Losing It, Chapter 33
Oct. 12th, 2008 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkdreamer*hugs*
DoS
Title: Losing It
Betaed by: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
zeppomarx
Pairing: sort of House/Wilson, story is mostly focused on a twisted relationship between House and Wilson, though a non-sexual one; House/Cuddy friendship
Summary: After Amber's death, Wilson is having trouble moving on, he cant bring himself to forgive his former friend for the part he played in her loss. All he can think about is vengeance. House is willing to do anything to earn back Wilson's friendship, and this proves to be a recipe for disaster.
Warnings: abuse, violence, dark themes, mild language, *very* dark Wilson throughout
Chapter 33
Desperate
“Dr. House? Are you there?”
House glanced anxiously between Wilson and the closed door that separated him from the concerned voice on the other side – and possibly his only source of help in this potentially fatal situation. Wilson aimed the gun at the door in a slow, deliberate motion, his eyes locked on House in a silent warning, before focusing on the door again. He bit his lip nervously, clearly uncertain what course of action he should take.
“Wilson…” House kept his voice barely over a whisper, wanting it to be clear that his motive was not to draw the attention of the guard on the other side of the door. “Wilson… you don’t have to do this. Put the gun away… right now… and you’re just here visiting me. That’s all. No one ever has to know any different. But if you go the other direction… if you hurt that man on the other side of that door… you can’t take it back, Wilson.”
“Yeah.” Wilson’s face bore a tight, ironic smile. “Problem is… I’ve already done a couple of things I can’t take back. Haven’t I?”
House studied Wilson’s expression, trying to gauge the emotions behind his words. “You can take them back, Wilson. If you want to.”
Wilson looked at House again, and the coldness in his eyes sent a chill down House’s spine.
“What if I don’t want to?”
As he spoke, Wilson abruptly turned and stalked toward House, pressing the gun to his temple again, smiling when House flinched, bracing himself for the shot. Instead, Wilson roughly jerked him to his feet, putting a harsh hand to House’s throat to smother his muffled cry of pain.
Leaning in close, Wilson spoke softly into House’s ear, his voice dripping with menace. “Keep your mouth shut. Don’t do anything stupid. And come with me.”
Keeping one hand locked around House’s throat, the other holding the gun to his side, Wilson dragged House toward the door.
**************************
Dr. Gregory House had proven to be the most difficult client that Brent Wray had ever had to guard.
Throughout the afternoon, the cranky, sullen doctor had done everything in his power to avoid Brent, doing his best to ensure that his job – keeping him safe – was impossible. It was almost enough to make Brent think about giving up. If the man wanted to get hurt or killed by whoever it was that was after him – fine. That was his choice.
Except that it wasn’t.
Dr. Cuddy was signing the checks, so technically it was her call.
Still, in the ten years Brent had been doing this job, he had never before had the difficult task of guarding someone who didn’t want to be guarded. And, considering what he had been told of Dr. House’s situation, it seemed that he should want to have the constant accompaniment of an armed guard at his disposal. This other doctor that was after him, James Wilson, sounded very dangerous, and House was supposedly some kind of medical genius.
It had infuriated Brent, but not surprised him a bit, when House had deliberately evaded him on the road, preventing him from following him. When he had arrived outside House’s apartment, he had been relieved to see the doctor’s car parked in front of it – and then, his relief turned to anger.
For a genius, Brent had observed irritably as he tried to catch up with the elusive Dr. House on the highway, he can be pretty stupid.
Frustrated with his impossible charge, the security guard pounded on the door.
When House didn’t answer at all after several attempts to get his attention, however, Brent actually began to worry. Although he assumed that House was just being difficult, Brent’s anger and irritation were beginning to mingle with an uneasy apprehension.
What if something is wrong?
“Dr. House! Dr. House, if you’re there, would you just answer the damn…”
The door opened abruptly, an impatient-looking House appearing in the doorway.
“…door.” Brent sighed before narrowing his eyes, glaring at the sullen man before him, who didn’t even have the good graces to try to appear apologetic. “Dr. House – are you out of your mind? You can’t just… just run off and leave me like that! What if something had happened, and there was no one here to help you?”
