Chapter 16 - Back to reality
...
"Welcome aboard Mr. House," the flight attendant said, checking his ticket and smiling "please, seat 4A. It's right here" she said gesturing toward the seat on her right, then looking at Cuddy and taking the ticket from her hands.
"Mrs. Cuddy. Welcome," she said smiling again "please, seat 4B" she said pointing to the seat next to House's.
Cuddy smiled as soon as she met House's gaze.
"Haven't you sent me in second class this time?" She said looking into his eyes.
"So a fat guy can drool on your shoulder pretending to sleep as he instead looks into your neckline?" He said, staring slyly at her and gesturing her to sit in his seat, by the window.
"So... are you trapping me here?" She asked holding his gaze, raising an eyebrow as she passed near him, then sitting down in that seat, still looking at him as he held her gaze in turn, then sitting down next to her, really trapping her between himself and the window.
"I'm on vacation, Cuddy! Don't make me work on this flight either!" He said, raising an eyebrow in turn "Don't move from here. Don't even breathe. At least until I'll have an answer to that offer you can't refuse" he said, staring at her, and using his best Sicilian accent on those last four words.
Cuddy couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't even breathe, Don Vito Corleone?" She asked smiling, watching him as he smiled in turn "I don't think I can hold my breath for 18 hours" she added, looking into his eyes as he ran his tongue on his lips.
"Sure?" He asked, looking slyly into her eyes before moving his gaze on her lips and then again in her eyes, seeing her smiling more as she let his lips found hers.
...
A 18 hours flight. Plus a four hours stopover in China. A total of 22 hours on a seat with just a seat-toilet walking to stretch his leg. Yet his leg wasn't complaining that much. Maybe part of his pain really had a psychological component.
"You okay?" Cuddy asked, opening her eyes and lifting her head from his shoulder, watching him as he rubbed his leg, actually more out of habit than necessity, in turn putting a hand on his leg, lightly massaging him.
He answered just with a nod, then turning his head to look at her and kissing her hair as she rested her head on his shoulder again and the bright signal in front of them warned them to buckle up their seat belt for landing.
...
House looked at her as she walked toward the exit pulling her trolley, and settled his bag on his shoulder before taking her hand, drawing her to him. Their vacation ended there. Beyond that door there was life exactly as they had left it before that break changed it completely. Beyond that door there was Wilson, waiting for them. They had tried to dissuade him in every way, but they had failed to convince him to wait for them at home. And that meant that beyond that door they would have come back to be who they had always been. For now their relationship was just for them. Wilson was a good friend, but going back to reality would have been difficult enough, even without someone who, with all the good faith of the world, gave advice and opinions.
He held her in his arms slightly looking for her lips.
"I'll miss you tonight" she whispered on his lips as he smiled.
He slightly bit on her lip then tenderly kissing her on the lips again before she took his hand, walking toward that green and white EXIT. And he felt her hand leaving his as soon as she walked through that door. 'Me, too' he said in his mind as he followed her through that same door.
Princeton-Plaisboro Teaching Hospital. Less than a week later that month and a half in the Philippines seemed so far that she could almost think that it never happened.
Almost...
"God!"
She gave a start as soon as a hand suddenly took hers, pulling her into the closet on the second floor.
"Hou..."
And her attempt to complain about that assault vanished into his mouth, replaced by a moan as his tongue invaded her mouth and his body pressed hers against the wall.
She smiled as she parted from his lips, putting her arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips more lightly.
"Abstinence crisis?" She asked, raising an eyebrow with a mischievous look.
"Like I said, Cuddy," he replied on her lips sucking on her bottom lip "I replaced an addiction with a new one"
She smiled and found his lips again.
"I have to go..." she said with a guilty look parting again from his lips but still stroking the hair on his nape.
"See you by chance at the cafeteria? Um... at one o'clock?" He asked still pressing her against the wall.
Cuddy nodded, lightly kissing him on the lips again as he let go of her. She opened the closet door, hoping none would see her walking out of a broom closet.
But... how many chances did she have to evade Murphy's Law?
She immediately met Wilson's look down the hallway and turned to House, who looked at her with a questioning look.
"I DON'T CARE, HOUSE" She shouted in her best bossy tone "I WANT YOU IN THE CLINIC IN TWO MINUTES! OR I SWEAR YOU'LL BE THERE 'TIL CHRISTMAS!"
