Disclaimer: I do not own House MD or any of the characters, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind owning Hugh Laurie!

A/N: Hello! First off, I must say the long wait wasn't really my fault seeing as I haven't been able to acces my Fanfic account for three days ... but I am for making you wait, really, I am. But see, on top of website malfunctions, I've got my mock exams coming up and so most of my time is taken up with studying. This week, I'm on 'holidays', and, although I'll be studying most of the time, I fully intend to write. So there should be more up relatively soon.

Also, and once again, thank you all for your reviews, you really keep me happy :D

I think this should have at least some 9/10 more chapters to it, and, after you read this, you'll know why I REALLY want to write the next one :P

Please keep those amazing reviews coming and, also, I really love reading what you guys think is going to happen. It's actually really fun for me because, half the time I'm like "ha ha, you're right, but I'm not going to tell you that" and the other half of the time, I'm like "you're sooo wrong … but I'm also not going to tell you that until the very end" :P … basically, I find it extremely funny :D (and I need funny things in my life, right now) :P

Oh, and I don't own any of the songs mentioned either … really, I don't!

Anyways, Enjoy!

It was Wilson. Standing on Cuddy's porch; standing as far away from the pouring rain as he could.

"Hi" said House in a not-so-enthusiastic tone when he saw his best friend standing there, about to intrude on the time he was spending with the woman he loved.

"Can I come in?" asked Wilson looking over House's shoulder to try and spot Cuddy.

"Oh, sure" then, with a grin, House added "Cuddy's just showering ... you know, after …"

But before House could finish his insinuation, Cuddy appeared, fully dressed in the doorway to the entrance and smiled at Wilson.

"Hi, James" she greeted him waiting for him to explain his presence.

"Hi" he replied before turning to House "So, we have a problem …" he spoke as he pulled the patient's file from his brief case.

"What's that?" asked Cuddy

"Patient file …" said House in a tone that sounded more like a question.

"And why is Wilson bringing an oncology file to you?" she asked, this time looking at Wilson

Wilson merely looked at House, wondering what exactly to say. Tell the truth, that he'd taken over the case to let House stay at Cuddy's, and House would, quite possibly hurt him … come up with another plausible idea? Well, that wasn't seeming very possible either.

"Well, uh, House's team had a few questions and I guess I just …"

"Why didn't they ask House?" asked Cuddy, now looking at House with a triumphant look.

"They … uh … couldn't get hold of him?" tried Wilson looking up at his friend.

"Really?" asked Cuddy "I was sure that the hospital had issued doctors with pagers, for situations just like this one …"

There was a moment of silence before House spoke "oh, right … batteries"

"Uhuh …" said Cuddy looking from one to the other "I have spare batteries here, if you need them …"

House merely shook his head, "Wilson has it covered"

"Well, he obviously doesn't, otherwise, he wouldn't be here asking you for help …" she said, again looking victorious.

House, quickly, not liking the direction the conversation was taking, changed the subject "yea, about that …" and he turned to Wilson with a look that was both intrigued and annoyed.

"Oh, right" said the oncologist opening the file "Your Lupus patient? He's been on all the possible drugs we can think of and he's still deteriorating. The tests show nothing, and he had a panic attack while we were withdrawing his blood …"

"Is that part medically relevant, or did you just throw it in there for dramatic effect?" asked House taking the chart from Wilson and limping, past Cuddy into the living room.

"Well, I guess not, he did warn us he was scared of all things medical … but it did make it very hard to withdraw the blood, Taub and Foreman had to hold him down"

"That's a great image …" said House sarcastically sitting down on the couch as Cuddy and Wilson joined him "… but again, not relevant"

The three of them spent the next 30 minutes sitting there, throwing all and any ideas around, trying to figure this puzzle out. On several occasions, House found himself staring at Cuddy, loving the fact that the doctor in her was coming out over the administrator.

"What else is there" asked Cuddy leaning back in her arm-chair, visibly tired.

"We've ruled out infection, we know there's an auto-immune component, there's no cancer, no viruses, no toxins …" replied Wilson, he too leaning back and closing his eyes as the ceiling light hit his face.

"We have to be missing something" said House, almost to himself.

From their positions on either side of them, Wilson and Cuddy looked at each other, this was the House they knew, the one who got easily fixated on puzzles and refused to let go.

"House … we need more tests …" started Cuddy but then stopped "Wait … let me see that" she said pointing to the chart House had been staring at for the past minutes, apparently hoping something would osmose into his brain.

"The adrenaline levels are surprising low" she stated flipping a sheet and reading down the next page.

"So?" asked House, who, watching fixated Cuddy, sitting, pregnant in front of him, had more or less switched off for a few seconds.

"Well, Wilson said the guy had a panic attack, his blood should have been full of it …" she explained.

"Ok …" said Wilson leaning forwards, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together "… what does this tell us?"

There was another moment of silence as they thought.

"Could be a tumour" said Cuddy "Says here that the patient donated a kidney to a nephew 13 years ago and that during the operation, there were complications and one of his adrenal glands was damaged …"

Wilson merely nodded as House continued to stare at the amazing woman in front of him.

