A/N: Wow... you guys are amazing thank you for reading and reviewing. Here's the next chapter…
Cuddy entered the hotel room three hours later. The conference had been so boring, but she couldn't skip it like House would have done. That was the downside of being the boss you're always the first to blame and you have to attend all the meetings.
As she closed the door she became concerned. The room was too quite, not even the TV was on. She checked her cell to see if House had sent her a message, but he hadn't.
She rounded the corner and her worry disappeared. House and Rachel were both sound asleep on the bed. House was on his side and had a protective hand on Rachel's stomach. He must've fallen asleep when he had put her down for a nap. Cuddy smiled at the sight of them and fished her cell out of her pocket again. Yes he was going to hate her, but she couldn't resist she needed a picture of this.
Cuddy decided to let them sleep a little longer and made herself a cup of tea. She took it out on the balcony. This really was a beautiful place, she had always liked being around the water.
As Cuddy looked at the scenery she thought about the two people in her bed. At first she was very nervous about trusting House with Rachel, but when House had joined her for lunch showed just how capable he was of taking care of her daughter. But she had always known that he would be great with children, he was just a big kid himself.
Maybe they could cross the friendship-bridge and try building something a little more serious. She knew that he was only watching Rachel to help her out, he wasn't doing it to help himself.
But they still had some stuff to talk about and she had to apologize for running away from him yesterday. They also needed to talk about Mayfield.
Two cups of tea and an hour later she heard House limping around in the hotel room.
Cuddy smiled and just couldn't help herself when she said "Had a nice nap?"
House gasped and spun around startled "You saw the whole thing, didn't you?"
She dug out her cell and showed him her new background picture.
He took her cell and surprise was the only thing his face showed. Had he really been so cozy with Rachel? He couldn't even remember when he fell asleep. But it didn't bother him that much that she had seen him. Was he going soft in his old age? No that couldn't be, because people don't change, right?
"I'm going to put that picture in a very big frame and hang it in the hospital lobby." She teased him.
"You do know that I know a lot of secrets about you too, right?" He threw back at her. He knew that she wouldn't use the picture against him.
"Anyway… thank you for watching her."
"You're welcome." He mumbled "She's a great kid. Again don't tell anyone I said that. My reputation is taking a serious hit today."
Cuddy smiled and walked closer to him. "Listen about yesterday, I'm sorry that I ran away from you."
He nodded and waited for her explain further, but when she kept quite he said "So why did you?"
She had to look away from his intense blue eyes, she hated it when he used his eyes to get her to talk.
"Why did you run away?" he asked again, but his voice came out in a pleading tone.
"I don't know… Okay, I don't know." She looked up at him and House had to take a step back. She had the same look in her eyes after he had kissed when she had lost Joy last year. What did that mean? Did she want him to kiss her? It was all very confusing to him.
"You don't know?" Cuddy nodded "When you do come and find me and we'll talk."
"So now you're running away?"
"No, I'm not running away. I'm giving you some time to think, because I need to know why you reacted the way you did."
"Okay…" She whispered and understood "Maybe we can talk about this over dinner tonight?"
"Are you asking me on a date?" He asked with a small smile.
"No, not yet." She snapped her mouth shut and his eyes widened. House was glad that they both were on the same page about something, but they had to talk first.
"I'm gonna go now, before you say something else you don't want to. I'll pick you up at 7."
"Alright" Her smile was back. She watched him leave the room and her eyes lingered a bit on his ass, but she stopped herself from getting too carried away. She had some thinking to do.
