A/N: Thank you again to those who continue to read and review, it really means a lot to know that you are all still interested in this! This chapter is where things really start to move along, so I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, unfortunately.


The words echoed inside of her for what seemed like hours.

I could have saved us. I could have saved us. I could have saved us.

"House," she pleaded, reaching her hand across the table and placing it over his.

"I know that I blamed you earlier, and I kept on blaming you for a while after I left. But I never stopped blaming myself," he continued.

"What happened between us, it wasn't your fault. It wasn't my fault either, it just…happened. And we can sit here and hash out every detail of our relationship, or we can just try to move on. I don't want to go backwards."

She squeezed his hand.

"So you're telling me you want to forget all of the horrible things that we've done to each other. Why? Because it's easier? Or because you feel sorry for me?"

She closed her eyes for a brief moment. "I'm sorry that you lost your friend, I truly am. But this isn't pity, or guilt. This is what you do when the people you care about are in trouble. And whether you want to admit it or not, you're in trouble House."

His shoulders dropped as she spoke. He looked down and saw that her hand was still wrapped around his. He began to trace the lines on her hand lazily.

"I miss him Cuddy," he said softly.

She smiled softly at him, the look comforting and reassuring. "I know, " she replied. "And that feeling probably won't ever go away. But you'll learn to cope with it, and one day you'll wake up and it just won't hurt as much."

He didn't respond. They sat there for a few more minutes, finishing up their coffee. They both knew that the conversation was over, and neither one of them felt like talking much anyways.

He was just glad to know that she was sitting there across from him.

Cuddy pulled her cell phone from her purse, checking the time and searching through her messages.

House got up from the table, his leg feeling much better after being able to move it around a bit.

Cuddy dropped her phone back into her purse and slung it over her shoulder as they made their way back to the car. She lazily threw her hair back into a low ponytail, House watching as her shirt inched up her stomach when she moved her arms up.

"You know," she began as she slid into the driver's side of the car. "I kind of missed you blatantly objectifying my body like that."

"Anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable. If you want, you can take off your shirt for the rest of the way."

She pointed her eyes at him, ignoring his request. "We should be there in about an hour or so."

"Does that mean you'll take your shirt off when we get back to your house?" he asked innocently.

"Don't press your luck, House. You're lucky I'm even letting you in the door."

He was silent for a moment, knowing she was right. "You always were a rule breaker when it came to me."

"It must be your sense of charm, " she said sarcastically. He was right though; she practically let him get away with murder. If he was involved, it was like the rulebook no longer mattered.

Sometimes she needed that. Sometimes she needed to be careless.

House leaned his head against the side of the window and stretched his legs out from beneath him. "If I go to sleep I'll get to see your shirt off must faster," he said as he closed his eyes.

She smirked at him, shaking her head before turning her focus back to the road.

A few minutes later she heard the muffled noise of his soft snores filling the inside of the car. She turned her head towards him and saw that he had a small smile plastered on his face. He looked peaceful and content. She desperately wanted to reach across him and run her fingers along the lines of his arm, something she used to do when he was sleeping next to her.

Instead, she occupied her hands by turning the radio off so the music wouldn't wake him.


About and hour and a half later, they reached her home in Georgetown. Cuddy turned the car off, hoping the noise would wake him up so she didn't have to.

He stirred a bit in his seat, but wasn't showing any signs of waking up. She sighed, finally reaching over and nudging him in the shoulder.

"House, we're here," she said, her voice loud and firm.

He slowly opened his eyes, sitting up as he woke.

"You're shirt is still on," he said, his voice groggy as he spoke.

"Well we're not inside yet, are we?" she fired back.

That was enough to get him up and moving. He opened the car door and headed towards the trunk.

He grabbed his bag, flinging it over his shoulder as he placed hers gently on the ground beneath him.

She bent down to grab her bag. He leaned forward a bit, peering down her shirt as she moved. She rolled her eyes at him as she looked up.

"What?" he asked innocently. "The girls and I are just getting reacquainted. They've missed my baby blues staring them down every chance I get."

She rolled her eyes once more as she wrapped her fingers around her bag, making her way to her front step.

Her house was hidden behind a row of colorful bushes and tress, a small cobblestone pathway lining the freshly mowed grass. The neighborhood was a bit busier than her old one, but it was close to work and the backyard was a decent size.

She opened the door slowly, taking a deep breath before walking in. All of sudden her nerves were firing all through her body.

House tentatively placed a hand on her back, soothing her as he guided her indoors.

A small smile escaped her lips as she felt his touch.

She haphazardly threw her keys on the small table that was situated by the door, knowing she would need them to go get Rachel in the morning.

