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A week passed, and then two. House found himself a frequent peeping tom at Cuddy's place. Brendan was with her every night from the moment she got home from work until the moment she left for work the next morning. One night, House heard them arguing, but they kissed and made up, followed by a full night of passion. Cuddy forgave him, like always. The nights House wasn't there to watch them fight, he could always tell they did, because Cuddy would get flowers the next morning at work. Brendan never apologized; he would always say he looked forward to tonight. Despite House being who he is, he was growing more and more concerned for Cuddy. She came to work on time, did what she had to do, and left, but she wasn't herself. She wasn't the usual Cuddy that everyone knew. Some mornings, she would lose her temper and nag at her employees, and other mornings she refused to talk to anyone. And House knows she's been crying in her office. He caught her once a couple days ago, but she refused to give him any hints when he asked why she was crying.
It was because of Brendan. He was hurting her mentally and would yell at her for every little thing. The stress became too much on Cuddy and she would come to work in tears. House wasn't the only one who noticed. Wilson finally noticed also. Since the hospital really was a rumor mill, it got around the hospital that Cuddy was being abused by her boyfriend, which wasn't a total lie, but when they say abuse, they mean physically. There were no signs of physical abuse, but House wouldn't put it past Brendan. It was bound to happen.
The morning before this one, she came to work in tears and tried to hide it. House was in the lobby with Wilson, getting him to buy him a newspaper when they turned their heads in unison and saw her walking through quickly to the clinic, hiding her face. The first thing House thought was that Brendan hit her. He tossed the newspaper aside and limped as quickly as he could to her office, face contorted in anger, wanting answers. Wilson followed him, just as concerned.
Brendan didn't hit her, but he did physically attack her. He didn't want her to come into work that morning and grabbed her to make her stop. Her upper arms were grabbed so tightly that bruises started forming. Cuddy tried wearing quarter sleeves to cover them, but House was persistent. He saw how tenderly she moved her arms and made her show him the bruises.
House wanted to kill him. If it weren't for Cuddy pleading with him not to get involved, he would've found him somehow. Cuddy still didn't know where he lived. He would always be at her house when she got home.
Nevertheless, she and Brendan made up that night, like always, and spent the night together. She would always give into his apologies very easily and that was that. Everyone noticed Cuddy's drastic mood change since she started going together with Brendan. She was seeing him for three weeks now and every day, she grew more and more solemn.
And then today…she didn't show up at all. There was no answer on her cell. House was worried. Extremely. He left without telling his fellows or anyone else. He knew in his gut that Brendan did something to Cuddy and kicked himself mentally for not doing anything about it sooner.
When he arrived at Cuddy's, Brendan's car was in the driveway. Surprise, surprise. House parked his bike and while he walked up the driveway, he heard something crash and break, followed by Rachel staring to wail.
"Can't you shut that kid up for one second?! She cries all night and you yell at me?!"
That's all House needed to hear. Brendan's voice was so loud that he heard it outside, clear as day. He opened the door with one of Cuddy's secret keys and walked in with a vengeance, not really caring or thinking about what Brendan would do to him as a result.
"You're not worth all that money I spent on you, Lisa! All the other women would at least thank me!" His voice was so loud that it sounded like his voice was popping up in every room in the house.
"I never asked you to buy me things!" Cuddy yelled back, followed by Rachel crying even harder.
"Shut her up or I'll shut her up for you!"
House appeared in the doorway belonging to the kitchen. Cuddy was a mess. Her hair was unwashed and she was still in her bathrobe, even though she was supposed to be at work two hours ago. Her cheeks had visible tear lines on them, telling House that she's been crying for a while now.
"Hey!" House yelled over the noise from the doorway, causing Cuddy to gasp and spin around to him, bouncing a sobbing Rachel in her arms. Her jaw dropped. He's the last person she expected to see right now.
"House! What are you doing here?!"
"I could ask you the same thing," he said, followed by a glare directed at Brendan. "What the hell's going on in here?"
