darkdreamer | Dark Redux 2.1 -- Acceptance

Hey, guys :)

Thus begins the second season of the Dark Redux :) It won't be long now -- at all -- before Wilson crosses that line into full-fledged, outright abuse. :(

er... hope you enjoy it :P *ahem*

*hugs*
DoS

Title: Dark Redux
Episode: 2.1 -- Acceptance
Beta:

andi88
Disclaimer: House, Wilson, and all other characters/ideas taken from the show are not my own, and I'm making no profit from the writing of this fiction -- just for fun, I promise. :P (Some dialogue this chapter taken directly from the episode.)
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: In this particular 'verse, I've changed one thing about the canon timeline. At the beginning of the story, when House and Wilson first get together, Wilson is already recently divorced from Julie.
Story Warnings: slash, dark Wilson -- specific warnings for each chapter as necessary
Chapter Warnings: none
Story Summary: A darker version of how canon might have gone, if House and Wilson had entered into a relationship from the start -- and if that relationship took a gradually dark, disturbing turn.
Chapter Summary: Wilson is not pleased with Stacy's new position at PPTH, and lets House know how he expects him to handle it. Meanwhile, Stacy notices a few changes in her former lover, and begins to wonder what might be causing them.

House smiled to himself in malicious amusement, his back to the door, as a very offended but correctly diagnosed patient stormed out of the exam room in an outraged huff. He found the sound of the slamming door strangely satisfying as he crossed the room to pick up the patient’s chart, then turned back toward the door to make his exit from the room – and from the clinic as well.

He immediately froze when he turned and realized that someone had entered as the patient had left.

Wilson.

And he did not look happy.

“So Stacy’s staying.”

House’s mouth went dry, and he swallowed hard, his eyes averted as he took an involuntary step backward away from Wilson. A cool smile of restrained impatience formed on Wilson’s lips as he matched House’s retreat, his arms crossed over his chest in obvious irritation.

“I can’t help but wonder if you had anything to do with that.”

House felt a cold tremor building in the pit of his stomach, his entire body taut with nervous apprehension. With a tremendous effort, he fought the impulse to back away, unwilling to reveal that much vulnerability. Still, he was trembling as he remembered the violent fury of Wilson’s reaction a few days earlier, when he had caught House lying about talking to Stacy.

The idea of someone else spending any amount of time with House seemed to bring out the possessive worst in Wilson.

But… he didn’t actually do anything… didn’t hit me, or hurt me at all, really. I did that to myself. If I hadn’t jerked away from him so hard, I wouldn’t have fallen, so it wasn’t really his fault. He hasn’t ever hit me in fact, so there’s no reason to think that he will now…

Despite his attempts at self-reassurance, House’s voice was low and subdued as he responded cautiously to Wilson’s subtle accusation. He couldn’t quite keep a slight tremor out of his voice, however, as Wilson edged nearer to him, gradually closing the distance between them.

“I didn’t. I… I told Cuddy I didn’t want her to stay here, but she… didn’t seem to care much what I wanted.”

“Convenient,” Wilson observed softly, a single speculative brow rising as he placed his hands gently on House’s waist in a subtly possessive gesture. “Funny how that worked out for you.”

“No,” House protested, shaking his head, the tremor in his voice intensifying. “No, I really didn’t want her to stay. I told Cuddy that. I had nothing to do with it, Wilson, I swear. She just doesn’t care what I think about it, but it’s not my fault if Cuddy thinks she should be here…”

“Actually… it is.”

House flinched slightly as Wilson raised a hand to his face, only to gently brush his hair back with soft fingertips, a faint, thoughtful smile on his lips as he explained.

“I’m fairly certain that if Mark had been treated at a hospital in their hometown… or any other hospital not within fifty miles of Princeton-Plainsboro… Cuddy would not be insisting that she accept a job here, now would she?” Wilson pointed out, his smile widening slightly at the trapped expression on House’s face as he realized what Wilson was saying. “But you had to be the one to treat him, didn’t you? Had to be the big hero, solve the mystery… whatever. Either way, if you hadn’t… he’d be recovering somewhere else, and Cuddy wouldn’t have had the opportunity to hire her.”

“No, he wouldn’t be recovering somewhere else,” House retorted, his voice quietly resentful. “He’d be dead.”

