Here I am. First of all, thank you to everyone who met me in the one-shot I posted two days ago. Wait... did you really think I turned into a Hameron fan? No way! If you didn't read that and you're wondering what I'm talking about, well, just go and look for 'Hidden Truths' ;)

...but in the meantime, I hope you'll love the finale of this fanfic. Lenasti16, thank you so much again!

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Chapter 21 - Postcard from the Philippines

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... I want a yes... that yes... and more than a yes... yes to be mine in all the possible ways...

... Am I crazy because I trust in us, Cuddy? ... You think it won't last...

... Apparently... your damned 'I love you' is not strong enough to want a baby with me... or to want being my wife...

... Here the only selfish egocentric bitch it's you... the only bitch who didn't want to be fucked...

... Keep your fucking I love you, Cuddy... I don't know what to do with that!...

...

She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe.

"Cuddy? Is it all right?"

"Yes, Wilson" she said, just glancing at him as she paid her bowl of salad and took some plastic cutlery from the basket "Sorry... I have to go. I need to finish my report for this afternoon meeting" she said, smiling slightly and resting a hand on his arm before walking away.

She continued to watch the untouched plastic bowl resting on her desk. Just to throw it in the trash a few minutes later.

# Please. Stop by. We need to talk # She texted on her cell phone, then pressing enter and looking at her cell phone display... waiting for an answer that never came.

She hadn't slept that night. And that one was just another unanswered text. He didn't answer her texts. He didn't answer her calls. She knew she could go to his office, but a row in the hallway was the last thing she wanted. Being called a bitch in the middle of that hallway was the last thing she wanted...

... Apparently... your damned 'I love you' is not strong enough to want a baby with me... or to want being my wife...

"God, you're so wrong, House..." she whispered in the silence of that room.

...

"What's wrong with Cuddy?" Wilson asked entering House's office.

"Why are you asking me?" He curtly replied without looking up from his magazine.

"She wasn't fine..." he said, ignoring how he answered to his question with another question "In ten years I never saw her going home even earlier than you"

He studied his expression and the way in which those words washed over him.

"I'm not her babysitter" he replied, again without looking up at him.

Wilson snorted.

"Right! You're her boyfriend. Don't screw it up, House," he said with an exasperated look.

"You'll be surprised, Wilson, but I'm not the one screwing it up!" He said, this time looking up and glaring at him.

Wilson shook his head, looking at his own feet and then looked up at him again.

"Is the honeymoon already over?" He asked with a disconsolate look.

"Probably it never started" he replied, looking down at his magazine again.

Wilson sighed again and looked around.

"How is it possible that in your office there's never any place to sit?" He said looking at the chair in front of himself and moving a stack of magazines, books, envelopes and letters from it.

"How long aren't you checking on your mail, House?" He asked leafing through those envelopes.

"What the fuck do you care of mail, Wilson. Nobody uses that kind of mail anymore. At most there will be a few charges. Stuff for Cuddy!" He said testily, again without looking up. "Bring those to her! It's probably her only way to have an orgasm!"

Wilson looked at him again with the same exasperated look.

"Honeymoon definitely over!" He said, shaking his head and sighing again.

Shit! He had trust in them! They looked so...

"Someone still uses the old mail" he said watching the postcard between his hands.

Sea, palm trees... nice place...

House looked up and snatched it out of his hand before he had time to focus on it.

Blue sea... palm trees...

He turned it.

A 40-pesos stamp. The postmark of a Philippine post office, dated April 15. His address. No sender. No signature. Only one word...

A single word written in blue ink on a white background.

"What's up?" Wilson asked with a quizzical look.

House didn't answer, merely looking up at him and then down again at the unmistakable handwriting of that address and then at that one word.

OO

... yes

He knocked on the door. He could directly use the key in his pocket, but he didn't want to scare her unexpectedly breaking into her house. Not after how he had slammed that same door less than 24 hours earlier.

