rivers_bend

Title: Denial
Author: river
Characters: House
Words: ~700
Rating: General
Summary: House tries to justify, if only to himself, his actions in Forever
Spoilers: Forever 2:22 (also useful to have seen this episode)
Disclaimer: If I owned them the episode would have ended with too much alcohol for Wilson.
EDIT: I am evil and yet again forgot to thank karaokegal who is my beta goddess extrordinaire.




House was going to watch The L Word anyway. So it wasn’t like he was looking for an excuse to have Wilson come over for the evening. He just thought Wilson might like to join him to watch the lesbians. Not a big deal that he had other plans. That his other plans were with Cuddy, well that made no difference.

The lurch in his stomach? His cane must have slipped a little where the floor looked like it might be wet. It just made him feel a little unsteady there for a second. No big deal.

Ok. So Foreman wasn’t back yet. But Chase should have been there. So it was just that he was surprised. Nothing to do with thinking that bringing up dating colleagues while alone in a room with Cameron seemed like a bad idea.

It wasn’t Wilson and Cuddy that were interesting. It was the mystery. Cuddy should know better than to act all secretive around him. She wanted him to find out. It was obvious. She practically invited him into her office by inviting Wilson out to dinner. Oh, and reassigning Chase.

And Wilson. He couldn’t let Wilson think it was a date when it clearly wasn’t a date. Not now when he was still fragile from his divorce. Just look what happened with that patient when he let his guard down. Though if Wilson hadn’t moved out, House might not have discovered the delights of West Hollywood’s lesbian population.

Of course if it was a date it so wasn’t a date he would be happy for both of them.

Possibly there was no need to take the entire contents of Cuddy’s waste paper basket to Wilson’s office, but the dramatic impact of a single discarded red clover package was limited, and there is little point in making a dramatic gesture without the drama. Plus, the letters addressed to Cuddy added a veracity to the claims the red clover came from Cuddy’s office. Which was not to say Wilson wouldn’t have believed him anyway. James had more faith in people than he should.

Finding Wilson in the lab was a stroke of luck. The question being, was James trying to prove it was a date or prove that it wasn’t. That it was seemed the most likely scenario. The man had romantic notions. That, and he found it difficult to believe anyone could resist him. Any woman anyway. He seemed not to notice the looks men gave him. Other men obviously. House had happened to notice other men looking. He’d never looked himself.

House was worried about Cuddy, that was all. It wasn’t often one found a boss who understood genius like his. Asking Wilson to find him when he had the results had nothing to do with wanting to say “I told you so.”

A spoon. Never let it be said Wilson couldn’t watch and learn. Though Cuddy was sharper than that boy’s not-parents had been. Points for getting the spoon past her. Unless it was a date and she’d left after the appetizer to freshen up her lipstick. Women did things like that. No. It definitely wasn’t a date.

Here came Wilson with the proof. Except the poor man thought it was proof positive. Oncologists. So limited in their scope. Estrogen. Interesting. I wonder why she didn’t ask him.

Cuddy was bound to get defensive. Women were so hormonal. Especially when you tried to discuss their hormones. It was a shame about Wilson really. It might be fun to see what he did with a kid. He’d be bound to do a better job then Mr. ‘I’d rather drink than care’ downstairs, with the crazy malnourished wife and the dead baby.

The question was, did Cuddy rule Wilson out completely or just chicken out? House had embarrassed and pissed her off enough that it didn’t look like she was going to ask House ‘out for dinner’. Thank god. What did he want with a kid anyway?

He hoped Wilson didn’t find out about that whole ‘donation’ thing. His head was big enough as it was. Better he thought Cuddy was paranoid about cancer. Then he would get over the date dreams and come watch the L Word.

And what was it Wilson had said in the elevator? Give him enough alcohol…