A/N: Sorry for the long awaited update. I've been extremely busy with life and other things. I finally had time to sit down and finish this chapter among the chaos that has been going on.

That being said, we are now at Tuesday, and the trial is on Thursday. Brad (you know, the guy who obviously still has feelings for Cuddy and who House punched) WILL come back (but not until after the trial). I have some plans as to where his character will go (oh it's good. trust me...). Also, for those of you who are wondering: Cuddy is in her 27th week of the pregnancy.

Just so you guys know, I DO take all your comments to heart and some of them have influenced this story to go in one direction or another.

And as always, THANK YOU to everyone who has stuck with this story. I've decided NOT to split this fic up into two-parts, and to just keep chugging along.

ENJOY!

Chapter 76:

On Tuesday late in the morning, Cuddy sat in one of the hospital's many board rooms on the third floor of the hospital, as she conducted a routine meeting with her staff of department heads. The meeting had started about forty-five minutes ago, and they were covering a lot of ground.

"… Moving on, the Princeton University research hospital's merger with PPTH that is still underway and all the final discussions will take place in about two weeks," Lisa Cuddy told her department heads who were seated in chairs, flanked around the conference table.

"Now," she continued, "that means all of you – I expect for you to go to your equivalent at the University hospital. Talk to them. See how you can work together -"

"So, by brown nosing," Dr. Gregory Waterson, the E.R. Department Chief interrupted from the other end of the table, smirking.

Cuddy chuckled. "Not quite, Greg. This whole initiative is for you to make connections and expand PPTH. We bring patients there. They bring patients to us. It's a win-win. For both parties. But only if you make it one. The research aspect is going to be a very good benefit to us."

Just then, House entered, carrying two paper cups with lids in a brown paper carrier.

"Well, well, look who decided to finally show up," Cuddy replied, "And you're late."

"Is that any way to react to someone who just bought you tea?" House replied, limping up to where she was sitting. "If I were on time, you would have no tea, and me, no coffee. So, win-win."

Rolling her eyes, Cuddy took the paper cup from him. "Thanks. Now, go sit down."

House mumbled something under his breath as he walked away that Cuddy chose not to hear, but Wilson and Parker, who he had limped past to sit down, did, and they both smirked.

"I'm going to ignore whatever you two just heard," Cuddy remarked as she glared at House, who had taken a seat at the other end of the table next to Wilson and across from Dr. Waterson, head of the E.R.

"Now, this merger – Princeton's CEO and I are currently flushing out the details, so we'll have a meeting in a week and a half or two weeks, depending on how much gets covered by then. I'll send each of you a copy beforehand so come with questions. Then I'll sign this and then it's done. I'll just have to go over there and hold a final meeting, and then it'll be official."

"Moving on, there is a conference next week in Las Vegas on brain disorders and infectious diseases at Mandalay Bay Hotel's convention center. It's funded by the Infectious Disease Society of America in partnership with the National Neuroscience Institute. I was asked today if PPTH would present a case study, and they specifically asked for the cerebral malaria case of Fletcher Stone a while back -"

"Crap," House muttered.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Cuddy smirked at him. "Yes, that was your case, so you better dig everything up and start prepping. You don't have a lot of time. I already told them you would do it."

House raised his eyebrows and grinned at her. "Vegas, eh?"

Universal smirks were starting to show around the room.

"You really think letting him run wild in Vegas while you're here is such a good idea?" Joseph Parker, head of Obstetrics and who was also Cuddy's doctor, chimed in.

"If you sleep with a hooker, I will kill you," Cuddy warned House.

"Oh relax, preggo. I'm not going to have sex with a hooker. That's what I have you for…"

Ignoring him, Cuddy turned to address PPTH's Chief of Neurology, as her face started to turn a light shade of crimson. "Stan, since this case is also specific to the neurological system, I'd like you to present this as well."

The thin, tall brown haired neurologist grinned at her. "Are you just asking me to go to Vegas to keep House in line and not let him sleep with hookers, or because you really want me to present with him….," Stanley Gisner asked, his voice trailing off for effect.

