** CHAPTER 12 **

Evening had long fallen upon Princeton when Wilson grabbed his coat. He gave one last look around his office to see if everything was in place and turned the light off, then walked out and headed toward the elevator. As he arrived on the ground floor, he saw House's limping silhouette making his way through the main lobby. Within a few steps he caught him up. House immediately felt the presence of his friend next to him and stopped just before pushing the front door open. They both stood silently, looking outside for a moment.

"You disappeared today," Wilson said, staring straight ahead through the glass.

"And what? You missed me?"

"No, but maybe some people did."

"My team is perfectly capable of handling a patient without me, as long as it just involves running some basic medical tests. I mean, who needs a brilliant doctor's mind like mine, when it's all about sticking needles in God only knows which boring places! I'm sure Cuddy's prepubescent assistant could do that himself while he's not even a doctor! Maybe not even an assistant!"

Wilson turned his head to the side to look at House. His forehead was slightly pressing against the glass, and he was pulling his trademark childish pout, unaware of Wilson's gaze on him. The oncologist smiled almost fondly, thinking about what he'd gone through the night before, the years before…

House's body language was not an easy one to comprehend for someone who'd never tried to learn who he really was. But surely Wilson was not that person. He knew his friend and he knew him really well. He'd been with him during those hurtful and destructive nights when he'd drowned his breakup with Stacy in alcohol and pills, mixing them up to a life-threatening level sometimes. He knew how deep into misery House was capable of sinking when he was hurt…And now, even if House would probably deny it, it was obvious that Cuddy was the latest obsessive thought occupying his mind. Wilson could tell by the way he couldn't help mentioning her in each of his sentences. No matter how hard he tried to pretend the opposite, everything was about Cuddy for him, even when it wasn't.

Wilson thought how hard it was, indeed, to find someone you really want to protect and be with from morning to evening and throughout the night until another day comes, and it starts all over again. He thought about Amber and his heart skipped a beat, still filled with all the remaining grief he hadn't totally gotten over since the day she'd died. He felt sad for himself, but mostly for House because two people like he and Cuddy should have been happy to have each other. They were alive. They had feelings for each other. They could even find some kind of happiness, in their own way, if they tried hard enough. Instead, they kept fighting it, again and again, afraid of what could come out of it if they finally surrendered to the power of their emotions.

"You want to grab a beer?" Wilson asked out of the blue, thinking that his friendship would at least always be a constant between them.

"No thanks," House answered, turning his head to the side, and smiling knowingly at him. "I think I've had enough for the day. And, I have something else in mind," he added with a mysterious gaze.

"Something in mind?" Wilson repeated, grinning. "Is it what I think it is?"

House puffed, faking to be annoyed by his question but still made sure to give him an answer, albeit cryptically:

"There're things someone told me I should take care of myself. So, since there's nothing interesting to watch on TV tonight-"

Without finishing his sentence, he pushed the door opened, and walked outside, leaving Wilson nodding proudly at the front door.

# # # # #

It was a beautiful evening. The air was mild and felt almost warm on House's face as he rode all the way to her house with his helmet shield up. He rode fast but not too fast, enjoying each mile along the way, maybe holding back time a little to make the best out of what he hoped would be a worthy journey. When he finally arrived, he parked his bike across the street from Cuddy's house, turned the engine off and hastily walked to her front door, climbing the stairs, and hurrying to her porch.

At her doorstep, he took a deep breath and smiled, unzipping his leather jacket a little before plunging his hand inside to take a folder out of it. It was a blue one, identical to the one she'd sent her assistant to give him that morning. Holding the folder tightly inside his hand, House cleared his throat to gather up some courage and knocked impatiently on the door with his cane's handle. At first not too hard but, after a few seconds only, he started to bang really loudly.

The door finally opened, and he went instantly short of breath when he saw her. She was casually dressed in a gray yoga pants and a white tee-shirt underneath a black woolen cardigan, but she still looked like a million dollars. Their eyes met and, for a second that seemed to last forever, it felt as if the day hadn't gone by and they were still facing each other like they had the night before, just before the powerful surge that had drawn them to each other had taken hold of them.

House felt a sudden, strong urge to yank her in his arms but clenched his cane's handle tighter standing expectantly in front of her, instead. Cuddy's hand gripped the door firmly, and she looked at him looking confused and, for a splitting second, he thought he'd spotted the same need in her gaze, mixed with a hint of hope. But her face quickly returned to its impenetrable mask, and she sighed wearily.

"What?" she asked, sounding a little bit annoyed.

"I have a case," House answered getting directly to the point, while holding up the blue folder for her to see.

Cuddy shook her head, and he could swear she'd just looked a bit disappointed. She stiffened and jutted her chin up to him in that defying, bossy way he liked so much about her.

"Of course, you have a case! I know that. I'm the one who gave you that case."

"Technically, you're not. You sent your new puppy instead."

Cuddy's eyes widened in astonishment, and she stared grimly at him.

"Exactly!" House added, taking advantage of her surprise, and rolling his eyes disapprovingly while pointing his finger at her. "I don't remember his name, but you know who I'm talking about: Twenty-something, blond hair, moron looking. So not your type by the way!"

She couldn't repress a little smile but hid it quite instantly, turning back into defensive mode again.

"House, what do you want?" she asked.

"I have a case."

"You've just said that-"

"It's not the case you gave me, it's another one-"

"What?" She looked bewildered and utterly surprised. "Have you solved the other case already?"

