AN: Again, not stopping DR, just had to write this. This is set about two years ahead; but Cuddy never dated Lucas, she and House began dating soon after he got back from Mayfield. Also, House seems a bit OOC for me, but I think he'd be like that.
And it feels like tonight.
I can't believe I'm broken inside.
Can't you see that there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you?
And it feels like tonight,
Tonight.
-Feels Like Tonight [Chris Daughtry]
Cuddy yawned, looking up from her laptop, glancing towards the clock. A set of slightly uneven footsteps caused her to glance towards the bedroom, and she smiled.
"You coming to bed soon?" House looked at her, sitting down besides her on the couch, winding his arm around her waist. "It's rather cold in that bed without you," he kissed her cheek gently, before lifting the laptop from her hands and setting it on the coffee table.
"Fine," Cuddy reached around House, powering off her laptop and tucking it into it's case. "I guess so."
"Good," House pulled her up, keeping her smaller, slightly colder hand in his. "You look exhausted right now," he let her slip into the bedroom before him, and she grabbed a t-shirt and shorts from the dresser, before disappearing into the bathroom to change.
"You know, we've been together for almost two years, and we're getting married in five months; I don't think you need to change in the bathroom anymore Lise."
"I know," Cuddy came out of the bathroom and crawled under the covers, looking up at House, "I enjoy torturing you."
"I noticed," House pulled the covers over himself, kissing her lips chastely, "You've always been good at playing that game."
"What game?" Cuddy looked at him innocently, tracing circles on his chest.
"The 'Let's Use Every Moment We Have to Annoy Gregory House' game," House kissed her lips gently, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"Oh really?" Cuddy teased, snuggling against him, "I'm sure my kisses are very annoying."
"Oh yes," House smiled at her, "I can't get anything done when you're around me. You mean too much to me for me to have to focus on anything else." He bent down, kissing her lips passionately, before pulling back, "That's why I love you."
"I love you too," Cuddy wrapped her arms around his neck as best she could, kissing him back. She felt House's arms slip around her waist and let his kisses trail down her neck to her collarbone. His hands slid down her arms and he wrapped one around her waist, the other resting on her stomach gently. After toying with the hem of her shirt, he slid his hand under it, feeling her shiver under the touch of his fingers.
"Lise...?" House pulled back, running his fingers over a ridge on her stomach, "What...?" He pulled away from her, feeling her shudder as he ran his fingers along the ridge again.
"Greg, stop," Cuddy sounded nervous, and she twisted away from him, letting his fingers fall on the bed between them.
"What's wrong Lise?" House propped himself up on one arm, "What did I say?" He reached towards her arm, pulling her towards him, "Talk to me, please."
"It's nothing, I'm just tired."
"You weren't tired five minutes ago," House sat up, turning on the bedside light, reaching for Cuddy;s arms, which were crossed across her stomach.
"I am now, okay?" Cuddy snapped, but she allowed House to pull her arms away and she bit her lip, which didn't go unnoticed by him.
"What's this Lise?" He looked up at her, running his finger along a slightly jagged scar across her stomach.
"Nothing," Cuddy slapped his hands away and rolled onto her side, facing away from him, a few tears slipping down her cheeks.
"Lise," House bent his head to her cheek, kissing her tears away gently, "Talk to me, please."
"No," Cuddy shied away from him, slipping out of the bed and tying a bathrobe around herself.
"Lise, please," House nearly threw himself across the bed, moving towards her quickly. "Listen to me," he grabbed her by the shoulders, "I want you to talk to me, right now."
"No," Cuddy shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks, and she shrugged out of his grasp.
"Lisa Evelyn Cuddy, what the hell is going on?" House cried, grabbing Cuddy's wrist as she moved towards the door, "I open myself up to you, let you in, have a true relationship with you, propose to you and promise to love you forever. Then because of this scar, now you're going to crawl back into your shell and keep me out? I let you in, why can't you let me in?"
"Greg, please," Cuddy wiped a few tears off her cheeks, "I just … I can't talk about it now."
"Then when Lisa?" House snapped, "We're getting married in five months, I'm, not going to wait until months after we get married for you to tell me about your scar."
"Then don't," Cuddy was yelling at him, even though she didn't want to, "Call off the wedding, tell them that you couldn't handle not knowing about one simple scar!"
"Lise," House reached forwards, cradling her in his arms, "I'm not gonna call off the wedding, okay? You know that, you're just overreacting to this." He kissed her forehead, "Whatever happened that caused you to have that scar is frightening you, scaring you, or something, and I want you to talk to me about it."
"No," Cuddy pulled away from him and turned on her heel, "Greg, please; I can't talk about this, not now." She made her was towards the door, "I'm going to head over to Katheryn's for the night, I just … I can't be here right now."
"Lise," House limped towards the door, meaning to catch her hand, but she pulled it shut quickly, leaving him standing in the foyer alone.
"Hello?" The phone was picked up on the second ring, "Alexia Cuddy speaking."
"Lexi, it's Greg." House began, "We need to talk."
"Greg! How've you been?" Alexia missed the seriousness in his voice, "You and Lisa have probably been too busy planning the wedding to spare a call to her mother. Am I right?"
"Alexia, I need to know something." House began, and he could almost see Alexia freeze in shock and fear at his tone. "The scar Lisa has, on her stomach, how did she get it?"
"Greg," Alexia began, sounding worried, "You should be talking to Lisa about this, she's your fiancee, and its her scar."
"She got upset, she's at Katheryn's right now," House began, "I've never seen her so upset in her life. I'm just worried about her."
