Chapter Eight

Back Again

Thanks to DrusillaBraun, HOUSEM.D.FanForever, RHSecretLove, gabiroba, HouseAddiction, Boys Don't Cry, girlwithwingsoffire, house's phoenix, bbplayer005, LPLumz, and PaulaAbdulChica2007 for their reviews!

Yes Sergeant, it was intentional.

Disclaimer: I own nothing what so ever.

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She was still healthy enough to travel by car. The decision had been hers and hers alone. House and Wilson had both tried to talk her out of it. Wilson had tried to talk her into not moving at all, fearing the transfer could speed her condition up, while House had tried to get her to take something faster. She refused both in one breath and said she was fine for the time being.

Being Lisa Cuddy, they had no choice but to give in.

Now they were piled in Wilson's car. Strangely enough, it was not Wilson driving. Cuddy rode shot gun while House was behind in the wheel. Wilson sat in the back with a less than pleased expression on his face. Beside him, Jesse slept in a comfy child seat with a binky and a pink blanket.

"Are you okay?" House asked.

"Yes." Cuddy replied simply. "Stop asking."

He took another peek at her from the corner of his eye. She caught him watching her.

"Stop watching too." She said. "I'm not gonna fall apart and die right now."

He didn't reply, just turned his attention to the road. Cuddy took note of the fact that House was driving slower than he usually did, not running yellow lights dangerously close to the red, or making tight turns that always made her heart tighten.

Within hours, they were at PPTH and House was helping her out of the car. She was fine. It was strange. One minute she would be having a seizure on the floor and the next she would feel as if she had woken up from a twelve hour nap. It didn't make sense. She felt House's gaze upon her again, blowing off as him wanting to figure out the puzzle of her illness and nothing more.

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Heads turned when the trio made their way into the hospital. Nurses, doctors, receptionists, and interns alike immediately recognized their former boss. Many of them too shocked to approach her. House wouldn't have wanted it any other way. He stood in front of her as if protecting her from the crowd, knowing full well she needed no protection, not from him, not from anyone.

Troubled turned the corner.

Dr. Fisher, the current Dean of Medicine at PPTH, turned to find herself faced with a smartass doctor, her predecessor, and Wilson wearing an 'uh oh' expression on his face.

Neither of the two men had even taken into account that Cuddy and Fisher would ever meet each other in person. They had hoped to get Cuddy settled as a patient, so that Fisher would never know she had been there.

Fisher already knew Cuddy. However there had been no reason for them to ever come across each other face to face in many years. However, Fisher would have recognized that face from the newspapers anywhere. The stories covering honors the younger doctor had received, the successes, and respect of the hundreds of doctors. Jealousy coursed through her veins as thoughts as to the reason behind Cuddy's sudden appearance started to bloom in her mind.

"Dr. Cuddy," She greeted, extending a hand with a frosty smile. "What brings you back to PPTH?"

Cuddy gave a smile, less cold, more polite as she shifted her daughter to one hip and shook Fisher's hand, firmly.

"Doctor patient privilege." She said simply. "I prefer the reason to be between Dr. House and me."

Fisher pursued her lips. "But he can't treat you. He's on suspension."

She turned to glare at House, giving him a did-you-plan-this look. He shook his head at her and tried to feign an innocent look.

"Forgot." He said.

She groaned. "Looks like I'm going back to Mercy."

House grabbed her arm and said, "I can't let you do that. It was already a risk moving you down here, if you go back, your condition may worsen."

She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off and directed his attention to his current boss.

"Look, let me treat her." He said, his voice soft and if one listened hard enough, they could barely make out a note of pleading.

Fisher glanced at him, frowning. Wilson stepped in.

"Dr. Fisher, Dr. Cuddy is well known and respected in the medical field. If we treat her successfully then PPTH gets good publicity. Something we desperately need at a time like this." He reasoned.

Cuddy sent a look in his direction, wondering what had happened while she had been in New York. Both he and House ignored her. It had become typical in her absence for Wilson to play diplomat to help House get what he needed. Usually Fisher would refuse whatever he wanted just to show him who was holding the leash. Cuddy had never done that with him. She may have been in charge, but she knew better than to refuse House simply because he was House.

Dr. Fisher gave a sigh. "Fine, but House I expect you to double your clinic hours until the end of the month." She said.

