AN: Last chapter! I want to thank you guys so, so much for your reviews and encouragement. This is my first long, chaptered House story and It's been so much fun (and slightly irritating at times, lol) to write. Also, I, once again, need to give a gajillion kudos to my awesome beta, damigella_314. She's been patient and so much help. This story wouldn't have been half of what it is without her. *hug*

This is quite long...so, you know, take your bathroom breaks before-hand. lol. I hope you like it. :-)

Plausible Deniability: 12

He should have seen this coming, but hadn't. It was stupid and naïve to think that Hanlon would just let it go; rule that the accident was the fault of the other driver, and that would be it.

Right, stupid. He shakes his head again as House continues to verbally count his breathing pattern out, and it helps, for awhile, to listen to House's voice.

But, suddenly, his office just seems too small. Wilson plants the palm of his left hand on his desk and stands up suddenly. "I need some air," he says breathlessly, before rushing out through the balcony door.

*****
House watches him go; observes Wilson as he leans on the ledge of the balcony and hangs his head down, trying to get himself back under control. He vaguely wonders if Wilson is still on anti-depressants, and whether he should think about seeing if he can get Wilson on anti-anxiety medication, as he stands slowly and makes his way out, his gaze not leaving the back of Wilson's head.

He limps over and stands beside him, facing the other way, cane between his legs, his own palms against the balcony ledge.

"Breathe. It's going to be fine."

Wilson exhales. "You don't know that."

"Did we switch bodies this morning? You're usually the one trying to be fake-optimistic."

He'd hoped to get some kind of sign of amusement, but Wilson just breathes and closes his eyes tightly. House gets the feeling that he's trying to hide, and he decides that he isn't going to let Wilson shutdown like this.

He leans a little closer, just so his right side is not even a hairs-breadth from Wilson's right side, not quite touching it in deference to his injured shoulder. He turns his head so he can talk to the side of Wilson's face.

"If he had any real suspicions, ones that he could do something about, he wouldn't have come to talk to you in your office and left without anything. Relax. It will be fine."

Wilson doesn't say anything to that, but seems to start breathing a little easier. House remembers what he came here for originally, and casually says,

"So, I had news for you when I came over here."

Wilson turns his head and looks at him in askance, so House continues, "I have an envelope on top of my desk…the return address has a name on it that sounds a lot like the divorce lawyer you used with all three of your former wives."

Wilson's body freezes again and House mentally curses himself.

"I'm not accusing you…or mad…" House says gently. "In fact, you're helping me." The 'again' goes unsaid.

"You're getting divorced."

"I should never have married her."

Wilson snorts in derision and looks away from him.

"And actually-" House says, "-it was never consummated. So, it'll be no problem to have it annulled."

Wilson snaps his gaze back to House's, surprise etched on his face. "You never-"

"No."

"Not that I'm…complaining or anything," Wilson says, as though he's trying to wrap his mind around a particularly difficult concept. "But why?"

House shakes his head and folds his arms across his chest. "She tried, the night of the wedding. But, I just…couldn't. I don't know, maybe I'm finally growing up and realizing that I don't want to sleep with random strangers anymore. Even ones I marry off the street."

Wilson chuckles a little at that. "What about before…"

"You got her away from my drunken ass?" House finishes. "I guess it's possible."

"But not likely," Wilson says, but it's not a question.

House shrugs. "I'm going to go get the paperwork. I didn't actually look at it before I came out here."

Wilson nods and watches the people below move them around as House carefully hops the balcony and goes into his office. A moment later, he's back again, rifling through a mass of paperwork.

"Annulment papers," he says briskly. "And she's citing 'Refusal to consummate marriage' as her reason for it."

Wilson takes a deep breath. "That's good."

"Yeah."

"I didn't mean to imply that…I mean, you were married to her…"

"I know," House cuts in. "Considering everything that you've told me happened, I get it. No worries, Wilson."

"Tha-"

"If you thank me," House interrupts. "I will hit you with my cane."

Wilson snorts, but soldiers on anyway. "I just want to thank you...for trusting me."

House nods shortly and admits, "I wish you had told me earlier."

"I know…It wasn't that I didn't trust you, House. It's just that I…"

"You didn't trust me," House says softly. "And it's okay. I understand why, considering past experience."

"I was scared," Wilson admits. "I didn't know…I didn't know what to do."

"I know."

Silence overcomes them again, but it's not completely uncomfortable. After the admissions they've just made to each other, House finds he has another one of his own when he realizes that he's never told Wilson his actual reasons for marrying Dominica in the first place.

"You were wrong."

"About…"

"About why I married her. You said that you told me that I married Dominica to get back at Cuddy and I didn't do it to get back at her, at least…not entirely. I did it because…I was afraid of being alone. Cuddy left and I needed someone who would be there."

"I've always been here, House. Even when I wasn't here, I was with you."

"I know. I know that, it was stupid and irrational. I was pissed off, drugged out and drunk out of my mind and I…"

"And you're not really known for being wholly rational at the best of times."

