It feels like I haven't written in ages. I've been having trouble getting inspired after being laid off, but I'm finally past the sulking, unambitious faze and hope to be writing more often. This is a short one just to get me back into the groove, but I hope you like it.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

House watched through the glass as Kutner checked up on Henry. He knew she was behind him before he felt her hand rest on his shoulder but he didn't turn around.

"We don't have to go this weekend," she said softly, aware that House had formed some sort of connection with Henry Rose and wanting to encourage that kind of behavior.

"There's no reason to stay here." The finality in House's voice told the story. Henry was dying.

"How long?" Cuddy sighed as she moved beside House and looked through the glass herself.

"He'll be gone by the time we get back." House wrapped his arm around her waist. He used his weight to turn her around and led her away from Henry.

"House, we really don't have to go." She thought he might want to be there for the final hours of his patient's life. There was still so much she didn't understand about the way House's mind worked.

"Are you trying to get out of going?" He teased, but it was a forced teasing hiding both the fear that he was right and his regret at not being able to help Henry.

"Of course not."

"Then I hope you have your bags packed. We're leaving right after work." He wanted to leave now, but he knew her well enough to know she would want to stay with her 'baby' until the last possible moment. It had taken several prods to get her to agree to hand over the reins for the weekend and she was still grilling Dr. Parker about his duties.

After Dr. Parker was done with his final meeting with the boss, House pulled him aside, dragging him into the conference room with his cane.

"Excuse me?" The humorless Parker glared at his colleague.

"Oh, don't worry about it," House dismissed the man's annoyance. "And no matter what happens, don't call Cuddy to come bail you out. I don't care if this hospital is in flames, deal with it yourself."

"I intend to keep the hospital from catching fire Dr. House. So you don't need to worry about it." He turned to leave but House caught his arm.

"I'm holding you to that." House's voice was mildly threatening.

"Or what? You'll beat me up?" Parker pulled his arm away and left the room just as Cuddy was opening her office door. He glared at her as he stormed off.

Cuddy watched as House sheepishly exited the conference room thinking an inconspicuous amount of time had passed since Parker left. He stopped cold when he saw her leaning against her door, arms crossed, weekend bag on the floor at her side.

"What was that about?" Cuddy asked, tapping her foot.

"What was what?" House pretended innocence.

"Dr. Parker looked pissed."

"Dr. Parker needs an enema." House walked over and picked up her bag.

"Be that as it may, I hope you didn't do something to antagonize him. Dr. Parker doesn't like you."

"No one likes me."

"He doesn't like you more than most people don't like you. I wouldn't screw with him if I were you."

"You'd be too busy screwing with you if you were me." House smiled and hobbled off before she could insist on carrying her own bag. He might be an invalid, but he was still a gentleman, when he wanted to be.

Cuddy tried to work that out for a moment, shook it off, and followed him out of the hospital.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" She started asking before they got in the car. It was now an hour into the trip and she asked for a fourth time.

"No."

"You do know don't you?" She was teasing him, not realizing she was inching closer and closer to a very sore spot.

House tried to ignore her, focusing on the road ahead.

"Didn't Wilson tell you?" Cuddy was oblivious to the tension coming from the seat beside her but she'd pushed too far.

"I don't need Wilson to tell me anything!" He pushed his foot violently on the gas pedal, feeling the speed of the vintage car humming around him.

Cuddy watched as he sped past the exit that lead to I-95. "Wasn't that the turn?"

"The turn to where?" House shot at her.

"House, where are we going?" Her voice held a nervousness that wasn't there before.

"It's a surprise," he said almost menacingly.

"I don't like surprises." She looked anxiously at the quickly rising speedometer.

"Everybody likes surprises." House didn't believe that. He certainly didn't like surprises.

It was already getting dark when House pulled onto a long, winding dirt road.

"Are we lost?" Cuddy had been sleeping, her head nuzzled against the side window and woke when she felt the car shaking along the dirt.

"We're not lost." An image flashed through her mind. It was him, an axe in his hands, blood smeared on the blade while pieces of Cuddy's body lay scattered around the forest floor. He shook his head and it was gone.

"Then where are we going? This isn't The Outlook."

"Did you tell Wilson to book that?" House eyed her suspiciously.

"I might have." She quickly looked away.

"Nice to know you have faith in me."

Cuddy suddenly felt embarrassed. She felt her cheeks turning red.

"I have an uncle," House mused.

Cuddy waited for more, then tried to pull it out. "I have two, what's your point?"

