A/N-Thanks to all of you who have been reading, and all of those who have reviewed since the last chapter: Jane Q. Doe, ammeboss, Jess, LapizSilkwood, MsStevieCooper, Boo's House, partypantscuddy, Bakerstreet Blues, IHeartHouseCuddy, TheHouseWitch, HuddyForever, OldSFfan, jkarr, byte size, hfspc, Bounce, IWuvHouse, Suzieqlondon, dmarchl21, justlobe, housebound, jaybe61, ClareBear14, KiwiClare, Alex, Abby, HuddyGirl, Bully, LoveMyHouse, Josam, Hammy (Guest), HilsonFTW, limptulip, Hspirito, LiaHuddy, BJAllen815 and aussiefan12. Thanks also to those of you've who've contacted me via other outlets, your thoughts and support were appreciated.
I was a little nervous about the last chapter, so I was really excited to see it worked for many of you. I've received a few questions about the whereabouts of other characters from the show. The gang is still heading back to the States, some characters will show up to varying degrees, but the focus will continue to be on House, Cuddy and family. That's just how I like to write it.
*As promised…less serious chapter. Hope you enjoy. This chapter includes adult content.
"Why are we going here?" Cuddy asked as they walked to the Center.
"Very important things to do!" House said enthusiastically.
"Are you trying to lower my defenses, get me to agree to something ridiculous or dangerous…maybe something for your patient?"
"Nope"
"But if they see me walk in…" Cuddy began.
"They will not see you, I have it all planned out."
"OK," she said, a little tensely.
"You followed me to start a new life overseas, but you're having trouble trusting me enough to follow me to work?"
Cuddy smirked, "Fine, you are right, it's completely screwed up. It's just…this last week has been crazy. I wouldn't mind hiding at home in our room. Coming to work was not what I had in mind…I wanted somewhere peaceful…quiet…"
"That is exactly what I thought you'd say."
House led her around the back part of the building toward the yoga studio. "Gonna get our om on?" Cuddy asked playfully.
"In a way"
He opened the doors to the studio with his ID, and they stepped inside. The studio instantly reminded Cuddy of relaxation. The smell, the air, the décor, the very atmosphere, was soothing.
**-4 months after the clinic opened-**
Kate's door burst open, and Cuddy was the first one there, slapping a case file on Kate's desk. They could hear House yelling from outside of the office, "We need to do a biopsy."
"No," Cuddy said, turning toward the door where he was entering, "We need to do a scan."
When House reached Kate's desk, he said calmly, "Need a tiebreaker. She hasn't been a doctor for so long she doesn't know what she's talking about anyway."
"If I'm not a doctor, why did you ask for my opinion in the first place?" Cuddy retorted.
"Because I thought you were smart enough to know the right answer and confirm what I already know."
"If you're so convinced it's the right answer, confirmation from me should be unnecessary."
"It's your job to make sure I don't take unnecessary risks."
Cuddy scoffed and glared, stepping back and then forward again, right in House's face. "You couldn't prevent yourself from doing something risky for the two minutes it would take me to pee?"
"You had a stall. I wasn't stopping you."
"It was two minutes, House. A small modicum of privacy and quiet…you couldn't give me one-thirtieth of an hour."
"You followed her into the bathroom to get a consult?" Kate asked.
"Are you listening? She had a stall. I saw her walk past my office, I figured I'd ask," House said, defending himself. "I think over the years she's ambushed me in the bathroom plenty of times. She was getting a reputation back at Plainsboro."
"I think for future reference, it's best to let her pee in peace. Seriously, man, that's just…yea, that's too much," Kate said.
Cuddy didn't look victorious, she looked overwhelmed.
"I don't know why you're being so sensitive about this," House said to Cuddy. "You should be happy I still value your opinion."
Cuddy answered, "And should I be happy you valued my opinion when you interrupted my bath…three times last night?"
"A slight exaggeration," House shrugged.
"In what way…is it an exaggeration?"
"Only one visit was to ask your opinion. The other two times were because I needed your help."
Cuddy put a hand on her hip and one on her forehead, "Is that really your defense?"
