Fic : Thirty Days of Solitary 24/30
Jul. 20th, 2012 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
menolly_auTitle: Thirty Days of Solitary 24/30
Characters: House with small bits of various others
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: For everything up to and including Twenty Vicodins
Summary: House was sentenced to thirty days of solitary confinement for his actions in Twenty Vicodins. This is the story of his time in solitary, and what was happening back at PPTH while he was there. Story will mainly focus on House, but there are segments featuring the rest of the cast. Starts just before the end of Twenty Vicodins.
A/N : Many, many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
damigella_314. Without her constant help and encouragement this story would be called 'Five Days of Solitary'.
Click for previous part
Day 24 Sunday 30th October 2011
Ironically enough, by the time the Tylenol makes its way through the bureaucratic channels of the prison and arrives at his cell he's feeling a little more human. He takes it anyway, because it would be silly to ever miss an opportunity to take some kind of painkiller. As it is, the amount he has to survive on is only barely enough, certainly not nearly enough to dull his pain to the point where he can't feel anything other than the pleasant buzz of a narcotic. When he gets out of prison, wherever he ends up after here, he will have to make it a priority to stock up on the little pills of salvation. With Wilson out of the picture he'll have to find another friendly doctor to prescribe for him, or go freelance like he has before. There are always ways to get pills for resourceful people.
Sometimes he feels a pang of regret for the couple of years he spent off the pills. He'd felt healthier in that time than he had since the infarction, just knowing he wasn't tied to his addiction had been liberating, for a while.
The pills had dictated his life for a long time. In the first months after the infarction he had resisted taking painkillers all the time, but as the years wore on, and the pain stayed at a constant grinding level that made it hard to do anything, or even to think at times, he had taken more and more, with little regard for schedule or consequence. Although he didn’t like to admit it, even to himself, he had also developed a tendency to take them for emotional pain as well as physical, relying on them as a crutch to deaden his emotions when they threatened to overwhelm him.
He’d been a little shocked himself, with quite how many pills Tritter had found in his apartment, he’d never bothered to count them, he had just squirrelled them away whenever he could. He’d always feared that there would be a day when his own legitimate supply would dry up, when Wilson would say enough was enough and try and force him into detoxing.
After Mayfield and the new drug regime, the pain had been, well, not good, but under control, it had been no worse than when he'd been on Vicodin. He hadn't been as numb, as blocked off from everything that was happening around him as he had been when he was still on narcotics.
It had been difficult, at times, to learn to live without the numbness Vicodin provided. When Wilson had started dating Sam, and his own efforts at finding happiness were coming to nothing, House had struggled to cope with the emotions that had free reign now they weren't blocked by the pills. He'd turned to alcohol, searching for a return to that nice dead feeling, hoping that he could silence the cravings with that, but he'd been well on his way to a relapse before the crane incident, before he'd cut off a woman's leg, only to have her die on the way to the hospital.
Cuddy had saved him from a return to his addiction, and all he had seen was a way out, a way up from the depression that was threatening to drown him again. He would have agreed to anything that night, just to have her with him. To have someone love him and hold him at that moment in time when he needed it so desperately.
He wonders sometimes what would have happened if he'd just gone to Cuddy when she’d had the cancer scare, if he'd been able to be the boyfriend she needed him to be, to be a decent human being without resorting to the Vicodin (and really, had he just been looking for an excuse to turn back to that?). Maybe things would have been different. Probably not. He would have screwed it up in some other way, he'd always felt that he had the sword of Damocles hanging over him, all the time he'd been with Cuddy. That one wrong step would be enough to bring it crashing down on him.
He wonders how she is doing now. Whether she'd just resumed her life as normal, tidied up, fixed the front of her house and reassured the neighbours that her crazy ex-boyfriend was gone for good. He's sure she's erased any trace of his presence from her life, from her home. At the hospital she will have had him removed from his position for cause. His name on the office door would have been scraped off, every trace of his former presence erased. He wonders if she's with that guy he saw through the window on the day that he drove his car through her window and everything changed.
From the quick glimpse House had of him he seemed like the type she'd always gone for, before Lucas, before House. The Nice Guy, with the perfect manners, and the stable life, the safe and boring choice. He knew Cuddy would never settle for that, not for long, she needed more from her mate than a clean shirt and an expensive suit. Cuddy liked a touch of adventure, of danger, as long as she could control it.
