House, M.D. 1. Chapter 1

House sat on his couch staring at his cell phone on the coffee table. He knew what Nolan said about talking to Cuddy was the right thing to do. He didn't want any of those things to happen to them that he listed off that could happen if they were to jump right back into whatever they had without really talking to one another. He knew it was his fault. His phone started to vibrate, sliding around the table. He reached for it, hoping it was her calling. It was his team. He scowled at it, hit ignore and set it back down.

He sighed heavily and rubbed both hands over his face. He knew what he had to do. He scooped up his phone, selected his contacts and scrolled to her name. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and popped them back open while hitting the call button. It rang three times before he heard a noise to connect both lines.

"Hello?"

"Hey...it's, me," he said softly.

"I know, I saw the caller ID. What is it, House? Do you need something?"

He winced at the professional tone she was using with him. "Yeah, but, it's nothing to do with the hospital," he paused to try and sense how she was feeling through the phone but he couldn't sense anything. It was like she was blocked from him. "Listen, are you free tonight?"

"For what?"

"I thought maybe, you can come over my place so we can...talk," he answered awkwardly.

There was a long pause on the other end that made him feel uneasy. Not being able to sense her mood was making him on edge about what she was thinking about the question. He was about to take it back when she spoke. "What time?"

His heart raced when he heard those words. "Anytime. I'll be here for the rest of the night so, whenever you-"

"I'll leave within the next ten minutes. Does that work? That makes it about, thirty minutes or so, until I'm there."

His heart pounded faster, wishing he waited a little longer to call. He wasn't expecting her to come so soon, but, he knew if he told her it didn't work for him after he said he was there all night, or tell her never mind, then the outcome of what could happen after was one he was afraid to face. "Yeah, thirty minutes is good," he mustered out.

"Okay, I'll see you later." Cuddy hung up the phone and looked to her left at her sister who sat next to her on the couch.

"House wants you to go over there?" she asked Cuddy.

"Yeah," Cuddy looked down at her phone wondering what got into him. She glanced back over at Julia. "Can you-?"

"Watch Rachel?" she finished.

"Yeah, just for a little while," she told her as their gazes both fell upon the child laying on her stomach on the floor so into the cartoon that was playing in front of her she didn't even hear the mention of House's name which Cuddy was secretly thankful for. She never seems to be able to calm her down from the excitement of the possibility of seeing him when she hears his name.

"Go, I'll be fine with Rachel. And...if you happen to stay the night, I'm prepared for that too, its okay," she said with a smile.

Cuddy rolled her eyes, "I won't be staying the night," she said firmly.

"Hey," Julia put her hands up in surrender. "All I know is, when it comes to you and...him," Julia made a conscious effort to not say his name for fear that Rachel may hear it that time, "is that you never know what to expect. But, I can stay if you need me, just let me know."

Cuddy couldn't help but smile at what she said. She was right, Cuddy never knew what to expect half the time when it came to House either. "Thanks," she saw her sister nod and smile back at her which Cuddy was grateful for and that she no longer seemed to be angry with House on Cuddy's behalf for what he did to her. She accepted that Cuddy was trying to make it work with him again and she was ready to support her in whatever way she wanted her too.

She went into the bathroom to fix herself up a bit, said goodbye to Rachel and told her that Aunt Julia will be watching her while she had to go out, leaving out the specifics, grabbed her cell phone, and walked out the front door and over to her car. She sat down in the drivers seat and made sure she had her cell phone on ring in case Julia needed to reach her for any reason and slipped it back into her purse. She inhaled slowly and let it out just as slowly. She didn't know what it was that made him call but she hoped she wouldn't regret agreeing to come over. She put her car in park and drove in the direction of House's apartment...


	2. Chapter 2

Cuddy stood staring at his door waiting for it to open after she knocked twice. She couldn't tell if she was listening to her heart beating or his foot steps reaching the door. There was no answer. She furrowed her brow and knocked again. Did he leave? Had he decided he couldn't do it and got out before she arrived to leave her standing here wondering what happened? Her heart beat faster with panic. He couldn't have. He sounded like he wanted her to be there on the phone; he was trying. No, she wouldn't believe it. She knocked again.

She closed her eyes and dropped her head down, knowing she shouldn't be surprised. She looked up sadly at his front door and turned to her left to leave. She took three steps away when she heard a door fly open. "Cuddy!" she shifted, startled to see House in the doorway. "Sorry, I thought I heard the door...I was in the shower, come in," she walked back towards him and walked into his apartment when he opened the door wider for her to walk through.

She quietly entered, and glanced at him confused to see that he took a shower this late into the night. "Why did you take a shower?" she asked, seeing that instead of opting for pajamas, he put on another set of day clothes.

"I had a long day," he came around to the other side of the couch, not giving her anymore on the subject and sat down. She flashed back to just a couple nights before when she was over having pizza with him. The armrest she chose to rest her left arm was the same one her head was hitting as he laid on top of her sliding in and out of her so fast you would think his life depended on it. She inhaled an unsteady breath as she pushed the memory away. He studied her body language, knowing she was uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to come by this late I just-"

"No, House, its fine. I'm here, and its not all that late, its only 9, and its Friday, so..." she said, trying to make things less awkward. "What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked, bringing herself back into the moment, reminding herself that they had some things to get through before they could share moments like the one she was remembering.

He shifted, not knowing how to begin. "I...was thinking about how I kind of..." he looked down and away from her, towards the wall that held his guitars and he wanted so badly to pull it down and play it instead of talk. He had to get through this, this was Cuddy, he should be able to talk to her. He took a deep breath and tried again. "I was thinking about how I was upset about you talking to Wilson," his eyes shifted back to her, leaving his guitar and saw her uneasy, not knowing where this was going to end up. "I was just...I didn't know why you couldn't just come to me. I don't want you to not talk to him, because, you are friends," he remembered the words from Nolan pointing that out and he didn't even consider that side of it before which made him feel worse. "Anyway," he didn't know where else to go with what he was trying to say so hoped she could fill in the blanks from there.

"House," she said while scooting over closer to him and grabbed his right hand in hers. He looked down at their hands and back up at her. "I only did that because, yes, he is my friend, but, I want to get closer to YOU. I thought, in some way, I can get in your head if I ask him. He knows you better than anyone-"

"That's not true," he agrued. "You know me too."

She looked at him skeptically, "if I knew you so well, why did I feel compelled to go to Wilson?"

He slouched down where he was sitting. "So, you want to get in my head? To know what I'm thinking and feeling?"

"Yeah, House, I do," she answered, her voice and eyes full of love and caring.

He inhaled and exhaled slowly, "what do you want to know?" he forced himself to ask, constantly reminding himself Nolan telling him if he wanted to make their relationship work they had to talk.

Cuddy could sense he wasn't quite ready to go full on into a deep conversation, exposing himself to her the way he knew she wanted him to, but she loved him for the effort. "House," she said squeezing his hand and letting go, "we don't have to get into everything now. We have a long time to get into all those questions and conversations."

"But, this is what you wanted isn't it? This is why I asked you over, which I can only assume, is why you came over. So, go, ask me what you want."

"No."

"No?"

"No, because what happens after we have this talk...what is there that's left?"

House couldn't help but smirk, "I can think of a couple things."

She chuckled, "you know what I mean!" she answered with a smile, lightly hitting him on the shoulder.

"Well, look, Cuddy, you drove all the way over here, we can at least talk a little. Come on, I'm trying to make an effort here!" he argued.

Her smile widened, "I know, and that in itself means so much, House."

"That's all you needed? Really? No questions at all?"

Cuddy bit her lip while looking into his eyes. "I do have one."

"Then ask."

"When I was planning on adopting the first time and told Wilson and not you, how did that make you feel? How long has it been bothering you? Have you been holding it against me this whole time?"

House scowled at her, "that's more than one question."

"All based on the same subject," she retorted.

"We've been down this already."

"No...you brought it up, I asked questions, almost the same exact questions I asked just now, and you never answered."

He made a face of wanting to avoid it, "I kind of did though, didn't I?"

"No! You told me that maybe I should go, saying you were tired and you went into your room!"

"You aren't tired now? Do you have to get back to Rachel? I'm asuming your sister is watching her so I understand if-"

"House!"

He studied her expression before anything else, and saw she was pleading with him. He saw that answering those questions would mean a lot to her, no matter how uncomfortable or exposed it will make him feel by doing it, it was something she wanted. And wasn't he trying to do what she wanted? He took a deep breath, "fine," he said giving in. "You want me to answer you?"

"Yeah," she said meekly, giving him big pleading eyes.

He arched his left eyebrow at her, "I hate you, woman," he said irritated.

She beamed at him with a smile, "no you don't. Now answer me, House."

He huffed, "I was pissed that day. You asked me if I was going to congratulate you when you told me...I couldn't. I felt...I felt like if you had a kid then, we would change. And if that feeling wasn't bad enough, by you telling Wilson and not me after we went through the injections together, it just emphasized those changed feelings," he paused and watched her facial expression turn to sad the further he went on. "I did hold it against you, for a long time. That's part of the reason why I was such an ass about the whole thing to you. It was me lashing out, trying to get you to not do it, so I can selfishly get things back to the way they were between us."

