Here's the latest chapter! We're starting to get towards the end of this story and it'll have a nice little shock to it at the end...I hope! Oh and my apologies if I've drifted a bit in my Houseian snarking - I've been watching a bit of Blackadder lately and I found House drifting more into George which made things a little bizarre when I was writing it. I think I picked it all up and corrected it though.
When Wilson returned just after five he found House lying on the floor behind his desk, headphones on and a fixed, taut expression on his face. He leaned against the desk and waited for the older man to acknowledge him. He had a suspicion he knew what had caused House's current position.
"Rebecca Upjohn?" he said when House finally removed his headphones.
House was silent for a long moment. "About half an hour after the first girl."
Wilson sighed softly. He had long experience in losing patients; it was just something you learned to deal with, if never like, in Oncology. But House had a high survival rate for his patients. He usually managed to solve the problem and send them home. Wilson couldn't remember to last time House had lost two patients in such close proximity to each other and from the same disease.
"The other two?"
"On dialysis," House replied. "For what its worth."
Wilson nodded once. "Ready to leave?"
House was silent then he grunted. "Not much point waiting around here for them to die," he said acidly.
Wilson watched without comment as House levered himself to his feet. "Maybe the CDC will have some answers," he said once House was on his feet.
House snorted. "I'm more worried about the fact that we haven't seen any new cases. The man doing this seems to be working fast. I was expecting another one today."
"I'd be thankful there wasn't a new one," Wilson said honestly as House slowly threw his things in his bag. "Have the police said anything?"
"Nope," House replied.
He slung his bag over his shoulder and gave Wilson an arch look. The younger man returned the look then led the way to the door. They were halfway across the conference room when they saw Cuddy walking down the hall. She pushed the door open and gestured for them to stop; she looked tired and rather harried.
"I've had a call from a Dr Martinson from the CDC," she said briskly. "They'll be here first thing tomorrow morning. He said he'd received the case files but wanted to speak to you and your team as well."
"Wonderful. Be sure to wear that blue suit," House replied with deep sarcasm. "Any other delightful news?"
Cuddy gave him a sharp look. "Make sure you're here," she demanded.
"He'll be here," Wilson said hastily, giving House a nudge towards the door and ignoring the raised eyebrow from Cuddy.
"What was that all about?" House asked as they walked down the corridor. "You denied me the opportunity to play with Cuddy."
"I don't think she's in the mood to play right now," Wilson replied. "You haven't been paying attention this afternoon, have you? Rumours have leaked to the media about the women. She's been fielding calls all day."
House gave his friend a sharp look as they waited for the lift. "Why didn't she say anything?"
"Your ducklings have been shielding you, I think, so I suspect she thinks you already know," Wilson replied with a small smile. "They know as well as I do that you don't often have patients die like this." He cocked his head to one side as the lifts doors opened. "Though to be honest, I'm not entirely sure if they were protecting you from Cuddy or the other way around."
House snorted as they got into the lift. "I've had patients die before."
"But usually not when you know what the answer or at least part of the answer is," Wilson replied.
House waited until the doors had closed before he replied caustically. "Are you expecting me to weep on that expensive suit of yours? Bemoan my fate and curse the heavens."
Wilson merely raised an eyebrow and his lips quirked. "I think I'd call for psych evaluation if you actually did that. Personally I thought it might be best to get you out of here before you start prowling the corridors and frightening the patients." He paused and gave House a look of amusement and what House could only define as sheer mischief and they walked out of the lift towards the front doors. "Though if you want to try life-affirming sex, I'd be all for that too."
House gave Wilson a look that was both a fraction startled and surprisingly predatory then his eyes widened slightly. "Life-affirming sex," he said quietly then he pivoted and headed back to the lift.
"House!" Wilson called after him. When the older man didn't stop, he sighed and followed.
House headed straight up to the room where the third girl, the roommate Susan McIntyre, was lying unconscious. He found Cameron in the room, watching over the woman's dialysis.
"Did we carry out drug tests on any of the women?" he barked, causing Cameron to start.
"Er, no," she stammered after a moment of thought. "Should we have?"
"Can't test her. She got it from the bite," House muttered, looking at Susan McIntyre. "Get a urine sample from the fourth woman and test her for the presence of Rohypnol. And check for injection sites."
With that brusque order, House turned and limped out of the room. Wilson was waiting for him outside but proved he'd heard the conversation when he spoke.
"Rohypnol? You don't think these women got it from having sex?"
"The college girl," House said abruptly as they headed back to the lift. "She and her friend were at a frat party. If this guy was comfortable taking out a twenty-eight year old legal secretary then he's going to look a little out of place at a frat party."
"So you think he was at the frat party?" Wilson said, sounding a little confused.
"He has to have been there," House replied.
"Lots of sex at frat parties," Wilson observed.
"You would know," House retorted. "But in these here modern times there's one thing that tends to be remembered even at drunken frat parties."
"Safe sex," Wilson said with a nod. "The women would most likely have insisted on using a condom. Which knocks out the most common way of transmitting HIV. So, he used the Rohypnol in order to have…unsafe sex?"
