CHAPTER TWENTY

House woke to the chirping of an alarm. His arm was tingling as it woke with him. It noticed that Cuddy was missing from its embrace and was not happy about it. Neither was House.

He pulled himself up and looked around. He was in her bed, in her house but she was no where to be found. He noticed the bathroom door was closed and there was a line of light coming out from under it and put the clues together.

He walked over and rattled the door knob.

"I'm in here,' she called out over the sound of the shower.

"I know. Why do you think I want to come in?" He smirked then shuffled back toward the bed and waited for her to emerge.

She emerged wrapped in a towel. House approved. He watched as she walked over to her him. Maybe she had finally dropped that ban on sex.

"Good morning," she said with a kiss.

"Good morning," he replied, pulling her down into his arms. The towel slipped off of her freshly cleaned skin. She smelled like papaya and felt like silk. It had a very pleasing affect on him.

"You can use the shower. I put some towels out for you. But you're going to have to use my girly body wash. I don't have bar soap." She grinned at the thought of House lathering up with her little soap scrunch. She secured the towel back around her chest, much to his disappointment.

"I've never used body wash before. You might have to come in and help me." He reached out for her but she slipped out of his reach.

"You'll manage. I'm going to make a quick breakfast, then we have to run or we'll be late for work."

"It's okay, I know the boss. She's a real pushover." He stood up and walked up to her, very close. She kept backing up, but for every step she took he took a counter step.

"I hear she's very strict. You'd better watch yourself."

"Rumor is, she's got the hots for me so she'll let me get away with anything." He wrapped his arms around her terrycloth covered waist.

"Don't believe everything you hear." She gave him a peck on the cheek that distracted him just enough to slip away, leaving him with nothing but her towel.

House looked at the towel. He looked around. He was alone. He held the towel up to his nose and breathed her in. If this was only a dream, he wanted to remember every detail.

Cuddy was singing along to the radio as she toasted a pair of bagels. House had no choice but to taunt her choice of music. "When exactly did you kiss this girl? And why wasn't I there to watch?"

Cuddy dropped the hot bagel she was removing from the toaster onto a plate. He had startled her. "Don't sneak up on me."

"I didn't sneak up on you." He reached around her body, sniffing her now dry hair as he did, and grabbed the plate with the buttered bagel on it. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She was pleasantly surprised to have gotten a thank you. She buttered her own bagel and joined him at the table.

"So, who was she?" House's mouth was full, but that didn't stop him from talking.

"Who was who?" Cuddy poured herself a refill of coffee.

"This girl you kissed." House pushed his cup toward her, his way of asking her to pour him some too.

"It's a song House."

"Yeah, a great song!" He had never heard it before, but any song that got Cuddy singing about making out with girls and liking it was a great song in his book.

"Do you even know it?"

"Do I have to?"

"I've never kissed a girl."

House's face fell. "Never?"

She shook her head.

"Not even in college? Come on! You were crazy in college. You must have…"

"Nope. Never. Not even in a drunken haze."

"How do you know? I mean, if you were in a drunken haze…"

"I know. Have you ever kissed a guy?" She turned the tables.

"EEEEW NO!" House had a strict rule of only kissing someone with graspable breasts.

Cuddy laughed. "Hurry up and finish. I'm leaving." She got up and put her dishes in the dishwasher then waited for House to gobble down his last few bites. Before he even finished chewing she grabbed his plate and put it away.

"Hey, I wasn't done." House spat crumbs as he spoke. He'd jammed too much bagel into his mouth at once.

"Yes, you were." She pulled him out of his seat and toward the hallway. "You're going to be on time to work for once in your career. Everyone will be shocked."

"Everyone will be suspicious." House held her coat for her as she turned into it.

"Let them. We've got nothing to hide." There was no hospital code against dating co-workers. Yes, it was probably unethical of her to be dating a subordinate, but hell, most of the hospital staff worshiped her and the other half were terrified of her, so she would be able to handle any complaints that arose.

"You just want to flaunt the fact that you caught the most eligible doctor in the joint."

"You're only eligible because no one wants you House." She pulled the door closed and double checked that it was locked then walked with him down the path to her car.

"Ouch!" He held her door.

