A/N:
A few points to remember:
The trial is finally over. Chase is coming back and working for House. Couple things to remember from past chapters: If you recall, during the trial, Chase indirectly insulted John/Wilson during John's questioning with him. And on another note, Brad Kowalski is not about to stop until he gets what he wants, and not without being a creep.

Enjoy. I do apologize for the wait. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Chapter 84:

Friday morning, House opened his eyes. Turning his head to his left, he saw Cuddy was still sleeping beside him. He scooted closer to her and spooned her from behind, laying a hand on her hip as his palm slowly moved down the length of her naked thigh.

"Hey, wake up sleepy head," he muttered in her ear, before nibbling on the tip of her earlobe. He saw her bottom lip curl in a smile but her eyes remained closed.

"Oh come on. You're awake." He palmed her ass with his hand and she erupted with a squeal and a laugh.

Finally opening her eyes, Cuddy turned her head upwards to look at him. "Well good morning to you too."

House propped himself up on his elbows and kissed her on the lips. "How are you feeling?" he asked softly, once they broke apart.

"Actually, a lot better," she answered him truthfully. "It's amazing what twelve hours of sleep can do. I think all the stress just got to me." Turning to face him more directly, she groaned as she shifted her body weight, placing a hand on her stomach. She propped herself up against a pillow. "What time did you get in last night?"

"A little after seven. I didn't want to wake you."

"How's your patient?" Cuddy stifled a yawn.

"Same, maybe a little better. Diabetes in a six year old kid. That's just...unusual. Something is going on with the pituitary. I just don't know what..." He rolled over on his back, staring up at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes.

"You're frustrated that you can't figure this out."

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"I'm sure you'll find something you could work with."

House glanced at her, warily. "Thanks for the enthusiasm," he muttered.

"The great Greg House stumped by a pituitary issue?" Cuddy mused, "I doubt that."
House grinned and moved closer to her as he turned on his side once more. He found the hem of her nightgown, and he slowly worked his hand underneath, running his hand along the curve of her belly and then further down. He smirked.

"No panties?"

She grinned, knowing his intentions. "I thought you'd like that." She glanced at the clock on the side table. It was 7 A.M. "Ten minutes," she warned, "then I'm jumping in the shower."

"Someone is bossy this morning," House remarked, as he moved on top of her, straddling her carefully.

"Ten minutes. I can work with that," he continued, before wiggling his eyebrows at her before disappearing underneath the sheets.

Wilson had an early breakfast meeting with some of his colleagues that morning. By the time he had picked John up from the house and then drove to the hospital, it was almost a quarter after nine.

"I need to stop by House's office for a minute," John said, as the two men stepped into the elevator.

"I'll come with you," Wilson replied.

Surprised, John said nothing.

As the two men walked out of the elevator and down the corridor to House's office, Wilson balled his fist tightly in his pants pocket as he approached the conference room, where he saw Chase sitting at the glass table with Cameron and Foreman.

His eyes flickered down to Chase's ankles, where the electronic monitor was presumably wrapped around one of them, hidden by long pants.

"Smart move, buddy. Not wearing short legged pants that ride up when you sit down," he muttered quietly to himself, "Wouldn't want anyone to see the 'accessory' around your ankle now, would we?"

As John entered the conference room, he asked House if he could have a quick word with him. House nodded, pointing at Chase.

"You, stay," he commanded. "These two," he pointed at Cameron and Foreman, "will finish filling you in on the case."

John followed House into the adjacent office, where House closed the door. Meanwhile, Wilson walked into the conference room.

"Same case from yesterday? That boy?" he began, making small talk.

Foreman raised an eyebrow at him, surprised. "Uh, yeah."

"That's good." Wilson walked directly up to Chase, staring at him with disgust.

"You're an asshole," he spat out before he brought his fist back and, propelling it forward, punched Chase straight in the jaw.

Immediately, Chase grabbed the edge of the table to steady himself, for he was about to fall over from the impact. Wilson, who had stepped back, cradled his fist against his chest in pain, but looked slightly dignified.

"What the hell just happened?!" House had limped back into the conference room with John right behind him. He took in the site of Cameron, now standing next to Chase with her hand on his arm, restraining him from lunging at Wilson, and Foreman staring at Wilson, as Chase was holding his jaw with one hand, clearly in pain.

Wilson made to lunge at Chase, but John immediately stepped in his path, stopping him.

"He's a fucking asshole. That's what happened!" Wilson exclaimed, pointing at Chase, with his uninjured hand. John had to actively restrain him.

With his hand still on his jaw, Chase stared at his attacker. "What the hell is your problem, Wilson?" He winced as he moved his jaw.

"Enough!" House shouted loudly. He stared at the two of them. "Cameron, take Chase down to the clinic to get ice on that jaw. Now."

"Wilson, John," he continued, "Come with me."

He grabbed his cane and started to limp towards the door. "Oh and Foreman, come down to the clinic. You'll be my lookout."

"House, you know she is going to hear about this," Foreman told him, referring to Cuddy.

House scowled. "Why do you think I'm in such in a bad mood right now?"

Foreman leaned against the counter of the circulation desk in the clinic outside two exam rooms, where a little while ago, Cameron and Chase had disappeared in one, and House, Wilson and John in another.

He immediately heard the familiar click of women shoes on the tile floor and turned to his right, where he saw Cuddy walking hurriedly towards him.

"Where are they?" she asked.

"Exam rooms One and Three."

Nodding, Cuddy walked past him, knocked on the first door on the left and opened it, sticking her head in the doorway. Letting her eyes dart between Chase and Cameron, who was examining Chase's jaw, Cuddy ordered the two of them to report to her office when they were finished.

