Nine hours, twenty-seven minutes, and twelve seconds after their plane landed safely back in New Jersey, House realized he had forgotten to tell Wilson something very important. However, what that thing was had by that time become a mystery to his self as well. 'Oh, well. I guess it wasn't that important.' He had thought to himself before shrugging and pressing the call button for the elevator.
"Good morning, children!" House exclaimed as he skated into the conference room, coming to a halt next to the whiteboard, smirking when he saw the newly begun game of hangman that was currently its only decoration. "Were you all good for Auntie Lisa while mommy and daddy were away?"
"What are you doing here?" asked Cameron. Her voice was full of concern, but House didn't miss the glare she shot at Wilson as he watched from outside the glass wall. Quickly looking up and away from her, Wilson took this as his cue to leave and continued to his own office.
"I work here," House responded, ignoring the silent exchange. "Or at least I think I do. The acid I scored from that cheap hooker last night is still wearing off. I have no idea where I am!" His eyes widened in exaggeration.
"Now is that any way to talk about Wilson?" Chase asked jokingly from where he stood on the opposite side of the whiteboard. All eyes went him.
"Oh snap, girlfriend!" House replied sarcastically. Foreman smirked, but Cameron did not look amused. "I see you've been keeping busy." He waved a hand toward the whiteboard. As he did, out of the corner of his eye he spotted Wilson stepping out onto their joined balcony, his sleeves rolled up and an apple in his left hand. Oddly, House found himself unable to look away.
"Yeah, well no new cases. This beats crosswords and the clinic," Foreman explained. House paid no attention.
"House, why are you here?" Cameron questioned once more, impatience beginning to show in her voice. Still he did not respond, somehow transfixed by the way Wilson slowly bit into the crimson fruit, the way he wiped the sweet juice that ran smoothly down his chin away before gently sucking and licking it off the side of his wrist. It wasn't as though it was something he had never noticed before, but he had always been discreet – never letting his gaze linger for more than a few seconds when no one was looking. But things were different now. Although they had officially been "together" for nearly two weeks, House had yet to really see what lied underneath those layers that his new "boyfriend" (he really needed to find a better word than that) constantly piled on. In fact, they'd never even kissed. It wasn't a mystery why, though. As long as they continued the way they were, it was just Wilson staying at his place again – their sleep arrangement being the only big change. But if they were to take that next step, to become physically involved, to share that connection, their entire lives would change for real. Nothing would ever be the same, and he wasn't completely sure that he was ready to take that step. Wilson was the only thing House had to lose.
"Uh, Earth to House," Foreman waved his hands, his smirk growing as he was endlessly entertained by this entire situation.
"What?" House questioned, turning back to face them. "Sorry. I was completely ignoring you." He spoke casually, no apology in his tone.
"Yeah, we noticed," Chase responded, looking out at Wilson before turning back to House again.
"Distracted much?" Foreman asked sardonically, almost shaking with suppressed laughter.
"I believe someone not Chase or Dr. Giggles asked me a question?"
"Yeah," Cameron said. "I asked why you were here."
"I thought I already answered that question," House replied in mock thoughtfulness.
"Seriously," continued the exasperated woman. "I mean, your father just –"
"I'm aware," House interrupted. "However, there's nothing I can do sitting around doing nothing at home that I can't do sitting around and doing nothing here."
"You mean besides Wilson," it was Foreman's turn to snark this time. House smirked back at him.
"Well, yes, I have to admit the view is infinitely better," House this time gave a fake longing look toward the balcony, gaining laughter from two out of three ducklings. Cameron, of course, continued to be unamused by their antics. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a hooker to repay."
"Well, do us all a favor and take it to his office," Foreman suggested as House opened the door to his own.
"And deny Cameron the chance to watch? Surely you jest!" he spoke as the door closed behind him. Foreman smirked and looked down, avoiding the woman's gaze, and Chase reopened his marker to continue their game. House then popped his head back into the room. "Oh, and the answer is recurrent respiratory papillomatosis."
"How did you –" Chase began in disbelief, looking at the board where only the letter "a?" had been guessed so far.
