A/N: Hello, I first of all want to apologise for not updating sooner, real life imposed on my writing time what with exams etc. Secondly, thank you for the great reviews. Thirdly (thirdly? Is that a word?) Cuddy's sister will appear in the NEXT chapter, unfortunately I had a bit of a block – which thankfully iluvbones (my great beta and idea-bouncer!) helped me out with. The next bit will be up faster, promise.
BEEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEEP!
"Christ!" House growled, as he was jolted from his sleep by a high pitched and obscenely loud sound emanating from what he assumed was his alarm clock. He flung his arms out, trying in vain to destroy the offending object. He pries his eyes open, and while they adjust to the dark he moves to the side of the bed and shuts of the alarm, grimacing when he sees the time: 6:30am.
"You" He growls, seeing her in the doorway, framed by the light. "You're crazy if you think I'm getting up at this time."
"I don't think, I know you're getting up." She smirks at him.
"Oh, yeah, then you really are crazy." He says, putting his hands behind his head and smirking right back at her.
"Oh, you and your silver tongue, you really know how to make a girl smile." She drawled, sarcasm coating her words.
"I did more than make you smile last night." He said, his smirk growing in proportion.
"Hm." She agreed, "Don't you want to now why I know you're going to get up?" She teased with her very own smirk and a gleam in her eye.
"Well, you seem very pleased with this little plan of yours, so why not at least hear what you have to say before I ignore it."
"Well, I need to go for a shower…" She let her sentence hang in the air as she turned around, letting his robe fall down her body into a pool on the floor as she continued to the bathroom.
He watched as her naked form went into the bathroom, heard the water from the shower hit off the bath tub, and he was up, swallowing 2 vicodin as he followed her as fast as his leg could carry him.
She had only just climbed into the shower when he joined her, his body close behind hers he spoke low in her ear:
"You better make it worth my while."
"Oh, really?" She asked, "And why would I have to do that?"
"Because you know I'll make it worth yours." He said, as he began to kiss her neck as the water warm water came down over their bodies. Their lust, want, and need was quenched once more.
After their rather steamy shower, Lisa knew that she had about two minutes before the post-shower sex haze lifted and so took this time to get the last word in:
"See, I told you you'd get up this early." She smiled as she pulled on her clothes – minus her panties which he had ripped last night – watching him climb into some jogging pants, while refusing to hold on to anything to keep him steady and only just managing to stay upright. But he did manage and she was glad he felt comfortable enough not to use his cane just now.
"Ha, as soon as you leave I'm going back to bed." He said, now pulling on a t-shirt.
"As long as you're on time I don't care. I just wanted a quickie before you make me want to kill you later." She said with a grin, watching his reaction to her words.
"I'm just going to have to try harder to get you to bring out your pissy-face then, amn't I?" He teased, half serious, before limping towards her, his intent written all across his face.
"With what we just did replaying in my mind, I think you're not going to see my, as you so eloquently put it 'pissy-face' today." She countered, moving towards him.
"Is that a challenge Dr. Cuddy?" He asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, the familiar glint in his eye that told her that she better watch out.
She didn't answer him. Instead she went up on her tip-toes and planted her soft lips on his. She pulled away the instant he tried to deepen it, turning away from him – knowing that if she had kissed him any longer she would never get to work on time.
"So, you got any coffee?" She asked as he stood looking at her with the familiar glint of want in his eye.
"Yeah." He said, shaking himself from his dirty thoughts. "Just the crappy instant stuff though."
"Any coffee is good coffee." She said, following him to the kitchen, glad he had some of the only drug she ever indulged in.
She went through to the living room in search of her shoes and jacket, and heard his voice sound from the kitchen not a moment after she left:
"They're in the cupboard."
"Why's my stuff in the cupboard?" she asked, playing dumb.
"Wilson paid me a little visit last night, thought he might recognise them."
"So you didn't tell him I was here?" She continued her charade.
"And get his 'I told you so' lecture? I don't think so." The kettle had finished boiling and he poured out two cups of coffee – black, the way she liked it in the mornings.
"Thanks." She said, coming back into the kitchen with her shoes and jacket on and taking a hearty gulp of the hot liquid, savouring the taste as it licked over her taste buds.
"You do realise you're going to have to change, yeah?" He asked quizzically while he watched her obviously enjoying the coffee.
"I've got a spare set in my office just in case." She said, taking another gulp.
"Just in case you sleep with your ruggedly handsome ass of an employee?" he joked.
"Just in case I have to stay all night because someone does something stupid." She said, taking another sip of the coffee and humming slightly as she got a particularly strong gulp.
"You know, I don't think I have ever seen anyone almost have an orgasm while drinking coffee." He said with a smirk as she drained the last of her coffee from the mug.
"Oh, ha ha. You're so witty."
"Actually, I was being serious, but whatever." He said, finishing his cup and then limping after her as she headed for the door.
When they reached the door, she turned around to face him and was met by his lips on hers; kissing her with the same fierce passion they had last night.
"You better be on time." She mumbled into his lips before opening the door, backing away from him, flashing him a killer smile and heading to her car. He stood in the doorway for a second as the sloppy grin tugged at the corners of his mouth: 'damn, why didn't I do this years ago?'
--
House ambled in at around noon, and Cuddy was waiting. Sitting in her office, she saw his familiar gait meander through the main entrance and she was up and out of her seat in a flash. She caught up to him and fell in step with him easily.
"This is on time?" She asked with her eyebrow raised.
"It is for me." He stated, looking down at her and taking this time to leer stupidly at her breasts. She clicked her fingers in front of his face:
"You have a case – 33 year old female presenting with a rash and joint pain."
"Is that it?" He asks, but taking the file from her anyways.
