2006

Stacy walked into the lobby at Princeton Plainsboro Hospital wearing a black pantsuit with a white shirt and low heeled black pumps. She carried her purse over one arm and her briefcase over the other. Bright sunlight flooded the lobby causing her to squint slightly. She was working overtime on the McGinley case. It still made her sad to think of Kayla McGinley. The fact she was one of House's patients made it even harder. Though Chase originally treated her, the team did become involved. From a legal standpoint, the whole case was a nightmare. From Chase's initial mistake the entire thing escalated. Now a young mother was dead and both House and Chase were scheduled for a peer review in two weeks. House chose to get his own lawyer but Stacy still had to represent Chase and he wasn't being very helpful. She felt like he wanted to be fired.

She passed the main desk and Cuddy called out to her. Stacy stopped and waited for Cuddy to join her.

"Hey," Cuddy said. She wore a skin tight black skirt, a low cut pink sweater, and three inch pumps. Stacy liked Lisa but she often wondered how she got away with dressing the way she did. One of the first rumors Stacy heard after starting work at the hospital was that House and Cuddy slept together while they were both in college. Stacy often wondered if Cuddy was in love with House and she dressed the way she did to get his attention. Stacy noticed Cuddy spent an inordinate amount of time micromanaging House.

"Did you talk to Chase yet?" she asked Stacy as she took some messages from the receptionist at the desk.

"Not yet but the review isn't for two weeks," Stacy informed her.

Cuddy shook her head. "It's been moved up to tomorrow. House's lawyer has already filed for a postponement. You need to get Chase to do the same."

She turned on her heel and went back to her office. Stacy blew out a sigh and went to find Chase.

She walked into the Diagnostics conference room. House stood at the whiteboard tapping a marker against his chin as he stared at the symptoms written on it. Reilly, Cameron and Chase sat at the table looking over a patient's file.

"Lupus," Chase said leaning back in his chair.

Reilly groaned. "It's not lupus because it's never lupus."

"Good morning, Stacy," Cameron said. Sunlight glinted off her rich brown hair and she wore what Stacy thought of as her uniform: pale grey pants with a matching vest over a pink top with short puffy sleeves. Stacy always felt a sharp stab of jealousy when she saw her. Cameron was not only breathtakingly beautiful but she made House happy. If Cameron weren't so kind and compassionate, Stacy could easily hate her.

House turned and looked at Stacy. "You need Chase?" he asked.

"Yeah," she told him.

"Go," he told Chase.

Chase got up and followed Stacy down to her office. She walked behind her desk and pointed to a chair in front of it. Chase sat down and she pulled out the paperwork requesting a postponement of the peer review.

"Sign this," she told. "It's a request to postpone the peer review which has been moved up. It's tomorrow. We want them to postpone. Over time, memories fade and tempers cool. House's lawyer has requested it already and he'll probably get it."

"No," Chase told her shaking his head. "I want to get it over with."

"They could fire you," she told him.

He looked at her resolutely. "Is that all you needed?" he asked as he got up.

"At least let me help you prepare for it."

He shook his head and left.

The next day the peer committee gave Chase the option of resigning and he took it. House's appeal was denied and the committee ordered that he be supervised by a doctor of Cuddy's choosing. By the end of the week, Chase was on a plane back to Australia and Reilly was in charge of Diagnostics and supervising House.

Reilly sat at the table in the conference room with a stack of resumes in front of her. She tried to convince Cuddy to let Wilson supervise House but Cuddy refused. So, now she was looking at resumes, organizing charts, and just generally cleaning up after House.

As she separated the resumes into two piles, she heard House coming down the hallway and he was singing. Reilly knew what the singing meant. He'd done something he shouldn't have done. Ever since he was a child he sang whenever he'd done something especially naughty. He and Stacy went to Maryland to sort out a problem with his billing practices. She knew he ended up on the no-fly list which didn't surprise her so Cameron drove down to get him. That was three days ago so Reilly knew he convinced Cameron to take her time bringing him back. That wasn't enough to prompt the singing, though.

He flung the door open, sang louder and tossed his backpack in his office.

"What did you do and where is Allison?" she asked without looking up.

"Cameron is taking the day off and what makes you think I did something?" he asked as he removed his jacket and hung it on the coat rack.

"The singing."

He walked over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup. "Stacy kissed me," he told her. He carried his red mug over to the table, sat down and leaned his cane against his chair.

"Since you were singing, you didn't tell Allison."

He squirmed in his chair and made a face. "She kissed me and then I went back down to the airport terminal. Cameron called about three seconds after Stacy kissed me. Stacy said I'm like vindaloo curry and then she kissed me."

Reilly looked up and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "Did you kiss her back?"

House took a sip of his coffee and looked away.

"You kissed back," she sighed. "You have to tell Allison."

He shrugged. "It was a teeny tiny kiss."

"Are you trying to blow up your relationship with Allison?"

He sighed. "She wants to have a baby."

"And you don't want kids."

"No," he told her softly. "As I'm sure you remember, I didn't have the best paternal role model growing up. She needs to have kids with someone who isn't as damaged as she is. She needs normal to balance her out. I'm not normal."

"So, talk to her. I don't want to have to hire someone else because you kissed back."

"What if she hates me?" he asked.

"She loves you. But you want different things. It's better to end things amicably. Just don't be off-hand and callous when you talk to her," she told him as she got up.

"Bah!" he squawked as she walked toward his office. "I'm not done. You need to tell me what to say."

She waved her hand at him and continued on into his office.

He slumped down in the chair. "I thought friends helped friends," he called out.

"I did," she called back. "Go talk to Allison."

House tapped on Cameron's door with his cane. He had a key but didn't want to use it. The door swung open and she smiled at him. Her hair spilled over her shoulders and she wore faded jeans and a red t-shirt.

"Why didn't you use your key?" she asked and then kissed him.

He walked past her into the living room of her apartment and slumped down on the couch. She sat down next to him.

"We need to talk," he told her.

She sighed and folded her legs beneath her. "You're breaking up with me."

"I don't want kids," he told her. "And if you stay with me you will start to resent me because you do." He turned and looked into her eyes. "I don't want you to resent me or hate me. You need someone normal. I'm too damaged and so are you."

She took his hand and stroked his fingers. "I know Stacy kissed you." He opened his mouth but she put her hand up. "It was the singing. I also know you wouldn't initiate a kiss but, since it's Stacy, you would let her kiss you. Do you want to be with her?"

"No," he told her. "To be honest I don't know what I want. Well, that's not completely true. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want you to quit."

She smiled slightly. "I'm not going to quit and I'll always be here for you. As for the hurt, it's bearable."

He narrowed his eyes and shifted slightly on the couch so he faced her. "This feels wrong," he told her. "There's no cursing, no screaming, no rending of garments, not throwing heavy objects, slamming doors or damning silence. This is…."

"Civilized?"

"Weird. Are we breaking up and being okay with that?"

"It looks that way," she told him. "I realized something while you were you were gone. I was in love with you when I first started working with you. Now, though, I love you."

"There's a difference?"

She nodded. "Yeah, there is."

"So, we're okay?"

"Yeah," she laughed.

"Still feels weird," he told her.