Erin's turn :) UpsideDownCake, I love you. But I'd love you more if you invited your friends, who have similar senses of humour and got them to review, because I loves reviews :)
House let his hand roam across Cuddy's shoulders before, with a world-weary sigh, he pushed off her and rolled away, lying perfectly still at the edge of the mattress, tensing his tired muscles.
'House? What's wrong? Are you okay?' She asked softly, gently allowing her fingers to softly run their way over his hardened muscles.
'It's… nothing… okay, maybe it's something.' He grunted softly and bit down hard on his lower lip – almost to the point of drawing blood.
'Are you in pain?' She asked him, her breath tickling the skin at the nape of his neck.
'A little…' She rolled over and grabbed his arm, pulling him until he was facing her, eyes closed as though he was nursing a migraine.
'How bad?' House's face contorted in pain and he let out a low moan, involuntarily drawing his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them and clinging tightly.
'Bad.' He grit his teeth and tried to force down the groan that was hiding behind his clenched jaw. 'Worse than it's ever been… it's this cold. It makes it so much worse, this is a time where I want my vicodin… but I won't, I can't.' Cuddy looked at him, the man that, a few short moments ago, had been filled with a childish recklessness and a hopelessly giant libido.
'House?'
'Yes?' It was nearly a whimper.
'Trust me,' She made it sound like a question, softly running her fingers through his hair.
'Okay.' He answered simply, choking it out, gritting his teeth as Cuddy flexed her – as previously proved – extremely dexterous fingers over the ugly scar on his leg, massaging the ruined skin and wasted tissue. She softly squeezed, massaging the scar tissue, alternating hands to loosen the knots deep in the muscle. Slowly, oh so slowly, the tension in his leg began to ease and the pain began to dissipate with her touch.
'Better? Your muscles were too tense. It should be feeling a lot better despite the cold, and if you ever need another one…' She let her voice trail off suggestively. House grinned.
'Definitely better, but… could we just…'
'Of course we could.' She slid next to him, letting him wrap his warm arms around her and rested her head on his chest, holding his hand tightly.
'Thank you, your moustache has stopped flashing by the way.' Cuddy gave a mock gasp of annoyance and slapped him playfully on the leg.
'House!'
'What? It's not my fault!' He kissed the top of her head and tightened his grip around her.
'No… it's not.' She mumbled sleepily as she felt unconsciousness claiming her.
oOo
In every other room, the people were settling down to sleep – every other room but Thirteen's and Chase's.
'Stop looking at me.' She nudged him in the ribs as she undressed, unbuttoning her shirt and tossing his jumper over his face.
'Uh! I wasn't looking! I was staring.' He muttered the last part of the sentence to himself and felt a grin break over his jumper-covered face. He raised a hand and pulled the jumper off his face, making his hair stick up more than usual, his fringe falling adorably over his face. Thirteen swatted at him until he turned around and began unbuttoning her shirt with fingers still numb with cold. She removed the silky fabric from her skin, folding the shirt neatly and placing it on a chair, carefully placing it on the dusty cushion. She slipped her pants off and folded them on top of the shirt, smoothing the rumpled material before sliding into bed.
'Can I turn around yet?' He asked her, doing it anyway.
'What was the point in that? I mean, why even ask if you're going to do it?'
'It was a little warning for you.' He smiled and unbuttoned his blue shirt and black slacks, letting them drop on the floor where he left them – typically untidy. He left the pile where it was and clambered into the double bed, pulling the blanket over him and her. Thirteen lay still, watching the fire dwindle until the light in the room was little more than a dull glow by the hearth, waiting for Chase's breathing to alter with sleep – it didn't. It seemed almost as though he was doing the same thing. She grinned sadly to herself and burrowed deep under the covers, altering her breathing pattern as though she was sleeping, tricking the young Australian. Sure enough, after a few minutes, she felt his arm wrap protectively around her waist, his body heat warming her through. She stretched, acting sleepy until she was pushing completely back against his chest, forcing him to tighten his grip around her until their skin was touching, exchanging body-heat.
'I know you aren't asleep.' He murmured in her ear, making her jump.
'Damn it!' She swore. 'How did you tell?' She asked, pushing away from him with a sigh.
'You were enjoying that way too much to be asleep.' Thirteen blushed and slapped him hard around the back of the head.
'I was not!'
'You so were. You know how I can tell?'
'Oh do tell.' She replied sarcastically. A blush was rising in her cheeks as she sat up, wrapping the blanket around her and leaving Chase cold, wearing nothing but his underwear on the bed beside her.
'You let me hold you without wanting to kill me.'
'You wanna know why?' She whispered suddenly, breaking the awkward silence that was hanging between them.
'Well sure.'
'You know about my condition? That's a stupid question, everyone does. You know, I never make a big deal of it. But every night, I go home and sit on my couch with a glass of wine and think to myself, "how long before this task is too much for me? How long before I can no longer work my muscles like this?" And I write this on a notepad every time; I've been through three this year. Every time this happens, I think to myself "How long before I can't do this on my own?" Do you know how this makes me feel? It breaks me inside because I know that I can never have a relationship with another human being for a long time before I'm completely incapable and handicapped. It's hard for me, more than you'll ever know.' She stopped talking, ending with a shuddering gasp and tightened the blanket around her shoulders in an effort to stop herself sobbing. It failed. Chase slid gingerly next to her and placed a tentative hand on her shoulder and, when she didn't pull away, looped it over both of them and pulled her close to him, cradling her to his chest and wiping her tears away with his hand.
'Are you okay?'
'No. I have little over twenty years of life left, and not a good quality of life at that. My nervous system is collapsing and soon, I will need constant help. Could you cope with the weight of that burden every day of your life? Cope with the fact that everything you know is going to be over before you've had a chance to live? Because I know I can't. I was better off not knowing.' Chase let out a breath and tugged the blanket off of her shoulders.
'Can I have this?' he enquired. She shrugged and removed it, rolling it into a ball and throwing it on his lap. He carefully unfolded it and, as she lay down, covered her and himself with it, the wool warm with their body-heat.
'Thanks.'
'You trust me?' Chase asked, rolling over to make sure he was evenly covered with the blanket, and that she was also covered.
'I just poured my heart out to you in a fictional land. I think I trust you.'
'Good.' He let his breathing change and feigned sleep, very soon feeling her ducking under his arms and clinging tightly to him until they both felt unconsciousness claiming them fore real.
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