Thanks guys for the wonderful reviews for the past chapter! I'm very pleased with the succession of this story and how you all made it possible to be that way ^^
I'm guesstimating that there will be about two or three more chapters. Yeah I know I said that about ten chapters ago but I just can't find the heart to end this story! But progress is going nicely and I'm happily running out of ideas so it will end soon!
Enjoy :)
-----------------
Everyone was thrilled to see Cuddy back at the hospital. However, she wasn't there for the reason they thought. She became a patient. This definitely was not the way Cuddy wanted to come back.
The bleeding had significantly slowed, but she still spotted. Before going to the hospital, she changed her clothes, in tears the entire time. It was pointless to think she'd still be pregnant, but she still had a little bit of hope inside.
Cuddy was given an ultrasound in the clinic. She swallowed hard as the wand connected with her abdomen. She never doubted that she was pregnant. She didn't know how far along, but knew for sure she was. Her body wasn't going through some change because of malnutrition. There could be cases of that out there, but not with her. She had been pregnant before. She knew what it felt like and wished she had stuck to her guns about it.
"Is there anything there?" she asked in a tiny voice, afraid of the answer she would get.
She looked away from the screen the entire time. House's grip on her hand got tighter after she asked that.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Cuddy."
Cuddy sealed her eyes shut, squeezing a tear out of each.
"You can always try again."
Yeah, that seemed to be the answer for everyone who miscarries.
"Well at least we know one thing," House said after the young clinic doctor left. "You are capable of becoming pregnant."
"And I'm also capable of miscarrying, which is apparently what I do best." Cuddy sat up, wiping the gel off. "But that's not the point. Dr. What's-his-name in Hawaii said I wasn't pregnant. I had to have been about a month into my pregnancy, how could he not tell?"
"Maybe he didn't test for it and just said he did. I knew there was something fishy about him. I didn't trust him."
That would seem like the most logical answer, otherwise he would've easily found it. Testing for pregnancy was the easiest thing to do. Cuddy started to wish she did it herself coming home. But what would that have done? It would've only made her happy for a day and then she'd be right back to here.
"But why would he do that?"
House shrugged. "Maybe he was hoping to knock you up himself."
"House, that's not funny."
"Come on, Cuddy, you were a month pregnant. The critter wasn't even an inch long yet and lacked arms and legs and everything in between."
"So that makes it okay to crack jokes, regardless of how I feel? It was a life, House. In eight more months, it would've been a living, breathing newborn baby. In eighteen years, it would've been an adult."
"The fact that you're calling it an "it" allows you to see my point. Don't stress about it. You have a lot more on your plate to deal with right now. I think I saw your nephew already. You should go get him."
If it's not one thing, it's another. Cuddy threw her hand over her face. "Can I just morn my loss for one minute, please?" she said harshly and then glared up at him. "Why don't you go occupy yourself and get some Vicodin."
At first, it didn't look like House was going to leave, but then his Blackberry started buzzing. He then turned and headed for the door after glancing at it. "Maybe I will."
Cuddy sighed, followed by a sob. Who up there hated her this much to keep punishing her? First, the island, then her parents, her job, and now she miscarries without even knowing she was pregnant. To top it all off, House goes running to get pills right when she needs someone to hold onto. Won't she ever catch a break? Something had to give.
In spite of her tears, and how weak she felt after going through yet another miscarriage, Cuddy hopped off the table and fled the room, as if on a mission. If she couldn't have a baby, the least she could do is get her hospital back. Although barging in on Feeney probably wasn't a good idea without a lawyer. Cuddy didn't care about that right now. She wasn't thinking. So many bad things were happening and she was slowly starting to lose her grip on reality. She needed something to stabilize her.
House saw her storm through the clinic and smirked. You go, girl. He grabbed his Blackberry and put it to work.
She stormed into her old office, ignoring the new name on the door. Feeney was in there, leaning back in the chair and talking on the phone. It definitely wasn't a business matter he was discussing. No business would make anyone laugh the way he was.
Cuddy threw open the inside doors and made herself known. Feeney immediately blanched and hung up the phone.