"Both," Cuddy replied. "Since you need to be brought up to speed in a relatively short amount of time, I expect you two to work together efficiently. You know the neurological component and Greg, you the infectious disease aspect."

"When is it?" House asked.

"You leave Monday night. I booked two first class tickets United from Newark to the McCarran airport in Las Vegas. You present Wednesday morning. Conference ends Thursday. That night there is a closing cocktail party which I expect both of you to attend."

"And you'll be able to pull this together by then. You have a week," she continued. "Just use what you know. And you," she looked at House. "Don't be an ass to Stan. Work together."

"Why do you always think that I'll be an ass to everybody?" House whined.

"Uh, because you usually are."

"Did you really get the call today?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Well, House," Stan Gisner told him from the other end of the glass table. "Looks like we'll be spending quality time together shortly."

"Lucky us," Hose replied, sarcastically.

Wilson glanced across the table at the neurologist and grinned. "Lucky you Stan. Four days with House. That's gotta be a - Oww," he cried, as House stepped on his foot.

"Okay, guys, let's stop acting like five year olds and bring it back," Cuddy interrupted. "Greg, stop. You're going with Stan. End of story. Make this work."

"Oh relax. Even if we do a shitty job, it'll still bring good press to the hospital. Plus donor money, so don't get your pants in a jiffy," House told her.

Cuddy raised his eyebrows. "You better watch it there, mister."

"Or what? No sex for a week? And it doesn't count when I'm gone."

Universal grins were once again starting to form around the table.

"At the rate you're going right now? No sex for about a month," she replied, grinning wickedly.

Shaking her head, she gladly tried to end where the conversation was headed. "Alright. Let's get back to this meeting…" she continued.

Later that day, House was in his conference room with Cameron and Foreman. The three of them were digging through file boxes looking for the Fletcher Stone case file, the one that House was supposed to present on the following Wednesday, in eight days, in Vegas.

"Cuddy's really letting you go to Vegas?" Foreman asked, as he rummaged through a file box.

"That's what she said," House replied as he lifted the top off another box.

"You going to behave?"

"What are you, my fucking mother?" House mocked.

Foreman held his hands up in mock defeat. "I'm just sayin'. The mother of your child letting you run around in a strip club…" He pushed the box away and grabbed another one, lifting the lid.

"Aha! Found it." He lifted the thick manila folder out of the cardboard box. "Yup. Fletcher Stone."

"Good. Now go make three copies. And who says I'm going to go to a strip club?"

"Of the whole file?" Foreman asked, ignoring his boss's later question.

"Yes, of the whole file."

"You're doing this with Stanley Gisner, right?" the neurologist asked, as he stood up with the file in hand.

"Yeah…"

"He's good. I've worked with him a few times."

"That's fabulous. Now go make those damn copies."

"House," Cameron said slowly, "We, uh, may need Chase's help…"

Foreman, who was just about to walk out the door, stopped, extremely curious to hear House's reply.

House stared at her. "And you are telling me this because?" he spat out, coldly.

"I…I-I just thought…" Cameron stammered, faltering under her boss's penetrating glare.

"I don't really give a rat's ass if you need him or not. If you need him, you know where to find him." He turned toward Foreman, who was trying to act as though he didn't hear the conversation. "And make sure you give a file to Gisner."

He stood up quickly and limped into his adjacent office, slamming the door forcefully shut behind him.

"You seem distracted," the physical therapist began, writing on a chart, as she watched her patient finish his second set of shoulder blade squeezes.

A short while later after finding the case file with his team, House was in the midst of his regular therapy appointment at the hospital, being overseen by his therapist, Laura McGuire. Laura had no other patients at the moment, so she could focus all her attention on the diagnostician.

When she received no answer, Laura began again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"If I wanted to talk about it, I would be telling a shrink if I had one, and not you," House replied, gruffly, as he sat on the edge of the table, performing his exercises.

