He heads up to Jacks hospital room, where he finds Chase tending to him and as Foreman had done, doesn't pay a wink of attention to him. Jack, meanwhile, is frowning at him.
"Hey, I recognise you."
House sits in the empty armchair by his bed, "Thanks, I get mistaken for Beyonce a lot. Think it's the hair."
"No, you're that guy who was talking to me when I was getting my MRI."
He holds out a hand, which Jack takes as he slowly smiles, "Dr. House. Pleasure to meet you."
He pushes a hair from his eyes, "Are you my official doctor?"
House tilts his head to Chase, who's busy assessing the monitor, "Currently, this pretty boy australian is. When he screws up, then I'll be your official doctor." Jacks smile vanishes and House looks around, "Where're the tykes?"
He points to the far end of the room, where his siblings are curled up together sleeping soundly with open homework books on the floor. The sight makes House voice a quiet 'Ah.' and he turns back to their patient, "How're the feet? They still itch?"
Jack glances at Chase, and he sees he's watching the pair curiously, "Um, I- Is that important?"
"I don't know." He turns to Chase, "Is it?"
Chase avoids Jacks eyes, and House grins as he focuses back on him, "What kinda drugs you into?"
Jacks gaze falls on the two for a quick second, which House notices, "I did some before our parents died, but I've been clean since then."
House looks at him, clearly not believing him, but Jack smiles reassuringly, "I'm raising two kids. It'd be pretty irresponsible, wouldn't it?"
"But confiding it in eight year olds is okay."
Jack shrugs, "If I'm open with them, then they'll be open with me."
"Oh that's a great philosophy. Kids don't lie because they have trust issues. They lie because they have something to hide." He looks over at his brother, who's arm is hanging off the edge of the chair, "I'll bet you 10 bucks that he's not really asleep."
"House."
Chases voice makes him turn around, "Kinda busy here."
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
As House reluctantly gets up, Chase spots Jacks alarmed expression and smiles, "It's nothing to worry about, you're fine."
House glances back from going to the door, Chase in front, "That's what they always say."
When they stop outside the room, Chase suddenly rounds on him, a curious look on his face. Despite it, he's still hesitant to say what's on his mind, and House sighs, "I'm gonna make an assumption and say this isn't about the kid."
Chase puts his hands together, "Why didn't you tell me what happened between you and Wilson last night?"
"Boy, if I knew you were so interested, I would've invited you along."
"Cameron told me you two went on a date. You know he's married, right?"
Houses face is sour, "Yeah, I'm a total idiot."
"And you know he hasn't told his wife - ?"
" - And he won't. Yes, we had a fight in the bathroom. No, I'm not going to do anything else, and no I haven't talked to Wilson since last night. Are we done here or did you want me to take a lie detector test?"
Chases brows furrow, "How'd you know I was going to ask all that?"
"Because I've had this exact same conversation with 3 different people. Or I'm in the twilight zone. Whichever is easier for you to understand."
"I thought you only told Cameron and Foreman."
House motions behind himself, "And, just now, Cuddy. Her fantastic push up bra says hi."
Chase frowns, "What does she think?"
"She has this odd idea that I'm going to lash out at the other department heads because Wilson won't leave Julie."
"...Are you?"
"Yeah, my killing spree starts in 5 minutes."
Chase puts his hands in his pockets, and he looks steadily at House, "Seriously, what else happened at the restaurant?"
"Besides them running out of garlic bread?"
"I mean between you and Wilson." When House frowns at him, he smiles, "Come on, you've never worn a turtleneck since I've known you. Why the getup?"
"It was cold out."
"No, it was sunny and warm." House remains quiet and it doesn't take long for Chase to realise. When he does, his smile widens, "You're hiding a hickey under there, aren't you?"
"Thought a puppy would be too obvious."
Chases smile falls instantly, and he goes to say something, but before he's able to, House sees movement from near them and he turns his head to glimpse Wilson at a nurses station, reading a patients file. Chase follows his gaze, and even from this distance, he can see just how worn out he looks; his hair's slightly disheveled, and he's hastily scribbling something inside the file. He steals a glance at House, who's watching Wilson with his mouth partly open in surprise, but he doesn't notice either of them as he walks off down the hall.
Still, House doesn't tear his eyes away until Wilson turns a corner, and when they rest on Chase, his look is firm.
"Listen, I know you've probably heard this all day, but...I want to make sure you're not stringing Wilson along. He's a good guy, and yeah he might not have the best record when it comes to women, but….well, he really cares about you." He hesitates again, "If he does leave his wife to be with you, and you haven't returned his feelings this entire time, then...I don't think Wilson deserves you as a friend."
For a moment, House is just stunned into silence. While he can see where Chase (and everyone else) is coming from, it still spins him to know that this is truly how the people he works with think of him, and realising they wouldn't even consider him to hold any ounce of love or consideration for his best friend rings like a real punch to the stomach. Suddenly, his jokes feel hollow and a solid weight settles on his conscious; even he at first hadn't had a strong stance on how he felt for Wilson, but coming to the understanding of nobody believing it could ever be possible is just...astounding.
