A/N-Thanks as always to all of those who encourage, it makes this so much more fulfilling. Sorry for the delay folks…we had a pet death in the family, and we are one of those families where the pets are part of the clan, and some things take precedence over my OCD :)

Disclaimer-I don't own the characters of House. This chapter contains adult content (marked)

When they arrived back at Kate's place, it was very late, or perhaps more correctly, very early, as the sunrise began to color the sky. They slept long, enjoying a lazy afternoon, before heading into the bar for the evening. House was determined to make certain Cuddy enjoyed this last evening before heading back to her home in Baltimore.

That night, the crowd in Kate's bar grew steadily. Cuddy sat on the end of the bar, near where she was seated two weeks earlier, and couldn't help but think of how things had changed so drastically in such a short amount of time. His earlier descriptions of his new job were correct: most people didn't really interact with him beyond requesting their drink, and exchanging the occasional crass comment, but he was quick and efficient, and the tips actually seemed pretty impressive.

The man who had approached her the first time she was there, the one House referred to has a 'womanizing idiot, was soon approaching and found a spot next to her. "I was hoping you'd come back," he said, as he looked down over her body.

"Were you?" she asked with disinterest.

"What can I get you to drink?"

"I'm already being taken care of," she answered.

"Don't be like that…" he answered.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm here with someone, so…no thanks"

House was working at the far end of the bar, and immediately felt the stirrings of irritation when he saw the man approach her, he practically bolted himself to the ground. All of his resolve was focused on proving to her that he could handle himself without acting out in a fiery rage. He concentrated on serving drinks and keeping lines moving down at the other end until he saw her waving her hand to get his attention. He worked his way down the bar to stand in front of her.

She signaled to him to lean down, which he did turning his ear down and toward her to hear what she had to say, his eyes looking directly at the womanizing idiot. She stood, her feet on the base of the stool, grabbed his chin and turned him toward her, placing a slow, full, kiss softly across his lips. His eyes opened momentarily with surprise until he closed them, allowing himself to enjoy the attention. "You have got to be kidding me…him?" the womanizing idiot asked.

Cuddy placed one hand against his face sweetly before settling back down onto the seat. The womanizing idiot mumbled his irritation as he left. House shook the surprise from his face and said, "I'm never one to complain…but what was that for?"

"I told him I was here with someone, he didn't believe me"

"Anyone else need to be informed of our relationship? I'm up for another gratuitous make-out session"

Kate all but jogged over to the spot directly next to House and leaned over the bar with a new drink, which she slid toward Cuddy, waiting expectantly. Cuddy said, "Yes Kate…"

"Well I saw your new tipping method…and…I was wondering what else I could get for you"

Cuddy laughed rolling her eyes. "If that's the case, I need off work early, boss, we're gonna head over to the strip club so I can watch her tip the strippers," House smirked.

The bar was really crowded that night, the band well known among the locals. When they finally took the small stage, a relative silence fell. They played their set, House contently listening while he worked, although few people came up for drinks while they played. During the final set, the singer gestured to Kate to come up. She sung with the band for two songs. Although she had definite talent, and the two singers sounded exceedingly good together, what struck Cuddy was not the quality of their sound but the apparent chemistry between the two women. The petite blond was smaller in stature but exuded energy and vitality in a way that made her appear bigger than everyone else around her.

House leaned on the bar near Cuddy. She asked, "Who's that?" pointing to the singer.

"Lucy. They play here once month"

"Kate and Lucy know each other long?"

"I was waiting for this question. Yes they have…and no…they haven't?"

"No they haven't what?"

"They haven't had sex, because that's what you're thinking"

"It is not"

"Yes it is"

"Well…they just have a lot of chemistry"

"There's only one couple more rumored to be sleeping together over the years that wasn't actually sleeping together. But, then again, I guess we ruined that by sleeping together."

"Kate, really seems to like her"

"The real reason Kate doesn't ever keep a girl around for longer than a day or two isn't the kid…it's her," he said pointing toward the stage. "But…that will never happen."

"I can't imagine Kate being too shy to ask someone out"

"Oh, she isn't. Lucy's straight. Don't know if you've noticed this from her pathetic drooling over your delectable ass, but Kate favors the straight ladies."

She turned her attention to the stage where the two women sang, so closely together, with nearly unparalleled intimacy. When the song was over, Lucy pulled Kate back up on stage for a hug before Kate could hop down to help behind the bar again.

