Chapter 14 – Take Me to Church
I checked a clock on a nearby wall, and saw that it was 5:15. I was supposed to meet House in the lobby fifteen minutes ago. Crap. I decided that instead of going to the lobby to see if he was waiting there or if he had left, I would just go to the diagnostics offices to see if his things were still there or not.
I disappeared into the elevator, and moments later I was strolling down the third floor corridor. I looked through the glass wall of the differential room to see House's team at the table. Cameron was pouring over a book, glasses pushed down the bridge of her nose. Chase was working idly on a crossword puzzle, pencil end in his mouth, and Foreman appeared to be asleep.
My hand found the door handle, and I pushed it open enough for me to peek my head in. "Hey."
Cameron and Chase both looked up from their respective distractions, and Foreman peeled open an eyelid. The title 'ducklings' suddenly seemed very appropriate. In season one, they were young, inexperienced, and naive. One of the most entertaining parts of the entire show was seeing how much they'd grown over the years. Chase and Foreman from boys to men, and Cameron from girl to woman.
"Hi," Cameron greeted. "Are you looking for your dad?"
I am never going to get used to this. "Yeah, have you three seen him?" I walked into the differential room, letting the glass door close behind me as I peered through the clear wall into House's office. His blue backpack was sitting on his Eames chair where he had left it that morning, so I could only assume that he was still in the hospital.
"Not since this morning," Foreman was the one who answered. "If he's not with you, where have you been?"
"Exploring," I answered, not feeling like giving a blow by blow of my day. My early rising and lack of sleep from the night before had combined, and I felt dead on my feet. The idea of getting back to the apartment and falling asleep on House's couch sounded very appealing.
"Nothing more fun than wandering around a hospital full of sick people," Chase said with a smirk.
I huffed out a laugh. "I have a weird sense of what's fun," I responded. "But, could one of you page House or something? I don't have a clue where he could be." Well, that wasn't true. I had many clues as to where he was, but most of the places he might be I didn't know how to get there.
"Sure," Cameron said, taking out her pager, but before she could do anything, House practically seemed to materialize at the door, Wilson at his side, dressed in his jacket and seeming ready to leave.
"Speak of the devil," I said, looking up at House as he came to stand beside me.
"You weren't in the lobby," he said.
"I got sidetracked," I told him innocently, and he snorted as he turned to head into his office.
"Probably a good thing, since I wasn't there anyway." I smiled to myself as I followed House and Wilson. Apparently I wasn't the only one who got distracted today.
"He was too busy annoying me to pay attention to the time," Wilson explained.
"And here I thought he just had a fun day of avoiding Cuddy," I commented. House grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.
"Her shrill cries always let me know that she's coming," House snarked before leading the three of us out of his office. "You three, go home."
"Do we have to be here tomorrow?" Foreman asked exasperatedly, glaring at House. "Not that I'm not looking forward to another day of sitting on my ass."
"Stay home, I am," House threw over his shoulder as he left the room. Wilson and I bade the ducklings goodnight before tagging along after House. Once the oncologist and myself matched House's pace, the two of them began discussing what movies to watch tonight.
And then I realized something...I was going to get to witness one of House and Wilson's boys nights firsthand.
In what seemed like no time at all, I was sitting next to the two doctors on House's couch and being asked if I was okay with sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese. I automatically answered with an affirmation. I was a teenager. Pizza kind of came with the territory. Hell, during finals week last year, my entire diet had consisted of Mountain Dew and cold pizza. I had gotten nearly perfect grades, so I guess the combination worked.
It looked like the movies for the night were a series of crappy Japanese fighting movies that I had never heard of, and then Die Hard as what House called a pallet cleanser. I had never been one for movies, unless they involved an actor I liked, but watching movies with the boys would just be part of the deal when it came to living in House Land.
And, well...I was watching movies with House and Wilson and eating free food. Who was I to complain? I sat in between the two of them, and their crossed legs on the coffee table formed a fence around me. They laughed, drank beer, and essentially made fun of the terrible movies, and each other.
This was the kind of stuff I rarely saw on the show. Just Wilson and House hanging out together, doing things that any pair of best friends would do. Conflict and drama made good TV, not things like this. It made pretty good real-life material, though. I felt oddly safe between the two men; the most comfortable I had felt since I had arrived in House's universe.
Yeah. It was just a night in front of the television with Daddy House and Uncle Jimmy. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for everything. But didn't a wise man once say that the ordinary was boring?
Somewhere between Bruce Willis sprinting into a hail of bullets and Wilson's snores, I fell into a peaceful sleep.