"Pretty much," House says slowly, amazed that this is yet another thing Wilson isn't going to want an apology for and God, he thinks, I've been a damned idiot.

House finds that the tightness in his chest is back, and he feels like he did last night when he'd made that admission to himself about his feelings and now, he's not sure he wants to wait anymore for Wilson to clarify his own.

"Wilson, I have a question for you."

Wilson turns his head fully towards him, his eyes on House's face. "Okay…"

"When you said-"

But that's all he gets out, because suddenly a familiar beeping noise is sounding like an alarm. House reaches down and plucks his phone from his pocket.

"Damn," he snaps, reading the text message. "My patient would choose now to start dying."

"You can ask me later," Wilson says, looking a bit unsure.

"I will," House responds, picking up his cane, not really wanting to leave. "It's not bad, I promise."

"I'm not really sure how reassuring that is," Wilson answers, but his smile is more amused and less weary and House can't help a smile.

"You gonna go?" Wilson asks, angling his head at the phone in House's hand.

And like that was a cue, it beeps again.

House glares at it and Wilson chuckles. "I'll harass you when I can," House says, as he turns to leave through Wilson's office.

As the door closes behind him, he smiles again when he hears Wilson holler dryly "I'll look forward to it" through the office.

Wilson sees House periodically through the day; he even heard the words 'incompetent' and 'idiot' yelled through the diagnostic room door an hour or so earlier as he passed by on the way from an appointment. He'd looked through the windows to see House standing before his team, cane in the air, apparently illustrating something as he bellowed at them. Wilson had stood there and watched before House's head turned suddenly and they made eye contact. Caught out, Wilson raised his hand and waved, slightly gratified when the corners of House's mouth turned up slightly, before he returned to strongly chastising his fellows.

Now, he's catching up on paper work, or trying to anyway. He can't stop thinking about everything that's happened, and everything that's still going on. The fact that Hanlon has suspicions is still causing some worry, but Wilson knows that House likely has a point about his presentation of them. He figures his innate paranoia regarding anything surrounding House is kicking in.

The fact that House knows, now, and is helping him…he can't help but wonder what would have happened if he had gone ahead and confided in House and Cuddy from the beginning. Would he still have felt overwhelmed and on the edge of falling apart?

He knows, though, how much better he feels now that House and Cuddy do know. He's spent so much time taking care of House and watching after House, that he'd just fallen into that role, this time, at his own expense. He'd told House that he wanted him to realize that he, Wilson, would always be there for him, but Wilson's beginning to think that maybe House is also trying to let him know that Wilson can rely on him, too.

He thinks back to what Cuddy had said in her office, about how when she needed him, really needed him, House couldn't be there for her, couldn't step up to the plate. Maybe that comment was still subconsciously on his mind, and he'd felt that House wouldn't have been able to really help this time.

But that had been stupid, because (and he hates to think about it, just because it has awful connotations for Cuddy) he can think of several instances where House has stepped up-for Wilson. He lied to Hanlon about Wilson's story-twice. He'd told Wilson he couldn't be there for the liver transplant to Tucker, but had shown up just in the nick of time, exactly like Wilson had hoped he would.

He's beginning to think he'd let House's bad behavior since the end of his relationship with Cuddy completely cloud any of the good things that have happened in the course of their twenty year friendship. He'd lost sight of the little things that House does for him, things that he hasn't thought about in a while that he'd been afraid to trust him with something big, like the real events of what happened in the accident…or the reasons Wilson had protected him then, and has always tried to protect him.

He'd fallen into his natural role of caretaker and had forgotten about everything else.

He remembers their conversation on the balcony, and the one after he'd told them everything, how House had reassured him and told him everything would be okay…even though (despite what House would say) he's not omniscient and can't possibly know that for sure, but he'd done it because he'd known that Wilson had needed it. He'd also admitted that he wished Wilson had told him earlier…but understood why he hadn't. There were no accusations or insults. It was House, being honest and trusting him.

"You okay?"

Startled out of his thoughts, Wilson's head pops up, and he sees the object of his thoughts standing in the open doorway.

"Yeah," he answers as House moves in fully and closes the door. He looks at his watch and can't believe that it's almost five in the evening already. "I'm fine, why?"

House waves a hand at him. "You had a weird look on your face. Do we need to do a differential?"

"You must be having a slow patient day if that's your criteria for taking someone on. Don't you have a patient?"

"She's not as interesting as you are. Still not boring, Wilson."

Wilson smiles again as House seats himself in his customary spot in front of his desk. "I'm glad I can entertain you after all these years."

House looks at him steadily. "You do a lot more then that."

And just like that, the mood shifts, and Wilson's not quite sure what to do about it. He has a feeling they're about the get back to that question that House began on the balcony. He folds up his paper work and sets it to the side, before meeting House's gaze and giving him his complete and full attention.

"You had something to ask me."