"Nice digs," he said, trying to bring some comfort to the situation.

"It's different, but we like it here," she replied. "So, um the kitchen is back through there, living room is to your right."

She started walking down the hall and made a left, leading them to a bedroom towards the back of the house. "This is the guest room, you can sleep in here if you want. The bathroom is right through that door, and it also connects to the hallway which will lead you back to the kitchen."

He nodded at her as she set his bag on the bed and laid his cane against the frame of the bed.

Cuddy twiddled her thumbs nervously as she glanced down at her watch. It was only seven at night, and he had slept for most of the way home; he couldn't possibly be tired.

He walked over towards her, distracting her from her thoughts. "What do you have to eat around here, woman?"

"Nothing, probably. I'll order in." She smiled at him as she walked out the door, leaving him alone to unpack.

Cuddy sifted through the takeout menus, trying to decide on a place they would both enjoy.

"How about Chinese?" she yelled from the kitchen, her voice projecting through the whole house.

"Great," he responded. "As long as it's actual Chinese and doesn't involve the words "meat substitute".

Cuddy smirked as she picked up the telephone and placed the order. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and took a sip from it.

She pulled her phone from her purse and sorted through the hundreds of emails she had gotten in the last three days. She's almost forgotten that she had to go back to work tomorrow afternoon. In the morning she had to drive up to her sister's to get Rachel, and she would be slammed with work the next day if she didn't at least make an appearance.

She took another sip of her water and sunk into the chair at the kitchen table.

She looked up as House limped into the kitchen. "You're done already?" she asked, surprised that he had finished unpacking that quickly.

"That's the thing about dead guys, Cuddy. They don't really have that much stuff."

He placed a deck of cards on the table as he sat down, and she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Wanna play?" he asked with a grin across his face.

Cuddy sat her water bottle on the table and took the deck of cards in her hand and began shuffling them. She never could resist playing games with House.

"Gin?" she asked as she lazily tossed him his cards.

He nodded at her as he gathered his cards in his hands. "I don't know why you enjoy playing with me so much. We both know I'm going to win," he boasted.

"Why's that?" Cuddy asked flatly as she drew a card from the deck.

"Because," he said as he placed a set of three cards on the table. "You have a tell, and I'm the only one who knows about it."

"You say that every time we play cards and it's never true." She took a sip of her water as she drew another card.

"Actually it's always true. That's the definition of having a tell."

She smiled as she set down all four kings onto the table. "Then how come I'm kicking your ass?"

"The game's not over yet," he fired back.

"It's never over with you," she muttered, taking another sip of her water.

"What was that?" he asked. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you over me winning the game." He laid down the remainder of his cards on the table; he'd been holding on to all four aces.

Cuddy sighed in frustration. "Why didn't you just lay those down as soon as you had them?"

"Wanted to give you a false sense of security," he said mockingly. "You should have known I was bluffing about me bluffing."

"Please, the only predictable thing about you is that you are actually unpredictable."

He smiled at her frustration; she really hated to lose.

"Ready for another round?" he asked, his words laced with double and triple meanings.

Cuddy narrowed her eyes at him, opening her mouth slightly and letting a smile escape from her lips. She was about to answer when the doorbell rang throughout the house.

"Saved by the bell," she whispered with a seductive tone as she bent down, laying her cards down on the table.

House's eyebrows rose ever so slightly as her shirt dipped down in front of him, exposing herself to him. He blinked dramatically at her and she shook her head at him as she turned around and walked towards the door.

He quickly got up form the chair and limped towards the door to follow her. He got there as she was paying the delivery boy.

House took the bags from her arms as she closed the door. He walked towards the living room and plopped down on the sofa, making himself comfortable. He set the bags on the coffee table in front of him as he leaned back into the couch.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked

"The Real Housewives of New Jersey is on," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Cuddy scoffed at him. "I'm not watching that," she responded as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Come on, we used to watch it together all the time," he pleaded as he took the containers out of the bag.

He inspected each box, laying hers to his left while he placed his right in front of him.

"Only if you count me falling asleep on your shoulder as watching something," she muttered as she made her way over to the couch and sat down next to him.

She tucked her feet underneath her and let her arm fall across her knees as she grabbed one of the containers on the table. He handed her a pair of chopsticks from the bag, which she used to stir around her food.

Even after all these years, she was amazed at just how in sync they were at times.

She rolled her eyes and handed him the remote. "Here," she said. "It's channel thirty-six."

He smirked triumphantly at her. "I knew you liked it."

"I like all of the different cooking shows," she fired back defensively.

