Hey, everyone! I think I might be a bit early on the updating schedule, but the chapter was done, so here it is!

Thanks for the reviews for the past chapter! And for those of you who are just reading and not reviewing, thanks for that, too! I have over two hundred people who are set up for story alerts on this, so I'm pleased you all like it!

And just a response to an anonymous review I got, just because I'm a Huddy fan doesn't mean I'm not a Cameron fan, too! I just wanted to have some fun with the fact that she still loves House, even though she says she doesn't, but anyway, onto the story!

Enjoy :)

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"Up and at em!"

Cuddy awoke to House's loud voice filling her ears. It wasn't a pleasant wake up call either. She felt herself cringing before she had the chance to open her eyes.

"I got us breakfast."

"If it's not omelets and coffee, you can take it back," Cuddy grumbled, opening her eyes to a pile of sand in her face. She was still turned away from him. She didn't realize how hungry she was until he mentioned the word breakfast.

"It's better!" He dropped an entire pile of bananas at her feet.

Cuddy partially sat up, wiping the sand off her face and mouth. She cringed when she saw his version of breakfast. "How is that better than coffee and omelets?" she asked, glaring at the fruit.

"Hey, it's breakfast in a pinch," he said, ripping one off. "Can't get the coconuts open, though."

"I hate coconuts," Cuddy mumbled, reaching out to yank off a banana of her own.

"The hard shells might be good for water transport so we don't have to keep walking up to the streambed. When it ever does rain, it's going to be ugly trying to plod up there in the mud."

Cuddy halted peeling the banana and looked up at him. "You have everything all figured out, don't you, Caruso?" she asked.

House shrugged, taking a large bite of his banana. "It's not too hard to figure out."

"Then how do we build a fire? We're going to need one, right?" She took a bite of the banana, wishing it was an omelet instead.

"Rub two sticks together," he said simply, and with his mouth full.

Cuddy chuckled. "It's a little more complicated than that." She stood, brushing the sand off her. "I have to go to the bathroom. DON'T peek at me like you tried to do last night," she added, pointing at him.

House held his hands up in his defense. "I didn't try to peek at you last night! Besides, how can I see anything when it was dark out?! I'm not that good."

Cuddy sent a smile back his way when she walked off towards the trees. "You'd find a way."

House watched her from where he stood, peeling another banana to eat in the meantime.

"Just pick a spot already!" he yelled up at her, watching her move in circles, like a dog that doesn't know if it wants that spot to do its business or not.

Cuddy's head poked up from a mass of greenery some feet away once she did find a spot she liked. "House, stop looking!"

He couldn't see anything, for she was surrounded by trees and tall tropical weeds. He told her that and her head ducked down again.

"Gee, Cuddy, sounds like Niagara Falls up there!" he shouted a moment later, making his timing perfect.

"You can't even hear anything!" she shouted back.

"Wanna bet?" He finished his second banana and tossed the peel into the sand. "Make sure you wipe good! You're living in those clothes now; you don't want them to be all dirty!"

Cuddy stood up and came out from behind the weeds, glaring at him as she made her way back down to the beach. "I can't even pee in peace without you looking over my shoulder."

"Just think of us as a married couple. We get to see everything," he said simply, finishing another banana.

"How many of those did you eat?" she asked.

"Just now or earlier when I was bringing them over?"

"Don't eat them all! We need to save them!" she yelled in a motherly type voice.

"Loosen up, Cuddy, there are thousands of bananas around here."

"Well, that's all we can eat, so don't go crazy," she murmured. "We don't know how long we'll be here. Nice stick, by the way," she added, jutting her chin to a walking stick that House was holding in his free hand.

He looked it over. "This stick?" he asked with a clueless frown.

"Well, yeah, what other stick would I—Oh, god, don't go there." Figures he'd think of a double meaning for the word.

"Hey, you started it."

"That's not what I meant!" She pointed to the stick. "That's what I meant!"

House laughed. "You sound so insulted, Cuddy. Relax."

"Relax," Cuddy whispered. "Right. Easier said than done." She started picking at the hem of her pants at the back.

House frowned. "What are you doing?" he asked, eyeing her midsection.

"My skin itches. I think I have a rash from the salt behind the hem."

"Let me look," he said, tossing another banana peel into the sand and limping over to her.

"In your dreams," she said, feeling the bumpy area with her fingertips along her lower back.

House motioned for her to come closer to him with his hands. "Come on, I won't peek down there."

"You always say that."

