Here's to some fluff. It's really short, but oh so sweet.
Chapter 37: Expressing Love
He sits at the kitchen counter on a Saturday morning, eating leftover pizza from the previous night. Two weeks have passed since he told her about his past, and from then on she has persistently told him that she loves him. Exactly once every day. It occurs mostly in the form of an add-on—in the same way it did the first time.
When they talk on the phone, she ends the conversation with 'Bye, I love you.' When he spends the night in the guest room, she tells him on her way to bed. On the rare days they fail to see or talk to each other, she makes sure to send him a text before she goes to bed: 'Sleep well. Love you.' She tells him in the way she tells the kids: As if it were no big deal and the most natural thing in the world.
It irritates him. He has no idea about her motive. First he thought she was saying it out of guilt for having added to his pain, because of the break-up. After a week, he started to assume that maybe she just feels bad for him, and is in some way trying to make up for his unhappy childhood. She has increased her caresses, too, sometimes hugging him completely out of the blue or ruffling his hair for no apparent reason. Her behavior toward him has become almost motherly, and he hoped it was only a phase she would snap out of sooner or later, but so far she has not.
He is contemplating whether or not he wants to bring up the issue when Cuddy enters the kitchen, still in her PJs. "Hey," she mumbles, stifling a yawn. "What are you doing up so early?" She turns on the coffee machine.
"Read a bumper sticker yesterday, took it to heart. 'Seize the day.' I felt enlightened."
She gives him an ironic grin. "My favorite is still the one saying 'Better blowjobs than no jobs' with a picture of Bill Clinton next to it."
House chuckles.
"You want one?" she asks when her coffee finishes pouring.
"A blowjob? Always!"
She smirks and offers him the mug.
He shakes his head and holds up his pizza. "Would spoil the taste of my triple-cheese plus cheesy crust. Want some of this?"
She wrinkles her nose. "God, no." She adds milk to her coffee and takes a sip. "Gotta get some work done. Rache wants to go shopping with me later today." She walks around the kitchen isle, about to leave. Before she does, though, she comes up behind him and loosely drapes her free arm around his waist, giving him a hug. "Good morning, by the way. I love you."
He feels her cheek pressing against his spine. His mouth is suddenly dry, and he has a hard time chewing and swallowing his bite. "About that," he starts, dropping the piece of pizza on the carton.
She lifts her head, her chin poking his back. "You want me to stop?"
This is his dilemma and one of the reasons why he has not addressed the topic sooner: He likes hearing her say it. For the most part, he enjoys being fondled by her a little, which he refuses to admit out loud. He does feel better since they talked—as if a weight has been lifted from his chest. "I told you I didn't want you to treat me differently. I don't want pity."
She places her mug on the counter top. "Is that what you think this is? That I'm pitying you?" Her voice is low and rumbling against his back.
"You started the night I told you."
She sighs and pulls away from him, but only enough to swivel him around on the chair, making him face her. "I just decided to stop treating you the way your parents did. When you didn't function, according to them, they withdrew their care." Her hands rest on his knees. "However much I wished things were different between us, I accept that you don't want a romantic relationship with me. But I do love you." She furrows her eyebrows. "Please let me express that to you. Just once a day."
"There, you just said it twice," he points out. He knows he is being a jerk, but he is slightly uncomfortable about this.
She presses her lips together and closes her eyes briefly. "My apologies," she says earnestly. "It won't happen again."
He observes her face carefully while formulating his next words. "You sure you aren't secretly hoping, each time, for me to tell you back?"
"Nope." She shakes her head decidedly. "You never have to say it."
He shrugs.
She smiles, picks up her mug, and heads out.
Author Note:
I've been getting double posts from people leaving guest reviews. Here's how the system works: Guest reviews do not appear on the site right away. I get an E-mail when I receive a comment, and for guest comments the system leaves me a two day time frame to moderate the review (I guess in case of nasty or inappropriate content). So I can click confirm and the review appears the moment I do, I can delete the comment, or not do anything at all. When I don't do anything, which is usually what happens because I don't log onto the site a lot and I don't get any mean reviews, the guest review shows up automatically two days later.
So, long story short: No worries anything got lost. Your review will show up 48 h after you posted it, at the latest.
