It feels like it's been ages since I last wrote. It feels good to be back, but it is always hard for me to get back into an already started story after being absent for a week (vacation. It was good, the cold I got not so much). Anyway, here is a little chapter as I get back into the swing of things.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

House shuffled anxiously from foot to foot, shifting his cane as he went. The line before them was agonizingly long.

"Relax," Cuddy said with a soft smile.

"I have to go to the bathroom," he whined.

"Then go," she replied with slight impatience. A minute ago he was thirsty, before that there was a pebble in his sneaker.

"Will you hold my place in line," he asked her sheepishly, already planning to sit on the nearest bench until she was at the head of the line.

"No," she snapped. If she felt he was in some kind of pain because of his leg she would have acquiesced but he just didn't like having to wait.

"Oh, God," House grabbed his leg theatrically, whacking the shin in front of him with his cane as he grabbed Cuddy's arm to stop from falling over. She glared at him until she realized everyone around them was falling for it. She didn't want to look heartless so she bent toward him and asked if he was alright.

"You know it hurts when I stand for this long." He was heaving breaths as he spoke.

"I'm sorry. I thought we had gotten here early enough to avoid the crowd."

"We would have, if we hadn't stopped to help that old lady…" she shot him a look that told him not to push it. "…with directions."

"I told you we didn't have time."

"You know me, always looking to help others the way you have helped me." He grinned at her so no one else could see. It was a bizarre mixture of pride and lust.

Cuddy turned toward the line monitor whose job it was to walk up and down the length of green and white clad people to make sure no one jumped ahead. "Do you think we could…I wouldn't ask, only…"

The line monitor looked at the line. They would have at least another five minutes to wait. "Come with me," the young, clean cut college football star said, pulling them out of line.

As they walked toward a VIP entrance, House looked back at the line and smiled. "Good job partner."

Cuddy groaned a bit, ashamed of their little trick while quite enjoying the fact that it had worked.

Their seats, given to him by a grateful patient or more accurately a bribe from a desperate patient, were so close to the field they could see the players breath in the cool winter air. "Nice seats."

"I knew you wouldn't give it up for cheap seats." House had a way of ruining any tender moment in a way only he could.

"I'm not 'giving it up' for any seats. IF you get lucky…"

"So there's a chance?" He looked hopeful, but he exaggerated it so she wouldn't know his hope was real.

"No. But if there were…"

"You keep saying if." House grinned.

"Forget it House. You're not getting anything from me."

"Who said I wanted it from you?" House was smiling now at the pretty blonde sitting where he was trying to pass. "Excuse me," he said to her with a flirtatious smile that Cuddy found odd on his otherwise gruff face.

"No worries," the young woman said, sporting a familiar accent that sent a chill up House's spine. "You're not related to Dr. Robert Chase are you?" There was some similarity in the silky blonde hair and young, fresh face.

"'Fraid not," she said, flirting back.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and went a few seats further before sitting. "We're over here House."

"I'm over there if you need anything." House pointed to his seat and the annoyed looking brunette sitting next to it, then went and joined her.

"This is supposed to be a date."

"It is."

"Then stop flirting with other women."

"One other woman," House corrected, "and are you jealous?" His heart hoped she'd say yes, and his mind kicked his hearts ass for hoping it.

"I'm not jealous." She lied.

"It's okay to admit it. I can't think any less of you," he hoped she caught his improper phrasing.

She grinned facetiously. She had caught it.

"Want a beer?" House had flagged down the vendor walking up and down the huge stone steps a few minutes later.

"Are you buying?" She looked suspiciously at her date.

"I'll buy you as much alcohol as it takes." He held up two fingers and started fishing for money as the vendor dug out too cold cans of Coors.

"You should have saved your money and hired a hooker." She took the cans as House and the vendor exchanged cash. She handed him one of the cans once he was finished with his transaction.

"I decided to spurge on quality." He popped the top of his can and took a long sip.

Cuddy thought about what he'd said for a moment. "That's oddly flattering."

"You remember the last time we went to a game together?" House was feeling nostalgic as the cold nipped at his nose and the beer nipped at his inhibitions.

"It would have been in college." She felt warm and fuzzy and wondered if it could be the beer or the memory of young House at her side, his arm around her to block out the cold.

"You know, if your hands get cold…" he was thinking of the same moment in time. Her hands had slipped between his thighs for warmth. She was still innocent then, and unscarred by his horrible behavior. She looked up to him back then. Thinking of it now made him feel empty.

He looked at her, rubbing her hands together for warmth, rather than finding it beside him. He knew he didn't deserve to have her back, but it was what he wanted more than anything he could think of at that moment.

"Are you okay?" She bent over to pick her can up off the ground where she'd placed it.

He let out a sad, sarcastic snort or a laugh. "Do you really want to know?"

She did. But not here, not now.

They fell silent, watching the game play out before them, cheering and jeering along with the crowd when appropriate.

Twenty years ago they had sat close together on the bleachers. She was practically in his lap, hands between his legs. His arm wrapped tightly around her, holding her close. He never wanted to let her go.

"Wanna come over after the game?" She was whispering in his ear, her hot breath tickling the small hairs that protected his ear drum. He shivered.

"Where's your roommate?" He'd never bothered to learn the girls name. It didn't matter to him.

"She went home for the weekend. Some family thing." It was a wedding, her sisters, but Cuddy hadn't paid that much attention. She had been in the middle of studying for her last exam when Amy mentioned it as she hurried out the door with her suitcase.

"Why wait till the game ends?" House wasn't invested in football. He was only here because his buddy Mark said that football games were a great place to go with a girl to get her to snuggle up to you. This wasn't the first time House had used the trick, and it wouldn't be his last.

She laughed. "You don't play the game do you?" She was moving around as though about to get up.

"The game where I pretend I'm a gentleman and you pretend you're a lady and that we'd rather be here watching our school lose a boring football game than back at your dorm room getting naked and sweaty together?" He was on his feet, holding out his hand to her.

She grinned and took his hand. "Yeah, that game."

"I can think of better games to play than that," he was leading her down the row. Her hand felt small in his.

"I'm sure you can."

Cuddy would follow him anywhere back then. She trusted him. She practically worshiped him. It annoyed him then. Now he missed it.

"Oh my God! Did you see that interception?" Cuddy had hit him in the arm, nearly spilling his beer.

"Watch it!" he said, holding the can out in front of him.

"Sorry." For a moment she looked like that young girl he had loved.

"No you're not." He was thinking of so much more than a nearly spilt beer.

"Maybe not completely sorry," she wasn't thinking of anything but that moment. It was how she coped with being around him. If she though back, if she remembered, she would hate him.

"I missed it. What happened?" He looked up at the score, which had jumped considerably since the last time he'd noticed.

Cuddy explained the past few minutes of play to him with infectious excitement. She loved sports. She loved competition. It brought out the childlike side of her that she tried so hard to hide at work. This was the Cuddy whose heart he had broken.

House leaned in. He didn't think about what he was doing. He felt the warmth of her lips on his as he pushed himself closer. He knew it would end in a fight, but in that instant, seeing the spark of who she once was, he had to kiss her.