Thank you for the lovely reviews, guys. It feels good that some peeps are liking this so far.

** Also, I want to make a correction. House mentioned that he did have a dental thing made while he was in the Philippines on Season 6, BRAVEHEART EPISODE.

Also, with the words uttered by House as you'll soon find out, he might be a little bit OOC.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. HOUSE, MD and its characters belong to David Shore and Company.

CHAPTER 2 – MOVING ON TO WHERE?

Cuddy was even left bewildered after hearing House say I'M SORRY and then his loving gesture of kissing her on her forehead followed by those foreign whispered words. She didn't understand what was spoken to her ears but with the gravity of the voice he used along with the total resignation with it, she knows that he was saying goodbye to her and her rational mind was screaming at her to do something to prevent that from happening. She wanted to scream and to shout at him to stop and go back.

But, that precise moment, her mind and voice totally failed her. They went blank on her and she can't do anything but see how the love of her life disappeared right before her very eyes without even looking back.

She didn't even notice that Wilson had approached behind her and touched her left arm.

"Cuddy…"

She turned to look at her former lover's best friend and her first words were, "I need to go talk to him, Wilson. I need to say some things to him. He's leaving and I know he won't be coming back."

Wilson saw that Cuddy was now in tears and looking so lost while saying those frantic words. "Cuddy, just give him some time to think things first. He will never have the….." He tried to explain to her but Cuddy won't take anything for now. Wilson saw her retreating form back to her house and approached her sister, Julia. He was left with no choice but to follow her.

He heard Cuddy was telling Julia to look after Rachel for her as she walked fast towards her garage and went inside her car in one fluid motion. He knew he can't stop her for now and so, he immediately went to the passenger's side and sat beside her.

"I'll come with you."

Cuddy just started her car engine as if she didn't hear him. Wilson was observing her closely now and was worried about her state of mind. He doesn't know what was said between House and Cuddy a few minutes ago but he knows, based on the woman's actions now beside him, that it was something serious. He never saw Cuddy like this before.

After a 20-minute drive, they arrived outside House's apartment building. Parking her car, Cuddy got out and run towards the apartment's entrance door. Wilson was right behind her as he saw Cuddy knocking at House's door and calling his name incessantly.

"House…House…" Cuddy kept on knocking and calling his name but they got no answer.

Wilson suddenly realized that House was gone. He took out his wallet and retrieved House's spare key from there. He told Cuddy to step aside and inserted the key to its lock.

As soon as the door burst open, Cuddy came rushing in calling House's name in a louder voice now. "HOUSE…HOUSE, we need to talk." She practically went to every room calling her former lover's name in vain.

Wilson carefully surveyed the room. All of House's things are still in place. Nothing was unusual except for the owner's absence on his sanctuary. Then, he spotted something on top of his best friend's piano. He slowly approached it and saw two white envelopes. He can still hear Cuddy's frantic voice calling out House's name.

The first thing that caught his eyes was Cuddy's name scribbled on top of the thicker envelope and then, his own name on the thinner one besides it. He took the one that was addressed to him and slowly, opened it to read what his deranged friend had written to him. The only words he saw were:

Wilson, take care of Cuddy. I'm sorry.

That's it. It wasn't even signed at all. But, Wilson knew House's handwriting to be sure that this was indeed written by his best friend. He went to grab the thicker one that was addressed to Cuddy when he heard her voice.

"Wilson?" Cuddy's voice was so low now as if all her energy had been drained out. He heard her footsteps coming near him and he, too doesn't have the energy anymore to talk and just turned around. Without words, he handed him the white envelope containing her name on it.

Cuddy, who was still a bit lost, took the letter from him on auto-pilot. She was still looking at Wilson's face trying to get him to say something to her but all he can see was his blank expression. And so, she looked down on the thing that was handed to her. She saw her first name written in an oh so familiar scribble of her most troublesome Diagnostician on top of the envelope she was holding now. She knew his handwriting by heart especially by the manner he writes the letter "L" which always seems bigger than the rest of his letters.

Her heart started to beat faster when she saw that the letter was addressed to her as Lisa, and not as Cuddy. That alone made her vision cloudy already as she felt tears starting to form. With trembling hands, she opened the last thing that she might receive from her most beloved man. She felt something a bit heavy inside and when she took it out, she saw a heirloom silver necklace with an oval-shaped pendant locket. She put it aside first on top of House's piano and got the letter inside.

In her cloudy vision, she read the following words written:

Lisa,

By the time you will be reading this, I am no longer at your sight ruining yours and Rachel's life. I hope to be as far away as possible from you and your daughter so I wouldn't have to drag you down with me with my pain and misery. I know, everything was my fault because I let myself be deluded that I can actually be happy with someone if that someone will just learn to accept me and all my flaws. I know that I do not deserve you right from the beginning but for once, I wanted to indulge myself with the thought that in my own peculiar way, I can make you and Rachel happy in return. Believe me, every single waking moment, I tried my hardest to do that and eventually, I failed you both big time.

