Chapter 13

WOPSIDED

Maia was looking at eight photos of men with olive complexion, dark eyebrows, black hair, similar eyes. She pulled out the photo of Joey Magione right away, "This is him."

Smithers and Quail nodded to each other acknowledging that Maia had picked the right person. Andy picked up the photos, "Good job Maia." He snickered, "How's married life?"

She looked at him puzzled, "You mean all 39.5 hours of it? It sucks. Greg has a patient which I guess trumps being a newlywed. I saw him once as he ran by with his patient on a gurney. I got a curt nod. I swear, next time if he gives me just a nod, he's getting the rod…the one between my ring and index finger.'

Smithers laughed, "Wow! Someone is pissed!"

Maia, pouting at this point, nodded. "I want out of here. I'm bored and I want to be with my husband, even if he finds an infectious disease more exciting than me. I'm thinking about getting avian flu so that I'll get to see him." Then it hit her, when she got out of the hospital, where would the FBI take her? Maia turned to Andy, "Where do we go from here?"

Andy smiled and walked over to her bed, "Well, that's what we came to tell you. Joey's girlfriend came to us. She's informed us that it was her that set up the account in the Caymans. She knows the password to the account. We've tapped the account, retrieved a full accounting and the dates and numbers match our informant's deposition in which he states that the money was from an arms deal. We can use your testimony, but it only boosts the girlfriend's. It's not the only damning information and it means that killing you isn't going to help Bellinghere's case. Joey's girlfriend will have to go into the witness protection program, but you won't, they're not going to be interested in you. We'll give you an agent to guard you until the trial, but we won't need to put you into the witness protection program."

Maia started laughing, tears coming to her eyes. She reached over on the rolling tray and grabbed some Kleenex, "Oh my God! That is too funny. The reason we rushed a wedding was so Greg would be allowed to see me when I went into the program. I wonder what he'll say?"

Andy and Smithers started laughing too. Andy shook his head, "I don't want to be here when you tell him."

Maia shook her head, "I don't think he'll flinch. He'd never let me know he made a mistake."

Smithers leaned in, "Did you? Did you make a mistake, Maia?"

Maia looked at her and shrugged her shoulders, "Ask me when I've been married 48 hours."

There was some chuckling and then Smithers and Quail said goodbye. On the way out the door, they stopped by House's office.

House was in the office with the white board and his team. Andy opened the door, "Dr. House, I hate to interrupt, but when you get the chance you should get up to see Maia. She has news for you."

House turned white; he remembered the night when he took her from behind without a condom. But just as quickly, he realized that she had taken the morning after pills. In addition, it was too early for her to tell if she was pregnant. The news must be something else. He watched the agents walk off and sent the team out to do some labs. Grabbing his cane, he took off to see his wife.

He opened the door and without smiling, he walked in and over to the monitor. Her vitals were good. "You're stats look good."

She crossed her arms across her chest, "Where's my ring?"

House squirmed a little, "I had a patient come in and I've been busy-- you know, saving a life."

Maia crossed her arms, "A simple phone call or even a short visit would suffice."

"Maia, I don't have time to stand here and soothe your hurt ego. I promise to get you your own ring. Now what's the news? I have to get back to the lab."

"They have a better witness than me, they'll use my testimony, but it's not going to be as damning as what Joey's girlfriend is giving them. They don't need to put me into the witness protection program! I'll have an agent to guard me, but I won't have to be sequestered. When I get out of here, I can go home." She waited and watched carefully for his reaction. She saw him flinch; his eyes flashed slightly and grew wider in surprise.

"Isn't that good news?" he asked.

Maia chortled, "I guess it depends. The whole reason for the wedding was to allow you access to me if I had to go into protective custody. It looks like that isn't going to be necessary."

House narrowed his eyes, "What are you saying?"

"Just that, we could easily get that annulment now, start over, maybe date for awhile." She waited, hoping he'd be offended by the idea, declare his love for her.

House was quiet, having read something different into the suggestion. He thought it meant she had doubts. Finally he asked calmly, asking without inflection, "You want to get an annulment?"

The fact that he didn't immediately say no or try to dissuade her, struck to the quick. She sat up, looked blankly at the pink hospital blanket and then leaned forward, "You're having second thoughts about all of this, aren't you?" House shook his head, but Maia wasn't convinced. His head was saying no, but there were no words to reassure her. Maia leaned back and snickered. Closing her eyes, she put an arm up over her eyes, "Just go. If we say anything more, we're going to regret it. Come back after you've diagnosed your patient."

House realized how rash they had acted. The romantic in House felt as if he had done the right thing. The pure, analytical House, the one no longer under the pressure of a witness protection program killing his love life, was counting down all the reasons why marrying Maia was a stupid, impulsive and extremely illogical thing to do.

House went back to his patient and purposefully put up a wall between his feelings and the part of his brain he needed to do his job. He and his team stayed in the hospital all day and night, House sleeping on the floor, waiting for news on the labs they had run. Chase walked into the office early the next morning.

House lifted his head and looked at Chase, "What are you doing here?"

Chase looked down at House who was lying on the floor, "Your patient's biopsy from the exploratory surgery is back. It's a tumor on the pituitary gland. He has cancer."

House nodded, "That was an odd presentation."

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I'd like to submit a paper on the case. I'd co-author it with you. Don't worry, I don't expect you to help, but maybe one of your minions could give me a hand with some of the data."