She didn't say anything, and that left House unnerved. He wanted her to react, scream, cry, something. But, she just sat there, silently soaking up what she heard, until finally, she responded. "Do you regret me taking in Rachel?"

"What?" he looked at her like it was a dumb question, "how did you get from what happened way before Rachel to her?"

"Adoption, that's what I did with her. It did change my way about things, in which case, it changed things with us. We fought more than usual after I adopted her because you resented me for not being at the hospital as much as I used to and I resented you for trying to get me to be there as much as I used to. So, when I got her, did you regret, or more, were you upset that I adopted Rachel?"

He considered what she said before answering. They did fight alot, and in some way, she was right. He did resent her back then for adopting. But, he also, didn't expect to like the kid like he does. He made a face at how things did change between them when she decided to get together with Lucas, using Rachel as a reason because House was never dependable and, put away at the time and she needed someone who could help her with Rachel and Lucas seemed like the right choice. At that time, he hated and resented her but now...he saw the panic in Cuddy's face at his silence. "No," he lied, convincing himself he was telling the truth because the resentment was no longer there.

She looked at him skeptically and was about to call him on his lie when his phone vibrated on the coffee table again. She observed how he ignored it, keeping his focus on her. "Answer it, its probably your team."

"It is my team, they've been calling all night."

"Answer it," she said firmly.

He leaned over and grabbed it. "What?" he said into the phone. Cuddy watched his face change with what he was hearing from the other end. "So it isn't what we thought it was then." She knew what was coming and selfishly wished she never told him to answer. "Fine, wait until I get there. We'll do another differential and see what else it could be. I'll be there soon." He looked at Cuddy after he hung up. "I have to-"

"Go, I know."

"Sorry that our 'talk' was interrupted."

"No you're not."

He smirked, "okay, maybe I'm not. But," he paused to think before going on, "see you Monday? I would say come over again tomorrow so we can continue but," he lifted his cell phone that still sat in his hand, "I might be held captive in the hospital all weekend."

"Sure, I'll see you Monday, then."

They both got up off the couch to leave. She scooped her purse up that she left on the bookshelf when she came in as he slipped on his closest pair of sneakers. He limped over to the front door and opened it for her to walk out first and closed it behind him when he followed. They stood at the door together, looking into each others eyes, knowing it will be days before they look into them again. House gave her a small smile and a nod as he made his way to his motorcycle, and Cuddy watched him for a second before she walked over to her car to go back home...


	3. Chapter 3

"So, so far we have headache, weakness and fatigue, fever and night sweats," Chase listed, while pointing at the symptoms on the board. "And still no diagnosis," he finished.

Chase, Adams, Park, and Taub all looked away from each other and over to House who sat hunched in the chair at the head of the table nearest the door, staring at the floor while twisting his cane in his right hand.

"House," Chase said, trying to get his attention.

He inhaled deeply and they all leaned forward, anticipating what he had to say. "If you deliberately lie to someone...you know its a lie, but in a way, its the truth because...what you lied about, you don't feel anymore, what you feel is what you said, that can be the truth right? You can void out the lie completely because...well, its not how you feel anymore," he looked away from the floor and scanned the faces of his team who all stared at him with their jaws agape, not believing what they're hearing. "What that was too complicated for you to follow? No wonder you can't figure out the diagnosis on your own," he snapped, slamming the tip of his cane down in frustration. "You want my input on the differential don't you?"

"Yes," Chase answered for them all.

House squinted at the white board to look at what was listed, "you ever think of leukemia?"

"There isn't any joint or bone pain; no bruising-" Taub answered.

"Do you know that for sure?" He asked, looking away from the board and shifted his gaze to all the members of his team. "Patient could be lying, not telling us about the joint or bone pain, because maybe you didn't ask, and a bruise can be there, just not visible, it could be under hair. Did you examine the patient for bruising everywhere?"

"No," Taub answered slowly.

"Then do it. Test for leukemia. If its not that, get back here and we'll start again." He continued to look at them who looked flustered with themselves for not having thought of it. "Now, back to my question," he said while sitting up. He saw them all stand up out of their seats and scatter to go tend to the patient, "hey that's not fair!" he shouted out after them while leaving the room. "I helped you with your thing!"

He took a deep breath and saw his shouting after them didn't stop them from leaving and went back to staring at the spot on the floor before the differential pulled him away to continue thinking.

* * *

Cuddy walked into her front door forty minutes after leaving House's apartment. "Hey how did it go?" Julia asked her when she heard the door and walked over to greet her. "Grocery bags? What are you doing with these?"

"I had to get some things. I figured since I was already out, I may as well do it," she answered while walking into the kitchen. Julia took a bag away from her and followed her.

"So, how long were you actually there for? I expected you to be gone a lot longer then this."

Cuddy took a deep breath and set the bags she was holding on the kitchen table and looked at her sister, "I think House lied to me," she said sadly, skipping over her question.

"What do you mean?" she asked firmly, trying to hold back from getting angry.

Cuddy gave her a pleading expression to not get mad at him and saw that she relaxed a little so Cuddy continued. "Is Rachel asleep?"

"Yeah, she went to sleep a half hour ago."

She nodded, thankful that there is no way she could overhear what she is about to say. "Remember, a few years ago, before I got Rachel, there was another baby I was thinking of adopting?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I found out tonight that House has always been bothered by the fact that I told Wilson and not him. And the reason behind him being an ass about the whole thing once he found out was because he said he didn't want things to change between the two of us, if I was busy with a baby, they would, so tried to convince me not to do it. So, I asked if he regretted me getting Rachel."

Julia tensed again, showing anger over protection of Rachel. "What did he say?"

"He said no."

Julia unclenched, "oh, that's good then."

"No," Cuddy said shaking her head, staring at the wall but not seeing it. She was reliving the moment of waiting for an answer. He paused slightly, and looked uncomfortable, he was thinking of what to say to her, "that's what I think he lied about," she said, looking back at her sister, sadness overtaking her expression.

Julia sighed, feeling sad for her. "Do you know that for sure?"

Cuddy scoffed, "he did and said some pretty mean things back when I first got her and-"

"When you first got her though. Maybe his feelings have changed. Maybe that's why he lied," she told her, trying to rationalize why he said what he said and let her think on that while she pulled out a carton of milk she saw sitting in a bag and put it away in the refrigerator before it stayed out any longer than it already has.

"Maybe," Cuddy answered thoughtful. She shifted to face Julia who was near the refrigerator. "But, if he lied to me about this, then...then what's to say he won't lie to me again? And what if I don't catch him on it next time?"

"Well," Julia started when closing the door and walked back over to grab more things. "That's the big question that's left. Do you want it to work out with him that badly where you'll just have to accept that he may lie every now and then because that's who he is, with the hope of it was just this one time because he didn't want to upset you? Or, do you want to let go of him and the idea of being with him completely because he is who he is, and nothing may change that?"

Cuddy fell into sitting position in the chair that was closest to her thinking over her choices as Julia continued to put the groceries away...


	4. Chapter 4

"Julia, stay here in case Rachel wakes up. I'll be right back," Cuddy told her sister sternly while standing up from her chair she selected and rushed out the door before Julia could reply.

* * *

House was hunched over his desk, sitting in his chair using the dim light coming from a lamp to read a medical journal that was laying on the surface of his desk while waiting for his team to come back with the outcome of what they briefly discussed when he heard heels storm angrily down the hall. He looked up and saw they were attached to Cuddy and watched her throw open his office door once she reached it. "Do you really think we can work out House, if you lie to me?"

He swallowed hard, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "I only did it because-"

"House!" she interrupted, flicking the switch near the door to turn on another light he had to make it brighter and walked through his office, having stopped on the opposite side of his desk, opting to stay standing instead of sitting down. "I want you to be honest with me! How can we make this work if I'm constantly wondering if you are lying to me or not?" she scoffed while starting to pace, "the really messed up thing is I wasn't sure if you were lying. I was assuming and talking to Julia about it-"

"You talked to your sister about it?" he complained.

She turned on her heel in the middle of a turn in her pace and she gave him a piercing stare, "I had to talk to someone!" she lifted her left arm and pointed in the direction of Wilson's office. "You took Wilson away from me so-"

"I didn't take him away!" he interrupted, irritated.

"Oh no, you just told me I couldn't talk to him about you...that's the same thing!"

"It's not the same thing!" he shouted, matching her anger. "And I only told you that because-"

"I heard why you told me that. But what I wanted to hear from you, you didn't even tell me! You lied like you always do! If this is how its going to be with us..." she huffed before she continued and stopped her pacing to look at him who was now standing up leaning over the surface of his desk, "then I don't want it! I don't want to be with you, House!"

"Dammit, Cuddy!" he shouted, slamming his right fist onto his desk. "You want to know the truth so badly?" he said in the same shouting tone.