He knocked at the door again, using his cane in what had become his card, but again no one answered the door. She was at home. Her car was parked in the driveway in front of the garage. "She wasn't fine... in ten years I never saw her going home even earlier than you" Wilson had told him half an hour before... and even if he was rationally aware that she probably didn't feel so bad not to be able to come and open the door, his heartbeat quickened as he rummaged in his jacket pocket for the key.

He called her name as soon as the key turned in the lock and the door opened. He didn't shout her name, he simply called her name, but that name seemed to echoed louder in the silence of the room as he closed the door behind himself.

Cuddy was in the bathroom when she heard that "Cuddy" and stood still for a second, closing the water running in the sink and looking into the mirror as for a moment she listened just the sound of silence before recognizing the usual rhythmical sound of wood on the floor accompanying House's steps.

She wiped her tears with both hands and hurried to take her terrycloth bathrobe only in an instinctive gesture, because actually by now the last thing she cared about was her wet hair dripping on the floor. She opened the bathroom door tying the sash of her bathrobe and almost bumped into him, suddenly looking up at him.

"House, I..."

And he didn't give her the time to finish that sentence.

He took her face with both hands and found her mouth, letting the postcard still in his hand falling on the floor. And his tongue invaded her mouth as she didn't make a stand.

God... he could feel the salty taste of her tears on her tongue. And he kissed her like he never did. Passion that quickly became something bordering on devotion, in a kiss gradually slower but not less deep. Silence broken only by the sound of their breathing.

"I'm an idiot," he whispered, not opening his eyes, parting from her lips only for a moment but still feeling the warmth of her breath on his own mouth. If he wanted to say something else, she didn't give him time to do that. Her mouth found his again, closing again the infinitesimal distance between them.

Cuddy stroked his hair, holding him close. Her arms around his neck and her fingers lost through his hair as she realized of being on tiptoe. On tiptoe so her mouth could be almost at his level. To be sure not letting him go away. Not anymore. Not that he had the slightest intention of going away. His arms around her body held her close to him, so close that they were almost one.

She rested the soles of her feet back against the floor without letting go of his mouth and he simply leaned more on her, without that kiss was perturbed at all by those eight-inch difference. Action-reaction. Third motion law. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Equal and opposite. Opposites. As the roughness of his stubble against her skin and the softness of his lips on hers. Opposites as the warmth of his breath lost in hers and the shivers that same breath gave down her spine. Opposites. Like them.

"I'm really an idiot..." he repeated, parting only for a moment from her lips to look into her eyes.

This time a smile lit up her eyes, and she stroked his stubble, brushing his lower lip with her thumb.

"Tell me something I don't know" she said smiling again and staring at him.

House stared back at her, with a look that left her almost breathless. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, as for a moment it was just their eyes talking.

"I love you" he whispered looking into her eyes and at the look in her eyes at the sound of those words.

Her irises quivered but she didn't look away and a smile appeared on her lips again as she let out the air she had held in her lungs, realizing just now that she was actually holding her breath. She looked away just for a second, looking up as tears misted her eyes, and swallowed, then looking again into his eyes, getting lost in them.

"I love you" House repeated, watching her as she smiled more, however closing her eyes and failing to prevent a tear from rolling down her cheek.

He wiped that tear away with his thumb and watched as she opened her eyes and bit her lip, smiling. He looked at those lips, red for the rubbing against his stubble, and she looked at his, still moist because of their kiss. And their lips touched again. Just one light touch.

"God, Cuddy... you... you sent it two weeks ago," he whispered on her lips looking into her eyes as she smiled slightly.

"I have to send a complaint to the Filipino postal service" She said with a smile on his lips as he smiled in turn, watching his lips and then his eyes again.

"Say it" he whispered on her lips, still looking into her eyes without moving an inch from her mouth.

"Ask it to me again" she said in turn, looking at him with the same look and failing not to smile more.

He caressed her cheeks with his thumbs, still staring at her eyes and lips.

