She was trying to get to the hospital as fast as she could that she just about didn't cause an accident, turning into another street. She parked in front of the main entrance and run into the building where she her assistant Nigel.

"What happened?" she asked him, walking up in hurry.

"I don't really know… the nurse just told me to call you, she didn't give me details."

"You idiot! And you are standing here doing nothing?! God…" she shouted at him, couldn't believe how she could hire such a useless guy. Well, in fact she wasn't good at matching the employees. She passed him, directing straight to the first nurse she saw, asking about the patient brought not long ago. The woman told her that Mr. Sutcliffe had been attacked by a group of young men when he parked his car on an airport's parking lot. He was just operated, because he had numerous inner injuries and one of the attackers put a knife under his rib. After that the nurse told her the number of his room and added that he was operated by doctor Chase. Cuddy decided to find Chase first, not ready to see Tom right after her visit at House's place. She was too tired to pretending and dealing with all of these, and now that accident. She was hoping that Chase would explain everything to her from the medical point of view and then she could go to see Tom and take care of him only as his girlfriend.

Cuddy walked into the room where Chase was clearing his hands after the surgery. Her fingers didn't leave the handle, like her body was begging for a support for a while, as she kept staring at Chase in silence. He turned his head toward her and turned the water off, reaching for a towel. He slowly dried his hands and stepped closer to her, noticing the fear in her eyes.

"Have you seen him already?" he asked.

"No. I wanted to talk to you first." She was trying to get the information without actually asking him.

"I won't lie to you because it wouldn't have any sense." He made a small pause "It's not good. In fact, I don't think he will survive the next 48 hours. We couldn't hamper bleeding from the liver and during the whole surgery he lost a lot of blood. But the most of damages where caused by the metal which got stuck between his ribs. " He said still looking into her eyes, ready to comfort her if she needed it.

"B-But… how could this happen?" she said with a broken voice as the tears started to flood in her now grey eyes. " I talked to him just a few hours ago, everything was fine, he went to get his sister and…"

"I'm sorry… We did everything we could." He made a pause again "I think you should go and visit him now." he said putting his hand on her arm, rubbing it gently.

"I know" she nodded "But I need just a few minutes to calm down and.. think about it." She raised her hands and wiped off the tears running down her cheeks. "I will stay here for a while, may I?"

"It's your hospital" he left her hand and walked out from the room, closing the door behind himself as Cuddy went to sit on a chair.

After 15 minutes she finally decided to go and see Tom. When she walked into his room, his sister was already there, standing by the window.

"Hi" she almost whispered, seeing Tom laying with his eyes closed.

"Hi." she responded, looking at Cuddy.

"I'm Lisa Cuddy. I am Tom's girlfriend…"

" Nice to meet you. I'm Linda. Tom told me a lot about you." She nodded.

Both women seemed to be tired and resigned while looking at each other, not knowing what to do. Lisa moved slowly to Tom's bed and sat next to him, covering his head with hers. As he felt her touch he slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey, I'm here…" she whispered and smiled a little, trying to cheer him up.

"Hey…" he said slowly, he could barely move his head to look at her. "Glad you are here… I need to talk to you…" he added with a hoarse voice.

"I… will go to buy some water." Linda turned from the window and threw Cuddy a friendly smile, she wanted to leave them alone. As she closed the door behind herself, Tom coughed and started to talk.

"I know I can't take much more of this… My whole body is aching and is so heavy…" he closed his eyes for a moment to gather strenght, as her hand tighten her grab on his "I want you to know that the last few months were amazing…

"They were amazing for me too, but please, don't talk to me like it is all over…" the tears appeared in her eyes again when he stopped her.

"Lisa, we both know I'm dying. Please, don't waste my time and let me tell you what I want to tell." this words broke her heart completely and she couldn't stop the teardrops, running to her chin. "I know I told you to end up with House…"

"House?" his name coming from Tom's mouth surprised her "I'm over him, there's nothing between us. How can you even…"

"Lisa, please" Tom stopped her words again and took a deep breath. "That's not my point. I told you to end up with him, because I was jealous. And I was jealous because that night when we had a fight I noticed the way he was looking at you. Maybe he is hooked on medicine, but I believe he's a good guy. I want to believe that. He did what he did because he loves you. You deserve the best guy and I know maybe he's not perfect, but I don't want you to be alone. I need to know that there is someone who loves you as much as I do." After he finished he took a deep breath, tired of talking.

Cuddy couldn't believe what she's just heard. She was sitting with her mouth open, didn't know what to say. Did he just asked her to came back to House? This couldn't be happening.

"Tom, you're tired, get some rest and we talk later…"

"There's no later for me so don't fob me off…" he said sternly "Promise me you will just give him a chance."

"I… I promise."

____

It was a 4 months after Tom's death. Lisa hasn't seen House since that day and couldn't stop thinking about a promise given to Tom. She didn't feel good alone after a really great time she spent with her boyfriend, and she really missed Greg. These two things was making her afraid of meeting with House, but she knew she had to do something with it. She decided to make a call and cancel a nurse who was still visiting House once a two weeks.

The next morning she was standing by his door again. This time she didn't want to wait until he'd open the door himself, so she knocked twice.

Please R&R – thanks! Final chapter will be updated soon!