CHAPTER 3

"Do you think we're a weird couple?" Cuddy asked him, sitting on the bathroom counter while he brushed his teeth that night.

"What do you mean?" he asked through a mouth full of toothpaste.

She rubbed lotion into her legs. "I mean, do you think people think it's weird we're together," she clarified.

"Of course," he said, spitting into the sink. He looked at her. "Why? Who cares?"

"Sam just bugged me tonight," she explained. "She started saying stuff about how I am and how you are… She thinks it's strange we call each other by our last names."

"Sam's a bitch," House explained, dismissing her comments and going to stand in front of Cuddy, pushing her legs apart and pulling her close to him. "Wilson just calls her by her first name because 'Spawn of Satan' is a mouthful." Cuddy sighed.

"She said you're childish," she confessed.

"I am childish," he replied.

"She said you're mean," she continued.

"I am mean," he repeated. There was a pause. "Cuddy, you know this stuff. You can't possibly think people walk around talking about my big open heart and professionalism."

"I know," she said, "But I don't like her thinking that sums you up. And I don't like her thinking that you're mean to me."

"Then you should have told her all the nice things I did to you last night," House murmured in her ear, working his hands up her nightgown. She laughed softly, but he could tell she was still bothered by the conversation.

"Cuddy, forget about it," he instructed, "She's one of those women who is with someone if she thinks she can change them – mold them into her vision of the perfect spouse or appendage. That's why she's with Wilson. He likes being molded." He looked in her worried blue eyes. "But it's more real if you're with someone knowing you'll never change them, and you're cool with it. That's true love, woman! So if you're happy, don't let her stupid commentary get in your head… Unless she hit a nerve…"

"No!" Cuddy protested vehemently. "She wasn't even basing it on anything substantial. She thinks the note you left me is weird, or the fact that you bragged about our video game at dinner. I like those things. So, I know I shouldn't care. I just, felt like I should have defended you more… But then you…"

"Started being mean and childish?" he asked.

"Yeah," she laughed.

"You could have told her you were with me because I ooze sexuality. That would have been hard to argue with," he suggested.

"Okay, next time," she promised. She wrapped her legs around him and he scooped her up and carried her to the bed.

"Maybe she's right about the name thing. But I can't let go of 'Cuddy,'" he said, laying her on the bed and clambering on top of her. "Maybe I'll just start using both – like, "Oooo, Lisa Cuddy," or "Don't stop, Lisa Cuddy!'" Cuddy started laughing. House began nuzzling her neck, "You're so sexy, Lisa Cuddy!" he moaned. She was cracking up, which caused his touching to tickle, which caused her to start hitting his back. "Mmmm, harder, Lisa Cuddy!"

He started kissing her more intensely and the tickles faded, turning into lovely sensations as she felt his hands on her body and his mouth exploring hers. His hands roamed everywhere, groping every inch of her, and his mouth tasted each part of her lips, her jaw, he neck. Cuddy found herself trying to catch her breath.

His hand grazed down her side, skated inside her thigh, and moved to her sex. He ran his fingers along her folds, causing Cuddy to arch up and a tiny moan to escape her lips. He was kissing her neck again, getting high off the smell of her skin, and she started pushing up against his fingers, dying for some part of him to be inside of her. She was grateful when he moved his body in between her legs and found her. She gasped a little as he pushed into her, and he kissed her chin, sucked her bottom lip. She felt his breath on her lips as he started finding his rhythm.

House was holding one of her breasts (the right one – She was right!) and his other hand was between her back and the bed, pulling her closer to him. He loved just being this close to her, feeling her heart beat on her chest as she got more excited, seeing her lick her lips in anticipation. He was moving with more urgency now, but still fighting his urges, holding back a little.

Cuddy felt House's hand on her back, his thumb moving over her nipple. She felt her lips move over his lips, then his stubble, then back to his lips. She wrapped her legs tight around his waist and used them to pull up against him, meeting his pushes. Soon she was holding back, waiting for him. "I'm close, House," she gasped. He increased his pressure, his speed.

In a moment she let out the most perfect little cry and House felt her entire body tense. He wrapped his other arm around her and held her, and within a couple more thrusts he was right there with her, burying his face in her neck and hair, trying to ride the wave as long as it would last. Their movements and breathing gradually slowed and House collapsed on top of her, using his forearms to bear some of the weight. They just lay there panting for a few minutes, until House rolled off of her onto his back and grabbed her hand. "I love you Gregory House," Cuddy mumbled, lying next to him, giving his hand a squeeze. He smiled, and squeezed back, then rolled to scoop her into the curve of his body.

"I love you too, Lisa Cuddy," he said into her hair. He kissed her shoulder and tickled her stomach with his hand as he listened to her breathing grow deep and slow while she fell asleep.

House was distracted from sleep, though. He was thinking about his conversation with Cuddy. He understood why it bothered her. If anyone criticized Cuddy to him, he'd rip them apart. But Sam was a stuck-up, opinionated bitch who shouldn't be opening her trap. House decided he needed to do something about it – the more mean and childish the better. He was planning awful pranks when he realized that wasn't really going to solve the issue. Sam was right about him in a general sense, but wrong in her assumptions about how their relationship worked. Maybe a lot of people were, he realized. It made him consider that maybe he needed to show Cuddy some kind of gesture in a more public way – something to display how his Grinch-y little heart grew three sizes when he was with her. He had an idea.