"Just turn around," he said, tone of voice getting huffy. "God, woman." He spun her around by the arm when she wouldn't comply. "You make my life so difficult."

He lifted up her shirt from the back and traced his fingertip across a bumpy patch of skin near the lining of her pants. Cuddy's breath caught in her throat when he touched her. He was so gentle.

"Yep, it's just as I suspected," he said, snapping her out of her reverie.

"What?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"The pants have to come off."

Cuddy's eyes widened. "For what?!" she asked in surprise, spinning around to face him.

"So your rash can heel. If you keep your pants on, the lining will brush up against it, irritating it further."

Cuddy chuckled. "I am NOT taking my pants off. I'll deal with the rash," she said, itching it more. This time, she was itching at her stomach as well.

House shrugged. "Okay, have it your way. Don't be bothering me when you can't sleep at night because you're too busy itching."

Cuddy couldn't stop. If she did, two seconds later it would start to itch again.

"I'm wearing a thong," she said in a small voice.

House shrugged again. "The shirt you're wearing now is long enough to cover you."

"Not all the way!"

"Who cares? I won't look."

Cuddy spat out a laugh. "Yeah, right. You check out my ass on a daily basis WITH clothes on. You mean to tell me you won't look when I'm traipsing around in a thong?"

House's facial response made him look dumb. "Come on, Cuddy, I wouldn't do that to you!"

Cuddy shook her head quickly. "Out of the question."

"Take them off, or I'll take them off for you." His face was serious, as well as his tone.

Cuddy's cheeks fell hot. She had a dream one time where he took her pants off, but that was under completely different circumstance! Whether he was telling her to remove them now for her own good or not, she knew his eyes had other plans.

"What are you going to do? Pounce on me to get them off?" she asked, head tilted in doubt.

"Are you that afraid to show me your ass? Now look who's flattering themselves."

Cuddy's jaw dropped. "It's not flattery! It's called modesty and I have every right to want to keep my pants on in front of you. No matter what you do, you'll never get them off."

That sounded like a taunt. House accepted it as a taunt and stepped closer.

"Really?"

Cuddy found her body stiffening the closer he came to her. She followed him with her eyes. She couldn't move.

"What if I…do this?" he asked, barely moving his mouth, eyes still sealed to hers as his hands dropped to the button of her pants.

Cuddy held her breath. House brought his face closer to hers. She swore he was about to kiss her again, but under what circumstances this time? Last time, he kissed her because he had to. There's no way he wanted to now. This was merely to distract her so he could remove her pants.

But he didn't kiss her. His head stopped too far away for their lips to connect. Cuddy was so focused on him that she didn't feel her pants being unbuttoned. She also hardly took notice in his fingers hooking around the hem of her pants at both sides to draw them down. She was too busy staring back into his eyes. House smirked. He knew he had Cuddy wrapped around his finger, factually and allegorically. She didn't know he was successful until she felt a hand slap on her bare left cheek to mark his triumph. Cuddy bounced backwards with a gasp. Before she knew it, her pants were halfway down her legs.

"House!" she cried, pulling her pants back up, her cheeks on fire.

"You're so easy to manipulate," he said, drawing himself back and watching her collect herself. "That was too simple."

"You think you can always distract me with a kiss?" she asked, pulling her pants back up and buttoning them.

"I can even distract you with the attempt of a kiss. It works very well. Why is that? I had no idea you found my good looks so—"

"House," she interrupted in a warning voice. "Enough. Get over it."

Cuddy hoped he would for her sake. If her cheeks burned any further, they would burn right off her face. She didn't know why he paralyzed her every time he invaded even an inch of her personal space. It was one of those things that just happened. Ever since the kiss, she's become more susceptible to his closeness.

"What the hell are you so scared about? I've been near you before. If I can remember right, it was even nearer than that."

"That was twenty years ago and it was a one-night stand. I can't even remember what happened." She held her hand up, shutting him up before he could open his mouth. She knew him too well. He was about to feed off her sentence with something smart-alecky. "I don't want to hear it."

"Wasn't gonna say anything! You're too insecure."

Good. Cuddy let the conversation drop and grabbed at another banana. She was thinking about going back to the streambed and getting more water when she noticed his stare piercing right through her. It made her feel uncomfortable. It's as if he had x-ray vision and he was marveling at what he saw underneath her clothing.

"What?" she asked.

"You don't remember what happened?"

Cuddy scoffed and walked away from him, tossing the banana down. Now would be a good time to go get the water. It gave her an excuse to get away from him.

