Rediscovery

By Ellie

Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were, we'd be seeing more than one new episode a month.

A/N: This chapter is for sizzleleg. I hope you didn't explode waiting for it. I'm at home sick, which gave me time to work on the chapter.

Chapter 10

Cuddy turned the page of the book she was attempting to read when she heard a heavy sigh come from House's direction. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. House had spent the past half an hour repeating the same pattern of behavior. He sighed, turned on the television, channel surfed for about three minutes, turned off the television, picked up a book, put it down and then begin the whole cycle over again with a heavy sigh. It didn't take a diagnostic genius to figure out that he was bored.

After cleaning up dinner, Cuddy had looked through his library and found a book that looked interesting and sat down with a glass of wine to read it. House poured himself a scotch and picked up the remote to try and find something interesting on television. He was unsuccessful. Thus starting the cycle that was slowly driving Cuddy crazy.

"Cuddy," House said, breaking the silence. She raised her eyes and met House's gaze. "I'm bored."

"Find something to read," she told him.

"Cuddy," he almost whined, "it's unnatural for us to be in the same room for this long and be silent."

"What are you suggesting?" she asked carefully.

"Let's play a game."

"I'm not playing strip poker with you," she said firmly.

"Damn," he said in a disappointed voice. He paused for a moment, considering the possibilities. A smile broke out on his face. "How about 'Truth or Dare'?" he suggested mischievously.

"You really are a teenager, aren't you?"

"Come on, Cuddy. We're trapped indoors during a blizzard. Isn't it a law somewhere that you're supposed to play silly games in situations like this?"

"Not in the state of New Jersey."

He studied her for a moment before deciding to pull out the big guns. "If you play with me now, I'll play whatever you want on the piano for thirty minutes tomorrow."

Cuddy looked at him in surprise. House was an excellent piano player, but he rarely played for an audience and he never took requests.

"How can I guarantee that you'll live up to your end of the bargain?" she asked.

"You'll just have to trust me," he told her.

"Or I could schedule you for two hours of extra clinic duty a week if you back out," she told him. Cuddy paused to consider his proposition. Perhaps the wine was affecting her judgment, but the idea of playing 'Truth or Dare' with House had a certain attraction.

"There would have to be some ground rules," she told him.

"Like what?" he asked.

"First of all, none of the dares will involve any inappropriate touching."

"But Cuddy, that's the best part of 'Truth or Dare'," he complained, although in all honesty he had expected that stipulation.

"Secondly, there will be no dares that could damage my or the hospital's reputation."

"You're just determined to destroy all of my fun, aren't you?" he asked.

"And finally, what truths we learn here tonight are never mentioned again. Those are the rules. Take it or leave it," she told him.

"Fine, but I get to go first." She nodded her head in agreement. "Truth or dare?" he asked.

She looked into his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out what would be the lesser of the two evils. "Truth," she finally said. House scrunched up his face as he considered the many questions that he had for her.

"Ok. Last year, did you and Wilson conspire together to get me to start seeing patients again?" Cuddy's eyes widened in surprise.

"Why would you think that?" she asked.

"Nuh uh, Cuddy. That's now how this game works. You have to answer my question truthfully, not ask one of your own. Did you and Wilson get together to trick me into seeing patients again?"

Cuddy paused for a moment before looking him straight in the eye and answering. "Yes."

"I knew it!" he exclaimed. "Looking back, it was so obvious that I'm ashamed it didn't even cross my mind until weeks afterwards. Wilson finding a sick fake cousin to interest me, and then you pulling my authorization once I was engrossed in the case. It was Machiavellian." His eyes narrowed with thoughts of revenge. "Wilson is going to rue the day he plotted to make me start working in the clinic again."

"House, you hadn't seen a patient for over a month. The board was seriously considering closing down the Diagnostics Department and transferring you to Nephrology. We had to do something to get you seeing patients again."

"And you couldn't just explain this to me?" he asked.

"If you were a normal human being, then yes, we could have had a rational discussion. But if I had come to you and said that you needed to see patients in order to keep your department open, you would have done something stupid and irritating."

House didn't respond. He knew that she was right.

"Besides, rule number three prohibits you from acting on this information," Cuddy said. "My turn. Truth or dare?" she asked.

"Dare," House said defiantly.

