House laying on the table. "A big part of the problem is that everyone is so hostile towards him from the beginning because their expecting him to be so horrible to work with that they force him to hostile back. I've worked with him a lot and hardly ever has he blown up in face about a case... and if he did, he was always right, it just wasn't something I was wanting to hear."
"I know this isn't my place, you're the head of Oncology and I'm sure Dr. Cuddy wouldn't be letting you treat him if she didn't think you could handle it, but isn't he your friend?" Dr. Roberts asked.
"Yes, he's my best friend," Wilson admitted looking at Roberts.
Roberts swallowed, "Then why are you treating him instead of another doctor?"
"He asked me to and if there is one thing you'll learn about House early on, it's that he rarely asks anyone to help him. So when he does..." Wilson's voiced faded off.
"You two going to get in here anytime today?!" House yelled loud enough for both of them to hear him clearly. They exchanged meaningful glances and walked into the room. "Nice of you two to join me. I was beginning to think I might have scared young Jason off." House said watching as Roberts looked to Wilson.
Wilson walked up to House looking down at him, "Can you try playing nice for me, just this once?"
"I'm sorry for how I spoke to you before Dr. House, I was out of line," Roberts said truthfully.
House sighed and rolled his eyes, "Wilson, I don't need you defending me to other doctors. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Fine, then lets get on with the procedures then," Wilson said professionally. "We need to put in the PICC IV, the catheter and the feeding tube."
"Hey, I never agreed to a feeding tube," House said stubbornly as he sat up.
"Really?" Dr. Roberts said and both Wilson and House looked at him making him feel anxious. "It's just... you need the feed tube Dr. House. That's obvious." He said wincing some as he was afraid of House's reaction.
House swallowed as he looked to James with a look that said 'I don't look that bad, do I?', and Wilson looked away. House looked under the gown as his emaciated body gritted his teeth, then laid back down. "Fine," he said staring at the ceiling.
Wilson let out a relieved sigh, "Okay, I'll but in the catheter while your out then, so you wont have to be awake through that. You ready?"
Dr. Roberts felt bad as he could tell Dr. House hadn't realized how obvious it was that he dangerously underweight. He wanted to apologize for it but didn't know if he should since House was at least agreeing to the feeding tube now.
"I'll be ready as soon as he's gone," House said looking to Jason who looked surprised.
"He's on this case now, House. He's staying," Wilson said firmly.
"Hey, I'm sorry if I hurt your feeling by pointing out how underweight you are but.." Roberts started and House glared at him while Wilson shook his head.
House interrupted, "You didn't hurt my feelings," he said glaring dagger in the man. "I don't know what Dr. Wilson told you about me but I'm not that fucking fragile. Now get out," he said in a deep low voice.
Dr. Roberts started walking backwards. "Roberts you're staying!" Wilson said with irritation and then looked House in the eyes. "He's staying, he's your doctor so suck it up and quit acting like a child about this."
"He doesn't need to be here, you can do this without him," House said back with irritation.
Wilson scoffed, "He's not here because I can't do this on my own, he's here as another doctor on the case, so I have another set of eyes. We talked about this, now let him do his job."
"Yeah and I bet he'll take some lovely pictures too," House said bitterly as he glance at Roberts and then looked back to James.
"Why would I take pictures?" Roberts said looking to Wilson who was looking at House with concern.
Wilson suddenly knew what this was about, "Greg, he isn't going to take any pictures. I'll be right here."
"I don't trust him," House said back and grabbed Wilson's arm. "I don't trust him!"
Wilson wanted to hold him so bad, to comfort him and tell him it would be okay, but he looked away instead. He hated seeing that fear in Greg's eyes. "I'll be right here, I promise... but Greg you're going to have to trust him, or least trust me enough that I wouldn't have brought him in on this if I didn't trust him."
"You trust everyone. You're the nice guy, remember." House said in a more calm voice.
Wilson smiled sadly as he looked back at him, "Yeah, but I promise you he won't take any pictures and I'll be here the whole time. Trust me," he said in a pleading voice.
