Chapter 2
Curiosity
Wilson met up with House at his apartment that evening. House had printed their tickets to the animation festival and packed a flask for their entertainment, "Let's roll." House told Wilson. They climbed into Wilson's car and took off for the campus theater.
House had his handicap placard with him, so they parked as close as one could to the theater. Wilson looked at him and said, "You're good for something."
As they waited in line for the doors to open House asked Wilson, "Who was the red head this morning?"
Wilson wasn't following, "House, I'm not dating anyone."
"No dufus, the redhead in your patient's room?"
Wilson was suspicious, "Why do you want to know?"
"There's something odd about her. I couldn't get her to make eye contact."
"She made eye contact with me." Wilson looked at him and narrowed his eyes with suspicion, "She's my patient's cousin. She's going to stay when the husband goes home to go back to work."
"What's with the patient?" House asked.
"Colon cancer, she's getting an experimental treatment, a platinum based drug combined with a taxane based drug delivered into the abdomen."
"What stage?"
"Stage III. I think she's got a good chance, not great, but good."
The line to get in was long and moving slowly. House, always impatient, broke out of the line and hobbled up to the guard at the door, spoke to him and then waved his cane, motioning for Wilson to join him. Wilson joined him and the guard let them in the side door.
"Man, you milk it don't you?" Wilson quipped.
"Hey, gotta work it. What good's a bum leg if you can't pimp it out?"
House and Wilson attended three animation features out of the five being offered: Astronauts; King Arthur's Disasters; Pingu 's Sledge Academy. They shared the flask of Grey Goose giving each a nice buzz. It was the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend and neither one had made plans to go out of town. They decided that they would make a run to Atlantic City on Friday and then hit the Animation festival on Saturday night again. Wilson dropped House off at his apartment and took off.
Sleep was evading House because of the dull, but continuous ache in his leg. After a bad liver enzyme panel, he had weaned himself down to a respectable amount of Vicodin, but not without a few rabid days of anger and frustration. Occasionally, a shot of steroids helped him deal with the pain, but tonight he was going to have to take the extra Vicodin so that he could sleep. House grabbed the container, a bottle of water and knocked them back. The last time he looked at the clock it read 1:00 am. Rolling over it now blinked a bright 8:00 a.m. By the time he walked through the clinic, the clock read 10:00 am. As he approached the elevator, the doors were closing. He stuck his cane in and the doors bounced open.
I had nowhere to run, I could feel him and knew he was coming my way. When the cane appeared from out of nowhere, stopping the elevator doors from closing, it frightened me. The doors opened and our eyes met, I couldn't avoid him without seeming to be a social misfit. Blue. I was looking straight into blue on blue eyes. He was curious about me and he was about to start asking questions.
"You're the woman afraid to look me in the eye. What did I ever do to you? Or maybe it would be better if I asked what you're afraid of?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about Dr. House."
He quickly remembered that Wilson had called him by his name yesterday. "You wouldn't make eye contact with me yesterday, was it something I said?"
"Oh, now I understand." she shifted her weight, "No, I had something in my eye and I was trying to look down to get it out."
"That's bull, you avoided me on purpose." The door opened on his floor. He didn't get off.
"Aren't you going to get off?" Teagan was hopeful.
"What's your name?" he let the doors close and continued to her floor.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because you want nothing to do with me and you haven't even met me." House was still curious. The elevator came to a stop at her floor. The door opened, but House put his cane across the doorway to stop her egress.
"You're not going to let me out until I tell you, are you?" This time she looked him deep in the eyes, "Teagan Furey."
He stepped aside and let her leave the elevator.
Teagan felt odd, there was something about Dr. House that made her feel out of sync. She couldn't get a real read on him and she was afraid to touch him, he was incredibly dynamic, over the top. She could feel his personality, but she wasn't picking up facts, at least not yet. Maybe she never would, there were some people she just couldn't read.
She had to be the oddest woman he had ever met and he didn't know why. When she did look at him in the elevator there was no shock, no static electricity, no lightening bolts and nothing out of the ordinary, but there was something in her eyes, a knowledge. House was intrigued.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
As soon as he arrived at his office, he saw his team was already studying charts for the next patient. As he was putting his backpack down, Foreman started to give him the stats on the patient.
