I'm tired. Soooo tired.

don't own

"Elvis." House heard a whisper, "Elvis." It was louder this time and there was shaking on his arm. "Elvis." The voice insisted. House opened his eyes laboriously and looked at the clock. 5:02. He was never going to get any sleep.

"What?" He groaned, voice hoarse with sleep.

"I have to pee." He whined.

"Then pee." House said rolling over.

"I don't know where the bathroom is…" He said, then paused, "I don't want to go alone."

House groaned loudly and pulled himself up into a sitting position. He looked over at the sleeping form beside him and realized Cuddy was going to be late for work. For some reason he remembered her mentioning she got up at four forty five every morning. It made him slightly nauseous to know that she did that willingly. He smirked and lifted his sitting form until he was on unstable legs.

"Come on." He groaned feeling his own full bladder.

Ronald grabbed his hand and led him into the hallway outside his bedroom. House pushed the kid toward the small room to the right. They got into the cool bathroom and House looked at the kid expectantly. "Well…do your business."

"I don't…"

"Don't what?"

"I don't…like it when people watch."

"Mk." House turned around leaning his head against the frame of the bathroom door. He was tired. So tired. He listened as the kid did his business…it was the only thing he could do. The toilet flushed, House turned and saw Ronald pull his pants up. "Wash your hands." He muttered.

"Why?"

"Germs." He mumbled with his head against the mirror.

"Germs?"

"Deadly, flu inflicting germs."

Ronald widened his eyes.

"Okay, their not deadly…but you throw up. A lot. Wash. Your. Hands."

He stood up to the sink. House noticed the kid's dilemma when he didn't move. He reached down and picked the kid up by his waist. Ronald turned the faucet on and placed his hands beneath the running water. After he lathered and rinsed his hands House put him down and gave him a towel to wipe off the remaining drops.

"Now, sleep." He said grabbing the kid's head and pointed him to the couch.

"I'm not sleepy." He said looking up to him.

"Yes, yes you are. Now go." He muttered and pushed the door to his room open.

"I'm not. I don't want to go."

"Would you like some cheese with that whine? Go."

He pouted but made his way to the couch quietly. "Hey." Ronald looked up at the tall man.

"Yeah?" He asked in a whisper.

House kneeled down painfully beside him. "Anything you want, we can do it tomorrow."

"Can we go to the zoo?" He asked practically jumping off of the couch.

"Sure. Like I said…Anything you want." He smirked slightly and caught himself…he was getting soft. He pulled himself off the ground and limped back to the bed.

--

Cuddy was still asleep when House entered the room for the second time that night. He looked over at the red glowing numbers. 5:15. He needed sleep.

His weight dipped the mattress when his knee rested on top of it. Cuddy shifted slightly and turned over toward him. Her eyes were still closed. He let out a sigh of relief and pulled his body into the bed and under the covers. He let out another sigh and turned his body to get comfortable. Sleep overtook him quickly.

--

Cuddy shifted and opened her eyes sleepily toward the glow of the clock. She sighed and closed her eyes again only to have them shoot open along with her body catapulting up. "I'm late!" She shouted, startling House from his slumber.

"What?" He asked groggily.

"I'm LATE!" She yelled again.

"Calm down."

She was pulling the covers off of her quickly and searching the room for the clothes she wore the day before.

House cleared his throat, "Calm down." He said a little louder this time, which caused Cuddy to look abruptly his way.

"calm down?" she asked scoffing at him.

"Yes. It's where you lower your voice and get that murderous look off your face." He explained patiently.

"I run a hospital." She hissed

"I know. I work there remember?"

"Hospitals are important." She continued ignoring him.

"Yes, yes they are. But it is not going to fall apart without you there." He said in as a hint.

"So what? You want me to stay here and take care of Ronald?" she asked sarcastically.

He looked at her pointedly and her smirk dropped off of her face like a bag of bricks.

"You want me to stay here and take care of Ronald?!" She practically screamed at him.

"Well, not just you. I'll be there too." He proposed

"No, absolutely not." She shook her head furiously, "I will not be forced to take of a child that you brought in here."

"I-" he started

"NO! House, this is ridiculous. I didn't want to come here in the first place and you sitting here saying you want me to baby-sit for you is not only ridiculous it is completely absurd. You have to do this on your own." She ended grabbing her jacket from the floor.

"Just look at him. How cute he is." House bribed getting up from the bed.

"Stop." She said pulling the said jacket over her shoulders.

"His big blue eyes, lightly freckled face, the way his hair is perfectly askew." He pouted to her.

"One hour." She sighed after a bit of hesitation.

"One hour is perfect." More time for him to think of ways to get her to stay longer, he decided.

"One hour." She whispered to herself putting her purse down in the place she had found it and stepping out of her halfway on heels.

--