Hello my dear readers!

Thanks an awful lot for all your wonderful reviews! I am really happy about each of them. There is nothing that makes a writer more happy than reviews of their readers.

So thanks for making me happy :) And I also wanna say thanks to Jane who once again was so kind and proof-read this chapter as well :)

WayWorseThanScottish I actually had it planned from the start on that House' mum witness how close they are. But when I am honest: I completely forgot about it. So thanks a lot for reminding me. :)

JessicaLynH oh yeah. I really love this line. "Friends help you move but real friends help you move bodies" I wanted to see a few episodes in that House and Cuddy where like that… I mean they kinda were like that anyway but they have never showed it so clearly.

RedTulipAna I've also thought about a sibling for House… But I am not so sure about it. Right now I would like to concentrate even more on Huddy. Not sure if I should add a sibling storyline. But I will think about it. Thanks for posting the link :)

Minkia yeah… I also think that it is kinda early for a baby storyline. I am not sure if I will even write it in this fic. The fic won't have so many chapters anymore. Actually I had thought it would have about 10 chappies ;) And I have already tons of ideas for other Huddy fanfics.

11. Chapter

"We can't just leave without telling your mom."

"She is a big girl. She will find her way back to her house on her own." House turned the key in order to start the car.

"I'd feel bad about it. Let me just go to her and tell her that we are leaving."

"She will understand, Cuddy. Stop thinking about it… Just buckle up your seatbelt so we can finally leave."

Cuddy sighed and fastened the seatbelt. "Any plans where we are going?"

"Yep."

"And where?"

"To Maria's."

"And who exactly is Maria?"

"The woman who gave me what I wanted most when I was a teenager."

Cuddy hoisted up her eyebrows in disbelief. "I guess I don't want to go there."

"I haven't seen her in years… I just wanna drop by and say hello."

"When you mentioned, "slipping off" I had something else in mind than visiting your ex girlfriend."

"If this thing on your mind was "sex" than tell me now… Because I am more than ready to cancel my visiting plans when I can have sex with you instead." House turned left and started to speed up again.

"I am really sorry to disappoint you but this "thing" on my mind was most definitely not sex."

"What a pity. I already had my hopes up for screwing you in the car."

"Maybe Maria will help you to fulfill this fantasy." Cuddy said in quite an annoyed voice.

He grinned and asked teasingly "Are you jealous, Ms. Cuddy?"

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Totally. Can't wait to have a cat fight with Maria." She responded in a sarcastic way, looked out of the window and asked herself what exactly House had in mind.

"You don't seriously expect me to go in there with you?" Cuddy was looking at him like he was out of his mind.

"Actually this was my plan."

"No way, House. I am staying here.

"Come on Cuddy. She is not what you think she is." House was standing in front of the opened-up passenger door.

"Then who is she if she is not an early love of yours?"

"A friend… Come on."

Cuddy finally decided to get out of the car. She just hoped that this what was about to come wouldn't be embarrassing.

She followed House to the main entrance of the big white house.

"Shouldn't you at least have called before you came here? Maybe we come at an unfortunate time."

House pushed the button of the bell. "I never called before I came here. It had never been a problem."

They didn't have to wait for a long time until the front door opend up and an elderly woman was standing in front of them. Her hair was already gray, she had many wrinkles but she seemed very warm.

When she recognized House a genuine smile formed on her face. "Gregory!" She shouted and immediately pulled him into a tight hug.

"Hi, Maria" House said. He mildly returned her smile and petted her shoulder uneasily.

Cuddy had to try hard to hold her laughter back. She seriously had felt a tiny little bit of jealousy when House had started to talk about Maria. Now it seemed completely ridiculous.

"It is so good to see you again." There was still a very happy smile on Maria's face. "Oh… you have brought someone along." She than said and looked at the beautiful woman that was standing behind House.

"Yeah… This is Dr. Lisa Cuddy, slave driver and she-devil in the hospital I work." House introduced Cuddy.

Cuddy offered her right hand which Maria gladly took. "And apart from being his slave driver, I am also a good friend of his."

Maria laughed and shook Cuddy's hand. She then looked at House and asked: "You came to play?"

House nodded. "If you´ll still allow me to?"

"What a stupid question, Gregory! You know you always can come and play." She laid her hand on his shoulder. "You two go and play. I'll make us coffee in the meantime." Maria said and left the two standing alone in the hallway.

"Play?" Cuddy asked and looked up at him.

House just nodded, opened up the door next to him and entered the room. Cuddy followed him. When she was finally in the room as well she realized what House and Maria were talking about: There in the middle of the room stood a black, grand piano.

"John never wanted me to play the piano. He always wanted me to study or to play with guns, cars and other things he considered as suitable for boys. But all these things were not interesting enough for me. That's why I came here. Here I could play what I wanted and for as long as I wanted." House said and sat down on the piano stool.

Cuddy took a step nearer to the piano and touched it softly with her fingers. She felt sorry for House. He did not deserve such an awful father.

When House started playing she looked up at him.

The song he played was beautiful and soft. After House had played a few more notes Cuddy suddenly recognized the song. Her lips formed to a smile. He played "The Scientist" from Coldplay which was one of her most favourite pieces.

She silently made her way over to the other side of the room and dropped down on the couch. First she watched him play, then she closed her eyes, leaned back and just enjoyed listening to him playing such a wonderful song.