He didn't hesitate, fearing that the deal would go off the table if he exhibited his usual reaction. Strangely enough, he subtly hated the woman standing before him, a feeling he had rarely felt. Most people to him were indifferent, at worst annoying, with Fisher it was a steadily growing feeling of hate. With Cuddy, he had always felt secure and trusting of her decisions and even though he would toy with his answer, he knew he would've done anything she seriously asked him to do willingly. Fisher was different. House only obeyed her when he had no choice.

"Dr. Cuddy. " Fisher said, directing her attention to the younger woman. "I hope you will be comfortable during your stay."

"It's good to be back." Cuddy said sincerely.

Fisher snorted. She had never respected the younger doctor. She believed that Cuddy had been too young to truly be honored with the title Dean, and that the woman had only made it to the top because of her looks. She failed to recognize the traits that she, herself, lacked, that Cuddy had been so easily blessed with and easily carried out.

"Only for the time being." Fisher said. "After all, this hospital has been doing wonderfully well even without you Ms. Cuddy."

Cuddy raised an eyebrow. She wasn't used to being call "Miss" anything. It had always been doctor and even though it was subtly shown, she could feel the older doctor's contempt for her.

She forced herself to remain civil. "I'm glad to see that my work hasn't been undone." She said.

"Why would it? There wasn't much to undo."

That was uncalled for and anyone watching knew it. Cuddy scoffed and then put on a smile. She was used to such criticism and comments from people that had never believed in her until she pulled something incredible together right before their eyes.

"Well then there hasn't been much that's been done." She finished, before sidestepping past Dr. Fisher and toward the elevator.

House hobbled after her, an obvious pleased smirk plastered upon his face. He loved this side of Cuddy, the witty, clever, bantering side of her that showed that her mind was as brilliant as his own. She just had more control.

Wilson was hiding behind his hand, trying not to make it too obvious that he found the scene incredibly funny. Fisher sent him a glare and he quickly fled toward the elevator.

House gave him a wave as the metal doors shut in his face. Wilson stopped before hitting them face first, clenching his fist and fighting back a curse. Fisher was walking toward him and he took a moment of opportunity to flee up the stairs.

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House personally got Cuddy settled in a room only two doors away from his office. The door in between was a closet. For the first time, he was the one to get her hooked onto a heart monitor, check her vitals, and make sure she was comfortable.

"I thought you don't do patients." Cuddy said, immediately regretting her wording.

"I'm not doing you, Dr. Cuddy. That would be unethical and it would mean that the nurses get to see that you wear hot pink thong panties and gossip about." He said.

She rolled her eyes. "Welcome back to PPTH." She muttered under her breath.

He smirked at her. "What would a welcome be without one of my sarcastic comments?"

She pretended to think. "I don't know…a good one?"

He laughed, loud and throaty. She grinned in response. Jesse, however, was not amused. She awoke screaming. Cuddy immediately started to shush her gently, rocking her back and forth until her cries dimmed to nothing.

As soon as she got the child quiet, however, Foreman, Chase, and Cameron burst through the door, nearly tripping upon one another. Jesse screamed her startlement. The shushing routine began again with House and his ducklings conversing in yells to hear each other over the amplitude of Cuddy's daughter's screams.

"CUDDY'S BACK?" Foreman yelled.

"WHAT?" House yelled back.

Chase motioned to the bed. "SHE'S BACK!"

"WHAT?"

Then House held up a finger as he moved to Cuddy's bedside. Cuddy was trying to crawl out of the bed to get the binky in Jesse's diaper bag. House got it for her and stuck it firmly with resolution into Jesse's mouth. The cries died at once.

"WOW!" He exclaimed, rubbing his ears. "Only a child of Cuddy's would have that great of a lung capacity. It must be genetic."

Cuddy made a face at him, then turned her attention to the ducklings gaping open mouthed at her.

"Guys, please pick your bottom jaws off the floor." She said.

To everyone's surprise, Foreman reached over and gave his former boss a hug. Obviously glad to see her again. House raised an eyebrow.

"Since when does the convict give hugs to his boss?" he asked.

"I was indicted, not convicted." Foreman retorted. "And what's wrong with being human?"

He paused, "Oh wait, this is House we're talking about."

