Thanks for the reviews for the past chapters! I love them all! :D You guys are so good to me and I very much appreciate it!

This chapter is about a thousand words smaller than my norm, but I'm so long overdo that I had to put something up!

Enjoy :)

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There were only so many hearts and stars Cuddy could trace into the sand before she became bored, but wasn't sure if she should go back to the cave. House already started cooking the bacon a moment ago. She could smell it, mixed in with the salty air. She wasn't a big bacon eater, but her growling stomach made it seem appealing. Too bad they didn't bring eggs. She'd love an omelet with toast right now.

Blueberry muffins would have to do. Whenever she decided to head back to the cave, that is.

With her fingertip, she traced her married name into the sand and studied it. It looked good. Seeing her name in print also made her realize that life is short. Being here before made her already think that, but being married over forty made her realize this as well. She still wanted to try for a baby and certainly wasn't getting any younger.

Erasing the hearts, stars, and her name, she decided it was time to return to House. The closer she got to the cave, the more nervous she became, as if this wasn't her husband she was about to see, but someone behind bars she was about to speak with for some reason or another.

House sat on his legs, holding the pan of bacon up above the fire, causing the meat to sizzle violently and the grease to spit.

"For the record, my office isn't the only place I wanna be, thank you very much," she said, entering the cave and plopping down near him.

"You always have to have the last words in, don't you, Cuddy?"

"Believe me, it's a rare occasion," she bit, reaching for her suitcase full of food. Yanking the zipper a little tighter than necessary, she unzipped the front of the suitcase and pulled out a bag of Hostess mini muffins.

"Why are you being this way?" House asked after a sigh, still not looking back at her.

"Me?! What did I do?"

"You never do anything you don't want to do. It bothers me that you came here, in spite of being against it." He turned the individual slices of bacon over with a fork.

"House, just let it go. Now that I'm here, it's not so bad. We got here safe, the pilot says there's rarely any storms this time of year, we got food to last us, adequate clothing and sleeping arrangements, I think I can handle two weeks of being here. It would be nice if my Blackberry worked out here, but I think I can live without it," she said, using a little humor to try to lighten up the mood.

House said nothing. Cuddy set aside her muffins and scooted up beside him. Gently, she rubbed the small of his back. "I'm sorry, House. I didn't mean to lie to you. You were so intent on coming here, you had it all planned out, paid for, and…who am I to stop that?"

House shook his head lightly. "I just wish you were honest with me about coming here. Not many things mean a lot to me, but this did."

"That's why I didn't hold it back anymore."

"No, you waited until we were here to complain, making me an even bigger idiot," he bit, setting the pan of fully cooked bacon off to the side and sitting back.

Cuddy followed after him. "House, I DO want to be here. I want to be wherever YOU are!"

"No you don't." He reached for an oversized walky that had a large antenna on it. He turned it on by a button at the top and handed it to her. "Go on, call the pilot in Hawaii. He'll be here in two hours to get you."

Cuddy slowly took the device into her hand. "But what about you?"

"I'm staying here. You said so yourself, it's already been paid for. Go back to Hawaii and stay at the hotel. Knock yourself out. Learn a hula dance or something."

Cuddy let the radio rest in her lap. She just stared at it, making no movements. This was her ticket out of here. Going back to Hawaii and sipping on coconut daiquiris on the beach wasn't a shabby idea. At least she knew that if she got off the lounge chair and walked about twenty or thirty feet due south, there would be some form of shelter there with running water, indoor plumbing, and maybe a buffet of some kind. Being stranded on this island for two months did a number on her, one that House would never understand, just as she'd never understand why he wanted to come back here so badly.

Cuddy had to suffer the thought of losing House to some disease and then, at some point, waiting to die herself. It's been two months since they were stranded. No one would find them. As she held a dying House in her arms, she knew she was next. She wasn't sure how, but her death would come, possibly from starvation. There's no way she would be able to eat again once House was a corpse, lying in this very cave. She'd curl up and join him, maybe even causing her own death. And that would be it. Their bodies would disintegrate together, becoming nothing but a pile of bones for all eternity.

This isn't something she wanted to be reminded of in any shape, way, or form. It just goes to show that she loves House enough to grant him this silly wish in returning to the island.

So who was right? Him or her? Or were they both being idiots about coming back?

"I'm not going," she said, turning the device off and setting it aside.

