064. Alone

Not Alone

House stared down at the new grave, ignoring the shivers racing through his body and the wet clothes that stuck to his skin. He ignored the last of the mourners now walking away and the rain that was still falling. He ignored the light hand on his arm that belonged to Cuddy and let her question get lost in the white noise in his head. He ignored her weary sigh and the light pat just before she walked away.

He was alone and, for the first time in his life, he didn't want to be. He'd perfected the art of driving people away. He was the master of it. It was a simple matter. Idiots would let themselves be alienated; the smart ones would see past it and maybe even be intrigued enough to stay and find out what was underneath the snark. Find out what made Gregory House tick. Wilson had been one of those and now he was gone and House was alone.

The problem now lay in the fact that he wasn't sure he knew how to be alone anymore. When he looked at objectively he hadn't been for over ten years…ever since he met James Wilson. Wilson had become his partner in crime. Not always willing but he was always willing to be talked into doing things that he normally wouldn't have. And he'd always come when House called. Even when it was the middle of the night. The only time he hadn't been there had been during the infarction and there had always been a sneaky little voice in the back of House's head that insisted that Wilson had been there it wouldn't have gotten so bad. It wasn't very logical, that voice, but it had never gone away and House suspected that that voice had been more of a reason for his break-up with Stacy than what Stacy had actually done. Wilson was a champ at getting things he wanted. When House had first suspected what was going wrong with his leg, he'd wanted to have an MRI done. His doctors had refused, saying it was worthless test. That little niggling voice I the back of House's mind always said that Wilson would have found a way to get the MRI done. Wilson was very good at getting things done. Maybe it would have changed things. Maybe it wouldn't have.

But Wilson had always been there. Always there to connive, to laugh, to scold, to roll his eyes and to just…be. House wasn't sure he wanted to be alone.

"House?"

House turned his head to see his team standing beside him, Chase in the lead. All three were huddled under umbrellas.

"Geez, you're an idiot, you know that?" Foreman groused as he handed his umbrella to Cameron and stripped off his overcoat. He stepped forward and threw the coat over House's shoulders and House realised for the first time how cold he was. He also felt a small spark of warmth kindle inside at the slightly exasperated looks on their faces and the carefully hidden worry in their eyes.

"You're going to get a cold if you stay out here," Cameron said, her tone more pragmatic than anything else, which kindled that spark even more. House didn't want sympathy.

"Then you'll be impossible and we'll be tempted to string you up by your toenails and Cuddy will get annoyed with us instead of you," Chase finished.

"And we try to avoid that," Foreman observed with a small smirk. "Makes our lives a lot easier if she's pissed with you instead of us."

House snorted and let Chase lead him back towards the car that was sitting not to far away.

"It's not my job to make your lives easier," he said in something approaching his usual snark.

"It's not your job to make us break into patient's houses but you do that," Foreman replied, still smirking.

"I'm just taking advantage of your expertise," House said mockingly.

Foreman rolled his eyes. "I stole a car. Once. I'm hardly a criminal mastermind."

"Aw, now you're just spoiling my carefully constructed stereotype of you," House mock-pouted, relieved that at someone was willing to do more than just tiptoe around him. The banter, though not on par with what Wilson could come up with, was making him feel less alone.

Foreman gave House a flat look then turned to his colleagues. "I thought you two were supposed to stick up for me?"

"And have him turn his attention to us? You're nuts," Chase replied, hiding his amusement.

"Divide and conquer, that's my motto," House said smugly as he opened the door to the car and lowered himself into the passenger seat. The others also got into the car with Foreman behind the wheel.

"Just for that, I'm driving like my Grandma," Foreman said equally smugly.

"Hey, you're not allowed to torture us," Cameron objected with a small smile.

"That's my job," House replied.

"So you keep saying," Foreman replied blandly before he put his foot to the floor and screeched down the road towards the entrance to the cemetery.

The sudden unexpected move startled a bark of laughter out of House as he grabbed for a handhold. He shot a look over at Foreman and decided that maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.