Hearts get Harder

A/N: I've been having a lot of trouble with my Huddy fic the few weeks and decided that I should take a bit of a break from it...I'm not giving up, just taking a break...and this is something I thought I'd have fun with in the mean time....

The story centers on Cuddy and Chase, and their respective relationships with House and Cameron. It is Chuddy and it will eventually be somewhat smutty so if you don't get down with that don't even bother. Everyone else, I hope you enjoy and please leave me a review to help keep this rolling =)

Also...Some slight spoilers for season 6 but very minor and I kind of put my own spin on them...

Prologue:

CUDDY:

It's a strange thing when your life turns out just the way you want. Perfect job, perfect child, and now the most perfect love with an imperfect man. When House came back it was easy to fall into old routines. He struggled but something had softened in him, something that was imperceptible to anyone except for those who knew him best. And when you said to him now or never, all or nothing, the speed with which he chose all and now nearly floored you.

Except that when the endorphins wear off and the fairytale ends, what you're left with is a real life that presses down on you in every direction. And a man who at his core will never really change. You used to tell yourself that you loved that about him, but when you saw he was in pain and he closed the door in your face as you reached out to hold him, you knew. That man will never truly open his heart to you.

CHASE:

You used to be so jealous of him. You used to want to take away everything he had. Even though, in many ways, he was the only man you ever really looked up to. The only man whose approval ever mattered. He wasn't there on the day you and Cameron married, and in the back of your mind you wondered, would she go through with it if she knew he were watching?

No one had the power to hurt you the way she did. And she did. She hurt you every time she got the chance. With sex, with House, with sperm. Now, as the two of you sit side by side around the old conference table, staring at a white board full of symptoms and House in the corner offering no real opinion, she's ready to hurt you all over again.

Chapter 1:

Cuddy crossed her legs and looked up from her monitor as Chase tapped on her office door and she waved him in. He looked tense and upset but as soon as his eyes hit the mess of papers, crayons, and toys littering the office floor with Rachel perched on her bottom in the middle of the pile, his lips formed a soft smile.

"Redecorating?" He asked Cuddy, his eyebrows lifted in amusement.

"My nanny's sick," she said. "What's up?"

Chase closed the door behind him and took a seat in front of her. "I need a favor." Rachel half crawled, half scooted over to his chair and grabbed a hold of his leg. Chase looked down at her, and before Cuddy could get up, Chase scooped her into his arms and sat her in his lap. "She's just saying hi," he told Cuddy. "She's fine."

Cuddy smiled slightly and nodded. "What favor? I can't send you back to surgery yet, I'm sorry, but House isn't ready to come back for real and—"

"Actually," Chase interrupted her. "I was hoping we could make my spot on the team more permanent." Chase looked away from Cuddy and down at Rachel who had settled peacefully in his arms. He thought about Cameron and her dead husband's sperm and wondered when, if ever, he would be ready to have a child with her. He didn't hear Cuddy who had been trying to get his attention. "What?"

"I said why do you want to be back on the team?"

"Does the reason matter?"

Cuddy considered this for a moment and then, "Yeah it does. Is it because of Cameron? Does she want back on the team now too?"

"No," Chase said firmly. "I'm an opportunist, remember? With House no longer in charge I might actually be able to make a name for myself in that department."

Cuddy raised her eyebrows. "That's not the reason Chase, and don't think I'm going to help you if you lie to me." He clinched his jaw but didn't answer. "Does Cameron know you want to go back?"

Chase shook his head. "I haven't told her yet," he whispered.

Cuddy stood up and came around the desk, leaning on it in front of him and picking up her daughter who had reached out for her. She placed her free hand on Chase's shoulder and the shock of her touch furrowed through him. He looked up at her immediately, and a stray lock of blond hair fell over his eyes.

"Is everything okay between you two?" Cuddy felt awkward asking; she didn't know them well enough to get so personal, but he seemed genuinely upset and she wanted to know why.

"We're fine."

"More lying?" Cuddy moved her hand off his shoulder and walked Rachel over to the play-pin set up next to the desk. She turned back to Chase, deciding that it wasn't really any of her business, but she'd need to talk to House first. "I'll see what I can do," she said.

Chase stood up and nodded. "Thank you," he said, his voice low and raspy. He turned to leave but stopped at the door. "I saw her with House." He didn't turn around but he knew he caught Cuddy's attention when her rustling around the room stopped. "In his office. They were hugging."

Cuddy felt a jealous stab, but shook it off quickly. "It's Cameron," she said. "She sees a hurt puppy and her reflex reaction is to hug it. It's nothing."

Chase turned around and strode toward Cuddy and stopped within inches of touching her. "He hugged her back."

Cuddy shook her head. "It's nothing," she said again, a little slower this time.

"I know that," Chase said. "I know because he has you now. He'd be an idiot to give that up for Cameron."

"That's an odd thing to say coming from Cameron's husband," Cuddy could feel a heat settling between them, and knew anyone looking in from the outside would think them too close for comfort, but she didn't move away; something held her there.

Chase reached out and brushed her fingers with his. "It's the truth," he said. "I just hope House realizes it."

He lingered a second longer and then moved away from her and toward the door. Cuddy was left feeling flustered and oddly affected. Such a display was absurd; a junior fellow walking up to the Dean of Medicine and…what? Making a pass at her? Was that what that was?

By the time Cuddy got home, House had already drug the entire contents of her kitchen out onto the counters and had a steamy pot nearly bubbling over on the stove.

"If I knew you were leaving early, I would've had you bring Rachel home. She was stuck in the office with me all day."

House shrugged. "She's fine there with you," he said. He reached for a spoon and dipped it into a creamy white wine sauce on the island and then reached it over to her. "Taste this," he said. Cuddy leaned in and sipped the sauce onto her tongue.

She smiled. "Delectable."

"You likes?" She smiled at him and nodded. House turned back to the stove. "So, Cameron hugged me today."

Cuddy paused. "Okay," she said. "That was random."

"Just thought you should know. You know in case someone saw something I didn't want you to get the wrong idea or anything."

"How sweet," she said, and shook her jacket off and laid it across the back of a chair. She had already decided against telling him about her and Chases little moment—whatever—in her office today.

"I'm reformed, remember." He dropped some chopped onions into a pan and they sizzled as they hit the heat.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," she said. House grunted but didn't answer. "Chase…wants to come back to work in diagnostics."

House paused, but still didn't turn around. "That's stupid, why would he want to do that, it's like a step back for him."

Cuddy moved cautiously around the counter to stand next to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Not as a fellow," she said. "I…I want to make him an attending. He'd be working with you and Foreman, not under you."

She felt his arm tense for a moment and then he let out a small laugh. "Sure," he said. "Why not promote them all, Taub and Thirteen too. Then we can hire more fellows, and make them attendings too."

"I'm serious House, I want to know what you think."

House grew quiet for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders and Cuddy's hand off of him. "It's not my department anymore," he said. "Not my call. You should be talking to Foreman." Cuddy didn't move away from him, until they hear Rachel cry out from the other room.

"House?" She was nearly pleading with him now.

"Baby's crying," he said and turned his back to her.

tbc...