A Rush Of Blood To The Head – Chapter XIII

It was raining. Meredith plodded through the hospital foyer, listening to the relentless throbbing of the rain outside. She was still in her scrubs. She had not stopped walking around the hospital since she had been in room 401. She could not stop walking, for the moment she did, she feared that the whole situation would flood to her. She looked out onto the dark car park. There was House, sitting alone on one of the courtesy benches outside underneath the large awning. Without any thought, Meredith moved from her place near the elevator and walked outside. Moving to the bench, she sat down on the other side. House didn't move. He stayed looking out into the rain, waiting for nothing.

There Meredith and House sat there in silence, without anything to say, without wanting to say anything. For some reason, the both felt comforted by each other's presence without the need for conversation. There was only the rain. After a while sitting there, peering into the haze, Meredith looked up.

"You knew, didn't you?"

House remained still, his hands propped up on his cane in front of him. "There was no way I could have known."

"But you did."

House looked down to his feet and closed his eyes.

"Yes."

There was another silence, but still not uncomfortable. Neither wanted to come to the realisation of what they had just done. After a while, House looked up. "So, is there a bar or something round here?"

"There's Joe's, just across the road."

"Good."

House looked around into the hospital and then looked back. "You've got somewhere to go?"

Meredith was shocked at the question. She looked up at House to see if he was joking, but his face was resolutely sincere. "Ah, yeah. I do."

House looked forward into the rain again. "Good."

Tapping his cane on the ground once more, House lifted himself up from the bench. "You did good today Dr Grey."

Before Meredith could say thanks or even react, House walked away into the car park, folding up his collar as he walked through the pouring rain to Joe's.

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Derek sat back on the coach in his trailer, watching TV on the wall. Suddenly he turned it off. Through the pouring rain outside, he could swear he heard the engine of a car. Wiping his face with his hands wake up, Derek sprang up when he heard a knock on the trailer door. He swept away some clothes that lay on the floor with his foot and opened up the door.

"Meredith!" Derek exclaimed, his stomach now completely full of butterflies. But then he became concerned. Meredith looked sad, exhausted, her dirty brown hair absolutely soaked. Without saying a word, Meredith walked past Derek into the trailer, chucked her jacket onto the bench and headed for Derek's bed. Still holding open the door, Derek watched as Meredith sat on his bed, took off her shoes and lay on his bed, cuddling herself up underneath the covers.

Derek closed the door. Curious but concerned about what had happened to Meredith, he walked up to his bed in which she was now lying on her side, snug underneath the covers, staring at the space in front of her.

Derek sat down on the side of the bed and looked over at Meredith, now facing away from him. "Everything ok?"

Meredith remained still. "Yeah."

Derek sighed and looked away. Then slowly he took off his shoes, lifted up the covers and slid next to Meredith. She continued to look away. Derek slowly inched towards her then put his arms around her. Meredith grasped his hand and then pulled him closer to her. Derek smiled and brushed her damp hair away. Meredith closed her eyes and slept in his arms.

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"Bartender! A double scotch."

Joe moved round to pour a drink and put it on the counter. House picked it up and took a swig. With a slight grimace, House put the glass back down on the counter. Cane resting against his stool, House sat alone at the bar, a few people murmuring away in the dark corners. Picking up his glass again, he tilted it from side to side, looking at the reflections of light that shone through the glass on the counter. With a heavy sigh, House lifted up his glass and took another sip. But something caught his eye. Slamming down the glass he looked over to the other side of the bar where a man was emerging from the bathrooms.

"Wilson!"

Wilson stopped shocked. Looking up he saw House sitting at the bar, perplexed at what he was seeing. "House!" Wilson said awkwardly. "Hi. Ah, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What the hell are…"

Suddenly there was a loud crash. House swerved round to see a man collapsed on the floor, lying in a pool of beer and liqueur. House stopped short. He recognised this man. Wilson ran to him and looked at his pupils.

"House! You're not going to help? Ring the hospital and get them to send a gurney."

House remained sitting on his stool, glass of scotch in hand, leaning against the counter.

"That guy shot me."

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NB: Well, that's the end of "A Rush Of Blood To The Head". Good times, good times. But not to worry, am not stopping with that but writing it's sequel, "A Call To Apathy" (note 'The Shins' reference) Anywho, means I shall continue on with all the Grey's/House storylines. Hope you read it.

But on other note, in case you haven't noticed, included Wilson into story so hopefully that will satisfy people. Good good. Well, last time I'm going to say this for this story: REVIEW!!! That's right, you there! You 94 percent of people who don't review! Make this a ceremonial review for the last chapter will ya?

Seriously, seriously gotta learn to stop hounding readers.