Title: The Essence of Friendship, part 2

By: lbc

Pairing: House and Wilson

Rating: for mature adults

Genre: slash mentioned but no action

Disclaimer: I sure wish I owned these guys.

Numbers of words: 2021

Summary: House makes plans.

House had spent a very bad night . . . staring at the ceiling. Finally, he had swallowed two Vicodin tablets and got some rest . . . and overslept. It was well after 11:00 am before he appeared at Princeton-Plainsboro. His original intention had been to confront James Wilson, but he could not find the younger man. None of the ducklings knew where his friend was although all of them had mentioned seeing him with a man whose description varied upon the observer: handsome and gallant (Cameron), efficient (Foreman), nice smile and friendly (Chase).

A touch of foreboding filled House as he remembered Wilson's intention to meet with Cuddy and that Charles "Aren't-I-Great" Taylor would be arriving sometime that morning. Heading towards Cuddy's office, he stopped with trepidation as he peered through the glass walls and saw three seated figures having an apparently friendly conversation. Wilson looked tired, Cuddy looked . . . well, bra-less, and Charles Taylor looked . . . smug and supremely confident.

For a moment House was ready to gird up his loins as it were and beard the lion's den, but was saved this act by the trio standing up and leaving Cuddy's office. As James Wilson came out, he noticed House standing nearby but said nothing. Lisa Cuddy and Charles Taylor quickly followed. Wilson didn't bother to introduce the stranger to his best friend. Cuddy, however, realized that something was wrong and took it upon herself to bridge the gap.

"Dr. House, this is Dr. Charles Taylor. He's here at Dr. Wilson's invitation to observe some of our procedures."

Charles Taylor smiled and held out his hand which House reluctantly took. "Dr. Gregory House? I'm very pleased to meet you. I don't think there's a doctor alive who hasn't heard of you."

Gregory House's blue eyes sparkled with anger at the man's manner. "It's the dead ones I worry about."

James Wilson rolled his eyes and pointedly looked at his watch. "If you will excuse me, Chuck, I've got some files to look at before I have clinic this afternoon."

Charles Taylor swiftly turned towards his friend. "You have clinic duty, the best oncologist in the world has clinic duty? Wow!"

Cuddy broke in, "All of our doctors do clinic duty." Here she stopped to give a pointed look at Greg House. "It helps them keep in touch with all kinds of patients."

Charles Taylor nodded. "Well, that certainly is an innovative idea. At my clinic I see mostly elderly patients so I really would be interested in seeing Jimmy doing clinic duty."

House fairly bristled when he heard Wilson called, "Jimmy" but "Jimmy" certainly noticed his blue eyes rolling back into his head.

Lisa Cuddy immediately agreed that Charles Taylor should see the clinic. James Wilson started to move down the corridor after reminding Taylor about the location of Oncology and that they would meet at noon for lunch before going onto the clinic.

House started to move off to follow Wilson but was stopped when his pager went off. Upon hearing the information about a new patient, House's attention was turned towards another medical crisis, but a few minutes after noon, he found himself free as he had delegated his ducklings to perform the standard and unusual tests that he required for a full work-up for the new admittance.

Somehow, Greg House found himself near the cafeteria. It had been standard practice that when he and Wilson were available around lunch time that they ate together. House badly missed his friend's company and was even more jealous that Chuck Taylor was taking his place in this almost daily ritual.

Limping into the cafeteria, he quickly spotted the two men who had their heads together, laughing over some shared idea. If Gregory House had had control over a Star Trek phaser, he would have - - with total delight - - sent Charles Taylor into oblivion, but since the small gizmo was not available, House did the next best thing: he walked over to the table to break up the tête à tête and make himself obnoxious to one and all. For Greg House it was a regular routine - - although not usually targeted at James Wilson.

"Ah, here you are; hope you didn't start without me."

Chuck Taylor politely stood and shook House's hand again. "Ah, Dr. House, please join us."

Once again James Wilson rolled his eyes, but said little. "Jimmy and I were just discussing some of the procedures and medical cases that I've seen this morning. You should all be proud of your work."

House gave Taylor a slimy, insincere smile, "Of course, we are. We are here to serve and protect . . . or is that the Los Angeles police? I always get that mixed up."

Taylor laughed. "You certainly are living up to your reputation. I checked out your patient success record. It's remarkable. I also like the idea of your fellowship assistants. That's a great idea. We're lucky enough at my clinic that we could do something like it, of course, we don't have your budget."

Once again House gave the sleazy answer, "Oh, you're too modest. You don't have my assistants, but I hear that you are here trawling for doctors to hire." At his last words, House looked pointedly in Wilson's direction. Before Wilson could say anything, however, his pager went off. Checking the message, Wilson announced that he was required in the clinic right away.

"Go ahead, Jimmy; I'll follow you in a couple of minutes, as soon as I finish my lunch."

House looked up into James Wilson's dark eyes and, with a smug grin said, "Yes, go ahead, JIMMY, I'd love to keep Dr. Taylor company for awhile."

