CH. 7

It had been days since House had been put into the Ketamine induced coma, and Cuddy had remained at his side for the majority of those long, uneventful days. All of which consisted of seemingly numerous hours of checking her watch during meetings she could hardly care about, staring at the oh-so-peaceful House when she had to visit, praying to God that the man would pull through, keeping frustrated tears from reaching her – all before curling up in "her" chair, taking his hand, and letting her exhausted mind rest up for yet another long day of waiting for him.

The one she finally, after twenty excruciating years, realized that she loved more than any man she had ever loved – if any.

I doubt I ever loved any man until this crazy asshole came into my life. She stared at his serene face. And even after, as I ran away from him… it's always been him.

It was quite obvious this was true. The only time she would return home was to take a quick shower, change, get her professional act together, and return to the hospital. Her chest was always burning as she worked and frustration would hit her to the point of borderline rage, considering House was just lying in a bed somewhere in the hospital and she could very well miss the moment he would open those icy blue eyes to find her nowhere near. But work had to be done and there was nothing against working harder and faster so she could be free as soon as possible – to return to him.

Luckily, one morning, she was able to stop in on House before another long schedule started and sat down taking his hand. Somewhat cold, as always, but she set forth in warming it up. Most likely, he could feel it from…wherever he was. With that in mind, she sat back and watched him, all the while alternating her bright blue gaze from his calm face to her watch, which continued to shorten her time ticking each second. Shame.

As Cuddy was about to check her watch for the umpteenth time that morning, Wilson walked in, acting his usual earnest helper self to ease her stress and worry for her well-being.

"Hey. How's he doing? Any changes? How are you? Do you want me to sit in for a while?"

Cuddy gave him a faint smile. She was tired. It had been a long week, filled with board meetings, calls to the insurance company, and endless schmoozing of donors. Cuddy wanted nothing more than for House to wake up and take her home. But obviously, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired." She looked at her watch again, "And I have a meeting with another donor in a little over an hour. So, I'll be heading out soon. You can stay if you want."

She looked at the monitors, analyzing for a moment before sighing.

"There hasn't been any changes for days, Wilson. How do we know this is going to work? What if something goes wrong? He should be out of his coma by now."

Wilson nodded.

"Cuddy, he's right on schedule, and there hasn't been any changes, you said yourself, so you know as well as I do that he hasn't gotten worse. He'll come around soon, and be back to harassing patients in no time, I'm sure."

Cuddy let out a quiet sigh. He was right. She was worrying too much, and it didn't help that she felt somewhat guilty for what happened. "If I hadn't gone to the bank," and "If I had better sense in men," came to her mind all the time, amongst other things and most of the time after she'd find herself palming her face, guilt worsening ten-fold. God, I can be stupid sometimes. Oh, wait, better yet, twenty years! And probably even more than that – in the future!

Looking at House one more time, and then checking the monitors, she stood up to face Wilson.

"Yeah. You're right. I'm just tired and my mind is going into hyper drive, and we all know about my guilt complex," she pointed to House, "This one never let's me forget it." Her eyes lingered on his face. He needed shave, but regardless, Cuddy had to refrain from moving to caress his stubble.

"I better get going," she said, before she could change her mind.

Again, Wilson nodded and watched her head out the door. Before she was gone completely, she stopped and turned.

"You'll let me know the minute something happens."

It wasn't a question, it was a command. Before either of them realized it, Cuddy kicked into her administrator persona, and was off to conduct business.

Wilson let out a heavy breath, and sat in Cuddy's vacant chair.

"She's got it bad for you House. You better not screw this up. I know why you went to the bank – why you really went. I don't see how it has taken you two this long, the hospital knows it, hell, the whole world knows that you two belong together. The only people who seem to think otherwise is the two of you. You know, she hasn't left your side for more than a few hours. I've seen the way she looks at you, and you better pull through this soon."

Leaning back, Wilson made himself more comfortable.

"You know, I kind of like you like this." He chuckled. "I think this is the longest conversation we've ever had, where you let me finish what I wanted to say. I could really get use to this."

Just as he was about to close his eyes, House's monitor started going off. Wilson looked from them to his friend and back again.

House's brain activity was increasing.

With a sigh, Wilson looked back to his friend, "I knew you would never let me have the last word. Especially when we're talking about Cuddy." He more or less muttered the last part to himself, but House heard him nonetheless.

"What about the supertanker?" An icy blue eye peeped open.

"Nice to see you too. How are you feeling?"

"Is she okay? She wasn't hurt, was she?" He sounded like he was slurring; he was definitely groggy. Out of his mind, perhaps, Wilson couldn't help thinking. He never thought that he would see that day when House put someone else first.

He smiled. "She's fine. She hasn't left your side, you know."

"I knew it! You're Cuddy in disguise!" House proclaimed, acting more like himself already.

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, "Ha ha. Very funny, House. Glad to see that nothing has changed about you….. She just left, had an important donor meeting, but she'll be back."

"Mmmm," was House's only response as he closed his eyes.

"Huh-uh! Don't think you are going to get out of this conversation that easily. I know why you went to the bank."

"So you know about my withdrawal? Wilson, I had no idea that you secretly get a thrill over my bank account. Don't go looking at my bank statement, this is one fetish that I refuse to encourage," House said, eyes still closed but with a slight smirk on his face.

