A/N...So, I've been MIA recently. I've had a lot of RL issues come up, including a big move. But now, I'm back, and better than ever :) I hope you enjoy this.

*** Moonlight Ride ***

~ Chapter One ~

Weary Wondering

Moonlight Drive – The Doors

Let's swim to the moon, uh huh
Let's climb through the tide
Penetrate the evenin' that the
City sleeps to hide
Let's swim out tonight, love
It's our turn to try
Parked beside the ocean
On our moonlight drive

Dr. Lisa Cuddy sat behind her desk, staring at her computer monitor until the the letters and numbers became blurry. She sat back in her chair, and she sighed deeply, struggling to not let it turn into a yawn. She glanced at the clock on the wall, and she was surprised at how late it had become. She had already informed her babysitter that she wouldn't be home until very late, as she had been all the past week.

She prepared the quarterly reports and departmental budgets for the next Board of Director's meeting first thing Monday morning. But now, it was late Friday, and she was soon finished. All she had to do was finish filling out the data and e-mail everything to the various directors. She could relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend, comfortable in the knowledge that this would be the last late night at least for a few days.

She reached for the last file from the now shrunken pile, and when she read the label, her heart lodged in her throat. Department of Diagnostic Medicine was typed in neat print on the white sticker. Tentatively, she opened the file, and she saw the familiar scrawl of its former department head, and underneath that, she saw the neater, yet unfamiliar script, of Dr. Eric Foreman. It was an unwelcome reminder of the severe changes that they had all been forced to go through the past few months.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, then she steeled her will, and she began to mechanically fill out the data, like she had a million times before. When the last bit of information had been filled out, she saved the document, backed it up on her portable driver, then she e-mailed it out to the Board members. That done, she powered down the computer. Exhausted, she leaned back in her chair, and for a moment, she closed her eyes, suppressing the knot that had formed in the pit of her stomach.

Yawning deeply, she reluctantly stood up, and she pulled on her wool coat. Six months, she thought to herself. Six months since that awful day in this office. Since the day the fragile relationship that I had with my two best friends came to a screeching halt. Since it fell apart. Seasons had changed from summer's stifling heat to early fall's crisp, sunny days, to now, late fall's biting winds, a reminder that winter's deep chill was on its way.

Rachael had celebrated her first Halloween, her first Rosh Hashanah. Thanksgiving was just around the corner, as was her first birthday. She'd experienced all the milestones that a year old toddler experienced, and she was growing so fast. It seemed like the days were flying by, and Cuddy had an awful feeling that if she blinked, she would miss her daughter's childhood.

She locked up her office, fighting the loneliness that threatened to well up inside her chest. She made her way out of the hospital, feeling that a zombie must feel like she was – stiff and numb, mentally and emotionally.

She tried not to think of him, but he was never far away from her thoughts, no matter how much he hurt her. He had ignored her from the time that he had returned, only associating with her when he needed to. She'd heard rumors of a relationship with a psychiatrist at Mayfield, and that had hurt her more than she would ever admit to a living being. Between the rumors, and how he now barely spoke to her, their familiar banter that had been a security blanket to her had lost its spice.

It was over.

She made her way through the parking lot. The slow realization that she had failed at yet again another relationship, and ruined her two closest friendships in the process, cut through her heart like a hot knife, burning as it sliced through.

Wilson now barely spoke to her, as well, and when he did, it was completely professional, to the point of being devoid of human emotion. Every time she tried to turn the conversation towards House, he would mumble a weak excuse, and he would beat a hasty exit. For days afterwords, he wouldn't be able to look her in the eyes.

She walked over to her car, head down, and eyes cast to the ground. She felt that all the burdens in the world had been placed on her fragile shoulders. Fighting tears, she was happy there was no one else in the parking lot to see her cry, no one to see the tough-as-nails Dean of Medicine to break down.

She fumbled in her purse, looking for her keys. She wanted to get in her car quickly, so she could sit inside and have a good cry in the well upholstered seat of her Prius. Cursing under her breath, she paused to sift through the contents of her small purse, wondering how her keys had shifted to the bottom. As if the night couldn't get any worse.

Then she heard a throat clearing.

Her head snapped up. She had been wallowing in self pity, and she had forgotten that she was a single woman walking alone in a dark, poorly lit parking lot late at night. She froze, and she squinted through the dark around her car. She spotted a dark shadow, leaning against her car door. She went into Def-Com four mode, and positioned her thumb on the speed dial button for 911 on her cell phone. Just before she pressed the button, she realized that the shadow was twirling a long thin object.

She sighed, forcing herself to relax. Then she inhaled deeply, and she called out, as confidently as she could, "House!"

He limped out of the shadows, the grimy orange shaded parking lot lights giving his aristocratic features a grim and sickly cast. The light played off the planes of his face, making him seem far more gaunt and pale than he really was. She noticed that his eyes still burned a brilliant blue, even in the dark of night, and with the intensity of a laser, those eyes were focused right on her.

"We have to talk."