Leannán Sídhe - House MD
Cambridge, 15th January 2002
Dear Robert,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. Mine own is as it has always been.
I was elated to hear of your fellowship. The renown of Doctor House (and his infamy!) proceeds him all the way here. I am sure you will soon be an excellent diagnostician. I do worry though. Dr House, while of unquestionable brilliance in his field, is, to all my knowledge, notably hard to work with. I do not mean to question your strength of character, Robert, but the strain of working for someone like that… I fear to imagine what it might do to you in the long run.
Listen to me, worrying as always. Do not mind my silly words, Robert, as ever I assume the worst. (Do be careful though, my friend!)
As for myself, my doctoral studies are going well. Madam Montilyet is very confident I might submit my dissertation within the year. The study of ancient Macedonia is truly fascinating. Did you know, for example, that Alexander the Great, though the most well known of Macedonian rulers, was neither the first of his name nor a king by title (at least for most of his reign)? The term basileus and its variations (meaning "king") only shows up in coin finds dated to around/after his death. The first Alexander to rule in ancient Macedonia did so before, during and after the war between the Greek poleis and the Persian empire under Dareios I. and Xerxes I. He was a master diplomat (he managed to make everyone believe he was secretly on the Greeks side when he was allied with the Persians all the while!) and yet it is Alexander III., who spent most of his adult life away from Macedonia conquering (and who for a long while didn't even lead his own campaigns, though that was not all his own fault), who is remembered by us today as the "Great"... My apologies, I can hardly ever stop myself once I get started on history.
You simply must write to me about how you like Princeton and your fellowship. I will not accept your moving house as an excuse for remissness in your writing!
Yours,
Katherine
***
Ravenhill, 23rd March 2005
My dear Robert,
Let me be frank. I do not agree with your decision to spy on Dr House for this new chairman. That is not to say I don't understand your reasoning (though the way in which you presented it makes me question whether it was me you wished to convince or yourself), I do understand. You fear for your employment is unlikely to be misplaced, from all I have heard from you about both Dr House over the years and Mr Vogler in your recent letters. And yet such a breach of implicit confidentiality is hardly above reproach.
But I do not write to lecture you, dear friend (though you might benefit from one). Since returning home to Cumbria life has been rather kind to me, though I think my aunt is using me as an excuse to host parties, which is most curious. Then again, there is a certain Lord with whom we are acquainted who, going from his behaviour at the last such gathering she hosted, seems intent to court her.
I hope to hear from you sooner this time, my dear friend.
Yours
Katherine
***
Ravenhill, 20th May 2005
My dear Robert,
I am so sorry for your loss. I won't claim I could truly empathise, because I can't. Sometimes I believe it a blessing that I was too young to remember my parents. This way, I know not what I lack and thus cannot miss it truly.
I know your relationship with your father was a complicated one, but he was still your father and you are allowed to grieve for him, even if you did not part on the best of terms. I might never have met him but I am sure he loved you, in his own way, for how could one not love you? You are one of the best people I have ever had the honour to know.
As for the other thing you mentioned. I will not belittle that woman's life by telling you not to spare a thought on its end but let me tell you this:
Humans are we, made of mortal flesh and mortal mind. And as such, it is in our nature to make mistakes, especially in such time of emotional turmoil. You are just unfortunate that mistakes in your line of work have graver consequences than in most. Do not let this determine your life. You are still a good physician (I would even say a great one), one mistake won't change that. Have some faith in yourself, dear friend.
As always yours
Katherine
***
Amsterdam & Vinci, 7th February 2010
My dearest Robert,
your last letter reached me just as I was about to leave for the airport, so please excuse my tardy reply. (You would be surprised how difficult it is to find a place to semi-comfortably write a letter at an airport!)
Apart from the usual annoyance of international travel I am well, thank you. I hope this letter finds you in equally good health.
As for your question. Of course our relationship is different from a blogger's with their audience. We have conversations. They might be stretched over weeks and many miles, but they are conversations between just the two of us and not private lives spread out for all the internet to see and judge. Moreover, we have not just started sharing intimate details with each other. Our intimacy has grown over time. How long have we been writing to each other now? It must be almost twenty years by now. We were still children in those first letters. So no. I don't believe what we have is akin to a blogger.
Now. Your speed dating experience… I could have told you that would be the result as well. Speed dating is hardly about romance. It is, I would say, more like those "dating apps" that cater more to the carnal nature of humanity, only for those that do prefer to assess their prospective bedmate's suitability in person. Or maybe you're just a changeling, switched by the fae after birth and your beauty due to the magic allure of the fair folk. And now all those poor mortals around you stand no chance against your otherworldly wiles.
