040. Sight

There Are None So Blind…

House was deep into research on what was ailing his current patient when he became aware that someone was standing in front of his desk. He looked up from the book he was reading with an air of resigned patience then raised an eyebrow when he realised it was Cuddy.

"Dr Wilson has been hurt," she said abruptly. "He was taken down to the ER and has been treated. I need you to take him home. You both have the next three days off."

House blinked as he processed all of that. "What happened?" he demanded, grabbing his cane and getting to his feet.

"He was preparing to do a biopsy and there was a problem with the autoclave," Cuddy explained, heading for the door then stopping and waiting impatiently for House to catch up. "He went over to help the nurse and it…exploded somehow. Both he and the nurse were splashed with the boiling water from the autoclave. The nurse was hit in the chest but the water caught Dr Wilson on the face."

House came to a halt and stared at Cuddy for a moment then he turned and headed straight for the lifts. Cuddy caught up with him as he waited.

"I'll speak to your team," she said briskly. "I'm sure they can cope on their own for a few days."

House barely heard her and certainly didn't care about what she'd said. The moment the lift arrived he limped in and pressed the button for the appropriate floor. He didn't notice that Cuddy hadn't joined him.

When he got to the ER, he collared the first nurse he found and demanded to know where Wilson was. She seemed to have been expecting him because she simply pointed to a curtained off area at one end.

"You can take him home at any time," she called after House as he limped away.

He slipped around the curtains and winced at the sight of his friend. Wilson was sitting on the edge of the bed, his eyes covered with white bandages and his face red and puffy. His hands were resting on his thighs, clenching and unclenching almost convulsively as he swallowed repeatedly.

"Hey," House said quietly.

"House?" Wilson said hesitantly, his head swinging around in his direction.

House limped over and tapped Wilson's knee with one finger. "Who else?"

Wilson gave a short, mirthless laugh. "Yeah, who else," he said bitterly.

House cocked an eyebrow and came to some swift conclusions about the state of Wilson's marriage.

"How bad?" he asked, deciding to avoid what was obviously a tender subject.

"Not as bad as it looks," Wilson replied, letting out a shaky breath. "Scalding mostly. It's fairly superficial. The ophthalmologist has already taken a look and he thinks there won't be any permanent damage."

House stepped closer and grabbed Wilson's chin to have a closer look at the facial scalding.

"No blistering," he observed.

"God, House, don't do that without giving me some warning," Wilson said, one hand coming up to grab at House's wrist. "And I know there's no blistering. It's all been looked at. I'll be fine. I just have to keep the bandages on for a few days."

"Cuddy gave us both time off," House replied and he let go of Wilson's chin though he didn't object when Wilson kept hold of his wrist.

"She told me," Wilson replied then he let go of House's wrist and lowered himself off the bed. "Can we get out of here?"

"Do you have any prescriptions to get filled?" House asked as he grabbed Wilson's groping hand and placed it on his arm.

Wilson looked around blindly. "Uh, there should be a bag…"

House saw it and grabbed it, pressing it into Wilson's free hand.

"Thanks," Wilson said with relief. "Tobramycin as an antibiotic and Voltaren for an analgesic."

"Well, I have Vicodin if it starts to really hurt," House said, getting a small laugh from Wilson as he led him out of the ER.

"Yeah, I know," Wilson replied dryly. "Thanks."

When they got to House's car, he helped Wilson fumble his way into the passenger seat then drove them both home to his apartment.

The rest of the day was spent trying to sort out how to deal with Wilson's temporary disability. While he'd been to House's home more times than he could think of, he found that he didn't remember the layout as well as he thought and this cost him several times in the form of barked shins. Every time this happened House snapped at him to sit down and Wilson snapped back that he wasn't completely helpless. By the time evening arrived both of them were considerably on edge and they ate their dinner in silence before House shifted over to the piano and began flitting through a variety of songs, playing a few bars before shifting to something else.

Finally Wilson broke the tense silence. "I…I should take a shower," he said firmly. "I'll need help."

House stopped playing and grabbed his cane. "Yeah, okay," he muttered then he limped over to where Wilson was lying on the couch.

House led Wilson to the bathroom and made sure he knew where everything was. He then turned to leave and Wilson reached out blindly, his hand bumping into House's side.

"Stay," Wilson said. "I won't be long and I'll…need your help with the antibiotics."

House nodded and he lowered himself to sit on the stool that had taken up permanent residence in his bathroom. "Uh, yeah, okay."

Wilson felt for the door to the shower then stripped off his clothes and climbed in, fumbling for the taps. True to his word, he didn't take too long in the shower and fairly shortly he was groping for his towel.

House picked up and handed it to him wordlessly, trying to ignore the oddly enticing sight of a very naked and very wet James Wilson. He thought he'd long ago beaten his feelings for Wilson into submission but the sight in front of him was rather rapidly proving him wrong and for the first time since he found out what had happened he was glad Wilson was currently blind. He was fairly sure his expression was giving him away and if that wasn't then the bulge in his jeans certainly would be. He watched with an oddly bitter fascination as Wilson dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his waist.

"Can you do the honours with the antibiotics?" Wilson asked.

"Sure," House said a little hoarsely then he cleared his throat.

He stood and guided Wilson over until he was sitting on the stool. The tube of antibiotic cream was already on the bench along with new bandages and House gently pulled the old ones off.

"Keep your eyes closed," he murmured as he pulled the gauze away, wincing slightly at the red, puffy skin that was revealed.

He carefully opened one of Wilson's eyes, noting with a grimace the red and irritated surface that was revealed.

"How much can you see?" he asked as he gently applied the antibiotic cream and spread it over the eye.

"Not much," Wilson admitted. "And even less with the cream in. It's all pretty blurry."

House grunted as he placed the new gauze and bandages over the eye then he repeated the process with the other eye. He was just screwing the lid back on the tube when Wilson raised one hand towards his face and inadvertently brushed the front of House's jeans.

House gasped and nearly dropped the tube and they both froze. For a few moments there was a silence in the room that only emphasized House's suddenly harsh breathing. Then Wilson let his hand brush over the bulge in House's jeans again. House's hand shot down and grabbed his wrist in a grip just short of painful.

"What are you doing?" he demanded tightly.

"It's amazing what you find out when you can't see," Wilson replied almost conversationally, prying his wrist free.

Before House could react, Wilson had reached out with both hands and run them not only over the front of House's jeans but also up and under his shirt as far as he could reach. When Wilson's fingers ran over then tweaked his nipples, House moaned and lost all ability to protest any further. He could only hope that Wilson knew what he was doing. That question was answered in many different ways when one of Wilson's hands drifted back down over his stomach and cupped his straining dick through his jeans.

"James!" he gasped as his hips bucked forward involuntarily.

Both of Wilson's hands dropped down to House's hips to catch and steady him and the younger man chuckled.

"I think we should take this to your bed," he said warmly. "I think it'd be a lot safer considering the two of us. And I want to see what else I can see without my eyes. It seems it's a better way of working out what you want."

House had to swallow hard before he could answer. "I'm a big supporter of helping the blind to see," he said a touch unsteadily as he grabbed Wilson's hands and pulled him to his feet.

He saw the smile that curved Wilson's lips and privately thought it had to be the single most seductive thing he'd ever seen on the other man.

"Good," Wilson replied and they walked out of the bathroom.