Oh my! Oh me!
My spell check must hate me!
(And why? You'll see!)

Tee hee.

~*~*~
    “Busy busy busy busy busy—”
    “Hey Lisa, what—”
    “Busy busy busy—”
    “Slow down there, lady,” Hugh said, appearing in front of her and putting his hand over the script page she was examining. “You’re going to walk into a wall.”
     “This is going to be an intense day, isn’t it,” she asked, giving him a wry smile and walking with him over to Cuddy’s office set. “Did you see where they want to get before we can wrap?”
    “Yeah…” Hugh glanced at her sideways. “But look at it this way—our scenes never take too terribly long, and when we get these two in the can…”
    “Vacation!” Lisa sighed longingly. “I’ve been gazing at my plane tickets practically every day and trying not to drool on them.”
    “Why? Do they have my picture on them?”
    Lisa socked him in the arm. “Very funny, Sarcasmo. Now stop amusing me, I have to be cranky.”
    “Want me to remind you of the horrendous things I said to you a few days ago?” Hugh teased gently. Lisa stopped walking and looked at him, her eyes softening.
    “I think you’ve apologized enough, pal. We both have. Now come on, let’s find Anne and we can get started.”
    “Present!” Anne popped up next to them. “You guys ready for some awesome?”
    “Um, like, totally,” Lisa said, linking arms with her and parading off toward Cuddy’s office, leaving Hugh to stare bemusedly after them.
    “Good morning, boys and girls!” Said David Straiton, settling himself into the director’s chair. The sun was only just starting to peek over the horizon, and everyone knew they were in for a long day. But they were in the home stretch, and adrenaline was starting to pump through their veins; it was like Hell Week in the theatre; it was torture; it was fun. “Are we ready to get started?”
    “Sir, yes, sir!” Shouted Anne and Lisa, saluting him. Hugh chuckled from off set as Anne came to join him off to the side, then raised a hand to David, asking for a moment before they started, as was his wont. Especially before starting a day that was going to be as grueling as this one—with hardly any hope or optimism to be found in his lines—he needed to get himself set. Leaning forward against the wall, away from all his co-workers, Hugh closed his eyes and forced himself to remember.
    Fighting with Lisa—thinking he’d have to push her away for good, forever—hating himself for wanting her to be there, even when she wasn’t called—needing to lean on her tiny shoulders, tiny but strong enough to bear his weight—talking to his therapist, closing off entirely from the subject of his friendship with her, for fear that he would say something—
    It was enough to give him a stomachache… which is what he was going for. As he pushed his way into Cuddy’s office, Lisa’s eyes betrayed her shock at his haggard appearance, so different than the Hugh she had spoken to not five minutes ago.
    She stood behind the desk. Hugh set his cane down and gazed at her unflinchingly, watching as she started to reach for her jacket, started to put it on, finally spoke.
    “It’s late, and I’m tired. Can we get to the talking part of this conversation?”
    Hugh drew in a deep breath. “I quit.”
    “Great…” Lisa opened her mouth as if to speak, then changed her mind and started gathering her things off the desk. “My nanny is off the clock at 7:30, so your… week off? Bigger desk?” Hugh wasn’t reacting. “Tighter nurses’ uniforms… or whatever other stupid thing you’re about to demand is going to have to wait until—”
    “You can go suckle the little bastard child who makes you feel good about yourself,” Hugh finished tonelessly. Lisa stared at him and he met her gaze, and behind his eyes… nothing. She began to breathe faster, anger coursing through her veins, until—”
    “Screw you,” she hissed as she walked past him, blowing toward the door, as if she couldn’t be away from him fast enough. When she hit the door and it was time for Anne’s line, Lisa ducked her head and raised her hand. “David? I’m sorry, I messed that up…”
    Hugh was watching her curiously.
    “What’s up, Lisa?” The director called from behind the cameras.
    “I’m sorry, I just—can we do that again? It just—didn’t feel right, considering the reality behind all this… where does reality end and the hallucination begin, again?”
    Someone handed Hugh a script and the two of them bent their heads over it, their faces close together.
    “I think here,” Hugh said, pointing. “In next week’s script, the flashbacks… what actually happens after your line is you walk out and you keep going. House saying ‘I’m hallucinating’ is the beginning of the hallucination.”
    “Ok, so… my line actually… ew.” Lisa rubbed her forehead. “I’m sorry, I really am, let’s do it again. I’m sorry. It just didn’t feel right.”
    “’s ok,” Hugh said, nudging her with his elbow as he tossed the script off to the side and stood again facing Cuddy’s desk. Anne stepped right outside the shot so she could jump in after Lisa walked past.
    “Can I add ‘daily blow job’ to his list of pretend demands?” Lisa asked hopefully before they started. Hugh’s eyebrows flew up. “Sorry. I’m trying to get it out of my system before we start. I swear, I’m better now.”
    “Action!”
    “Your week off… bigger desk… tighter nurses’ uniforms, or whatever other stupid thing you’re about to demand is going to have to wait until—”    
    “You can go suckle the little bastard child who makes you feel good about yourself.”
    Lisa swallowed, looking at her co-star evenly. “Screw you,” she almost whispered, her eyes narrowing. She stalked past him, barely recognizing that Anne was appearing behind her for the rest of the shot.
    “Don’t do this,” she heard the guest actress say as she reached the door, and then Hugh’s voice called her back.
    “I’m hallucinating,” he said, and Lisa tried to shift gears. Now she was House’s idea of Cuddy, not necessarily the way she would normally play the character, and it was definitely a switch. She immediately let go of the conversation they had just had, and became all about caring, fixing, helping the man before her. Lisa’s hand remained on the door, as she was halfway out already, and she looked back.
    “From the Vicodin?”
    “Ruled out everything else,” Hugh said, looking broken as he stood forlornly in the middle of the office. Anne hovered a little behind him and to his right. Lisa closed the door and walked another few steps closer to him.
