Madness in the Morning

The first thing that crossed Cuddy's mind when she awakened from her booze induced sleep was the realization that she was not in her own bed. She cracked one eye open a fraction to survey her surroundings and discovered that she was in a very ritzy hotel. The man whose arms encircled her grunted softly in her sleep as she tried to sit up and she vaguely wondered when Lucas had joined her the previous evening. Things were very blurry and when she tried too hard to remember the previous evening's events, a blinding pain filled her head.

The Dean of Medicine gingerly rubbed her temples, liking the feeling of those arms around her. Lucas wasn't usually a cuddler, she thought with a sigh, but this was nice. Just before she fell back into the merciful warmth of sleep a question shook her to the core, causing her to shoot up in bed and knock her bedmate into the floor. "Who's with Rachel?" Cuddy fairly yelled, regretting her pitch as her ears rang in pain. A pained groan issued up from the floor and she felt a bit guilty for waking her lover in such a manner.

"Rachel? How should I know?" came the answer from a tousled man whom she recognized all too well as none other than Greg House. Cuddy's eyes grew as large as saucers as she took in the information that she had been cuddling with House…naked no less. She clutched the sheet and comforter to her chest, suddenly self conscious as House heaved himself up onto the bed once more, not at all ashamed of his nudity.

"HOUSE?!?" she shrieked once more, dropping the sheet to clutch her head as he did the same. He recovered first, much to her dismay and smirked as he openly stared at her exposed breasts. "Why were we in bed together, House?" she demanded, trying her hardest to be calm about her situation.

"I don't remember much," he said with a shrug, "But you look like you had fun…"

Cuddy scowled at him, pulling the covers back over her breasts with one hand and smoothing her hair with the other. "Who's watching my child?" she wondered, mostly to herself.

"Already told you I don't know that one. Let's get something to eat and I'll probably remember what happened before we passed out after what had to be some WILD sex." Cuddy didn't find his eyebrow waggling nearly as sexy in that moment as she would have normally done. Worry about her baby clouding all other thoughts.

"I've got to call home," she told him, "Don't look at my ass when I get up."
He rolled his eyes. "What are you so worried about?" he asked. "I get a decent enough view of your goods with all the tight, skimpy outfits you wear to work anyway. And we just woke up naked together…there's a good chance I saw you naked last night."

Cuddy sighed and picked up the phone. House hobbled toward the bathroom, a bit annoyed that she had chosen to ignore his last few comments. He took a piss, washed his face, and brushed his teeth cheerfully as Cuddy checked the status of her baby situation. She was just hanging up when he returned to the bed.

"What's going on?" he asked, really concerned when he saw her face was ashen.

"Lucas spent the night last night; I just talked to him. Rachel's fine, but he was apparently really worried about me. I didn't tell him about our…predicament," she told House.

"Ah well…is he ever going to find out?"

"I don't know," she sighed, her head falling into her hands. House placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she flinched ever so slightly. He swallowed hard, preparing to remove their point of contact when she suddenly turned and thrust herself into his arms. He pulled her close to his chest, stroking her back as she cried. "I'm sorry," Cuddy told him when she could handle herself once more. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine," he cut her off.

"House…it's not that I don't…want you, but I'm with him now. You were gone for six months and we weren't really 'together' at all before that. I…I don't know what to say," she confided.

"Well something happened last night and sooner or later we'll have to deal with it," he replied, hiding his disappointment. "I have feelings for you Cuddy and I know you feel something for me. Sometime, somewhere this is all going to come out…if not last night, our feelings, anyway."

"Maybe that's true," she agreed, "But I don't know what I can do about that now."

"So you want to be with him?" House asked.

"I want to see where this goes," she corrected him. "I want to know if I'm capable of having a relationship."

"You could try that with me, you know."

She sighed and looked him over sadly. "I know…but I can't just tell him to leave right now. He's stable. You could change your mind and then where would I be? I know he'll stick around, House."

House sighed and nodded, then started getting dressed.

"So you agree that we shouldn't talk about this?" she asked to clarify.

"I'm not going to go telling everyone we work with that we had sex," he told her. "I'm not an idiot who doesn't care about feelings."

She nodded, feeling badly for having had bad thoughts about him. "What about Wilson?" she asked.

"He's my best friend. He has to know…"

She sighed, understanding House's logic. Of course he would need someone to talk to, especially if he was truly interested in her. She almost wished that he didn't have anyone because she herself couldn't confide in anyone. Of course there was always Wilson, but of course he was House's confidant and not hers…they dressed in silence. She wanted to offer to give him a ride home, but he had already called a cab.

Cuddy was tired and the events of the morning were enough to make her want to curl up and sleep. She resigned, however to facing the music with Lucas. She got herself together and climbed into her car as House's cab drove away.