"Team's working on it right now."

Cuddy took a deep breath and buried her face into her hands for a short while. When she looked up again, she looked dismayed.

"If you already have a patient, can you explain what this other case you're talking about is? Where the hell did you get it anyway?"

"Never mind where I got it," House said, promptly dismissing her questions and getting to the point. "I want you to have a look at it."

"You're the diagnostician, I'm the Dean of Medicine, remember? Usually, things go the other way around."

He smiled at her gently. She was so beautiful when she had that contained irritation inside her, fizzling through her eyes. And she looked so delicate at the same time, even in her loose clothes. House could picture her perfect body underneath, her ivory skin, firm and soft around her breasts…

"I specifically need your help on this one," he insisted.

"House, I'm tired. I need some-" The words died on her lips when she realized she was about to say she hadn't slept much the night before.

"Just give it a look," he said, his voice devoid of all its usual sarcasm.

Cuddy looked a little baffled by his sudden change of tone and took a step forward to grab the file he was handing her, intrigued. She snatched it from his hand and swiftly stepped back, opening it to give a look at its content.

Inside, there was only one blank page with a giant question mark printed on it. While she stared at the sheet of paper, visibly puzzled, House studied her facial expression, strongly hoping she would understand the implied message.

"What's that?" Cuddy inquired, lifting up her face with a shy smile.

"It's a mystery," he answered, scrutinizing her face.

He was waiting to spot that little sparkle of mischief again, the one he'd seen in her eyes when he had held in her arms the night before.

He pouted to arouse her curiosity, encouraging her to ask with wide, staring eyes. Cuddy looked at him, mirroring his face, and smiled.

"What mystery?" she finally inquired, a wide smile curling her lips upward.

"41-year-old female. Annoying, bossy pain in the ass with a cracking body: Had hot, wild sex with one of her employees last night and left right after. Any idea what might have caused such an unpredictable behavior?"

Cuddy's heart started speeding up in her chest, sending shots of adrenaline into her brain and making her breathe faster. She couldn't allow herself to think it was what she thought it was. House had come! And it was so much better than him showing in her office. That blank sheet he'd made just for her, she knew it was lame, but she couldn't help picturing him typing it on his computer, printing it and then, sliding it in a blue folder before bringing it here to her and it melted her heart.

House was standing in front of her and staring at her with a piercing gaze, his mouth slightly open, eagerly waiting for her to tell him the words he wanted to hear. Cuddy wanted to speak, but suddenly felt a twinge of anxiety paralyze her, instead.

What if you give him the wrong answer? What if he's just here to have another round of sex and just that? What if you got it all wrong and he's just here to tell you how big a mistake last night was? she thought.

Cuddy didn't realize she had taken a small step back, as if she was unconsciously trying to protect herself from the doubt and confusion that had invaded her mind by carefully retreating behind her door. House reached out for it and pushed it open a little wider. She glanced at him and saw a hint of hurt in his eyes, as if for a second, he'd thought she would close the door on him. She bowed her head and in a low, unsure voice, she replied:

"Maybe she wanted to be the one making the decision to leave and not wait for the moment she'd be thrown outside."

House stared at her, widening his eyes in disbelief. His mouth opened as if he were about to say something, but he remained silent and turned his head away instead. As he was staring blankly into the falling night spreading beyond her porch's smooth light, Cuddy studied him and saw how hurt and puzzled he seemed to be, proof she thought, that he was maybe taking this seriously.

"Or maybe she thought it was not serious-"

House jerked his head right back at her and looked her in the eyes, completely bemused.

"What? Fuck, Cuddy, you know it was!"

Cuddy instantly felt relieved, but she still needed to get rid of that lingering feeling of loss he'd left her with by phrasing it out loud.

"How am I supposed to know that?" she said, pouting. "You left the room right after."

"And you left my apartment," House added, his voice low and his gaze staring past her, as if he were elsewhere, reliving the moment.

Cuddy didn't have much in her defense to say to this. His unexpected sadness, or what looked like it, softened her as much as it touched her. She loosened her grasp on the door and was about to take a step forward when he said, his voice confident again, "Jesus, Cuddy! Are you going to let me in, or do you want to make me beg?"

She paused and, remembering what he'd told her the day before in the hospital hallway, she looked up at him with mischievous eyes.

"I don't know," she teased, with a knowing smile. "It depends on what you're begging for: More, or for me to stop?"

House locked eyes with her and waited for her to send him a sign. She slid the door wide open and, sighing in relief, he promptly took a step forward and seized her by the waist, pushing her inside and closing the door behind him with a kick.

Leaning down, he buried his face in her neck and kissed her warm flesh eagerly.

"More!" he rasped, unhesitatingly, as she arched her curves toward him and pressed her body against his.

A/N

Thank you for your reviews!
have a lovely day ~ maya

PS: I don't want to dwell on this thing which is in the past now, especially since some of you don't even know about it... but just to answer on a specific point: we are now past the parts that had been erratically posted here before by someone who'd "taken" my story to post it without my knowledge (or my consent)... so some of you might have already read it here in different circumstances but chapters are all new now! I mean for those of you who wanted to know how fast we're going to move on with the story: I will continue to post chapters at this current rhythm which is one chapter every two days or maybe sometimes (if I have time) every day...

this story is in progress, so don't worry: the journey's not over yet... :-)