Hello peoples! This is Tasha, here with a brainblast of ideas that I've been cooking up. Sorry if it sounds like a current popular story on right now, but this isn't, trust me. It's different.

Oh yea, if you like, you must review. OR DIEEE. I mean... I won't feel so happy.

Disclaimer: I don't know any of these peoples. Hey, slavery's against the law!

House lumbered to his door after two light knocks drew his attention. He didn't bother to look through the peep-hole, but was surprised when he opened the door.

"Cuddy?" He said, bewildered.

"Hey, House. I thought I'd come over for a holiday drink. Even on the holidays I'm swamped with work." She said, looking exhausted.

"Not that you'd care, you're an over-achiever, and besides, you're Jewish. Hanukkah was last week."

She glared at him. "Well, doesn't mean that I should work on a holiday." Cuddy shrugged off her coat and folded it over her arms, looking around his apartment. She smiled. "Still as messy as ever, huh?"

"I live in my filth and love it," House growled, limping over to his kitchen. Cuddy draped her coat over a chair already piled with clothes and followed him into the kitchen, and suddenly jumped.

"What?" House said, turning from the open cabinet of liquor. "Oh, I see you've met Steve," He said, indifferent.

"You keep a rat in your kitchen. Eww."

"Steve and his cage are the cleanest things in this apartment," House said, pulling out a full bottle of scotch and a half full bottle of rum. He turned to the refrigerator, and pulled out a bottle of eggnog. "Rats get a bad rep."

Cuddy just kept looking at the rat, which ran endlessly in his wheel. She noticed the cage was clean, and he didn't smell.

"Cuddy? Are you going to stand there all night while I drink all the scotch?" He asked, downing a glass.

She shook her head and walked over, pouring herself a shot. She downed it quickly, followed by six others.

"Sheesh, Cuddy, I didn't know you were such a scotch whore," He said, looking amused.

"Well, I deserve it..." She said, without slurring her words. She downed another shot. "I'm gonna get drunk soon, though." Cuddy said, looking at the bottle.

"I am drunk, Cuddy dear." House said, grinning and drinking from his eggnog spiked with rum.

The drinking like this had gone on only once before, after he sent Stacy away for the final time. She had found out from Wilson about how he sent her away, and came over to make sure he wasn't on the floor, passed out from alcohol poisoning. It had been over two years, almost three.

(flashback)

"House! Greg! Open up, I know you're in there!" Cuddy yelled, knocking rapidly on the apartment door.

"Go away, Cuddy," A groggy, slurred voice replied.

"Open up, House, or I will make you!"

The knob twisted and opened four inches. Greg House's unshaven face appeared in the space. "What do you want, Lisa?" He asked her quietly.

She slipped her arm into the space. "Let me in. I'm here to make sure you don't do anything drastic, like last time.

"Why would I do anything... like that...? I sent her away this time..."

"Yes, and Wilson told me why. Please, please let me in Greg."

The two were on House's lumpy couch, sitting next to each other, plainly drunk. An old movie blared from the screen, but they were too busy drinking and blabbing about work and how bad technology was in the fifties.

"Hey, Lisa?" House's voice said, waking Lisa from her drunken stupor. "Why did you really come over?"

"I needed a drink. You're the best person for that." She said, head against his shoulder.

"Right. Remember when we did this, three years ago? Got drunk and watched movies?"

"Yea, I do, Greg."

(flashback)

"Greg... why did you send her away?" Lisa's voice filled the room, overpowering the movie.

"I told you, Lisa, the same thing I told her. She'd be better off with out me."

"That's bullshit, Greg."

"You're right. It is."

"She was willing to do anything to be with you... she was going to leave her husband. I don't think she expected you to change."

"She would have gotten lonely. She left because she was lonely, last time."

"Crap, House! She left mainly because of the guilt! She would have left you before if it was all about being lonely."

"You don't know." He said quietly.

"Stacy was my friend, too. One of my best. She was my friend again when she was back."

"Lisa..." He said quietly.

"I feel guilty for your leg, too. We both felt so damn guilty for crippling your damn leg! You don't know what she went through! You don't know what I went through!" Tears slid down her cheeks.

"Lisa..." He said, brushing the tears from her cheeks. "You have no reason to be sorry."

"I'm still sorry, Greg. About your leg." Lisa said quietly.

Greg wrapped his arm around her. "It's okay. Don't be."

A knock echoed through the room. "I'll get it, Lisa."

He didn't look through the peephole, just opened the door all the way. His eyes widened.

"Who is it, Greg?" Lisa's voice filled his ears.

He was silent, just looking at the visitor.

"Greg?" Lisa asked, getting up. She began to walk over to the door.

House finally said the words he never thought her would say again.

"Hi, Stacy."