Chapter 41:

The next morning, on Wednesday, as House and Cuddy were on their way out the door, Cuddy's cell phone rang. Fishing quickly through her purse, she found her Blackberry and looked at the unknown number that illuminated across her screen before hitting a button.

"Lisa Cuddy," she said into the receiver as she made her way past House and towards the blue convertible that she held the keys for in her other hand.

"Lisa, it's John Greene. Hope I didn't call you at a bad time."

"Not at all. It's fine," Cuddy answered him, as she shifted the phone between her shoulder and ear in order to toss the keys that she held in her hand over to House, "What can I do for you?"

"You said you would show me around the hospital before I unpack my stuff in the office?" John reminded her gently.

"Oh right," Cuddy remembered, as she shut the passenger door after climbing in, "I should be at the hospital in about fifteen minutes…want to meet in my office at about 9:45?"

"That's perfect, Lisa," said John into the phone, "See you then."

"Great John. See you in a bit," Cuddy said, before disconnecting the call and throwing the phone back in her purse that sat in between her legs at her feet.

"Wow. First day on the job and he's already calling the head honcho," House said sarcastically as he turned in his seat to look as he backed out of the driveway.

"Shut up, Greg," Cuddy told him, rolling her eyes. "I'm giving him a tour before he gets settled."

"Why doesn't he just have his boyfriend give him a tour?"

"Because," Cuddy said, somewhat heatedly, "that's not appropriate!"

"You never gave ME a tour when I started," House whined, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"That's because you never asked for one," Cuddy shot at him through gritted teeth. "And plus you've worked in hospitals before this one, so you didn't need one."

House snorted. "Yea, that's right. John has the experience of working at the hair salon, so he probably needs all the assistance he can get," he sneered.

Cuddy's eyes flashed in remote anger. "For god's sake Greg, can you just shut UP?" she exclaimed, looking around at him briefly, her eyes wild. After she was satisfied, she looked away from him once more, exhaled in frustration, and rested her head against the back of the seat, closing her eyes and resting her left hand on top of her belly as her fingers of her left hand drummed against the material of her dress.

House fell silent, focusing on driving. After a somewhat uncomfortable few moments of silence, he said quietly, "…okay, something's bothering you, what's up?"

She shrugged. "I have a headache and my back hurts," she told him, with her eyes still closed.

House exhaled, his eyes still focused on the road, knowing the woman next to him was not telling him everything that was bothering her. "That's not it," he deduced. He paused and then began again, this time in a softer tone of voice, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she mumbled, as she opened her eyes and stared out the window, not looking over in his direction..

House waited patiently for her to say something more. When she didn't, he gently prodded. "Lisa…c'mon, talk to me," he said quietly.

He waited patiently for a few seconds to pass, and then,

"…It's my sister…," Cuddy began

'Kate?" House asked in surprise. That was the last thing he had expected to come out of her mouth.

She nodded, still staring out the window. "..She's coming tonight."

Without saying anything quite yet, House first shot her a side glance before turning his attention to the road once more. "And that bothers you why?" he inquired, dubiously.

Cuddy turned her head towards him before rambling on. "Apparently she's dating some guy in my ER department…I mean I don't know him but I'm sure I've seen him at one point because I probably hired him…and I –"

"-Still didn't answer my question, " House interrupted.

Exhaling slowly, Cuddy closed her eyes again briefly before answering him, and hoping that this blatant piece of information was just going to roll off his back as everything else did.

"Kate hates you, Greg."

"Wow," House exclaimed sarcastically," yea…that's not harsh at all..."

Cuddy snorted in disgust, choosing not to add to his comment. "…I mean, she obviously knows that we're dating—"

"Did she say that?" House interjected sharply.

"No, but…" Cuddy exhaled in defeat, "but…she clearly knows because…I assume mom would have told her because she obviously knows about my pregnancy…and I just think that she would have found out that you're the father…and I just…" She broke off midsentence as she tried to verbalize what she was thinking.