Cuddy puts down the phone and stares at the opposite wall. The last thing she'd been expecting on a quiet Sunday with her daughter was a call from Foreman, regarding House (and yet what else would it be about, Foreman hasn't exactly fallen over himself to seek Cuddy's advice when he’d taken over).
Foreman is trying to bring House back to the hospital, he's got some crazy plan (because he's one of House's disciples and there's always a crazy plan). He's worried that whoever is in charge of letting House out of jail will seek Cuddy's opinion and she'll scotch the whole plan.
She almost told him to let the bastard rot in jail, just to thwart his scheming. She shouldn’t be surprised that Foreman is planning on bringing House back to the hospital. Although you would think that he would allow House to serve out his whole sentence, considering what he did to her.
She hadn’t expected a whole lot of sympathy from the PPTH crowd after House drove his car through her house, and she didn't get it. The general sentiment had seemed to be that what else should she have expected if she dated a lunatic like House, and oh, what happened to that nice guy Lucas? Wasn’t it a shame that she’d broken up with him; they could have had a nice future .together.
Instead of sticking to her guns and telling Foreman she would do nothing to aid in getting House out of jail, she heard herself telling him that she wouldn't stand in the way or make any objection, as long as the lunatic was kept well away from her, and her daughter. Foreman readily agreed (as if he had any control over the matter) and that was that.
She smiles to herself at the idea of House working for Foreman. Foreman hadn’t come close to restraining any of House’s madness when he’d had the opportunity, and she wouldn’t expect this time to be any different. Even if House does get early release, and it looks doubtful from where she’s standing, he’ll do something to screw it up and Foreman will have to decide whether to play his trump card (sending House back to prison) or lose any hope of ever controlling the man. Foreman is setting himself up for a whole lot of trouble, in exchange for the undoubted genius of Gregory House. She knows just how tricky that balancing act is.
Characters: House with small bits of various others
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: For everything up to and including Twenty Vicodins
Summary: House was sentenced to thirty days of solitary confinement for his actions in Twenty Vicodins. This is the story of his time in solitary, and what was happening back at PPTH while he was there. Story will mainly focus on House, but there are segments featuring the rest of the cast. Starts just before the end of Twenty Vicodins.
A/N : Many, many thanks to
damigella_314. Without her constant help and encouragement this story would be called 'Five Days of Solitary'. Click for previous part
Day 24 Sunday 30th October 2011
Ironically enough, by the time the Tylenol makes its way through the bureaucratic channels of the prison and arrives at his cell he's feeling a little more human. He takes it anyway, because it would be silly to ever miss an opportunity to take some kind of painkiller. As it is, the amount he has to survive on is only barely enough, certainly not nearly enough to dull his pain to the point where he can't feel anything other than the pleasant buzz of a narcotic. When he gets out of prison, wherever he ends up after here, he will have to make it a priority to stock up on the little pills of salvation. With Wilson out of the picture he'll have to find another friendly doctor to prescribe for him, or go freelance like he has before. There are always ways to get pills for resourceful people.
Sometimes he feels a pang of regret for the couple of years he spent off the pills. He'd felt healthier in that time than he had since the infarction, just knowing he wasn't tied to his addiction had been liberating, for a while.
The pills had dictated his life for a long time. In the first months after the infarction he had resisted taking painkillers all the time, but as the years wore on, and the pain stayed at a constant grinding level that made it hard to do anything, or even to think at times, he had taken more and more, with little regard for schedule or consequence. Although he didn’t like to admit it, even to himself, he had also developed a tendency to take them for emotional pain as well as physical, relying on them as a crutch to deaden his emotions when they threatened to overwhelm him.
He’d been a little shocked himself, with quite how many pills Tritter had found in his apartment, he’d never bothered to count them, he had just squirrelled them away whenever he could. He’d always feared that there would be a day when his own legitimate supply would dry up, when Wilson would say enough was enough and try and force him into detoxing.
After Mayfield and the new drug regime, the pain had been, well, not good, but under control, it had been no worse than when he'd been on Vicodin. He hadn't been as numb, as blocked off from everything that was happening around him as he had been when he was still on narcotics.
It had been difficult, at times, to learn to live without the numbness Vicodin provided. When Wilson had started dating Sam, and his own efforts at finding happiness were coming to nothing, House had struggled to cope with the emotions that had free reign now they weren't blocked by the pills. He'd turned to alcohol, searching for a return to that nice dead feeling, hoping that he could silence the cravings with that, but he'd been well on his way to a relapse before the crane incident, before he'd cut off a woman's leg, only to have her die on the way to the hospital.
