HI EVERYONE!

OK, THIS IS A RATHER LONG CHAPTER... BUT IT WILL MOVE THINGS ALONG.

SOME OF IT MIGHT SHOCK YOU.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND ENJOY!! :-)


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CHAPTER 25: Please read and comment.

A few minutes after Wilson had left the cafeteria, he opened the door to Debbie's office in the accounting department. He found her at her desk, on the phone. She smiled upon seeing him, raised her finger, indicating that she'd only be a moment longer, and waved him over to sit down on the plush couch against the wall.

But instead, he took an empty seat that was across from her desk.

"… Can I get back to you?" Debbie said to whoever she was talking to on the phone, a little surprised to see where Wilson had sat down.

Wilson waited patiently for her to end her phone call.

"Great. I'll call you back," Debbie said, and hung up the phone.

"Hi," she said, the same smile on her face. "This is a nice surprise."

Wilson just stared at her.

"This is a joke, right?" he finally asked.

Debbie furrowed her brow. "…I'm… not sure what you mean," she said haltingly.

"You actually told my sister that she had to change her wedding date?" Wilson demanded incredulously.

Debbie felt her stomach tighten. "James, please… let me explain—"

"Did you think that she wasn't going to tell me what you said? That she wouldn't be upset by it?" Wilson continued, angrily. "How could you DO something like that?"

"James, their wedding is a week before ours. I just figured that your parents wouldn't want to travel two weekends in a row—" Debbie explained calmly, trying to quell his anger.

"You've never even MET my parents! How could you assume that they wouldn't want to travel?!" Wilson exclaimed.

For some reason, Wilson's question made something snap inside her.

"You know what? You're right. I haven't met your parents. Why is that?!" she asked him sharply.

Wilson backed his body up a bit in the chair, the question catching him off guard.

"I've never met them, I've never even spoken to them on the phone. Did you even tell them that you're engaged?" she continued in the same interrogational tone.

"…I… was… planning on telling them this weekend," Wilson stammered.

"Would you have told them if they weren't already coming to see Chase and Sophie's new house?" she demanded.

"Uh…" was all he could say in response.

"…Do they even know who I am?" she asked in a softer tone.

Wilson pursed his lips together, avoiding her gaze. She took his silence to mean that he hadn't even told his parents that he was dating her.



"Either you're completely ashamed of me… or you don't want to see the weary, disdainful looks on your parents' faces when you tell them that you're walking down the aisle for the fourth time," she said, her voice full of hurt.

"I'm not ashamed of you," Wilson said quickly and sincerely.

Debbie's mouth turned down.

"But you know how they're going to react when you introduce me," she said sadly.

He knew that she was probably right. His parents weren't exactly thrilled about his third marriage and divorce. Chances were that they'd probably react the same way about his fourth.

"And did you really want me to put you in that situation?" Wilson asked her.

Debbie didn't respond. She just kept the same injured look on her face.

"Debbie, I'm forty years old. I don't need my parents' blessing to get married," Wilson told her.

"Did you ever think that maybe I wanted it?" she snapped.

"I'm planning on spending the rest of my life with you. You don't think that includes your family?" she demanded of him.

"Of course I do," he replied.

"Well… then—" she began.

"But that doesn't give you the right to speak to my sister that way," he said firmly, cutting her off before she could continue.

This time, it was Debbie's turn to be caught off guard. Her lips parted, stunned as her eyes widened a bit in disbelief.

Wilson then got up from the chair, placing his hands on his hips.

"I'm telling Sophie that we're keeping the date that we have, and that she shouldn't change her wedding plans," he stated.

"And you should apologize to her," he added before he left her office.


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THURSDAY MORNING, THREE DAYS LATER:

House was in his private office, throwing out most of his mail that he had found on his desk that morning when Cuddy walked through the glass doors.

"Need you in the Clinic today," she stated in an overly professional manner.

House looked up from his mail and gazed at her. She was standing ramrod straight, wearing a black chanel suit with white trim and a pair of black stilettos.

He couldn't help trace her luscious curves with his eyes. Having memorized every inch of her body, he could tell that despite the fact that she still wasn't really showing just yet, her pregnancy had brought subtle changes to her frame: Her breasts were fuller, her hips seemed rounder, her cheeks glowed.

Of course, the flush in her face could be the anger she was most likely still feeling because he had hid the truth from her about Cate Milton.

They had barely spoken to each other for the last three days.

The truth was that they had barely seen each other for the last three days. House's latest case had been particularly challenging, keeping him occupied and hidden away in his office most of the time while his team ran tests and dealt with the patient.

By the time he came home each night, leaving his team to continue their duties, it was well after ten pm and Cuddy was already asleep in their bed.

