I appreciate everyone waiting patiently. Thanks everyone for reading. ENJOY the next chapter.

Chapter 57:

Her confession still largely on her mind, Cuddy tried hard not to let it hold her back. House knew this was hard for her and he was there for her whenever she needed to talk. When they didn't speak, they would lay in silence, wrapped in each other's arms, as both their minds wandered separately as they enjoyed each other's company.

That Thursday, Cuddy returned to work, after four days of working from home to be able to keep an eye on House while he was recovering from the injuries he sustained as the result of crashing his motorcycle.

"So, come to my office when you're done?" Cuddy said to him.

Her and House were standing outside of the glass doors that led into the physical and occupational therapy units of PPTH.

"Yup," House replied. He maneuvered his cane onto his right arm, and with his right hand (his left arm was primarily useless in the sling) grasped the door handle and pushed, letting himself into the PT/OT unit.

With a swift nod to Cuddy, he turned and walked up to the reception desk.

"Dr. House," the receptionist addressed, looking up at him from behind the desk, "I'll tell Laura you're here. Please have a seat."

Turning around, House glanced around the small waiting room. Two corner tables sat against the wall, their surface littered with magazines, among a set of soft dark blue chairs against the wall.

Besides himself, there was only one other person; House guessed he was in his mid to late 30's. On his right knee, he had on a black brace over his jeans.

The man gave House a small smile. "What happened to you?" he asked, nodding in the direction of House's left arm.

"My girlfriend beat me up," House replied dryly as he sat down, and laid his cane against his leg.

The gentleman gave a look of surprise. "Oh…" he stammered, looking rather uncomfortable.

House rolled his eyes. "I'm joking, you idiot!" He paused and then replied, "Motorcycle accident."

"Oh," the man repeated. "I fell off a ladder."

"Wow, that's boring," House mocked.

The man just stared at him. Before he had a chance to respond however, the receptionist had called out, "Dr. House, Laura will see you now. Go on down the hallway. First door on the left."

With a smirk towards the man, House picked himself up with a grunt, grabbed his cane and limped behind the receptionist's desk to the first door on the left, knocked and then without bothering to wait for a response, let himself in.

"Greg," a woman in her early 40's with curly shoulder-length brown hair spoke to towards the man who had just walked into her office.

Hired ten years ago to be part of PPTH's rehabilitation team, Laura McGuire was approached by Robert Quigley personally to assist House with his physical therapy, after the orthopedic had seen the way Laura interacted with patient's similar in their demeanor to House's.

"Have a seat," Laura gestured to him.

House sat in front of the desk, placing his cane between his legs. "Don't call me that."

If she was bothered, Laura did not show it. Instead, she opened the folder which lay in front of her on the desk.

"I am not your colleague, and while you may be a doctor in this hospital, I am your physical therapist, and with all of my patients, I cut the formalities," Laura told him. "And I will do the same with you. Is that understood?"

House didn't answer her for a moment. Finally, he exhaled. "Fine," he grumbled.

Laura smiled. "Good. Glad we got past that without too much difficulty," she told him. "Now, you had surgery on Friday, correct?"

House nodded. He decided to keep his mouth shut and not say some inappropriate, sarcastic remark.

"And what are you on?"

"Oxy," House told her. "Haven't taken Vicodin since before the surgery, for obvious reasons."

Laura noted something in the file with her pen. "Alright. I'm assuming you aren't overusing the Oxycodone like you are Vicodin?"

House shot her a look. "Couldn't if I tried. I'm on such a tight lease that the Nazi has me on rations!" he exclaimed.

Laura cocked an eyebrow, fairly amused.

House rolled his eyes. "Oh please, once Dean of Medicine, always Dean of Medicine."

"Did you ever think maybe the reason why she is keeping an eye on your medication intake is maybe because she is concerned about your past, ah,…pattern of drug use?" Laura asked him.

He shrugged, saying nothing.

"Just something to think about," she told him, before glancing down at the folder once more. "Okay, I know you want to hurry up and get that shoulder to be good as new, so I want to be quick on your recovery, but I don't want to rush it," Laura said, "You need to be fully engaged in your therapy for this to work, is that understood?"

House nodded.

"Good," Laura told him, "I want to first, not today start you with some stretching and massaging exercises to start to improve flexibility and stability to get you to where you were before. Now, the range of motion isn't going to come in a day, but you should know that. I want to start you coming in three days a week, but do your exercises on your own two to three times a day. Start off slow in the beginning. My goal for you is in a month to not wear the sling all the time, and to have you be able to do basic movements. Your shoulder will definitely be sore but I think you'll be able to handle it." She paused. "Any questions?"