Wilson seemed almost ready to say something then shrugged his shoulders and left. House continued to drink his coffee while Taylor finished his salad. House's thoughts were in turmoil. Watching a full grown man eating a salad instead of greasy burgers and fries was certainly revolting, but his mind was on something else: a plan to rid the hospital of Charles Taylor and guarantee that James Wilson would stay where he belonged . . . at Princeton Plainsboro.

Clearing his throat Gregory House began his campaign. "Are you really here looking for personnel?"

"Yes, as good as the conditions are in my clinic, we are always looking to improve. I'm pleased to say that our guests are happy with our services, and we are always expanding. That's why I contacted Jimmy. We need another first rate oncologist to come on staff, and I immediately thought of him."

"Hmm! Well, I'm not surprised. You knew each other from Med School, didn't you?"

Taylor's face blushed slightly, "Well, yes as a matter of fact, we did. I guess I was in my second year when Jimmy arrived. He's an absolute genius. He certainly didn't need my help."

"I'll bet. I remember you, especially the endowment that your father gave to the school for a Chair in Geriatrics, wasn't it? I'll bet the old alma mater really appreciated that 25 million."

For a second, Charles Taylor looked slightly chagrined at the memory, but then his natural arrogance took over. "Hmmm, yes I guess they did. Not every day that a school picks up change like that."

House gave a slight grimace, whether from the throbbing pain in his right thigh or the pomposity of the man sitting across from him, he wasn't sure, but he couldn't be blatantly judgmental if he was going to keep James Wilson in New Jersey.

"I was just wondering if you have a Diagnostics Department in your clinic?"

"Weellll, we do a lot of diagnosis, of course, but it's not really a separate department. All our doctors are expected to perform that function." Taylor laughed slightly as if somehow his clinic had been found deficient in some way.

"Yes, well Princeton-Plainsboro is leading the way in that idea, but your "institution" is known to be on the cutting edge of new ideas so I thought perhaps . . . you had taken that advanced step as well."

Looking into the greedy eyes of Charles Taylor, House knew he had the man hooked, now he had to reel him in so House continued, "I knew as soon as I saw you that you would be open to such a bold idea. I told JIMMY that I remembered you as that kind of guy."

Obviously flattered, Taylor almost squealed out his delight, "YOU remember me from Med School?"

"Of course, you don't think I was there, just for the education, do you?"

"Well, I . . . uh, sort of heard that you and Jimmy hung around together, but you were so well-known on campus, I never dreamed you would know me."

House sighed, "Of course, I did. I am just amazed at all you've done in the past few years. Your clinic's world famous, and you've got a well-earned reputation yourself. Now if you just had a Diagnostics Department to match your image . . ."

"Weelll, I'm certainly going to have to think about that. You wouldn't know someone who might be good enough to start up such a project, would you?"

House stared at the man, imagining Charles Taylor selling used cars and twirling an oily handle-bar moustache. Pushing down the bile that was threatening to rise in his throat, he uttered the words that would complete his plan: "Well, what about me?"

Charles Taylor's eyebrows shot up. "What? . . . I mean that would be great; a great oncologist and you working in the same clinic, wouldn't that be great."

Yeah, great! Now House was able to give his grand and well-practiced frown which, of course, Charles Taylor quickly noticed, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Well, I don't want to say anything against a colleague, but Dr. Wilson's going through some rough times right now. You know he's just had his THIRD divorce and well, I just don't know."

House stopped at this point. Even this idiot couldn't be so stupid as to not understand House's hints, but apparently he was.

"I . . . I don't understand."

House almost rolled his eyes, but stopped himself. "What I'm trying to say is that I don't think it would be a good idea to take Dr. Wilson out of this environment at the present time. I would feel . . . well, more comfortable working with someone who was more stable than Wilson. Do you think that would be possible?"

For a moment Taylor frowned, looking totally puzzled then he verbalized his concern. "So what you're saying is that you'll come down to Florida and run the Diagnostic Department for my clinic, but you don't want the new oncologist to be Dr. Wilson?"

Bingo! "Oh, I'm so glad you're on my wavelength. Is that too much to ask?"

Charles Taylor's Cheshire cat grin spoke volumes. "Of course not; that's totally and absolutely perfect. When do you want to talk to Dr. Cuddy?"

"Well, I think that you should talk to Dr. Wilson first, don't you?"

Once again, Taylor seemed a bit puzzled but readily agreed. "Of course, I'm already late to the clinic, but I'll tell him when I see him."

Taylor got up and left the cafeteria; House sat contentedly at the table, giving Taylor some time to deliver the message that Wilson no longer was headed for Florida. After a few minutes, House left for his office to do some research on the new patient's physical problems.

He could not resist, however, detouring past the clinic area where he saw Charles Taylor talking to James Wilson. It was obvious that Wilson was disturbed. The look his friend gave House was chilling. As the diagnostician went to his office, a chill passed through his body as if someone was walking over his grave.

End of part 2