And each night for the last three days, he had slipped into the bed next to her, silently, trying not to wake her. As he did so, she remained in a deep sleep, not stirring the slightest when his weight sank the mattress.

But House had a sneaking suspicion that she was indeed awake and just didn't want to turn around to face him.

As Cuddy stood there in front of him, waiting for his response to her order to go down to the Clinic, House knew that he should apologize to Cuddy for keeping his therapy sessions with Cate a secret.

But something inside his brain convinced him that she would either not accept his apology or not believe it for a minute.

Either way, he didn't like the result.

He nodded. "Ok," he replied simply.

Cuddy arched her eyebrow. "That's it? You're not gonna come up with some kind of excuse?" she asked in slight irritation.

"Do you want me to?" he asked her in a low voice.

Cuddy exhaled. "…No," she said, disappointed.

"I'll be down in a few minutes," he said to her gruffly.

Her heart sank as she left his office, her heels clicking against the linoleum floor as she headed down the hallway.

She knew that hardly speaking to him for the past three days was going to make things incredibly awkward between them.

But she had needed time to think.

And now that she had, she was sure that if she ordered him to go down to the Clinic, that he would at least attempt to weasel his way out of it, thereby provoking some kind of argument between them, which could lead to a real talk.

But if House refused to fight with her and only did as she told him to, she had no idea how she was going to deal with him.


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That afternoon, a little after five pm, Wilson, House and were standing by the charge nurse's station in the Clinic. Wilson was leaning against the desk, watching House sign off on his and Sophie's final patient for the day.

"Make sure you note latex allergy in the patient's chart," House ordered Sophie.

"Already did," she replied, pointing to where she had written the allergy.

House squinted his eyes, grimacing at her scrawl in the chart.

"That says 'latex?' I thought it said 'labia,'" he commented.

"Yeah. I wrote that the patient is allergic to 'labia,'" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I've seen weirder things," House commented.

"Name one," she challenged, her lips turning up at the corners.

"Had a patient who shoved an MP3 player up his ass," House replied, without missing a beat.

Sophie paused, a contemplative look on her face.

"… The ear buds too?" she asked.

Wilson couldn't help but chuckle at how only after a few days of working alongside House, Sophie managed to keep up with him.

"She's not nearly as annoying as you are," House said to Wilson, trying not to smirk at her joke.

"Glad to hear it," Wilson replied flatly.

"So did Debbie apologize to you?" Wilson asked Sophie, turning towards her.

"… Yeah, she did," Sophie said.

"Good," Wilson said.

"…You sure you're doing the right thing by taking my side over hers?" she asked him with uncertainty.

"I'm not taking sides. She was wrong to tell you that you had to change your wedding date to accommodate us," Wilson stated.

"Ruh- roh!" House said in his best Scooby- Doo imitation, becoming slightly interested in their conversation.

"It's not that simple," Sophie said. "She's gonna be your wife. You should probably defend her over your sister."

Wilson shook his head a bit. "You... WANT me to take her side?" he asked in surprise.

"I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that if you wanted to avoid a fight, you could have told her that you spoke to me about it… and that I refused to give in…" she began to explain in a leading tone.

"So in other words make up a lie so I look like the good guy," Wilson clarified.

"Everybody lies," Sophie said, with a shrug.

Wilson turned his head to House, his expression deadpan.

"This is your influence, I take it," Wilson said.

House sniffed loudly. "I'm so proud," he declared dramatically, clutching his chest.

Sophie grinned and stuck her tongue out at Wilson, who laughed in response.

Still laughing, Wilson caught House sneaking a glance at Cuddy through the glass walls of her office. House could see that she was talking to one of the male interns and signing some papers for him.

"So how long are you going to keep avoiding her?" Wilson asked, jutting her chin towards Cuddy's office.

House kept his gaze on her for a moment longer before looking back at the pile of charts on the desk, wondering if it was worth seeing another Clinic patient just to avoid this conversation with Wilson.

"I'm not avoiding her. I'm doing my job," House muttered.

"Yes, you're SO dedicated to Clinic duty that you can't take two minutes to tell Cuddy that you're sorry for lying to her," Wilson remarked sarcastically.

"I'm surprised you didn't tell her for me. And that conversation will NOT take two minutes," House said.

"She's miserable. You're miserable. Just go in there, swallow your pride and get it over with. Like ripping off a band- aid," Wilson advised him.

"Ooh a medical metaphor. How clever of you," he quipped in irritation.

"Will you talk some sense into him?" Wilson told his sister with a sigh before leaving the Clinic and the two of them at the charge nurse's station.

House watched Wilson leave the Clinic. He then turned to Sophie.

"Don't—" he began.

