Disclaimer: I do not own House MD or any of the characters, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind owning Hugh Laurie!

A/N: Heya people! So here's chapter 21 :D (YAY!) This one is one of my personal favourites. It isn't blatantly huddyliscious, but when you think about it, there is a lot packed into it :P

Also it's a particularly long one again seeing as recently I go several days without writing then, when I finally get down to it, I just can't stop. So I hope it's enough to make up for the wait :D

Thank you so much for your reviews, and please keep 'em coming! You've no idea how much they make me smile :D :D

Enjoy!

A few minutes later, House returned holding a green DVD case in his hand.

"What did you pick?" asked Cuddy looking at the DVD, unable to remember when she'd ever bought it.

"MASH" he replied taking it out of the cover and heading to the DVD player. As the previously played DVD slid out, Cuddy saw House's back stiffen and she knew why. There, sticking half out of the player, was Gone with the Wind. Well, she figured, at least MASH wasn't the kind of movie that one can derive much romantic meaning from. At least she didn't think it was.

However, it only took about 15 minutes for her to be proven wrong.

Wilson stood on House's front step for 5 minutes, knocking, yelling and hearing the phone ring inside. This wasn't like House. Sure, he'd usually resist going to work, but this was really over doing it.

Finally fed up of being ignored, Wilson fished around in his briefcase and found the small silver key that fitted into House's front door. He'd always thought that not handing House's key back after moving out was a good move.

When he found that the apartment was completely empty, Wilson sat on the couch and pondered. Where the hell was House? Park? Off somewhere driving over the speed limit?

Sighing, Wilson registered the beep coming from his pager and saw that it was Foreman. The patient was deteriorating and they needed House.

He hated what he had to do, but he knew it was his only choice. There was one person, and one person only, in the whole wide world, short of Mick Jagger, that Greg House would listen to. And her name was Lisa Cuddy.

But right then, Wilson felt terrible calling her to fix yet another House related problem. He knew how much Cuddy must be hurting, how tired she must be feeling. He knew he shouldn't be preoccupying her with work. But he had no other choice. He was a doctor. He had taken an oath; "do no harm". Well right then, not calling Cuddy would cause the patient a whole lot of 'harm' … so he had to do it.

It was at about 15 minutes of movie that the first twinge of uncomfortable-ness presented itself. As Hawkeye, the tall, hilarious surgeon walked into the mess hall and looked at the beautiful lieutenant, Cuddy realised how wrong she had been about the movie. Once could derive romantic meaning from it. And apparently House had realised this too, because he was looking out of the corner of his eye at her, not moving his neck.

A few more scenes in, and the two officers were lying in bed making out like teenagers. But she stopped and told him she was married.

And House thought. He thought about all the times he'd interrupted Cuddy's dates, all the lengths he'd gone to to scare them off. He would never have been able to bare the feeling of her marrying one of them. Of her carrying any of their children. She was his. He knew it was a very cave-man like attitude. But he also knew that, had she ever walked down the isle with anyone else – and that wasn't to say that he wanted to marry her – he would have been the drunken lunatic crashing through the church doors yelling "I object" even before the priest had spoken the infamous words. And as that thought came to an end, House felt Cuddy's little finger brush his as her hand rested by his on the bed.

Cuddy had similar thoughts. She had never really told him, or anyone for that matter, but House didn't need to scare off her dates, she always ended up doing it herself. She needed to get rid of them. She needed to feel close to someone, for however brief a time, but when it all came back to reality, that 'someone' was never who she wanted. So she'd get a page from work and leave, and by the time she returned, the male socks would have been picked up, and their owner would be gone. It was how she lived, because she knew that, should she ever take a trip down the isle with anyone other than the blue eyed diagnostician sitting next to her –and yes, that was to say she wanted to – she would have been the sobbing lunatic yelling out "I object" even before the priest had began with "Dearly beloved…"

And then she too felt his finger brush hers. And she inched closer. The movie forgotten. It had served its not-anticipated purpose and was no just background noise. Now she could feel a couple of his other fingers and, pretty soon, his whole hand.

House held his hand stiff. He was holding her's no doubt. His fingers were curled around her soft skin just as much as hers were curled around his rough one. But he was still. He didn't want to be the one to initiate any movement.

