Ch 50: Give in, Give up

"I can't believe that he would slip up," Cuddy sighed. She was sitting with Wilson and Thirteen in her office, while Cameron conducted another blood test. House had insisted upon it after insisting repeatedly that he was clean and hadn't slipped up. Cuddy wasn't easily convinced and Wilson worried about what that would mean for the two of them.

"Are you sure he did slip up, though?" Thirteen asked, as though reading Wilson's mind. Cuddy looked at the younger woman as though she had no idea what she was talking about.

"Of course he did. Why else would he be so insistent that he didn't?"

"Maybe he didn't…" Thirteen replied, trying to keep the sarcasm to a minimum. Cuddy was still her boss, even if her job was more than a little unorthodox.

"You actually think that someone would want to hurt House so much that they would slip a couple crushed Vicodin into his drink at some party?" Cuddy asked skeptically. "Doesn't this seem like a scheme he would cook up?"

"I know you're upset. Really upset, and especially because you didn't want him to go to a bachelor's party anyway, but you shouldn't take everything out on him," Wilson said, stepping between the two women who were behaving like angry cats.

"Would you like to take the blame, then?" she asked.

"It's more my fault than his. I should have kept an eye on the people near the drinks. Or at least near House. I was a bit preoccupied with getting laid," he admitted. Thirteen grinned at him and they shared a look.

"I just can't believe this is happening. This really put me in a difficult situation."

"What do you mean?" Wilson asked.

"If I don't lie or destroy paperwork, he'll be put on probation. He won't be able to treat patients."

"What?"

"He's right on the border of recklessness as it is."

"But probation isn't all bad, right?" Thirteen asked. "After a month or two he'll get the license back."

"No. He'll have to go in front of a board. He'll have to argue about why he should get the license back. And he'll have to be enrolled in a treatment…rehab, and you all know how that'll work out."

Wilson sighed. "So what are you going to do?"

"So far there aren't any names on the records we have," she replied with a sigh. "If I leave it that way or put another name on it, I could lose my license."

"Can't you just burn the file?" Thirteen asked.

"I could. Chalk it up to waste, but there's a meeting scheduled to take place in less than a week. The board of trustees decided to get the hospital inspection over with soon to deem me capable of taking care of a hospital in which my husband works."

"Oh shit. They know you're engaged."

"Well that happens when you decide to get married. You risk a lot if you work together," she said with another huge sigh. "Any file I touch they'll know about."

"I'll do it," Thirteen offered after a moment of silence.

"What?" Cuddy asked.

"I'll get rid of the file. Keep it in the apartment or something and then burn it," the young woman offered.

"You're young, if you lost your license, your career would be considerably diminished."

"I have less to lose," Thirteen replied, waving the excuses off. "I'm willing to take the risk."

"Are you sure?" Cuddy asked as Wilson rubbed circles on her back.

"He saved my life. And he's a friend, even if he is an ass." Thirteen shrugged.

"This conversation never leaves the room," Cuddy said, finally consenting. Her comrades nodded their agreement.

"Are you going to go talk to him?" Wilson asked her after a moment.

The soon-to-be Mrs. House rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I should. I guess. He's House, after all. It's not like he planned on this…or he'd better hope he didn't." She stood. "I'll talk to you later. You should go get some rest…take care of that baby."

Cuddy left Wilson and Thirteen talking quietly in her office as they prepared to leave, and walked purposefully in the opposite direction of the room in which House was being kept; she needed to think a bit on her own. She grabbed a cup of coffee from the nurse's station and massaged the back of her neck. She had no idea what to think. Of course she loved House and wanted to believe him, but really who would want him to lose his job so badly that they would drug him? Perhaps if they found out who had done it quick enough, she could salvage the situation and keep House's job and her integrity.

After nearly ten minutes of trying to think of something to say to him, she entered the room. He was staring at the television and didn't bother looking up when she entered. She didn't blame him particularly as she had berated him fairly heavily the last time they had been in the same room. "Hey," she said quietly.

He finally looked up, an unhappy look plastered on his face. "Hello."

"Look, I'm sorry House. I'm just stressed to the fucking breaking point. I know we're going to fight, but I really should have been right behind you when you said you were drugged. I'd like you to forgive me if that's possible," she said, inhaling deeply. This had come bursting forth and House took a moment to get his bearings, taking in the information that had been presented and processing it quickly.

"Did you just say 'fucking'?" he asked, a grin stealing over his features.

She laughed out loud. "Sorry."

"I like it when you talk dirty," he told her, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. She let out a breath of relief and came over to wrap her arms around him. Their lips met in a moment of pure bliss and she looked at him a bit dazedly when they broke apart. "You taste pretty damned good for someone with such a dirty mouth."

Cuddy had a feeling that she would be hearing a lot more about her 'dirty' mouth and grinned, thinking that that would be just fine so long as he still loved her.