So my creative juices were flowing and I finished this chapter earlier than I expected so I decided to post now instead of tomorrow.
Note: As I said end of last chapter, I thought long and hard about bringing Stacy Warner (House's ex-gf, for those of you who are unfamiliar) back into the picture. This chapter is largely focused on her, John and Wilson, with some House/Cuddy at the end. (don't worry. I always find room to squeeze in our fav couple) I'm also playing with a few ideas to have Stacy resurface again later on.
For those of you who read and commented on my one-shot 'Finding Love in Loss', THANK YOU! It was refreshing to write. I enjoyed reading all your comments! :)
But now, let's get back to this story. Wilson and John are at John's old firm for a retirement party for a long-time secretary.
Where we left off:
"I've heard so much about you, James," Nick Perry exclaimed, as he and Wilson shook hands, after John had introduced them.
"All good things I hope," Wilson joked, as he released the other man's hand.
John smiled. "Of course."
Nick laughed. "So you're the reason I lost my best law partner," he kidded.
Noticing the look on Wilson's face, Perry dismissed it with a wave of a hand. "I'm kidding." He took a sip of his drink. "So John tells me you are a doctor."
"Yes. Oncology."
"I applaud you. That has be a rough job sometimes I bet."
"Yes, but someone has to do it," Wilson told him.
Nick agreed. He turned to John and the two men talked about changes in the firm since John's departure not too long ago. John told Nick about his new job to which the lawyer was simply thrilled about.
A few minutes later, John and Wilson were pointed in the direction towards the alcohol and both men went over to fix themselves each a drink.
While they were clinking glasses together, a voice interrupted them.
"James Wilson?!" exclaimed a female voice.
Upon hearing his name, the oncologist turned around and his mouth almost hit the floor.
Chapter 60:
Stacy Warner stood there; a glass of red wine in her hand, while a look of genuine surprise crossed her face.
Still stunned, Wilson's mind was running wild. He couldn't speak. What was his best friend's ex-girlfriend doing here? he thought.
Meanwhile, John took this opportunity to break the silence. "Well, this is a bit unexpected," he said, surprisingly. "How do you two know each other?"
Wilson glanced at him, amused. "I would ask you the same question."
"Stacy and I work together – well, used to –"
"You never told me this!"
Taking a sip of his drink, John grinned while Stacy silently, and quite amusingly, watched the conversation between the two men unfold.
"You never asked any specifics about my old job," John replied, cheekily.
Stacy decided to jump in. "After I left PPTH, it was a year or two before I started working again," she clarified to Wilson. "Mark's disability checks were pretty good chunk change. So, when I was going nuts not working, that's when I came here again, and have been ever since, although now it's sort of part-time..."
Clarifying again, for Wilson had cocked an eyebrow when she used the word 'again', she added, "Nick and John needed another lawyer, so for a few years, I worked here when they finally got the firm off the ground way back when…"
Pausing briefly, her eyes darted between the two men. "…okay so, my turn…how did you two - " She stopped abruptly, not entirely sure how to ask the question.
Picking up on her hesitation, John smiled. "James and I went to high school together, and we decided to meet up for dinner on a whim after all these years, and that was that…now, Stacy, you never answered MY question…" he joked, his voice trailing off, as he lifted his glass up to his lips.
"She used to date House," Wilson interjected while Stacy opened her mouth to answer.
John almost spit his drink out of his mouth. Wilson thumped him lightly on the back.
"Seriously?" he cackled.
Stacy smirked. Yup. Lived with him for five years," she told him, as she took a sip of wine.
"Wow. I wasn't expecting that!" He looked sideways at Wilson, "So, you two must have met through House, then?"
Stacy answered for him. "That we did, although James knew him first," she answered John. "I took a job at PPTH when my husband was in therapy there."
"Well, it looks like I'm in your old job," John told her, smirking.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, Lisa Cuddy gave me the job. She mentioned she knew you."
"Is that so? Smart woman. She knows her stuff. Hiring a smart lawyer like yourself."
Pausing briefly, she then addressed Wilson. "How is she doing by the way? I spoke to her in the beginning of May last year, and we were going to get together. I was working on a case not far from Trenton, but I guess we both were just so busy that it never happened. I should really give her another call."
Wilson hesitated for a few seconds. He didn't want to lie to her but he also didn't want to drop a bombshell all at once.
"Lisa's good…," he began slowly, "working hard as always…"
John glanced sideways at Wilson, confused at his response. Stacy noticed the stare between the two men but said nothing.
