Title: When Life Gives You Lemons
Relationships: All friendship
Rating: T/M
Warning: Nothing too bad. Mild language I guess…
Spoilers: Season 1
Disclaimer: I am not making any profit from this fan fiction, all recognizable characters belong to FOX and all of the others belong to me.
A/N: Please review! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Responses at the end.
Chapter 2: Like AlwaysI want so badly to believe that there is truth, that love is real,
And I want life in every word to the extent that it's absurd,
I know you're wise beyond your years,
But do you ever get the feeling,
That your perfect verse is just a lie you tell yourself to help you get by?
That you tell yourself to help you get by…
-The Postal Service
"Greg!" Wilson called, following his friend out of the cafeteria.
"Bug off you homo," House called back but stopped to wait for Wilson.
Wilson turned pink when some nurses stared, knowing he was going to hear a little gossip. "I'll come by around ten," he informed and started walking with House to the elevator.
"Now they're going to think we're together," House said, getting into the elevator.
Wilson just rolled his eyes and gave House a pointed look. "Like you care."
"I do, actually," House said, faking hurt.
Wilson snickered. "How're the cases?"
"Boring. We've figured everything out and everyone is getting better," House replied. "It sucks, really."
"Oh, yes, it really sucks when patients start to get better," Wilson replied mockingly, getting out of the elevator as the doors opened.
House grinned a little. "You sure you don't want to go out and get drunk?"
"Yeah," Wilson replied. "Why?"
"Curious," House replied.
Wilson looked his friend over as they walked towards House's conference room and was slightly shocked to see how tired Greg looked.
"Stop undressing me with your eyes," House taunted, walking into the conference room and making Cameron and Foreman stare.
"Oh shut up," Wilson snapped. "It's getting old."
"You're sick," Foreman said, getting up to leave.
House ignored him as he left and looked at Cameron. "How's the guy doing?"
"Which one?" Cameron asked looking confused.
"The old one," House replied.
"He's leaving tomorrow," Cameron answered. "He's got strict orders not to eat a lot of salt."
"See what I've been doing?" House said to Wilson. "I've been diagnosing high blood pressure."
Wilson snorted knowing that there had been a lot more to this guy's case. "How's Stacy's husband?"
"He's alive," House said dismissively.
"What did she want to talk to you about the other day?" Wilson asked.
House noticed Cameron's interest and shook his head to indicate that they shouldn't talk about it right then..
Wilson nodded when he saw her watching them intently and said, "Where's Chase?"
"Went home," Cameron said. "He was looking sick so Cuddy told him to leave."
"Clinic will do that to you," House said sarcastically.
Wilson grinned a little and started to leave. "I've got clinic duty." As he walked out the door he said, "I'll call you for a consult if I need one."
House snorted.
"If you don't answer the page I'll tell Cuddy," Wilson taunted, sounding like a five-year-old.
House stuck his tongue out and noticed that Wilson left the room laughing.
"Shouldn't you be checking on patients?" House asked Cameron.
She nodded and left the room, feeling a little jealous of the friendship Wilson shared with House.
House poured himself a glass of water and headed to his office so that he could watch General Hospital.
"What?" House demanded as he walked into Exam Room 3 where Wilson had called for a consult. He had just run into Stacy in the hall and was reminded of something she'd said to him about him being 'the one'.
House looked around and noticed a young woman who was looking very dazed sitting on the exam table. He looked to Wilson for an explanation and saw that his friend was holding a baby.
"Here's your newest patient," Wilson said.
"I don't do kids," House replied, eyeing the baby in Wilson's arms.
"It's the woman," Wilson said. "She's unresponsive."
"Why've you got her kid?" House asked.
"She said, 'hold him' and then just fell into shock," Wilson answered.
House frowned and snapped his fingers in front of the woman's face.
"I told you, she's unresponsive," Wilson reminded him. "There's nothing wrong either. Her pulse is normal, temp is 98.6, and her BP is 115/80. Everything is fine."