"Lisa, I…I didn't know you were here. What can I do for you?" he asked, putting on a sweet smile.
"Oh cut the crap Zach, your running for campaign smile is worse than your father's." So much for the family reunion. She rested her hands on the top of the chair in front of her. "I'm going to make this simple for you, sweetie. Give me back my job and I won't take any legal action against you."
Zachary was visibly nervous, but tried to cover it up.
"You know you won't win. As soon as I get the legal files drawn up that states that I'm alive and well, I have every right to reclaim my job. You were able to get it so well because no one was here to stop you and the position needed to be filled quickly. You're not even qualified for this job, Zach. Daddy was able to pull the strings and get you in here, wasn't he? I bet a six figure sum was drawn up into the deal somewhere."
"I have every right to be here!" he said, standing up so quick that the chair nearly fell over. "And nothing you do is going to change that."
"Are you sure about that?" The voice belonged to House. Cuddy looked back in surprise, not expecting to see him in here. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Greg House. I hear you closed down my department and fired my lackeys. Big mistake. I also hear that you fired the lead oncologist."
"I ended up hiring a new one, but thanks for your concern."
"Yeah, probably a relative of yours with a degree from a community college no less." House limped beside Cuddy.
"Get your pills?" she asked.
"Not yet. You'll see why in a second. So, as I was saying, or rather…as Cuddy was saying, be a good little boy and go home to mommy, or else we'll have to bring up in court on how unfair and discourteous you were to the well respected staff of this hospital.
"You have no proof of that!" By now, Zachary had beads of sweat rolled along the top of his forehead and fear could be seen in his crystal blue eyes.
House smirked. "Yes, I figured you'd see it that way, so I brought reinforcements. Entrez!"
All at once, handfuls of people that Feeney had either fired or made force to resign came through the door, including Wilson, Cameron, Chase, Foreman, Wilson's researchers, and even the weird night janitor who wore his pants backwards. Cuddy had no idea they were all waiting to storm in. She raised her eyebrows and looked over at House.
"I came well prepared. Whoever gave me the new Blackberry, I'll have to thank them. The multiple text feature thing with voice is fantastic."
"This is preposterous!" Feeney shouted. "I had a legit reason for these people to be fired!"
"All we were doing was drinking coffee in the lab," one of the oncology researchers spoke up from the crowd.
"I can top that. All I did was go to the second floor in search of my mop I left behind," the janitor said.
"You treated us all unfairly and inhumanely," Cameron said.
"And we won't let it go unsaid," Chase piped up.
"Well see, there you have it," House said. "There's about…twenty or so people in here that will have our back if you try to keep Cuddy's job from her. Now, kid, I know you're a respectable…person, who I assume doesn't like to be looked at negatively. You'll probably want to save yourself from making the morning papers as the selfish ass who wouldn't give the Dean of Medicine back her job, even though she came in here so nicely and said pretty please."
"I have every right to be here, Dr. House, and you're threatening me!"
"Oh, does that appear to be what I'm doing? Oops. My bad. Let me rephrase that then. Zachary Feeney, get your ass up, get your things, and get the hell out of Lisa Cuddy's office. By this time tomorrow, you better not even so much as have a book in this office that belongs to you, or I'll destroy you so bad that no other hospital administrator in this country would want to touch you. Is this in any way unclear?"
Suddenly Feeney felt his tie constricting his neck. He swallowed hard and tugged on it. The sweat droplets were becoming much more prominent now.
"You do not scare me, Dr. House."
House chuckled. "Everybody lies. Partir!" Upon command, everyone, assuming they knew French, knew that House was telling them to leave. Everyone left, one by one, and House followed. Cuddy was the only one remaining, smiling brightly. For once, she had the upper hand and it felt good.
"You know just as well as I do, Zach, that no matter how many legal channels you go through, this job belongs to me. I'm sure your father can find you another job. That is, if you don't piss House off first."
Flashing a smile, she turned on her heels and left her office. Now she really owed House. Half of the stuff he said in there he was bullshitting, but made it sound realistic.