"That's none of your business," Brendan said, clearly pissed that House interrupted their spat. He was also annoyed that Rachel continued to cry at the top of her lungs. It infuriated him so badly that he reached over and tried to rip her from Cuddy's arms.
Cuddy refused to let go, yelling at Brendan to stop. Rachel's cry turned into a yell of distress as she was tugged on. Apparently, both forgotten that House was there. He kindly reminded them of his presence when Brendan was popped in the jaw, sending him stumbling backwards.
"Don't ever touch the kid again," he growled, shooting dagger eyes at him.
"House, leave!" Cuddy said, feeling frustrated that he was interfering and angry that he hit Brendan.
"Next time it won't be the kid, Cuddy, it'll be you," House said, watching Brendan recover. "In fact, it's already been you, hasn't it?"
"You better get the hell out of here if you know what's good for you," Brendan said, touching his tender jaw with the tips of his fingers.
"Oh you're such a tough guy, aren't you, beating on women the way you do."
"He's never hit me," Cuddy said, voice filled with worry, trying to pull House back by his arm. It wasn't that strong of a hold and he could easily rip through her grasp if he wanted to.
"Yes he has," House spat, noticing a small split on her lip that only angered him further. "Stop sticking up for him all the time. Why don't you get out of here and stop smothering her before I do more than punch you in the face."
"Looks like you're the one she wants gone, buddy," Brendan said, but kept his distance. He didn't hit him back after House threw the first punch, even though his tightened fists begged him to do so.
"House, please," Cuddy begged, still trying to calm Rachel down over all the yelling, "just go."
"I'm not going anywhere," House said, firmly planting his feet where he stood. "Not until he leaves first."
"House—"
"Fine," Brendan said, throwing up his hands in surrender, but did so half reluctantly. Rachel finally stopped crying once everyone stopped yelling, allowing him to be able to think. His glare never let up on House. "I'll leave, but I'm not going far, so watch it." He leaned over to kiss Cuddy. It pissed House off further knowing she accepted that kiss, acting like none of this just happened.
House stepped off to the side and waved his hand towards the door in the kitchen. "After you, sir," he said sarcastically.
Brendan stepped up to the now open path to the door, but stopped at House along the way. "I'll be back tonight and you better not be," he said and then stormed out.
House didn't start speaking until he heard the front door slam. Cuddy beat him to it.
"Get out," she said, voice full of heavy defeat and walked out of the kitchen through another doorway, one that lead to the hall. House followed quickly on her heels.
"What the hell was that?!" he asked loudly. "Did that asshole actually have the balls to hit you?!"
Cuddy lead House to her room, probably on accident with the lack of nowhere else to go once she passed every other room going down the hall. House's eyes immediately widened the moment he stepped foot past the door. Everything was thrown around and all the breakable things, including picture frames, were broken. Even the curtain rod was bent at the halfway mark on one of the windows.
"What…happened in here?"
Cuddy laid Rachel down at the foot of the bed and started to sob in her hands once they were free.
"God, I love him so much, why does he have to be this way? All I wanted to do was open the curtains to let the sun come in and he flipped out!"
"Cuddy…" House stepped up to her. Seeing her like this lowered his tone incredibly and made him hate Brendan even more. It also scared him in a way, for he never saw her like this. How was he supposed to react? This sort of thing doesn't happen to Cuddy. By now, she would be at work and probably forcing him to do clinic hours. This is one event he never prepared himself for.
Her back still faced him. He reached his hand out and rested it on her shoulder. She didn't move or hurry to brush it off. That was a good sign.
"What have I done wrong?" she asked aloud, voice nearly breaking.
"You didn't do anything wrong. It's not you. Stop thinking that it is. This is your house; you have the right to do whatever you want."
"I just wanted to make him happy. I was going to close the curtains, but he was already out of bed, throwing everything around! He even broke the Menorah that my mom gave me thirty years ago. It was a family heirloom and now it's…" She choked out a sob, "in pieces."
"Lisa…I want you to look at me," he said. "Turn around."
