Gentle Knock - Chapter 48
Title: A Gentle Knock at the Door, Chapter 48
Author: zeppomarx
Characters: I know you know who the characters are by now: House, Wilson, Cuddy, etc.
Warnings and So On: NC-17 for concepts. H/W friendship (perhaps slash if you wear those kind of goggles)
Summary: For anyone who missed the lecture at the beginning of class: House is a physical and emotional mess, having been wrongly imprisoned and tortured and all sorts of nasty stuff. It's about what happens next, and how House deals with it. A sequel to Priority's Exigencies, which is a sequel to DIY Sheep's The Contract, which has spawned an incredible number of offshoots.
Timeline: Set nearly a year after the beginning of Exigencies.
Earlier chapters: Chapters 1-16 here. Chapters 18-43 here. Chapters 44-? here.
Comments: I like getting comments. Comments are good. If you're one of those people who reads but never says anything, I'd really like to encourage you to come out of the woodwork and write to me. It means a tremendous amount to the writer, who -- in my case -- has devoted half a year to this story, thus far. So please, come out wherever you are and post a comment.
Oh, Yeah, the Disclaimer: Don't you get tired of reading the same old same old here all the time? I know I do. It's pretty obvious I don't own this stuff, I'm not going to sell it and I'm just doing this for fun. There. I've said it. And I'm glad. Glad, do you hear me? Glaaad!
SUMMARY: Wilson has kittens. House goes looking for help. Cuddy is surprised...
TEASER: What Wilson Said...
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A Gentle Knock at the Door
Chapter 48
“Are you out of your mind?!”
“Yes-yes.” House took mental inventory. “I’m reasonably sure I am.”
“You can’t let this happen,” said Wilson during Rainie’s physio session the next morning. “You have to get out of this room. Do you have... any idea… how unhealthy this whole situation has become?”
“I’ve got a pretty good idea,” replied House calmly, finding himself annoyed that Wilson had witnessed the events of last night, even more annoyed that he wouldn’t let it go, and still more annoyed that he wasn’t giving House credit for recognizing and dealing with the problem.
“I’m… I’m going to get you moved to another room. Today, if possible.” He sounded determined.
House just looked at him.
“Gee, Wilson, what happened to the guy who said, ‘I’m so sorry I interfered in your life, House, and I’ll never do it again’? Or is it so ingrained in you that you just can’t help yourself?”
That caught Wilson up short. He blinked a couple of times.
He looks like a rabbit, thought House randomly.
“For that matter,” he continued, “where do you of all people get off judging me? I mean, it’s not like you’re unfamiliar with the concept of crossing this particular ethical line, right? Which, for the record, I’m trying very hard not to cross. I seem to recall you are the same fellow who not only had sex with one of his dying cancer patients, but actually moved into her apartment. So let me repeat: Where do you get off?!”
Wilson blinked again.
A big, pink rabbit.
“On top of that,” said House, working up a head of steam, “while you were eavesdropping, you should have heard the part where we talked about how we need to put the brakes on and try to handle this in a way that won’t hurt either one of us. Does that ring any bells? What led you to believe I was incapable of dealing with the situation?”
“House… I… uh…”
“Yeah. House. I. Uh. Well, drop it! This is none of your goddamn business, and it wouldn’t have become any of your business if you had been able to keep your nose out of mine. I don’t need a Jewish mother, and I don’t need a keeper. From now on, go home at night. I don’t want you in here. Just leave.”
In shock, Wilson stumbled out of the room.
When the door closed behind him, House laid his head back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling for several minutes. Then he called Jacey Liu.
Instead of having Jacey come to room 304 and risk running into Rainie, House asked Selma, the nurse on duty, to help him into a wheelchair. Slowly, awkwardly, painfully, he got himself to the elevator and up to the fifth floor.
When he rolled through her doorway, Jacey looked up and said, “I gather something’s developed.”
House snorted. “You could say that,” he replied cynically, then said nothing else.
After waiting a good minute, Jacey said, “So, do you want me to guess, or are you going to tell me?”
“Oh, go ahead and guess,” said House.
“All righty then. Here’s my guess: You figured out what was bothering Rainie, right?”
“Right.”
“And it turned out to be you.”
House’s mouth dropped open.
“How the hell did you know? Has Wilson been up here?”
Jacey laughed, a deep throaty chuckle.
“No, not at all. It was pretty obvious. I was wondering how long it was going to take you to notice.”
House suddenly wondered if his own feelings had been as transparent as Rainie’s were. He shifted uneasily in the chair.
“And, yes, in answer to the question you haven’t asked, I also suspected that there were feelings from your side, too.”
Damn, she was disconcerting, thought House. Is this how everyone else feels when I tune into something?
“So now what?” asked House. “Is this a crush? Is it a reaction to our mutual traumas? Is it serious? What the hell do we do? Actually, what I really need to know is what the hell do I do? It’s not like we just met on equal footing at the pep rally. I’m her doctor, and I’ve-stupidly, I’m sure-set us up in the same room and worse yet, in the same bed. And she’s just getting over the death of her husband.”