"Greg," Alexia began, "Are you going to talk to Lisa about this?"
"Of course I am!" House was starting to grow impatient, "I'm going to drive over there and talk to her after."
"Well," Alexia began, "You two had one night together when she was in Michigan; as you know, obviously. Do you know how upset she was after you left?"
"No, but..." House began, trying to put two and two together.
"She got pregnant Greg, with your child." Alexia began, and House's mouth fell open in shock, "She left Michigan as soon as she found out, it was too much for her."
"I ..." He didn't know what to say, "What …?"
"She was heartbroken when she found out that you transferred, she called me later that day and told me everything; from when you met, up until when she realized she loved you." Alexia explained, "She kept asking me to drive up there and get her once she realized that you had left; to her it wasn't just that you left the school, you left her. Every day, she continued to beg me to come and get her, so finally, one weekend, just before New Year's, Max and I drove up to see her." She sighed, "Lisa was a wreck; she didn't even know we were coming, but when I saw her, I knew I should have come earlier. She looked completely horrible, her eyes were red and puffy and she told me that she could barely sleep at night."
"God," House sat on the living room couch, "I wish I hadn't been such an idiot and just left her."
"It wasn't your fault Greg," Alexia insisted, "We didn't know how she was doing either, and when she told me that the baby was yours, I asked her if she wanted me to try and track you down. She didn't want any of it, she never wanted you to know."
"So what happened?" House could barely focus, his thoughts drifting between Cuddy, their child, their one night in college, and Rachel, who was asleep in the bedroom down the hall.
"We took her out right after the first semester ended, she didn't want to be there, now that she knew she was carrying your child." she went on, worried for her daughter, "When she got home, she refused to leave the house unless she was going to the doctors; she stayed shut in her room all day and didn't want to talk to anyone. She even shut me out, and her sister, Julie, who she shared everything with; we were all outcasts. Not once, did she call any of her friends, or invite them over; she just sat in her room, all day, listening to music, reading and writing. At once point, she lost it completely, she told me that she never wanted to be a doctor again, she just wanted to curl up and die."
"But she called me … that March," House began.
"I know she did, but she didn't tell you about the baby. Right?"
"No," House replied, "She just told me that she was under a lot of stress and didn't want to stay in the field. I told her that she was going to be the endocrinologist out there. She laughed at that one all right, told me that I was the cheesiest person on Earth before staying that I was right, and that she couldn't give up." He smiled at the memory, "Then she told me that she had to go, that was the end of the conversation, I never heard from her until she was my attending when I had my infarction."
"Well, she seemed a bit happier after that," Alexia cut him off, "she told me that she talked to you, but she never told me why, or what you two talked about. I honestly think she was a bit embarrassed that she called you after she made it very clear to me that she didn't want to have anything to do with you. Anyways," she sighed, "the baby was early by nearly a month, so Max and I both brought her into the hospital. I'll never forget the look on her face when they told her that they had to do a C-section, you know they weren't perfect then with those. She was so frightened and was nearly in tears when we got there."
"What happened to the baby?" House cut Alexia off, hoping to get to the point.
"Lisa lost her," Alexia's voice dropped, "She was born too early and they weren't able to do anything."
"Thanks," House stood, grabbing his jacket, "I … uh … need to go find Lisa, make sure she's all right." He hung up without waiting for a response and headed off towards Katheryn's apartment.
"Lisa, Katheryn, open up!" House banged on the door, and it swung open.
"She's in the guestroom," Katheryn looked slightly annoyed but let him in, "Bring her home, she wants to go home."
"Okay," he was already at the door to the room, "Lise?" He pushed it open and slipped inside, "Hey, Katheryn said you want to go home?"
Cuddy nodded, hugging him tightly, tears soaking his shirt, "Can we go now?"
Something in her voice made House hold her tighter, letting her sob onto his shirt as he rocked her back and forth, rubbing soothing circles on her back. He slipped his hand in hers and they walked from the room together, heading to the car.
"Lise," House closed the door behind her, "Please, just come here and we can talk."
"Is that what this was about?" Cuddy cried, "You wanted me home so you could talk about my scar again?"
"Lise," House took her hand, "I called your mom, she told me everything." He nodded at her questioning gaze, "Yes, even about the baby. Lise, I'm so sorry, I would have been there for you." He pulled her down on the couch besides him, "You know that," he kissed her cheek, "I love you, more than anything."
"Greg, please..." Cuddy whispered, feeling House run his fingers along the scar, "Stop it."
"Why Lise?" House leaned forwards, kissing her forehead gently, "You don't need to be ashamed of your scar, it's part of who you are." He took her hand in his and rested it on his jeans, above the scar on his thigh, "I've learned that too, no matter what I think of it, or what happened, I can't change it."
"But ..." Cuddy went to respond, but House silenced her with a gentle kiss to her lips.
"Don't worry about it Lise, just please tell me, what would our baby's name have been?"
"Grace Anima Rosaline," Cuddy smiled up at him nervously, "Do you like it?"
"I love it," House pulled Cuddy towards him, but pulled back, hearing a noise behind them.
"Forget I was here?" Ellis smiled at them, "I'll be leaving now, night you two lovebirds."
"What...?" Cuddy looked confused as Ellis left.
"I called her on the way over, I don't think mommy would be too happy if I left her precious daughter home alone at night."
"You did!" Cuddy slapped his chest playfully, "You're an ass."
"And you've got a cute one," House smirked at her, slapping it playfully. "Let's get you to bed Lise, you've had a long day." Cuddy slipped her hand in his, letting him pull her up and they made their way to the bedroom, much happier than they had been a few hours ago.
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