Cuddy thought about it for a moment, and then she smiled. "I dare you to call Wilson up at the hospital and tell him that he's a good friend and that you appreciate everything that he's done for you. And you can't mention that it's part of a game."

House stared at her in horror. "Do I look like I have a vagina?" he asked. "Men don't say those sort of things to each other!"

"Well it wouldn't be much of a dare if it were something that you'd do willingly," she retorted. House glared at her as he grabbed his cane and went to find his phone. He dialed Wilson's office.

"Hello," Wilson said when he answered the phone.

"Wilson," House began a little uneasily. Cuddy didn't even try to hide her smile.

"House? What's up?" Wilson asked, confused.

House took a deep breath and chided himself. He was making this more difficult than it had to be. "I … I just wanted to say that I appreciate all you've done for me, and you're a good friend, and thank you," he said as quickly as he could. Wilson was silent. "Are you there?" House asked.

"Uh, yeah. I'm just trying to figure out why … You didn't kill Cuddy and are currently making plans to leave the country, are you?"

"No," House replied a little indignantly. Wilson was silent for another moment.

"Cuddy isn't about ready to kill you and decided to allow you one final phone call?"

"She's not that nice," he told him. "Look it's not important why I'm doing it. I'm just doing it. So goodnight," he said as he hung up the phone. Cuddy let loose the laughter that she'd been holding in so Wilson wouldn't hear her. House glared at her, but she just laughed harder.

"Truth or dare?" he asked evilly.

Cuddy studied his demeanor as she tried to catch her breath. "Truth."

"What is your favorite sexual position?" he asked.

Cuddy could feel her cheeks turn red as she fought to keep her gaze level. He was trying to make her uncomfortable, and she'd be damned if he succeeded.

"Of course it depends on the skill of the person I'm with," she began.

"Of course," House agreed cheerfully.

"But in general, I prefer to be on top," she told him without breaking eye contact.

"I knew it," House said triumphantly. "That's what I've been telling the nursing staff when I describe the amazing sex we have in your office when you're supposed to be chewing me out."

"It's nice to know that you strive for as much accuracy as possible in your lies," she said sarcastically. "Truth or dare?" she asked.

"Truth."

She paused to think for a moment, wanting to direct the topic of conversation away from sex. Cuddy smiled when she thought of a nice easy question that she'd always been curious about. "What's your middle name?"

House's eyes widened for a moment, as his mouth opened and nothing came out. Cuddy laughed in surprise.

"It's not a difficult question."

"Out of all of the questions in the world you could ask me, you ask me that?"

"I've known you for almost twenty years and I don't even know your middle initial. I'm your boss. You fill out paperwork for me. I just think it's odd."

House sighed and looked down. "It was my grandfather's name," he started.

Cuddy's smile got bigger. "Oh, it must be awful. You're stalling."

"I'm not stalling," he disagreed. "I just wanted to explain where the name came from."

"Come on, it's probably not worth all of this build up. Just tell me."

"Aloysius," he told her as he looked away.

Cuddy burst into laughter. "Gregory Aloysius House," she said aloud. "I can just hear your mother yelling that down the street when you were in trouble."

"Don't remind me," House shuddered dramatically.

Cuddy giggled at his embarrassment, but soon got herself under control. She then wrinkled her forehead as if realizing something and burst into laughter once again.

"What?" House asked, annoyed.

"Your initials spell 'gah'," she said.

"That's not a word," he pointed out.

"No, but it's a noise one makes in frustration. It suits you," she said as she once again forced herself to stop laughing. "Okay, I'm done," she told him.

"May I remind you of rule number three? What we learn here stays here."

"I know, I know," she sighed.

"Truth or dare?" he asked.

"Dare," she said before she could think about it too much.

House looked her over and smirked. "Give me the bra you're wearing right now," he said.

Cuddy gasped in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me. I dare you to give me your bra."

Cuddy's eyes narrowed at House. "I said no inappropriate –"

"You said no inappropriate touching," he interrupted. "I'm not asking to remove the bra for you. I'm asking you to give me your bra. Of course if you're too chicken …"

Cuddy closed her eyes in frustration. She couldn't blame him. She had known what to expect when playing a game like this with him. Cuddy pulled her arms into her top and began to free herself from the bra. House began to hum stripper music. When she was finished, she put her arms back through her sleeves and threw it at House. He smiled happily.

