Friday night she sat next to her phone. She really wanted to call him, tell him his little gifts had actually brought her back from some dark place in her life. She wanted to tell him that she thought they were sweet. Except the one that left the board members in a state between shock and rolling on the floor laughing. She laughed thinking to herself she was probably the only woman in the world that would find those things sweet. But for House they were down right thoughtful. They had made her laugh and as much as she hated to admit it, she'd begun to look forward to them. It was a shame she had to put things back to the way they were. She placed her hand on the phone and stopped, putting her hand back in her lap and biting her lip. She didn't really know if he was capable of loving someone again and she didn't know why but she was frightened at the thought that he might not even be interested in her for anything other than sex. No she thought it best to leave things as they were. Somewhere in the back of her mind though there was a nagging urge to just go over to his apartment, and let him undress her and worship every curve of her body. She tried to ignore it.
He spent his Saturday being coughed on, listening to whiny patients complain about everything from allergies to stomach aches and wiping crotches. It was well worth it though. He had been happy to see she was there. Probably just to make sure he was actually seeing patients but still it was some small solace in his day. In between patients he managed to catch a glimpse of her. She didn't seem to notice him. She had been busy filling out paperwork and chatting on the phone. A couple of times he had seen her walking from her office. She still didn't look so hot. She looked peaked and like she wasn't sleeping. She was probably stressed and over-worked and he had no doubt he was a big cause for it. He made a mental note to take it easier on her for a few days.
By Monday he was relieved to have a case. A middle aged man had been admitted delusional and vomiting blood. Since admitted he had spiked a fever and suffered several seizures. They had crossed everything off the list that wasn't leading to something in the brain. The imaging was normal. They needed a better look. He was forced to go to Cuddy.
He made his ever famous entrance into her office pushing the double doors open with his cane.
"Need to do a brain biopsy."
She didn't bother looking up from whatever she was doing, "Thought the imaging was normal."
"It is but I like cutting little pieces out of my patient's brains for no reason. I'm making a collage."
"He's an engineer; I'm not allowing you to risk permanent damage without conclusive evidence that it is his brain." She said adding her signature to a form.
"Two out of Four symptoms are neurological. What else do you want? I know let's biopsy the lung, that will surely tell us what's wrong IN HIS BRAIN."
She looked up, staring straight into his eyes like she always did in this situation, trying to see through his impulses and judge whether the procedure was really necessary. She got up and stepped around the desk just in front of him, crossing her arms and pursing her lips weighing the options.
He noticed she had her hair clipped out her face, something she hadn't done in a long time; it reminded him of when he first met her. She was still pale but she looked a little better than she had the day before.
"Get the wife's consent and don't brow beat her, make sure she understands the risks." She closed her eyes and swayed slightly grabbing the desk behind her for support.
He stepped forward until he was so close to her that he could feel her breath as she exhaled. She opened her eyes. "What's the matter, overcome by my blinding sexual aura? Do I make you randy baby?" He asked playfully pushing himself into her until they were so close to touching that she felt her heart begin to race.
"Nauseous actually, now get out my face and do your damn biopsy."
He suddenly looked away and stared off like he always did when he had an epiphany. The gears started turning his head making calculations. Simple math. Adding the symptoms up and putting in place the timeline that they had presented. He suddenly turned and hastily walked out without a word.