House was trying to ignore the time. She said maybe. 'Maybe' can also mean 'no.' When working together, more times than not he had to scream loud enough to get to turn that 'maybe' into a 'yes.' But, he couldn't this time. In all honesty, he was surprised he got that.

But, it was twenty-four hours later. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

That was running over and over inside his head, and Wilson knew it. He was sitting in the chair watching as House was inside his own head torturing himself. "If you stare at the door it will never open."

"Never? So, we're going to rot in here together?"

Wilson ignored his sarcastic tone. "I know why you are staring. She told me what happened."

House looked away from the door for the first time in the last fifteen minutes. "When did you talk to her?"

"I was with Rachel, when she left your room she came down and got her and we...talked."

"Oh, no," he pawed at his tennis ball that was sitting on the tray next to his empty plate that wasn't collected yet, and was starting to turn it around and around while holding it with both hands. "It's never good for me when you guys talk. She's not coming," he placed the ball back on the tray and looked to his right at the wall. "I was stupid to think she was."

Wilson sighed.

"Are you going to say what you're thinking, or are you going to make me guess?" House asked, looked back at him.

"Would it do any good?"

"Try me. If it doesn't help it will at least give me an excuse to mock you, and that always makes me feel better."

"She...is mad at you, that's for sure. For everything that has happened..that's why she left. So you know she is mad. But..." House's eyes grew bigger in anticipation. "I...really shouldn't say anything. I might have something wrong, I, don't know," Wilson announced and stopped talking.

House could have yelled in frustration, he half expected him to, but, he did what the other half of him expected. He turned his head back to the right to look at the blank wall that gave him no distractions, and went back into his head to figure out the puzzle pieces that Wilson threw at him. The puzzle of what Cuddy is thinking and feeling.

"She's mad...but, she came here...She said it was because Rachel wanted to see me, but, she wasn't in here for that long-"

"No, Rachel did want to see you. I had no choice but to take her out of the room because you and Cuddy were screaming at each other."

House didn't move his head, just moved his eyes to look at Wilson. "Yeah, but, she didn't come back with Cuddy. She came back in alone. To talk to me alone. She came in before Rachel-" his thought was interrupted when the door opened and turned his head toward it.

"Done with your food?" the nurse asked, walking toward his bed and picked up the empty tray.

"No, I'm not." She ignored him, and he noticed. "We have really rude nurses here, you ever notice that Wilson?"

Wilson didn't comment, just smiled politely at the nurse as she walked out and shut the door behind her. "And really bad Doctors. You know not one member of my team has been by to see me once today?"

"None of them wanted to visit their manipulative boss? Shocking. They probably feel like they are on vacation right now." House was staring at the door again. "Now, where was I-"

"House-"

"Now Rachel-"

"Can I leave? You don't need me anymore for this do you?"

"She came in and-"

Wilson sat back and folded his arms over his chest to listen to his friend try and make sense out of yesterday. It hurt him to see him do this, and regretted getting Cuddy involved in the first place. She admitted to still thinking of House, in some way, care, but, he couldn't read her the same way House could. He wished he could give him the answer he was trying to figure out. So, he watched, hoping whatever the conclusion to it is, he is satisfied with it and can move on to something else.

The door opened and they both looked at it shocked. House's hopeful look faded and Wilson looked down when they saw Dominika walk in. "I thought you were lying when you said that you were in here as a patient," she announced walking into the room straight over to the left side of his bed and nodded at Wilson as a hello, as he smiled back.

"Why would I lie about that?"

"Why do you lie about all the things you lie about?" She looked down at his hands. "Why don't you have your ring on?"

House looked down at his left hand and forgot to put it back on after Cuddy left. A part of him didn't even want to. But, he knew why she was asking, why he had to. They had to keep the appearance up of a happily married couple, otherwise, she was gone. He lifted up his ball to retrieve the ring that he was using as a stand so it wouldn't roll all over the place and put it back on.

"I'll be in my office, House. If you need anything," Wilson got up and saw House nod and saw a hint of a miserable expression that he was trying to hide.

Wilson kept his head down in thought of how he left things in House's room the whole time he walked to the elevator and out of it when he reached his office's floor. He passed House's office first which made him feel even more guilty and then turned the small corner to get to his own.

"Oh, good, Wilson, you're here," Cuddy said, closing her cell phone with her right hand and using her left holding Rachel's hand.

"Cuddy, what, are you doing here?"

"That's a loaded question. I came to see how he was doing, but, I was looking for you to see if you can watch Rachel while I go in there," he reached his door that she was standing in front of and moved to the side a little to give him some room to open it.