"I didn't know the juice was that well hidden," he replied.
"In the fridge? Where it always is?"
"Behind…stuff."
"And then to ask me for the phone number for takeout. Because I would, while sitting in the tub, be the best resource for this?"
"First off," Kate interjected. "Don't follow her into the bathroom for work-related things. Does she take your whiteboard? Steal your tennis balls? Everyone has their limits."
"Fine," he agreed.
"Second of all," Kate continued, "You are both gigantic idiots. You guys thought you were going to agree on the handling of every patient, every time…when you have completely different strategies for approaching medicine?"
"We know we don't always agree. Which is why we need a tiebreaker. Check the file," House ordered Kate, "You'll see it's fucking obvious to anyone with a brain that…"
"No…nope," Kate shouted, growing angrier. "I'm not going to do this. You guys need a committee or something. Because you always want me to be the tiebreaker. Then, I get dragged into a fight, then whoever I disagreed with is pissed at me, and I'm pissed off from the fight. The two of you go off and have make up sex in one of the places that you don't think I know about, and I'm sitting here, still pissed. And even though you seem to no longer be angry at each other, whoever I voted against seems to stay angry at me, so, no, I won't be designated asshole. I'll help you decide, but I won't be the solo tiebreaker."
"Could you do the scan first, please?" Cuddy asked House directly. "We can look over it together. If it's at all unclear or suspicious, you could do the biopsy right away."
"Yea, I guess," House said.
"Cool," Cuddy answered. "I'll go make sure the schedule's cleared for your patient. We can get them in immediately."
Cuddy smiled and walked out.
"You depend on her to prevent you from doing something stupid at home too. And that's OK, as the mom, let's face it, that's part of what moms everywhere have been doing since the dawn of time: trying to prevent their families from destroying themselves, but everyone needs a break," Kate said.
House rolled his eyes, "Cuddy's pretty tough. She's not some…delicate flower that needs…"
"No," Kate interrupted, "And neither are you."
"Me?"
"Yea. I'll speak to you in your mother tongue." House was about to say something when Kate continued, "And by mother tongue, I mean metaphor."
"Chicken"
"You play tag with Jack. I've seen you do it. And you bust your ass to play the game with him. You do it…because you love him, and you want him to have fun. So, really you want to do it. It makes both of you happy. But, try as you might, after about ten minutes of nonstop, constant strain and tension on your leg, you can't do it anymore. No matter how much you love Jack, and how much your heart is one-hundred percent invested in playing the game with him…your body eventually reaches the point beyond protest and you have to stop. So what do you do?"
"Take a break"
"Right, you rub your leg, stretch your shoulder where it gets jarred from using your the cane. Just five minutes, and then, usually, you get up and do it again at least one or two more times, but you couldn't continue if you didn't get that little pause from the demand. A pause just long enough to be ready to throw yourself into it again. "
House nodded, "Fine…she needs a break."
"Just a few minutes. Don't follow her into the bathroom for a medical opinion. Maybe give her a safe zone. Consider giving her a certain place or time when she knows she has complete peace unless there's an emergency. Let her…recharge her mom muscle so she can get up and play again."
They went into the meditation room attached to the yoga studio. Cuddy's own private little world. House and the kids agreed to leave her alone completely when she needed time in the meditation room. Cuddy stood by the door, "Why are we in here?" she asked with a smirk.
"Because today, I need a quiet place to hide too, just for a few minutes. Why…are you not willing to share your private little sanctuary with me?"
"Of course I am, but you remember you can't ask me for any favors while I'm in here."
House smirked, "You can ask me for favors, I'm OK with that."
She sat down on the floor cross-legged and took a deep breath. House was only in the room once before when she first set it up, and she took him back to see what she had done with the space. "Love what you've done with the place!" he said, lowering himself onto a large bolster pillow on the floor
"So what are you really doing in here?" Cuddy asked.
"Hiding. If it works for you, maybe it will work for me."
"Rather ironic, isn't it? That we left the country, moved hundreds of miles from home to escape…and now, in paradise, we've resorted to hiding in what is essentially a comfy walk-in closet?"
