A/N-I'm glad my theory on the initial reason behind their dysfunction didn't seem to be reaching too far, at least from the comments I've read. I really appreciated the reviews on this one, I was so curious: IHeartHouseCuddy, Boo's House, Bakerstreet Blues, newsession, ClareBear14, housebound, Anonymous, byte size, JLCH, CaptainK8, Sam, TheHouseWitch, anon, Elco, Alex, Abby, HuddyGirl, Josam, yahnis14, Asia, ABCD, Mon Fogel, lenasti16.-

Your time and words were much appreciated, all of you!

Disclaimer-I don't own the characters of House, MD


They should have been tired and weary. House's leg definitely should have been aching and he should have been, almost angrily, rubbing it to ease the pain. Cuddy should have been frustrated from the long ride, a bundle of energy desperate to release her built-up potential, ready to lash out at him for the slightest misstep. He should have, shortly before they arrived, said something to ire her, and she probably should have been frustratedly ignoring him, barely speaking. But that isn't how it happened.

His leg was a bit cramped, and she did need to do something rather than sit there, but they were lost in their sense of freedom in almost every way. When their airplane neared its destination, both looked out the window at the crystal clarity of the water below and felt like nothing in the world existed except for the two of them.

Their "room" was a bungalow situated out over the water. A footbridge stretched from the shore to a porch on the back of the wood hut, and that porch surrounded the entire perimeter of the bungalow.

House patiently navigated the foot bridge from the place where the resort staff dropped them off. The rustic appearance from the outside was a clever disguise for a high-end interior. "Wasn't expecting all of this!" she said, as she looked around the large open room.

The room was a studio, with a kitchenette, seating area and large comfortable bed, with a private bath. There were ceiling fans in various locations throughout the room that kept the air moving, and many large windows that could be opened to allow the outside environment to fill the room.

"I was really hoping they lost this," he said, when he discovered that their luggage had already been delivered to their room, and he poked her suitcase with his cane.

"Hoping they lost our luggage?" she asked with surprise, "Oh…wait, I get it, this has something to do with me not having clothing…doesn't it?"

He smirked at her, "Of course not, that would be unbelievably immature of me!" He added, trying to sound pained, as he pulled her toward him, "I'm hurt that you would think that. It's because I was hoping you'd have to go on a wild shopping spree and that I'd be lucky enough to come along and just sit there waiting…for hours and hours and hours…"

She smirked at his joke, "Definitely, I figured that was part of your dastardly plan…the shopping."

They walked toward the front end of the bungalow. Almost the entire side of the structure opened onto the porch, the front wall comprised of four sets of accordion doors, which faced the wide expanse of water. Standing out on the porch, there wasn't any noise from other guests, a lobby or outdoor tropical bars. There was the sound of the water slapping against the pylons that lifted the bungalow up out of the water, and the sounds of the two of them. Cuddy almost gasped when she looked at the peacefulness of their accommodations, and said, with reverence, "This is amazing. Maybe you should plan vacations for over-stressed professionals."

"You…are not an over-stressed professional. You are an unemployed slacker," he teased, "besides, that is my new career plan, that's why I wanted my medical license back."

She smiled at him and he could see the very change in her eyes, in her smile, and in the way she moved. After decades of interacting through a filter, she was no longer held prisoner by the misconceptions they created from their very beginning. She looked unjaded and unfettered and he could see she was living her life in that moment, not living in the future or the past or in her expectations, but right there.

He could feel the absence of barrier between them. They had grown steadily closer since their reunion, while he supported her in her grief, and she supported him in his uncertainty, they fostered trust while they attempted the strange and unfamiliar routine of not lying to each other. A practice that began as something so small, her policy…her request: no lies.

She asked him for the truth because she didn't want to have to wonder what he was thinking, she didn't want to have to play the game, and part of her at that time did want him to hurt her; want him to make something feel real and cut through her fog. She realized later that maybe she wanted the excuse to be completely honest with him too, the chance to unload some of her pent up feelings of anger and resentment on him. Initially, the concept was so foreign it was almost a joke, the idea that they could talk to each other without all of the subterfuge and plotting.

'No lies' was in stark contrast to the familiarity of so much of what they had known, and yet that silly little policy that began during a drive from New Jersey to the Outer Banks sowed the seeds for a relationship that would actually begin to break free of the mires of itself…'let's just talk. Ask questions, answer questions, and let's…try not to lie,' she asked him, the day after they met again, and he actually agreed to the policy.