"Yes!" she challenged.

He glared at her, "fine," he kept his position leaning against his desk as she stood her ground glaring back with her arms crossed over her chest. "When you first got Rachel, I didn't like her! She was a nuisance to me..I didn't even like hearing about her..and it made you a crappier doctor to an already crappy job you were doing at it before..!" he paused and saw her crumble in front of him. Her arms fell loose but were still crossed over her chest, and her face had so much hurt in it like she felt completely and utterly betrayed. "But," he continued, "I said no because time went by, we got together..and I actually spent some time with the kid...and I ended up liking her," her face was looking less hurt. "I said no, and lied to you, not because I wanted to, to make things worse with us, but to avoid making you look the way you look now...and technically..I didn't lie because I don't feel that way anymore! So my answer would be no! Like. I. told. you!"

"So, you think I'm a crappy doctor?" she asked, her voice uneven.

"Oh crap.." he said standing straight, and grabbed his right thigh, "that's what you took from all of that?"

"You told me your feelings changed about Rachel, fine, I get that, I wish you told me that to begin with! But, you didn't say that I wasn't crappy at my job anymore."

"That was implied! You're doing fine," he grunted, rubbing his leg harder, hunched over and squeezing his eyes shut. He opened them up and snatched up his Vicodin bottle that was next to the journal he was reading.

Cuddy watched as he popped the top and put a couple in his palm, "how many of those have you taken?"

"Not enough, this should do it."

"I hate when you take those. Can't you do something else for your leg?" she asked desperately.

He glared at her as he found his way into his chair, still holding onto his thigh and his fingers wrapped around his pills in the other. "No," he snapped.

"Do you not care about me at all? I don't want you to take a lot of them. I told you my reasons why," she told him, forgetting all about her anger that she had towards him when she first got there.

His glare turned into a scowl and took the bottle and threw it hard up against the wall which bounced into the trash and threw his pills he held in the same direction. "There! You happy?" he shouted, clutching onto his leg tighter and squeezed his eyes shut again while leaning forward in obvious pain.

"No," she said softly and walked over to his trash and picked up the bottle. He opened his eyes and looked up at her when he heard her moving around. She popped the top and put a couple in her palm and held it out to him. "Here."

He looked at her palm confused and up at her. "You told me you don't want me to take them."

"I don't. But, I also don't want to see you in pain. There's nothing else you can do right now for your leg so just take them." His eyes stayed on her as his left hand reached up and plucked the pills out of her palm and popped them in his mouth and swallowed hard to force them down. She looked up towards the ceiling and sighed heavily, putting her left hand on his right shoulder. "How are we going to make this work, House?" she asked desperately.

"I don't know," he answered softly, shaking his head. "We're both crap when it comes to relationships."

She let out a laugh and looked down at him, "yeah." She frowned and he gave her a questioning look. She shifted her standing position and nudged her right knee in between his legs to ask for permission to be let in. He opened them wider and she sat on his left leg, leaving his right alone, knowing it was hurting him and she draped her arms around him and rested her chin on his left shoulder. His arms wrapped loosely around her. "I want to make this work between us but you have to stop lying to me."

"I know."

"Can you promise me you won't?" she asked, hopeful.

"I can promise to try," he said, his voice raised slightly when saying 'try.'

She sighed and gripped him tighter. "I guess with you, that's something," she paused, looking around at his office. "Do you know what's wrong with your patient yet?"

"No, I'm waiting to hear back from my team. If its not what we think then we have to do another differential."

She frowned again, knowing that he will most likely be there all night. "I should get going," she turned her head and gave him a light kiss on his neck, and smiled against his skin when she felt him do the same to her neck. Now that they got all that yelling out of the way, she felt they can move past it. She started to stand up, and his arms fell from around her to let her free. "I'll call you tomorrow," she told him as she straightened her skirt.

He nodded, "okay," he said softly. He watched her as she swayed her hips walking out of his office and down the hall. When he couldn't see her anymore, he looked straight ahead at the trash can that he violently threw his pill bottle in which she reacted to with kindness and love after he just lashed out and insulted her. He sighed, while rubbing the left side of his face with his hand knowing he'll never find anyone who reacts to him the way she does, and he knew he had to make a valid effort to try to keep her instead of just making empty promises which would surely if done enough, drive her away for good. He had to make a change...


	5. Chapter 5

Hours had past since Cuddy left House at the hospital. Rachel was sound asleep and her sister left shortly after Cuddy got home. She laid in bed, trying to will herself to sleep but nothing seemed to be working. She stared up at the ceiling, still feeling his leg where she sat, still felt his body in her arms, and could have sworn a little bit of his smell came home with her.

She sighed and looked in the direction of the night stand where she placed her cell after setting it on vibrate. No incoming calls have come.

She couldn't believe she was going in there to tell him that she didn't want to do it anymore. She would have let him go, if he didn't argue. He yelled, and got angry, over her. She smiled while thinking back at that moment. She couldn't appreciate it while it was happening, but when he slammed his fist down and she hadn't seen that kind of anger in him in a long time. A frown tugged at the corner of her mouth when another thought came to mind. He hasn't called.

She knew she told him that she would call him, but, he always called before she said she would in the past. He spent his whole career at the hospital bothering her every few minutes, and it annoyed the hell out of her each time. But now, she laid there wanting him to bother her. She wanted to hear the sound of wood banging against her front door, she wanted her phone to vibrate with him on the other end.

She wanted him.

She let out a laugh at how stupid she was being. She wiped a tear away that she felt build up when the overwhelming sense of loneliness hit her. She wasn't alone, really. She had him. They were trying to make things work, he said he would try to not lie and in the world of House, that was huge. He was just at the hospital, doing what he does, and there's nothing more to it then that. If he wasn't there, if he didn't have a patient to focus on, she knew he would be there; or, she would be at his place. She looked at the night stand again. But why wasn't he at the very least, calling?

* * *

"House...House wake up," Chase said as he and the rest of House's team stood across his desk watching as House's eyes flickered open in irritation and lifted his head off his desk that he was using as a pillow, and while feeling the pain in his right cheek thought that might not have been the best idea.

"What? Was I right?"

"No," Chase answered flatly.

"Then why the hell did you wake me up?" House snarled.

"Because we-" Chase paused when House's cell phone rang and House put out his hand to stop him from talking.

"Cuddy? What is it?" House said into the phone, and reached for his cane to limp by his team out into the hallway.

"I just...how's your patient doing?"

"Fine," he answered, closing the door to his office and turned his back to ignore the blank stares from his team. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm asking because..wait, first, are you lying to me about it?"

He winced and turned to look at his team, "if I said I were, would it count as a big lie and send us into the argument that we had earlier?" There was a silence coming from the other end that was making him feel uncomfortable.

"House, since your patient is fine, just tell your team they can call you if they need you and get over here before my boss instincts tell you to stay," she told him ignoring his question.

House smirked, "I'll be there." He disconnected before another word can be said from either of them. He opened the door to his office and poked his head in. "You guys still know how to use a phone, don't you?"

"Yes, we do," Taub answered for all of them annoyed, knowing where the question was leading.

"Great, then call if you need me...someone else needs me and with her..well," his voice raised and he smiled like a child would when hearing they are about to get candy, "I get sex." His expression went back to normal, "so, you see why I'm choosing her over you." He took his head out of the doorway and left his door open knowing they will be leaving the office to tend to the patient and limped over to the elevator. "Night!" he shouted over his shoulder at his irritated team.

Once the elevator reached the lobby the doors opened and let House free. He kept his gaze on the ground in front of him, while seeing Cuddy's face in his mind. They were pushing forward and past what would have tore them apart before and he was feeling good about where they were headed.

His gaze lifted when he reached the door and found himself looking face to face with one he knew all too well. "Hi, Greg."

He inhaled deeply, "Stacy. What are you doing here?" House looked down at the other face that he felt looking at him. He took notice that Stacy was holding his hand, and he was shocked by how blue the boy's eyes were. It felt like he was staring into his own, and panic set in. "Who is this?" he asked, not waiting for an answer to his first question.

"Someone I think its time you meet."...


	6. Chapter 6

"Why?" he asked, still looking into the boy's eyes.

"Why do you think?" Stacy retorted angrily.

House tore his gaze off the boy and landed on Stacy. He twisted his mouth, feeling angry himself. He didn't expect this, and didn't want it either. Not when his main focus was on Cuddy. What would she think if he told her? He didn't see it ending well in their favor and wished he wasn't at the hospital to see her come in. "When did this happen?"

"When do you think, Greg?"

He leered into Stacy's eyes while leaning his head down towards the boy, "why don't you go somewhere and play. There's a pharmacy around the corner in the Clinic, go mess around with the pills."

The boy silently looked confused at House and over to where he was referring and went in the direction he was told. "Oh that's great, Greg, send him off where all the pills are," she spat out with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, if he's my kid, its only fitting right? Its only a matter of time before the kid becomes addicted to something! Unless, you're lying about him being my kid."

