A/N-I'm so sorry for the lateness. I'll be traveling for work for the next two or three weeks, but I'll do my best to keep updating on Fridays.

Thank you to all of you who are still hanging on for this story, and for the last chapter's commenters: IHeartHouseCuddy, OldSFfan, linda12344, BabalooBlue, freeasabird14, JM, JLCH, housebound, jaybe61, lenasti16, MissBates, ikissedtheLaurie, CacauHousemaniaca, Suzieqlondon, Little Greg, Abby, CaptainK8, HuddyGirl, Alex, HuddyAleja, Jane Q. Doe, KiwiClare, vicpei1, grouchysnarky, dmarchl, THE Nick' Amaral, and the Guest reviewers.

-Making Time-

Wilson walked into House's office and found his friend asleep on the lounge chair. "I heard you met Cuddy's mother," Wilson said, kicking the edge of the chair.

"Yea. Another successful personal interaction," House said wryly.

"What happened?"

"She kept accidentally calling me Lucas. Then she decided that she didn't know me well enough to let me leave with Rachel. But really, since Rachel seems to have developed quite a fondness for yours truly, I think granny was upset that the kid likes me better. So she made Cuddy come to formally introduce us."

"Oh, that sounds like fun."

"It took Cuddy almost two hours to finish her meeting and get there."

"You stayed?"

"It became a challenge, I didn't want her to win."

"Did she win?"

"I'm still not sure yet. Cuddy was angrier with her mother than me, I guess that's something."

"Actually, that's really good. I can't believe you made it that long without getting in trouble."

"I didn't say I didn't get in trouble. I said Arlene was in more trouble than I was. I was fine for the first hour, and then she asked what I was 'doing with her daughter' and my answer was not quite what she was looking for-"

"Oh god," Wilson interrupted.

"Yea. So now I have a feeling that Cuddy's going to make us see each other again."

"That means Cuddy wants your relationship to work. She's trying to integrate you into her life."

"It means I have to spend more time with Arlene Cuddy without my Cuddy deciding I'm undateable."

"You'll get through. This is good. Trust me. Besides, you get to go home to Cuddy. And speaking of home…where have you been?"

"I've been spending a lot of time at Cuddy's. But officially, I'm moving back into my apartment."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"I was only staying with you so you wouldn't be lonely. Congratulations, by the way."

"Thank you. For what?"

"Your engagement."

Wilson hesitated for the tiniest fraction of time, but House saw it and his suspicions were raised. "You didn't know you were engaged?"

"Of course I knew," Wilson answered defensively. "It's just more informal."

"Informal or nonexistent?"

"Where did you hear this?"

"Sam seems to think you are getting married."

"Yea," Wilson nodded, confused.

"Well I'm very happy for you. Or maybe I should just pretend to be happy…since it's a pretend engagement."

Rachel caught the stomach bug that Cuddy was hoping to avoid. House knew that kids got sick, but he had no idea what that involved as a parent. The first two nights of the illness, Cuddy didn't even come to bed, she slept somewhere on a rocker or on Rachel's floor, trying to keep the child comfortable enough to sleep. On the third night, because Cuddy seemed to be losing her mind from lack of sleep, House stayed up with the little girl. By then, she was no longer vomiting, so she slept well all night, curled up on House's chest while he watched television.

The next morning, House was staring at a patient through the glass windows from the waiting area outside of the room. Wilson came up, "Cuddy looks refreshed."

"Good."

"Huge points, my friend. Huge points."

"What do you mean?" House asked, looking over at Wilson grumpily.

"She said you stayed up with Rachel last night so she could sleep."

"The kid slept all night, didn't even wake up. It wasn't a big deal."

"But to Cuddy…it is. I don't think I've ever earned that many points with any of my wives or girlfriends. She is going to make it up to you. Big time."

"I'd settle for ten minutes alone in her office."

"In any relationship, but especially since she has a child, I'm sure there will be dry spells. How long has it been? Three days? A week?"

"Yesterday morning."

Wilson stared, "What in the hell are you complaining about?"

"We're…affectionate."

"Or horny."

"That too."

"I'm surprised she can keep up with you."

"She likes nights, I like mornings…it's called compromise. Maybe that's why all of your marriages ended in divorce," House replied observantly.

"Because we didn't rely almost solely on physical expressions of our emotions, or because we didn't have sex twice a day?"

"Well, it's not always twice a day. Some days we hit up lunch."

"You're an asshole."

"Well right now, I'm a neglected asshole…that didn't come out quite right."

"My heart is breaking for you. Really."

"She has a meeting with a lawyer this evening that she's making me attend, so I guess tonight's out. She's always busy."

"While the lawyer is here, maybe you could talk to him about suing Cuddy for neglect? I'm sure the courts would feel for you when they hear it's been just over twenty-four hours since you last had sex." Wilson joked before he walked away.