Neither realized how significant that request would be. It was like a Rube Goldberg machine, where a marble would roll down a long tube and knock over some standing dominoes, after she inadvertently bumped it while walking past, and a series of smaller chain reactions would occur, each insignificant in themselves, but leading, ultimately, to the completion of a task.

After their discussion in LA about their past, their memories of their beginnings, and her realization that he was not cruelly trying to play her, she was different. The remaining barriers between them crumbling away. The wounds a woman, acquired from a youthful indiscretion that became more, were finally healing. She was once again the brazen, open, unashamed woman, who stood naked in the light of his med school era kitchen.

His realization that she was sad at his disappearance, that the loss of him in her life after that one night, actually hurt her, meant more to him than he cared to admit. She suddenly didn't seem as if she were sitting above him, feeling her superiority and judging his unworthiness. He had always assumed that when he didn't call, she shrugged it off, as evidence that he was a jerk, and she'd quickly move on from there.

After he left his apartment the day of his expulsion, he drove until he found a motel close enough to a bar, drowning his sorrows as he would innumerable times after that. He found her number in his pocket and remembered the hands that held the paper and pen hours before, smiling as she wrote on it. He pictured her, getting ready for the evening, walking past the phone, and only for a second remembering him, and realizing that he didn't call, before she moved on to someone else.

He was brought out of his thoughts of the past when she brushed her hand against his while he gripped the railing. The sensation of her skin on his felt different, as if their direct touch had always been separated by a veil during every encounter after their first.

When his hand withdrew from hers, she looked over at him, a hint of worry, "What?" she asked.

He moved his hand back next to hers. "Nothing. You startled me."

They stared out at the water for some time and she finally said, "Telling me the truth…no lies…at all. No attempts to spare my feelings…"

He looked over at her, waiting to hear the question. "OK…" he said, as he inhaled deeply.

"Would you have called…really? I mean, would you have waited a few days, to play those silly dating games, would you have decided it wasn't a big deal, slept with five more girls the next night to enjoy your freedom…would you…"

"I get the picture…" he interrupted, "five…I was going to call you a few minutes after five. And tell you that I wanted to get something to eat…in South Bend."

"Indiana?"

"Yea, I knew a place there. Mostly, I thought a road trip would be fun, a way for me to monopolize your entire evening."

"Would have been fun…"

"You don't have to question it anymore. My…motives were pure…well…purish. And horny very, very horny."

She laughed at his words and the face he made trying to convince her of his honesty. "And you? What would Ms. Cuddy have done, if I got that call…if you heard about my expulsion while you were at my apartment?"

"Let me state, unequivocally, that the Ms. Cuddy of the 90's and beyond, would have been completely furious with you. And then, like so many other times, you'd eventually do something adorably frustrating, and we'd move on. You mastered the art of winning me over during the years. But, the me that you met my freshman year…" she nodded her head, staring out at the water, and he allowed her to think, wanting the answer to be honest and complete.

"I have to admit that the me of then would have asked you why such a brilliant guy would waste his time cheating. And told you that the feeling of success would make it worth the effort of doing the work on your own. And then I would have had sympathy sex with you…and then I'd help you find a new school."

"Do you mean that?" he laughed skeptically.

"Oh god, yes! Completely. I definitely had quite the crush on you back then. Actually at that time, I probably would have begged you to take me back home...on the back of your motorcycle...to meet my family, because I would have loved to show off your brain, and then proudly discuss your bad boy side. You would have appealed to my inner snob, and my desire to break free and be wild."

He smirked at her, until they each returned to their silent enjoyment of the water.

"Thank you so much for this trip. This is so unbelievably romantic!" she said, pointing out toward the sky.

Colors of all shades bounced between the clouds as a distant storm broke up, and the sun's rays were fractured in every direction. He opened his mouth to deflect the sentiment, to deny vehemently that he selected a spot like that intentionally, and every possible response was a complete and utter lie. He looked at the happiness on her face and said, "It's alright. And you're welcome," with a smiled that indicated deeper agreement. "I think it's more about the company than the location," he added, pointing to himself.


Later that night they made their way down to the resort bar for dinner and drinks. They ate lazily, enjoying their beverages and the calming effects of the alcohol. Half way through dinner, in between flirtatious glances and shocks of electricity from the subtle brushes of hands and feet, a realization hit. Cuddy left the table for the restroom and a waiter approached to see what else they needed. "Enjoy it while it lasts, my friend," the waiter said to House, "new love only lasts so long. Then you have to learn to care for each other after the newness and excitement fades."