"How could you not remember?!" he called after her.

She didn't bother saying anything back. It was a lie. She remembered everything about that one night. He was like the high school heartthrob that everyone had to have. He was smart, extremely handsome, and popular, whether he liked it or not. Lisa Cuddy was one of the few women who marveled him from day to day. He didn't necessarily have a different woman hanging off his arm every day, but that didn't stop the women from throwing themselves at him. House went to school dances and parties, but mainly sat at the sidelines fuming, much like he does now, like someone was forcing him to be there. He didn't do much.

Cuddy was sitting with her girlfriends at a table. All of them swooned over House, acting like he was the only man there. Cuddy didn't complain. She, too, was staring. And he was looking back, despite the girls who were over there, talking to him.

"Lisa, I dare you to go talk to him," Cuddy remembers one of her friends at the time saying.

Cuddy even remembers the feeling she had when her friend dared her to talk to him. Her entire body felt tingly. She'll never forget it.

"He's totally checking you out!" her other friend said and hit her on the arm.

Cuddy scoffed at her. "He's only after one thing."

"So then give it to him!"

Her friend was right. Since Cuddy didn't really know House and House didn't know her, it was easy to have a one-night stand with no strings attached. She approached him that night. During the party, they left for his dorm room and had uncomplicated sex almost the entire night. They were just two people fulfilling a need. Cuddy completely forgot about House after he graduated and left. Some years down the road, she becomes this hotshot Dean of Medicine while House is fired from every hospital he works at. Ever since he started working for her, the memories of them two together floods back into her mind and stayed there ever since. What she thought had vanished years before that had come back.

But House had Stacy at the time. Cuddy had to suppress her feelings. She even had to hear House say he loved this woman. That was hard.

And then he continues to make her life a living hell, which helps her feelings for him back down. To top it all off, they get stuck together on an island. Cuddy did enjoy being with him and would enjoy it more if he wasn't such an ass all the time!

Cuddy arrived at the streambed for the first time that morning. There was far less water today than there was last night. The water was almost down to the bottom of the streambed. If it didn't rain any time soon, the bed would definitely be dried up by tonight.

Cuddy knelt down and drank as much water as she could without feeling sick. The water definitely changed in temperature since last night. It was a temperature up from lukewarm, which made it almost dissatisfying. She grimaced as the warm liquid traveled down her throat, but if it made her stay alive, she would continue to drink it. She never realized how much she missed ice cubes.

When Cuddy got back to the beach, she noticed House tossing a coconut into the air and then catching it, much like he does with his oversized tennis ball back in his office when he's thinking.

"You know what I just realized?" House asked when Cuddy was no more than three feet away from him. He had his back turned towards her and she didn't make a sound coming towards him. It's a wonder how he knew she was there.

"What?" she asked, playing along.

"There hasn't been a single bird flying overhead since we arrived here," he said, looking up to the sky, squinting slightly from the sun.

"So?"

"That means we are nowhere near land that does have birds on it, meaning we're too far from people, meaning—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get your point," Cuddy said, holding up her hand to stop him. "Just another subtle way of telling us we're screwed. We need to start a rescue fire."

House looked at her, as if that was the stupidest thing she ever said. "Even more than there aren't birds, there aren't rescue planes. If birds don't come this way, planes won't either."

Cuddy felt a pang of disappointment flow through her veins as what little hope she had was destroyed by House in that one moment. "Stop being so cynical," she muttered. "You know how to start a fire, right? You seem to be well versed in everything else, including how to safely jump from a plane a mile up in the sky. Besides, eating bananas is going to get old very fast. We should cook fish or something."

"Bananas are the only things on this island we know are safe. Unless you want to eat bugs."

Cuddy shuddered. "I refuse to eat bugs. Why aren't the fish safe?"

House continued to toss the coconut into the air. "Tropical fish, such as fish that have thorns, puff themselves up for protection, and something else I can't remember, those are all I've seen so far and those are not safe to eat. You can give it a shot though if you want. Good luck trying to catch one."

Cuddy's stomach started growling again. Hunger pains struck her good this time.

She recoiled slightly. "At this point I'll eat anything."

"Bananas are up by the coconut trees," he said nonchalantly.

"No bananas!" Cuddy said. "What about crabs?"

"Saw a couple of those scurrying down on the shoreline," he said, jutting his chin forward and chuckled. "Fast little guys they are."