"A 46 year old man was brought into the emergency room by his wife at around 11 p.m. At the time of presentation he had a melancholy look on his face and was heaving and hyperventilating at irregular intervals. History revealed that he had been receiving treatment for severe depression as a consequence of business losses a few months back. His wife says he has mood swings and fluctuates between states of depression and anxiety. Since his business loss, he had been taking amitriptyline. The patient's appetite and food intake had decreased, but were adequate."
Taub added, "He had no history of any other significant medical conditions. He was admitted last night for observation and given alprazolam, 0.25 mg, with a provisional diagnosis of anxiety. He's not getting any better. Because he is the mayor's brother, Cuddy wants you in on this."
House groaned, "Get a history. Kutner, check out the house and Foreman get a psychiatric consultation arranged, a CBC, blood glucose, and electrolytes for now."
House twirled his cane and then took off for Wilson's office. He crashed through the door, but Wilson wasn't there. House looked around for Wilson and found him in the chemo unit.
"What do you know about Teagan Furey?"
"Nothing." When House gave him a look of disbelief Wilson said, "She's the second cousin of my patient. That's it. House, what is this obsession with her? You don't even know her."
"She's strange...she's, 'People are Strange'" strange."
"I thought she was nice, calm, sweet." Wilson offered.
"Yeah and you're such a good judge of character that you've managed to pay for three breast augmentations, after they divorced you." Wilson sighed, watching House take off down the hall.
Despite his numerous protests and attempts to escape, House had clinic duty, which he found boring and mind numbing as usual. He was happy when he received a page instructing him to meet the team in the patient's room. Arriving in the room, he noticed that the patient was hyperventilating.
Foreman was working on the patient, hooking up tubes and taking his vitals, "His wife called us a few minutes ago. His hyperventilation has increased and he appears to be restless and irritated. But the test results were within normal range. The hyperventilation is probably caused by the anxiety."
House did a quick check of the chart, "Start an intravenous line and give him 2 mg of lorazepam. Thirtee, what's the history? "As he listened to her, House checked the patient for bites, but there was no evidence of any.
"No allergies, went to Canada two months ago. He hasn't eaten out in awhile. He has GERD but no other chronic diseases. Only doctor visits in the last year were for the depression and anxiety. There are no pets or allergies. The only one who lives with him is his wife and she seems genuinely concerned."
"Give him the lorazepam and let me know how he responds. I'm going to lunch." House took off for the cafeteria, hoping to find someone to buy him lunch. House smiled when he saw Teagan in line. He grabbed a brown serving tray and saddled up next to her.
Teagan already knew he was in the room and that he was approaching her. The cook handed her the cheeseburger and fries that she ordered. She watched House reach in and grab a tuna salad.
"Hello Teagan."
"Hello Dr. House."
House picked a couple of French fries off of Teagan's plate. Teagan smiled to herself and shook her head. House accidently knocked the napkin off Teagan's tray and onto the floor. They both bent down for it. Becoming off balanced as he tried to get up, Teagan grabbed House's arm to steady him. Images, uncontrollable and brilliant images, went racing through her mind, pushing into her psyche. As they stood up, House looked straight into her eyes, but she didn't see him. He could tell from her unfocused eyes that mentally she was far away. Teagan held onto the counter as the images stopped almost as quickly as they had begun.
She was going to tell him, but was reluctant; if anyone was a skeptic, it was Dr. Gregory House. They continued down the line and picked out their drinks. She paid for her lunch and then started to carry her tray to a table by the wall that was empty. She stopped and watched as House was getting his money out of his wallet.
Speaking over the other voices in the cafeteria, Teagan asked, "Dr. House, does this make sense to you? A dog. I just keep seeing a dog. A medium sized dog."
"I don't understand? I don't have a dog."
She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'm sorry to have bothered you."
