TEN

Cuddy awoke the next morning with a rather sore neck and it took her a moment to realize she was still lying on House's couch. She sat up quickly, noticing House was no longer in the room. However, only seconds later he was at her side again and he handed her a mug of coffee. She smiled up at him and accepted the coffee thankfully. They drank in silence for a while, until Cuddy suddenly realized how light it was outside.

"Oh my gosh! What time is it?" she asked nervously.

"10:30. But don't worry. I told Wilson to tell the hospital you weren't feeling well this morning," House replied sincerely.

"You WHAT?!" she shouted at him, angry at him for not waking her up for work.

"You looked tired, so I thought I would just let you sleep," he answered simply.

"Yeah. As if you care," she snapped back at him quickly, putting her mug on the coffee table a little harder than she meant to. She picked up her keys from the table and made her way to the door. House followed her as quickly as he could, given the throbbing pain that was increasing in his leg.

"Cuddy, wait," he said urgently, finally catching up to her. She turned around slowly and met his pleading eyes. She didn't want to hurt him, understanding how easily he could be hurt, but she really had to get to work. She placed her hand on his arm and kissed him lightly on the cheek. And then she was gone.

House watched her pull out of his driveway and he kicked himself inside for not waking her up for work. He knew that the hospital was everything to her. She never called in sick, never showed up late, and never even complained about working overtime. He should have known she would've wanted to be woken up. After a few moments of wondering where he went wrong, he suddenly found himself asking why he cared. But he did care. He couldn't deny that any more; he really did care about her.

Cuddy reached her house in less than ten minutes and she immediately went to go get changed and fix her make-up. She really regretted leaving House so abruptly, but she hoped he could understand that her job was really important to her. She cursed herself for leaving like that. She always did that and it had ruined every single one of her past relationships. She wasn't sure what it was she and House shared at the moment, but whatever it was, she really hoped she wouldn't screw it up.