Clearing his throat, Wilson addressed the man beside him. "John, can you see if I can use one of the computers in one of the offices?" He lowered his voice and leaned in close to his partner's ear. "She should know what happened last year."
While Stacy looked confused as ever, her eyes darted back and forth between the two men, as John nodded silently.
Glancing over at Stacy, John asked her if she had a log-in for the computer system.
Nodding and without question, Stacy led the two men down the hall and into a separate room, and sat down at the desk, logging into the office computer.
To give his boyfriend and Stacy some privacy, John excused himself and went to refill his, Wilson's and Stacy's drinks, promising to be "back in a bit."
As Wilson sat down at the mahogany desk, he logged onto the Internet. As he was doing so, he said somberly, "What I am about to show you isn't exactly….good news."
Stacy, who was leaning with her back against the wall, did not reply for a few seconds and just watched Wilson as he typed on the computer.
"I feel like you aren't telling me something…," she said to him, her voice trailing off.
Wilson stood up and stepped away from the desk. "That's because I'm not." He indicated with a hand toward the monitor, where an article from the web illuminated the screen.
"Now," he continued, as he moved out of the way and Stacy stepped forward to glance at what was on the screen, "Don't ask me anything until you're finished. I know you'll probably have a lot of questions, but hold them. I will answer everything. I promise."
Shooting the oncologist a questionable glance but obeying him nonetheless, Stacy sat down and her eyes scanned the very same headline that had graced the front page of The Princeton Packet one Monday morning late November.
As she read the headline 'Dean of PPTH in Auto Accident', Stacy's mouth opened. Turning to Wilson, she wanted to say something but no words came out.
"Keep reading," Wilson told her.
Shocked, Stacy focused on the three-month old article and kept reading. Wilson read her facial changes throughout the silence, but said nothing.
When she finished reading a few minutes later, Stacy turned to face Wilson, who had just closed the door to the office space, and stood next to the door, arms folded across his chest.
"I – I … I don't even know where to start asking you questions," Stacy began, in a quavering voice. She paused, and then asked, "Is Lisa okay?"
"Now, yes. She had a couple broken ribs, but she pulled through."
"How long have they -" She stopped, wondering how she was going to ask the burning question concerning her ex boyfriend and one of her good friends.
"Since last May."
Wilson watched Stacy's mouth drop open once again as she heard his response.
"Including myself, no one knew that they were dating until that article that you just read went public two days after the accident," he replied. "When they were together at the hospital, it was the normal bicker. No one knew the hidden meanings behind their actions or words with each other, which I'm pretty sure there were a ton. Even when House and I would hang out, nothing. I'm quite impressed with them both, to keep this up for almost half a year…"
"Greg didn't tell you?! He tells you everything!" Stacy exclaimed, incredibly taken aback.
"Not this…"
"I'm impressed he kept his mouth shut…And Chase, was it really him?"
"Yes." Pausing briefly, he took a quiet breath and forced himself to lock eyes with her.
"Stacy," he began quietly, "there's something else you should know..." He then told her about the pregnancy and the miscarriage.
"Jesus Christ. How many other bombshells are you going to drop on me tonight, James? Holy shit."
Composing herself after a few seconds, she asked quietly, "How's Greg handling it?"
Pausing after two silent beats, he grinned and replied, "You know him. Deflection is his strong suit."
'Yes, it is,' Stacy thought, with a soft laugh.
"But," Wilson continued, "I do think he's still hurting. They both are. What they had to deal with couldn't have been easy… he tells me he's fine but it's always a deflection back onto me..."
"You're concerned about him," Stacy said, quietly.
"Yeah, I am," he admitted.
"How's Lisa with all this?" she asked softly.
"Honestly," Wilson began, "House can tell you better than I can. She's better. She seems to be coping as well as she could, I guess…"
"I can't even imagine," Stacy whispered, "Has Greg been freaking out to you about becoming a father?" She paused, reminiscing. "…I can't even begin to picture it: him being a father…"
"We haven't talked about it directly, but yes, I do think he's becoming more…," Wilson paused, as he collected his thoughts, "…anxious feels like the right word, but he'll never share that with me."
"Although," he continued, smirking, "he does have a few months to figure that out."
Stacy chuckled. "So," she began, her arms folded across her chest, as she swiveled the chair to face him more directly, "Lisa and Greg are together…finally…, and they're having a kid. Chase was drunk and he crashed his car into Lisa's. And Greg is probably extremely pissed at Chase…did I miss anything?"