Cuddy watched the two women, and couldn't help but see the similarities between the two women's situation and her relationship with House. At various times, either she or House had felt the reality of something between them, usually one, or the other, was too concerned with destroying the balance and severing the tentative thread that held them together.

As the crowd began to thin, Lucy and Kate were chatting and laughing at the far end of the bar, the two friends obviously happy to be in the same space. House slipped onto the stool next to hers, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, don't you know everything, oh seer of seers?"

"You're obsessing on Kate's relationship, or lack thereof…"

"Thinking not obsessing"

"Please tell me you aren't turning into a meddler!"

"I'm not! Even if I were, I don't think there's anything I can do about it"

"Agreed. So why are you obsessing?"

"I'm not obsessing. I'm just thinking about it…about…how close that was to you and I"

Uncomfortable with the discussion, he looked away, relieved to see a patron come up to the bar for one last drink before closing.

When he was done serving the customer, he gestured to her to follow him behind the bar, grabbed her hand and lead her to the storeroom off of the kitchen. Closing the door, and then whispering closely he said, "It has been us. The only difference is the barriers that we put up, we were actually responsible for. Our dysfunction was of our own making."

She smiled and breathed a chuckle. "But," he continued with a hint of promise, "I was just thinking about how incredibly physically compatible we are…maybe we should reassure you by testing…and retesting, that compatibility…"

Before she could respond, he wrapped his arms around her, palming her ass with both hands, and forcing her up onto bins in the corner of the storeroom. Kissing her with reassurances that they were completely compatible in this way, he succeeded in reducing her to a panting mess in moments. She was eagerly tugging the shirt from her body when he stepped back, "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Come here," she demanded.

"I work here, Cuddy, what on earth are you thinking?"

"You work at the hospital, and that didn't stop us from screwing around in your office"

"Yea," he scoffed, adding sarcastically, "but I actually value this job"

At that, he helped her smooth her clothing in a falsely chivalrous gesture, and took her hand to lead her out front again, carrying a package of stirrers as cover. When they returned to the front, the bar was finally clearing out for the night.

Frustration flooded Cuddy as she remembered the number of times he had done something like that while they were dating, his own little show of the control he had over her. As she sat down, the two exchanged a scandalous gaze, enjoying this new game, when Kate fluttered over, "Fuck you two are nauseating!" she teased. "I have to go run Luce back home, can you finish cleanup tonight? I'll handle paperwork and closeout tomorrow."

"If by 'running her home' you mean…"

"Shut up, you idiot," Kate interrupted.

House nodded his assent as the women left. Cuddy turned up the stereo and walked out through the bar, wiping down tables and pushing chairs to the places they belonged. His eyes were drawn to the gentle sway of her hips and the grace of her movement in time to the music. "I know what you're doing," he accused.

"I'd hope you'd understand the concept of closing up," she retorted.

"Not the closing, the seductive hip thing…you know what the seductive hip thing does to me"

"They do that on their own, they seem to go with me wherever I go"

"I've been watching you for years, I should have had my own nature show, 'Cuddy in the Wild' or something. I could have laid in the tall grass with binoculars and whispered completely obvious facts. Anyway…had I actually done that…you'd know there's 'normal' Cuddy hips, and 'look at me while I pull you into my web' Cuddy hips."

"I know you laid in the tall grass out back, I remember seeing the cane prints. It's not my fault you're so easily turned on"

"Easily turned on?"

"I can't even clean a table without you taking it as an overture"

"You can't clean a table without making it look like an overture"

"You are unbelievable!" she announced.

"I usually like it when you say that in more of a breathless, moany sort of voice…more used to that one."

"Are you?" she asked, tossing the washcloth onto the counter top and beckoning him to walk out to the front of the bar, his response one of feigned reservation.

She danced gracefully right in front of him as he was perched on the end of the stool, her hip grazing his knee. Maintaining his cool exterior he said, "I don't think you're supposed to touch me."

"You know of my blatant disregard for rules," she replied sarcastically.

He smiled at her response until her hands snaked around his hips, pulling him forward on the chair until he slid off. Her breasts, knees and hips all grazing against him with just enough force to be noticeable and completely alluring. She rose to her tiptoes and watched as his eyes fluttered shut and then abruptly smacked his face with her hand, giggling and walking away to finish straightening the chairs.

"Oh I see," he finally answered, still making an attempt at coolness.