House ventured a glance up at Wilson to see that his smile had faded completely, a cold anger visible in his eyes as his jaw locked in frustration, his hand stilling in House’s hair. House’s body ached with tension as he waited for the inevitable explosion, instantly regretting his careless words.

Why have you always got to be such a smart ass? He’s not going to like that… he’s going to…

All at once Wilson’s anger faded into understanding, and he laughed softly, shaking his head in resigned amusement. His hand caressed affectionately through House’s hair, coming to rest at the back of his neck as he sighed.

“All right. I’ll give you that,” he conceded. “You did what you had to do. You really can’t do anything else. I understand.”

House watched him uncertainly, holding his gaze until he couldn’t any longer as Wilson leaned in and pressed a slow, tender kiss to his lips, his hand at the back of House’s head holding him firmly in place in a subtly dominative gesture. House gratefully returned Wilson’s kiss, his trembling hands rising to draw Wilson closer, overwhelmed with relief at the sudden fading of Wilson’s rising rage.

When Wilson finally pulled away from the kiss to draw breath, he was smiling; but his smile faded again, this time with concern, as his gaze fell on the healing cut above House’s eye, no longer sporting a bandage as it was scabbed over and well on its way to vanishing completely. He frowned slightly as he raised cautious fingertips to brush across House’s brow, not quite touching the wound.

“You’re so… impulsive. You react based on your instincts, without always thinking of the consequences beforehand. But… if you did any differently… you wouldn’t be… well, you. The man I love.”

Touched by the tender sentiment of Wilson’s words, House readily surrendered when Wilson kissed him again, shifting nearer to pull House into his embrace, leaving virtually no space between them. Wilson’s hands roamed slowly, seductively over House’s body, edging up under the hem of House’s shirt to brush his fingertips lightly against the sensitive skin of his stomach. House drew in a sharp breath at the stimulation, and Wilson smiled, pleased with his reaction.

His voice was low and hoarse with desire as he concluded softly, “Whatever issues that might create… I’m willing to deal with it. You’re worth it.”

House lowered his eyes, swallowing hard, filled with mingled emotions of relief and acceptance, but also guilt and embarrassment. Hesitantly, his voice barely over a whisper, he replied, “I… I’m sorry… I didn’t realize that she would… that…”

“Shh,” Wilson soothed him, his hand kneading slowly at the back of House’s neck as he spoke in a hushed murmur close to his ear. “It’s all right. Don’t worry about it.” He paused before adding in a voice of soft intensity, “I trust you, House. I know you can handle Stacy being here. It’s not… ideal, for either of us… but I trust you.”

House’s shoulders shook slightly with relief as he allowed himself to relax into Wilson’s embrace, letting his head fall to rest on Wilson’s shoulder. His hands clutched Wilson to him with a quiet intensity of desperation, as if afraid that if he let go, he might lose Wilson for good. Most days lately, it seemed that he found himself torn between the fear of losing Wilson, and the fear of Wilson himself.

“It’s… it’s her I don’t trust, House,” Wilson continued, his words measured and cautious. “I don’t trust her motives for being here – not at all. But… we’ll be fine… as long as you can try to keep your distance from her, okay? Just… don’t let her get too close…”

House nodded without hesitation, without lifting his head from Wilson’s shoulder – unwilling to leave the security offered by Wilson’s embrace. He did not miss the subtle warning in Wilson’s voice, but he was willing to abide by Wilson’s wishes when it came to Stacy. She had moved on with her life, no longer wanted anything to do with him; and Wilson loved him – even if sometimes that love was masked by the anger House so easily caused in him.

Moments like this in which Wilson was loving and gentle, offering him the reassurance he had come to crave, were becoming few and far between these days.

I’m lucky he still wants to be with me at all. No one else would be able to put up with my crap all the time, and still… still love me. If he loses his temper every now and then, even goes so far as to push me – doesn’t it stand to reason, considering how much time I spend pushing him?

House forcibly buried his worries and concerns, willingly losing himself in the affection and reassurance Wilson was offering. He determined to do what Wilson wanted and stay away from Stacy, to keep Wilson’s jealousies from having any reason to arise. As long as he could do that, House knew that they would be fine.

For the moment, all was right in their world – and for the moment, that was all that mattered.

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

Unfortunately, House’s resolution was swiftly broken when his next obsession struck.

