You guys did what I asked and got it to over 100 reviews, so here's your review. I was amused to the measures some of you went to in order to get the review count up. Although for some of the guest reviewers who are being rather rude about things in this story, why are you reading this if you don't want them to be together? The entire point of this story is for them to reconcile. But whatever, your crude reviews just make the count go up so thanks! Also, the guest reviewers who are having an argument over which cast members suck, please stop. That kind of bullshit isn't welcomed here. I'm really begging you to stop your little argument. PLEASE. I really don't want to have to turn off guest reviews. To those guest reviewers who leave positive comments, thank you all so much! But yes, here's the second part of the chapter, and don't forget to leave a review, maybe you'll be rewarded again. ;)


She started at the sound of House's voice and pulled away almost reflexively.

"I can't beat the shit out of you because by the looks of how we were sleeping, I probably rolled into you…" She replied, feeling her face flush in slight embarrassment as she stood and made her way towards the bathroom to shower.

"Old habits die hard! Or not at all in this case…" She heard him call after her as she entered the bathroom.

"Whatever!" She called back. "Don't act like you're innocent in this either, your arm was wrapped around my waist."

"Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. Are you gonna shower or not, because if you don't I will."

Instead of replying she simply turned on the water and let the sound of it running answer his question. She made sure the door was locked before she stripped and slipped into the shower.

Usually her showers lasted almost an hour but because she needed to pick up her car and House still needed to shower she cut her shower in half. She slipped out of the bathroom and stopped for a second when she realized what she had walked into.

"Ugh, really House? You couldn't have waited to get rid of your morning wood until you were in the shower!?"

"Jesus Christ Cuddy, what happened to your showers lasting an hour!?"

She watched as his hand stopped moving beneath the sheets stopped, obviously embarrassed and flustered that he'd been caught.

"They still last an hour, but because I need to go pick up my car, and you have to shower, I cut it in half!" She replied, feeling herself blush at the current situation.

Had it been another point in time she would have helped him finish what he started, but that was a part of their past.

"Get in the shower so I can change!"

"Why don't you give me an image to help me finish when I get in the shower?" He asked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"In your dreams bub." She replied, shaking her head in feigned disgust.

"Killjoy." He mumbled before limping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

She could not believe that she had just walked in on House masturbating. It was alike a very unwelcomed blast from the past, and she hated to admit that it left her sexually frustrated. She shook the thought; the last thing she needed was sexual fantasies involving House.


He made a mental note that the next time he shared a room with Cuddy and they weren't sexually active with one another, to refrain from attempting to get off while she was in the shower because it would only lead to a repeat of the incident that had just happened, and he wanted to spare himself the embarrassment.

The only reason he had been embarrassed to be walked in on was because he was thinking of her while doing it. Whether or not it crossed her mind that he was using his memory of their past encounters to help him get rid of his erection was not something he wanted to know. He would rather assume that the shock of it had caused her mind to go entirely blank at the situation.

He was surprised that when he made a suggestive comment towards her she hadn't given him a dirty look, or snapped at him. Instead she had feigned disgust. He knew her too well to know that if she had truly been disgusted by his comment she would have scoffed and her eyes would have flared with anger and in this case, neither had occurred.

He stripped and slipped into the shower, any desire to finish what he had started having worn off. The pain in his leg wasn't as bad as it had been when Wilson had died and he wondered if it was because of the meds he had been on while in the hospital or if it was because he and Cuddy were finally beginning to get along after several days of nothing but feuding. He chose the drugs as the reasoning behind his lack of pain. The last thing he wanted was to delude himself into thinking that he and Cuddy would be on any terms other than civil during the time he spent with her.

House took his sweet time in the shower and it wasn't until he heard a knock on the bathroom door almost an hour later that he turned off the water, wrapped the towel around his waist, and pulled the door open.

"We have to check out by eleven and it's nine, so get dressed. Breakfast is free and then we can leave. I want to get back to my place by eleven and I figured if we get out of here by ten, it shouldn't take us too long since we're only half an hour away. Then I can help you get settled a bit and leave to pick up Rachel."

"Give me five minutes." He replied, limping over to his suitcase and grabbing a change of clothes before making his way back towards the bathroom to change.

When he emerged from the bathroom he raised his eyebrow at her expression.

"What are you smirking at?"

"Did you run the towel through your hair?" She asked laughing softly.

He turned and looked at himself in the mirror that was behind him.

His hair was in complete and utter disarray, standing up on all ends. He patted it down, until it wasn't as messy as it had originally been. He usually wouldn't have cared, but he'd do anything to get her to stop giggling.

"Very mature Cuddy, messy hair is hilarious." He replied, rolling his eyes. "So are you ready to go or what?"

"Was just waiting on you to get yourself together." She replied before standing and heading towards the door.

He couldn't help but stare at her ass as she walked ahead of him while they made their way down to the hotel's breakfast area.

"Stop staring at my ass when you think I'm not looking."