I woke up to a rather loud groan from beside me. I cracked open a reluctant eye, examining what had wrestled me from my comfortable slumber. House and Wilson, both victims of alcohol-induced dreariness, had passed out on the couch, and my own fatigue had gotten the best of me. I wasn't sure if the noise had come from House or Wilson. I also realized that House was a little too close for comfort; sometime while I had been asleep, my head had fallen onto his shoulder.
I usually wasn't much for physical contact with people I wasn't super familiar with, but with the palpable absence of my father weighing down on me, it reminded me of being a little girl and falling asleep with my head leaning on my dad's shoulder as he read me a bed time story, and it was oddly comforting in a way.
Comforting aspect aside, it was still awkward as hell. I jerked my neck into a straight position, eliciting a loud cracking noise and sending a bolt of pain up and down my spine. I looked away from House, who appeared to still be asleep, so I looked to Wilson, who was curled into the corner of the couch, his head resting on the arm and his legs flung over the side, mouth slightly open.
Glancing back at House, I saw that the diagnostician's head was leaning against the back of the sofa, face much more peaceful than it ever was while he was awake. His cane was leaning against one of his knees, and his arms hung loosely at his sides.
The clock declared that it was nine thirty, and I groaned aloud. Too early, but it was Sunday. Unless I was deathly ill, I always went to church service on Sunday morning. I was never one of those Bible-beating, preachy Christians that thought anyone who didn't believe exactly as I did was filth that was going to burn for eternity. I was never afraid to talk about my faith, but if it made people uncomfortable, I didn't push it.
I was devout without being a self-righteous jerk. I prided myself on that. Even in a different universe, it was all the same God, which meant I needed to take a shower and put on some nice clothes, then find myself the nearest non-denominational or Presbyterian church.
I slowly rose from the couch, stumbling slightly as blood rushed to my head. Ugh, mornings had never and would never be my thing. I stepped carefully over Wilson's legs and made my way to the bathroom, avoiding the mirror for fear of what my hair might look like at the moment.
After a quick, hot shower, I changed into the best pair of clothes I had bought on my little trip to the store the first day I arrived in House's universe. A white button-up short sleeve shirt coupled with black slacks was the best I could offer. Now the only matter was to find a church to go to.
When I came back out, House and Wilson were still snoozing peacefully on the couch. I headed towards House's computer, not really knowing any other way that I could find out where the nearest church was. I settled down in House's computer chair and logged on, obviously knowing the password from my previous misadventures invading House's privacy. I got onto his web browser and began hunting around on Google for churches near the house.
I was disappointed to find that the nearest church was over a ten block walk away, and I would have to basically sprint to make it there for the eleven o'clock service. I sighed and stood up, resigning myself to getting some exercise. However, when I turned, I crashed into House's chest.
I stumbled back and looked up at him. His blue eyes were groggy with sleep. "So, you're not just one of those Christmas and Easter Christians, huh?"
"Good morning," I said, backing up slightly. "And no, I'm an everyday kind of gal. I'll be back in an hour and a half or so, the nearest church is pretty far away, so I gotta go." I brushed past House, heading for the door and grabbing my coat off of the armchair I had laid it on the night before.
"Don't bother," House said, heading over to stand behind the couch and stare at Wilson's snoozing form. "I'll drive you."
I froze and looked at House, arching one of my eyebrows so high it nearly touched my hairline. "Uh...you're going to drive me to church?"
"A few more weeks and it'll be too cold for me to be able to ride my motorcycle. I was planning on going out for a ride today anyway, I might as well drop you off," House said with a shrug, and my eyes widened.
"Your m-motorcycle?" I stammered. "Um, House, I've never been on a motorcycle before, and they seem kind of dangerous–"
"What? Don't trust me?" House asked, cocking his head at me. In just the short time we'd been talking, his eyes had grown bright and alert, and I was surprised considering the time and the half empty bottle of scotch sitting on the kitchen table.
I didn't have a clue how to respond to his question, but thankfully he saved me from having to with a shrug. "If you want to freeze your ass off, it doesn't make any difference to me." He continued into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water.
"Well..." I did trust House, didn't I? I mean, sort of. Like, I trusted him with my safety. I didn't think he was going to go pulling wheelies or something while I was on the bike...actually, he probably would do that.
I decided to file the complicated question away for later consideration. For the time being, I decided I could trust House not to kill the both of us.