"Truth hurts." She pecked him on the cheek again and got in. She liked being able to give him little kisses whenever she pleased. She liked not having to hide the furtive glances and longing looks that had been her secret for so long. She liked the sense of proprietorship she felt toward him now, however briefly it might last.

They walked into the hospital together, both awkward about such a public display of their new status. They seemed to mutually agree not to hold hands or show any sign of togetherness, but still, there was a secret freedom in walking side by side through the sliding doors and facing their co-workers as a couple.

Wilson had been lingering at the nurse's station. Cuddy wasn't sure if he was chatting up the nurses or waiting for a status report from House. Either way she thought it best to leave the boys to do what boys do. She excused herself politely and headed for her office.

"Well?" Wilson pleaded once she'd gone. "How'd the rest of the date go?"

"It was a date." House was trying to act cool. He brushed past Wilson and headed toward the Clinic.

"Where are you going?"

"Clinic duty." House realized that was a bad thing to say, even if it was the truth.

"So, you took Cuddy home last night, I called you several times and you never answered, so it sounds like you might have stayed at Cuddy's last night, and now you're voluntarily doing clinic duty?" Wilson wanted to say the words 'you're whipped' but he didn't have the guts.

"I'm not doing this voluntarily." House grabbed a clip board and called his first patient.

"So, you spent the night with Cuddy, didn't deny that part so it must be true, and now she is making you do clinic duty?" Wilson was trying to piece it all together. Still the only thing he could come up with was that House was whipped, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

A rotund, middle aged woman walked up to House tentatively.

"You Mrs. Miller?"

"Yes." Her face was pinched from wincing.

"You have kidney stones." House sighed and put the clip board back on the nurse's desk. "I'll give you a prescription for the pain."

"What about the stones?" Mrs. Miller asked reluctantly. She kept glancing at the dark haired man standing beside her doctor. He made her nervous. There was a weird sort of smile on his face.

"Drink lots of water. They'll pass." House turned and got another clip board. He was trying to distract himself from Cuddy, trying to avoid doing anything stupid that would ruin what they had going. He was doing that by burying himself in work. Sadly, the clinic was not filled with any interesting work and he had no case at the moment. "Steve…Workman." That sounded like a fake name.

A youngish man with bloodshot eyes and a particular slant to his walk approached.

"There's a drug clinic down the street." House put the clipboard back.

Steve Workman, who's real name was buried under a haze of cocaine stumbled back to his seat prepared to wait for another doctor.

"Henry Rose." House called his next patient.

An older man, about 67 or 68 walked forward with a strong, confident stride. "I feel fine," he pronounced as he reached House. They were eye to eye, the man being easily over six feet.

"Then why are you here?" House looked at his chart. The man seemed prone to accidents.

"Wife's worried about this lump I have, here in the side of my neck." Henry crooked his neck and put his hand over a hard bump just above his shoulder, not quite on his neck.

House searched the waiting room for the wife but didn't see anyone who might fit the bill. "Come on," he said, leading the patient into the first available exam room.

"Jannie, my wife, she's always on me about going to the doctor. I tell her, I feel fine. There's no need. But she worries. You married?" House shook his head. "Ah, well, you'll understand when you're married. You have to make compromises. I don't like doctors, no offense, but Jannie wants me to be strong and healthy and outlive her. Can't bear the thought of living without me." Henry smiled warmly.

"Well then, guess I'm gonna have to figure out what's wrong with you." House was starting to have an idea, but he wasn't ready to commit to it.

"She's a peach, my Jannie. Been together over fifty years. Got married before the war."

"Really?" House wasn't listening to the story Henry's mouth was telling. He was more interested in the story Henry's body had to tell.

"Yeah. We were friend's first, best friends in high school and all that. She never really was interested in me till I told her I was headed out. I asked her, more as a lark, if she would marry me. Didn't want to die over there a bachelor. She said yes. We've been together over fifty years."

"You mentioned that." House wasn't a fan of old war stories. He'd heard his share from his old war horse of a fake father. The only war story he wanted to hear was the one where John House steps on a land mine and gets blown to smithereens, and since that didn't happen in WWII or any other war, he wasn't expecting to hear the story any time soon.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to admit you."

Henry sighed heavily. "Jannie is going to be full of 'I told you so'." He looked at House and smiled. "She loves being right."