I'm baaa-aaa-ck!! I know. Longest. Wait. EVAR. I was really busy: I had a scholarship interview for college. And I got it! I got the full scholarship, guys! I'm going to college! :)

Alright, now on to some Huddy! And I'll try and update more to make up for the lost time, kay? But I'll still be busy – senior stuff, parties, prom, more parties, graduation, parties…yeah, I'll be real busy ;)

Chapter 34: Family Portrait

Lisa was lying down next to House and for the first time in days, she was at peace. Almost. For the last hour, they had done nothing but talk, as if he had just been on vacation; catching up on lost time. The thing was, Ryan was on both of their minds, but neither of them had brought him up. They didn't want to talk about him. Not yet.

They were lucky no one was looking for them. If anyone had seen them like this, her next to House…well, Chase would have a new betting pool up and running within seconds.

Her head rested on his chest and she realized just how bad the pneumonia was, or at least, had been. Before, her primary worry had been the blindness, the bleed in his brain, the seizures. Now that all of that was taken care of, her concern shifted towards the terrible crackling sound that still remained in his chest. It was getting better, and he was definitely improving, and in all honesty if he had simply sneezed her worry would have spiked. But she didn't want to take any chances.

"Are you okay?" she asked, not entirely fond of the sound in his chest.

"I'm fine."

Cuddy frowned a little and got out of the bed, grabbing the stethoscope from her lab coat pocket.

"But now I'm lonely…" House pouted, causing Cuddy to chuckle slightly.

"Sit up," she demanded, still smiling, placing the buds of the stethoscope in her ear. House rolled his eyes but complied.

"You worry too much," House told her as she listened.

Cuddy didn't even know if she should slap him or laugh. In the last two days he had been almost fatally injured, suffered through multiple bleeds in his brain, caught pneumonia and experienced temporary blindness.

Oh, yeah. She worried way too much. Cuddy just rolled her eyes.

"You're chest is getting better," Cuddy finally told him.

"See? You do worry too much," House announced triumphantly.

She scoffed. "Right, and this is coming from the man who almost died of hypothermia a couple nights ago, went blind, and experienced seizures?"

"What seizures?" House asked, wrinkling his nose. That was definitely news.

"Twice," Cuddy said as she sat back down on the bed next to him, holding up two fingers. She looked at him and shook her head slightly. This man's going to kill me one of these days, she thought to herself.

"What was the final diagnosis?" he asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"Acanthamoeba infection. The pneumonia made you an easy target and explained--"

"The blindness and the seizures," House interrupted. "Except if it explained the seizures, then I'd be royally screwed because the infection would've hit my brain…"

"You're not letting me finish!" Cuddy pouted, nudging him. "The infection explained the blindness. We ran a CT and found a bleed that explained the seizures."

"And that's it," House checked, hardly believing it. It was a giant coincidence. He had to be the luckiest bastard on the planet right now.

"That's it," she confirmed, smiling.

"You figured this out? That's impressive…" he teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You figured this out all by yourself?" he pressed, knowing he was getting on her nerves. He smirked a little, aware that he was.

"Contrary to popular belief, I am a doctor."

"Who assigns parking spaces."

She rolled her eyes. "Wilson and I figured it out," she finally told him. She decided to say nothing about Cameron just yet. She was sure House would want to give Cameron his, "You blab and I'll tell everyone that you sleep with Chase in janitor closets" speech, but he didn't need to know about that now, or stress about it, or threaten to make someone else's life miserable. Besides, he'd be pissed if he found out that Cameron was now up to date with every crazy thing that had happened in his life for the last couple months.

"Oh, well, that explains it," House said, rolling his eyes with finality. Cuddy smacked his shoulder.

"What time is it?" House asked, turning to see if there was a clock somewhere.

"Nine thirty."

"What are you still doing here? Go home and sleep."

"I'm fine," she said, shrugging.

"You look like you haven't slept in three days."

"That's because I haven't slept in three days."

"Which means it's a pretty good idea to start catching up now," he said.

Cuddy exhaled loudly. "I'll stay here, House. I'm fine." She looked at House who looked anything but convinced. She sighed again. "I don't want to go home, I want to stay here."

"Are you scared of the dark?" House asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"No…but I'm scared of Ryan."

"You don't need to be scared of him. He's not going to hurt you," House told her quietly.

