They drove in their separate cars to his apartment; neither wanted to jump to conclusions about spending this time with each other. They weren't even sure if it was going to be a date or just dinner between friends at this time, they weren't even sure if they wanted to categorize it just yet... content to let it be what ever it would be.

He waited for her outside his apartment building, he guided her inside with his hand on the small of her back then took his jacket from her shoulders as they entered with a "make yourself at home" on his lips. House watched as she took a seat in his usual corner of the couch, her body seemingly able to seek out his lingering form in the shape of the cushions that held the outline of his body and sink into it finding comfort similar to that of his jacket.

As he hung his jacket he pressed his nose to the leather. Some of her subtle scent lingered there, entwined with his, he smiled hoping it would still be there in the morning.

He spent a few moments looking through his record collection before selecting some soft jazz to suit as soothing neutral background noise. He then grabbed the phone before kicking off his shoes and sitting down next to her, stretching his leg onto his coffee table.

There were a few inches of space between them... neither did anything to correct it, somehow it was easier in his office but just seemed too much in this intimate setting. And yet every inch of their bodies demanded the touch of another.

"So do you still want Chinese and Italian?"

"I don't know." she whispered.

House slid his arm delicately and slightly awkwardly around her shoulders.

She sighed and leaned against him, her head on the shoulder as the gentle minor notes of blues issued from a trumpet wrapped around her, reminding her that she was really here in his arms in his apartment.

"Italian." She murmured, shifting closer and closing her eyes. "I want pizza and beer."

"A woman after my own heart." He said dialling the number.

"And you're only just realising now?" She joked with a bitter sigh.

"I've known for a long time. But it's only now it's felt right to do something about it." He whispered kissing her hair before placing his order down the phone for a large pepperoni pizza. He hung up. "It'll be 30 minutes. The delivery times crap but I promise it's well worth the wait." He said hoping she understood he wasn't just talking about the pizza.

She smiled and brushed her lips across his stubbly neck gently.

"I think it might be." she murmured.

He moved his chin against her cheek until her lips found his. They kissed slowly and deeply, their hands staying in "safe" places for now as the concentrated on tasting and exploring each others mouths.

House was in heaven she tasted of sweetness and spice and her whole body seemed to melt around him at his slightest touch. This was a whole new puzzle for him to explore and experience. It was the first time he'd allowed himself a puzzle of this calibre in decades and she was delicious, utterly wonderful. He learned quickly how to make her moan, the exact pressure of his teeth around her lip that made her whimper and the spot on her neck that made her shiver against him every time he brushed it with his long fingers.

Cameron was completely under his spell as she bent and curled before him and around him. Her arms were tight around his neck holding him to her, desperate for him to never let go. Her whole body seemed to vibrate, shivering like a magnet drawn to the strength and power of him. She was lost in his taste and his touch unable to think of anything else.

His hand snuck beneath her shirt desperate to feel her skin.

Suddenly Cameron's mind jumped to the image of falling into bed with him only to be replaced with Stacy.

"No." She whimpered her hands moving to her chest and pushing gently. "No, no I can't do this. Stop!"

House moved his hand from her hip instantly instead cupping her cheek as he pulled back. "Sh." he whispered. "Hey, hey what's wrong?"

"She... she..." She mumbled staring down at the floor.

"Allison, it's me. Just me. Just us. I'm sorry." he apologised wondering if he'd pushed her too far, too fast. He hugged her tightly to him and kissed her hair.

She hugged him back almost reluctantly.

"She's gone Allie. Really gone. I only want you."

He felt her hand shift over his back. He gasped slightly as her hand slipped beneath his shirt and rested against his skin. Her touch felt new and invigorating, her finger tips exploring him tentatively slowly. His breathing increased and his eyes closed as he fought desperately to concentrate only on the soft delicate touch of her finger tips.

He was under her spell, revealing how much he truly longed for her by reacting in a similar manner to her touch as she had done to his kiss. She pushed him back against the couch and kissed him thoroughly testing his willingness to give over control to her and relinquish himself to her.

His heart hammered fast and powerful beneath her hand.

House was hers.

She pulled back and watched as House's glazed and lust blackened eyes were revealed to her slowly. He looked up as her a soft smile around his mouth as he covered her hand over his heart with his.

"Are we okay now?" He asked softly.

She smiled and turned her hand to grip his before straddling him carefully, their joined hands squeezed between their chests.

"Well we're much closer than we were five minutes ago."

"Closer to okay or closer as in the fact that you're now sitting on my lap?"

"Both... one is a prerequisite of the other." She said with a soft grin.

"So every time you're not on my lap we're not okay?" he said with one of his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his lips.

"I have a feeling we're going to be okay for a while whether I'm on your lap or not." And with that she kissed him softly, his thumb moved gently over hers, inadvertently smoothing over her breast too bringing her nipples to gently aroused peaks against his his chest, echoing the press of his semi erection to his jeans, her pants and her core.

Their free hands wrapped around each other, needing to be closer and needing to feel more of the other that their body longed for.

It took several long and impatient buzzes for either of them to realise the delivery guy was at the door.

"Greg." she whispered.

He grinned and kissed her again delighting in the sound of his name on her lips.

"Greg." she said in a sing song and slightly annoyed voice.

He hummed and pressed his tongue back in her mouth.

"I know you said you could wait for you pizza but I doubt he's willing to wait."

House grunted and pulled back. "Alright, alright. Up you get but I want you back here at some point later tonight."

