Chapter Four-

Bulletproof

Thanks to FriendsHolic, mj0621, HouseAddiction, RHSecretLove, DrusillaBraun, girlwithwingsoffire, starstacey, PaulaAbdulChica2007, gabiroba, HOUSEM.D.FanForever, LadyEmerald, and BlkDiamond for their reviews!

Sergeant, I really have no idea. I'm not a science major remember?

Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to House. Though it would be a really awesome present.

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House stirred slowly feeling the presence of someone beside him. He opened one eye before opening the other. Cuddy was fast asleep in a chair by his bedside. He raised his eyebrow to find a bundle of blankets in her arms, its contents stirring slightly. He shifted his weight and her eyes jerked open. The bundle greeted the morning with a wail.

Gently she cooed softly and rocked it back and forth, saying soft comforts the whole time until the bundle of a child's wails turned into content gurgles.

"What is that thing?" he mumbled, sleepiness still written on his face.

"This thing is a baby." She replied pointedly.

"Yeah, but what is it doing here?" he asked.

"Because she can't be home alone." She replied, a little shaky.

She hadn't planned for him to find out this way about her child. She had planned to stay the night and then have Jesse in her office for the nanny to pick up by the time House woke up, but the night had caught up with her. Being in the same room as the two people in the world she cared about most had quieted her ever working mind and she had fallen asleep, against her will and wishes. Now she would have to deal with the consequences.

"Why do you have her?" he prodded further.

She knew she could avoid it no longer. "Because I'm her mother." She stated as if it were the most natural thing in the world, using that as a tool to hide her nervousness.

He stared at her as if she had grown another head. Internally he was trying to wrap his mind around how she could have ended up pregnant. His first thought was adoption, though adoption agencies did not usually give children to single mothers that were work-a-holics like Cuddy.

She didn't offer an explanation, forcing him to delve deeper into her private life. Something he knew she hated, but amused him.

"Not adoption. And I don't think it's marriage because you have no ring on your finger, so what…kidnapping?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes at him, but secretly glad that he was well enough to resort to his old tricks.

"No, she's really mine."

He reached up toward her and pulled the blanket aside to feast his eyes upon a rosy cheeked little girl with blue eyes that mirrored his own only without any trace of bitterness, all innocent and childlike.

She was his daughter, no question about it. She had his eyes, his mouth. Any father who looked upon their child for the first time would have known. He felt a stir in his heart followed by an overwhelming sense of fear. He stared at the little thing and then turned away.

"What's her name?" he asked, slowly.

"Jesse." Cuddy replied just as cautiously, unsure of how to react to House. She expected him to be either happy or mad. At the moment, he was neither.

"That's a boy's name. It should be little demon or something like that if you're gonna give her a bad name." he challenged.

She rolled her eyes. Typical House. "She's not a monster or anything from the Underworld." She muttered.

Silence followed her comment. House was watching Jesse, and Jesse was watching House and Cuddy was watching them both.

"She's mine isn't she?" House asked.

"Biologically? Or legally?" Cuddy asked, not even aware her tone came out more harsh than she meant it to. She wanted House to say something, do something, anything, anything that didn't confuse her.

He didn't answer just gave her a look and like so many times before, she gave in.

"Biologically, yes she's yours. I have no tests to confirm it, but I'm sure she's yours." Cuddy said.

He looked away and she saw his hand grip his covers tightly. She knew then that he didn't want this child. He didn't want the responsibility and it would have been kinder to lie to him. Tell him the child was someone else's, anyone else's she didn't have to be creative.

"It was from the donor that you gave me. "Your damn specimen was sitting in the fucking freezer! So why are you backing out now?" Cuddy demanded, losing her temper.

Her child added her discontentment with a scream. Cuddy hoisted the child onto her hip and lowered her voice.

"Tell me why the hell you did it."

He hesitated, but Cuddy had that look in her eye. Usually she would let him get away with a lot. Glares would be exchanged, but there was a certain one of her glares that left no room for argument, not from House, not from anyone and at the moment, she had that look in the eye.

"Because I didn't think you would do it. Not after what I said, and then the crazy situation! I didn't think you would be that stupid!" he yelled at her, unsure why he was yelling.

Maybe it was him detoxing. Maybe it was the fact that a consequence of not thinking one of his decisions through and it finally really came down to something he could not just simply limp away from that terrified him. He wasn't sure, but something made him snap and he took it out on the only one within range. The only one that saw him…saw through him and knew his ways by heart.

"I didn't think you would be so careless as to subject a child to your havoc of a lifestyle!" he continued unable to stop himself. "I did it to make me feel like I was helping without actually helping!"

She was glaring at him. He could have sworn he saw a glimmer of hatred, or pure dislike flashing in those cold blue eyes, but her attention turned to Jesse too quickly to be sure. When Jesse was quiet, Cuddy spoke, her voice spoke decibels, but barely rose above a whisper.

"House, thanks for telling me that now."

He looked at her almost confused. She didn't move, but glared at him, seeing him through different eyes.

"Thanks for not disappointing me. I knew it was a bad idea to trust you and my instincts were right. Thanks for letting me know that my own intuition was not wrong." She said, voice clipped and polite.

With that, she was gone, walking quickly, as fast as she could without looking like she was fleeing from the heartless man lying in the room. He was left staring at the door shutting, closing off his view of her as she disappeared behind the cursed wood. He didn't see the tears that were threatening to fall or know the effort she put in to keep from showing her weakness to the people who worked with her. He didn't see that and he was glad he didn't.

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Stacy was waiting for Cuddy in her office when Cuddy stormed in, a mess of tears, baby, and pure anger.

