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I hope you will still enjoy this. We're now moving on to the first House & Cuddy scene...

** CHAPTER 2 **

On his way out of Wilson's office, House bumped into Cuddy. She shot him a suspicious look, adjusted her blouse, and began walking again toward wherever she was headed in her ever-determined pace. Quite unconsciously, House immediately started to stride by her side, as fast as he could, setting his limp on her walking tempo. Despite looking conspicuously straight ahead in an attempt to ignore him, a faint smile flickered on Cuddy's lips.

"What useless comments were you making?" she asked without looking at him.

"Ha, too bad! It's a little dirty secret only Wilson and I share, so I really can't fill you in on the useless comment right now—but who knows? If you really behave yourself," he teased, giving her a wink.

"Yes sure, whatever!" she said, waving her hand in front of his face in an attempt to brush the innuendo aside. "What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to treat a patient or something involving the medical skills I'm paying you for?"

Without any forewarning, House suddenly came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the hallway to face her. Strangely, as if she had almost anticipated it, Cuddy quite simultaneously stopped as well, very much in sync, and looked up at him.

"Mooom," he whined, leaning forward a little, "you said it was ok for me to go out playing with my buddy Jimmy if I did all my homework!"

"And did you?" Cuddy asked, raising her chin, and taking a step toward him defiantly.

House stared at her for a brief moment, which felt like an eternity. He could feel her frail body tensing up, so close to his that he was almost able to smell the light scent of her shampoo. She seemed so determined and yet so fragile… He began to lose himself deep in thoughts.

# # # # #

He had barely seen her ever since that strange and awkward moment they'd shared in her house after the adoption process had fallen through. The night they'd kissed… House felt a slight shiver run up his spine as he recalled the sensation of her body against his. Had she been thinking about that moment, too, or had she just disposed of it like she said she had of that whole baby project, pretending it wasn't important anymore? To him, she looked pretty convinced about wanting to give up on adopting a child. She was acting all professional again, tough, and distant as if the only thing that ever mattered to her was her job as Dean of Medicine. He could only assume that what happened between them didn't mean anything to her. But that night, he'd clearly felt her deprivation and he was quite sure that it wasn't just because of the baby loss. He could tell it by the way she'd let herself give in to his embrace. And he knew it would have been so easy for him to just push things a little further and cash in on the situation because she was so emotionally needy.

But he'd left instead. He had to anyway, for he never would have taken advantage of her vulnerability in such a painful moment. That was not how he wanted things to be, if he ever wanted things to be something with her, as vague as it sounded, anyway. But then, he had most certainly felt that particular something, in that particular moment. A something he hadn't been able to label nor ignore and which had become almost undeniable as soon as he'd left her place. That's why he'd felt the urge to drive back to his apartment as fast as he could so he could drown the whole mess he'd created in bourbon. And he had, until he could barely lift up his glass anymore. Until he'd tried to reach his bedroom painfully staggering along, but had stumbled and fallen on the floor instead, from where he'd stared at that fuzzy and wavy new reality he now had to deal with on an imaginary screen on his ceiling. That's why, despite all his efforts to put the incident behind him, he'd been completely unable to forget about it, and the ever-disturbing haunting sensation that had been invading his brain every damn minute of his day since.

# # # # #

Cuddy's face was still raised to his as her light blue eyes were interrogating him, trying to find an answer to her question in House's gaze. She poked his chest with her index finger to make him react.

"So, your patient?" she rephrased.

"Degos syndrome," House said shaking himself back to reality, as if he had just awakened from a dream.

"Oh," Cuddy exclaimed, feeling deeply sorry for the man, at the mention of this rare and very complex disease, with an often-lethal prognosis. "How did you find out about it?" she asked, showing genuine concern.

She stepped back a little, re-installing a more normal distance between them, which was now convenient for the serious conversation she obviously was willing to have. House noticed how she looked tired despite the makeup that covered her eyelids and cheeks, and how the dark curls that framed her face were making her pale skin even more conspicuous. Her lips were closed, but still shiny with the remaining traces of a light pink gloss. They were just perfectly shaped. And they tasted so good-

'Ok,' he thought. 'This isn't gonna work. I gotta get outta here or I'll go crazy'.

Even though he'd rather use any other way to do this, there was only one House knew would get him rid of Cuddy's disturbing presence and work quickly and efficiently.

"Why do you care how I found out? You don't know squat about symptoms and how to medically link them up together, anyway," he suddenly barked.

Cuddy's facial expression went from sincere concern to shock look within a second and House saw a slight trace of hurt pass behind her gaze.

"And the man is dying," he went on, waving his free hand in the air and turning his head opposite to hers to avoid looking her in the eyes. "Except now, with the right and promising cure we just provided, he may be lucky to have a few extra years. Or-" House jerked his head in her direction and stared straight at her with a disconcerting, piercing gaze. "Is that why you want to know? Because you want to evaluate how much money you can expect from his medical insurance, now that he's left a huge unpaid bill for this hospital to take care of? Oh and, by the way," he said, paraphrasing her earlier sneaky comment, "what are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to administrate or something involving whichever skills you're being paid for?"

