Thanks for the wonderful feedback everyone! Some of the compliments I get drive me to tears because they're so beautiful! Yes, I know I'm very easily brought to tears :)
I'll try to update as often as I can to try to end this story and start on the sequel.
Enjoy :)
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House didn't end up leaving that morning. Instead, Cuddy cooked him his first real meal since the incident. He went to town on eggs benedict, bacon, toast, fruit, and orange juice. Since all the necessary items were in Cuddy's kitchen inventory, she figured she'd give it a go.
"I can't remember the last time I cooked," she said, sitting at the table with a small plate full of whole-wheat toast, mixed fruit, and orange juice.
House was too busy stuffing his face to listen. He hummed in satisfaction. "Mmm. Cuddy, you should become a cook," he said with his mouth full.
"Not exactly my forte," she said with a brief chuckle. "But thank you. Coming from you, that means a lot."
"Uh huh," he said, mind totally focused on the food.
She watched him in amazement. He finished the entire meal in less than five minutes. A smile spread across her face.
"Thanks, chef," he said, leaning back into the chair with a successful sigh.
She stood up and retrieved his plate. "You're welcome, sire."
"What's for lunch?" he asked, coming to a stand.
Her jaw dropped. "You can't possibly still be hungry after all that."
"That? Oh that was nothing. I can eat ten burgers in one sitting. Sometimes even more. The end result isn't pretty, though."
Cuddy felt her stomach ache just thinking about that. "Ugh. Too much information, House."
"You better eat something."
"I don't think I want to after hearing about your burger fiasco."
"Sure you do. Open up."
Cuddy turned around while still at the sink and House fed her a strawberry. She bit into the fruit, leaving only the stem behind. Next, he broke off a piece of toast and fed it to her. Cuddy giggled as she chewed it.
"I can feed myself, you know."
"But it's much sexier this way."
"How is it sexy?"
House's grin turned into a smirk. "Close your eyes and open your mouth."
Cuddy's smile disappeared. "House, what are you planning?" Knowing him, it couldn't be something good.
"Just trust me."
Cuddy did as she was told, hoping she wouldn't regret it. House fed her a spoonful of mixed fruit in syrup. She chuckled as she chewed, still having her eyes closed. "Why are you doing this?"
"Shh," he shushed and fed her another piece of toast. "Just making sure you eat all your food like a good little girl."
"House, I'm not three."
"Shhhhut up. You're killing my finale."
She smiled again. "Oh so sorry."
"Don't open your eyes under any circumstances," he said in almost a whisper voice.
Cuddy grew a little worried on the severity. What was he planning to do?
"Open up."
She did so. Suddenly, she felt not a spoon, but his mouth deliver her a small strawberry. She accepted the sweet fruit and held it on her tongue as she met his lips.
"No peeking," he whispered through the kiss.
"I'm not," she said as she started chewing the small fruit and swallowing.
His tongue entered her mouth, tasting the strawberry remains on hers. She moaned in his mouth, but kept her eyes tightly clenched.
"Mmm…tasty."
Next, he delivered her a blueberry. She ate it and shared the juices with him. After every fruit he fed her, he would kiss her. The way he kissed her had turned her on. Her short breathing told House that. Her heart flip-flopped in her chest.
"Still hungry?" he asked against her mouth.
"Starving," she breathed.
That was enough for House. He kissed down her jaw line and to her neck. His lips were still a little damp in spots from the fruit.
"House…"
She felt him undo her robe and snake his hands up the front of her nightie. When he got to her shoulders, he pushed the bathrobe and let it slide down her arms and to the ground. Cuddy had her eyes sealed shut the entire time upon command. On the road back down, House made sure to stop at her breasts, feeling them through the thin nightie, palming them with just the right amount of urgency to get her reeling for more.
"Open your eyes."
Cuddy did so, but they weren't open very long, for he kissed her, causing them to flutter shut again. They were just open long enough to see him looking back at her. Without a word, they moved to the bedroom. Before they got onto the bed, Cuddy slipped off her nightie, leaving her in matching panties. House hungrily ate at her chest, causing Cuddy to let loose a throaty moan. His lips went from Cuddy's chest, to her jaw line, and to her neck, where he promptly nibbled little love bites. He sucked a piece of skin so hard that it caused Cuddy to flinch.
Their eyes met. Cuddy could see the love in his eyes directed only at her. The twinkle in his eye made her heart skip a beat. She had never wanted something so bad than she wanted him in this very moment.
"I love you…" Cuddy whispered, barely moving her mouth and not taking her eyes off his. The backs of his fingers lightly brushed up against her cheek and his thumb grazed over her moist lips. She trembled. He was so gentle.
At first, she didn't think he heard her, but as a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, she realized he did.
