Time for a little friendly pep talk... because who does House need when he questions himself about what he should or shouldn't do?...

** CHAPTER 10 **

Wilson was quietly seated at his desk but jumped at the sound of the door abruptly opening and House storming inside. The diagnostician went straight to the French window and stood there, looking out.

"Did you know Cuddy had a new male PA?" House asked, after a short while. "God, this woman really has to have them all! She's a true man-eater!"

Wilson leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Waiting without making any comment, perfectly knowing how useless it was anyway, he stared at his friend, totally unfazed. House turned around, looking preoccupied.

"Someone should warn her about that because she could get her ass into serious problems, you know. I mean, the kid's so young, Cameron could be his grand-ma!" he finished with a flourish, staring at Wilson with that ever-famous look of his that silently screamed: Are you gonna ask me now, or what?!

"Something's wrong House?" the oncologist said, compliant.

House immediately turned his back to him and faced the French window again. He pressed his forehead against the glass and stared blankly outside for a while without saying a word. For some reasons, and knowing his best friend like he did, Wilson perfectly knew that the more important the matter was to House, the less easy it was for him to share it aloud.

Well-trained to the mechanism, the younger doctor shrugged. "Ok, whatever!" he said, sounding deliberately uninterested. "You can stay here if you want. Just as long as you keep quiet so that I can finish paperwork before my next appointment with a patient, which by the way, is scheduled in less than 15 minutes."

That last bit of information finally seemed to catch House's attention.

"I rang her bell," he said bluntly, his forehead still leaning against the glass.

"Oh good, so you went to Cuddy's place," Wilson prompted, assuming it was about her.

"No. Actually, she went to mine."

Wilson slightly nodded, the hint of a self-satisfied smile drawing on his lips.

"Interesting," he said, more to himself than to his friend.

"She stopped by yesterday. She wanted to… well, whatever! And before we were able to put a word on it, I rang her bell, metaphorically speaking that is."

"And?"

"It's loud," House muttered half-serious, half smiling at his own joke.

Wilson stared at him, pretending he didn't understand, forcing him to say it…

"Oh c'mon, don't be intentionally dense!" House exclaimed with a childish pout, turning to face his friend again. "I use brilliant metaphors to tell you whatever it is I have to tell you, you get my point, and then we can all move on!"

Both hands on his cane, slightly leaning forward, House looked down at his feet. It was obvious that something was upsetting him. Wilson knew he'd have to make him admit the facts for what they really were before they'd be able to move on to what really bothered him.

"House, you need to address this. Why can't you just say it?"

"Is the female side of you taking over so much that you actually want me to say it aloud?" House mocked looking at Wilson. "So, you really wanna know? Fine! There was a party at Lisa's last night and Little Greg was the guest of honor!"

Wilson greeted him with an ironic grin. Since House, as surprising as it sounded, never usually bragged about his conquests, at least the ones that thoroughly mattered to him, Wilson knew that his reluctance to talk openly about it was proof of something serious, at least important. And truth be told, he was kind of enjoying that messing-up-with-House routine a lot. He frowned and shot House a challenging look, letting him know he wasn't going to get away with it easily.

"All right. You got me. Cuddy and I had sex! Totally out of the blue, wild and hot sex! Happy now?"

"I don't know. Are you?" Wilson asked, sounding like he genuinely cared about the answer.

House acknowledged the change in Wilson's tone and knew it was time to cut the crap and stop pretending. And indeed, for once, he felt he had to allow himself to be sincere and tell the truth, without fearing to be hurt. At least, part of the truth at first, just in case Wilson wouldn't understand him and bring him the comfort he was unconsciously seeking without being ready to admit it.

"She left," House said, self-consciously, looking down at his feet. "Right after we did it."

"Oh! And you think that's… a bad thing?"

"I was willing to let her stay."

"And what, she declined?"

"No. I didn't even get the chance to ask her. She just took her stuff and left."

Wilson stared at his friend amused, the image of House, the world-renowned jerk, discovering that he'd been fooled into a one-night stand forming in his mind. He burst into laughter but, seeing the look of hurt that instantly clouded House's face, he immediately regretted that he did. House glared at him and set his lips in anger.

And it really stunned Wilson, then: So, House was really serious about all of it? His mind instantly processed backward to acknowledge the facts. First, it meant he was right to think that his friend was experiencing feelings for a woman again. It also meant he was right about that woman being Cuddy. However, it meant that maybe he wasn't exactly right about the fact that the feelings were mutual. It surprised him a lot. Especially when he realized it mostly meant that he was now utterly screwed, since House was incapable of owning up to the consequences of his own actions without blaming others for their fallouts. Now, his only option was to wait for whatever would come next. And it came, indeed, phrased in a very upset tone.

"It's your fault!" House snapped. "You're the catalyst in this. You're the one who convinced her to come to my place-"

Wilson looked at him, incredulous. "How the hell does he know?" he thought, even if he already could guess the answer.

