Ch 24: Bargaining and the Inevitable

It wasn't particularly shocking that Foreman wanted to resign, at least from where House stood, but obviously the younger man had been down the road of searching for a new job before and it hadn't paid off for him. He was therefore making a big mistake, even if he thought that he'd be better off not working in Jersey. House rolled his eyes and tossed the resignation to the side of his desk. Predictably, Cuddy was in his office within the hour with a copy of Foreman's attempt at a dramatic exit as well.

"Did you see this?" she asked him, clearly flustered.

"Unfortunately," House replied, not turning his attention away from his computer screen. She slapped the resignation on his desk, effectively earning his attention. "A temper tantrum is not going to change him mind," he pointed out.

"Well ignoring the issue isn't going to help anything either," she replied. "We're going to have to address this sooner or later. I'd say he wants a job as soon as possible."

"Does he deserve a job, though? He's being very uncooperative."

"Well he did get a bit of a shock yesterday. And you can't expect him to want to keep working with the people who crushed his spirit."

"Oh, GOD!" House said, looking at her as though she were no more intelligent than a small child. "He did not have his spirit crushed. He was dumped. He had something invested and lost it…it's not the end of his days…he didn't even pay enough attention to Thirteen. She had to turn to Wilson for comfort!"

"He works, House! They'd been together for a year and a half! He has feelings!"

"She works with him. If he couldn't pay attention to her any more, she should have left," the diagnostician told his boss/fiancé standing to meet her gaze.

"You're really dense for someone so smart!" Cuddy told him furiously.

"Why are you so invested in Foreman's business, anyway?"

"He works for me! My whole job is the functioning of this hospital and the people who work here!" she retorted, poking a finger into his chest. "Some of us have to work all day, every day."

"Are you trying to say that my job isn't important?" he said, getting pissed. "I save lives! What do you do? Shake your tits in front of some old guys to get money out of them and look good for the media?"

"I work hard!" Cuddy raged. "If you don't think so, I don't know why you bother working here."

"It's your body!" House told her viciously. "It's the only thing worth hanging around for."

Cuddy's jaw dropped as she stared into the eyes of the man whom she thought loved her. Without another word she turned on her heel and walked out, not wanting him to see her cry and show vulnerability after their fight and everything he had just said.

House watched her leave, realizing what he had said. He sighed and sank into his seat. The busty blonde on his computer was enveloping a huge cock in her glossed mouth and looked utterly repulsive to House after something so serious had passed. He turned the computer off and walked around the desk, fully feeling the pain in his leg for the first time in months. 'What the hell,' he thought to himself as he panted, leaning against the door to the differential room. 'She won't talk to me after this anyway.' He limped painfully back to his desk and opened the top drawer. The familiar bottle of Vicodin lay waiting for his touch inside.

House picked the bottle up and wrapped a fist around it. He pressed his fist to his forehead feeling more than physical pain at the realization that he had quite possibly ruined the only relationship he had cared about for such a long time. He sighed deeply and opened the cap. He remembered the events surrounding his last detox with bittersweet feeling. It was certainly not pleasant. A surge of pain shot through his thigh, steeling his resolve to partake of the comfort drug and he took two white pills out and put them in his mouth. The bitter taste was like coming home and he closed his eyes as he swirled them around with his tongue. He swallowed and recapped the bottle, then stuck it into his pocket and walked out of his office in the direction of Wilson's.

"I fucked up," he said simply at Wilson's surprised look.