Chapter 7: Punishment, and Phone Calls
Cameron felt like a small child as she followed Dr. Cuddy into her office where Wilson was already sitting.
It was quite different on the other end of the spectrum. Last time they had been to see Cuddy, it had been because Cuddy had done something wrong, and all they had done was make her feel sorry. They were facing disciplinary action.
"You two left the fundraiser on Friday."
Allison and James exchanged glances and then he shrugged before they both looked back at Cuddy.
"That we did."
"Why?"
"Family emergency." Wilson replied. Allison was family, and she had been in no shape to go back to the party.
"And both of you had to leave?"
"We came together." Cameron explained truthfully, "and I was in no shape to drive."
"And neither of you felt the need to notify me?"
"It wasn't something that we were thinking about at the time Cuddy." Wilson snapped in frustration.
"What was the emergency?"
"What?" Cameron asked.
"Am I not entitled to know what the emergency was that took two of my doctors away from the most important fundraiser of the year?"
"I don't really feel comfortable telling you Dr. Cuddy, but it was an emergency."
Cuddy scowled, but she knew by the firm set of Cameron's jaw that the woman wasn't going to tell her what happened.
"Extra clinic duty for both of you for a month." Cuddy stood, signaling that the meeting was over. "And if either of you leave a fundraiser early without telling me again there will be further issues."
If Wilson was going to do this, he was going to have to do it now and actually mean it.
Going across the balcony would be his best bet, he mused. No one would be able to see him until he got into House's office – that was, if he had the blinds open, which he usually didn't.
And that was it. With a quick hop Wilson was sliding through the glass door and into the dark office of one Gregory House.
"I don't care Kutner. We cured our patient. Go away."
House's back was to the door, his legs were propped up on his desk, and he was playing catch with the red/grey ball.
"How'd you get to the balcony anyway?"
"I'm not Kutner, so it wasn't hard."
House fumbled the ball, but that was the only indication that anything was wrong before he turned slightly to look at Wilson, his eyes betraying nothing.
"What are you doing here?"
"Came to talk to you," Wilson replied, taking a seat and staring at House.
"Really?"
"Stop harassing Cameron."
"Why?" House threw the ball at Wilson who caught it and tossed it back to him. Just like old times…
"Because she doesn't want to talk about it."
"Oh, how sweet" House crooned. "Little Jimmy Wilson coming to Cameron's rescue from the big bad scary man with the cane."
"She doesn't know I'm asking you to leave her alone" Wilson admitted calmly.
"And why not?" Now he was curious.
"Because Allie doesn't think that I know about you going down and bugging her everyday in the ER."
Houses' face was a mask. Had they really, after all these years, come down to this? Arguing over bothering Allison Cameron?
"I have to go." He stood up and grabbed his cane, a sardonic smile on his face. "Clinic duty and all that. Cuddy and I have some toys set up in one of the rooms." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Cameron agreed to join us. You're welcome to watch."
Wilson stood and watched him leave.
Wilson took a late lunch and at about two made his way over to Alice's.
She saw him and smiled and waved before seeing the dejected look on his face.
"Aww, honey, what happened?"
They sat down and she poured him a cup of coffee.
"I went to go tell House to stop harassing Cameron and going down to the ER." Wilson looked down at his hands and sighed. "It's been seven months, Alice."
"You miss him." It was a statement not a question.
"He's been my best – and one of my only – friends for years. Not that I have that many friends now. It used to just be House and me, and now it's Allison and I, on occasion you, and sometimes Tina, but she's still in the process of moving here. Of course I miss him."
Alice stared at him for a long moment. "When Allison lost Jake, I waited a little while to approach her. She was just a little feisty thing back then - a slip of a girl, because she never got enough to eat - that was covered in bruises. I was afraid to approach her because I wasn't sure how she would react to me. I now know that she blamed herself, and I was blaming myself, but I wasn't sure if she blamed me or not. I didn't want to approach her and see the same self loathing and hate directed at me that I already felt."
"Point being?"
"Maybe House not talking to you wasn't him running away from you. It was him running away from himself."
Wilson stared at her blankly and Alice sighed. "What is it with you kids theses days…" she muttered under her breath before shaking her head. "He was afraid to approach you, because if you blamed him for Amber's death he wouldn't be able to handle it."
"Why didn't he tell me that though? Why didn't you tell me that?"
"Because when I met you, you weren't ready to hear that. Sometimes you just have to let anger and blame run their courses."
