Standard disclaimers apply. House isn't mine. Neither is Chase. He will never be mine, no matter how hard I may wish it.

AN - This one is kinda long. Hope you don't mind!!

CHAPTER 20

Sera snuggled closer to Robert and sighed, a happy, dreamy smile on her face. Robert pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. Sera absently drew little circles on his chest, her mind thinking about what she had just experienced. She frowned when Winston Dumas managed to worm his way into her pleasant reflections.

"Thinking about Cameron?", Robert asked her.

"No…well, kinda. I'm thinking about Dumas. I wish I could just lay here with you all night, but Lisa and the crew will be here soon and I want to take a shower before going up."

Robert sighed also and slowly sat up, pulling her up with him. He glanced at her. "You know, we could conserve water and shower together." Sera smiled at his suggestion. "Why, Dr. Chase – you are insatiable!"

As Sera got out of bed and got some towels out of the closet, she said to Robert, "You know House probably had a bet going about whether or not we did this."

She got no response. When she turned from the closet, Robert was sitting on the bed, his mouth an "O" of surprise. "No…you don't think…he wouldn't…"

Sera gave him an "are you kidding?" look. "C'mon, sweetie – this is Gregory House. When have you known him not to bet on something? You've complained to me about how much money he's taken from you over the last couple of years." Sera looked thoughtful as she led the way into the bathroom, followed closely by Robert, who was admiring the view from behind.

"You know, Robbie, we don't have to tell him. I mean, he thinks everyone lies anyway…why disappoint him? Oh, and you don't mind me calling you Robbie, do you? Robert seems too formal." She leaned over to adjust the water before getting in.

"Sweetheart, you can call me whatever you want. I don't know about this lying to House stuff, though. I don't think I can lie to him. He just looks at me with those eyes of his and I start to squirm. Besides, I wouldn't put it past him to have bet that we wouldn't do anything. He probably doesn't think I'm man enough." Robert looked sad as he soaped himself up.

Sera kissed him passionately on his pouty lips, almost causing them to lose their balance in the slippery tub. "Baby, you do NOT ever have to worry about being man enough for me. You are all the man I need. And House can just kiss my butt. See…that's why we have to lie to him. He needs to be taken down a notch or two. He always wins these stupid bets…don't you want to see him lose?"

Robert picked up her shampoo and squirted some in her hair, causing her to squeal lightly. "I would love to see someone else take House's money. But how are we going to convince him that nothing happened?"

Sera closed her eyes as his wonderful fingers massaged her scalp. Who know that getting your hair shampooed could be erotic? She had to replay what he had said before responding. "Well, I already have Lisa convinced that I changed my mind and nothing happened but a work-out. That's why I told her about the T'ai Chi. She was so worried about me rushing into things that she was really quick to believe that we were working out. I think she may be our best hope for convincing House. She knows my workout habits. I usually workout for more than two hours, especially if I'm stressed. The first hour or so is stretching, warm-up, and getting my mind focused. The next hour is a hard workout. Then I usually do some sort of relaxation and cool-down thing. Doing T'ai Chi would be normal for me. The fact that you had it before, at her hospital, reinforces our story."

Robert moved her under the spray to rinse off her hair. "So what exactly is our story?" He put conditioner on her hair, then grabbed the soap so he could wash her down. Sera was so involved in her plotting that she didn't quite realize that he was bathing her. He soaped up his hands and proceeded to rub them over her sleek, wet body.

Sera was quickly losing her train of thought. 'This man has miraculous hands', she thought. In the back of her mind, her shy, introverted self was trying to hide behind something and escape the hands that were moving all over her. But Sera had seen the look of desire in Robert's eyes and it made her feel…powerful. So she told her introverted self to shut up and enjoyed the feelings Robert was invoking.

In between kisses and moans, Sera told Robert what their story was going to be. She thought for a moment that the gig was up when she heard her intercom buzz. She had an intercom box right next to the shower. After some quick readjustments, she put her finger over Robert's lips to indicate silence and pushed the button.