"Why would I lie about that?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest challenging him.

"Because everybody-" House paused while narrowing his eyes and looked to Stacy's left in thought. "Lies," he continued. He inhaled and looked over his shoulder and took a step past Stacy, "bye," he announced and walked out the lobby doors, leaving Stacy where she was with no explanation.

* * *

Wilson got off his couch when he heard the annoying continued bang of wood against his front door which didn't sound like it would stop any time soon and he swung the door open, knowing who he would be facing when he looked on the other side. "House, please, come in," he said sarcastically motioning his arm in the direction of his living room. Wilson awkwardly looked around House who he felt keeping his glance on him as he limped into the living room as Wilson closed the door.

"You just spoke to her didn't you?" House asked his friend after having spotted Wilson's cell phone on the coffee table and his eyes narrowed on him, waiting for Wilson to show signs of nervousness.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wilson answered coolly.

House went further into the living room then swiveled around, using his cane for support to look back at Wilson who had a hint of a smirk on his face. "Ohhh Jimmy," House's own expression turned into a smirk. "Why'd you do it?"

Wilson inhaled deeply. "If you recall not that long ago, you convinced me that I had an eleven year old boy," he told House in a storytelling tone. "So, I repaid the favor."

House beamed at him for being so deceiving. "And Stacy? Why did she agree?"

"She's still upset with you for what you did. For pushing her away again when she came back to the hospital when Mark was your patient."

"Right," his eyes widened with a scoff. "Almost forgot about that." House turned away from Wilson and saw the TV was on monster trucks. "Got any beer?" he asked, limping to the kitchen.

"Yeah, help yourself."

He came back with two stacked on top of each other in his left hand and gave one to Wilson who took a seat on the couch and House opened his own while extending his legs, his hand guiding his right, and rested his feet on the coffee table. "So who was the kid?"

"Some neighbor of hers," Wilson answered while opening his beer that was handed to him. "You don't have any plans with Cuddy tonight?" he asked House casually.

"Dammit," he replied, dropping his feet to the ground and slamming his beer on the coffee table. "I was going to her place when I ran into Stacy," he stated annoyed with Wilson and grabbed his cane and made his way to the front door.

"You're going to blame me aren't you?" Wilson asked him but kept his eye on the TV.

"Of course I am. It's your fault," he spat out.

"You would have even if it wasn't wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would." House opened the door and after going through it, closed it behind him to go to Cuddy's place...


	7. Chapter 7

Cuddy opened her door with a sleepy scowl on her face. "Last time I checked, it didn't take this long to get here from the hospital."

House pushed his way by her and dove his head close to hers and gave her a quick kiss despite the look on her face, then continued on into the living room to sit on the couch. "It was Wilson's fault."

"What did he do now?" she asked, closing the door then shuffled her way to the couch to sit on his right, who she found to already be slouched down and stretched out with his feet on the table which she usually hates but, let it slide this time.

"Just got Stacy to bring in a kid to try and make me think it was mine," he answered casually with a shrug.

She sat up from her position she sat in, in frustration and part confusion, she decided to take it out on his left leg by pushing it down off the table. "Why would he do that?" she paused when another question came to mind, one she wanted answered more than the first. "Why would that even work? You haven't been with her since-" she looked down in thought.

"Since she brought Mark to me."

Fear tore through her. She remembered that happened and she knew she didn't care back then but, she found herself back with House again the same way Stacy did. It was only a matter of time before Stacy got hooked and was thinking of leaving Mark for him when House decided to end it with her. She remembers how devastated Stacy was, and how she left the hospital. How does she know that he won't do the same thing to her? She looked up at House wide eyed who was looking back at her trying to read what she was thinking before she said anything. "You were with her back then."

"Yeah, you know this. This shouldn't be a shock to you."

"I know I know this... or knew this. But..."

"What?"

Cuddy made a face. "You don't know why this bothers me?"

"No, I don't," he snapped, sitting up straight and turned to face her, while grabbing on to his right leg for support.

"House," she said in disbelief while lowering her head and looked up at him skeptically.

"Cuddy."

She sighed and put her face in her hands and spoke into her palms. "How do I know you won't do that to me?"

"Do what to you?"

She lifted her head and looked back up at him. "What you did to Stacy?" she snapped angrily. "You roped her back in only to dump her all over again! How do I know a week from now, or, whenever, you decide to do the same thing to me?"

House looked at her like she was crazy. "That's insane! You know that's insane! What happened between me and Stacy is completely different then what is happening with us!"

"Is it? She was your ex, who you cared for, who came back to town, who started working at the hospital again, who-"

"WAS MARRIED!" he interrupted. "You forgot about that part of the story!" She didn't say anything back. He could tell that she was thinking that over. "Are you afraid that I'll leave you?"

"I didn't think I was...but, dammit, House. What we had back then.. what we could have..what we're starting to have now... I just... I don't know if I could handle that." He smirked at her and she got irritated. "What? Why are you smirking?"

"You sound paranoid."

He was finding humor in this and she hated it. "I do not," she argued.

"Okay, fine, you don't," he shrugged.

She stayed quiet, not wanting to go any further into her feelings because she could tell he wasn't in the right mood for a serious conversation, but, she had to ask one more time. "So how do I know you won't?"

He took a second to think about it, and that made her rethink her read on his mood. "You said something like this to me before. You told me you needed to know if you and I can work. I couldn't tell you anything for sure back then, other than I may not be able to fix myself, and I don't have any kind of answer for you now. I can try and be better for you then I was before...but as far as our future... I don't know. I know I don't want to end it. Unless you-"

"Shut up."

House grinned, "okay."

He cautiously bent his right leg and leaned further into her and she put her hand on his chest. "What do you think you're doing?"

He planted his left palm on the cushion next to his body that was inching its way to force her body down and lay on top of her, with his arm buckled straight and looked her in the eye. "You called me up, wanted me to come here, told you I'm not going to dump you like I did Stacy.. so, my next thought was...sex," he shrugged his right shoulder.

He waited for her reaction before doing anything else. She grinned at him and hooked her left arm around his neck and pulled, "then get over here."

Their lips met instantly, and their bodies rubbed up against each other. House slid his left hand up her loose yoga pants pant leg to rub her smooth skin and felt her rigid underneath him. "House, Rachel's home. Let's go to the room," she mumbled into his mouth.

His hand slid away from where it was and got up as quickly as he could, not wanting to give her any time to rethink tonight by getting her into the bedroom before she had a chance to decide she was too tired.

But, when they reached her room, that wasn't an issue at all. She walked in before him, and he turned to face her after closing the door behind him and she tugged at his left arm with a grin and guided him to her bed.

Part of him couldn't believe it. They got so close to not continuing what they were trying to get going nearly twenty-four hours earlier and now, here they were in her bedroom. He pushed all those thoughts out of his head and went back to just enjoying the moment, and who he was with.

He took a step towards her, limping more then usual, having dropped his cane to the floor once they entered her room and she backed up to the edge of the bed and fell down on top of it with House following.

He took in the sight of her, with her hair spread out in all directions on her pillow, and her eyes studying him, showing an expression of want. He felt it too. He lowered his head and kissed her mouth and trailed down to her chin and neck. Cuddy lifted her head to allow him more access and he opened his mouth and started sucking the left side of her neck as his hands grabbed both straps of her tank top she was wearing and pulled them down, then slid his hands to the hem of it and pulled that part up. Her arms lifted, to help him as he detached his mouth from her neck and pulled the tank top over her head, fully exposing her top half.

He slid his body down and lowered himself again after he cupped both of her now bare breasts and dropped his open mouth on her right breast and caressed her nipple with his tongue. He felt her back arch and both her hands grabbed his head, tangling her fingers into his hair.

"Ohhh Hoooouuuuusssseeee," she moaned. She felt his hair all around her fingers and hands while his tongue was licking every inch of her breast and his thumb worked circles around her left one. Her legs fought for freedom that were pinned underneath his body. Once she succeeded, his body lowered a little more and she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer to him.

She felt him hard through his pants. She let go of his head and fumbled with his button and zipper. She felt her right breast cold as he lifted his mouth off of it to look down at her pants and pulled at the side of them, grabbing enough of it that he bunched her panties in with the hold and pulled them both down together.

She ached for his mouth back on her. She moaned and arched her left side towards him. His glance fell upon her, knowing what she was asking for. He grabbed himself and plunged inside of her, both letting out a groan. He started to move inside of her and dropped his mouth to her left breast.

"House! Oh my..go...oh...yes...yes..." he moved faster and harder inside of her, trying to hold on to her breast with his mouth the best he could while they bounced with each thrust. It was getting too hard for him so he released her and leaned forward, pressed down on top of her and laid his head on the right side of hers.

He moaned into her pillow and Cuddy lifted her head so her face was against the side of his neck. She opened her mouth and planted a kiss under his ear and lightly caressed his ear lobe with the tip of her tongue. Her head dropped back down to her pillow and let out a scream when they climaxed together with the deepest thrust and her body fell limp against the bed while his fell limp on top of her.

