A/N: Sorry for the wait, been a busy month.

We are finally in Vegas. Let's see how our favorite couple are doing.

Chapter 90:

After checking in at Mandalay Bay Hotel, Stan and House went up to their rooms - Cuddy had booked them adjacent rooms, both Deluxe in Mandalay Bay Tower, where both rooms overlooked the famous "Vegas strip". They agreed to meet downstairs at Orchid Lounge in the main area of the hotel, for drinks after freshening up and unpacking from the three-hour flight.

House's leg was starting to bother him from sitting in one position for nearly four hours, but he figured he'd lay with heat when he came back upstairs to his room before retiring to bed. He unpacked his suitcase, hung his shirts up in the closet and laid his toiletries out on the bathroom counter.

At a quarter to nine, he headed downstairs to the Orchid to meet Stan for a drink. He texted Cuddy to let her know they had arrived - he knew she would worry if he didn't - and that he would call her later on, depending how late it was.

"So, I think we're all set for Wednesday after, what do you think?" Stan said to House, as the two men were seated at the bar.

"Yeah, I really hate doing these conferences," House replied, as he and Stan ordered drinks from the bartender - House, whiskey on the rocks, Stan, a gin and tonic with a lime - House rolled his eyes at Stan ordering 'fruit' in his drink.

"Don't we all?" the neurologist joked, "Part of the job though."

"We'll do alright though," he added "It's you people want to see, not me."

They sat in silence for a minute, watching as the bartender poured their drinks.

"You know," Stan continued, as if there was not a halt in the conversation, "People say you are a difficult man to work with. I don't think so."

"Gee, thanks," House replied, sarcastically. He thanked the bartender who had just set his drink in front of him.

"I'm serious," Stan replied, "You've mellowed out!"

"Thanks," he added to the bartender.

"And that makes you like the third person to tell me that," House replied, taking a sip of his whiskey and leaning back against the bar stools back.

His phone vibrated and he fished it out of his front jean pocket to glance at it.

Cuddy had replied to his text.

'K - going home, making dinner - talk to you later. Love you.'

House smiled and slipped the phone back in his pocket, which did not go unnoticed by Stan.

"Let me guess. Cuddy."

With his hand still on his rocks glass, House grabbed a handful of peanuts from a stainless steel dish that sat near him. "Wow, you must be psychic or something," he responded, before popping a handful of nuts into his mouth.

Stan chuckled softly. "It shows...you care about her."

House pointed a threatening finger in Stan's direction. "I am NOT heading into this conversation!"

They sat in silence for a few minutes."

"Did you know Wilson was gay?"

"No, He didn't tell me," House responded. "And what is this, twenty questions?! Can't a man just drink in peace?"

Stan chuckled. "Just...making conversation...you know, we ARE going to be stuck together for the next four days."

House scoffed. "Fine...here, let me try, Stan, old buddy, how's the wife?" he asked loudly, in an extremely overly, cheery voice.

Stan snorted. "Meredith is fine. She is sorry she couldn't come, by the way."

"Who'd want to come to a boring medical conference?"

"Oh come on, you cannot think that an infectious disease conference is boring? I mean, it is your specialty and all."

"Yeah, but I HATE conferences," House told him, annoyed.

"You hate people," Stan contradicted him, as he grinned.

"And conferences," House shot back at him, annoyed.

"Part of the job," Stan replied. "And I'm surprised you agreed to go. You are probably the first person to squirm your way out of going to anything requiring public speaking and human interaction."

House glared at him before taking a big swig of his drink, singling to the bartender for a second one.

Shrugging, he finally said, "It's good publicity for the hospital."

"Or Lisa's got you wrapped around her little finger," Stan replied, as he grinned mischievously.

"Or," House stressed, getting annoyed, "it's good publicity and I was made to go as a department head!"

"Hey man, I just call 'em as I see 'em."

Rolling his eyes, House ignored him. Although, he secretly agreed - but he would never admit to that.

The two men continued talking at the bar for another forty-five minutes and then retired to their rooms, agreeing to meet the next morning.

They weren't presenting until Wednesday afternoon at 2:15 P.M., so there was time to go to the beginning of the conference, which started the next morning at 10 AM.

Letting himself into his room, House saw that turndown service had been to his room already. He ate the chocolate mint that sat on his pillow before limping over to his suitcase and digging out his heating pad.

He took his shirt off, plugged the heating pad into the wall, and laid down on the bed, stretching his leg out with a groan.

His leg ached and he wanted nothing more than to lay with some heat. If he was still awake later, he thought about getting into his tub to soak.

Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans, he pulled out his phone. Laying the heating pad on his thigh, he flipped the phone open, dialed a number he knew by heart and laid the phone against his ear, as he waited.

Three rings. "Hey," the voice on the other end said softly.

"What are you wearing?" House growled.

Cuddy laughed. "Wow, you're quick, aren't you?" she joked, as she sat down on her couch, tucking her feet underneath her as she gladly welcomed the phone call.

"Shorts and a cami," she answered him.

"Sorry to disappoint you," she added.

House chuckled. "How are you?" he asked softly.

"Good, came home, made myself a salad. Reading a book. Probably going to bed soon. I'm a little tired. How was the flight?"

"It was good, I guess. Although this kid that sat behind me - annoying kid, the mother had zero parenting skills... World's worst parent award," he groaned.

"Hey, well you may get that award, so watch out," Cuddy joked.

"Woah, woah, woah! Words can hurt you know," House replied, "That's a horrible way to treat the father of your child."

Cuddy chuckled. "I'm surprised you didn't say 'parasite'...so, how high have you racked the hospital credit card?"

"Not too bad so far. Not sure I'm allowed to put tonight's hooker charge on it - she may give me a discount. She's into cripples. Especially ones who have preggo girlfriends..."

"You're an ass!" Cuddy exclaimed, laughing.

"I'm kidding."

"You better be," she demanded.

"Oh relax, preggo."

Cuddy roller her eyes even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"You're rolling your eyes, aren't you?"

"No," she lied.

"Liar." He readjusted the pillow behind his back.

"Tease," she flirted back.

House chuckled softly "You like it." He paused, then added, "I need to get Stan laid."

"He's married!"

"So?"

"You're so immature right now."

"His wife isn't here. He's miserable. He hasn't had sex in probably six months. He's cranky. He needs to get laid. Me on the other hand..."

"Not with a hooker."

"If you were here, we'd do a threesome."

"You're disgusting," she remarked, groaning.

"Yeah, you're right. That's too much. If you were here, we'd just leave him out of it and screw each other like rabbits."

Cuddy shook head, amused. "Only you."

"You ready for Wednesday?" she asked, gladly having the opportunity to change the subject.

"Yeah, for the most part. Conference starts tomorrow morning. Might go check it out," House told her.

"Better than sitting in your room all day."

"Remind me again why I can't leave Wednesday."

"Because," Cuddy said to him, "you have to go to the closing cocktail party and no, you are not getting out of it," she added, before he had a chance to cut her off.

"Besides," she added, "I know a lot of people who would love the opportunity to talk with you -"

"I hate people," House reminded her, grumbling under his breath.

"I know you do," Cuddy told him gently. "It's good press."

"You COULD have sent someone else!" he whined.

"Well, since I have so many other world renowned diagnosticians at my disposal at the hospital..." she began, letting her voice trail off. "And it was YOUR case."

House grumbled under his breath.

Cuddy ignored him. "How's your leg?" she asked, changing the subject.

Biting his tongue from throwing some annoyed remark at her, House thought better of it and then said, "Have heat on it. Flight didn't help it."

"See if you can get in the whirlpool or something," Cuddy said gently.

"Yeah..."

Cuddy gave him a minute.

"I miss you," he whispered.

"I miss you too," she echoed quietly.

"Did Kate call you?"

"About Friday?"

"Yeah."

"She did, yes. I told her we'd be there."

"You just want an opportunity to show off your mad poker skills," House told her, cheekily.

Cuddy threw her head back and let out a loud laugh. "Oh, you think so, do you?"

"I know so," he told her.

They conversed for a few minutes more before saying their good-byes. House had the heat on his thigh for a few more minutes and then completed some stretches that Laura, his physical therapist, showed him, before calling it a night and stripping down to only his boxers.

As his head hit the pillow and he closed his eyes, House hugged the pillow next to him into his chest, wishing that Cuddy's warm body was snuggled up next to him.

The next morning, House awoke and ordered breakfast through room service, before going downstairs to the Convention Center around eleven to check out the start of the Infectious Disease Conference that started that morning.

Meanwhile, in Princeton, Lisa Cuddy had gotten to the hospital early to complete some work before stopping to not be late for her scheduled appointment with Joseph Parker.

House's team had gotten a new case: a twelve year-old female with respiratory problems and severe vomiting and muscle aches. They knew House had limited access to taking calls on his cell phone so they refrained from calling him as often as they normally would when he is out of town.