I do not believe you have anything to worry about when it comes to me though. My interest in you is founded solely in the qualities of your mind and your soul.
Maybe that will let you rest easier.
As always yours
Katherine
PS: I have arrived at my destination now. The vineyard near Vinci is truly beautiful (and the wine is superb)
*****
Chase was running a little later than he'd like. He'd just go through today's mail quickly and then head out. Bills, bills, advertisements, more bills. And then he smiled. Between two other standard envelopes likely containing bills was one that had different dimensions. On the back, a wax seal held it closed. Grinning he slipped the envelope in his coat pocket before leaving the bills behind as he headed to work.
"What the hell is it your reading?" House asked in his usual obnoxious manner. "An essay collection. 'On Greatness - Essays on the epithet the Great'" Chase responded nonchalantly. Taub looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "Why? I didn't know you had an interest in history." "A friend of mine wrote one of the essays. 'What is Greatness? - Alexander I and III of Macedonia in comparison'. It's not bad."
After that, it was all about the new case and everyone (except House, of course) seemed to have forgotten about the book.
Later, while they were waiting on test results, Chase finally had the time to open his letter.
London Heathrow, 21st April 2010
My dearest Robert,
I was elated to hear from you so soon. Please excuse the short reply. I am, as I am writing this, at the airport, waiting for my flight to be called. Princeton University has asked me to give a series of talks on the problems of secondary sources. I will have some days after the talks are done before I am returning to England. If you could arrange it, I would love to finally meet you face to face. My scheduled departure is on the 15th of May.
As ever yours,
Katherine
He was surprised. She was coming to the States? Likely already here, going by the date on the letter. Did he want to meet her? ... ... Yes. With a smile, he grabbed a pen and paper and wrote his reply.
Princeton, 27th April 2010
Dearest Katherine,
I would love to meet with you face to face…
***
"What are you grinning about like a brain amputated wombat?"
"Nothing, House. And I'm not grinning." Chase rolled his eyes. "I'll be off now." He left.
House looked after him curiously. "Thirteen, Taub. Find out where Chase is going. And with whom."
***
Chase entered the little café with curiosity (and maybe also nervousness) burning in his veins. What would she look like? What would she sound like? Would they get along as well in person as they did on paper? At one table towards the back, he saw a woman in a fur lined tartan coat, a black barrett on elaborately dressed raven curls. And in her hand, a Latin book "Rhetorum Praeceptor" by Lukian.
You should have an easy timerecognising me. I doubt anyoneelse will be reading Lukian - inLatin, no less.
He smiled and approached her. "Hello. Katherine?" The woman looked up, a warm smile on rose petal lips and a glint in eyes the colour of honey or whisky.
"Robert?" Her voice was like honey. He nodded and sat down.
As it turned out, he'd had no need to worry. On any account.
*
Meeting Robert in person was wonderful. They got along even better in person than they did in their letters. And now a new component had been added to their dynamic. Because everything about him drew her in. The great masters of old could not have crafted him to greater perfection. His face was like Apoll's and his voice a soft symphony. Like the fae folk of Irish legend, pulling mortals like flame doth a moth.
And so it seemed like the most natural progression when talking over coffee and tea led to dinner and dinner led to kissing…
***
It was not yet dawn, when Katherine sat up in bed. What had she been thinking? She had just slept with her best friend. Admittedly, she had been in love with him for a long while but still. She had just slept with her best friend. On the day she had first seen his face. Barely three months after he had admitted his worry about whether women were only interested in him for his face. Good Lord, she was a horrible person.
Grabbing the nearest piece of clothing - a shirt too wide and long to be hers - she slipped it on and climbed out of bed. As she stood by the window, she looked upon his face. He looked peaceful in sleep. And all the more beautiful for it. She loved him. She knew that. She had loved him before she saw him in the café, she knew that, too. And yet. She shouldn't have slept with him. Not this quickly after meeting him in person for the first time. Or should she? They had known each other almost all their lives. She had been ten, he thirteen when they had started to write to each other. At first it had been a school thing, a project they'd been roped into, but soon it became something they took great pleasure in. His life had been kind of shit, hers had been somewhat lonely, they had found solace in each other. Was it really surprising that this intimacy at some point developed into romantic feelings?
