Rediscovery

By Ellie

Disclaimer: House is not mine. I get no money. Don't sue. I also don't own 007, but I really didn't mess with him at all.

A/N1: Thanks for all of the reviews. They really helped me get through this chapter. It was a difficult one to write because I wanted to show House and Cuddy enjoying the movie, but still make it accessible to people who haven't seen James Bond's Goldeneye. I think I did an okay job, but there are some things that I wanted to make sure that you knew so that you weren't confused when reading. 1. An EMP is a weapon that can fry anything that requires electricity. Computers, furnaces, traffic lights. Everything. They are very bad. 2. The beginning of every James Bond movie that I've seen has the silhouettes of naked women running, dancing, and stretching as the music plays in the background. I see House enjoying that.

Chapter 7

Cuddy felt her muscles relax under the hot spray of the shower. House may have had an ulterior motive for sending her in here, but she couldn't deny that it was helping to relieve her soreness.

She realized that House needed time to figure out their relationship. For so long she had just been his boss, but over the past year things had warmed up a bit between them. Today was the closest that they'd been to acting like their old selves in a long time. Apparently it was too fast for House. The expression on his face before he'd 'ordered' her to the shower would have made her laugh in any other situation. It had turned from affection, to confusion, to panic, to being perfectly devoid of emotion in the space of a few seconds. It didn't take a genius to figure out that House wasn't sure what he wanted to do about her.

Cuddy had to admit that his indecision hurt. It amazed her that his rejection still had that power – even after all of this time. The months following the surgery had been particularly painful as she watched him spiral out of control and push everyone who cared about him – especially Stacy -- away. She had tried to help him as much as she could from the sidelines, but it still hadn't been enough.

"I can't do this anymore," Stacy said as she sat in Cuddy's office. A cup of tea sat forgotten in front of her. "He's … he's just so distant half of the time. He won't even look at me. And the other half of the time, he's the most malicious son of a bitch who ever lived. I try to be patient and understanding, but he's not getting any better. I think that he just wants me to go so that he can be miserable in peace." Stacy looked down at her hands folded in front of her.

"Stacy, he doesn't want you out of his life," Cuddy told her.

"He's acting like it."

"If he really wanted you gone from his life, he would have told you to go."

"Not if he wanted to make me miserable first."

Cuddy chuckled sadly. "Trust me Stacy. House is perfectly capable of kicking you out of his life and making you miserable at the same time. He's very special that way."

Stacy looked a little ashamed. "I'm sorry. I know that he's been freezing you out, but at least he's being civil with you. I either get yelled at or ignored. I know I shouldn't be putting all of this on you, but I don't know who else to go to about this."

"I don't mind," Cuddy reassured her. "You're my friend too. And helping you deal with all of this lets me help House in some small way. I appreciate that."

Stacy looked down, concentrating on her hands. "I just didn't think he would hold on to his anger for this long. I knew he'd be furious, and I knew that he'd try and push me out of his life. I just didn't think it would be this bad."

"It's House. He doesn't do anything the easy way. You know that."

"Yeah, I do. I just don't think I can do penance over this for the rest of my life. I'm not sorry I did it. I saved his life and all he does is focus on what he doesn't have anymore instead of what he still has," Stacy said as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

Cuddy reached out to take her hand. "Stacy … yes we saved his life. I don't regret that decision either. But we took his control away from him and left him crippled. This is not going to be something that he gets over easily."

Stacy was unable to meet Cuddy's eyes. "All I know is that I can't … I won't spend the rest of my life feeling guilty over this."

Cuddy stared at Stacy for several seconds, realizing where this was going. "You're leaving him?"

Stacy just nodded.

"You can't. He needs you, Stacy."

"Lisa, all I do is remind him of what happened. Maybe if I'm gone, then he can finally move on with his life." She looked away, defeated. "Besides, it's gotten to the point where I honestly don't think that he'll really care if I leave."

