alanwolfmoon

Title: Words, Rain and Loss
Pairing: House+Gibbs friendship
Author: alanwolfmoon
Rating: PG-13-ish
Warnings: this makes a lot more sense if  you've read my House/NCIS crossover 'verse
Summary: House and Gibbs have a discussion about loss and other things.
Disclaimer: MINE! ALL MINE!....uh, no. Not mine.
Feedback: Reviews and flames are welcome. (They make it look like I'm writing fast)
Notes: totally inspired by the deleted scene from Brave Heart GY put on youtube.

T





House sighed, sitting on the large breakwater rocks by the sloshing water.

It was too windy to go out, right then, so they were waiting.

Gibbs was in the boat, getting everything tied down in case it turned into a real storm.

It was raining, not very hard, but the wind blew the drizzle right into their faces.

House looked up, as Gibbs joined him on the rocks, and sat down beside him.

“You’re being more moody than I am.”

House snorted, leaning a bit against the other man, shivering a little in the wind and wet, “my Dad’s dying.”

“He is?”

“He had a heart attack, and they found that the source of the clot was a tumor in his left kidney. It’s already metastasized to his lymph nodes and right lung. It’s terminal.”

“You... didn’t really seem to like him.”

House snorted, “yeah, he told me you got that impression.”

They fell silent, squinting in the rain, out into the gray, rolling water.

“It’s stupid, but I can’t help thinking...”

“What?”

“You lost your daughter. Thinking about that...about you having someone happy to see you come back...”

“You were happy when he came back.”

“Every time. I knew he would discipline me again, that bad stuff would happen, but I was still happy to see him. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yes it does. You know it does.”

“...yeah. I guess.”

The wind was picking up, and the rain came down harder on their heads.

“Did... were you ever mad at him for shipping out?”

House looked at the other man, and shrugged, “I... was mad at him for leaving. But I was also proud of what he was, and what he was doing. And I always forgave him the first time we got a letter from him after he left. It was... I don’t know, he was nicer in letters. That might be part of it. But when I could be proud of him, and hear from him... I wasn’t mad.”

House started to clamber to his feet, Gibbs got up, and steadied him.

“Where are you going?”

“Look at the sky. There’s a storm coming. There’s no point in staying here.”

“Yeah, there is. Get back down here.”

House grumbled, but did sit back down.

“What? We’re obviously not going out today.”

“Shut up and watch.”

House glared, but did shut his mouth, and turn to face the gray, uneasy sky, where it met the gray, turbulent water.

Lightning flashed in the distance.

“Wilson’s gonna freak out if he looks at the weather forecast.”

“So he’ll call and you’ll can say we’re not out on the water.”

“He won’t believe me.”

“He’ll believe me.”

“Wanna bet?”

“You’re just making excuses. You know he’ll believe me.”

House grumbled something inaudible, and finally gave in to sitting there, in the rain and wind, with the storm brewing in front of them out across the wide expanse of water.
                               
“The ship bringing him home got caught in a storm once. We thought it went down, they lost radio contact for three days. I cried then. I don’t know why I’m not crying now.”

“Because you already lost him as a Dad. You lost him years ago. Maybe you haven’t really mourned for that, yet, but you can’t lose him now, because you’ve already lost him.”

“...yeah. I guess you’re right.”

He closed his eyes, and sat, on the hard, cold, bumpy rock, in the rain and wind and brewing storm.

And it didn’t matter that some of the water dribbling down his face was warm, instead of icy cold.