Summary: Cuddy wakes up in an empty hospital, face to face with the House she once knew. Cuddy/ House short songfic. Complete. Song Viva Forever by the Spice Girls.

Love lives forever
By Cat

I opened my eyes to the mystical setting that was my beloved hospital. One minute, I was sitting in a café, next moment I was here. It was a lovely setting, my favorite place. My happy place. Except, in a sense: it wasn't the same as the one I had seen earlier today. This one was a brighter, empty version. One that had dawned my sights when I had first come here for work, a bright young doctor in search of her true career. The same doctor who had once held a love for her friend, Dr Gregory House.

In those thoughtful moments, I felt a gentle hand tap me on the shoulder. I turn and see the face of the same Greg I had once fallen in love with.

"Hi Lisa," he greeted me calmly.

"Greg," I whisper shortly. It seems as if time has sort of aged Greg in ways that many eyes would not see. He had not always been bitter and sarcastic. Those parts remain when he had lost many feelings such as happiness and joy with his leg. I resent myself for having to take his leg; I would give anything to have my old friend back.

As I now look into his eyes, I remember the days when we had been together. Long before Stacy had invited herself into our relationship. We had been so happy. We had spent many hours just talking and sharing friendly banter. We had spent many hours lying in bed just looking into each other's eyes and many more talking about life in general. Now the only banter we have is in the form of sarcasm and irony that we form into short insults and crude jokes to try and make each other feel uncomfortable. We hardly ever share eye contact these days and being the Dean of Medicine, lying in his bed wouldn't be the best thing for my career. We hardly ever have one on one chats, let alone chats about life in general. The most we've had for a conversation in the past month has been about clinic duty and the continuation of other peoples' lives.

Such is the life of a Dean of Medicine. My appointment prevented me from having any sort of life in general. I do regret taking the job some days, but my heart broke the day House left me for Stacy. I never went on more than a few dates with any one man, never a relationship like the one I had with House.

"I still love you," I whisper to the smiling face in front of me. It's all I really can say at this moment.

"I love you too," he whispers back. Like years ago, there is no need to say anymore. We can see it in each other's eyes.

It hurts me to look at his loving eyes after all this time and think what we could have been. I had loved him with all my heart and spent an eternity of happiness with him. Then he had just broken us up, I helped him move out the next day. That was the last loving thing we had done together.

And to this day, I still glance at him and find him glancing back. It lets me think that he still remembers our wonderful relationship. But then again, perhaps he's just reminiscing. Or perhaps thinking of new ways to torment me on my so called "fun-bags". Whatever the reason is, I think that deep down: I'm kind of glad that he hasn't totally forgotten me. I think that sometimes he hopes that we could be like before, two young people in love with our whole lives ahead. Sometimes I would like to sit and reminisce about the time we had spent together. When it was good, it was absolutely great. I'd enjoy to go back to that, but I don't think it's possible in our current states. I think he'd rather some Pamela Anderson look-alike rather than a control freak who only wants him for his clinic duty.

It would be near impossible for a relationship now. Sometimes his bitter and sarcastic comments leave me in my office crying. Not that I'd admit it to him. My reputation as a strong, successful and powerful women is all I have these days. All happy and joyful feelings were stolen away when Stacy had come.

Do you still remember
How we used to be
Feeling together, believe in whatever
My love has said to me
Both of us were dreamers
Young love in the sun
Felt like my saviour, my spirit I gave ya
We'd only just begun

Hasta Manana,
Always be mine

I'm still standing here. For some reason I can't move. I'm in awe of the mystical feelings that I haven't felt in years. The same ones that I've hidden away so I wouldn't be hurt again. House is the only one I would bring them out of hiding for, the only one who experienced the same ones when we were together. And deep down, I can't help but feel that he still feels the same. Perhaps he hides them as well, perhaps he shoved them in a box the moment we broke up and never released them again.

"I'll always be here for you," I say to House after a deep breath. I doubt he would ever come to me for help, though. He never had, unless it was for some legal battle. Some days I wished he would come to just chat like we used to, perhaps have a casual dinner.

Viva forever, I'll be waiting
Everlasting, like the sun
Live forever,
For the moment
Ever searching for the one

Somehow, I don't feel that either of us had come to terms with out feelings. Greg never came to terms with any feelings whatsoever, so I doubt this is different. I'd love to get back with him. Perhaps for a secret love affair, it wouldn't matter if it were for a one night stand. I sometimes crave the way he used to touch my skin and whisper sweet nothingness into my ear, the way he used to play me piano and sing sweet songs to me, the way we had sometimes picnicked at a nearby lake and the dinners we had sometimes spent with Wilson and his wife.

Yes I still remember,
Every whispered word
The touch of your skin, giving life from within
Like a love song that I'd heard
Slipping through our fingers,
Like the sands of time
Promises made, every memory saved
Has reflections in my mind


Hasta Manana,
Always be mine

I remember when we stayed up to watch the sunrise together. The glowing joy of the sun had lit his face in a beautiful orange light. At that moment he had promised me his eternal love. I have faith in his promise. I have faith in his return.

Viva forever, I'll be waiting
Everlasting, like the sun
Live forever,
For the moment
Ever searching for the one

My eyes cloud over and I daze out. My sight returns to the cliché form of a bright light with a nurse's head over mine. She blurts out my story of having been shot during a robbery in a single sentence, and then she leaves. I attempt to sit up but that my shoulders are too lazy to move. I blink several times and turn my head to the sight of House who had seated himself beside my bed.

Back where I belong now,
Was it just a dream
Feelings unfold, they will never be sold
And the secret's safe with me

He glances over at me and his eyes catch mine in a proverbial game of cat and mouse. Then he smiles and says, "Hi Lisa." Perhaps I should try to express some of my new-found feelings.

"I still love you," I blurt out unrepentantly.

He looks at me with a smile. "I still love you too," he whispers quietly, "I always have." In that slight moment, I realize that there is a little bit of his old self beneath his barriers. I have no doubt that the House I used to know is still there. And from his smile, I have no doubt that he saved that part just for me.


Hasta Manana,
Always be mine

THE END