While Cuddy had her eleven-thirty meeting, her assistant came in and whispered to her that a policeman was there to see her. Cuddy wrapped up her meeting as politely as possible, but when the young man came in, she nodded with slow understanding, assuming it was a prank until the policeman gave her his badge. When she looked at it, she realized it was authentic.

She offered him a seat that he politely declined, and then he told her, "I've been asked to bring you to county to ID a body."

"Excuse me?"

"A former patient, ma'am."

"I don't usually see patients."

"You'll remember this one. I believe he has a lawsuit pending and they suspect foul play."

"I don't know anything about that."

"Please come with me. This will only take an hour."

"Should I call our lawyer?" she asked while she gathered her purse.

"You feel you need a lawyer for this ma'am? Is there something you have to tell me?"

His look was so suspicious while he grabbed a small writing tablet and pen that she started to panic. "Of course not. I'm just not sure who this is, or what the circumstances are."

"I'm going to have to ask you to cooperate with this investigation, ma'am."

Cuddy walked out to the car, her heart stopping when she saw the detective in the front seat. Tritter got out, opening the door to the back so Cuddy could enter. When she saw him, she took out her cell phone, but Tritter pulled it from her hand. "Let's not make a scene, Dr. Cuddy. Get in the fucking car."

She got in nervously, demanding that Tritter tell her what was going on. "Am I under arrest?" she asked.

Tritter looked around, but didn't answer.

"I get a phone call," she insisted.

"You get a phone call when I say you get a phone call."

"So I am under arrest? This is ridiculous, you didn't read me my rights. You can't just pick up people and drag them in."

"You got in the car willingly. Look, if I read you your rights and give you a phone call, then you really are under arrest. Is that what you want? Just calm down and with any luck this will all be cleared up."

Her mind went in a thousand directions, from her child to the hospital to House. She wondered what, if anything, House had to do with any of it. They pulled in near the police station, but not at it. Cuddy bounced her leg nervously until Tritter got her out and directed her toward the cheap motel nearby. "What is going on?" she asked.

Tritter leaned close and said, "We already have your boyfriend. This is informal…for now. Please cooperate."

She was completely stunned, wondering how her life had suddenly become a very weird movie where everything was falling apart. She gripped her purse close, wrapping her fingers around a can of pepper spray that she was fully prepared to use if Tritter had gone completely insane. The younger cop, seeing her worry, leaned over and said, "Ma'am, trust me, everything is fine."

She already told herself that absolutely nothing was fine while she walked to room three, holding her purse against her abdomen. The door opened and House was sitting on a chair inside the motel room, but he certainly didn't look upset. "Thanks," House said contentedly.

"Sure," Tritter answered, offering a near smile and giving House Cuddy's cell phone. "Now you promised I could ask her."

"Go ahead," House replied calmly.

"Dr. Cuddy, were you and House having an affair during the course of my investigation a few years back?"

"No, absolutely not," she answered, her finger still on the release for the pepper spray.

"Really?" Tritter appeared to be dumbfounded.

"Really. Why?"

"My instincts told me there had to be something going on. I hate when they're wrong."

Tritter turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him. House leaned back in his chair and gestured for Cuddy to come to him while he turned off her cell phone.

"What in the hell is going on here? I was told I had to ID a body."

"You do. Mine. I wasn't sure if you knew what it looked like anymore."

"You think this is a joke?"

"More of a ruse than a joke, if you think about it. But a ruse with a very pleasant purpose."

"Tritter helped you pull this off? You guys are suddenly buddies now?"

"We discussed Tritter during one of my sessions, Nolan felt I should make amends."

"And you did?" she asked with nearly horrified disbelief.

"Well, I was more interested in a sort of 'I told you so' scenario. I wanted to prove to him that he was wrong about me. We ate undercooked red meat and discussed things. Turns out he had some medical issues and for some reason tended to avoid doctors after meeting me. I, being the true humanitarian that I am, hooked him up with some Viagra…wait, now that I'm a law abiding citizen, largely, I should obey privacy laws, so let me rephrase. I found him a little pick-me-up…if you know what I mean," House winked obnoxiously.

"So you gave him Viagra and all was forgiven?"

"He liked the steak too. He was also very excited that I didn't stick anything up his ass."

"I can't believe he talked to you…or you to him."

"He was surprised that I was clean. Nolan was happy, and I no longer have the world's most tenacious local detective waiting for me to screw up. Also, he brought you here so I can have sex with you, so I think we're all happy with how things turned out."

"Oh, there is no way. You scared me half to death. Now you want sex?"

"Fear and sex work well together. You've been ignoring me."

"I've been busy, Rachel's been sick…"

"And I went to these lengths to have some uninterrupted time with you."

