Cuddy rested her head on his chest, for once thankful of her own lack of height that let her so easily hear his heartbeat. They had been standing there for a while now, just enjoying the closeness. She was surprised House had nothing to say, he was very rarely speechless. Maybe he was afraid to break the spell, of saying the wrong thing. Or maybe he was just content enough to stay silent. Her musing was stopped by his sudden flinch and a change in his heartbeat, small enough that she wouldn't have even noticed if he wasn't so close. She guessed it was his leg acting up again, annoyed at the audacity of him standing for too long after the day they'd had. She straightened and grabbed his hand.
"C'mon, let's get you cleaned up," she said, smiling. She sat him down on the edge of the bathtub and turned the water on. Then she told him to take off his shirt. His eyes shone with amusement but he managed to keep the lewd comment to himself, which she appreciated, especially since she had just planned to check the cut on his shoulder and change the old bandage. She pulled the blood-soaked fabric off carefully, but he still felt a twinge of pain when it tore some of the newly formed scab with it. She then retrieved her kit, soaked a swab in disinfectant and cautiously cleaned the wound. It looked angry and red, but she hoped it wouldn't get infected, especially if he let her keep an eye on it. After cleaning both the wound and the surrounding area, she patched him back up with a new bandage. They would have to try and keep it from not getting too wet in the bath, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. The tub was full, so she told him to take off his trousers and kneeled to help him with his socks, knowing that they could get problematic with a sore shoulder and leg. She then got rid of the scrubs she was wearing while he slid in the tub. She told him to close his eyes and started shampooing his hair.
After his hair was free of the dust and blood it was crusted with, she took a sponge and some bodywash and began washing the rest of him, carefully avoiding any cuts or scrapes. Some of the places she touched still made him inhale sharply while his eyes flutter shut, but she didn't think that was necessarily due to pain… After he was sufficiently cleansed, she helped him up and passed him his cane. He reached out for her with his free hand and together they made their way to the bedroom.
She left for home early next morning, since she had to change and wanted to be present when the babysitter got there. Lucas had been awake when she got there and left without a word. She woke Rachel up for her morning bottle and some bonding time before she had to hand her over to Marina and hurry to get herself presentable. She told the babysitter not to let Lucas in were he to appear, and the older woman lifted her eyebrows but accepted this without a word.
Going to work was far less awkward than she thought, even if she did have to go tell Wilson that if House mentioned anything he wasn't hallucinating again. "B- Buh… What?" was Wilson's exact reaction to her declaration she had finally slept with House, and would be doing so in the future as well. She left his office before he could recover. He stumbled out when she was entering the elevator, she shot him a brief smile and saw him turn around and head for the Department of Diagnostics instead.
House was busy with a new case, but did stumble in to her office a few times during the day, always equipped with some sarcastic comment but mostly to stare at her in shy amazement. He didn't even ask for a brain biopsy. (Of course, the patient's problems had no neurological association but that had never stopped him before. Sometimes she thought he just had a fascination with brains and wanted to know how many parts of them he could stick a needle into without doing permanent damage.)
She was just about to call her babysitter to tell her she was coming home early when House appeared at the doorway. He looked hesitant so she decided to be the first to speak. "Do you want to come to my place for dinner tonight?" His smile reached his eyes for once. "If you have something besides breast milk and alphabet spaghetti," he quipped. "There might be some vegetable puree somewhere in the freezer, I promise to dig it out just for you. Besides, Rachel's on formula." She could tell he was about to make some comment about her breasts when her phone rang. Her relief was short lived though: it was Marina.
"Ms Cuddy, I just thought I'd notify you that you got a call from the child protective services. They want to do another house visit."