Later that night 10:49 p.m.
The hospital was fairly empty. Empty and quiet. The only people around were some nurses, and a few doctors standing by in their offices, catching up on paperwork and anything else they needed to take care of. House slid open the door to Cuddy's room, and carefully walked inside. He had taken a seat in the corner of the room and began to search his pockets for something. Cuddy, was on the bed, asleep, but not for long. She woke up soon enough, and spoke in a hushed tone.
"What--are you doing?"
"Something."
"That helps."
He pulled out a needle and rolled up his pant leg. Then he took off the cap and tested the needle, and injected it into his scar. Cuddy's voice and face were very alarmed as she sat upright in bed.
"What is that?"
"A little morphine."
"A little? A little by how much?"
"Enough to let me walk properly for about couple hours, or so."
"Why?"
He rolled down his pant leg and walked over to Cuddy, beginning to remove all the chords from her.
"What are you doing?"
He began to help her out of bed and onto the cold floor.
"I'm sneaking you out of here."
"Why?"
"We're going somewhere. Can you walk?"
"Yeah I should be fine."
"But you're not wearing shoes."
"It's okay."
"Get on."
"House. I am not riding on your back out of here."
"It's either that, or I carry you."
She pursed her lips and shook her head, and got on.
"Where are you taking me."
"Somewhere. Grab the paper in my pocket, and put the tab of tape on the door."
"What is it?"
"You're full of questions tonight aren't you?"
"Well I wouldn't be if--ugh--you weren't doing all of--this."
She struggled to stay leveled on his back as they walked out of her room. As he slid the door shut, Cuddy put the note on the door. Then they took off for the stairs.
"This, is ridiculous."
"It just might be."
"Then why are we doing this?"
"Because, I'm not going to have you stay in that bed for the next few months you have, staring at a wall, dying of boredom before dying of cancer."
She just smiled and rested her chin on his shoulder, and she held on tight, as they descended down the stairs. They sneaked out through the front doors, got in House's car, and drove off into the night.
Later that night 11:53 p.m.
"Where the hell are we?"
"Cemetery."
"Why. The hell are we at a cemetery."
Her voice was dead and tired as House pulled up on the side of the empty one way road. He got out of the car and and went to her side and carried her out, slamming the door shut with his foot in the process. She was only still in her hospital gown and barefoot, so he insisted to carry her all the way there.
"Lock the car."
"Im not even half awake and you expect me to--"
"Just press the button on the remote."
"Fine, fine, fine."
"Why are we at a cemetery."
"Were going somewhere in it."
"Were going to see tombstones and graves?"
"Nope."
"What else is left to see?"
"In a normal cemetery? Nothing. But in this--particular--one, there's more to it than just dead people."
"Wonderful."
They walked deeper into the forest, walking around trees, dodging the dense fog, hoping to make it to their destination. Within a matter of minutes, they reached a gate, and they could see the graves in a distance. Once they approached the gate, he pulled out his car keys and managed to unlock it, allowing them to proceed on.
"Why do you have a key to a cemetery?"
"Why not?"
"Because it's--strange. In fact, a little creepy."
"Not with a place like this."
"What is your deal about this place?"
"Its easier for me if you just wait till we get there, instead of trying to hold a conversation with you while carrying you, while partially high."
She silenced herself and soon enough, they reached the center of it all. At the edge of the forest, vast fields begun and stretched over the land. Most of which, was covered in graves and tombstones. Although, with the exception of the small pond. Yes, this elegant and graceful pond that rested beneath several trees was where he had been planning to take her. They rested underneath the first tree along the edge of the pond. Blankets had already been set up by House himself, probably an hour or so prior to. House laid her gently onto the blanket, and lied down right next to her as they gazed at the beauty all around them.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Mason O'Reilly Cemetery. Just enjoy it, don't start by asking more questions."
"House."
"It's uh--just somewhere I needed to bring you. Just consider this our first--date."
He propped up his head on his hand and stared beyond Cuddy. He refused to have their eyes meet. So he kept his eyes across the pond as Cuddy gazed sleepily towards the sky.
"Something on your mind?"
"A lot of things."