"Deal." she said sliding from him carefully letting him stand and watching as he paid for the pizza and closed the door with a loud snap in the kids face.

"Wow Greg House is actually paying for food. This must be a special occasion." She said slipping of her shoes and tucking her feet beneath her on the couch.

House growled slightly. "Another comment like that and you're not getting any of this delicious pizza. Beers are in the fridge... off you go." He said nodding his head in the direction of the kitchen.

She rolled her eyes and moved gracefully into the kitchen, he was almost mesmerised by her simple movements.

"Where's the bottle opener?" He heard her call as she searched fruitlessly through the cutlery drawer, the noise waking him from his stupor.

"There isn't one, just bring them in here."

"You are not going to open them with your teeth!" she protested the drawer slamming shut.

"And risk damaging my charming grin? No way... I have very strong and dexterous fingers." he said in a low suggestive tone as he sat and placed the pizza box on the coffee table.

Cameron rolled her eyes and stepped into the living room with a smirk on her face. "You have an awful high opinion of yourself." She said sitting next to him as he opened the box and breathed in deeply the scent of the fresh pizza.

"You can form your own opinions whenever you like," he said reaching for the bottles and flipping the caps off expertly, his fingers clicking as he tossed the caps into the trash on the other side of the room. "Score." he whispered as both dropped into the wastepaper basket.

"You've been a bachelor for far too long." She said taking her beer.

"Think I'm untameable?" he said with a challenging smile, setting his beer on the side table.

"Why would I ever want to tame you?" Cameron whispered. "I just think you've been alone too long."

He kissed her softly. "I couldn't agree more. And it's been hours since I've eaten too."

Leaning forward he drew the pizza boxes onto their laps as she snuggled closer to him, they ate hungrily. House made no attempt to school his atrocious eating habits. He was glad to see Cameron tuck in equally as greedily into something more calorific than salad but in a much more ladylike and dignified way than himself.

She had three slices in the time that he finished five.

"Jeez, I'm full." House said grunting slightly as he tossed the now empty box on to the coffee table and leaning heavily on Cameron.

"Yeah me too."

"Remind me if I ever have pizza to invite you around next time... Wilson insists on splitting it 50/50 and I'm still hungry."

"You might not say that in the future... I used to have pizza eating competitions with my cousins when we went on camping trips. Almost ate a whole 16 inch pizza once."

"Wow." House said in beer competitions. "Next thing you're going to tell me is that you were able to drink them under the table too..." She grinned slightly. "No way!"

"All four of them... My aunts and uncles weren't too pleased to find their boys and girl passed out on the grass. Billy got all the blame since he was the only one old enough to actually buy the alcohol."

"How old were you?" he said curiously. He wanted to know about her. Wanted to take the time to learn all these little stories and understand what makes her, what made her who she is and the woman he was falling for.

"16 and the youngest." She said with a grin. "My mom wasn't happy about the fact that I'd been drinking but I swear she was almost proud of me for being the last one standing... well sitting more like but at least I was still awake, tequila bottle in hand and beer bottles scattered around us. They found us by mistake, Aunt Jo got lost on the way to the toilet. They thought we were playing with the other kids and doing stupid quizzes or something. I reckon she almost passed out when she saw us. I just pointed her in the direction of the toilet slurring horribly of course."

House chuckled slightly, following her words with rapturous attention.

"Then she came back with the rest of the adults. It was so funny watching them trying to wake up the others. Marco wouldn't let go of the tree he was hugging for about half an hour and Billy got an earful even before he got back to the tent. I felt kind of sorry for him actually."

"And your mom gave you a big hug?"

"Not quite. But she held my hair back when I threw up, helped me brush my teeth, made me drink lots of water, gave me aspirin and some hot tea then she gave me a hug and tucked me up in my sleeping bag. She was proud of me though, its weird how you can just tell by a smile if your mom's proud of you... I dunno how they do it." she said shaking her head slightly.

"Me either." House agreed. "I just go with the theory that mom's have superpowers, but only if they're smart."

"My mom was as sharp as they come." She said with a gentle smile.

"Was?"

Cameron sighed and rested her head against his shoulder, snuggling close to him. "I don't think that's a conversation for a first date."

"Technically this might be our third."

"Which means that politics, religion and dead relatives are still not on the list of topics and it's up to me if you get lucky or not." She said in an oddly calm yet teasing voice.

House breathed deeply and hugged her tightly to him. He actually wanted to comfort her and hold her; he could only imagine how sensitive the topic was to her finding it easy to remember her crying over centrifuges as she told him of her husband. Looking back he could feel the longing that moved through him to wrap his arms around her as he did now... but it was a more of a curiosity at what kind of doctor she was back then, now he was curious about her soul. About what made her Allison Cameron the woman.

She snuggled closer to him.

"So... you mentioned getting lucky?" he said kissing her temple, changing the subject as per her request.

"Yeah. But you'll need quite a few aces up your sleeve to pull that one off."

"How is anyone supposed to get off with a deck of cards exactly?"

Cameron giggled. "I'm sure a smart man like you could figure out something."

"I could. So does that mean we get to go back to the whole making out thing like before?" he asked quickly finishing his beer first before drawing her body over his lap gently, her knees astride his hips once more, hips pressed together and chests breathing together.

"I think that could be arranged." she whispered and kissed him softly.

House slid his arms around her entirely and kissed her back just as gently thinking of his bed and wondering how he could possibly escape long enough to burn the current sheets and wrap fresh sheets around his duvet and mattress.