Chapter 4

[That night—the Marquette Inn

While she had originally intended to press all the way to Orchard Cove that day, Cuddy could see that House needed a break after the two late connections not to mention what was going on in his head. She knew that to call the relationship between House and his father frosty would be an understatement to say the least. Something's really bothering him beneath the surface. What is it? Why does it have to come up now?

She groaned to herself while pacing about her hotel room. She looked in the mirror, inspecting her blue blouse and white slacks. Yet she too knew that this trip would hold consequences. She gazed into the glass again.

And for a split second, she saw a teenaged girl in a dark sweater and a blue skirt with glasses, braces and a black ponytail staring back at her fearfully.

Welcome to your past, Lisa. She rubbed her forehead trying to deal with her own internal pain. As she did, she remembered…..

[Synagogue, Rivers St., Orchard Grove—December 28, 1982

Cuddy walked out of the synagogue feeling happy and content with herself. She'd spent the day reading through the science books at the local library. After a quick dinner at home, she rushed over to the synagogue for a Chanukah service on that—the third night. While she knew her mother would've wanted her to call for a ride, she figured that she could walk the half mile to their apartment building.

The sky was dark and cloudy on that evening as a storm brewed over the lake.

She shivered as the stiff breeze cut through her wraps, lending urgency to her steps. As she turned the corner off of Rivers and onto her side street, she saw two shadowy figures waiting under a stop sign ahead. When she tried to go back, one of her classmates, a hulking junior with flaming red hair and icy cold blue eyes blocked her path.

"Going somewhere, Cuddle Bear?" the leader scoffed.

She trembled but managed to reply, "I haven't done anything to you, Michael Sandoval! I'm just heading home!"

Sandoval snorted and called to his cohorts. "Hey, guys! The little girl's going home! What do you think?"

"Maybe she can give us a present too!" the blonde sniggered.

"Leave me alone!" she demanded.

"Oh, she wants to be left alone!" Sandoval pushed her down into the large cold puddle.

She felt the icy water soaking through her skirt and her eyes watered. She didn't understand why these creeps always harassed her at school or in town. What did I ever do to them?

Just as the trio moved in on her, she heard someone coming on a bike.

"What the Hell? Hey! It's another one!" Sandoval snapped.

His two cronies charged the bicyclist, forcing the rider to skid into the shadows. Within seconds, they were on the rider.

While she couldn't see the other's face, she shuddered, knowing that they would beat her and him both. Grabbing her backpack, she ran toward home.

She rushed in to find the apartment empty. Grabbing the phone, she called the police and hoped they would be in time to save the rider…..

[Modern Day

Cuddy shook her head. What a coward I was! That poor rider took the beating and I ran! She frowned while grabbing her yearbook and flipping through it. During the flight, she had spent enough time memorizing the damn thing. Stopping at Sandoval's picture, her temper flared. Asshole got off as he always did! She shook her head at the frightened girl in the mirror. "I'm not going to put up with this! I WON'T! I made it! I'm a success!"

She could hear the taunting voice laughing, Then why aren't you married, Cuddle Bear? Why don't you have any kids?

"SHUT UP!" she growled before stalking out of her room and starting toward the stairs. As she did so, she passed House's room. Hearing the snoring from there, she sighed. Even asleep, he causes a racket! She almost knocked on the door to wake him up but decided against it at the last minute. The sleep will do him good.

Thinking of her companion seemed to break the spell. She shook her head as she heard his crack in the office from two months earlier. I can't believe he can call me a pain in the ass and make it a compliment. Deal with it, Lisa. For him, that's a compliment. She yawned and stretched. "Sleep might be a good idea for me too." She headed back into her room and closed the door before falling asleep.

Chapter 5

[Next Day

After a difficult night of trying to sleep off and on, House stirred and stared at the ceiling. Despite what Cuddy (and some of the people on either side of his room) had presumed, his snoring had not been a sign of deep sleep. Rather, he'd thrashed around like a fish on a dry dock.

He'd been dealing with the demons of his father. In addition, the past week had stirred other memories long buried of a night he visited Cuddy's home town and ran into the residents. It was a night he'd hoped to forget forever……

[Orchard Cove—December 28, 1982

House came out of the corner store with some canned goods weighing down his backpack. Right after his father had dropped him off for the weekend, Uncle Paul handed him a list of things to get from the store and lent him his bike. While the teen would rather have been left to his own devices, his uncle accepted him—the only one in his family who did that.

Besides the latter's chili was really awesome.

We'll need it tomorrow. He glared into the dark sky, noting the storm clouds building over the lake. Tomorrow, he and Uncle Paul would be in the middle of their poker game while the winds howled outside of the sturdy stone and pine house on Maple Road. With a shiver, he mounted his bike and started riding toward home.

As he turned onto Rivers Street, he heard a girl scream. What the Hell? He pedaled faster, not wanting to get involved in whatever the mess was. Besides, if he did, he'd never hear the end of it from his father.

As fate would have had it, the developing bad scene was unfolding in the road in front of him. "Shit!" He skidded the bike to a halt before he ran over the others.

The tallest of the shadowy figures snapped, "What the Hell? Another one?"