"I love you, too," he whispered and captured her lips again.
They took it to the bed after that.
House made love to her that morning. It was a love that she had never felt before and it made her cry right in the middle of it.
"Are you okay?" he asked, seizing his thrusts. "Am I hurting you?"
Cuddy shook her head no and told him to go on. This wasn't like sex on the island. For the first time, Cuddy actually felt his love for her. It might've been the way he moved so gently, or maybe the way his kind eyes looked into hers with so much respect and honor. If House didn't vocally tell her that he loved her, she could see it right now. It was so beautiful.
Between House lightly grunting in her ear with every thrust and his hands at her breasts, her sexual intensity heightened. The feeling spread through every inch of her body, fanning out from her fingers to the tip of her toes.
When she felt herself nearing her first orgasm of the morning, she whispered breathlessly for him to give it to her harder. He did as she requested and was rewarded with Cuddy's cries of elation that filled the room. He found himself looking into her eyes when he pulled his head back to witness the look she gave him. He couldn't help himself. He kissed her. She was just too beautiful to resist.
The noises she made, the trembling of her body, and the sexy grimaces on her face when she came finally set House off. He quickened the pace like none he's done so far and came hard--so hard that he didn't think he would ever stop.
They shared a kiss of extreme passion. Both bodies were covered in a thin film of sweat as they struggled to catch their breath.
"God, House, that was—"
"Amazing?" he threw in for her, followed by a grin. "Remarkable? Noteworthy?"
"All the above," she said with a matching grin and leaned in to kiss him.
Their Sunday morning didn't end there. Both of them were starving for sex and took their hunger out on one another.
They crashed after that, sleeping until almost dinnertime. House awoke first, arms still wrapped around Cuddy from behind, spooning her completely. He smirked and kissed an exposed piece of flesh belonging to her neck. That woke her up with a groan.
"I'm hungry, mommy. For food this time."
"You are more than capable of cooking, House," she said, turning onto her back and looking up at him tiredly. "In fact, I would like dinner in bed, please."
House scoffed. "Yeah right, maybe in your next life." He sat up.
Cuddy laughed and got out of bed, donning her tiny nightie and matching panties. She stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes.
"You're still tired?"
"A little. Well what can I say House, you're insatiable. You knocked the wind right out of me," she said with a sly grin, approaching him from the front and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Did I now? Hmm…that's almost the best thing you've ever said to me."
"What's the best?" she asked.
"'Clinic is covered,' although you always manage to say that when I'm trying to avoid a case, rather than the clinic."
"When I get my job back, House, I expect you to be the same as you always are, not any different."
He also put his arms around her. "Doesn't sleeping with the boss mean I get a reprieve from the clinic?"
She grinned. "Nope. And that also doesn't give you permission to check out my ass either."
His eyebrows wiggled. "Mmm. You sure do drive a hard bargain, Cuddy."
"I live for it," she said, casually slapping his right ass cheek before walking away.
"Oh now that's not fair," he said, following her. "You can slap my ass, but I can't look at yours?"
"You can look at it here all you want, House, but not at the hospital. I definitely don't plan to slap your ass then."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm going to activate our phones."
House kept himself busy while Cuddy made dinner. She pulled out an old pasta cookbook and stumbled upon Pasta Di Pina. After discovering she had the right ingredients, she went ahead and prepared that for her and House. As she finely chopped the garlic cloves, a smile suddenly spread across her face. She felt like a teenager again, having her very first crush on a boy she really liked. As the time went on, she didn't feel that feeling again. She had dates here and there and casual sex, but no one really caught her eye. So what's the next step? Marrying your job if you can't find that special someone. Cuddy figured she wasn't the romantic type, so doing her job was very easy since she didn't have a family to manage.
But now she was in love again, and with the person one would least expect to be relationship worthy. She suddenly wanted to become a wife, a mother, a homemaker. This was the second time she's prepared a meal in years and she liked it.
Cuddy bit her lower lip in thought. It was just then that House came limping into the kitchen with one of the cell phones ringing. He held them both in his left hand.
"They work," he said. He set them down and approached her from behind, sniffing over her shoulder. "Mmm. That garlic smells good."
She giggled as he kissed her neck. "Well I hope you like pasta because that's what I'm making. Or at least attempting to make here. I haven't boiled pasta in like five years and I don't even know if I'm chopping this garlic properly."
I'm sure you can handle it. I'm going to watch TV or something. Maybe they have some really good porno on demand."
Cuddy chuckled. "Only you could get turned on over something as fake as porn on HBO."
"You're absolutely right. I'm glad you see it my way."
"What way?"
"Bye bye," he said, walking out of the kitchen.
