"The Long Road Home" (m)

[tma]

There will possibly be Wilson later in this... I hope that those of you who love Chase torture will enjoy this. *crosses fingers*

House blamed Wilson for the entire mess- once he had found them both. “If you weren’t so… responsible.” He spat the last word out as if it was tainted.

Wilson merely rolled his eyes in response. He knew that assigning blame was (in this case) a way to avoid admitting guilt and relief and any other feelings that might be hidden away in that blood transporting muscle of his somewhere.

It all had begun innocently enough. There was a medical conference out in New York that that originally House, Wilson, and Chase were slated to attend. Chase was looking at heading up the ER and was going to attend a lecture on a new procedure, Wilson was lecturing, and House was… well he basically was road-tripping and avoiding clinic duty.

Wilson thought that the main reason that Chase agreed to car-pooling was that his car was in the shop again and he didn’t want to inconvenience Cameron by asking to borrow hers. Besides then she would have had to carpool.

At any rate, after Wilson had tried to lay down the ground rules of the driver getting to pick the music, he had had to deal with House’s grousing over his choice of music until he threw up his hands and changed the station. Meanwhile, Chase had been relaxing in the back seat chewing on Twizzlers, working the crosswords, and trying to suppress a grin at the men in the front seat who were bickering like an old married couple.

The conference was fairly uneventful. Chase was glad that he had come, but always felt a little uncomfortable with being around a lot of new people. Also, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go ahead and apply for the department head position. He had asked Cameron, but… Cameron even though she was edgier than when they first started out… she was still Cameron, and his girlfriend. He didn’t want to admit that the person whose opinion he really wanted to ask was House.

The weather for the drive home looked awful, but Wilson was optimistic. “All we have to do is make an early start of it.”

“Nope. Not going. Already crippled. Not getting stuck in the middle of East Bumfuc* thanks.”

“Come on. The forecast was saying that things would be fine until late tonight.”

“And the weather *always* listens to the weather man why?”

“So who are you riding back with?”

“Dr. Brewster.”

“The hot blonde?” the two other men commented in unison.

“One in the same. We struck up a conversation and she needed to fill me in on more details.”

Chase smirked and Wilson rolled his eyes.

“Are you going to come back?”

Chase nodded.

“Alright. We’ll see you later House.”

A raised hand was all that they got in response.

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

Unfortunately, Wilson had been overly optimistic. About halfway through the trip home, the weather took a turn for the worse. Gusting winds, blinding snow, and then Wilson managed to hit a patch of black ice that spun the car around before crashing into a tree.

Amazingly, both men were fine. Sore and a bit shaken up, and bruises would surely appear; but nothing broken or bleeding. Well… nothing human was broken. The car, on the other hand… It figured that they would get stuck completely in the middle of nowhere. They got out and decided to walk to find some sort of shelter.

The snow was blinding and wind was bitter. A shiver ran down the younger man’s back and he rubbed his arms against his coat trying to get warm.

“Is there any sign of anything?” he asked through chattering teeth.

Wilson turned to look at him. He knew that the nearest place to stay would probably be miles away, and already the young Australian looked all the worse for wear.

He started to shrug out of his trench coat. God knew it was a lot warmer than that beat up leather jacket that Chase always wore. Chase opened his mouth to protest and found that he was overcome by a flurry of tickles that caused him to sneeze harshly into his elbow. “EiShuh… huhIshuh… Chuh.”

Wilson just shook his head and pressed the coat into his hands. “Come on- trade.” At the look of disbelief, he chuckled and commented, “I have a sweater and besides, I’m used to Jersey winters. Didn’t you spend most of your vacation in the winter on the beach in Australia?”

“Ok.” He said slowly taking off his jacket and putting Wilson’s on. The look of bliss that immediately sprang to his face made the older man decide that the decision had been worth it. There still was a wary look in his eyes as he handed his jacket over to Wilson.

“There isn’t a catch.”

“I wasn’t…” he started to protest.

“Yes you were. But there isn’t. And nobody is going to know. We’ll walk till we find a hotel and then you can lie down. Alright? Just don’t fall asleep.”

The younger man nodded, but Wilson didn’t like the weary look to his blue-green eyes and the way that he seemed to be suppressing a yawn.

