A/N: If all 30 people that had this story on story alert reviewed, I would be ecstatic. Really. And PS: pretend Vogler still has some control over the hospital just for kicks. I needed him.
"How the hell'd you get here so fast? What are you doing here? Who's taking care of the hospital? How did you find out where I was?"
"I bribed the airport clerk lady person, I told you, room service, Vogler, and I bribed the hotel clerk, too," House replied smugly, leaning on his cane.
"How- what- why- you-" Cuddy spluttered angrily.
"I… what? You're not as smart as I thought you were, Doctor Cuddy," House stepped closer and let the heavy wooden hotel door swing shut, "if you haven't figured out by now that I am following you across the country for a damn good reason."
Cuddy swallowed nervously at his closeness. He kept creeping forward and she kept backing up until he had her flat against the wall. "And what… reason is that?"
"Like I said, Cuddy… if you haven't figured out that I- damn it-" House exhaled forcefully and looked at the floor in frustration, "you're not making this easy are you? Fine. I love you, goddammit. God only knows I've tried to make it go away, but you just had to go and leave." Angrily, he spun around on his good leg and stared out the window.
Two full minutes passed in complete silence, and finally he chanced a glance over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't dead. Cuddy was still staring at him, blue eyes wide. "I don't- I can't-"
House loves me? Oh god… Just when I thought…
"I need to think." And without another word, she fled the room, not looking back.
After swimming at least five laps of the Olympic-sized swimming pool outside, Cuddy hauled herself out of the pool and collapsed in a lounging chair on her stomach, ready to tan. Feeling extremely tired from her laps, she soon felt herself, tense as she was, drifting into dreamland….
Only to be awakened just twenty minutes later by a blob of something quite cold on her back. She gasped and opened her eyes, twisting her neck to glance over her shoulder to see what the hell was on her back. "House, what are you doing?"
"A woman of your beauty and significance should really make use of this product, don't you think?" House continued rubbing the lotion all over her back with smooth hands, sending delicious shivers running up her spine.
Cuddy let herself be lulled by the motions of his hands and closed her eyes again. "House, if we… it won't be… wouldn't… last…" she finished quietly, helplessly, weakly.
"Ah, but you don't know that," he reprimanded in an admonishing tone. "Flip over. You don't want to toast." She complied, and he poured sunscreen on her stomach, continuing giving her the sensuous massage. "What you, Dr. Cuddy, do not know, is how wonderfully charming I can be." At this, Cuddy's eyes opened again to meet his eyes, which were drilling holes in her.
"Who are you, and what have you done with House?"
"I am House!" A petulant pout, and Cuddy felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
House pointed. "Aha. A smile. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your support. I have succeeded in making the lady smile."
Cuddy's stomach flopped.
My god, he's completely changed. This is House we're talking about, here. What am I thinking?
"You said you wished you weren't important. Why?" he questioned softly, abandoning his previous topic completely.
Cuddy felt her defenses wavering. "I don't want to be important," she murmured, breaking eye contact. How did he remember that? Why did he remember that?
"Why?" House's blue eyes pierced her own, and she was shocked at the unexpected tenderness she saw in them. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks as she lowered her eyes.
"I want to be normal," she finally blurted, and decided to hell with it, she was gonna have to continue after that, there was no way he would let her leave him hanging. To her surprise, House didn't comment. "I have almost no social life. I want to settle down with the guy of my dreams and buy a house and have kids. I want… I'm tired of running a hospital."
House simply looked at her. "And you don't just want to quit, I suppose," he said dryly.
Cuddy half-smiled and shook her head. "No."
"No?"
"No. Who else is brave enough to blackmail and threaten you into finishing your clinic hours?"
"Wilson?"
"He doesn't have the power."
"Oh." Then, after a pause, "do you have a point?"
"No, I guess not. Why does everything have to have a point?"
"I don't know." After a moment, House struggled to his feet and held out his hand for her to grasp. "Let's go do something that doesn't involve making points."
Cuddy hesitated only a moment, then smiled. "Okay."
A/N: Here we go. I think this will probably be the second last chapter, maybe third. It's time to end it, methinks. Comments are REALLY appreciated; I've been building it up for so long, I worked really hard to make it up to your expectations. Let me know, kay?