"Um, yeah, sure. I can do that."

He opened it wide enough to let Rachel walk in but before she did, held out a piece of paper she was holding. "Don't forget to give House this, Mommy."

Cuddy took it from her and touched her back to get her to walk in the room but she was already going in on her own and sat on the couch. Cuddy placed her left hand on Wilson's shoulder, "thanks, Wilson."

"Sure, no problem," he said more to himself then to her as she was already walking down the hall to the elevator he just came out of. He closed the door behind him and looked at Rachel who already found paper to draw on. "This should be interesting."

Cuddy walked out of the elevator and down the hall close to his room. When she got closer she saw the door was open, and heard a woman's voice. She dismissed it as the television. He had to have found a Soap on at this time. She smiled at the image of him sitting there watching it. At least he was behaving himself.

It wasn't until she was exposed in the doorway when she saw the voice wasn't from a TV at all. She recognized the woman as his wife, and tried to keep walking undetected but it was too late. "Hey, you, I know you. Stop, you're the one." Cuddy heard shouted out to her and knew there was no escaping.

"The one?" She looked at her confused but kept her eyes on her and not House who she knew was staring silently at her. She could feel his eyes on her.

"Yeah, the one before me. You know, his one," she pointed in the direction of House.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on anything," she felt refuge when remembering Rachel's picture she drew that she wanted to make sure got to him that Cuddy slipped into her purse and reached out to get it, "Rachel, wanted to give this to you."

She knew he knew she was nervous and awkward, the way she rushed to the bed on the opposite side of Dominika and handed the folded paper to him that he took from her, still without a word.

"I'll leave you two alone," Dominika said, giving House a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you when you get home." House looked over at her, taking his focus off Cuddy briefly to acknowledge her leaving and she walked out and closed the door behind her.

"You came back," he declared, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, to, give you that," Cuddy pointed to the paper he was holding in his hand that she watched him unfold and saw the glimmer of his ring catch the light. It hurt her to see it back on but she tried to force that feeling away.

"Is that the only reason?" He wasn't looking at her, he kept his focus on the now open paper in front of him.

She took a few steps back and sat down in the visiting chair which she noticed felt warm and wondered who was sitting in it before her. "That, and, I wanted to see what your results are."

She pushed back a strand of her hair and House saw her clearly for the first time since she arrived.

"You haven't slept."

"What?"

"You have bags under your eyes, your skin looks flushed, you seem awkward, and you have dressed in one of your usual low cut blouses, but covered it with a jacket when it's 70 degrees outside; which tells me, you planned on dressing nice for me, or maybe it's for something you plan on doing after, but at the last minute you covered yourself which also tells me you are cold."

She stared at him; it's been a long time since she's heard someone pick up on all those little things to come up with a diagnosis like he just did. "You need a patient to obsess over."

"Am I right?"

Their eyes locked. He was waiting for an answer and she was trying to figure out how to answer that question. She knew he would see through her lie if she tried to deny it, so saw no point. "You're an ass; always have been. And before Wilson called me, I probably would have never come to see you again. Ever. But-I've known you for years. I can't ignore that. Ass or not, you've been a big part of my life. I just- need to know you're still around-alive. Because a world without you- without 'Dr. House' to save lives would be a sad one. So yeah, you got me. I didn't sleep because I was worried about you, you miserable bastard."

He smiled. "So, you came to hear me say that I am okay so you can go home and make up for what you lost last night?"

"I want you to say you're okay if it's the truth."

He looked away from her and stared at a spot on the floor on the right side of his bed. He felt her panic surrounding the room. He knew once he told her, he ran the risk of her going away and he wouldn't see her again. He grew too accustomed to her in his life and since she hasn't been in it, he felt lost. He told everyone he was fine, and has moved on, but seeing her now, he doubted that as the truth. He didn't want her to go away and have that happen again.

"House?"

"I'm fine," he said still not looking at her.

He heard a long sigh of relief pour out of her. "I guess that's why Dominika didn't seem too worried when she left." She lifted her left hand to her face, wiping away a tear.

"She doesn't know why I'm here."

"You didn't tell her? Why don't you ever let anyone in?"

"What's the point? To worry people? Or are you still thinking like this hospital's Dean of Medicine and the 'Dr. House' side of things, and how awful it would be for the hospital if I didn't make it?" The look she gave him told him he went too far and calmed down. "Sorry," he looked down.

"You have changed," she announced softly and he looked back up at her. "You never would have apologized like that so quickly in the past. Wilson was right."

"Wilson doesn't know anything," his tone was irritated.

