No patient meant nothing to do. They debriefed Kelly's case and the case of the young boy, and then House sent Kutner and Thirteen home since they'd stayed through the night in the ER. Foreman was assigned to catch up on the team's charts, and Taub was loaned to the surgical staff to assist in assessing the burn patients for reconstruction procedures.

House went voluntarily to the clinic and put in three solid hours without complaining. He would have gone longer but three hours was how long it took for Cuddy to wander in.

"Do you and "the ladies" have a few minutes? There's something I need to ask you about."

"I guess I should be flattered that I'm being invited into the conversation at all," she said after scolding him for making reference to her breasts. "Meet me in my office in half an hour."

Cuddy was used to being kept waiting, but House was already in her office when she arrived.

"I heard you actually behaved yourself in the clinic today. Which means you're buttering me up for something." She sat behind her desk and waited for the explanation.

House hoped the buttering-up had worked. He wasted no time in getting to the point. "I need some time off; I'm leaving town for awhile."

Eyebrows raised, she asked, "Vacation leave? Stress leave?"

"It can be unpaid; I'd just like to know I'll have a job here when I get back."

"Are we talking about something illegal?" she probed further, not totally joking.

He was quickly growing impatient with her inquiry. Especially because he was determined to tell her nothing. "Can I have the time or not?"

Sighing, she typed in the password on her PC and called up his work record. "When? And how much time are we talking?"

"Wednesday. And I'll need a couple of weeks. Two or three."

She consulted the computer and then eyed him critically. "You've already used up your sick leave, and you only have a few official vacation days left for the year... I say 'official' because if I counted all the hours you spent behind your desk watching your damn soap or playing your DS..." When she saw a change in his expression --- was he worried? worried she'd say 'no'? --- she felt her resolve slipping. "Fine. You can have two weeks. UNPAID," she stressed. "And then I want you back here ready to work. And I want your word that your team will manage without you, even if that means you need to keep track of them while you're gone."

"Done." He was on his feet and turning to leave.

"And, I want you to talk to Wilson before you go."

Stopped in his tracks, he faced her once again. "I know the nature of your job makes you feel obligated to meddle in the business of your subordinates, but I am for all intents and purposes OUT of a job for the next two weeks, so you'll have to excuse me if I don't feel obligated to listen to a word you say."

She was out of her chair in an instant and used her unencumbered mobility to beat him to the door, blocking his way. "House, you owe him that much," she challenged. "He's been there for you consistently and constantly for every little whim, and you abandon him now?"

"He doesn't want to see me!" The volume of his voice had risen to match her own.

"You don't know that!" A quick move to the right kept him from slipping around her. "He needs you, House."

His laugh was incredulous and self-berating. "Right, I'm just what he needs. It's all hugs and cuddles when Greg House is around." He tried again to exit, but she grabbed his wrist. "Are you going to let me take my two weeks or not?"

"Fine!" She released him and stepped aside. "It's your life, House. Pardon me if I wasn't content to just stand by and watch you ruin it by alienating the people that care about you most."

When she caught up with him again in his office, House had already blown up at Foreman over a petty disagreement and so was feeling much calmer.

"House, is there anything you'll need? Someone to take care of your place? A ride to the airport?" Cuddy held her breath as if waiting for him to go on the defensive again.

He didn't. "I might need a ride home from the airport when I get back. I'll call you."

"Okay. Sure." She visibly relaxed and came around his desk, leaning back against it and facing him. "So, you'll leave Wednesday?"

"Probably."

"Okay," she said again. "Well, in case I don't see you..." She leaned in and embraced him, pulling back before he could respond in any way, positive or negative. "Have a good trip, House. I hope you get what you want out of it, whatever that is."

His expression was unreadable as he replied: "You can't always get what you want, Cuddy."

She smiled a small smile and answered in kind. "Then I hope you get what you need."

House took a cab home not long after that and was glad to see Kelly's car still parked outside. The door was unlocked and he let himself in without knocking to alert her.

She was playing the piano. Beautifully complicated melodies and patterns that House suspected were probably her own spontaneous creations. Her posture and precision smacked of years of training, but her musicality was obviously woven deep into her genes.

He didn't move for fear that she would stop if she sensed she had an audience. But after only a minute it was the 'ding' of the dryer that made her look up. "Oh. You're home." She blushed. "I hope you don't mind."

"You mean do I mind that you just showed me up on my own piano?"

She laughed off his compliment (though her face had turned impossibly redder, much to her embarrassment) and motioned for him to follow her. As she emptied the dryer and added its contents to the pile of clean clothes on his bed, she asked him if he'd talked to Cuddy.

"It's all taken care of," he assured her as he noticed she hadn't only done her laundry, but his as well. "I have two weeks off, starting Wednesday."

"Two weeks?!" she squealed before she could reign in her excitement. She dropped the pair of his boxer shorts that she'd been folding and hugged him tightly around the waist.

To this embrace he was quick to respond. He chuckled at her exuberance and squeezed her back.

But as she then chatted on as they attacked the laundry together about all that could be accomplished in two weeks, he couldn't help but wonder if two weeks with her would be nearly enough.