Chapter 4 - Ensaymadas

"Eat!" He said walking into the room and looking at her practically untouched dinner tray.

Cuddy rolled her eyes at him.

"You sound like my mother when I was five, House" she said with a sigh, taking a forkful from the dish in front of her, but not bringing it to her mouth.

"You've lost weight. Eat!" He repeated watching her fork and then her as she rolled her eyes again.

"The last words I expected to hear from someone who every day mocks my supertanker" she replied looking into his eyes and raising both her eyebrows.

House just stared at her without commenting, running his tongue on his lips.

... God, Cuddy ... you're not serious, are you? ... I have an obsession with your ass and you know it... Or... what? Is it to hear that what you want?

He looked at her as she stared at him, staring in turn for a moment at her lips and at how she was biting that lip almost imperceptibly, before looking again at her eyes.

God, you want to hear it!

"Or I have to think that a small part of you doesn't disdain my backside that much, House!" She said, raising an eyebrow with a slightly mischievous look.

The mere thought of her buttocks was enough to awaken a part of him that it was better to remain dormant... But the picture that appeared in front of his eyes didn't help at all. And not even the memory of his hands on those buttocks. And on her breast. And of how that breast perfectly fit in his palm...

"That part of me is anything but small, Cuddy!" He replied with a mischievous look, looking at her straight in the eyes as she rolled her eyes.

He watched her as she shook her head and brought a forkful to her mouth, then placing that fork on the plate and pulling the tray away, then resting her back on the pillow.

"You're a bad patient" he said looking at her tray and then at her.

"I'm lying here all day, House. How am I supposed to be hungry?" She said, snorting and glaring at her tray "And I swear you have to be very hungry to eat that stuff" she said, smiling slightly and looking at him as the corners of his mouth lifted in a half smile.

"What would you like to eat?" He asked, shaking his head.

Cuddy slightly shrugged, shaking her head again "... everything but what looks like pre-chewed food" she said, watching the tray in front of herself and then looking up at House.

She raised both eyebrows and her eyes widened slightly as soon as he took a forkful from her plate and took it to his mouth. With her fork. And she couldn't help but smile at the disgusted look on his face.

"Whoa" he said placing the fork on the tray "No salt. No fats. It's definitely too much even for a health-freak like you, Cuddy!" He said, looking at her and smiling back.

"I could even eat junk food" she said still smiling "Whatever but mashed potatoes. Again." She said laughing, watching him as he looked at her tray and then up at her eyes.

"Junk-food?" He asked running his tongue on his lips and raising in turn both eyebrows "I thought I knew you! I begin to think that Meningococcus really gave you some neurological damage" he said, smiling at her again.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, House" She replied with a slightly mischievous look.

He held her gaze.

"The coffee bar is already closed at this time. You should lodge a complaint to this hospital boss" he said with the hint of a smile, looking into her eyes.

She didn't reply, just smiling in turn.

"See?" She said, raising her eyebrows slightly "After all your boss isn't so bad" she added.

"Not at all" he said looking into her eyes with a slightly mischievous look, before turning slightly, glancing at the door.

"Can you walk?" He asked nodding toward her legs.

Cuddy smiled.

"Are you thinking of make me break out, House?"

He shook his head, letting out a laugh.

"We only have one good leg in four, Cuddy" he said laughing "We couldn't go very far"

She smiled, with a questioning look.

"Let's go" he said, moving closer to the bed and reaching for her.

Cuddy just looked at him, but moved the sheet that covered her legs and slowly put her feet on the ground, putting on her slippers and looking at them for a moment before standing up. House put an arm around her waist as soon as she stood up and Cuddy looked up at him, leaning on him at the same time.

"C'mon... I'm holding you" he simply said, looking at her.

She smiled and clung slightly to him.

"So we're going to be both on the floor?" She said, laughing, teasing him.

He didn't reply, merely rolling his eyes before looking at her again, as the corners of his mouth curled into a slight smile.

He hadn't touched her anymore since that day in which he had helped her to go to the bathroom. His body pressed against hers gave him a feeling that he would never have thought to feel. It wasn't a sexual contact. His arm supported her to keep her from falling as her balance was still unstable. But the feel of her body against his... he couldn't be indifferent to that feeling. To the rubbing of her hip against his leg with each step, as they walked slowly down the hallway. And to her scent. Not her usual scent. Not the enveloping and sensual one of her perfume... not the one which permeated every corner of her office. This was much lighter. Just shampoo and soap. Nothing more. And yet ...

House look up and swallowed hard trying to distract himself from that thought.

Chemistry. Biochemistry. Pure biochemistry. He was aware of that connection. And he was aware that he can't back out of what pushed him toward her. An invisible... impalpable... message among bodies. An ancestral message. The ancestral message at the basis of physical attraction.

He rationally kept her at arm's length. Right... rationally.

And yet... her scent was enough to awaken his irrational side. Not the olfactory notes of her Thierry Mugler... the olfactory notes of hers... Shampoo and soap and... Cuddy.

"House" she said, looking up at him, clinging to him, putting in turn one arm around his waist, as his arm loosened his grip around her.

He didn't answer and just draw her to him again, supporting her steps.

"Here" he said, stopping and looking at her, smiling slightly "Be my guest. But not get used to it" he added, rummaging in his pocket and handing her a couple of coins.

Cuddy smiled, running her tongue on her lips and looking at House and then again at the vending machine in front of herself.

"I always knew that sooner or later you would have taken me out to dinner" she said, laughing, looking at him straight in the eyes and putting those coins in the vending machine.

House looked at her as she watched that vending machine. Snacks. Cookies. Chips. Peanuts. Sweet and salted snacks. Definitely not her kind of food.

