** CHAPTER 16 **

It was early and as usual, Wilson had already arrived at PPTH. He liked his little breakfast ritual in the hospital's cafeteria. Even at that hour of the day, there were always people around: Nurses chatting together, sharing information about the patients before their change of shift or gossiping about doctors during the morning pause, doctors hastily grabbing a coffee before returning to their rounds, or patients' relatives taking a break.

The place was lively and, even if he was sitting alone at his table most of the time, Wilson had rather be here, surrounded with people to watch and greet than alone in his apartment with no one to talk to. That morning, like every other one, after having filled his tray with coffee and muffins, he walked in the room and looked around to find the best table to sit at, one that would give him a nice view of the whole place. That's when he spotted her, in the back of the cafeteria: Seated alone and picking at her eggs while checking her morning mail. Wilson decidedly walked toward her.

"Hi, do you mind if I join you?" he asked, standing in front of her.

Cuddy greeted him with a smile and motioned him to sit down.

"How are you today?" he said, taking a seat across from her and putting his tray on the table. "You seem fine. Tired maybe but still, fine."

She stared at him her chin cupped in her hands, visibly amused.

"Yes, he did," she simply stated, smiling.

"Huh, did what? Who did?" Wilson stammered, caught off guard by her unexpected lead-in.

"House," she clarified softly. "He went to my place. Like you didn't know already!"

"No, I didn't. I haven't seen him today. It's way too early for that and-" He looked puzzled and leaned toward her, suddenly whispering in a secretive tone. "So, he went to your place, like, you mean, to-?"

Cuddy widened her eyes at him but remained silent, her eyes speaking the truth for her.

"Oh my God!" he said, still whispering. "You mean you… You mean House and you-"

"Wilson, please," she chastised, with a voice that said she wasn't buying his stunned surprise, "you knew this already. Don't act surprised with me. Yes, House and me-" She finished her sentence with a vague gesture of the hand indicating there was, indeed, something more to it than she wished to confess.

"That's great!" the oncologist exclaimed spontaneously. "I mean that's great, isn't it?" he added when he noticed Cuddy's weird stare on him. "But how come you're here already, alone? Is something wrong? I mean, is House okay?"

"Yes, House's okay. And so am I, thanks for asking," she answered chuckling, touched by Wilson's concern for his friend.

Suddenly, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off her chest: The "thing" was out, and Wilson knew about it. Even if House and she had more or less implied that they didn't want to share this secret with anyone, best friend was quite unavoidable.

Cuddy should have felt relieved then, but something in Wilson's gaze became really hard to sustain. It felt like she was being evaluated, judged, and scrutinized. She felt a sudden, irrepressible urge to defend herself, in a sort of stupid, impulsive way.

"Well, you know," she said, sounding exaggeratedly nonchalant. "House and I are adults. We've known each other for a long time so we both know it'd be stupid to expect anything serious out of it. Ok so, it happened! What can I say? We were both lonely, we needed that, and we were there for each other. It's not a big deal. Let's not make it a big deal," she repeated, more to herself this time.

Wilson's mouth fell agape, and he looked at her, dismayed and shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Are you telling me this is just for fun?" he said.

Cuddy took a deep breath and tried to escape the messy situation she'd involuntarily gotten herself into, but it seemed she'd already gone too far to make things right with a quick twist.

"I'm sorry James, but I don't think this is any of your business," she said dismissively. Then she felt a little guilty when she saw the resentful look on Wilson's face. "You and I are friends, though, and-"

Wilson raised his palm up in front of Cuddy's face to cut her off before she would add anything to what already seemed to him like a nonsensical and useless explanation.

"No, don't be sorry, Lisa," he said, his tone disenchanted. "I know that's none of my business. I just hope you realize what you're doing. House is not as tough as you think he is. It took him months to get there. It took him years, actually. He may seem detached or uninvolved but that's just an act. That's what he does. But it doesn't mean he doesn't care. He has his own way of showing it, that's all."

Cuddy sustained his gaze bravely during each and every second of his speech, even if it felt like an eternity in Hell. Wilson was about to add something, but she never got the chance to know what it was as they were suddenly interrupted by the most recognizable voice in the hospital.

"Dr. Wilson, Dr. Cuddy, good morning to you!" House chanted joyfully, with a shout that went all the way to the opposite wall of the cafeteria.

Some heads jerked in their direction, but as soon as they identified who the disturber was, they simply went back to their breakfast unconcernedly. When she saw House, Cuddy instantly felt a shiver run up her spine. She wanted to get up and jumped to his neck to kiss him, but she clutched the table's edge instead, while Wilson studied her reaction, intrigued. Unaware of their ongoing conversation, House still perceived the awkwardness floating in the air quite instantly and he scrutinized them both, looking puzzled.