Cuddy had saved him from a return to his addiction, and all he had seen was a way out, a way up from the depression that was threatening to drown him again. He would have agreed to anything that night, just to have her with him. To have someone love him and hold him at that moment in time when he needed it so desperately.
He wonders sometimes what would have happened if he'd just gone to Cuddy when she’d had the cancer scare, if he'd been able to be the boyfriend she needed him to be, to be a decent human being without resorting to the Vicodin (and really, had he just been looking for an excuse to turn back to that?). Maybe things would have been different. Probably not. He would have screwed it up in some other way, he'd always felt that he had the sword of Damocles hanging over him, all the time he'd been with Cuddy. That one wrong step would be enough to bring it crashing down on him.
He wonders how she is doing now. Whether she'd just resumed her life as normal, tidied up, fixed the front of her house and reassured the neighbours that her crazy ex-boyfriend was gone for good. He's sure she's erased any trace of his presence from her life, from her home. At the hospital she will have had him removed from his position for cause. His name on the office door would have been scraped off, every trace of his former presence erased. He wonders if she's with that guy he saw through the window on the day that he drove his car through her window and everything changed.
From the quick glimpse House had of him he seemed like the type she'd always gone for, before Lucas, before House. The Nice Guy, with the perfect manners, and the stable life, the safe and boring choice. He knew Cuddy would never settle for that, not for long, she needed more from her mate than a clean shirt and an expensive suit. Cuddy liked a touch of adventure, of danger, as long as she could control it.
Cuddy puts down the phone and stares at the opposite wall. The last thing she'd been expecting on a quiet Sunday with her daughter was a call from Foreman, regarding House (and yet what else would it be about, Foreman hasn't exactly fallen over himself to seek Cuddy's advice when he’d taken over).
Foreman is trying to bring House back to the hospital, he's got some crazy plan (because he's one of House's disciples and there's always a crazy plan). He's worried that whoever is in charge of letting House out of jail will seek Cuddy's opinion and she'll scotch the whole plan.
She almost told him to let the bastard rot in jail, just to thwart his scheming. She shouldn’t be surprised that Foreman is planning on bringing House back to the hospital. Although you would think that he would allow House to serve out his whole sentence, considering what he did to her.
She hadn’t expected a whole lot of sympathy from the PPTH crowd after House drove his car through her house, and she didn't get it. The general sentiment had seemed to be that what else should she have expected if she dated a lunatic like House, and oh, what happened to that nice guy Lucas? Wasn’t it a shame that she’d broken up with him; they could have had a nice future .together.
Instead of sticking to her guns and telling Foreman she would do nothing to aid in getting House out of jail, she heard herself telling him that she wouldn't stand in the way or make any objection, as long as the lunatic was kept well away from her, and her daughter. Foreman readily agreed (as if he had any control over the matter) and that was that.
She smiles to herself at the idea of House working for Foreman. Foreman hadn’t come close to restraining any of House’s madness when he’d had the opportunity, and she wouldn’t expect this time to be any different. Even if House does get early release, and it looks doubtful from where she’s standing, he’ll do something to screw it up and Foreman will have to decide whether to play his trump card (sending House back to prison) or lose any hope of ever controlling the man. Foreman is setting himself up for a whole lot of trouble, in exchange for the undoubted genius of Gregory House. She knows just how tricky that balancing act is.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-19 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-20 09:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-19 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-20 09:54 am (UTC)Thanks for keeping reading :)
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 07:14 pm (UTC)Also people not being sorry for Cuddy? Not getting sympathy for having her house destroyed and her and Rachel' s life endangered? That seems, to me, so very wrong. YMMV.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 09:30 pm (UTC)I think the series did a great diservice to chronic pain patients when it could have done so much better.
Cuddy? yeah, I'm going with the fact that House is happily rehired to work in the hospital with no apparent resistance from any of the staff - which to me shows a total disrespect for Cuddy on the behalf of Foreman et al. I hope Cuddy's perceptiion about the lack of sympathy is wrong though (also I get the impression she didn't hang around for long after the 'incident')
One thing I like about House (the show) is that it does bring a lot of isses to the table canon wise and the points can be argued back and forth :)
Thanks for reading :)