Cold Shoulder // House x Reader

Chapter 2 // The Case

"So he started using again?" Wilson said, poking at his salad with a fork. The two of you sat in the cafeteria at a small table near the window, which light from the courtyard poured through.

"Surprise, surprise." You muttered, taking a drink of water. The cafeteria was pretty crowded today, lots of patients sat at tables around the two of you, accompanied by family members as they enjoyed their lunch.

"And what are you planning to do about it?" He said.

"Nothing." You shrugged. It was partially true, but Wilson knew you too well.

"I find that hard to believe. Whether you like it or not, you and House have one thing in common. Meddling."

"Is that really a personality trait?"

"You two have made it into a trait, you can't just leave people be. You have to always mess around with other people's lives." Wilson sighed leaning back in his chair. "It's becoming a serious issue."

"No it's not. Name one time I've meddled." You replied, a skeptical look resting on your face.

"Last week, Foreman mentioned being mad at Chase for agreeing with Cameron on a diagnosis when he knew it was incorrect. Then you turned around and convinced Chase to talk to him about it."

"And now what? They're not angry at each other anymore. It's not meddling if it's for the betterment of mankind."

"Oh please." He laughed, taking a bite of his food.

"Yeah well, even if I do meddle there's nothing I can do about this." You sighed, you hated to admit it but you really were worried about House. Not only because he was a 'liability' but also because he was going to end up hurting himself.

"Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"Like he'll listen. He's not exactly known for being reasonable."

"You never know, one time I was talking with h-" Wilson was quickly interrupted by the beeping of your pager.

"Looks like we finally got a case."

"Sounds like you should head up there."

"You have a point. Alright. But we have to finish talking about this later, okay?"

"Alright, and seriously, try talking to him. Surely some part of him is human?" Wilson said as you picked up your trash.

"If only." You replied. You walked out of the cafeteria, attempting to not bump into nurses who were pushing small carts of food into the hallway for bedridden patients. The less crowded, almost relaxed morning was long gone with doctors roaming patient's rooms and patients being wheeled down into surgery rooms. You took a few turns down the hallways, until you finally found yourself back in the lobby. You clicked the small elevator button on the panel, and waited patiently for the doors to open. Which they did promptly. You climbed onto the elevator and clicked yet another button one with the corresponding 3, 3rd floor. And you sighed lightly, as jazz played softly from the elevator speaker. After a minute or so, the doors reopened and you stepped out, and walked down yet another hallway until finally you reached House's office. You opened the glass door and walked in. Chase and Foreman stood around the table talking about something before they turned to you.

"I got paged. What's up?" You say shutting the door carefully behind you.

"Wasn't either of us." They shrugged, as House walked or rather, limped, into the room.

"Must've been a ghost." He uttered sitting down at the table. "But now that you're here we have a case to work on. Spill the details, Chase!"

"Patient is a 36 year old male, started vomiting blood at work."

"Are you sure it wasn't just cherry Koolaid?" House said. To which Chase rolled his eyes.

"Could be Cirrhosis of the liver?" Foreman stated.

"Alrighty, good enough for me. Chase, Foreman, go check the patients home for any alcoholic vices." 

"So you didn't actually need me for anything?" You said with a scoff.

"Well Cameron was busy and you are the second prettiest face." He said throwing a ball against the wall and catching it in his hand.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." You uttered, turning to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To finish my lunch."

"Nope. I need you to run some tests."

"To confirm the Cirrhosis?"

"Or to un-confirm it." He said bouncing the ball mindlessly.

"If you don't think it's Cirrhosis, then why did you send Foreman and Chase to the patient's house?"

"For funsies. Now go run the blood tests." 

You sighed softly, and walked back out of the office. What was the point of him paging you, if you had nothing to do? You knew the blood tests were arbitrary at best. And Foreman usually ran them anyway. The patient's room was relatively close to the office and when you walked in, you checked his file. His name was Marshall Smith, and his history seemed relatively normal. He sat in the bed, a small tray of food in front of him. He was a large man, and his eyes were slightly weary. His hair was thinning, maybe from stress, or maybe a symptom.

"Hey there, I'm Dr. L/N one of your doctors."

"I thought Dr. House was my doctor."

"He is, he just..doesn't like, well, he doesn't like people. So I'll be doing all the tests and such. He'll be doing the diagnosing."

"I'm paying for him to treat me."

"And he is. Just not face to face." You replied attempting to reason with him.

"Whatever." He sighed leaning back. "Why'd you come in here?"

"Just a blood test." You said pulling out a small needle, and an I.V. And wiping his arm with an alcohol pad.

"How're you feeling?"

"Like this is going to be one expensive hospital bill." He said as you stuck the needle into his vein. Luckily you hit the vein first try, and you watched as the sample slid through the tube.

"All done. We'll have the results soon."

"Results of what?" He asked. And you walked out pretending like you hadn't heard him, because you didn't exactly know what.