"What are you doing here so early?" Cuddy asked.

Instead of answering her right away, House paused to try and understand what was going on. But after a few seconds of the most awkward silence, he opted to get back to the purpose that had brought him here in the first place.

"My patient had a severe peritonitis. She had surgery early this morning. Now she's in ICU-"

"In ICU? After a peritonitis? What's wrong?" she asked.

House could feel the weight of Wilson's gaze on him, and it made him uncomfortable. He turned his head toward his friend to answer Cuddy's question, making the double-meaning obvious and deliberate.

"I don't know what's wrong, that's the problem!" he exclaimed, staring right into Wilson's eyes.

Wilson stared back at him wondering what part of it was a game and what part wasn't.

"I need to do a biopsy of her ovaries," House said, letting go of Wilson's gaze and jerking his head back to Cuddy.

Cuddy let out a sarcastic laugh.

"What?" she said. "You're joking right?"

"No, I'm not," he answered, stubbornly repeating, "I need to do a biopsy of her ovaries."

Cuddy inhaled slowly and searched in House's eyes for a hint of that softer side she knew he had in him, but his gaze was undecipherable. He looked no different than the usual, jerky doctor that would insist on doing crazy stuff which would cause her to lose her patience while trying to prevent him from doing them. It felt really strange to actually witness it happen, even more so to be part of it after what had occurred between them the night before.

"No, you don't," she objected, trying to make him see how every single word in his request sounded totally crazy. "She's just recovering from a surgery. She's in ICU. You can't do a biopsy now. It'll put her at risk."

House sustained Cuddy's stare, challengingly.

"She has a lump in her pelvis. The surgeon had to close her before he could do anything, but he clearly saw it. We need to know what it is."

"Then, do an ultrasound to confirm the presence of a lump and its exact location. If it's there, then-"

"It's there!" House snapped, growing impatient. "Her fever is 104, and not dropping. What do you want to wait for: That she falls into a coma out of septic shock?!"

"You don't know what it is," Cuddy answered, strangely remaining as calm as House was getting upset. "Give her broad-spectrum antibiotics to prevent an infection in the next 48 hours and then, you can do the biopsy."

She jutted her chin up, fiercely determined not to cave. House held her gaze and imperceptibly smiled.

"Ok, fine! Everything you say Dr. Cuddy!"

Without further ado, he turned on his heel and left.

Cuddy followed House with her eyes until she saw him exit the cafeteria. She wasn't aware of the smile half-proud, half-seduced that was plastered on her face, neither was she aware of Wilson's stare on her: The oncologist, who had witnessed the whole scene without saying a word, looked utterly baffled by what had just happened.

Jolted back to reality, Cuddy suddenly looked back in Wilson's direction only to meet with his inquiring gaze, as he was studying her closely, his eyes narrowed, and his head slightly tilted to the side. She pouted, silently questioning him about what he was trying to tell or ask, but Wilson didn't say a word until, without a warning, he took his tray in his hands and stood up before giving her one last baffled look.

"I don't know what kind of game you guys play. And I don't want to know. But like I said, I really hope you two know what you're doing," he told her.

And then he left, leaving Cuddy alone at her table, flabbergasted.

# # # # #

House was standing alone in the elevator when Cuddy swiftly skipped inside just as the doors were about to close. She stood next to him, without saying a word, looking straight ahead with her hands crossed over her thighs. He shot her a quick side-glance but conspicuously ignored her, as well.

But as soon as the door closed and the elevator started moving, he turned toward her and leaned down to kiss her. Cuddy took a step back and made him freeze with a warning glare that said it was neither the right place nor the time to frolic in the workplace. House pouted sulkily but straightened up docilely, nonetheless.

"I think I might have said something stupid," she told him after a while, a guilty look on her face.

House smiled victoriously at her then.

"Of course, you have!" he puffed. "So, does that mean I can do my biopsy now?"

Cuddy jerked her head in his direction and shook her head 'no' determinedly.

"I mean, to Wilson," she said diffidently. "And I haven't changed my mind about the biopsy. You still don't get to do it," she felt the need to add.

He studied her, quickly contemplating his options.

Option one, of course, was tempting: He could pretend to fight her to try and win this battle about the biopsy thing. It would undeniably be fun as he'd always loved when they had to argue about medical decisions. Cuddy was a great opponent and each time, the way she so ardently stood up to him was such a turn-on.

But then, there was option two: She looked uneasy and troubled, and she'd just mentioned saying something stupid to Wilson. Those two things put together didn't bode well.