House took her by the waist and kissed her as soon as she got back into the clinic. Everyone clapped and cheered.
"You keep saving my life, Dr. House," Cuddy said, pulling back just far enough to look into his beautiful blue eyes.
"Don't worry, I'll see that it's paid back in full," he joked, going in for another kiss.
This was possibly the most challenging day Cuddy ever had to face. It was practically an emotional roller coaster. One minute, things would be going great, and the next, she would be spiraling downward with nothing to catch her fall. She had a miscarriage, ending a pregnancy she didn't even know she had, and the day ended with her getting her job back. It seems that the worst was over. How much worse could things get?
----------------------
"Lisa, so nice to hear your voice after this long."
Cuddy groaned inwardly. This was not the first thing she wanted to hear so early in the morning, especially since the night before, she barely got any sleep, thanks to her celebration with House. "Sam. Unfortunately the pleasure is all yours." He still sounded like the same cocky bastard she once knew. How could her sister have married this man and had children with him? It was always a mystery to her. She felt bad for her two poor little nieces.
Sam laughed. "Oh, that's just like you Lisa; you never lost that sense of humor."
"Sam, you don't even know me. We met once in passing."
"I've heard a lot about you though."
"Hang up," House said, rolling over in bed, facing her. "He's just trying to intimidate you."
Cuddy laughed. "Yeah, well it's not working. That's like you trying to intimidate me, House. Look, Sam, I'm busy having sex with like five different men. Don't call back."
She disconnected the call and plopped her new Blackberry on the nightstand. "I really should've changed my number."
"Five different men?" House questioned. "Am I really that good?"
"Don't flatter yourself, handsome," she said, rolling back over and hoisting herself on top of him and kissing him.
"Well, well, look who wants to be on top."
Cuddy smirked and traced her fingernail down his jaw line. "I've never had an issue with being on top. I just wanted you to do all the work."
"Liar. You spent the entire time on the island avoiding being on top. What was your excuse? Something to do with insecurities or whatever."
Cuddy laughed.
"Are you worried about Sam?"
Cuddy's face grew serious. "You have a hot woman on top of you and you're wondering about Sam?"
"Well I thought it would be weird to ask during sex, so I thought I'd ask now."
Cuddy smirked. "No, I'm not worried about Sam, now shut up and kiss me."
"You're the one on top, boss. You make the moves."
The two spent the rest of the morning making love. Thanks to House, she was able to push the horrid event of the miscarriage to the back of her head and bring forth the things that were going right for her.
By the end of their sex session, Cuddy checked her phone. She had a dozen missed calls from Sam and two from her brother Eric. She sighed as she saw this and turned her ringer back on.
"He's trying to intimidate you," House said, grabbing his Vicodin from the nightstand and popping a couple.
"He's doing a good job. We need a lawyer, House."
"Yeah, I know. Too bad there's only one person I know that will come and do it immediately with no hassle."
Cuddy laid back down, staring up at the ceiling. "You know how I feel about Stacy. And why are you so quick to get her here? You sound like you want her here for reasons not listed. It's not like you care about getting your job back."
"No, but I do care that I'm still registered as dead man walking."
Cuddy turned onto her side with a giggle, followed by a smirk. "Wow, if you're dead now performing all these moves, I'd like to see you when you're alive."
House looked at her in surprise. "Jeez, woman, are you seriously still turned on after all that? How long has it been since you've had a man in your bed anyway?"
Cuddy snaked her arm around House's waist. "Too long."
"Well you're just going to have to be a good little girl and contain yourself for today. We have to get our lives back together."
"Fine, hurry up and call Stacy so we can get back to bed," she whined.
House smirked. "Oh you are insatiable. I already called her."
Cuddy frowned. "You what? When?"
"Yesterday. She'll be here tomorrow. We have to wait for her before we can do anything."
"So pretty much we're doing nothing until tomorrow when she comes?"
House shrugged. "I guess so, yeah."
Cuddy sighed and stared up at the ceiling again. "Talking about Stacy turned me off. I'm not comfortable with her being here and I'm not happy you did this without my consent."