"Wonderful," Cuddy muttered, putting her fists to her hips. "So, since you don't want to eat, or start a fire, what do you want to do?"

House hummed in thought and eyed her.

"Besides that," she added in, knowing him too well.

House frowned at her. "That's not what I was thinking. Let's go exploring."

"Exploring?" It was Cuddy's turn to frown.

"Yeah, you know…walking around, looking at stuff—"

"I know what exploring is, thank you."

"Maybe we can find a cave so we don't have to sleep on the beach."

A barefoot Cuddy lead the way. "I like the beach."

"You won't like it when we get our first storm of wind and rain. Ever see Cast Away? That guy had some brutal storms. Luckily, he found a cave."

"That's a movie, House, this is real life. There aren't caves just because you want there to be one."

"There was a streambed because you wanted there to be one, right?"

"That was just a coincidence."

"Pretty big coincidence, isn't it? It's not often you see a streambed on an island."

Cuddy rolled her eyes at him. "Are you saying it's not a coincidence and that it was put there?"

House shrugged. "I'm saying that maybe we're not alone on the island."

Cuddy felt a twinge of worry. She paused before speaking. "You think someone's here with us?"

"No…I think it's us that's here with someone."

"What's the difference?"

"They were here first."

"There's no one here."

"How do you know? They could be…" He gasped dramatically, "hiding in a cave somewhere." He looked around with wide eyes. "Where could that be?"

"Okay, House, can you stop being such an ass and try to be serious for once with given our current status? I don't know about you, but I'm scared out here."

House scoffed. "You're always scared. I thrive on adventure."

"Even adventure where there's a possibility that there might be no coming back from?" Cuddy hated to say that. Even though self-sanguinity kept her going, it wasn't hard to fall reproachful every now and then.

House didn't look daunted one bit. It's as if he knew there was help coming right around the corner and didn't clue her in on it. He nodded. "Exactly."

"We need to start a rescue fire," she repeated, knowing it was a lost cause. He already told her he didn't want to, but not in so many words.

"We need to find a cave."

"There are no caves, House!" she yelled ahead to him as he limped away from her.

She refused to go with him. She spun around and headed back up to the area where she slept the night before. She used that spot as her temporary domestic dwelling until help came. She still had hope that there would be someone flying in on the horizon, or coming to them by boat. Unlike House, who treated this like a vacation rather than an accident.

Cuddy sat in the sand, bringing her knees up to her chin. She watched as House disappeared around the corner, behind large rocks and trees. At least with him gone it gave her a chance to think. Would she ever make it off this island? Would she ever see her home, her hospital, or anything from civilization again? Do the people at home know what happened? If they did, how were they reacting? It's been nearly three days now. How was Wilson taking it? Pretty hard, probably. He'd be in denial for a good chunk of the time. What about House's lackeys? Cameron would miss him the most. She's probably organizing a search of her own just to find him. Chase and Foreman…they would be a little saddened at first, but would open up nicely to a new boss that treated them with respect.

And who would fill the Dean of Medicine slot? That's not really an easy job to fill. Cuddy hated the idea of someone waltzing in and taking over her hospital, especially when she was alive and well out there in the world, stuck with House no less.

Cuddy missed it back home. She missed the mounds of paperwork that would pile up daily on her desk. She even missed House coming into her office and making absurd diagnoses just to see what her response would be. It's funny the things you miss when you realize you may never get to experience them again.

Of course, House could always come to her now and make lame diagnoses if he was really that bored. She'd probably listen. She's been away from work for so long that she'd probably listen to anything idiotic House had to say, as long as it involved the hospital and not the determination to find a cave.

Cuddy didn't realize she was crying until the first tear fell onto her bare knee, past the rips she acquired from yesterday's water search.

"Please let someone find us out here," she said. She remembered House's words when he said that no birds meant there wasn't any mainland around them. During the past few days out here, not a single helicopter was heard, or anything that sounded remotely close to one. What were their chances in getting off this island alive? Was the great Dr. Gregory House and Dr. Lisa Cuddy destined to die on a deserted island of all places? Was life really that cruel? Cuddy never sat around and randomly wondered how she would die, but if she did, dying on an island wouldn't be her first choice!

Cuddy quickly dried her tears after a round of feeling sorry for herself. She didn't want House to come back and pick on her for being so weak.

"Hey, Cuddy, I found a cave!" House yelled. His voice carried well, bouncing off the rocks. Cuddy poked her head up and couldn't see him anywhere.