They lapsed into silence as Laura watched him finish another set of shoulder exercises, making a note in his file.

"How's the leg?" she asked cautiously.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Better than yesterday?" Laura asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, okay. It's a little better, but it still hurts a lot. I used heat this morning."

"Good," she told him. "I could get you into the whirlpool in a bit if you want. It'll probably help a lot with the soreness and pain."

House shrugged. "Okay."

"Well, that was easy."

House shrugged again. "It's been kind of a rough week so far…"

"You want to get better," Laura stated cautiously.

"I do," he replied quietly.

"And I was talking about your leg," Laura reminded.

"I know. I'm pissed about the minor setback from what happened last Friday."

"I know," Laura told him. "But so far, resting it and the heating pad has helped you overcome that."

She leaned in towards his ear.

"I know you hate hearing this, but I'm proud of the progress you are making."

Ten minutes later, House lay in the whirlpool wearing a pair of black swimming trunks, his lower body submerged underneath the water as the jets and warm water soothed his aching thigh.

Closing his eyes, House leaned his head back against the pearl-colored cushioned suctioned headrest and let out a slow breath. His leg was slowly started to feel better with the whirlpool. And he was glad.

His thoughts drifted towards what was going to happen in two days at the trial. He knew Cuddy was strong enough emotionally to handle talking about what happened, but was it going to be too much for her to handle at one time? Yes, she was definitely a strong woman and that's what he loved about her, but what if she wasn't strong enough for this?

And Chase. House knew he needed help with the Fletcher Stone case he was going to be presenting the following week. He was glad that Cameron brought up Chase instead of him.

He wondered how prepped Chase would be for Thursday's trial: if his lawyer was going to fight tooth and nail for him as if he thought he even had a chance.

He also wondered if John had enough information to succeed. To have the judge on their side. They had more than enough reasons to succeed in this case and he knew John was doing everything in his power to try and make it successful, but part of him wondered what 'card' Chase's lawyer could play that John had not anticipated.

As he ruminated a little while longer, House heard the door to the whirlpool room open. Opening his eyes, he saw Laura, his therapist, standing there with a towel.

"How's the leg now?" she asked, as she handed him the towel as he stood up.

"Actually, a lot better," House replied truthfully as he carefully stepped out of the tub and onto the rug, drying himself off.

"Good. Feel like a light massage or are you good?"

"I think I'm good," he replied, as he reached for his clothes that sat on the ledge.

"You sure? I don't mind..."

"Yeah, I'm good."

Letting her patient get dressed, Laura McGuire went outside to wait for him. As she walked out back into the physical therapy suite, Laura smiled to herself as she recalled the extraordinary progress House was making in just the past few short weeks they had been working together.

Many of her colleagues thought she was nuts for taking House on as a patient, but she knew they just didn't understand House the way she had come to understand him. As she thought back, she was glad to be asked to assist House with his therapy process, and she was doing everything in her power to make him as comfortable as possible with his pain level, both with his leg pain and the continuing rehabilitation for his shoulder.

Later that night, John Greene and James Wilson were eating dinner at Alchemist & Barrister pub in Princeton after leaving work.

"I think it's a great idea that you want House and Lisa to be supported by the staff on Thursday," the lawyer told his partner, after swallowing a mouthful of his hamburger. "Truthfully, I think that's what they need."

"Okay," Wilson replied. As he set his Cabernet down on the table after taking a sip, he said, "I'll send out an email tomorrow."

He paused and looked across the restaurant table at his partner, making sure he had the man's full attention. "Are you ready for Thursday morning?"

"I'd like to think so, yes."

"You'll do fine. Don't worry."

"I can always count on you for enthusiasm, James."

Wilson grinned. "What I'm here for," he replied cheekily.

"Is that all you're here for?" John asked, smirking.

"Well now that you mention it…"

John grinned as he took a sip of his beer. "Are we starting to drift into inappropriate territory now?" he asked, after swallowing. "Because, you know, there are people around…"

"Hey, you brought it up!"