"Lis?"

"Yeah, Peace. We're all here, including Dr. Andrews. I also have the food."

"Good. We'll be up in a bit. I'm finishing up in the shower. Robert says he wants to grab one after I'm done, so we'll be up shortly." Sera lowered her voice a bit. "Quite frankly, I think he wants to soak his sore muscles. Poor guy asked me to show him how to do a couple of throws. He didn't realize that I would demonstrate on him."

Sera smiled with satisfaction when she heard Lisa chuckle. Robert was looking at her in amazement. She was a natural con artist. He wondered if he should be concerned.

Sera signed off with Lisa and turned the intercom off. She quickly rinsed off her hair and rinsed the soap off of her body. Then, she turned the shower off. She turned to Robert, handing him a towel, and said, "Wait 5 minutes then turn the shower on again. Because of the way the pipes run, you can hear this shower running upstairs in the kitchen. I discovered that one evening when Lisa took a shower after we had gone running. It will sound like we took two separate showers. If you want, you can just hop back in if you need to shampoo your hair."

Robert looked slightly embarrassed as he said, "Well…I use a special shampoo and conditioner – that brand that you use dries my hair out."

Sera snickered at him and grabbed a towel to wrap around her own body. "Well, in that case, let me show you something real quick, in case we need to demonstrate."

Sera quickly put on some of her scented lotion and slipped on a short, black tank top and a pair of too big black scrub pants with a drawstring. Robert had some clean undies in his bag, but no casual clothes. Sera shrugged. "Put the sweats back on. You didn't have them on for long." She went over to her dresser and pulled out a large T-shirt.

Robert gawked at her. "I thought you didn't have a T-shirt." Sera grinned. "I never said I didn't have one. I said that I didn't think you needed one. I still don't, but I guess you'd faint if I suggested that you go upstairs without one on."

Robert snorted and pulled the T-shirt on over his head. Then he went back into the bathroom and turned the water back on. He walked back and stood in front of Sera. "Now, show me these moves."

Sera took 10 minutes to show Robert a couple of throws. He couldn't quite get them right, but he knew the basic movements. She thought he would be able to fool House. Now Mitch…well, he was another story.

Right before they went upstairs, Sera turned to Robert. "Now, Robbie – we may be able to fool House and the others, but Mitch isn't gonna buy it for a second."

Robert seemed to deflate. "Then why did I just let you throw me all over the floor for? Why all the planning and corroborating stories?"

Sera raised her eyebrow at him in her best Eric fashion. "You let me throw you all over the floor? Humph….we'll address that silly comment later. I told you why you had to hit the mat as often as you did, so quit pouting. No, Mitch won't believe it, but he has to believe that I'm completely happy and wasn't rushed into anything. If he knows that I'm okay, he won't blow the whistle on us. House irritates him, so even though I know he wasn't in on the betting, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind seeing House lose some dough."

Robert looked at her skeptically. "House irritated him? How could you tell? The man is practically an android."

Sera punched him in the arm. "He is not! He has lots of emotions. And once you get to know him, you can tell how he feels. He respects House's intelligence, but people that have no respect for rules, discipline, or order irritate him. House is the antithesis of everything that Mitch stands for. So if I can convince him that you make me insanely happy, he'll play along. Think of him as a protective big brother…"

"Yeah, with a gun!" Robert interrupted

"…who doesn't mind his little sis getting some as long as the fella is worthy", Sera continued as if Robert hadn't spoken. She found her headband under the bead and slipped it on. "You ready for your acting debut, Sir Olivier?"

Robert held out his hand to her and walked towards the stairs. "As ready as I'll ever be, Ms. Hepburn."

