"GUESSWORK"

- Chapter Eight -

"Mudding Up the Waters"

In front of the full-length mirror on the inside of her bathroom door, she studied her reflection critically. The years were beginning to show. Not in a bad way. She knew that.

Her time on Earth had given her kind face a resonance that reached outward with the expectation of honor from everyone around her. Her honesty and professionalism imbued her with qualities that came back as profound respect from nearly anyone who dealt with her, professionally or personally. She was the consummate administrator, the final authority, the holder of the scrolls, and the keeper of the flame.

Nearing the age of forty now, she was diminutive of stature, but substantial of mind. Her integrity was unquestioned, her leadership unchallenged, and her sense of the absurd almost legendary. She sparred with her Chief of Diagnostics on a daily basis, and that alone caused some of the staff to gaze on her with awe.

Her long, silken black hair hung in soft waves below her shoulders like a fall of ebon water, and her eyes were cerulean with long black lashes. She was trendy, fashionably tacky, and very aware of her demeanor. She still held herself aloof most of the time among strangers, but her door was always open to friends and colleagues and each and every subordinate, and her kind heart was eminently reachable.

There were two soft and cushy spots in Lisa Cuddy's heart that resided at the very core of everything she cared about and stood for. Try as she might to have it otherwise, those two soft spots influenced every decision she made and every tough confrontation she would much rather avoid.

Their names were James Wilson and the aforementioned Gregory House.

Some time ago, House had told her that she would have made a lousy mother, because she sucked at it. The knife had gone deep into her consummate self, left her considerable ego battered and bloody. She had wept silently and privately at odd times for days after that.

And then one day House had ended up in drug rehab. Surprisingly, he had conceded to her (in private, of an evening) in a quiet and shamed manner that he had spoken out of turn and out of spite, and he was truly sorry for those cruel words …

… and if she ever told anyone he had admitted that, he would never speak to her again! She did not believe him for a moment, but she did not breach his confidence, nor stoop to say anything dismissive. His pathway at that time was difficult enough.

And ultimately, she forgave him for calling her a "bad mother." Because that wasn't true!

Because in the hallowed halls of this hospital, she was "Mama Bear", "Big Bad Mama", "Mother Superior".

She had heard this stuff so long she had begun to believe it.

Now, staring unseeing at her reflection in the mirror, she pondered the strange phone call she'd received a half hour ago.

James Wilson, hollow-voiced with fatigue, had called on her phone at home, informing her that, had she not answered, he would have left a message telling her that neither he nor Gregory House would be coming to work next week, and possibly not the next, or even the one after that.

But she had picked up the phone just before the answering machine beeped in, and he could not get away with being vague. He'd had to talk to her …

When Wilson had seen her briefly that day, after he'd discovered that House had left rehab … and the hospital … without a word to anyone, it had made him suspicious. James had gone to House's apartment looking for him, but he wasn't there either. After a cursory sweep of the place, he'd discovered that some of House's clothing was missing, along with some of the things around his apartment that he hated to be without.

Then, when he'd gone looking for the Honda motorbike, it was gone also.

After that, Wilson had hemmed and hawed and reverted to vagueness again, explaining that he needed to find his friend because of the ineffectiveness of the medications House was now being forced to take.

"I need to find him," Wilson said. "He's pissed off and stubborn as a mule, and trying to convince himself that the damned prescriptions for Neurontin, Ultram and a damn bottle of Advil are enough to control chronic pain as severe as his!"

Cuddy had let him rave, and when he grew silent again, she'd asked, simply: "What is it that frightens you, Dr. Wilson? From the stress in your voice, I can tell there's something you're not telling me …"

He'd hesitated, and then evidently decided to place necessity ahead of valor. "He's taken off on the bike. It's twenty degrees outside. His leg will certainly be unstable at best, and we both know it goes downhill from there. He told me once that he can't keep it warm in this kind of weather, and poor circulation often causes his foot to swell. He might find it nearly impossible to walk. I'm worried. He's not fit to be out there … and I'm going after him.

"I know he has an aunt somewhere in Delaware, who he was close to as a kid. I have a feeling he's headed there. Don't tell me 'no', Dr. Cuddy. I'd only have to disobey you, and I don't want to do that."

She'd paused to consider his words for a time. She'd bitten her lip and stared at the ceiling while he waited, breathless, on the other end of the line. Finally, she'd conceded. She had never understood the two men's strange affinity for one another, but she knew without a doubt that it was very strong between them. If anyone on Earth could talk some sense into Gregory House, it was this gentle, caring man.

"You have my permission, Dr. Wilson." She finally said. "You have the three weeks you requested. We can work around your absence. Bring him back with you … safe and sound. If you don't … at the end of the three weeks, I will send out bloodhounds and St. Bernards with whiskey kegs around their necks."

He did not laugh at the lame joke. She had not expected him to.

When they finally rang off, she had no doubts he was out of there like a flash, hitting the road downstate, on a quest to who-the-hell-knew-what!

Cuddy had not questioned him further, but gave her blessing on blind faith.

"Mama Bear!"

But that was a mistake. She should have asked more questions!

Should have known James Wilson was lying through his teeth!

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