"I don't really talk to him." House was focusing on the road.

She was about to say something snarky, but stopped herself. House glanced over, waiting. A small part of him wanted her to reply with some smart ass comment. He wanted her to piss him off so he would stop opening up to her, but she just sat and waited for what was going to come out next.

"He has a cabin. I used to come here as a kid, over summer break. My father would ship me away so he wouldn't have to look at me."

"House!" Cuddy didn't like the sad, bitter sound in his voice.

"I called my uncle the other day." He didn't need Wilson to do his work for him. He only needed Wilson to cause a diversion.

Cuddy's mouth hung open. She smiled. Her face lit up the darkness that had engulfed them. "You never cease to amaze me House." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

House wanted to stop the car then and there, turn to her and pull her into his arms, but he kept driving. It had taken longer than expected and he really needed to go to the bathroom. He replaced her embrace with a few Vicodin, expertly popped into his mouth single handedly as his eyes remained on the winding, increasingly treacherous path before them.

Cuddy was mulling over House's surprise. "But what about Wilson's…"

"A clever ploy, House smirked at his own genius.

"Does he know?"

"No one knows." House grinned. "I could hack you into little pieces and no one would ever know where to find your body."

"HOUSE!" Cuddy shoved him, careful not to distract him from his driving but just enough to annoy him. "Don't talk like that."

"What's the matter? Are you scared?" He was teasing her. He knew her love of scary movies. He remembered taking her to a midnight screening of Evil Dead, and while it was more cheesy than scary, he did like how she curled up into his arms during the particularly scary parts.

"No." She was a tough cookie. "Besides, you don't strike me as a necrophiliac, so I don't think I have anything to worry about." She knew exactly what this weekend was about. He wanted sex.

"Of course not," he replied, trying to put a little doubt in his voice. He knew she wouldn't really think he wanted to kill her, but it was fun trying to convince her he might.

Cuddy was about to reply when the cabin appeared out of the darkness. It was a beautiful log structure, not the rambling shack he had her imagining, but a stunning two story home set only a few feet from the water. "It's beautiful." Cuddy was in awe.

"Wait till you see the inside." House pulled the car up into a covered car port and got out. He hadn't been to Uncle Tom's cabin in a long time, but it looked much the same as it had decades ago. Uncle Tom had inherited the land from his grandfather. Blythe, Tom's sister and House's mother, had gotten nothing. By the time Grandfather had died, she was John House's liability, not his.

Little Greg had been too young to fully appreciate the resentment between Blythe and Tom. All he knew was that for two months each year, after school was out, he got to get away from his asshole father and enabling mother and spend time in the wilderness with his cool uncle who taught him to hunt and fish and build fires and liked to play cowboys and Indians. It was the happiest part of his childhood, and it came to an abrupt end when he was twelve and had to move across the world to some base in Japan.

Greg had cried, alone, in his room, terrified to let his hard father see his tears. He hadn't wanted to leave. He wanted to stay with Uncle Tom forever. Being back here now brought a flood of memories he thought he could handle, but now that he was experiencing them, he wanted a drink. A very large, very potent drink.

"I'll go start a fire." House headed inside where his uncle had promised there would be everything he needed. Before heading to the well stocked fireplace, he checked out the even more well stocked bar. He fixed himself a brandy then set to work.

Cuddy spent a minute looking at the scene before her. The moon was dancing on the gently rippling water. It was a large lake, but she could see the other side, the thick forest of trees that rimmed it. There didn't seem to be another home in sight. They were truly secluded.

She felt a shiver run down her back as the night air turned colder, the last of the suns warmth having worn away. She headed inside where House was standing before a crackling fire. "That's just what I needed." She walked over to him and took the glass out of his hand, took a long sip and handed it back. She smiled at him, hoping to ward off any malice at her boldness.

"Do you like it?" House felt an odd pride in surprising her with the cabin. He knew as soon as he said he wanted to surprise her, that she would expect him to turn to Wilson, so he did. And he knew she would be coaching Wilson on the side, so he let her. He let them both think that he couldn't wipe his own ass without their help. That way, when he brought her here, it would truly be a surprise. And she would have to accept that this was something he did, on his own, for her.

"I love it House." She had a bit of moisture in the corner of her eyes. She sniffled them back before they betrayed her. She was deeply touched by his efforts, and truly ashamed that she didn't think he could do such a thing.

'I love you'. The words actually caught in his throat and never made it out into the world, but he was determined. By the end of this weekend, he would tell her how he felt about her.