"I do like it in here," he replied, ignoring her comment.
"Are you ignoring me?"
"Never," he said, nuzzling against her neck, "Does it feel like I'm ignoring you?"
"I mean the question?" she sighed happily.
"I'm here with pure intentions," he said, flopping backward. "Because, you are right, we have tried to run away from everything, and it keeps following us, so I'm going to try meditation."
"So you aren't here, looking for uninterrupted sex?" she said with a faint giggle.
"Of course not, I'm practicing my breathing."
"Right," she said as she listened to him take a lungful of oxygen and hold it.
"You aren't breathing. Holding your breath is not the same thing."
"What?" he said, astounded, "I won't hold your breasts no matter how much you beg."
She raised an eyebrow, "Witty. Yes, I'm sure I'd have to beg."
"I don't want to ruin this place for you," he said, putting his head back down onto the oversized pillow.
"This place is about relaxation…relieving tension…privacy…rejuvenation," she said as she scooted next to his side. "I can help you do all of that…and more. I'm an expert."
She placed a hand on his stomach, instructing him on ways to breathe, taking deep enough breaths to meet her hand with his stomach when he filled his body with air. He opened his eyes and watched with gentle approval as her hand brushed with feather-light strokes along his lower stomach, eventually bringing her other hand up to his torso and pushing his tee shirt upward. She smiled with a flirty, loving look in her eye, and then he saw it, that glimmer of sadness when her hands reached his ribs and she remembered everything he had said earlier, his memories of pain, loneliness and abuse. He covered her hands with his, holding them still. "Stop," he said firmly, but not angrily. "I'm letting it go. You need to too."
"I'm not…"
"Really, stop. Everything is OK," he interrupted, his thumbs running along the lengths of both of her hands. "It's time to stop this shit from invading our lives. I don't know why, but…it seems harder for you to let go of it than me. I'm ready…and I need you to be ready too."
She looked at the honesty in his eyes, and leaned down to kiss along his cheek, slowly moving to his lips and kissing him with desire masked in sweetness. "I know," she said when she backed away. "I'm trying."
"You make me feel good. The good things that have come from…this…from us…far outweigh anything that happened years ago. Really."
He pulled her hands up to his shoulders, pressing her body so she was lying against him, not straddling him, but resting on his body. He started to rub along her sides, and she mirrored the gesture as her leg slid higher along his. He found the antithesis of pain in her. Often he would joke about healing through sex, through orgasms, but there was so much more to the healing they brought each other. There was complete trust, in so many ways, so different from everything they came from, where suspicion, games, and even treachery dictated their interactions. They had found the one safe place to rest their backs against, so they could deal with the outside world.
They were touching, massaging, mutually trying to end pain, and as the pain abated, as he realized, he was free from the weights that held him down, that he had finally, in some way, confronted those who had hurt him most, he felt lighter. She could feel the freedom, the lightness in him, and touches turned more to tickles and play, and they found each other, smiling through their kisses. She tugged at his tee shirt, where it was still attached to him, and he heard the seams creak. There was a fury, a frenzy in the speed with which they needed to see each other naked, to feel unencumbered, unrestrained touch. He nipped at her neck and found her giggling and sighing. He found himself already aroused at their playful tease, and almost pained when his fingers slid her thighs farther apart and he watched her become exposed in front of him. He leaned her against the large bolster, so she was seated partially upright, he wanted her to see everything he was doing. She watched his finger move along her slit, watched him move his fingers steadily forward, finding her as wet as he was hard, as desperately filled with anticipation as he was. Without touching her clit, his fingers pressed into her, and he saw how she reacted with a sense of immediate, although partial, relief. His other hand moved to rest on her pubic bone, his fingers spread across the lowest part of her tummy as his thumb circled and pulsed at her clit.
Watching him was both torture and pleasure, as she enjoyed the sensations, but still felt almost embarrassed at the exposure, at the vulnerability. He had tormented her as long as he could, bringing her painfully close to orgasm repeatedly, "Breathe deeply, just relax," he said lowly, the sound of his voice sending her dangerously closer to release.