House saw his companions rush him. Before he could turn and make his get away, they pounced on him. He fought back as best he could, landing a few solid blows of his own.

As he did so, he saw a fourth figure—a girl whose face he couldn't see—rush away into the night.

Unfortunately, the distraction cost him as a fist collided with his chin, knocking him out cold.

[Modern Day

"Damn crap," House groused while getting out of bed and walking over to the remains of the room's in-service bar. He knew there'd be a Hell of a bill for the liquor he drank on the previous night. However, he frankly could've cared less. He dry swallowed three Vicodin pills before facing his haggard reflection in the mirror.

Granted, he really didn't want to be on this trip. He'd only said what he did to gibe Cuddy. In their usual verbal judo/snark fest, he'd momentarily forgotten the pain this part of the U. P. had brought him. Still he knew that it would only be a quick trip in and out of that dump. You won't see that creep or his buddies. They're probably in jail or could be dead. Cuddy's enough of a wreck without any more crap. He shook his head, recalling the other factor in the equation. I don't why she's so concerned about a bunch of stupid nobodies!

He shook his head. As much as he and she went back and forth, they still held mutual respect for each other. Why she stuck by him so fiercely, he didn't always get it. But then again, there was a lot that he didn't get about his boss. Still, since college, he'd known she was a lot more than a great chest and a fine ass—as much as he liked to remind her about those qualities.

On cue, a sharp knocking came from the door.

Here we go! He muddled over to the door and peered through the door hole to see her standing there with her arms folded and tapping her foot impatiently. And she's pissed. Oh joy, joy! He cracked the door. "Yeah?"

"Good afternoon, House. Are you planning to get up today?" she greeted sarcastically.

"Spare me!" he hissed while letting her inside. "I had so much fun last night!"

"You were snoring so loudly, you probably woke up the dead," she pointed out. Still, as she walked about his room, she took in the empty booze bottles and smelled the liquor. "What happened?"

"See someone's already in prime form for tonight. I was bored so I got drunk," he insisted, masking his true feelings once more. "Got to do something besides watching you pace and fume over the hicks."

She eyed him cautiously. From the decades they'd known each other, she'd developed several knacks where he was concerned. First, she'd developed a thick skin. But she could also sense when something was truly bothering him. "Sure that's it?"

"Wanna play my Mommy now?" he retorted sharply.

"Heaven forbid someone should care, House!" she snapped, coming back to reality. "I would like to get checked out and eat before we drive down to Orchard Cove. Take your shower and clean up. I'll straighten some of this up in here."

Rather than give a pithy retort about her being in a French maid outfit (as she had expected), he just shrugged absently and stalked into the bathroom before slamming the door behind himself.

Now she was really suspicious. What the Hell is going on? She hoped House could hang in there through that evening. Once they were on the lake, then she'd be past her own nightmares. At that point, she'd have the time to figure the mess out and how to deal with it.

[Reuben's Sandwiches

After cleaning up and checking out of their rooms, Cuddy drove them both into town for a quick bite. Recalling what a friend had told her about Reuben's Sandwiches, she decided to stop there.

Admittedly, she was hoping that they made a great version of their namesake sandwich for House's sake.

Throughout the meal, he remained quiet while munching on the cold sandwich without the pickles. Rather than focus on her, his eyes kept drifting toward Main Street right outside of the window to his right.

He could almost see his father's plain blue truck going by….several times.

And he didn't like it one bit. He took a particularly heavy bite.

Finally, she had enough of the silent treatment. "This is weird even for you, House. Are you all right?"

"Peachy," he muttered while glancing at her testily. "How are you doing, Boss?"

"Fine. Be that way," she sighed, trying not to lash out at him. With her current anxiety about that night, she didn't need him erupting all over her. "Remember if you want to talk, I'll listen."

"Cool," he replied. "Maybe like this was Dad's favorite street? Or maybe he loved this particular place? Damn, Cuddy. You're really going into overdrive today."

"I guess," she relented. "Still, House, you should've said something." Not getting a response, she went back to meditating about her own situation vis-à-vis her former classmates.

"You still have the biggest cleavage," he cracked, trying to get her goat.

It didn't work. "Yeah," she answered just as flatly. "Wait until you see the town, House…."

He shrugged. "Actually, I have been there before, Cuddy. Booming metropolis, that place."

"So some of the people might recognize you? Oh terrific!" she worried.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh I'm so scared too. Hey, Cuddy, quit worrying already about those jackasses! You hang with them for three hours. Then we head for the lake tomorrow. No biggie."

"Excuse me? I didn't drag you here just for the ice fishing. We're going there," she clarified pointedly.

"Crap," he whined, still looking for a way out of it.

"You aren't getting out of it, House! That's final," she lectured in her best boss tone.

"All right. All right. Yes, Empress," he sassed, knowing he was going to have to go through the gauntlet. He guzzled the rest of his coffee.

"Good. Now that we've settled that, let's pay the bill and we can get down there," she noted before signaling for the waitress.

He glanced out the window and shook his head. This "bash" was going to be a real barrel of laughs. Even though, they weren't even in town yet, he had a feeling it was going to be a bad night.