House thought about it and let go of his arm, then looked back to Roberts. "Fine he can stay, but if even hear of there being pictures of my leg or anything, then I'll personally make him wish he was never born." He said watching the man as he laid back down then looked at the ceiling.
"Okay," Wilson said and back soothingly and put House out then looked to Dr. Roberts. "I know I don't have to say this, but I am for his sake. Whatever you see and do in this room, stays in this room, alright."
"Of course," Dr. Roberts said started opening up the equipment.
Wilson took off House's gown and swallowed as the scars seem to stand out from the lights and draped it back over him. "We'll do the IV first," he said.
Roberts remained silent through the short procedure and when they were done Wilson took off the gown and put it to the side. "I'll do the catheter and when I'm done I'll let you do the feeding tube, so you can go a head and sterilize where you'll be cutting."
Dr. Roberts nodded and looked over to House's body. The more he looked the more concerned he got as he saw scars over scars on the man. Some he recognized as cigar burns, gun shots, and surgery's to fix broken bones, but others he could only imagine what had been done.
Wilson looked at him after a few minutes of noticing the man wasn't moving and notice he was looking at Greg's scars. "We need to get this done with quickly since we're already behind schedule," he said wondering what the man was making of what he was seeing.
"Yeah," Dr. Roberts said and started prepping for putting in the feeding tube, but couldn't help looking at the scars along the way and noticing that they looked to be old scars. When Wilson was done with the catheter he put in the feeding tube, checking over his work three times before he finally relented that everything was perfect. "That's the last of it then," he said as he made his way to the prep room to clean up.
Wilson hadn't expected Dr. Roberts to be so quiet since he was know for being very friendly.
"So, is he paranoid or does he have trust issues?" Dr. Roberts said as he looked at the now covered man on the table thru the glass.
Wilson glanced at Roberts and then looked at his hands as he washed up, "Trust issues, but he has his reasons. Nurses have taken pictures of the scar on his leg and e-mailed them to other members of the Hospital before."
Dr. Roberts nodded and then looked over to Wilson as he dried his hands, "Any other reason he might have trust issues?"
Wilson chewed his lip some as he could tell that Roberts was on the right track. "I don't know, he doesn't talk about his past that much."
Roberts sighed, "I counted eight old bullet wounds. I was only aware that he was shot twice."
Wilson swallowed remembering the first time he'd noticed them. It had been while he was helping take care of him after the infarction and when he'd asked about them House had told him it wasn't relevant. It had taken him a couple of months until he pushed the issue again and had been told not to bring it up again, and he hadn't. It had become one of those things he just didn't notice anymore because they'd always been there and had always been off limits. "I don't see what that has to do with his cancer." He said flatly.
"Why am I here?" Roberts asked with irritation.
Wilson raised an eyebrow, "You're here as a doctor, like I said before, I want another pair of eyes on the case."
"Well as a doctor I'm use to getting a detailed medical history of the patient, but obviously you don't want to share his medical history with me and he doesn't want me here at all. It's beginning to feel like I'm just here to take the credit if something goes wrong." Roberts replied with a frown.
Wilson narrowed his eyes on Roberts, "I didn't answer your question because I don't know the answer, not because I'm keeping something from you, but you're more than welcomed to ask him yourself. When I first took over as House's PCP I looked into his hospital administration files, since we have to list a complete medical history to get insurance and be hired. If I remember correctly it stated that he'd had surgery to reduce the size of his over large penis because of balancing issues and that he was part cyborg. But if you think you can crack him then be my guest," Wilson said still feeling offended.
1111111111111111
Wilson and Roberts didn't talk as they moved House onto one of the newer hospital beds with a blanket covering him completely and got into the elevator. Wilson quickly pressed the button for the second floor.
Roberts noticed but didn't say anything, even thought the patients for Oncology were on the fifth floor. But when the doors opened and Wilson took a left off the elevator instead of a right he was too curious to keep quite. "Dr. Wilson, the patient rooms on this floor are the other way."
