Every Second

A House Fan-Fic

by - entercreativename

Disclaimer: I am not the creator or owner of the characters mentioned in this story. I am instead a poor college student with no money and no hope of ever earning money. I wrote this story as a means of exploring the characters in the show; not for profit, notoriety, or other self-assuring means.

This histories in this story were written before episode 204 (TB or Not TB) and therefore will differ from episodes aired in November 2005 and later.

Keep those reviews coming in too! I'm working on ideas for another fic, and I need your help on grammer and development.

Chapter 12 - Between Friends

Wilson stood up from House's couch, exhausted and knowing the feeling would only grow worse. He had just gotten off the phone with his boss who had called him about her concern for his best friend. He was worried about House too; Wilson knew House wouldn't be able to handle yet another loss or disappointment in his life. He found his wallet and keys and was out the door.

He arrived at the hospital and went to Cuddy's office. It was obvious that she had been having a tough nigh. She wore no make-up and her hair was pulled back into a bun, still wet from a recent shower. She sat at her desk with her eyes closed, deep in thought and on the verge of sleep. Wilson noticed that she was actually wearing scrubs, her signature of wanting to be released from some troubling event. Wilson hadn't seen her look like this since he was first hired on at the hospital over ten years earlier. Her role as an administrator, conqueror of the minions below her, pushed her into masculine boardroom suits. He knew that she now reserved scrubs for nights where she could no longer handle life and where she just wanted to hide in the clinical facts of being a doctor.

Wilson quietly opened the door to Cuddy's office as she stirred from her mind.

"Thank you for coming James." Her eyes were red and swollen from tears. This had been a bad night.

"Of course Lisa." He took a seat on the couch, she on the opposite end.

"James, we need to talk about House. I," tears were welling up again in her eyes, "…I don't know what to do. I don't think Chase will make it through the night."

James looked at her. She was sleep deprived and uncomfortable. He remembered her as the doctor that she was when he was hired, young and outspoken, brash and arrogant. She had a spirit that could not contain her. He smiled, "How is Chase doing?"

Cuddy sniffed and wiped away some tears that had crept into her eyes again. "Labs have tanked. Dialysis is helping a bit, but it's not keeping up. If his condition doesn't improve, he'll need a kidney transplant, but then again, if we don't find what's causing this, any kidney will be useless in him. He's crashed twice tonight. House needs to know that Chase might not make it."

Wilson considered what she had said. He was concerned for House if anything ever happened to anyone near him. House's team was the closest thing he had to friends or family, and every one of them was important to him. "Any luck finding his medical records?"

Cuddy looked up, "No luck. It's as if he's never been treated by any doctor here before."

"House may be able to get a hold of some records in Australia through Sanford's mother." Wilson looked over at Cuddy, it was apparent that she was near her breaking point and needed support. "Lisa, how are you doing?"

With that question, Cuddy started to cry. Wilson reached over and took her in his arms and caressed her. He could feel her warmth as she embraced him back and cried into his chest. It seemed as if it had been ages since he held a woman in his arms, and he missed it. Here, his other closest friend was in him embrace and was not backing away from him the way Julie had done for the past year and a half. He wanted this moment to last, or at least lead to something more. He hugged her tighter and whispered into her ear, "It's okay. We'll find what's wrong with Chase, fix him, and everything will be back to normal."

Cuddy sobbed some more as Wilson pulled his coat over her. "Lisa, it's okay. Chase will be okay. House will be okay. We'll fix him, make him better." Wilson caught the scent of her shampoo on her hair as he moved a stray strand of it out of her face. He moved her more so that she was engulfed in his embrace. He wanted to kiss her, he had always wanted to kiss her.

"What if we can't? What if…" she paused to consider her words when Wilson stopped her.