“It may not be quite that bad. Don’t forget,” said Jacey, “she’s had three years to deal with her husband’s death, so that may not be a factor here. But there is a real danger because you two have turned to each other when you’re both at your most vulnerable. It’s completely understandable, but you need to be very careful, House. Protect her, and protect yourself. And that doesn’t even touch on the ethical problem.”
House put his head in his hands.
He knew this emotional stuff was going to get him into trouble.
“What the hell am I going to do?”
Jacey looked at him sadly.
“I can’t tell you what to do. I can listen. I can suggest. I can give you the benefit of research and other people’s experiences. But I can’t tell you what to do. You’re going to have to figure it out for yourselves.”
House looked at his feet for a long time.
“I suppose I should let you know that I told off Wilson.”
“Really? And why was that?”
He continued to stare at his feet.
“Wilson has a bad habit of butting into my business, which inevitably makes things worse.”
“And how was he making this worse?”
House looked up briefly, then returned his gaze to the floor.
“Although we didn’t know it, he was in the room last night when Rainie and I talked. Felt he just had to straighten me out… as if I wasn’t already feeling like shit, and hadn’t already figured out we had the potential for a major league catastrophe.”
Ouch. This would be hard on Wilson, thought Jacey. He’d been House’s sole emotional support for two years now, and in the last few weeks, his chickie done flew the coop. He was proud of being House’s caretaker, and now his role was diminishing.
Plus it can’t have been easy for Wilson to watch House lower his defenses with Rainie. He probably envied the closeness Rainie had developed with his prickly friend.
There was a reason why pride and envy were on the list of seven deadly sins, she thought.
She shifted back to the real topic.
“Greg, I don’t want to see either you or Rainie get hurt anymore than is necessary. I want you to take some time to yourself and think this through as much as you can. I know it’s hard, especially when emotions are involved, but see if you can separate what you want from what Rainie needs. For now, anyway, she’s your patient, and you have an obligation to do no harm.”
Do no harm. That exact phrase had been running through his head since last night. As for Wilson, he knew there was some wisdom in his suggestion that House move into another room, even if he was too annoyed at being bossed around to admit it.
“Thanks, Jacey. I’ll keep you informed.”
House wheeled himself back out of her office, and headed down the hall for Cuddy’s.
In the old days, he’d have barged in without knocking. But this wasn’t the old days, and somehow barging wasn’t as effective in a wheelchair. He waited till she opened the door to let him in.
“We need to talk,” he said, “before Wilson gets here.”
Cuddy looked at him oddly. She’d just finished a call from Wilson saying he wanted to see her as soon as he was done with a patient.
“What’s up? Everything okay?”
“No, everything is not okay. Or maybe it is. I don’t know.”
This was House? The man who always had the answers?
“Let me boil it down.”
But how? Jump right in. Rainie and I are in love. Urgh. That wouldn’t do. Rainie has developed a crush on me, so I think we should stop sleeping together? No, that sounded idiotic. I may have to step down as her doctor so I can continue to sleep with her? Not any better. I’m in danger of violating my ethics as a doctor. Well, she’d just laugh at that one. When have I not violated ethical standards?
“I’m waiting,” said Cuddy, intensely curious, as she watched a series of emotions play across House’s face.
“Okay. Here’s the gist of it. Last night, Rainie told me she was…” Somebody help me. “…in love with me.”
Cuddy’s eyes opened wide.
Well, at least someone in this hospital didn’t see it coming any more than I did, he thought.
“Yeah, I know. Obviously, our rooming situation is going to need to change and quickly. At the very least, we need to separate those beds again.”
Cuddy nodded. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“It’s potentially a big mess. She’s still so frail, both physically and emotionally.”
And so, apparently, am I, he thought.
“I’ve just talked to Jacey about it.”
And told her much more than I’m telling you, he thought, but Cuddy didn’t need to know his emotions were involved, too-that is-damn it!-until Wilson told her, which House suddenly realized would be happening any minute now. Couldn’t that man just keep his mouth shut?
“I need to be very careful about how this is handled. I can’t have Rainie hurt any more, and especially not by me. I just wanted to keep you in the loop. If you’ve got any suggestions, I’m open to hearing them.”
Asking for suggestions? That would shock Cuddy. And it did. Her mouth was still hanging open.
“I suspect we’re both about due to be discharged soon anyway, and at that time we can reevaluate what’s best for her. In the meantime, I’m going to have the beds separated.”
Cuddy nodded, then looked up just as the door swung open and Wilson strode into the room. He didn’t see House, who was off to his right and below his field of vision.
“Cuddy,” he began, “House is…”
“…House is right here,” said House quietly, and Wilson jumped. Doesn’t like it so much when somebody eavesdrops on him, thought House irritably.
“I got to Cuddy first,” House said. “Decided there was some merit in your suggestions, and I’ve already made my own recommendation. If you want to stop by later, I’ll fill you in.”
He turned and wheeled himself out of the office with the satisfaction of knowing he left behind him two very discombobulated people.
NEXT: Vulnerability Exposed...