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It took a while, but Cuddy finally came back with two more crabs. It was way past sundown when she returned. She looked like hell.

"It's about damn time, woman," House said, keeping himself busy by drumming his fingers along the floor of the cave and getting lost in a beat he made up. He froze when he noticed her covered with sand from her hair to the cuffs of her torn pants. "What the hell happened to you? Did you have to wrestle the mama crab for her babies?"

"Shut up," she murmured, throwing the crabs at his feet. Good thing they were dead. That shocked House.

"Wow, Cuddy, you killed them and everything! I thought you were a humanitarian."

Cuddy didn't look in the mood for his sarcastic pleasantries. She shook the sand off as best she could before entering the cave.

"You could've come to help me," she grumbled, crawling into the cave.

"Now where would be the fun in that? I'd rather watch that cute little ass of yours chase after the critters." He chuckled. "I like how you dove after one of them and landed on your face."

She glared at him while taking a seat. "You never know when to stop, do you?"

House would've said something clever to follow, but stopped when he saw her look at her hand. Blood dribbled down both sides of her hand in a thin line. "What happened?" he asked, almost sounding like he cared.

Cuddy didn't want House to notice it and quickly lowered her hand. "It's nothing; I just…fell and scraped my hand along the edge of a seashell."

"Or are they bites from a crab?"

Cuddy shook her head.

"Come on, Cuddy, I saw you dive after one of them." He wondered why she would lie to him.

"But I never caught it," she said. "Instead, I scraped my hand on a seashell. Just let it go."

"And risk you getting an infection? I don't think so." He grabbed one of the seashells filled with water, along with a waxed leaf and shifted over to her. "I'm not having you die because of something this stupid."

"I won't die because of a scrape made by a seashell, House," she said, but let him have her hand anyway. "If anything, I'll die from the toxins on the leaf or the salmonella in the streambed water."

He took her hand and purposely squeezed it, causing her to yelp.

"House!" she scolded.

He apologized, but didn't mean it. "If there was salmonella in the water, you would've died a long time ago. Although it looked like you could care less from the way I found you with your face in the water on our first night here."

"I felt like I was dying without water, House. And you wasted no time sticking your head in, too. Don't make this about me."

"Just…shut up already." He examined the cut. It went perpendicularly on the palm of her hand, right from in between her ring and middle finger, all the way down to the base of her wrist.

"Jesus, Cuddy," he said, eyes wide.

"It's not deep," she said, feeling the urge to take her hand back.

"Looks like it was created by the sand dollar from hell," he commented.

"Are you going to clean it or criticize me?" she asked. "It's not like I did it on purpose."

Holding her hand by the roof, he dipped the waxed leaf into the water and then pressed it gently to the palm of her hand, wrapping his fingers around the edge, mimicking a holding hands position.

"Like that's really going to work," Cuddy said, dropping to her occasional pessimistic attitude.

"It worked for the cut at your side, right? How is it that you're getting cut up like crazy and I don't have a scratch on me?"

"Because you're a lazy jerk who sends me out to do all the dirty work while you sit around in here creating music compositions with your fingers," she spat. "Either that or you push me because you're too proud to accept my help whenever it is you finally do go out there."

House smirked, despite her reminding him of his weakness. "Are you sexually frustrated?" he asked, dabbing the cut with the leaf.

"No," she grumbled. "I'm just frustrated."

She tossed her head back with a sigh, willing herself to relax. "I never want to chase another crab for as long as I live."

"Better get used to it," he said lightly brushing his fingertips across her hand. "If that's what you want to eat instead of bananas."

"I'm not eating again until we get rescued."

"That could be a while, Cuddy. It's already been five days; do you really think help is coming? They don't even know where we are and we haven't heard a single plane fly over us. We wasted time making an SOS out of tree branches our second day."

Cuddy furrowed her brows. Her mouth dropped. "How can you sound so damn calm?"

He washed away the excess blood around her hand and applied pressure with a dry leaf.

He slowly shrugged. "Well…because one, it's pointless to be angry now when there's nothing we can do about our current situation, and two, I don't really have anything to go back to. I have all I need right here with me."