"But I didn't blame him." Wilson whispered in confusion. "Not at first. When she died I wanted a friend and House wasn't there. It was only when he hightailed out of there that I started blaming him. And not for Amber's death, but for leaving me when I needed someone the most. It was something that House would do – go out and get drunk, and it was no surprise that he would need a ride home. But it should've been me with him; I should've been the one in the crash."
"Things don't always work out the way you expect them to James. In fact, most of the time they don't. And sometimes that's a good thing in the long run. It hurts like hell, but it changes you." Alice put a hand on his arm. "When you decided to go see House, was it just to tell him to leave AJ alone? Or was it also because on a subconscious level you wanted to see him? The truth is James, he's probably afraid to approach you. And you're just as afraid to approach him. So someone has to make a move. And if you want anything to happen, you're going to have to talk to him first. Make the first move. Whenever you're ready. I can't guarantee that he'll want to talk to you, but the only thing that you can do is try."
Tina sat on the hospital bed as she watched her cousin expertly stitch up her hand.
"You're worse then me Tina." Allison chided. "Try to be more careful."
"Stupid knife."
"Stupid you not knowing how to hold a knife properly."
"Well, we match now."
The stitches were right across Tina's palm, on what was called the 'heart line'.
Allison grimaced. A few weeks into her stay with Linda and Ron, Ron had become enraged and sliced her hand with a knife. The cut sliced directly where she was stitching up Tina's hand. It had been deep enough to leave a scar.
Tina had cut her hand herself. Washing dishes the knife had slipped from her fist and she had grabbed it without thinking, efficiently cutting open her palm.
"But you were being stupid. I was being disrespectful."
Tina rolled her eyes. "Of course you were."
Cameron winced as she heard the familiar footsteps of House.
"What?"
"Remember how I told you that House has been coming down here everyday and bothering me?"
"Yep. I asked you if you wanted me to do something about it."
Allison nodded and began wrapping the hand up, so the stitches wouldn't get dirty or infected. "Yeah and I ignored you."
"Thanks dearest."
"Always. Anyway, he's down here."
Tina looked up and scanned the area until she found the man that Cameron had described to her many times.
"So that's the infamous Dr. House."
"Yep."
"Can I say hi?" Tina's eyes lit up. "Can I go tell him to leave you alone?"
"Can I tear out all of your stitches and pour Tabasco sauce on your hand?" It was a good natured reply, brought on by another 'respect' lesson from Ron.
"Let's not and say you did."
Cameron didn't have a chance to respond, cut off by House's voice.
"What'd this one do?" He looked from the hand that Cameron was almost done wrapping to the two of them.
"I do have a name." Tina watched House watching her. He was, she decided, cute, in a completely, only Allie would like him, way.
But her cousin was rarely wrong with her first feelings about people and Tina hated to get things rubbed in her face, so she kept her mouth shut.
And maybe, if everything worked out she would have someone new to snark at. That was always fun.
"Do I care?"
"I don't know. Do you?" Tina mocked. Cameron tied off her hand and Tina hopped down from her perch.
"Thanks Blondie." House was watching the two of them with interest, and Tina was half tempted to mess with House, if she hadn't known that Cameron wouldn't participate. A one-woman act was good, but not that good. It wasn't worth it.
"No problem, Tina. Just try not to be so stupid." Tina stuck her tongue out and took two steps before whirling around.
"Oh! I forgot. You ditched Thanksgiving. Aunt Heather wanted to know, are you coming home for the holidays? She's been yelling at me because you never answer your phone, you brat."
Cameron shrugged. "Tina – I never make Thanksgiving. I always help Alice. And I have no idea about the holidays."
"It's two weeks before Christmas AJ!"
"First of all, we're Jewish. It doesn't matter when Christmas is. Second of all-"
"How else are we going to have our Chinese dinner?"
Allison rolled her eyes. "Second of all," she repeated firmly, "the schedule is constantly changing. Plus-" She paused. House was right behind her and she wasn't going to bring up that night. She was still on Cuddy's shit list for that.
"Yeah, I know." Tina had been filled in on the events from the weekend when she had shown up at Alice's on Sunday. Allison hadn't been there, but Alice passed along information between the cousins.
"Good times." Cameron shrugged. "I'll call you later Tina."
"Later 'gator." A quick hug and she was out the door before another word was spoken. Cameron met Houses' eyes steadily.
"What?"
House wandered back up to his office after a brief staring contest with Cameron. The only thing he had been able to figure was that the two were cousins, judging by the 'Aunt Heather', whoever the hell she was.