"Okay, fine. I guess I don't have to leave for another few minutes then," I said, shirking of my jacket as I watched House hover over Wilson. He slowly uncapped the top of the water bottle, then tipped it and poured it over Wilson's peaceful, sleeping face. Wilson's eyes snapped open immediately. He squealed at the water splashing down at him. He jerked and fell on his face and off of the couch, landing at House's feet.
House capped the bottle, expression impassive as Wilson glared up at him. "Good morning, sunshine."
"Sunshine," Wilson mulled over the word as he pushed himself off of the floor. "Other 's' words come to mind. Satan, perhaps...not sunshine."
"You flatter me," House said as Wilson finally managed to get into an uncomfortable sitting position, rubbing his eyes with the back of his palms. "Gee, would you look at the time! Doesn't Julie make Sunday brunch around ten, ten-thirty?"
Wilson checked his watch, and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Oh, crap." The oncologist launched up and began scrambling for his possessions that had been cast around House's apartment over the course of the night. His wallet, keys, coat, and cell phone were soon all clutched in his hands. His eyes were wild and his bronze hair was mussed and sticking up on the left side.
Poor Wilson.
"Okay...I think I've got everything." Wilson looked down at his feet, realizing he had no socks or shoes on. "No, no I don't."
House proceeded to the kitchen, rifling through the cupboards and occasionally glancing over at Wilson with some amusement as he searched the apartment for his shoes and socks.
"House, this isn't funny! Where did you put them!" Wilson shouted while going through House's hall closet.
"I didn't do anything with them," House claimed, finally managing to locate a box of cereal in the nearly barren cupboards. I wasn't much of a cereal person, so I had relocated to the kitchen table with a slice of cold pizza in hand.
"Did you check under the couch?" I called. I could hear Wilson's rifling halt, then footsteps as he darted back into the living room and got down on his knees in front of the sofa, scrambling underneath it. "You torture him so much," I told House through a mouthful of pepperoni and sausage.
"It's a staple of male friendship," House said, as if that explained everything.
"Yes, teenage male friendship," I emphasized.
That, at the very least, was something I was an expert on. Aside from my best friend Maura, all of my friends were guys. It's not that I didn't get along with girls my own age; I just found them...boring, I guess? I just wasn't into the makeup, gossip magazines, and reality TV shows scene. It was easier for me to find guys who had the same interests as me, skateboarding, guitar, video games, etc.
"I'm in touch with my youth, what can I say?" House said as Wilson let out an exclamation of victory, holding his loafers and socks up. I gave him a thumbs up and House just snorted into his cereal.
A few seconds later, Wilson was finally put together and at the door. We said our goodbyes and he rushed out hurriedly to get home soon enough to appease his wife. I finished off my pizza and stretched, looking back into the living room and looking at the clock.
"We should probably get going," I said, looking at House. He rose as well, hand going to his thigh as he stood up. I knew mornings were hard for him, and I already felt guilty that he was driving me to church. "House, seriously, a motorcycle ride is probably the last thing your leg needs right now."
"Stop being nice, I just ate," House said, heading towards the door and grabbing his leather motorcycle jacket from where he had laid it on the armchair next to minel. He picked it up and tossed it to me, and I snagged it out of the air. "Come on, wouldn't want to be late and have to face eternal damnation."
House opened the front door to the apartment, and I followed him out and down the steps. I shivered against the cold as we made our way to his motorcycle, which was parked right next to his car.
"House, it's really c-cold outside," I commented. "Are you sure you don't want to take the car?"
"It's warmer than it'll be a month from now. Might as well enjoy it." House flung a leg over the side of the bike, taking his helmet off of where it hung on the side of the bike and handing it to me.
Knowing House's lack of concern for his own safety, I accepted it wordlessly and put it over my head. It was a little big on me, but it warmed my face and protected it from the chilly wind, so I was grateful.
I gripped the sides of the bike and closed my eyes, a pit forming in my stomach as House started the bike's engine. A split second later, the motorcycle lurched forward and we were racing through the early morning traffic of Princeton.
Even with my eyes pinched shut and my head down, it was still one of the most terrifying experiences of my entire life. What seemed to be years later, the bike halted, and I immediately clambered off and ripped the helmet off, gasping in relief. After I had regained my composure, I handed House his helmet back and tried to give him a smile.
"Uh, thanks for the ride. Really," I told him, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
"You look like you're going to throw up," House commented offhandedly as he fixed the strap of the helmet around his chin.
"Probably," I replied with a grimace. I glanced at the wooden front doors of the church, which a crowd of elderly folks was filtering through. "You know, you're welcome to come with me if you want."
I heard the bike rev behind me, and I had just enough time to hear House laugh before driving off and becoming nothing more than a black speck in the distance.