025. Pickpocket
Restart
Wilson didn't even notice that his wallet was gone until he got home. It was only when he reached into his back pocket to take the wallet out and toss it on the dresser in the bedroom that he realised. His first reaction was dismay and frustration at the truly obscene amount of time he was now going to have to spend cancelling credit cards etc and getting replacement then he suddenly groaned and leaned against the dresser, his shoulders slumping.
House birthday was next week and he'd gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to get ticket to House's favourite monster truck rally. And, since the rally was in Phoenix, he'd also organised plane tickets, hotel reservations and most importantly, time off for both of them. He'd been planning on picking up the plane tickets tomorrow but the rally tickets had arrived today. He'd tucked them into his wallet for safekeeping and now they were gone along with the rest.
His only saving grace right now was that House was still at the hospital dealing with the frustrations of his latest patient. He walked out into the living room and picked up the phone.
"Steve," he said urgently when the phone was answered at the other end. "It's James. I've got a problem…No, not that kind of problem…Not that kind either. Just listen. The tickets you sent. My wallet was stolen today. The tickets were in it…" He collapsed onto the couch with relief at the answer. "You can? Oh man, thanks, Steve…Yeah, a birthday present…Yeah, he's worth it…Well, I never really thought so myself but I guess what they say is right, when it's the right one it doesn't matter about gender…" He laughed. "Yeah, I'll try and restrain myself from singing show tunes…What?...Jesus, really? He'll have a coronary…Because I'm a doctor and we say things like coronary instead of heart attack…Yeah, right…Whatever…Thanks, Steve."
Wilson hung up the phone and let his head fall onto the back of the sofa. That got the most important thing out of the way; the tickets had been replaced and Steve had even offered better ones than he'd originally been able to get his hands on.
He looked down at the phone and sighed. He'd gone all out for this birthday even though he knew that House usually didn't like celebrating his birthday. It was the first one after the shooting and the failure of the ketamine treatment House had asked for. House had put on a good front but Wilson had seen his frustration and the despair at the result. Those feelings had lingered and had made dealing with House difficult at best. House's team had received the brunt of their boss' disappointment and had dealt with it with a patience and forbearance that had Wilson thinking of nominating them for collective sainthood. He was sure they probably bitched extensively in private but they didn't let House rile them too much in public and that's what counted.
This was going to his chance to attempt to jolly House into a better mood…or at least a mood closer to what it had been prior to the shooting. The flying probably wouldn't do it but he was fairly sure that the monster trucks would go along way towards helping. House always took an almost childish delight in watching them crunch their way over smaller cars and Wilson just liked watching House grin and laugh…and the whole crunching thing was kind of fun as well. He knew it wouldn't solve any problems but if it gave House a lift even for just a short period of time then Wilson was convinced it was a good thing.