Cameron hadn't said a word, just called the next patient, pretending like he didn't exist.
He hadn't gotten a chance to ask about Jimmy-Boy and his defensive 'leave Cameron alone' speech. Now he was really curious as to if they were sleeping together or not. He also wanted to know if she really hadn't said anything to him, or if that was all part of Wilson's act.
Because if she had really been keeping his random, harassing visits to the ER a secret, something weird was going on, or as House had always thought, Cameron was a masochist.
House sat down, slumped in his chair and picked up his red/grey ball. It was Monday and another long four days of torturous work and then empty time lay before him.
As a child, John House had organized his son's life so that every hour was occupied. No free time, no time to sit around and do nothing. House had come to realize later on that being busy was good sometimes. It was easier to take your mind off of things when you were busy.
When House had gotten back to work, he had thrown himself into working. There was a point when there were two or three patients in the diagnostic department at once.
It was then that he realized how empty his life was without Wilson.
Monday nights were poker nights. Tuesdays had been Hooker nights, until he had Cuddy, and now he was back to hookers. Wednesday nights he usually stayed home to watch General Hospital or the OC and drank by himself. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were all Wilson nights. Sunday usually was too. Be it harassment, beer and sports or something entirely different Wilson was the only one who House spent time with.
A.A.D – After Amber's Death, the schedule had changed.
Monday was still poker, Tuesday was still hooker/Cuddy, and Wednesday was still nothing, but House suddenly had three or four nights a week where all he had was time.
Time to sit, time to think, time to pop pills and be even more miserable then he had been when he had left the state.
So he sat at home, waiting to come up with a brilliant way to approach Wilson and make everything okay.
And the only thing that would have made everything better was if Amber hadn't died. If Wilson had never met her. If he had never gone out drinking that night and gotten so wasted he was practically swimming in scotch.
There was nothing that could fix this.
It was All. His. Fault.
"Allison!"
Cameron turned to see Wilson striding towards her in the parking lot.
"Hey, didn't see you at lunch, everything okay?" She greeted tiredly.
"Yeah, I took a late lunch and went to see Alice. I want to talk to you about something, is that okay?"
"Sure." She yawned. "But I won't be very good company for very long, I'm exhausted."
"Then I'll drive you home, we can talk, and then I'll leave so you can crash." Allison eyed him. "And I'll pick you up tomorrow before work." Wilson amended.
"Deal Jimmy. I don't want to take a cab. And I'll even pay for the pizza tonight."
"As long as we don't get anchovies." Wilson ushered Cameron to his car and she slipped into the passenger seat, grinning at him.
"I do have to tell you that you're freaking me out a bit."
Cameron watched Wilson as he paced back and forth in front of her. A half eaten box of pizza sat on the coffee table and Cameron was slouched on her couch a coke in hand.
They had watched some old movie that Wilson had picked out; but the movie had long ago ended, leaving a blank reflected blue screen that reflected eerily on Cameron's face, casting a glow around the room as well.
"I just don't know what to say."
"Jimmy, unless you killed someone, I think that there's not a lot that will upset me."
"I want to call House."
Cameron continued to stare at him.
"And…" She trailed off and waved her hand, pointedly trying to get him to fill in the blank. He didn't respond and Cameron sighed, stood up and forced him back to the couch before sitting down next to him.
"You don't need my permission for that Jimmy."
"I don't?" He looked at her. "Why do I feel like I do?"
"Am I my brothers' keeper?" She intoned before shaking her head. "I have no idea why you felt the need to ask me. But that doesn't matter, because I actually think that it's high time that you gave House a call," Cameron admitted easily.
"So you're not mad?"
"Unless you suddenly stop hanging out with me completely and become an asshole we're good."
Allison kissed his cheek. "And if he hurts you, I'll kick his ass." She stood up. "Be careful though, because I don't want to see you hurt. Crash on the couch or go home, but I'm going to bed Jimmy. I'm exhausted. Night Jimmy."
And with that she stumbled into her room and left Wilson sitting on the couch with a lot to think about.
House grumbled as he limped into his apartment. Poker night had been long and beer filled, but he had ended up behind which never made him happy.
There was a missed call on his answering machine and House wondered idly who was stupid enough to try and call him. If it was his parents and they were coming to visit, he didn't want to hear it. Anyone else would call his cell phone, which he would also not answer.
Just for kicks though, House hit the play button and listened to the monotone, robot voice tell him, you have one new message.
"House – it's Wilson." There was dead silence and then a soft sigh. "Call me back." Another silence. "Please."