Turning on her heel, she stormed across the hallway to exam room three, where House was assessing Wilson's hand before giving him an icepack. Opening the door, she narrowed her eyes.

"The three of you, my office," she spat out, angerily.

"But I didn't do anything!" House called out after she had already left the room.

"You two, sit," Cuddy directed sternly at Chase and Wilson when they had finally walked into her office. House, Cameron and Foreman followed while John brought up the rear.

"Oh and John, if you could shut the door please."

Obeying her, Wilson and Chase sat down in the two chairs in front of the desk, without looking at one another. John shut the door to the office and leaned against the wall next to Foreman.

"Now, without all of you talking at once, someone please tell me what the hell just happened!" Cuddy demanded sternly.

She glanced over at House, who was perched on the arm of the loveseat, tapping his cane on the carpet. "And not you."

No one spoke. Exhaling in frustration, Cuddy said quickly, "Fine. Chase, you first."

Upon being addressed, Chase hesitated, remembering House's earlier comment about not speaking directly to Cuddy, under any circumstances. He glanced back at House, who rolled his eyes.

"She asked you a question, Chase," he told him coldly.

Chase cleared his throat, stared at the corner of the desk, refusing to make eye contact with the woman, and began talking.

"I, uh, was in the conference room with Cameron and Foreman. They were telling me about the case when Wilson and John walk in. House goes in his office to talk to John about something...Wilson comes up to me, calls me an asshole then punches me in the face."

Assuming he was done, Cuddy exhaled in frustration. "Is that true?" she directed at Cameron and Foreman, who both nodded.

"Geez, I feel like we are back in 5th grade," she amused herself. "James, did you punch Chase?"

Wilson nodded, staring down at his knee.

"Why?"

Wilson hesitated. Opening his mouth to speak, he closed it a second later.

"Pardon the interruption, Lisa, but if I may interject here for a moment...," John Greene interrupted quickly.

Cuddy looked over at him, still amused. "Since I seem to be dealing with a mute, please do."

John cleared his throat. "Normally," he began, "I would not discuss a current case outside the courtroom. However, since every person present right now was in that courtroom yesterday, and I believe it is relevant, then I am going to proceed."

He paused, waiting for anyone to stop him. When no one did, he continued. All eyes were on him.

"As I am sure we all remember, during my direct questioning with Doctor Chase, there was some, ah...how shall I put this, words that were said that were not related to the case, in any way. I'm sure Doctor Chase can recall what I am -"

"I was told to say those things!" Chase snarled angrily, interrupting the lawyer.

"Please don't interrupt me," John told him calmly, "Just because your lawyer told you to dig into my personal life doesn't mean you had to."

"Which brings me to my initial reason to interrupt in the first place," he continued once he knew Chase was done. "Because of that verbal attack from Chase, I believe the punch that was thrown was due to the repercussions from what was said yesterday during Chase's questioning."

John now stared directly at Chase. "You indirectly insulted both of us. While I am not saying I think Wilson took the correct approach in slugging you, I can see why he did it."

"I think I've heard enough," Cuddy began, after John had finished speaking.

"The two of you," she directed at the two men sitting in front of her desk, "I don't care how you do it, but find a way to work together. I refuse to tolerate this kind of childish behavior in my hospital, just because Chase, your lawyer is an asshole."

Chase stared at her, surprised. Even House looked shocked.

"Oh please," Cuddy spat out at him, "You knew he's an asshole."

Chase silently agreed.

"Seriously, act like grown adults, you two. Whatever you need to do to get over this and work with each other, then do it. She stared at Wilson. "And no more fist fights. I will not report this if you two promise me never to pull this shit again."

At around noon that same day, House was in the conference room with his team discussing their current patient, Colin. House was supposed to meet with Stan Gisner to go over last minute details concerning the cerebral malaria case that the two doctors' were presenting in Vegas the following Wednesday, but House's six year-old patient had to be cured and his team it seemed were not close to solving the case. He pushed his meeting with the Department Head of Neurology to 2 PM that afternoon.

"You checked out his eyes last night, Foreman?" House asked, as he stared at the whiteboard in deep thought.

"Yeah, nothing."

"Maybe you missed something," House muttered. "When I observed him last night, he was awake, and not doing anything. No reading books or playing Gameboy, or doing whatever six year-old boys do these days. When he was eating, he almost missed putting his spoon back in the bowl from his mouth."

"Maybe he was tired," Foreman told him. "House, he's in a hospital because he's sick -"

"What mom gives her kid new books if he didn't already like to read? The fact that he didn't even look at them yet -"

"You think he's losing his vision? House, I told you, I checked his eyes."

"Maybe you were looking for the wrong thing."

Around the same time, Cuddy walked back to her office after finishing a meeting with the Finance department. Her assistant and head nurse Brenda, stopped her as she went to walk into her office.

"Lisa, there's a man in your office. Said he's a donor."

Cuddy looked at her assistant, mildly confused. "I didn't think I had any donor meetings scheduled for today."

"You don't. I checked...Unless we both missed it which is possible."

Amused, Cuddy looked at her. Brenda shrugged.

"I told him you were in a meeting, but he seemed rather adamant about wanting to wait until you came back, so I showed him to your office a few minutes ago."

Still extremely curious, Cuddy thanked her and pulled her office door open. She saw a man with short black hair in a suit sitting in one of the two chairs in front of her desk.

"Hi, I'm Lisa Cu -" she began in a professional manner, but stopped suddenly as the man turned towards her. Her heart started to beat faster in her chest.

This man was definitely not a donor of the hospital.

"Hello, Lisa," Brad Kowalski grinned wickedly as he addressed her.

TBC...