Summary, disclaimer, etc. in chapter 1.

WARNING: Spoilers for 11/22's episode, "Hunting."

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Regrets

October 2005

"I blew it," House said, tossing the bottle cap against the balcony wall. "I totally blew it. She was ready to pounce on me and relieve months of sexual frustration and I blew it."

He took a healthy swig of his beer and leaned back against the wall of the conference room.

Wilson sat facing him, his back against the balcony's retaining wall. He tossed the bottle cap back to House.

"Well, look at it this way," he said. "You would have felt guilty later for helping her cheat on her husband."

House, who had been in the middle of flipping the cap in the air like a coin, did a double take. The cap landed harmlessly in his lap.

"Did you just say that?" he asked incredulously. "No way you just said that."

Wilson merely shrugged and sipped his beer.

House let it go, still absorbed in his own tragedy.

"I can't believe I blew it," he moaned. "She had ice out and everything, fussing over me. I was this close." He held out his forefinger and thumb with a few millimeter's space between them. "This close. She bought it. She bought all of it."

"You were selling?" Wilson asked mildly.

A retort sprang to House's tongue but for once he kept his mouth shut. What had happened in the attic between him and Stacy—the apology, and God, he'd actually meant it—would stay between them for the time being. He didn't have words for the event yet and he didn't really want them. And Wilson would understand that only too well if he were to so much as hint that he'd been sincere. House didn't want to see pity on his face.

He threw the bottle cap at Wilson and Wilson tried instinctively to protect himself from the tiny piece of metal. Wilson shot House an annoyed glare. Good. They'd moved on.

It was Wilson's turn to flip the cap in the air with his thumb. "You certainly worked the rat angle long enough to deserve it," he said.

House sniffed a laugh, happy to ease back into normalcy. "I bought him a wheel," he said. "He can go back in two weeks once his treatment is finished."

"Rat droppings," Wilson said disdainfully. "I really look forward to cleaning that up."

"Steve is going to get the best of care," House said proudly. The devilish gleam returned to his eye. "I'll have Cameron do it."

"Lucky rat," Wilson mumbled into his beer. Aloud, he said, "Cure 'em and send 'em out to be infected anew, eh?"

"Anything that keeps me in the exterminator business," House said wistfully.

He finished his beer and scraped the bottle against the cement.

"Sleeping over again?"

Wilson shrugged. "She hasn't called," he said.

"I'm not going to have to pay her a visit and beg for more of your clothes, am I?" House said.

"I could use a few new shirts and ties," Wilson said. "I'll pick some up this weekend at the mall."

"Well," House said fingering the bottle. "It's cold. Let's go home." He stood up and took a moment to shake the stiffness out of his body. "I'll let you pay for dinner."

"I guess that means I'm driving too," Wilson said with just enough self-pity to set House off.

"I won't let you in my bed if you're going to bitch," House teased.

"Fine with me," Wilson said. "You snore."

"Hmm," House mused, "the couch in your lonely office with no tv or the couch at your best buddy's place with everything a guy could want including a pet rat. Which is better?"

"That depends entirely on how long you're going to bemoan your mistake with Stacy tonight," Wilson said. "Or will you be serenading me with excerpts from her file again?"

"You wish," House said as he held his office door open for Wilson. "I'm sure there's some kind of sport on tonight we can watch to feel manly before we start groping each other." He laughed to himself. "You should've seen your face when that guy outed you."

"I keep telling you, I can't be outed if I was never in," Wilson said.

"Don't ask, don't tell," House said with his hands in the air in 'hey, don't blame me' fashion. The door he'd been holding began to shut. "I'm okay with that."

Wilson drank the last of his beer and sighed with satisfaction. "Well," he said, "my life is complete."

He opened the door and followed House inside.