"Admit her," House said.
"I called for a nurse and she went to get a wheelchair," Wilson told him.
"You're a doctor, why don't you just admit her?" House asked scornfully.
Wilson glared but knew that he should have just done that and left House alone. "You want the case or not?"
"I said to admit her, didn't I?" House demanded and headed for the door.
"What's your problem?" Wilson asked.
House was spared from answering by a nurse who had come with a wheelchair. He slipped out of the exam room and headed back to his office.
"House!"
He muttered a curse and turned. "Cuddy."
"Why aren't you doing clinic duty? We're short since I sent Chase home," Cuddy said. "You were supposed to be down here, not him. You're not supposed to send your team to do your job."
"You shouldn't have sent him home," House snapped, popping a vicodin in his mouth.
"That's not the point," Cuddy said, glaring as he put the pill in his mouth. "Swallow it."
He chewed it just to piss her off and made quite an act of swallowing it when he'd finished chewing. "As I was saying, you shouldn't have sent him home. If he was sick it wouldn't have made any difference because of all of the other sick people around here. No one would have noticed one more."
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Do your hours when you're supposed to tomorrow."
"Of course," he said, walking off and leaving Cuddy in the clinic.
"Here," Wilson said, dropping a file on the conference table where House was sitting with Foreman and Cameron.
"What's this and where's the baby?" House asked.
"His father came," Wilson replied. "That's her file."
House picked it up and quickly flipped through it before tossing it to Foreman. "You two figure it out, I'm going home."
"It's only seven," Cameron said.
"Yeah, I was supposed to only be here until six. Enjoy your night," he said and left the room.
"You could treat them like the good doctors they are," Wilson informed House as they walked to get House's things.
"I don't need comments from the peanut gallery," House snapped, walking into his office and grabbing his bag which he flung at Wilson.
"Hey!" Wilson protested but carried the bag.
House walked out of the office, stabbing his cane into the ground in a way that told Wilson he was angry.
"What happened?" Wilson asked, his voice gentle.
"Nothing you can fix so don't bug me," House replied. "Worry about Julie and your crappy marriage."
"That was low," Wilson murmured.
House ignored Wilson and got into the elevator, pressing the button for the parking garage.
Wilson followed House and stayed quite for the elevator ride, sensing his friend needed quite time and also knowing better than to say something when there were nurses in the elevator with them.
When the doors opened for the garage, Wilson and House got out and headed over to House's car.
"Throw it in the front seat," House said, opening the car.
Wilson did as House told him and said, "I'll see you at ten or so." He started to walk back towards the hospital but turned at the sound of his name.
"James," House said seriously, startling Wilson, "don't do anything stupid."
"You sound like my mother," Wilson teased.
House grinned and started the engine. "Use your key if I don't answer," he told Wilson and drove off.
Wilson turned back to the hospital as his friend drove off. He didn't know what was wrong with Greg but he was worried. There were two reasons Wilson would need to use Greg would be too drunk to answer the door and the other was that Greg would be out getting drunk and therefore wouldn't be home.
He wondered why House's mood had suddenly changed from that afternoon to that evening.
Stacy.
'Shit,' he thought.
Sighing unhappily, Wilson went to see his last patient of the day.
Before he left the hospital at nine, Wilson went to see Cuddy.
"What's up?" Cuddy asked when she saw Wilson walk in. She noticed him looking slightly dejected and asked, "Oh God, what did he do now?"
"No, no it's not House," Wilson answered. "I just wanted to let you know that I might not…be as available as I normally am."
Cuddy nodded, knowing what Wilson was telling her. "I'm sorry."
"It's OK," Wilson replied.
"If you need anything, James, let me know," Cuddy said honestly.
Wilson smiled at her. "Thanks, Lisa." He and Cuddy had always been pretty good friends, not close like he and House, but he knew he could go to her if he really needed to. "At least I can cook."