He played with so much passion and with so much love that Cuddy had to try hard to force back tears of affection. Her emotions were a real huddle and once again this was all caused by this unique man that was playing the piano right now.

After a few moments the song ended and House stopped playing. He removed his hands from the keys and looked at her.

"I love this song." Her voice was softer than she actually wanted it to be.

"I know." House voice was soft and calm as well. "I've heard you humming it several times."

Cuddy got up from the couch and made her way over to him. She was now standing in front of the piano, her eyes were fixed on his. "Can you also sing it?"

He made a facial expression that showed her that he wasn't very enthusiastic about doing it.

"Please…"

He sighed. He would never be able to say "no" to this woman. At least not to a non-hospital related thing. "I'll sing it if you sing along."

"What? No. I can't sing."

"Everyone can sing."

"I can't."

"Fine… Then I won't sing either." House was about to close the lid of the piano when Cuddy prevented him from doing so.

She loudly exhaled. "Ok. I'll do it."

Without taking his eyes from her he started playing again. After the introduction he began to sing:

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry

You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you, tell you I need you

Tell you I set you apart

Cuddy finally had the heart to join in:

Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions

Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles, coming up tails

Heads on a science apart

Nobody said it was easy

It's such a shame for us to part

Nobody said it was easy

No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start

With each word they sang Cuddy got more confident. It somehow made her feel free and at the same time it calmed her down and made her feel safe.

She slowly approached him and sat down next to him on the piano stool. She watched his fingers that pushed exactly the right keys like it was the easiest thing in the whole world.

They continued singing. On each of their faces was a small smile. Their voices fit perfectly together. They were complementary.

When they sang the last words and House played the last few tunes they realized how close together they were sitting. Their arms as well as their thighs were touching.

Being in each other's space felt so natural and so unbelievably right. For the rest of the world it was probably not comprehendable at all but that was the way they felt. The way they always had felt.

Without giving it much consideration Cuddy leaned her head against his shoulder. "That was beautiful." She whispered.

House nodded. He would have liked to say something but he had no clue what. He wasn't in the mood for any sarcastic or mean comments … He just wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, he wanted to kiss her, he wanted to make love to her, he wanted to show her how much he liked her. But he was far too afraid to do any of that… That was why he decided that "nodding" was one of the best options he had, to react to her statement.

Cuddy closed her eyes and sighed. She enjoyed being this close to him.

"Coffee is ready!" Maria's voice suddenly erupted in their ears and caused House to take away his hand again with which he actually had wanted to caress Cuddy's cheek.

Cuddy opened up her eyes again. She had no clue that House' had been on it's way to her cheek in order to caress her. "I guess we should go then." She said and slowly stood up from the piano stool again.

"yepp." House got up as well and then followed Cuddy out of the room into the kitchen.

It had been a really lovely time at Maria's. She had not judged anything House had said or done. She had never criticized him and she never had asked about Joseph. Not even once.

Maria had asked him how he was doing and how work was going. She had even asked how his leg was. And surprisingly House had answered each of her questions without being sarcastic. He had even answered the question that was concerning him and Cuddy.

Maria had wanted to know if the two of them were a thing. House had answered honestly. He had told her that they had agreed on being just friends.

But House guessed that Maria noticed that he actually wanted more than friendship. Much more. She was one of the few people that was able look behind his façade.

Right now House and Cuddy were sitting in the car again. They were on their way back to Blythe's house. At least Cuddy thought that they were.

But when House did not turn into the street that would lead them to Blythe, she looked at him suspicious. "Where are we going now? I thought we wanted to go back to your mom's?"

"I wanna drop by somewhere else first… It won't take long."

"Care to tell me where you wanna go this time?"

"…To the cemetery."

It was already after 4 PM. The funeral must have ended about three hours ago. The parking lots of the cemetery were completely empty.

When House got out of the car he immediately started to go in the direction of the grave of his biological father.

Cuddy wasn't sure if she should come along or if it was better to give him some time alone. But when House turned around and hinted her to accompany him she didn't hesitate at all to follow him.

The grave was decorated with candles and all kinds of flowers. It looked more than just tawdry. For House it looked completely ridiculous.

"I should feel at least a bit sad, shouldn't I?" He asked without taking his eyes from the overloaded grave.

"No. How can you mourn a person you did not know? I wasn't really sad either when my aunt Carry died. I guess I have just seen her two times in my whole life. I had no connection to her. It is the same with your father. It is okay if you don't feel terrible about his death. He is a stranger to you." She was standing right next to him.

"Then why did you even make me come here?"

"Because this was your last chance to say good-bye to him, to have any kind of contact with him."

"It is kinda hard to have contact with a dead person who is lying six feed under, don't you think?" And here it was again: His sarcasm.

"You know exactly what I mean… "

Of course he did. He even thought that she probably was right. Maybe being here helped him to end this "father-chapter" in his life. Maybe he can move on now.

"I think we should go back to my mom's now." House said after a few moments of silence.

"Okay." Cuddy smiled at him.

They hadn't even been here longer than two minutes but for House this was enough. He couldn't explain why but he felt better now. A lot better.

TBC….

I know some of you have hoped for some more Huddy action or at least a kiss but I want them to take it slow... But I am quite sure that in the next chappie you will get more Huddy romance. Actually I know that you will get lots of Huddy xD

About the smut: I am not quite sure if I am able to write it... But I promise you to try ;)

I'd be very happy if you left a review.

Have a lovely day!