It took them both a minute to catch their breath and when they did he pulled out of her, both letting out another moan by the feel of it and he fell onto his back at her right and Cuddy curled her body up next to him, laying her head on his chest and draped her left leg and arm around him. "Staying the night tonight?" she asked while looking at the wall that was facing her.

"Yeah," he answered.

She smiled at the feel of the vibration from his chest when he answered. She kissed his chest and grabbed him tighter with her arm and felt his drape around her...


	8. Chapter 8

Cuddy started waking up, and turned to the side of the bed she knew House was on and extended her arm to feel nothing but her mattress. Her eyes opened and she frowned at the inprint of his head on the pillow. She saw that the alarm clock on her nightstand on that side read 6:03am. She had about ten minutes before she had to get up to get Rachel up, and found it odd that House was awake and up already.

She stretched and looked back at the vacant side of the bed and noticed a piece of paper next to the clock with writing on it she recognized as House's. A smile tugged at the right side of her mouth and extended her arm out to grab the note and started reading:

"Cuddy, I got a call from my team that I wanted to ignore but knew it would get back to my boss somehow, and thought that she would be mad and my punishment for not doing my job, which makes this boss of mine very angry, would be withholding sex from me and I'd be an idiot to chance that. So, I'll see you later. House."

She giggled and sighed at how the one night he actually chooses to do his job is the one that she wanted nothing more then to wake up next to him. She smiled to herself thinking of later when she gets to see him again and pushed herself out of bed to give her a few minutes to look through what to wear before she wakes Rachel.

A couple hours had gone by when Cuddy arrived at the hospital and dropped her stuff off into her office and decided to go up to House's floor to see how he and his team were doing. She was excited to see him again after last night. It felt as exciting to her as the first time they were a couple. No one made her feel like he made her feel, and when she thinks back to all the things they have gone through to get back to this point, even though they still have their ups and downs, she couldn't not admit to herself that it has been worth it, and why she chose to wear what she put on.

She smiled to herself when the elevator doors opened for her and she took a step out into the hall and glanced through the glass into the adjoined room to his office and saw his back to her. He was standing, leaning against his cane and his left arm waving around, knowing by his body language and the way his team was looking up at him that he was frustrated.

She took a step inside and they all turned their heads to see who it was. His team looked back down at their files in front of them when they saw Cuddy looking straight at House with a smile that told them that this was not a hospital related visit. House took in the view of her low cut blouse and tight skirt that ended barely above her knees that left very little to the imagination.

"Go do doctor stuff," he told his team with his eye still on Cuddy. They all got out of their seats, already having an idea of what to test their patient for with the differential that they just had and left the two of them alone.

House took a couple steps towards her and dipped his head down close to hers and sealed their lips. His tongue slipped into her open welcoming mouth and she moaned sounds of pleasure at the feel of it fighting against hers. He pulled away and she opened her eyes, giving him a confused look. He dropped his arms from around her body and hung them back to his sides. "House, what is it?"

He held her gaze with his before speaking, while showing hesitation before saying what was on his mind. "Do you think any of this would have happened if you didn't come see me in the hospital when you thought I was dying?"

"What?" That was a question she always secretly dreaded to hear, because it went through her head more times then she cared to admit.

"Do you think any of this still would have happened if Wilson didn't call you?"

"I don't know," she shrugged casually, trying to not make a big deal out of it. "This bothers you?" she asked, feeling like they've had conversations like this ever since that day.

"Doesn't it bother you? That all this," he motioned his right arm between the two of them, "what we have now is all because a panic call from Wilson?"

"No...I, never thought of it like that. It happened, but, I think it happened for a reason," she lied. House took a step away from her and leaned on his cane, looking down. "Where was all this before when you were yelling at me for me not being sure about us? When did all this come to you?" she asked starting to get angry because this morning she was happy, and now she felt like all that happiness was disappearing.

"That was a few days ago. This is now. I was thinking about it when I got here. Maybe this shouldn't have happened," he answered, looking back up at her.

Cuddy shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, so, as I was sleeping, you were thinking about this?" she waited for him to respond but didn't get anything. "So, you're saying that's it?" she asked. "All this, all the planning and dreaming of the future, gone just like that, because you think that if you didn't get admitted into the hospital that we never would have seen each other again?"

"You can't tell me you've never thought of this. Was there ever a time that you thought of just dropping by here just because before that?" he argued.

She held back from saying 'all the time.' She was upset with him for everything, but he was such a big part of her life that she had wondered what would happen if she came to see him and ignored the restraining order put on him. Whether that was the real reason she came here that day after Wilson's call is hard to say. What she told House was true, she came to see if he was alright, and Rachel did want to see him, but, that was also a chance to see what she always wondered. If there were any of those feelings for him still there, despite what he did once she saw him in person again. She found herself standing in front of him, hurt by his words so yes, she found herself right back where she was before. Thinking that no man will ever compare to Greg House. "Fine, you win," she said sadly. "If you think that's the truth, and you can't move past it, then what's the point?"

He looked down again, away from the hurt expression on her face. "Maybe I can't," he said quietly.

She sighed, having not expected the day to turn out this way when she woke up. "Bye, House. Let me know when your patient is doing better." Before House could take anything back that was said, Cuddy turned and left his office to go down the hall towards the elevator.

He stood there frozen, keeping his eyes down while listening to her heels hit the floor as she walked further and further away from him and slammed his cane on the table in frustration for what he just did...


	9. Chapter 9

Cuddy was sitting at her desk replaying what just happened back in her head when she heard House from the other side of her office door. Her heart lept and she quickly looked up and saw that he wasn't trying to get her attention at all. He was talking to Taub. Yelling at Taub, more like it. He was trying to get him to stay in the Clinic to continue doing his hours for him so he could go without doing it.

Normally, she would leave her office to argue back at him, saying that he can't continue to put all his hours onto his team. Then he would argue back with what does she care, as long as it gets done, then somewhere in that argument, she would catch him looking at her cleavage or ass, and she would forget what they were arguing about in the first place and he would win, while she went back into her office feeling sexy like he made her feel when she caught him obviously staring.

But, she couldn't. She looked down and tried to focus on the paperwork in front of her waiting for him to go away.

"She's not looking," Taub whispered to House, looking passed him, into Cuddy's office.

"Maybe she didn't hear me. Come on, tell me something that will really piss me off. Maybe I'm not angry enough at you. Then she'll look up and come out like she always does."

Taub sighed, "do you really need me to actually provoke you into being mad? Can't you just-?"

"Are you questioning me Tiny Taub?" House screamed.

"Nothing," Taub said, taking another glance into her office.

"Dammit," House mumbled.

"Why don't you just go in there and...talk to her?"

House scowled at Taub and turned, taking a step away. "How well did talking go for you with your wife, Rachel? Oh.. wait. She's with someone else now, isn't she?"

"Fine," Taub answered defeated, taking a step in sync with him. "But we're all getting a little sick of this fight you're having and its only been three hours."

"What are you doing?" House asked, stopping in his tracks, ignoring what Taub said his teams feelings.

"I'm following you."

"No. I still have three hours to log in. You stay here."

Taub listened, knowing that arguing with House when he's like this will get him nowhere so started looking through the patient files to see who to help next as House limped out of the Clinic, watching Cuddy in the corner of his eye who knew by her rigid sitting position she knew he was there and avoided looking up because of it. He knew he was to blame for their situation but he can't help but think that she shouldn't be here in the first place. He hates that he can't push it away but he knows there would be no way she would be working here had that phone call never happened. He wished it never did. He doesn't regret what became of them, but he knew the wrong he did to her. What he hated the most was he didn't trust himself to not do something stupid again that would push her away. He missed her when she wasn't there, but, got used to how things were without her.

He tried to talk himself out of bringing it up to her, but it kept nagging at him. The reality of the situation was too much for him. He thought that maybe if he told her the thoughts were in his head, she would argue it, tell him he's being stupid. Then at least he would have known that she really wanted to make it work, and that maybe he was wrong; that she would have come back some other way if it weren't the way it happened.

But, she didn't. She looked defeated, and she left.

He took another quick glance after he looked at the door handle to grab into her office before he stepped out of the Clinic and into the lobby, and saw she looked more relaxed then she did a second ago. He knew her well enough to know that if she was rigid that meant that she was holding herself from not coming out of her office, which usually follows her coming out and fighting. But again, she didn't. She thought he was gone and her sitting position was relaxed. He couldn't help but think that she was already trying to move on. He sighed and looked towards the lobby and left...


	10. Chapter 10

"If you're wondering why I haven't come down to tell you how my patient is doing yet, its because I don't know. So, you can go back down if you want," House said casually, keeping his eyes on his computer monitor.

"So, that's it? That's all you have to say to me?" Cuddy asked, unmoved from the doorway.

"Yeah, for now."

"You can't even look at me?" she pressed on, now starting to sound annoyed and walked into his office, closing the door behind her and sat at the chair across from him.

