[identity profile] sydpenguinbunny.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] house_wilson_ghc
title: Reunions
author: [livejournal.com profile] sydpenguinbunny
pairing: House/Wilson, 13/[surprise]
rating: PG-13, thus far
summary: House is trying to continue his life without incident after the events from S7, but people from his past keep coming back...
warnings (if any): Spoilers for 7x23. There's some character death coming up eventually.
author/artist notes (if any): Feedback is most loved!!! No H/W this chapter but they are coming back soon and with a vengeance :-)

Chapter One: Case Study
Chapter Two: Complications
Chapter Three: Hello Again, Dr. House
Chapter Four: Complete History
Chapter Five: New Hire
Chapter Six: Reluctance
Chapter Seven: Power
Chapter Eight: Pinballs
Chapter Nine: A Girl Worth Fighting For
Chapter Ten: Sparring Match
Chapter Eleven: Pick Up The Pieces




Chapter Twelve: A Turn for the Worse

“What did Tritter do to House?”

Chase turned around with a start, almost knocking over the cart he’d just placed Candy’s patient file on for a moment while he’d turned to grab a coffee. He was standing outside an operating room, in the hallway, and he’d been lost in thought before the voice cut in, doing differentials in his head on Candy Aaronson, who seemed to get turned on by Chase’s entire being. The last time a patient was this into me – she was eight, he recalled.

He looked at Thirteen – obviously, she was the source of this question, but why exactly? He was feeling dread grow in his stomach at any of the possible reasons that Thirteen could have for asking this question. Maybe Tritter had said something, maybe something about Chase and how Chase nearly folded – no, he didn’t, he’d told Tritter to go the hell; no, he hadn’t, he’d shared lunch with the man even as his stomach had turned at having to share a room with him. He’d let Tritter touch him – and the mere remembrance of that made Chase flinch involuntarily.

“There was some issue between he and House, and Tritter started coming around all the time,” Chase began slowly. “He impounded Wilson’s car, and he froze all our accounts…” Okay, so that’s a lie, he never froze mine because he thought I was most likely to roll. “He offered a deal to House but then… House did something else,” Chase actually couldn’t remember what; there’d been too much in his mind these five years to remember exactly what had sent Tritter back on House’s tail. He didn’t like thinking of those days – those days before he and Cameron had gotten together, shortly before their agreement for “just sex” which then slowly developed into more. Those days during Tritter, during that whole debacle, he’d been thinking less about Tritter and more about what Cameron’s beautiful chestnut brown hair must smell like. Now he didn’t even know where in the world Cameron actually was.

“And then?” Thirteen prompted urgently.

“There was a hearing. I don’t know what happened exactly but Cuddy pulled some strings or something, the case was dropped and Tritter looked like an idiot. But it went on for… weeks, it must have been. Tritter tried to play me, Cameron and Foreman against each other. He harassed House, took away his Vicodin and we nearly cut off a patient’s arm and leg because House missed something because he was detoxing and all he could think about was Vicodin. I don’t really like remembering our run-in with Detective Tritter, and if I had it my way I’d never see his face again. Why are you asking me about him?” Chase’s voice slowly rose, until it became accusatory, and Thirteen stared back at him, sure the answer must be written across her face. Might as well say it.

“I kissed him.” The words were barely above a whisper, but Chase heard them. He took a step back, repulsed.

“Goddamnit, Thirteen!” If he was any louder he would be yelling, and the only reason he wasn’t was because they were still in the hallway, and he didn’t want to make a scene, didn’t want anyone else to know that the woman he had feelings for now had – what the fuck? Now, it was Thirteen’s turn to step back; small steps, wary, and a little frightened, something that he’d never seen on her face before. “I don’t understand you. I don’t mean to be blunt but… Come on, you of all people! You have a limited time left, why the hell would you want to spend it doing anything at all with someone like Tritter? He’s poison.”

Thirteen didn’t respond, she simply turned and walked away. Chase watched her go, feeling his heart shatter into pieces that he was sure he could never pull out of his other organs, even with the most precise surgical tools.




When Thirteen found him, Tritter was again sitting by Candy’s bedside, chatting with her in words Thirteen couldn’t quite hear. She felt like she was intruding on a private family moment, one that she wouldn’t understand even if she’d been able to hear, even if she’d put on close captioning and even if Tritter and Candy explained all the inside jokes and nuances. Those things that Thirteen could only barely remember from her own childhood, those things before her family had been shattered by Huntingdon’s Disease – the same way her family would be shattered if she ever got so full of herself as to decide to have one.

“Hey,” she called quietly, and Tritter turned and looked at her, his expression again unreadable, as if she’d been able to translate him but then had decided to toss her dictionary out the window. She turned her face towards the safer target, towards Candy, towards the patient. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good,” Candy chirped with a small grin. “I hope I’m out of here soon, but is Dr. Chase coming back?”

Thirteen winced at Chase’s name, so soon – how had she blown it, why had she bothered to tell him? It was such a mistake… How could she have been so stupid? She’d been so good at keeping everything a mystery before, a mystery from everyone other than House who just liked to solve mysteries… And now she’d let emotion blow her wide open and for a person who’d tried to destroy her boss – no, more than her boss, maybe even her friend… It was sleeping with the enemy, or at least kissing the enemy, and she ought to apologize (but to who?) or do something (but what?)…

Maybe it wasn’t that big a deal. After all, she hadn’t known the whole Tritter story when she’d done it, and after all Tritter wasn’t a patient and after all… House was never going to let her forget this. Just when she’d managed to live down the disaster with the wheelchair-bound man and his dog, she’d created a new disaster. Trittergate.

She looked over at him now, trying to decide what it was about him that had made her make such a stupid decision.

Her eyes darted to his right hand, which was pressed against his stomach.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked quietly, stepping forward.

“My stomach’s been killing me, but I’m sure it’s nothing…” Tritter replied.
His eyes dropped closed and his head lulled, rolling back and forth on his neck as he seemed to lose consciousness. Candy screamed.

Thirteen ran for the phone and as she pressed the buttons she couldn’t stop thinking, It was me, it was me, it was me…

Profile

house_wilson_ghc: (Default)
Grabbing His Cane

July 2020

S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12131415 161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 14th, 2025 04:15 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios