A black curl.

A simple black curl.

That was the element that finally sent him over the edge.

Cuddy's black curl.

Since his return from Mayfield, life around Cuddy had been quiet awkward. At first, both of them had tried to act like everything was back to normal, like he never had any hallucinations involving her, and like he never went to a loony bin. But their attempts at banter had reveled they weren't comfortable with each other anymore, it wasn't as easy and as natural as it was before. They weren't on the same page as before.

And that made him angry.

He was angry at himself to have thought possible that she would let Rachel that night to help him detox in twelve hours and that she would later ride him feverishly out of whatever twisted feelings he thought she might have had for him. And he was very angry having believed it until after his declaration on the balcony.

And he was angry at her too. He didn't know exactly why but he surely was. Maybe it was because she didn't see it coming and she didn't help him when he needed her. Maybe it was because that night she preferred her new life with her new and perfect baby. Maybe it was because she didn't ride him all morning long when it was his most vivid memory of this last year. But all those reasons didn't make any sense and House always made sense. Because he wasn't insane.

He wasn't.

So today, when he waltzed through the door of her office for the fifth time this week, he was angry and he wanted to make sure she knew it. He started to yell at her for a medical procedure she authorized for one of his patient that countered his own very risky medical procedure for the said patient. Then he yelled some more for the hell of it making all the way some extremely inappropriate and hurtful comments about her abilities concerning medicine.

She then started to yell back, and as it was a regular occurrence this last weeks, nobody went in to stop the fight.

And this was it.

The very moment he noticed it.

A perfect black curl escaping her ponytail and catching on her lip.

And suddenly he found that breathtaking.

She was flushed and her breaths were quick because of their fight.

An it reminded him of another time when he saw her flushed and breathless.

Back then she was pined against a wall, half naked, fighting for control but not the same kind of control as today.

But it was all in that overactive mind of his.

And now, there she was, as hurt and angry as he was a moment before, and he felt an incommensurable urge to take that strand of hair out of her face and to take its place on her lips.

He takes two steps in her direction and she must feel he is not in the fight anymore because the words die in her mouth. He's just inches from her now and his fingers come to her strand of hair and, never touching fully her cheek, pull it out of her lips then toy a little with it before gently brushing it away.

A chill shakes her from the top of her skull to the length of her spine.

She steps back and her ass meets the edge of her desk.

« Wh… What are you doing ? » she whispers 'cause her voice doesn't come out as strong as she expected.

He doesn't answer and instead comes closer. He always forgets how petite she is. He supposes it's because she has such a big mouth, it makes her seem taller.

As he lazily close the distance between them, she seems to brace herself and says « House, stop. », but the command comes out as a plea.

His answer is throaty.

« Make me. »

Finally, she's the one who closes the distance between them and her lips come crashing on his and she seems surprised by what she just did and he takes advantage of her open mouth to dart his tongue inside of it. And now they're kissing fiercely and with so much determination and need that they're both out of breath in no time. They resurface for a second, taking some air, and dive right back into another kiss.

When the fire settles down a little. They look the other in the eye, still so intertwine with each other they don't really know where they end and where the other starts. And there, for the first time since Mayfield, they can see and recognize each other in the fire living between them.

« Hello House. »

« Hi Cuddy. »

The End.