darkdreamer | Used, chapter 29 :)

Hi, all, here's chapter 29 of Used, hope you enjoy it :) *hugs* DoS

Title: Used
Beta:

zeppomarx
Rating: R
Pairing: House/Wilson friendship, House/Cuddy friendship, eventual Wilson/OFC, and possible House/Cuddy
Warnings: implied non-con, violence and non-con of a flashback/memory sort, mild language, general angst and trauma and darkness
Summary: House endures the unimaginable...will his friends be able to deal with it? Will he be able to deal with it? A story about damaged human beings, and ultimately recovery and healing

Chapter 29
Change of Plans

Cuddy knew that she had made her point, but she was afraid that in so doing, she might have crossed the line between things that House was ready to deal with and things he was not. His face went very pale, and he stared at her for a long, tense moment, before finally drawing in a shaky breath.

“Excuse me,” was all he said. Much to her surprise, he turned and made his way out of the kitchen and back toward his bedroom, stopping long enough to pick up his coffee cup and take it with him on the way.

For a moment, she considered going after him, but then decided to leave him his space. She knew she couldn’t begin to imagine what he was going through, and it was perfectly understandable if he didn’t want to go through all of it in front of her. She had made a logical argument – and upon reflection decided that logic was definitely her best option with House. All she could do now was leave him to think about it and come to his own decision.

When Wilson walked in the door half an hour later, Cuddy looked up at him hopefully from her seat on the couch. Her face fell when she saw the tired, discouraged expression on his face.

“What happened?” she asked immediately, scooting over from the middle cushion to give Wilson room to sit beside her, as she picked up the remote and pushed the mute button.

Wilson sighed wearily, giving her an ironic smile as he sat down on the couch. “I…fired her.”

“What? Why?” Cuddy was bewildered. “What did she do?”

Wilson hesitated a moment, leaning forward and resting his head in his hands. He let out another heavy sigh, shaking his head as he answered helplessly, “Her job.”

Cuddy was quiet, waiting for further clarification.

“She found out too much. She found out about Tritter.” Wilson let out a shaky, nearly silent laugh before adding, “Which is what she was supposed to do. We wanted her to find out information on him, see if we could get any hard evidence. But… when she said his name, out loud, in public – I panicked.”

Cuddy was thoughtful. “Why?” she asked softly.

Wilson considered a moment before answering, “Because House would have panicked. Because I know he doesn’t want her to know anything about this. Because he keeps saying that if Tritter finds out anything about this, we’re all dead, and… and maybe I’m starting to believe him.” He paused, looking up to meet her eyes, his own sad and solemn. “And it doesn’t matter, anyway. We can’t go against his wishes on this, even if I didn’t believe him about how dangerous Tritter is.”

“I think he’s right about that,” Cuddy said softly, keeping her voice low. House had not emerged from his bedroom, and she thought it would be better if he didn’t overhear this conversation. “He told me… something Tritter told him. That night.”

Wilson’s troubled, questioning gaze rose from the sofa to meet hers.

“He told House that… if he told anyone… he’d come after us all…”

Wilson frowned. “He already told us that…”

“…and he’d do to all of us the same thing he already did to House.”

Those words silenced Wilson’s protests. His face went pale, his eyes wide with shock and horror. “He… he said he would…?”

Cuddy nodded, not making him finish the dreadful thought. It was hard enough to get her next sickening words out. “He… told House he’d make him watch.”

Wilson’s eyes darkened with anger, his jaw clenching as he looked away, resting his head in his hands again for a moment before looking up. “I’ll kill him,” he muttered. “I swear I‘ll kill that man…”

“Wilson… we have to stay in control, here. This is a very dangerous situation, but we can’t lose our heads. We have to do something. If House is right, and Tritter is really capable of doing what he said he would – then, eventually, he will. Unless we stop him. At some point, he’s going to get suspicious, realize House has told us – and he’ll come after us.” Cuddy paused, holding Wilson’s gaze as she concluded firmly, “We have to stop him before that happens.”

“But if House is right, and we keep investigating, and Tritter realizes we’re investigating…”

Wilson’s voice broke off, and both of them turned their eyes toward House’s bedroom door as it abruptly swung open. House emerged, leaning heavily on his cane, his head bowed, empty coffee cup hanging from his other hand. He was silent for a long moment, not looking at either of them, and Cuddy sensed from his demeanor that despite her efforts, he had overheard at least part of their conversation.

At last he spoke, his words quiet and measured, but utterly decisive. “She’s right. If I wanted to do nothing… I should have kept my mouth shut from the start. It’s too late for that now.” He looked up, meeting each of their eyes in turn before continuing, “But if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right. We need a plan.”

“Okay,” Wilson replied, his voice slow and cautious. “Any… particular plan in mind?”

