A/N: Sorry for the long month wait. This chapter was not easy for me to write, as I wanted to get into Cuddy's head and portray her emotions accurately. I may not be able to update as much as I would like, so I do appreciate you patience.

By the way, at the end of this chapter, I give you permission to hate Savoy even more than you did before because frankly...he's earned the 'Asshole of the Year' award in my book.

Chapter 81:

As Lisa Cuddy took her place at the witness stand after being called upon by the defense, she glanced in House's direction and gave him a tiny reassuring smile.

The morning had not been easy for either of them and Cuddy surprised herself at how well she was handling hearing others' discuss the events surrounding her accident – but could she still feel that same confidence and have the strength to talk about it herself?

Taking a breath, she slowly exhaled as she fixed her gaze on Chase's lawyer, who had just stood and stepped out from behind the defense table.

A few yards behind him to the left, House was trying not to let his own nervousness and impending concern overwhelm him as he watched his 27-week pregnant girlfriend – also his boss and someone whom he called his oldest lover and friend – on the witness stand, as she waited to be questioned about one of the toughest nights of her entire life.

His eyes traveled down to the curve of her stomach, his gaze lingering for a moment, as the unspoken concern for both her and their son's wellbeing tormented him to no end.

John Greene leaned over and whispered in his ear, "She'll do fine. Don't worry."

House opened his mouth to say something in response, but no sound came out. He just nodded warily.

Trying to cast his thoughts aside, he began to listen to Savoy's questioning.

"Doctor Cuddy, I understand that you and your department head Doctor House over there – who is also your employee I might add - have been in a sexual -"

"Objection," John Greene, Cuddy's lawyer, interrupted as he stood up quickly. Turning to the other lawyer, he replied mockingly, "You're really going to ask that question? This is not a fishing expedition."

Savoy smirked. "I never said it was one," he replied lightly with an air of smug confidence. "And I wouldn't call 'one' question a 'fishing expedition', Johnny boy. So don't get all your -"

"You know what I mean," John snarled.

Savoy glanced warily up towards the judge, who had just picked up his gavel. "Save the muscle movement with the gavel, your Honor. I'll rephrase."

If Judge Fleming was annoyed by being spoken to that way, he didn't show it, but John could see a muscle twitching in the man's jaw as the judge glared at the other lawyer disapprovingly.

Savoy meanwhile, turned back to Cuddy, with a jubilant smirk on his face. "Since your lawyer over there thinks that I'm going 'fishing', I'll rephrase," he began sarcastically. "When did you and Doctor House start…'dating'?"

Resisting the urge to throw a sarcastic remark at him, Cuddy decided to stick with the facts. She replied, "Last year, in May."

"And none of your staff knew this?"

"They had no reason to, so at the time, no they did not."

"Was your intention to keep the relationship quiet until someone found out or…" Savoy allowed his voice to trail off for effect.

John had enough. He stood up, outraged. "What the hell does this have to do with this case?! Objection." he snapped, starting to lose what little patience he had remaining.

Savoy looked at him and grinned. "I am building my facts, Counselor. If I recall, isn't that what you did as well?"

John looked absolutely livid. "Oh come on!" he replied, irritably. "You are not 'building facts' any more than you are just grilling my client about her unrelated personal life and you are using this case to do it!" He looked up at the judge, who had an amused look on his face.

"You're seriously not going to let him continue with this line of bullshit questioning!?" he continued.

Judge Fleming looked calmly at John, who was patiently awaiting an answer. "No, I'm not," he replied, to the lawyer's enormous relief. "You," he turned to Savoy, and said, "Final warning. Stick with this case. Understood?"

"I am sticking with the case, your Honor. I'm simply collecting background information that pertains to my line of future questioning -"

This time, it wasn't John who interrupted him, but House.

"The background's clearly already been collected," he snarled from his seat beside John. "Now it's more like goddamn prodding with anything you can get your goddamn hands on!"

John shot him a warning look but didn't scold him. Savoy also turned, but before he could even give an angry reply, he was interrupted by the banging sound of the judge's gavel.

"Gentlemen, seriously, for the last time, please. Stop! Bloodbath number three is going to start pretty soon. Mr. Savoy, you are treading on very thin ice right now. Mr. Greene, control your client's witness please."

Once he knew the judge was finished, Savoy began again with his questioning, turning once more to Cuddy.

"My apologies, Doctor. Won't happen again. Now," he prodded once more, "people started to talk when that article Mr. Greene over here mentioned came out. What was your reaction when you read it?"

Cuddy raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. "What was my reaction to…what, the fact that my entire staff and all of my employees were now aware that I was sleeping with my department head or the fact that it was your client – who works directly underneath the department head I'm sleeping with - who plowed full speed into my Mercedes that night?" She kept her tone light and conversational.

Meanwhile, as House exchanged a confused look at John, further towards the back of the room, Stacy Warner was grinning as she sat in her seat in the gallery.

His eyes on Savoy's scowl, John leaned over to House and whispered quietly, "I think this is her way of having him get a taste of his own medicine."

House grinned and set his focus back on what was happening in the front of the courtroom.

Cuddy was answering Savoy's question that he had just clarified. "…I don't know, I was devastated, emotional…I was upset. Shocked to read his name as the person in the other car…pissed off and angry that my personal life was splashed on the front page of the local paper -"

"In that moment, were you angry at my client?"

Cuddy hesitated, glancing over at John for assistance, who stood up at once and came to his client's aide.

"My client will not answer that question."

