Hey and Howdy from the Lilac Elf!
With making House a Harry Potter fan, I had to make sure he stays in character which believe me is harder than it sounds.
So, on with the challenges:
House reads HP and keeps getting interrupted by the kids
Cameron visits Stacy
inclusion of the line: 'It's like being a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest'
Cameron catches House reading to the kids
Ch. 12 Secrets and Discoveries
Cassie was once again sitting in the hospital lab, alone, and absolutely miserable. She didn't want to push Wilson away. She really, really liked him, but she kept thinking about Matt and how much Wilson was like him, and…
"Ross?"
Cassie looked up to see Jesse and Laurie standing in the doorway. "I thought you guys were heading back to Brooklyn."
Laurie smiled. "Hey, we're here to help. And right now I'd say you certainly need help. What's up with you and Dr. Wilson?"
At the mention of Wilson, Cassie started crying. Jesse sat down on one side of her and Laurie sat on the other side. Jesse put a hand on her shoulder, saying, "Look, I know you have this fear of commitment, but not every guy you like is going to be killed by a gangbanger."
"Yeah, some will be killed by drunk drivers," Laurie said, making Cassie sob harder and louder.
Jesse and Laurie exchanged glances. Jesse tried to backtrack. "Look, what Laurie's trying to say is that you have to take a chance. Just jump in."
"Captain Ross?"
Cassie groaned as she recognized the voice of Dr. House. "What do you want now?"
"I need to talk to you for a minute. Alone." House hesitated for a second, and then added, "Please."
Cassie gave a brief nod to Jesse and Laurie who each gave her a light shoulder squeeze before leaving. House took Jesse's vacated seat. "You're damaged."
Cassie gave him a sharp look. House ignored it and went on. "We both have the same leg affliction, true, but the difference is that I've accepted it…. And to a degree… you're still in denial."
"Just because I don't flaunt my… disability-"
"You want to pretend that there's nothing wrong with your leg. But this isn't the type of injury where you can do that. This is a very serious, debilitating affliction. But you seem to treat it like a temporary thing. That's why you don't take the pills on a regular basis. That and the fact that you seem to be addicted to pain." House hesitated. What he was about to say would either result in being hit, or… well, not being hit. "Look… Wilson told me about- about you and Matt."
Cassie gave a sardonic smile. "Yeah. I thought he would. What's your point?"
"It wasn't your fault."
Cassie's eyes narrowed. 'What?'
House sighed. When Wilson told him about Cassie's previous boyfriend, House thought back and realized that the emotion simmering beneath Cassie's exterior was deep-seated guilt. "You wanted him to stay with you, right? Take the day off and the two of you go do something?"
"Yeah, but…" The tears started again. What right did he have to try and analyze her? "You really are a bastard, you know that?"
"You can't blame yourself. He was doing his job. There was nothing you could do."
Still crying silently, Cassie said, "I hate you. I hate you!" She tried to lunge at House, but her leg buckled and House grabbed her to keep her from falling. Cassie struggled against House's grip for a moment before going somewhat limp.
She sobbed louder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
House held her for another minute, totally bewildered. What was it about women with dead or dying husbands or boyfriends crying in his arms? House sighed. What he was about to say went against his better judgment, but it would hopefully get her to stop ruining his shirt. "You should go see Wilson tonight."
Cassie looked up as House helped her back on her stool. "But I-I-I th-thought you d-didn't want me to s-see h-him," she said, still sobbing lightly.
House shrugged. "He makes you happy, right?"
Cassie nodded.
"Well, then why are you letting me stop you? But I suggest you clean up. If your friends, Munch and Stabler, see you like this, they'll probably end up killing me."
Cassie let out a choked laugh and gave House a small smile. 'Okay, so he's a caring bastard.'
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After House left the lab, he went to his office where Cuddy was sitting in his chair looking at…. 'Oh, crap! I knew I should have locked that drawer!' House groaned at the smile on his boss's face. Cuddy said, "So… what will you give me to keep this under wraps?"
"Anything," House said, limping forward. He couldn't let this get out. Foreman would die laughing… probably Chase as well. And Cameron, well…. House would kill himself by any means necessary to keep Cameron from finding out that he actually cried when Sirius Black died in the 5th book.
Cuddy stood and said, "Don't worry; I won't have you doing anything too painful. Just reading the 6th book to a small group of kids in the pediatric ward."