Cuddy's facial expression loosened up. Her eyes widened a few centimeters. House shifted his eyes away from hers and concentrated on her hand. He embarrassed himself slightly by saying that.

"It stopped bleeding," he said, bringing his tone down a few notches. He removed the leaf, but not his hand. "You'll be fine."

Cuddy thanked him, tone around the same level as his. He glanced up at her, but only for a second before shifting himself back in front of the fire that was slowly dying. The back of their cave was used to store twigs, grass, and whatever else that kept the fire burning hotter and longer. She got to her feet and hunched over, stepping to the back of the cave. House watched her carefully as she grabbed both a mixture of grass and twigs. She handed them off to him and took a seat on her makeshift bed.

Once the fire was alive again, House cooked the crabs, one after the other. He gave the first one to Cuddy and kept the next one for himself. He didn't say anything while he cooked, creating an uncomfortable silence for minutes. Cuddy pulled her hair back with a provisional hair band she made out of a flimsy material she found up at the streambed earlier today. Her hair was becoming extremely unmanageable because of the salt drying it up. She needed to get it off her shoulders. The hair tie worked like a charm because of her hair thickening, due to the heat and the stress, although tonight was cooler than usual.

Was House right? Did they stop looking for them? Were they even looking to begin with? Have they really drifted that far off course that they had no chance in being rescued? Was she really destined to die on a deserted island with House of all people?

"What about you?" House asked, tossing the remains of the crab out into the sand once he was finished.

"What?" she asked. She tried not to appear shocked that he was finally talking to her. He still wasn't looking at her. He stared past the fire and out onto the beach, which was visible under the stars. He took 'Harry' into his hands and tossed it idly back and forth between each hand.

"Do you have anything to go back to?"

Cuddy had given it some thought. "I'm worried about my hospital…But I'm sure they were able to find a replacement that will take care of it," she said in a small, hurtful voice. "My mom will miss me…until the funeral is over. My dad and my sister will show they care just to show people they actually have hearts, but once they're in the same room together…they'll talk about how much I let the family down and that I got what I deserved."

House glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Cuddy brush away a few tears that escaped her eye. He could tell she was thinking about this for some time now. It was on her mind somewhere.

"What could you have possibly done to let your family down?"

"I…have a life and they're jealous of it. It was practically set in writing and put on a pedestal when I was born that I was to marry a Jewish doctor. I became one instead."

House frowned. "You mean to tell me that your parents have a grudge against you because you became a doctor?" He couldn't believe that for a second. "There must be more involved."

Cuddy shook her head solemnly. "No…there really isn't. It's just that." She sighed heavily. "So, no, I guess I don't really have anything to go back to, other than my hospital, a warm bed, shelter, and food in the house."

Her lighthearted comment got House to chuckle.

Cuddy continued, "I can trust my parents to take care of my things. The greedy jerk my dad is, he'll probably want to sell everything off for the highest value price and also walk away with my pension. My mom, who has somewhat of a conscience, will tell him not to take advantage of it, but won't stop him from taking it. She'll also dip her greedy fingers into the Lisa Cuddy cookie jar."

House scoffed. "If they walk away with your pension, they'll be set for the rest of their lives."

"No. If it's withdrawn before I turn a certain age, they take like half out in taxes or something. I don't know, I never really looked into it yet. I didn't plan on retiring for at least another thirty years."

House shrugged. "It's still a hefty sum. What is it, over a million?"

"No, not that much. So far, it's halfway there. I contribute once a month and have been since I started my first job. I also have other accounts I deposit towards…A new car, new furniture…An account for a baby…"

House was surprised. "I didn't know you were still trying." This was news to him.

She nodded. "I quit for a few months, but then I tried again without anyone knowing." More tears came to her eyes. "I lost them both six weeks into my pregnancy. I don't know what it is! There's nothing wrong with my uterus, there's no family history of miscarriages, I'm physically fit, my stress level's up only when you're around…"

House laughed quietly. "Yeah, that tends to happen. But seriously, Cuddy, don't quit just because of a few miscarriages."

