Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the reviews! I'm really thrilled to see so many of you responding to this story - I hadn't expected it at all! Here we go again - one step forward and two steps back. Once again, I do not own House.

Sarah woke slowly, feeling contented and safe. She realized that she was leaning against Greg. His arm was around her and she was surrounded by his scent, a mixture of his soap, laundry detergent and something else that was simply him. She looked up at him, blinking away sleep from her eyes. Her eyes met his and she froze as he leaned in to kiss her, his hand cupping her cheek.

The kiss was slow and sweet. Everything about it felt right – Greg's hand on her cheek, the brush of his short beard against her face, his lips on hers. She felt like she was melting into his arms, unable and unwilling to move. When he finally drew back she sighed.

She looked into his eyes and found them filled with a mixture of wonder and terror. Wow, she thought. Her first feeling was one of elation. Wow. Her next emotion was trepidation. What happens now? Before either of them could say a word, Maggie barked loudly, and they both turned to look at her. She was facing the apartment door, looking over her shoulder at them.

"What are you – the chaperone?" Greg demanded. The dog barked again and then Sarah heard the knocking.

"Someone's knocking on your door," she said. Greg got up, shooting a dirty look at the dog, and made his way to her door. Sarah scooped up Maggie to keep her from running after him.

Greg stepped out into the hallway and she heard him talking to someone. Then he poked his head back in to her apartment.

"It's the man I hired to tune my piano," he said. "He was supposed to come yesterday."

"I guess you'd better let him in to your place," Sarah said and Greg nodded. He pulled the door closed behind him and Sarah set the dog down. She felt a mixture of disappointment and relief. Part of her wanted to talk to Greg about what had just happened, but another part of her was relieved to put off that discussion.

Sarah had been content with the way things were going between her and Greg. They were slowly growing comfortable with one another. There was a lot she didn't know about him, and a lot he didn't know about her, and that was ok. Greg was obviously hesitant about letting people in and she could appreciate his caution.

"What do I do now?" she asked, looking down at her dog. Maggie responded by wagging her tail.


When the kiss ended, House felt a mixture of joy and trepidation. Everything had felt so right – putting his arm around her, touching her face, kissing her - but did she feel the same way? They'd been slowly getting to know each other. It hadn't been easy for him to tell her about himself but she'd been accepting, never pushing for more than he wanted to tell. This kiss had to change things, and House was never one to embrace change.

Have I just ruined everything, he asked himself. Sarah's sigh had sounded contented but he thought he saw apprehension in her face. The dog's bark had interrupted the moment, leaving him unsure how to proceed. When he found the piano tuner waiting for him, he'd half hoped that Sarah would ask him to send the man away. Instead, she'd left it up to him to decide, and he'd gone to let the tuner into his apartment. Now he was sitting on his couch, wondering what to do. Should he go back to Sarah's apartment while the man worked? She was going to want to talk about what happened between them and what it meant. House wasn't sure he was prepared to do that.

Everything between them had been undefined before, and he'd been comfortable with that. He'd thought Sarah was too. Could they go back to that now? As much as House had enjoyed their kiss, and he had certainly enjoyed it, he didn't want to lose the ease he felt around her.

"Cat got your tongue?" The piano tuner had been keeping up a string of chatter while he worked, which House had tuned out. He looked over at the man now.

"I wouldn't want to interrupt," he said sarcastically.

"Oh, it's no problem, Man. I can talk and work at the same time." The man was clueless.

"I'm more interested in whether you can do one without the other," House replied testily. It took the tuner a second to figure out what he meant; House could see the instant when he put it together. He frowned, and his tone turned belligerent.

"You always this rude?"

"Are you always this dense?"

"Whatever, Man. Whatever." The man went back to his work on the piano and House went back to ignoring him. He felt a little disappointed. Trading insults with the man would have provided him with a distraction.


Sarah was restless for the rest of the afternoon. She moved about her apartment, tidying things that didn't need it. She got the iv pole and the bag that Dr. Hadley had brought, collecting the stethoscope, blood pressure cuff and thermometer. She hung the bag over the pole and put it all near the door. Greg had said that he'd return these things to the hospital on Monday.

Sarah thought back to that night, a week from yesterday, when she'd first met Greg. She wasn't sure what had prompted her to invite him into her apartment or what had prompted him to accept. It had been out of character for both of them.

"We don't have anything in common," Sarah said out loud. "He's a brilliant doctor – solves cases that other doctors can't. I'm a glorified secretary." Maggie squeaked and Sarah shook her head at her. "You're biased. I feed you, therefore I must be wonderful." The dog wagged her tail. "Ok. We both like you, and we enjoy some of the same music and old movies. Or, at least, he tolerates my taste in old movies."


The tuner finally stepped away from the piano.

"All done," he announced. House rose from his couch and moved to his piano bench. He played a scale, testing the piano and nodded. Each note rang true.

"How much?" he asked, and the tuner named a price. House shook his head.

"You said you'd pay extra for weekend service."

"I said I'd pay extra for you to show up on Saturday. That was yesterday." They haggled back and forth and finally agreed on an amount. It was more than the regular service but less than House had originally offered. He wrote the man a check and sent him on his way.

House went back to the piano. He sat on the bench and started to play, enjoying the feeling of the keys beneath his fingers. He played some of the piano riffs he'd heard in the music at Sarah's apartment before drifting into the melody he'd been whistling that morning. It was a song of his own invention and he didn't know where the tune was going to go. It was full of possibilities.

Sarah went past on the sidewalk, returning from the park and House's hands stilled on the keyboard. He wasn't going to get any answers hiding in his apartment. He got to his feet and made his way to the apartment door.


Sarah heard the piano playing as she walked past Greg's windows. It stopped as she reached the building's steps and when she went inside, she found him waiting in the hall. Maggie rushed toward him, her tail wagging.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi." There was a long silence, and then they both spoke at once.

"Would you…"

"I heard…" They stopped and then Sarah smiled, laughing. After a second, Greg chuckled too.

"You were saying?" Sarah prompted.

"Would you like to come in?"

"Yes." Sarah stepped forward and Greg moved aside to let her in to the apartment.

Once inside, Sarah looked around. She'd been in his apartment before, but then she'd been concerned with disposing of his pills and making sure he was alright. Now she took the time to look around, noting the full bookcases, the piano in the corner, and the guitars on the wall. The door closed softly and Greg moved to stand beside her.

"What were you playing before?" she asked. "You were whistling it this morning too but I don't recognize the tune."

"It's just something I made up," he said.

"I liked it. Would you mind playing it again?"