"I'm not saying a word," she assured him, interrupting his train of thought.

House nodded. "I was right. You're no way near as annoying as your brother."

Sophie smiled a bit. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Just then, Chase limped into the Clinic area, holding a patient's chart from the NICU in his hand.

He looked chic yet casual, wearing a pair of brand new jeans, a black button down shirt with two white embroidered accents running parallel down the length of it, and a pair of black shoes. He had used a touch of product in his hair, which was styled in a neat yet tousled manner, and his face was sporting a day's growth of scruff.

Sophie smiled as soon as she laid eyes on him, wanting nothing more than to pull him into one of the exam rooms for a long quickie.

"Got a case," Chase announced to House as he got closer to them.

House raised his eyebrow and took the file that Chase was holding out for him.

As House read through the symptoms of a two week old baby girl that was brought in for a fever of unknown origin, Chase winked at Sophie and flashed her one of his patented dazzling smiles.

Sophie bit her lip and grinned, feeling the usual delicious tingle pass through her that she always did from him. The touch of cologne that he must have just recently put on when he changed engulfed her senses.

"Cool," House commented, rather impressed at the case Chase had handed him.

He then closed the file and turned to Sophie.

"See ya," he said simply as he left both Chase and Sophie at the desk and headed out of the Clinic and off to the NICU.

"I think you actually impressed him," Sophie commented.

Chase smirked. "I think the case impressed him, not me," he said dryly.

"Well you impressed ME," she replied. "You look and smell great. Got a hot date or something?" she teased.

Chase looked at her in bewilderment.

"Honey, don't you remember? I'm having dinner with Cameron tonight in Manhattan," he said.

Sophie's smile immediately disappeared from her face.

"…You never told me that," she managed to say.

"Yes I did," he replied, a bit defensively.

A curt chuckle escaped her lips. "I think I would've remembered if you told me you were going into the city to meet your ex for dinner," she stated.

"I'm sure I told you," he insisted.

Sophie swallowed, trying to keep her cool. The Clinic was still crowded with patients, doctors and nurses, and she didn't want to have an argument with Chase right in the middle of it.

"What time are you meeting her?" she asked calmly.

"Seven. We're going to Nobu," Chase replied.

"Nobu, huh? How romantic," she snarked in disgust.

"It's not romantic. It's just dinner," Chase muttered.

"Dinner at Nobu isn't just dinner," she remarked.

"YOU'RE the one who said you wanted me to go to dinner with her by myself so I can say a proper good- bye to her," he reminded her, becoming a bit agitated.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd 'forget' to tell me about it," she shot back.

"You think I didn't tell you on purpose?!" he asked incredulously.

Sophie took a breath and exhaled, refusing to answer his question.

Because she didn't know the answer.

"She invited both of us. Does she know I'm not coming?" she asked instead as calmly as she could, keeping a penetrating gaze on him.

Chase looked away from her stare.

"… she didn't ask," he mumbled.

"Right," she stated with an edge to her voice.

"Sophie, I didn't intentionally keep this from you," Chase stated firmly.

Sophie clicked her tongue and gave him a snide smile.

"You'd better go now if you want to beat the traffic," she said, bitingly.

Chase tightened his jaw.

"Fine," he said curtly, turning around and limping out of the Clinic through the glass doors.

Sophie kept up her stoic façade until Chase rounded the corner of the hallway and was out of sight.

She then slumped her shoulders miserably, a frown forming on her entire face.

"You ok?" a male voice suddenly asked from behind her.

Sophie spun around to see that Danny was standing only a few feet away from her. She immediately turned away from him and back to the pile of charts in front of her, pretending to be searching through them.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied curtly.

Danny stepped closer to her.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked, now standing next to her.

"There's nothing to talk about," she said, in a clipped tone.

"I… couldn't help overhear what happened," he said gently.

"I'm sure you couldn't," she snapped.

"Well, if you've got nothing else to do tonight, you could always come to my apartment," he offered.

Sophie turned to him again, completely stunned at his bold statement.

"...What?"

"It's Thursday night. Poker night with the guys at my place. I'm sure they'll be glad to see you again," he explained in a friendly tone.

Sophie laughed. "They're that anxious for me to take their rolls?" she asked in disbelief.

"I think they actually had fun losing to you," he replied.

He then took a well- timed pause.

"… We all did," he replied a bit shyly.

Sophie's face softened a bit. The fringe of his sandy brown hair was hanging adorably over his eyes and he wore a sweet smile on his face.

"Danny, that's nice of you… but I don't think Robbie will be too happy if I go to your place for another round," she told him.

"He didn't seem to care how you felt about him going out to dinner with his ex tonight," Danny pointed out.

