I do not own House because if i did he and I TOTALLY would already have a thing going on...stupid Fox.

Just another dragging day at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Dr. Gregory House was slumped over in his comfy office chair trying to rid his head of the ache left over from the night before and hoping Dr. Cuddy wasn't on a witch hunt for him quite yet. No such luck.

"House!" Hands on her hips Cuddy tried to look stern but failed. She only looked tired. Most likely from searching the entire hospital for the missing man with the flaming cane. You would think he'd be easy to find. However her search was futile as he had only even gotten to the hospital minutes before. By hospital standards he was an hour and a half late. On House Time however, he was a solid 30 minutes early despite the splitting hangover from too much booze and not enough sleep. Wilson should have stopped him. House scoffed at the thought. Like Wilson could ever stop him, even if he had tried. He slowly leaned back and tried to ignore the bright light as Dr. Cuddy threw open the blinds over his windows, letting in the midday sun.

"Well if it isn't Dr. Cuddy. I see you have discovered the magic of a wonder bra. Moves mountains in comparison to your other lingerie choices, dont you think?"

Cuddy just rolled her eyes and ignored his comment about her...very noticeable cleavage. She didn't have time to argue with him. She was a woman on a mission and was damn well going to succeed.

"House you were supposed to be in clinic over an hour ago. You forget, you have responsibilites as an employee of this hospital and as administrator I am fully within my rights to suspend you if you do not get in the clinic right now! They mentioned "Tainted Meat" on the news last night so today we are completely flooded. We need all the hands we can get. Now GO!"

House watched her march out and called after her, "If you need all the hands you can get how come you're strutting your stuff to your office instead of the clinic?"

She paused briefly. Sighing she clenched her fists and turned in the direction of the clinic. If it got him to come quietly or just come at all she would grit her teeth and deal with the dozens of worried, overprotective parents who thought their perfectly healthy kids were dying just because some fool on the news told them the hamburgers they grilled two weeks ago might have made them terminally ill.

"Well as long as she's down there I'm sure they'll be fine without me." Mused a satisfied House to himself. Popping a trusty viccoden he stood and headed for the conference room. Leaning on the door frame he took in his little ducklings and almost smiled at the sight. Not because he enjoyed them, no. He smiled because it was so invariably predictable. Chase with his crosswords, Foreman reading some medical journal and Cameron fixing his coffee just the way he liked it in his favorite red mug. Same as always. He liked things the same. It was normal and patterned. No messy surprises like ex-lovers who are married or infarctions in a thigh muscle. House scanned Cameron from top to bottom. She had on a red top and black slacks. God she looked good in red. She handed him his mug full of steaming, hot coffee. They locked eyes.

"I'm gonna go try to find a case. I'm tired of just sitting here. We're dressed like doctors we might as well act like them." Foreman walked out of the conference room hoping to find something interesting enough for House to actually accept.

"Nice top." House commented to Cameron, "Is there guy up in the oncology ward you're trying to impress? Some deliciously damaged fella you have your pretty little eyes on?" Her smile hit the floor. For a second she could have sworn he was complimenting her. House being nice? She scorned the thought and licked her lips. She wanted to say bald wasn't her type. She wanted to slap him in the face with a snarky houseism to knock him on his ass. She wanted to shove him back into his office, shut the blinds, and kiss him for all she was worth. But, yet again, she just looked at the floor and kept her mouth shut and lips off his. If she had kept eye contact maybe she would have noticed a small flicker of regret cross his gorgeous, icy eyes, but she wanted to make sure he didn't see the tears she had brought to hers.

Way to go genius. You're such an ass. But you have to guard yourself or she'll break you like Stacy did. Keep her distant, keep her away. Don't be cold. Don't let her in. House didn't WANT to hurt her...he didn't want ANYONE to hurt her. If he had his way she would never be unhappy again. But he would. She would hurt him. He always got hurt in the end. It was inevitable. Even in his own fantasies somehow the girl ended up screwing him over in a big way. The only way to prevent it was to keep them all away. Wilson was enough of a wife to him. He cooked and cleaned and had learned long ago not to complain too much about any of his annoying habits like leaving dirty dishes in the sink or pissing with the bathroom door wide open for the world to see. Poor Wilson. At least he was used to it by now.

Just as House turned on his gameboy to begin a rousing game of SuperMario, Foreman returned and dropped a file on the table.

"Please tell me that folder contains my free first class ticket to Hawaii, courtesy of the marvelous breasts also known as Dr. Lisa Cuddy." House looked hopefully at Foreman who just rolled his eyes.

"Not this time House, sorry. Seventeen year old male, blood in the urine, slight chest pains and numbness in the extremities-" he began before House cut him off.

"Yeah yeah yeah. This one's easy you guys can handle it without me. Just don't tell Cuddy or she'll make me do clinic duty or worse...naughty things in her office that involve a rubber hose, a tutu, a monkey, and a rocking horse. Don't really want to do that again thank you very much!" House fake shuddered and looked at the matching surprised and disgusted expressions that hung on all three of his ducklings faces. House rose and started to head to his office where he could play and not be disturbed when something caught his eye...

"Damn it...get Wilson up here." he ordered and then headed out into the hall. Cameron paged Dr. Wilson while Chase and Foreman stare at House's back and wondered just what makes a man with a limp walk that fast out of a room.