Borderline

Chapter Twelve: Well I'll Be On My Way

Bursting into her office without notice or pleasant greeting, Wilson looked around Cuddy's office until his eyes fell on the defeated looking dean, very nearly curled up in her arm chair near the door. His gaze and heart softened momentarily as he looked upon her miserable form, growing cold again only upon remembering that her present state was partly her own fault.

"Just… Tell me honestly." He licked at his lips softly with a look of anticipation in his eyes. At least he hoped it was anticipation, rater than anxiousness, which is what he really felt. "Did… Did you sleep with House?"

His heart sank as Cuddy looked down at her lap, then at the wall, anywhere but his eyes. When she finally looked at him both of their eyes were watering.

"James, I'm-"

"No… No, I'm, I'm sorry. I knew. I knew all along how you both felt about each other. I was stupid for thinking I could come between that, that you could feel the way you felt for him, but for me."

She quickly got to her feet as he slowly backed towards the door, "No James, please, let me explain."

"Lisa… It's… It's not ok… But I understand, I think." He looked at the floor as he rubbed at his eyes, trying to stop them from dripping as he thought about how he had lost the two people he was closest to in such a short amount of time. "I guess this is us breaking up?"

Cuddy bit her bottom lip nervously, trying her best not to cry as well. "James, can we talk about this at home?"

"Why? House is upstairs packing up his things. He's leaving, right now. Why should I wait around when I'm going to just be packing up my things, too?"

"I do love you, James, I just-"

"I know, Lisa. I know you do, I believe you… But you'll never love me like you loved him. Like you love him." He sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair. "I… I'm going to turn in my two weeks notice in the morning. I'd uh… I'd like to take a half-day, so I can go home and… ponder."

A look of hurt crossed her face as he spoke. Both of her friends were leaving her? In the same day? She then realized that, as the tears finally couldn't be held back, that it was in fact her fault.

"Okay." She choked out, her voice cracking from the weight of her tears. "I'm so sorry, James."

He nodded and inched back to the door, "Me too."

A month later almost all the buzz about PPTH had all but died down. There had been numerous rumors circulating about why the head of Oncology was gone, why there was no longer a diagnostics department, and why House and Wilson had both mysteriously up and left so close together. As imaginable few of these rumors had any logical base, but a few of them were on the right track, and those few avoided Cuddy like the plague.

As for the Dean of Medicine, she continued doing her best to keep her hospital running smoothly, a task that was much easier without House around to distract her or ruin any of her plans. She missed it, though, the flirtatious banner, the almost loving teasing, and the ultimate rejection on both their parts. No one kept her on her toes anymore, and she was almost bored with her job. Even more saddening to her was that she had no one to share in her grief with, as she had no one to go home to spill her heart to, someone who knew House almost better than he knew himself. And she cried herself to sleep every night after tucking in her daughter, and now the only light in her life, thinking about how badly she had messed everything up in her life.

She wasn't the only one feeling down on themselves, though. In New York, Wilson found himself in a similar situation, constantly blaming himself for the 'break up' with his best friend, and the loss of his love. His new job provided him little joy and little fun, since his friend was not there to constantly badger him and con him into buying him useless things. Even with the added money to his bank account, Wilson wasn't satisfied with his life, or anything in it.

Lastly was House, who carried on as he usually did, drowning his sorrows in a bottle of pills or liquor. He would never admit it, but he missed his friends and job more than he could ever imagine. Emptiness couldn't even begin to describe how he felt about his life, because he had felt empty for so long anyway, but this took everything to a new level. He didn't know how much more he could take before he went crawling back to the both of them, but his stubbornness wouldn't allow him to admit this to himself.

And as the months went on and the former friends continued living their shells of lives they each wondered what they could of done, and how it could have ended differently. They all hoped, individually, that one of the others would contact them, call them, come after them or come back, but none of them could bring themselves to do the deed due to either their pride, their shame or their heartache.

So it went that that was the end of what once was a tight bond of three friends, now separated by more than miles, but rather by the distance of their shut up hearts.

A/N: OMG. I'm sorry sorry sorry sorrrrrrry for the wait, ANYWAY. The End. I hope you liked it even though it was SAD! :[