Chapter Ten

Breaking and Entering

Thanks to HouseAddiction, Boys Don't Cry, Abbeyannmd, mj0621, Kris the fanficaholic, Huddytheultimate, brahmsvoilin, DrusillaBraun, thevigilante15, and RHSecretLove for their reviews! Much appreciated!

Disclaimer: I don't own House. Everything belongs to the producers, directors, writers, the network, and everyone else that it's supposed to belong to. I merely write for fun.

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House's phone chirped and he promptly tossed it into the toilet and flushed. He didn't need it. If there was a medical emergency with Cuddy, they would page him. The phone was merely an annoying tool that Fisher used to yell at him. He wasn't using the bathroom. Didn't feel the need to relive himself. He was sitting on the counter with a giant medical textbook sprawled open on his lap. The men's bathroom was the one place that Fisher would never find him in. He relished that fact.

His silence was once again shattered by an insistent knocking on the door. He tried to ignore it, but it became more and more thunderous.

"I'm shitting." He yelled through the wooden door.

"You've been in there for over an hour." Fisher's shrill voice rang out muffled.

"Lots of crap in my system." House retorted.

"House, get the hell out of there right this second and do your clinic hours!" Fisher yelled.

"I'm trying to save a life here!" He yelled back, trying to control his growing anger.

He wanted to throw open the door and hit her across the face with his cane. Or better yet, beat the crap out of her and then ignore her in the exam room. More knocking, a rise in his temper.

She finally threw the door open and was glaring at him. He looked back at her with a passive look on his face.

"Come close and I'll piss on you." He hissed.

"House…" Fisher started and then stopped, her eyes falling upon the book still left open on the counter.

"You're reading?" she asked.

"Trying to save a life." He said.

"I didn't know you cared." She said, watching him closely, scrutinizing his reaction.

"I don't." He said without thinking. Then he hesitated as his conscious mind caught up with his unconscious on. He did care. He just didn't want to admit it to someone who hated his and Cuddy's guts.

"Well good then." Fisher said, tone all professional. There was an edge to it that House did not like. He wasn't fooling her and he knew it.

"You're fired House." She said.

"What?" He demanded.

"You're fired. I hire people that do their jobs. If you don't do your job then I fire you. It's that easy." She stated plainly, bluntly.

He felt his knuckles tighten on the wood that supported him.

"You old hag." He seethed, unable to control himself. "You can't stand her because she's smarter, brighter than you. I don't know what kind of history you two had together, but it's obvious that she's a better doctor than you'll ever be. You're just an old overweight bitch that always wants to be right."

"House, shut up right now!" Fisher screamed at him.

"Why should I? You fired me. I can't change that. You hate me too!"

"You're an ass!"

"I know. Cuddy knew. Everyone in the whole damn building knows. People outside of this fucking state knows!" He roared. "But they deal with it. You can't! Why? Because I make diagnosises that save people's life and you sit in an office and waste your time. When Cuddy was Dean, she still worked in the clinic or right beside me sometimes. You do the bare minimum and yell at anyone else that does the same. You fucking hypocrite!"

"At least I'm not a drug addict that's willing to put his friend's life on the line for a chance to throw insults at his boss." She said, dangerously, comment meant to jab and to hurt.

He stopped. "I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce." He finished evenly before shoving past her and heading toward the elevator.

She watched him go and yelled after him, "You have two hours to get your stuff out of this hospital and leave or else I'm calling security!"

She fumed when she saw him flip her the bird right before the elevator doors shut.

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Stacy was bouncing Jesse on her lap and debating whether or not she should deliver a particular piece of devastating news to House when he walked right past them, his face dark and stormy. She knew at once that it wasn't a good sign. House rarely felt that anger. She had only seen him wear that expression only once in all the time she knew him.

"What happened?" She asked running after him.

His eyes softened at the sight of his child giggling in her arms. He reached out with one hand to stroke her cheek and got a smile in return. She passed the child into his arms and it amazed her how he could so easily shift his weight and cradle her and stand upright at the same time.

"House..." She reminded.