Faking House's posture and voice, he said, "I'm Dr. House. I am sarcastic, cynical, bitter, and the biggest jackass known to mankind. I do not have feelings so here I am, wondering why I'm all alone."

House looked at Foreman for a moment. "At least I have a positive attitude about my faults, after all, I'm not a useless doctor who can't figure out a case without the mean sarcastic jackass there to hold my hand."

"Uh, actually we were all for trying treatments, but Cameron was the one that wanted to confirm everything with you." Chase pointed out.

"Just because you have good hair, doesn't mean you can blame it on everyone else." House said. "Though Cameron, I'm not surprised."

She glared at him. He ignored her.

"So we have Dr. Cuddy here." He said.

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Basically, I'm sick and no one knows what's wrong with me."

House nodded. "I want CT scans, blood tests, ultrasound and an MRI." He said. "All the tests that carry no risk. I want to know exactly what the symptoms are and if there are any that are not obvious to plain sight."

They paused to stare at the child watching them in Cuddy's arms.

"How did?" Chase began.

"GO!" House yelled at them.

They scurried out, questions unanswered.

"Thanks." She said. "I wasn't really ready for all their questions."

"You'll never be ready." He said, picking Jesse up out of Cuddy's arms.

She was surprised that he would willingly come within a foot of the child, but kept her surprise to herself. She found herself enjoying this side of him, a side that no one but she ever got to see.

"So you're gonna cure me?"

"That's the idea." He said.

She gave him a smile. "Then hurry." She said. "I can't miss too much work."

He rolled his eyes. It was the typical Cuddy response and demand. The reason always was her job. She hadn't changed that much and House liked the familiarity. His life had changed drastically ever since she left and he had been slowly spiraling downhill ever since, but now with her presence, warm and familiar, he could almost feel himself being picked up out of the hole he had dug himself into.

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"The tests were clean." Foreman said. "Nothing irregular popped up."

"Nothing is supposed to pop up. We're supposed to look for them." House said.

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Well we looked and there was nothing."

"Obviously there's something. People don't just faint in the middle of hospitals. Oh wait, never mind. What I meant was people don't just faint randomly if nothing's wrong." He said.

"Check again."

Chase slammed the file onto the table. "We already did. There's nothing wrong."

Beepers started to ring and go off all around them. Every one of them were being called to Cuddy's room. They exchanged glances.

"You wanna repeat that?" House asked.

Chase didn't answer, they were already halfway to Cuddy's room.

House being the last one to start out, was strangely the first to arrive at Cuddy's side. She was having another seizure, characterized with thrashing and convulsions. She struggled for breath, gasping for the air she desperately needed, and his heart ached at the sight of her pain.

"What happened?" he demanded to the nurse as he pulled out a needle and injected the contents into Cuddy's arm.

She stopped thrashing.

"I came in to check on her and her fever spiked up to 103 degrees. That's when I called Dr. Chase, Dr. Cameron, and Dr. Foreman, then she started to seize so I called you and she couldn't breathe."

House didn't answer as he checked his friend's vitals. They were settling back to normal though her fever was still dangerously high. He sighed as he looked down upon her. Her eyes were closed, her breathing was labored.

"Get her on some oxygen." He said, in a lowered tone. "Her respiratory system is starting to fail."

Foreman and Chase exchanged glances as Cameron went to obey, placing an oxygen mask over Cuddy's face.

Then all there stopped to look at House for some direction, some answer as to what to do next. House really had no idea. The tests had shown nothing and her condition was getting steadily worse, faster than anyone anticipated.

"Screen her brain again." He said, "There has to be a cause to these seizures. After screening her brain, I want everyone back in the breakroom."

He stopped. It unnaturally quiet, at least to his ears, now used to the constant sounds of a baby.

"Where's Jesse?"

The nurse, Previn, answered, "I brought the child to Wilson's office. He said he would watch her and let Cuddy get some sleep."

House slowly nodded, "Okay, do what I just said." He said.

"Where are you going?" Cameron asked.

"Wilson's office, I'm the new nanny." He said. "Or manny or whatever."

Then he limped out of the room, leaving some very confused doctors.

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Wilson was finished up some paperwork when House barged into his office without knocking. To Wilson's surprise, Jesse didn't cry. He expected her to, but she just glanced at House and laughed and sat up on Wilson's sofa.

