A/N: Smut alert.

--

House had had sex plenty of times in his life. Not recently, obviously, and perhaps that was why he felt the way he did. Because although he'd had plenty of sex, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this frantic. If he could have managed it, he would have scooped up Alice from her seat at the table and run into the bedroom . . . or better yet, just lain her down on the floor right there.

He'd found all their teasing and bizarre power play more arousing than anything he could remember. And he hadn't even come yet, but it was already a hundred times better than the weak and unsatisfying climaxes he'd achieved with the odd working girl here and there.

Alice surprised him. And so few people did that.

She surprised him again when they reached the bedroom, pulling him over to the bed and pushing against his chest. She was strong, but he was stronger, and he could have resisted – if he'd wanted to. Instead, he let himself fall backwards, landing in the middle of the bed. He felt a twinge from his sore back, but thanks to some anaesthetic cream he'd applied before coming over, it wasn't bothering him much at all.

He couldn't help but smirk as he watched Alice reach under her loose cotton skirt and pull off her underwear, throwing a scrap of black lace to the floor. Then she got on her knees on the bed and went straight for his belt buckle.

Looked like he wasn't the only one who was feeling a little heated.

"Uh, not into foreplay?" he asked. He was more than ready to go, but had mentally prepared himself for taking some time to bring her up to speed.

"I've had twenty-four hours of foreplay," Alice answered, her voice a growl. "That's more than enough."

He helped her push his jeans and briefs down, just far enough to release his straining erection. Alice gave him a lustful look and for a moment he thought she might be about to go down on him, but before he could respond to the surge that idea sent to his already painfully hard cock, she'd worked her way up his body, had raised her skirt and was poised above him. She had one hand holding her skirt and the other balancing herself on the bed, so House reached between them, fingering her lightly to find her entrance, smiling when he felt exactly how turned on she was.

"Does it always take a day to get you like this?" he asked, swiping some of her moisture over her clit, and enjoying her quick gasp in response.

"I, uh, oh—" Whatever she was going to say was lost in a groan as he grabbed his shaft and rubbed it against her, moistening the head in her juices before stroking along her slit. House felt a swell of pride that he'd reduced the smart-mouthed, never-short-of-a-quip journalist to unintelligible grunts.

Alice moved against him, sighing each time he brushed over her clit, but after only just a few moments she let go of her skirt so she could reach between them, her hand over his, positioning him. She'd obviously had enough of even that little bit of teasing.

She pulled his hand away and without further ado drove herself down, enveloping him in her heat. They both moaned aloud, House vaguely conscious of the fact that he should have put on a condom, but he decided he was past the point of caring.

She was breathing hard as she moved over him and if she hadn't looked so entirely beautiful and incredibly erotic, House might have felt just a tiny bit used. He decided to remind her that there was more to him than a cock – albeit a very nice one that seemed to be giving her a suitable amount of pleasure – and he began slowly running one hand up her leg, under her skirt.

"Take off your shirt," he said and was gratified that she complied immediately, undoing the buttons and shrugging it off her shoulders without skipping a beat. Her breasts in a black lace bra looked fantastic and House was momentarily grateful for the fact that her skirt had billowed out around them, completely obscuring the action going on, or he would be finishing just as quickly as he could tell she was about to. It was okay for her, she'd be ready to go again in minutes, he was thankful he'd stayed hard this long. Unfortunately his Vicodin dependency came with some penalties that he normally didn't worry about.

His fingers stroked her inner thigh and then reached her hot centre. He needed only a moment to find the right spot, trying a couple of different touches until she responded, giving her the pressure she needed to reach her peak. He felt when she reached that momentary stillness, the fraction of a second before the pleasure split her apart.

"Oh God, yes . . . I'm gonna . . . "

And then she did.

She was beautiful to watch, her face tormented in bliss, and even better to feel, as her body pulsed around him. House had to start thinking of some of the most revolting photos he'd seen in medical journals to keep himself from following her over the edge.

Eventually her movements slowed and she seemed to come back to herself, wiping her hair away from her face and looking down at him. She took in the fact that he was still more-or-less fully dressed, and then seemed instantly bashful.

"Um. Sorry?" she tried with a shrug.

"Itch scratched?" he asked dryly.

"For now."

"Mind helping scratch mine?" He thrust gently against her, reminding her of his hardness still inside, pleased when she gasped in response.

"Oh, God yes, yes."

"Good. Get undressed. I haven't even seen you naked yet," he made it sound like a grumble, but only to cover his eagerness.

Gently she lifted herself from him and they both sighed at the loss of contact. She moved over on the bed, stripping off her skirt and reaching behind her back to undo her bra. House scrambled out of his t-shirt and pulled off his shoes and socks so he could remove his jeans and briefs all the way.