Cuddy did so, but slowly. Her eyes were bloodshot and a small welt that House hadn't noticed before was forming on her cheek. "Oh god," he murmured.
"It's nothing. If I hadn't tried to open the curtains—"
"Stop blaming yourself!" he said suddenly in a loud voice, making her flinch. "He's clouding your better judgment and if you don't stop, he's going to do a lot worse than hit you, do you understand?!"
House wasn't planning to be loud with her. He was fully planning to comfort her and calm her down, but instead of doing that, he was getting her worked up again. "He's going to knock you down, peg by peg, until you feel so low about yourself that you'll want to jump in front of a moving bus to make the pain stop."
"You have no idea what you're talking about!"
"No, but you do," he said, not removing his eyes from hers. He seized both of her hands that rested against her chest gently enough not to alarm her. "For the past week, you've felt like a failure and had no idea why, but you wished it would go away."
"But that doesn't mean I'm suicidal, House!" she said.
"But it does mean you've thought about hurting yourself physically to shift the pain. Believe me, I know all about that. The bottom line, you need to stop seeing him before it gets that far."
Cuddy shook her head. "No. No, I can't. I want him. I need him." Her eyes begged for him to understand.
"You don't need him." He gently cupped her cheeks, brushing the pad of his thumb against the growing welt. It took a lot to restrain himself from screaming the sense into her. He was performing actions that were very unlike him, but for Cuddy, he would allow it to slide. He surprised himself that he was capable of these actions. Cuddy looked like she did the night she lost Joy. Her eyes were a cold grey and her cheeks were stained with trails upon trails of zigzagged tears. "There are plenty of other men out there, ones that you can find, not ones that find you."
"Do you see me having any luck with that?" she asked.
"You didn't have any luck with a kid, but now you have one. You don't need to resort to men that hit you just because you don't think you'll be able to find someone else. You're smarter than this."
"So where do you play in this? You think that because you're here and rescued me from the big bad neighbor, you're my hero? Is that it? You want me to thank you?"
He shook his head. "Wait to thank me when you realize that Brendan is an asshole and removes one of your limbs because you went into the bathroom to pee one morning before he did."
"I'm not leaving him. I love him."
"You don't love him, Cuddy!" House shouted, getting frustrated. "He wants you to think that you love him so he can use you!"
"Use me for what?" she asked, sounding doubted.
"Oh…I don't know…money…sex…Let's face it, you aren't exactly Miss America. Sure, you got the looks and a great ass, but you're middle-aged and you have a newborn. What man is attracted to that? He wants your money and free sex while he's at it and you're giving it to him!"
Cuddy was insulted by that. Her eyes narrowed. "Then why the hell…are you always after me?" she asked, voice firm. "It's obviously not for my money, and since I'm so not Miss America and middle-aged as you so cleverly put it, you must want me solely for the sex. That would make you no better than the way you're describing Brendan."
"I never said I wanted you! Don't make this about me."
"You've been after me for years and since you ingeniously narrowed it down, I assume you're only after me for sex."
"If I want sex, all I have to do is pick up a phone!" Now House was getting angry. It really wasn't about Brendan anymore.
"Then why? Why do you try so hard to get my attention and then when you got it, you walk away like it never happened?!" Cuddy cried. "Is it some sort of perverse bet you have going on with yourself?"
"Yeah, Cuddy, that's exactly what it is. I have a chart I keep up in my office. I give myself a gold star every time I get your attention and once it fills up, I know I'll get laid. You'll find that it's half-full as of two weeks ago. Now get ready, I'm taking you to work so I can keep an eye on you. Where's your nanny?"
"She called in sick," Cuddy said, folding her arms. "That's why I wasn't at work in time today. Despite what you may think, it wasn't because of Brendan."
"Then we're taking the kid with us. Dry those useless tears and let's go."
Cuddy didn't move. "There's no 'us,' House," she said. "And the next time you see Brendan, I want you to apologize to him."
"Apologize for what?!"