"Are you really crazy enough to be my wife?" He said with a smile on her lips as he couldn't help but giving his own personal way to that too classical proposal.

He looked at her as she smiled and bit her lip.

"No," she whispered with a smile on his lips and shook her head slightly, still staring at him.

That NO wasn't the answer he was waiting for... but the way she was looking at him was anything but a no. And he held her tightly.

"I'm so crazy that I want to be your wife ... so crazy to want a child with you. With you, House... not from you... So crazy to want to be yours... in every possible way," she whispered on his lips.

House smiled still looking into her eyes.

"... in every possible way?" He asked with a very mischievous look stroking her cheekbone with his thumb and looking at her as she nodded, not looking away from the blue of his eyes.

Beautiful. It was the only word that came to his mind when he looked at her. Even with her red and swollen eyes because of the too much crying and her wet and uncombed hair.

He looked for her mouth, and for her tongue. Deeply and slowly. God, he wanted her! He wanted her as he had never wanted a woman in his life... His knee slowly moved between her thighs, closing even more the distance between them and she held her breath to that feeling. They could feel the warmth spreading from their bodies, despite the layers of fabric still between them. And she hadn't even realized she had slightly opened her legs allowing him doing that... she had just done that... in the most natural way. Trapped between the door jamb and him. And she didn't want to be anywhere else. She didn't want him to be anywhere else than between her legs.

He held her into his arms trapping her more between the wall and his body. God... was there a better feeling than her body pressed to his?

"Hous... hhhmmm"

Part of his name was replaced by a moan and a sigh as he kissed her behind the ear, sucking her skin and making her tilt her neck to be kissed even more as his hand moved from her face to her neck and then under the soft terrycloth of her bathrobe.

His erection pressed relentlessly against her leg and his leg against her most intimate part short-circuiting her neurons. She felt like she was burning.

"House..." she tried again, this time being at least able to finish his name before another deep sigh escaped her lips.

Could she have an orgasm without being touched? Just for that slight rubbing of his jeans against her? Holy God... his tongue on her neck made contract the muscles in her lower abdomen and she felt her inner muscles throbbing in anticipation. Had she never wanted a man so much?

"Hou... hhhmmm" she sighed again to the sensation of his tongue on the part of her cleavage not covered by her bathrobe, gripping the hair on his nape as he lifted his head to look at her.

"Please... tell me it's not another no?" He said looking into her eyes.

But the smile on her lips was again far from a no, as she slid his leather jacket off his shoulders and arms, dropping it on the ground. And far from a no was her hand that took his, leading him to her bed.

House stood still as she looked at him and let her slowly unbutton his shirt, watching her fingers that unbuttoned those buttons one by one. Her hands caressed his skin following the anatomy of his shoulders and chest muscles, lingering for a moment on his collarbone and breastbone before going down on his abs, then focusing on his belt buckle. She looked at him straight in the eyes as she unbuttoned even that button, just slightly touching his erection with her fingertips through the fabric of his boxers as she lowered his zipper, then sliding his jeans down his legs.

She looked into his eyes and he looked into hers. Blue lost in blue. He didn't need to repeat that 'I love you'. At that moment his eyes shouted it out loud.

She smiled, placing his hand on the knot of her bathrobe sash silently inviting him to untied it. House looked at his own hand on that knot. At the two ends of that sash that his own hands were untying and at the two side of that soft terrycloth parting. He held his breath as soon as his eyes lingered on her skin. On the still tanned skin after that week of sea and on the white skin on which neither the sun nor his eyes had never been, not in the last twenty years. He knew she was naked under that bathrobe but his body reacted to that information as if it had realized it only at that time. His breathing quickened, as well as his heartbeat. He didn't touch her, just looking at her as he slid the bathrobe off her shoulders as she had done with him only a few moments before, then stroking her shoulder and arm, looking at his own hand moving on her skin. He caressed her shoulders again, this time moving down on her breasts and along the curve of her waist, stopping on her hip and caressing her again before drawing her closer to him, looking up into her eyes and looking again for her lips and tongue in a slow and deep... and sweet and sensual... kiss.

