Cuddy still felt guilty about having to amputate Alfredo's hand. She knew the situation had called for it but maybe had she kept her feelings out of it he would still have his hand and his livelihood.

She had to vent to somebody. She certainly couldn't vent to House, he would be like a broken record. He would say 'I told you so' over and over. Wilson would of course parrot everything she said back to House. Stacy was the next closest thing she had to a friend in the hospital.

They were talking when House walked into her office. Apparently she was being sued, great.

Before he left House did something to surprise her though. He didn't say 'I told you so', in fact he made her feel better about the whole situation. With his own brand of melancholy of course tacked on, but with House what else is to be expected?

"You see the world as it is and you see it as it could be."

Here it comes, she thought. But no, he wasn't about to get on her back about being emotionally detached.

"What you don't see is what everybody else sees: the giant gaping chasm in between. You're not happy unless things are just right." He folded his hands over his cane. Stacy and Cuddy both waited for him to finish.

"Which means two things. You're a good boss," he said, "and you'll never be happy."

And with that he was leaving. As he reached the door he turned around.

"Why does everyone think we had sex?" he asked Cuddy. "Think there's something to it?"

He shut the door behind him before any response could be formulated- from Cuddy or Stacy. Stacy gave Cuddy a questioning glance.

"You and House sleeping together, ha. That's absurd." She laughed almost nervously.

Cuddy laughed with her, but she kept her mouth shut and looked at her computer. Stacy raised her eyebrows at Cuddy.

"Right?" she asked.

"Uh, right. Absurd." Cuddy replied. She was walking on thin ice here. Stacy saw right through her and gasped.

"Please say you and House haven't-" she broke off her sentence. She exhaled. "You know what I mean."

Cuddy wasn't sure whether this situation called for her to lie or to bring up her and House's past at Michigan. Stacy really was becoming her friend, but she wasn't really sure what was going on between Stacy and House lately. There was certainly something happening there.

Stacy was looking at her expectantly. It was now or never, admit the truth or lie to her face and deal with repercussions later if they ever arose.

Cuddy held her thumb and first finger an inch away from each other as if to say, just a little bit.

"It was only once. Forever ago, really, in college."

"What?"

Cuddy buried her face in her hands, embarrassed.

"Just the once, it was a one night stand. It meant close to nothing."

"Close to nothing? So not quite nothing?"

Cuddy looked up expecting to see Stacy mad, but she had a grin on her face. Was she amused by this? Cuddy let out a small laugh of relief.

"It was nothing at all." She chuckled.

"I want details." Stacy said with a wide smile. They were about to have one of those girly talks like high school teenagers do.

[H] [H] [H] [H]

House sat alone with his reading glasses resting on the bridge of his nose and his feet resting on the top of his desk. He had his hands folded across a books spine on his stomach, and as Stacy walked in she couldn't help but think he looked almost peaceful. Emphasis on almost.

"Hey there." She greeted him.

He nodded his hello.

"Anything you need or-?"

"Remember yesterday in Cuddy's office how you brought up the way everyone thinks you two had sex?"

House lowered his book suspiciously.

"Yes." He said with a quizzical tone.

"That's funny, because Cuddy told me a little story about Michigan."

"Did she?"

"Yep. She did."

"And what did this little story entail?"

"I think you know." Stacy had a sly grin on her face like she knew something he didn't and he wanted to wipe it off.

They both knew the exact story that was shared.

If he were being completely honest, he was mad Cuddy said anything about it at all. It had been more than twenty years since it had happened, and he never told anyone. He didn't brag about it, though at times he wished he could. He didn't tell Wilson, he didn't tell anybody. Why hadn't Cuddy kept this between them too? He didn't think Cuddy and Stacy were even that close.

"Look, it was a long time ago, whatever happened doesn't concern you."

"I know. Cuddy said, and I quote, it meant nothing at all to her."

That surprised House. He didn't think their night together meant nothing at all.

"She said that, did she?"

Stacy noticed the look on House's face. He looked slightly ticked off. Earlier she had been laid back about it because she really had assumed it was impossible for them to be anything between him and Cuddy. She assumed it would be something like an old joke. Suddenly she wasn't so sure. Her smile faltered and she felt the tiniest ripple of jealousy run through her.

"Yeah, it was nothing, though, right? Just a one night stand?"

"Why does it matter? You have Mark, why are you so interested?" House knew exactly why she was so interested though. Stacy would never be over him.

She was no longer smiling, but looking stunned. From the way House looked, the 'one night stand' meant something to him. She was hearing one thing from Cuddy and seeing another with House. Somehow she sensed House's reaction was the more honest of the two.

He hopped out of his seat and promptly left the office.

[H] [H] [H] [H]

House limped into Cuddy's office. She glanced up at him and he did not look happy.

"You told Stacy about Michigan?" he demanded an explanation.

"She asked. I answered." Cuddy continued to sort out papers on her desk.

"I always thought was just between us."

"You're just mad because I'm crimping your plans to take Stacy away from Mark and ride off into the sunset with her."

That answer seemed to infuriate him further. His nostrils flared lightly before he had a sobering moment and calmed himself.

Cuddy stopped and met his gaze. It was an intense stare that was almost difficult to hold for too long.

"It's not about that and you know it."

And she did know it. Stacy might very well be the first person to know about that outside of House and Cuddy themselves. It was almost a solemn secret they shared over all these years. She suddenly wished she had said nothing at all. It was like something sacred was lost and she was only just feeling the impact of it now. This was the first time they had both acknowledged that night directly in a very long time.

She tried to show her regret in her expression, to show him she understood.

"I know."

He stared at her for a long while. Cuddy began to wonder what he was thinking.

"Stacy said you told her it didn't mean anything at all to you."

Jesus, she really spilled the beans.

"I said that, but I didn't mean it, House." she narrowed her eyes. "Did it mean something to you?"

"Of course it did."

"Really? Because when you didn't call me the next day, the next week, and then the next 12 years I was pretty sure I was just another notch on your bed post that night."

"You were never just anything, Cuddy." He said. His voice was softer than usual when he said this.

Hold the phone, House doesn't say things like that. He makes fun of people who say things like that. He didn't look sarcastic, so she was forced to assume he meant it. She just didn't have any viable response.

Now he was really trying to piss her off. He couldn't just come and say these things to her twenty years after the fact. Those were the things he as supposed to tell her when it all happened, when she needed to hear it. Not now.

House looked at her and waited for something, anything. Cuddy sighed.

"Well you certainly didn't make that clear." She said angrily. "I thought I was just another Friday night quickie to you then and I still do."

And with that she stood up and marched out of her office, leaving him alone.

House shook his head, obviously still upset that she told Stacy everything. It was the one intimate thing between them that was just theirs. Or at least he thought it was, maybe Cuddy didn't see it that way at all.


More to come! That is if this doesn't suck and my muse cooperates of course. Leave me a review!

-Tiff