damigella | Lost In Translation

Title: Lost In Translation
Summary: nightmare / ˈnaɪtmeə(r)/ n. incubo m.; incubus /ˈɪnkjuːbəs/ n. incubo m.
Warning: Some House/Cuddy. Supernatural, indirect mention of sex, major character death, happy end.
Word Count: ~600
Note: Written for camp

sick_wilson: contains the Sekret Woid nightmare, although whether it counts is very debatable (see also summary). Inspired by

alternatealto's Fever Dreams, could be viewed as a continuation of

luridlurker's A Beach To Walk On.
Rating: NC-17 for adult content.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the House, MD characters, which is good since I tend to kill them. Keep this in mind when you choose whether you read the warning or not.
ETA: now with deleted scene.

"Cuddy. Wake up, Cuddy."

Her brain struggles to fight sleep, while her body has started responding to the warm, strong hands sliding on her silk nightgown.

"Cuddy, you're so beautiful. So sexy."

She opens her eyes while a well-known stubble prickles her face and her nose recognizes the smell of the body so close to hers. "House. How did you get in here? Go away."

She can feel on her lips the warmth of his breath while she pushes him away. It's easier than it ought to be: he doesn't resist at all. She forces herself not to scream - Rachel should continue sleeping if at all possible. "I'll call the police. There's a restraining order against you."

House is not touching her anymore, but his eyes are fixed on her, as seductive as they've always been. In fact, he looks incredibly handsome, younger and happier than he's been since the infarction. "You want me, Cuddy. You're excited and wet and ready."

It's true. But other emotions are stronger than lust. "Go away. Do it immediately and you'll avoid jail."

House has a little moue of disappointment. "As you wish. I've never forced anyone and I won't start now."

He stands up and limps surprisingly fast towards the bedroom door. It's an instant before it clicks shut behind him, and she's alone.

Cuddy switches on the light, gets up and goes to look for House, since she hasn't heard the outside door bang. It is closed and latched from the inside, as it was in the evening. There's no open window anywhere, and all the security locks she has placed are in working order and latched. Rachel is sleeping peacefully in her bed.

She goes back to her bedroom: the bed on what used to be House's side is pristine, although she can remember him lying there, his head on the pillow. It must have been a nightmare, she decides, and cooks herself a chamomile tea before going back to bed. While she waits for the tea to cool, she looks at her watch: 1:20am.

*****

The police calls her in the morning. House has been found dead of heroine overdose the previous evening, on a beach in Tahiti. When the phone call is over, she checks on her computer Tahiti's timezone. House died around 1am, Princeton time. She feels a shiver go down her spine.

*****

The police officer's delicate, childlike hands push back the bedlinen just a few inches, enough for her to see the pale, wax-like face. She nods, and the bedlinen gets pulled up again.

"It's him. Dr. James Evan Wilson."

"Thank you, Dr. Cuddy. We thought it best to ask you instead of his parents. They've been informed and will be here later tonight."

"I'll talk to them. Is there a reason to suspect foul play?"

"We aren't sure. There will be an autopsy, but in the moment it seems a case of cardiac arrest. The only reason for suspicion is that he had sex shortly before he died."

"I've seen the wet patch."

"That's… not all. There's sperm in his rectum as well. Deep in. Do you know whether he had a boyfriend?"

"No. I didn't even know he was… are you sure he wasn't raped?"

"We cannot be, but there are no traces of a fight. And you've seen his face, haven't you?"

Cuddy nods again. Wilson had seemed ten years younger, a young man lost in a happy dream. One from which he would never wake up. "When did it… happen?"

"We'll know better after the post-mortem, but the coroner thinks around 2am."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

WOW! That was scary! I always liked supernatural\ghost fanfics. Thanks for writing this one! Dark and elegantly written.

I'm usually not inspired to write supernatural stories - but this one almost wrote itself around the word incubus.
Thank you for the comment!

That was creepy considering I'm about to go to sleep!

Also, is it weird that I was sad that Wilson was the second choice? I know I should probably be happy that House spared him for an hour longer though...

It is pretty sad that Wilson was the second choice, if consistent with canon. But who knows, maybe a newly minted demon can be in two beds at once?
The main difference is that Cuddy threw House out.
And I'm not at all sure Wilson would have wanted to be spared.

If Wilson died, did House take him with him? When I read, I thought that way.

It's mystic story, so an afterlife could possibly exist.

Oh yes. He did. [Yes, it's not realistic at all. I didn't even know I could write such stuff.]

Spooky! I'm pretty sure dead!Wilson counts as sick!Wilson.

Yes, but you see, he's not suffering at all. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Yes, but he's still um...dead :) In my world view nobody suffers when they're dead (I really hope that's the case anyway!)

And to get all meta about it you can have sick!wilson when he's not suffering, because there are things such as colour blindness listed and there is a 'death' tag.

Oh yes, colour blindness is what makes other people suffer, LOL (torture by tie choice).

I think what I meant is that in the time directly preceding death he, um, very strongly did not suffer. As in, not just a painless death.

I might ask a mod tomorrow if no one shows up in the comments while I get my beauty sleep.

Thanks for the (philosophical? theological? logical?) support!

I really hope that's the case anyway!

I've read most of the Divine Comedy. I definitely hope you're right.

Wow. I didn't even catch the implications at first. "I've never forced anyone and I won't start now." I too find it sad that Cuddy was the first choice ... but poor willing Wilson ... (shivers) <3

I think the key point is willing. Even if it's the last thing he does on earth (which, admittedly, it is).

And as I said, I wouldn't know that demons have to do things in some order; I'd rather assume House appeared simultaneously to Cuddy and Wilson at the moment of his death.

" . . . a young man lost in a happy dream."

A dream in which House loves him and just . . . takes him along, rather than go where he's going without Wilson. Frightening and reassuring all at once -- this was an excellent ghost story.

Thank you so much, especially for believing that Wilson would want this. In my mind, House had wanted to just once have sex (now that it couldn't threaten their friendship anymore), and it was Wilson who chose to leave his life behind for a joint eternity, whatever that may be.

This was marvelous; creepy, sweet and painful in just the right way. Brava! *Mems with gusto*

Thank you so much (swoons and fans self at the thought of being mem'ed).
It's great you saw the sweetness and didn't feel it excessive.

Bonus Italian translation: antiquixotic = antidonchisciottesca (assuming you're one female. If you're a male, replace the final a by an o. If you're more than one person, or have multiple personalities, it would be -esche if you're all female and -eschi otherwise).)

This is lovely: I adore supernatural fics in all shapes, and I've never seen House written as an incubus. (Personally, I like the idea that he appeared to Wilson and Cuddy at once: why should a demon be confined by the traditional rules of time and space?) I personally see him as a trickster figure (they tend to be morally neutral or ambiguous, rather than demonic), but what you did works beautifully here.

You're right that the fic works better (in terms of consistency in tone) without the happy ending, but of course I read and enjoyed it anyway--and Wilson would have been willing, even (perhaps especially) knowing the consequences. Excellent work!

"I like the idea that he appeared to Wilson and Cuddy at once: why should a demon be confined by the traditional rules of time and space?"

Me too. And I also prefer the fic as originally written - but I wanted to make sure no one believed for a moment that this was a dark! house fic. Because I can never see House as purposefully, seriously hurting someone (David Shore? are you listening?)

I think this House has demonic powers, but chooses to use them in a (to him, and to me) morally acceptable way.

Thank you so much for the perceptive comment!

Lost In Translation

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