He shook his head and suddenly he looked more worn than he ever had. Forget drinking, smoking or the drugs. Forget the withdrawal symptoms or spending the night in jail. He looked worse for wear.

"I got fired." He said softly.

"House!" Stacy exclaimed, voice both surprised and angry.

"Don't yell at me Stacy, I might hit you." He said tiredly.

"And I'll sue you." She responded without missing a beat. "How can you let that happen? Lisa needs you."

"I know. I just don't know what came over me." He said, looking down at the child that peered up at him with no guards, completely open, no walls, completely trusting.

He had let his daughter down.

"I have two hours to pack my stuff up and tell my team exactly what to do." He said.

She looked grief stricken and let out a shuddering breath. "Then do it." She said evenly.

She held out her arms for Jesse. He reluctantly handed her back.

"I'll pick her up after the two hours and she can stay with me." He said.

Stacy shook her head and said slowly, "I'm her guardian."

House looked stunned. "But I'm her father." He said softly.

"Yes, but Cuddy's orders were clear. I'm to be her guardian until she's 18 if anything happens to her."

"But I'm her father." He repeated.

Stacy let out a sigh. "True and even after Cuddy found out, she still insisted that the child be left with me."

"Why?" he breathed, unable to tear his eyes away from the now sleeping baby in Stacy's grasp.

"Because of your drug addiction." Stacy confessed. "She was worried that you would be a bad example to Jesse."

"I can handle it."

"That's the problem House." Stacy said. "You can't."

He watched her walk away feeling forlorn.

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"Differential diagnosis." He said, striding into the break room as if nothing had happened.

After years, he had become the master of bluff and illusions. His instincts were working overtime as he tried to shrug away the sense of betrayal coursing through his veins. He understood her reason and at some level agreed with her, but he kept thinking about his child and how much he had fallen in love with her in so little time.

"We know it's not encephalitis." Foreman stated.

"Great let's rule out everything it's not." House said sarcastically. "Then maybe she'll hang out until we go through all the remaining medical problems that we learned in that wonderful Hell with fluorescent lights called medical schools."

"You're not helping." Chase said.

"Yes I am," He said. "I'm egging you on. You guys will throw stupid ideas of what it could be and any minute I'll come up with a brilliant idea."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Fever as high as she has, it's probably an infection."

"Ok, check for infections. I want every single one you can think of." He said to Cameron.

"Anything else?"

"It's neurological." Foreman said stubbornly.

"Right. If I remember we already dealt with the brain inflammation." House said.

"Maybe it's something else."

"Cancer?" Chase asked, innocently, just throwing the idea into the medical term cocktail.

With surprising speed, House was across the room an inch away from Chase's face.

"Don't you ever use that word again when we're talking about Cuddy." He said dangerously.

Chase held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry I was just throwing it out there." He said.

House eased himself down onto a nearby chair. "Anything else?"

He was answered with silence. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Okay, do the tests Foreman. Cameron, I want you to make calls to Mercy hospital, her friends, anyone that is remotely connected to Cuddy and fill in the holes in her medical file."

They started to get up. Chase interrupted. "What about me?"

House let out a defeated sigh and his eyes looked almost misty when he said, "Get Wilson and do a biopsy."

"Where are you going?" Cameron asked.

"Away from here. I got fired." He said.

He left them there with bewildered looks.

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"I can't do the biopsy." Wilson said to Chase.

"Why not?" he asked, his voice showing confusion despite the heavy laced Australian accent.

"You suspect brain cancer right?" he asked.

"Yeah. Could explain the coma." Chase replied.

Wilson looked wearily down at his friend, someone he'd loved for a while and known for even longer.

"First off unless she was in the final stage of cancer, it wouldn't progress this fast." Wilson said, taking her hand and holding it in his own. "Second, if it is brain cancer, it's much too close to the brain stem for it not to have a huge risk of damaging normal brain tissue."

"We have to take that chance." Chase argued. "If we don't, she would be dead within a day."

Wilson looked dejected. "She'll hate us if we do it."

"She'll die if we don't." Chase said.

Wilson looked at her for a moment, debating, wondering, regretting. Finally he nodded.

