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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE – Wilson's Unexpected Visitor

For the past two hours, Wilson has lay awake in bed because either the pain medication isn't working and he is too restless or he has entirely too much on his mind and can't rest properly. There is House's condition – both mental and physical – weighing on him; his parents, who still blame House for his accident; the pain, though admittedly not so bad that he has to keep taking the morphine; and his own medical situation.

He has managed to turn on his side and stare mindlessly out the window at the mid-morning sky, which looks a lot brighter than how he feels inside. He hears a soft scuffle at the door and quickly closes his eyes, trying to ignore whoever it is and just wishes they will go away.

Avoidance. Gotta love avoidance. And that wasn't even in my vocabulary. Hmm, guess it is now.

The foot steps stop at the foot of the hospital bed.

"Go away. I'm not hungry," he says barely above a whisper.

There are no foot steps leaving his room. The silence is killing Wilson, or maybe it's just paranoia that someone is staring at him, because he knows the person is still there.

"I said I'm NOT hungry!" he barks impatiently.

Again, no foot steps scoot away but a soft voice that says, "Calm down. I don't have any food for you anyways."

That voice…is familiar. It can't be…

Slowly, Wilson turns over and looks at the man standing before him.

"Sh…Sean?"

"No, I'm the tooth fairy. You didn't think those quarters appeared on your pillow out of nowhere, did you?"

"But how…" Wilson is speechless.

"As soon as you'd fall asleep I'd put it on your pillow," Sean replies.

"No…" Wilson gives a little laugh, more out of nervousness than humor. "How did you know I was here? I haven't seen you in what – nine years?"

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"House, it doesn't work that way. I don't want…oh, shut UP!" Cuddy exclaims after House made the comment about a natural conception. "If it were that easy I would do it. It would kill me, but, I'd do it."

A smile slowly crosses House's lips. "No, it wouldn't. After our first kid you'll want ten more of mine. Admit it!"

Cuddy laughs back at House's stupidity and realizes he is only trying to make her feel better (or hoping he is). She wipes her eyes dry of the silent tears that had fallen and slowly stands.

"House, get some rest. You need it."

"Oh, no," House answers as his eyelids blink solidly and then shut completely, "You'll need it."

"Later, House," Cuddy says, but not before she places her right palm on his left cheek and softly caresses it.

She watches House until he drifts off to sleep and realizes she needs a cup of coffee, badly. She leaves his room and heads down the hallway, but then remembers that she hasn't seen Wilson in a few hours so she heads to his room.

As she approaches his door she hears voices, and at first decides to leave and just head to the cafeteria. But when she hears a few of the words she instantly becomes intrigued – albeit a bit guilty of spying – and something glues her to the cold, hard, sterile tile floor.

"I had to leave, Jimmy, you know that, right? But I didn't leave you." Sean says. "I was never good enough for them. You know how controlling they can be."

"But you never got a hold of me. I wasn't the one that tried to mess up your life," Wilson replies, his voice more angry than child-like.

"Oh, no, neither were Mom and Dad. I messed up pretty well on my own. I didn't want to…" Sean's voice breaks as he hesitates. "I didn't want to take you down with me. I couldn't stop with the coke and it was only getting worse."

Abruptly, Wilson's voice changes from anger to downright evil. "And now?" he asks coldly. "You just pop in thinking…"

Cuddy detects the tone of Wilson's voice and it alarms her, more like frightens her to her very soul. She steps into the room making as much noise as she can, so as not to give the clue that she had been listening to their conversation.

"Well, hello, Wilson!" Cuddy says cheerily, but to her it sounds very forced and unnatural.

When she catches a glimpse of Sean for the first time she tries to hide her shock at his appearance: his blue jeans are extremely faded and dirty with sloppy, unfashionable rips and tears throughout; his t-shirt is faded a pastel blue with an illegible print on the front; the tennis shoes have holes in both of the big toe areas and there are no shoelaces; and there is an awful stench in the air that she quite can't describe, but knows what it is.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a visitor."

"I was just leaving," Sean says as he takes a step towards the door.

"No, please. Don't leave on my account," Cuddy says as she suddenly holds her breath to avoid getting a whiff of Sean's scent.

"Oh, yes, leave," Wilson says snottily.

Sean shakes his head at Cuddy as he silently walks past her and leaves the room. She is at a loss for words, something that has become rather peculiarly common in the hospital the past few days.

"Cuddy, please don't mention this to anyone, especially House," Wilson asks.

She nods her head and stands at his bedside after she checks his vital signs. "How are you feeling? You look pale, James."

"Tired."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

Wilson nods his head and says, "No, not anymore. My brother just left."

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"Robert?"

Chase looks up from his fork filled to capacity with Eggs Benedict almost to his lips, grumbles a response then takes the mouthful of food.

"I'm sorry I've been such a…kinda…irrational…"

"Little girl?" Chase finishes her sentence for her.

The next thing Chase knows a half eaten biscuit bounces off of his head and lands in his orange juice.

"Twenty points!" she exclaims with her arms in the air as if she's just completed a goal. "Seriously, what do you think House will do when he finds out we're together?"

"He'll harass the crap out of us," he answers as he digs the biscuit out of his orange juice.

"Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question. Hey, what's Foreman up to? He's been kind of quiet lately," Cameron asks as she takes a bite of her bacon strip.

"Yeah. I think he's mad that Cuddy didn't put him in charge."

"You're kidding, right? After the first time he didn't get the clue that he isn't ready for that type of position?"

"Nope, apparently not," he answers.

"Want to ask him to dinner and a movie tonight? Maybe that's what he needs," she suggests.

"Nope."

"No? Why not?"

"Because I have something else in mind for tonight," Chase answers sheepishly.

Cameron does not blush at all.

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Cuddy practically throws herself on her couch after she left House's room and plops her feet on the corner of the coffee table.

What am I supposed to do now? I'd have an answer by now if all this mess wasn't going on. Is House right? No, of course not! He can't be. If I'm not ovulating then I can't…

Her thoughts get the better of her and she closes her eyes, but just for a minute. She still has a few phone calls to make and stuff at home to do and papers to fill out and …