House turned on the television and smiled as he heard the words "Previously on the Real Housewives of New Jersey" float through the air.

Cuddy sunk back into the cushions after placing her container back on the small table in front of her. She shifted a bit, casually glancing over at House as she tried to make herself more comfortable.

He looked over at her and she quickly looked away, embarrassed that she had been caught. She turned her attention back to the television screen.

"How big do you think Theresa's hair is?" she asked, trying to turn his attention from what she had just been doing.

"Almost as big as your ass," he responded. "Which, might I add, somehow looks even bigger."

"I hear NASA'a planning a study," she quipped, playing along with him.

"I've always wanted to be an astronaut. Now I have a good reason."

He devoured an egg roll as he spoke, dramatically winking at her when he was finished.

She let out a small laugh. "Just watch the show, House."

They fell into a comfortable silence a few moments later. She hated how much she missed this, how much she missed just being around him. She desperately wanted to bury her face in his chest and drape her arm around his middle, inhaling his scent as she dozed off.

She wasn't sure what was stopping her; after all, they'd come this far. But they were in a good place right now, and she didn't want to chance ruining it all. She knew that eventually the novelty would wear off, and they would both start to wonder what the hell all of this meant, but right now, in this specific moment, all she wanted to do was feel his presence around her.

"You know when we were first starting out on our trip, neither of us had any idea where we were going, or where we were headed." he began softly. She perked her ears up and lifted her head from the throw pillow when she realized he was talking about Wilson.

"I tried to get him to take me to see these women, but he didn't go for it. He claimed it was the cancer, but I think it was just nerves," he said jokingly. "He prefers the Orange County ones anyway, they have that whole blonde thing going on."

Cuddy smiled sadly at him as he spoke. She placed a loving hand on his shoulder, rubbing it up and down to comfort him. She knew how hard it was for him to open up to people.

"I, on the other hand, prefer a good brunette," he smiled over at her. "Especially ones with a little junk in the trunk, if you know what I mean."

"You did the right thing, House," she said softly. "In your own, weird, twisted way, it was the right thing to do."

He looked over at her, his eyes widening as she continued to speak.

"You gave up who you are to be there for Wilson when he needed you most. What you did was highly illegal, and will eventually come back and bite you in the ass, but it was… selfless. And Wilson was proud of you. I'm proud of you."

She shrugged her shoulders as tears started to form in her eyes. She moved her hand form his shoulder to his face, stroking his stubble-framed face like she had done so many times before.

"I'm just sorry that it took Wilson dying for you to realize that you actually are capable of giving yourself to someone else. You're not as misanthropic as you make yourself out to be. "

He placed his hand on her knee, gently drawing circles on her curled up leg. She turned to face him, wiping a tear from her eyes before resting her arm on the couch behind him.

He didn't say anything back to her. Instead, he turned his attention back to the television.

He was about to remove his arm from her leg, but at the last minute decided against it. He continued to trace the lines on her knee and smiled as she finally surrendered to her urges and sunk into him.

She rested her head in the crook of his neck and placed her hand on his chest, mimicking his actions.

He smiled down at her when he noticed that Top Chef was coming on next.


The room was silent, save her muffled snores that were filling the air. He had muted the television so not to wake her, not that he was really watching anyway.

She had fallen asleep about five minutes after she had settled into him, and he had no intention of letting her go. He gently stroked her hair with his free hand; the other was still sprawled out across her leg.

As he looked down on her a sense of guilt washed over him. He wasn't supposed to feel happy right now. Or ever again, even.

He had just lost his best friend, the only person who had stuck with him until the very end. House sighed inwardly at the irony of it all; even in death Wilson was looking out for his well being.

Granted, he didn't exactly know where all of this was going. She could wake up tomorrow morning and decide that once again, she was making a horrible mistake by opening herself up to him.

He felt her stir beneath him, interrupting his thoughts. She slowly opened her eyes and sheepishly smiled up at him. She hadn't meant to fall asleep entangled in his arms-not that either one of them were complaining.

"Morning Sunshine," he said cheerily.

A confused look swept across her face as she frantically began to untangle herself from his solid grasp. She looked around and sighed in relief when she noticed it was still dark out.

"What time is it?" she asked groggily. His hand was still intertwined with her brown locks and she relaxed back into the couch.

"Based on the number of Top Chef episodes I've sat through, I'd say it's almost one. It's unfortunate that you fell asleep when you did; this is captivating stuff. Karen's knives went missing and she blamed it on Steve. Of course, you and I both know that Steve would never do that to Karen because he's hopelessly in love with her. But Karen's too stupid to realize that, considering she can't even remember where she put her knives."