He wrapped her waist with one arm as he made her lay down on the bed, then falling on top of her without breaking away from her mouth. Feeling her opening her legs under him was a stronger feeling than he imagined. And even hearing her holding her breath and shivering beneath him to the rubbing of her most intimate part against his erection, although there was still a layer of cloth between them. He felt her hands moving under his boxer, stroking his buttocks and at the same time pulling him even closer to her and between her legs.

He kissed her neck, teasing her skin with his lips and tongue, then moving down on her breast. She moaned at the feeling of his tongue on her nipple, digging her fingers into his back and arching her back as he continued to suck her. A hhhmmm of protest escaped her lips as soon as his mouth left her breast, but replaced by a moan of pleasure as soon as his tongue drew a line of wet kisses from her sternum to her navel , pausing only a moment to tease her navel with his tongue as she tilted her head back and arched her back even more.

"Oh God, House..." she moaned, lifting her head to look at him and meeting his gaze. His hands on her hips and her tongue on her skin... it was so erotic that she couldn't suppress the urge to push her pelvis towards him, moaning again at the sensation of that rubbing against him.

House smiled, looking into her eyes before continuing on his way down, moving his hands on her hips and stroking her legs, first with his fingers and then with his mouth, kissing her knee and brushing his lips along the inner side of her thigh.

If it hadn't been the best torture she could possibly think about, she would have said he was torturing her. And she inhaled deeply, holding her breath as his mouth found her most sensitive spot.

God... his mouth on her erased every thought.

His tongue kept touching her strong enough to keep her constantly in a sort of ecstasy... and she felt like she was on the edge of a cliff as he didn't allow her to go further.

"God, House... please..." she moaned.

She stroked his nape letting her fingers move through his hair, before moving her hand on his stubble and on his face slightly pushing him away from her as he lifted his head and back to look at her. Her arm slightly pushed him towards the edge of the bed forcing him to stand up as she sat up, then kneeling on the bed.

The quizzical look in his eyes turned into a mischievous smile at the realization of what she was going to do. He looked for her mouth and tongue as her hands wormed their way into the rubber band of his boxers, then making them slide down his buttocks and legs to the floor.

Her hand wrapped him as she kissed him and his groan got lost in her mouth to that feeling. Her mouth left his to trace in turn a row of kisses along his chest and his abdomen, then pausing only a moment to look at him. God... she had craved doing this for twenty years. After each argue... after each fight about a risky procedure... as she touched herself thinking of him... she just wanted to feel him in her mouth.

She stroked his thighs with both hands, looking up at him and biting her lip.

"Cuddy..." he whispered looking into her eyes.

She felt his hesitation in those five letters of her name... and she knew it wasn't for what she was about to do to him, but because she was too close to what he considered his most vulnerable part. The sign of his weakness. Of his disability.

She didn't answer and just looked at him again before bending over him. The tip of her tongue ran along his length, pausing to suck the tip and then going down again. One time. And then another. And yet another.

His hand through her hair instinctively urged her to take it more into her mouth, but it wasn't what she had in mind to do. Her lips moved on his thigh and she felt him shiver almost imperceptibly while another 'Cuddy ...' escaped from his lips... this time accompanied by a 'no' that yet she ignored.

She kissed his skin and her tongue slowly and lightly touched his scar, sending an unexpected shiver in his lower abdomen. And even more unexpectedly hardening him even more. He gripped her hair with both hands and she moved again her tongue along his thigh and then along his erection.

The feeling of her mouth teasing him, just lightly sucking him, was driving him crazy. She had done that hundreds, maybe thousands of times... in his fantasies... but reality far exceeded his expectations. Perhaps because he have been craving her for twenty years... or maybe because those last two months had practically been two months of foreplay... but... fuck!...