"Maybe, maybe not. But he will hurt you."

"I'm in a hospital, what's he going to do?"

"That's always your reasoning!" Cuddy said angrily. "We were in a hospital during a fundraiser, and my food got spiked, you were in a restaurant full of people and you almost died…are you not seeing the pattern, here?"

"No need to snap," House joked.

"It's not funny!"

House quickly cut the act. At this rate, someone was going to get hurt – namely him. "Alright, you're right. You can stay here and get as little sleep as possible."

Content, Cuddy lay back down on the bed, making herself comfortable next to him. "What do you think he wants?"

"God? I guess he'd appreciate it if I acknowledged his existence," House deadpanned.

"I meant Ryan," she said, laughing a little. "What does he even want? Why does he hate you so much?"

House hated never having an answer, it was his nature to want to know. And the fact that he had no answer to Cuddy's question was the most frustrating thing since blocked websites on hospital computers. Why did Ryan hate him so much anyway? He knew why Ethan hated him – the drama with his brother and how House had been an ass to him, blah, blah, blah, so what else was new? But Ryan either had a reason he planned on revealing just before he finally just killed House or he was a complete and total psychopath that had decided House would be his target for the next couple weeks. Either way, House didn't like it and House didn't know which one it was.

"I don't know," House finally said truthfully, wishing he did know. "I don't know."

"What I do know," Cuddy started angrily, "Is that if he even thinks about stepping foot in my hospital ever again I'm going to tear him apart--"

"No, you won't…" House said slowly.

"Yes, I will! I'm going to kill that man and rip him into pieces…and, and, then I'm going to--" words escaped her lips angrily and in a frenzy as she tried to visualize everything she really wanted to do to that son of a bitch.

"Whatever happened to 'I'm scared of Ryan'?"

"I changed my mind."

House chuckled and closed his eyes, exhaustion finally settling in. He didn't have any idea he was this tired.

"Greg?" Cuddy asked, worriedly.

"Hmm?" he hummed, opening his eyes slightly. "I'm tired…"

"Okay," she told him, holding his hand. He would have made fun of her worrying so much, but it didn't take long for unconsciousness to sweep over his entire being. "Goodnight, Greg," she whispered. But he was already out.

[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse

The next morning, Cuddy was downstairs, catching up on all the work she had ignored for the last few days. It was days like this she asked herself why she had honestly decided on becoming dean of medicine. You go missing for a few days, and everything goes haywire – the workload ahead was daunting but the knowledge that the worry that had plagued her for days was gone kept her going.

Well, not all the worry was gone. Ryan was still out there. She needed to call Weston quickly. She would've done it last night but it was already late. She had finally left House's side last night around one in the morning but had made sure a security guard stayed outside his room for the rest of his night. She wouldn't hear the end of it from House when he found out, she knew, but she was willing to deal with that in due time.

She was shocked out of her reverie when her phone started ringing.

"Dr. Cuddy," she answered, signing off on a procedure.

"SAVE ME!" House yelled on the other line.

Cuddy immediately burst out into laughter. It wasn't just the outburst itself that she found amusing, but how serious he sounded. Whatever he was about to whine about, he wasn't happy about it.

"What?" she asked, still laughing.

"Yeah, you would find this funny."

"Well, tell me what it is!"

"Your stupid nurse woke me up when I was sleeping just because they wanted me to eat breakfast!"

"Oh, how evil," Cuddy said, rolling her eyes.

"And all that stupid woman brought was a bagel anyway…and I hate bagels! And when I started terrorizing her, she just left! So now I'm bored!"

Her doors opened and she glanced up to take a look at who was entering – House's team had just entered holding a file. Cuddy pointed at the file in Foreman's hand with her pen. "All of you walking in here at the same time cannot be good news," she told them.

"Are you even listening to me?" House whined.

"Obviously not," she told House, holding out her hand to take the file.

"Who could possibly be more important than me?!"

Cuddy ignored him and focused her attention on Foreman who was explaining their latest case. "Healthy man's lungs fail and no one has any idea why. No hyperinflation on the x ray, can't be an allergy because he's got no hives, probably not a pulmonary embolism--"

"Foreman?" House asked, annoyed. "You'd rather listen to him?"

"Hey, listen, I'm going to call you back."

"No, I want to listen to the case!" House whined. "I'm sick…I'm supposed to get whatever I want!"