As usual whenever the two of them were involved, things weren't straightforward or simple. They had done everything backwards; they were learning to be in love, after loving each other on and off for years.

Their initial night together clearly had the possibility of love, but the embers were stomped out far too quickly to develop. When they tried again years later, their pain and baggage prevented them from being fully in love. They had a few days of excitement, and months of sexual compatibility, but their more significant feelings were quickly doused by work, obligation, distrust and doubt. In this latest attempt, when their feelings again overtook them, and they found themselves seeking happiness in each other's arms, that veil still existed, initially.

After they finally brought up the pain and disappointment of the past, with long present misunderstandings cleared away, doubt removed and a connection established out of deep trust and, in a very real way, a type of mutual dependence, they were able to actually be in love. They weren't nauseatingly affectionate or demonstrative, but the looks between them were intense and amorous, the emotions behind them very real. They both felt the sense of internal giddiness and a happiness that, not only had they never experienced, but neither even believed existed.

They were walking back to their bungalow at a relaxed pace, her arm looped casually through his, and he asked, "What high school jock ruined oral sex for you before I rescued you?"

She laughed, "As always, you are both subtle and humble."

"Trademarks of me, yes…"

"No one," she answered, without further hesitance.

"No one? Then why were you so hesitant when I met you…I mean, who in the hell doesn't like oral sex, Cuddy?"

She giggled again, "I just…wasn't comfortable doing that…always assumed guys did that just to be sure they were gonna get laid. I never thought any of them really wanted to…plus it's…really personal."

"Wait …oh my god, I was your first? I took your oral sex-virginity? Oh please tell me I did!"

"Don't think that's really a thing."

"It is, trust me. So…is it true…that I orally deflowered you?"

"You're an idiot…but yes…it's true."

He tugged her arm back to stop her from walking and turned her to face him. He studied her to be sure she was telling the truth.

"Why would I lie?" she asked, giggling, "It's not that big of a deal!"

She waited for his next comment, waited for the joke, or the teasing jibe that she expected to come next. Slowly the smile left his face. "You really would answer almost any question I'd ask."

"I told you back when we were at the Outer Banks to ask whatever you wanted; I've tried to be very honest with you…"

"One. One hooker…after prison."

She looked at him with the realization that he was finally answering the one question he consistently avoided.

He inhaled slowly. "The day after I got out. I slept with two other women after that, Kate set me up with them. It was fine, but…I just wasn't that interested in finding future hookups. I thought…the one thing I always dreaded was coming true…that sex was no longer my thing. I tried to accept it as best I could, figuring that brain damage and drug use probably killed off my libido, and that was that. When you walked into Kate's bar, it had already been over a year."

"Wait…what? I'm sorry…give me a moment to comprehend. So, while I'm thinking that you are embarrassed that you have to hire hookers, or that you are embarrassed by the number of hookers you've hired, you are actually embarrassed that you didn't feel like hiring them?"

"Yeah…why would I be embarrassed that I hired them? That wouldn't be a shock to anyone!"

"So you wanted me to think that you were having more sex than what you were."

"Yes, absolutely…I didn't want you to think that I'd lost my step! Fortunately, about two seconds after I saw you, I realized that I still was interested in sex, just...with very specific people."

"You are quite possibly the only guy out there that would want the woman he's trying to impress to think that he was sleeping with a lot of prostitutes."

"Since you are that woman that I was trying to impress…and you are sleeping with me anyway…and saying sweet lovey-dovey things into my ear…I'm not the only screwed up one here," he said, smirking.

"Thank you for telling me that. As screwed up as it is…that was probably really hard for you to say."

He said, softly, "We agreed…no lies."

She smiled and began to speak until he interrupted, the confident grin returning to his face, "Besides, I'm still riding the high after I found out that I orally deflowered you. I've never captured anyone's any-ginity before."

''I'm sure you have," she said, as they continued their walk back to their bungalow.

"I really didn't. My first was more experienced than me, most of the girls in college and med school were wise to the ways of the world, Stacy…well you knew Stacy…so…and strangely none of my hookers were ever virgins…weird, huh?"

"Yea, that's really bizarre," she giggled. "So wait…does that mean that I captured your virginity-capturing virginity?"

He pondered thoughtfully for a moment, "I'm so pleased you are into this. Yes. Yes it does. You were the one that first gave me the opportunity." He broke into a wide smile, "This sort of thinking is exactly why you are the only woman for me!"