"I'm going to have this and your thong framed and put in my bedroom," he informed her as he played with the silky material.

"Framed?" she asked.

"There are places that will frame baby clothes for doting parents. I'm sure that, for a price, they'd frame your underwear."

"Oh God," she said under her breath. "If you frame my underwear and put it in a place where anyone could ever possibly see it, I'll add Aloysius to your name on your office door," she warned.

He smiled. "Ok, no framing. But I promise to keep them in a very special place."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "I think the less I know about that, the happier I'll be." He just continued smiling as he played with her bra. Her desire to throw something at him warred with her amusement over how happy he seemed. She shook her head and continued with the game. "Truth or dare?" she asked him.

"Truth."

She paused to consider it. There was something personal that she was curious about. The wine leant her courage as she asked her question. "What happened on your date with Cameron last year?"

House looked surprised. "You don't know?"

"No one knows, House. They just know that you went out with her."

House raised his head to inspect the ceiling as he answered. "Nothing much happened really. She wore a pretty dress. I bought her some flowers. We made small talk. It was over."

"Why don't I believe that was all?" Cuddy asked.

House sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "She tried to analyze me. She told me I treated her badly because I wasn't ready to acknowledge my feelings for her."

Cuddy gave a quick burst of laughter and covered her mouth. House looked over at her. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "but you treat everyone like crap."

House smiled. "I know. I asked her what would she think if I started being nice to her, and she said that would mean that I was finally acknowledging my feelings for her."

Cuddy shook her head as she fought a smile. "Poor Cameron. She doesn't know you at all, does she?"

"Not really," he said. "She's nice enough. And she's great looking. But she doesn't really see me, just my brokenness. Someone who needs to be fixed, and she wanted to do the fixing."

"But who wants to be in a relationship with someone who's trying to change you?" Cuddy asked. House nodded, pleased that she understood.

"Besides she flusters way too easily," he said as he smiled at Cuddy. "Truth or dare?" he asked.

"Truth."

"Why," he paused for a moment to consider his words. "Why were you so mad at Stacy before she left?"

Cuddy crooked her head. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"That little speech in your office where you impersonated Stacy. You were angry."

"I was angry with you," she told him.

"Yes, I know that. But you were also angry with Stacy. You wouldn't have done that little impersonation of her if you had only been angry with me. The southern accent was a nice touch, by the way. She's spent most of her professional life trying to get rid of it, but it's still there if you listen carefully." House waited while Cuddy considered her answer.

"Wilson talked to both of you after you returned from Baltimore," Cuddy began. House nodded his head. "After he talked to Stacy, he came and talked to me about what was going on."

"The two of you conspiring together yet again?" he asked.

"Wilson needed to talk to someone who knows you, and he didn't have a lot of options," she told him. "Anyways, he was upset with Stacy because she didn't understand what her leaving was like for you, and after talking with him, I became a little upset with her as well."

House looked down and began to study the material of his shirt very intently.

"Then she came to ask me what you were like after she left." House looked up at her in surprise.

"What did you tell her?"

Cuddy smiled. "That you were an egomaniacal, narcissistic, pain in the ass. Just like before she left."

House couldn't help but smile at her wit, but his face quickly became serious again. "But you didn't mention the drinking binges? Or the fact that Wilson had to move in to watch over me?"

Cuddy shook her head and looked away. "I wasn't going to tell her if she didn't already know. She should have known without me having to tell her." She paused for a moment, lost in thought. "You know, she came to talk to me before she absolutely decided to leave you after the infarction. She told me then that she didn't think that you would miss her. A part of me was hoping that she was just saying that to make herself feel better about leaving, but now I know that she really believed it. And it made me angry that she could live with you for five years and not know what her leaving did to you." Cuddy forced herself to look at House. He was staring at her with an expression of profound sadness.

"Your turn," House reminded her gently.

"Greg, if you want to stop …"

"No," he told her. "Ask me."

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Cuddy looked away, unsure of what to ask. "Ask what happened between Stacy and me," he told her.

Cuddy met his gaze. "Only if you really want to tell me," she told him quietly. He nodded. "What happened between you and Stacy?" she asked.