"I don't think so," House replied. The lift came to a halt and the two men once again headed towards the exit. "Other than Sarah Hooper, I don't think he had sex with them at all."
"Injection site," Wilson muttered, remembering what House had asked Cameron to look for. "He's knocking them out with Rohypnol and injecting the virus. Damn, that's cold. Why don't you think he had sex with Rebecca Upjohn?"
House opened the passenger door of Wilson's car and got with a grimace. "Because why would a reasonably attractive college girl at party full of reasonably attractive college boys run off and have sex with an older man?"
Wilson got in the car and started it. He shot House an amused look as he pulled out of his parking spot. "Some people like older men."
"Just as well or we'd end up miserable and alone," House replied. "But I think her roommate would have noticed if Rebecca had wandered off with an older man."
"Quite likely," Wilson replied, most of his concentration on driving through the evening traffic. "So he slipped her some Rohypnol…then what? Did her roommate report that she showed some of the effects of that drug?"
"Wouldn't matter," House said. "The Rohypnol would have made her feel tired. She probably told her roommate she wanted to get some fresh air. So the roommate wouldn't have worried when Rebecca disappeared. She would have thought she was either still out getting some fresh air or had…"
"Found someone interesting to talk to," Wilson finished.
"Is that what the kids call it these days?" House said. "Talking to each other. Hey, Wilson, let's talk to each other later."
"Okay," Wilson said glibly, watching House out of the corner of his eye as he drove. He was rewarded by the return of that predatory look he'd seen earlier and he struggled to swallow the smirk that threatened. "I guess the Rohypnol also explains why none of the women remember it happening and why Sarah Hooper was late the next morning."
House grunted. "She probably didn't remember what happened the previous night after they got back to her place. Evidence would have told her she had sex but other than that it just would have seemed like she had a really good night."
"Let's hope the police and the CDC can track down this bastard," Wilson said grimly.
House nodded and the rest of the trip was made in silence. Once they got into House's apartment, the older man dropped his bag by the door and stripped off his jacket, leaving it on top of the bag. He then headed for the kitchen. Wilson rolled his eyes and picked up House's jacket hanging it up with his own in the closet. He left his bag beside House's though and followed the older man into the kitchen, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the collar and top button of his shirt.
"I think I have food," House said when he walked in. The older man had the fridge door open and was peering inside. "But I may be wrong."
"Pizza sounds good to me," Wilson replied.
He waited until House closed the fridge door then slid right into House' personal space. The older man turned in surprise then raised an eyebrow both at Wilson's proximity and the expression on his face. Wilson just grinned and kissed him. House returned the kiss with enthusiasm, wrapping his free arm around Wilson's waist, then he pulled back a fraction.
"If you want pizza that's not the way to go about it," he said, sounding slightly breathless.
Wilson viewed this as partial victory; he was still working towards rendering House inarticulate, he just figured it might take more than just kissing to do that.
"That's a good point," he said as he pulled away, smirking at House's sudden frown. He was about to walk out of the kitchen when he suddenly found himself pinned to the wall by House's cane.
"Ow! House!" he protested, trying to remove the cane from his shoulder.
The older man smirked and lowered the cane before hobbling in to pin Wilson to the wall with his body. "You are turning into a tease," House muttered before leaning in and almost cheerfully ravishing Wilson's mouth.
Wilson didn't bother arguing. Mostly he was just enjoying the kiss but there was a small part of him that was a touch relieved. Apart from that first kiss, he'd initiated most of the contact between them and he'd been starting to worry that House really didn't want this. Wilson threw that latter thought out the window when House suddenly switched from exploring his mouth to trailing soft, biting kisses down his throat. A man who didn't want this wouldn't be doing that.
When House latched onto the soft skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder and bit down, Wilson's head fell back against the wall with a quiet thunk and he moaned. House soothed the mark he'd just made with a quick lick then pulled away from the younger man, ignoring the whimper that emerged from Wilson and smirking.
"Better make sure you keep your collar buttoned up if you don't want any of those pesky awkward questions tomorrow," he said smugly then he limped out of the kitchen muttering, "Now where's that damn phone."
Wilson collapsed against the wall and drew in a deep breath, gently rubbing the new mark on his neck. Okay, he probably deserved that; he had been teasing after all but if House didn't follow up on his actions later on there was going to be trouble. He let out the breath he'd taken and ran a hand through his hair before heading out into the living room.
Wilson woke for a second morning to the sound of House's pager going off and to the feel of the older man's warm and agreeably naked body draped half over him. While he was quite happy about the second part of this burgeoning routine, he could probably do without the first part. It took a few more seconds to register that unlike the previous morning, House hadn't woken up. He reached out with one hand until he found the lamp on the bedside table and he switched it on.
He blinked in the sudden light and looked at House. The older man was deeply asleep, something Wilson both approved of and felt rather smug about. He reached out and grabbed the ringing beeper, silencing it and checking the number. He looked over to see if he could reach the phone without moving. He wanted to avoid that if at all possible. Moving would probably wake House and the older man didn't get enough sleep as it was. He saw the phone was in reach and grabbed it, dialling the number on the pager.
