Hi everyone! Well another chapter is done but before you read I wanted to answer some questions that some of you have asked.

1. No I am not a cop. LOL…. sadly my job is very boring, but at least I don't get shot at (crosses fingers).

2. The word "Oma" which is Dutch for Grandma was used by House himself in the ep One Day One Room. I like it so when I was writing the scene with House and Cuddy in the bathroom I decided to put it in along with the story House told to Cuddy.

Finally thanks again to all of you for the great support and reviews hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter 51

At six am, just before the alarm clock would have gone off inside her own bedroom, Lisa Cuddy woke up in Gregory House's bedroom, looking over at him as he continued to sleep before she focused her gaze on the digital clock beside him on the nightstand.

After seeing what time it was, Cuddy carefully reached over House so as not to wake him, feeling a sharp pain travel up her back as she twisted her body to retrieve her cell phone resting next the clock, wanting to check her messages in case Wilson had called during the night without either of them hearing the phone.

Looking down at the display that told her she had no new voicemails, Cuddy let out a deep but quiet breath in response to the throbbing pain in her spine. Closing her eyes for a moment to try and will it away while knowing that outside of House's apartment a new day was beginning. With people inside their homes getting ready for work while their children ate breakfast at the kitchen table before they heading off to school.

But for her would be no work today and in fact for the next few days the only a visits to the hospital she would make would be to see her mother and Bill, thanks to the twisted rampage of a madman who had torn through her life with the velocity of a tornado.

Glancing over at House again as he remained sleeping, Cuddy traced the stubble on his jaw with her eyes. Remembering all that had gone on between them after they had arrived back at his place last night, becoming overwhelmed with emotion as she thought of how gentle and understanding he had been with her, opening himself up to her in a way he had never done before, proving to her exactly why she needed him in her life as much as she did.

"I love you." Cuddy suddenly whispered over to House as he continued to sleep, meaning every single word in the short but powerful sentence.

As her words traveled over to him, House stirred in his sleep before turning on his side to face her and opening up his eyes.

"Did Wilson call?" He asked, letting out a yawn after noticing the cell phone resting in her hand.

"No." Cuddy answered back softly.

"You know if something had gone wrong with your Mom or Bill, Wilson would have called regardless of what time it was." House told her as he saw the worry appearing on her face, rubbing the stubble on his jaw before propping himself up in the bed beside her.

"I know." Cuddy replied before touching his cheek and kissing it tenderly.

"You also know we still can't have sex right?" House teased as she pulled away from him.

"Well then, the least you can do is make me breakfast." Cuddy teased back, poking at his side to make him squirm.

"Hey! Knock it off before I -" House started to say, stopping mid sentence as Cuddy placed her hand up to her forehead as she closed her eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked, sitting up straighter in the bed as she opened them back up.

"Nothing...I just felt a little light headed for a moment." Cuddy said before easing back down onto the pillow behind her.

"How's your vision?" House asked as he checked her pupils.

"It's fine." Cuddy answered.

"Any nausea or tingling in your extremities?" House pushed.

"House…I've had maybe a total of two hours of sleep night and considering all that I've been through the dizziness is most likely a symptom of exhaustion." Cuddy replied dismissively as he continued to hover over her.

"If it happens again you're getting a CT Scan." House replied back to her as the gnawing feeling that something more was to come of this took up residence inside his brain.

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House's Apartment 7:00 am

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"I don't think we should have come here. House is going to be pissed." Chase said after knocking on House's door as he and Cameron stood outside of the apartment.

"Cuddy will need this stuff and we also brought them food. And there's no way House is going to pass up free food." Cameron replied.

"I noticed that you cleverly tired to steer your way around the 'pissed' part." Chase shot back just as they heard House grumbling on the other side of the door.

"Whoever's out there better be prepared to get a cane up their ass." House yelled before unlocking the door and looking at his two fellows with distain.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" He then asked, eyeing the black nylon bag in Cameron's hands first before checking out the two coffees held in a cardboard travel tray and brown paper bag in Chase's hands.

"How's Lisa doing?" Cameron asked in a hushed whisper as House kept the door as closed as possible to them.

"She was sleeping until you two idiots woke her up." House replied.

"I was already up. Now stop being a jerk and let Chase and Cameron in." Cuddy yelled from behind the door after hearing their conversation.

