Title: Stragglers Moon

Rating: K+

Part: 3/?

Pairing: Huddy

Words:1,668

Genre: Drama / Romance / Angst / Humour… bit of everything really!

Other: The amount of reviews make me VERY happy so thanks guys! I am really sorry this has taken so long to reply to but what with exams and everything it took longer than planned. I promise the next part won't take anywhere near as long. Here's part 3 with special thanks to Wonderlandbaby for her constant prodding which made me get this done! Reviews loved as always. xxx

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Chapter Three - Fix what you can, accept what you can't.

There was still silence for a moment and then tears began rolling down Cuddy's face. She hated the fact they were there and tried to wipe them away, but as soon as she had removed one lot another had already fallen. "House I don't want to die."

House had never been good at dealing with his own emotions and so he found dealing with anyone else's nearly impossible. What was he supposed to do to make her stop crying? He was half tempted to put his arm around her but House wasn't really one for things like hugs and other forms of physical contact. Instead he replied to her statement with "I won't let you die."

Cuddy wiped her face again and looked up at House. How was he going to save them? They had limited supplies and no way of raising the alarm. Unless he had a panic button hidden somewhere then there was relatively little he could do. "You can't promise that."

House was about to think of something reassuring to reply with but was distracted when he saw blood dripping through her t-shirt. "Lisa are you ok?"

Cuddy looked down at her stomach and noticed there was blood seeping through onto her top. Wondering about the renewed use of her first name Cuddy nodded and replied to his question. "I'm fine I just have a few scrapes and cuts. I tried patching them up earlier but…" Cuddy trailed off.

House moved around so he was facing her. "That much blood is not just a scrape, if it's still bleeding now then you're going to need stitches."

Cuddy groaned "Are you sure?"

House nodded. "Right come on, you can't do it yourself so I'll do it. I have a first aid kit here somewhere. Find it and then get that t-shirt off."

Cuddy looked around before finding a small box on the wheelchair. "Here" she handed it over to him "and I do not need to take my top off, I'll just roll it up."

"You don't need to take it off but as you are getting free health care your doctor would really appreciate it, and it would be considered as payment for his excellent sutchering abilities."

Cuddy couldn't help but laugh a little. "I've got some money left in my pocket from the trip, if you want payment then you can have that."

"You're no fun." House said pretending to sulk. He moved across to where Cuddy was sitting. "Right lay on your back." Even as the words came out House couldn't stop himself smiling a bit. It was the kind of thing that he had previously only imagined saying to her while he fantasised in the shower. It seemed strange that now he was actually saying it he was doing so for completely different reasons to the one he had imagined.

Cuddy rolled her eyes knowing exactly what House was thinking about as he said it, but carefully dropped backwards so she was laying flat. House's hands were very quickly on the edge of her t-shirt, pushing it upwards so that her stomach was exposed. How he hadn't noticed before he didn't know, she must have been in a lot of pain. Cuddy had attempted to stop the bleeding by sticking a thin layer of padding over it, but that was now blood soaked and falling off. House removed it as gently as possible not wanting to hurt her. He grabbed an antiseptic wipe out of the first aid kit but before starting he looked at her and said very clearly "if at any point this is hurting too much then tell me to stop and I will."

Cuddy nodded a little surprised about how sweet House was being. But then this was probably just him trying not to make her cry again so he didn't have to deal with it. She felt House wiping her cut and tried not to led her eyes water. It didn't so much hurt as sting.

"You ok?" House could see Cuddy flinching and wondered if he was pressing down too hard. He didn't want to hurt her but at the same time he wanted it to be cleaned properly so there was less chance of infection. Once she nodded he continued. After he was certain there were no germs left in it, he reached over for the sewing kit and got out a needle and some thread. He was going to ask her what colour she wanted but doubted she would care and decided that it would be better just to get on with it. He found a bottle of vodka (he had rescued it from the kitchen area of the plane) and dipped the needle in it so it was fully sterilised. "This is going to hurt a bit" he warned her and then began, as gently as possible, sewing up the cut.

Cuddy wanted desperately to yell at him to stop but knew that this had to be done. Although it was still agonising he was clearly trying his best not to hurt her so there was nothing else she could do. It didn't take long and Cuddy was grateful for his speed. "Thanks" she mumbled once he had finished.

"No problem." An awkward silence fell between them. After a minute or two House realised that Cuddy's t-shirt was still rolled up over her stomach and decided to try and lighten the atmosphere… well that or start a fight with her; which at that point was pretty much the same thing. Before she had a chance to stop him he quickly pulled her top the whole way up so he could get a quick look at the twins. Wow she was wearing a black lace bra with dark red at the top on the right. No hang on that wasn't meant to be there. "Are you bleeding?" House asked trying to get a better look and being glared at.

Cuddy had known that there was a small cut on the top of her right breast but hadn't wanted House seeing it so had kept quiet. Now, annoyed at the fact he had pulled her t-shirt up but well aware that it would be a waste of time to say anything, Cuddy nodded slowly.

House looked her in the eyes. "Lisa please can I check if it needs a couple of stitches. It looks like it's still bleeding. You can keep the bra on I'll just move it down slightly at the top."

"And after last time how can I trust you not to do something stupid?"

House felt a small pang of guilt. "Lisa right now it's just you and me on this island and neither of us have any idea how long we're going to be here. You're going to have to trust me."

Cuddy looked at him for a moment trying to work out if this was genuine or not. For once it appeared that it was. She nodded her head again and allowed him to move closer.

House carefully moved the top of her bra down. It was ridiculously hard not to be turned on by this but remembered that he'd told her to trust him he made a promise to himself to control the urge to pull the whole bra off. Using his right hand he ran it across the cut and shook his head. "This one won't need stitches."

"You sure?" Cuddy asked.

"Very" House replied "it will heal naturally." He moved the bra back up so it covered all of her and then pulled her t-shirt back down. He saw her flinch as the material of the t-shirt rubbed against the cuts. "You could just keep it off so it doesn't rub every time you move? I've seen it all now and I promise to behave."

Cuddy laughed and shook her head. "Greg you can't help yourself."

House smiled and watched her sit up. "That mean it's staying on then?""Yes!" she replied quickly. It was now nearly morning and for the first time since they'd arrived Cuddy was overcome by tiredness. She yawned and felt her eyes begin to close.

House smiled at her. "I think it's time we both get some sleep. It's freezing cold now as well. Good job we grabbed a blanket." He got himself into a standing position and set to work organising a sleeping place for them. He laid out all the towels onto the sand and then grabbed the large blanket they had rescued. Once he had finished he looked back at her. "Finished."

"You want me to sleep next to you?" Cuddy asked a little amused.

"Well we're both going to freeze if not. This blanket is good but on its own it won't be warm enough; we need each others body heat. And anyway there's only one blanket."

Cuddy sighed. She hated to admit it but he was right, they had no choice. Reluctantly Cuddy kicked her shoes and socks off and moved over to where he had set everything up. She curled up under the blanket "and no funny business or tomorrow night I get the blanket and you can freeze to death."

"You don't mean that" House said before snuggling up next to her. He was laying behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist careful not to touch the part of her that was already tender. Slowly she relaxed into him and it was less than ten minutes later that they were both fast asleep, protected by each other.