"Lisa! What happened?" she asked.

Cuddy put Jesse in the playpen in her office, wiping away furious tears as she answered, "House! He's always the problem. Even here, I can't get away from him!"

Stacy put both hands on her shoulders. "Lisa, breathe, in and out and tell me what he did." She said. "And when I said what happened? I meant what did House do?"

"He's just being the same as always, a complete bastard." She exclaimed.

"When is he ever not? You just brush it off and then give it back as good as you get. You usually don't react like this unless he did something very bad." Stacy pointed out.

"He doesn't want Jesse. He thinks I made a mistake having her. He didn't think I would take the donor." She ranted. "I mean it was so much better that I not know that he's the father. Right now there's so much paperwork I have to handle. I need him to forfeit rights and God knows he won't make that easy for me. He won't sign them just to piss me off."

Stacy couldn't argue with that. She racked her brain for any comforting words to tell her best friend, but found none. The truth was, when it came to Gregory House, he was as unpredictable as a coma patient's life.

Cuddy continued her rant. "You know it doesn't matter so much to me. My feelings aren't the least bit hurt, but to reject your own daughter? What the hell is wrong with that man? Does he have no sense of guilt or at least some sort of affection? Not to mention, how can he be so cocky to actually believe that he could predict my movements? And now he feels like he has the right to tell me that I made a mistake? Bullshit!"

Stacy let her let off steam. It was the only thing she could have done for Cuddy at the moment. When that girl was pissed, she was pissed and everyone had better dive out of her way before she started using unsuspecting victims for verbal target practice.

"What are you gonna do about this?" Stacy asked after Cuddy had finished.

Cuddy sighed. "Get the papers drawn up Stacy. Either he takes responsibility and actually becomes a part of Jesse's life, or he waives all rights to her. I won't have it any other way."

"What about your peace of mind?" Stacy asked softly. "Do you still love him?"

Cuddy looked at the floor, her breath still slightly heavy from yelling. "I'm not sure." She murmured. "I'm not sure of anything right now."

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Wilson saw Cuddy storm out of House's room and into her office, footsteps quick and to his trained eye, a bit hurried. He had stood up to follow, but before he could approach her, she had slammed her door shut and then yelling could be heard. He had shrank away after that.

He knew that House had done something. Cuddy would have never been that upset unless he did something extremely horrible. He would call House on it. He stared at his friend.

"YOU! OFF MY PLANET!?" House yelled as Wilson entered the room.

"I'm here to ask you a question." Wilson said. "How can you do that to people?"

House stared at him, knowing full well he was talking about his attitude toward Cuddy.

"I plead cotemporary insanity." House replied sarcastically.

"Fine House, don't give me a straight answer. I wasn't expecting you to, but listen to me talk for once." Wilson said, his voice heavy.

House stared at him some more, surprised by his actions. "Wow Jimmy, I almost believe you might hurt me."

"House, shut up. I want to know why you keep snubbing every one of us. We're your friends, the only ones you've got and you have to turn on us every chance you get. That's not what friends are for!"

House rolled his eyes. "I've been treating you like this for the past let's see, ten years? Maybe. Why bring it up now? What sunk your boat?"

Wilson lost her easygoing temper. "House, you made Cuddy cry. That's three times now. The first time in college, she forgave you. Then with the whole thing about her motherhood, she forgave you again, and now today? How long do you think she's going to keep forgiving you? How many times do you think she's going to cry because you said something that broke her shield?"

"I frankly don't care." House said, lying through his teeth.

"You will House. One day when she stops forgiving you and slams her door shut in your face, you will care and by then, it'll be too late."

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Cuddy walked through her front door, managing a balancing act that would have frightened the bravest of acrobats. House keys, groceries, baby, files, briefcase, and purse all balance in her arms.

As she sung her child to sleep that night, thoughts ran heavily across her mind. Guilt ridded her senses as she complimented her relationship with House since the day she met him. Ever since then it had been a love/hate relationship. There was a thin line between the two emotions, though House liked to call it a Great Wall of China.

She chuckled to herself as she slipped into a nightgown. The silk on her skin brought her reminder of her first night with House, how gentle he was, and how he seemed like a different person while he had been kissing her.

Feelings both past and present sought shelter in the crevices of her mind as her inner soul fought to keep from tearing itself apart. Her blue eyes focused on the ceiling in the dark, and then moving to watch the shadows dance across the wall.

She would forgive him again the next day. She would lie awake all night thinking, wondering, crying about it. Sooner or later, though, her heart would convince her mind that it was not House's fault that that's who he was. She knew his history with his family and his life before she had met him and she would convince herself that his past made his present state justifiable. Her mind shrieked at her, saying that she was fooling herself, but for once in her life Lisa Cuddy wanted to be fooled.

She would forgive him again, continue the cycle of hurt, tears, and forgiveness. She was strong, but not strong enough. She had learned by now that with House, she was anything but bulletproof. There was not way she could be. If he shot her once, a bullet she could deflect. He would take advantage of a second shot and hit her again.

She was not strong enough to break the cycle, nor was she strong enough to endure it. Lisa Cuddy was reaching the breaking point with House and her mind screamed that if she didn't jump ship soon, she would drown with the crew. She just could not decide if the limping moron that he cut his name into her heart deserved such loyalty.

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Author's Note:

How is this so far? I know it's not great and I'm really trying to spice it up. I will tell you guys that later on, it won't always be House who's the patient. Tell me if you liked it so far and the next chapter will be up soon. Wow I'm so tired. Enjoy!