I started the New Year with a new story… It is a one shot I had worked on since month. Thanks to Max's (allthingsdecent) help and a few of her ideas I continued and finally finished it and thanks to Jane (LEfan77) you don't have to deal with my grammar and spelling mistakes :D

I also wanted to thank all of my readers and everyone who left me a review. Thanks so much :D

Now read! xD

Behind her Façade

Prologue

The sharp ringing of his cell phone had woken him up. First he had wanted to ignore it but he soon realized that whoever was calling wouldn't give up anytime soon. So he had answered the call and was more than just surprised to hear the voice of the barman of Jeffry's who had told him to come and pick up his lady. It hadn't taken House long to realize that by "his lady" he had meant no one else but the one and only Lisa Cuddy.

His lips formed into an amused grin when he caught sight of her. She was sitting on a barstool. Alone. A glass of martini was placed in front of her which was – given her state – definitely not the first one she had ordered this night.

She was still wearing the clothes she had worn for work which told him that she hadn't been home before she had decided to get wasted in a bar.

„Time to go home and hit the sheets, partypants."

She let out an annoyed sigh and turned her head to the side in order to look at him. „Not tired... Not going home yet."

„It's after 2am. Deans of medicine are usually asleep at that time. So get your jacket and let's go."

„You are an ass." She slurred.

„I know. But I'm a really nice ass. What other ass would pick up his drunk boss from a bar at 2am?"

„Every ass that doesn't want to loossse his job." She was drunk but this definitely didn't prevent her from being good at repartee.

„Like you would ever fire me..."

„I will if you tell anyone from the hospital about thisss..." She took a big sip of her martini.

„Just shut up and get this big ass of yours from the barstool... I wanna go back to bed."

She didn't move. Instead she took another sip of her drink.

House reached for the glass and placed it away from her, so that she wasn't able to reach it without standing up.

„Hey! I wanna finish my drink!"

„You've had enough for today. Get your coat now." He ordered.

„The lady still has to pay, 2 Martini and a Cosmopolitan." Said the barkeeper in a slightly annoyed voice.

House extracted a few bills from his wallet and slapped them down on the counter. „Keep the rest."

When he turned around again he saw that Cuddy was already next to the front door struggling mightily to put on her coat.

He grinned. Her hair was a mess and so was her make-up but that didn't change the fact that she looked absolutely gorgeous. He would never say it out loud but he can't deny it to himself. „Don't you think it would be easier if the coat wasn't inside out?"

She gave him one of her annoyed looks, turned the coat the right way and finally managed to find the right holes to put her arms in. „Smartass."

He opened up the door for her. „Drunkard."

It took him a while until he finally got Cuddy into his car. Her drunken state didn't really make it easy to make headway. She was trying to persuade him to go to another bar to have a nightcap and therefore she was trying to drag him into the opposite direction than he actually wanted to go in.

When House finally got into the drivers seat, Cuddy was already trying to unfasten her seatbelt again.

„Get your hands off of that thing and sit still." House said and turned the ignition key.

„I don't wanna gooo home..."

„Then I'm going to take you to my place." He drove out of the parking lot. It was better not to leave her alone in this state anyway. Who knows what crazy things she would do if no one was around to stop her.

„Good... You have at least booze at your apartment." She leaned back into the seat.

After a short period of silence House finally dared to ask: „Why the sudden drinking bout?"

„Why can't I just get drunk without everyone wondering about it? ... You get wasted at every chance you get and no one ever cares about it. But I, the perfect dean of medicine, always has to suck it up and behave like super woman!"

„No one but yourself expects you to be super woman."

„My mom does. She loves to remind me each time she calls that I neither have a husband nor kids."

„This is it? You got drunk because of something your old women said?"

„It's not because of what she said... It's because she is right. I want a significant other and I want a kid. But I never will be able to have either of those when I keep screwing up each date I have. I don't want to be alone anymore." She murmured tiredly.

„Then change something." House said like it was the easiest and most obvious thing in the world.

„I tried… But I don't know how..." Cuddy whispered before her eyes fell closed and she fell asleep.

He looked at her for a short moment and noticed for the second time today that she looked absolutely adorable.

„I'm tired." She said when they finally managed to enter House's apartment.

It took them about ten minutes to get out of his car and into his flat. Her drunken state and his duff leg hadn't really allowed them to make fast progress.

„That is no surprise... It's almost 3am and you are wasted. Who wouldn't be tired?" House got rid of his shoes, removed his leather jacket and threw it into a corner.

Cuddy stumbled to the couch and dropped down on it. „I'm sick."

„Don't vomit on my couch. The toilet is just a few feet away."

"Can't you just bring it to me?" She closed her eyes.

