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Cuddy drew in a deep breath and pressed her face deeper into her pillow. She shifted, turned her head to the side, and then opened her eyes. It took a minute for Cuddy to realize it was light out, but when she did, she sat up quickly and looked to her digital clock on her night stand. It was a little after eight.

"I turned it off."

Mouth slightly open, Cuddy looked across the room to the source of the voice. House sat in the chair across from her bed, a book in his hands.

Cuddy swallowed hard to keep her anger down. "You what?"

House stood up and set the book down on the chair. "I also called Margery and told her you wouldn't be in."

"House!" Cuddy whipped her blankets off. "I have three meetings before noon."

"You were asleep." House picked up his cane and crossed toward the bed. "I wasn't going to let the alarm wake you. Getting five or six hours of sleep isn't enough."

Cuddy frowned and stood quickly to her feet. "Well, it's more than I've had in a while so-"

Spots formed in front of Cuddy's eyes as she cut off her speech. Her head felt funny, lighter. House dropped his cane and reached for her, sensing something was wrong from the change in her face.

"Woah." House held Cuddy up. "Sit down."

"Uhm..." Cuddy tried to blink the spots away.

"Sit. Down," House commanded again and Cuddy did so. "Are you all right?"

Cuddy sat for a moment focusing her gaze to the floor as the swirling spots began to disappear. She drew in a few deep breaths as House looked on with concern.

"I stood too fast," Cuddy offered as an excuse and pushed House away as she stood to her feet again. "I'm fine."

"Get back in bed," House told her, releasing her from his grip.

"No." Cuddy moved away from him and towards her closet. "I have to go to work. You do too."

"My patient died." House swiped his cane from the floor and followed after Cuddy. "Get back in bed."

Cuddy stopped and faced House, frowning. "I have meetings, House."

"Which I'm sure Margery cancelled by now," House replied.

Cuddy shook her head. "You had no right to-"

"I had every right to if you remember the four a.m. bathroom chat," House cut her off, reminding her. "I'm taking care of you."

"That was my exhaustion speaking," Cuddy said and turned back toward her closet. "I'm going to work."

"You're going to bed." House took hold of her arm, stopping her.

"Let go of me." Cuddy yanked her arm from him and glared. "I'm not going back to bed! I'm not tired, okay? I have work to do and I'm not going to do whatever you say just because you think you care. I'm not staying home as if I'm too weak to handle it. I am not weak."

House held back his anger and frustration. He knew it would take time, but this was almost too much. He was just as tired as she after staying up night after night with her. And it didn't make anything better since lately he was feeling like he wasn't helping her at all anyway.

Cuddy moved towards her bedroom window and stared out as the sun reflected off the partially melted snow. She spoke slowly, her back to House. "I'm going to get something to eat, then I'm going to change and go to work."

Not bringing her eyes to House, Cuddy turned from her window and made her way out of the bedroom. House sighed and waited a moment, attempting to decide what to do now. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud thud.

House felt his stomach sink as he headed into the hallway to find Cuddy lying on the floor. He hurried to her side and knelt down ignoring the searing pain that spread through his thigh. He brushed some hair from her face and shook her lightly.

"Ow..." Cuddy muttered and tried to sit up.

"Careful." House helped her into the sitting position. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Cuddy placed her hand to a tender spot on her head. "I just... yeah."

"Stay here." House tightened his grip on his cane. "Don't get up. Okay?" House waited for an answer, but Cuddy only frowned as she stared down at the floor. House lifted her chin slightly, getting her to look at him. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Cuddy answered.

House stood to his feet and went into the dining room and then further on into the kitchen. Cuddy lowered her hand from her head. She groaned slightly, feeling more embarrassed than anything else at the moment. House limped back into the hallway, a glass of water in his free hand.

"Here." House offered the glass to her. "Take a drink."

Cuddy took the glass and sipped water from it. She lowered the glass and looked up at House. "I'm a real mess, aren't I?"

"Yes," House answered honestly.

Cuddy hesitated a moment and then nodded. "I'll stay home."

House extended a hand to her, which Cuddy took. She stood to her feet and frowned, feeling slightly nauseous. She took another sip of water.

"Do you want to go back to bed?" House asked.

Cuddy nodded. "Yeah."

House took extra care as he aided Cuddy in returning to her room. He watched her for any signs of a concussion due to the fall after she passed out.

"How are you feeling?" House asked her as Cuddy sat down on her bed and set her glass of water on the night stand.

"Sick," Cuddy answered, climbing onto her bed and under the covers. "Nauseous."

