Ch 37

Two o'clock rolled around and House waited impatiently at the elevators for his ride down to the meeting with Cuddy. Wilson stood nervously at his side, anxious to see what House would do to Cuddy. The elevator doors opened and the two men stepped inside. House pressed the button for the ground floor and they descended in silence. The doors sprang open again and both men were surprised when Cameron threw herself into the elevator.

"Oh, God, House! I was so worried. They wouldn't let me see you and Cuddy even had me tailed when I went home to make sure I didn't try to contact you. She seemed to think it was in your best interest. I'm glad you're alright," she said into the front of his now damp shirt. He patted her awkwardly, not knowing how else to react to such an outburst.

"I've…got a meeting," he told her after a moment, still holding the elevator door open with his cane. "Can we talk about this later?"

Cameron reluctantly let go of him and rubbed at her tear streaked cheeks and red rimmed eyes. "Ok. I'll meet you in your office before you go home," she agreed.

House exited the elevator, followed closely by Wilson, leaving the head of the Emergency Room to get herself together in the elevator before going back to work. House didn't even bother to knock when he entered Cuddy's office, nor did he acknowledge the young man that he had talked to earlier about scheduling a meeting. Cuddy was unsurprised, but definitely a little edgy when the diagnostician entered her office looking less than pleased to see her.

"I know what you're going to say," she told him before he could say anything. "And you're absolutely right. I'm sorry. I have to point out, however, that you did overdose on Vicodin, not for the first time. I only tried to help you."

"That's a load of crap!" he retorted. "You know that's a load of crap, but you'll continue to use the excuse anyway because you have to have some medical or administrative reason for not giving me the drugs I needed."

"House, this is a hospital. We have to detoxify patients before prescribing medication that could be harmful to them."

"That's not what this is all about," he replied, dismissing her feeble attempts at rationalizing her actions. "You want to control me. You think I should face my feelings about the death of a team member; fine…tell me so. Don't go off and create this lie about a therapy diary. I don't need your help. I don't want to be fixed."

"You needed that therapy. I only ordered it because the therapist that I hired suggested it. I knew you wouldn't do anything unless I gave you time off of clinic."

"I think I've got the time off of clinic covered," he sneered. "You're little romp with Chase bought me that much."

Cuddy blushed. "Don't bring my love life into this."

"Don't bring my life into your job," he countered. He turned around and would have walked out had Wilson not stopped him.

"Look," he explained as House eyed the hand on his chest suspiciously. "You both have to face the music for what you've done. I think you'll get over this fight in time, but right now you'll have to come to some kind of agreement if you want to work at the same hospital.

"I won't say a word about her love affair if she leaves me the hell alone," House said menacingly. Wilson dropped his hand from House's chest and turned to Cuddy.

"Fine," she said after a moment. "Do what you want…Cameron will love you either way…but do you think that anyone will be able to help you when you really need it if you won't ask?"

"When I ask, you'll come running," House told her. He walked out of her office and after sharing a look with Cuddy, Wilson followed.

"Well that's one problem solved," Wilson pointed out in the elevator. "But what are you going to do about Cameron? She'll want to fix you too, eventually."
"I'm going to date her until such a time as she decides to fix me…then we'll go our separate ways," House replied.

"Someday," Wilson told his friend, "you'll look back and appreciate all that they want to do for you."

"Right now, I'm going back to work," House replied.

The End