House hurried as fast as he could to catch up to her. "Well, you have bothered me, so I think we better discuss what you mean by a dog." He followed her to the table and sat down with her. Teagan knew this was just an excuse to harass her, but said nothing. Once again he reached across and grabbed more fries off her tray. Teagan handed him the plate of french fries.
There was no 'thank you', he simply motioned behind her, "The ketchup is behind you."
She turned around and grabbed the ketchup for him, watching as he squirted it on the fries. At first they sat quietly while she ate her cheeseburger and he ate her fries and his tuna salad. House studied her over with the eyes of a clinician.
"I'm wondering if you're just going to stare at me or do you plan on saying something?" she asked.
He rolled his tongue behind his teeth to dislodge a piece of French fry and continued to watch her. Although he was looking at her, he was somewhere else in his head. He was thinking about the patient. Foreman, Taub and Remy rushed into the cafeteria and stood at the condiment counter looking for him. Thirteen spotted House and they hurried over to the table appearing worried. Taub and Thirteen looked at Teagan, wondering why House was having lunch with her.
"His hyperventilation continued unabated so we transferred him to the intensive care unit." Taub informed House, but kept looking at the woman with him. Taub thought there was something unusual about the way she looked at him.
House glanced at Taub, then looked into Teagan's eyes. "Thirteen, what about his dog?"
Teagan looked at House and smiled briefly.
"I told you he has no pets." Thirteen was adamant.
Taub looked at Thirteen, "What do you mean? I saw a dog bowl and leash at the house."
House practically knocked over his chair getting up. "Come on."
The whole team followed him. When they got to ICU, House found the patient's wife,"Your dog, did it die recently?"
"What?" She was confused.
"Damn it, listen up...did your dog die recently?"
"We don't have a dog, but my sister's dog died. We were watching it while she went on vacation."
House practically screamed orders at the team. "Get a lumbar puncture and skin biopsy and check for rabies. And start him on human cell diploid vaccine. Start by giving him 1 ml in the deltoid. Start the family on prophylactic immunization."
"Rabies? But he doesn't have hydrophobia or opisthotonus." Foreman said.
"And there's no bite marks anywhere on the body." Thirteen added.
"Occasionally rabies transmission may occur when infectious material, usually saliva, comes into contact with the victim's mucosa or fresh skin lesions or, on very rare occasions, through inhalation of virus containing aerosol. Rabies can present without classical symptoms of hydrophobia. Start the treatment."
They started the treatment and the lab tests for rabies antigen came back positive an hour later. The patient lived, barely. If he hadn't been treated immediately, he would have died a painful, protracted, death.
After treatment was started, House went looking for Teagan. He couldn't find her. Her cousin was being bathed, giving Teagan an opportunity for a walk.
When he got back to the presentation room Thirteen asked him, "How did you know there was a dog involved?"
"A little, no, a big red birdie told me."
xxx
House went home a few minutes later and packed his small overnight bag for Atlantic City. Glancing at the clock by his bed, he noted that Wilson was going to pick him up in an hour. He ran a shower, clipped his beard and the stray hairs, put on jeans, a fresh t shirt and a denim shirt. Staring at his bed when he came out of the bedroom, he decided it needed to be changed when he got back-- it had been several weeks since he last did it.
Wilson knocked on the door, helped House with his bag and they took off on their two hour drive to Atlantic City. They were headed for the Tropicana which was on the boardwalk since it had everything they needed, beds, a bar and a casino.
"That red head--" House started, but was interrupted by Wilson.
"You mean Teagan?"
"Right. That red head did something strange at lunch today."
"You had lunch with her?" Wilson was surprised.
"Yeah, didn't I tell you? She loves cripples so we're dating. I think I'm in love. When I asked her where she wanted to go, she picked the cafeteria, then she paid for her lunch and gave me her fries. She's perfect." He gave him a wicked smile, "Anyway, out of the blue she says, "dog" to me. At the time, I didn't know what it meant, but later it turns out that my patient had been taking care of a rabid dog and had rabies. You said something to her about my patient didn't you?"
"I saw her cousin this morning when we began the experimental treatment, I didn't have time to talk to her about you and since I didn't know anything about your patient, it makes it difficult for me to be the one to pass on information."
