Five Times James Wilson Crossed... (R)

[deelaundry]

Posted to housefic and ppth_support

Title: Five Times James Wilson Crossed Someone's Mind, and One Time He Didn't
Author: Dee Laundry
Pairing: None (past Wilson relationships implied)
Rating: R for language
Words: 600
Notes: Spoilers through episode 4-16, “Wilson's Heart.” Thanks to Early Readers, particularly phinnia and pwcorgigirl, for giving this a look-through. Inspired by the flashfic challenge on housefic_meta and by bammel.

Brendan grinned as he hauled his personal effects out the door. Who knew “malingering” was a terminable offense in the employee handbook? Eh, he’d make more money back in sales, anyway.

His dickwad boss hadn’t figured out half the things he’d done, either. The best had been in the clinic when he’d watched sports with the cranky doctor and his skinny doctor friend. Brendan had helped Skinny tease Cranky about some young hot doctor chick; such a hoot. After Cranky left, Skinny had slagged on Cranky’s work ethic, but Skinny’d stuck around for the whole rest of the game. Hilarious.

***

The Ponte alle Grazie was disappointingly modern, but her sister had insisted. “Your namesake, Grace, and easy for Henry to find.” Their directions-challenged cousin joined them fifteen minutes later with hugs and laughter.

“I heard there’s a James in your life,” he teased.

“Was,” her sister snapped. “He’s a son of a bitch.”

“Adele,” Grace chastised. “He’s a wonderful doctor.” She thought back on all the things she’d let James do for her, how easily he’d slipped past professional and marital boundaries into her bed.

As Henry tucked an arm around her, she added, “And a son of a bitch.”

***

The premarital counseling was Cliff’s idea. “I just think you’ve been through a lot, and we should make sure we’re on the same page about what marriage means. I want this to work, babe; I want to grow old with you.”

Fidgeting on the poorly padded guest chair, Julie looked away from Cliff and back down again at the “individual pre-counseling evaluation form” on her clipboard. Name, address, family history, and even personal characteristics had all been easy. Under reason for getting married, she didn’t see “so my ex-husband doesn’t think I’m a complete whore,” so she checked “love” instead.

***

The camera was on them, and House was watching. Damn. She should’ve anticipated it, if no one else, because it was something she would’ve done.

It wouldn’t stop her, though. They needed a CT scan to prove paraganglioma, diagnose the patient, and move on to the next round, and it was obvious that none of her “teammates” had the balls to make it happen, actual physiology of their gender notwithstanding. She was going to win this damn thing, conquer everything and everyone, until victory was in her grasp. She just needed – Wilson’s office was out across the balcony. Perfect escape.

***

Focused on driving, Lettie was only halfway listening as Keira gushed about the new sixth-grade substitute, “who’s a man, Mom! And a doctor. But he had this friend who got sick from pills and died, and he was too sad to stay in New Jersey, so he moved here and decided he wanted to help kids, and that’s why James is a substitute. He said to call him James, not Mr. Wilson; he’s so cool.”

Dots connected; the Subaru swerved; but James C. Wilson, Ph.D., turned out to be short, blond, and ten years too young to be Lettie’s ex-husband.

***

It hurt.

It hurt a whole fucking lot, and there was nothing anyone could do.

Cuddy’d been there: held his hand, talked, changed prescriptions, fiddled with dosages. Slept with him, in the literal sense. That’d helped, for a while – the warmth throughout the night and her strong hands dissolving knots in his shoulders and back, cherry bombs of referred pain.

She’d even offered to sleep with him in the figurative sense, and damn, she had the figure for it. If his flesh hadn’t been so fucking weak...

It hurt, and there was nothing left to solve, nothing left to win.

Comments

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Nice. I actually love the sixth grade substitute one, just because it's the place our minds jump to when you heard all those bits of background.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

As I told phinnia, I'm not sure all the pieces click with Lettie, but the ones that do are enough to make the imagined coincidence startle her. Thanks.

[bammel.livejournal.com]

These are all wonderful (but I think Julie's is my favorite).

cherry bombs of referred pain

VERY NICE and so very true.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Glad you like the cherry bombs. First I thought "land mines" but that wasn't right... and I can definitely imagine House as the type to lob a cherry bomb or two in his day. Thanks.

[hibernia1.livejournal.com]

Very well done, loved Brendan, and had to laugh out loud at Under reason for getting married, she didn’t see “so my ex-husband doesn’t think I’m a complete whore,” so she checked “love” instead. The last one was very sad, but so beautifully done. Thanks for sharing!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

The "under reason" line was the first I wrote, kicking the whole thing off. Thanks!