„Sure… Why not? It's not like it is screwed down or something."

She sighed, opened up her eyes again and looked up at him. „I am old."

„What's old about 40? Besides: Your smoking hot body makes you look younger anyway." House stated. "... And it makes me want to jump you."

„You are apparently the only one that would like to do that."

„Believe me: I'm certainly not the only one." House sat down next to her on the couch.

„Then why do all men run away from meee?"

„I don't know... Maybe you scare them with your ridiculous expectations?"

She rolled her eyes and then said: „They are more scared about the fact that I earn more money than they do."

„Then they are just stupid."

Cuddy laid her head on his shoulder. „I'm alone, House."

„Don't I count?" In his voice was a playful indignance. "I'm hurt."

„You know that's not what I meant." She sighed.

House got up from the couch again. „Come on... You should go to sleep." He hinted at her to follow him.

She needed a few seconds until she finally stood up from the couch again and then followed him into his bedroom.

He took one of his t-shirts out from his closet and handed it to her. „Go to the bathroom and get changed."

Without complaining – which kind of surprised him – she did what he had said, took the shirt and disappeared into the bathroom to get changed.

He didn't bother to change the sheets. There was no reason to. They were still quite fresh and there was a good chance that Cuddy would empty her stomach on them anyway.

When She still wasn't back from the bathroom about ten minutes later, House decided to check on her.

He opened up the door and caught sight of her sitting on the tiled floor just in her bra and her panties. Her head was leaning against the bathtub. Her eyes were closed. She had obviously fallen asleep.

House grinned. She was so not used to drink. The few drinks she had already wore her down more than the double amount of alcohol would wear him down.

„Hey boozy lady down there, wake up!"

She stirred but didn't open her eyes.

„You gonna sleep on the bathroom floor with the bathtub as a pillow?"

„I don't wanna move..." She murmured.

„You won't ever be able to move if you stay in this position any longer."

„House?" Her eyes were still closed. She hadn't moved yet.

„Yep?"

„I'm cold."

„That is probably because you wear nothing else but your underwear... which is very sexy by the way... I love red lace."

Her lips formed to a smile. „I know you do."

„Come on." House extended his hand for her to take. „The bed is much comfier than the floor."

Cuddy re-opened her eyes again. The brightness of the lamp was dazzling her.

She took his hand and slowly got up. When she finally was on her feet again, she suddenly made a step towards House and leaned her head on his chest. She took in his unique scent and sighed before she suddenly said: "I wanna sleep with you."

House couldn't quite believe that she just really said that. She wanted to sleep with him. Well, she was drunk but don't they say that drunk people tell the truth? "You can. As soon as you are sober."

"I don't wanna wait."

"You are drunk, you don't know what you are doing."

"I totally know what I'm doiiing." Her arms lopped around his midriff.

With his right arm he fished the t-shirt from the sink. "Put this on."

But Cuddy had no intention of getting dressed… instead she got up on her tiptoes and – without any forewarning – she kissed him.

Her lips were so soft and so warm that he couldn't help himself but kiss her back. His arms went around her and pulled her even closer.

She tasted like alcohol but he could still recognize a shade of her own strong female taste which was absolutely intoxicating.

Before the kiss could become even more intense, House got his senses back and parted his lips from hers to break the kiss.

Cuddy was looking at him in confusion.

"As soon as you are sober and in possession of all your senses we can do it as often as you want to… Right now you probably would even want to sleep with Wilson."

"I don't wanna sleep with Wilson! He's a wimp."

House laughed. "So I can scratch out your name on my "potential 4th Mrs. Wilson" – list?"

"Definitely."

"Put the t-shirt on now." He handed her the shirt. "I'll wait outside… And try not to fall asleep again."

When she entered the bedroom he immediately noticed that she was not wearing a bra under his Metallica t-shirt. That realization did something to a very sensitive part of his body. But he tried to ignore it. For their both sakes. If they should ever sleep together again they both should be sober and they both should be able to think clearly.

"What took you so long? Took a nap again?"

"I had to pee." She said before she dropped down on House's bed. "My bladder was kinda full."

"I can imagine."

Cuddy spread out her arms and yawned. "You gonna stay in here with meee?"

He wasn't sure if it really was a good idea to share the bed with her. So many things could happen... A touch would lead to another touch and before he knew what was going on she would be all over him and he wouldn't have the heart to stop her. And in the morning she would be pissed and hurt because it would look like he took advantage of her. And this was the last thing he wanted.

"I guess it's better if I sleep on the couch. You are kind of a snorer and I don't want to get disturbed in my beauty sleep."

"I don't wanna be alooone…"

"Are you scared of the monsters under the bed?"

"Would ya stay if I said yes?"