"I respect you, this is evidence of that"

"Respect me...enough to be a complete tease?"

"I respect your devotion to your work, and the boundaries you have set…just like you always appreciated the boundaries I set at our old job…oh…wait…you didn't really, did you?"

His sneering gaze made her giggle with triumph as she continued to clean up. When she finally returned to the area behind the bar he pinned her against it, his arms on either side of her against the counter, withholding direct touch. "Do you have any idea, what I'm going to do to you when we get back to my place?"

Her face adopted a look of innocence as she asked, "What are you going to do to me?"

"I will make you beg…I'll get you to the edge so many damn times before I let you fall that you will agree to anything I want"

"Promises," she smirked up at him.

His head leaned toward hers slightly, just enough to brush his lips against her cheek, then her ear. She breathed a moan before she could stop herself. "Too easy," he mocked.

"I am?" she asked as she skimmed her knee up his inner thigh and was pleasantly surprised to hear him sigh a compulsory sigh. Their gaze locked and each moved closer, lips nearly touching. Each of them could feel the sensations of the other's exhalations, each moving the slightest bit, but unwilling to actually commit to the contact. The small pillow of air still between them, they stood, nearly kissing for several moments until she whispered, "is this fore-foreplay?"

"Kinda doubt you need that"

"Too bad you don't have the balls to find out for yourself."

"*"

His eyes flared as these teasing taunts always brought forward something dashing and lecherous in him that made her want him all the more. Carefully toeing the line between seduction and inhibition, she maintained the visage of shyness, but was unable to hide the spark in her eyes. When he didn't make a move, she carefully slipped out from under his arms to continue cleaning up the area.

Mind burning with ideas of how to continue, he found he couldn't concentrate on anything else. Walking through the building to check Cuddy's work, he casually checked the lock on the door in the hopes that she didn't notice.

"You are so damn hot for me," he bragged.

"Really?" she said coyly.

"I can tell by the way you're standing, by the way your fingers are brushing against your legs"

She unbuttoned the top button of her jeans, and pulled the zipper down part way, noticing that she could almost see the moment when his mouth ran dry. She reached her hand into her pants only slightly, "So…how would you tell, objectively, which one of us was more turned on?"

He walked in front of her so they could feel the heat emanating off of each other and feel the words literally being breathed onto their skin. "Objectively, I'd say we'd have to observe a few different things. I could look at your pupils, look for signs of perspiration. I think I'd have to try to evaluate your level or arousal more directly as well. Then, of course, the reactions to stimulation…the amount of time from initial encounter until climax would be a remarkably good indicator."

Pulling his face down to hers, she looked into his eyes before initiating a passionate kiss, and then pulled back and said, "I had to do a before and after comparison of pupil dilation"

"Of course," he nodded, before leaning down and running his tongue along the pulse point in her neck. "Pulse is clearly elevated."

He noticed the way she restrained herself when she wanted to reach her hand up to pull him closer before rethinking such a display of need. As he was checking her pulse point, she reached for his chest, walking her fingers along his shirt to the spot over his heart, and lingered there for a moment. Her other hand slipped down to the front of his jeans, noticing the heat and intensity of his erection build as she touched him. "Adequate tumescence to suggest arousal"

Silently admonishing himself, he pressed into her hands, the feeling of needing her becoming too difficult to ignore. Trying to regain control, he lifted her onto the cooler, lifting her hips to pull her jeans and panties off. "Lean back please," he stated calmly.

"I don't think so"

"If I'm going to adequately evaluate you, you'll have to cooperate. Now lean back please."

She felt a pang of embarrassment as he leaned forward to look at her so intimately that she thought she'd never been so exposed. After torturous minutes his fingers ran along her, feeling the accumulating wetness. "Definitely seeing signs of arousal here," he said in a gloating tone.

"You're not impartial," she claimed as she ran her fingers along her warmth and tipped her head back. He watched her judiciously, enjoying the scene before him while aching to be closer.

"Neither are you." He stepped out of his jeans and underwear, and moved against her, running the tip of his erection over her heat, causing them both to gasp. She tried almost immediately to get him inside her, to intensify their mutual pleasure.

He moved to the floor, his leg tired and sore but the rest of him needing the attention he craved. Pulling her down on top of him, his shirt still mostly on his body, he moved her to his lap and held her up high enough to tug her bra from her body and pull a nipple into his mouth. He was, much like in so many aspects of their lives, rough and demanding, although tempering his need with his desire to avoid hurting her. She hovered over him, skimming her entrance over his erection, drawing near-whimpers from his mouth, as they both desperately tried to remain cool.

