Not Such a Bad Idea after All

Chapter 2

"Sorry, I'm a bit late. Traffic was really crazy." House apologized, which got the attention of Dr. Nolan right away.

"You're apologizing; you've never done that before. That's either very good or very bad. Mmmh, lets see what you've told me last week." He said, as he went through his notes. And that's when it hit him.

"You've met someone at the speed-dating thing, didn't you?" He said smiling in triumph.

"Well," House said smirking at how Nolan could read him like an open book. "We did meet for 5 minuets and then the event was over and she was gone. But I left her my number and she left me hers."

"Yes and?"

"And what? Nothing. I haven't called her. Don't know if I even should." He answered quietly, while looking down at his hands. And that's when Nolan knew something was wrong.

House was afraid to call her. Scared that she would turn him down. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle that. But she hadn't called him either. And that's what was stopping him form calling her. After 3 days she hadn't called, maybe she realized that she had made a mistake giving him her number.

"Why shouldn't you call her? What are you afraid of?"

"You know damn well what I'm afraid of. And I don't need to hear you say it." House warned. Sometimes it was a bit disturbing that both doctor and patient knew each other so well.

"At least you made a connection with somebody new. Were there some other interesting women?"

"Made a connection? A 5 minuet talk is not a connection. If that qualifies as a connection then I made one too with the cashier at the drugstore last week." Again he knew what Nolan was trying to do. But he was not in the mood today to give in. Sometimes he wishes he could just say what was on his mind, but that just wasn't him.

"Maybe you did, I don't know. Let's talk about something else then. How was your week?"

He talked about the case. And how the patient in the end chose what her boyfriend wanted. "Why would she do something that would cause her to have another operation in some years later, just to please him?" It had been on his mind the whole time. He wouldn't have done that, just to please someone else.

"A relationship or a friendship is based on sometimes giving the other person what they want, even though there isn't an upside for you. Tell me why you were in the observation room, when Wilson was giving a piece of his liver?"

And before House could stop himself, he answered: "Because he wanted me to."

Nolan knew now that he could push House a little bit. "So why don't you call her, you've got nothing to loose. And if you still need to make a connection you could always go back to cashier at the drugstore." Nolan finished with a smirk.

House had just finished reading a very interesting article, about a boy with 3 functioning kidneys and was now getting ready to head to bed. For some reason he was tired today. Who was he kidding he knew why he was so tired today; he couldn't stop thinking about Annette. Why hadn't she called him and why hadn't he called her? It was driving him crazy.

Should he swallow his own pride and just call her?

He decided against it. It was getting late, she probably didn't like it if he called so late, maybe he should call tomorrow. God I'm acting like a teenager he thought, as he looked himself in the mirror while brushing his teeth. That's it I'm calling her now.

He was punching in the numbers very fast and now all he had to do was press the call button, but for some reason his finger didn't quite have the same idea. He stood there for seemed like hours. Until finally shook his head and pressed the call button.

It was ringing on the other end of the line for what seemed like minuets, but in reality only was a couple of seconds. And that's when he heard that beautiful Danish accent again saying:

"Hello?"