House shook his head. "Nope."

"Okay," Laura began again, "So, in the next two to three weeks, my goal for you is to begin motion exercises, and then move into strengthening. I still want you to ice it to reduce the swelling." She paused and noticed her patient tapping his cane on the ground, looking thoroughly bored.

"Are you even listening to me or are you just letting me ramble things that you already know?"

Rolling his eyes, House looked at her. "Exercises every day. Get motion back then start strengthening," he rattled off. "I've perfected the art of looking like I'm not paying attention, but I actually care. I do it with my team all the time. It works. You should try it."

"No thanks," Laura told him, dryly, "So now that I'm almost done rattling off clearly useless information to you, do you really have any questions?"

"When can I stop wearing this godforsaken thing all day?" House asked her, looking down at his sling.

"I'd say it's all based on your therapy progress, but let's try for three weeks from now."

The physical therapist and House continued for another ten minutes, and after scheduling his first appointment for the following morning, House made his way downstairs to Cuddy's office.

He waited until the Dean of Medicine was off the phone before barging rather loudly into her office.

"Well, hello to you too," she told him, dryly.

"Hey, I at least waited until you were off the phone," he retorted.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and finished reading the memo to her employees that sat in front of her on her desk.

"How'd it go?" she asked, while fixing a mistake that she had just found with her pen.

"Fine," he said, gruffly.

Cuddy looked up to say something, but stopped as she looked past him outside her double doors to see her sister standing there, talking to Brenda Lewis, her assistant.

House turned around to see what she was looking at, but Katherine had just opened the office door.

"Kate! What are you doing here?"

"What, I have to have a reason to visit my own sister at work?" Kate said, dryly.

Lisa smiled. "No."

"Greg," Kate said, nodding at him, "Good to see you."

"Kate," he responded, curtly.

Turning back to her sister, Kate said, "Can I talk to you for a few minutes, Lisa?"

Lisa Cuddy placed her pen on her desk and told House to leave for a few minutes.

After House had left her office, Lisa Cuddy sat across from her sister on an armchair. "What's up?"

Kate didn't speak for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lisa Cuddy looked at her sister with a bemused expression. "That depends. What are we talking about?"

"I could have been there for you," Kate continued in a hurt voice. "Why didn't you let me?"

Lisa still had no idea what her sister was talking about.

And then it dawned on her.

"Greg told you." It was statement rather than a question.

"Yes," Kate replied, quietly.

Closing her eyes briefly, Lisa Cuddy exhaled quietly and settled back in the armchair. Opening her eyes, she fixated her gaze on the corner of the small rectangular coffee table. "I don't know." Her voice was devoid of all emotion, hollow and monotone. "I just…I don't know….I already burdened you with what happened at Michigan. I figured you didn't – didn't need to know…."

Pausing, she glanced at her sister. "I didn't even know where you were in November, if you were still in Connecticut or wherever –"

"I was at that time. I had just gotten a job at Princeton General as one of their EMT's," Kate interrupted, "That's how I met Matt… I just picked up an orderly shift there as well. I moved here fully probably in the second week of December… Lisa, I should have called you. I'm sorry. I was busy but that's no excuse. And are you crazy? Of course, you wouldn't be burdening me with something like this. Lisa, I'm your sister and you know I'll continue to be there for you."

Kate moved over so she was on the couch adjacent to rather than opposite her sister. Grabbing her hand, Kate whispered, "I'm so sorry for what you and Greg went through. I should have been there, but I'm here now if you need me…" She paused. "Lisa, the one huge difference between back at Michigan and now is that he stayed this time. Okay? Greg stayed! He didn't leave you."

Lisa looked into her sister's pain filled face. "Thanks, Kate," she whispered, as her voice caught.

"Kate," she began again after two beats of silence, "Greg didn't know that I was pregnant in college."

Kate was shocked. "But – I thought that was why he left," she exclaimed, "I thought you told him and then he left because —"

"He had no idea," Lisa confirmed. "He left because he had gotten kicked out. I didn't call him and tell him I was pregnant. He didn't leave because of me."

Shifting in her seat on the couch, Kate swallowed. She opened her mouth but no words came out.

"I should have told him about the abortion when it happened and not waited until now," Lisa continued. "I should have called him."