However, his client changed her mind about her hesitation, her voice quiet. "No. I was not angry at him in that moment because, as I'm sure you'll recall Mr. Savoy, at the time, I had other things on my mind...

"Would you say that my client made a mistake?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'mistake', Cuddy replied bitterly, her voice getting stronger as she did the best she could to cover the quiver in her voice, but House could hear the strain. "If you mean just a 'one time' event, then yes. But, mistakes aren't always that simple."

Savoy kept going, intending to make Cuddy crack. "Hypothetically," he started out, his tone light, "let's say that my client was not in his car and it was someone else – Hell, let's say that you and Dr. House weren't even dating, and you were just…coming back from dinner, and my client rams into you….would things have turned out differently?"

Cuddy shot him a look of pure disgust. "Obviously," she sneered.

"Would we still be here now in this courtroom?"

"I can't answer that because that wasn't what happened. A million things could have turned out differently…my guess would be no. But like I said, I have no idea what could have happened."

"So, solely because of my client's relationship with the person you are dating – that's why we are here -"

"I never said that," Cuddy interrupted, seething. "Nor was it implied," she spat out.

Savoy hesitated before continuing to ask his next question, knowing full well he was really testing his luck.

"Would you have pressed charges if you hadn't miscarried?"

"Objection!" John shouted. He stood up, furious. "How dare you speak to my client that way?!"

"Sustained," Judge Fleming replied. "Watch it," he warned Savoy. "That was way out of line."

"Fine," Savoy acknowledged, scoffing. He changed his tune but not before taking the opportunity to give his opposing counsel a dirty look before turning back to face Cuddy.

"Do you hold Dr. Chase responsible for having full knowledge of what he did to you – that he was fully aware of what he was doing when he operated his vehicle under the influence?"

"Yeah, I do," replied Cuddy calmly, although there was a hint of bitterness in her voice. "He didn't black out, so there has to be some part of him that knew what he was doing."

She stopped talking and took a breath as she began to feel her nerves and anxiety slowly consume her once again. When she had gotten her breathing under control, she continued. "While he did make a 'mistake' and what he did wasn't intentional, that mistake is not an excuse – he changed my life…he- he changed Greg's life – and Chase needs to know that."

"With all due respect, Doctor Cuddy," Savoy prodded, "My client had a good reason to be intoxicated. His emotional state was -"

"A good reason?!" Cuddy interrupted, harshly. "A good reason?!" she repeated, staring at the lawyer in front of her with a look of complete revulsion.

"He's a doctor. He sees death pretty damn often," she continued, angrily. "So don't you dare tell me this whole 'incident' was because your client's emotional state was fragile or – or due to a 'personal' issue of his friend committing suicide or whatever the hell else you – you want to call the reasons behind him having a Blood Alcohol level that was way above the legal limit and then driving…because that, with all due respect Counselor, is pure bullshit."

Furious, she shifted her focus to Savoy's right-hand side. Narrowing her eyes, she now stared directly at Chase. "You're a good doctor. You're smart, capable…That's the person I saw before."

She paused, waiting until she knew she had his full attention before proceeding. Her eyes never left his. She had to look him in the eye for this. As far as she was concerned, the only two people in the courtroom right now were her and the man she had locked eyes with. No one else mattered. The courtroom was still.

"But now!?" she continued, bitterly, her voice low. "Now, I've lost all respect for you. How you can even – even have the nerve to look me in the eye and apologize for what you did?! By doing that –and me absolving you – you think that will change everything?! Like it was a onetime thing and then that's it?!"

Chase sat there, completely stone-faced as he listened to the woman's confession. He was stupid not to expect this from her.

"And your lawyer is standing here trying to tell everyone – trying to convince them- that it is not your fault because you didn't know what you were doing because of the alcohol?! That's bullshit, Chase and you know it. And your lawyer knows it too."

Cuddy paused, forcing herself to take a deep breath and exhale. She realized that she was shaking. It was then that she realized there were tears on her face and she angrily wiped them away with the back of her hand, not caring how long they were there.

"So yeah," she began again her voice low as she turned to Steven Savoy after she had gotten herself under control again. "I do hold Chase responsible. He knew what he was doing. I hold him responsible for the accident, for everything. He's the reason – the reason why I'm here today, -"

Her voice broke once more as she failed to keep it steady. As she fought hard to keep a handle on her intervening emotions, she took a deep wavering breath.

'Keep going,' she told herself. 'I know this hurts, but keep going. You can do it. Stay strong, Lisa.'

"…and his actions are the reason," she finally continued, finding House's face through the blur of her tears, "that Greg's son – our son – will not have a brother or a sister."

John had requested a recess.

Judge Fleming agreed, knowing the state of turmoil that his client was in while being questioned.

"Ten minutes," he warned."Then we go right back into this."

"Thank you," John told him, sincerely.

The next two minutes were a blur for Cuddy. She never let go of House's hand as they were being led through the gallery of people by John and back through the same doors that led them into the courtroom earlier that morning.

Cuddy focused on the sturdy grip of House's hand as he led her into a quiet room near where they had just exited. John waited outside to give them privacy.

Once inside the room, House let go of Cuddy's hand, and locked the door. Leaning his cane against the handle, he turned around and silently beckoned towards her.

"C'mere," he whispered.

Immediately, she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him, tightly clinging to him as close as her pregnant body would allow, and buried her head against his chest as her body began to shake uncontrollably with sobs.

House embraced her, holding her body against him. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.

Cuddy's head remained buried against his chest as she continued to weep, the memories still fresh in her mind as she clung in a death grip to the one person who had been there with her through it all.

To be continued.

A ruling comes next...but not without a twist.