A House, MD fan-fic by entercreativename.
Summary: Brief snapshots of everyone's holidays.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just admire what Fox and its affiliates have created.
Chapter 5: Adeste Fideles
She knew she was cruel, she knew this would hurt him. However, she knew that she no longer wanted to see him as she could tell that he no longer wished to see her. She closed her eyes and cried softly into her drink. Christmas - he ruined it for her. When she married him she thought it was time to convert and give up her Christian roots. She remembers signing the tenaim (wedding contract) at the vort (engagement party); thinking back to that day, never did she imagine this would happen. He promised to her that this would be the end of his flightful days, as this would be the end to hers. She was wrong.
She didn't know whom cheated first, but she knew that he had become more devoted to long hours at the office and that scumbag friend of his. Best man? Whatever - that didn't even come close to describing the scoundrel with the cane that stole her husband from her repeatedly. Despite the rumors, she didn't think that either of them was gay, however, she knew that her husband was more devoted to his best friend than to her.
She looked down into her drink - she had just finished her third highball of the night - when she felt the hot breath of a man whisper into her ear. She wasn't sure of what she heard him say, but he sat down next to her and ordered her another drink. She had not met this man before, and he reminded her of her husband, but only through the guilt and shame she felt for doing this to him. She really did still love him, but she was never sure that he knew how to love back. In the old days, they were inseparable; she would call him at work, he would arrive at hers, and they would make love every spare moment they could. The man next to her whispered something into her ear again, she wasn't sure what but she agreed anyway. Doing anything, going anywhere with anyone, would be better than sitting here in this dive alone crying into her drink.
She had met him at a hospital banquet for the grand opening of the new addition. He was there alone and judging by the tan lines on his left ring finger, it had been recent. She sat down and they hit it off instantly. They had a wonderful evening the night that they first met. She understood that he had been married twice before, but he said he had turned a new leaf and learned from his mistakes. They both believed that he had changed and that he could pull through tough phases of any relationship. What had really changed was his ability to hide in his work.
She looked up; the man that had bought her the last drink opened his car door for her. She got in. Five minutes later, they had arrived at a cheap hotel known for its hourly pay program. You check in, and when you check out, you pay for how many hours you had the room. She had been there before - the night she met the husband she was about to cheat on. He had been living there after his last divorce, as he could not live at his best friend's per his girlfriend's insistence. She got out of the car and the man accompanying her, Scott (he didn't give his last name), handed her a key for room 208. He must have been one of the regulars who rented a room.
She entered and found herself reminded of the night she met him again - the night she now regrets. The man from the bar this Christmas Eve entered with a small bucket of ice and opened a mini-fridge where he retrieved a bottle of cheap generic Vodka. She sat on the bed and opened the top buttons of her blouse; she knew he would want her to. She knew the routine of what she was about to do - she had done it several times in the last month, never finding someone who loved her as much as her husband.
Scott came over to her, handing her a glass of vodka on the rocks. She took a sip and felt the burn of its cheapness go down her throat as he kissed her. They started together, when she suddenly got up.
She couldn't go through with it, not on Christmas.
Julie Wilson stood up, gathered her things, and hailed a taxi to take her home. She could cheat on her husband many times, but she couldn't follow through on Christmas. She went home, saw her husband asleep on the couch, and then went to bed. It didn't matter that they both knew what happened that night, it just mattered to her that she didn't follow through on that evening.