A/M: So sorry to keep you waiting, bad things happened, still not in a mood for aome rough action, but this I am in a mood for :)

"So were you heading somewhere? Together?" He narrowed his eyes at them.

"Yes, I'm taking him to a therapist's evaluation, find out if I'm keeping him or not" Cuddy said and pushed past Wilson who looked questionably at House who just shrugged and followed his boss out from the hospital doors.

Wilson wasn't believing the whole evaluation thing, thinking that this might have something to do with House being freed from the clinic the earlier day. But then again, what was Cuddy planning to do to the man's hooker habits? He frowned and glanced once more at the door before getting to the elevator and pushing the buttons for his floor. (CH7)

It was December 3rd and Lisa Cuddy had a day off. It was extremely rare situation, well, it would've been couple of months ago, but as it was her time away from the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital had increased observably. She had noticed it herself and it was likely that most of the staff had noticed it too. She was, however, the only one to know why it was so. If you didn't count the one person who was actually the cause for such a phenomenon. Dr. Gregory House. The thought of his name was enough to make her smile and that was enough to get her annoyed, well, it would've been couple of months ago, but her annoyance towards her feelings towards House was in the group of things that had changed or vanished within the two to three months they had now "been together". She had feelings towards House, she could admit that, to herself.

They were still the only ones to know what was going on between them. Their fighting and sarcastic comments had developed into discreet inside jokes and hints that only they understood and could smile at when no one else was watching too closely. The only reason why the rest of the people at PPTH hadn't noticed that their relationship was now exactly that ( a relationship ) was that the two arranged show fights every now and then.

"Just so that no one suspects us being involved" he had said when they had lied on her bed the night after waking up in his office. She had practically stormed out the hospital, waiting just enough so that he could catch her. They had driven to Cuddy's house, which had proved to be a mistake of some sort. House had profoundly and utterly seduced her, the two finding their way to her shower from where they moved to her bed. They had both been too exhausted to do anything more than lay in it and in each other's arms, not to mention to actually leave somewhere, even though Cuddy had insisted on them returning to the hospital till the sweet end.

First she had been against of such gesture of juvenility, but when they had been fooling around for a couple of weeks, not fighting and even the sarcasm edging down, they had noticed that some suspicious and intrigued glances had been cast their way. She had finally given in, and their first stage fight ever had turned out to be a great success.

"House!" She had yelled, marching towards him in a corridor full of watching eyes, trying to remember all the times she would've been ready to do more than yell at him like this.

"Dr. Cuddy, what an absolutely unpleasant surprise. I haven't been hoping to see you, and there you are" he had said, going off the script with his first line. She narrowed her eyes before continuing.

"I hope you have a very good explanation for this act of yours! You could've killed the man! His family is in their way to my office, ready to demand that I fire the smartass doctor who played God with their son, husband and father. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire that smartass right here and now?" Cuddy was quite pleased with herself, being certain that her anger was believable, and placing her hands on her hips.

"My ass's hot" he said and started walking away to his office.

"Don't you try and run from this one House!" she exclaimed and went after him.

"Technically I don't run from or to anything" House said and turned to look at her. "Honestly Cuddy, you can't come and yell at me every time I refuse to sleep with you" he raised his voice just enough. She hated his comments about them two sleeping together, now actually more than when they hadn't been doing it, but it had to be said to keep the people from knowing that that was really going on.

"For the record, I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last living man on earth! Now I'd appreciate it if you could turn your brains on and explain me what you thought you were doing, spending taxpayers' money in an operation with high death rate on someone with a kidney failure and not even asking from the next of kin?" They stood silent for awhile before Cuddy lifted her brows.

"Oh sorry, I thought you just answered your own question."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, leaned so near that their lips almost met and whispered "Right now I am saying something that makes you at least flinch, in stead of telling you to meet me at my place tonight and spend the time indulging me with those well paid fingers of yours." She smiled, he shivered and then she turned and walked away with a victorious smile, everyone else thinking that she just won the fight.

"You know Cuddy, you should seriously think about taking a day off to take that stick from your…!"

"Thank you, House!" Cuddy interrupted without turning to look back. House had probably looked as defeated as he ever can, and headed to his office where he had sat down and smiled.