House's eyebrows drew together. "Anything else? Headache? Ears ringing?"

"My head hurts where I hit the floor." Cuddy placed a hand to the spot on her head as she relaxed against her pillows. "But, that's it."

House inspected her scalp and then nodded. "All right. But, if you fall asleep, I'll be waking you up every now and then to make sure you're all right."

"Okay," Cuddy agreed quietly, annoyed at herself for causing so many problems.

House made his way to the chair across from her bed. He picked up the book he was reading and sat down in the chair. Cuddy watched him continue reading from where he left off. After several minutes, she closed her eyes and began to drift off.

Deep voices made their way to Cuddy's ears, pulling her from the light sleep she was in. She rolled onto her back, listening hard as the voices floated in from the hallway.

"You've been staying here?"

"Yeah."

Cuddy recognized both voices and frowned. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate Wilson stopping by to visit her, but she was upset that he was speaking with House. Cuddy strained to hear more of the conversation.

"Wow."

"What? You think I wouldn't?"

"No, it's just... I'm surprised she let you."

"Yeah."

"I'm on my lunch now, but if she's asleep, I'll head back. Tell her I stopped by."

"I will."

Cuddy heard her front door open and then close. There was a pause before the quiet thudding of House limping down her hallway sounded. She watched him enter through the doorway and partially close the door before looking toward the bed and stopping.

"Hey," House greeted. "Wilson was here."

"I heard him leave," Cuddy replied.

House stepped closer to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Cuddy answered. "Rested."

"Hungry?" House asked.

Cuddy sat up and pushed her covers off. "Yeah."

"Ah." House pulled the covers back over her legs. "No. You're staying in bed until you eat."

"I'm okay," Cuddy insisted, pushing the covers off once more. "Really."

"You're staying in bed." House flipped the covers back. "What do you want to eat?"

Cuddy gave in and scooted back against the headboard. "I don't know."

"What are you hungry for?" House raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know." Cuddy leaned her back against the headboard.

House frowned. "A little help here, Cuddy. Soup?"

Cuddy shrugged. "That's fine."

"Okay." House moved toward the door. "I'll be back. Stay in bed."

"Right," Cuddy agreed and watched him leave.

For a moment, Cuddy debated getting out of bed anyway, but decided against it in case she passed out again. It made her nervous and she was just thankful that she hadn't been seriously injured from her fall. As promised, House woke her up regularly to check and make sure she didn't have a concussion.

By now, it was quarter after twelve. Cuddy's thoughts went to Wilson and his visit. She thought about calling him, but she really didn't feel like talking. And tomorrow was Saturday, so she knew she wouldn't see him. Cuddy let out a slight sigh and figured she would just see him on Monday.

Cuddy was growing steadily bored as she waited for House to return with her lunch. She thought about Neil, about what he was doing at this very moment. She wondered if he was upset, or angry, or sorry. Ultimately, Cuddy figured it didn't matter what he was. She was done with that part of her life. She had to make herself be and that included pushing Neil from her mind.

House returned to Cuddy's bedroom, balancing a tray carefully with his hand while one of the tray's edges was pressed against his chest. House lowered the tray over her legs, revealing a bowl of tomato soup along with two slices of whole wheat toast. Cuddy gave a small smile to House and helped settle the tray.

"Do you want anything else?" House asked her.

"No, this is fine," Cuddy told him. "Thank you."

House nodded in reply and left her bedroom. Cuddy's eyebrows drew together as she wondered where he was going, but she realized she didn't need to know. Her trust in House had begun to steadily grow since returning from the whole ordeal with Neil.

Cuddy began to eat and felt a sudden urge to cry. She sniffed and blinked away her tears. It struck her as something strange that House was now proving to her that he did care. She asked it of him and he obliged. Cuddy couldn't be quite sure as to what it all meant, but there was something to House that she never realized before.

House limped back into Cuddy's room, a glass of juice in his hand. He took a sip as he stood near the doorway. His eyes went from Cuddy's half eaten lunch to her face.

House gave a nod towards her tray. "How is it?"

"Good," Cuddy answered and then hesitated slightly. "Listen, I, um, really need to go into work after I'm done."

"Nope." House gave a small shake of his head. "You're taking a three day weekend."

Cuddy frowned. "House, I really can't afford-"

"You can," House cut her off. "You need to stop focusing so much on work, Cuddy. It'll kill you."

Cuddy let that linger in her mind for a moment and then thought of something. "I want to go out after I'm done eating. I want you to come with me."

"Okay." House eyed her up carefully, slightly suspicious, but agreed. "We'll go out."