"Stop deflecting House. We both know you went down there to rescue Cuddy."

"Oh, she was there, too? Huh. Go figure. Well, we all gotta use a bank," House's eyes opened then, dancing with his joking, sarcastic tone.

"House, give it up. For once, face this situation like an adult."

"Hmmmph," House turned his head to look at the ceiling as if he were defeated.

"Yeah," Wilson said, beginning to smirk himself. Got him, he thought in triumph.

"Are you finally going to take a step towards this relationship?"

"I don't know, Wilson."

"You can't keep jerking her around. She won't be here forever, House. You better man up before she finds someone else. Again. With a much worse secret criminal intent."

House continued to stare at the ceiling tiles.

"House, she'll say yes. I've seen the way she looks at you. She hasn't even left your side for more than a few hours."

"She's just protecting her hospital's biggest asset, not to mention how guilty she must be feeling about the shooting," House inquired, somewhat with a bitter tone.

Wilson shook his head. One step forward, two steps back.

"Fine, think what you want," he stood up and started to leave. "But for what it's worth, I truly believe that she cares for you, and not just because you're the hospital's biggest asset."

With that, Wilson left House alone to his thoughts.

MEANWHILE

Cuddy gave a fake smile to the donor – this had to be the longest donor meeting she's ever had. Beginning to wish that she had told Wilson or someone to call her so she could fake an emergency, Cuddy checked her watch. Is he ever going to STOP talking? By this time, the donor was just rambling on and on about the hospital and what he could see the money going towards. Blah blah blah.

Just as Cuddy was about to excuse herself, her pager went off.

House's awake.

"I'm sorry to cut this meeting so short, but this is the hospital. It's an emergency and I need to go," she said with a smile as she shook his hand. "I'll call you within the week, so we can finish hashing out the details, thank you for your time." And with that, Cuddy was off.

Cuddy made it to the hospital in record time, only to find herself standing outside his room. Now that he was awake, she was suddenly nervous. They needed to talk. They needed to make a move one way or the other, and she wasn't too sure that she was ready for this heart to heart, or even if he would take their conversation seriously.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer," House called out and noticing her standing there, staring into the room.

Cuddy smiled and shook her head; of course he knew she was there.

"How are you feeling?" she asked from the door.

"Great. Man, these pain meds must be illegal."

"Wilson and I tried Ketamine," she said softly, not moving.

House's eyes shot open. After a moment of looking off into space, he turned his head to look at her. Their eyes met, and what Cuddy saw sent shivers down her spine. Behind his glassy blue eyes, flashed emotions that showed such gratitude and all the sincerity in the world.

"Thank you," he whispered, never breaking their eye contact.

Cuddy only nodded.

Standing there for a minute longer, she finally decided to make her way to the chair.

"There is only a fifty percent chance that it'll work-"

"Thank you," he repeated.

Cuddy didn't know how to respond. This wasn't House, at least not the House she has come to know over the years. This was Greg. The thought of him as the man she met in college caused her heart to flutter.

"Of course, you'll have to do physical therapy, and you have to be careful not to do too much too fast-"

"Hey, I'm the real doctor here. You're just an administrator." He gave her a devilish grin.

She only smiled. There he is.

Silence.

"Maybe later we can try for a walk?"

House looked at her and nodded. They sat in more silence and she suddenly didn't feel like she needed to be there; as if she were about to jump out of her skin.

"Well, I better get going – lots of paperwork."

As she went to stand, Cuddy suddenly stopped when he took her hand. She froze. Looking down at her hand, she stared at his much larger one encompassing hers. Finally, she managed to look at him. They held each other's gaze, not speaking, not moving - just looking.

House…

"I'm glad that you're safe," he said. House dropped his gaze and let her hand go.

"Thank you," Cuddy whispered as she placed her hand on his cheek, eyes watering.

"Cuddy, I-"

"I'm glad that you're okay. We almost lost you, and that made me realize something, so just hear me out, and please don't try to deflect. I care about you, House. The thought of losing you nearly killed me. But before I get ahead of myself, I need to know why you came to the bank."

"I thought that was clear."

"I want to hear you say it."

He let out an aggravated breath.

"I came for you. I was having lunch with Coma Guy when I saw you in the bank. I can't describe how that made me feel, but I knew that those idiot cops weren't – couldn't save you-"

"House."

"Cuddy, you know I'm not good at this kind of stuff."

"Just, please, try. For me. I need to know if we can work."

House looked at her, his eyes shining as he studied her face.

"I – care for you, Cuddy."

She smiled.

"And, maybe once I'm discharged, we could get food?"

"Nice, House. Was that your way of asking me on a date?"

He smiled mischievously.

"Was that your way of saying yes?"

Putting her face to her palm and shaking her head, she smiled. What was she going to do with him?

"Yes." I don't want to run anymore. She smiled more. His eyes stayed on hers. And you don't either, I hope.


Sorry it took so long to update! Classes have been crazy hectic. But we're still going :) This is a special chapter for us, and we hoped that you liked it!

As always, you're thoughts are ALWAYS appreciated, so let us know how we're doing and what you think! - If you want, you can follow me on twitter - Jasmyn_Mae I post things on House and retweet any crazy information from other House fans and sources, along with just being myself, and a fun person to tweet!

Stay tuned! :)