As his fear gripped him, Cuddy saw an opportunity to, metaphorically, put a toe in the water; test the temperature as it were. So she moved her thumb, just a fraction of an inch, just to make sure that his hand was still there. And it was, or at least, whatever was there was responsive, because she got a similar response from its thumb. And so she moved again, and he moved again, and the whole thing, as was usual, became a game.

House liked this, covering the intimacy of the gesture with a game. It was his MO, he was in his comfort zone, so he had not trouble caressing Cuddy's hand, each time for a little longer than she had done to him. It was their little dance, their little play for dominance.

When they both started to get frustrated, House's grip tightened and Cuddy's hand clasped around his in response. And they finally looked at each other. Each with a frown and a determined look in their eyes.

"Give it up" he said knowing that this part of the game she could not win

"Never" she replied staring back at him with just as much determination as him.

And there they stayed for about a minute, a staring contest going on at the same time as they matched strengths with their hands.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Holding House's gaze for a few more seconds, Cuddy tried to pull her hand away from him to grab the phone ringing on her bed-side table. But he wouldn't let go. So she scowled at him a little, then used her other hand to get the phone.

"Hello?" she asked, staring at House, willing him to let go. But he didn't move, just increased his grip a little.

"Cuddy?" came Wilson's voice from the other end "sorry to be calling you … but we have a problem"

Glaring at House now as he continued their little game, the contact between their hands making her heart race, the baby kick and her mind cloud over, Cuddy spoke calmly "What is it?"

"Well, eh, I didn't want to call you about this … not after … but, uh …" he paused.

On Cuddy's end there was a sudden whisper of "give up" from some male that Wilson couldn't quite identify.

"no" mouthed Cuddy in response, breathing out as she did, causing the silent movement to become a low word.

"Cuddy?" asked Wilson suddenly confused.

"Give up" came another whisper, this time Wilson thought he recognised the voice, but didn't believe it.

"Fine" Cuddy whispered back about to retrieve her hand. But he held on with a mischievous grin on his face as she glared at him.

"I'm sorry, James. What were you saying?" she asked again as House got that look on his face, the one that said he had an idea, and not just any idea. He had found some way to embarrass Cuddy.

"Hey, Cuddles" he yelled towards the receiver, pulling her hand a little closer to him as she flinched and glared at him, hating that he'd done that.

"Is that …" started Wilson. Could it really be? "Is House there?!" he asked in an almost whisper, not quite sure what to think.

"Unfortunately" she sighed into the receiver as she tried to retrieve her hand again but failed.

"Uh … are you alright?" asked Wilson in a concerned tone.

"I'm fine …" she said again trying to take her hand back from him, this time adding a little more strength to the movement pulling his hand into her personal space, inches from the kicking baby "he was just leaving" she said pointedly at House as he continued to smirk.

"Party pants!" he called again, making it sound like he wasn't in the room "get your ass back here!"

"Cuddy?" asked Wilson

Cuddy could have very easily just told Wilson what was going on. But somehow she didn't want to. She loved these games just as much as House did. It was fun to watch his eyes sparkle as he came up with his plots; it was thrilling to feel like she had to hide something, even when she didn't. This was one of the reasons she loved him. He was unpredictable. Unpredictable and spontaneous. There weren't many of those guys around anymore.

"I'm sorry James. Ignore him" she said shifting the receiver a little "You were saying?" she asked

Maybe it was the tone in her voice, maybe it was the feeling in Wilson's stomach, maybe it was just his hope that House would get his act together and talk to Cuddy, but there was definitely something that made him reply "Oh, uh, nothing. Don't worry, I'll handle it …" and with that he clicked off, leaving Cuddy holding the receiver away from her ear, her eyes still fixed on House's.

Sitting in House's empty apartment, Wilson stared at the receiver before putting it down.

House was at Cuddy's. He had gone there, of his own free will, at some point during the night. He had actually forgotten about a lupus patient to be with her. Wilson wasn't about to screw whatever that meant up. Oh no. If House was at Cuddy's, if they were there, together, alone, then he wasn't going to be the one to pull them apart, not when there was so much they had to get through. So he picked the phone up again and dialled Foreman's number.