    “We can, uh… admit you through the ER under a pseudonym. No one has to—”
    “I’ll cheat. Scam. Find some way to keep using.”
    Lisa shook her head. “These people know what they’re doing.”
    “These people don’t know me.” Their eyes locked. “You do.”
    “She’s not your keeper,” Anne insisted from behind, but it was as if she wasn’t even there. “She has no responsibility for you.”
    Hugh’s voice nearly cracked under the strain of the scene. “I need you,” he whispered, their gaze never wavering. Lisa licked her lips and took another step forward, touching his arm and looking gently up at him, conveying everything with her eyes: she knew how hard this was for him. She knew he had only asked because he was desperate. They both knew she would do anything for him.
    “Let me call my babysitter,” she said, moving past him to the desk and picking up the phone. A few seconds later they stopped the cameras and Lisa realized that Anne wasn’t even there. “When did Anne go off-set?” She asked, puzzled.
    “While you were staring goopily into Hugh’s eyes,” Anne said from a folding chair off to the side. “Boy were you involved. You didn’t even see me leave?”
    “As far as Cuddy is concerned, you weren’t there in the first place,” Lisa said primly, raising an eyebrow at Hugh who winked solemnly at her.
    “That’s great, guys!” David said after a few minutes. “Keep this up and we might actually get out of here before midnight!”
~*~*~
    “Mwehhhh! Bleghhhcgh! Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggk…” Lisa looked up to see Hugh staring at her and smiled cheerfully. “And that’s how you fake vomit!”
    “I’ve fake vomited before. Many times, you may recall.” He said, taking the trash can back from her and collapsing on House’s couch. The scene in Cuddy’s office had only taken a few more tries, and they had decided to try and get this one in before a late lunch break. House had gone into makeup to “improve” upon his haggard look, and Lisa had nearly choked on her water when he came back out.
    “I still can’t believe this is fake,” she said, reaching out as if to touch his face. Hugh pulled back.
    “Hey, come on, this took forever. Don’t make me have to go have them redo it.”
    “You guys ready to start, or should we all run a few laps around the building to kill some time?” Anne said, leaning against the far wall from which she would make her entrances and exits. Lisa smiled down at Hugh, who set the trash can down and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees waiting for the director.
    “Hugh,” she said, leaning down toward him. “I promise. We’ll get this in as few takes as possible. I know you don’t want to have to go down this road any longer than absolutely necessary.”
    Hugh grabbed her hand impulsively and squeezed it, looking up at her. “Thanks.”
    “Let’s go, guys!” David said, and the scene began.
    “Bleghhhcgh!” Said Hugh.
    Lisa walked over to him, handing him a damp towel and resting her hand on his back as he finished spitting into the garbage. “Lie down,” she said, rubbing his shoulders gently. “I’ll get you some tea.”
    “Yeah,” Hugh gasped as she walked away. “That’ll be better.” Turning his head gingerly, he watched her go—then leaned across the couch to grab at a box on his end table. Anne stepped into the shot between the couch and the kitchen.
    “You really think she hasn’t searched this place for your secret stash?”
    Hugh barely gave her a glance before reaching in anyway, as Lisa came back.
    “I already did this room… and the bathroom and the bedroom. Where should I look in the kitchen?”
    Hugh looked up at her and Lisa’s heart squeezed convulsively. His eyes were watery, he was gasping for breath, his hands were shaking…
    “Coffee cup on the top shelf,” he stammered. Lisa smiled and shook her head, coming back to him, walking past Anne as if she wasn’t even there.
    “That was a test. I already did the kitchen.” She sat down next to him, gazing at him with pity and sympathy.
    “Nicely played,” said Anne from behind her. “She’ll think you’ve come clean and given her everything.”
    Hugh’s eyes darted in her direction, then back away from both of the women in the scene, looking into space. “There’s more,” he gasped.
    “Don’t!” Anne said sharply. “You’re hurting already. It’ll only get worse.”
    Hugh looked at her, then looked at Lisa, begging her with his eyes to pry the answer from him.
    “House,” she said, reaching for his hand. “You should tell me where it is now, because—you won’t have the will to tell me in two hours.”
    Hugh and Anne exchanged looks again as his hands started to shake even more. “My—shoes—in the closet.”
    Lisa nodded as Anne did a double-take. “It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore!”
    Hugh went in his mind to his childhood—playing outside in the snow, with only a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, just to prove he could. He began to shiver uncontrollably, bringing his hands up in front of his face. Lisa had just got up off the couch, and suddenly stopped, watching him in fascination. As his hands began to clutch at nothing spasmodically, he threw his head back and groaned. In no seconds flat, Lisa was at his side, leaning towards him, reaching for him.
    “Ok… ok. Hold my hand,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she watched him gasp for breath, rolling his head to the side to look at her. His eyes were still watery, his jaw was lax, and his palm was sweaty in Lisa’s grip. The link between their eyes shimmered and held a good ten seconds longer before David stopped the scene to converse shortly with Katie.
    “Ok, guys,” he began, and trailed off. One of the cameramen had left his machine going, thinking he would turn it off when the actors got up and moved off set. But Lisa and Hugh were still sitting there, Hugh trying to catch his breath and Lisa tenderly smiling at him, reaching out to brush the hair off his forehead, where he had somehow managed to act himself into a sweat.
    “Turn it off,” David said suddenly, feeling almost like a voyeur—but that was ridiculous, he told himself. They were just such good actors…
~*~*~


Ok guys, I meant to get some more stuff in this chapter but it was getting SO long that I had to split it... so we'll see when I can get the next bit out! (Have to write it first...)