“Not yet. But soon,” House replied, nodding toward Wilson. “Call your little PI friend back. Tell her she’s un-fired.” He looked at Cuddy. “Go home. I think it’s safe to say that if we’re being watched, he’s watching our place, not yours. Have the PI go to Cuddy’s, but park down the street. Once she’s been there a little while, we’ll head over there. With any luck, anybody watching us will never have to know she was there at all.”

“House,” Wilson tried again, hopeful and concerned at the same time, “what are you thinking?”

House gave him a small, self-deprecating smile as he shrugged. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

*********************************

A couple of hours later, Wilson and House walked into Cuddy’s living room to find a very awkward Cuddy doing her best to entertain a very curious Jenna, without telling her anything more about the situation than she already knew.

After all, Cuddy had no idea how much House wanted her to know.

He made the answer to that question clear immediately upon walking through the door. He approached Jenna directly, standing in front of her and extending his hand in greeting. He wore a falsely bright smile.

“Dr. Gregory House. Nice to meet you.”

Jenna’s lips twisted slightly as she met his eyes, taking his hand and shaking it. “I knew you were a doctor.”

House rolled his eyes as he extracted his hand from hers and sat down next to Cuddy on the sofa, across from Jenna. “Yeah, yeah. Good for you. There’s a lot of stuff you know that frankly, I’d rather you didn’t. But, it’s too late for that. Right now, you know just enough to put yourself and all of us in danger – which leaves me no choice but to tell you the rest. So, let’s start fresh.”

Jenna nodded, leaning forward a little in her chair, clearly eager at the prospect of having her curiosity sated. “Sounds good to me.”

A moment’s awkward silence descended over the room, as Cuddy and Wilson waited for House, who visibly struggled to summon the courage to tell his story. Finally, he looked up, his intent gaze betraying more vulnerability than he might have liked, but his jaw was set with determination to go through with this, no matter how difficult it might be.

“A week ago,” he began at last, his voice carefully even and calm. “I was attacked… by a police detective named Michael Tritter, and… and three other men. There was… a fifth man, too, who… I think all he did was… was move my bike. He was there when they… when they… took me, but… but I didn’t see him after that.” House hesitated, struggling over the words as he went on, ”Tritter, he… he’s threatened to… to kill me and anyone who knows about it, if I say anything about… what happened.”

Jenna deliberately ignored his vague choice of words, keeping her tone light as she replied, “Oh. Well, that might have been nice to know before I took the case.” Her smile reassured them that she was not really upset, was rather intrigued. “I’m in it now.” She paused. “So… I’m guessing my job has changed. What exactly do you want me to do?”

“I want you to find out anything you can – but discreetly. Don’t let him know you’re investigating. That hasn’t changed. But… see if you can find any evidence that he’s… done this to someone else before. Or… see if you can uncover any other illegal activities. Anything solid that we can take to the authorities.” He hesitated, amending vaguely, “Some… other authorities.”

Jenna nodded, silently accepting his terms. Really, her job hadn’t changed that much, except to become much easier – and much more dangerous. “Am I still supposed to check in with… with Dr. Wilson?”

Despite his obvious tension, House managed to draw a faint smile to his lips, glancing between Jenna and Wilson, both of whom seemed suddenly self-conscious. “Sure,” he agreed casually. “If that’s what… the two of you want.”

“It’s not,” Jenna hurried to explain. “I mean… it’s not not what I want. It’s just… either way… is… good…” she finished weakly, eyes averted, blushing furiously.

“Does that work for you? Dr. Wilson?” House echoed Jenna’s formal term of addres, deliberately pushing the matter, glad for the distraction from his own considerably heavier concerns.

“That’s… fine,” Wilson agreed awkwardly, glaring at House across the coffee table. “No reason to… to change things now.”

“No, of course not.” House grinned. “Not just when things are starting to get so… interesting.”

House sat back, immensely satisfied with the level of discomfort he had created for his friend and the pretty young PI. When Cuddy spoke up, however, drawing all of their attention back to the matter at hand, his smile faded away, and his posture once again became tense and anxious.

Her voice was gentle and hesitant. “This might not be something we want to think about, but… we need to have some kind of protective measures in place, in case Tritter does come after us. I mean… there’s always the chance that he might catch on. And even if he doesn’t, he might decide to try something, anyway. We have to be ready for that possibility.”

As she spoke, Cuddy’s hand edged subtly across the couch cushion, her fingers just barely brushing against House’s. “I just think we need to do everything we can to… to be sure that you’re safe,” she confessed softly, relieved that he did not pull his hand away, though his head was bowed and his jaw clenched with his efforts to suppress the fear invoked by her words.

Cuddy turned her attention toward Jenna, hoping both to distract her, and to divert any attention from House’s reaction. “You’re the professional. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Well,” Jenna replied thoughtfully, “you already have the gun. That’s helpful, as long as you know how to use it.” She paused. “Do you all? Know how to use it?”

