DISCLAIMER: House belongs to FOX. Song/lyrics belong to the group Santa Esmeralda. All your base are belong to us.

A/N: Lyrics are only quoted at the beginning, not throughout like they were in "Please Be Here".

-- Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood --

I'm just a soul whose intentions are good.
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood
.

Cuddy had finally calmed down and was no longer crying. Well, for the most part, at least. She was still leaking tears but not longer sobbing - hysterically, or otherwise.

They were now sitting on her living room couch. House had his arm around her shoulders and she was cuddled close against his side. An old movie - Ladyhawke - was playing on TV but neither of them were paying much attention to it.

Ever since the moment she'd begged him to stay, he'd been thinking about what it might mean, about what her feelings might be, about what his own feelings were and whether he should act on them or deny their existence. And now there was something he wanted to say, but he didn't know how to put it tactfully. So he just came out and said the unfiltered version exactly as it existed in his own mind.

"Have you even thought about just doing it the old-fashioned way?"

She jumped away from him as if he were on fire and shrieked, "House, did you just come here tonight to try and get me to have sex with you?!"

Of course she immediately jumped to THAT conclusion. That's why he'd tried to figure out a better way to phrase it.

"I didn't say that."

"But you-"

"And I didn't mean it that way, either," he interrupted before she could accuse of him of exactly that. "I just meant that... what I'm trying to say is..."

Her anger drained away as she watched him floundering for an explanation. House wasn't one to mince words in any situation and it was odd to see him struggling to say something in a way that wouldn't offend her. His expression cycled through embarassment, awkwardness, and confusion before finally settling on frustration.

Oh, fuck it! To HELL with expressing my feelings! Out loud he said only, "Marry me."

"What?" she gasped in shock. That was definitely the LAST thing she expected to come out of his mouth.

"Marry me," he repeated.

So when he said "doing it the old-fashioned way", he meant...? Out loud she said only, "Yes."

-end-

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