A/N: I decided the first chapter wasn't much so I finished the second in a bit of a rush.

Chapter 2 (N.W.O.)

"Sweet," House breathed under his breath, his eye's searching the hospital lobby for any signs of administration.

An hour and a half late, House strolled into the hospital carefree. He half expected a Cuddy wanna-be patrolling the hospital entrance for culprits like him, but the coast appeared to be clear.

Too many times he's experienced lowly assistants and obnoxious board members trying to snap him into line the moment the boss was out of the office, but it was a nice change of pace not having to argue his way out of an innocent sleep in.

Hitting the 'up' button on the elevator, House hummed a nameless tune.

"You're late," Wilson said coming up beside House, a folder in hand.

Checking his watch and mocking surprise, "Well would you look at that, I am late."

Rolling his eyes Wilson began to read the file as he and House entered the elevator.

"You know Cuddy put Foreman and Cameron in charge of keeping you in line, right? Cameron's bringing you files from the ER and Foreman needs to agree with any wild tests you'll be sure to run."

House bounced his cane and watched the numbers indicating what floor they were passing, light up. He knew Foreman and Cameron would be the forerunners while Cuddy was gone, but what he was more curious to know was who would be the ultimate decider if things got really hairy.

"And let me guess, the final vote doesn't go to the audience but one James Wilson if Foreman and I result in a tie?"

Stopping at the appropriate floor, Wilson and House left the lift, "Yes."

He simply walked away and left House with his thoughts.

Finding his indifference interesting, House was slightly more annoyed he didn't get to share his latest piece of gossip. Two days post-kiss and House still hadn't told Wilson. The information had settled and decided a days worth of digestion was plenty and he had to share the information with his partner in crime. He'd been doing a grand job avoiding any over analyzing but knew it was time to come to terms, Cuddy wouldn't be on holiday forever and he needed another, more emotionally channeled, individuals opinion.

Deciding it could wait a couple more hours, House headed for his office.

"Well," he started without properly announcing himself, "what'd Miss Teen Nebraska bring us today?" He dropped his backpack out of the way and proceeded to take off his coat.

"You're late." Foreman stated.

"And you know how to tell time." House said easily, beginning to take tally of how often Foreman was going to call him out on things; pay back would be immanent once order was restored.

"Well she…" Kutner began but was quickly cut off.

"I'm sure it won't be challenging, I'm sure it won't be worth my valuable time and I'm positive it won't be Lupus. But what the heck, I feel like a million bucks this morning- humor me."

House seated himself at the head of the glass table and, with his arms folded across his chest, waited to be unimpressed.

"Cameron hasn't brought us anything." Kutner said, finishing what would have been his original sentence.

Taking in the scene he walked into, House noticed the deck of playing cards between Taub and Kutner and the open book in front of Thirteen. Foreman was reading a paper and merely shrugged when House looked his direction.

"Huh." Surprised the rambunctious blond didn't take the first opportunity to exercise her temporary influence over House and House's team, the man stood up and exited the room.

"Where are you going?" Thirteen shouted after him, her patients already spread thin from him being late and lack of a case.

"Page me when there's actual work to be done." Said House from the other side of the glass wall.

Why Cameron wasn't at his door, seven files in hand, preaching to him about punctuality, was lost on him. The woman had a knack for zipping to his side at each plausible reason she found. While he was interested to know why Cameron wasn't around when he expected her to be, House headed to another colleague to harass.

Without knocking, House barged into Wilson's office to find him examining a set of x-rays.

He sat down without saying a word, deciding Wilson needed to initiate the conversation.

"What?" Asked the oncologist after a minute of silence.

Sitting forward and resting his chin on his folded hands crossed over his cane, House thought of the best way he could deliver the news.

"I went to Cuddy's the other night,"

Wilson nodded in accordance when House took a moment too long to continue, "and?"

"And we kissed."

"You kissed her?"

"No," he corrected, "we kissed each other. There's a difference."

"Not really." Wilson said, his mind digesting this new information.

House sat back more comfortably, "Yes, really."

Not in the mood to argue technicalities, Wilson waved it off, "Whatever. But you kissed?"

"She was upset, she shouted and we kissed." House said as if it were the most natural occurrence in the world.

Shocked House had finally done something about his and Cuddy's twisted relationship, Wilson didn't know where to start. He'd actually been quite upset with the way House handled the adoption and was meaning to talk to him about it.

It would have gone something like this: He would chastise him for treating their good friend with little compassion and zero respect. House would rationalize, argue that he was being what no one else wanted to be: the voice of reason. And a lesson would be lost on a man in complete denial.

Knowing how it would end before it began; Wilson saved his breath for another day. But with this new revelation, Wilson began to analyze House's attitude towards Cuddy's adoption in a completely different light.

"I didn't go over there to kiss her, if that's what you're thinking." He added quickly before Wilson got any ideas.

Pushing all his other analytical questions to the side, Wilson focused on his motives, "Then why did you go over there? You knew she'd be upset, you knew she'd take it out on you," taking a breath and recalling the days events, "you bullied her into such self-doubt I can't imagine what she was feeling. You did all you could to convince her she wasn't fit for the job."

"I know," House muttered, afraid to admit he was quite ashamed. He stared out the window and tried to remember his initial reasons for going over there.

The moments leading up to him arriving were all a blur, but it felt natural, like he was going to pester her in her office. But instead it was her home and she had just suffered a terrible loss. And when he saw her, broken and stripped of whatever armor she had, he broke inside too.

She was right to be angry with him, but he wasn't ready for how he would feel when she was.

He was genuinely confused, her question was so simple and innocent, he couldn't think of anything remotely smart, just the truth.

"Why do you need to negate everything?"

"I dunno."

When it came out of his mouth, he knew it wasn't a lie. He was being sincere; no ulterior motives in mind. He wasn't afraid and he wasn't trying to manipulate her, he was just being honest. Then he began to look, really look. All he saw was her. Not her the administrator or her the doctor, but her the woman. She was beautiful, smart, kind and in that moment he didn't want anything more than to comfort her, to hold her and tell her everything would be all right…

"House?"

Snapped from his trance, House kept his composer and turned to Wilson.

"I don't know why I went over there." He said just as honestly as he had been the night at Cuddy's.

His confusion evident, he repeated to himself, "I don't know."

Wilson just stared in silent awe. After years of angst, arguing and arbitrary circumstances, his two closest friends were finally taking the necessary steps to being happy.

"Well what are you going to do?"

Looking up, House wracked his brain, trying to predict the future outcome of the sticky situation he found himself in was far more difficult than he anticipated. Frustrated, he stood up to leave.

"I don't know," He stated for the third time.

"House, what are you going to do? She's your boss and she won't be gone forever," House stood to leave but the information was starting to settle for Wilson and he was quickly becoming worried for his two friends. House and Cuddy went way back and knew that this could end very well or very, very bad.

"Thank-you, Captain Obvious," House started for the door and called back to Wilson as he left, "Maybe by the time she's back things would have blown over- two days is like forever in woman years."

A/N: I'm not very happy with this, to be honest. But I need to keep myself moving or it'll stay on my hard drive for another two weeks and come out the same as it is now. Getting House's emotions was a bit tougher than I thought it would be. Hopefully I'll be a bit more satisfied with the next chapter.