Chapter Text
House was standing on the clouds, a smug smile dripping with joy. Behind him gilded bars stretched to infinity. Before him wide marble staircase with no end leadings to Wilson.
“How the hell are you slower than me!” House yells, with a mood that is either induced by heaven or methamphetamines .
Wilson loved how House looked up there, untouched by sorrow . He would have given House any and all substance to achieve this. But no medicine could do it without murderous side affects.
Speaking of murder.
“I was dead.” He says to House, not really loud enough for anyone to hear. His body felt light as he moved forward. The stairs looks slippery, but gravity feels weak, they balanced each other.
“I know! You definitely were!” Glee and radiant, it doesn’t look like House anymore.
“Is this my near death experience?” Wilson asked. He dreamt of this happy House for most of his adult life. He deserved this glorious presence in his final brain activities.
“I don’t think so.” House reached out his left hand, helping Wilson with the last few step up the marbles.
“Did you flinch? Cause I am hallucinating about heaven.” Wilson kept his head down while walking up that gigantic staircase, his body has restored to it’s pre-cancer state, but his mind is still scared of falling. He reached forward for House’s hand out of reflex, and found it without a thought. “Hence, not dead enough, I bet you flinched.”
“You were dead, I was a doctor, I could tell. I buried us in a very beautiful place, cold mountain with a stunning view. No, I didn’t not flinch, you’re not near death, you are diddly dead.”
“Diddly dead?” Wilson cracked a light laugh. He was at the last few step of this journey toward House, his legs started to sore. Are you supposed to feel that in a dream?
“Yeah keep acting, imaginary Wilson.” House said. After having Wilson nicely standing beside him.
“I am not your imagination. Maybe you are my imagination.” Wilson quibbled for habit’s sake. “You still using your cane. Why?”
“Every analysis of yours would be meaningless if this is an hallucination, or if this is heaven. Come to think of it, I have never imagined you before.”
“Why not?” More offended that he is not on House’s mind all the time than the idea he dragged House six feet under with him.
“You unhappy about it? It must be heaven then. I suppose it’s only because you were the most repressed feeling. Can’t deal with you directly, or my neurons would burn.” House opened his eyes wide for effect.“ Amber alone burned some, and that was only a metaphor of you.”
“Your head must be on fire now.” The clouds expanded to all horizons surrounding them.
“It’s not repressed anymore.” House hold up Wilson’s right hand, messing with Wilson’s hair, observing, to find signs of hallucinations. “You know that. Besides, I don’t think my head could explode for you again, we are sleeping in coffins, side by side, now and forever.”
“Like vampires.” Wilson sat still as House fumbled his hair.
“How romantic am I?”
“Very romantic.” Wilson observed in his own quiet ways. House looks just the same as the last thing Wilson ever saw. Just happier.
“Why aren’t you surprised? You didn’t know what I decided to do, I believe that you should be furious by now. Unless.”
“I know you. I saw your face when I die and for five months before that. This is no surprise.”
“And you are okay with it?” House asked, hiding himself behind his cane.
“Guess I am not as selfless as you think.” Would have yelled at him if he is still alive. “I would not let you do it. But I can appreciate. If it’s a done deal.” Now he think it’s a sweet move.
“You were never selfless, you must be thrilled to know I love you enough to go after you.”
“Exactly! I am being honest. I believe I am also smarter for it. You know why this is no hallucination? Because I am certain none of us love trains.”
Click-clack, Click-clack, they are suddenly on a train.
-
The train arrives at a station. Announcements played saying they are the newest batch from the U.S.
“James Wilson?” A female voice called in their vicinity. They both turned, and she noticed. “Hello.” She smiled at Wilson.
“Here, here! I’m James Wilson. Call me Jimmy” House raise his five years old arm, imitating a doe eye as hard as he can.
“Oh!” The blonde girl gasped with very little sincerity “But you are not my James Wilson, your AC will be with you shortly.”
“He’s joking. He’s with me.” Wilson drags House’s arm down.
“James” A chirpy voice came out of that high school figure “I am your Afterlife coordinator, and yours alone, his AC will be with him shortly.”
“Calling you James, pushing me away, did you marry her?"
Wilson shook his head trying to push down a smirk and fails.
House could see he managed to annoy this girl, who looked like a teenager, and he enjoys pissing of a teenager any day.
The AC performed some yoga breathing and continues. “Let’s not overthink it, we can go to your room and settle down first.”
“What about him?” Wilson pointed at House. “Can’t just leave him here, he’s my friend.”
“Of course you can.” Her words were formulaic, yet it sounded so mean. “This is your decision on eternity. We generally recommend removing any influence from friends.”
“Boyfriend.” House raised his left hand showing of their matching rings.
She frowned for a split second.
“Not married?” She says, House could bet this is where she went off script.
“No. Because he died before gay marriage is a possibility in our state. Then I went all Romeo and Juliet on him.”
“Oh, what a shame, boyfriend is still a type of friend.” She caught a loop hole and improvised. “Come James, your wife is waiting for you.”