Fixing his partner with a serious expression after placing his beer down, John hesitated, clearing his throat. "If I, uh, wanted to ask you what you thought of someone in particular, you would tell me, right?" he began, somewhat cautiously.

"Unofficially," he added hastily.

Wilson eyed him warily as he took a bite of his grilled chicken club sandwich, swallowing before answering. "That depends. What are you getting at?" He wiped his lips with his napkin.

"What do you think of Chase?"

Wilson cocked an eyebrow, intrigued as he set his napkin back down. "I've never really worked with him," he replied. "Why?"

"Just wondering."

"The times I have worked with him, he was taking orders from House. If you want any dirt, I can't really help you…"

"I didn't ask you for dirt. I asked you what you thought of him."

"You ask Cameron?"

"I did. Monday afternoon."

"She tell you what you needed to know?"

"She did. A lot, actually."

"I'm not surprised. You know they used to date, right?"

"I am aware, yes," John replied, before taking a sip of his beer.

"I can't tell you a lot, but what I can tell you is that when I worked with Chase, although it is minimal, he's a hard worker. Passionate about medicine…I know this doesn't really help you but I'm telling you what I think."

"That's fine. Please, continue."

"When you dropped me off at the accident site last November and I drove House's bike to the hospital, honestly, I had no idea how House kept it together, but…somehow, he just…did."

"I remember that, yes. When you had called me and told me about the outcome and then we rescheduled dinner again, my immediate thought was that the asshole who did this to Lisa – he shouldn't get away with this."

"Well, that's why you are her lawyer. To have Chase get what he deserves." The oncologist paused, hesitating before continuing.

"What Chase did was extremely uncalled for," Wilson continued. "I hate to say this, but Lisa was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. If there was another car in front of her, this probably would have turned out drastically differently, but…there wasn't, unfortunately… it still places Chase at fault. It's just – he's never done anything like this before, as far as I know…but, he should have known better…"

"And so," he continued, his voice becoming bitter, "I want you to win this case. You need to. Chase's careless, reckless actions hurt two of my best friends, physically and emotionally, and he shouldn't get away with this. At all. I'm still beyond pissed about what he did…"

Staying silent, John reached over and caressed the other man's hand that was sitting on the tabletop.

"I know," he finally whispered. "This affected you as well. Because you are close to House. I know. And I will win this case. For you, for me, for House and Cuddy. I consider the two of them good friends even though I've only known them a short while, so I'm even more willing to try harder to win this…I don't know Chase very well, but I do know that he fucked up big time. And you're quite right: he shouldn't get away with the shit he did."

Admiring the man in front of him greatly, Wilson placed his palm on the lawyer's cheek, caressing the smooth skin delicately, not caring if other patrons in the restaurant were uncomfortable at the affection he was giving his gay partner.

"John, what I love about you is you are committed. To everything that you do," he whispered softly, as he stared lovingly into his partner's eyes, giving him a lingering once-over before continuing.

"And that is why you are so good at what you do. You care about your clients. You are committed to their success. Stacy told me you are a great lawyer and now I can see why she said that…what sets you apart from other lawyers is you actually give a shit about who you are defending. You care about your clients and what happens to them…and that is what I love about you."

John swallowed hard as he gazed into Wilson's eyes. "Thank you," he finally whispered. "That means a lot to me."

"And I will be there with you on Thursday."

John smiled warmly at the man whom he called his 'lover.' As Wilson dropped his hand away, John grabbed it and held onto to it on the table.

"I know," he whispered, as he caressed Wilson's hand with his thumb. "…I love you, James. Thank you."

"I love you too."

The next few chapters are going to focus on the trial. That's the plan, anyway...Next chapter, I'm bringing back a surprise character. (and there may be some much awaited Huddy sex...yum)

In case you forgot, the Fletcher Stone patient was from way back in Season Two.

As always, I hope to update within the next two weeks or so, but it may be longer, so be patient and stay tuned. And as always, THANK YOU!