Chapter one: Thanks

"Insufferable. Not to mention completely insane."

"You know you don't mean that." Here we go again. Wilson manages, just manages to hold back an eye roll, lest he give up his cover. And oh, no, he'd be keeping this to himself for as long as humanly possible. After all, it's not everyday he knows something that House doesn't. The sentence even seems strange in his brain, let alone if he were to dare to verbalize the words out loud himself. Even thinking about it with House in the same room feels like a sin. As if he's swearing in church.

Clear mind Wilson. Think of puppies.

"Oh, trust me, I do. Remember that whole thing about me being one of the best diagnostics in the country? Well, I'm diagnosing, and it's crazy." House scrunches his face, flopping onto his couch with dejection. Actually, a considerable amount of dejection. And that thoughtful expression on his face, you know, the one that never leads to anything good.

"What happened?" Lording secrets over House aside, he's genuinely curious about what she's done now to get him in such a mood. Maybe she was singing to the babies in the nursery again.

"I can't tell you."

Wilson pauses, looking up from his feigned interest at the paperwork on his desk. "You… can't tell me?" He raises an eyebrow, more interested now than ever. The pen is set down on the desk.

House groans sharply in annoyance. "Don't set your pen down, I really can't tell you."

"Oh, now you have to tell me." Wilson stands up from his desk to get closer to the spectacle, admiring the pinched face of his friend like a child seeing a gorilla clapping in a zoo for the first time.

House glares up at him. "I would but, oh yeah, there's that thing called patient confidentiality." The man sniffs, suddenly rising up from his sprawled position on the couch, absently rubbing his leg.

"Patient.. confidentiality…" Wilson mutters in awe, like a newborn infant. Kass, you goddamn miracle worker.

"Are you going to repeat everything I say? Because if so, this is going to get old, fast."

"So she's.." Now that's a thought. Wilson pinches his eyes, really considering it for a moment. Sure, the odd scrubs can be a bit much sometimes, the randomly breaking out into song, giving her shoes to strangers on the street, spending thousands on surgeries when people can't afford them themselves…

Wilson sighs. Suddenly it's all so clear. The murky waters have cleared. For somebody so smart, he really can be so stupid. "House, she's not crazy. She's just… kind."

"Kind?" House scoffs, popping a vicodin almost in contempt. "Yeah, she's kind. Kind of a pain in my ass. 'Thanks.' Thanks, she says!"

The man is raving now, muttering under his breath and Wilson can only turn around with a sigh, hiding his brief smile. House in love, get a load of that.

Tangerine

He's been wrong before.

He narrows his eyes as she laughs, carefree as ever. Grandma over there is just sucking up the attention, patting the woman's arm as if Kass is her own personal second coming of Christ.

He's been wrong before. Noted, he's never hoped to be wrong before. That's new territory. Huh.

It's not strange for him to hope to be wrong. It would make his life a whole lot easier if he was. Do you know how hard it is to find a competent, only marginally unbearable nurse these days?

Then again..

Thanks.

The word rings through his ears and he grits his teeth, crushing the french fry between his fingers with resentment. 'Thanks'? Who the hell says Thanks?

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Unfortunately it's surprisingly difficult to drown out your inane chatter." He quips as Wilson raises an eyebrow, following his previous line of sight.

"Touchy. Why do you keep staring at Kass?"

"Who said I was staring at Kass?" House plops the fry into his mouth, loudly smacking his lips. "Haven't you heard? Wrinkles are so in right now."

Wilson rolls his eyes, amused. "Right. As if I'm supposed to believe that."

House shrugs, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "You clearly haven't seen the girdle granny's currently rocking under that floral monstrosity. Woof."

"Oh, that is just disgusting. Some of us are actually trying to eat, you know, rather than mutilating my food and leering at elderly women."

A passing couple send Wilson judgemental stares, having just managed to catch the end of that sentence apparently. His mouth opens but no futile explanation manages to come out and he shrinks in his seat a bit with a sigh as they walk off. "Shut up."

House's smirk is telling. "Hey, no judgment here, you sly dog."

Wilson mutters under his breath, missing his side glance back, towards Kass gently holding the grandma's hands within her own with a soft smile.

Thanks.

House looks away, eating another fry.

I don't even know why I'm surprised.

Tangerine

"Cleaning, cleaning, cleanie cleanie, clean clean."

"It's terminal."

The rag slows, before stopping completely. Kass blinks, turning around, her humming coming to an abrupt halt.

It takes her a moment to collect herself. "What?"

"You need another word for it? Fine. Incurable. Untreatable. Inoperable. Fatal… shall I keep going?" House taps his cane restlessly at the end of his definition spiral. Though his eyes don't leave her own until she nods, glancing around the room with realization, the fluorescents suddenly brighter than usual.

"Oh."

Oh.

"Oh." House responds, just as quietly. And gone is the usual, well, Housiness. Being honest, she can't really recognize the man in front of her right now.

Well..

She looks down at the rag, rolling her hand to look at her palm. It's perplexing how quickly everything can suddenly feel so.. foreign.

Glancing back up, she smiles, and it's dimply and feels wrong. "Thanks."

Tangerine

Of course it's her.

The woman who sings to babies even though they'll never remember it, remember her. The type of person who hums stupid cleaning songs and wears ridiculous socks because it makes people smile.

The type of person to give the coat off her back to a freezing man who wouldn't look at her twice if she was in their position.

The type of person who still thanks him after being given the most unprofessional diagnosis. But let's be honest here, it was a death sentence and he just slapped her in the face with it.

And she thanked him for it.

He really should be asking, why wouldn't it be her? Why wouldn't it be literal sunshine incarnate?

House will forever stand by the one simple fact that, and no, that doesn't mean he suddenly has integrity, it just means he knows an absolute truth.

Life isn't fair.