The next few weeks went by terribly slow for everyone. House was incredibly bored and even watching General Hospital reruns had lost its' excitement when he wasn't watching it from a hiding place. Wilson had visited him a couple times, bringing over take-out and movies, but the days and nights passed by all too slowly and he found himself counting down the days until he could go back to work.

Cuddy had found the hospital strangely quiet the past few weeks and she had to admit she didn't like it as much as she thought she would. She actually missed having to hunt down House and argue with him until one of them, although usually her, caved in. She hated Tritter for this, for making her job so complicated and difficult. She didn't deserve this. The hospital didn't deserve this. House didn't deserve this. It was completely unjust.

House's team had been equally bored as well. They had only had one interesting case since House had left and even Cameron was getting sick of diagnosing the stuffy noses in the clinic.

"Let's go get some coffee," Chase suggested that day, after the three of them had been staring at the empty whiteboard for hours.

"I'm in," Foreman said and the two of them looked over at Cameron as she sat reading House's mail.

"You know, House isn't even here. He won't even be here for another 5 months, Cameron. You'll have plenty of time to catch up on his mail for him then," Chase said, rolling his eyes. "Come on. It'll be nice to have a break."

Cameron put away the mail she had been reading and let Chase lead her out of the room for a break. However, before they could get out of the door, all three of them were paged by Cuddy and they turned around and headed to her office.

"You've got a new case," Cuddy told them as they walked into her office. "I'm gonna put Foreman in charge for this one, but try to work together on it. He's a thirty-five year old male with lesions around his mouth and a persistent cough. If you guys need a consult I'll be available all day. Here's his file." Cuddy handed the file to Foreman and watched as the team walked down the hall, already discussing a possible diagnosis.

She looked back down at the stack of papers in front of her and decided to take a quick break before she got back to sorting her mail from the week. She stood up from her desk and was about to head out when Wilson walked into her office.

"You look exhausted. But there's no House around here to make you miserable and tired, so something else is up. You okay?" Wilson asked before she could leave.

"I'm fine, Wilson. Thanks. I'm just a bit tired; I have a ton of paper work to do this week. And I'm kind of worried about House's team, you think they'll handle the case okay by themselves, without House to fall back on?"

"They're great doctors, Cuddy. House never would've hired them if he didn't know that. Don't worry about it," Wilson assured her, noticing her uneasiness. Cuddy nodded and walked over to the doorway, ready to take her break. "So, are you enjoying not having House to chase after all day, hunt him down to find out he isn't even doing his job?" Wilson added before she could leave again.

"Yeah," she said rather ambiguously, causing Wilson to raise his eyebrows at her in question.

"You don't sound so enthused. I thought you'd be celebrating with most of the other people in the hospital by now."

"He's the best doctor we have, Wilson. The hospital suffers when he's gone. People die because he's not here. It isn't fair," Cuddy said with a hint of anger in her voice, trying to convince both Wilson and herself that that was the only reason she was missing him in the hospital more every day.

"You miss him," Wilson said bluntly, reading right through her, and she felt her cheeks redden slightly as she finally realized that it was true. She really did miss him.

"So? I haven't seen you celebrating with the nurses or other doctors either. You miss him too."

"I'm his best friend. God knows why I am, but I am, so of course I'm going to miss her. You. I have no idea why you do, but that's probably something I'll never understand." Cuddy just laughed as she asked herself the same question. She turned away from Wilson before he could read more thoughts from her mind. She picked up her coat and headed for the door, still needing that coffee break.

"Where are you going? You don't get off for another three hours," Wilson asked her as she walked away.

"I'm gonna get some coffee, I need a break," she answered casually.

"Right," Wilson said suspiciously, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he watched her walk out of the hospital.