Remy gasped at the startling jolt and arched her back in the nurses' station chair, squirming away from the frosty sensation. "Stephen!"
He laughed as she whirled in the chair, guilt written all over his face and hands still dripping from carrying the ice inside. "It's a nice day," he told her. "Gets a little warm after two hours baking on the pavement for a MVA call."
Concluding from his playful demeanor that there had been no serious injuries, she couldn't help but smile. "Some of us haven't had that luxury. I've been here dealing with broken bones and heart attacks all day."
"Well, I can say I haven't contributed much to that today. The only real injury I brought in was one fractured radius."
"Twenty year old male who couldn't get his story straight on how he broke it?" She remembered the patient he was referring to.
"That's the one. I think there was some kind of dare involved, maybe relating to a stunt bike and a trampoline."
"College kids," Remy said, shaking her head.
Stephen grinned sheepishly. "Actually, it would have been pretty cool if he'd pulled it off."
"You would think so." She laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, don't pretend you wouldn't," he smirked. "Anyway, when do you get off tonight?"
"Another hour," she said, looking at her watch.
"Wanna grab some dinner?" The idea wasn't unusual; they often ate together after work.
"I'd love to...but I told House I'd stop in for a while after my shift. Not that he'd care, but I still should drop by."
"Actually, would you mind if I came with you? I'd like to see how he's doing."
"That'd be great," she said, suddenly liking the idea of moral support for the unpredictable visit. Then again...Oh, shit. What if House says something he shouldn't in front of Stephen? She knew she'd have to take that chance - there was no way to back out now. "Want me to come find you at six?"
"I can just meet you up here. I'm going to go shower quick, so see you then."
**********
"Hey, ready to go?" Stephen asked as she returned to the nurses' station after checking up on her last patient. He turned and joined her, heading toward the elevator.
"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt your flirting with the receptionists," she joked, nodding back at the two still-giggling front desk girls.
"I wasn't flirting!" he exclaimed. "Just talking with them while I was waiting!"
"All right, all right." She held up her hands in mock surrender. "Just kidding."
"I wasn't flirting," he repeated under his breath.
She looked at him and shook her head slightly, perplexed as to why the statement bothered him so much. "I know."
The elevator dinged, and they stepped inside. "Hey Remy...you should know...I did stop by House's room to meet him earlier."
"What?" She was shocked. "When? Why?"
He looked slightly taken aback at her reaction. "This morning. I figured I had to meet this legendary diagnostician and master of sarcasm."
Deep breaths, Remy. House couldn't have told him...he has no reason to. And Stephen's not acting any different. "Well?" she said, forcing her voice to stay even. "Did he amaze you with his powers of people-repelling?"
He laughed. "Actually, he wasn't quite what I expected. We...chatted for a few minutes. I see what you mean about his boredom - he was more interested in conversation than I thought he would be."
"Wow, I'm impressed," she admitted. "Not many people could 'chat' with House while he's lying in a hospital bed and still be sane enough afterward to tell about it."
"Oh, come on. He's not that bad."
"Which is kind of freaking me out," she muttered as they reached the door to his room. Stephen pulled it open for her, and she entered with a murmured "thank you."
"Back?" House said, but she knew it was to cover the way his eyes almost lit up when he saw the door open. Then Stephen slipped in behind her, and she saw the spark of interest.
"How's it going?" she asked, trying to ignore the mischief glowing in his eyes.
"I'm in a hospital, how do you think it's going?" he said without even looking at her. His eyes were still on Stephen, trademark smirk gracing his face. "So I was right."
Remy turned to look at him, confused. "No, you weren't," Stephen muttered. He looked flustered as he locked eyes with House, sending some silent message.
The silence grew long, and Remy decided to ignore whatever had just happened until she could get it out of Stephen at dinner. She turned back to House. "How was your physical therapy?"
"Hell, of course. The idiot doesn't seem to understand that I was a cripple before the accident and I'll still be a cripple when he's done with me."
"Hang in there," she said, sounding half encouraging and half reproachful. "He's trying to help you."
"He doesn't understand that my life expectancy is about ten more years - and I've accepted that." He was just being glib, but that was beside the point: His next words could raise questions Remy didn't want to answer. Her eyes widened and she prayed he would stick with subtle digs. "Quality over quantity, you know?"
"Don't be like that," she muttered, knowing he would interpret her response differently than Stephen would. House paused, trying to figure out her unusual lack of snappy comeback. Avoiding his gaze, she decided it was time for them to go. "I'll see you tomorrow, House," she said abruptly.
"All right...have fun tonight, kids." His tone left no question as to what he meant, but Remy ignored him in favor of practically dragging Stephen from the room.
As soon as they were safely in the hall, she rolled her eyes and said, "See, I told you he's basically the king of irritating."
"He does know how to get under someone's skin," Stephen agreed, but with amusement in his eyes.
"What was that whole 'I was right' thing about?"
"What do you mean?" The oblivious act was not working for him; she could swear his face was reddening.
"Come on, I saw that look between you two."
He rolled his eyes. "House seems to think we're...more than friends. But I could ask the same question - what's up with our quick exit?"
Biting her lip, she turned to the elevator. "Come on, I'm hungry. Let's go eat." He followed her, reluctantly putting the question out of his mind for the moment.