Houses eyes trail the ground. He can't even look him in the face, "Don't you have a patient to deal with?" Without another word, he limps past him and down the hall to the elevators, his mind suddenly in a haze. But he's stopped short when he gets halfway.
"He loves you."
For once, House notices how empty the area they're standing in is, and he feels himself relax just the smallest amount. At Chases words, a flash of last night creeps into his mind, and he stares ahead, already feeling his fingers reaching into his pocket for the Vicodin bottle. After popping the cap, he drops a pill into his hand and tosses it back, his voice low.
"...I know."
He doesn't swallow it until he gets in the elevator.
His leg is cramping badly by the time he gets to the fourth floor.
He goes to the diagnostics office first, where he takes down the envelope and stuffs it in his pocket, before heading out onto the balcony and collapsing against the brick wall. His cane clatters on the ground, but he doesn't bother picking it up and just stays there, his hand fumbling for the Vicodin bottle again. Another pill's slipped into his mouth, dry swallowed, and a groan's released from his lips as a cloud begins to cover the sun behind him and he's bathed in shadow.
As he tries to catch his bearings, he makes the fatal mistake of turning his head to Wilsons office, and sighs when he sees he's sat on the sofa speaking to a patient. For a few beats, he just lets himself watch them, not really wondering if Wilson will suddenly glance up and notice him but wondering what he's telling the young girl; his face is contorted in sorrow, as it usually is, and his eyes are carefully avoiding hers. It's only when he takes her hand and looks right at her, does House know exactly what the diagnosis is.
He looks away when her head lowers and her body starts shaking uncontrollably, and he fights down the urge to go see him...or at least toss a few stones at his door. Though Wilson does this all the time, he knows that what happened last night is still going through his head, and his messy hair from before is a hard indicator that he definitely didn't get enough sleep afterwards. Same as himself.
Eventually, House picks up his cane and pushes himself to stand, ignoring the receding pain in his leg as he limps back to his office where he scrambles through a drawer to find his last remaining full Vicodin bottle. After throwing the empty one in the trash, he drops himself in his chair and decides to watch tv, in hope to dull the guilt fallen on his shoulders.
His team don't show up for another half hour, and in that time, House's managed to go through 3 episodes of the OC and 4 more Vicodin pills. Chase has a test sheet in hand, which he thrusts towards House, his voice having an edge to it from their 'chat' earlier,
"Found this in the lab. Someone, and I'm assuming you, must've ordered an extra test for Hepatitis A. Apparently he's positive."
House grabs the paper and goes through it as Cameron looks at Chase in astonishment, "He has Hep A?
Meanwhile, Foreman's frowning at their boss, "That doesn't explain the heart attack."
He passes it back to Chase, who's practically glaring at him, and folds his hands on his lap, still watching his show, "No, but persistent vomiting does, while a sudden distaste for nicotine and itchy feet explains the Hep A."
"So I was right?"
Houses eyes cut to Chase, "Half right. More thinking and less talking probably would've gotten you the money pot."
Cameron and Foreman exchange glances, but Chase balls up the paper and chucks it in the trash. After a moment, Cameron speaks up, "What was in the envelope?"
Without looking at any of them, House takes the crushed envelope from his pocket and holds it out. A few seconds pass before Cameron reaches for it and the two men look over her shoulder as she opens it and reads.
House nods to Foreman, "Go pump IVIG into the kid. Cure him and get him out of here."
They all stare at him, Cameron looking more puzzled than the others, "How'd you know what tests we'd perform on him?"
"I looked into my crystal ball." When none of them move, he finally looks at them, "Well?"
They all gradually scatter out the room and House spins his chair so the back's facing the front door.
The ducklings find House on his balcony this time, staring out at the sunset with his cane resting on the brick beside him.
Foreman approaches him first, blocking his view of Wilsons office, "High PT and PTT in Jack's blood panel confirm a coagulopathy."
House frowns, "So, we cured the Hep A and something else pops up. Interesting. What infections cause DIC?"
Cameron stands on his other side, "The restaurant's probably teeming with E. Coli, Eikenella and strep. Kids don't wash their hands between the potty and the party…"
Chase shrugs from behind him, "Or it's a foodborne toxin. Jack eats at that cesspool everyday."
Foreman glances at them both, "Kid's got tattoos, piercings and probably some nasty little girl loaned him the Hep-A. Could've also given him syphilis or gonorrhea."
House smiles, one hand over the other, "Great. Chase, go back to that 'cesspool' and find the kids throwup. Foreman, do an LP. Cameron, test out whatever your terrible theory was."
Once they've all gone inside, House looks over at Wilsons door, and he slowly smiles when he sees him missing. Sure his team're in the elevators by now, he heads back in the building to go to the break room.