ReadingRat's Treadmill

Summary: When Cuddy is diagnosed with cancer, Wilson has to walk the narrow line between his friends' needs and his own. Needless to say, he lacks the sense of balance to carry it off.
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Act 5

Titania: My Oberon, what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamour’d of an ass.
[A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 4 Scene 1]

7:30 am

Down in the lobby there were first signs of the great event to come. The cleaning crew were giving the glass panes a final shine, the nurses at the front desk were checking their make-up and patting their hair down while the front doors opened and closed in a steady rhythm as staff members entered the hospital for the 7:30 a.m. deadline. Among the early entries was Wilson, resplendent in his best suit and a tie that shouted ‘special occasion’. From inside the hospital two security guards appeared to take up their posts, one on each side of the entrance.

House took all this in with one glance as he headed towards a central position on the gallery from which one had an excellent view of the entrance, the lobby desk and the clinic doors while able to withdraw quickly to avoid detection. He’d come in the hope of heading Wilson off to give him young Arun’s file and get a new scrip for his painkillers, thus circumventing the need to deal with Cuddy on either issue, but his hopes of achieving that were effectually quashed at the sight of the lone figure occupying his preferred spot on the gallery. ( Read more... )Previous chapter

Act 3, Scene 2

Puck: [...] in that moment (so it came to pass)
Titania waked, and straightway loved an ass.
[A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3 Scene 2]

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11 p.m.

House was leaning against the wall twirling his cane when Wilson rounded the corner of the corridor outside the ER. He straightened up and limped alongside Wilson.

“She’s in a real frenzy. Thinks he might have had a stroke.” Wilson rubbed his hand over his face. “I should’ve told her it’s just Rohypnol.”

“You don’t know it’s Rohypnol. You’re assuming it based on my telephone diagnosis.”

“That’s even worse. I know he’s drugged, but I don’t know what it is, and to top it, I’m letting Cuddy believe it’s a seizure or a stroke.”

“I doubt he’d be running to tell anyone what it was if he’d managed to drug you,” House pointed out with impeccable logic.

“Good point. So you think I should stoop down to his level.”

“Think of it as cruising below your usual flight altitude to evade the enemy radar.”

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Act 2, Scene 2

Puck:
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe.
[A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2 Scene 2]

9 pm

If House lost his whole team, there was no knowing what he’d do. No team meant unsolved cases, unsolved cases meant frustration, frustration meant pain, and pain meant vicodin. If A implies B and B implies C, then A implies C. Simple logic, but House was refusing to see it. Wilson sighed, drew his fingers through his hair and stumped through the snow to his car. On the way he saw another familiar vehicle – Foreman’s. Hadn’t House said that Foreman had left? There was a bar close by frequented by PPTH staff. Perhaps Foreman and Thirteen were there. Wilson changed tack, making down the road towards the bar.

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