House’s eyes went impossibly wide in an expression of mock horror. “My God, you’re right! What if I needed to use the bathroom or something? How would I ever remember how without you looking over my shoulder?”
After several hours already spent in the dubious company of the renowned Dr. House, Brent was not surprised by his hostility. He sighed again, relaxing now that the crisis had passed.
He would have to give Dr. Cuddy a call and let her know he’d found House all right. He’d called her after House had ditched him, unsure whether or not there was cause for alarm, and she had assured him that this was normal behavior for Dr. House. But she had asked him to contact her as soon as he caught up with him.
“Whatever. I get it. You want your privacy. I’m keeping you from having it. I’ll just set up out here and leave you to your brooding…”
“Wait…”
Brent turned back toward House, puzzled by the hesitant note in House’s voice. As he looked closer, he thought he detected something beyond the mockery and frustration.
Fear.
“What is it?” he asked with a concerned frown. “Everything okay?”
House drew in a slow breath, letting it out all at once, shoulders slumping in defeat. “No. It’s not. Can you… can you come in for a minute?”
Surprised by the rare display of vulnerability, puzzled by the request, and more than a little curious, Brent nodded. “Sure. Of course.”
House moved back to allow him in, and Brent stepped through the doorway.
He was surprised to feel House’s hand brush his arm a moment later… as well as by the slight pinprick sensation he felt an instant after that.
Surprised – but strangely, not alarmed.
No… one would have to be conscious to be alarmed.
*****************************
It only took an instant to slip the needle into the guard’s arm, an instant more to depress the syringe and pump the sedative into his system… and then, the man was slumping to the floor, unconscious. House did his best to ease his fall, though he ended up on his knees on the floor in the process. He couldn’t help feeling a little bit guilty for deceiving someone who was only there to protect him in the first place.
Still… the sedative was better than Wilson’s bullet.
“He’s out.”
House stated the truth unnecessarily, as he automatically checked the guard’s vitals, trying to reassure himself that he would be all right. Behind him, Wilson closed and locked the door. Finally, he looked back up at Wilson, who was calmly watching his efforts, the gun trained on him still an ominous presence.
“So. You just… carry around a hypodermic sedative in your pocket? Just in case?”
Wilson smiled coldly. “Only when I think I might need it.” He shrugged. “I’ll just have to make do without it.” He stepped closer, pressing the gun to House’s temple, using it to push his head uncomfortably to the side as he crouched beside him. “Guess you’ll just have to feel every little thing now, won’t you?”
House swallowed hard, wary eyes locked onto Wilson’s as he asked quietly, calmly, “What are you going to do to me?”
Wilson let out a soft, chilling laugh. “Really, House. You’re the genius diagnostician… and you need me to tell you how this ends?”
House’s stomach lurched, but he kept his voice low, even. “It doesn’t have to. End that way.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Wilson straightened, moving the gun, but House didn’t dare relax enough to move an inch. “For once in this stupid, dysfunctional, messed-up relationship – this is about what I want.” He struck House a brutal blow across the face with the pistol, smiling as House fell backward under the force of the blow. “And I want it to end that way.”
House struggled to right himself, dragging himself on his hands toward the sofa in an effort to somehow get to his feet. Wilson easily beat him there, picking up the cane he had propped against the side of the sofa and slamming it into the arm of the sofa just as House reached out to grasp it and pull himself up.
House drew his hand back just in time to avoid a painful smack, looking up at Wilson through solemn, searching eyes.
“I don’t believe you.”
“In spite of all the evidence that I’m telling the truth?” Wilson smirked, his tone patronizing, pitying. “Really, House? That’s not like you.”
“Two months of evidence versus ten years plus evidence to the contrary. One kind of outweighs the other.” House shrugged, his voice soft and pensive as he held Wilson’s gaze. “And I can’t believe you really want to do this.”
Wilson laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. Abruptly the smile faded, as he brought the cane down hard across House’s thigh, causing him to double over in agony, clutching the abused limb with both trembling hands. Wilson crouched in front of him, pushing his head back with the gun until their eyes met again. His voice was soft, barely audible over House’s labored breathing.
“Believe me now, House?”
*****************************
Cuddy was on the verge of panic.