"Bye," Cuddy told him, ignoring his request.

"Was that House?" Cameron asked as soon as she had hung up. Chase and Foreman stared back at Cuddy, curious.

"Yes," Cuddy said after a slight pause, deciding to keep her lying to a minimum. Cameron…you'd better not do anything stupid…

"Where is he?" Foreman asked, annoyed. "He's been disappearing on and off for the last couple days."

"He's taking a personal day," Cuddy answered with a straight and nonchalant face. "As for your patient."

"The patient needs House."

"House is unavailable. This one's all on you guys," she gave them an almost mocking smile as they turned to leave her office. "Cameron, can I speak to you for a minute?" she called out before they had all left.

Chase and Foreman glanced at each other but left the room, leaving the two of them alone in the room.

"I didn't tell them anything," Cameron said as soon as the doors were shut, knowing that was what Cuddy wanted to really talk about.

"And I appreciate that," Cuddy answered honestly. "I'd also appreciate it if you would continue doing just that."

"Alright…" Cameron stalled for a second before asking her next question. "How's House? Is he…better?"

"He's fine. He'll be discharged either tonight or tomorrow morning."

Cameron nodded once as she turned to leave. "Okay."

"And thank you," Cuddy added.

Again, Cameron simply nodded, smiling slightly as she left the room. Cuddy watched her leaving, surprisingly certain she wasn't going to say anything.

"What was that all about?" Chase asked as soon as Cameron stepped out.

"Nothing you'd be interested in," Cameron answered.

"I'm pretty sure we'd be interested," Foreman argued.

"It doesn't involve you."

"And that's why we're interested."

"Maybe we should focus on our dying patient--"

"After we figure out what you're hiding."

Cameron stopped at the elevators and turned around to face them. "I don't have to tell you guys anything. Now, what I can do, is dangle my secret under your nose just out of reach and force you to be personal servants for as long as I can keep it up."

Chase rolled his eyes, and pressed the elevator button. "This isn't worth it."

"I'm glad you see the light," Cameron said, smiling smugly.

[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse[H]ouse

Cuddy was holding a blue patient file as she made her way towards House's room. It was past noon and she still hadn't seen him. There was so much to catch up on and everyone had been looking for her all day so it had been impossible for her to sneak out of the office without being spotted or followed. She had talked with him throughout the morning by phone so she didn't feel too isolated. Wilson hadn't stopped by for the same reason, but mostly because Chase and Foreman had been spying on him, hoping to figure out where House was. And House had taught them well – too well, in Wilson's opinion.

Cuddy chuckled to herself slightly, remembering Wilson whining about how Chase and Foreman were like mini House's roaming the hallways.

"I got you a gift," The doors slid open for her as she walked into House's room, blue file in hand.

"A patient? That's my gift?" House asked, wrinkling his nose. "After you abandon me for hours on end?"

Cuddy chuckled and she sat down next to him and handed him the file. "I didn't say it was your gift. It's more of a gift to the nurses who have to come in here. I figured if I managed to keep you busy you wouldn't try as hard to drive them to suicide."

"That's the Lisa I know – so thoughtful." He perused through the file for a moment. "I take it it's not a food allergy or asthma?"

"How did you know?" Cuddy asked.

"That would be boring," he said simply raising an eyebrow. He closed the file definitively. "Tell dumb, dumber and dumbest to test for laryngospasm."

"That's a great idea," Cuddy said sarcastically. Then she added, "How do you plan on testing for laryngospasm without killing him?"

"You get the thief by catching him in the act. We give the patient a methacholine challenge and wait until he stops breathing. Induce another attack."

"Did you not hear the last part of my sentence or are you purposely ignoring me?"

"Patient's in a hospital," House rationalized. "He'll start breathing eventually."

Cuddy snatched the file from his hand, frowning slightly. Why couldn't he come up with safer diagnoses? Unfortunately, larygnospasm was all they had to work with. "I'll tell the three musketeers."

House nodded and quickly asked, "Have you called Weston?" He didn't want to really talk about Weston or Ryan or any of that in particular, but he decided to get it over with now. Besides, if the incident a few days ago wasn't proof that Ryan wanted to stick House's head on a pike, then he didn't know what was.