"Yeah, well you're fat." House retorted, before turning to Wilson.

"Were you the one that left the roses?"

"Uh why?"

"Because I threw them away."

"Why?"

"Because." He said. "I'm an evil bastard that wants to mess with everyone else's happiness."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask for a territorial war over Cuddy."

"No, you begged for it." House replied.

"You like her?" Wilson asked, his eyes the size of giant flying saucers.

"No." House said. "But that doesn't mean you can like her."

"What?" Wilson said, utterly confused.

"I don't like her, but you like her, but because I don't like her so that means you can't like her because then that would mean that I wouldn't like you and it's not worth me not liking you because you like her, even though I don't like her. " House said in a single breath.

Wilson was too dazed to say anything. He was too lost trying to figure out what House had just said to even notice that House had picked up Jesse and left until the door slammed.

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The ducklings were already in the break room when House arrived, balancing Jesse in his arms and trying to walk with a cane at the same time. Only Chase noted that Jesse had a change of clothes and was holding a small key chain in her hand.

"Did you change her?"

"She spat up. I don't like the smell of vomit." He said.

Cameron reached for the child and House stared at her for a moment before handing the child to Cameron.

"Okay what did the brain scan show?" House asked.

"NOTHING!" Cameron said.

He watched her for a moment. "Okay for that comment, you've got babysitting duty until Cuddy gets better." He said.

"What? You can't just take me off the case like that!" Cameron said.

House patted Jesse on the head. "Little demon here needs a temporary manny." He said. "Surely a kind-hearted, obsessive with the good in life, wouldn't dream of allowing a child being left alone while her mother is in the hospital."

He stood up and added. "Her diaper bag is under my desk. Give her a bottle at one." He said, before leaving to do another brain scan by himself.

Cameron glared at his retreating back. "Where's her daddy? He should be the one watching her." she said, to her colleagues.

"The dad must be out of the picture." Foreman pointed out. "I mean hello, it's Cuddy, since when did she date?"

"She did that Eastern lube guy." Chase pointed out.

"One date that House crashed." Cameron said.

"Well that's just House. He can't be happy so he doesn't want anyone else to be happy either." Foreman said.

"Do you think he's the father?" Cameron asked.

"Who House? Hell no." Chase said.

"No I meant lube guy."

Foreman thought if over. "No, I don't think so, whoever it is, definitely needs to be someone Cuddy's known for a while."

"Why?" Chase asked. "We think of her as the Dean of Medicine, all put together and working 24/7, but maybe she had a wild weekend or something."

He stopped talking when he saw Foreman and Cameron but just gaping at him with what-the-fuck expressions on their faces, almost like the time he said the yo-mama joke only to have people stare at him.

"It could happen."

"Cuddy…right…" Foreman said sarcastically.

Chase shrugged, "Just trying to cover all possibilities."

"Yeah…." Foreman said.

They leaned back in their chairs and watched Jesse entertained herself with House's laser pointer.

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Cuddy was still oxygen even as House did the brain scan. She was awake and staring at the whiteness of the lights above her. She wasn't scared. It was a strange word to her. Fear. She should've been scared, she should've been terrified, but she wasn't. She trust House to save her, trusted him mind, body and soul, more than willing to thrust her life into his hands and let him do with it what he pleased.

She wasn't scared as long as he was still trying.

He was watching the computer as it covered each section of her brain with his glasses perched on his nose. Each section he paused, looking closely everything, then he saw it. Right in the center of her right temporal lobe was something that caused his sureness of curing her to drastically change.

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"She's got encephalitis." He said. "Brain inflammation."

"Okay," Cameron said, getting up. "I'll put her on the blood thinners."

He reached out and grabbed her arm. "YOU are not doing anything." He said. "Well except giving Jesse her bottle. It's one."

Jesse glanced at Cameron expectantly. She grumbled as she heated the milk and started to feed the child. The child refused to eat. Cameron tried to coax it into her mouth, but Jesse responded by turning her head away.

"Why won't you eat?" she asked.

"You know she doesn't know how to talk yet, so I don't think she'll give you a reason." House answered.

Cameron groaned and tried again. This time Jesse responded by slapping the bottle away. Cameron was losing her mind. She always thought herself to be good with children, but Jesse was trying to do everything in her power to disprove her theory.