"House is going to be having his treatments in his office," Wilson said realizing exactly how ridiculous it sounded and looked back to Roberts who had a hold of the foot of the bed. "He talked Dr. Cuddy into it, so it's not my decision." He said as he was still on the fences of if it would help or hinder Greg, but start pulling the bed to the office anyway.
Roberts had never heard of such a thing but if Dr. Cuddy had approved it he knew it was out of his hands and pushed the foot of the bed following Wilson. They stopped at the double doors of the DDX room and a younger beautiful woman opened the doors, putting the stoppers down, so they stayed open for them to wheel the bed in.
"How is he?" Cameron said softly, as if afraid to wake House up, to Wilson.
Wilson gave her a sympathetic smile, "The procedures went well, no problems. I put in a PICC IV, a catheter and a feeding tube."
Cameron looked back at lifeless figure under the covers and pulled the blanket down off his head and bit her lip as she stroked his cheek finding it a little odd that he was actually clean shaven. "He's right, we're idiots," she said with a frown. "We saw he wasn't eating and I could tell he was losing weight in his face. We should have done something."
Roberts was fascinated by woman's reaction, from what he'd heard everyone hated House but it was obvious that this woman didn't feel that way. Actually her reactions reminded him a lot of a more romantic relationship, not like a spouse but maybe House was dating her.
"Don't do that, this isn't your fault Allison," Wilson said putting a hand on her shoulder. "This didn't have anything to do with the stomach tumors. Right now we just need to focus on getting him better."
Cameron looked up with moist eye, "You're right James, thanks," she said and leaned down putting a kiss on House forehead then smiled sadly at Wilson. "Don't tell him I did that, I'll never hear the end of it."
Wilson was conflicted, part of him found the gesture sweet, but another part of him wanted to tell her that Greg was his and to quit touching him. He swallowed, "I wont tell him," he said part of him wondering how long they were going to keep their new relationship a secret.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't even notice you standing there. I'm Dr. Cameron, one of Dr. House's fellows," Cameron said finally noticing the other man in the room.
Dr. Roberts smiled, she was very pretty, "Hello, I'm Dr. Roberts. Dr. Wilson just recently asked me to help with this case. It's nice to meet you."
Cameron's face dropped some as she quickly looked to Wilson, "I thought everything was going well, is there something wrong?"
"No," Wilson assured her. "It's just that since Greg and I are friends I thought it would be helpful to have a pair of eyes on the case that were more objective. It's just a precaution, Cameron. Everything is going to be fine."
Cameron swallowed and nodded, "Let me check on if they're done cleaning the office," she said and opened the oversized door to see Chase vacuuming while Foreman was wiping the dust off the bookcases.
"We're almost done," Foreman said loudly over the vacuum and then his eyes stopped on the hospital bed, a bit of conflict was on his face for a brief moment and then he went back to work.
It was five minutes when both the men were done and walked into the DDX room. Wilson took the liberty of introducing them. "Dr. Roberts is going to be helping me treat House," he said to them and then looked at Roberts. "Dr. Roberts this is Dr. Chase and Dr. Foreman, they are House's other two fellows. His team will be acting as his nurses to ensure he gets the best care."
"Well that's very admirable of you. I can't say I know of a lot of fellows that would offer to take time away from their normal practices to take care of their head of department." Roberts said with a warm smile at their dedication to the man.
Foreman looked to Wilson, who hadn't really given them an option but Chase spoke up. "We'll still be taking on patients for the Diagnostics department but we'll make sure that his care is first priority, considering all he's taught us and done for us, it's the least we can do." He said with emotion as he looked down at House.
Roberts could tell Chase had meant every word of what he said and it made him realize that there must be a lot more to the man than he'd heard. His first indication had been that House had actually seemed scared of trusting him, then the scars, and now how much the man meant to his fellows. There was obviously something deeper to the man that most of the Hospital either ignored or was privileged enough to see. "It's nice to hear you say that Dr. Chase, it's nice to know he has support during this. The treatments for Burkitt Lymphoma isn't easy and I'm sure he'll appreciate his team being there for him."