His hands stilled when he felt her begin to pulse more rhythmically, and she moved her hands to cover his own. She could feel the way he was moving beneath her fingers. She wasn't directing the touches, although her participation, her desire to feel what he was doing in yet another way, was even more arousing to him. He watched the way her hands moved over his, the way her hands and fingers moved collaboratively with his, the way her body quivered and rose and fell with his movements, and he saw her complete and total surrender to the feelings that were around her. There was no other thought in her head, but him and her, and the amazing feelings that were produced by the ways their bodies touched. Just when she was nearing orgasm again, she could tell, he was finally going to allow her release and she stilled his hands, her grip firm, and her eyes were almost wild.
He could see that even she couldn't really comprehend the fact that she had stopped it. Her breath was wild and her voice quivering, yet firm and certain, a combination he often thought only she had mastered, "Together, I wanna finish together."
He looked almost offended, and she knew, for him, a large part of his enjoyment of the act was the fact that he could play such an effective part in bringing her as much relief and pleasure as anyone else in the world. She pulled him toward her, meeting him in a searing kiss that immediately washed away any notions of offense that he felt. She pulled him up to her, winding her legs around him in a way that seemed to be many things: yogic, spiritual, loving, and profoundly erotic. She was guiding him into her before he was even really expecting it, always enjoying how much she owned her love of sex. How much she unashamedly enjoyed their trysts, their sex, and their climaxes.
He groaned when he pushed into her with one long quick thrust, their bodies almost completely melting into each other. He could see her trying to focus on something else, trying not to come the second he was inside her, because he could tell she almost did.
He enjoyed the reversal in roles, she was the one trying to stave off her climax, waiting for him to catch up. It was strange that, to his recollection, he never remembered a scenario like this between them, a time when she refused to finish, except with him. He was both excited and amused, enjoying the fact that being with him made it difficult for her not to orgasm, but the look of desire on her face was overwhelming, as was the very idea of what she was trying to do. He quickly released his mind, not wanting to torment her any longer than necessary, and allowed his body to give in to the feelings.
His mind drifted, for only a second, to the love that she had for him, so deep that his pain seemed to hurt her as much or even more than it hurt him. He felt her start to fall, in spite of all of her efforts, and her aroused state, the extreme tightness, yet the ease with which they slipped against each other, with just enough friction and tension to make their encounter the same amazing, hot, best sex ever encounter they almost took for granted. He came loudly, swept in emotion and passion and orgasm while his fingers dug into her hips, and her fingers dug into his shoulder and side. Her legs were hooked so tightly around him that he couldn't even move anymore. They rolled onto their sides, shaky from release, bodies feeble and exhausted, still united.
She seemed to drift into sleep for a moment, and when she woke, that joy, that freedom from past pain, seemed to be breathable in the air. "Now I'm going to get turned on every time I'm in here."
"Sorry," he said disingenuously.
"I can tell," she answered dryly.
"I'll just have to come in here with you."
"OK," she shrugged.
"Seriously?"
"Sure. As long as you're here for fun…and not asking me for an opinion, or a favor, or discussing anything about work or family…or really anything stressful."
"Is this room for meditation, sex, or denial?"
She giggled, "I guess all of the above."
"Love this room."
After they had relaxed for a while, House said, "Let's go shopping."
"Right," Cuddy said with a throaty laugh.
"I'm serious."
"I'm taking you for an MRI," she said as she stood, naked, and reached out her hand to help him up.
"Naked?" he said approvingly.
"No. I'm getting dressed, then I'm taking you for an MRI."
"Why?"
"Why do you want to go shopping?"
"For something cool. Two something cools. I've appreciated you already today. You think you are the only one who deserves some appreciation?"
She smiled, "What are we buying?"
"Everyone needs a space…or a thing…that's just for them. Something…personal. Kids are people too," he said in an exaggerated voice of advocacy.
"Fine," she agreed. "You know what you're getting them?"
"What we're getting them. And yes. Get dressed, you can't sit around, frittering the day away with your so called meditation."