House nodded, "Sounds good, as long as I don't have to do the typing. I guess I can go home now and get some sleep. How's Maia?"

"Maia? She was released yesterday afternoon. Her employer picked her up." Chase started chuckling, "You didn't know? Are you and Maia on the outs?"

Standing up, House snarled at Chase without answering him. He grabbed his helmet and keys, taking off for home on his motorcycle to get some sleep. He figured that since Maia had been gone over twelve hours without him knowing; he might as well take a nap before facing her. When he got home, he checked his voice mail, but there was nothing from Maia. Dead on his feet, House grabbed a piece of bread, a glass of water and went back to his bedroom. He plopped his body on the bed and within seconds was snoring.

House woke up and checked his voice mail, finding a message from Cuddy about a new patient. There was no voice mail from Maia. House called in and within minutes he was driving back to PPTH.

He worked another 18 hours straight before collapsing in his chair and putting his throbbing leg up on the ottoman in his office. Within minutes he was sleeping. House was in the middle of a dream just before being jostled awake by Wilson. In the dream, he and Maia were laying on a blanket in the middle of a grassy park holding each other, taking a nap after making love. He woke up to Wilson shaking his foot.

"House, go home."

He shook the sleep from his eyes, "What time is it?"

"It's seven. The patient is stable; the interferon is working; your team went home."

"Well, at least that narrows it down to just four diseases." House got up and grabbed his backpack, stuffing it full of odds and ends from off his desk.

Wilson saw that House was preoccupied, "How's things going with that waitress?"

House turned and gave Wilson a look of frustration. "Not well. She left the hospital without letting me know."

"So? Give her a call; ask her out."

"Do you think I should do that before or after the annulment."

Wilson laughed at the pathetic joke until he saw that House wasn't laughing. He quickly stopped laughing, "What are you talking about? Who's she married to?"

House frowned in frustration, "Me you idiot, me."

Wilson shook his head and rested his briefcase on the chair. "You've lost me. You and the waitress are…"

"…married. Usually you have to be married to get an annulment." House said, watching for his friend's reaction.

Wilson stepped back in shock, "When did you have time to get married? Between her surgeries and your patients, when did you two make it down to the courthouse to pull a license?"

"The FBI made all the arrangements, including renting a judge to come to the hospital."

House stood, looking at the very flustered Wilson, who had now removed the briefcase from the chair, plopping purposefully into it with his mouth gaping. "You're not joking. You married the waitress without even telling me?"

"I couldn't, the FBI didn't want anyone to know."

Wilson looked straight up as if he could find answers in the ether, "So this was a sham marriage arranged by the FBI for…for what purpose?"

House began to leave knowing that Wilson would follow, which he did. House stopped to call the elevator.

"House! Answer my question. Why did the FBI arrange your marriage to the waitress?"

"Maia, her name is Maia, not waitress. And they arranged it because I didn't want her to go into the witness protection program and then not be able to see her."

Wilson furred his brow and narrowed his eyes, "You married her so that you could continue to date her?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

"But now you need an annulment?

House was putting on his helmet and getting ready to start the motorcycle. Wilson was frustrated, "I'm coming over. You can't drop this bomb and then take off."

When they arrived back at the apartment, Wilson followed House inside, threw himself on the sofa and began his interrogation again. "So why did the FBI put you two together?"

House handed Wilson a beer, "Get the wax out of your ears. They arranged the wedding, not the marriage. Maia and I thought if we got married, they'd have to let me see her even if she went into a witness protection program."

Wilson closed his eyes to absorb what House was saying, "You essentially married her so you could continue to screw her if she had to go under cover? Do you have any feelings for this woman?"

He nodded, "I didn't marry her just to be able to screw her."

Wilson started to grin, "You have feelings for this woman?"

"Maia…my wife's name is Maia."

Wilson's eyes grew wide and the grin wider, "My God! You really do care. Why are you getting an annulment?"

"It's pretty apparent that she wants one."

Wilson stopped grinning, "Why? What did you do?"

"What did I do? I didn't do anything. When the FBI told her they weren't going to whisk her away, she insinuated the only reason we got married was moot. She asked me if we should get an annulment, start dating."

"Well, you told her no, right? You told her you cared and wanted to make it work?"

House winced and looked away.

Wilson closed his eyes and shook his head, "Oh House, you idiot! She was testing you, wanting to know if you were in it for the long haul."

House took a drink and frowned, "At that moment I wasn't sure and I saw that she wasn't sure either. Then she leaves without telling me, doesn't call or come home."

"Now what?"

"I did nothing wrong."

"Yeah, but you did nothing right either. You need to admit that you're wrong." Wilson saw House was about ready to say something so he raised a hand up to stop him. "I know, you don't think you should apologize—"Wilson finished his beer, "House, you can be right or you can get your wife back."

House sneered, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"Then I guess you've made your choice." Wilson stood up. "It's a shame, you seemed a little on the happy side lately." Wilson opened the door, smiled and left.

House sat down and drank the rest of his beer. He toyed with the receiver to the phone, starting to dial and then hanging up a dozen or more times. He finally let it ring through. It rang twice and then he heard the familiar click.

"Hi! My name is Cali. What's yours?"

House felt the sound of her voice pour through him like a good whiskey. He wanted so much to hit the star, to talk to her like they used to, but now even that pleasure was gone."

There was a pause, "Hello? My name is Cali, what's yours?"

He hung up.