And with this, he turned on his heel and started limping away from her.

Cuddy briefly looked down and took a deep breath to help her recover from House's uncalled-for and mean attack. She may have become quite well trained over the years, yet she could never really tell when he was about to switch into snappish and snarky mode. And that one was most certainly unexpected. Why was he acting like that with her? Did he resent her for the kiss? If so, it would definitely disconcert her - and she certainly didn't need that right now - for she was already tangled enough with the memory of that particular night herself…

# # # # #

She remembered how surprised she'd felt then when she'd found him standing at her doorsill. House, willing to bring her comfort and soothe her because an event he'd done nothing but constantly mock had ended sadly? It'd completely taken her off guard. If the thought of him coming to her place had crossed her mind, she'd have expected him to brag and throw his victory at her face, since he'd forewarned her about the risk many times with his provoking insight. But for him to be caring, gentle, and nice, instead, sounding like he'd been a fervent supporter of the adoption the whole time, no, she definitely didn't expect that. She couldn't really explain why because the truth is it'd eventually touched her but, at first, that sudden change in House's behavior had really infuriated her. It was as if he was only pretending to care but didn't actually believe in the compassionate words he was telling her.

House was not the kind of man who would feel sorry for someone. In his book, pity was even a gross word. He hated the feeling itself and resented anyone who would feel it for him. So, what was it? Why had he shown up at her place like that, all embarrassed and ill at ease? To tell her that she would have made a great mother, after all that he'd said?! That was too unexpected of him. And when Cuddy had asked him why he was doing it, he'd seemed so wrecked... as if, for one short but timeless moment, they were just exactly emotionally in sync.

But the moment had gone by. Just as she was about to give in and let herself go, House had left her there, with jagged nerves and overwhelmed feelings, so deeply moved that she couldn't convinced herself anymore that it was just because of the baby… She hadn't been able to sleep that night, her mind tormenting her with all kind of confusing thoughts which, the morning after, as she'd felt exhausted and shattered, had all led her to decide that the best way out of that downward spiral would be to throw herself deep into work, to avoid hoping for anything, anymore… from anyone.

# # # # #

"HOUSE!" Cuddy yelled, making him stop at her call.

She quickly caught him up, mentally heartening herself to look him right in the eyes and sound as if this was just work matter.

"You owe me six hours of clinic duty, and since you don't have a patient, I want you to start there, now!" she said, in her most confident voice.

"Why can't you send the repented little philanderer instead? Coz really, he's just the perfect guy for the job: Guilt has turned him into the most devoted doctor you could wish for this hospital. Right after me, that is."

"Yeah, repented and devoted!" She smirked. "Two perfectly appropriate words anyone would immediately think of to describe you."

"You do get I'm being rhetorical, right? Because truth is, there're lots of more accurate and interesting adjectives to describe me. Want me to share some with you?"

"No, thanks. There're plenty that I can already think of myself."

"Fine! Too bad you don't wanna tell me which ones: We could have compared! So, can I go now? I'll tell Taub you've reassigned him… Oops, I mean, your job, sorry! You're the Dean of Medicine, you get to do the annoying, administrative things-"

"I've already reassigned your team. In the E.R. There was a pileup on the interstate this morning, and Cameron needed extra help. So that just leaves you, House. The waiting room is already full. I need a doctor in there."

"Hmm, let's see," he said, rubbing his chin pensively. "I could leave now for the doctor's lounge, watch soaps and spend the rest of my day happily doing nothing or I could spend my time listening to old women complaining about their menopausal problems, or whiny moms dying in angst because their annoying little brat has a runny nose. Ha, tough call!"

"House, don't make me beg," Cuddy said out of the blue, instantly regretting having said it the moment the words left her mouth.

"Oh-oh," House sniggered, too happy with the easy retort she'd just offered him. "You, begging? That would be a massive turn-on. Wait, now that I give it a second thought, it really depends on what you'd be begging for: More... or for me to stop?"

"House, clinic, now!" Cuddy said turning her back to him and starting to leave.

"Alright. Fine. Shall I take it as you begging me to stop?" House called after her, his head slightly tilted to the side, as he watched Cuddy's silhouette vanish round the next corner.

House stood alone in the middle of the hallway for a few seconds, until a small group of interns walked past him, shooting him a weird look. Among them, he caught the eyes of one young woman in a coat, walking alongside the others and he widely grinned at her.

"First, I thought more would be the nastier answer, but beg me to stop is kinda cool, too, uh?" he said, jutting his chin up in her direction, as if asking for her approval.

The young intern didn't seem to care much about House's antics and gave him a sorry look in return, while she continued to walk down the hallway. His eyes followed her and the group until they turned to the right in the lab's direction. He heaved a deep sigh and started heading toward the clinic.

What other choice did he have? The woman had begged him, for God's sake!