He held his breath as soon as she took him deeply and completely in her mouth, and for a moment he thought he couldn't restrain himself. Fuck... he couldn't stand that. He couldn't stand the warmth of her mouth. Even less when she relentlessly speeded her pace. He grasped her hair more, making her look up at him. That 'come here' almost choked in his throat, but he took her face with both hands, making her straighten her back, then finding her mouth and tongue.

His mouth never left hers as he made her lay down on the bed again. His weight on her. Trapped between the mattress and his body. As on that couch ... that night thousands miles away. He heard her inhaling deeply and holding her breath to that feeling, opening her eyes and meeting his. Blue lost in blue. He looked at her eyes and then at her lips. Those slightly parted lips... exactly like that night. But this time a smile appeared on those lips and her hands stroked his stubble at the same time, then joining at the back of his neck, holding him in that position. She wasn't going to allow him running away again. And running away was his last thought right now... as his erection brushed her entrance, teasing it, without going beyond.

"Love me, House..." she whispered on his lips, slightly lifting one leg and wrapping it around his butt in a silent but explicit invitation before touching his lips again.

He didn't looked away from her eyes and didn't leave her lips as he slid inside her, making her savor every inch of him and enjoying every inch of her. They both held their breath to that intense feeling, closing their eyes for a moment before opening them to look into each other's eyes again, then again looking for their mouths and letting their tongue to tangle at the same pace of their breathing... and at the same pace of their bodies.

Slow and deep... as if they were making love for the first time. Because in a sense they were making love for the first time. Sex. And at the same time so far from sex. Not a mere instinctive pursuit of pleasure... love and passion inextricably tied together. Her pleasure inextricably tied to his.

"Oh... yes..." she moaned tilting her head back and arching her back as he moved over her and into her, meeting her pace with every thrust.

"Oh God, House, yes..." she moaned, digging her fingers into his back again and this time, hiding her face in the crook of his neck and clutching more to him.

House recognized the trembling of her legs as he kissed her. He opened his eyes to look at her as soon as her mouth left his and she inhaled deeply in what was almost a gasp, then holding her breath. God... the way she arched her back again. The way she tilted her head back. The way her eyelashes slightly fluttered as she kept her eyes closed and her lips parted. And that yes repeated endlessly, together with his name.

He closed his eyes to the feeling that the sight of her pleasure triggered... He felt his muscles contracting and the pressure in his testicles increased to the extreme, while the contractions of her orgasm exacerbated that pleasure. And... ... fuck... he knew very well that sensation... that extreme pleasure then followed by the feeling of release of ejaculation... but... 'God, Cuddy ...' ... coming inside her... skin to skin... without barriers... the bare thought was...

Every thought faded, giving way only to pleasure, his mingling with hers. It wasn't just release and relaxation... it was pure bliss.

He buried his head in the crook of her neck, breathing her scent while her fingers moved among his hair and they both tried to catch their breath. He could feel her smile even if he wasn't looking at her... and she could feel his. He kissed her neck and lifted his head, resting his forehead on hers and looking into her eyes.

"I told you I was going to make you scream that yes" he said with a mischievous look watching her as she closed her eyes and ran her tongue on her lips, smiling. He kissed her lips again as she stroked the hair of his nape.

He looked into her eyes, biting her lower lip and sucking it between his own lips, not averting his eyes from hers.

"You know I'm gonna make you scream that yes every day of your life, don't you?" He said, raising an eyebrow mischievously, as this time a laugh escaped from her lips and she kissed him tenderly on the lips.

"Is it a challenge?" She asked with a smile just as mischievous as his, watching his lips and then his eyes again, still stroking his neck.

"A promise" He said, touching her lips and looking again for her tongue in another long, deep kiss.

...

THE END

...

Thank you to all of you again!

I'll be back, sooner than you think. Actually I have more than a work in progress. The first chapter of the next one is just waiting to be posted. My first attempt of fixing the unfixable.

See you soon