House looked at her with an amused look, running his tongue on his lips. She held his gaze, however biting her lip to keep from smiling before turning back and walking away, passing near Wilson and giving him only an annoyed look as she met his gaze.
Wilson glared at House while he walked out of the closet closing the door behind him, and then turned his head to look at Cuddy again, looking at the slight sway of her hips as the ticking of her heels echoed in the hallway.
...
"Don't you think House is being... um ...a little weird?" Wilson asked turning his head to look at Cuddy.
"Weird?" She repeated, looking into his eyes as she walked beside him.
Wilson didn't reply, just holding her gaze and probably studying her reaction.
Cuddy shook her head, more in a disconsolate way than as saying no.
"If with 'being weird' you mean that in less than a week I had already been at Human Resources twice and I just skipped lunch to talk with the husband of his patient to convince him not to press charges... well... yes, Wilson, he's being weird" she said looking at him with an exasperated look.
Wilson slightly smiled and nodded as if to say... yes, actually you're right...
"Forget it, Cuddy!" He said, smiling slightly and shrugging "House is House" he added, shaking his head and walking toward the elevator as instead she stopped in front of her office door.
She couldn't help but smile as she approached her desk.
"Yeah... House is House" She repeated looking at the plastic bowl in front of herself.
Egg salad.
She couldn't help but smile more as her fingers touched the few words written by his handwriting on the post-it stuck on the plastic bowl top.
* I checked. No chicks! ;-) *
...
"Thank you" she whispered putting her arms around his neck and slightly brushing his lips.
"For having got to your hospital yet another charge, boss?" He asked, raising an eyebrow but touching her lips with his.
Cuddy smiled and shook her head looking into his eyes.
"You're still grounded for that" she said giving him a mock glare but brushing his tongue with hers.
House held her even tighter into his arms sliding his hands from her shoulder to her lower back, resting his hands on her buttocks and pulling her closer to him, making her close her eyes to that feeling.
"Isn't this enough as a punishment?" He asked maliciously, making her aware of his erection.
"Play nice... and we'll talk again about that" she said on his lips with the same tone, however not moving an inch from that position, savoring the feeling of his body against hers.
"Nice like hearts-flowers-diamonds, Cuddy?" He asked, raising both eyebrows.
"Nice lik..."
She didn't finish that sentence as his tongue invaded her mouth in a long kiss.
His stubble tickled the side of her neck, but not enough to wake her up from the torpor in which she was. She heard just two of the words he whispered in her ear... hospital ... and patient ... but she didn't move, not even an inch, and only a hhhmmm came from her lips.
House smiled, kissing her neck again. She slept so deeply that she hadn't even hear the ring of his phone. And that hhhmmm could easily be just a simple automated response to the feeling of his lips on her neck. He wasn't sure she had really heard his words.
...
Cuddy woke up to the sound of the alarm, turning it off without opening her eyes and reaching for House, without finding him. She opened her eyes, only to have confirmation that he was really no longer beside her. He was never the first one to get up... and she turned her head toward the alarm clock, unable to hold back a smile.
A post-it.
* Hospital. Sweet dreams Sleeping Beauty.*
It was strange waking up alone... after almost two months she was so used having him around that she really missed him.
She buttoned her blouse as she entered the kitchen then glaring at the table. An empty cup of what probably was coffee and an empty bowl. A spoon still in the bowl and his Cheerios box next to the bowl. What was left of his breakfast. Why was it so hard to put them in the sink? She didn't demand that he washed them! Finding them in the sink would have been enough! Yeah, right... this was his kitchen... but it made no difference, right?
But again she couldn't help but smile. Another bowl was on the table and a spoon had been placed on a paper towel next to the bowl. And another post-it was stuck to the Cheerios box.
* Rings for you! Enough for that yes? *
She smiled, biting her lip. Only House could revive that proposal on a post-it with a bowl of honey rings.
# Diamond rings are overrated. I love honey rings. And I love you # She texted him then pressing the enter key, sitting down at the table and taking the box, watching those colored rings filling her bowl.
Deep down she had feared that coming back to reality would have mixed thing up in their relationship. A wonderful holiday was one thing... every day routine was something else... With him it was like living with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Or better... Dr. Hide and Mr. Jekyll... Cynical and exasperating at work... incredible among those four walls... And the fact that she hadn't given him an answer yet, didn't mean she didn't know what her answer was.
She smiled at the beep of her phone. And even more as soon as she read House's reply to her text. In his classic and unmistakable style.