House exhaled and moved out of the way so they both could enter into the apartment watching their expressions when Cameron and Chase both spotted Cuddy who was sitting on the couch wearing a white t shirt he had given her earlier along with and a pair of his pajama bottoms that she had rolled up several times around her waist.

"Lisa how are you?" Cameron whispered, quickly making her way over to Cuddy and leaning down to give her a gentle hug on the upper part of her body, mindful to avoid the bruises on her back.

"I'm doing ok." Cuddy answered back watching House studying both her and Cameron closely.

Once they women released their embrace Cameron sat next to Cuddy on the couch as Chase and House stood side by side.

"So are the two of you going to tell us why you're here? Because I'm really not in the mood for twenty questions of dealing with idiots today." House remarked with a gruff tone.

Cameron gave House a glare before focusing her gaze on Cuddy, "Last night after you guys had left the hospital I asked Agent Collins if Chase and I could go to your place with him and pick up some things for you." She explained, offering Cuddy the black nylon bag she had carried in with her.

"Thank you Cameron." Cuddy replied with a small smile.

"Collins also asked us to tell you guys that that his team should be done collecting evidence by this morning and that he would call you sometime this afternoon." Chase added still standing beside House.

"We also thought you guys might need some breakfast so we brought bagels and coffee." Cameron said, prompting Chase to hand the food and drink over to House.

"Great. Food and clothes. Well looks like the two have served your purpose, now beat it." House responded.

"House." Cuddy warned with a disapproving look as he handed her the brown paper bag containing the bagels.

"That's ok we should get going anyway." Cameron replied, making her way to her feet and walking over to Chase.

"Well thank both of you for going to so much trouble for us." Cuddy told them, shooting a glance House's way in hopes that he would thank them as well.

"Remember hands of my stuff while I'm gone. Especially the porno downloads." House warned his two fellows.

"I've never looked at your porno House." Chase replied back smartly.

"I wasn't talking about you." House countered as he gave Cameron a devious smirk.

"I …I never." Cameron started to say before House slammed the door in both her and Chase's faces.

"Well that was fun." He then said, turning around to find Cuddy sitting on couch silently holding onto a red turtle neck sweater she had pulled out from inside the nylon bag, staring down at it with a melancholy expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" House asked her causing Cuddy to look away from the sweater and up at him as he approached the couch and sat next to her.

"This sweater was still in the back of my closet because it's only September and it hasn't been cold enough to wear it yet. Which means Cameron took time to find something I could wear today to the hospital that would cover up the bite marks and bruises on my neck." Cuddy whispered, swallowing hard as she willed away a tear.

"And before you say it, I know I shouldn't be getting this emotional over a sweater …..but I -" She started to add.

"Actually what I was going to say is that I call the blueberry bagel." House responded watching roll her eyes at him as she let out a soft laugh.

"Oh." Cuddy remarked shaking her head as House opened up the brown paper bag between them and began rummaging through its contents.

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Chase's Car….

"Lisa did look ok to you…….right?"" Cameron asked Chase as he drove them to the hospital.

"She's doing fine." Chase replied, glancing at Cameron briefly while she stared out of the windshield.

"You think House is treating ok? I mean do you think he's being supportive to her?" Cameron questioned as she looked over at Chase.

"Cuddy wouldn't be with House if he didn't treat her right." Chase assured her, "You on the other hand need to start watching how you're treat Cuddy," he added.

"What do you mean?" Cameron asked furrowing her brow at him.

Chase sighed; turning to look at her while he waited for the traffic light in front of them to turn green.

"Allison, you are a very caring person, which is a very good thing, but…even though you had a connection with Cuddy on a personal level last night when you helped her get through the physical exam at the hospital. You need to back off a bit." Chase explained carefully as he pressed his foot on the gas once as the light had turned green.

"So you're saying I should have left Cuddy go to the hospital today dressed in House's t-shirt and pajama bottoms?" Cameron argued, instantly offended by his words.

"No, that's no what I'm saying. What you did was a good thing, but you have to stop calling her 'Lisa' all the time and being overly concerned with her well being because it's only going to serve as a reminder to Cuddy of exactly why her you suddenly feel the need to enter into her personal life. You know Cuddy will want to get back into her routine as hospital administrator as soon as possible in order to reaffirm that this event in her life has not changed who she is as a person. And in order for her to do that, we need to remember our places in her life, which are as her employees and not her friends." Chase explained to her.

After a few seconds of silence Cameron spoke. "You're right." She admitted with a sigh while looking over at Chase.

