new chapter: about the next morning, as I told you coz, well, there're magic moments, and moments after...

** CHAPTER 26 **

Cuddy felt a tickling sensation in her neck, first, like the soft touch of a feather on her skin. She moaned in her sleep and squirmed, rolling on her side. Only seconds later, it started again on the corner of her lips and, this time, it felt like the sweet sensation of a tentative kiss. She knew that sensation. Half asleep, she felt a tongue slightly brushing the surface of her lips, trying to make its way inside her mouth. With her eyes still closed, she gave in to that kiss and groped around in the space above her. Her hands came in contact with his face, and it felt rough under her touch.

She caressed his stubble gently and moved her fingertips all over his features like a blind person would have done to read Braille. His lips slid down to her cheek and started to trace soft kisses on her face, her forehead, her eyelids, her cheekbone, and her nose… Then, she felt the gentle touch of those lips trailing off along her neck and down toward her breasts. An arousing sensation awoke her body and she put out her arms in front of her to meet his body.

"Hmm," she sighed, stirring like a cat, as the delightful sensation started pervading her body, from her head down to her toes, sending quivering waves of pleasure down her spine.

Between the velvety sensations of House's kisses on her skin, she heard his familiar voice whisper in her ear.

"Hey, rise and shine! It's time!"

"What time?" she mumbled with a sleepy voice.

"Time for you to go run a hospital, I guess."

Cuddy opened her eyes, gave a quick glance at the clock on the nightstand and when she saw what time it was, she literally sat bolt upright in his bed.

"Oh my God, it's eight!" she gasped, panicked. "House! You were supposed to wake me up early!"

He barely had time to jump to the side, to prevent them from bumping into each other and looked at her with an innocent, self-satisfied smile.

"You were sleeping so well," he stated, pouting mischievously. "Waking you up would've been a crime!"

Her body tensed, and her first reaction was to glare at him. She opened her mouth to protest but, instead, she tilted her head to the side and looked touched for a fleeting while.

"Aww, were you spying on me while I was asleep?" she asked coyly.

House shrugged and rolled his eyes, as if to say it clearly was the dumbest thing to do and his poor attempt at making his romantic gesture look casual literally melted Cuddy. It didn't last more than a few seconds, though, as she soon began to stress again.

"Never mind!" she exclaimed, hopping out of bed. "I have no time for this! Oh God, how am I gonna make it? Do you have any idea how late I'm going to be now? I have to take a shower. I have to get dressed. I have to go to my place and change clothes. Fuck. I won't even have time to take a proper breakfast. Or maybe I'll grab something in the hospital cafeteria then if I can-"

Still seated in bed, House followed her erratic and disorganized movements all around the room, unable to suppress the huge smile on his face. It was like trying to follow the movements of a fly with your eyes: She was panicking on her own, talking to herself, walking around the bed, and occasionally bending over to pick her clothes up on the floor, then getting up and moving to another spot before crouching down again.

He stepped out of bed and walked toward her while she was leaned down to grab one of her shoes. When she got up, she jumped at the sight of him standing just in front of her. He gently seized her by the shoulders and made her stop fidgeting.

"Are you always this hysterical when you wake up?" he asked amused, the tenderness in his eyes impossible to miss.

"I'm not hyste-" she started to protest. But then she registered the hint of teasing mockery in his smile and wiggled to set herself free, holding on to the ball of clothes she'd gathered in her arms. "House! It's really not the time to make jokes! And you should hurry up, too because you're still in your PJs and correct me if I'm wrong but, you do work at the same hospital as I do, right? So why aren't you dressed and ready to leave, eh?"

"I have to take a shower first," he stated with a 'doh' face.

"No. Me first," she answered, ordering more than suggesting.

"Or-" House started, waggling his eyebrows playfully and grabbing her by the waist to yank her close to him, "we could take a shower together."

