Occam's Razor - House M.D.

Part 32- Charades at the Palace pt 4.

The very next morning, at about nine, Madelyn stood before the research abroad committee seemingly rejuvenated from yesterday's events. 

The committee was made up of three women, and two men; a nice change compared to House's team. Of course, as she expected, they appeared wildly professional with suits, shoes, and jewelry that must've cost at least thousands of dollars. However, Madelyn was not intimidated, but rather motivated and excited to finally talk with them. She'd been preparing for this meeting for months now, and she was not about to let anything make it less than perfect. 

As the committee were turning to leave down one of the escalators, Madelyn waved goodbye and thanked them again for their considerations and kindness. Looking forward to studying with them this summer, in Amsterdam, was an understatement for her. 

Fortunate for Madelyn, however, was her ability to successfully conceal the fact that she was extremely hungover at the moment. Taking a deep breath of relief, Madelyn was grateful she was able to hold it together for the long-awaited meeting. It'd been a long time since she last felt this hungover; her stomach was flipping like pancakes, but couldn't keep anything down, and her balance was disturbed to say the least. Madelyn, who would die in a pair of tall heels, was wearing tiny-heeled booties to the final day of the NMA conference this morning as a precaution to help her keep steady. And it was right then, when she remembered how horrible she felt that she also remembered Wilson was giving a presentation on new breakthrough in oncological research at 9:15. 

When she arrived at the ballroom, she immediately detected Wilson who was sitting with his laptop at the podium. 

"Hey!" a shrill voice from behind said, "we just got here too, we were looking for you." It was Taub. His voice was normally not something she would describe as 'shrill', but everything sounded out of sorts this morning. 

"Me too. Sorry, I meant to find you guys earlier." she replied, slowly following him to some seats beside the rest of the team who was joined by Cameron, and of course, House. 

"Here, I'll go in first, so you can sit by House." Taub offered. 

By now, everyone had caught on to the fact that they were dating. But this morning, Madelyn wasn't sure if that was the case anymore, nonetheless, she chose to go along with it instead of making things more awkward and dramatic at such an early hour. 

Madelyn smoothed her black, pencil skirt against the back of her thighs, so it wouldn't ride up when she next stood up. Crossing her legs, she began nervously shaking her foot slightly. In her peripheral vision, Madelyn saw House move his hand, guiding it to rest upon her knee. She didn't refuse it. 

"Are you okay?" House asked quietly, his gaze staring ahead at the stage. 

Madelyn didn't move to look at him either, "No, I'm hungover. I feel like shit." 

"You don't really seem hungover," House responded honestly. He looked at her eyes, studied her body posture and language--she didn't seem that hungover, but rather exhausted. On the other hand, House was disgustingly hungover, but he'd learned to hide it well. 

He kept his hand on Madelyn's knee, feeling some sort of relief she wasn't brushing him off. 

As Wilson began his presentation, the room's volume dropped... almost completely. 

House leaned over in his seat just a little, and moved his lips almost directly upon Madelyn's ear to continue talking to her. 

"Sorry you don't feel good." he said. 

"Yeah you have a lot to be sorry about..." Madelyn scoffed, finally pushing House's hand off of her knee. 

In her mind, she tried to let the drama go, hoping things might've just gotten heated yesterday. She decided that it was serious, and that things still felt seriously wrong between them.