At the top of the stairs, Sera asked him, "Wait…Audrey or Katharine?" Robert kissed her on the tip of her nose. "The best qualities of both, luv." Sera grinned at him. "Wow…you're good. Now…game face on. Um…you know, we need innocuous conversation to walk through the door with. Who do you think was better? Audrey or Katharine?"

Everyone turned as Sera and Robert came into the kitchen, arguing good-naturedly:

"You can't count musicals. That's not really acting!"

"What do you mean, it's not really acting? She was amazing in My Fair Lady!"

"She wasn't even the one singing. Now, for great acting, nothing tops Guess Who's Coming To Dinner and The Philadelphia Story."

"What about Roman Holiday? Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

"Nothing but fluff! She never would have had the chops to pull off something like The Lion in Winter."

"Whoa! Time out, you two! What the heck are you arguing about?" Lisa walked over from where she had been putting dishes in the dishwasher. House was smirking at them and David and Eric were looking at them with eager looks. Donna was looking amused as she handed Eric a drink and Mitch was looking mildly disgusted. Sera smiled to herself. She knew now who had bet on them and who hadn't.

"Well, Mr. Critic here says that Katharine Hepburn is apparently the only Hepburn that matters in the acting world and…" Robert cut her off. "I did NOT say that. Audrey was good. But Katharine was 10 times better."

House spoke up. "Yeah, but Audrey was 20 times hotter." Robert smirked at him. "I dunno. Katharine was a looker back in her younger days." House shook his head and nudged David with his elbow. "The boy obviously has no taste in women." House glanced at Sera and did a double take, his mouth dropping open. He always prided himself on being able to ascertain a woman's figure, regardless of whatever formless, shapeless uniform she may be wearing. But he had NO idea Sera was built like she was. He had to stop himself from gawking, since he didn't want to wind up on his butt for the second time that day. He muttered to David out the side of his mouth. "Okay, maybe the boy has taste after all."

Sera noticed Mitch's eyes on her. She smiled at him and went over and gave him a one-armed hug, which immediately put his guard up and caused him to ask suspiciously, "What do you want?" Sera ignored him as she looked around. "Where's Mum?"

Donna answered. "Oh, she went upstairs to use your bathroom and freshen up a bit. She had to leave in a hurry, you know." Sera nodded and went over to the counter to get some food for her and Robert. She gave a mental sigh when she heard House speak. 'Here we go", she thought.

"Soooo…what have you two been up to while you were waiting for us to arrive? I thought I heard something about showering?" House tried to ask his question with an innocent face, but his eyes had a devilish glee to them. He was completely enjoying himself. Sera was about to respond, but surprisingly, Chase stepped up to the plate.

"House, get your mind out of the gutter. Most people normally shower after they finish working out. You should see her workout space downstairs. It's incredible. She has a whole wall full of swords and throwing stars and daggers and those sticks…" Robert sounded as enthusiastic as a child in a toy store. House was thrown off track for a second as his inner child took over.

"Throwing stars? Swords? Seriously? Can you use all of that stuff?" House looked at Sera, his eyes wide. She smiled at him. "Of course. They ain't down there for decoration, you know."

House was torn between wanting to pursue the weapons discussion and wanting to find out if they had done the deed. His greed won out and he got back on topic. "You mean to tell me you've spent the last hour and a half looking around her workout room?"

Sera rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly. We did some T'ai Chi and I tried to teach Robert a few throws…kinda like the ones I used on the two of you?"

House glared at her for bringing up that embarrassing, and painful, moment. He continued, "So, Chase, you're saying you let her throw you all around for over an hour."

Sera made an exaggerated confused face. "What is this 'let' word that people keep using? No one 'let' me do anything!" Sera paused. Sometimes the best defense was an aggressive offense. "House, why are you asking us all of these questions? What exactly is it that you want to know? And, for that matter, how is it your business?" Sera put her hands on her hips while she spoke and let her voice drop a few notches. She saw House flinch. 'Good', she thought. House had become a bit to complacent over the past month. It was time he remembered exactly who he was dealing with.

