A/N: Me again! Sorry again for the delay. I'm off this next week so I'm hoping to get more written. Thanks everyone for reading and for your comments.

Chapter Eight

"Mmmm Greg…you're so damn hot...come on...yeah...that's it…"

House could only respond to the hand that was stroking him and the lips that were kissing his neck and throat. "Come on...you can do better than that…"

That comment got his attention and his eyes flipped open. It was pitch black but he knew the person in bed with him was not Nicola and he broke out in a cold sweat. He had no doubt that it was Barbara. So he said the one thing that came to mind.

"MMmm Nicola…"

"Nicola!?" the voice all but shrieked and then the side lamp clicked on.

"Get out of my bed, Barbara," House said as sternly as possible.

"Come on, Greg. Nicola's just a girl. You need a woman."

"Nicola is a woman. A very attractive one at that. Besides, you're not my type."

"How dare you…"

"How dare I what? You're the one who broke into my room in the middle of the night. What if Nicola was here?"

"She better not be. I won't have that going on under my roof..."

"Oh, but it's okay for you to crawl into my bed with your sick husband just sleeping down the hall. Tsk tsk. How do you sleep at night?"

"Very well, actually," she smirked. "And you know what? Nicola is way too damaged. Did you ever hear about Buck, the hired hand? He got her into porn and now she's damaged goods. She's nothing but a whore. She deserves what she gets."

"Wow, way to speak about your daughter."

"She's not my daughter. I married her father when she was just little, but I'm the only mother she has."

"Yeah, some mother. You banished her and tried to get her cut from the will. Do you really think her father will leave her with nothing?"

"If he writes her back into the will, I'll contest it," Barbara said as she defiantly crossed her arms over her chest.

"You'd need a valid reason."

"He's sick, not in his right mind. That little harlot came back because she knows that."

"He'd have to be declared mentally incompetent. He and I have talked, he's entirely of sound mind and I've written a letter backing it up. Just in case."

Barbara looked shocked. "How...why would you do that? You're not a psychiatrist."

House grinned and then shrugged. "I know when someone is not in their right mind. Any doctor can make that designation. Also, I did it because I hate seeing people cheated. Nicola has done nothing to you."

"She disgraced this family!"

"There are much worse things than making porn. Now get out. It's late and I want to go back to sleep," he said as he went over and opened the door. Taking that as her cue, Barbara stormed out with whatever shred of dignity she had left, and he slammed the door behind her, locking it once again.

XXX

In the morning, House made his way to the kitchen where a fresh pot of coffee sat waiting. Once he poured himself a cup, he reached for a banana from the fruit bowl.

"Is that a banana in your hand or are you just happy to see me?" Nicola whispered in his ear as she snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he whispered as her hands then slid up his chest.

"I would actually. But you locked your door."

House turned around and smiled down at her. "I'll explain later. What did you have in mind?"

"I thought we'd just spend the day relaxing…"

"And then?"

"Oh I think we can come up with something to entertain ourselves," Nicola smiled like the cat that got the cream and House smiled back.

"Did you have something in mind?"

"It's going to be hot today. Even hotter tonight."

"I'll bet."

Nicola stepped back and poured herself a cup of coffee and helped herself to a blueberry muffin. "I thought we'd go on a picnic. I can show you the rest of the ranch. Ever ridden a horse?"

"Not in a very long time. I'm not opposed to it, I just don't know if I can get on or off with my leg."

"Good point. Well that's okay, we have a golf cart."

"I get to drive."

Nicola laughed. "Oh okay fine. You can drive. In the meantime, I'm going out to have my coffee on the deck. Wanna come?"

"Yes. Oh!" he said, smacking his forehead, "you meant coffee…"

"Yes," Nicola said with an eyeroll as she grabbed both their coffees and took them outside.

"Thanks," he said as he sat down across from her and took a long sip. It was almost as good as Cameron's.

"Sleep well?"

"I did…" he said and thought better of telling her about Barbara visiting his room. "Then I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep."

"If you're tired we don't have to do anything. We can just stay here."

"No, it's fine. A picnic sounds good."

Once they'd had their coffee, House called his team to check in, while Nicola got a picnic basket together and gathered everything up. When he was ready, she took him to the electric powered golf cart and they ventured out.

Fifteen minutes later, they set up near a small pond on the edge of the property.

"This is really nice," House said as he stretched out on the big blanket.

"Yeah this is my favorite spot. It's where I come when I need to unwind," Nicola said as she kicked her shoes off and sat on the edge of the pond, putting her feet in.

"So what did you bring?" he asked her as he gestured to the picnic basket.

"A little of this...a little of that. There's wine if you want some."

House opened the basket to find wine, cheese, bread, grapes, berries and crackers. "Wow, this is quite a spread," he said as he shoved a cracker into his mouth.

"Peel me a grape?" Nicola purred in her best Mae West voice as she joined him on the blanket.

House smirked but fed her one, and then another. "Wine?" he asked her.

"Of course."

