Chapter 2 – What Happened Next

House was not usually one for talking. This conversation seemed easy and fun however. Maya's quick wit kept him on his toes and she didn't seem the over emotional type that would quickly bore or irritate him.

"How old are you anyway?"

About to put a spoonful of chili in her mouth Maya stopped. She looked at him quite seriously, set down her spoon, and took a sip of wine. A slow smile crept from her mouth to her eyes, which sparkled in the candlelight. "How old would you like me to be?"

House couldn't help but smile in return. If you weren't looking too closely she could easily be taken for jail bate. On closer inspection she looked mid 20's but the way she spoke and the life she'd already had could reflect 30ish. She gave little away though, she seemed to enjoy the game of letting him figure her out.

"21," he replied. "Legal, old enough to drink and young enough to irritate the hell out of Wilson."

"21 it is," she agreed. "Who is Wilson?"

"Best friend slash mother hen." House looked at his watch. "Who's overdue for checking up on me." He began to pat his pockets, "Damn, my phone must be in the car."

"What a pity."

"Not really, I will need it eventually though, this will be much too good of an opportunity to mess with him and with Cuddy."

"Give me your keys," she put her hand out to him. He looked at her questioningly but she faced him back with a determined stare. "Unless you plan on sprinting to your car to escape my evil clutches."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he handed her the keys.

"Loose the hideous red tie while I'm gone," she called over her shoulder, her long black braid swinging behind her.

House tried to process how the day had transpired. He'd been focused on Cuddy for so many weeks now and the fact that she was with Lucas made it feel pretty toxic. Being here, this felt pretty freeing actually. Ever since the damned conference where Wilson had tried to execute himself and House had found Lucas with Cuddy it had felt like he'd had a lead blanket laying on him. Now he could actually get back to his deceptive manipulating self.

He hooked his finger inside his tie and pulled it loose. He heard Maya approaching, "One missed call from Wilson, 2 from Foreman, 3 from Taub, and 1 from… 13? What's a 13? Is it like 7 of 9?" She asked.

"Yeah something like that." He held out his hand for the phone. Forget Wilson for now, and he'd text Thirteen. Tell her he's not coming in tomorrow.

Wilson was walking the corridor of the hospital. One of his patients had only hours left and he'd decided to work through Thanksgiving. He walked past Thirteen. "Remy, have any of the team heard from House? I've been trying to call him since 7 o'clock."

"Yeah well get in line, we've paged him a dozen times, we've each tried to call and then I got this text message." She handed her phone to Wilson.

Under the weather, won't make it in tomorrow – House

Wilson read the message a few times. What the hell had House done at Cuddy's dinner? Only one way to find out, he'd go home and check on him. "Thanks," he said handing the phone back to Thirteen.

Wilson headed back to check on his patient. He arrived at the nurses' station. "How's he doing?"

"It will be soon now, but the son just arrived to sit with him, I'd say you can go if you want. We've got it handled here."

"Thanks," he tapped the counter top, "happy Thanksgiving."

"You too Dr. Wilson."

Wilson headed back to his office to change his lab coat for his suit jacket. About 20 minutes later he arrived back at his apartment. "House? House!' he yelled but a quick scan of the rooms indicated that House was not there.

Wilson sat and tried to watch TV for a while. He looked down at his watch seeing that it was now after midnight. Even with the 3 hour drive he was sure House would have left by 7 which would have put him back by 10. Worrying being Wilson's second nature he decided to drive down to Sherry's to see if House was tying one on.

After driving around for another hour Wilson decided to check House's apartment. It was completely dark within, not a sound, and no answer to the door. He went home. Still no House. It was now past 3 am. Wilson was worried but it was too late to call Cuddy to ask what happened at dinner. Maybe House had shown back up at the hospital.

Wilson drove to the hospital and looked in all the usual places, House's office, his own office, Cuddy's office, the exam rooms in the clinic, the morgue and the coma patient rooms. Nothing, no House.

Defeated, Wilson went home which of course still showed no signs of House.

House on the other hand was quite enjoying his holiday. Maya's dessert of strawberries and cream had evolved into an erotic display of sucking the strawberries and licking the cream from her lips and eventually from his. He wasn't sure when they'd finished the bottle of wine and moved on to champagne but now that bottle was gone too and he was in a euphoric fog.

He had more than half expected a fast and rough decent into sated bliss but instead a slow sensual exploration of bodies had ensued. It wasn't what he was used to but in his foggy haze he felt her small soft hands and warm breath coursing their way across his skin and decided that it was more than mildly pleasant. By the time that he felt her mouth reach its destination it was all he could do to hold on and not explode like an inexperience teenager.

"Oh gawd," he exclaimed throwing his head back and knocking it on the wall. Their position was precarious, sprawled out on the floor near the table. After giving him a few minutes she stood and helped him to his feet. Taking his hand she led him up the stairs.