"Julia, stay here in case Rachel wakes up. I'll be right back," Cuddy told her sister sternly while standing up from her chair she selected and rushed out the door before Julia could reply.
House was hunched over his desk, sitting in his chair using the dim light coming from a lamp to read a medical journal that was laying on the surface of his desk while waiting for his team to come back with the outcome of what they briefly discussed when he heard heels storm angrily down the hall. He looked up and saw they were attached to Cuddy and watched her throw open his office door once she reached it. "Do you really think we can work out House, if you lie to me?"
He swallowed hard, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "I only did it because-"
"House!" she interrupted, flicking the switch near the door to turn on another light he had to make it brighter and walked through his office, having stopped on the opposite side of his desk, opting to stay standing instead of sitting down. "I want you to be honest with me! How can we make this work if I'm constantly wondering if you are lying to me or not?" she scoffed while starting to pace, "the really messed up thing is I wasn't sure if you were lying. I was assuming and talking to Julia about it-"
"You talked to your sister about it?" he complained.
She turned on her heel in the middle of a turn in her pace and she gave him a piercing stare, "I had to talk to someone!" she lifted her left arm and pointed in the direction of Wilson's office. "You took Wilson away from me so-"
"I didn't take him away!" he interrupted, irritated.
"Oh no, you just told me I couldn't talk to him about you...that's the same thing!"
"It's not the same thing!" he shouted, matching her anger. "And I only told you that because-"
"I heard why you told me that. But what I wanted to hear from you, you didn't even tell me! You lied like you always do! If this is how its going to be with us..." she huffed before she continued and stopped her pacing to look at him who was now standing up leaning over the surface of his desk, "then I don't want it! I don't want to be with you, House!"
"Dammit, Cuddy!" he shouted, slamming his right fist onto his desk. "You want to know the truth so badly?" he said in the same shouting tone.
"Yes!" she challenged.
He glared at her, "fine," he kept his position leaning against his desk as she stood her ground glaring back with her arms crossed over her chest. "When you first got Rachel, I didn't like her! She was a nuisance to me..I didn't even like hearing about her..and it made you a crappier doctor to an already crappy job you were doing at it before..!" he paused and saw her crumble in front of him. Her arms fell loose but were still crossed over her chest, and her face had so much hurt in it like she felt completely and utterly betrayed. "But," he continued, "I said no because time went by, we got together..and I actually spent some time with the kid...and I ended up liking her," her face was looking less hurt. "I said no, and lied to you, not because I wanted to, to make things worse with us, but to avoid making you look the way you look now...and technically..I didn't lie because I don't feel that way anymore! So my answer would be no! Like. I. told. you!"
"So, you think I'm a crappy doctor?" she asked, her voice uneven.
"Oh crap.." he said standing straight, and grabbed his right thigh, "that's what you took from all of that?"
"You told me your feelings changed about Rachel, fine, I get that, I wish you told me that to begin with! But, you didn't say that I wasn't crappy at my job anymore."
"That was implied! You're doing fine," he grunted, rubbing his leg harder, hunched over and squeezing his eyes shut. He opened them up and snatched up his Vicodin bottle that was next to the journal he was reading.
Cuddy watched as he popped the top and put a couple in his palm, "how many of those have you taken?"
"Not enough, this should do it."
"I hate when you take those. Can't you do something else for your leg?" she asked desperately.
He glared at her as he found his way into his chair, still holding onto his thigh and his fingers wrapped around his pills in the other. "No," he snapped.
"Do you not care about me at all? I don't want you to take a lot of them. I told you my reasons why," she told him, forgetting all about her anger that she had towards him when she first got there.
His glare turned into a scowl and took the bottle and threw it hard up against the wall which bounced into the trash and threw his pills he held in the same direction. "There! You happy?" he shouted, clutching onto his leg tighter and squeezed his eyes shut again while leaning forward in obvious pain.
"No," she said softly and walked over to his trash and picked up the bottle. He opened his eyes and looked up at her when he heard her moving around. She popped the top and put a couple in her palm and held it out to him. "Here."
He looked at her palm confused and up at her. "You told me you don't want me to take them."
"I don't. But, I also don't want to see you in pain. There's nothing else you can do right now for your leg so just take them." His eyes stayed on her as his left hand reached up and plucked the pills out of her palm and popped them in his mouth and swallowed hard to force them down. She looked up towards the ceiling and sighed heavily, putting her left hand on his right shoulder. "How are we going to make this work, House?" she asked desperately.
"I don't know," he answered softly, shaking his head. "We're both crap when it comes to relationships."
She let out a laugh and looked down at him, "yeah." She frowned and he gave her a questioning look. She shifted her standing position and nudged her right knee in between his legs to ask for permission to be let in. He opened them wider and she sat on his left leg, leaving his right alone, knowing it was hurting him and she draped her arms around him and rested her chin on his left shoulder. His arms wrapped loosely around her. "I want to make this work between us but you have to stop lying to me."
"I know."
"Can you promise me you won't?" she asked, hopeful.
"I can promise to try," he said, his voice raised slightly when saying 'try.'
She sighed and gripped him tighter. "I guess with you, that's something," she paused, looking around at his office. "Do you know what's wrong with your patient yet?"
"No, I'm waiting to hear back from my team. If its not what we think then we have to do another differential."
She frowned again, knowing that he will most likely be there all night. "I should get going," she turned her head and gave him a light kiss on his neck, and smiled against his skin when she felt him do the same to her neck. Now that they got all that yelling out of the way, she felt they can move past it. She started to stand up, and his arms fell from around her to let her free. "I'll call you tomorrow," she told him as she straightened her skirt.
He nodded, "okay," he said softly. He watched her as she swayed her hips walking out of his office and down the hall. When he couldn't see her anymore, he looked straight ahead at the trash can that he violently threw his pill bottle in which she reacted to with kindness and love after he just lashed out and insulted her. He sighed, while rubbing the left side of his face with his hand knowing he'll never find anyone who reacts to him the way she does, and he knew he had to make a valid effort to try to keep her instead of just making empty promises which would surely if done enough, drive her away for good. He had to make a change...
