Most of this story was actually written by my friend Kay. She came up with the idea and we sat down and wrote it together.
I would also like to clear up any confusion that might come from this, I ignored House and Cuddy breaking up, and they are still together even thought this is clearly set past season eight.
Chapter 1: Loss
Tate sat alone up in the attic with his thoughts. Well, he was never completely, no one was in this house.
Yesterday, he saw Violet. She did not say anything to him, instead, she just ignored him. He knew though, sooner or later, she would have to talk to him. They were stuck there, together forever. When he had said that he would wait forever if he had to, he meant it.
"Still mourning your loss?" Hayden questioned.
Tate turned around and saw her standing there, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Trust me, that little bitch is over you," she stated, pushing herself off the wall and walked towards him.
Tate turned back away from her. "She has to talk to me sooner or later," he patiently informed her.
Hayden sat down on the floor beside him. It was no secret that she had feelings for him, everyone knew, Tate just didn't care. All her feelings towards him were sexual, and he didn't want that, he wanted Violet, the girl who actually cared for him, and loved him.
"I doubt our little Juliet will mind if Romeo gets some practice in while she's gone," Hayden offered, leaning in to kiss him.
"I won't do that to her," Tate curtly replied. The last thing he needed was another reason for Violet to not want to be with him.
Hayden stood up and rolled her eyes. "God you're pathetic," she remarked. "Sit up here and mope over one lousy girl who doesn't even want to notice you exist anymore."
"Come talk to me when you finally grow a pair," she called out to him as she walked off.
xxx
House stepped up and looked into the casket. There he was, his best friend, pale and stiff. Expressionless, glossy eyes glued to him, carefully taking in the image. Somehow, it wasn't much different from the last time that he saw him living last week when Wilson had called him over to say goodbye to him. He never said that he specifically wanted him there because he knew that he was going to die that night, but House could sense it, the way that Wilson kept thinking back to the past, the way he would mindlessly stare every so often, then the way he said goodbye when House went to leave. He grabbed his hand and didn't let go, actually requested a hug that he made last over a few seconds. House knew it then. His friend was gone.
Cuddy walked up from behind him and comfortingly grabbed his shoulder. He had been up there too long to just be saying goodbye. "Come on," she whispered, gently tugging on his shoulder to lead him away.
House obliged and allowed her to guide him over to the chairs and sat down. He could still remember, a little over five months ago when he told Wilson to fight because he needed him. Now, here he was, at his funeral wishing there was something more that he could have said. Wondering, if there was one thing that he could have done to have made things go differently.
Cuddy just sat there beside him, holding back her own tears. One hand on his back and the other on his hand. For the past couple of days, he had been like this, distant. And he remained that way through the entire service, just staring.
That night, they returned back to her place. Silent. Rachel was over with her sister and neither of them had to go to work the next day.
House wearily made his way through the darkened room and allowed himself to sink into the couch.
Cuddy headed straight to her room and changed. All she wanted to do was forget about today. Seeing her dead friend and her dazed, absent minded boyfriend, it was too much. She had to be strong though. House was now the weaker of the two, and with him on edge, she had to watch herself, wait to grieve.
Her sweats were on and her hair pulled back. She padded through the hall and stopped at the entrance of the living room. "How you holding up?" she carefully implored.
House remained stoic as he moved his eyes to her. "Better than Wilson," he gruffly answered, a bitter undertone.
Cuddy nodded. She knew better than to say anything more about it at this point. It was still too soon.
House quickly adverted his eyes. He couldn't talk about this, not now.
Cuddy went ahead and joined him on the couch. It took her a minute, but she was able to relax.
No interaction between the two. Just silence. After a minute, Cuddy figured that now was the time to bring up something that had been on her mind all day. "There are some job openings in California," she carefully announced, peeking over to him to see how he took that offer.
Yesterday, she had spent her free time making phone calls and doing some research. Neither of them really had anything keeping them here, except for a job and right now, they both needed a new start. California was about as far away as you could get from New Jersey.
"Trying to get rid of me before I completely lose it?" he harshly questioned, scared to look back at her.
"In LA, there's a couple of openings that you and I could easily get. We could either both go to the same hospital or work at separate ones. Either way, we could stay in the same area," she clarified, pausing as he turned and looked to her. "And it might be better for both our relationship and our careers if you weren't working for me anymore," she added.
House kept his eyes on her, examining her. Just pick up and run away, that was what she was really offering to him. "Okay," he casually answered.
"That's it?" she asked. She had been prepared to argue with him and convince him.
"No, you're going ot have to tie me down and do bad things to me," he replied. He then looked to her, realizing that there was one thing that she forgot to mention.
"When you say same area, do you mean two separate places? Or one place?" he inquired.
Cuddy looked to him for a second. "Could you handle one place?" she asked.
Right now, he was afraid to lose anyone, especially Cuddy. Even if he was rushing into this, all that mattered was that it would keep her there with him. "We basically live together now. The only difference is that neither of us would ever have to drive home to get our clothes," he reasoned, more to convince himself.
Cuddy smiled. "All right," she said and then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. They would be moving in together.
xxx
Vivien sat in the kitchen, staring out the window. She watched as Violet sat out in the gazebo, writing. Her daughter, she could have been out there preparing for college, do something with her life, and now, she had no life. Just an existence in this house, never having anything to look forward to.
Moira entered the room and saw her sitting there, guilty expression on her face. "Don't blame yourself," she said.
Vivien sighed, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "Doesn't matter who you blame, it won't change anything," she explained.
"You can blame me," Tate announced. He really did feel guilty. If he would have made it to her room just a little bit sooner, made her throw the pills up sooner, she might have lived. Maybe even got there before she took the pills. He was dead and stuck in that house, but that didn't mean that he had wished that on her.
That was the first time that he had even spoken a word to Vivien since her death. He could easily see that she was still scorned, and hurt as she turned to look at him.
Deep down, Vivien wanted to blame him for everything, but she couldn't pin Violet's death on him. First off, she knew how stubborn Violet could be, if she wanted to do something, she did it regardless. She had also heard about how he tried to save her.
The room was still and tense. Vivien had no real desire to even be in his company and Tate just didn't want to say the wrong thing.
"You may not have personally killed my daughter, but you did destroy a family," Vivien sorely stated, finally breaking the silence, and then got up and left.
Tate sulked his way over to the back door and watched Violet. The only girl he ever truly loved, the only light in his life that was filled with darkness,wanted nothing to do with him. Her words, she believed that he had changed, she still loved him, but, she could never forgive him.
"This time I believe you have crossed to many boundaries," she offered her opinion.
He heard her, and acknowledged what she said, but didn't care anymore. He had to talk to her. Without hesitation, he stepped outside and hastened towards the gazebo. "Violet?" he called out to her.
Violet looked down and sighed. Eyes filled with sympathy and regret. "I told you Tate, I can't be with you. Not after what happened," she steadily explained.
"I wasn't trying to hurt anyone," Tate said. Violet just ignored him. "Especially you," he added, nearly crying. It was driving him crazy, being stuck there in the same with her, but never able to have her.
Violet still ignored him.
Tate shook his head. "What do you want me to do to show you that it was not personal? Go after the next family that moves in for no reason?" he offered, not able to think clearly anymore.
There was still no response. "Fine," he said and then left her alone.
Violet looked up and watched him leave. She wasn't too worried. He would do just about anything to prove to her that he had changed, and destroying another family would completely contradict that. Also, it has been so long since anyone had even come to see the place that she figured that there would be no one else living there.