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Disclaimer: I still don't own House

Chapter 10 – Two Can Play That Game

House watched as Cuddy walked away. It took every ounce of self-control he had to keep himself from following her. He watched through the glass, as she disappeared around the corner. And when he came to the realization that she absolutely would not be returning to him, he collapsed back into his chair. He retrieved his cane from the floor and began twirling it in front of him. The clock on the wall read twelve o'clock. There was no way House could wait patiently for the workday to end. He could not sit in his office for the next five hours, alone with nothing to do, while thoughts of Cuddy invade his head.

She wants to play? Two can play that game. Dr. Cuddy, you have no idea what you just started.

House rifled through his desk in search of his Gameboy; it was an integral part of his plan. Once he found it, he placed it in his pocket, alongside his MP3 player. He left a note for his team, letting them know that, should they return before him, under no circumstances were they to call him, and he left the office. Subjected to many disbelieving stares along the way, he went straight to the clinic.

"You don't have clinic duty today, Dr. House." A nurse, whose name House did not know, said to him when he walked by the desk.

"Good observation." He said. "I'm taking a break. Do me a favor and keep a lookout for Cuddy." He took the Gameboy out of his pocket as he made the request, indicating to the nurse that his "break," as he called it, was certainly unapproved and against every rule there was.

"Dr. House, I'm sorry but I have a job to do. I'm not going to cover for you." The nurse said.

House just smiled and nodded. "Well, thanks anyway." He said putting his earphones in his ears and turning on his game. He didn't know the nurse. Of course she wouldn't cover for him. Why would she? He was more than satisfied with her response. He walked away and went into exam room two. He shut the door behind him.

House put the Gameboy and the MP3 player on the counter and waited a few minutes in silence. When he was sure that people, the nurse at the very least, knew he was in the room playing games rather than doing his job, he paged Cuddy.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy had transformed back into the Dean of Medicine upon returning to her office. She sat behind her desk answering emails and going through paperwork. Her tasks were completely unnecessary at that particular moment. She had no pressing work that needed to be done, but anything she could find to do was a welcome distraction from her intense longing to see House.

She had just signed the last form, a patient's discharge paper, when her pager went off. For a second, she was happy that she would have something to do, something outside of the confines of her office, something important. She looked at her pager, and her excitement for some "real" work faded, as the butterflies that had just recently vacated her stomach returned.

'NEED CONSULT—EXAM 2—GH'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy was met by unexplainably horrified stares from the nurses as she sped through the clinic, past the waiting room, toward exam room two. She knew House had no business in the clinic that afternoon. He wasn't scheduled to be there and she could only imagine what stunt he was pulling this time. He would never volunteer his time to see a patient. This had better be good!

She reached the exam room and paused a moment to calm herself. It would be completely unacceptable for the Dean to appear as nervous as she felt in the presence of a patient. She opened the door to what appeared to be an empty room and stepped inside.

House was standing behind the door waiting for her. He shut the door, which startled her and caused her to spin around on her heel to face him.

"Where is your patient?" She asked feigning disapproval as she placed her hands on her hips.

"What patient? I never said anything about a patient." House asked quizzically, looking around the room as if a patient would be out of place there. He shook his head. "I'm not even on clinic duty."

"You know, when a doctor claims to need a consult, typically it is regarding a patient."

"I'm not a typical doctor." He said matter-of-factly. He stepped around her, strategically positioning her between him and the door.

Cuddy stepped backward and backed into the door. She put her hand on the doorknob. "House, if you don't need anything…"

"I need you." He whispered and took a step closer to her. He was completely unashamed by stating his 'need' so bluntly. This time she was trapped, with nowhere to go. "You left me so abruptly earlier."

"We can't do this here. I should not have gone to your office. I need to get back to work." She tried desperately to keep herself from making the same mistake twice, but his body against hers invaded all of her senses. She could smell the distinct scent of his cologne. She could see the longing in his eyes. She could feel his hot breath against her skin. She would swear that this time around, it was his heartbeat she heard pounding in her ears. She wanted so terribly to taste his lips just one more time.

"It can wait." House said, placing his hand over hers and removing it from the doorknob. "I can't." He looked into her eyes as he traced a line with his finger from her jaw, down her neck and across her collarbone. He stood awkwardly with his hands on her shoulders. Cuddy looked up at him, the conflict that was so evident in her eyes pleaded with him to just let her go. Just eliminate the conflict before it gets out of hand.

"House. Please. Not here. Not now."

Had he heard a single word she said, he may have listened. Probably not, but he may have. House was completely engrossed in what he was doing. By the time she had mumbled the words, House's left hand was entangled in her hair, gently forcing her head to the side, exposing the length of her neck to him. He held her against him with his other arm firmly wrapped around her waist. He kissed her collarbone and she gasped in surprise as his stubble scratched her neck and sent unfamiliarly pleasurable sensations through her. He smiled into her neck as he trailed kisses toward her earlobe.

Cuddy moaned as his lips made contact with her ear. Goosebumps covered her entire body and she lost what was left of her self-control. She arched her body into his, digging her nails through his T-shirt, into his back, fighting to get as close as possible to him. She turned her head to face him. She tried to connect her lips with his but he pulled away, denying her the contact. He smiled deviously down at her. He was teasing her relentlessly.

Cuddy threw her head back in sheer frustration and banged her head on the door. Her hand flew up to massage the small bump that had instantaneously formed on the back of her head, and she was immediately drawn back into reality. She pushed House away from her.

"What are you thinking?!" She shrieked at him.

"The same thing you were thinking back in my office."

"That was an office. Privacy, House. The privacy of your office."

"Um, Cuddy, my office has glass walls." House informed her as if she didn't already know. "Nobody can see through these walls, thankfully. I hadn't planned on this particular form of screaming. Wouldn't want anyone witnessing this."

"You are insane! The entire clinic staff is right outside the door. What are they going to think?" Once again she was Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine, in full control of her actions and an ideal representation of authority. House almost felt fearful by the tone in her voice.

"Dr. Cuddy, seriously, do you think I would be so careless as to not have a legitimate excuse for us to be in this very room together?" He frowned at her. "You have misjudged me."

"Really?" Unbelievable!

"Really, really. I have a perfectly good reason for being here. And you have a perfectly good reason for being so insanely angry with me. It'll explain why you have turned so beet red, too."

"Oh, please, do tell." Cuddy rolled her eyes, not believing that anything would get her out of this without consequence to her reputation.

House pointed at the counter where he had set his Gameboy and MP3 Player. "And, the entire clinic staff knows I'm in here avoiding work to the best of my ability. Well, I know one nurse knows I'm in here with a Gameboy. By now, though, she would have told someone, who told someone, who…you know. And darn them, they were supposed to warn me if you showed up. How could they just let me get in trouble like that?"

Cuddy smiled at him. That could work. "Go do something, House." She turned to open the door.

"I tried."

Cuddy opened the door and stepped into the hall. "Go find some work to do, House." No one in the clinic turned to look as she yelled at House one final time. No one noticed how she emphasized the word 'work.' And no one noticed her smile as she walked away from exam room two. But everyone noticed that Dr. Gregory House followed her from the exam room that they had occupied for entirely too long.

TBC

I had to write this chapter because I've encountered a dilemma. Do House and Cuddy get to have hot and steamy, uncensored sex or should I keep it rated PG-13? It's up to you.

It took a long time to write this chapter because I didn't plan on writing it in the first place. I didn't edit it much since I didn't want to keep you waiting. I hope it isn't too bad.

Please review on your way out.