House looked out the window at the lines on the I 295 and thought that it had to be a strange coincidence. It was an anomaly and he didn't like anomalies.
"Are you going to play Black Jack?" House asked.
"Probably. You?"
"I'm going to try and find a Master's poker game."
Wilson shook his head, "The guys who play poker in Atlantic City are for real House, you should play Black Jack with me."
"You're going to have to get over this separation anxiety. We can be apart for a few hours you know."
"How much money did you bring with you?" Wilson asked.
"What, you need me to spot you a Benjamin for a hooker?"
"I just wondered what you were going to be like on the drive home when you lose a lot of money. If it's a few hundred then I'll be able to tolerate you, if it's a few thousand I figure I should put on my headphones and listen to my IPOD."
"$5,000."
"For one night?" Then it dawned on him, "Hey, you owe me $2000 and you promised to pay me last week, so pay up. And why would you bring that much?" Wilson was perturbed.
House scowled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money from the front of his pants. He peeled off $2,000 and handed it to Wilson. "You're a spoil sport. Why go all the way to Atlantic City if you aren't going to play with the big boys? Now you've taken away all my fun. With $3,000 I'll have to play in the minors."
"As you are so fond of saying, 'boo hoo.' Come and play Black Jack, we'll have fun."
"We'll see." But House was sulking. The table he wanted to play was a $5,000 minimum buy in and he had actually brought $6,000 but now he didn't have enough to buy in.
When they arrived in Atlantic City they were both in a good mood. House sat in a chair while Wilson waited in line to check them in. The smartly dressed woman at the desk was giving Wilson a hard time over something. Wilson pointed to House, but the animated discussion continued. Wilson finally waved House over.
"Yes, Master?"
"House, I can't check in, you have to do it because the reservation is in your name."
House looked at the clerk. "You must be joking...can't you see it hurts for me to stand?"
"Sorry sir, but we have strict rules about the reservations on a holiday weekend."
"Christ, now we know why some mammals eat their young." House pulled out his wallet and driver's license. He was frustrated because now it would be his credit card the hotel would use for all the room charges. He wouldn't be able to stick Wilson with the bill.
Wilson was smiling as House gave up the credit card reluctantly. The Gods were smiling on him this weekend. He had gotten back his $2,000 and House was going to get stuck with the bill.
House turned on Wilson, "You got a problem?"
"No, I'm basking in the fact that for once you're going to have to pay for me."
"Yeah, yeah, keep talking. Someday you might say something intelligent."
They were given their keycards and went up to the room. House immediately took the bed near the window and in front of the television. They both laid down and watched television for a few minutes, relaxing a little before hitting the casino.
"Let's go eat." House said abruptly as he jumped up, grabbed his cane and poked Wilson to follow. When they entered the elevator, two women in their early thirties got on at the next floor. They were both eye candy with nice figures and no rings on their left hand. House gave Wilson a quizzical look and wiggled his eyebrows. Wilson gave him a nod of approval.
"So, ladies, the one arm bandits or the tables?" House said to the women.
They turned around, smiled and said, "Dinner. We're starved."
"Well we just happen to be going to dinner too. Is there any place you like around here?"
"There's a brasserie a block down that we ate at the last time we were here and surprisingly they have good sea food." The brunette said.
"Why don't you ladies join us for dinner?" House asked
They looked at each other, giggled a little and then the one with sandy brown hairs said, "OK. This is Lydia and I'm Mary."
"Lydia, Mary, this is James Wilson and I'm Greg House."
"Call me Jim." Wilson smiled. He could see that House had already targeted the brunette with the prettier face, but slightly smaller breasts. That was fine with him. He liked the way Mary had smiled at him.
They went to the Brasserie and Wilson was always amazed as to how normal and even charming House could be when he wanted something. House hated the usual social dance, but since House just wanted a quick tumble in the hay, he had to charm his date quickly and that meant not letting the real Greg House out to play.
They had been talking about Atlantic City, Donald Trump and gambling. Finally Lydia asked the question that House always enjoyed in these encounters. "What do you guys do for a living?"
