Ch. 13- One step closer to home

"Looks like you two had an eventful night."

Wilson walked into House's room to find both of them curled up together in House's bed. House was the first to hear Wilson and decided to try to let Cuddy sleep while he spoke with Wilson.

"It's not what you think. We were watching TV together and fell asleep. Nothing happened."

"Did you want it to happen?"

"That's none of your concern."

"Oh come on House, I'm your best friend. You can at least tell me."

"Yeah, I will later. Come by when she's not there and we can have a little bros before hoes chat if ya know what I mean."

"Cuddy's not a hoe! What are you talking about?"

"Damn it Wilson girls or women don't fit in the rhyme, so I said hoes. I'm not going to take advantage of Cuddy and I know she's not a hoe."

"Call me when she leaves today, I'll come up so we can have that chat. I have to get to work and I'll leave you two to the…what ever you're doing. Call me later."

"Will do, thanks for stopping by Wilson."

Wilson left with a smile on his face. He wasn't expecting what he walked into, but he was glad that House was happy even though he had surgery on his thigh, again, and he was doing well enough to be happy two days after it. He remembered how he was after the first surgery and he was very unpleasant, Wilson couldn't even compare the two House's he knew of now. Post first surgery was almost unbearable while post second surgery was the most pleasant he had been in a long time. Wilson's mind was boggled with these two versions of House, but he tried to push it out of his head. Maybe Cuddy had something to do with it.

House let Cuddy sleep as long as possible. He tried to get back to sleep, but his leg was uncomfortable so he turned the TV on and muted it. He did drift in and out, but he never fell fully asleep. Breakfast arrived at 8 and the nurse looked at him questioningly when she walked in. House gave her the "ssshhh" and she obeyed and just left the breakfast with him. She mouthed "use the call button if you need anything." And House nodded in approval. He waited until 8:30 and then he decided to wake Cuddy.

"Lisa…breakfast is here, but I need your help to eat it."

She didn't stir, so House tried again.

"Lisa, Lisa…I've got breakfast and I'm willing to share."

He stroked her hair and she woke finally.

"You let me sleep here…with you?"

"Well sure I did. What was I going to do, say 'boss get out of my bed?' That's no good. Besides you were fine here. I really didn't mind. It was kind of nice."

He gave her a smile and she smiled back.

"Well it was very nice. Thanks. What's for breakfast?"

"Not sure, I haven't gotten up. Wanna check?"

"Sure."

She brought breakfast over to his bed and they ate together while chatting about whatever came to mind. They had a nice morning and watched the news until Cuddy decided that she needed to go home, get a shower, and do the whole morning bit.

"I'll be back later, and nothing like yesterday will happen today. I'm sure of it."

"Good because I don't need that at all today."

"You're right, you don't." With that she leaned over and kissed his scruffy cheek. They both blushed and smirked. Cuddy broke the silence.

"Miss you, call you."

"You better. Miss you too."

Cuddy couldn't believe what was going on. She knew that she had liked him for quite some time, but never expected him to like her back. He seemed to like what was going on, and was giving it out himself. House really was taken back by what was going on, but had some feelings for Cuddy tucked away. He might have liked her now and then, but it was nothing to work towards unless he knew that she liked him, that's just how he worked. It was going slow and that was good, he didn't want to jump into anything quite yet, but was glad that he could spend time with Cuddy and show some affection every now and then. House had a window to talk to Wilson about what was going on, not like he really wanted to tell him the whole story, but he needed to tell him something, he did walk into a loaded picture. With that thought House picked up the cell and called him.

"Wilson she just left. Come on up when you can. I'm not going anywhere yet."

"Uhh, House I would, but I just got swamped…maybe later today?"

"Yeah, sure. I got ya. Talk to you later."

"House really, I'd be there it's just I have almost six patients waiting for me, you know how it is."

"Yeah Wilson I get it. Call you later. Come up when you can."

"Will do. Have a good day."

"You too."

House decided that he could kill some time by getting rehab moved up and then taking a shower. He called in a nurse and got his rehab moved for 9:45, it was only ten minutes away and he wanted to get it over with. Someone from transport came and got him and he was up on his feet in no time. At first his leg killed, it wasn't used to being stood on since Saturday and then it was in a lot of pain because of the clot. The more he walked with his cane he felt it get better, less sore. He was still on a dose of pain meds higher than the usual but that was expected because of the surgery. The dose would go down with time, but he did well enough in rehab to only have to do it twice a week and he was released to go home tomorrow. His only question was could he take a shower unattended after his rehab session and of course the answer was no. House was set on taking that shower. He was sweaty and dirty and hadn't showered since Friday morning, Friday night Cuddy arrived, stayed through Saturday and Sunday he ended up here, so he really needed a shower. How was he going to get one? Who would be his attendee?