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I know it's been a while since I updated this, but I'm getting back into it between writing my one-shots and the other House/Thirteen story I've got going... and I'm getting married next week- so the honeymoon might cause a bit of an interruption in updates until the end of April.

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Chapter 18.

The following afternoon I was occupied in the kitchen when somebody started rapping on the front door.

I was slicing potatoes and didn't have a spare hand to greet whichever guest had elected to arrive early, and as luck would have it, James had left barely two minutes earlier to get some mint sauce from the market- the jar he'd found in his fridge could quite easily have been a 5th grade science project.

I sighed and wiped my hands on the dishtowel I'd hung over my shoulder, crossed the lounge and opened the door.

'House, of course.' I held the door open for him and he hobbled across the threshold, grasping a bottle of red wine in his non-cane hand.

He seemed to stumble slightly, and before I could register what was happening, he'd already finished kissing me and was moving towards the kitchen.

'Lamb roast? Excellent. Love the hair, by the way.' He set the bottle of wine down on the bench before reaching up and hooking his cane onto the crown moulding, leaving it suspended in the middle of the entrance to the kitchen and picking up the knife that I had just put down.

'Roasted or scalloped potatoes?'

'It'll have to be roasted, no cream, no bacon.'

'Where's Daddy?'

'At the market, getting some mint sauce.' I had returned to the kitchen and was leaning against the counter next to where House was chopping the potatoes I had just peeled. He looked up at me and I caught the barest hint of a smirk.

'You could always call and ask for bacon and cream. It'd delay him for at least five minutes.'

'We already agreed on roast-' I began, but House was, once again, too quick. For a man with a pronounced limp he can certainly move like lightning when he wants to. He had me pinned to the bench and reached a hand down, unclipping my cell phone from its' place on my hip and flipping it open.

'Talk.' He had hit the speed dial I had assigned to James, and held the phone up to my ear.

It only rang twice.

'Ryan? Is everything okay?'

'Yeah, James, everything's fine. I was just thinking, we could maybe do scallop potatoes? But we don't have any cream, or bacon. Unless you want to go kosher?'

House rolled his eyes at that last comment, and as James laughed lightly in my ear, Greg leaned forward and pressed his lips to my neck, distracting me completely from whatever James was saying.

'Sorry, what? I think I've got a bad connection here...' I said once James had stopped talking. This time, when he replied, I reached up a hand and planted it over House's mouth, pushing him back as his eyes widened in shock at me. I didn't expect the tactic to last long, and it didn't, but it kept him away from anywhere sensitive for long enough that I could make sense of what James was saying.

'I'll get some cream, and bacon. The line is a mile long, though, so I probably won't be back for a half hour or so.'

'What time was Lisa going to be here?'

'Not til noon. House might be early, though. Just give him a beer and the remote, that'll keep him out of your hair.'

It's not him getting into my hair that I'm worried about! I thought to myself, but managed to give James a real reply, even as Greg had managed to twist his head and was sucking on the tip of one of my fingers.

'I'll keep that in mind. See you when you get back.'

House snapped the phone shut and tossed it over his shoulder, I heard it clatter to the floor somewhere in the lounge room behind him.

'I locked the door behind me...' he murmured, releasing my hand and leaning in to kiss my neck.

'Keep yourself nice until the potatoes are done, Greg.'

'Oh, I'm Greg now, am I?' he was getting insistent, running his hands up my sides, until I clamped down with my elbows to stop them going any higher.

'I'm warning you...'

'Come on, we've got twenty minutes until he gets back...'

'And I want to have these done by then.'

He didn't answer me, just ran his finger through my newly-cropped hair.

'I like what you've done, here. Short suits you.'

I flicked my hair out of my eyes- I'd had it cropped short, a pixie cut with long bangs.

'I've never had it this short before. I kind of like it.'

'It's hiding the bald patch nicely.'

'If only you could get yours styled to hide the grey.'

'Hey, I'm a silver fox. Don't mock the grey.'

'You'd prefer it if I mocked the cane?'

'Fine, fine. Mock the grey. I know you secretly love it.'

I giggled as he tickled my neck with feather-light fingers, pressing his lips to my neck again.

Somehow I managed to keep my brain in the right gear, and finished slicing the potatoes before my mind became a slate wiped clean- magic fingers had untucked my undershirt and he had barely paused in his attentions to my neck and ears.

The distinct sound of the door clicking open made me snap to attention, but House didn't seem to have heard it. He sure noticed when I stilled in his arms, and looked up to see a thunderstruck James standing on the threshold, staring open-mouthed at us.