Cuddy was lying on her couch in darkness, waiting for House to return. It had already been twenty minutes after he had left for Rachel, and she was beginning to worry. She looked up at the ceiling, paying close attention to the detail, averting her mind from the terrible thoughts that seemed to creep. To calm herself, she finally got up, and slowly moved towards her desk, and bent down. She opened a compartment in her desk, and grabbed to what appeared to be a glass, and a jug of bourbon.
She stood up, closing the compartment with her foot, and began to walk back to the couch.
She set the glass down onto her table, and strained her eyes to make sure she could pour it into the glass. After a couple sips, the door opened. A drenching wet House was holding something wrapped in his jacket, along with his helmet on it's head.

"Is she okay?" Cuddy asked getting up.
"She just fell asleep, if you wake her up I will have to kill you." he said breathless and shivering. He walked Rachel over to the couch, and laid her down still covered in his jacket. Then Cuddy took off the helmet, held it in her hand as she glared at House.
"You-picked-her-up-with-your-bike?"
"And kept her safe. What a great father I could be." he uttered sarcastically.
"She wasn't in a proper car seat, and you could've killed the both of you! What'd you do, stuff her in your backpack along with your cane?"
"I kept her between my legs. She's older--and she's bigger. She fit perfectly fine in front of me. And it's nearly three am, no one's driving around here then." he was completely drenched. His hair had become matted and clumped together, his sky blue shirt had become even darker, and drops streaked down his face.
"Is that bourbon?" he asked her.
"There's a glass in my--"
"I know, bottom right cabinet. I was actually asking you."
"Yeah, it'd be a waste to drink this alone." she said. He then walked over and quickly grabbed a glass, pouring some for himself. He sat back down with her on the edge of the couch, to leave some wiggle room for Rachel. The lightning and thunder continued to boom, and crack outside. Rain lashed on the windows as the wind howled and cursed.

"Now, I'm curious. Why would you stow away, you being the administrator, an entire jug of bourbon along with glasses in your desk?"
"You have bourbon, scotch, whiskey, vodka and a chardonnay stowed away in your desk, along with an extra flask."
"Celebratory reasons."
"Likewise." she retorted.
"No, see, let's think about this. Theoretically, the dean and administrator, are always in control. Not of just the hospital, but also themselves. Now there are only two reasons why someone like you--would keep extra stuff at hand. It's either, you're secretly an alcoholic, that hasn't gone out of control yet--or stress." he had that glint in his eye. Even in the darkness, it stuck out as he stared her down.
"First of all--not an alcoholic. Occasional drink, yes, to the point where I can't walk, no. Second of all--"
"You're not stressed, yeah spare me the speech."
"I keep it, for celebratory reasons."
"Right. Because that sounds like you. YOU'RE STRESSED." he said boldly, getting in her face.
"Why would I be stressed?" she asked him.
"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. First the hours--then the crying? Now this. Come on, we both know something's eating at you."
"Leave it alone House. I'm not an alcoholic, and I'm not stressed." she finished off her second glass, and went to pour her third as House analyzed her.
"Now, judging by the taste--this hasn't been there for long. Maybe--a month. Tops. A month ago--what happened a month ago..."
"House. Stop."
"A month and a HALF ago you had a boyfriend of three months."
"Yes, Nathan broke up with me."
"Yeah. But that kind of thing doesn't stress you out. Never has never will. So there's more to that." he paused, tilting his head this way and that before he looked at her again.

"He broke up with you. Something happened two weeks later. It's obviously kept you stressed this whole month--guilt. You resort to alcohol. Not constant, but enough to drown out the guilt. The hours--avoiding home? No. Rachel? Guilt, Rachel--you asked me if I hated her. You know I don't, and you asked anyway--guilt? Again? Not towards Rachel--kids." She looked directly at him. She had a feeling he knew, so she gave him a look, saying he was right. He stopped talking for about a minute, before making his conclusion.

"He knocked you up." he uttered, with a sense of sincerity in his voice. He continued.
"Knowing that he was going to break up with you, he decides guilt sex. It's impulsive, it's out of nowhere. You two hadn't been--for a month. So you stopped taking the pill. Condom breaks, Nathan jr. comes along after he's already left you. Abortion after two weeks--and you've been guilt ridden since." she sighed, and bowed her head to the floor. She smirked, looking back up at him.

"Are you satisfied?" she asked defensively.
"No." he retorted.
"You want me to go in detail? Because I think you captured all the important aspects and details to my diagnosis--"
"You did the right thing." he finally said, cutting her off. She gave him a skeptical look, before talking again.
"Then why do I feel so guilty? I killed an innocent child--"
"Fetus."
"An actual person. I killed it, House."
"You killed no one. It wasn't a person. It's a fetus that was developed two weeks."
"A living thing inside me, House. I saw the sonogram. I was there, and I saw it. Beautiful living--"
"A beautiful living thing is sitting right behind you. What was in your uterus, was fetus. It had no arms, or legs, or eyes. No organs, nothing. It was basically a parasite. You wanna talk about kids, take a look at yours. You may not be able to suckle the kid, and she may not even look that much like you--"
"Not that much?"
"I'm indifferent. But she's your daughter. Biologically? No. Legally yes. Morally yes. You will raise her like your own, no matter how hard people tell you otherwise. Because you're an annoyingly stubborn and subjective woman, characteristics of which you will rub off on her. And she'll be a pain in the ass for me too. Relatively close to your rank." Cuddy smiled and almost smirked. House turned to look at Rachel, and then back at Cuddy.

"Don't put yourself in fault when you think you've killed your child. You killed a parasite. Nothing more." he just looked at her as he threw back the remaining in his glass. He continued as he set his glass back down onto the table.
"And, Nathan is a bitch's name." he stated with a smile. Cuddy smiled back, and that's when Brenda had returned again.

"Dr. Cuddy? We finally got a way to keep updated with the storm."
"Any new news?"
"It's just getting worse. We've been put on tornado watch."
"Thank you Brenda." she walked out and Cuddy just looked at him.
"Tornado watch." she uttered with slight fear in her voice.
"A lot of people are going to die if it hits us."
"If not, it'll be a miracle."
"Yeah, that's like us to happen. Disaster outweighs miracle a lot." he said with a sigh. Cuddy just smiled at him.
"For us it doesn't."

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