"See if you would have just admitted that more often while we were dating, maybe we wouldn't have broken up." Chase said with a smirk as he focused his eyes back on the road.

********************************************************

As House and Cuddy entered in to Ruth's hospital room, they heard Wilson's voice before spotting him as he sat beside Ruth's bed talking softly to her.

Wilson's face had a days worth of stubble upon it. His clothes, wrinkled from sleeping in them the night before however, Wilson's brown eyes were bright and alert as his held Ruth's hand, while she in turn was listening intently to every word he was saying to her as he filled her in on the details regarding Jeff Hansom and the impact he left on everyone, including his death on the operating room table.

Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Ruth turned her head towards the doorway."Lisa." She whispered in a voice that sounded like it had been years since she had last seen her daughter. The strong and instant pull on her heart at the sight of her child, painful and sweet at the same time.

Walking over to her mom, dressed in dark blue jeans and the red turtleneck sweater Cameron had brought for her, a small smile appeared on Cuddy's face, the relief at seeing her mother safe, conscious and in the company of a trusted friend like Wilson doing her a world of good after the ordeal she had been through.

"Hi Mom." Cuddy replied back softly, moving to the opposite side of the bed from where Wilson was seated so she could lean down and give her mother a hug.

"Oh Lisa, I'm so glad you're ok." Ruth whispered into her daughter's ear before kissing her on the cheek.

Cuddy returned the kiss before gasping in pain as her mother pressed her hands into her back in order to pull her a little closer.

"Lisa, what's wrong?" Ruth asked, immediately letting go of her as Cuddy stood upright once more.

"I….I have some bruising on back from when Jeff attacked me." Cuddy informed her with a hesitant tone.

Without delay, Ruth looked over at Wilson,"You told me Lisa was ok." She stressed in a worried voice.

"I'm sorry Ruth, I just thought it would be better if Lisa told you herself about what happened to her instead of…" Wilson tired to explain before House cut in.

"Yeah that's a real smooth move on your part Wilson. Now thanks to you Ruth feels like crap for hurting her daughter which means the nurses will have to up her morphine again until she passes out. Wait….maybe that isn't such a bad idea." House remarked while keeping his gaze fixed on Ruth, not understanding why in the hell she was smiling at him in such a peculiar way as if he had just paid her the biggest compliment in the world.

"What? Did they already up you morphine or something?" He then questioned to Ruth, continuing to study her face.

Suddenly Ruth's expression changed into a more solemn one.

"House, I want to thank you for saving my daughter from that monster. I hate to think about what Jeff would have done to her if you hadn't been there to stop him." Ruth said with the weight of her undying appreciation for the man standing at the foot of her bed and leaning heavily on his cane coming through in the tone of her voice.

"You're welcome." House said quickly, caught of guard for a moment by Ruth's heartfelt gratitude before turning his attention towards Wilson.

"Come on Wilson, I need to take a piss and I can't hold this thing all by myself." House remarked, pointing down to his crotch before turning abruptly and leaving the room.

Watching him go, Cuddy shared a knowing glance with Wilson as he followed behind House before turning her gaze back to her mother.

"What you said to House just now really meant a lot to him. Even though he'd never admit it." Cuddy said while reaching for Ruth's hand.

"I was completely wrong about House, and the type of man he really is behind all of the crap he pushes forward for everyone to see. And …I must say after everything that has happened I'm a little ashamed of how quickly I judged him before I go to know him." Ruth confessed to her daughter.

Cuddy chuckled, "Oh god, don't every let House hear you say that or he'll never let you live it down."

"Ok I guess we'll keep that secret to ourselves." Ruth agreed letting out a soft laugh of her own before easing herself over on the mattress and patting the now empty space beside her.

"Sit with me." Ruth then requested to her daughter, "Unless you can't because of the bruising."

"I'm fine mom, besides this bed is actually much more comfortable then those chairs over there," Cuddy assured her while taking a seat next to her on the mattress.

Gently moving her fingertips into Lisa's dark hair, Ruth smiled over at her, "Remember when you were little and we used to sit together like this on my bed while I brushed you hair?" She asked.

Instead of answering Ruth's question, Cuddy focused in on the narrow strip of gauze taped to her mother's arm.

"Mom, you have to be careful or you'll rip your stitches out." Cuddy warned softly, easing her mother's hand onto her lap with a tender touch.

"I thought mothers are the ones who are supposed to worry about their daughters. Not the other way around." Ruth joked softly to Lisa when she saw the concern starting to rise upon her face.