"You want me so bad," he managed.

"Not nearly as badly as you want me, you're so damn hard the slightest extra move from me and you'll be done."

He smirked as he pulled her down onto him, their mutual state of arousal making the sensations overly intense. She sat down on him firmly as he used his arms to scoot back against the cooler so he could remain seated and have something to lean his back against. They had just begun their rhythm, staggered and rough when they heard the sounds of keys jingling and the front door open. House reached up and held his hand across her mouth when he heard Kate's voice speaking to her friend.

They could hear the two women walking around toward the stage, fortunately unable to see the couple tucked behind the bar. Cuddy's knee was situated uncomfortably, so she shifted forward, drawing a pleasured wince from him and she smirked victoriously, now placing a hand over his mouth. He twitched inside her, the previous tension now nearly unbearable and on her face was a look of obvious pleasure. "Sorry," he mouthed silently, obviously disingenuously.

Cuddy barely rocked forward, just enough to cause the slightest friction, the two of them now locked in a game of control. "Oops," she responded noiselessly.

He bit his lip, trying to focus on things other than the way she was wiggling, the way she was clenching and releasing her muscles rhythmically over him.

They could vaguely understand that Lucy returned for her purse. Their ears both perked when they heard mention of House's name. "I can't believe he's finally got a girl," Lucy said.

"It is amazing anyone puts up with his grouchy ass, takes a lot to look past that to see his inner cuddle-bug," Kate joked.

House scowled as Cuddy laughed silently at the way Kate referred to him.

"Hopefully she'll stick around, otherwise, you're the only one who will deal with him," Lucy added.

"I hope so, he hasn't gotten laid since…"

Cuddy listened to Kate's statement with great interest until House wrapped both hands around her face to cover her ears, and kissed her softly, deeply, just enough to distract her and prevent her from hearing any more of the information Kate was sharing with her friend. He was now painfully achingly aroused, the inability to move sufficiently to release the built up tension was becoming increasingly frustrating. They heard the two women walk toward the door, and Kate turned off the light near the front and shouted back into the room, "Don't forget to mop up when you're done, House," Kate shouted, her laughter disappearing as the door closed.

Cuddy's eyes grew wide with concern, "Oh my god, do you think she actually saw…"

He interrupted her with a now unbelievably urgent kiss as his hands tried to get her moving. When she didn't respond quickly enough he turned them over, "Don't care."

"I told you that you wanted me more," she moaned between kisses, his only response a grunt.

They moved frenetically, unable in that moment to care for the consequences of their actions, the only important thing their mutual satisfaction. They exploded together, moments later, stars in their eyes, gripping at each other, desperately trying to find a new manner or degree of closeness. He flopped over to her side, his gaze and intensity now faded. "You wanted me more, I still stand by that."

"You were the one unable to control your animal-like lust!" she accused, while stroking his arm sweetly, the bite gone from her voice and replaced with sated calmness.

"You forgot what it's like to play with a real man, that's all. You can't just tease indefinitely."

"I am sooo embarrassed," she finally said, burying her face against his shoulder.

"She didn't see anything"

"You sure"

"No, but I'm right, she just…knows"

"When's the last time you got laid, House?"

"Yesterday"

"No I mean…"

"I know what you mean," he interrupted, "Gentlemen don't kiss and tell"

She scoffed loudly, "Gentlemen…right…you need to stop trying to do this stuff in public places"

"Me? You totally instigated that"

"Bullshit," she laughed.

"And…I am a gentleman…do I not always make sure your needs are met?"

With a knowing and pleased look she nodded at him in agreement.

"I don't have the drug habit, high powered world-famous-doctor thing to keep me busy anymore, I need to find new types of excitement."

They fell into silence for a few moments until she sat up to reassemble her clothing. She offered her hand to pull him up and watched as he pulled his jeans back on, thinking to herself that she always loved seeing him in ways like this, doing the mundane things that people do, so human and ordinary, so vastly different from this almost mythical man so many people saw.

Setting aside her fears for a moment, she embraced him in a warm hug, eyes dotted with tears, "I don't want us to return to that hopeless unrequited love crap. Got it?"

A small grin appeared on his lips, "Got it"