He sat down on bed. Cuddy really had to be pretty drunk. The boss lady would usually never ever ask him to keep her company in bed just because she felt lonely. She wouldn't even admit that she actually felt lonely.

"Fine… If you move your huge ass over to your side of the bed, I'll stay."

A grin spread on her face and she moved from the middle of the bed to the right side, so House could lie down on the left.

As soon as he was lying in bed Cuddy scooted over and snuggled up to him.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm cold and you are warm." Was her simple answer.

This was reason enough for him. It gave them both the perfect excuse to be close to each other: They are just keeping each other warm. It was totally harmless. Just a symbiosis.

House put his arm around her and covered them both with the eiderdown quilts.

Cuddy sighed contently and snuggled up even closer to him. "This is nice."

He agreed. Not verbally. He just gave a short nod which she didn't even notice.

"You're an ass…" She murmured tiredly into his t-shirt. "But I like you anyway."

His lips formed to a slight smile. "I guess you better should go to sleep now before you say more things you will regret tomorrow."

He could feel her nod. "Yah…"

When she didn't say anything else, House noticed that she was asleep.

She was asleep in HIS arms, her head placed on HIS chest and her hand holding HIS.

He couldn't describe with words how good it felt to be so close to her and how good it felt to be able to touch her.

It felt right. Even though he would never admit it.

The sun tickled her nose and dazzled her even though her eyes were still closed. An annoyed sigh escaped her lips when she realized that she had the worst headache ever.

Cuddy cracked one of her eyes open and realized that this annoying light was no one else but the sun. She pressed her palm against her throbbing forehead and slowly sat up. When she opened up the other eye as well and got adjusted to the brightness she suddenly realized that this room she was in was definitely not her own room.

God, she was obviously at House's place… She could remember that she drunk and she could also remember that he picked her up from the bar… But then everything was black.

She took a look at the alarm clock and realized that it was almost 11am! She was late! She was far too late! She should have been in the hospital 3 hours ago!

Cuddy wanted to jump out of bed and get ready but this didn't really function the way she would have liked.

Her headache was giving her quite a hard time and her circulation wasn't very stable either.

So she slowly got up from bed and headed in the living room, where House probably would be, to kick his ass.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up?" She asked in an angry voice.

House looked up from the newspaper he was reading. "We are a little grumpy today, aren't we?"

"It's 11am, House! We both should have been in the hospital hours ago!"

"Relax. Everything is under control. I told Wilson to take over for you today."

"You did what? Are you nuts? You can't just decide something like that without talking to me first!"

"What was I supposed to do? Take you to the hospital while you were sleeping? Or talk to your sleeping form? I tried to wake you up but you were out like a light."

She once again slapped her palm against her throbbing forehead and sighed. "Do you have any coffee in this messy apartment of yours?"

"Kitchen."

Cuddy immediately headed into the kitchen. She was surprised to find out that he had already made coffee. He had even put an empty mug for her next to the filter machine.

A small smile formed on her face when she filled the mug with the black hot liquid. It was cute of him to prepare coffee for her.

"I really like your outfit." House was leaning against the doorframe, observing her.

She looked down on her and realized that she was just wearing her panties and House's shirt.

"Pervert." She murmured before she took a big sip of the coffee.

"What's perverted about a man who likes to look at the great body of the woman who had shared his bed because she had asked him to stay with her over night?"

"God, please don't tell me we did…" She broke off and tried to hint with her hand what she meant.

"We totally did." He entered the kitchen. A teasing grin was on his face.

"You are kidding…" It didn't felt like she had had sex. She would know it if they had done the deed.

"I'm not kidding. We indeed slept in the same bed. You practically forced me to."

"But we didn't…"

"You mean sex?"

She nodded.

"You totally would have jumped me, if I hadn't prevented you from doing so."

"God…" She closed her eyes for a short moment. She thought that she had never ever been more embarrassed then she was in this very moment. How could all of this happen? How could she drink so much that she lost her self-control?" I'm such an idiot."

"Oh, come on… It's no big deal. It's not like it was news for me that you would like to do the horizontal tango with me."

"I will never ever drink a sip of alcohol again…"

"But you are much more fun when you are drunk."

"Then I hope you enjoyed it because it will never happen again!"

"Oh, trust me I did enjoy it. Especially when you fell asleep in the bathroom wearing just your underwear." A bright grin was on his face. He absolutely enjoyed teasing her.

"I hate you."

"Oh, I doubt that. Yesterday you told me that you really liked me. And everyone knows that drunk people tell the truth."

"That's bullshit, House. Drunk people don't know what they are doing and they don't know what they are saying. There is no truth in their words."

"If you say so."

Cuddy put the coffee cup back down on the counter. "I will leave now… I've a meeting at 1."