Wilson tried to keep a conversation going in part to take his mind off the long walk ahead, but mostly to be certain that Chase kept awake. “So… how was the presentation that you went to?”

A light came into the younger man’s eyes “It was really great.”

With a little bit of prompting, Wilson got Chase to expand on that. Chase was naturally reticent, and with what House had shared of his former fellow’s background, he could easily see why. The weather was frigid and both men’s breaths were coming out in small, white puffs. Chase occasionally scrubbed at his nose. Ears, nose and cheeks were all flushed from the cold.

Chase paused in the middle of a sentence, and had slowed his walk almost to a stop. Wilson glanced over at him in concern. When Chase felt himself being assessed, he flushed a bit deeper and shook his golden head. “’m f...iiii…” then he shuddered briefly before collapsing in on himself with a round of three harsh, half-stifled sneezes that sounded slightly painful. Wilson winced involuntarily out of sympathy.

“Bless.” He noticed that Chase’s gloved hands were still up around his face. “There’s a handkerchief in the breast pocket if you need it.”

Chase nodded and mumbled his thanks. He was glad that Wilson had averted his gaze so that he could blow his nose without feeling like an exhibit. That was one of the things that drove him nuts about House- feeling as if he was be dissected. With House, he always felt under a microscope.

They kept walking, rubbing at their arms, hoping against hope that something would appear soon. The occasional shudders, sniffles and sneezes coming from his walking partner didn’t bother Wilson, but he started to get nervous when Chase’s walking began to weave.

Wilson wasn’t sure how to get Chase to take his arm to where he could steady him. Then the solution became apparent.

Chase’s mind was drifting. It was hard to keep going. His head felt thick and confused and he felt much more weary than he thought that he should be feeling. He wondered how much further, but didn’t dare voice the question. He knew that Wilson already felt horrible for the crash. Suddenly the older man went down on his side into a pile of snow.

“Dr. Wilson… Are you alright?” he asked coming to kneel down next to the older man. Instantly he felt alert and scanned to see if everything appeared in working order. The older man nodded and ran his gloved fingers through his hair. “J..Just slipped.” He struggled to his feet, seeming to favor his right leg.

“Ankle?” Chase questioned.

“I’m *umph* good.” Wilson groaned.

Chase shook his head. “I don’t… think so. Cuse… be..EiShuh..Shuh…EiSchumpt” he turned away and released those three miserable sneezes into his elbow. “Pardon. Here. You need help.” As Wilson shook his head Chase insisted, “Come on. You helped me.”

As he reluctantly agreed, Wilson chuckled to himself. Success! Thankfully the intensivist didn’t realize how once they threading arms that things quickly shifted from Chase supporting Wilson, to the other way around. Hopefully shelter would appear soon. The quicker that they were able to get inside and get warm, and the sooner that Chase was able to lie down, the better.

[crazy_cat_girl]

Oh, my god~!!!!~~~!!!!~~~~~

I just got little heart flutters! I LOVE the coat exchange! And Wilson's nearly House-like plan of getting Chase to take his arm!

Simply beautiful.

I cannot WAIT for more.

Thank you sooooo much!!!! :-D

[Glowie]

I can't do anything more at this stage than grin insanely. Thank you so so sooo much, I can't wait to read the next bit!

*hugs*

[chui]

*squeee* ok...this is just soooo cute!! i love how sneaky Wilson is being!!!

He knew that assigning blame was (in this case) a way to avoid admitting guilt and relief and any other feelings that might be hidden away in that blood transporting muscle of his somewhere.

and that has to be my favorite line of all time!!! House=

[VividBubbles!]

Okay, okay. I know that this is like 4 years old and not even completed but, I'd just like to say that this is probably the fic that got me into House MD in the first place. Everything's so in character and I just love the interactions between Chase and Wilson. tma, if there's any chance whatsoever of you continuing this, I'd definitely encourage it.

BYE!

[tma]

@ VividBubbles- Awwww!! I actually didn't even recognise the title at first I was thinking "I don't remember writing that." and then... "Oh!!!" I should re-take a look. Once I get holiday stuff sorted I want to do some writing anyway. The Erik and Theresa "Do You?" and now I most definitely will take a look at this. I miss my Wilson and Chase.

Thanks!