"You really don't know enough about this situation to make a judgment about it," she told him, becoming a bit defensive once more.

"Maybe not…. but I know what I heard," he said, his eyes gazing into hers.

"We start at seven if you change your mind," he told her before leaving her at the desk.


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About an hour later, Cuddy entered the NICU.

House was standing over a two week old baby girl, staring at her intently. She was clad only in a diaper laying in one of the NICU's bassinettes. She had two IVs—one in her arm and one in the back of her hand—and a heart monitor affixed to her chest.

Despite her incredibly conflicting emotions, she couldn't help but admire him as she always did whenever he was focused on a case, blocking out everything else in the world.

"What are you doing down here?" Cuddy asked him in a raspy voice.

House turned his attention away from the baby and towards Cuddy only for a moment before gazing back down at the newborn.

"Chase caught a case. Gave it to me," he said.

"Any idea what's wrong with her?" she asked softly, approaching him slowly.

"A lot of ideas. No answers yet," he replied.

Cuddy nodded. "Well… I'll leave you alone then," she replied, about to turn around.

"You didn't come down here to leave me alone," he said gruffly, before she could walk away.

"You came down here to yell at me, but you don't want to argue in front of the children," he said, jutting his chin at the bassinets filled with babies in front of him.

She smiled slightly at his witticism.

"I didn't come down here to yell at you," she told him.

"That's too bad. It would've been a pleasant change from the silent treatment you've been giving me for the past three days," he muttered.

"I needed some time to think," she told him, maintaining her calm.

"…And now you're done thinking," he surmised.

"Yes," she replied.

House tried to push down the feeling of dread that was rising within him.

"So should I call Chase, Foreman and Wilson to help me move my stuff back into my old apartment?" he asked, petrified at the answer.

"No," she said.

Cuddy then straightened her posture just a bit and locked her soft, yet strong blue- grey eyes on his.

"You're going to go up to Cate Milton's office and tell her that you want to continue your sessions with her," Cuddy told him quietly.

House merely stared back at her, feeling as if he had entered the Twilight Zone.

"You want me to continue the therapy," he clarified.

"You obviously went to her for a reason. You thought she could help you," Cuddy said.

"You're ok with the fact that I confided in someone else? Some other woman instead of you?" House asked, hoping he wasn't pushing his luck.

"The only way I can be ok with this is if I know that you're doing it to somehow make your life better," Cuddy confessed.

"Because if you're trying to do that… then you're trying to make our lives better, too," she continued.

"And if you tell her that you're going to continue the sessions... I'll know that you are," she finished.

He gazed at her for only a moment before he limped over to the phone that was mounted on the wall of the NICU.

He dialed Cate's extension from memory. After two rings, Cate's assistant picked up.

"Yes, this is Dr. Gregory House…" he began, locking eyes with Cuddy as he spoke into the phone.

"Can you tell Dr. Milton that I'll be seeing her on Monday morning for our regular session?" he asked the woman on the other end.

A soft smile formed on Cuddy's features.

"Great. I'll see her then," House said into the phone before hanging up.

He then crossed the room back to Cuddy, closing the distance between them.

"Does this get me out of Clinic duty?" he asked, gazing into her eyes, which were now sparkling once again.

She grinned. "Not a chance," she replied, before pulling him closer to brush her lips against his for a soft and tender kiss.


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A little after seven that evening, Danny smiled in triumph as he dragged all the chips he had just won off his friends closer to him.

"'Bout time you got chips," his friend John muttered, watching his money get pulled away from him.

He smirked. "All we need now is a hot girl with her tits in our faces serving us free drinks," he said.

Keith and Rich, Danny's other two friends, laughed in agreement.

Just then, Danny heard a knock at his door.

"Excuse me. I think that's our hot girl," Danny said before excusing himself.

Keith, Rich and John exchanged incredibly confused glances as Danny all but skipped to his front door, knowing exactly who would be on the other side. He raked his hand through his hair once before opening it.

And when he did, he felt his cock twitch in his pants.

Sophie was on the other side of the door, wearing a form fitting low cut black camisole that showed off the swells of her breasts, a pair of hip hugging faded jeans and black high heels. Her long, dark wavy hair was down about her shoulders.

"Had a feeling you'd show up," Danny commented with a sexy smile.

She lifted the hem of her camisole up slightly, exposing her waist, her hip, and a section of her taut abdomen, as she revealed a rather thick folded pile of twenties that were tucked into the low waistband of the front of her jeans.

Danny's eyes traced over the curve of her hip and the wad of cash she had pressed against it.

"Got room for one more?" she asked him in a sultry tone.

He looked back up at her face, his dimple deepening as his smile broadened.

"Always," he replied, backing up to let her into his apartment.

TBC…