Foreman smiled some, knowing that even if House did appreciate it that they would never hear those words come from his mouth. Instead they would probably hear the words idiots, morons and imbeciles thrown their way.
Cuddy walked in to see everyone standing around the hospital bed and softly walked in looking down at the man of the hour. She smiled sadly as she looked up to Wilson, "You put in a feeding tube."
Wilson nodded, "Yeah, there's no way he can eat the amount of calories he needs to in order for his body to have the energy to fight this like it needs too, and considering how underweight he was... it was the only logical choice."
Cuddy blinked some to try to keep the moisture out of her eyes. "It was the right the call. What is his weight at the moment?"
Wilson didn't seem to want to answer the question as he looked around at the team but Dr. Roberts knew that it was best they know so they could keep an eye on it. "121," he announced.
Houses team looked startled as they looked to Wilson who nodded with a frown and then looked to their mentor. Foreman for the first time felt a bit of fear run through him as he looked at House. "Jesus, I didn't think he was that bad off," he said out loud to himself, not even thinking about the rest of the people in the room.
"Let's see what has been done with his office," Cuddy said and walked into the room to see that they had moved the desk against the wall by the door to the hall and that the filing cabinets had been stacked on top of one another and placed by the desk. His bookcases had also been moved so that they left the entire side of the room by the windows empty. She nodded, "Thank you, this will work perfectly," she said and they wheeled him in and plugged up the bed. She looked around at all of the faces and gave them a sad smile.
"I know you must all be wondering why I would grant House such a... well insane request." She said looking at them all glance from one another. She swallowed, "And believe me I know it sounds insane to let him still practice medicine and use his office as a hospital room, but House isn't typical." Cuddy said and chuckled a little as the rest of the people in the room smiled back. "Not even a little. He's... he's special." She said softly with moist eyes. "Considering how little he really talks about himself I'm sure most of you don't know this but I first met him in college at John Hopkins." Everyone looked at her with interest. "When I first met him he looked at me and told me stuff about myself that not even my parents knew, some stuff I hadn't even realized about myself. I remember wondering how he could see so much and feeling irritated because I couldn't tell anything about him. Of course I asked around about the odd boy in the book store and my ear was full of tales of pranks, brilliance and adventure, but the one thing no one seemed to know was anything personal about him." She said with a frown, "After twenty years I still don't know him that well personally, but there are some things I've learned. I know that even though he doesn't say it, he cares about people, and the people in this room the most." She said looking to his team members and Wilson. "I know that he would stop at nothing to save everyone's life in this room, and it wouldn't just be for the puzzle, it would be because he loves you." Cuddy said looking at them and tear fell from her eye that she quickly wiped away and Wilson put a hand on her arm. "Dr. House isn't just the best doctor I have in this hospital, he's a person I consider to be a good friend. He's always there if you need him, not always comforting in the traditional way, but he's insightful and always truthful. He'll tell you when you're wrong and he'll defend the people he cares about even if it means taking the blame himself." She said looking to Chase who's was trying to keep tears out of his eyes as he remember how House had taken the punishment for his actions when his father died. "He is a man of values and being there for the ones you care about, even if it risks everything for him, is one he's always stood behind." She said looking to Foreman who frowned as he thought about the length House had been willing to go to, to save his life. "I know he isn't the easiest man to work for or with and he can be an ass, which I believe we've all told him several times, along with calling him stubborn, cold, callas, and a jerk. But even with the difficulty he can bring, I can say for me, and I believe everyone in this room, that he's improved our lives, and now we get the chance to return the favor." Cuddy said with a smile, "I know these next couple of months are going to be hard and even if everyone does everything perfectly, he might not beat this." She notice Wilson turned away from the group and frowned. "Either way, I want these to be some of the best months of his life because he deserves that for all he's done. When you get irritated or tired of him, please remember what all he'd done for each of us and think about the how he's impacted your life. This is going to be a long road for us but if we're lucky, in several months he might be limping these halls, calling us idiots and his patients morons, cancer free."