"You can do it" he said laughing "C'mon, choose something. And take for me whatever you get for you" he said, adding two more coins into the slot and watching as she typed the code on the keypad.

She handed him that unmistakable blue and white package as he sat down beside her on the bench next to the vending machine. And House couldn't help but smile.

"Oreos?" He laughed opening the package and biting one of them.

Cuddy shrugged slightly and smiled taking in turn a cookie from the package, twisting it and dividing it into two parts.

"You're not going to...?" House said laughing, looking at her and then at the half cookie covered with vanilla cream.

...you are!

He shook his head as she laughed, licking the vanilla cream but covering her mouth with her other hand, before biting the cocoa cookie.

Fuck! How can this woman be sexy while eating a cookie!?

He liked that side of her. He had always liked it. It was the Cuddy he had met in Michigan. The one who knew how to let herself go. The one who knew how to have fun. Different from the perfectionist control freak he had been working with for years.

"Where are you going?" She asked watching him as he suddenly stood up.

He didn't answer, but smiled slightly before quickly limping down the hallway.

She looked at him with a quizzical look as he walked back toward her with a paper cup in his hand and sat down, placing that cup on the bench between them.

"I thought the coffee bar was closed" she said, smiling and raising an eyebrow, looking at him as he nodded.

"It's closed." He said with the hint of a smile "But I'm a man full of surprises, Cuddy" he said letting out a laugh and watching her as she nodded, running her tongue on her lips and then tilting her head to the side as she watched him.

She watched him as he dipped his cookie in the milk and then brought it to his mouth. In a single bite.

"C'mon" he said with his mouth full, looking into her eyes "I know you're dying to do it too" he said looking at the cup of milk and then at her as she smiled.

Cuddy looked at him as he dipped another cookie into the milk and put it into his mouth, then dipping in turn one of her cookies into the milk.

"That's why they're milk's favorite cookies" she said laughing, in turn with her mouth full, but again covering her mouth with her hand while she tasted the contrast between the bitter and salty cocoa cookie and the sweetness of milk and vanilla cream. The crunchiness of the cookie and the softness of the dipped-in-milk cookie.

Contrasts. Opposites. So different and yet... so perfect together.

...

"I'm really starting to be worried about the twins, Cuddy!" He said, walking into her room and glancing at her breakfast tray, then pointing with his cane to her chest.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and ran her tongue on her lips giving him a half-scowl.

Since when did he have this new obsession about what she ate or didn't? Even if... well... she didn't dislike so much how he kept to care about her.

"Why are you still here, House?" She said looking at him with a slightly annoyed look, but holding back the hint of a smile.

"What kind of husband would I be if I leave my wife alone in a foreign country?" He said, looking at her as she stared at him without blinking.

"No, House... seriously..." she said in a softer tone, shaking her head slightly.

"Fine" he said looking into her eyes and moving closer to her "Would you have abandoned a friend in a foreign country?" He asked, answering herquestion with another question "Um... an employee..." he pointed out, looking at her again as she slightly bit her lip.

"Well... yeah..." he laughed "You maybe yes..." he laughed again "But I'm a gentleman, Cuddy!" He said watching her as she couldn't hold back anymore the smile that just waited to come on her lips.

"However..."

Cuddy smiled more... There was always a "... however" when he said something nice.

"However... you're the only boss willing to give me a job, boss! "He said, still laughing "Better for me to be sure that that supertanker of yours went back in the armchair that belongs to it, or I'll have to begin to sell ice cream!" He added laughing and taking a sip of coffee from the paper cup in his hand.

Cuddy smiled, shaking her head slightly.

"If you were a friend..." she said looking at him with a slightly mischievous look "...you'd bring to me one of those" she said, smiling and pointing to the paper cup in his hand "I'm definitely in caffeine withdrawal" she added with another smile.

"I'll see what I can do, boss" he said, looking at her and taking another sip of his coffee "In the meantime, I brought you this" he said handing her a paper bag.

She couldn't hold back a smile as she opened the paper bag and pulled out one of those two buns wrapped in cloth napkins.

Home-made buns?

"Ensaymadas" House said looking at her as she looked up at him and broke in half that sort of soft brioche with a creamy dulce de leche filling.

She took a bite savoring the tasty cream that reminded her of caramel.

"It's delicious..." she said "If you made it... I swear I'm really going to marry you!" She said, laughing.

House ran his tongue on his lips.

"Not me. Helen" He laughed, putting in his mouth what was left of his ensaymada and looked at Cuddy, shaking his head.

"I'll have to marry Helen then" she said, laughing and shaking her head again, swallowing that bite before speaking again "Or you should marry her!" She laughed again "She gave you a room in her house, she cooks and irons your shirts... you should really thinking about that, House!" She said, making a gesture with her hand and raising an eyebrow.

House shook his head as if to ward off that image from his mind.

"She's not my type" he said, laughing.

Cuddy looked at him. She bit metaphorically her tongue, but couldn't hold back the question that literally slipped out of her lips.

"And what's your type?"

House shook his head, letting out a laugh, still watching her as she broke into two pieces what was left of her bun and put one of them into her mouth, as if that question were random and of little importance. He reached out, quickly stealing that last piece from her hand and putting it into his mouth. Cuddy opened her mouth slightly, glaring at him, and reached out in turn, quickly taking his cup of coffee and finishing it in one long sip. She laughed as she almost spilled it all over herself and looked at him, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and laughing again.

House couldn't help but laugh as she gave him back that empty cup.

"My type of woman..." he said, shaking his head as he looked into that now empty cup "... must have at least an addiction" he said looking up at her with a raised eyebrow, as she smiled in turn.