House knew that very few people would believe that he liked Harry Potter. Still… Those few would convince others. And his reputation would shatter like glass. There was no choice. He had to bite the bullet. "Fine. You win," House said, resignedly. "Just… let me finish the damn thing first, alright?"
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Cameron entered Stacy's room and smiled at the other woman. "How are you?"
"Been better," Stacy said, giving a smile back. "What brings you by?"
Cameron licked her lips. "House."
"Ahhh, yes. I figured you'd be by. So how are the two of you getting on?"
Cameron sat down. "Okay. He's… strangely sweet at times."
Stacy laughed. She remembered the moments House had had when they were dating. "Greg has his moments. So what did he do?"
"Bought me the… the 'Harry Potter' box set, including the 6th one."
Stacy's smile was mischievous and devious. 'So Greg's best kept secret may finally come out.' "Really? Interesting."
Cameron cocked her head. "Why do you say that?"
"Any of the books go missing lately?"
Cameron's eyes widened. "No way."
Stacy nodded. "One of Greg House's better kept secrets."
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Cassie limped into Luchento's around 8:15pm. She looked around and when she didn't see Wilson, she sighed. 'I should have called,' she thought.
"Captain Ross?"
Cassie turned to see a waitress standing there. "Yes?"
"Dr. Wilson is waiting for you. This way please."
Cassie followed the waitress to a table where Wilson was seated, a bottle of wine on ice and two glasses in front of him. Cassie sat down as the waitress left a menu and Wilson poured himself and Cassie a glass of wine. "House… said you might be a little late."
"Yeah, well, Dr. House is a meddlesome bastard."
Wilson laughed as she held up his wine glass in a toast. "He is that, indeed. But he means well."
Cassie reluctantly clinked her own wine glass with Wilson's before hastily taking a sip and looking over the menu. "Nice place. Come here a lot?"
Wilson nodded. "When Julie—my ex-wife—and I were first married we came here all the time."
"How's the divorce?"
Wilson sighed. "Finalized this morning."
Cassie took a piece of bread from the basket and bit into it. "So what happened between the two of you?"
"Just wasn't working."
Cassie could feel the subject looming, and she decided to head it off. "Look, James--"
Wilson interrupted her. "No, Cassie… just listen to me." Wilson took a breath. "I know you're not a supermodel. And I know you have a job that causes you to deal with some terrible things." He hesitated before continuing. "And I could care less about all that. I l… I love you."
Cassie sighed again. "James… I'm only here on assignment. And like you said, I'm no beauty. I'm a crippled cop with more emotional baggage than a Samsonite store at the mall. I'm…" She paused before saying the word. "I'm damaged."
"I don't care," Wilson insisted. "You're an amazing person, and you inspire devotion and a… terrifyingly fierce loyalty in others."
Cassie sipped her wine again. "That's… not just my personality. With my leg and then Matt… people constantly seem to think I'm always borderline suicidal."
"That doesn't matter to me."
Cassie met James's gaze, her eyes shining with tears. She did love this man. She loved him a lot. "You mean that?"
Wilson took her hand and held her gaze. "I mean it."
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House sat in a comfy lounge chair in the Pedes playroom. He sighed as he looked at the collection of children seated around him. Surrendering to his fate, House opened the book on his lap, leaned back and started reading. "'It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his mind without leaving the faintest traces of meaning….'"
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House was in the middle of the second chapter asked, "Dr. House, why does Snape live in such a yucky, ugly place?"
House looked over the top of the book at her. She was about 9 years old and her red hair was in pigtail braids. Seated in a wheelchair, she also had her left leg in a cast up to her hip and her right arm was in a cast as well. House looked back at the book, saying, "Because he's evil."
"Snape's not evil!" said a 12-year-old boy with one leg.
Looking at the kid, he felt a strange stab of pain in his right leg. He remembered Cuddy and Stacy's words when they were trying to talk him into amputation after the infarction. 'No,' he thought, turning back to the book. 'She's wrong. We're friends now, but she's still wrong.' House set the book down for a second and pulled out his vicodin, popping a pill. "Sure Snape is evil."
"Dumbledore trusts him," said another boy.
"Dumbledore's an idiot," House said finding his place for the third time.
After only a few minutes of reading, he was interrupted one more. "Dumbledore's not an idiot!"