"Oh shut up Cuddy," House said as he opened his eyes. "You practicing for the eulogy already? Can't even wait until they kill me with their incompetence?" He asked with a smirk and coughed.
Cameron quick ran to get him some water, while Cuddy gave him a playful smile. "Just trying to remind them of your better traits so one of them doesn't end up killing you because of how much of an ass you can be." She informed him.
House searched her eyes and suddenly looked disgusted, "Did you... cry? Tell me you didn't... that's just pathetic."
Cuddy's smile fell as she looked at him, "It's pathetic for someone to care about you, or for someone to actually show emotion over it?"
House felt awkward as he could see how worried she was and looked away, "I'll be fine and if I'm not worrying wont help."
She knew him well enough to know that was an apology and sighed softly. "I've got some work to finish up but I'll be back up here when they start the chemo, try to behave yourself."
House was pleased she'd let the emotional stuff go and looked back at her, staring at her breasts. "I would ask you to come back with a lower cut shirt, but I don't think that's possible."
Cuddy rolled her eyes, "I would tell you to stop deluding yourself that I do it for you, but it wouldn't help," she said as she walked out and House smiled at her.
Cameron ran back in with a glass of water that she handed to House, "Here," she said making sure to keep her face neutral.
House looked to her and nodded his approval then drunk a good bit of water and put the rest on the bedside table that she moved to the side of his bed. His eyes looked over to the rest of team, James and Roberts who were all just watching him and sighed loudly, "Alright, you guys need to get us a patient," he said gesturing to Chase and Foreman, "and that goes for you too," he said looking to Cameron. "I'll bellow if I need something. The grown up need to talk."
The team reluctantly left and closed the door behind them.
Wilson looked to Jason and handed him a file. "This has all his latest scans and work ups in it, along with the treatments we'll be using. I want you to make a copy for his team and get familiar with the case. We'll start his first dose of Chemo in an hour or so. I'll page you." He said and with that Roberts left out the door to the DDX room.
House watched as he left and looked to James as the door closed, "So, you wanna make out now that the children are gone?" He said feeling a little anxious as he watched James close off the blinds to the DDX room and the hall, then lock the door to the hall.
Wilson moved a chair to the side of the bed and sat down heavily and sighed as he leaned his head down then rested it on the mattress of the bed.
House chewed his lip some, unsure of what he should do. He could tell that James was worried and wanted to comfort him, but wasn't sure what he'd be okay with at the hospital. He tentatively put a hand on his shoulder, even though he really wanted to stroke his hair. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.
Wilson sat up half laughing and half sobbing, "Oh I don't know what could be wrong. It's not like I get reminded every hour of the day that you could die by someone. It's not like that would be worrisome to someone." He said with moist eyes.
House frowned, "Cuddy's and idiot, I'm not going to die," he said pissed that she'd upset his James.
"It's not just her, and worst of all they're right, you know," He said looking at Greg's hand. "I could lose you and I don't know if I can handle that."
House swallowed feeling uncomfortable, he knew he should say something, but didn't know what to say. It was true that he could die, and statistically the odds where that he would. "I'm sorry," he said softly not knowing what else he to say.
Wilson scoffed, "You're an ass you know that? All this time we've been friends and if you'd told me how you felt before... then we'd have had more time together. Then Tritter would have never been able to blackmail you and..." he said as his voice cracked and he looked down.
"And what? Then I wouldn't have gotten cancer and we might not be in this situation?" House questioned as he watched James meet his eyes. "You know that's not how it works. This would only be harder if we'd be in a relationship for a year or two and you forget that you were married then."
"So," Wilson retorted even though he knew House had a point.
House sighed, "James, I want you to be my doctor, but if you can't I'll understand."
Wilson shook his head, "It isn't being your doctor that's hard."
House looked at the ceiling, "Then leave me, that's what you want to hear right? That's it's fine if you bail and I'll be okay."