Kate squeezed her sister's hand in a comforting manner. "Lisa, you didn't tell him because you thought that was the right thing to do at the time, and you can't beat yourself up over that. We all have things that we don't tell people right away, even though we should have. You are no different than anyone else... So, you told him…"

Lisa didn't say anything at first. "Yeah, yesterday…He was devastated. And I'm sorry that I kept something like this from him. I shouldn't have."

"Lisa, you could beat yourself up as much as you like but let me tell you, you did the right thing by telling him about what happened…I had no idea he didn't know, Lisa. The fact that I yelled at him at the New Year's party was wrong of me. He probably had no idea where it was coming from."

"I figured as much."

Kate continued, switching gears, as she was sensing her sister didn't really want to talk about the past.

"Greg told me he thinks you've been repressing since the accident," she said, with caution, not knowing whether or not she was overstepping her boundaries.

Exhaling, Lisa nodded. "He's right," she whispered.

"But, he also told me that you're starting to… open yourself," Kate reassured her.

Lisa nodded, wiping her eyes. "Yeah…"

"That's good, Lise," Kate replied, regressing back to using the name she used with her sister growing up. "I know this is hard for you, but the fact that you are allowing yourself to really feel is the next step for healing."

"And I told Greg and I'll tell you the same thing. If you ever need anything, I will be there. I promise," Kate finished out.

"Thanks," Lisa told her sister sincerely. "I'm surprised you and him had a decent conversation on Monday without killing each other though."

Kate smiled at her sister's unexpected turn of events. "Yea, well in the past, I thought he was a jackass - "

"You still do think he's a jackass, Kate," Lisa interrupted her sister.

"Lisa, he wouldn't still be with you if he was… I could see he loves you and especially after what the two of you went through, I thought he would run off, but he stayed." Kate fidgeted on the couch. "Lisa, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get past the House I was told about when you were in college…I feel like an asshole for thinking that he knew everything."

Lisa stayed silent, knowing that her sister had to get this out.

"Lisa," Kate whispered, "I love you and I just want what's best for you. I see how happy you two are. Maybe I'm the one who needs to step back and see the Greg House that you see now, not the one from twenty years ago. And I think you did do the right thing by finally telling him about what happened back then…"

Lisa smiled through her tears as she just witnessed her sister's confession. "Thank you," was all she could manage.

"You're welcome," Kate said, quietly, knowing the immense weight behind those two words of gratitude that her sister had just expressed. Switching gears again, she said sincerely, "And Lisa, if there is a trial, I swear I will be there for you."

"Thanks, Kate," Lisa told her, as her words caught in her throat.

Kate leaned forward. "C'mere," she whispered, embracing her older sister in a hug; the kind you just need...every once in a while. "I hate seeing you like this." She pulled back and stared into her older sister's eyes. Greg's hurting just as much as you are, isn't he?" she whispered, quietly.

Lisa swallowed. "Yes, I think he is," she admitted softly. "Although I'm not too sure he'll admit that. Thanks for accepting him. That really means a lot to me, Kate."

The younger of the Cuddy sisters shrugged. "Like I said, I could see how happy he makes you…Lisa, I just want you to be careful," she cautioned.

"Thanks for the concern, Kate," Lisa told her.

When her sister had finally left the office, Lisa Cuddy sat down behind her desk, engrossed in her thoughts. She knew her sister meant well; she knew Kate was trying to change and accept House. In some ways, she was glad that her and Kate finally had this conversation.

However, there was one part of what her sister had said that stood out and forced Cuddy to make a decision that she didn't really want to do, but she knew she had to, in order to overcome more of her own difficulties and lurking demons.

After about ten minutes, Cuddy picked herself up and rode the elevator to the second floor. Walking down the hallway, she exhaled slowly before knocking on a closed office door which was situated near the end of the hallway.

"Come in," a male voice called from behind the door.

Cuddy pushed the door slowly open.

John Greene was sitting at his desk, glancing at his phone which was connected to his laptop that sat on top of his desk. Looking up, he was surprised to see the Dean of Medicine standing in his presence.

"Lisa, hi. What can I help you with?" he began in a professional manner, a bit surprised, not knowing if this visit was personal or work-related.

Cuddy closed the office door before slowly turning and facing the lawyer with a somber expression. She took a deep breath.

"I want to file a lawsuit against Robert Chase."

Uh-oh

TBC...

AND the plot thickens….