House put on his patented glare and said, "You guys want to hear the story or not?" After a moment's silence, he started reading again. "'Bellatrix's mouth twisted as though she had taken an unpleasant dose of medicine.'"
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Cameron was looking over some paperwork in the Diagnostics office when one of the med students came in. "Dr. Cameron? Dr. Wilson asked me to give you this," he said, handing over a memo.
Cameron read it and—valiantly stifling a laugh—bolted from the room, down the hallway, up the stairs and into the Pediatric ward. She slowed to a walk as the nurses' station came into view. "Is it true?" Cameron asked, eyes wide in surprised delight. The nurse nodded and smiled. Cameron went to the lounge and looked into the room. House had the book open on his lap, his leg stretched out. Cameron silently slipped in and went to a corner of the room, carefully lowering herself onto the floor as her shoulder was still sore from the stabbing.
"'"Shall we assume that you have invited me into your sitting room?"'" As she heard him read, Cameron was surprised. House's voice had taken on a perfect English accent and as he read Dumbledore's parts, House's voice became kind and melodious. Cameron didn't want to bother her boss's rhythm, so she just sat there, listening to House read 'Harry Potter' with a twinkle in his eye reticent of Hogwarts' headmaster.
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"How was dinner?" House asked that he sipped his beer. He was seated on the couch in Wilson's home. Wilson sipped his own beer and said, "It went really well. How went the first day of reading?"
House ignored the question. "You going to see her again?"
Wilson nodded. "Yeah. We're having lunch on Sunday. What about you and Cameron?"
House finished his beer and said, "We're… going out on Monday night."
Wilson hesitated before asking, "Why don't we double date?"
House paused for a second as he was halfway up from the couch. He stood and went to Wilson's fridge, grabbing another beer. "You sure you want to do that?"
"Why not? Could be fun."
House sat down, thinking that fun was something it most likely wouldn't be.
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"You have got to be kidding," Cassie said as she took the cup of coffee Wilson offered her. He'd stopped at a nearby Starbucks before heading to Cassie's hotel. Since their dinner the night before, they'd been much more comfortable with each other.
"I'm not kidding," Wilson insisted. "Double date Monday night. You and me and House and Cameron."
Cassie sipped her coffee and asked, "Where?"
Wilson shrugged. "House is picking the location. Didn't say where."
Cassie gulped down the rest of her coffee and tossed the empty cup in a trash can as she and Wilson walked into the hospital. "No hints whatsoever?"
"He just said to go casual."
"Hey, Ross!" Cassie turned to see Munch hurrying up. "We found where Peters has been staying."
"Excellent. Where is he?"
"Motel in Trenton. He's been using a bicycle to get around."
"Thus the reason why no vehicle records." Cassie said, her hand tensing on her cane. "Set up a stakeout and I want 24 hour surveillance of Dr. Cameron, Stacy Delaney, and Chef Morris."
"You got it, boss," Munch said as he headed off.
As Cassie and Wilson walked past the Clinic desk, they noticed that the nurses were celebrating. Wilson smirked at Cassie who looked puzzled. "House is off of clinic duty for the week."
Cassie laughed. "What did he have to do to swing that?"
"Reading 'Harry Potter' in the Pedes wing," Wilson replied with a grin.
Cassie stopped and leaned on her cane as they stopped at the elevators. She hit the button with her cane as she said, "Never thought of him as the type to read a children's book series."
"House is full of surprises," Wilson said as they got on.
"Yeah, I know. You can him for my being at dinner the other night." Catching Wilson's glance, she explained. "We had a… nice talk while I was moping in the lab." Wilson hit the floor button for his office, as Cassie asked, "So can we peek in on House first?"
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House was surprised when Wilson and Cassie came into House's office and sat down. "What brings you two love birds by this morning?" House asked as Cassie stretched out her leg across his desk. Damn, this woman was annoying.
Wilson smiled. "I was telling Cassie about the double date."
"Yeah, and I need to know where we're going," Cassie said, playing with her cane, and twirling it just like House always did. This woman was really annoying.
"Why?"
Cassie stilled her cane and fixed House with a steely gaze. "We're closing in on Peters. I'm going to call in the Manhattan police captain and have him at the restaurant for added security."
House started to protest, but Cassie stared him down. Plus, it might be a good idea. After a moment, House shrugged. "Whatever you want, Captain."
Wilson grinned. "Arguing with Cassie is like being a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest." He had barely a second before two canes caught him across the head.
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