"I don't think you're not looking, I know you're not looking. You're walking three feet in front of me and I know for a fact that you don't have eyes in the back of your head."

"Touché." She replied before turning her head to look back at him. "But I can see you now, and you are indeed, staring at my ass, so stop it."

He couldn't contain the smirk that ran across his lips.

They reached the breakfast area and he was pleased to see it was an all you can eat buffet. He grabbed a plate and piled food onto it before finding a small booth for two in a corner of the sitting area.

"God, you would think your appetite would change as you grew older but no, you still eat like a teenager."

He looked up from his plate of food, a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth. He swallowed before replying.

"I'm a growing boy, I need my food!" He replied before shoveling a forkful of food into his mouth, smirking as she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"I want to be out of here in the next forty – five minutes, so don't take too long."

"Do you ever eat anything other than that crap?"

He pointed to the plate in front of her; whole wheat pancakes with a side of fruit salad and a glass of no pulp orange juice.

"Shut up." She replied, shaking her head. "I eat other things. I was just in the mood for this."

"Please tell me you have things in your house that I will be able to actually ingest."

"I don't know. I'll have to take you grocery shopping if there isn't. But that can wait."

"And when exactly do you go to work again?" He asked curiously, wondering how long it would be before he was sent off on his own again.

"I took three weeks off. Because I hadn't gone on vacation in over six months so the board forced me to once they found out about Wilson…"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

He looked down at his plate, suddenly losing his appetite.

He would never admit that he was feeling better about things now that there was someone in his life who remotely cared about him, and the thought of losing that feeling in a short amount of time was enough to make his heart sink.

"This food is gross. I'm ready to go when you are." He said pushing away his plate.

"Yeah, it kind of is." She replied. She stood and straightened her skirt before motioning for him to leave.

The ride to her apartment lasted a little over twenty minutes and neither had spoken a word the entirety of the journey.

He was too deep into his thoughts and suddenly it was almost as if all of the casual conversation between the two from the previous twenty-four hours had never occurred. The air was tense and he couldn't understand why he was getting the vibe that he wasn't the only one who was deep into their thoughts.

House snapped out of his reverie at the sound of her voice.

"So…this is it."

He looked out the window of the passenger seat as she pulled into an empty space in front of a three story white brick townhouse.

"I though you said you lived in an apartment?"

"I neglected to mention that it was three stories." She replied shrugging as she got out of the car.

He followed after her and limped back towards the trunk, getting out his things before she led him to the front door. He watched as she unlocked the door and they entered the foyer of the home.

The first thing that caught his eye was the winding staircase that led up to the rest of the house. It wasn't something that he would have a problem with, but regardless, he avoided stairs on the days where his leg was too bad.

"Do you want me to take your bag up for you?" She asked, heading in the direction of the stairs.

"No, I can handle it." He replied, although unsure of it himself. His leg wasn't acting up but the bag was at least fifty pounds of extra weight.

"Okay, but go up ahead of me… I just want to make sure…"

"You don't need to explain yourself, I get it."

He took his time going up the stairs, feeling the smallest twinge in his bad leg but not letting it show on his face. He could tell that Cuddy was already beginning to worry about him, and it was the last thing he wanted.

He reached the landing and stepped aside.

"Okay…so this will be your room."

She led him to the room at the farthest end of the hall and opened the door.

The room was a decent size, with a queen sized bed in the middle, a flat screen mounted on the wall across from it, a night stand, and a dresser. It was obviously the room she used as a guest room.

"Do you want to see the rest of the place now or do you want to get settled in?"

"I'll get settled in when you go pick up Rachel." He replied, dropping his things on the bed.

They walked back down the stairs and she showed him the first floor of her new home. It was massively bigger than the house she had owned in Princeton. The floors were all a medium brown wood and the walls were cream colored.

The kitchen had mahogany cabinets and an island in the middle with two chairs on each side. The refrigerator and stove where stainless steel. There was a small gold chandelier above a small circular table. Across from the table was a wine refrigerator and he could see that there were several bottles inside of it through the glass door.

Next was the dining room, which had walls paneled in dark wood. There was a table for eight in the center and another small chandelier above the table. He wondered if she used the area for the occasions when she had the few friends she had over for wine. He wondered if she still had those friends after leaving Princeton.

The living room was the last room she showed him.

There were black leather couches adorning the space, a coffee table in the middle with a TV in front of it. He walked over to the side table that had several framed pictures on it. He picked up one of the frames. It was a picture of Cuddy and Wilson at one of the hospital events years earlier. It was one of the events he hadn't attended, but regardless, the sight of the picture made a part of him ache for those times.

He missed Wilson.

Suddenly he wasn't interested in seeing the rest of the house.

"I think I'm gonna go get settled in…or sleep for a bit…my head hurts."

"Do you want something for the pain?" She asked, furrowing her brow in concern.

"No, it's okay." He replied before heading back up towards the guest room.


The next chapter will introduce a new character. Thoughts? Leave them in your review!