With a straight face and great sincerity, House said, "We're at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. We're both physicists and mathematicians. You've heard of String Theory? Well, Wilson there is Mr. String himself."
"Wow!" Mary was very impressed.
Wilson shook his head at House. "If I'm Mr. String, you're looking at the Black Hole himself."
House gave Wilson a look of mild amusement. But the women were equally pleased with the Black Hole theory too. It turned out that they were in Atlantic City for a school administrator's convention and would be flying back to Ohio the next day. Unfortunately, they were sharing their room with another, married administrator, which meant that only House and Wilson's room was available for a conjugal visit.
The men excused themselves and went to the restroom.
"String Theory? I don't know anything about String Theory." Wilson lamented.
"Well at least you aren't all the gravity in the Universe sucking the life force out of everything around you into a black hole."
"Actually, come to think of it, it's a pretty accurate description of you." Wilson pointed out.
"Shall we toss?" House asked as he took a coin out of his pocket.
"Heads." Wilson called.
The coin turned up heads and House frowned. "Alright, what do you want? Sex first and then gambling or gambling and then sex?"
Wilson didn't have to think, "Sex first."
"Damn. Alright. Do you have an extra condom?" House washed his hands after taking a pee.
"In my toiletry bag in the bathroom in the room. There's several in there."
"Ok, when will it be safe? It's 7:00 p.m. now, I figure you should be done with the room by say…7:05?"
"Ha, ha. Say 9:30 pm.?" Wilson suggested.
House nodded, although he was miffed at not winning the toss. Having to wait for the room meant House would have to make a date with Lydia to meet up later after playing some cards. House knew there was a good chance his prey, Lydia, might get away without delivering the goods.
Wilson and Mary were laughing and flirting all the way back to the hotel. House was pretty sure Wilson was going to score a home run. Mary was already putting her hands on Wilson's arm and leaning into him. A few minutes later House heard Wilson ask, "Would you like to see the view from our room?"
"I'd love that."
House rolled his eyes to himself. Wilson and those brown eyes. Every woman in the universe trusted him and his "warm eyes." House knew that women loved his blue eyes, but sometimes they'd tell him that his eyes were so cold, just like he was.
Arriving back at the blue and gold lobby of the casino, House bought Lydia the obligatory drink and, after the required 'get to know you' conversation, they decided to meet up at the same place for another drink around 10:00 p.m. House was praying that she'd be there. The last time he had sex was with Paula, his favorite call girl, but when she opened her mouth, she bored him to tears. That was two months ago and his fantasy sex action from watching porn was getting old.
House went to play Black Jack. He decided that it made no sense playing poker unless you could play at the big table, since you didn't get better by playing people who weren't as good as you. He started betting and ordered a single malt whiskey. To his delight the waitress told him that they had Dahlwhinne 1986 for $30 a glass. He ordered one neat and planned to nurse it for awhile. When it arrived, he admired the gorgeous clarity of the amber brown in his glass. Damn it's good.
The night was going his way as he won several hands at Black Jack. He'd just ordered another drink when Wilson walked up to the table. House looked at the smiling Wilson and told him, "I felt so miserable without you, it was almost like having you here."
Wilson kept smiling. Taking the seat next to House, Wilson bought into the next round.
Leaning over to House, Wilson whispered, "I think you may not have chosen wisely. I just played that 'slot machine' three times before I ran out of change. She's very talented."
"Hopefully I'll have a similar tale. We're meeting up in an hour."
House and Wilson enjoyed playing Black Jack together, teasing each other unmercifully. One of the women playing at the table was having difficulty deciding on how much to bet and how many cards to take. House was losing patience with her. Finally when she took over a minute to decide whether to be hit with a deuce and a six face up, he blew his stack, "Lady, you're sitting there looking like an envelope without any address on it. For God's sake, you're a shiver looking for a spine to run up...get on with it!" The woman played out her hand and left. The other players actually gave House a smile of thanks.
It was getting close to ten so House cashed in his chips. He showed up at the bar and at first he didn't see her so he ordered another whiskey. As he was taking his first drink he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he could see that it was Lydia, but she was very tipsy, something House was happy about. Drunk women were easier to seduce, but they were typically lousy and sloppy in bed.