"Sedate her." He said. "She may be in a coma, but the pain will still be excruciating unless we numb her senses."

Chase nodded as he inserted the needle into her arm.

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He was on the road, pushing every speed limit, running every red light, praying that he didn't get caught. He didn't have enough time as it is. He didn't tell his team, but at the rate of progression, Cuddy had less than 48 hours to live. Now more than ever, he needed his own genius mind, his own brilliance, but she trusted in him completely to save her and for the first time in his life, he didn't want to disappoint.

He pushed his motorcycle faster ignoring the protests of the surrounding drivers as he crossed the New Jersey state border straight into New York.

He drove to her house. Her medical file under transfer had said to Mercy Hospital. A call to the hospital by Cameron pretending to be a long lost sister wondering if she was okay got him the exact address. He limped to her front door.

For some reason he knew that the key to the door was no longer beneath the potted plant by her door. He didn't bother to check. He reached up toward the light right beside the door and gave it a hard whack. Miraculously enough, the light didn't break, but a small gold key fell out and hit him on the head. He smiled to himself as he picked it up. Same old predictable Lisa, he thought, not even realizing that he had addressed her by her first name.

He pushed open the door was a greeted by a dark room. He flipped on the light switch and saw for the first time what it would be like to have a family. Cuddy had always kept her house neat and orderly, a reflection on her life and personality, but now it was different. Neat as it still was, there was an air of chaos in it and House felt comforted by its presence.

A few stuffed animals were now placed among her throw pillows in a neatly arranged couch. A plastic table filled with coloring books and crayons was the centerpiece of the living room. He pulled on latex gloves, knowing he wouldn't need them. The rooms were too neat for him to dig up anything enormously harmful.

Truth be told, he didn't expect to find anything regarding her illness. He wanted to get to know her better. He wanted to know her life without him, if she missed him at all, if she had forgotten him like he forgot patients.

Pictures hung on the walls. Pictures of Jesse, pictures of Cuddy with Jesse, Stacy and Cuddy, Cuddy's family, nothing of New Jersey and PPTH then House's eyes fell on a framed photograph that stopped him dead in his tracks.

It was the photo that she had taken at the last fundraiser she organized for the hospital. It was one of Wilson, House and the ducklings with Cuddy right in the middle. House was the only one not smiling. He wondered why. Back then, he had been consumed by his own unhappiness, completely blind to the fact that back then he had everything he wanted. He never noticed how much he loved that she was there to lock horns with him until she was gone. Then he wished he had smiled at her more and seen more of that secret affectionate smile she reserved only for him in moments of privacy where the memories of their past flame roared in their ears.

He went up the stairs, slowly and painfully. The first bedroom he saw was hers. He slipped in and smiled at the neatness he had expected. Everything was placed right in their exact spot. The sheets were still gold like he remembered. Her underwear drawer still the stop one of her dresser. Bathroom still lavender themed. There was a picture of Jesse on her bedside table. House fingered the frame with a soft touch.

He poked his head out of the door and knew for a fact that the bedroom right bedside hers would be Jesse's. He wasn't disappointed as he opened the door.

The wallpaper was blue with puffy white clouds. He saw a small black scrawl on one of the clouds and he peered at it more closely. It was Cuddy's signature. He concluded that the art had been hers, though he never knew her to be an artist. The bedspread had the Little Mermaid on it. Toybox was at the foot of her bed. He laughed when he opened it. Right at the top was a stethoscope and a fake plastic syringe. Mini Cuddy was going to be Cuddy number 2.

He slipped back into Cuddy's room, ignoring the bedrooms he knew that were merely used for the always absent guests. Rooms that were neat and decorated but not welcoming to him. He wanted to be close to her, not to some stranger that had never been there.

He laid down on her bed and started to twirl his cane above his head. His mind racing as his body calmed. He would think of a diagnosis. Even if it killed him, he would think of one.

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Author's Note:

And that's the next chapter my friends. Read and enjoy! I'm going through a House withdrawal. My VCR screwed up and so I missed the last two weeks of episodes. So sad. Anyway, I hope you like it!