Jess didn't get a chance to call House until later that afternoon. Her day had become difficult, dealing with the fallout from the story that had aired the day before about the idiotic Dr Moorhead and handling the suspicion from her boss about her absence that morning. Jess insisted she'd had a doctor's appointment – kind of truthful if you thought about it – but she could see her boss didn't believe her.

He didn't pick up. She wanted to tell him that her interview had gone well, that all things being equal she'd be resigning from her job and they could start car pooling in a couple of weeks' time – just as he'd suggested. Sure, she still had to go through a panel interview with the board, but Dr Cuddy had indicated that that was a mere formality.

He came home very late that night, Jess was already asleep, and the next morning when she woke and got ready for work, she couldn't bring herself to wake him. She half suspected that he was pretending to be asleep, but if he'd been caught with a patient the night before, he needed the rest.

She was about ready to walk out the door when she heard him call out to her.

"Jess?"

She walked back into the bedroom and over to his side of the bed, bending over to give him a kiss. He pulled away.

"What?" she asked, concerned.

"I think you need to spend more time at your own apartment," he said bluntly, looking out the window as he spoke.

"What? Why?" Jess was stunned, it was absolutely the last thing she expected him to say. She sank down onto the mattress, noting that he moved from her so they weren't touching.

"I just think it's for the best. We've jumped in pretty quickly here and we need to give it more time."

"What are you saying?" Jess asked. She felt genuinely shocked. Everything had been going so well.

"Well if we can't be honest with each other, then there's very little point pretending we have anything to base a relationship on," he said.

He wasn't looking at her, but Jess could feel the accusation in his eyes. Suddenly, she realised what must have happened.

"Cuddy told you," she said.

His eyes finally met hers, cold and hard. "Yes, Cuddy told me," he mocked. "Just when were you planning on dumping me? Once you'd done enough research to get you the job? Or before the final interview so that you could honestly tell them there was nothing going on between us?"

"Greg, no, that's not it at all."

"Really." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, really. Okay, I'll admit that Cuddy advised me that it would be a good idea to get to know you—"

"I doubt she meant it in the biblical sense," he said bitingly.

"No. But I never intended for this to… for us to…I was surprised by how much I…" Jess was tripping over her words, not typical for someone as articulate as she normally was.

"What, liked me? I was just supposed to be homework. Cram up on the crabby doctor and improve your chances, huh?"

"Well, yes, at first, but then—"

"I'm not ready to hear but then, Jess. Get out."

"But…" Jess felt the tears of anger and frustration forming a lump in her throat, but told herself not to cry.

"You were so keen to keep us secret and I didn't mind. Except now I know the real reason. Knowing me would help you get the job. But 'knowing' me would hurt your chances. Cold, Jess, really cold. And that's saying something coming from a cold-hearted bastard like me."

Jess could only swallow hard. He was right. It wasn't quite like that but, for all intents and purposes, he was right.

She nodded and got up, leaving him lying the bed, heading to work on autopilot.

--

"House." House rubbed his eyes and leaned back in the chair as he answered his cell phone. It was five o'clock and he hadn't had anywhere near enough sleep to have been diagnosing the complex patient he'd been dealing with that day. Thankfully, they'd got to the bottom of it and he was now looking forward to a drink and a pizza. And then another drink. Or four.

"Hi Greg."

He sat up straighter in his chair. He hadn't expected to hear Jess's voice. Figured it would be a while before she called or turned up – if ever. If there was one thing he was good at it was pushing people away and not letting them forget why. But right now, he was tired.

"Jess," he said wearily. "Can round two wait? I'm tired."

He was surprised by the hitch in her voice and the sob she tried to disguise with a cough. He'd never seen her cry.

"I didn't get the job, Greg." Her voice sounded shaky. "I don't know why, but I just got a call from Cuddy. And, I know you're angry with me and you have every right to be because—" She took in a sobbing breath. "I should have told you the truth, I know that. But I need you to believe that I genuinely care about you. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you right back when we had dinner at that conference what I was trying to do.

"I think this is my payback, my karma for not telling you," she continued. "But now all I want to do is get drunk and there's only one person in the whole world that I want to get drunk with. Even if you're pissed at me the whole time."

House paused. He felt a little stab of guilt that he'd cost her the job, he guessed he hadn't really understood exactly how much it meant to her, despite the lengths she'd taken to ensure her success. He should have, of course, his job was as essential to him as breathing.

"Are you paying?" he asked.

She gave a sad laugh. "Yep."

"Okay. Meet you at my place in thirty minutes. We're going to Charlies and you're buying me a bottle of outrageously expensive merlot and another of those steaks."

"Thanks Greg."

House wasn't entirely sure whether she should be thanking him. He was still angry with her, still felt betrayed, but now there was an added complexity, a guilt that formed part of the anger.

This was why he hated relationships.