"Hi Greg." she said, weaving slightly.
"Hi Lydia."
She stepped closer to him and then came in for a kiss...her aim was slightly off and her lips landed a little to the side. House corrected the angle and gave her a very deep lustful kiss. She grabbed his package a little too hard and he pulled her hand away.
"Whoa...uh, let's get a room." House smiled.
House hated the thought of tossing a $30 glass of whisky down like cheap tequila but since Lydia was going to be a helluva lot cheaper than Paula, he chugged it. When they entered the room, House went in to the bathroom to get a condom. Looking into the toiletry bag, House cursed under his breath--there was only one left. House shook his head. Oh well, one will have to do. He laid it by the bedside. Lydia was half way undressed, her head bobbing like a dashboard toy. House wondered if she would let him take her from behind. He decided the worst she could do was say no. As he lost his clothes, he was happy to see that she was more than ready, because he could already feel the anticipation in his groin. He decided to use Wilson's bed since it was already messed up. She seemed happy to see his excitement and wanted to give him head. Even though letting her do it would mean their second time around would be more controlled and longer, he was afraid if he waited much longer she would pass out. So he pulled her head up to his lips and kissed her a long, passionate kiss, realizing that she had been drinking something like a Cosmopolitan, which didn't taste good with the whiskey on his tongue. He put the condom on while straining to free himself from under her body. She ended up flat on her stomach. Deciding this was his chance, he straddled her from behind. Lydia raised herself up on her knees and House was home.
It was satisfying sex, but not exceptional. He rolled off and looked at the ceiling. "Would you like me to bring you to climax?" he asked.
She tried to lift her head, "What? Oh...you mean...ah no, don't bother, I wouldn't remember it in the morning anyway." And those were her last words. She passed out face down onto Wilson's pillow. House took a quick shower and made his way down to the Casino. He and Wilson played Black Jack until 2:00 a.m. and then went upstairs to the room. House had expected Lydia to wake up and leave but she was still sleeping in Wilson's bed when they got in.
Wilson took a look at the naked woman on top of his bed and yelled, "What is this?"
"A present?" House grinned. House tried to wake Lydia, but besides a loud snort, she was dead to the world.
"It's your bed now House...I'm taking that one." Wilson barked.
"Oh no, no, no." Jumping under the covers fully clothed, House made a physical claim to the clean bed.
Wilson shook his head and got undressed, crawling in on the other side of the bed from Lydia.
Around 7:00 a.m. there was a loud, urgent, knock on the door. Already awake, House had been debating on whether to make the effort to take a leak or not. He was in his boxers, having gotten undressed when Wilson admitted defeat. Hobbling over to the door, he opened it, finding Mary ringing her hands.
"Is Lydia here?" she asked hopefully.
House opened the door further and held out a hand, motioning for her to enter. Mary walked in as House went over and slapped Lydia on the butt waking her. She turned over, rubbed her eyes and started looking around. Mary was staring at Lydia with a mixture of horror and embarrassment. Wilson was now sitting up in bed and House was smiling as he leaned on the television cupboard. Realizing she was stark naked, Lydia immediately tried to cover up. House threw her blouse and panties at her. She quickly put them on, stood up and grabbed her skirt. As she practically ran out the door, House yelled at her, "Yeah, don't forget to get checked out when you get home, it's only been seeping for a few days but you never know."
House went in, took a leak and then went back to bed. Around noon the two men were on their way home laughing about the look on Lydia's face when she discovered that she was naked in bed with two men.
House, still snickering, shook his head, "I don't think Mary was happy with you. After all, Lydia was in your bed."
"Oh well, that's probably good. It means I don't have to call her and tell her what a lovely time I had." Wilson mused.
"No, I think it would be more fun if you called Lydia and told her what a good time you had." House smiled wickedly.