He'd worked with House before. Granted, he wasn't as brilliant as House, he wasn't an infectious diseases expert, and he knew very little about nephrology. But he was a doctor for god's sake. They all were. He could head the team, at least for this case, at least until House got overwhelmed and returned to the dark, safe confines of his office. He had Foreman, Thirteen, Taub, Kutner and, should he need them, he always had Cameron and Chase. Six highly skilled doctors, all of whom had worked under House. That had to count for something.

So he explained to Foreman that House wasn't going to be at work for a few days and, leaving the details completely vague and yet working the words so that it appeared that he'd given a reason – House would have been proud – Wilson told Foreman to report to him, and to do what he felt was best for the patient. Then he put the receiver back on its holder and sighed.

What would he do without me? The oncologist asked himself as he leaned back onto the black leather of House's couch.

"So" asked House in a perfectly normal tone, almost like the grip he had on Cuddy's hand and their staring contest were the most natural things in the world "what'd he want?"

"He didn't say" said Cuddy still glaring at him. Granted, she enjoyed his games, but she wasn't about to let him know that. As she intensified her glare, knowing perfectly well that no one, in their right mind, would mistake the lust and love in her eyes for the anger she was trying to project, Cuddy saw something flick through House's eyes.

"You let him believe we were …" he started, his tone calm and normal, but a touch of emotion hidden behind it.

Cuddy cursed. This was going somewhere. Everybody knew this was going somewhere; and not just this in general, but 'this' in the immediate, right then, right there sense of the word. And baby had chose that moment to aim a particularly precise kick at her bladder. She tried to control it. She tired to think of anything and everything else. But when you're staring at a man whose eyes remind you of the ocean, of rivers and streams and puddles and pools and brooks and just areas of flowing water in general, there is very little you can do to think of anything else but the overwhelming need to run to the bathroom.

"House …" she said wishing the Baby would just shift his or her kicks a little to the left. Just a little. It wasn't asking much. But no, this baby was intent on getting her away from its father. Odd really. "I really need to, uh …" she looked at the bathroom door then back at his eyes.

"Parasite sitting somewhere uncomfortable?" he asked. It sounded wrong even to him, he didn't believe it was a parasite. Not anymore. But he wasn't about to let Cuddy know that. Because the moment she realised how much he really cared. The moment she realised that he hadn't come running just because a friend had been in trouble, just because he didn't want her to suffer losing the baby, he'd be gone, she'd have him in the palm of her hand. And House wasn't sure he was ready to be in someone else's hand just yet.

Cuddy just nodded as baby Cuddy-House kicked her again.

I'm going already! She mentally yelled.

Much to her surprise, she felt House's grip loosen on her hand and felt his fingers brush all the way against hers until they lost contact.

Now that the contact was gone, she managed to collect her thoughts again. She managed to will her legs to move and soon found herself in the bathroom.

Still sitting on her bed, House sighed in his mind. That baby really knew when to do what. Stop kicking when daddy needed an excuse to be with mommy, start kicking when daddy needed to slow the hell down before he falls into the unknown without having thought it all through.

He smiled. He wanted to just jump off that tower into whatever the dark abyss he was looking at below was. He really, really did. But he'd made a promise to himself, he wasn't going to fall irrevocably in love with her, not any more than he already had. He was going to keep his options clear, leave himself the option of retreating, because he knew that in about three months, he'd have to do so.

But why not fall? Why not jump of that tower? Sure, it wouldn't be a free fall. But he'd always felt bungee jumping would be fun. And that's not irrevocable. Bungee jumping, unlike free falls, doesn't end in broken bones and irreversible damage, bungee jumping was a good option. A safe way for Greg to get a taste of what he needed, knowing that, should the pull of gravity become too much, he'd have House standing at the top of the tower, ready to pull him back up and call him an idiot for trying. Yep, he smiled, safe.

TBC

Also, one more thing. I'm think about names for this Huddy baby … and I just can't come to a conclusion … so I thought I'd post the names here and you guys could give me your opinions? Thanks

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Names I chose from 'Cuddy's POV' … mainly Jewish names:

Nora, Isabella, Daniela, Lily, Samantha

Benjamin, Daniel, Noah, Joel, Jonah

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Names I chose from 'House's POV' …

Rebecca, Zoe, Sophie, Sarah (or Sara), Natalie,

Michael, Zachary, Samuel, James, Sean

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Thank you for reading!

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CJS-DEPPendent