"I just want to make sure your laceration heals quickly with the least amount of scarring as possible." Cuddy tried to explain.

"I know that honey," Ruth replied, "but right now you need to concentrate on healing yourself more than worrying about me or anyone else for that matter."

"Mom…I told you I'm…." Cuddy started to say.

"Lisa." Ruth interrupted. "I know what you're going through because of what Thomas Crane did to me all those years ago. You want to move on. You want to forget about what happened. But right now you're stuck. You can't move forward and you can't go back. You feel like your in quicksand and you're going to keep feeling that way for a little while. But you have to trust me when I tell that you will pull yourself out of this mess. It's just that sometimes you'll need someone to help you no matter how much you want to do it on your own."

Listening to her mother speak brought a fresh batch of tears to Cuddy's eyes, her throat tightening as their combined histories of heartache and misery intertwined.

"I'm sorry mom. I…I didn't want to cry in front of you." Cuddy whispered as she looked down in her lap and willed the rest of her tears away.

"Lisa…" Ruth whispered, touching her daughter's cheek so that she would look at her, "I would take the memories of your tears over the silence of not having you here with me any day," she explained, moving her hand to her daughter's shoulder so she could caress it.

Cuddy let out a gasp of complete and utter awe at the eloquent words her mother had just spoke to her, "I love you so much Mom," she whispered in return before giving Ruth a tender embrace while kissing her once more on the cheek.

********************************************************

"This doesn't look like the bathroom to me." Wilson commented as he and House stepped inside the hospital cafeteria.

"Really? And here I though the crap they serve here was really crap." House remarked.

"So how's Lisa doing?" Wilson asked, pouring them both a cup of coffee.

"Fine." House answered watching Wilson as he then paid the cashier for both cups.

"How about you? How are you doing?" Wilson pushed as they made their way over to a table by one of the large windows in the cafeteria.

"You should know considering you're the one that stitched me up for god's sake." House replied as he avoided the question.

"How bad are Lisa's bruises?" Wilson then questioned not about to drop the subject.

"What in hell do you mean are they bad? They're bruises." House shot back, looking away from his friend.

"Jesus they have to be pretty bad for you to react like this.'" Wilson replied in a hushed tone.

"They're no different than any other bruises I've examined, so stop trying to analyze this to death." House replied in an irritated tone.

"It is different because those bruises aren't on just some random patient……..they're on her." Wilson stressed.

"What do you want me to say Wilson? That when I saw what Jeff had done to Lisa I wanted to drag his dead body out of the morgue and run if over with my car before I kicked it into a bloody pulp? That it made me sick to my stomach to think about how much pain she went through at the hands of that bastard? That I should have stopped…" House started to say before he caught himself revealing too much, suddenly turning away from Wilson's gaze and focusing on the window beside them.

"Wait….you're not actually blaming yourself for not reaching Lisa sooner…..are you?" Wilson questioned.

House looked him square in the eye, "If it wasn't for this damn leg I could have prevented Jeff from going as far as he did with her." He replied back with cold and distant tone before getting up out of his chair.

"House." Wilson said, getting up as well and grabbing his friend by the arm to prevent him form leaving, "You stopped Jeff from raping Lisa and whatever Jeff may have done in between the time you saved her -"

"Lisa experienced an episode of dizziness this morning at my place." House interrupted bluntly.

For a few brief seconds Wilson said nothing.

"That …that could be a result of any number of things. From a physical reaction to the emotional trauma of what happened to her to the fact that Lisa is clearly on the verge of exhaustion." Wilson tried to reason.

"Or maybe it's because she's suffered some brain damage from being chocked repeatedly by Jeff while I was lying on the garage floor." House replied before turning and walking away.

Watching his friend go, Wilson took in a breath, "It's just exhaustion House, " he whispered, knowing that if Cuddy's one symptom did indeed turn out to be anything more House would never be able to forgive himself for what he believed was something he could have prevented from happening to her if he still had the full use of his right leg.

********************************************************

A half an hour later, House, Cuddy and Ruth entered into Bill's hospital room in the ICU, with Ruth being pushed in a wheelchair by none other than House who had refused to let Lisa take on the task because of her physical injuries.

"Now remember mom, Bill is on the ventilator to help with his breathing while his body is trying to heal itself from the surgery. He's also is in a drug induced coma but he is doing very well." Cuddy said softly, preparing her mother as House pushed Ruth's wheelchair up to Bill's bed.