"I told Wilson to cancel it."

"You did what? You can't just cancel my appointments?"

"Your head hurts like hell and you look like a train just run over you. Do you really want people in the hospital to see you like that?"

"Thanks for this wonderful compliment." She put the mug in the sink and turned to leave the room. "That's what every woman wants to hear."

Cuddy had left his apartment without saying goodbye. She hadn't been in the mood to deal with his comments any longer. All she had wanted were two aspirins and her own bed.

She had called Wilson, had thanked him for taking over for her and then she had fallen into her bed to sleep.

But somehow sleep didn't come. Her head was still throbbing like crazy and all her limbs felt weak and tired but her brain wont let her fall asleep.

She still had no clue how all of this could have happened. She usually didn't even drink alcohol. But yesterday, after she had talked to her mom, she had felt so sad and so alone that she just hadn't wanted to go back to her empty house after work. No one had been waiting for her there. So she had decided to go into a bar to drown her loneliness in alcohol. It had been the first time she did it and certainly the last time. It wasn't worth the hangover and the shame she felt.

Cuddy sat up and wanted to grip a book from her nightstand when she suddenly remembered something from last night: They had kissed! They had fucking kissed! She had kissed him! And he had kissed back! Oh fuck!

She lay back down and sighed. She was suddenly even more ashamed. She had let her guard down in front of him. She had exposed her feelings to him. He probably hadn't even taken it serious because she was wasted like hell but he probably would tease her with what she had said and done last night forever.

But then she suddenly remembered something else: He had turned her down. He had turned her down because he hadn't wanted to take advantage of her: "As soon as you are sober and in possession of all your senses we can do it as often as you want to… Right now you probably would even want to sleep with Wilson"

He had protected her from doing something she might have regretted. He had done something she hadn't expected. Something nice. Something caring. And this fact made her realize that she had been unfair to him. She had been mean. She shouted at him when she actually should have thanked him.

God… And she had thought she couldn't feel any more ashamed.

House was sitting on his Eames Lounge Chair when Cuddy barged into his office. She was wearing a tight skirt, an extra low, low-cut top and black heels that made her outfit look even more sexy. He hadn't stopped thinking about her since she had left his apartment yesterday morning.

"What did I do to get this pleasure of being visited by the boss in person?" His eyes started roaming over her body.

"I need to talk to you. Do you have a second?"

"Actually I am very busy… I'm day-dreaming about this wasted sexy lady that was sitting in nothing else but her underwear on my bathroom floor asking me to sleep with her. Do you know her? She is the devil in High Heels also known as Head bitch in charge of this asylum here."

"Shut up!" She dropped down next to him on the edge of the chair.

"So… what do you have to tell me? Wanna shout at me again for cancelling your appointments?"

"No… I wanted to apologize and to say thank you." She turned her head so that she was looking directly at him. "It was unprofessional of me to get drunk and it was even more unprofessional that I told the barkeeper to call you… It just wasn't a good day for me. I'm sorry you had to pay for it. And I'm sorry for shouting at you in the morning. I wasn't in a good mood. I felt ashamed and I was cranky because of the headache."

"You were cranky like hell."

"I know."

"But you also looked sexy like hell just wearing my shirt and your panties." A small smile formed on his lips.

Cuddy lightly slapped him on his chest. "Shut up!"

"Isn't there a saying out there that says you can always tell the truth?"

"Sometime it's better to keep it to yourself."

"Don't think so."

"I do."

…

"So… is there anything else you wanted to say or a we done here?" House asked after a short moment of silence in which Cuddy made no move to get up and leave his office again.

"I actually wanted to thank you for something more."

"For?"

Cuddy looked down at her hands, avoiding his gaze. "For not sleeping with me."

"Weird thing to thank me for but… you are welcome."

"It was really considerate of you not to take adventage of the situation."

"This conversation somehow insults my manhood…"

"I don't think so. It just shows that you have a heart somewhere in there." Cuddy's finger nudged softly against the left side of his chest.

"You are an annoying woman."

"And you are an annoying man."

"But apparently you like me anyway."

"I do." She admits.

"… So… you are sober now, right?" House asked with a teasing undertone in his voice that hinted to Cuddy what he had in mind. He was referring to his as-soon-as-you-are-sober-and-in-possession-of-all-your-senses-we-can-do-it-as-often-as-you-want-to comment.

"Keep day-dreaming, House." Cuddy smiled and got up from the chair again.

"I will." He said and watched her ass when she walked out of his office.

God, this woman was a real tease.

-end-

Just so you know: The more reviews I get, the more I get motivated and then the writing goes much quicklier than usually xD

Thanks for reading guys :D You are great :)

Happy 2012!