"Oh. Well, do you wanna talk about it? Get a few things off your chest?"
"Not tonight."
"You're seriously going to play that? Let's see how that works out."
"I didn't bring you here to talk about my problems."
"Then why did you?"
"I--to spend time with you. Like I always have."
"I can't spend time with you the way I want to, if you're going to be like this all night."
He took a sigh, and looked over harder and began talking.
"You happy?"
"Of course."
"I don't mean right now. With your life--are you satisfied?"
"Why are you--"
"Are you satisfied with your ending. Right now."
"I wouldn't say--satisfied. I've accepted it but."
"If I could change--something of your end--would you want me to?"
"We've been through this."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"Then--"
"Forget it. I'll be back."
"Where are you going?"
He stood up and took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and began to walk over to the pond.
"I gotta use all the energy left in my leg before this wears out!"
And to her surprise, he jumped into the pond, diving in. She stood up and ran down the hill towards the edge of the pond to see where he had gone. She bent down to look into the water. Eventually, he rose to the surface about a few feet away in the water, Gasping.
"Are you crazy?"
"Not quite. Going down there, with my bum leg, now that's crazy."
At the hospital 12:16 a.m.
Wilson was in his sweats and was walking down the corridor with one of the nurses. He appeared very tired, and annoyed as he made his way towards Cuddy's room. The nurse began to explain to him what happened.
"She just disappeared."
"Are you--positively sure, that she isn't just, in one of the bathrooms, or she discharged herself?"
"She was here. Right up until around eleven. And she was gone."
"What's this?"
Wilson had noticed the note on the door that had read, "Wilson", that stuck from a tab of tape. He ripped it off the glass and opened the note, and read it to himself.
Wilson -
Do I owe you an explanation? Well, certainly, seeing as she is your patient, but, first off, she's my girlfriend before your patient, and even before your friend. So her whereabouts certainly don't concern you. But if you should know, I let her out, and I took her on our first, real date. Do not look for us, we'll be out all night. Don't check my home, my mom and Rachel will probably be fairly pissed with you if you go rapping on my apartment door. Don't check Cuddy's because, well you wouldn't anyway. I'll bring her back by tomorrow. I don't know when yet, seeing as I don't know what time we'll both be conscious but, to keep your mind at rest, we're perfectly fine, so is she. So go home, go back to sleep, and we'll see you in the morning.
-House
Wilson just rolled his eyes, and began to walk towards the elevators. As he did so, he called back to the nurse.
"Next time, don't call me if it's not an emergency. She's with House."
And he stepped into the elevator, and yawned, unsurprised, and a little entertained by the note.
He tread the water to stay afloat as he kept his conversation with Cuddy.
"Come in here."
"No."
"For ten minutes."
"I'm wearing a hospital gown. And it's the only clothing that I have with me. Do you really expect me to just, hop in there with you?"
"Take, it, off."
"You'd like that wouldn't you?"
"Fine. Watch me have fun."
"Gladly."
Suddenly, he jerked in the water. He stopped treading, and had one hand clasped to his leg.
"Damn it."
"What's wrong?"
"Morphine's wearing off."
"Oh God."
"Call Wilson."
"He's like an hour away!"
"He's ten minutes away from here, I just drove us around for a while."
"I'm coming in."
"Don't. You couldn't save me from drowning on a normal basis, what makes you think you can in your current condition?"
Too late to convince her otherwise, she had already jumped in and began to swim towards him, trying to lift him to the surface, but surprisingly, he managed to do that on his own.
"You came in."
"You jerk."
"I didn't think you would."
"To save your life, I would. I always save your ass."
"At least you came in."
She shook her head at him as they both were floating in the water. The moon was set high in the sky, and illuminating all of it, casting streaks of rays to come down across the water, reflecting back, like a mirror. But the reflected images were scattered as they moved along the water, shifting tiny waves here and there. They kept talking as they transferred from one side to the other. But eventually, Cuddy started coughing.
"Come on."
"I'm fine, I just choked on a little water."
He swam with her in his grip all the way to the edge of the pond, and lifted her up out of the water, onto the grass. He then too, lifted himself out, and sat as they were both drenched.
