Once again, thanks everyone soooo much for the reviews! I never thought the story would go as far as it has and it's all thanks to you guys! *passes around cookies for everyone*

Enjoy :)

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It took Cuddy about two seconds after she stepped out of the room that leaving would be the stupidest thing she's ever done. What if House woke up and saw she wasn't there? What would he do? Knowing him, he'd shrug it off and come home like nothing happened. On the other hand, he might feel angry she suddenly decided to abandon him.

"What's wrong?" Cameron asked, wondering why she stopped suddenly.

"I can't leave him. I'm sorry, Cameron, I just can't. I want to be by his side."

Cameron smiled small. "I knew you would say that. Come on, at least let me take you downstairs for a sandwich and a cappuccino."

After living on bananas, a sandwich almost made her mouth water. She's eaten since the rescue, but food would always sound good. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to resist.

"Okay," Cuddy agreed. It would be safe to go downstairs just for a little while.

They started walking again, but when Cuddy felt her purse, she stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Cameron asked.

"I'll be right back." Cuddy disappeared into the room. Wilson saw her and frowned.

"I thought you left."

"I'm not," she said, taking Harry out of her purse and setting it down on the nightstand beside House. "I've decided to stay until he came out of it. Cameron and I are going to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich; do you want us to get you anything?"

When Wilson declined, Cuddy left with Cameron.

"So just how much of a pest has Zachary been?" Cuddy asked, literally swooning over a two-day-old turkey sandwich from a vending machine that she just had to have.

Cameron rolled her eyes after picking up her Styrofoam cup of cappuccino. "Oh god, it's like retail. You do one thing wrong, you're fired."

"Yeah, I'll fix that. His family and mine always butted heads when it came to my work. He probably fought tooth and nail for that job."

"His family? Isn't that your family, too?"

"My brother Eric, yeah."

"So when you say his family butted heads with you…"

"I mean my family, yes. I'm not exactly a family favorite."

"Yes, I've noticed. I've never seen a more heartless bunch of people in my life, no offense. They acted like it was a huge inconvenience to come up for their daughter's funeral."

Cuddy nodded solemnly. "It's a wonder they came at all. They probably just came to get my things and sell my house. If we were overrun right now by media, they wouldn't be there when I got home."

In a way, Cameron did understand what she was going through. She apologized. Cuddy just shrugged it off. She was used to it. She did just about everything she could to win her parent's affection. Nothing ever worked.

"If it makes you feel any better…my parents didn't want to know me once I told them I didn't believe in god."

Cuddy chuckled weakly. "Cameron, how is that in any way related to my situation?"

"Just trying to get you to feel like you're not alone."

"I've been alone and on my own for years without parental support, nor did I get any help from my sister, Karen, or my brother, Eric. I do better alone."

"That would explain the lack of ring on your finger," Cameron joked, trying to make light of a tender subject.

When anyone would be angry, or bothered by that joke, Cuddy laughed at it. "That lack of ring on my finger makes it easy to do my job. If any Dean of Medicine in this world is married, his or her significant other is probably having an affair because they're never home long enough to be with them. I couldn't handle a relationship anyway," she added, taking another bite of the sandwich.

Cameron bit her lip before speaking. "Well…what are you going to do if you're pregnant?"

Cuddy stopped in mid chew for a second and then resumed, speaking with her mouth full. "What do you mean?"

"Having a child is like having a relationship, only you have no choice but to be at home. Are you ready for that? Especially knowing it's House's baby. He's not going to stick around, you know."

Cuddy felt a pang in her chest. Cameron saying that had an affect on her, even though she was thinking the same thing all along herself. It became a little more real when someone else was thinking that same thing.

"That's something I'm just going to have to wait to see about now won't I?" she said, feeling her heart sink. Who was she kidding when she thought that House would care for a child. He could barely take care of himself. Maybe on the island, things were different. If she had a baby with him there, he had no choice but to be okay with it. He was also starting to change. Transition was slow, but at least he was progressing. He showed that he actually cared about her. He won't do that now. Now that he's going home, things really will be different. Cuddy was kidding herself when she thought she had actually changed him.

Cuddy unwillingly welcomed the tears once it all sank in. She dropped her sandwich and let out a small sob.

Cameron grew concerned. "God, Lisa, what's wrong?" she asked, hurrying to her side in an instant.

A salty taste formed at the back of Cuddy's throat as more tears made their way to the surface.

"I'm such an idiot," she said, following a sniffle. "I know House would never take responsibility for a child. He'll never change. You're right."

Cameron reached for a napkin and gently brushed it up against Cuddy's cheek to soak up the single droplets. "No, I didn't want to be right. Lisa, you never know what affect being on that island might have done to House."

