A/N: Sorry, folks, but you knew this had to happen.
Chapter 24
Once everyone had gone and Bob had cleaned up the dishes and taken out the trash, she joined House where he sat on the sofa finishing up a bowl of snacks.
"Well, that was a nice party."
House shrugged.
"Didn't you think it was nice?"
"Whatever."
"You didn't think it was nice?"
"It was a party. There were people. There was food. It was fine."
She stared at him for a few moments, then left the room. When she didn't return, he had a feeling she was pissed about something.
"Bob." He called out. "Come here."
She ignored him. He sighed. "Come on, Bob, come here. Talk to me."
Silence.
"Crap." He said under his breath. "Come on, Bob, my leg hurts. Don't make me walk in there."
"Eat shit!" Bob called out from the bedroom.
"Crap." He muttered again, then pulled himself up from the sofa and limped into the bedroom.
She was going through her closet, choosing outfits for the week and she ignored him when he came in and sat on the bed.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"Nothing." She said in a flat voice.
He sighed. "Right. So you just offered me shit for dinner because it's organic?"
When she continued to ignore him, he tried again. "Look, obviously I said something to piss you off. But if you don't tell me what, I may do it again."
She looked at him then, daggers in her eyes. "This was the first goddamned party I have ever given in my home, hell, in my life. First, you act like you're not interested in coming, then you show up late and act like an ass all day. And when I ask you about the party, you act like it's no big deal. Well, it's a big deal to me!"
He stared at her, amazed at her outburst. "What did I do wrong?"
"God, you are infuriating! Did it ever occur to you that this might be important to me? You've had a home for the last twenty years. I haven't. You have friends – if you want them. I never had the chance to make any, except for you.
"So now, I finally have my own home and friends to invite and a boyfriend that I want them to meet. And what do you do? You barely make it and set out to alienate all of my friends and your friends too for that matter. Well, if that is how you want to behave, why don't you just go home?"
"Fine." He told her. "I will."
He limped out of the bedroom and headed for the front door. He opened it and was about to leave, but as he started out, he stopped. She was right – he had acted like a jerk. He couldn't admit it to her, but he also couldn't leave like this with her angry at him.
He closed the door and, slowly, he limped back to the bedroom, where he saw that she had stopped looking through her clothes and was sitting on the bed with her back to him. He heard soft snuffles.
Damn, she was crying. Bob never cried. He never even saw her shed a tear when her father died. But he had made her cry.
"Bob." He said softly.
She turned at the sound of his voice, but then turned away again, unwilling to let him see her tears.
"I thought I told you to leave."
He took a deep breath. God, how was he going to do this? "I'm sorry." He said in a whisper.
She put her head down. "You don't have to apologize, Greg. I should have known this wasn't going to work. We're friends who have sex. I can't expect it to be anything more than that."
He frowned. Is that what she thought? If so, then…"Why are you crying?"
"Because I'm an idiot who thought…oh, never mind."
He went to the bed and sat beside her. He put his finger under her chin, turned her face towards him and asked, "What did you think?"
"Never mind!"
"Did you think I was in love with you?" he asked softly.
She closed her eyes and tried to turn her head away, but he held it in place. "Is that what you thought?"
"I told you, I'm an idiot. I should have known better."
"Yes, you should have."
"Don't worry, Greg, we can go on as we were. I won't expect anything more from you."
He shook his head. "Nope. We can't."
"What?"
"We can't go on as we were. Not anymore."
"Why not?"
His blue eyes were intense as he said, "Because I AM in love with you."
A/N: GOTCHA!