CHAPTER TWO:

After changing into sweats and putting Rachel to bed, Cuddy collapsed into uncontrollable sobs on her living room couch. The stress and heartache of all that had happened hit her like a freight train. She continued grabbing tissue after tissue for hours until the pace was slowed by the ringing of the telephone. After taking a few deep breaths, Cuddy picked up the phone and answered with a weak "hello." The voice on the other line happened to be Wilson's.

Concerned about her, Wilson inquired, "Are you okay?"

It seemed ironic that the question she asked House was now posed to her by their close friend Wilson. What seemed more ironic was Cuddy's answer to Wilson.

"No, I'm not okay." She then broke down on the phone.

It seemed rather symbolic that Cuddy had given Wilson the exact same response that House had given her. It just served as true proof to the similar personalities these two individuals shared and the pain they were both enduring right now even though they were far apart.

Sensing her anguish Wilson quickly responded, "I'm coming over." He then hung up the receiver and made his way to Cuddy's house.

In a matter of minutes, Wilson arrived at Cuddy's. Hearing his knock, Cuddy got up to open the door. Upon seeing his face on the other side, all Cuddy could do was collapse in his arms much as he did when Amber was at death's door.

As Wilson hugged her, Cuddy managed to let out a small cry of anguish uttering, "Oh God, Wilson."

Trying to console her as best he could, without breaking down himself, he rubbed her back and repeated softly, "It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay."

They stood like that for a few minutes until Wilson decided to usher her to the couch.

"Come on." He said sweetly as he guided her there.

Once they sat down, she leaned on his shoulder with her left hand on his chest. He put his left arm around her shoulders and his right around her waist. Gently, he rested his chin on her head as she continued to cry.

Again he tried to calm her, "He's going to be okay. This could be a good thing for him."

She sat up, to look him square in the eyes, and questioned, "How could it possibly be good for him, Wilson? You know he relies on his mind for everything. How could losing the one thing he depends on in his life be good?"

"You know how he is. He bottles everything up. His mind was in a million different places these past several months and, as usual, he continued to deflect and be a stubborn ass. Things were bound to explode at some point. Between the leg pain and the emotional stress, things get to be too much for him, he starts taking way too much Vicodin again and all hell breaks loose."

She retorts, "Not this much, Wilson. Not like this." She begins to wipe her tear-soaked face as she says, "What's going to happen to him? How is he going to function without his puzzles, without people he trusts around him…..dealing with pain that will drain him and leave him in some heap….alone….in the cold confines of some psychiatric institution? This is not the way it's supposed to be. He's supposed to be here…being an ass….pushing people away until he comes to his senses…..maybe locked up in a jail cell…..not an institution."

Again, Cuddy becomes overcome by her emotions after expressing the latter thoughts and a small stream of tears begins to fall gently down her face again. Seeing her like this, knowing House's own delusion about her and dealing with his own hurt of not being able to help House this time, Wilson himself is overwhelmed by grief and quietly weeps with her.

In between sniffs he tells Cuddy, "You're right. It's not supposed to be like this, but we'll get through this together. We not only have to be strong for his sake, but everyone else's once they find out what's happened. It's not going to be easy, but it's something we're going to have to do in order to keep ourselves from falling apart. He certainly wouldn't want us crying for him. He'd want us to be pissed at him for letting things get this far."

With that last remark, Cuddy looked up at Wilson and let out a small laugh and so did Wilson.

Wilson continued, "This is the best thing for him. He's in a place where they're not going to take his crap….where he can't manipulate anyone…where he can't scam anyone for Vicodin and… where he'll get the help he needs. As much as he despises the profession of psychiatry and psychotherapy, he may find it somewhat helpful this time."

Cuddy adds, "I doubt that he'll be very forthcoming. I'm sure he'll hurl a few insults and complain that the psychotherapist is an idiot or a moron, but God I hope I'm wrong, Wilson. Medicine is all he thinks he has. If he can't practice anymore, I'm afraid to know what it'll do to him. He needs to be so serious about this, because his career is on the line this time and I don't know if I can help him."

"I think he really is aware of what's at stake this time. He knows that the games are over and that he has to finally be an adult for his own sake. So, if it's any consolation, I think he is serious this time…for a lot of reasons…not just because of his career, but mostly because I think he doesn't want to fail at the things that will bring him happiness," Wilson says to her.

What Cuddy didn't realize was that Wilson had been thinking about how happy House's delusion about her made him. Wilson knew in his heart that House loved Cuddy after the conversations he had had with House that fateful day. House was the most confident and determined about Cuddy as he had ever seen his friend to be. The glimmer in House's eyes and his willingness to throw away Cuddy's coffee cup in favor of wanting her and not the puzzle, led Wilson to feel that what House was experiencing was very real even though his story was not. You just can't fake that kind of euphoria and love for another human being, he thought. Even though House handed his possessions over to Wilson that afternoon, the possessions House did keep were his thoughts of Cuddy; and this is something Wilson felt in his heart to be true, for Cuddy was House's inspiration for wanting to make his life better in the hopes of a more promising future.

Wilson's thoughts were then interrupted by Cuddy saying, "I hope you're right Wilson, because I'm afraid to know what will happen if you're wrong."

Wilson stayed for a little while longer until he felt Cuddy was okay to be left alone. Once Wilson departed, Cuddy retired to her bedroom. There she happened to spy a rare picture of House and her at a hospital function. She remembered how he only came because he had lost a bet with her and there was free booze. Amazingly, he hadn't been drunk in the picture. He just decided to slide his hand to her ass once the photographer got to the count of three to take the picture. His action produced a devilish smile from him and even a smile from her over his brazen action. For a moment she smiled at the captured memory, as she stroked her fingers across the picture. It was in that instant she realized just how much he meant to her and how much she loved him. She then closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around the picture and imagined herself with her arms wrapped around him. Opening her eyes after creating that peaceful moment of imagery, she put her fingers to her lips, kissed them, and gently placed them on House's face in the picture. She placed the picture on her nightstand, turned off the soft light of her lamp and finally fell asleep with her thoughts and dreams focused on him.