Katherine sighed. "Katherine Josephine de Winter, what the bloody hell are you doing with your life?" Her muttered words went as unanswered as she had expected. She leaned her head back against the window and sighed.
"Kat? C'm back to bed" Lingering sleep made his voice heavy as he blindly reached out to the side of the bed she had slept on. It drew a smile on her face despite her worries. With a slight huff, she took the few steps back to his bed, slipping under the covers swiftly. By now, Robert was looking at her, slightly more alert. She sighed. Might as well talk about it now.
"What are we doing, Robert?"
"Sleeping, hopefully. It's -" he glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand "- three in the morning."
"I meant this, us" she gestured between them. "This is… it's so fast, so early. We just met today…"
"Yesterday, technically. And is it really so fast? You said it yourself, with the blog thing. We've known each other since we were children. I know your favourite book is Pride and Prejudice since you first read it in 5th grade and that you love the Coppola Dracula though you think Harker is boring and Mina should have ended up with the Count. I know that you think Hero shouldn't have taken Claudio back and that Beatrice and Benedick are one of the best couples Shakespeare ever wrote. I know you love dancing but not the club kind, the ballroom kind. I know your favourite song of all time is either Don't pay the ferryman, Kenny Chesney's American Kids or anything by Bryan Adams even though symphonic metal is your go-to genre. I know you love the songs of Six though you're usually a stickler for historical accuracy and that you've seen both Phantom of the Opera and Wicked so often, it's a miracle the theatre staff doesn't know you by name by now." Robert brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I know that when you started studying history you planned to specialise in the middle ages on the British Isles or in Scandinavia but that you decided to switch to ancient Macedonia when you realised how much easier it was to you and how much more fun you had with it." He sighed. "I know you better than anyone else in my life. I know you better than I knew my ex-wife when I married her. And with all that I know of you and of myself, let me just say the one thing that truly matters in regards to any us there's going to be."
His eyes shone with earnestness and, dare she think it…
"I love you, Katherine Josephine de Winter, Marchioness of Swansbridge."
She was still grinning like a fool when he leaned in to kiss her. Fuck convention. We're moving at our pace.
*****
"Ooh, what's that?" House snatched the paper from Chase's hand. "My dearest Rob - What is this, a love letter ? - words can hardly express how much I miss you. But if all goes well, I will see you very soon, my love. - This is a love letter!" Chase groaned.
"Can't you just give it back?" He looked through the glass walls. At least his colleagues weren't there yet.
"Nope. Now let's see. Where was I? Ah there." House took a moment to read more of the letter. "Look at that, she's got plans to move to Princeton. Your little sweetheart is a smart girl, huh?" With a grin, House began reading more passages aloud. "My darling, it has been too long already since I held you in my arms last." Thirteen, Taub and Foreman entered.
"Did I miss something?" Thirteen asked, failing to stifle a laugh. Chase groaned.
"Our dear Doctor Chase here, has received a love letter" House disclosed in his usual cavalier manner before returning to his impromptu recital.
"A few days ago I thought I loved you; but since I last saw you I feel I love you a thousand times more. All the time I have known you, I adore you more each day; that just shows how wrong was La Bruyére’s maxim that love comes all at once. Everything in nature has its own life and different stages of growth. I beg you, let me see some of your faults: be less beautiful, less graceful, less kind, less good. - Good lord, this is pathetic. Who writes this kind of stuff?"
"Napoléon. Bonaparte. To his wife. It's a thing Kat and I do. We write each other quotes and the other has to figure out whose words they were originally. Was that it? Can I have my letter back now?"
House shook his head at Chase's words and continued on.
"Lying in my bed without you, for the first time I notice just how big and empty it truly is. Swansdown can not replace your embrace. - Ooh, now it gets juicy! - Nor can my own fingers' touch bring me the bliss and ecstasy yours so effortlessly call forth from my depths. My love, pleasure feels hollow without you here to share it, like fire without anything to burn, a flower without sunshine. Oh, my most beloved, I languish for your presence, for your fire…"
House would surely have gone on but Thirteen snatched the letter from his hand. "That can't really be in there!" She read it. Read it again. Then laughed. "It is, it really is."
Chase used her distraction to steal back his letter. Before anyone else could take it, he put it safely in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. "Now that my love life has been sufficiently discussed, could we get back to doing our job?"
"Who is Katherine? And where did you meet her?"
Chase groaned. House was insufferable. "Katherine de Winter is my girlfriend. Coincidentally also my oldest friend. We've been pen pals since we were children. We met in person and just clicked. And you won't hear more from me."