"Nope," Wilson replied, "You pretty much summed it up."
"Oh wait, one more thing: you."
Wilson consulted the silver watch around his right wrist. "And it only took you about twenty minutes to bring that up."
Stacy smirked. "I was going to wait until longer…but I couldn't help myself," she replied, sarcastically. "So, you and John, huh?"
"Yup."
"And when did this start?"
"Beginning of December. We went out to dinner and then sort of just…" His voice wandered off, as he thought of how to proceed.
"John seems happy," Stacy interjected, sensing the man's discomfort and attempted to soften it.
"He is."
"He's a great lawyer. John will do well at PPTH…you seem happy too, James. I'm glad."
"Thanks, Stacy.
Chuckling, Stacy added, "So I gotta ask this. Does Greg spare you or does the mockery continue?"
Wilson grinned. "Oh there's certainly some mockery. There would be no House without mockery, especially in the case of James Wilson's personal life."
Stacy laughed. "True," she replied, grinning.
"However, I do think that being with Lisa has, dare I say it, mellowed him out a bit…"
"No!" Stacy exclaimed, feigning surprise.
Wilson raised his hands in mock defeat as he laughed. "I'm just sayin'…"
"Anyway," Stacy said, standing up, "I don't want to keep you from the party and meeting everyone. Thank you for telling me everything," she finished out quietly as she walked over to him.
Holding the door open, Wilson motioned for her to go before him. "Anytime."
Meanwhile back in Princeton...
"So, how much longer are you going to be working on that?"
Upon hearing House's voice, Cuddy remained seated at her kitchen table, typing furiously on her laptop keyboard. Her Blackberry and a mug of steaming herbal tea lay next to the laptop that was on the table.
It was after 8 PM and Cuddy was reviewing employee evaluations that were due Monday morning. Since her and House had arrived home two hours ago, this had been all she'd been doing.
She finally answered him as she began commenting on a new employee evaluation.
"No idea."
Pulling her white terrycloth robe tighter up around her shoulders, she shivered slightly and took a sip of tea.
"C'mon. They're not due until Monday. Take a break," House told her, exasperated that this had been all she'd been doing since they arrived home and thus, ignoring him.
"Do you realize how many I have to do?!" she exclaimed, as she turned to face him.
"You look sexy when you're frustrated."
"Not helping," Cuddy grumbled, as she turned away from him and back towards her laptop screen.
Chuckling softly to himself, House limped to where she was sitting. From behind, he peeked over her shoulder, admiring that her cleavage was momentarily exposed.
"Do not get any ideas," she warned.
"Awww but mom," he whined.
Smiling, Cuddy ignored him, and continued to work, although she was silently relishing in the blissful joy of ignoring him.
"Judging by the fact that your cleavage is still hanging out, quite nicely I may add, I'd say you're enjoying this," House growled in a low voice as he moved his lips next to her ear.
"Greg, I have to get some work done. Stop."
Nibbling on her ear lobe, House shook his head. "Nope. Not until you admit you're not enjoying this."
Well, she certainly wasn't going to let him know that he was right.
"Fine," House said, giving up. "I'm going to take a bath."
"You do that then," Cuddy replied, smirking.
Reaching down with his hand and giving her breast a small gentle squeeze, House growled softly in her ear before straightening up and limping out of the kitchen.
"Tease."
Upon entering the master bathroom half an hour later, Cuddy saw that House was laying in the filled Jacuzzi tub, his legs stretched out and his eyes closed. He was gently (and perhaps, Cuddy thought, absentmindedly) rubbing his right thigh under the water with his hand.
As she quietly sat down on the marble around the tub's edge, Cuddy silently looked at him, her eyes tracing every detail of his face, trailing from his furrowed brow to his slightly frowned mouth. His chest rose and fell with even breaths.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
"Hi, he whispered, tracing her face with his eyes.
Giving him a soft smile, Cuddy stood and slipped off her robe, exposing nothing underneath.
Noticing House giving her nude body a lingering 'once-over', she blushed; smiling shyly as she carefully climbed over the marble and lowered her body into the tub with him.
As always, please please comment...Your comments and support are what keeps me going with every single chapter!
3 I get all mushy when I write House and Cuddy like this! AWWW.
And Stacy and John WILL have a conversation...about what? Stay tuned!
Due to my finals coming up for graduate school, time will be limited for me to work on the next chapter so it may be a couple weeks...or maybe not...