"You're not serious, right?" she huffed sounding a bit exasperated and twisting in his arms to extricate herself from his embrace. "What is it that you don't understand in the concept of being in a hurry?"

And with that, she left him standing alone in the middle of the room, as she headed into the bathroom to get ready.

House followed her with his eyes and a ghost of a roguish smile flickered across his lips. He waited until he heard the water flow, and a little longer after that, long enough for him to be sure she would be inside the tub. Then, he walked into the bathroom and undressed himself. Once naked, he drew the shower curtain open and stepped under the flowing water. Cuddy was facing the wall and she didn't notice his presence right away, until he wrapped his arms around her waist. She screamed and spun around to face him, one of her hands covering her heart.

"Are you out of your mind?" she said, her voice shaking with fright. "You scared the hell out of me!"

He shot her a boyish look and came closer, reaching out for her waist again. She pulled herself together and the Dean of Medicine in her tried to glare angrily at him, but he didn't fail to notice how the woman glanced down at his manhood with unmistakable interest.

"House! What are you doing?" she protested, struggling unconvincingly to free herself from his arms.

"I'm trying to figure out the concept of being in a hurry," he answered, leaning down to her face to kiss her.

# # # # #

Their naughty shower had been a weakness that she should never have allowed herself to indulge. A delightful and sweet one, indeed, but she'd never been so late and because of it, Cuddy was feeling terribly jittery. When she was finished getting ready, House showed her to the door and she was in such a rush, she first started to leave without even taking time to look back or say something. He grabbed her arm and made her stop on his doorstep. She turned around to face him, shooting him an impatient look, and he repressed the feeling of disappointment and guilt that her sudden indifference made him feel because he couldn't disregard the fact that he was actually responsible for her being so wrapped up in the urgency of going to work.

"Hey!" he said when their eyes met, his voice low and unsure. "Have a nice day."

He bit his bottom lip and sent her a longing stare that gathered all the unspoken words he wished he could speak if he had to guts to say them aloud. Despite feeling distressed because of her lateness, Cuddy took a small step back inside and came close to him. She lifted her hand up to his face and, with a smile, softly caressed his cheek, staring intensely back at him.

"I will," she answered and, suddenly in a hurry again, she left practically running out of his apartment.

It was almost nine in the morning, but House was not the hurrying kind of man. He watched her leave with a dreamy smile and got back inside where he blithely took all the time that he needed to enjoy a real, nice breakfast.

# # # # #

When he finally arrived at the hospital, House approached the nurse's station in the entrance lobby and leaned over the counter to take his messages and mail.

"Barely ten in the morning, wow, you fell out of bed this morning!" exclaimed the familiar, teasing voice of Wilson behind him.

House straightened up and turned around to face his friend who, unlike him, was already wearing his coat and carrying some patients' files with him. House greeted him with a smirk and absentmindedly started flipping through his mail.

"It's not that early," he answered casually, not making eye contact. "I could've come later if I wanted to."

"And what good reason would you have for that?" Wilson asked coming closer and his voice becoming low.

House shot his head up and stared at him in silence. Looking conspicuously around him, he suddenly bent down to Wilson's face, as if he were about to share a secret. Wilson stretched his neck, all ears. But, without a warning, House bolted up again and turned his head away from his friend's face.

"Cuddy's not using me to have a baby," he said matter-of-factly. "Although if she were, we'd definitely be doing one hell of a great job just trying."

Wilson's eyes widened in befuddlement.

"Are you talking to me or is it another burst of your insane thoughts expressed aloud?" he said sarcastically.

"Ha. Funny that you're mentioning insane thoughts, here-"

"Really, why?"

"Because-" House replied, pointing an accusing finger at him and trying to hold back the smile that was irrepressibly forming on the corner his lips, "you couldn't help yourself, could you?"

"What did I do now?"

"Meddle of course! What else could it be?" House exclaimed extravagantly. "You couldn't help sharing your insights about how you think things should be! First with Cuddy, then with me. And wow, you almost did a perfect job at screwing it all up."