Wilson felt the prickle of tears in his eyes as he shook his head, "No, I can't. Not now that I've just gotten to know you and feel so much for you. I couldn't even if I tried, it would break both of us," he said honestly as he looked to Greg.
House looked back at him with frustration, "Then I'm at a loss. I don't know what to say or do that will help comfort you. I love you, but yes I could die and you know that better than anyone."
Wilson sighed, "I don't even know what you'd want me to do if you died."
House adjusted his bed so that he was sitting upright. "I'd want you to move on and find someone else to love. I'd want you to have some kids... actually there was something I was meaning to talk to you about."
Wilson was about to explain Greg that he'd meant he didn't know what House would want him to do with his body, but Greg had intrigued him. "What?"
"Have you ever had your sperm tested?" House asked casually.
"What? No, why would I?" Wilson asked surprised by the question.
"It was just wondering if you had since you want to have kids." House explained. "I was talking to Cuddy about what you'd said about your mom thinking you were impudent..."
"Jesus, Greg, I'm not impudent," Wilson said with irritation.
House sighed, "Duh, I think I would have noticed if you had a problem getting it up. But considering how many women you've been with, it is a little surprising you've never had any pregnancy scares or a little jimmy's by accident. I'm just trying to say it's possible your sterile."
Wilson rolled his eyes, "This is great, it's making me feel so much better. Not only am I probably going to lose the love of my life I'm also never going to have children, any other good news you can think to share with me?"
House was getting frustrated, "Jesus you talk about me being an ass! All I'm trying to say is I put some of my sperm back just in case you dick, but nevermind. You can just wallow in your own self pity and be sad and lonely forever if that's what you want."
Wilson's had a hard time seeing Greg as his eyes blurred from the moisture in his eyes. "You... you're leaving me some of your sperm in case you die, so that I could still have a child of yours, in case I'm sterile?" He said with emotion as he tried to keep from crying.
House wasn't sure if James was pissed or happy with him. "You don't have to use it if you don't want to, and it wasn't just in case I die. If I do live through this it's possible that I'll be sterile after the treatments and I just didn't want us to not have the option if we decided we did want a child."
Wilson looked away and cover his eyes as he cried some, it wasn't something that had even crossed his mind during all of this, but even with everything going on Greg had thought of him and their future. He cried harder than he wished he had as his emotions seemed to all come out.
House stared at him with a horrified expression and from time to time would look around as if wishing someone would come in and help. "Hey... like I said you don't have to use it." He said hoping to quiet him down some. "James... stop," he pleaded which only seem to make James cry harder. House swallowed awkwardly as stared at Wilson. "Shhh... it's okay... just... shhh," he said trying to comfort him and get him to stop crying.
Wilson finally got it all out for the most part and smiled as he looked at House with red eyes and a blotchy face. "You're amazing. I can't believe you even thought about that with everything that's going on, and I thought you didn't even want kids."
House shrugged, "I don't right now, but you do."
Wilson almost started crying again but didn't allow himself to. "You are such a liar, you act like you don't care about others and that you don't have a heart but you're the most selfless person I know. Only you would think to do something like that. Thank you so much Greg, I really mean that from the very bottom of my heart. Thank you for loving me so much that you thought about what I'd want during the future even while all of this was going on."
House's eyebrows rose, "So that means you're happy?"
"Yes!" Wilson said back with a laugh, "I'm very happy. You did good Greg."
"So you'll stop crying," House said with narrowed eyes and hope in his voice.
Wilson shook head as he smiled, "They were happy tears, Greg."
"Still," House said watching him.
Wilson laughed, "Yes, okay. I won't cry anymore about it."
"Ever would be nicer, but I guess that will work," House said with a sigh of relief.
Happy Easter everyone, hope that this new chapter was a welcomed present. Also wanted to let you all know that I'm writing another story on here that has House as a child and wanted to encourage you to read it if you like that kind of thing. Please read, review, and enjoy... also let me know of an ideas you might have for this story. Thanks - Nicole