Chase answered and was briefly but politely quizzical about why it was Wilson calling him when he'd paged House. Wilson evaded the question and got the details of why House had been paged.
"Okay, I'll wake him," Wilson said with a sigh. Another woman had been brought in exhibiting the symptoms of Lesch-Nyhan. "We'll be there shortly."
He hung up the phone and put it back on the bedside table before deciding the best method to wake House.
Chase looked at the phone curiously before hanging it up. The young intensivist looked tired and a little ragged. He'd been sleeping in one of the exam rooms in the clinic when the page had come through from the ER. Cameron and Foreman had appeared in the ER shortly after he'd gotten there and he could only assume that they too had not left the hospital and had found their own beds to sleep in. As soon as they'd determined that the young woman did seem to have the same symptoms as their other patients, they admitted her and paged Dr House.
"Did you get hold of him?" Foreman asked as he and Cameron walked into the conference room. The two doctors didn't look much better than Chase.
"Uh, sort of," Chase replied, thinking hard. "Hey, where do you guys keep your pager when you're at home? When you go to bed, I mean."
"On my bedside table, why?" Foreman asked, looking confused.
"Same here," Cameron replied. "So what? I'm sure that's what every doctor does."
"Yeah, I know," Chase said, glancing at the phone again.
"Are you sure you paged House?" Foreman said. "You're acting weird."
"Yeah, I paged him," Chase replied. "Dr Wilson called back."
"Yeah, so?" Foreman said as he slumped down into a chair.
"He sounded like he'd just woken up," Chase added. "And he didn't exactly answer my question about why it was him calling and not House. Now assuming that House leaves his pager where you and I do, what does that say to you?"
Cameron and Foreman stared at him for a long, long moment.
"No way," Foreman said dismissively. "House probably just left his pager out in the living room or something."
Chase affected a dubious expression; to be honest he thought Foreman was right but he was enjoying the reactions of his team mates. Foreman looked stunned but dismissive but it was Cameron who was providing the true entertainment value. You could tell she wanted to believe Foreman but there was obviously a little voice in her mind whispering nasty things to her that made her stop and look slightly betrayed. As Chase watched Cameron did an about face and headed out of the conference room without a word. Once she was well away Chase sniggered, drawing an amused look from Foreman.
"One of these days she's going to realising you're messing with her and there'll be blood on the floor," Foreman said.
"I just can't figure what's actually going on between her and House," Chase replied. "Maybe if I keep poking, I'll get an answer."
"You've been spending too much time around House," Foreman replied. "Wake me up when he gets here, will you?"
Foreman slumped down in his chair and closed his eyes. Chase contemplated doing the same but eventually decided that coffee might be the best option right about now. He wanted to be awake when House arrived, not half asleep.
"House," Wilson said quietly, giving the sleeping man a shake. "Wake up."
House muttered and shifted slightly and Wilson rolled his eyes. How the man could wake the way he did the previous morning yet sleep like the dead today was beyond him. It was possible their activities the previous night might have something to do with it however.
"Greg," Wilson said a little louder.
The seemed to get through to the sleeping man and House's eyes opened slightly.
"Chase paged you," Wilson said. "There's been another woman brought in."
"Delightful," House muttered then he frowned. "I didn't hear my pager."
"You slept through it," Wilson said blandly. "I called."
House rolled off Wilson and sat up with a wince and a slight hiss of pain. He looked back down at his friend with an amused look. "You called? That'll do wonders for those rumours."
Wilson chuckled and sat up, wincing himself when his body reminded him about what they'd done the previous night. "At least this time the rumours will have a ring of truth about them. Besides I hardly think anybody on your team will be that surprised to hear me on the phone. I spend enough time in your office. They'll just make the more normal assumption that I'm hiding from Julie."
House grabbed his cane and got to his feet, limping towards the bathroom. "Which is also true, of course."
Wilson watched the older man limp across the room with an appreciative look. House caught that expression as he opened the door to the bathroom and raised an eyebrow as he raked his gaze up and down what he could see of Wilson. His usual smirk took on a distinct tinge of smug amusement.
Wilson rolled his eyes as he pushed the sheets back and stood, wincing again at the aches last night had given him. "Keep looking at me like that and those rumours will be established as fact."
"Beard burn's a good look on you," House replied over his shoulder as he disappeared into the bathroom.
Wilson froze for a second then gave a resigned sigh. As he too headed for the bathroom, he tried to think up possible explanations for what he was sure he was going to find.
My apologies for the lack of smut, I was planning on it and it's not that I can't write it, it's just that I've never really been able to work out the line between an R or M rating and an NC-17 rating. I may write the "missing scene" from this at a later point and put it up elsewhere - either at my Yahoo group or on LJ possibly.
Oh, and the whole pinning a person to the wall with the cane thing? That actually came from somethng an ex-boyfriend of mine did once, only he used a crutch. A little painful and leaves an interesting bruise but it's kind of kinky too...er, that sort of drifted into the TMI realm, didn't it?