Cuddy grinned. "Have a good night."
"You too," Wilson said and left her office.
He knew he wasn't obligated to tell her that his marriage was over, but he thought it was for the best if he prepared her for what might happen. His past two wives hadn't been as insane as he and Greg had joked about, but they had done some pretty radical things when the divorce was finalized so he figured it was probably a good idea to let Cuddy know that he was going through a divorce again.
The first place he went when he left work was his house so that he could grab some clothes and take a quick shower. Julie had left him some food but he didn't eat it. She'd left him a note saying she'd give him a call in a few days and he felt tears sting his eyes. Wiping his eyes in a frustrated way, he left the house feeling a little cleaner but a lot less happy.
Going home and being reminded that Julie wouldn't be there when he got back, depressed him. He hadn't been paying a lot of attention to her in the last months but he'd still welcomed having another person in the house so her absence would leave a void.
'I could always get a dog,' he thought sadly.
He thought back to when he and Julie had first met and felt a little guilty. She had been a girl that his brother had set him up with. He felt tears in his eyes again and wiped them away, trying to concentrate on the road. There weren't a lot of people out, but he still couldn't drive, cry, and wipe his eyes at the same time without getting into an accident.
Every mile he traveled to Greg's place made him more depressed and he was feeling more and more like screaming, crying, and hurting something at the same time. He could feel the anger and sadness building up in him and he was a little worried. It had been a long time since he'd felt this depressed and he decided he wouldn't drink just incase he got really drunk and did something really dumb like call Julie and bitch at her or her boyfriend.
He parked the car outside of House's building and headed up to the apartment. Deciding he'd better knock just incase his friend wasn't drunk or gone and snapped at him for barging in; he gave the door a few good taps.
When House answered the door he was surprised. "I thought you'd be at a bar getting into a fight or killing your liver."
"At least I wasn't crying," House taunted but stepped aside to let Wilson in. "I've got pizza." He limped over to the couch where he was watching a soccer game.
Wilson nodded and sat down in a chair to watch the game. He didn't notice House watching him out of the corner of his eye when he didn't move for the pizza or get up to get a beer or soda.
"You're depressed," House observed after Wilson had sat in the chair for an hour and said nothing.
"Obviously," Wilson said sarcastically. "Wouldn't you be if your wife left you and moved in with her boyfriend in the same day?"
"Yeah, I would," House said honestly.
"I really don't want to talk about this," Wilson said after a moment.
"Good," House said, trying to grin, "touchy feely isn't really our thing."
Wilson tried to grin too. "You're right; we're more into tough love."
House snorted. "Chase is into S&M."
Wilson rolled his eyes. "Just because of the dominatrix and that pervert a while back you think Chase is a naughty boy? Come on, the guy was in seminary school."
"Can't he be a naughty catholic boy?" House asked.
"I think it's the girls that are bad," Wilson replied, smirking.
"How would you know?" House was grinning wickedly at Wilson.
"I've had enough experience," Wilson said, laughing at House's expression.
"Was your last girlfriend a bad catholic girl?" House asked.
Wilson glowered and a sad look came over his face. "I didn't have a girlfriend; it was Julie who was cheating."
House mentally kicked himself for bringing Julie and the marriage up.
"It's OK," Wilson said, seeing the look on House's face. "I think I'm just going to go home. I really don't want to…" he drifted off, not knowing what he really wanted to say.
"Are you sure? You can have the couch, like always," House offered, trying to cheer his friend up.
"Yeah," Wilson whispered, leaning his head against the chair he was sitting in, "like always."
Reviewer Responses:
TPfreak: Yeah, it is a good show. Thanks for popping up; I haven't heard from you in a LONG time.
AnnaK: Wow! You're already hooked? I feel very honored. Thank you for all of your wonderful compliments. I don't know if I can live up to them but I'll try. I hope you liked this chapter, thanks for being my first reviewer!