"I had a relationship with her, that's it. It's not like I was married to her."
"House, I don't care. She's your ex."
"She's called my ex for a reason, Cuddy, meaning we're no longer together." He slipped his boxers back on and threw a shirt over his head.
"She came back once before and you two got back together for a night of romance and passion, so what makes you think it won't happen again?"
"So what if it does? It's not like you and me are a couple or anything."
"Oh will you stop saying that?!"
"What?!" he asked, stunned by her outburst.
Cuddy jumped out of bed and donned a robe. "So what are we then if we're not a couple? Am I just a free pass to sex or something?"
"Whoa, Cuddy, you're the one who wanted sex."
"What, and you didn't? The whole time on the island, you slept with me. Not the other way around."
"Right, and so we come back home and it's your turn. So what, we're even. What's the point here?"
"You keep sending me mixed signals!" Cuddy cried. "You save me from the plane crash, the shark, hurricanes, and other perils on the island, and then you help me get my job back. Meanwhile we're having mind-blowing sex the entire time. Are we together or not?"
House raised his eyebrows a few centimeters, about to shoot off something sarcastic when Cuddy interrupted him, telling him not to do so. Instead, he sighed loudly and stood up. "Cuddy…"
Cuddy grew nervous with his sudden grave disposition.
"Do you have any idea what to look forward to if you were with me? I could never offer you what you want and I'd be gainsaying everything about us, similar to what I'm doing now."
"Why?" Cuddy couldn't help the tears that came rushing to her eyes. "Can't you just give it a chance?"
He approached her solemnly, cupping her cheek with one hand while running his fingers through her curls with the other.
"I care about you too much to keep hurting you."
"You're hurting me now by being this way. Please, House…I don't care if we don't have the perfect relationship. As I said before, I don't need perfection. Whatever you go through, we can do it together. I'll help you. I love you."
House lowered his head. "You can't mean that."
"Why not?"
"How could someone like you want some narcissistic son of a bitch like me?"
"And you can't handle it so you're trying to make me hate you and say it's over, right? House, I don't know why I love you, okay? I'll be honest. It's not like you flatter me with poetry or deliver red roses to my doorstep. I like those things, but I don't need them. I don't need anything like that. Being near you is all I want. You don't have to give me anything."
"So you just want a fuck buddy, is that it?"
"What? No! House, I want YOU. I want us to have a life together."
Their eyes met again. Her lower lip trembled. House saw this and ran the pad of his thumb gently across the surface of her lower lip. "I've loved you since the first day I laid eyes on you, Lisa," he said, a cross between whisper and the next level up, mouth barely moving.
A tear fell from Cuddy's eye, connecting with the hand that he rested on her cheek. "Then…why? I don't care who you are or how incapable you are of being in a relationship. Just give it a chance." She placed both hands flat against his chest.
"I'll hurt you," he said in the same tone as before. "I'll end up hurting you in some way."
"I'll worry about it then."
House paused for a moment, satisfied with just looking into her eyes. Cuddy was too, but then she closed the small gap between them and hugged him as if he was about to leave her for good and never look back. House wrapped both hands around her completely and pressed her to him. He took in the sweet scent of her hair and skin. What the fuck was wrong with him? In his arms, he had someone that was willing to do anything in the world for him and he couldn't commit worth a damn. All Cuddy wanted was a simple yes answer and he couldn't even do that for her without making it more complicating. That's how it would always be and she was only going to get hurt. He didn't want to hurt her. But she wasn't going away. He didn't want her to. If she was okay with this contradiction and the inability to make up his mind, he was prepared to give it a go.
He didn't want her to give up on him. He loved her, even more so than she loved him. He just needed time and many trial and error attempts to be able to change his insecurities about being in a relationship.
"So…you want to be a couple?"
Cuddy smiled and pulled back. "Seriously?"
He shrugged. "If you can put up with me, sure."
She reached up to kiss him. He kissed back with twice as much urgency.
Oh yes, this was definitely the woman he was spending the rest of his life with.