"For interfering, and then for hitting him. You had no right."
She poked into her closet and pulled out the first outfit she touched. She didn't feel like digging through to find out which one she liked best. In fact, she really didn't feel like going in today at all.
"And is he going to apologize to you for hurting the kid?"
"He didn't hurt her," Cuddy said, glancing over to Rachel, who was sound asleep on the bed.
"Oh, right, I forgot…he's perfect. He didn't do anything wrong. If any other guy hit you, you'd be on the phone with the cops in the ten seconds that followed."
"House, get out. I'll see you at the hospital."
He shook his head. "Nope. Not leaving here without you and the kid."
"Don't be stupid. I still have to take a shower—"
"Then you better go do it. I'll wait with the kid."
"House—"
"Don't make me go into the bathroom with you, Cuddy," he threatened half-jokingly.
"Now look at who's smothering me," she mumbled, walking towards her bathroom. "Watch Rachel."
"Why? Is she going to do something other than sleep?" he asked, glancing back at Rachel, who was sleeping peacefully on Cuddy's bed, as if nothing happened just now.
House sat on the end of Cuddy's bed just as he heard the squeaky water valve turn on in the shower. He glanced to Rachel and stared at her a while before speaking.
"Good thing you're not old enough to understand what's going on," he said and then leaned his head closer to her. "I'm going to teach you a new word…It's called 'denial.' Mommy is full of it. She is also infatuated with a loser and a much bigger jerk than me…if that's possible." He frowned. "You're not listening to me, are you? That's okay, no one ever does."
He stood and snooped around in Cuddy's room. He came across the Menorah by the window. It was, in fact, broken into a few dozen pieces and unfixable.
"Bastard," House muttered.
Even if he started to detox, he would never be angry to the point where he would fly into a rage and trash a room. He especially wouldn't hit a woman. Definitely not Cuddy. The fact that anyone had the nerve to play with her heart and then hit her was just inconceivable. But it's like it never happened! Cuddy refused to see this as a bad thing! She blamed herself and brushed it aside.
House knew she had a problem. Whether this behavior was brought on by fear that this is her last chance at finding love and happiness because of her age, or if it was a true case of love at first sight, she was in trouble and Brendan was loving it. He knew he had Cuddy just where he wanted her. Manipulation achieved.
But when Brendan started to plan, he wasn't aware that Cuddy had a guardian angel. He figured her a lonely single mother with a good job and very little to no friends. He had no idea there was someone in there that would protect her with everything he had.
Cuddy had House. No one came in between that.
House was interrupted when the shower faucet squeaked while turning off. Rachel also started to fuss. House looked over as her little arms and legs started thrashing about.
"Your kid is squirming…and two seconds away from crying!" House shouted loud enough to reach the opposite side of the closed door.
"So then pick her up, House! Make yourself useful!" she shouted back.
House was hesitant. The only time he held Rachel was when Cuddy decided she was keeping her and handed her over to him to hold while they were in his office. To him, that was enough for a lifetime, but because of the events that were coming forth, he figured it might be a good idea that he start to bond with Rachel.
He picked her up and held her close. She immediately stopped squirming and didn't end up crying at all. She looked up at House with her big, blue eyes as he cradled her.
"It's only a necessity, kid, don't get used to it."
She cooed in response and brought her tiny fist to her mouth and started to suck on it, oblivious to the events going on around her.
Just then, Cuddy's cell phone started ringing on her nightstand. He stepped over to see who it was. He grimaced when he saw Brendan's name illuminated, followed by two perfectly filled in hearts. His name was properly capitalized and everything. House was lucky if the first letter of his name in her phonebook was capitalized. It was probably as plain as everyone else's. Only Brendan got the special treatment.
Shifting Rachel to one arm, he picked up the phone and answered it. Cuddy didn't hear it ring and never came out.
"Sorry, she can't come to the phone right now. Her hands and mouth are a little busy. Call back never," he said and hung up the phone.
Cuddy came out of the bathroom with a frown after seeing House with her phone. "Did my phone just ring?"