That got his attention. He turned his head and swiveled his chair to face her. "You couldn't look at me when I was down in the Clinic," he challenged.

"That was... I didn't know you were there," she lied, and the look on his face told her he knew it. "That's different."

"Is it?"

Cuddy sighed, hating that they found themselves at arms length. "House, why are we always doing this?"

"I thought this is how the work day is suppose to go. I'm here pretending to be doctoring and you-"

"That's not what I meant."

He looked down at the desk, "I know what you meant," he said softly.

Cuddy sat there and observed his facial expression. He didn't want this. She could see it, no matter how hard he tried to hide or deny it. She wanted to give him time to say it. All she wanted was to hear him say it out loud, and to not care about how it happened, just that it did. But, he wasn't going to. She could see that too. "House?"

"It's better this way," he said knowing what she was going to say.

She stayed silent for a minute before speaking. "This is better? Being unhappy because you don't like the way it happened. That's better then just letting it just be the way it is? Be thankful that it just is. Why is that so wrong?"

House looked up at her and away when Cuddy heard a light knock behind her. "I'm sorry, but, House, we need you," Park said at the door.

House nodded and looked quietly into Cuddy's eyes as he reached for his cane and stood up. She watched as he held his leg, limping more then usual and left her in his office to go with Park.

She sat there a couple seconds longer, thinking over how to fix what happened to them. What happened to him, when she pushed herself out of the chair, closed the office door behind her after walking out and stormed her way over to Wilson's office.

"This is all your fault," she stated after she walked all the way through and saw he was sitting at his desk.

"What is?" he asked innocently.

"Oh don't do that. Don't act like you have no idea what's happening!" She closed the door and paced his office while Wilson kept his eye on her.

"Let me guess, you and House are fighting?"

"Oh come on, you don't have to guess. He had to have told you by now."

Wilson leaned back in his chair, "no, actually he hasn't."

She stopped in her tracks standing at his left. "Oh great. That's comforting. He doesn't even care enough to tell you," she walked to the other side of his office in a faster pace.

"Okay," Wilson put his hand out to try and get her to stop pacing and to calm down. "What is going on?"

"He seems to think that because you called me when he was in the hospital, that's the only reason we are together now. That if it didn't happen then, I wouldn't be here, and we wouldn't... be us again...and... he's thinking we shouldn't be because of it." She paused in her pacing and looked at Wilson with a concerned expression. "Is he right?"

Wilson sighed heavily. "Well, it all depends on how you look at it. That brought you together to talking again, but, do you think it wouldn't have ever happened if it didn't happen that way? Do you think you would have gone the rest of your life without ever seeing him again?"

She thought that over. "I don't know."

"I think you should be talking to him and not me."

"That's the problem! He won't talk to me!"

"If he means that much to you, you're going to have to keep trying."

She scowled at him. "Well you're a lot of help!"

"Hey, I'm not getting in the middle of it if you both think I'm the reason for the two of you and what started this argument!"

"You're not the reason you're..." she struggled to find another way to put it, she sighed and gave up. "I'll try to talk to him again." She reached for the doorknob and turned to face him before opening it. "He really didn't say anything to you about this?"

"No. He didn't."

She frowned and opened the door, "okay. I'll see you later, Wilson."

Cuddy walked out the door, closing it behind her and he took a deep breath, and ran his right hand over his face and reached for his phone and started dialing. "House," he said when he heard the ringing stop. "You gotta end this. She's freaking out and if you go any further you might actually lose her."

"So I win," House said into the phone.

"Sure, yeah, okay."

"Well there you go taking all the fun out of it by not resisting. You owe me a hundred bucks. Told you she would try and fight for us."

"Yes, you should be pleased," Wilson said sarcastically. "Look, just, don't tell her it was a bet. Do whatever you have to do to fix this. Tell her you changed your mind and that it doesn't matter how it happened...just that it did."

House sighed heavily into the phone, "yeah sure... okay."

"Oh, and House... don't tell her I had anything to do with it."

"Well that's no fun at all, Wilson. Are you trying to go out of your way to make me miserable again? I gotta tell you Wilson. I'm getting a little sick of you always telling me what to do."

"Just do that. Just tell her I had nothing to do with it, and that's it." He paused and didn't hear anything back. "House," he paused again. "House." He hung up the phone knowing he wasn't there anymore. "Shit," he mumbled to himself...


	11. Chapter 11

Cuddy was sitting at her desk when she saw House limping towards her office door and to her surprise, came in as casual as can be and without a word, sat slouched down on her couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table in front of him and laid his cane on the cushion to his left. He then, looked over at her and smirked. "What...House, what are you doing here?"

He gave her a confused look, "I thought I was here to treat patients. But if you don't want me here I can leave," his feet dropped off the table and grabbed his cane to help prop him up.

"That's not what I mean as here. I mean, here, in this office. What are you doing in here?"

"Do you not want me here?" he made himself comfortable again.

Cuddy silently stared at him, baffled at his behavior, acting as though nothing happened. That they each got to the hospital separately after he spent the night, and here they were, nothing unusual between then and now. "House."

He sat up, knowing he had to give some kind of explination. "Okay...so, I had time to think about it and-"

"Really? Now you think about it? When you were so set on us not working, now, magically, you are okay with it all?"

"It's what you wanted wasn't it?" he asked annoyed.

"Yeah, but," she paused and a thought dawned on her. "You never cared about it did you?" Anger splashed across her face and she sat up in her chair, "you were screwing with me to think that it mattered to you to get...some kind of...thrill about it. You were bored, and you screwed with our relationship!" She paused again and she looked even more angry. "Was this a bet?"

House let out a laugh, "you think I would bet on this? That I would mess with your emotions to what? Gain a hundred bucks?" he asked appalled at the accusation.

"Yes! I do!" She studied his expression and waited for him to argue more. Hoping he would argue more, because that would tell her that maybe she was wrong about him. But, she knew him too long and too well to know that he would. And he didn't. "A hundred bucks? That's what you bet? With who? Wilson?" she asked disappointed that he was right all these years in telling people repeatedly that people never change, because in this moment, she knew he never did. She doesn't know why she didn't think of this before and was angry with herself for not having come to it to avoid it getting this far.

"Leave Wilson out of this," House demanded.

"Oh... so, you're more protective of Wilson then me?" she scoffed in disbelief while shaking her head, and put her palms on her desk and used them to help her stand up and walked around her desk, stopping on the opposite side of the coffee table, facing him. "You care more about his feelings, protecting your relationship with him, while blowing things up with me... why? You were bored when you came in to work? Decided to make it interesting?"

House let out a laugh, "of course not. I was just..." he was fighting for words to explain it to her with a smile on his face to let her know she was overreacting. She scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting to hear what he had to say. His smile disappeared, "okay. So, maybe I was a little bored. But, I didn't mean to upset you! I was just trying to show Wilson that you care enough to fight that thought. That's all that was!"

"And a hundred dollars."

"Yes," he nodded, "and a hundred dollars." He watched her, waiting for her to say something else, but her stance stayed the same and she was silent. "You want the hundred dollars? I can give it to you."

"I don't care about the stupid money from the stupid bet!"

"Okay, fine. Then why are you so angry at us?"

"Us?"

"Me and Wilson."

"I'm not angry with Wilson; and you told me to leave him out of it. I'm leaving him out of it."

"Well, why?" House asked, his eyes growing bigger, looking at her like a schoolboy who just got sentenced detention after school for something he and a friend did while his friend got to go home.

"Because I'm not sleeping with Wilson! I don't care what he does!" House took a deep breath, not knowing how to answer. "Get out, House."

He stood up with help from his cane and limped around the coffee table. "So, now you don't want to talk things out? Earlier you wanted to talk."

"Get out!" she shouted pointing towards the door. He scowled at her and without another word, he opened her door, limped through it slowly to give her a chance to change her mind and closed it behind him. She let out a frustrated deep sigh when she watched him leave the Clinic to go back to his office. She turned around and sat back at her desk no longer able to focus on what she was doing before he came in...


	12. Chapter 12

Cuddy was leaning against the counter in the middle of the lobby looking over messages when she heard uneven footsteps and a cane hit the floor in between each one, getting closer and closer. She glanced up and took notice of House who was trying to avoid eye contact while passing her. "House, wait a minute," she said reaching out for his left arm, while shoving the slips of paper into her purse to go through them later.

He glanced down at where her hand was on his arm and followed it up her to make eye contact. "So you want to talk now?" he asked as though he wasn't bothered by anything going on with them.

"Don't be an ass about this," she said in an almost pleading tone.

"I don't know what else you want from me," he commented, taking a step towards the door, Cuddy following him at his left.

"I want you to know and acknowledge that what you did was stupid and childish, and that we can," she paused struggling to find the words, "move past this. Because I want to believe," she quickened her step and swerved in front of him blocking him to reach for the door. "I want to know that we mean more to you then that."

He squinted one eye and cocked his head to the right. "That's something you have to ask yourself." He tried to reach for the door handle but shifted herself again to block it, and his hand dropped to his side.