First, there was a streambed, and then there was a cave. It really did seem too coincidental. Was this island not so deserted after all?

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Cameron awoke to a hand over her forehead. She had to blink several times to wade away the blurriness. When she did, she frowned at the intensity of the florescent lighting above her.

"She's coming out of it," Chase said, removing his hand from her forehead. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" Cameron asked with a small groan and supported her upper half on her elbows.

"You fainted," Foreman said, checking her pupils with his penlight. They were responsive.

Cameron took a deep breath after that. "I…House…Is he really missing?"

"Afraid so," Foreman said, helping her sit up.

The further Cameron sat up, the dizzier she felt. She slapped her hand to her forehead with a groan. "I don't feel so good."

"Just try and relax, okay?" Foreman backed off when she was able to sit without help.

"You would never faint for me," Chase said bitterly, feeling a whole world full of jealousy that Cameron was still attached to House. Her actions clearly said so.

"Chase, this is clearly not the time," Cameron scolded, followed by a small wince. "Did I hit my head or something?"

"Do you feel something other than dizziness?" Foreman asked with concern.

Cameron pressed in just above her right eyebrow. "It feels like I've been hit with something."

Chase grunted. "It's probably where House was struck."

All eyes went to him, including Wilson, who was also by Cameron's side.

"What?" he asked, not liking the harshness of their eyes. "It can happen."

"It can happen, but we don't want to hear about it," Wilson reproached.

Chase admired House, but because of the way Cameron was acting towards him, he could care less if he was alive or not. A funny taste formed at the back of his throat. Cameron didn't admit to loving him, but she'll admit to loving a man that would never reciprocate those feelings. House would never look at her as anything other than a nice piece of art to hang in the lobby, and yet, she still loves him. All because he's damaged.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he stormed out of Wilson's office. A moment later, a researcher from oncology stormed into his office, completely blanched.

"Have you guys seen the news?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Is it about House?" Wilson asked as Foreman helped Cameron to her feet.

"It's all over the place!"

They hurried to the lounge, as well as everyone else on the floor. They all piled in just as the large, high definition TV was being turned up as loud as it could to accommodate everyone in the room.

An American newscaster was flying in a plane above what Wilson, Foreman, and Cameron knew to be the Pacific Ocean. The water below the helicopter he was flying in was so beautiful. It's hard to think that something like that could swallow an airliner and take all those innocent people down with it.

The others in the lounge had no idea what happened to House and Cuddy until now. Wilson never told anyone and he did wish it was kept quiet until he found out more about the rescue attempts.

"We are flying for the third time out here with every attempt to find survivors of the lost flight 171 out of LAX three days ago, bound for Japan. Among the passengers were world-renowned diagnostician Dr. Gregory House and Dr. Lisa Cuddy from Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. We have found evidence that the plane went down around a hundred miles north of Hawaii, but have found no survivors so far. Attempts to recover the plane and its entirety from the bottom of the ocean is set to be in motion later this afternoon."

He continued, but hardly anyone was listening. They were too busy either whispering amongst themselves, or finding the need to hurry out of there, not believing that someone like that could happen to their boss.

Wilson, Foreman, and Cameron stepped out of there as well. Cameron couldn't stomach anymore.

"How did their names get on there?" Cameron asked.

"They must've gotten the roster from LAX," Wilson said. "Will, the LAPD chief, said that the names of all the passengers would be mentioned at some point on the news."

"I don't think they had a right to mention House and Cuddy," Cameron said, feeling her stomach knot up.

"What did they mean when they said they were going to exhume the crash?" Foreman asked.

"I think it's a good idea," Wilson admitted. "That way they can see whose missing and who isn't if they have the roster at the airport."

Cameron nodded. "So if House and Cuddy are missing from the plane when they find it at the bottom of the ocean, it's likely that they're alive somewhere, right?" she asked, still keeping a little hope inside when everyone around her has accepted the fact that House and Cuddy were dead and wondered what they were going to do for management. That was half the reason why Cameron's stomach knotted up.

"Hopefully. We can only hope."

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Wilson will be playing a major role in the rescue of House and Cuddy (assuming they DO get rescued in time) Cameron and Foreman might also, but definitely Wilson. Oh, and in the next chapter, there will be smut! I am working on it as I speak, so it's a definite. It will be well worth the wait! Thanks for reading! :) Review, too, pretty please! If I get a sufficient amount of reviews today, the next chapter will be up tomorrow! (normally I don't barter, but reviews are my world!)