Chapter 38

Marianne had tried to act as if House's rejection of her didn't matter. She was bright and cheery around Michael. After all, House was his father and he had to work with him. Their relationship was shaky enough. She didn't want to make it worse.

Since Allison's parents were dead, Marianne was happy to step in and do mother of the bride duties for her. They were looking at a simple and elegant event in three months time. Since they were both so busy with their work, she volunteered to be their wedding planner.

So, instead of moping about their broken relationship, she involved herself in helping to plan Michael and Allison's wedding and tried not to think about House. Except for alone at night.

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House hadn't seen Marianne in a few weeks. He'd been more miserable than usual, but wouldn't talk about it to anyone. He tried to pretend that nothing was wrong.

"Do you want to come over tomorrow and watch wrestling?" House asked Wilson.

"Let me guess: you still haven't made up with Marianne."

"Nothing to make up. We didn't fight. It's just not going to work."

"Right. You meet the girl you've loved for thirty years. It turns out she gave you a son. She's gorgeous and talented. Yeah, why would it ever work with her?"

"She's not the same person she was thirty years ago. I'm not the same person I was thirty years ago. We've changed too much. And my son hates me."

"Well, if you've changed, it's probably for the worst. Because nothing could be worse than this. Whereas she's probably changed for the better. So get to know her again. Court her. You won her once, you could win her again."

"Who says I want to win her?"

Wilson stared at him.

"Let it go." House said, then as Wilson started to open his mouth, added. "I mean it."

"Fine. But don't be surprised if someone else steps in. A beautiful woman like her won't be alone for long."

House just glared at him. Wilson put up his hands is surrender.

"So do you want to come over?"

"I, uh, have plans."

"To do what?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, because if you're washing your clothes, that's just pathetic, but you can do it another time. If you have a date, well…do you have a date?"

Wilson shuffled through papers on his desk, avoiding House's gaze as he said, "As a matter of fact, my plans do involve a woman."

"Sitting with an elderly aunt doesn't count."

"This lady isn't elderly."

"So it's a date?"

Wilson still avoided looking at him, which of course House picked up on. "I guess you could say that."

"Fine." House said, knowing he wasn't going to let it go.

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The next evening, House kept enough distance between his car and Wilson's as he followed his friend. If Wilson had admitted right out to having a date, House would have left it alone, but he had hedged and avoided looking at him. That spelled something he didn't want House to know. Which meant he had to find out what it was.

House started to get a sick feeling when he saw the direction Wilson's car was taking. And when he saw his friend's car parked outside of Marianne's house, his stomach twisted into a knot.

He sat in his car for several minutes, then carefully walked up to the house and peered in the window. What he saw pulled the knot tighter.

Wilson and Marianne were sitting on the sofa. Her back was to the window, but she had her hands in his and he had a tender expression on his face. They talked for a bit. There were glasses of wine on the table next to them. She bent her head as she spoke to him. He reached out and putting his finger under her chin, lifted her face to look at him. They stared at each other, then he said something to her. She fell into his arms and he put them around her.

House started getting angry. He wanted to burst in and punch him in his smug face. But he had let her go. He didn't have any right to her. Still…

As he was pondering this, he saw them rise. Marianne said something to Wilson and he nodded. She walked towards her bedroom and he followed.

House had enough. He turned away and limped back to his car.

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It ate at him all night and the next day when he got to work, he burst into Wilson's office.

"You son of a bitch!" House exploded.

"What – what are you…?"

"I know."

"You know?"

"About Marianne and you? Last night?"

Wilson sat back. "Oh. How?"

"Does it matter? And did you think I wouldn't find out?"

"I know. I told her that you would find out. I wanted her to tell you."

"You could have told me."

"No, I couldn't. It was her decision."

"Like you didn't have a say in it."

"Only as far as going along with what she wanted."

"Oh, yeah, what she wanted."

"Yes, of course, she called me."

House started getting angrier. He didn't believe Marianne could betray him like this. Even though they weren't technically seeing each other, he had thought better of her than this.

Wilson watched his friend get more and more upset. He also seemed angry. Which perplexed him.

"Look, I wanted her to tell you."

"Sure you did."

"Of course I did! I told her to call you. You should have been there."

House just looked at him incredulously. "What?"

"Do you think I wanted to be there with her and not have you there as well?"

"Okay, you needed me? You don't know what to do on your own anymore?"

"Well, of course, I know what to do. Don't I do it with patients all the time?"

House was even more amazed. "I don't know, do you?"

"Of course I do. Checking for lumps is pretty standard for an oncologist."

When Wilson saw House's expression, he stopped.

"Wait a minute, you said you knew why I was there?"

"I thought I did."

"Did you think we were…?"

"Obviously, I was wrong." House said quietly. "Why didn't she come to the hospital?"

"She was afraid that Michael – and you – would find out. She wanted to keep it to herself."

"So what did you find?"

"You know I can't tell you."

"You already did. A lump. I got that. What did you find?"

Wilson sighed. "There's a lump. She's coming in tomorrow for a biopsy."

House tapped his cane on the floor a few times. "Okay.' He said.

"Are you going to be there?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because if she'd wanted me there, she would have told me."

"She doesn't want your sympathy. She doesn't want you to be with her just because of the lump. She wants you to care about her and to be with her because you do."

House was silent, then said, "Guess I would have to care for that to work."

Wilson smirked. "I know you care. You're just too stubborn or stupid to admit it. You were ready to punch me out because you thought I was with her. And why would you think I'd move in on your woman?"

"She's not my woman." House said morosely.

"Yes, she is. You just refuse to admit it."