House was quiet for several moments as he stared at the wall in front of him. She knew that he hated talking about personal matters, and that this was really difficult for him. Cuddy was tempted to tell him to forget about it. That it was getting late and they should be going to sleep, but something told her this was something that he needed to talk about, so she just waited.

"We kissed in Baltimore," he told her, breaking the silence. "But you knew that. I went to go see Wilson after he talked to Stacy – and apparently you. Wilson told me that he thought Stacy was waiting for me to show her that I was serious about being with her again. So I went to go see her in her office as she was packing and I told her that I didn't want her to leave. I told her that I still loved her." House looked at Cuddy. "What happened wasn't a spur of the moment decision. We left her office together, and we walked to our vehicles together. We drove separately to my place where we … where we had sex. She made the decision to be with me. Or so I thought."

Cuddy raised her eyebrows in confusion, but didn't interrupt him. He closed his eyes and wetted his lips before continuing.

"I got called back to the hospital that night. We met up again the next day on the roof, and I asked her about telling Mark. She hemmed and hawed for a bit before stating that she didn't have to hurt Mark if she never told him about being with me." He opened his eyes and looked at Cuddy. "I realized that we weren't on the same page. I thought all of those decisions had been made the night before when she had decided to come home with me. I told her that she couldn't have both Mark and me. That she had to make a choice. I was disappointed that she thought that I could handle being kept on the side while she stayed Mrs. Mark Warner. Then he shows up looking for me."

"Who? Mark?" Cuddy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. That was pleasant," House said sarcastically. "He came to see me for advice on how to deal with Stacy."

"Oh God," Cuddy whispered in horror.

"I tried to avoid him, but he followed me into a stairwell and tried to climb after me. I got away from him as fast as I could, but it really hit me that if our positions had been reversed, there would be no way that I would go to him for advice. And I realized how much he loved her."

Cuddy watched as House became lost in thought again. He was silent for several minutes, but she knew that he wasn't done. He finally looked up at her and continued.

"I thought about our relationship before the infarction, and I realized that I've been remembering it through rose colored glasses. In my mind, our relationship back then was nearly perfect, but when I really thought about it, I realized that it wasn't. All of the problems that surfaced between us after I got sick were there beforehand. The infarction just magnified them. And perhaps sped along what would have happened eventually anyways. I went to go see Stacy, and she had decided to leave Mark, but I told her that it would never work out between us and that she should go home with him."

"I'm sorry," Cuddy told him quietly.

"It's not your fault."

"I did hire her back."

"That's true," House looked at her speculatively. "Why did you do that?"

Cuddy sighed as she examined her motives. "You and Stacy never really got to have any closure. I was hoping that her being here would get you that. Perhaps help you to move on with your life. It kind of backfired."

House gave her a sad smirk. "Not really. I've got closure out the wazoo now."

Cuddy chuckled wryly at his words and then glanced over at the clock on the DVD player.

"It's getting kind of late," she told him.

House looked at the clock. It was actually a little early by his standards, but it had been an action packed day, and he was exhausted – both emotionally and physically. It amazed him how much could change in the course of a day.

"I hope your not expecting me to be gentlemanly and offer you my bed while I sleep on the couch. Being a cripple trumps being a woman in the chivalric hierarchy." His face took on a leer. "Unless you want join me?" he offered.

"The couch is just fine," she assured him. He got up, left the room and returned with some blankets.

"'Night Cuddy," he told her.

"Goodnight, House. Rest up. I expect my half an hour of piano music just after breakfast."

House smiled as he went to bed, feeling lighter than he had in a long time.

TBC

A/N2: Thanks for the reviews. I even got a marriage proposal! This was an interesting chapter to write because it was actually one of the first things that popped into my when this story first grabbed hold of me. And although many of my original ideas for this story have changed, the idea of a game leading them to talk hasn't. I hope that House didn't turn out too OOC. I know that he's not one to talk about his emotions, but he's going through a difficult time, he's a little drunk, and RL people can act a little OOC when they're stuck in a blizzard. I've been there. And, at least in my little world, he needed to let someone know the real reason that he broke up with Stacy. I also wasn't completely satisfied with the Cuddy/Stacy scene in 'Need to Know', and this is my humble attempt to fix it in my mind. The next chapter should have a little Huddy action.

Please Review. I'm doing the end of quarter paperwork, and the reviews make it bearable.