She let out a small smile at his antics. "Well, " she began. "As fascinating as all that is, I should head up to bed. I have to get up early tomorrow to go get Rachel."

"Right, " he said as he nodded in her direction. She lifted herself up from the couch and began to walk towards the direction of her bedroom.

She paused before turning her head towards him. "Fill me in on what happens with Karen and Steve in the morning?" she asked innocently.

He smirked at her before he spoke. "Absolutely."

Cuddy smiled widely at him. "Goodnight House," she said as she continued walking down the hall.

"Night Cuddy," he responded softly. He knew she wouldn't hear him, but saying the words brought some comfort to him.

She sauntered down the hall, her heart quivering with each step and a smile forming on her face. She was mesmerized by the effect that he had on her. She didn't understand how she could actively despise someone so much, and yet never want them to leave your side.

She changed out of her jeans and into her pajamas and settled into bed, trying to push thoughts of him out of her head and failing miserably.

She thought back to the phone call she had gotten from Wilson weeks ago.

"He's going to need you Lisa. When I'm gone, he's…he's going to need someone to be there from him when he breaks down. It's happening already and there isn't anything I can do to help him."

"James…I don't know if I can do this. Bad things happen when he and I are overcome with grief."

"Bad things are already happening, Lisa. I know you're angry with him, and you have every right to be, but I also know that you still love him. And he needs to be around people who love him. I can't…I can't leave here knowing that he's going to destroy his life the minute I'm gone. I can't save my own life, but you might be able to save his. Please."

Tears had begun to stream down her face as he spoke.

"You've been a good friend to me all these years. Just promise me you're going to keep being a good friend to me when I'm gone."

"I'm so sorry this is happening to you."

"Yeah, me too. Just don't be too afraid to fall back in love with him, okay? After everything he's done for me, he deserves to be happy. You deserve it too."

"Is there anything I can do for you? Visit you, or…I don't know, anything?"

"You don't want to see me like this, Lisa. Just promise me you will be there for him when it's over."

She paused, choking back the tears that were threatening to escape into uncontrollable sobs. "I promise."

He smiled on the other side of the phone. "Thank you. Goodbye, Cuddy."

"Goodbye Wilson."

She waited a full ten minutes before she put the receiver down. She had cried herself to sleep that night.

Cuddy glanced at the clock; it was almost two in the morning. She heard the padding of light footsteps coming down the hall; House must have decided to check in as well.

Her breath hitched as she heard the creaking of her door opening slightly. She could make out House's silhouette in the dark, and immediately shut her eyes, feigning sleep.

He slowly walked over to the other side of the bed and crept in next to her, just like he had done at the hotel the other night.

Her back was turned to him, and as he settled himself underneath the covers he slung his right hand across the top of her pillow, his fingers drawing circles on her shoulder.

She smiled as he rested his other arm across her middle, cradling her body against his.

"I just thought you should know that Karen and Steve made it to the final two," he whispered in her ear. "We find out who wins next episode. My money's on Karen, Steve is going to let her win on principle alone."

Feeling his breath so close to her sent shivers down her spine. She took a deep breath and turned to face him.

She looked him square in the eyes and lifted her hand to the nape of his neck, her fingers caressing the stray hairs.

She pulled him towards her and he lifted himself up, his hand moving from her stomach to her side. He slid his hand up and down the side of her loosely fitting tank top.

She pressed her lips to his, his mouth warm and inviting as their tongues meshed together. He deepened their kiss as her leg moved up and down in tandem with his wandering hand. They pulled apart slowly, and he looked her up and down, admiring her as he spoke.

"Are you going to regret this in the morning?" he murmured. He buried his face in the side of her neck as he placed light kisses on her smooth skin.

She didn't respond right away, unable to form proper thoughts as his lips touched her skin. She rubbed her hand up and down his back, desperate to feel him beneath her.

"I don't know, maybe." She gripped the back of his head, her fingers running through his hair.

He looked down on her, a look of longing and adoration as his eyes met hers.

"Well do you want me to stop?"

She gently stroked the side of his face before shaking her head, silently pleading with him to keep going.

He leaned over her tentatively. She smiled up softly at him, reassuring him with her touch.

He pressed his lips to hers once more, her back arching and her breath hitching as she parted her lips slightly.

A loud moan escaped her as her mouth roamed in his. She wasn't sure what they were doing, or how they would feel in the morning, but in that moment, she felt like they were the only two people in the world.

And she had missed that feeling more than anything.


A/N: Now you all have something to look forward to (I told you the sex was coming eventually!) Leave a review on your way out, if you wish. Compliments and critiques always welcome!