"Cuddy, just go. I don't want to hear you complain this entire time. Even last time with no hopes of rescue, you were still more optimistic than usual."

Cuddy sighed. "You're right, House, which is why I'm not going. I have no reason to be afraid anymore. What happened in the past is in the past and as long as you can promise me we'll never come back here again, I'm okay with being here now."

"Really? Cause I was hoping we would turn this into a yearly thing," he joked, even though no laughing of any sort was involved.

Cuddy grinned at him. "Not on your life." She reached in and kissed the tip of his nose. "Remember you said that I get to pick our next destination. I think we should go on a cruise to the Caribbean next year."

House returned her grin. "You're right, that does seem a lot safer. We'd be out on the ocean in the middle of no man's land on a huge ship that has every possibility of becoming a victim to the water. You ever see Titanic?"

"House, that was way back then. Believe it or not, technology has improved since then. Cruise liners don't sink."

"They could!"

"Yes, but they won't."

House whined. Cuddy poked him in the shoulder. "Stop it. Keep it up and I'll drag you on a cruise to Alaska."

House rolled his eyes. "Great, that's just great, now we can sink in even colder water than the northern Atlantic on April 15th, 1912."

"Says the man who wanted to fly out to an island to chill while on his honeymoon for two weeks instead of going anywhere else in the world," Cuddy said, stealing a piece of crispy bacon from the pan, which was now cooled off enough to eat.

"Okay, you watch, the next time we go somewhere, I'm going to be so obnoxious that you'll want to curl up into a corner and cry." He stuck a piece of bacon into his mouth and turned his head towards her, the end still sticking out.

Instead of eating her own piece, Cuddy reached in and bit the end off House's piece. "Mmm. Yummy."

"I'm pretty sure your strip tastes just as good as mine does."

Cuddy grinned and stuck a piece of bacon into her mouth, mimicking his former position. "Care to try?"

House leaned in and purposely met their lips together before biting off more than half the strip. They chewed simultaneously.

"You're right, they do taste about the same."

They finished their breakfast, that comprised of bacon and muffins and put the fire out when they were finished.

"So what are we going to do today?" she asked.

He gave her a look, followed by a smirk. "I'll give you two guesses."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Figures."

He then shrugged and laid down on his side. "Fine. I'll entertain myself in other ways."

He grabbed his iPod Touch and turned it on.

"Oh don't tell me you downloaded porn onto that thing," she said flatly.

"Nope. Skee ball! The next best thing to sex."

He got into it like a child.

"I hope your battery dies real soon," she muttered.

"Oh don't worry about that, Cuddles. I bought a battery-operated charger with me. Guaranteed to last for two weeks. Go grab my old shuffle in the back. I'm sure it has a few songs on there that you might recognize."

The sad part was that House was serious. How could they go from having a breakfast of foreplay and then stop completely? She's always teased him when he wanted sex, but never did he get out of the mood like this after she jokingly told him no!

Suddenly, Cuddy grabbed the iPod from his hand, tossed it, and straddled him.

"Hey! I didn't have my screen protector on that!"

"Oh so what, House, you can afford to buy a hundred more," she said, laying on top of him.

"God, woman, are you gaining weight? It's like an anvil landed on my chest."

Instead of slapping him silly, which is what she would normally do, she played with his hair and smiled. "You're lucky I love you."

"You're lucky I'm not weak and frail. Although I think I just developed serious chest related issues all of a sudden," he said, wheezing dramatically.

"Fine," she said, sitting up and attempting to get off him. "Be a jerk."

He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back down to her previous position. "Just kidding," he joked with a smirk and brought her head down for a kiss.

"You're only good to me when you want sex," she pouted, not struggling to leave him.

"Does it look like I'm being good to you right now?" he asked flatly.

"Hmm…valid point."

She went to kiss him, but he held up a finger to his lips to stop her from coming any closer.

"What?" she questioned.

"This offer is only coming around once. Do you want to go home?"

Cuddy sighed through her nose. "I know I'm going to regret it, but let's just stay here. I mean…what's the worst that can happen?"

"You ripping my head off and suing for a divorce as soon as we get back home?" House offered.

Cuddy hit him lightly upside the head.

"See, you're already getting started."

"Shut up and kiss me."

He granted her request and the two kept plenty busy for the next hour or so.

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