House recovered quickly. "Ah, I see Lil' Hateful is back. Welcome back, we've missed you!" Sera kept looking at him balefully. It was the one she used on him to get him to take more patients in clinic. It didn't seem to have any effect here as he continued to be obnoxious.

"Well, I was just wondering if you two were finding ways to entertain yourselves while the rest of us are working hard to find ways to save poor Dr. Cameron." House managed to tell this lie without breaking eye contact with her. Sera was impressed, although outwardly, she just appeared irritated.

"For your information, you nosy, odious man, all we did was work-out, as in exercise. I needed something to relax me and get me back on focus. And I didn't want to be alone. Robert was able to workout with me because of his previous T'ai Chi experience. He asked me about the throws because he noticed how easy it is for me to take down men a lot heavier and taller than me. He wanted to see how to do it."

House opened his mouth to speak, but Mitch beat him to it. In a low, but somehow forbidding voice, he said to Robert, "Show me."

Sera tried to hide her shock. House was supposed to ask for a demonstration, not Mitch. She wasn't exactly sure what his request meant. Was he NOT going to back her up against House? She suddenly felt somewhat nervous.

Robert shot a quick glance at Sera before turning to Mitch, a confused expression on his face. "Show you what?" Mitch's face remained inscrutable. "Show me the throws Sera taught you."

Robert gulped quietly and said, with his best disarmingly charming smile, "The throws she tried to teach me. I couldn't quite get them."

Mitch looked neither disarmed nor charmed. "Well, show me anyway. Maybe I could help you. Wouldn't want you to disgrace the sweatpants you're wearing." Mitch nodded towards his sweatpants, his gaze focused on the side. Robert looked down. He hadn't noticed before, but the sweats had "FBI" printed down one side of them. He glared at Sera for a second, who shrugged. Sera turned to Mitch.

"Mitch, we don't have time for this. Robert and I need to grab some food so we can try to figure out where Allison is. This demonstration will have to wait…"

Mitch cut her off. "You know good and well that Dumas could go after anyone here. He's not above hurting others to get to his target." He gestured towards Eric, who was being made comfortable on the sofa by Donna. "It wouldn't hurt to make sure your boyfriend here can defend himself."

Sera looked at Mitch closely, trying to figure out what was going on in his head. She could usually read him, but sometimes, when he played it really close to the vest, it was like trying to read a blank wall. She sighed and made a "follow me" gesture towards Robert as she headed into the living room. It had a carpet on the hardwood floors. Not much cushioning for poor Robert, but it was better than nothing.

She and Robert faced off in front of each other. They got into position to begin san shou, or two-person sparring. Sera started towards Robert, just as they had briefly practiced. He was supposed to use her momentum against her and cause her to land on the floor. Downstairs, she had been able to prevent that from happening and Robert was the one who wound up on the floor. She anticipated the same result here. So she was utterly surprised when Robert reversed his motion unexpectedly, causing her to become off balance. He caught her arm and swept his foot around, catching her knee and causing her to go down…hard. It lacked finesse and grace, but it was pretty effective.

The room was silent. Sera lay on the ground, gasping and feeling as though the world had just stopped spinning on its axis. He had thrown her. To the ground. Without her consent or cooperation. It just didn't compute. No one had done that to her in years. Years!! She was in a complete state of shock.

She wasn't the only one. David's mouth was hanging open and even Mitch's eyes had widened. But no one was as surprised as Robert. He dropped to his knees next to her. "Are you okay? Oh, my God! I didn't think it would work. Are you hurt? Sera?" Robert was torn between elation over getting it right and horror over the fact that he had just knocked his girlfriend to the floor.

Sera just looked at him. She didn't know whether to throttle him or jump his bones. She had no idea why she found it sexy that he had caught her off guard. No one…no man had gotten the best of her in years. Not even Mitch could take her on. But this untrained man had knocked her on her butt. He was her perfect match.