"Nope!" House said. "I was just looking through your ringtones because I was bored."
"And you told my ringtones to call back never?"
House shrugged. "What can I say, they never listen."
Her phone started to ring again. House cussed mentally. He should've turned it off.
Cuddy snatched the phone from him and answered it. Her face fell into worry as she instantly apologized to Brendan before saying anything else. House brought his brows together. Why did she even need to apologize at all to that creep?
"Oh, yes, Lisa, faster!" House shouted loud enough for Brendan to hear it.
Cuddy narrowed her eyes at him. "House, get out!" she yelled back.
"No, I won't get out! You feel so damn good!"
Brendan heard all this and his voice could clearly be heard on the other line, screaming at Cuddy to the point where she looked as if she were going to cry. When she did start to tear up moments later, House stepped over and ripped the phone out of her hand. He couldn't stand Brendan bringing her down so low. He hated it even more that she actually took it from him with no question.
Tears fell from Cuddy's eyes when House started yelling back at Brendan, dropping down to his level. His yelling caused Rachel to start crying. At this point, House would throw either the phone or the baby. Since the phone was lighter, once he was through shouting for him to leave Cuddy alone, he threw the phone against the wall, smashing it to pieces. Evidently, he wouldn't be angry enough to trash a room, but would be angry enough to throw a cell phone across the room.
Horror spread across Cuddy's face as the sound of her cell phone breaking against the wall filled her ears, as well as Rachel's crying turning into shrieking.
"You are impossible!" Cuddy yelled, roughly taking Rachel from his arms and lightly bouncing her in her own. "Get out!"
House had never seen so much hate directed towards him before. Her eyes said it all. She also had a little vein in her forehead that popped out whenever she was angry. The thing took on a life of its own right now! What he always considered a sexy feature didn't seem so sexy anymore.
Cuddy looked worried, but at the same time, was angry towards House.
"I'm not leaving you alone," House said, not feeling so secure after hearing Brendan yell the way he did. He was dangerous. If he really did hit Cuddy, followed by making a grab for Rachel, it's only a matter of time before something more severe happens to them.
Why couldn't Cuddy see it? Was she really this in love with Brendan to ignore the safety of her own child, as well as herself? Was she willing to give up everything for some guy? House never pegged her to be this weak. In fact, it was disgusting, coming right down to it. This wasn't his Cuddy anymore. A quarter of her left when she got Rachel, and the rest of her went when she found Brendan.
What in the world made Lisa Cuddy change this quickly?
"Yes, you are, House. Get out and don't come back."
House wanted to leave. He wanted to march right out of there and find Brendan. He had to be around here somewhere. Whatever he did had such a profound effect on Cuddy that she completely forgot who she was. She reverted back to an obsessed high school girl. What would it take for her to become aware of Brendan's true colors? Was it a death of someone close to her? Maybe it would be the kidnapping of Rachel. House didn't know, but he was tempted to stage something and put it in Brendan's name to wake her up.
"I'm taking you to work," he said. "And after that, you're staying with me."
Cuddy scoffed. She finally got Rachel to settle down. "I wouldn't stay with you if my life depended on it."
"What if the kid's life depended on it?"
"He won't hurt Rachel. If anything, he wants to hurt you! Right now, you're making it way too easy for him, House."
"And he's going to end up hurting you if you don't open your eyes! He sends you flowers at work if you fight the night before. What's he going to send you if he breaks a few bones? A ring?" He pointed to her. "You're so obsessed with him. You're letting him walk all over you!"
"It's called love," Cuddy said. "I know you've never heard of it, but I'm not going to dump Brendan because of one little argument. And for your information, he didn't hit me. He would never hit me. He loves me."
"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that. And then see what happens when it turns out be not true." His voice was low. He jutted his chin to the bathroom door. "Go get ready."
Cuddy hesitated at first. She did have responsibilities. Her job came first.
She handed Rachel off to House without a word and disappeared into the bathroom to get ready.
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