Cuddy felt the panic rise up in her. "Stacy, he loves you. He does."

"I don't think so," she whispered. "Not anymore. And even if he did, it's not enough."

"If you leave him now, then he may never get over this."

"Lisa, he may not ever get over this either way. I won't put my life on hold because Greg can't move on. I can't spend the rest of my life being with someone who's stuck in the worst moment of his life and can't let go and move forward."

Cuddy nodded her head sadly. "Stacy …" She paused for a moment before going on. "Are you sure?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Stacy whispered with tears in her voice. "Lisa, if I don't leave now, I'm going to end up hating him. And I don't want that to happen."

Cuddy got up and gave Stacy a hug. "Have you talked to House yet?"

"No. I needed to talk to someone about it first and get my thoughts straightened out. I knew that you would try and talk me out of it, and I needed that to make sure I was making the right decision."

Cuddy nodded her acceptance. "You might want to give Wilson the heads up after you talk to House," she told Stacy.

"Sure, but honestly I think that you're overestimating my place in Greg's life right now. He'll probably throw a kegger after I tell him," she said as she walked out of Cuddy's office.

Cuddy watched her go. She thought that Stacy was wrong about House not caring if she left, but she could see that Stacy had made up her mind. If she didn't know that House would be devastated by her departure, then Cuddy wasn't going to try and convince her otherwise. He would hate it if Stacy stayed out of guilt.

Cuddy turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She didn't like to dwell on the days following Stacy's departure. House had gone on a bender and Wilson had ended up taking several days off to take care of him afterwards. She had tentatively approached House when he returned to work, but he had quickly rebuffed her, and she decided that if he wouldn't let her be the friend that she wanted to be, then she could at least be the boss that he needed.

Cuddy checked the clock next to the sink as she put some lotion on. She had given him about twenty-five minutes to think. Cuddy hoped that would be enough. She put her clothes back on and dried her hair with the towel as much as possible before putting it back in a ponytail.

She walked into the living room and noticed House sitting on the couch looking like the cat who swallowed the canary. He turned to face her and visibly sniffed the air.

"You made my bathroom smell all girly," he complained.

Cuddy shook her head. He was obviously in a better mood. Whatever that meant. "Well when I'm gone you can eat a couple of chili dogs, go in there and have at it, but until then you're just going to have to deal."

"Nazi," House said not quite under his breath. At that moment, the microwave beeped in the kitchen and he looked at her expectantly. "Would you mind getting that?" he asked.

"What are you making? We just had lunch," she said as she walked into the kitchen.

"I put in a movie and I felt like some popcorn."

She peeked her head out of the kitchen to glare at him. "House, I am not watching porn with you," she reminded him.

"You really have sex on the brain, don't you? You need to get out more," he said. "It's not porn. It's just a movie." Cuddy came out of the kitchen with the popcorn in the bowl that he had put next to the microwave and sat down next to him on the couch.

"What are you watching?" she asked in a quasi-threatening voice. She didn't trust his good mood.

He didn't say anything. He just pushed 'play' on the remote and sat back to watch her expression. Cuddy's gaze went back and forth from the television to House's face as she waited for the movie to start.

A man in a tuxedo standing in the sights of a gun barrel appeared on the screen. House pressed 'pause' and smirked at her.

Cuddy stared at the television in surprise and found herself unable to speak. He had put in a James Bond movie. She looked down for a moment to hide the tears that were threatening to come out. Watching and snarking on James Bond movies was something that they had done from the very early days of their friendship.

It had begun when House had called her up while he had been sick and begged her to bring over something good to eat that didn't come out of a box from the freezer. When she arrived, she found him camped out in front of the television watching a James Bond movie marathon. Cuddy had made fun of him, but he talked her into finishing the movie with him. The next thing she knew, the marathon was over with and she and House were discussing which Bond girl had the best name (Pussy Galore) and which nemesis had the silliest death (Mr. Big, swallowing a compressed air bullet and exploding all over his secret underground lair).