House nods. "You…implied that there was more to the reasons that you don't need any apology from me."

"House, I-"

House leans forward and rests his chin on his cane and Wilson finds that his pulse is fluttering at being on the other end of that unwavering gaze.

He takes a deep breath. "Before we start this…are you going to be paged any time soon?"

"I told my team that they could only page me if she actually died. Since she's stable at the moment, we're good. This answer is more important, Wilson."

"I'm surprised it took you this long, actually."

"Had to stabilize her before we could have this conversation," House answers. "I did and couldn't wait any more. Stop stalling and answer the question."

Wilson looks at him, sees House's face, the face of the man he has repeatedly risked everything for. He hasn't even allowed himself to admit in his own mind exactly why he does what he does for House, not the word, because what was the point of thinking something that would get him nowhere?

He'd always been afraid to take that risk, because compared to everything else, this seems like it's the biggest leap.

"Yeah," he says softly. "There's more."

House exhales slowly. "How much more?"

Wilson shrugs his good shoulder slightly. "Can't get much more then what I feel, I guess."

House nods, processing that. "You called Nolan."

Wilson blinks at the sudden non-sequitur. "Yes, but nothing came of it. We didn't really talk about you even. Like I said last night, he couldn't and I…didn't know what else to do."

With another nod, House says, "I ask because…I may need him and having your help might get me back in…I should probably tell you how that ended the last time. I sort of stormed out last year and haven't been back to see him since."

Wilson is completely dumbfounded. "O-okay, but…I'm sorry, House, I don't understand the connection between that and my...feelings for you."

"You said that you wanted me to realize that you would always be here and I'm starting to," House explains gently. "But I was thinking about what you said, about there being more to what you did for me, hell, to what you've always done for me," House's eyes are meeting Wilson's again, as if asking for confirmation and Wilson just smiles slightly. House smiles back and continues, "…and I realized that I want…I want to be able to be there for you. I want you to feel like you can trust me to help you, too."

"House, I don't need you to be off Vicodin for that. If you feel that you…that you need it, then I'll support you. I'm not going to fight you on it anymore."

House smiles again at that and the look on his face tells Wilson that he'd expected that answer. Wilson feels his pulse flutter again and it's also then that he notices that House's hands are shaking slightly.

"Exactly," House answers, as if Wilson is a star pupil who just answered a difficult question. And maybe, Wilson thinks, he has just done exactly that.

He blinks again and gets up, because being behind his desk is making him feel boxed in. He seats himself on the couch and looks at House, who is watching him carefully. He then stands up, too, and limps slowly over to stand next to Wilson's knee before sitting slowly next to him, on the edge of the couch, his cane settled against the couch beside him, his slightly shaking hands folded between his knees. Wilson wonders if they're shaking because he's nervous, or because of the beginning of Vicodin withdrawal….or maybe it's both.

"Wilson," House says slowly. "There's more for me, too."

"How much more," Wilson whispers.

"How much more can you get?"

Wilson shakes his head, processing that. He might pinch himself, just to make sure, but doesn't have to when House kicks him on the ankle gently.

"The 'House-and-I-are-friends-and-just-basically-professed-our-love-for-each other-after twenty-years-of-crazy-friendship-' look is kind of hot on you."

Wilson chuckles and looks at House, a little startled to see that he's very close now. Wilson can feel his breath on his face and exhales slowly. House's leans farther forward, so Wilson can just feel House's forehead meet his.

"This isn't really…I didn't expect this, at all."

"I can't say that I did either," House says gently. "But…I think it feels pretty good. Don't you?"

Wilson nods slowly because yes, it feels incredible. He jostles House in the process and they both smile.

"I wonder if this is what Cuddy meant?" House whispers. Wilson lifts his gaze, but doesn't take his forehead away from House's, because he still can't get over feeling it against his own.

"What?"

House moves forward fractionally and whispers "never mind" before he gently kisses Wilson's bottom lip, then looks at Wilson's eyes to gauge his reaction. Wilson gives him an answer when he moves his left hand up, grabs House's cheek, and crashes their mouths together.

"Mmm," House moans and suddenly, he's grabbing Wilson's face and kissing him like he might never get the chance to, again.

Wilson tries his best to put this doubt to rest.

When they finally break apart, it's just enough so their foreheads are still touching as they try to catch their breath.

"You ready to accept it that I'll always be around?" Wilson asks breathlessly.

House kisses him again. "Are you prepared to think the same of me?"

"Yes," Wilson breathes. "Yes.Always, House."

House smiles and moves in to capture Wilson's mouth again.

House isn't sure how long he and Wilson are on the couch, making out like teenagers, but when they make themselves more comfortable so as not to aggravate Wilson's shoulder and House's thigh, House gets the feeling they're going to be there for awhile.

He can't find any reason in him to care about that.

However, he can't help but think, very briefly, that Cuddy was right earlier.

There is a lot he and Wilson have ignored for a very long time.

End.