Cuddy took the napkin and wiped her own tears. "He's still going to be the same pessimistic jerk he was when he crashed into the ocean. You know what he said to me? He told me he only saved my life so he wouldn't be floating in the ocean alone. After that, it was so that if we do get rescued, he wouldn't have to go home to a different Dean of Medicine."

Cameron gently ran her fingers through Cuddy's hair. "You know he didn't mean it."

"But just how much of his sarcasm is actually the truth?" she asked, tears not letting up. "I mean…it's getting to the point where I'm actually worried that if he does start being nice and being honest, I'll be worried. But when we were in that ocean and drifting for a full day, he was different. House would never do something he wanted, stranded or not. There would be these brief periods where I was more than just a woman to him that he could flounce around with and have sex with whenever he wanted. He treated me with such warmth and care that it lead me to believe that he could actually become a different person. I'm so disillusioned, Allison. Why does he act the way he does?"

"Because that's who he is, Lisa. You know that and I know that. We've never expected anything from him. It would be stupid to start believing in him now."

Cuddy was torn between believing in him and not believing. She didn't know what to think. Maybe it would've been better if they never were rescued from that island.

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House woke up six hours later to a room full of sleeping friends. Cuddy was not one of them. House realized this after looking around the room several times through blurry vision. His neck was starting to hurt holding his head up to look around and had to lay back down. Why couldn't he see Cuddy? He was pretty sure he saw Wilson and Cameron sleeping in armchairs. Was this a dream? This had to be a dream. Were they rescued? He heard a helicopter earlier, along with some faint sounds of voices, both unfamiliar and not. But wasn't that just another hallucination?

He tried to move, but ached all over. "If this is a dream, it sucks," he murmured, following a groan from a very painful headache. It felt like someone clubbed him right upside the head.

"Cuddy?" he called out, but his voice didn't carry far at all. "God I feel like I'm going to throw up. Grab another seashell, will you? I don't feel so good." No one was coming to him, nor were Wilson and Cameron waking up. "Hey…when did we get real beds and lights? Why isn't anyone answering me?"

His head was spinning and his body temperature felt like a million degrees.

"I'm going to be sick! I'm—"

He couldn't control himself and ended up vomiting in his own mouth because he couldn't find the strength to lift himself up and lean over the side of the bed. The last thing he remembered while gagging on his own vomit were people rushing to his side, and then the lights going out.

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"It was a reaction to his antibiotics, but he'll be fine," a doctor said, giving Wilson and Cameron the scoop on House. The two were woken up immediately when the machines started going off and the night staff rushed to his bedside.

"He…vomited into his own mouth," Wilson said, speaking with concern. "Shouldn't that be an issue?"

"Why can't he move?" Cameron asked.

"It's a rare side effect and it won't happen again. It shouldn't have happened the first time, but because Dr. House was on medication—"

"He didn't have any Vicodin in his system. He just came back from being on a deserted island for god sakes, there's no way—"

"Cameron," Wilson interrupted, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. This is normal after he has detoxed." After calming her down, he continued with House's doctor. "Will he be okay? That's all I want to know."

The doctor nodded. "He'll be fine. Tomorrow you'll all be able to go home."

That was a relief to hear. The vacation from hell was almost over.

"Where's Cuddy?" Wilson asked, noticing the missing body.

"Don't know. She was here when we fell asleep."

"You don't think she went back home, do you?"

Cameron honestly shrugged. "I don't know. If only you saw her in the cafeteria, Wilson. I've never seen her so heartbroken. I should never have fallen asleep."

"Hey…Cuddy isn't your responsibility," he said when she started beating herself up over it.

"She just came back to us from being on an island that she could have very well spent the rest of her life on. She would've been alone as of now. House would be dead from the typhoid fever."

"I don't see your point. They're here with us now and everything's fine."

"Lisa isn't fine, Wilson. She spent the entire time in the cafeteria sobbing over a cappuccino because she thinks that once House wakes up, they'll no longer have the moments they shared together on the island. Instead, he'll revert to who he used to be, which is cold and uncaring. She doesn't need that and he's brainwashed her without even knowing it. She could be pregnant with his baby and the son of a bitch is going to leave her alone with it."

Wilson's eyes widened. He held up his hands to silence her. She was flying off the deep end here. "Whoa, whoa, Cameron, relax." He had never seen her so worked up. "I didn't know you felt this way."

Cameron took a couple deep, calming breaths. "Sorry. So who's going to look for Lisa?"

"I'll go. You stay here and look after House."

Cameron was okay with that. She sat into the armchair and hunched over, throwing her hands over her face.

House had heard every word.

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