Meanwhile, House had stopped at a light that had just turned red. Turning to face Cuddy, he took her hand in his own and waited until he had her full attention before beginning to speak.

"You need to stop worrying," he began sincerely, "…so what if your sister doesn't like me? I can play nice…"

"Um, no you can't," she told him.

When she still seemed unconvinced, he gently ran his thumb across the back of her hand, which he still held firmly in his own, while ignoring her last objection.

"Lisa," he began, "I don't know what I did for you to think that your sister doesn't like me, but I can assure you, you can really stop worrying."

He focused his attention on the road again as the light turned green.

"Yea okay," Cuddy began sarcastically, "Why don't I just get out my magic fairy dust, and sprinkle some on me in the hopes that we are all going to get along and be one big happy family just because you've ASSURED me that everything's going to be okay—"

"Look," House interrupted her, "If she seriously has a problem with us being together again, she's just going to have to suck it up and deal with it." Since he was looking out his window to see if it was clear to switch lanes, he failed to catch Cuddy's immediate reaction to what he had just said to her.

Turning her head sharply towards him, Cuddy's eyes narrowed as she exclaimed, "Greg, this is my SISTER you're talking about! Don't you DARE tell her to just 'suck it up'!"

House shook his head. This was apparently the wrong thing to say. "…I didn't mean that," he replied, a few seconds later as he focused on the road, not looking in her direction.

Cuddy merely snorted in disgust as she went back to staring out the window, not saying anything to him.

After an uncomfortable few minutes of silence, she exhaled slowly and turned to face him. "…Sorry, it's just…I shouldn't have lashed out at you," she murmured.

Choosing not to respond immediately, House set his jaw and continued to stare out at the road.

"You're scared shitless about not only seeing your sister but also her reaction so you're taking it out on me, whether you mean to or not," he suddenly said after a few minutes of terse silence.

Cuddy bit her lip, unsure of what he was getting at.

"…You need to face that fear," he added quietly.

As she mulled over his words, Cuddy knew that he was right, even though she did not want to admit it.

Feeling tears sting at the corner's of her eyes, she looked anywhere but at him, as she blinked to stop the tears but they came anyway, trailing slowly down her cheeks.

Saying nothing, House turned the car into the hospital's main entrance with one hand on the steering wheel while his other hand reached out and grasped Cuddy's hand, squeezing it gently; a gesture that was so simple, yet to the woman sitting next to him, it spoke volumes.

Continuing to caress the back of her hand but still without saying a word, House pulled the convertible into the parking spot that was marked 'Dean of Medicine' and turned off the car, pulling the keys out of the ignition.

Wiping her eyes still without looking at him or saying anything, Cuddy unbuckled her seatbelt and bent down to retrieve mascara from her purse for a quick touchup.

Withdrawing a tissue from the driver's side door pocket, House gently took Cuddy's chin between his thumb and forefinger, turning her face towards him. Wordlessly, he cleaned her face of both running mascara and shed tears.

After he was done, he moved his hand up to caress the smooth skin on her cheek. Very softly and tenderly, he brushed his lips against hers, causing her eyes to flutter softly closed as she enjoyed the feeling of his lips against her own.

After he pulled back, House gave her a lingering once over with his eyes. "Finish your make-up," he told her quietly.

Swallowing, she tore her eyes away from him without recognition.

House watched her as she reapplied her mascara. After sticking the mascara back in her purse, Cuddy looked at him once more.

"Thanks," she whispered.

He smiled as he opened his car door, ready to exit. "You're welcome."

sorry it was short... :( But there was meaty stuff in it. The supposed tension between Kate (Lisa's sister...yes I know her name is not Kate in the show but like I said, I wrote this long before the name was revealed and I didn't feel like changing it), and House is eventually going to play out.

The New Years Eve party is going to be a couple chapters, by the way...starting from the next chapter.