From that point on, up until he left Michigan, she and House would regularly watch Bond-flicks together. Cuddy would always put up a token protest, but she enjoyed watching and making fun of the movies as much as he did.

When they began working together again in New Jersey, they had joked about needing to see how Brosnan stacked up compared to his predecessors, but they had never found the time to get together before the infarction.

This was House's roundabout way of saying, 'Let's be friends again.' She chuckled to herself, even as she continued to fight the tears.

"Cuddy …" House said, beginning to get uncomfortable with her continued silence. She took a steadying breath and looked up to him with a genuine smile on her face.

"Which Bond movie is it?" she asked.

"Goldeneye," he replied.

"So we're finally going to check Brosnan out? Well, what are you waiting for House? We need to see how Bond saves the world from certain doom this time," she said as she gestured to the television. House pressed 'play' and the movie began again.

Cuddy sat on the couch, feeling more uncomfortable in House's presence than she had in quite a while. She was trying to concentrate on the movie, but her thoughts kept on returning to House. It was strange to have their relationship change so much so quickly without even talking about it, and she was having a difficult time sorting it out.

It wasn't until Bond was chasing an empty airplane on a motorcycle over a cliff that she concentrated on the movie and forgot about her situation with House.

"He's not!" she exclaimed.

"He is," House replied.

"Oh my God!" Cuddy said disbelievingly with a delighted giggle as she watched Bond drive the motorcycle over the cliff, skydive down to the airplane, maneuver into the cockpit and fly the plane to safety. She turned to House. "I'll say this for Brosnan, special effects make his Bond capable of doing some amazing things."

House just grinned as he turned back towards the television and waited for the credits to start. "Ahhh…" he said appreciatively. "The James Bond movies have the best credits ever. Hands down."

Cuddy groaned as she looked at the silhouettes of naked women gyrating all over the screen. House turned quickly and shushed her. She had forgotten his one rule for watching James Bond movies: No talking during The Naked Women credits unless it's about The Naked Women. Cuddy just shook her head and waited for them to be over with, but something soon caught her attention that she had to comment on.

"Are the Naked Women doing Tai Chi on a statue of Lenin?" she asked.

"It's symbolic of the fall of Soviet Russia," he explained as if talking to a three-year old. "Now shush."

They spent the next two hours making comments about everything from which characters they were most like ("Okay, I was going to say that you were the Russian chick who gets off on killing people during sex, but you are definitely The Evil Queen of Numbers,") to the type of Doomsday Weapon the movie had ("EMP's are worse than nukes because after a nuke you're just dead. EMP's go off and suddenly everybody's Amish. A fate worse than death in today's society,") to the fashion choices of the female lead ("Who brings a bikini on a covert jungle op?") to James Bond's amazing hairspray ("Look! He just drove a tank through a building and not a hair is out of place! I'm telling you, the British have super hair care technology, and they are not sharing!").

After the movie was over with and Bond had saved the world (again) and gotten the girl (of course), they turned to each other and smiled. It was Cuddy that finally broke the silence.

"I haven't seen a Bond movie in quite a while."

"Me neither," he admitted.

"But you've got the DVD," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but Bond is one of those things that's best when watched with someone else."

"Wilson doesn't like The Naked Women?" she asked sarcastically.

House looked away. "Wilson doesn't like to talk during movies," he explained. Cuddy didn't say anything and House lifted his gaze to hers. He was relieved to see that she understood perfectly.

tbc

A/N2: I was going to have House compare Cuddy to the Russian female villain, but as I was re-watching the movie I saw that one of the agents called the new 'M' (Bond's boss, played by the incomparable Judi Dench) The Evil Queen of Numbers and that was such a House thing to say about Cuddy that I had to work it in.

A/N3: You guys know the drill. Feed my addiction.