"You're really compromising things for this."
"I have to. Boundaries should be kept. You of all people would understand that."
"You take precautions, unnecessary and irrelevant to this. Boundaries I understand. Everything else, no."
They both sat on the edge of the pond, drenched, and tired. Their hair was matted and clumped together, as water dripped from every strand. Their clothes were soaking and clinging to their bodies as the summer night breeze blew, caressing their faces. That's when Cuddy stood up, and posed an odd question.
"You wanna dance?"
He gazed up at her.
"No, music?"
"Why not? And you're...somewhat of a musician. I'm sure you can come up with something."
"Well, no instruments on me tonight."
He stood up, and looked the other way and smiled.
"But I have an idea. Wait here."
He began to walk back up the hill, passing their spot under the tree, and back into the forest, disappearing into the shadows. Within minutes, music sounded from the forest, and began to echo out by the fields. More than Words by Extreme, began to play from his car radio as he walked back out, and onto the fields, where he met Cuddy and caught her hand to dance.
"I thought, I still got some leg in me. Might as well."
She smiled as he rocked her back and forth in the moonlight and under the shadows as the notes and voices filled the air.
"I can't believe we're doing this."
"You wanted to."
"I'm in a hospital gown, drenched, dancing with you in a cemetery, to the radio in your car."
"Sounds a little funny."
"A little bit yeah."
They danced throughout at least four more songs before heading back to their blanket. House had quickly run back to the car to turn it off, and returned to the blanket with her. They were now relatively dry, and could rest properly. House had lied flat on the blanket, and Cuddy lied beside him, holding his hand.
"You never answered my question."
They both lied on the blankets in silence as he hesitated to answer. He propped himself back up on his hand again, and stared at the ground. Finally, he just forced it out.
"Would you be happier, if I asked you to marry me?"
Her face tensed and turned her head to look up at him, unsure of what he was implying or even what he asked.
"I'm-I'm sorry?"
"I'm not asking you. I'm asking you if that's something you want. This is what I was talking about earlier."
"I-I-? Do you?"
He refused to speak. She looked up at him shell shocked.
"You know I can't--I can't."
"Is it what you would want?"
"Is that what you want? House. I don't expect anything from you in this relationship. Or, whatever this is. We both knew--this wasn't something we--we could never have--"
"Shush. A question."
"But seriously. We--aren't a happy--I don't know."
"Just wanted to know, if that would make you happy."
"House. You know, me and you--both our lives are not even remotely close to happy. I may not be happy, but I'm satisfied with my life's turn out right now."
"So you're satisfied with dying. Okay, you should've let me know earlier, I could've done something faster."
"Stop that. The last thing on my mind right now is something stupid like that."
"You never referred marriage to being stupid."
"I wanted to get married--"
"So why not now?"
"Before I met you."
"So you're saying, because of me, you don't want to get married?"
"Well, I've realized that we don't need to have a ceremony and a whole sermon and vows and unnecessary things, to prove how much one person loves the other. We don't need marriage to bind us more than we already are. We're not a marrying kind of--couple."
He finally looked down at her.
"And I don't want you doing something you don't want to do, because you felt you were obligated to do it."
"With that, I'm not making any promises."
"House."
"There are some things that should be done."
"House."
"You can't expect me to not do a few things--"
"Shut up. I seriously want you to shut up, and stop ruining our date tonight. Which is probably the strangest date I will ever have, seeing as its on cemetery grounds."
She smiled at him as his head arched over her. He locked a stare on her.
"So serious."
"Mm."
"I think I can rectify that."
She raised her head up and kissed him, for several seconds, before dropping back down onto the ground. He grinned.
"I'm gonna miss you."
Her smile vanished. She swallowed and looked away from him.
"Why do you always do that."
"Stop."
Her eyes returned to his. Soft slate eyes, latched to cold sapphire eyes.
"Why are you obsessing over me not being here? Save that for when I'm really gone. Deal with what you have with me now."
"Shh, shh. I'm sorry, okay?"
He kissed her on her forehead, before resting his own on hers. After that, nothing was said. He just cradled her throughout the night, as they both fell asleep under the watch of the moon and the stars.