"… Well, he could have a kidney tumour. It would press on the good adrenal gland and mess with adrenaline secretions, and it could screw with the kidney's filtration system. You pumped him full of drugs, his body couldn't remove them, so he gets sicker instead of better …"

"That's all very good" said House snapping back into 'medical mode' "except we would have seen a tumour that big on the MRI"

"We never got one" said Wilson standing up and looking from Cuddy to House "the patient had another attack when we tried to get him into the MRI machine … he wouldn't stay still …" he explained.

Suddenly, both the endocrinologist and the oncologist looked at the diagnostician who, after staring at the sheets that he had re-taken from Cuddy, merely nodded. They'd solved it.

"Put him on dialysis for the kidney, restart him on the Lupus medication and discharge him" said House closing the file and handing it back to Wilson.

"Shouldn't you do that?" asked Cuddy looking at House, again hating that the administrator in her was trying to push him back to work and away from her "I mean, you are his attending".

"I've got it covered" Wilson said quickly, ensuring that House didn't get a chance to answer "We just have to sedate him, get the MRI, confirm the tumour, operate and he'll be good as new … well, almost"

When House nodded in agreement and joined Wilson in looking at Cuddy, the latter sighed and gave up. She was too tired to argue and, besides, she really didn't want him to go.

"Ok then" said Wilson grabbing his brief case from beside his feet and placing the patient file back in it "I'll call you if we need anything" he added to House, not looking at Cuddy.

House just nodded and watched his friend as he moved towards the door. For a few seconds, Cuddy glared at him waiting for him to walk Wilson out. When House merely mouthed 'your house', Cuddy scowled at him and, grabbing his cane for support, limped after Wilson.

"Thanks for coming" said Cuddy as Wilson opened the door

"I'll drop by again tomorrow, and if you need anything, just ask, 'kay?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could do some shopping for me" she said leaning heavily on the cane, something Wilson did not fail to notice "the nursery isn't even half done, and there's no way I can do any heavy lifting …"

"Sure" nodded Wilson "I have the day off tomorrow, I'll do it then"

"Thanks" she smiled and, with another nod, Wilson left.

Back in the living room, House took Cuddy's absence as the perfect chance to set his plan up. Limping cautiously without his cane, he reached the CD player and, ensuring that Cuddy wasn't back yet, hit play, taking the remote in hand, and limping back to his seat.

As he waited for Cuddy to return, the first chords of Martina McBride's "How Far" began to creep out of the speakers and House realised that maybe the reason Cuddy hadn't wanted him to listen to the CD wasn't because it was embarrassing.

As he heard the sound of his cane signalling Cuddy's approach, House lowered the sound of the speakers to almost zero. Granted, he now knew why she didn't want him to listen to the songs. That didn't mean he wasn't going to take the chance to see her face as the content of the CD was revealed to him.

"What are you doing?" asked Cuddy suspiciously as House looked up at her, that infamous mischievous glint in his eye.

"Me?" he asked innocently "nothing"

"House …"

Just then, the sound of the speakers began to rise and Cuddy stopped in her tracks.

"Interesting choice of …"

"Come on!" she said moving for the player, wanting to switch it off before House understood exactly what the songs meant to her.

"What?" he asked turning the sound even louder so that he had to shout over it "you saw mine" he wined.

Watching his face and his deep blue eyes, Cuddy, once again, gave in. She had to hope that this giving in wouldn't stick when she returned to work. If it did, one of them would have to end up fired.

"Fine" she said, she too having to rise her voice above the music "but at least turn it down"

House acquiesced to that. As the music returned to its normal level, and the words became, well, words rather than noises, House and Cuddy's eyes met.

There you are, giving up the fight,

Here I am, begging you to try,

Talk to me, let me in,

But you just put your wall back up again,

Oh when's it gonna end?

Sighing at the lyrics, Cuddy limped over to the couch and fell into the seat next to House.

For a few more seconds, their eyes stayed fixed on each other, but, just as the song reached it's climax, House's phone went off and, once again, the spell was broken.

Silently cursing the small device, House read Wilson's message.

Will pick you up in the morning.

10:00, please be up.

Shopping for baby.

W.

"Who is it?" asked Cuddy as the song came to an end.

"Wilson"

Cuddy smiled "he's going shopping for the baby tomorrow, you know, stuff for the nursery and …"

"Yea …" said House holding the phone up "he told me, seems he needs help, you know, to carry the big boxes …" he grinned

"You're going with him?" she asked, partly surprised that he'd do that and partly sad that she'd be without him.

"I guess so …" he replied shrugging and leaning back as the words to Kelly Clarkson's "because of you" filled the room.

I've learnt the hard way,

So never let it get that far

Because of you,

I never stray too far from the side walk,

Because of you,

I learnt to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt.

"Cuddy?" asked House looking up

"Hm?" hummed Cuddy turning to face him.