"What about Wilson?" he opted to ask, trying to hide his worry.

"I think I may have misled him into thinking I'm a sex maniac," Cuddy said looking down at her feet in embarrassment.

House looked at her completely taken aback by her confession and burst into spontaneous laughter.

"And how's you admitting you're a sex maniac misleading Wilson?" he said with a knowing smile.

Cuddy shot him a glare and smacked him on the side of his arm.

"House, this is not funny!" she scolded.

He suddenly became serious and looked at her with concern.

"What is it?" he questioned. "Wilson found out about us and it, what, makes you uncomfortable? Because I swear, I didn't say anything. I-"

"It's not about that," she interrupted. She lifted up her face and her eyes darted to his as she gathered some strength to explain. "I think he believes I'm just using you as a sex toy and that when you find out, you'll drown yourself in misery."

"And you're not?" House dared to ask, not really sure if he actually wanted to hear her answer.

Cuddy eyes locked with his, but she remained silent, incapable of expressing her thoughts aloud. They stared at each other for a while until, at some point, she bowed her head.

"I got confused," she whispered with a sorry voice.

House was confused, too, not understanding what she meant, or every weird, mixed signal she was sending him.

"Wilson really is your friend, you know!" Cuddy added with a pout.

Suddenly it became clear to him. He sighed in relief and came closer to her.

"He gave you a hard time, didn't he?" he asked, smiling reassuringly.

"I think he's worried about you."

"Cuddy, c'mon! Wilson is the poster child for worry! Worry is his default setting! The day he'll stop worrying is the day we should start worrying ourselves. It's nothing. Don't make a big deal out of it. It's just who he is-"

"That's what I told him."

"What?"

"That it wasn't a big deal," Cuddy replied, unaware of the effect that simple statement triggered in House.

He instantly clenched his jaw and looked away to hide his hurt.

"Great! Everything's fine, then!" he exclaimed, with perfectly faked enthusiasm.

"Yes," she answered, unaware of his sarcasm.

She turned to face the elevator door again and sighed in relief.

"Now that we got that clarified," House said, carrying on with his little game of pretense, "how about we move on to the making out part? Just say the word and I'll stop that elevator-"

"Yeah sure, why not?" Cuddy said, rolling her eyes, not bothering to look at him.

House stretched his arm toward the emergency stop button, bending to the side in front of her to press it. Cuddy widened her eyes in surprise and hastily grabbed his hand before he could reach for it.

"God, House, you're not serious, are you?" she exclaimed, frowning disapprovingly at him.

He looked at her with a slightly disillusioned smile.

"You have no idea!" he replied in a low voice, as if talking to himself.

She opened her mouth to answer but, the elevator came to a halt and the door opened to House's floor. Coincidentally, his team was standing there, waiting for the elevator to arrive. House immediately regained composure in front of his fellows.

"News?" he demanded petulantly.

"The abdomen is swollen," Taub said.

"We were going down to find you," Kutner added to justify their presence here.

"Fever isn't getting better," Thirteen explained. "And she's got abundant metrorrhagia."

House walked out of the elevator and Cuddy blocked the door with her hand to prevent it from closing.

"We need to do the biopsy," Foreman said assertively, interrogating House with his eyes to see if he'd gotten them the green light.

House spun round to face Cuddy, who was still standing in the elevator.

"Biopsy?" he said with an exaggerated, begging pout, tilting his head to the side.

Cuddy sighed heavily and looked him in the eyes, feeling defeated already.

"Ok. But first, do an echo to confirm. Coz you're not going to stick a needle in her abdomen until you get lucky and find something. You've got one shot, House. Are we clear?" she said bossily to hide the fact that she was, in fact, caving.

She released her grasp on the door and took a step back inside the elevator. House looked at her with a smug, victorious smile before turning around to face his team.

"You heard the boss: Let's go!" he shouted to his team as he started pacing down the hallway towards the ICU unit.

All four doctors docilely followed him like disciplined ducklings.

Inside the elevator's car, Cuddy stood, staring pensively ahead, until she realized that she needed to activate the elevator if she ever wanted to go somewhere. She pressed the button to the ground floor and unconsciously her fingers brushed the emergency stop button. She took a deep breath, promptly looked in the opposite direction, and straightened herself up as the elevator began its descent.

A/N

again, thank you to all of you who have been reviewing, and thank you to those of you who've added this story (or me) in their list of favorites- or alert thing! it kind of puts me under pressure because now I don't want to disappoint you…

more of the Ducklings (past and present teams), a big differential and good ol' friends awaiting you in the next chapter...

until then, have a nice day! ~ maya