Cuddy shot him a look. "Okay, House, maybe to you, they're nothing but a couple of mere mishaps, but to me, I lost three lives. It's like I killed three people. That's three different times my heart broke because my body betrayed me."

House scoffed. "Your body didn't betray you."

"I guess I just have to deal with the fact that I can't have children. But it doesn't really matter anymore anyway because I'm stuck here for the rest of my life."

House hummed. "So that's a yes on having something to go home to after all, other than your hospital and a warm bed."

Cuddy dropped her head, watching her hands fumble around on her lap. "I would've like to try to adopt."

"You'd never be accepted," House said straight away, as if he was ready for her to mention that. "You may have sufficient income and a secured residence, but you're a single mom who works around the clock. They'd size you up in one visit. DCF frowns on single moms anyway."

Cuddy grunted. "Thanks for blowing that hope right out of the water, House." If she wasn't feeling miserable already, she would be now.

"Who says you still can't have a baby?"

"I'm three thousand miles away from home, remember?"

"And only two feet away from the freshest sperm on the market."

Cuddy's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? House, we're stranded on an island. I'm not bringing a child into that!"

He shrugged. "We might be rescued. Don't knock it until about five years from now," he said, trying to sound serious, but was really full of shit.

"Okay, well, if we are rescued, maybe when we get home I'll…think about it, but right now, it's out of the question. You just want an excuse to sleep with me again."

House dramatically gasped. "Why Cuddy I'm hurt."

She chuckled and laid down on her good side. "It's true."

House laid beside her on his back, tucking his arm behind his head. Cuddy snuggled up next to him once he was settled in, using his shoulder as a pillow. His arm held her close to him. They never did this last night because of her being in one of her moods. She never realized how much she missed his closeness.

House never put out the fire. They needed it tonight. It was a much cooler night than the previous ones. Cuddy shivered as she sought after warmth between her and House.

"Cold?" he dumbly questioned.

"A little."

"I know what'll warm you right up."

"House," she stated strictly.

"It will, right?" He sounded as if he had the answer to her problems, but really did it for himself.

Cuddy took a deep breath and let it out. "If I sleep with you, will you leave me alone for about a week?"

House raised his eyebrows. "Only if I can get some at the end of that week. Because by then, my Vicodin will be well gone and I'll need something to distract me."

She propped herself up onto her elbow. "You do realize that I don't want it. I'm only giving it to you so you'll shut up."

He frowned. "Where's the fun in that? I at least want my blow up doll to be squirming beneath me."

"Fine, I'll do that."

"Nope," House said simply.

"Nope what?" she questioned.

"I'm not moving from this position. You're going to be on top."

"I hate being on top. And not just with you, but with everyone. And if you're going to be the one taking me, I get to choose my position. You're doing all the work, so it's either top or side for you."

"Oh quit making this all about me, Cuddy. You want it just as bad. Who can turn down sex with the great Greg House?" He clearly took pride in his sexual talents.

Cuddy chuckled. "I'm sure you say that to all your hookers."

"Come on, seriously, now. How can I be stuck on this island with the only woman in the world that doesn't like sex on a daily basis? Out of all the millions of women in this world that love sex, I get stuck with you. God, even at this point, I think Cameron would be much better company than you."

"I like sex, House, I just don't feel it has to run my life like other people do, including you."

"It's not running your life here; it's merely taking a few hours of boredom away. Get rid of your damn standards and have fun. It's not like anyone will see us again to judge us. It's just you and me, baby, all alone on a huge island. The only ones who will hear about us having sex is us. The trees, rocks, and sand will know about it, too, but luckily they don't have mouths to blab it onto other formations and—"

"Okay, I get your point. Wow, you really talk a lot when you want some."

"You're just not turned on because I didn't say the right things. Something different sparks every woman's sexual urges. What turns you on? Dirty talk? If you want…we can try out that dominatrix thing."

Cuddy's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Minus the leather outfit and all, but I'm sure I could find a stick and tie some sharp grass to it to create a cat-o-nine if you miss the sensation of home."

A smirk came to Cuddy's face. "You just turned me on."

It was seriously that easy? "How can you be admitting to me you like that sort of thing, but won't have simple sex with me without me begging?" Cuddy was more complicated in the sex department than he thought!