"You're just mad because no matter how much you may be trying to hide from him, he can still see through all your crap. And so can I," he didn't respond, just stared at her silently, and saw his glance moved down to her hand that was resting in her lap.

"Who's the guy?"

"What?"

"That make-up job over the tan line on your left ring finger is a crappy one. Who's the guy?"

She looked down at her hand, "he's no one now. It was a stupid thing I jumped into too fast. It's over."

"Was it anyone I knew?"

"Does it matter?"

"Maybe."

"No, he's no one you know."

They sat there in silence. Neither one not knowing what to say. Just being in each other's company seemed like enough. She inhaled, about to break the silence when she let out the breath slowly when she saw him taking off his ring, placed it on the tray and stared at her. His eyes told her how he was feeling. He wasn't happy. He got stuck in a favor that he felt trapped in. More proof that Wilson was right about his change. The House she knew wouldn't have cared about Dominika's situation. Wilson told her it was just for a Greencard, nothing more. He would have weaseled his way out of it because it wasn't doing him any good, but here he is, still married to her.

"Cuddy, I-"

"Don't House, you don't need to say it."

"But you don't know what I'm going to say!" He was annoyed she wouldn't let him speak. But part of her was afraid to hear it.

"How much longer are you going to be here?"

He scowled that she abruptly changed the subject but answered anyway. "I had them schedule a surgery to take the tumor out. I don't want it to stay in. I go in for that at 6:30."

She looked up at the clock on the wall that read 4:00. She was trying to avoid eye contact with him, feeling him staring at her. "Cuddy," she looked from the clock over at him. "I-"

The door opened and saw his nurse come in. "Time to check your vitals again."

"You have the worst timing! Does it look like my vitals need to be checked? I'll tell you when they need checking!" The nurse ignored his outburst and started to poke around at him.

"How have you been, Lisa?" the nurse asked.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Thinking of coming back here, or are you just passing through?"

Cuddy looked from the nurse's side view over to House who was looking at Cuddy. "Just passing through."

"That's a shame. We all miss you here."

"Thanks, I miss you too."

"Okay, I'm done," the nurse told House who gave her a scowl in response as she fixed his hospital gown and turned to leave.

"I should get going House. Good luck with your surgery." She stood up and adjusted her clothes after sitting.

"So that's it?"

"What do you expect?"

House took a second to answer. He had to say something. She was standing there giving him the chance before leaving. "I can't not have you in my life."

"Wilson said you were doing fine."

He gave her a look that she's seen so many times from him. A look that told her he was anything but fine. She let out a heavy sigh and felt sorry for him. "I'm not promising anything. Good luck with your surgery."

She walked out and he said nothing else to keep her there. He looked back down at the piece of paper from Rachel. She drew a picture of a pirate with a pegleg, and big blocky writing that said 'get one of these and feel better,' with an arrow pointing to the leg.

Cuddy was walking to the elevator and saw Dominika lingering in the hallway. "You can go back in if you want," Cuddy told her.

"You know, Greg is nice to me. He's doing me a big favor without much complaint. That makes me want to make him happy. A part of him is still thinking of you. If you are what makes him happy, I will find someone else to marry. I will divorce him."

Cuddy looked shocked. "That's not what this visit is about. We aren't getting back together. I'm just seeing how he is." Cuddy heard her cell phone alert her of a text message and thought it could be Wilson.

"So you say," she walked passed her leaving. She wasn't going towards House's room, she must have waited to talk to her. Cuddy stood there not knowing what to make of what just happened. Not being able to push away the feeling of relief about House saying that Dominika not loving him being true.

She dug her hand into her purse to look at the display screen on her phone and clicked on the text icon and recognized the number as House's. She exited out, not wanting to read it until she was in the elevator, alone.

She pushed the button and heard it getting closer, but also heard voices she recognized. Foreman and Chase were coming up to this floor. She couldn't deal with seeing them so opted for the stairs.

She opened the door to the staircase and dug back in her purse for her cell phone. She opened the text that read: "Wilson gave me your new number...looks like you're going to have to change it again to get rid of me. Or not give it to Wilson. Because even if he doesn't give it to me, I'll just steal his phone when he's not looking and get it that way. But, I wanted to say that I'm sorry for everything. And for what it's worth, you still make me feel funny."

Cuddy let out a laugh with a tear dropping from her right eye. She stood unmoved at the top of the stairwell with her thumb hovering over the screen, not knowing if she should say anything back. She decided against it. He said all that he needed to say in his text. She slipped her phone back into her purse and started walking down the first flight of stairs, wondering if she should stay until after his surgery...