She looked flushed, agitated. Wilson leaned back in his chair and waited. He knew what this was going to be about and he was in no hurry to start.
"What the hell was I thinking." and it began, "I am not an idiot. I make decisions everyday based on logic and probabilities. But this, this I just." Cuddy collapsed on the couch. The same couch House had just left. This, Wilson could tell, was going to be a completely different conversation.
"He is an ass." it was a statement nothing Wilson had to respond to. "He has the mind of a child. He"
"He is my best friend and someone you have known for years," Wilson had work to do, time to get this started.
"Yes, he is your best friend, so you tell me. How do I, how do you deal with this, I'm sure he told you," slight doubt but very slight. House would have rushed right over here to brag. "We sort of."
"Yeah, actually he announced to the team that he is seeing you and that you are usually naked during his visits." Wilson half smiled. Might as well just get it out there and done with.
"Perfect, and you couldn't stop him?" she glared at the smug little bastard, he was enjoying this, but then he usually enjoyed it when House was messing with other people, as long as it wasn't him. Hell, he probably enjoyed that too, the little creep.
"First, I need to know if we are talking as employer to employee or as friends." Wilson leaned forward resting his arms on the desk. Reassure her that he was ready for a serious conversation, as useless as that was going to be.
"Friends, especially his friend." she had to deal with this and as much as she might not like the idea Wilson was her best hope for an ally.
"You're sure." he hesitated, had to make sure she understood he was not going to sugar coat any of this. Why should House have all the fun? She nodded and he rubbed his neck.
"What the hell did you expect? You have known him for how many years. On a good day, no on a great day he has the maturity of a twelve year old. What was your plan, oh I'll screw him and he'll get up out of bed the picture of tact and consideration? You thought you were that good?"
Cuddy sat dumbfounded. She'd expected Wilson would make some excuses for him, but this? She shook her head. Wilson didn't know everything that had gone into her decision to go to him that night.
Wilson hadn't been there with them and Hannnah in the rubble, hadn't heard his confession and that kind of openness and honesty and humanity House would not have shared with him. She looked up more confident.
"I thought he'd changed, or at least could change, wanted to change' She stared at Wilson, hoping he would give her the opening she needed to tell him everything about that night. How he had admitted what the pain had done to him, how the choices he made had left him alone and...
"Yeah, I know the speech. 'I was wrong, I messed up, if only I had let them amputate my leg then my life would be so much better, No pain, no nasty me. I'd be loved and cuddled every night' " Wilson needed every ounce of self control not to smile. And, he told himself, he shouldn't smile, it really wasn't funny.
"He told you about that? What he said to Hannah?" Cuddy somehow found that hopeful, if he could talk about something that personal even if it was with Wilson, then maybe she hadn't been wrong, maybe he was ready to open up.
"Told me about it, I'm the reason that whole stupid speech exists."
Cuddy couldn't respond. That made no sense. How could House have consulted with Wilson about his speech to Hannah? over the phone, that couldn't have been. What the hell is he talking about?
Suddenly Wilson felt sorry for her. Damn, sometimes he got too Housian himself. "Years ago, Cameron came in and told me one of his patients was refusing treatment. She asked me to go talk to her, said she thought the patient wasn't the type to respond to Houses's usual browbeating,
needed a gentler touch. I went and challenged him. Bet him $100 he needed me, that he couldn't talk her into the surgery without being sarcastic or insulting that wouldn't work and he would have to beg me to fix it. He told me to give him a few minutes. Half an hour later, he is sitting right there," Wilson nodded at the couch where Cuddy had sunk into the cushions as if she were trying to hide. "I helped him polish it up a bit, but basically it was his."
"So he's used this before?"
"Hell, he's used it on me when he wanted extra vicodin." Wilson waited. "Are we still talking as friends?"
Cuddy could only nod.
"Look, he is what he is. The speech may have made you see him in a different light, but it wasn't enough to wipe out how many years together. You knew him, you have been playing around him for ages, both of you have. You aren't stupid, even if that speech had been spontaneous, did you honestly think it would change him, make him into a totally different person over-night? Someone you really don't even know."
Cuddy just shook her head.
"It's up to you," Wilson leaned back in his chair. "Let's be honest, for the past six years you have been parading around in front of him like an alley cat. Skirts you can barely walk in, blouses that would be banned in most Arab nations, and it worked, He jumped you, like half the men in this hospital want to do. And you were doing all that before the great "I am soooo lonely" speech.
Figure out what you wanted then, want it now and you'll be fine."
"I am now officially your boss again," Cuddy got up and headed for the door. That kind of cutting honesty she expected from House, she did not have to take it from his little side kick.
Wilson raised his hands in surrender. Cuddy would stay true to her word, there would be no payback for what he had said. Lucky House had come in first, so he had known what to say.