"We will." He moved his head down a little and kissed her dark hair lightly. This felt right to him, despite the fact that he had to go back and tell his best friend that Chase may not make it. House. There were times he felt House to be a burden. None of his wives ever accepted him. When House did something reckless, Wilson was the one who had to come and pick up the pieces. After Stacy left, Wilson was the one who came to keep House together. Wilson was the one that got House his job at PPTH. No one understood House's need for Wilson, except Cuddy.

Early on in his career at PPTH, a young Lisa Cuddy had gone head to head against him on a consult with a patient. She had been treating a young boy in the ER one night and wanted a second opinion on an x-ray of his arm. She thought she saw a lymphoma in an x-ray, so she paged oncology to send someone down. The doctor sent was Wilson. He took one look at it and stated otherwise. He took the x-ray down from the light, took Cuddy's arm, and brought her into an empty exam room. He made her take a closer look at it. Here, the boy decided to play a joke on the x-ray tech that night and put a button on the film under his arm where the break had occurred. The kid thought it was funny, and so did Wilson, but Cuddy was furious. Later that night, Wilson brought her coffee and they sat and talked. The rest of the shift was smooth sailing as they sat in an empty exam room and talked. He had had a crush on her ever since.

Wilson closed his eyes and hugged Cuddy tighter, "We'll save him." She had just fallen asleep in his arms, and he did not want this moment to end. He closed his eyes, he didn't care if anyone saw this scene or not, however, he knew Cuddy wouldn't want this to get around the hospital. He heard footsteps nearing the office; he tried to wake her up before…

"Sleeping with the enemy Wilson?" House came to work early. "Or playing doctor with the administrator your new thing?"

Wilson was thankful to some extent that Cuddy did not wake up. "She's exhausted."

"I didn't know you had that much in you!"

"Why are you here anyway?"

House took a seat at Cuddy's desk and started going through the drawers. "Got bored, heard your pager. Knew that with you there you'd play secretary for me. Of course, it looks like you're doing the same with her," he motioned at Cuddy, still asleep in Wilson's arms.

Wilson rolled his eyes. "Give her a break. We need to talk." Cuddy moaned and moved in her sleep, burying her head deeper into Wilson's chest. He had to get House away from this office and into his own. He had to tell him about Chase. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be up. Meet me in my office."

"And miss all the fun? I want to see this."

Wilson sighed and shot House an angry glare. "You'll understand this," he motioned at Cuddy, "When I tell you why I'm here."

House seemed suddenly bored with the situation and left the office as he grunted, "I'll meet you upstairs."

Wilson looked down at the woman in his arms. He knew this was just a stolen moment. He knew she wasn't his, and probably never would be. She was the woman he secretly went back to during all of his marriages. He had always secretly wanted her, however, she would never give in to his demands. She always wanted the youngest toy she could find, but then she would always wonder why she could never find a serious relationship. He could be that for her, if she would only allow.

He caressed her hair as he whispered her name into her ear and gently asked her to wake up. He longed to do more, he always had. He remembered how before House had been dating Stacy; House, Wilson, and Cuddy would run wild, innocent all-nighters around Princeton's party spots. The three of them were a team. She was always there for him when a favorite patient died or House acted up and he had to fix him. She was the one he could always go to when he couldn't go to House. Even House knew to rely on Cuddy. But tonight, seeing her allow herself to be vulnerable. She didn't need him there to talk about House, she needed him there for this.

She moaned again as he whispered her name, "Lisa?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "How long was I asleep?"

Wilson smiled. He wanted to tell her a falsehood, tell her it didn't matter, but he knew she needed the truth. "Only a couple of minutes. I need to go upstairs."

She sat up, woozy from the lack of sleep. She looked at Wilson and recognized the look on his face: House had seen them. She could always tell when Wilson had been disturbed by House. She valued the friendships she had developed with the two men, but had become annoyed with House after his Vicodin addiction changed him. Yet, she couldn't give up on him, and instead, insisted on keeping a closer eye on him for his own sake. However, tonight she knew she would be in for it after knowing that House had seen her in Wilson's arms. She rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "Tell him."