house_bigbang | [spotlight story] World of Weeping (Reply)

Title: World of Weeping
Crossover Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: James Wilson, Gregory House, Captain Jack Harkness, but with allusions to Wilson/Jack, Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Length: 25 700 words
Spoilers: Set during House Season 5 -- after "Birthmarks" but before "Last Resort." Set after Series 2 of Torchwood.
Summary: House is consulted by a secret organization led by a mysterious man who seems to know Wilson just a little bit too well for House's comfort.
Excerpt:

House had never been very good at following orders. He was exhausted and aching, but while he couldn't keep up with Harkness, he wasn't far behind when he heard an unearthly wail coming from the direction of the patient's room. It called to mind stories of spirits moaning the names of the soon to die, and he picked up his pace.

Ahead, he saw Harkness pull out a gun, but before he reached the room, a figure slipped out and glided down the corridor. House was too far away to get a clear look, but he was certain of one thing. It wasn't Wilson.

Harkness kept running after the figure, but House knew he wouldn't be able to catch up, and he didn't care. The patient -- and Wilson -- were his only concerns. The monitors emitted a different kind of wail altogether when he reached the room, though it too was a death portent. A code team crowded into the room behind him, but House knew it was too late. He turned his attention to the living.

Wilson was pressed against the wall, his dark eyes huge in a shockingly pale face. House made his way to Wilson's side, looking him over for any sign of injury. "Are you hurt?"

Wilson recoiled slightly, but he shook his head and his breathing calmed. He straightened up. He was still pale, his skin almost translucent in the harsh hospital lights, but House didn't think he was going to have to call for a sedative.

"She's dead," Wilson said, looking at the bed. The code team was still working, but she was asystolic and there had been no response to the chest compressions and vasopressin.

"Let's get out of their way." House led Wilson out of the room. There was nothing they could do until time of death was called. House hoped the ever-resourceful Jones had booked a post-mortem room for him.

Harkness ran towards them, his greatcoat billowing behind him like some B-movie action hero. "Are you all right?" he asked Wilson. He relaxed slightly at Wilson's clipped nod. "I lost it at the stairwell," he said. "I got a good look, though, so that should help with the search. Ianto's already trying to track it through the CCTV network."

"It?" House asked. Maybe Harkness really didn't discriminate between gender.

"Technically a female," Harkness replied. "But it wasn't human."

House knows that the two mysterious well-dressed men in Wilson's office are going to be trouble. However, the truth is far stranger than even House can guess. Ianto Jones and Jack Harkness are from Torchwood, a secret organization outside the government and beyond the police, devoted to keeping humanity safe from alien intervention. Their appearance brings up forgotten trauma from Wilson's past, and means a trip to Wales for both House and Wilson. And a strange series of deaths in Cardiff can be solved by only one person--House.

This tense mix of medical and supernatural mystery combines the best elements of both shows.

mer_duff uses strong folklore elements and medical causes to create a case that takes both Torchwood and Princton Plainsborough's finest to solve. The dialogue is sharp, and true to both shows, the plot is fast-moving and nail-biting, and the mysterious deaths have a very real emotional effect on the characters. A moving exploration of Wilson's grief over Amber and friendship with House.

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mer_duff here.

First Artist:

aolian

Jack bringing House and Wilson into the Hub.