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I love the progression from Brendan, who's an easy-going slacker, to House, who can never let anything go. And it's nice to remember Amber as inventive and devious when she crawled through Wilson's office.

There are so many great lines in this, but I particularly like Julie's thoughts as she checks the box on the counseling form and "cherry bombs of referred pain." Those are just perfect.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I had merely put the drabbles in chronological order -- the progression from Brendan to House is a lovely coincidence (should I confess that?). Thanks so much for your help with this.

[srsly-yes.livejournal.com]

All six were riveting, but on the 5th one I had to grab the wheel of my emotions not to swerve off the road as Lettie almost did. Wow. Powerful.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. James Wilson is a fairly popular name, so that was interesting to play with.

[dreamsofspike.livejournal.com]

those were all incredible, and the last one was so very tragic...just heartbreaking to think they could come to a point where wilson wouldn't even cross house's mind...im left feeling quite devastated, but in a good way :P hehe

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's definitely hard to think about the last one.

[hwshipper.livejournal.com]

All excellent! Very much liked the Julie one.

And 'wonderful doctor and son-of-a-bitch' could almost be Wilson's epitaph. (And not much more than six words).

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The Julie one was the first written; the one that sparked the whole idea.

I love Wilson but when I think about it, sleeping with a dying patient (and less than a month after breaking up with his wife) really was skeezy.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

great, except I was REALLY confused by Brendan's descriptions, isn't House skinny AND cranky?

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Originally I had them as the cranky one and the handsome one, but (a) House is cranky and handsome; and (b) the clinic patient dude wouldn't have thought of Wilson as handsome. If you go back to that specific scene in Season One, Wilson actually looks a little bit skinnier than House.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

I find House more attractive than Wilson but only part of that is on a physical level. (I hate being lectured, for one thing.)

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

I like the last drabble the most. It's not often in fandom that House's pain is put in such brutal terms, or how restrictive and narrowing it is on his life. Huge punch for such a short space.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

The sixth one also takes place a bit in the future, when the pain is worse and House's self-loathing is at a maximum. : ( Thanks.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

Awwwwww! Wilson is such a strong character even when he isn't there, and the last one is a perfect little angsty gut-wrencher.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Angst-o-rama in the last one, for sure.

[joe-pike-junior.livejournal.com]

These are great.

After Cranky left, Skinny had slagged on Cranky’s work ethic, but Skinny’d stuck around for the whole rest of the game. Hilarious.
That sounds like Wilson!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Wilson likes to lecture but he goes along a lot more than you'd think at first blush. (Bowling in the middle of the day? Heh.)

[niicelaady.livejournal.com]

Oh, these are so good it hurts -- I love Julie, Lettie and the last one especially. Thanks for sharing them.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Julie's and Lettie's were the first I wrote -- the ones that made me think of doing this in the first place.

[xaipw.livejournal.com]

They are all so well done that it's hard to pick a favorite. I do love Julie though. The last line is particularly effective. And the first one, with Brendan, just makes me happy.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

The last line of the Julie piece was the first line that I wrote for this whole fic.

Re: Brendan, it's so fun to look back on Season 1. How skinny and young Wilson was in that Clinic scene! Heh.

Thanks!

[poeia.livejournal.com]

And every time I see the heading "Five Times James Wilson Crossed..." I think he died.I've read it and know that isn't what it's about, but I know a few people who use that as a euphemism.

I was surprised you felt that Grace might feel that about Wilson. And the last one was very sad.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to imply he died! It's just such a long title and... sorry.

I surprised myself a little with the Grace perspective. I was thinking how she went to Florence, and that someone must've gone with her. Family, probably. Then I thought about how her family would see the whole "my oncologist moved in with me" story, and how ethically wrong it was. They might give Grace a new perspective on it. And thus the drabble was born.

[kate-swynford.livejournal.com]

Wonderful story. Each of the vignettes is heart-breaking and beautifully written, but the one about Wilson's namesake really got to me. The power of coincidence...

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. Coincidence is indeed a strange thing.

[savemoony.livejournal.com]

Why have I never read this before?

Oh, wait, looks at the date -- June 30 2008. THAT EXPLAINS IT DARLING.

Lovely, Lovely, Lovely. My favorite, without a doubt, was Amber's. So true. She didn't win but she found an escape in Wilson. Oh, Amber.