"Magic," House responded before making his way out onto the balcony.
"I can't believe you two are laughing!" the appalled Cameron addressed Chase and Foreman.
"Cameron, how is House dating Wilson not funny?" Foreman replied, his smirk as wide as ever.
"Yeah, he was practically drooling," Chase agreed, taking his seat across from Cameron.
"For one, it's none of our business. And two, his father just died!" she defended.
"So what would you have him do? Curl up on the couch at home, watch the Lifetime network and cry?" Chase questioned.
"No, I just think it would be better for him if he took some more time. I mean, he just got the call out of the blue; no time to prepare, no reason to believe anything was wrong –"
"Gee, I can't imagine how he must feel," Chase responded sarcastically. Cameron bit her tongue. "You know, it's funny, I don't remember you going all 'protective mother hen' on me when my dad died out of the blue." Cameron's mouth went agape, wanting to speak but at a loss for words.
"Huh. And here I thought you were over House," Foreman added in mock thoughtfulness. "Even picking out his wardrobe; doing his hair and makeup for his big date with Dr. Love."
"I'm just worried, is all," was the woman's unconvincing reply. Chase and Foreman looked at each other then back at Cameron.
"Sure," they said in unison, equal disbelief clear in their voices.
"Hey," House said casually as he stepped out onto the balcony, closing the door behind him.
"Hey," Wilson greeted in his usual 'slightly more cheerful than House' voice.
"Didn't we already have breakfast?" House questioned rhetorically, nodding his head toward the half-eaten apple as he leaned against the far wall of the balcony at its closest point to Wilson's side.
"One, yes. But this is my second breakfast," Wilson grinned, doing his best to match House's impressive ability to speak with a flawless Scottish accent, and failing miserably.
"Okay, that's my joke, and Pippin is not Bulgarian," House replied with a smirk.
"Fine. So I was still a little hungry," James relented.
"Liar," House responded immediately, pointing a finger toward the other man. "You eat a lot when you're worried or nervous. Something's got you edgy. What's on your mind?"
"Nothing," Wilson answered a little too quickly, not believing he was blowing off House while the man was in one of his rare 'I actually feel like talking, sort of' moods. "As unbelievable as it may sound, one does tend to suffer from a certain amount of hunger after watching their so called 'best friend' eat every last pancake that they bothered to wake up early to cook."
"That is so incredibly not true, it isn't even funny," House's smirk grew. Wilson shifted his weight. "Really, it's not. Either you're losing your touch or you weren't even trying. I saw you scarf down at least three of those divine little circles before we left."
"You really wanna know?" James questioned skeptically.
"No. But I've learned from experience that such an answer tends to upset the little lady, so I decided to give the opposite response a try. Now will you cut the crap and just tell me?" House replied, annoyance slowing making its way into his voice. The oncologist studied him for a moment before nodding and responding.
"It's the people here," he began.
"What about 'em?" House urged him on.
"You haven't been getting any strange looks from anyone on staff or heard comments that may or may not have been subtle insults as you walked past?"
"You mean more than usual?" House half-joked.
"House, I'm being serious. I didn't say anything before because I thought it was all in my head, but now –"
"You're kidding, right?" House replied. "You really are turning into a woman. You're about to cry over a couple of insults and a glare. If, you were so concerned, you probably should have thought about it before you decided to date your bestest buddy."
"Right," Wilson huffed.
"That's the way people are, Wilson. Welcome to my world," House told him before taking the apple from the other man's hand, licking around the uneaten portion, then taking a bite from where Wilson had previously bitten. Handing the fruit back wordlessly, House made his way back inside the hospital, leaving Wilson to contemplate exactly what he meant by that.
Sitting down in the chair behind his desk, House saw his subordinates sitting in their usual seats around the conference table, but none of them were speaking nor did they look very happy. He wondered vaguely what had occurred in his time outside to change the mood of the two men and make Cameron shut up. Shrugging, he decided he didn't care. Instead, he concentrated on what had just occurred out on the balcony. House had never given any thought to how Wilson would react when he outted them to the hospital. Being his usual self, he hadn't seen the big deal and simply couldn't wait to see the looks on his colleagues' faces when he told them the news. He figured sure a few nurses and an accountant or two would have their little hearts broken, but that only meant it would be easier to keep them away from Wilson.