# Me too. And... normality is overrated, honey #
Yes, she knew what her answer was.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Hide and Mr Jekyll.. House and Greg. And the best part was that she loved them both.
Exasperating and yet... funny.
Unreliable and at the same time... reliable.
Irritating and... exciting.
She loved both those sides of him. She could bring out the best and the worst of her. And it had always been like that. Every time she thought he couldn't take her aback anymore he did something that left her literally speechless.
And that was one of those moments.
She looked at the book resting on her desk. A collection of short stories by Charles Bukowski. The most beautiful woman in town and other stories.
And again a post-it.
* It reminds me of you *
She bit her lip to that note, and touched the cover with her fingers. The most beautiful woman in town...
She turned that book in her hands continuing to bite her lip.
A book. And what at first sight look like a compliment. But... it was Bukowski. She didn't know Bukowski very well, she had never read one of his book... just some passage and a few reviews... but she knew enough about him to know that wasn't really what could be defined as her kind of literature. He was famous for his Tales of Ordinary Madness... sex, alcohol, drugs... a raw and rough style... and... well, his women weren't really good and serious women. Then... no. Making her a compliment wasn't the reason why he had chosen to give her that book precisely. And House wasn't banal. Ever. So... why? Why precisely that book?
She distractedly opened the book and looked at the first page, reading a few lines.
... Cass... to the she was simply a sex machine...
Sure enough! And then again... why that book? Because of madness? That was a recurring theme in Bukowski's stories and...
The whirlwind of thoughts in her mind stopped as soon as she heard her office door opening, and looked up, meeting House's eyes. She placed the book back on the desk and turned the post-it between her hands as she approached him, then putting his arms around her neck, running her tongue on her lips and looking at him straight in the eye while he rested his hands on her hips.
"I don't know if I have to thank you for that," she said, nodding toward the book on her desk and then looking again into his eyes, unable to prevent the corners of her mouth from curling into a slight smile "That Cass... is she a prostitute?"
She stared at him as he slightly tilted his head from side to side in a sort of more or less.
"And does she remind you of me?" She asked with a serious gaze, this time raising both eyebrows and looking at him straight in the eye, running her tongue on her lips again.
"Never stop at appearances, Cuddy!" He said, staring at her as her look softened slightly at those words "... and anyway... she's even crazy" he pointed out tightening more the grip of his arms around her body, still staring at her.
"Then, am I crazy?" She said, still staring at him while a smile, however, appeared on her lips.
"You're my girlfriend, Cuddy!" He said seeing her smile growing larger and watching her as her eyes moved from his eyes to his lips and she got on tiptoe, then brushing his lips.
"Right" she whispered on his lips with a smile, then lightly looking for his tongue.
Right... She was crazy. A crazy as him... indeed, crazy for him...
"Do you really have to go out with Wilson tonight?" She asked, stroking his neck, her fingers lingering on the hem of the neckline of his shirt and then sliding through his hair.
She watched him as he nodded and kissed her again on the lips.
"Ok," she said, slightly pouting and looking at him as he smiled.
"I leave you in Bukowski's company" he said, still smiling, holding her tighter into his arms "Make good use of it tonight" he added, looking into her eyes, then lightly kissing her on the lips again.
Cuddy looked at him as he walked out of her office closing the door, and reached for the book again, turning it in her hands. Bukowski's company. She sighed, again leafing through the pages . Never stop at appearances, Cuddy! He told her. What was it beyond appearance? Certainly that fitted him perfectly. Her Dr. Hide. With House there was never just one interpretation. Did even that gift go beyond appearances? Beyond a banal compliment and an ironic hint at how crazy she was to be together with him?
Yes. When she least expected it, that man really knew how to literally leave her speechless.
Page 8. Two lines, underlined in pencil.
...Then I held Cass and we slept together about an hour. It was somehow better thanlovemaking...
She couldn't help but smile, biting her lip for preventing it from trembling, as the tip of her finger touched that line and that 'it reminds me of you' turned in her mind.
She leafed through the pages of the book again. No other notes. But she couldn't help but smile more as soon as her eyes focused on the key fixed with adhesive tape on the last page of that book. His apartment key. Make good use of it tonight...
Yes, I'm crazy... I'm crazy for you... she whispered within the four walls of her office.
...
...
Author's note: For the ones who are having an allergic skin rash because of that 'Honey', I just want to reassure you. It's a OOC House, but not that much. He was just playing on words. ;)