"Ooooo, now that would be cold!" They both started roaring.
xxxxxxxx xxx
The rest of the weekend wasn't as much fun as their night in Atlantic City but they still enjoyed the Animation Festival. On Tuesday, Wilson was making his rounds as usual when a bored and mischievous House came looking for him. He saw Wilson outside of the McCormick's room. Then he saw Teagan and realized he had forgotten about the dog incident. It didn't seem to be important now, just a fluke. He poked his head into the room while Wilson was telling the McCormicks the good news, "The experimental treatment appears to be doing its job, we're getting good blood tests back..."
"Dr. Wilson..." House said enthusiastically.
"I wanted to return what I borrowed." House threw a condom at Wilson, making sure it would fall short and be visible to everyone in the room. As it fell to the floor, Wilson knew what it was and gave House a dirty look.
"Next time could you buy the French ones?" And House was out the door.
Wilson looked feebly at the McCormicks who were not amused, but he did see a slight smile on Teagan Furey's face.
I could feel him before he even reached the ward. He was in a good mood. His body was relaxed and the pain isn't so bad today. Ohio? Ohio?
That afternoon, Teagan decided to sit at the outside hospital diner and eat her lunch. It didn't surprise her to see Drs. Wilson and House take the table next to her.
"Hello Teagan." Wilson smiled in her direction, but he was peeved at House for picking a table near a patient's family member. It made it difficult to talk with her sitting so close. He wondered why House was so intrigued by her. She wasn't his type. She wasn't tall, she wasn't a brunette and she wasn't in her teens.
"Hello Dr. Wilson, Dr. House." Teagan greeted them.
House said nothing, but started talking to Wilson about hospital gossip. He stopped, looked at Teagan, who was reading a book, and said, "Where are you from?"
"That's a tricky question. Where was I originally from; where do I live; or, where is my cousin from, assuming the universal "you?"
"Ok, President Clinton. Where do you live now?" he asked.
"Aspen Valley, California."
House had never heard of it. "Where is that?"
"It's just outside of Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite. You know, Yosemite National Park? It's on the same road as Groveland."
House knew Groveland and that it was a tiny town. It didn't even have a Wal-mart. "Aspen Valley is smaller than Groveland?"
"Aspen Valley is a restaurant and camp ground for tourists on their way to Hetch Hetchy. It houses a single gas pump, a post office and a little sundries store. I live less than a mile from it."
House looked at her intently. "What are you running from?"
"House! That's enough." Wilson admonished him.
"Wilson, anyone who lives in the high Sierras and has a house that is as remote as hers has to be running from something."
"I'm not running Dr. House, I'm trying to keep the world from coming to me."
"What do you mean?"
She got up, grabbed her tray, stopped and looked at him and Dr. Wilson and said one word, "Ohio." She left and bussed her table.
"Ohio?" Wilson asked. But House knew and remained quiet, "House, what did she mean by Ohio?"
"Those women this weekend were from Ohio." House said with a sober face.
"Ahhh, yeah, so?" Wilson still didn't get it and House could tell from his expression.
He said very seriously, "I didn't tell her anything about the women or that they were from Ohio. She might have gotten the fact that we had women from my condom joke, but I don't know how she got Ohio."
"Well maybe you're reading too much into it. Maybe she's telling us that she's from Ohio originally or her cousin is from Ohio."
"I don't know Wilson. But now do you see why she intrigues me?"
Wilson shook his head yes as they both watched Teagan disappear into the hospital.
Xxxxxx
House stood by his desk trying to juggle several paperweights and a bean bag. The turquoise blue glass paperweight fell to the floor, shattering into four large pieces. House kicked the pieces into a pile for the janitor to pick up. Having no patient and no clinic duty, he was bored. Remembering what had happened earlier, House smiled, Teagan Furey was anything but boring. He went up to the McCormick's room, but once again her ill cousin was being bathed and Teagan was nowhere to be found. He hunted around for her and found her out on the terrace off of the waiting room sitting in a chaise lounge reading her book and eating an apple.
She could feel him behind her. "Dr. House, you don't have to lurk behind me. What do you want?"
He walked over, looking around her to see if there was a mirror or glass or shiny surface that would have reflected him standing behind her. There was none. Maybe it had been his cane or the sound of the way he walked. It was different from others because of the limp. He sat down on a chair and put his feet up on the little table in front of him. "How did you know about Ohio?" He said it calmly.