“My wife?” Wilson asked with his stunned teddy bear brows.
“None of his wives are dead. All of them are disappointed.” House tilted his head a little, the slanted view helps him think.
“And somehow my very healthy boyfriend is.” Said Wilson missing some important point House is trying hard to fish out of his own head. Wilson has been awfully easy to distract ever since they started the only death do us apart trajectory.
“Very healthy?” House started the sentence ready for a joke. Yet his face sunken half sentence.
Wilson tensed up. “What?”
“There is someone dead.” House turned to him.
“Oh.” Wilson answered as his eyes shifted.
-
On their way to his hotel room, Wilson walks one steps behind his AC, asking practical questions as House followed in silence.
“Didn’t you say we are supposed to chose an eternity after seven days?” Wilson says, opening on an easy topic.
“Yes.” AC responded, unsuspecting of his manipulative nature.
“So how is Amber still here?” Wilson moved on so smoothly.
“She waited.” She answered with a slight frown.
“For me?” Wilson knew, House can bet real money on that.
“That’s what she said.”
“That’s nice of her.” Now Wilson is feeling guilt again.
“Yeah, it’s not very nice of you to cheat on her.” Odd focus for a neutral agent.
“She was dead!” Odd defensiveness for somebody who cares so much about anyone.
“Well, she was here.”
“I am sensing a preference here.” House chimes in.
“I don’t know what you mean, Mr.Not-my-client.”
“Doctor.” Wilson added.
“My apologies, Dr.third-wheel.” The AC hate them both.
Wilson giggled, and House looks at him with disbelief. While the AC stopped in front of a room, and had to search through her purse for the key.
“How could you laugh at someone insulting your love!”
“Do you know how many arguments between me and my ex-wives are about you?”
“Yeah, I was there for most of them.”
“No you weren’t.”
“I bet they hated you.” Amber’s voice echoes through the warmly decorated room. It sounded hollow. Last time House hear such voice, he went to the mental hospital willingly.
“Letting other people in ones room, isn’t there a rule against it?” House asked bitterly.
“Yes.” The AC tosses her blonde ponytail across to turn her back to them.“Bite me.”
“Thank you Rita, I will take it from here!” Amber yelled to the back of her bestie.
“It’s good to see you, Amber.” Wilson looks emotional. Time stopped, for them, and trapped House in a difficult place between jealousy and his biggest nightmare.
“Yeah.”Amber props herself up from the red armchair. “I waited for you James.”
Amber paces towards Wilson, pauses at a kissing distance and stayed. Observing. Analyzing. Brooding.
Wilson has not lost all his senses, he looked at House, asking for an escape from his debilitating guilt.
So House poke his cane in between them. “Sorry, first time he hasn’t completely ruin a relationship before it ended. This is new to him.”
“Oh look, House apologizing to me. How nice!”Her voice shrieks. She laughed like a cry for help.
House froze before her, breathing out of rhythm, he tried to reach out for Wilson, either for a sense of safety, or to save him from the devil.
Wilson’s face soon ended up in Amber’s palms, looking confused. There is no saving him now.
Amber replaced the laugh with a cold poker face.
“I was reading your files. So much has happened before me, and so much has happened after me. I had no idea what I am involved with. No wonder the universe killed me. ”
She pulled Wilson into a slow kiss, he accepted it, House accepted it as well as he ever could.
It was cold kiss, Amber already had her sight on House as they broke the kiss. “Let’s do an differential on his eternity, shall we?”
———————————-
They went on the way to a conference room for the differential because House absolutely must do any differential with a white board and Amber says she had one prepared.
“Can’t you two just be normal and talk about it instead of doing a differential on what’s wrong with me?” Said Wilson.
“Nothing is wrong with you.” Amber answered.
“You are the disease.” House adds. Couldn’t resist this triple kill psychoanalysis.
“You know you have a fan group down here.” Amber ignored the humorous conclusion. Is she deaf?
“You are messing with me.” Wilson answered to Amber, he seems to be focusing more on her now.
“Your patients. They loved you, and they love the pain killers you prescribed. They happens to find each other in one of our most popular eternities - beach views and all drugs you can take buffet.” says Amber.
“Sounds like I should join the fan group.” says House.
“Great! Get high and worship me.” Wilson joked.
“Seriously, you should go.” Amber says, not joking.
———————————-
The room Amber lead them to looks awfully similar to Wilson’s office.
The sofa, the desk, the children’s toy collection, her mindless familiarity with all things in this office. She built her own shrine of Wilson as Wilson was building hers in their apartment. House looks around, remembering the days when he lived in Amber’s shrine. Wilson is surprised too. Making the face of a stunned chinchilla without even realizing it. Not many people get to be in their own shrine.
The white board in the middle of this room is disturbingly out of place. It looks newer than everything else, with markers ready to be used. Specifically there for House.
Amber sat down at House’s usual position on the sofa, Wilson leaned on his office desk. House stood in front of the white board. He unplugged the cap of the marker making an satisfying pop. Feeling less afraid of Amber. This is a differential, this is what he does.