They held hands as they walked back to his bike. The bar had been dark, and the whiskey had been watered down, and he didn't talk much, but she talked enough for both of them. If he hadn't known her name before, he knew it now. Jenna, shortened from Jennifer. She'd told him her life history, and had hoped the ease him in to telling her a little bit about himself.

He'd been quiet, even when she asked him direct questions. Not rude, she decided. Just quiet. She guessed he didn't like talking about himself, he seemed much more comfortable with listening.

"Hey listen," she said as she took the helmet, before she climbed on to the bike. "You want to come back to my place? I'll even reverse the room charge so you won't get billed for it."

Wilson ran a hand over his helmet. It shone under the street lamp, and the blue reminded him of someone's eyes. He peered at her, but her eyes were brown. "Sure, honey. If that's what you want."

She nodded. He smiled and threw his leg over the bike, and looked back at her as she braced a hand on his shoulder in order to slide on behind him.

He let her hand flutter across the back of his neck, and she thought she heard him purr as his head dropped forward. "Just go back to the motel, and turn right at that traffic light instead of left."

He straightened and pushed his helmet in to place and the engine roared to life with a flick of his wrist. She slid her arms around his waist and pressed her chest against his back. The ride back to her place wasn't nearly as long as she might have liked, but then that just meant she'd get him in the bedroom sooner.

She fumbled with the keys, her body still humming from the rumble of the bike, and throbbing with the sexual tension she felt. He followed her in to the apartment, and as soon as the door closed she found herself pressed against the wall, hands linked in his and held to the wall next to her head.

She growled and kicked her shoes off, drew her foot up his leg. His pants bunched, and stopped at the knee. He dragged her foot back down to his ankle and up again, more smoothly under his pant leg.

He shifted his grip on her hands, pinning both wrists over her head and holding them with one hand. She could have fought him off, but as his other hand slid down her face and tugged at the first buttons of her blouse, she forgot all about resistance.

"I really appreciate this," Cuddy let go of Alexa's hand so she could set Adira down on the ground.

"You know it's no problem," Grace smiled.

"I go with you!" Adira clung to Cuddy's neck, her legs wrapped around Cuddy's waist. Alexa sat on the front steps of Grace's house, waiting. Grace sat down beside her and put an arm over her shoulder. Alexa leaned into the embrace.

Cuddy pried Adira off her legs and off her neck. She knelt in front of her and reached up to stroke the hair back from her face. It was late, the girls were already in the pajamas, when Cuddy got the call that House was waking up. "I know you want to come with me, baby," She had blue eyes, clear and bright like House's eyes that seemed to look through her as much as at her. "I'm going to see Uncle Greg, and you can't go to the ICU."

"It's not fair," Adira crossed her arms over her chest. "I want to see hims too."

Cuddy dropped her hand to Adira's shoulder. "I know you do, baby. I know you do. And when he's awake, I'm sure he'll want to see you. But right now Uncle Greg is really sick, and he needs to rest so he can get better."

Adira looked away, her jaw set stubbornly. Any other time, Cuddy might have been amused at how much she looked like Wilson when she was upset. "Hims angel is watching hims."

"I know you don't understand baby, but I need you to be a big girl and stay with Grace and Lexy, okay?"

"You not coming home tonight, are yous?"

Cuddy leaned in to kiss Adira's cheek. "No, honey. I think I'm going to stay with Uncle Greg tonight."

Adira nodded. "When will we sees you again?" She raised her hand up to push Cuddy's hair away from her face where it fell over her eye.

"I'll see you tomorrow. I'll pick you up from day care."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Cuddy smiled. She moved forward to hug Adira, then turned to call Alexa over for a hug too, before she left.

She couldn't get to the hospital fast enough. Nearly an hour had passed since she got the call, to when she took the stairs up to House's room. Kelly met her at the door, and started giving a run down of House's condition before Cuddy could even ask.

"He's opened his eyes, and he's responding to verbal and physical stimuli. He indicated he knows where he is, but not what happened. He wouldn't let go of the picture."

Cuddy nodded, and moved quickly to the side of the bed. She glanced at the output on his monitors as she reached for his hand, enveloping his palm in hers, one hand sliding against the smooth backing of the photograph he held. His fingers tightened, as if to hold on to the picture. "Greg, I'm here. Can you hear me?"

His eye lids fluttered, then opened. His eyes were dull, glassy, and though it was hard to tell with the tube down his throat, but she was certain his expression fell. He tried to lift his head, eyes wide and searching, looking past her. She reached up with one hand to touch his cheek. "Don't tell me you're not happy to see me."

He blinked, twice for no. Cuddy turned her palm to his cheek, her fingers lightly grazing his hair. She didn't want to mention Wilson and risk upsetting him, though Wilson was who he was looking for. His head dropped back against the pillows and his eyes closed.

"I want you to rest right now, Greg. Just try to rest." He'd be more alert in a few hours, and with a little luck, they could get the tube out of his throat. He didn't object, and in fact seemed to take her suggestion to heart. His features relaxed, and his eyes remained closed.

Cuddy stayed as she was, bent over him, holding his hand for a long moment. When she was sure he was out, she moved back and settled in the chair from his office that she'd had sent down for James. "Where the hell are you, you son of a bitch," she muttered. If James walked into the room right then, she would be torn between insanely happy to see him and extremely pissed at him for leaving. She understood why he ran off, as much as she loved and cared about House, House wasn't her lover. His accident would affect her life, his recovery would affect her life, but it wouldn't become her life the way it would become James' life. He needed time to adjust, to accept what had happened. But damn it, she needed him and Greg needed him now.

She raised a hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks, and saw those blue eyes looking at her. She forced a smile. "Hey." His eyes closed. She stood and moved to the side of the bed. "I don't know where he is, Greg. He needs time He'll be back."

His hand tightened into a fist around the picture, and he turned his face away from her. She leaned down to kiss his forehead, and reached up to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

They lay together in a tangle of arms and legs and sweat. He assumed she was sleeping due to the even rhythm of her breath. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling. There's been water damage at some point, and someone had merely pained over it. Crap job too, from the looks of it.

He sighed and she shifted against him. He reached up to comb his fingers through her hair so she wouldn't wake. He closed his eyes then, and tried to keep his mind focused on the amazing sex he'd just had. He hadn't been with a woman for a very long time. Six years, since the last one.

It felt nice. Not right. No. Definitely not right. But…nice. He thought he'd bore himself to sleep going over medical facts in his mind, which also served to try to keep his thoughts from wandering to other things, things he didn't want to think about.

Like a hospital room back at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. A patient laying in the ICU with one arm torn away, and both legs ruined. It was the sudden shrill alarm of the heart monitor that brought him up from the bed, heart pounding, breath caught in his throat.

"What is it?" Jenna asked, lifting her head, her eyes bleary with sleep.

"It's nothing," he lied. "Go back to sleep."

She sat up and rubbed at both eyes. The sheet slipped down to her waist, she pulled it back up to cover her breasts. "You're leaving, aren't you?"

"No." He pushed the covers back and climbed out to the bed. "I'm going to take a piss."

"And then?" She lay back against the pillows and idly let her hand drift over her breasts.

"Then I'm coming back to bed."