"Yes, she told me," House said as if he'd read his friend's mind.

"So, apparently, you were able to talk this time," Wilson deflected.

"Yeah, we had a pretty nice chat bef-" House began, encouraged by Wilson's empathetic and neutral tone.

Realizing that he was being dragged to an entirely different topic, he stopped short and pointed an accusing finger at Wilson.

"Don't you dare change the subject! I'm not happy with what you did!"

"Whoa, what?! Excuse me but what did I do exactly?"

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut!"

"I may have spoken to Cuddy, yes."

"Oh, you may have! God, who asked you to?"

"I'm not sure you want to hear the answer to that," Wilson stated ironically.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"House, yesterday you stormed into my office, and then told me you'd gone to Cuddy's but couldn't actually show yourself at her door. So, excuse me if, being your friend, I read that as you, being confused and needing a little help."

House looked down, feeling touched by Wilson's friendly concern, even if he stubbornly refused to admit it.

"So, yes, I went to see Cuddy after you left," Wilson carried on. "To tell her how I felt about the two of you, being so obstinately blind about your feelings for each other. Geez, I don't know what you two find exciting in this, but you're both really trying hard to fight them!"

A slight smile flickered on House's lips as he tried to imagine Cuddy giving Wilson a hard time. Well, maybe Wilson didn't see why but he surely knew why he found that exciting.

"Maybe if you don't see anything exciting in this, it's because you didn't see this naked," he sassed with a half-smile, raising his face to his friend.

"So, tell me: how is this?" Wilson asked unthinkingly, out of pure boyish curiosity.

House sent him a glare that unequivocally let him know that, despite their friendship, there was a line there that he wouldn't allow Wilson to cross. Wilson immediately read that possessive reaction as yet more evidence that House sincerely cared for Cuddy. And then he realized how hurtful it must have felt for his friend when she'd left.

"Wow, you really do like her," he said, sorry registering in his voice.

House intensely stared at the oncologist, as if searching for an answer in his friend's eyes. Suddenly, his expression switched from hurt to annoyance. It was, somehow, the logical next step in House's healing mechanism: The more he witnessed sincere empathy in Wilson's eyes, the more he was able to feed his brain with a good reason to pull himself together and get over whatever upset him. That was just his special brand of irony: Grief and sympathy helped him feel better by making him feel bitter. And, right then, Wilson's genuine caring perfectly did the trick and triggered his legendary deflecting cynicism.

"I can't focus on my medical cases!" he suddenly lashed out. "She sent me her fifth-grader assistant to give me a case."

"What does it have to do with anything?" Wilson answered completely taken aback by the fluctuating, unpredictable pattern of their conversation.

"It's simple: I want things to be normal. Cuddy brings me cases, and always has. I hate change, you know me. I need things to be the way they were."

"Don't be childish, House. This is not the point, and you know it," Wilson replied, trying to make his friend admit what the real issue was.

"I can't focus on my medical cases, that's my point," House persisted, staring at him defiantly.

"And Cuddy's the one responsible of it because you two had sex, then she left, and now she's not bringing you your files anymore, so... it's just about the medicine?! But of course, who am I to think that this is about something else entirely, eh?"

"Ok, alright, fine. Maybe she's still an annoying thought that keeps popping into my head every damn minute," House admitted, sounding upset, "but she's also preventing me from doing my job properly! That's also a fact. And this is your fault, by the way. So, you're going to fix this! As surely as you started it in the first place."

"What do you want me to do, House?" Wilson asked resignedly, knowing that, unless he caved, House would keep playing his little rant on a loop.

"I don't know. You're the one with the brilliant ideas, find one!"

"Don't you think that, for a change, you could try and solve your problems yourself? … House!"

Wilson watched bemused as his friend suddenly started marching toward the exit decidedly. On his way out, totally ignoring Wilson's remark, House pointed a menacing finger at him.

"And it better be a good one or I'll never buy you lunch again!"

"You never buy me lunch!" Wilson exclaimed dumbfounded.

"Then, I'll change nothing about it!" Wilson heard him shout from the hallway.

Wilson sighed heavily and shook his head, trying to understand why in God's name he had to be friend with a man like House. His life would be so much easier and calmer if he wasn't. But… so much more boring, too! He smiled at the thought and took his coat before heading out for his consult.

A/N

Thank you to everyone who's been reading this story so far ... this is amazing to see how many of you have given a look at it ...

Also, a huge thanks to everyone who's added my story, or me, to their list of favorites. it means a lot to me. and of course, a special thanks to the people who already left me a review : I'm sincerely touched that you took the time to stop by and add a few words to share your thoughts with me.

ps: and just a little precision, regarding a comment I receive lately: this story is currently over 300 pages long and far from being over! so rest assured: If you like it, you'll get more of it... :-)

have a nice day - maya