"Nope, take a look at the file." He does, and she watches as his eyes widen and his step quickens as he hurries to his office, wanting nothing more than to prove the blood tests wrong – it couldn't be lupus, it was never lupus.
--
Later that day, House was sitting in his office trying to work out what his patient had. He had proven that it was not in fact Lupus, but now he was struggling to find the true cause of her symptoms. This annoyance at himself was coupled with trying to avoid both Clinic Duty and Wilson, who wanted to know who his mystery guest had been last night.
As he had predicted, Cuddy came charging into his office:
"You're supposed to be in the clinic." She said, staring him down.
"I have a case mommy." He shot back.
"You do, but sitting around here when we are short staffed in the clinic is not on, and you know it. Get your ass down there. Now." She said, as Wilson popped his head in:
"You coming for lunch, House?"
"Nope, the evil witch is making me do Clinic Duty." He said, brushing past both Cuddy and Wilson on his way to the elevator.
"What's up with him?" Cuddy asked, playing dumb once more. "Why is he voluntarily doing clinic duty?"
"I think he wants to avoid having an 'adult' conversation with me." Wilson mumbled. "Cuddy…" He began, but stopped, unsure of what to say to apologise for the mess that his fake lawsuit was causing her.
"It's fine Wilson. You were angry, I get it. But next time don't take it out on me –"
"I'm sorry Lisa, I just flipped. It was out of order, she's going to drop the lawsuit."
"Good." She said with a smile, before leaving Wilson and heading to the elevator, all set to see just what House was really up to.
--
House had seen one person and the decided that he could go for a wee nap, what with servicing the Dean last night, and maybe his mind would come up with one of his brilliant ideas while he slept.
--
Cuddy opened the door to exam room one and flicked the light switch, watching with a strange sort of satisfaction as House lay asleep, knowing that she had done that to him, before her administrator brain kicked in again and she slammed the door, grinning as he was jolted from sleep for the second time that day.
"Go away." Was all he muttered, turning away from her.
"You've been here for half an hour and seen no patients, that doesn't help the fact that we're short staffed, maybe I should get Wilson in here and he can try and talk to you about last night." She threatened.
"OK, send in a patient when you head to your lair."
--
The rest of the day dragged for House who, after seeing some patients, absconded from the clinic and to refuge in his office with the blinds closed, trying desperately to figure out what was killing his patient while trying to keep Cuddy out of his mind, which was a lot harder than he had expected. The hospital was her. It was her domain, her baby. Everything in it reminded him of her – there was no escaping it, and if he was honest he didn't want to. She was a welcome distraction to his taxed brain.
As he sat and mused over what him and Cuddy meant, his brain relished the temporary brake from the obsessing over the diagnosis.
A knock on the door brought him from his reverie, and Thirteen told him the news: their patient had crashed, but they had stabilised her again. They were running out of time. She was running out of time, which meant so was he. His brain switched straight back into obsessive mode, before he paged his lackeys to tell them to do a whole battery of tests in the hopes that they could rule out something.
--
House remained in his office that night, having a fitful sleep on his chair while the labs worked full-steam to try to narrow down the ever-growing list of possible diseases. Cuddy had been to see him earlier, she never actually asked if he was able to go home, she knew he couldn't, not when his brain had gotten hold of the puzzle. He would be stuck there until he figured it out. Which he would, she was confident that he would, he always did.
They had only been seeing each other for a few days and yet she felt like they had been together for much longer. In a sense they had, they were the longest male-female relationship outside of blood relatives that the other had had, and they had been in 'relationship' of sorts what with House's possessiveness and ability to chase away any other man who even looked her way. She wondered if this was too much too fast, but then realised that the sexual tension had been building since the last time they had slept together, and it was only natural for them to want to satisfy this urge.
--
The next day House spent it trying to figure out his patient's illness, her list of symptoms had grown, but unfortunately that was not helping to narrow down the field and he was going out of his mind, trying to get Cuddy to approve treatment which he didn't have a shred of proof for. She denied him every time – he had no proof after all. She hated doing that, it seemed to crush him a little bit, but she pushed those thoughts aside and knew that when he came to her with proof then she would approve whatever treatment would save her.
It was around 5, and she was clearing her desk to go home when her mobile rang. It was House.
"You figured it out." She began, not bothering with hello's.
"Yip." He said, grinning into the phone. "What you up to tonight?" came his gruff voice over the phone.
"Can't do anything, heading out to my parents' house. Last minute."
"No problem." He said, hoping he had hid his disappointment well. "Enjoy." He added before flicking the phone shut.
She sighed, knowing that he was upset she had plans, but she knew he would get over it. He'd call Wilson and watch monster trucks or something. She would see him tomorrow.
--
"So are you ever going to tell me who the mystery woman from the other night is?" Wilson asked his friend as they watched the monster truck rally on TV.
"Nope." Was his answer, and it irritated Wilson.
"Why not? Do I know her?"
"Nope."
"Then just tell me." Wilson exclaimed.
"God, you're almost as bad as a woman, shut up!" House said exasperated.
They had a few more beers and House's lips got a little looser, and he told Wilson of the smart, sexy woman that he had bedded the previous night. But he was however in enough control of his lips to omit the fact that it was Cuddy he was talking about. It felt good talking about her as his girl, even if Wilson had no clue it was in fact their boss.
Later, lying in his bed he felt suddenly alone. His bed felt too big, and the stillness and silence unsettled him. He found his mind drifting to Cuddy and he wondered if her night had been as good as his, hoping that the suddenness of the dinner arrangements didn't mean there was anything wrong. Then he laughed at himself: he was turning into Wilson.
Dragging himself out of bed he plonked himself on the sofa, scrolled through his TiVo and put on the first (and only) thing which came up: porn, knowing that sleep was not going to welcome him just yet.