"Should I be pissed or flattered?"

"Turned on, mostly. That's what I'm going for. Your life is busy. I get that. But I count too. If you forget, I'll make you remember."

"This is how you get alone time with me?"

"By any means necessary," he said, and then he added more quietly, "I missed our time together."

She put her purse down and replied, "I have pepper spray on my fingers. I thought Tritter had lost it. I'm not sure if that would hurt certain sensitive areas of your anatomy."

He looked on worriedly, "I don't want to find out. I'm thinking yes."

She chuckled, walking past him with the sexy strut she used when she wanted his attention. She was in the bathroom, washing her hands. When she finished, he was standing behind her and put his hands on her hips. They were watching each other in the mirror. His fingers went to the bottom of her sweater and he began to take it off, "Hands up," he said.

She smirked, lifting them. While her hands were over her head, the sweater over her face, House quickly encircled one wrist with a handcuff and then the other. She heard it, but with her hands over her head, which was stuck in the sweater, there was little she could do quickly enough to get away. He lifted the sweater high enough so she could see, and she looked back to see that her hands were both trapped and the handcuffs were looped through a towel rack next to the sink. "Let me go," she ordered.

"Relax," he said, his voice perfectly tempting while he lifted her onto the sink counter, "you can trust me."

Her eyes were nervous, more than he thought they'd be, but there was a hot flare of attraction behind them that intensified when he lifted her skirt to her hips and saw the garters she had worn.

"What's this?" he asked.

"The meeting with a lawyer was a lie. I was going to have sex with you in my office. Then you pulled this stunt, so I guess I can cancel that."

"Really?"

"Yea. Really," she said, leaning forward and grazing his chin with her teeth.

"We can do that too."

"No, it's too late. You know about it."

"OK," he answered while he lowered his face to her breast. He couldn't take her bra off because of the way her arms were confined, so it remained on her, pushed to the side. He took a nipple into his mouth, grazing it with his teeth and smoothing over it with his tongue, just roughly enough to make her gasp.

He realized at one point that she was watching him in the mirror. Occasionally she'd get lost and try to move her hands to touch him once his face was buried between her thighs. The inability to move seemed to frustrate her, but not enough to stop him. Right after she came, he stood up, kissing back up her body slowly until he reached her ear, "Please can we keep our meeting tonight? I've been neglected too long."

She lazily agreed, nodding her head while she enjoyed the weight of him against the front of her body. "Can I handcuff you for the meeting?" she asked.

"God, yes," he nodded as he unzipped his jeans and shoved his clothes out of the way.

He touched her legs from her thighs to her ankles, bringing them around his body while he stood, encircled by her. He pushed into her with a patience demanded by his own anticipation. She was watching his face in the mirror again, and seeing the look of need and satisfaction all at once. His attempts at patience were admirable, the feeling of her body too good to let go quickly without savoring every second. She exercised control in her own way, tightening her legs around him and using her heels to push him into her at a quicker pace. She used the way her arms were tied, pulling down on the handcuffs to lift her upper body.

When she started come, she pulled down roughly on the handcuffs and yanked the towel rack from the wall. House would have burst out laughing if he wasn't already under the control of a powerful orgasm that suspended any hope of coherent thought. He leaned against her, wrapping one arm around her waist while the other caressed her thigh. When he realized how much range of motion she had, he knew that she had somehow freed herself.

"Oh my god," he shouted, "I'm dating some sort of super hero. Did you turn green and I just didn't notice?"

"You didn't hear me pull these from the wall?"

"I was busy."

"The lengths you will go to for sex. You're raising my expectations for dates. I can't imagine what you'll have to come up with after ten years to keep things fresh."

He lifted up, kissed her quickly and started to pull his clothes back together. He got the key and took off her handcuffs, rubbing the red lines around her wrists, but he seemed to be thinking. "I'll keep coming up with stuff for as long as you keep me around."

She watched him, feeling a little hurt by the melancholy that settled in compared to the mood only minutes earlier. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"You're going to have to come up with tons and tons of things," she said, guessing at the reason for the more serious shift.

He nodded and started to walk away until she grabbed his arm and brought him back, saying to him, "I love you. You know that, right?"

Stepping against her and weaving his arms around her body he said, "That may be, but the money to fix the towel rack is coming out of your account. You're a wild woman."

She laughed, trying to cover the disappointment that she had when he didn't return the sentiment. He watched while she put herself back together, fixed her makeup and got ready to go. He picked up her cell phone to return it to her and held it back before she could grab it, and said with weighty solemnity, "I love you."

Smiling, she kissed him, indulging in a few more seconds of aloneness before they had to go back to work.

While they walked out of the room, House commented, "You realize that your arrest record is going to be staggering?"