Inevitably, the types of measures he had to take in order to treat the death row patient were exactly the types of measures that led to Stacy’s involvement in his professional life. Despite his best attempts to avoid her throughout the day, she still managed to corner him as he was leaving his office after dispatching his team to run tests.

“Were you trying to get me fired?” she demanded as she fell into step beside him, as determined not to let him as he was to escape. “If you didn’t want me working here, why didn’t you just say so?”

House shrugged, feigning unconcern. Although he was not thrilled with the idea of Stacy working at PPTH, he had no desire whatsoever to hurt her by saying so. “I just don’t want you working here, in my office,” he clarified, keeping his tone light. “But anywhere else in the building is fine. It’s a big hospital.”

Stacy frowned, hurrying her pace enough to pass House and turn around to face him, standing directly in his way so that he could proceed no further. He met her eyes for just a moment in irritation, ready to demand that she move; but as soon as he saw the searching expression in her eyes, he immediately looked away, uncomfortable.

Crap… she’s known me too long and too well…she’s going to pick up on this in two seconds flat…

“You really didn’t want me working here, did you?” Stacy guessed, eyes wide with surprise – and just a little bit of hurt – as she studied his face. “House… talk to me!”

“Oh, like you really want to be working in close proximity with me,” House retorted defensively, rolling his eyes. “You know as well as I do that this wasn’t either of our first choice.”

“I told Lisa that I didn’t want to take the job unless it was okay with you…”

“Yeah, well, apparently she doesn’t care so much about my feelings on the subject,” House replied, his tone flippant and unconcerned. He hesitated for an awkward moment before attempting to somehow salvage the situation. “Doesn’t matter now. Mark needs treatment during his recovery, and you need a job during that time. Anyway… we’re both adults, and it’s only a few months. We can tolerate each other for that long.”

Stacy glanced down, a sad smile on her lips when she looked up to meet his eyes again. “We used to do a lot more than tolerate each other,” she reminded him softly.

“Yeah.” House’s voice was quiet and deliberately even, not betraying any trace of emotion. “Things change.”

“A lot of things, apparently,” Stacy agreed, raising one perfectly groomed brow as her eyes narrowed slightly in curiosity. She hesitated, as if unsure whether or not she wanted to go on, before adding, “The latest rumor is that you and Wilson are the ‘it’ couple in the hospital these days.”

House nodded. “Not a rumor.” He paused, a cold smirk forming on his lips. “How does it feel to know that you turned me gay?”

Stacy blinked, hurt showing in her eyes for a moment before she managed to conceal it. Her cool smile did not quite mask all of her insecurity, however, as she replied, “I’m not sure that’s quite how it works, House.”

He was quiet for a moment, his expression softening with immediate regret for hurting her as he admitted, “It’s not. I’ve actually… always been attracted to… both men and women. Mostly women.” He paused before confessing softly, “And… and Wilson.”

Stacy nodded slowly, taking that in. “So, then… are you still attracted to me?”

House’s eyes widened in surprise at the quietly blunt question, and he looked away abruptly, his head lowered as he took an unintentional step backward away from her. Despite his misgivings, he kept his tone light and mocking as he replied – though he couldn’t help glancing anxiously around for any sign of Wilson as he spoke.

“Well, we’re not together anymore, are we? So… if that answers your completely inappropriate question…”

“It is completely inappropriate,” Stacy admitted. “But…after all this time… I can’t help but be curious. And… that doesn’t answer my question, and…” She frowned, her attention drawn abruptly by the cut over his eye. “… House… what happened to your face?”

Suddenly incredibly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking, House swallowed hard, struggling to regain his composure enough to respond to her without arousing her suspicions. He steeled himself against any lingering affection he felt for her, determined to shut her down as swiftly and thoroughly as possible, to avoid any future such attempted third degrees. He raised his sharp blue eyes to meet hers with a malicious smile on his face as he answered in a cool, acid tone.

“Just like the way I treat my patients, and my romantic life, and pretty much every other aspect of my life now that you’re no longer a part of it… that’s none of your business.”

Without another word he turned and walked away from her, not allowing himself to look back at the troubled frown that creased Stacy’s brow as she watched him, a host of fledgling worries forming in her mind at House’s strange behavior. She had known him for too long not to notice when something was not right – and there was no doubt in her mind.

House was hiding something.

TBC...