"Wilson called her last night when I was up here," Cuddy told him. "They've got the information they need and every police officer in Princeton knows to look out for him. They have proof, witnesses – apparently someone at the restaurant saw him leave the restroom and later on saw him leave the back of the restaurant. As soon as he's arrested we're officially finished with Ryan Heath."

"You might be, but I'm not," House argued.

"What does that mean?"

"I want to know why he hates me. What did I ever do to him? I wasn't that mean to him. I don't even know him."

"Can't you just be happy he's going to be sent to jail?"

"Nope," House answered simply.

Cuddy sighed. "Of course you can't," she muttered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Why do I ask? "I'm just glad this is over. That doesn't mean if Ryan comes within three meters of me I'm not going to strangle him to death, but I'm just happy this is finally over."

House sighed, reading her expression. Relief; that's what he saw. Just the knowledge that the fear and worry could finally end was enough for her. They could finally live their lives without looking behind their shoulder and taking extra precautions. Without thinking, he lightly touched her chin and kissed her softly on the lips. She kissed back, her mouth opening, eagerly accepting his tongue. She realized how much she missed this – it had only been two days, but she missed this so much. Being part of him.

"I missed you," she told him once they had parted, knowing he would understand.

"You have no idea," House told her, about to capture her lips once more. But at that moment, they heard quick footsteps approaching and the doors started to slide open. They quickly parted, unsure of who their latest guest was.

"Your team is evil," Wilson said as soon as the doors had opened, pointing his finger accusingly at House.

Damn you, Wilson, House thought to himself though Wilson was completely unaware of the make out session he had just interrupted. "Good!" House said proudly. "I taught them well."

"Is this how you two greet each other?" Cuddy asked, amazed.

"What, you want me to give him a hug? God, Lisa…do I look like I have a vagina?"

"Okay, something like that might work on Wilson, but you ever deny me my hug, you're going to wish you had a vagina."

At that Wilson burst into laughter. Cuddy folded her arms against her chest triumphantly.

"It's not that funny," House said, rolling his eyes.

"That's because you're on the receiving end," Wilson started as soon as he had recovered. "Hey, has Cameron stopped by yet? I wouldn't be surprised."

Cuddy's eyes widened and she shook her head slightly at him, frowning, but it was already too late. House's eyes narrowed. "Why the hell would Cameron come by?"

"You didn't…" Wilson started, hesitantly, not sure how he could redeem himself.

"Wilson!" Cuddy gasped, angrily.

"Sorry…"

"What does Cameron know?" House asked, all humor gone.

Cuddy grimaced and shot Wilson her personal 'I will kill you' glare. Then to House she explained what happened. "When you were seizing, Cameron walked in…"

"And…" House prompted, knowing there was more…a lot more. And he was right.

"And we had to tell her everything. So she knows about Ryan, and my poisoning, and what happened a few nights ago…the blindness…but she doesn't know about us."

"And…you figured Cameron, of all people, would keep this information to herself," House deduced sarcastically.

"Actually she hasn't said anything," Wilson said.

"Yet," House amended. "There are two things Cameron can't do: keep a secret and lie."

"She can lie."

"Not well."

"You need to give her some credit," Cuddy told him. "She hasn't said anything to Chase or Foreman and neither of them suspect you're even here. Foreman thinks you've been playing hooky for the last couple days."

"That's just like Foreman – expecting the worst from me," House said, deciding to drop the subject of Cameron and her newly discovered knowledge. She wasn't good with information that needed to kept quiet and he knew it wouldn't be long before her desperate need to discuss feelings overwhelmed her and she blabbered. House decided he'd just take care of that when the time came and the next time he saw her, he'd make it abundantly clear that her sanity was on the line if she said too much.

At that moment, Cuddy's pager went off and she quickly dug into her lab coat pocket looking for it.

"I never knew you got pages," House said.

"What made you think that?" Cuddy asked, playing along.

"Well, what emergency could anyone call you for? Dr. Cuddy, a patient stole my parking space."

Lisa rolled her eyes and checked her pager. Immediately, her face fell and her heart rate skipped to an almost unprecedented rate.

"What, was someone smoking in the clinic and set off the fire alarm?" House asked playfully.

Cuddy looked up and immediately, both House and Wilson knew it wasn't good news. "Ryan's here," she said simply.

I originally wrote one giant chapter, but I'm splitting it up. Please leave a review anyway ;) thx ma peeps

Song Credits: Family Portrait by P!nk