Thirty minutes had passed since the guard had called her, reporting House’s typically juvenile behavior. He knew she was worried about House’s safety, knew she was the customer he needed to satisfy in order to get paid – and still, he had not called her back yet.
She was fairly certain that was cause enough for alarm.
When she called the guard back, the phone rang several times without being answered. She tried again a few minutes later, thinking that perhaps Brent had been dealing with House when she called the first time, but there was no answer the second time, either.
Or the third.
Or fourth.
House is probably leading him on a wild goose chase around town, she told herself. Playing his stupid little games, not considering for a second the effect it’s having on the people who care about him – namely me.
She swallowed hard, staring down at her still, silent phone.
Or maybe – something’s actually happened. Is he hurt? What about Wilson? Maybe he needs me.
Giving up on the guard, she dialed House’s number, and waited breathlessly as it began to ring.
*************************
By a blessed coincidence, Wilson’s paranoia had driven him to check the door again, having thought he heard a strange sound outside, when House felt the vibration of his cell phone ringing in his pocket.
By a second blessed coincidence – his phone was set on silent.
Watching Wilson carefully, House slipped his hand into his pocket, quickly turning down the tiny dial on the side of his phone that controlled the volume of its speakers, before hitting the receive button to accept the call. He didn’t want to take a chance on Wilson hearing the caller’s voice.
He didn’t dare take the phone from his pocket to try to get a glimpse at the screen. He was fairly certain it was Cuddy calling. She was probably waiting for the guard to call her, and when he hadn’t, Cuddy was likely to be concerned enough to check up on him.
Also… no one else ever called him anymore.
He knew better than to think he could tell her what was going on – at least directly. However, if Cuddy could deduce from his silence, despite the fact that the phone had been answered, that something was wrong – it might be House’s only hope of surviving.
If he was really lucky, she might make out some of their conversation, even through the pocket of his jeans. That would be even better.
As Wilson turned around to face him again, House watched him cautiously, secretly doing a series of mental calculations. If Cuddy realized what was going on, and contacted the authorities in the next few minutes, it would take them another ten minutes or so to get to his apartment.
If he could just keep Wilson talking, keep him from reaching the inevitable end of this confrontation for as long as possible… there was a chance that he might get out of this.
Come on, Cuddy… Please pick up on what’s going on here… Please get it… and get help...
TBC...
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![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-10-12 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-12 08:18 pm (UTC)At the risk of developing a major echo complex here I'll say it yet again YOU ARE EVIL! Honestly I am very anxious for the next chapter of this story already and I really hope Cuddy will figure out something is wrong and more importantly House can keep Wilson talking.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-12 08:51 pm (UTC)Damn you and your cliffhangers! *Eagerly waits for next chapter*
no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-12 09:00 pm (UTC)But I'm still fond of your story <3
(Yeah and my english's always THAT bad! Sorry :-D )
no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:18 pm (UTC)thanx, love, glad you enjoyed the chapter :) *hugs* the next one is up now :)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-12 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-12 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-12 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-13 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:20 pm (UTC)the next one is up now, hon, hope you like it ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-13 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-13 05:59 pm (UTC)That will have profound implications for him if he lives. I really do wonder what it will do to his sense of trust. He had so little to start with and this is going to make it even harder for him to take that step with anyone else.
Wilson really manipulated House and the whole situation surrounding Amber's death to an extent that probably only he was capable of. After all, he is the one who knows House best and can push his buttons more than anyone else. But by the same token House, if anyone, should know what can "get" to Wilson to at least make him start thinking. He's certainly going to have to use every bit of that knowledge right now since Wilson is very far past being reachable by anyone else.
Cuddy listening in on the conversation is a lifeline that House is going to need badly if he can't get through to Wilson. Hopefully she is aware enough of House and his mannerisms, ways of speaking, etc. to get the point very quickly.
House's death or further injury would only add to the guilt she probably will feel for not "getting" the whole thing faster. Wilson's death would only add the the guilt and remorse he is already feeling about Wilson and given what has happened it might prompt him to further withdraw from the people around him. That certainly would not be in his or anyone's best interest.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-14 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:42 pm (UTC)I <3 you!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:43 pm (UTC)