He opened the bottle and poured them each a glass.

"I heard what you did," she said as she sipped her wine.

"And what did you hear?"

"That you wrote a formal letter stating that Daddy is of sound mind."

"It's the least I could do."

"Well he says he's indebted to you. He really likes you, and he's never liked anyone I've brought home."

"Brought home a lot of guys, have you?" he teased.

"Just a few. He was wary of them all."

"Rightly so."

"But he knows you're not after me for my money."

"That's true. I'm after something else," he leered at her.

Nicola smiled and leaned closer to him until their lips met. "Mmm, I love kissing you," she murmured.

"Just kissing?" he asked.

"Are you offering your other talents, Dr. House?"

"And if I was?"

"I wouldn't say no," she smiled and felt herself blushing slightly.

"You're blushing," he chuckled.

"Yeah yeah," she giggled, waving him off.

"It's cute."

"Right."

They sat in a companionable silence, sipping wine, munching on cheese and crackers and watching the ducks on the pond.

"So why did you really bring me out here?" House asked her, breaking the silence.

Nicola sighed. "I just wanted to get out of the house for a bit. Mother has been driving me nuts."

"Me too," House muttered under his breath as he took a sip of his wine.

"Huh?"

"I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to get mad."

"I'm not promising anything. What is it?"

"Your Mother paid me a visit last night."

Nicola cocked her head to one side. "Is that so?"

"Yep. Needless to say, I kicked her out right quick."

"What did she want?"

"Sex."

Nicola's eyes widened. "Oh no she didn't…"

"I wasn't going to tell you but I thought I should. You might need the ammo at some point."

"Good point but Jesus Christ, House! What? Did she just let herself in and climb into your bed?"

"Yeah. I mean, at first I thought it was you, but quickly figured out it wasn't when I heard her voice."

Nicola covered her face with her hands and shook her head. House watched her for a minute, unsure what was going on, until he saw her shudder and heard the quiet sobs.

"Hey," he said as he moved closer. "She's not worth it."

"I'll never have anything of my own. She has to take everything!" she sobbed. "She turned my own Dad and brother against me, and now she tried to take you away from me."

"You have nothing to worry about there," he said. "I don't like fast women. As for your Dad, he hasn't turned against you. He loves you and he's going to make sure you're taken care of. And I promised him that I would, too."

She stopped sobbing and took her hands away from her red, swollen face. If he was honest, she looked adorable, and so vulnerable. He had a strange, innate urge to protect her from everyone and everything.

"Why...why would you do that?" She hiccupped. "We've never… we've never really talked about us. What this is."

"What do you want it to be?"

"I just want someone to give a crap about me. Someone who doesn't care about my past and who wants to be with me for me. When guys found out about my family, it was obvious they only cared about the money, even though I didn't have any claim to it. And when they realized that, they were gone. I don't get those vibes with you. You're different from all the guys I've dated, and I've dated my fair share, but with nothing to show for it. Is it me? Am I just so damaged that nobody wants to be with me?"

"No, it's not you. And I don't care about your family's money. I have my own. However I'd be lying if I said I didn't love this place."

"Well yeah, so does everyone. I would love to live here but my mom and I would no doubt kill each other."

House chuckled as he handed her a napkin so she could freshen up.

"But that's the least of my worries right now. I have another problem," she said as she wiped away her tears.

"What's that?" he asked as he topped up her wine glass.

She stared up at the sky. "God, I feel like an idiot…"

"I promise not to laugh. Go on."

She seemed hesitant at first, but then let out a long sigh. "I like you, Greg. A lot. And since you've been here I feel even closer to you. You're very easy to talk to. I feel like I can tell you anything."

"You can tell me anything. I'm a doctor," he said with a smirk.

"Greg! I'm trying to be serious."

"I know. So tell me."

"I need to know something first."

"What?"

"How do you feel about me?"

"It's not obvious?"

"Not to me."

"I don't usually discuss my feelings like this. I usually push people away before it gets to this point. But here we are. I feel closer to you than I have with anyone in a long time. And I'm not going anywhere."

Nicola smiled and placed her hand over his, stroking the back of it. "I was hoping you'd say something like that. But if you do feel that way, why haven't you made love to me?"

"I don't know," he said as he grabbed his wine glass and took a sip as he contemplated his next words. "I guess I'm afraid to."

"Afraid?"

"I've always kept people at arms length because I didn't want them to take pity on me because of my leg. But you don't pity me, and I guess I haven't figured out how to deal with that or the feelings I have. I put them in the back of my mind because…"

"Because why?" she urged, still lightly stroking his hand.

"Because it's been a long time since I've had feelings like these for anyone and I don't know how to sort them out. Or what to do with them once I do."

Nicola gently stroked his cheek and he leaned into her touch. "I guess we're both too damaged for our own good, huh?"

"I guess so."

"I want to be with you. Any way that I can. And I know how cheesy that sounds but I don't care. I want who I want."

House leaned over and kissed her again. "I like a woman who knows what she wants."