a/n: I was trying to stay a chapter or two ahead of my posts but I am starting to run out of time. I really want to get to the Halloween masquerade fundraiser on Halloween (which is only a few days away!). Therefore, I am posting as soon as I finish each chapter. Hopefully I catch most of the mistakes. As always, thanks for your comments! I love hearing that people are enjoying the story. It makes the writing more enjoyable.

Chapter 10: The Richard Situation

Lunch time, PPTH

House and Wilson were eating in a corner booth discussing Wilson's late night phone call. "Well, you could have answered the phone one of the ten times I called you?" Wilson was whining a little but House found the whole situation hysterical.

"Seriously, Wilson? You want me to say, 'Oh excuse me Cuddy, let me pull out of you for a second so I can pick-up my phone'.

Wilson started waving his hands in front of him as if blocking the image from penetrating is mind. "House, please, no details."

"But you always want details?" House questioned.

"Yes, when it involves one of your hookers. This is Cuddy, I work with her, she my boss, and it's just weird."

"Alright" said House "but you are missing out on some good stuff"

House stole another fry from Wilson's plate as he saw Cuddy enter the cafeteria. She was holding a blue file and that usually meant a patient for House. He groaned at the sight of her and the folder but in reality he was really happy to see her.

"Hi" Cuddy began as she approached the table. Cuddy looked mainly at House, Wilson looked around as if the space in front of him was the most interesting thing he had studied in a long time.

"Good morning, sunshine" House bellowed from the top of his lungs. Attracting attention seemed to be his main motivation in life.

"It's the afternoon" responded Cuddy with an all-business expression "and I have a case for you."

There wasn't a tremendous amount of mystery in the case but Cuddy was hoping it would keep him occupied for a few hours this evening. If he had a puzzle to think about then maybe he wouldn't be barging down her door.

House perused the folder as Wilson and Cuddy continued to ignore each other. "Boring" House announced and handed Cuddy back the folder.

"Well, it's either this or clinic duty. You pick, and those are your only two choices"

House was getting annoyed at the awkwardness between Wilson and Cuddy so he decided to stir the soup a little. "Did I not satisfy you enough this morning, is that what this is about?"

Wilson blushed and Cuddy stared at House with a look of anger and frustration before tossing the folder on the table. "Patient is in ER and I will be in my office. When you are finished the ddx I want to see you in my office." She turned abruptly on her stiletto heels and started to walk away.

House looked at Wilson but said loud enough for both her and half the cafeteria to hear "See, sometimes she needs a quickie in the middle of the day, keeps her mojo going"

Cuddy's Office 4pm

House managed to avoid Cuddy for the rest of the day. He had just solved the case so now he needed to smooth things over so she wouldn't be all pissy when they got home. He burst into her office with his usual grandiose entrance and Cuddy was on the phone with what sounded like a donor.

House took a seat in front of her desk. When Cuddy didn't immediately make an effort to get off the phone, House used his cane to start shifting the objects on Cuddy's desk around. At first Cuddy ignored him but as the destruction started to increase she grabbed the end of his cane. They were both staring at each other and neither was relinquishing their grip on the cane. The battle of wills had begun.

Cuddy ended her conversation and hung up the phone without letting go of the cane or breaking eye contact with House. After a minute or two of silent war, House spoke "Patient's cured, it might actually have been a new world record for me." He didn't, however, release her eyes or his grip on his cane.

Cuddy wanted to reprimand him for his loud comments in the cafeteria but more than that, she needed to find away to get House out of her place that evening. So, she caved first and released his cane saying "House, I need a favor."

"If you wanted a favor, perhaps you should have grabbed something else instead of my cane"

"I'm serious House. I called Richard and he is coming over tonight to talk. I need you to go back to Wilson's for the night"

House felt like an anvil had fallen on him. "Did you forget how to use the telephone?"

"No" Cuddy could see the anger and jealous starting to form as the lines in his forehead started to become more pronounced and his eyebrow started to come closer and closer together. "I just feel that I should talk to him in person."

"And this person-to-person talk requires me to vacate for the entire night. Is that so if he says the right things he can finally take a spin on the Cuddy wheel?" House got up from his chair when he said it and started heading for the door.

"House, wait!"Cuddy shouted from her chair but made no move to follow him. House opened the door to leave and turned back saying "Don't worry Cuddy, I got the message" as he walked through the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Cuddy's House – 10pm

Richard had just left and Cuddy was exhausted. She started the day rather care free and now she had two big problems on her hand. The first one was House. After he stormed out of her office he must have come straight to her House and of course, the nanny let him in. She didn't even ask what excuse he used to come in without her and she really didn't want to know. When she arrived home, and hour or two later, all his stuff was gone.

She wasn't overly surprised but what really hurt was when she went into the bathroom and noticed that he had even taken his toothbrush. She tried calling his cell phone, which of course he didn't answer. Now that Richard was gone she tried reaching him at his apartment, at Wilson's, at the hospital, and on his cell phone, and as expected, no answer. She finally got a hold of Wilson who was still at the hospital with a patient and he said hadn't seen House since lunch. He told her he would call her when he got to his apartment later tonight to report on House's whereabouts. In the mean time, Cuddy focused on the second problem.

Problem number two was Richard. When he arrived tonight what he really wanted to talk about was taking their relationship to the next level. Hi son Alex had mentioned Lisa to Richard's parents this weekend and they got very upset that he was starting a new relationship so soon after his wife had passed. When he was defending himself to his parents, he said it made him realize how much he cared about her and he was really ready to move forward and he wanted to move forward with her. He purposely left Alex with his parents so that he could spend some more time with her.

After Richard's heartfelt confession, Cuddy had to explain to him that she wasn't sure that continuing their relationship was really the best idea. When he pressed her for more information, she skirted the issue as best she could but ended up confessing that an "old flame" had resurfaced and she wanted to pursue said flame. Richard took it like an adult. He took it like a man.

He wished her well, said he enjoyed the time they had spent together, and wanted to remain her friend. She thanked him and apologized for things not working out. Then Richard surprised her by stroking her cheek and telling her that she had no need to apologize. He may be asking for too much to quickly and that as her friend, there was no law that said they couldn't be something more in the future. Then he kissed her cheek and left saying "I'm in no rush, Lisa, I will wait for you."

She should have stopped him and explained that she wasn't looking for him to wait for her, but quite frankly she didn't want too. She wasn't afraid of him acting like House and crashing her dates or doing some other insane things. She wanted to remain his friend. She had been with House for less than 48 hours and he was already acting like a child. Where did that leave her? Back to problem number one.

Cuddy quickly jumped as her phone rang and she saw Wilson's name on the caller ID. "Hey Lisa, it's James"

"Any luck?" Cuddy asked, she really didn't need to explain any more than that.

"Unfortunately I am stuck at the hospital. I have a patient who is going downhill fast and probably isn't going to make it through the night. She doesn't have any family so I am going to stay with her."

"Oh, James. I am really sorry. Thank you for calling, but please, don't worry about this."

"I just wanted to let you know that there is a hidden key to my place in a fake rock next to the patio, just in case you want to check up on him."

"Thanks, James. He's a big boy. If he doesn't want to be found, I am not going to drive myself nuts hunting him down." At least that is what Cuddy wanted Wilson to believe. She would have gone over there in a heartbeat if Rachel wasn't peacefully sleeping, but she didn't want to wake her up and drag her all over Princeton trying to track down House.