Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!

CHAPTER 5

Sera stood on the 18th hole at the Pine Creek miniature golf course. It was absolutely breathtaking. There wasn't a windmill in site. The place was so picturesque and had flowers, streams, waterfalls, and fountains. It almost looked like a botanical garden. It had only taken them 20 minutes to get to Pine Creek, and both had agreed that they would drag Foreman there next time they all went out.

So far, she and Robert were tied. They had opted to play the most difficult course, which was a par 65, but both of them were doing well. The score was tied at 72 and Robert had just shot par. That meant she had to get a birdie to win. She needed to get the ball in the hole with 3 strokes.

Sera lined up her first shot. They had set a time limit on how long each shot could take since both of them tended to take forever. She used her putter and hit her purple ball. She hit it perfectly and it went through the opening in the hill, around the curve, over the narrow strip of land that went across the stream and landed 2 feet away from the hole.

"Yes!" Sera was grinning in victory. She had yet to miss a shot that close to the hole. She was making a mental list of all of the ways she could torture him on their five dates. So far, a day shopping at the mall on a Saturday was leading the pack, but she was fairly certain she could come up with something worse. She sauntered down to where her ball was. Robert was already there, waiting for her with a grim look on his face.

She smiled sweetly at him. "What's wrong, honey? You look a little nervous."

Robert, still frowning, turned to look at her. His frown eased a bit and his expression turned thoughtful. He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

She gasped, "What are you doing?" He gave her a look that she hadn't seen before ('Chase special #5', she thought) but it made the tingles return with a vengeance. He leaned in close to her and said, with his lips lightly brushing hers, "I'm taking you up on your challenge."

Before she could protest, he pulled her even closer and began to practically devour her lips. 'Oh. My. God', was the only coherent thought Sera could form, then even that fled from her as the sensations rolled over her, sweeping her up into a sensual haze. She was vaguely aware that she dropped the putter and she was totally oblivious to the cheers and whistles coming from other players. She wasn't even aware of molding her body up against his, or fisting her hands in his hair. All she was aware of was his lips on hers. And the tingling that had spread throughout her whole body, making her feel like she was floating.

After what seemed like an eternity, Robert lifted his lips from hers. He looked down at her, noticing that her eyes were still closed and her hands still tangled in his hair. He winced a bit as he extricated his hair from her grip.

Sera slowly became aware of the fact that the kiss had ended only when she felt Robert removing her fingers from his hair. She loosened her grip on him and tried to step away, but her legs wouldn't support her. He held onto her until she was steadier.

Sera kept her head down. She was sure her face was burning up right now. She was so embarrassed. Another minute and she would have thrown him down on the green and had her way with him. Her legs still felt like spaghetti and she hadn't quite gotten her breath yet. Robert leaned down and picked up her putter.

"Here ya go!", he said cheerfully as he handed it to her. He turned her in the direction of her ball and even had the audacity to pat her bottom to get her moving in the right direction. Sera walked over to her ball and looked down at it, still dazed. 'What was she trying to do again?', she thought, still looking at the purple orb in confusion.

Robert called out helpfully, "It might help if you are turned the other way, since the hole is that way." Sera noticed he was smirking and shook her head to clear it. "Dangit, girl, get yourself together! It was just a kiss!" She turned to face the proper direction, focused on the ball, squinted at the hole, and made her shot.

Sera turned the key in the lock and silently disengaged the alarm. She had not said more then three words to Robert the whole way back to her townhouse. He kept shooting her glances…nervous glances. He didn't know if she was mad at him or what. Her face didn't look mad, just thoughtful. Robert felt off balance and he didn't quite know her well enough to know if he should talk to her or leave her alone. Her voice startled him.

"Do you want a slice of cheesecake and some coffee?" She headed for the kitchen, not waiting for his answer, so he followed her.

"Cheesecake would be lovely. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Sera busied herself with measuring out the coffee. "Well, it's not that late. If you want to pop in one of the videos you brought, we can watch that while we eat dessert. Or are you tired? We did have a busy week."