At first Ruth held her breath, shocked by the image of Bill lying in the bed unconscious. The tall, strong man she had fallen in love with, looking so helpless at the moment, hooked up to barrage of machines that filled the room with a constant electric hum. His arms having IV's coming out of them while in his mouth was the tube from the ventilator that carried the oxygen to Bill's lungs.

Pushing past her fear, Ruth reached out, holding Bill's hand in her own.

"Hi sweetheart." She whispered, kissing the top of his hand before making a move to get out of the wheelchair.

"Easy there Ruth, you need to get up slowly because I sure as hell I'm not going to pick you up if you end up falling on your ass," House warned, grabbing her free hand and placing it on the bedrail to steady her while Cuddy looked on silently.

Ruth glanced back at House briefly before returning her gaze to Bill.

"Hi Bill." She then whispered, leaning down and brushing aside some of his white hair from his forehead as she kissed it.

"Now listen to me, you have to hurry up and get better honey because we all need you and miss you so much." Ruth said in a soft voice, stroking Bill's cheek.

As Ruth spoke, House watched the black screens of the monitors, seeing the lines upon them seemingly reacting to the sound of her voice.

He had seen this happen on rare occasions before and it had always fascinated him.

"Keep talking to him." House whispered to Ruth as he took a step back from the bed while Cuddy moved closer to him.

"Bill…I want you to know you were the one who kept me holding on when I wanted to give up. So now I'm here to remind you not to give up. You hear?" Ruth said, keeping hold of his hand.

"It really is amazing thing to see isn't it?" Cuddy whispered over to House as both of their eyes remained fixated on the monitors.

"Interesting yes, amazing…no." House replied as the blips on the screens reflected in his eyes.

"Call it whatever you like, but Bill is reacting to the sound of my mother's voice." Lisa answered back softly.

"How about if I just call it dumb luck then?" House asked as the familiar feel of their conversation helped to sooth his worried mind for the time being.

"It's more than that and you know it." Cuddy responded with a small smile, reaching for his hand while watching Bill's heart rate on the EKG screen jump slightly again when her mother kissed his cheek.

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Friday 12:05 am ~ INTENSIVE CARE UNIT.....

Lying on his back, Bill felt weightless as he floated in the middle of clear blue ocean.

The sun was shining down on him brightly, warming his face as smile streched across it.

The waves of the ocean carrying him gently towards an island with a white sandy beach.

Unable to resist the beauty of the island any longer, Bill flipped over onto his stomach and started swimming towards the beach. The rich foliage and sounds of animals and birds on the island sparking his curiosity.

He did not know how he come to be in this ocean but as he swam towards the island with white sands one thing was certain.... he had never felt more alive.

Reaching the shoreline, Bill stood up and watched the water run off of his body like tiny sparkling droplets of crystal before they exploded on the white sand beneath him, changing into tiny marble sized balls filled with a burst of varying bright colors, breathtaking hues of red, green, purple and blue surrouding him along with soft pale pink that looked like cotton candy and a dark rich brown colored droplet the reminded him of smooth and satisfying chocolate bar.

So many colors, dancing at his feet as the sparking water had come to life on the sand, some colors so amazingly beautiful Bill did not know they even existed before now in the world.

Placing his hand on his chest as he smiled at the colored marbles of light bouncing around he feet Bill was suprised to find that although he had been floating the in the ocean, his body was completely dry.

"That can't be." Bill whispered to himself, looking down and noticing that in addition to being dry he was dressed in all white.

A white suit no less, with matching white dress shoes and a white tie.

Shaking his head in utter amusement, Bill started to walk up from the beach towards a short and stout palm tree as the balls of light were swept back into the ocean.

Upon the palm tree he found a white rimmed hat and with another smile, he placed it on his head, pulling down on the brim just as a breeze came up to him from the ocean.

Breathing in the air around him, Bill closed his eyes to concentrate on the scent coming in from the crashing waves, opening them abruptly when he smelled the old familiar scent of perfume mixed in with the salt air.

Looking over at the shorline, Bill's steel blue eyes widened in shock, his breath catching in his throat as he watched he late wife Anna walking towards him on the beach.

BLIP____/\___BLIP____/\___BLIP_________BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!

"HE'S CRASHING!" The ICU nurse yelled out to the other nurse, running into Bill's room, pulling out the cart in the corner of it as she began to charge the paddles.