Now she was in a mal, trying to figure out what to buy to whom. Most of her girlfriends were easy to find something to, and Wilson would be happy with a good book or a painting, but then there was him. What to buy, what to do…? She went around the shops and as guessed she easily found some very nice earrings, scarves and candlesticks to her friends. She even found a new detective novel and a book of all the most rarest malignancy types of the world. It had been four and a half hours and she was ready to go home, but…

"What on earth could he want?" She thought out loud before starting to chuckle to a thought of a year's Vicodinbottles, a nice red bow wrapped around them. She sighed and glanced around to see if there'd be something inspiring that would jump on her and demand to buy it, but there wasn't. So she headed home.

"Honey, I'm home" Cuddy said to herself after closing the front door behind her.

"Good, have any food on you?" She jumped with a scream and landed against her wall holding her chest.

"House!" She exclaimed sounding desperate. "You could've given me a cardiac arrest for crying out loud."

"Nah, not on your age and fitness" he said and leaned against the wall opposite from her who now rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, I'm sorry, happy now?" He asked and came to kiss her. "Mmm… Don't know about food but you've definitely got the dessert" he smirked.

Cuddy slapped his chest playfully and started buttoning her coat open. "I thought you were supposed to come back tomorrow." House had been talking in a conference at Miami, a job he wasn't willing to do before she had threatened to go to a celibate. She wouldn't had, and he probably knew that too, but it had worked.

"Was done, came home. No point staying where you don't want to stay" he said and shrugged.

"Okay. Wait… How much was it?"

"How muchy whatty a what now?"

"The hotel bill, how much?" She asked and put her coat to rack.

"How should I know?"

"You did check out, didn't you? They usually give you the bill at that point" Cuddy took her shopping from the floor and went to the bedroom. He followed her.

"I always tell them to send it to you at the hospital, haven't you noticed?" He asked and sat on her bed.

"Well yeah, but you came here, and I live here, so it was easy for you to assume that you'd run into me in a one point or another, so why couldn't you just bring the bill with you?" She had opened her cupboard doors, where she had been able to see House's things between hers for a couple of weeks now, and kneeled to the floor to put the gifts there to wait the wrapping day.

"Who was it who said that you shouldn't mix work and pleasure, I wonder."

"Ugh, it wouldn't've been mixing things, it would've been practical. Hmm, that said I now understand why you didn't bring it with you" she turned to smile at him before he dropped his cane to the floor and laid down. They were silent for awhile before Cuddy could hear him sigh.

"You okay?" She put the last package in, closed the doors and stood up. House was laying on her bed, his eyes closed and his forehead in a frown. "Hey" she laid down beside him, placing a hand on his chest which his hand covered.

"I've been thinking" he started and opened his eyes to look at the ceiling.

"Uh-oh" she said smiling before she caught his expression and softened. "Sorry. What about? Did something happen in Miami?"

He shook his head. "What are we doing?" This time his eyes went to hers and she could see them shining as blue as ever, full of mixed emotions and thought that he had obviously been hatching for some time.

"What are we doing?" She asked and he nodded.

"It's now been what, three months?"

"Give or take" her time to nod.

"And nobody knows about us. We've actually gone to great lengths to keep it that way."

"That's what's bothering you? That we're not open with our… with this?" She asked frowning. Wasn't that supposed to be her worry? Who took the pen and decided to rewrite their characters?

"Relationship, Lis, that's what this is. Not some meaningless sexfling that we could cut off. We have dinners, dates, we talk, we sleep at each other's places, we…" he swallowed and his voice dropped so that it was hard for her to hear the last part of what he was saying over the blood thumping in her head. "Make love" House lifted the hand that had been covering hers to lightly brush it against her cheek.

"You called me Lis" Cuddy said after a long moment of silently staring at each other.

"You call me Greg all the time" he said and smiled slightly.

"When we're having…" she stopped and gave him a wide smile "When we make love, I do. But you never call me Lis, you call me…"

"Honey. Sweetheart. Baby. Love." Half of her body was now laying on top of his and she laid her forehead on his.

"You've never called me 'love' before" she whispered, her eyes now closed.

"I was alone in my hotel room, I was thinking how I'd start if I'd call you."

"Oh? But you didn't call me."

"Couldn't after I realized what I'd say."

"Which was?"

"I'm missing you my love."

It was said loud enough to be clearly heard. Shivers went through her as she lost her breath and it sounded more sweet, more sure and more meaningful than any of the 'I love you's in the world.

A/M: I'm crying, don't know if it's because it's so sweet or because it's so cheeeeeeeesy... Anyway, didn't you like it? How can you say that? Explain yourself!