To assist, Cuddy had sat in on the differential session early that morning when she had a break from finalizing the merger between PPTH and Princeton University Medical Center, which was set to be finalized in the upcoming weeks.

At 8:45 A.M., Cuddy found herself sitting in an exam room while Joseph Parker, her OB-GYN took some routine measurements, checked her blood pressure and pulse, and listened to the baby's heart rate, along with checking for signs of any compilations.

"Everything's as it should be," Parker commented, as he lifted the stethoscope from behind his head and made a few notes on Cuddy's chart. "Keeping the stress level to a minimum, I hope?" he asked as he handed her some tissues.

"Trying to," Cuddy remarked, as she finished wiping her abdomen before pulling her gown down.

"Good. That's all that I ask."

"Do you - I mean, if I can, I would like to go to Vegas tomorrow morning..." Cuddy began, hesitantly.

"Flying shouldn't be a problem. You're only 28 weeks," Parker replied gently. "You want to see Greg present?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Parker jutted his head towards the bruise on the side of her abdomen, which had resulted from Brad Kowalski slamming her into the file cabinet.

"Just keep an eye on that. It looks a lot better than it was, but just as a precaution, monitor it."

"And yes, you should be fine to fly. If anything happens or you notice anything...abnormal, call me right away."

She nodded, showing she understood.

"But like I said, so far, everything is good. Try and cut back though. You're looking a little worn down."

Cuddy cracked a small smile. "Try doing what I do and NOT being worn down," she replied.

Parker chuckled. "Well, just go home at five instead of seven," he told her.

"Noted."

"Greg will probably be glad to see you," as he stood and offered her a hand in standing.

Parker waited outside so his patient could get dressed.

"So I'll see you in two hours for the meeting?" Cuddy asked as they made their way out of the office, nodding at Rebecca, who was stationed at the front desk, on their way out.

Rebecca, a nurse on Parker's staff on the maternity floor, had kept her word and not told anyone that her boss was Cuddy's doctor, not even to her co-workers. Parker knew he could trust her to keep it quiet and so, whenever Cuddy had an appointment, Becca was the only one she dealt with, besides Parker.

Parker dropped Cuddy's file at the front desk with Rebecca and him and Cuddy headed out into the corridor, making small talk.

Receiving an emergency page, Parker bid his goodbyes, apologized then hurried off.

Before returning to her office where a desk full of work awaited her, Cuddy walked down to the cafeteria for a cup of green tea. Walking into the not-so-busy cafeteria, she noticed Wilson sitting alone at one of the booths against the wall, a coffee and a manila file in front of him.

Cuddy got her coffee and then walked over to where he sat. "Hi James. Mind if I sit down?"

Wilson looked up. "Hey Lisa. No, not at all. Take a seat."

"You're in early," he remarked, as she sat down opposite him.

"Lots to get done," she replied. "What brings you down here? You already have your own office," she joked.

He held up a coffee cup. "This, and I wanted a more, oh shall I say, 'lively' atmosphere. Going through these charts is not easy, especially when 3 out of 4 of them are either young kids or terminal with less than a year to live."

"Are you still in touch with that one girl's family, the one who passed away recently?" Cuddy asked, gently as she took a small sip of her tea.

"Madeline? Yeah, I'm still in touch with her mother. It was hard on her. We talk once a week or so."

"That's nice...I honestly could never do what you do."

Wilson chuckled. "I could never do what YOU do," he remarked. "The way you run the place, you are one tough bitch, if I can say so myself."

"Thank you for the flattery."

"I'm serious!" Wilson replied. "So, Vegas tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"House doesn't know?"

"Nope."

"That should be fun," Wilson relied, grinning.

"Oh shut up. Speaking of fun, how are you and John?"

"Your mind jumped to my relationship from the word 'fun'?" he inquired, cocking a single eyebrow.

Cuddy chuckled.

"We're good," Wilson told her, "We've both been really busy - alright, what am I saying? I'm the one who's really busy. Once work slows down, we'll have some more time to ourselves."

Cuddy took a sip of tea.

"If you want," Wilson added, "you're more than welcome to join us at dinner tonight."

"I have to pack. Going to see if I can get there before the presentation tomorrow afternoon starts at 2 PM," Cuddy told him. "If I get everything done though, then yeah, I would love to join you."

She stood. "But for now, back to the work grind."

"Don't work too hard," Wilson called out to her as she left the booth and made her way to the exit.

She turned back to him. "If I do, I'll be sure to have you rescue me," she replied, grinning, before exiting the cafeteria and making her way back to her office.