Alice had repositioned herself properly on the bed, her head on the pillows. House nudged one of her knees and she obediently spread them, allowing him to lie over her. He wasted no time settling between her legs, placing one kiss on her breast. He regretted that he still hadn't given them the attention he wanted to, but he figured there was still time. For now, he had other priorities.

He buried himself inside her in one smooth but forceful thrust and she cried out. He didn't know her noises yet and wasn't sure if she was all right.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great." She sounded breathless. "I'm all sensitive now and you're still so hard."

He began to move, already feeling like he was barely hanging on. Alice shifted underneath him, raising her legs to cross her ankles behind his buttocks. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not that was a good idea, because now he was sinking even further into her warmth and it had already been close.

He let out a guttural groan as he struggled to hold on, moving inside her heat, the pressure building and building.

"Just give me . . . " Alice whispered. "I just need a couple more . . . "

House did his best, but then it was too much, the warm rush taking him over, leaving only the vaguest part of his brain to register that she followed him, both of them tipping into the abyss, clinging to each other in the aftermath.

After a moment, House pulled out and fell heavily onto the bed next to Alice. She let out a long sigh.

"That was fantastic."

"Christ, I think I lasted longer when I was fifteen," House gasped.

They each took a minute to recover their breath.

Alice turned to face him. "It was perfect." She gave him a look of amazement. "That's never happened to me before, ever."

"What? Multiple orgasms?" House was already feeling pretty impressed by his own performance and he puffed up with pride a little further.

"Oh, no, I do that all the time."

"Oh." His chest deflated slightly.

"No, I meant coming together, we orgasmed at the same time."

"Yeah, I guess." To be honest, apart from the fact that perhaps her spasms had enhanced his sensations a little, it didn't mean that much to him. But it reminded him of his forgetfulness. "Speaking of orgasms . . . we, uh, didn't pause for protection."

"Yeah, I know. I thought about it, but I couldn't wait. Sorry." Once again, she looked a little bashful and he thought it was cute. "But I figure you're an infectious diseases expert, so I doubt you'd do anything like that if you didn't think it was safe. And I know I'm healthy and I'm on the pill, so what the hey."

She rolled over to the edge of the bed and stood up, wavering a little. "Oh, my knees don't work!" she joked. "You've given me jello legs."

House let out a small chuckle and watched as she left the room. He heard her in the adjoining bathroom, the sound of running water as she cleaned up, before she headed back out to the dining room and returned quickly with their glasses of wine, freshly refilled. She crawled back into bed carefully and handed him a glass.

"You should have a sign, 'drink me'," he said, clinking the glass against hers.

"No, it would be 'eat me'," she giggled and gave him a suggestive look. "The drink makes you smaller, the cake makes you larger."

House's eyes grew round as he made a valiant effort to choose between the dozens of quips that had just sprung into his mind. Before he could speak, she put a finger against his lips.

"Don't say it, just do it. Later."

House gave her a smile that indicated that he would do just that. "Do you think there's something a bit twisted about giving erotic meanings to a children's book?" he asked.

"No. I've been tortured by that book all my life. You should try being an overweight child called Alice and see what kids can do with Tweedledum and Tweedledee. It's only fair I give a bit back."

"Fair enough." House swallowed the rest of his glass of wine and sat it down on the nightstand next to him. "You've tired me out, wench."

Alice suppressed a yawn. "Yeah, me too." She put her wine glass down.

House wanted to sleep, for the rest of the night if his leg would let him, and he wanted to sleep next to her. But there was something he had to fix first.

"Do you mind if we swap sides?" When she'd returned with their wine she'd jumped into bed on his right.

She gave him a puzzled look. "Sure, but mind if I ask why?"

When there was someone else in the bed, House had to sleep on the right side. After those first few weeks back at home from hospital after the infarction he learned that he didn't sleep well if Stacy was on his right, like part of his mind somehow stayed conscious, alert for any movement from her that might hurt his leg. But for some reason he didn't want to admit that to Alice – it sounded too much like fear, and he'd shown enough of that around her.

"Years of habit. I don't sleep well if I'm on the left." It was mostly true.

"Sure." He got from her face that she thought there was more to it than that, but was grateful that she didn't ask.

Alice made a show of climbing over the top of him, stopping halfway for a long, delicious kiss, brushing the tips of her breasts against his chest.

"Tease," House said when she released his mouth.

"It's not a tease if I intend to follow through," she answered. "Except not quite yet, I need recovery time. Are you going to stay over? We can go for round two later."

She sounded nonchalant, but there was no doubt from the look on her face that she was hoping he'd say yes. "Sure. Your bed's nicer than mine." It was too – a more comfortable mattress, cleaner sheets, fluffier pillows – but the main advantage was a warm body lying with him.

Alice snuggled down into the pillows next to him. She didn't wind herself around him like a grapevine – something he was very grateful for, he hated that suffocating feeling – but just lay on her side facing him, her pretty eyes closed, one hand resting gently on his shoulder as if to reassure herself that there was someone else there.