"I'm going to have sex with you now, so shut up."

"Really? Looks like I hit the jackpot! Rawrr!"

She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth, sultry and hard. He pressed her face closer to his by pushing down on the back of her head.

"We don't have to use a whip," she said, smirking through the kiss. "We'll save that for when we get home."

"I'll dress up as a dominatrix afterward if you put on the sexiest lingerie you own and give me a lap dance."

"You got it," she breathed and slipped her tongue back into his mouth, greedily claiming it as her own.

Wow…who knew that talking dirty would turn Cuddy on? For someone who didn't get a lot, the dirtiest kind of sex appealed to her. If only House knew this sooner, he would've talked dirty from the start!

"No hard feelings?" she asked, dipping her hand inside, past the lining of his shorts.

"None."

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Six days later, Wilson's phone rings. It's from someone who took part in exhuming the plane and its entirety. It's the call that Wilson's been on the edge of his seat for during the past week. He had never felt so nervous in his life as the person on the other line introduced himself and what his position was on the team of recovering the plane. This would determine it all. This would determine if Wilson took a leave of absence and went to Hawaii, it would decide if House and Cuddy were alive, and it would verify if there were bodies in the coffins at the funerals.

All the weight that accumulated on his shoulders ever since the crash was lifted right off when whatever his name was told him that House and Cuddy's bodies were not among the listed. But then he added that a small number of the passengers on the roster weren't there, bringing some of the weight back onto his shoulders. The bodies were brought to a lab in Hawaii where they were firmly identified and shipped home to be buried. There wasn't much left to the plane from what he said. He told Wilson that because it hit the water at such a fantastic speed, the cabin blew up under the water, promptly taking many people with it. Air meeting water. It was classic physics. Wilson knew that's what would've happened if he gave it a thought. He had other things to worry about other than the plane blowing up.

It is possible that House tried to do something at the last minute to save them and didn't finish in time. He could've been ejected from the plane when it imploded under the water.

However, Wilson still vowed to head to Hawaii and request another search attempt. With a generous offer, they would be willing to give another good day's search.

After the phone call, Wilson paged Cameron. She was downstairs with House's parents getting a bite to eat in the cafeteria. He sighed long and hard, sitting back into his chair. He was so confused. But at least their bodies weren't found! That was a relief and a half!

While waiting for Cameron, Wilson called Cuddy's parents at her house to tell them the news. He cringed while dialing her number. Would they even care? He hadn't met them face to face yet, but talked to her father the night they arrived in New Jersey. He sounded as if he was just interested in getting Cuddy's things, selling the house, getting the money, and going back home. Wilson couldn't help but muse to himself how he and House would get along very well.

Cuddy's sister, Karen, answered the phone. She was just as bad as her father. Wilson had to wonder how Cuddy turned out to be the only normal one in her family.

Since there were no bodies found to be shipped back, they planned to go ahead with the funeral in two days. Even though they weren't on the roster, they were still assumed dead. At this point, everyone lost hope for them returning. It has been almost two weeks since the ill-fated flight to Japan. Feeney has never been happier. If Cuddy didn't return in the time allotted, he would be officially taking over. As if he wasn't already. He shut down Diagnostics, fired whoever wouldn't stop drinking coffee in the lounge, raised hell in NICU because dried baby formula wasn't kept sealed in a zip lock bag instead of an airtight container, and bitched the night janitors out for mopping the floor with dirty water. To top it off, had designs sent in to remodel Cuddy's office for himself. He didn't like the summer settings that she had in there and preferred more of a white and gray look. But he knew what he was doing. Despite his childish looks and ridiculous rules, he was very smart. Regardless, he wasn't Cuddy. He knew how to do the job like Cuddy and things did get done, but he could never be her. Princeton Plainsboro would never be the same without her.

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Okay, I'm seriously thinking about a Huddy baby getting into the picture here...but I'm not sure if that would ruin the story or not because of all the other tens of thousands of things going on, it might be a little cramped...so I need opinions! Tell me what you think! It's all about you guys!

And as always, thanks for reading! :)