Chase tentatively took a step towards her. "No, I'm not tired. I'd love to watch a movie." He hesitated a moment, then reached out and touched her arm. The knife she had just taken out to cut the cheesecake clattered on the counter. Robert jerked his hand back. "What! What's wrong with you? Are you…angry with me about the kiss? Tell me what's wrong so we can fix this, but I can't handle you being this quiet and jumpy around me! It makes me feel like some sort of monster or something…"

Robert stopped at her sharply indrawn breath. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. She looked at him with wide eyes that were brimming with tears. Robert instantly felt bad. He pulled her close to him and hugged her. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice and I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable earlier when I kissed you. I know it wasn't a fair way for me to win. Tell you what. Let's forget all about the bet. We can go back to alternating who gets to pick the date…"

Robert trailed off when he felt her shoulders shaking. Horrified, he pulled back and looked at her, thinking she was sobbing. Until he saw her face. She was laughing! She saw the look on his face and laughed some more. Robert started to get a bit irritated. He went over to the counter, picked up the knife, and started slicing the cheesecake. He felt slightly foolish and he didn't like the feeling. He heard the laughter behind him die down.

A pair of arms came from behind him around his waist. He felt her leaning into his back and her hands came up to his chest, holding him tightly. He enjoyed the sensation for a moment, forgetting that he was annoyed with her.

"Robert, I'm sorry. I'm not angry with you. It's just that…when you kissed me on the golf course…I've never felt anything like that before. Ever. It overwhelmed me, which was you intention, I guess, since that's the only way you were going to beat me."

Sera ignored his indignant snort and continued. She hoped he stayed in this position. It was a lot easier to say what she needed to say if he wasn't looking at her. "You see, I've never been in a truly intimate relationship before. When I was in college, I was so much younger than everyone else that dating wasn't really possible. And when I became older, I was so involved in school, school, and more school that I never had time. Then I got into a job that was so consuming – it sucked up everything I had, time, energy, my soul…everything. There was nothing left for anyone else. For the past 5 years I've been moving from place to place trying to find somewhere to call home. I never wanted to be involved with anyone when I wasn't sure I'd be staying."

Robert processed all that she had said and came to one startling conclusion, which he blurted out. "You mean, you're a VIRGIN!"

Sera let go of him and made as if to walk out of the kitchen. Robert stopped her and turned her around to face him. He noticed that she had tears in her eyes again. She looked at him angrily.

"Do you think that was easy for me to say? I may be the world's only 34-year old virgin and…" Robert interrupted her.

"You're 34!" Sera glared at him, tears quickly vanishing. "Yes, moron, I'm 34! You didn't realize that I was older than you? What, am I too old now?"

Robert stepped up to her and gently lifted her chin so she was looking into his eyes. "No, you're not too old for me. In fact, I think it's hot. And you should have told me that you weren't very experienced. I wouldn't have rushed you by kissing you like that. I'm so sorry."

Sera looked into those beautiful green/gray eyes of his and sighed, knowing that she was going to forgive him. 'When on earth did I get so soft?', she wondered. She hadn't cried in years and here she was, crying over a kiss. She looked at Robert and noticed that he looked extremely guilty. She debated over whether or not she wanted to let him continue to beat himself up for a while or whether she'd let him off the hook. She looked into his eyes again and her eyes traveled down to his mouth. That sexy, magical mouth. She knew that if she didn't take action now, he would take forever to kiss her again. She wasn't some fragile, delicate piece of china and she wasn't going to let him treat her like one.

Sera brushed a lock of hair back out of his eyes and threaded her fingers through his hair. She stepped close to him and put her other hand around his neck and started to pull him down. He resisted, saying, "Sera, we don't have to do this. I don't want to rush you."

Sera rolled her eyes at him. "Will you shut up and kiss me, already? Robert looked at her, startled for a moment, then he smiled that sexy smile of his. "Yes, ma'am!", he said, then sent her floating away in bliss again.