"Excuse me?" she retorted, looking at him angrily and defensive.

He leaned on his cane for support and dropped his head down slightly, with his eyes still on her. "I was about to gladly accept the money that I thought Wilson owed me for this bet going on about you fighting for me when I casually," he waved his right hand in the air, "reached my hand out for it, he stopped." He leaned his head further into her space, "that's when he pointed out the first reaction you had."

"First reaction? He said he didn't know anything about it."

House rolled his eyes, "he lied. He's my best- my only friend, you shouldn't be surprised about this." He pointed his finger accusingly at her. "And you said you didn't care what he did, so why do you care if he lied to you about not knowing about something, that, need I remind you, has nothing to do with his patients, so you can't get mad at him." He paused for her reaction, and when he got none, he continued. "You never fought for us."

Her mouth fell agape and she looked offended. "I wanted to talk about things. How is that not fighting for us?" she asked, her tone getting higher and she pulled him outside of the hospital after she opened the door to not be overheard.

"No, you didn't!" he shouted. "After I told you that you couldn't have ever thought of it, you said that I win. What was the point?" he paused and saw a shocked expression. "You call that fighting for us?" He waited for a reaction but she stood still, her expression unchanged. "You can be mad at me all you want for what I did. But, its what made me realize that, maybe its something you can't get past. And the fucked up thing about it all, Cuddy, is, I didn't even think of it until the idea for this dumb bet. But apparently, you did. So, who is the one who isn't in this thing?" With nothing else, House took a step by her and limped away quietly to his car, leaving her with her thoughts.

He reached his car and sat in the drivers seat after maneuvering himself inside. He glanced over the steering wheel towards the hospital and saw that Cuddy was still on the outside of it. She was holding her forehead with her right hand while pacing and looked like she was thinking. He sighed, and started the engine and pulled away.

Cuddy saw his car leave in the corner of her eye and couldn't believe what he said. He was right. She didn't fight at all. She gave in like the doubts were always there. Was she relieved that he said it? She was mad that he did it but, why? Why was she mad? Was it because he was saying out loud what she thought herself? She was shocked that she heard that from him, and now knowing he didn't mean it at all made her feel like crap. But, did she need more time to think things over about them? Should she have not come back at all? "Dr. Cuddy?" She spun around and saw a nurse poking her head out of the door.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Dr. Wilson is looking for you."

She sighed with a scowl. Wilson. "Okay, I'll be right there." She watched as the nurse nodded and went back inside. Cuddy let a couple seconds pass to compose herself and walked back into the hospital to head towards Wilson's office, while hearing House's words repeat in her head. "You never fought for us."...


	13. Chapter 13

House got home and went straight for the bottle of burbon he had in the kitchen and took it with him to the living room and sat on the couch with it. He sighed heavily and rubbed his left hand over his face and started to open the bottle with his right hand. Just one stupid moment is all it took, and he found himself sitting at home alone. He leaned his body slightly to the right to dig his cell phone out of his left jean pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table next to the bottle which he picked up and took a long gulp of.

He was feeling it go smoothly down his throat when his cell phone started ringing. He glanced down and saw Wilson's name staring up at him. He picked it up and took a second to answer, deciding on whether he wanted to or not. "Yeah?" he said into the phone after he put it up to his ear.

"Is it really over between you two?"

"Who said it was over? Did she say it was over?" That hurt House more then he expected it to saying it out loud. He took another gulp while waiting for Wilson to answer.

"Not in those words," he answered hesitantly.

"Well in what words then boy wonder?"

"That she needed to think about things." It was clear in Wilson's voice that he was genuinely worried about the future of the relationship between House and Cuddy, which just panicked House even more.

"Shit." House brought the bottle to his mouth again.

"Are you okay?" Wilson asked concerned on the other end.

"Great, never been better," he answered in a fake perky tone.

"House, I'm serious."

"So am I," he answered.

Wilson knew he was lying. But, he didn't want to push him to talk yet. It was still new to him, and he made a mental note to check up on him again. "Dinner later?"

"That's usually when people eat dinner."

"You know what I mean."

"Fine. See you later."

House hung up his end leaving Wilson feeling uneasy in his chair but he had patients he had to check on so tried to focus on them and grabbed the file that was on the top in the stack on his desk and stood up to leave his office.

* * *

Cuddy was sitting staring blankly at her desk. She still heard those words from House even though it had been a couple hours since he had left. She knew he was ducking out early, but with what was going on with them, she just didn't care to keep him there. She tilted her head back against the chair and closed her eyes while reaching her left hand around the back of her neck and started to rub it when a flash of being with House in her bed played back in her minds eye. Right before they were about to both fall asleep, he put his mouth where her palm was resting and lightly sucked on it, which turned into a kiss before he flopped to the side and drifted to sleep. Chills ran down her spine with that memory and her eyes flew open. She took a long unsteady breath and reached for her desk phone and started dialing the number that she knew so well she could do it without looking. Only two rings in before she heard the beginning of House's phone greeting.

* * *

He stared unblinking at his cell phone, feeling regret instantly by hitting ignore when he saw the number and recognized it as Cuddy's office, sending it straight to voice mail. He just wasn't ready to talk to her. So, he waited. He waited for the alert of one new voice mail, only, it never came. He looked up and scowled at the reflection he saw of himself in the TV that wasn't on, and stood up, grabbed his cane, jacket, keys, and cell phone, and left his apartment for the nearest bar...


	14. Chapter 14

Wilson tried calling House's cell phone again and left another message. He had called four times and left twenty minutes in between each call to give him time to get back to him. Whether he was ignoring his call or, out doing something stupid was hard to determine and the fact alone that he had to think those two things as an option for why House wasn't calling him back made him uneasy.

He stared at his phone waiting for it to ring. After five minutes since his last attempt, he tried again.

House sat on the stool, with his cell phone sitting next to his Scotch neat, knowing it was a matter of time before Wilson's name appeared as an incoming call. Just as expected, it did. "Wilson, you predictable bastard," he mumbled to himself. He lifted the glass and drank the rest. "Another one!" he shouted over to the bartender that was talking to the women on the opposite end of the bar from him.

The bartender looked away from the women and over at House. "That's your fifth one. Are you sure you want another?" he asked as he made his way closer to him and grabbed the glass off the bar.

"I'm sure," House answered in a slight mumble.

The bartender sighed as he grabbed the bottle from behind and started pouring. "Alright, man. But this is your last one." He slid the glass over to House. "Give me your keys," he said reaching out his hand. "I'm deciding when you go home tonight."

House scowled at him as he reached into his jacket pocket and slammed them down. "Here." The bartender took them and placed them somewhere under the bar and walked away from House, back to where he was before. House looked down at his phone again when he saw Wilson's name come back.

* * *

Wilson kept selecting House's name and called as much as he was able to while driving over to House's apartment to check on him. He gave up leaving messages for the last three times because he was just sounding more and more angry in each one and knew that wasn't the way to get House to call him back. He reached his place and sighed heavily when he saw no trace of House's car and he could tell from where he was that the lights were off. "Dammit, House," Wilson said out loud in frustration, partly towards House, but also, towards himself. If he only went to him when he called earlier. Or talked to him then, he would have a better idea of where he went off to. But, Wilson had a pretty good idea without having done that. He put his car back in drive, while thinking of different bars in the area.

* * *

Cuddy was sitting silently at the kitchen table while eating dinner. "Mommy, are you okay?" Rachel asked from the opposite end of the table.

"Yeah, Sweetie, I'm fine," Cuddy answered with a smile to not worry her, and hoped it didn't look as fake as it felt.

"Is House coming over later?" Rachel questioned right before shoveling a fork full of food into her mouth and kept an eye on Cuddy, waiting for a response.

"No, not tonight," she said as casually as she could.

"Tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Cuddy lied, not wanting to tell her she didn't know if he would come over again. She didn't want to put Rachel through that again. "Why do you ask, Honey?"

"I drew a picture of him today at school that I wanted to show him!" she exclaimed with excitement. "But, I can show him tomorrow," she told her with a smile. Cuddy bit the bottom of her lip to stop the wave of emotion that took over but it was too late. She felt a tear form and Rachel noticed it. "Mommy, are you sure you're okay?"

Cuddy stood up and grabbed her plate. "I'm fine. Finish eating, Rachel." She took her plate and tossed what wasn't eaten in the garbage and left the plate in the sink and went into her bedroom as the tear ran down her cheek...


	15. Chapter 15

House woke up to the sound of his own alarm. He opened his right eye and saw that the clock read 8:00. He slapped the top with his palm, to make the sound stop and rubbed his eyes knowing that it had to have been Wilson that set it. He vaguely remembered him finding him in a bar of his choosing as he was about to pick up on a woman who he could have easily brought home with him, she was as drunk as he was, but, for the first time in a long time, he was glad Wilson showed up and stopped him from doing anything he would regret later because he was still hoping Cuddy would come around.