An awkward silence followed, broken by Wilson’s tentative, “I…took a class…”

“Good.” Jenna nodded toward the sofa. “There’s not time for the two of you to take one, too, though that would be ideal. I know how to use a gun; I can teach you. Then there’s security. You need an alarm system in your new apartment, and it wouldn’t hurt you to have one too, Dr. Cuddy. And cameras. Surveillance cameras are a good idea for more reasons than one. They’ll discourage intruders, but if this Tritter guy does try something, you’ll have definite evidence against him.”

“Great,” House muttered, not looking up, his voice low to disguise the slight tremor it held. “So the murder trial will be a sure bet, then.”

“No,” Jenna replied, shaking her head. “We won’t let it get that far. I’m assuming you all have cell phones? Pagers?”

When they responded in the affirmative, Jenna continued. “You need to have each other on speed dial, if you don’t already. And you should have a second phone,” she told House. “With them, and me, on speed dial, and its own ring tone on all our phones. Your alarm system should have a panic button, so you can get help on the way in a matter of seconds, but just in case something goes wrong with that, the cell phone is a backup. That way if it’s in your pocket, and something happens, you can get help right away, probably without anyone noticing what you’re doing.”

“Yeah,” House scoffed quietly, subdued by the unsettling turn in the conversation. “And what are you going to do when you get my call? Call the cops?”

“Well… yeah.” Jenna shrugged. “If the alarm goes off, it’ll go directly to the security company, and they’ll contact the police. And if you call one of us, we’ll contact them for you. If you have security cameras to record everything, you’ll have evidence. And you can’t tell me that every cop on the Princeton force is crooked. If there’s proof, you’ll have Tritter cornered.”

“So I guess I should start hoping for him to come after me, then, shouldn’t I?” House muttered. “Guess that’s best for everyone.”

“House,” Cuddy spoke up softly, waiting until he met her eyes to go on. “This actually sounds like a decent plan. You’re talking about four cops out of the entire police force. The chances of those particular cops responding to the call are slim to none – especially if some or all of them are with you in the first place.”

“I know,” House admitted, glancing up at Cuddy, then Wilson, with a trace of cautious hope in his eyes. “It… actually does sound like it… might work.”

“Good, then. It’s a plan,” Jenna replied. “We’ll get the security systems in the works right away. In the mean time, you shouldn’t ever be alone, Dr. House. It stands to reason that if they do decide to come after someone, it’d be you before anyone else…”

House’s hand twitched nervously under Cuddy’s, and Cuddy gave it a gentle squeeze. She was annoyed with Jenna for her lack of tact, for pointing out the obvious in a way that was making House even more nervous. Jenna was on a roll, however, and didn’t notice House’s and Cuddy’s reactions.

“… so as long as you’re with someone at all times, you should be okay until we can get the cameras and security system in. We also need to set up a system to stay in contact when we’re separated. Really, none of us should be alone for long from this point on. And when one of us is, they need to check in by phone with someone else at least every hour, so we know if something… happens.” Jenna paused for breath, her expression growing serious as she looked at House.

“What else can you tell me about the men who attacked you? You mentioned Tritter, so I’m assuming you didn’t recognize the others?”

House swallowed hard, shaking his head – not trusting himself to speak.

“Did you get a good look at them?” Jenna asked, her voice softening. “Their faces? Hair? Clothes? Anything that might help to identify them?”

House closed his eyes, and Cuddy noticed his breath quickening as he struggled for control. Jenna’s questions, while necessary, were forcing him to think about memories he would rather bury forever. He shook his head again, his voice hushed and heavy as he replied.

“No, I… I didn’t see their faces. Or… I don’t remember their faces. I’m… not sure…”

Cuddy’s heart ached for him as he wrestled with his emotions, fighting for enough control to go on. “Take your time,” she murmured in gentle encouragement.

House grimaced, secretly grateful for her support, but nevertheless embarrassed by his need for it. “I just… can’t remember anything… specific… about them, how they looked, whatever. He… called one of them… Johnny. And I think he’s… the only one who wasn’t a cop.”

Jenna was quiet for a long moment. It was impossible to miss House’s discomfort, and she felt bad for doing anything to increase it, but if she was going to help him, there were things that she had to know.

The problem was, she wasn’t sure what most of those things were.

“Is there… anything else you need to tell me? Anything else that might help?” she asked at last, her voice quiet and patient.

House was silent for a long time, not looking at her, but his silence was weighted. Clearly, there was something he wanted to say. Finally, hesitant and halting, he replied.

“I said there were…five men in all… and there were… but… you’re looking for only four. One of them… one of them is dead.” He was quiet for a moment, before raising his eyes to meet Jenna’s. “Tritter killed him.”

TBC....