She put down her book. "So Ohio meant something to you? Well, it means nothing to me. It's just that this morning when I saw you I kept thinking, 'Ohio.'
He tried to size her up; she might be playing him, but how? "How long is your cousins treatment?
"It's supposed to be six weeks."
"What do you mean, "supposed to be?"
"Nothing, it's just that I'll be headed home in a little less than a month."
"Who's going to stay with your cousin?"
She didn't answer him. She just asked him, "Don't you have any patients to bug?"
"Nope."
"Wow, that must be nice." She was surprised.
"No, I'm actually bored. I have a very specialized practice so I only get in the really desperate. When I'm not playing God, I keep myself busy reading journals, studying cases, keeping up on current events, clinic and talking to strange women."
"I see. And because you're bored, you've decided to harass me?"
"This isn't harassment. I know how to harass and this isn't harassment. This is curiosity."
"I'm really boring." She said.
Now that was a lie and he could tell that she knew it was a lie. He grinned at her with his head turned to the side as if he was catching her in a lie.
She got up and grabbed her water bottle off the table, "My cousin is probably done with her bath." She turned and went inside.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
House went home and pulled out some old piano pieces he hadn't played in years and hammered them out. He thought about Teagan. She was so odd—pretty-- but odd. There was a knock on the door. House was curious, he hadn't expected anyone. He went to the door and opened it.
"Hi, can I come in?" It was Cameron.
He didn't say anything but he opened the door for her. She went straight for the couch and sat down.
"Well?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'll have whatever you're drinking."
House gave her a funny look but poured Cameron a whiskey and was surprised to see that she drank it straight down. Now he was hooked, what was going on?
She looked straight into his eyes, "I need to know if you have any feelings for me whatsoever."
House collapsed into his chair. Frankly, he didn't know how he felt about her. She reminded him too much of his Dad, wanting things to always be perfect, to be just, to be fair and life wasn't like that. It meant that she was always butting up against reality and sometimes it was painful to watch. Although she had gotten stronger in speaking up for herself, she hadn't changed fundamentally, she was still a crusader and no match for his brand of cynicism. On the other hand, she was very good looking, small breasts, but a lovely face. Maybe as she got older she would flesh out a little but for now she had the stick figure of a girl. The reality was that although Cameron was attractive, smart and capable, he knew that in a matter of months of being with her, she would become tedious and boring because Cameron liked, no, insisted on playing by the rules most of the time and House played by the rules when it suited him.
"Cameron... Allison, I admit that I am attracted to you, but we'd last maybe two weeks together and you'd get on my nerves and I would definitely get on yours. You want so much to make me a better person and that isn't going to happen. I'm too old for extreme make-overs. And frankly, I don't want to be made over. What is this all about?"
"Chase has asked me to move in with him and I wanted to give him a real chance, not keep thinking in the back of my mind that there was something between you and I."
House knew that they had been slipping off to the side for some nookie but hadn't realized that it had developed into a real relationship. He'd never admit it, but Chase had turned out to be a very good diagnostician and a fantastic surgeon. He had out-diagnosed the other two fellows hands down. House was impressed with Foreman, but was surprised that Foreman still wanted to assume that everything had to be a neurological problem. Thirteen was occasionally brilliant, but not as often as Taub. Out of all his fellows, Chase had learned the process quicker and applied it better than all of them.
"I think you would do well to give him the chance that he deserves." House was serious for a nanosecond and then said, "And if you guys ever have kids, they'll have really great hair."
"I deserve a chance at finding someone who does want to build a real relationship and at first I didn't think Chase could be that person, but when we're together he's kind, generous and funny...not sarcastic or cynical, but funny. We have a good time together and it's been a long time since I've had a good time with someone." She looked at him, "I'm going to go. Thanks, House, for being frank with me. I think I knew this all the time but was just afraid to admit it to myself."
She got up, gave him a quick hug and was out the door. House fell back into his easy chair and wondered if he had done the right thing. Had he just let the best thing in his life go, again?
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