After our talk this afternoon, though I will never be able to completely move on and let you go, at the back of my mind, as long as I can still see you every day at work, that will be enough. Seeing you from a distance without being able to touch and caress you will be like a continued torture but I am willing to do that just to have a single glance of your beauty.

That was my intention when I went to your house with your hairbrush. I wouldn't want to let go of it because that was the last thing you have at my apartment and giving it back meant that we really are over. But, what choice do I have? You made your decision and Wilson was right when he said that I was sabotaging any form of relationship that I could have with you. Being just my boss again is enough than nothing.

I know, there will never be a valid excuse as to what I did. But please know in your heart, that I never plan to hurt you and Rachel. I wasn't thinking very clearly but never did I intend to hurt you both.

I am not asking for your forgiveness because I know that I don't deserve it. I just hope, that one day when you think of me, you will be able to recall some good memories with me and not only those horrible things I did to you. I only wanted you to be happy, Cuddy.

And if it's not too much to ask, I hope you will still accept this necklace. I was supposed to give it to you during our one year anniversary but with everything that turned out to be, I didn't have the courage to give it to you. It had been with my family for generations and it had been passed on to the first male born members. It has been a family tradition for the male members to give it to the one woman they truly love and to have their family photo inside the locket. And though, I know we are nowhere near that family, I still want you to have it.

Please be happy and safe, Cuddy now that I am no longer with you infecting you with my curse at pain and misery. It will bring me peace knowing that you and Rachel are moving on towards something that does not involve me.

I love you, Lisa. I'll always will.

House

This time the letter was signed. By the time, she was done reading, her tears were freely falling down her cheeks. Her heart was aching and longing for this man whom she'll always gonna care and love. She wanted to hate House for putting her in this position but all that she can think about now is that she won't be able to see his blue eyes staring intensely at her. There won't be that feeling of excitement she got every time she knows he'll be barging in at her office unannounced. She wouldn't be able to hear the sting of his spiteful words towards her. There won't be any foolish pranks to be expected of him every day at the hospital. Her life will go on now without his constant need to call for her attention every single moment he chose to. Life will simply be boring and dull now.

Cuddy didn't notice that Wilson was calling her name for the last few minutes after she unconsciously dropped the letter from her shaking hands to the floor.

Wilson had to snap her out of her reverie by touching her left arm. "Lisa.."

Hearing her name and feeling someone's hand on her skin, she was pulled out of her confusing thoughts. She saw Wilson's worried expression staring directly at her. She didn't say anything but went to grab the necklace that she set aside.

Slowly, she lifted it up and carefully examined it. The chain is about 36 inches long and holding the oval-shaped pendant, she clicked the locket and what she saw inside made her heart aches more and more tears were shed.

Inside, was a photo of the 3 of them that if she remembered it correctly, was taken during her birthday after Wilson and her mom were knocked down by House by slipping in sleeping meds into their drinks. She remembered that before she went to put Rachel to bed, House took his digital camera out and set the timer and took a photo of her, Rachel and him sitting on the couch. Cuddy was smiling big time on the photo because she was very surprised that House actually wanted to have a photo of them together with Rachel. Rachel though with sleepy eyes still managed to show her cute and adorable smile while House was still looking grumpy on the photo. Though, they never were a conventional family, that night they were somewhat looking like one with Rachel sitting at Cuddy's lap and House's arms around her.

Cuddy was reminiscing that night when this photo was taken and tears kept on streaming down from her eyes. She was in total wreck right this moment remembering all the events that followed her birthday, how House was able to save her mother at the last minute, how he declared his love to her by saying that she made him a worse doctor, and that he'll choose her no matter what over saving his patients, the Cancer scare scenario she had and how she finds out that House was back on Vicodin.

She cried more as she recalled how broken and lost House was when she went to his apartment that night to break up with the one man she secretly loved for 20 years and just turned around without a single glace back, the awkward encounters they had a few days after when House returned to the hospital after his drunken and hooker weekend, his sham wedding that followed, how her own mother tried to bring them back together by pretending to sue the hospital, the sickening scene of seeing House full of his own blood on his bath tub and the freshly stupid thing House did a few hours ago at her house.

She recalled all these scenarios in her head while holding the last thing House left for her. Her mind was on over drive and she couldn't help it when she felt like she was sinking downwards. The last thing she remembered before her world became black was Wilson's worried voice calling her name.

More thoughts? I want to hear what you think of this chapter. I'm surprised to know that I got more than 320 hits on my first chapter but I only got 4 reviews. LOL, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Good and bad comments are appreciated.

Thanks for reading,

Helen