Title: Evening At Luigi's, Part 4a

By: lbc

Pairing: House/Wilson

Rating: M

Genre: slash

Note: Part 4 completes the story.

Summary: Wilson gets more bad news

James Wilson was recovering. The pain in his abdomen was considerably less. He was off all the machines, and his need for pain medicine was infrequent, but that didn't help the dread and uncertainty that he felt down deep.

When he had heard Lisa Cuddy say that Dr. Greg House had resigned, he had tried to get out of bed and head over to House's apartment. Unfortunately, he was still hooked up to some equipment and didn't get very far. It was pretty embarrassing when the 110 pound Lisa Cuddy was able to subdue and return the ailing James Wilson to the recently departed bed.

Wilson continued to gasp for several minutes as nausea, pain, and exhaustion all vied for domination in his body. On top of it all, he had to endure Cuddy's tirade and threats to tie him down physically if he tried that again. Wilson's brown eyes blazed at the small woman, but his gasping voice did little to intimidate her.

Cuddy maintained that House's note had given no cause for his decision. Yes, she had tried to phone the man and had even gone to his apartment to see him. There had been no answer. When Drs. Chase and Foreman had heard about the resignation, they too had bearded the lion's den but had been unsuccessful. No one knew if Allison Cameron had visited the recently departed, and she wasn't talking.

Through all of Cuddy's tirade, Wilson laid there, gritting his teeth and planning the demise of that scruffy faced, caustic-tempered hellion who had made Wilson's life miserable for almost 20 years.

Finally, Lisa Cuddy wound down and departed, giving orders to one and all, in Wilson's hearing to keep watch over the maniac in room 231.

That had been 3 days ago. There had still been no contact with Greg House, and no one had seen his limping body, although several people, supposedly in the know, swore they saw a manifestation of his cane, beating at Edward Vogler's parking place sign, until that too disappeared.

Meanwhile, James Wilson waited, but he wasn't sure for what. He still had visitors, but the length of their visits lasted less and less as Wilson's temper grew shorter. No one at the hospital could honestly recall, in living memory, James Wilson being so short of civility as he was after learning of Greg House's seeming abandonment.

A week and a half after the shooting, Wilson was, once again, demanding to be released, threatening to sign his own release papers, and enduring another visit from the ducklings: this time all three of them.

They seemed to be at loose ends since their overseer or whatever House was, was no longer there to make their lives interesting and often miserable.

"Why don't you go pound on House's door again? He has to be inside. Maybe he ran out of Vicodin and is incapacitated," demanded Wilson.

Eric Foreman raised his eyebrows, "Are you kiddin', Doc? The pharmacist swore that House got a full load just before the heavy stuff came down. He's got enough for a month or more."

Chase in his Aussie accent quickly chimed in, "I think you could have found a better phrase than 'full load', Foreman. He does give us a lot of crap though. Been kind of peaceful without him."

Allison Cameron scrunched up her face into a grimace, a look that she seemed to have a lot when she was around her colleagues. "Maybe Dr. House just needs to be alone."

"And how would you know, dear? Besides, you don't exactly practice what you preach, do you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Saw you goin' into his apartment building once when I tried to see him."

Wilson laid there stunned. In a whisper, he asked Cameron, "Were you able to see him?"

Cameron's look of consternation said a lot then with a slight whine, she replied, "Well, not the first time."

"You mean you have seen him? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well, he asked me not to. I didn't stay very long; we just talked for a little while, and then I left."

Cameron continued to defend herself, but James Wilson was no longer listening. He had teased House about having a crush on Cameron, but now it looked like it was true. He could sit and talk to that . . . that female, but he couldn't even stop by and see if his friend was all right.

Wilson's thoughts were interrupted when he heard Chase jibe Cameron with the words, "Well, if you're so close to him, why don't you go back over there and ask him why he resigned?"

By this time, Allison Cameron was totally fed up with being the target. Losing her temper, she allowed it to flare up and burst out with, "I don't have to ask him; he's already told me!"

The room became silent; Cameron had the grace to blush and look embarrassed as she realized what she had said. Her face took on a look of sympathy and regret as she turned to Wilson. "I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to say anything. I promised to keep my mouth shut."

Wilson's beautiful brown eyes looked desolate but soon hardened. If House wants her, fine, but what has that got to do with me?

Foreman and Chase, almost as one, queried, "What are you talking about? What aren't you supposed to talk about?"

In her best, soft girlish voice, full of regret and sympathy, Allison Cameron replied, "I'm sorry, Dr. Wilson, but I'm only repeating what Dr. House said. I asked him if he was going to come back to PPTH, and . . . well . . . he hesitated a minute and then said, "Not if Dr. Wilson is there."

No one saw the look of glee in Cameron's eyes since both Chase and Foreman were staring at each other in amazement. James Wilson had closed his eyes, in despair.

End of part 4a