Well, this one has been a long time coming due to things 'getting in the way' - so I hope it's worth the wait! I haven't decided on whether this is the end or whether I'll carry on so at the moment I'm leaving it as 'incomplete'. Enjoy :)

After 5 minutes of waiting outside his best friends door with a crate of beers Wilson had got the message loud and clear, quite literally. House was busy, again; quite literally.

He grinned to himself, happy that House had finally gotten Cuddy where he wanted her.

*****

House felt dizzy, almost out of breath, he leant his head gently against the smooth surface, carefully listening into the silence, his senses suddenly felt heightened, like a panther. He smirked, peeling his face away from the door whilst trying to stifle his laugh in case Wilson was still on the other side.

"You think he bought that?" House whispered as he heard the other man's shoes shuffle away into the night.

"Yeah", Cuddy called from the kitchen, "but he's going to be traumatised by the noises you made." She rolled her eyes.

Suddenly House was behind her, hands gently resting on her waist. The air hitched in her throat as she tossed the last of the take out into the trash.

"Traumatised, you say? I didn't know I had that effect."

"Well, you must on your best friend who was probably having mental images of you fornicating with his boss against the very door that he was on the other side of."

She waltzed into the sitting room with a sultry stride, away from his touch. She relaxed down into his worn and cosy sofa, apparently paying no attention to him. House didn't really know what to make of this. Tonight she had taken care of him when she didn't have to, she'd been attentive and even though she held back he could still see the desire in her eyes. He wasn't deluded this time, this was no hallucination. She would have stayed in his lap all night if he hadn't denied her, he was sure. When he alluded to sex she didn't scorn him, slap him, storm out - she practically encouraged. So why was she walking away from him?

'Beer or sex?'

He'd denied himself the former, so he knew that she knew for sure that he wanted the latter. House stood in the doorway of the kitchen watching her nonchalantly flick through infomercial channels as she stared at the TV screen.

"Hey, I just gave up beer." He scowled.

"Hmm?" She said, not averting her eyes from the screen and pretending to be deeply immersed in the junk that they were selling. She knew she had him now; there was no need for her to try to chase him tonight, so instead she thought maybe he could do with a little bit of his own medicine. Just a little bit.

He limped in front of her field of vision, flipping off the TV at the mains. There was nowhere else to look but at him, he reasoned. Was she playing with him all along? Just teasing him? Or did she actually want something tonight?

"What is this?" he asked plainly, sounding like work hours House, not 'alone-in-an-apartment-together' House. It dawned on Cuddy that he wasn't in the mood for games tonight, this whole cat and mouse thing didn't look like it was panning out very well.

"I was just teasing, House", she resigned with a shrug, conceding to herself that she was rubbish at playing hard to get with House.

He scoffed, "Teasing? This whole evening?" he sounded offended with a good helping of disgust. The atmosphere suddenly shifted. She had only intended to wind him up a little, get him hot under the collar until he snapped, whereupon he would whisk her to his bedroom. She hadn't imagined this turn of events.

"No, no House...God. I meant...I just wanted to ruffle your feathers." She laughed at herself.

"I thought you of all people would keep pushing, like you always do."She looked at him, the way a teacher would who feels sorry for the kid who drops their lunch in a puddle.

He shifted, looking at the ground and realising her intentions.

"'Kay'" was all he could muster at the moment.

All intentions were clear; it was as if their emotions and desires hung in the air all around them. Invisible, intangible but unmistakably present. It was impossible to ignore but he couldn't bring himself to utter a sentence or to limp over and sit beside her. He just clammed up.

Instead, he sought refuge in something familiar.