He felt like a weight dropped down onto his chest when he thought about having to face her later. He threw the blankets off of him and guided his right leg to hang off of the bed while the rest of him followed to get up and get ready to go to the hospital, while hoping he didn't have to see her right as he came in.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, House awkwardly looked around the lobby as he came through the doors, hoping not to see Cuddy but, she was standing near the counter. He sighed to himself and looked down to the floor with a little bit of a headache from the night before. He is starting to be able to consume more alcohol before a true hangover headache would set in, which he was torn on deciding if that was a good thing or not, but in this moment, it was good.

"House."

He winced at the sound of her voice, still not ready to face her, but knew he couldn't avoid her without her following him. "Yeah?" he asked, looking up at her. "What do you want?"

Her mouth dropped open slightly. "I don't want anything." She grabbed a file that sat in front of her and handed it to him, and she watched as he shuffled his cane from his right hand to his left and opened the file to look at it while standing there instead of taking it with him to look at once he got to his office.

"Well?"

He gazed at her away from the file, "well, what?"

"Are you going to take the case?" she asked annoyed.

"Are you saying I have a choice?" he responded in the same annoyed tone.

"No. I just don't know why you are hovering in here when you can just take that file and-"

House slammed the file shut and glared at her. "I know this may be easy for you-"

"This isn't easy for me," she said between her teeth.

"Well then what the fuck are we doing, Cuddy?" he screamed.

"I need," Cuddy felt her lip quiver and she couldn't care less that they were standing in the lobby for everyone to see and hear. "I need more time."

"Right. You need more time. That's just great! Let me know when you decide I'm not good enough for you," he snarled, and started limping away towards the elevator and turned his head to look in her direction. "Because I know that's where this is headed." He turned his head to look straight ahead of him and ignored the urge to turn back to see her one last time. But saw in the corner of his eye that she caught up with him. "What are you doing?"

"Riding up with you."

"Why?"

She turned to look at him, "because I need to go on to the elevator. You may be the best doctor we have here but you don't own the elevators and say who gets to ride them with you."

"I should be able to say so," he mumbled and looked at her when the doors opened for them and they both stepped in. "There's freedom of speech isn't there?" he asked sarcastically and continued with his tone deeper and in a mumble, "so there should be freedom to decide who gets to breathe the same air as you."

She ignored his comments and stood to his left, after she hit the floor she wanted after him, and their gazes both landed on the numbers above the door that slid shut, not allowing anyone else in with them.

"If you weren't bored we would-"

"Right. This is all my fault," he interrupted sarcastically, still looking at the lit numbers.

"If you hadn't started that stupid bet with Wilson-"

He looked back towards her, "then it would come out later, by you, when we were even further along which would have made things worse then right now."

The doors slid open and House stepped off but she wasn't done with him, so followed him on to his floor, ignoring his confused look when she did. "I can't imagine how it could be worse then right now."

House stopped in his tracks and turned his body to the left to face her, which made her stop. "What if it came out after we got married? Or had a couple kids? What would have happened then? Divorce? The kids would get to visit Daddy on weekends?"

Cuddy was shocked, but she didn't know if it was because he was right, or that he actually still thought about that future. "House, I-" she struggled to find something to say but the words weren't coming.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He lifted the file up in his hand and started to limp away from her. "If you don't mind, I have a life to save," he told her over his shoulder. She watched him as he went into his office then turned to go back to the elevator knowing that if she pushed him anymore on the subject, she would only be getting further away from where she wanted to be with him. But, she just couldn't admit to him yet...


	16. Chapter 16

One week later

House was sitting on his couch doing the same thing he had been doing every night since he and Cuddy weren't around each other; sitting in a beat up t-shirt and the pants to a set of his pajamas while drinking with the television on. He heard a light knock and looked at the screen with confusion. He thought he had the volume all the way down. He surveyed what was happening on the TV and concluded it wasn't coming from there. He heard it again, and looked behind him at the door, waiting to see if it would happen again. It did a few seconds later.

House set the bottle down, and reached for his cane. "Hang on!" he shouted irriated when he heard it again. He swung the door open and was surprised to see her. "Oh," he leaned against the doorway. "Hey Cuddy, what do you want?"

She sighed and looked at him disappointed. "You're drunk."

"Yeah. But, I'm not in the hospital so, you technically, can't get mad. I'm not needed."

"You're sure of that?" she asked her eyebrow raised. "You're so convident that your patient won't need your attention until...oh lets see...probably, ten, tomorrow, by the time you come in?"

"Yeah!" he shouted.

Cuddy inhaled a deep breath and held it there before slowly letting it out, stopping herself from going any further. "House, I didn't come here to argue."

He twisted his mouth and slapped the side of the door with his palm, "could have fooled me."

"Can we talk?" she asked meekly.

He inhaled slowly, and let it out the same way. "Fine," he said softly, and opened the door wider for her to come in as he limped back to the couch, and sat at the furthest end, while she took the other. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked while shifting his sitting position to face her and let out a noise of pain and started rubbing his leg.

"I want to talk about us," she answered, sitting on the opposite end of the couch that House chose to take, leaving as much space in between them as she could.

"You want to talk about us? You still feel there can be an 'us?' The big space in between where you're sitting, tells me we're still far from that."

Cuddy sighed and looked down. She knew he would notice, but she didn't trust herself being any closer to him. She knew how she felt about him, and with their history of having more sex then talking, she didn't want to get any closer. She missed his touch so much already, she needed the space between them. "House," she said softly, and pleading, "you know I still want there to be an us."

"Do I?" he snapped back.

"I would hope you do. It's just...House," she sighed, trying to find the right words to go with how she felt. "I don't care how this happened. Not anymore. There was that thought that crossed my mind, but, come on, you can't honestly say it didn't cross yours either. I know you said it didn't but.." He didn't say anything, he just sat quietly and a scowl crossed his face, leaving as quickly as it appeared, but he didn't speak. He sat there and continued to look at her, to hear what she had to say. "Can't we just move on from this? Just end it as a stupid fight that we had?"

"So, that's it? We just pick up from where we left off? That's why you're here, to tell me that?"

"Unless, you don't want that? Is that what you're saying by asking me that?"

House sat there silently and studied her body language and expression which told him that she was nervous to hear him say no. "So, you're back in this thing?"

"I want to be," she said meekly, knowing she was in the wrong but hoped he wasn't going to make her say it.

"You wanna have sex now then?"

"No," she answered with a smile.

"Come on, it's been over a week," he answered, pleading.

"House," she said, seriously, but felt somewhat relieved at him saying it's been over a week. A part of her thought that he would have gone home to call a hooker the very night he thought they weren't anything anymore. That alone, told her how he felt about them, without him having to say it. "I don't want us to just be about that."

"No, we won't. So, lets just get it out of the way. Do it now, then tomorrow, we can do it again, and then-"

"House."

He sighed, "so, you want to talk more then," he stated with a little resistance.

"Yeah, and...there will still be a lot of sex. But-"

"Things won't always be perfect," he went on.

She smiled, "you think I'll be surprised that it isn't? You have met you, right?"

"Have you met you?" he argued back.

She let out a deep throated chuckle. "I don't expect things to always be perfect."

"So, now what?" Cuddy furrowed her brow at him. "What?"

"Didn't you ask me that one time before?" she asked.

"Maybe, but, it doesn't mean I don't want an answer to it now," he retorted. "So, now what?" he repeated.

"Now, I go home," she said starting to stand up.

"Home? Why? Oh wait, I know why, because you're not staying for sex."

"Because," she started, while bending close to him, ignoring his comment and gave him a kiss, "I have to get Rachel."

"Get Rachel. You always have to 'get Rachel.' Is that really why you're not staying? Is that why you're turning me down?" he asked while watching her walk around the couch towards the front door. He grabbed his cane and got up to follow her.

Cuddy ignored his questions and turned to face him before letting herself out. She leaned into him and gave him another kiss. "Goodbye, House. I'll see you tomorrow," she turned to walk out then looked back at him again, "I better see you tomorrow," she said sternly.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, starting to close the door on her. "Go get Rachel." Cuddy let out a laugh and shook her head, finding herself on the other side of his now closed front door. She left his apartment building with the feeling that things were back to how they should be, and went to get Rachel from her sister's place.

* * *

"House isn't here yet?" Cuddy asked his team the next day as she came into his adjoining office to see them all sitting at the table waiting for him.

"No, we haven't seen him," Chase answered for all of them.

She turned to leave with a scowl on her face. She expected to see him there. It was reaching noon, which is late, even for him. She took a left outside of the door, taking the long way back down to her office to give herself some time to think of what to say to him when she got to her phone to call him.

Wilson came around the corner, eyes wide with fear. "Cuddy, we need you downstairs, a patient just came in, a bad car accident who-"

"Why are you dealing with car accident patients? It's not your department" she stated confused with her head turned to look at him, but she kept walking away from him and turned back to look to see straight ahead at where she was going. "I have to go to-"

"Cuddy!" Wilson screamed, cutting her off.

She turned around to face him again, this time, looking angry. "What?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm dealing with it, because... the patient...it's House."...


End file.
