A/N: Ok, this is my first fic so don't be too mean! This season has me totally bummed out so this is AU. Just a multi-chap House/Cuddy story to cheer me (and hopefully some readers) up. So here's the deal: Cuddy doesn't have Rachel, no Lucas, and this fic is House/Cuddy established relationship. Let me know if it's too OOC and tell me know how you like it!

P.S.: I forget Cuddy's sister's name, so I'm calling her Julia. But if you know what her name is please tell me!

It was only 10 AM and Lisa Cuddy was already completely stressed out. A very rich couple of donors had just decided against donating a large sum of money to the hospital- money which was needed to purchase a new MRI machine after a certain diagnostician had ordered the test for patient who clearly exceeded the weight limit. (In his defense, the patient really did need the MRI, but House reallyshould have spoken to her- maybe there had been another way so they could spare the poor MRI machine.)

On top of that, her sister had decided that today was a good day to call and brag about her perfect husband, and Lisa had no chance to keep face with her- Julia didn't care about Lisa's success at work, and Lisa was not about to brag about her boyfriend because she hadn't actually mentioned that she even had a boyfriend to her family yet.

And the icing on the cake was that House refused to leave her alone from the moment he came into work, and although that was only five minutes ago, Lisa really needed to get her work done and House was obviously doing everything in his power to distract her.

"House! Can you please just leave me alone to work? Don't make me beg," which she already was doing, of course.

"But Cuddles, I like it when you beg," he answered with a mocking grin. "I also like it when you-"

"Finish that sentence and you're sleeping on the couch."

House clamped his mouth shut for a moment, then said,

"I'm not leaving you alone until you answer a very important question."

"I will not have sex with you in your office."

"Damn. That was my second question."

Lisa sighed and looked up at him. She leaned her head against her hand. "Okay, what's your question?"

House fidgeted a little nervously, as if he didn't really want to hear the answer.

"Do you remember what today is?"

Lisa thought for a moment. His birthday? No. Her birthday? No. Wilson's birthday? No, House wouldn't care about that.

"Um…Tuesday?"

His face fell.

"You forgot."

Lisa started to panic. What had she forgotten?

"What? What is it?"

House groaned and flopped onto the couch, pouting.

"I can't believe you forgot. It's our six month anniversary!"

Lisa glanced down at her calendar, which had been hidden by an innumerable amount of paperwork. Oh, no. He was right. Six months to the day they'd gotten together. The first time he'd told her that he loved her.

"Oh, House, I'm so sorry!" Lisa hurried over to her couch and knelt beside it. "I had so much to do today I completely forgot! How can I make this up to you?"

House sighed before looking at her again. "How 'bout we go out for dinner tonight?"

Lisa smiled. "That would be great." She then suddenly remembered that she had agreed to meet the donors again that night to try and convince them to donate that money.

"But I can't. Damn it! Those donors…" she trailed off.

House nodded in understanding.

"S'ok. The MRI machine was kinda my fault."

"Kinda?" Lisa replied, smirking.

"Ok, definitely my fault, but it wasn't my fault the patient was overweight and needed an MRI!"

"No," she said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're tired," House accused.

Lisa groaned and put her head in her hands. "No, I'm exhausted."

"You need a vacation."

"I can't, I have so much work to do."

"You always have work to do," he pointed out, "and it won't actually get done when you're exhausted like this. Put Jimmy in charge for a while. We could go to a hotel or whatever for a few days."

Lisa thought this over. It did sound really nice. And she really wanted to make it up to House for forgetting their anniversary.

"I'll go talk to James and see what he's doing," she said. "Now get your ass in the clinic!"

"But Moooooom," House whined, "I'm being really nice today."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Just find somewhere nice for us to go, ok?"

"Ok," House answered, and kissed her on his way out.

"Of course I'll help you, Lisa!" James Wilson was as eager as ever to help. "You really do look like you could use a rest. Though I'm sure having House around the whole time will make it…interesting."

Lisa smiled, "Thanks, Wilson. I really do need a break." She paused, then said, "Was House acting…different at lunch today?"

Wilson's smile faltered a little, "Well, he was for a bit, but then after I told him that I was going to be having a slow week, he was himself again."

Lisa nodded. She still felt terribly guilty and wanted to be sure House was all right.

"He seemed anxious this morning, though. Came into my office about ten minutes to 10 and I was surprised that he was here so early. Does that help?"

Lisa sighed and decided to bite the bullet.

"I forgot that today was our six month anniversary," she whispered, feeling quite ashamed of herself. House was handling it so well, but she felt awful.

Wilson sighed. "I guess that explains why he was nervous. He was anticipating that you'd forget."

"Yeah. That's the other reason we're going for a vacation. I really want to make it up to him."

Wilson's smile returned. "Don't worry, Lisa. By the looks of it, he's forgiven you. He's said something about looking at hotels when we were heading back from lunch."

Lisa nodded and thanked Wilson again before heading to House's office.

"Hey, you," Lisa said softly as she entered House's office. He was sitting in front of his computer, looking at different hotels.

"Hey," he replied, just as softly. He didn't want Lisa to think he was angry with her.

"Find anything good?"
"There are waaaaaaaaaaay too many hotels in this world. Oh, but this one has an indoor swimming pool…and it's got some big rooms open…"

Lisa joined him at the computer, looking over his shoulder at the monitor.

"It's not too far away, either. Two and a half hours isn't too bad, is it?" The last thing she wanted was for him to have to be in a cramped car for too long.

"No, I could do that…" House replied pensively. He wanted to make sure it had a nice sized suite, that way they could just stay in and rest if that was what Lisa wanted to do.

"Hey," he said, "Look at this one. The bed is king sized and it has a Jacuzzi bathtub. How does that sound?"

"Really good." Hearing about it made Lisa realize how tired she really was.

"Ok. We'll stay there. When do you want to leave?"

"Well…Wilson is available all week…have you finished your case?"

"Yup," he replied with a grin. "Melanoma, of all things. Sent him down to Richards. He'll be fine; we caught it within the day you gave us the case."

"So…I guess we could leave tomorrow, then?"

"Sounds good to me. I'll have to ask my boss, though. She's real strict," House teased.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll give you the time. She knows how important it is that you spend time with your girlfriend."

House smiled at that, booked the room, and said, "Well, you better go get ready for those donors, right?"

"Yeah. Go get packed. I'll see you later." With that, she kissed him goodbye, and went back to her office to make sure she had everything for her meeting with the donors.

House smiled at her retreating form…and at the extra sway in her step.

A/N: Please review! I'll update if anyone likes it!

XD Sharky