"House, you better not be renting the adult channel!" she yelled after him. She didn't chase after him. She knew he was messing around with her.
He must've kept himself busy because he didn't bother her until dinner was ready. He came into the kitchen a minute after she called him. She noticed his limp getting worse, knocking the smile right off her face. They were doing so well after this morning. She hated to relive that because of his leg.
"Pain is getting worse," he said, taking a seat and immediately massaging his thigh.
Cuddy hated to bring up the Vicodin, but she felt she had no other choice. If he didn't have the pills, he would be in pain. She didn't want to see him in pain.
"Can you last one more night without Vicodin?" she asked after a small sigh, taking a seat across from him.
He nodded. He definitely wasn't faking when he said he was in pain. His eyes appeared somewhat glazed over and the area around his eyes was slightly red. As much as Cuddy wanted him to lose the Vicodin, she knew it would help him.
"I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to confront Zachary. Can you wait until then?"
"As long as it's very early, like four in the morning. Maybe three."
"House, I'm serious, are you okay?" she asked, noticing some sarcasm in his voice.
"Yes, Cuddy, I'm okay. Don't worry, I'm not going to call you eye candy again or do anything that will upset you. Speaking of confronting Zachary, shouldn't you do it with a lawyer?" he asked, changing the subject.
Cuddy stuck her fork into the pasta and twirled it around a bit slowly. "I've thought about it."
"Get Stacy," he suggested.
Cuddy's face twisted up. "I don't want to see Stacy."
"Why not? She'll do it for nothing and you're not exactly rolling in cash at the moment."
Since they came back when the banks were already closed, Cuddy couldn't call and see if her family had wiped out her savings. She planned to use tomorrow to not only storm her office and get her job back, but make dates with lawyers, which could take all day if she didn't know them. It would have to be out of pocket cost for her and House was right, she wasn't exactly rolling in it.
She sighed. "Why do I feel myself regretting this already and I didn't even say yes."
"I don't want to see her either, but if she could settle everything into place, what's the harm in trying?"
"She's your ex, House."
"So? Doesn't mean I'm going to jump in the sack with her when you're not looking."
Cuddy laughed quietly. "Actually that's exactly what I'm afraid of. Maybe not from you, but from her." She took a bite of the pasta and hummed in satisfaction. "This is amazing."
"Why? She's married."
"That didn't stop you before, did it? Old residual feelings came back, blah blah blah, you two slept together at your apartment."
He frowned. "How did you know that?"
"She came to me the following day asking me for advice or something. I don't know, I really wasn't paying attention. The point is that if you did it once, you'll do it again. The answer is no, we are not getting Stacy."
"So you're willing to jeopardize your career just because you're afraid of me sleeping with Stacy? Who cares if we did? It's not like you and I are a couple or anything," he said, taking a bite of pasta.
Cuddy felt a spasm hit her heart. "I know," she said in a small voice.
"So then it's settled. I'll call her after dinner."
Cuddy suddenly felt her appetite vanish. She set her fork down and immediately pressed in gently at her stomach.
"What is it?"
"I don't feel so good."
House was about to say something probably filled with sarcasm, but only got as far as opening his mouth when Cuddy left the table, walking briskly to the bathroom. House limped after her. When he arrived there, Cuddy was on her knees, leaning over the bowl. Her left hand reached up to flush whatever was in the bowl, but didn't get up right away after that.
"Are you okay?" he asked, standing in the doorway.
"A wave of nausea hit me out of nowhere and my vision is bouncing like I had way too much to drink, but other than that, peachy."
"Maybe you're pregnant."
She shot a look back at him.
"Just kidding."
He helped her to her feet. She rested against him, feeling tired. Suddenly, she moaned in pain. "I think I'm cramping."
"Maybe this is your body's way of welcoming you back to the real world," he said, putting an arm around her waist, preparing to take her to her bed for the night. "Please don't tell me you're into those heating pad things because those are just a clever way to make money. They don't work."
"Actually, I never cramp bad enough to use heating pads or pills, but thanks for your concern," she said, looking up at him with a smile.
"You're very welcome."
They got half way between the bathroom and the bedroom when Cuddy stopped all together. She gasped, pressing her hands in at her abdomen, trying to stop a sudden tearing feeling that overcame her. House froze, becoming alarmed on just her gasping alone.
"Cuddy, are you—"
"Oh my god," she whispered, suddenly feeling her panties soaking up with liquid. She looked to the floor just in time to see spots of blood dripping from her panties. Tears came to her eyes, blocking her view.
This definitely wasn't just menstruation, or her body becoming adjusted to life outside bananas and coconuts. She knew exactly what it was. She threw her hand over her mouth and cried quietly over her loss.
She was pregnant the entire time.