"Why are you always trying to get me to go to work?" he asked, not wanting to ask the actual question behind it.

"Well, I'm your boss, and …" he should have seen that response coming.

Seeing no other choice, House took a deep breath that no one could see and, in an uncharacteristic move, asked "do you want me to go?" panic "to work, I mean"

Cuddy knew he didn't mean 'to work'. He meant in general. And no, she really didn't want him to.

"Do I want you to go to work?" she asked with a smile "Is that the question?"

She was on to him "no" said House in a small voice, not meeting her eyes.

"No" smiled Cuddy

"Huh?" asked House suddenly feeling a little lost

"That's my answer. No. I don't want you to go …"

After that, there was another silence while they just sat there, listening to the music. Slowly, Cuddy leaned back and, catching her movement out of the corner of his eye, House moved his arm so that, once she reached the back of the couch, she'd be resting on it. Wow, he felt like a pathetic teenager again. Which was odd, because he'd never really been a pathetic teenager.

Feeling his strong arm come into contact with her back, Cuddy looked, turning her head slowly, at House. He had a small smile on his face, but he wasn't looking at her. Not as far as she could tell, anyway. But as she leaned further, resting her head on his shoulder as Ronan Keating's "When you say nothing at all" started to play, she felt his arm close around her, and, suddenly, they were sitting, alone, listening to Cuddy's love-themed songs, her head resting somewhere between his shoulder and chest, his hand resting on the small of her back.

Smiling as he felt her shift her head against him, House listened to the lyrics.

It's amazing how you,

Can speak right to my heart.

Without saying a word,

You can light up the dark,

Try as I may,

I can never explain

What I hear when you don't say a thing

Slowly, as one song changed to another, Cuddy slipped off into sleep. Apparently, this having a human being growing inside of you, thing, could be quite tiring. Well, that and the rollercoaster of emotions that this new 'House' was bringing about in her.

Eventually, the sounds of Meredith Brooks' "I'm a bitch" infiltrated the room and House felt the supposedly-sleeping Cuddy smile against his chest.

I'm a bitch,

I'm a lover,

I'm a child,

I'm a sinner,

I'm a saint

Cuddy smiled because she really was 'f', all of the above. She could be a bitch, to House, to power-thirty investors, to assholes who thought of her as nothing but a piece of meet. She could be a lover, a very good lover as, she was sure, House would proudly attest to. She was, at times, still a child, scared of being alone and afraid of not finding someone to help her. If lying was a sin, then she assumed lying to your baby's father about him being the father was, most definitely, a sin, so yea, she was a sinner and as far as being a saint went, well, right then, holding her in his arms, House would say she looked like nothing less.

"Cuddy?" she heard House's voice

"hm?"

"You wanna sleep?" he asked and got a short nod in return "Ok … come on"

Slowly, House helped Cuddy up and, letting her lean on him as he used his cane, helped her to the spare bedroom she'd been living in since her return from the hospital.

"Thanks" she said as she lay down and watched House's uncertain face "stay?" she whispered holding a hand out to him.

With what Cuddy would have sworn was a genuine smile, had it not been for the lack of light in the room, House took her hand and lied down beside her.

Slowly, Cuddy shifted over so that she was lying in his arms again. She could really get used to this.

As Cuddy slept, House listened to the music still coming from the other room. Now it was Aerosmith's "Don't wanna miss a thing", and appropriate song, to say the very least.

I could stay awake,

Just to hear you breathing,

Watch you smile while you are sleeping,

While you're far away, dreaming

I could spend my life,

In this sweet surrender,

I could stay lost in this moment,

Forever,

Every moment spent with you,

Is a moment I treasure,

I don't wanna close my eyes,

I don't wanna fall asleep,

'coz I miss you, baby,

And I don't wanna miss a thing

Coz even when I dream of you,

The sweetest dream will never do,

I still miss you baby,

And I don't wanna miss a thing,

Lying close to you,

Feeling your heart beating,

And I'm wondering what you're dreaming,

Wondering if its me you're seeing,

As the sound continued, House felt himself shift slightly, bringing Cuddy closer and, suddenly, feeling their baby kick the spot where her stomach touched his side.

Before drifting off into sleep completely, House reached for his cell phone and wrote a quick text to Wilson, just in case he thought of picking House up at his place.

At Cuddy's.

Be here at 11:00,

H.

Smiling at the idea of Wilson reading that and spending the whole night up trying to understand what it meant, House closed his eyes and began to drift.

In those last moments of consciousness, he felt Cuddy's lips brush his neck as she shifted her position and, even when his mind had very little control over his body, he had to fight the urge to turn his head and let her, 'accidentally', kiss him. He really did.

TBC

Also, what'd you guys think of the last episode "Unfaithful"? … do you remember back in January when we were told that the 100th eppie would be a "gift from TV gods"? … I think they were actually referring to this one. It was SOOOOOO sweet/heartbreaking … : ) / : ( .... and "the softer side"? That ending just killed me! ... can't believe we have to wait two weeks!!! AH!

Thank you for reading!

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