(no subject)

[gotcanewillpoke.livejournal.com]

The clinic doors are open first thing Tuesday morning. Dr House is at the desk in his office, with the door shut. He is disinclined to sit in the waiting area where coffee is brewing and a soft jazz CD is playing. He's writing in a notebook, his hand jerking across the page in spurts, o laying dormant while his mind processes a thought.

Friday. Four days. he can handle this for four days. He's asked for a permanent leave of absence effective Friday. After that? Maybe he'll go to Michigan and see his moher. Or to Vegas and blow all his money. Or Jamaica and get hs hair braided. Or Venice to see the streets of water. He really hasn't decided.

The doctor is in, but the mun is away until afternoon. Assistants, please tag in. Susan, if you're around House *may* attempt to talk to you.

Comments

The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

Susan is expecting Peter and Marty today. But she's also hoping she'll get a chance to talk to Dr. House privately. The rumor is he's stepping down; she'd like to know if it's true.

Re: The Counselor is In

[gotcanewillpoke.livejournal.com]

He's sitting at the desk, sucking on a red lollypop. He looks up when Susan comes in, but says nothing.

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"Dr. House. I see you got through the storm all right." Susan nods to him as she hangs up her coat.

Re: The Counselor is In

[gotcanewillpoke.livejournal.com]

"I did." Cash shifted at his feet. "Sorry I couldn't make it to the gym. Didn't think it would do anybody any good if I tried to go out in the slick and slippery."

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"No, of course not. The last thing we would have wanted was another patient." Susan pushed her hair out of her face, and sighed. "You were missed, though. Some of the students asked after you."

Re: The Counselor is In

[gotcanewillpoke.livejournal.com]

He stood and his eyes flickered to her office. "I'm touched." There was honesty in his statement, where he would normally have been sarcastic. "By the time the clinic was breached and Pippi came after me, my leg was refusing to cooperate because of the cold." He shrugged.

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

Susan frowns, and shakes her head. "Unavoidable, but a shame." She looked away, then back at Dr. House. "May I ask you a question? It's about your visit to the principal, yesterday."

Re: The Counselor is In

[gotcanewillpoke.livejournal.com]

Without comment, he hopped around his desk, and into her office. Cash followed and hopped up into one of the chairs. House sat in the other.

"I'm resigning. I wanted to tell you before the rumors started."

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

Susan rubbed her forehead. "Oh." She looked up at him, eyes bright. "I was half-afraid it was that, and half-afraid you were going to reconsider, and ask for my resignation."

Re: The Counselor is In

[gotcanewillpoke.livejournal.com]

"I haven't the authority to ask for your resignation, Dr Pevensie." House leaned back in the chair. "And I wouldn't, in any case. But for me? It's ime to go. It has nothing to do with you. Just, I don't know. Talking to you, or not talking to you as it were, I realised some things. And I have no business here, working with these kids."

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry to hear that," Susan said quietly. "But if that's your decision, I hope that it goes well for you. When will this take effect?"

Re: The Counselor is In

[gotcanewillpoke.livejournal.com]

"You talked to me for two minutes and assessed my situation, Doctor. Surely you can see...I'm, I need to get my leg and my pain management under control." Always, always, always hide behind the leg. "Friday will be my last day here in the school clinic."

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"I know that you have many stresses on you, and that the school is only one of them." She smiled at him. "And for what it's worth, I wish you well. I hope you find what you're looking for."

Re: The Counselor is In

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter showed up shortly before 4:00 for his appointment.

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Peter. How are you this afternoon?" Susan smiled and got up from the reception desk, leading him back to her office.

Re: The Counselor is In

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"I've been worse. No evil snowmen around today or anything," Peter said brightly as he followed her to the office. Once inside, he took a seat on the same couch as last week.

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"That's good to hear." Susan smiled and took a chair to the side of the couch, and got out her notes. "So, we were talking last week about what you felt were impulse control issues. Has anything happened recently with regard to that?"

Re: The Counselor is In

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Well, I didn't run into the snow fight right away. And when I did, I was wearing a mask and everything. That counts for something, right?" Peter asked.

He realized it would be a bad idea to mention Parker's offer to "study" on Friday. He didn't know what was going on, but he had a feeling it was the kind of thing Dr Pevensie would have to report.

"Other than that, though, it's been a quiet week. I haven't had a lot of opportunities to really work on it."

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

Susan stared at Peter a moment then sighed. "Right. Why don't you give me your sequence of thought processes on that, and then we'll decide, shall we?"

Re: The Counselor is In

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Well, for a while my mun was running detention, then doing mod stuff, or I would have been there sooner. I didn't go in until it started to get really bad and it was clear that we needed as many fighters as we could get. At that point, I couldn't hold back any longer," Peter explained.

"I was still attempting to keep the fact that I have powers hush-hush, so I put on a ski mask before going down. Also, it kept me nice and warm in the snow. It got ripped off by snowmen, though, so I'm kind of out in open now."

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

Susan nodded at the first part, and made a short note, then tapped her pen on her pad, studying Peter.

"Do you think that you acted impulsively? From what you've said, you waited, analyzed the situation, then acted. Is there anything about that part of the situation that you would do differently? Leaving aside the outcome."

Re: The Counselor is In

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"I probably would have grabbed a weapon from the gym before heading out. Not that I know how to use any weapons." Peter paused. "Other than that, I think I made some good decisions. And even the weapon thing could be interpreted as me not wanting to take any chances using weapons when I'm not familiar with them."

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"Would you have consulted with anyone else before going?" Susan asked. "I'm not trying to second-guess you, just get an accurate picture of how comfortable you are with your behavior over the weekend."

Re: The Counselor is In

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Who would I have consulted?" Peter asked, genuinely lost.

Re: The Counselor is In

[susanofnarnia.livejournal.com]

"A teacher? Anyone organizing the defense against the attacks that were happening?" Susan bit her lip. "It didn't occur to you at all, did it?"