"Only Cuddy's child can be such an ass." Cameron muttered.

"Hush, there's a child in the room, no profanity." House said.

Chase raised an eyebrow. House, telling Cameron not to cuss because of a child was something none of them had ever thought they would ever see.

"Give her to me." House said.

Cameron quickly thrust the baby back to House and House snickered at her futile attempts to prove to herself that she was a decent mother. She didn't have the caress that Cuddy had with children, no matter how badly she wanted it.

House cradled the child and then snuck the bottle into her mouth. Jesse didn't argue, just sucked hungrily, gazing up at her father with a wide eyed innocent look.

The ducklings were in utter shock, but House gave them no time to dwell on it.

"Foreman I want you to do the thinners. You and Chase will monitor her all night, until she is back on her feet and walking around, barking orders." He said.

Cameron looked at House. "What about me?"

"I told you already. You're on babysitting duty." He said.

"But you handle her better than me."

"But I'm also the head of this department. Lots of things to do." He said.

"He means clinic hours." Wilson said from the doorway, having heard most of the conversation. "And her symptoms clearly show toward brain inflammation."

"Exactly, so Foreman, thinners, now." He said.

"Did you get her medical files to make sure they won't have negative sideaffects?" Wilson asked.

House rolled his eyes. "I known her for too long, not to know her medical history." He said.

"Well she's been gone for a year, it might not hurt to double check."

House handed Jesse back to Cameron and without out a word, limped back out of the room, toward the basement, where all hard copies of every single employee and patients' medical files were kept.

With Cuddy, he was taking no chances.

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They sat watching Cuddy. It was an amusing sight actually to have both of them just staring at her as she slept. Her eyes opened and she started to choke. Chase quickly unhooked her from the oxygen. She coughed and slowly sat up.

"You feeling better?"

"Oh yeah." She said. "Lots. What was the diagnosis?" she asked.

"Brain inflammation." Foreman answered. "We put you on blood thinners for the time being and will be monitoring your condition closely."

She smiled. "Great. Thanks guys and thank House for me too. Now all I need are the discharge papers."

"Wait are you planning on leaving?" Chase asked.

"That was the idea. You know, get better, get out of the hospital." Cuddy replied frankly.

The two looked at their feet. She sensed there was something they were not telling her.

"What's the matter?" She asked, concern in her voice.

Foreman nudged Chase, who nudged him back. Cuddy waited. Finally Chase lost their game of rock, paper, scissors, and had to be the one to tell her.

"We were sort of hoping you would challenge Fisher, you know. Show her how you do things."

"I don't run this hospital anymore, Chase." Cuddy said.

"We know, it's just that things haven't been okay since you've been gone." Foreman said.

"What do you mean?" Cuddy asked, already knowing she would not like what she would hear.

"Fisher hates House. I think the only reason she keeps House still on the staff is because patients come to him, but those numbers are decreasing."

"Why?" Cuddy asked. "He's still a brilliant doctor."

"Not when Fisher won't allow any of his treatments." Foreman said bitterly. "She does it to spite him and us, since we were the department that was created by you. She hates your guts and changes everything you've done just to prove that the hospital can function in a different way than the way you ran it."

"She's a fucking bitch." Chase said bitterly.

Cuddy put a finger to her lips. "Don't get fired because you're emotions are going wild." She warned. "I may not fire you in her place, but she may."

"You know her?" Chase asked.

"Once a very long time ago." Cuddy said vaguely. "But as to your request, I'm not going to cause trouble. It wouldn't be right for me to cause it as a patient at her hospital."

"Cuddy, she's killing people." Foreman said.

Cuddy closed her eyes. "I know and I'm sorry, but my hands are tied. I have no power over her."

Her guilt was already beginning to course through her veins. She hated leaving, but hated the consequences even more. She had hoped PPTH would fall into capable hands, but she never dreamed that Fisher would be the one to take her place. However, she could not change what Fisher has already deemed. She was no longer Dean. She had no say in what Fisher did or ruled on anything.

That alone cut.

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Author's Note:

That was a long one wasn't it? Lol I had to leave it at a cut off point because it was getting extremely long. Anyway, enjoy it! More on the way soon. More drama too and medical cases, or at least my attempt at more of them.