Author's Note: I'm doing something entirely different here. This will be a collection of drabbles/one-shots between six different couplings. Each vignette is inspired by a quote from a book, movie, or song. I doubt that there are any spoilers since this stuff is mostly so not in canon. Enjoy. P.S. I don't own House or anything else.

"He had a dream," I says, "and it shot him."

"Singular dream," he says.

--Huck to the doctor in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

Conversations are nothing more than superfluous attempts to fill the supposedly terrible void called 'silence.' They are snippets of time marked by the speaking of words. These exchanges take place between two or more people who must verbalize feelings that were never meant to be spoken about in the first place. Conversations are brief moments in the day during which something or nothing at all happens. Humans are drawn to tragedies—to events that make life a little less boring. Conversations are a human's way to cope with the maddening, noiseless silence…silence that takes on many forms—the silence of love, death, or life.

This collection is, at its best, a gathering of conversations—some seemingly meaningless, some knowingly important. At its worst, this is a collection of aimless wanderings—some meant to enlighten others meant to be so drifting that not even the people involved know what they're doing.

This collection is a conversation.

3

The elevator 'dinged' brightly as it reached the top floor. The doors glided open with a jolt and Dr. Robert Chase entered the compartment.

"Good evening, Dr. Cuddy."

"Dr. Chase."

"You staying late?"

"Paperwork and the like. Yourself?"

"House."

The answer was enough for both of them. Cuddy leaned against the metal railing, watching the number of floors decrease as they descended downward. Chase stood next to her. If she moved her right hand any more than a few centimeters, it would be on top of his.

"What's House's problem this time?"

"Who knows? He threw a tantrum like a little baby and told me to get out. Typical House."

Chase snorted and Cuddy looked over at his profile. His blonde hair flopped gently in his eyes and every once and a while he would flick his head to keep the hair from obstructing his view. It was undeniably sexy.

"Yeah, that's House. He's worse than a three year-old."

"I've seen better behaved toddlers."

Chase looked at her and they both smiled resignedly. They dealt with a pain-in-the-ass colleague and ill patients all day—humor made the world go round.

There was silence in the elevator as it stopped suddenly. Cuddy almost lost her balance, but regained equilibrium quickly.

"What the hell?" Chase muttered.

The door didn't open. A red button blinked on. Press only in emergencies.

"Oh, terrific," Cuddy went up to the red button and was about to press it when Chase grabbed her hand.

"It's probably just a minor malfunction. That button probably makes this box spiral out of control."

Cuddy looked at him. His hand stifled hers.

"You're claustrophobic," she whispered.

"No. I don't like stopped elevators," he replied.

"Let go of my hand," she commanded in a small voice.

He dropped her hand gently and she picked up the conversation from where they had stopped before his hand had touched hers.

"Let me at least call the fire department," she gestured towards the outline of a box on the metal.

"Alright."

She went up to it and opened the box. She dialed 911 and told the dispatcher of their predicament.

"They said they'd be here in five minutes," she told him.

"Good."

"Well…"

The word hung in the air. It floated through the space between them gently, weaving its way to Chase. It didn't make either one of them feel any better; it simply helped to fill the void that was left by the absence of words.

"Where'd you grow up, Dr. Cuddy?" Chase asked.

"Small talk?"

"I hate silence."
"Even comfortable ones?"
"Yes."

"Would you take House's comments over silence then?"

"Probably. You?"
"I find the need for human interaction an enjoyable one, but sometimes you just gotta shut off the static and jumbled voices and let your mind rest."

They looked at one another. Lust was evident in both sets of eyes.

"Chase…"

He took a step toward her. She instinctively backed up against the doors. She grasped his shoulders when he got close enough and then pressed her lips to his.

"We…" Cuddy's word.

"…shouldn't…" Chase's contraction ricocheted back to Cuddy insinuating the need for her to add the next word.

"…really…"

"…shouldn't…"

"…be doing this."

"It's so much fun, though," Cuddy managed to gasp out between kisses.

"You're a beautiful woman."

"And you're very handsome."

"House would love to see this."

"Of course he would. It'd be the only action he sees other than porn for the year," Chase snorted derisively again and kept ravishing Cuddy's mouth.

"Where were you headed?" She inquired as he planted a kiss on her collarbone.

"Pharmacy. House wanted me to sneak in to get some more Vicodin."

Cuddy shook her head and gasped when Chase pushes down the sleeve of her blouse to kiss her shoulder.

"Do you like broken elevators now?" She asked.

"Mm-hmm."

She stopped talking as he kissed his way around her face, mouth, and into her hair. She made trails down his back with her long, polished nails. She clutched at him and clawed at him, but with the tenderest emotions in mind.

Without warning, the elevator started to move again. Chase broke away from Cuddy and she stood helpless against the doors for a moment, before regaining her composure and fixing her shirt.

The doors slid open not ten seconds after they had broken apart. A very angry looking Cuddy walked off the elevator, past a stunned Dr. House, fire department, and various interns. Chase followed slowly behind her. House limped as fast as he could to catch up with Cuddy.

"What?" She whirled around on him, almost making him lose his balance. She saw Chase take a left turn to go to get on the stairs to go down to the pharmacy. She quickly turned her attention back to House.

"You and Chase on an elevator. Do you know how much I could get for a video of that?"

"Shut up!" She admonished and stalked off without waiting for House's snide remark.

"How cute," he murmured and hobbled back to his office.