However, the oncologist's reaction had brought him back to reality. James had never lived in House's world. Society respected him as a man, women always wanted to be with him, men wanted to be him; even patients adored him. And just by simply being himself, House had ruined all of that…well, at least most of it. But Wilson hadn't blamed him. The man hadn't even implied that it was House's fault, when both of them knew it was. He had excepted it; just kept on eating that apple. Leave it to Wilson to make an unhealthy habit look healthy.
House's mind then wandered to that apple. In truth, he had absolutely no idea way he had molested the poor defenseless fruit in such a way. It wasn't really fair, was it? He thereupon recalled a comment that Wilson had made about Stacy not all that long ago. "She sounds confused, but I don't think she is. I think she's waiting for you to do something; show her you're serious." Was that what Wilson was doing now? Waiting for him to do something. James had obviously shown House just how serious he was the night of their dinner. The man had even used the "L" word (the actual word, not the show). Now, that he thought about it, James had actually kissed him…several times as a matter of fact. But they weren't real kisses. After all, their lips had never touched, but it was something. It was a big something. Suddenly House felt very inadequate. All he'd done to show his "affection" was buy some food and Tivo a cheesy romantic-comedy. Damn, he really sucked at this whole "romance" thing. What had he gotten himself into?
As the day went on, House found himself feeling oddly self-conscious. Every comment and every look he would have previously ignored or simply not noticed at all from the majority of the staff stood out like a bum leg. He wondered if this was anything like the way Wilson was now feeling. Whatever it was, he didn't enjoy it, and spent most of his time "working" the clinic attempting to figure out exactly how long he could take this behavior before punching someone out.
Five hours, nine minutes, and thirty-seven seconds after House remembered he'd forgotten something, he suddenly remembered what it was he forgot.
"Ready to go?" House asked, sticking his head into Wilson's office.
"It's only three o'clock," Wilson responded, looking up from his paperwork.
"Yeah, but we've got stuff to do. And we can still get away with it while the hormonally imbalanced women are still pitying me. Come on," House urged. Wilson sighed.
"I still have work to do," he protested.
"Patients? Consults?" House questioned.
"Paper work. While some people pass it off to their hormonally imbalanced lackeys, others take the initiative to do it themselves. It's called responsibility. You wouldn't understand," James countered.
"Plenty of time for that later. We have to get things ready now," House insisted.
"Ready for what?" Wilson asked, having no idea what the other man was talking about.
"My mom," House replied.
"Your mom?" continued the very confused oncologist.
"Yeah, she's coming to stay with us for a while. Should arrive sometime tomorrow, actually. I told you that, didn't I?" the diagnostician said casually, knowing full well that he had not.
"No, you didn't," Wilson responded slowly, not believing his ears. "Since when was this happening?"
"She asked me at the funeral if it would be okay," House explained. "She doesn't wanna live in that big house alone now that dad's gone. Don't freak out. She's only staying until she can find a place around here."
"Which could take weeks," Wilson reminded him. "Even months."
"She's my mother. What was I supposed to say? 'Sorry, mom, but my boyfriend likes it rough.' The woman's a human lie detector; she'd know you were the gentle type."
"House, please. You're mother doesn't even know about us yet. How did you plan on telling her? Wait until dark and let her see us head to the same bed?" Wilson asked. House looked thoughtful.
"It was on the list," he answered. Wilson sighed again, stood, grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, and pulled it on.
"Fine, we'll leave now. But you are going to tell her about this before she ends up figuring it out on her own," James relented. House grinned.
"You've got a deal," he responded. "Now let's get out of here."
YAY! Chapter 6 is finally up! Hope you enjoyed it! I regret not thanking all of you reviewers personally, but you are all the greatest! Next chapter will be up as soon as I can transfer it from paper to computer!