Wilson glowered at House, looking aggravated, but then he realized what his friend was implying, and his mouth dropped open in shock.

"Wait! You mean, you and Cuddy are serious?" he said, coming closer and lowering his voice. "You mean, you two are, like, a couple?"

House rolled his eyes and flinched, faking disgust.

"Jesus! Why do you have this irrepressible need to mate every male and female together? It's becoming really annoying, you know! FYI, none of this has to do with me and Cuddy being a couple or anything like that! It's just, just-"

"Just what?" Wilson asked unaware that House had suddenly become distracted and was now staring in the opposite direction toward the entrance door.

"You're late!" House exclaimed playfully.

Wilson turned his head and spotted Cuddy, who was hastily crossing the hospital's lobby, a look of discomfiture on her face and looking down at her feet as she was desperately trying to avoid House's gaze in the process.

"What is it?" House added derisively, shouting to all present. "Did you think about me in the shower this morning? Coz I thought about you, you know, and it definitely turned it into a long shower, longer than usual that is."

Cuddy hurried to the nurse's station and smiled embarrassingly at Wilson as she passed by him before shooting House one of her famous warning glares. She greeted the nurse that handed her messages and mail over to her with a perfunctory smile and promptly turned on her heel, heading straight toward the clinic without a comment. Before she reached the door, she heard House's voice calling out again.

"By the way, I love what you're wearing today. Good choice!" he chanted teasingly.

Cuddy briefly stopped to take a deep breath and then, she pushed the clinic door open, her back turned to him so that he wouldn't see the little girly smile that had formed on her face at his comment.

"Are you insane?" Wilson whispered to House as soon as Cuddy's silhouette disappeared from sight. "How can you embarrass her like that? Now everybody will know about you and-"

"I say things like that to her all the time," House answered, cutting him short. "Always have, always will. Only if I stopped would it start raising suspicions."

"But… It means that… what you've just said is… true?"

"Yep! But only you and I know that. And Cuddy. But something tells me she's not one to break out that kind of news to her staff."

Wilson raised his eyebrows and slightly nodded before looking at his friend inquiringly.

"So, a shower… this morning?"

House retrieved his cane from the desk counter and smiled to his friend.

"Forget it. That? You're not going to know!" he said, promptly limping away toward the elevator as Wilson, dumbstruck, stood stock-still by the nurse's station.

A/N

Hi everyone! I hope you're all feeling great today! THANK YOU FOR THE REALLY WONDERFUL AND TOUCHING REVIEWS, they mean so much to me... each one of them! So again: thank you!

now, what to expect in the next chapter? Hah, different places, different times, different state of minds... that's all I can say...

now to 'Huddles777' AND everyone who, most legitimately, asked themselves the question: "how did House go from getting out of bed, putting his jeans and T-shirt on one minute to being seated on the bed bare chested and just wearing his PJs the next?"

well, what can I say? since, on top of that, House also had time to cook Cuddy an omelet in the meantime, this must be because she took a very long shower! :-D

have a nice day! ~ maya

ps (to Cosette) : wow! mes super pouvoirs magiques ont frappé! bon, je vais pas faire semblant: je suis hyper flattée de "mériter" un troisième commentaire... et de fait, je me dois d'y apporter une réponse: pour l'anglais c'est simple, toutes les occasions sont bonnes pour m'en imprégner, ce qui signifie, les films, toujours en VO, idem pour les séries, et puis aussi des livres en anglais, plus quelques chats online avec des amis américains... ensuite, écrire pour moi c'est comme une respiration, je le fais sans y penser. la langue importe peu, c'est juste une question de "musique" et de "rythme" des mots. il faut que je l'entende, il faut que ça "sonne" juste à mon oreille (oui, c'est un truc auquel je suis très sensible vu que je fais de la musique...) autrement et évidemment pour les impasses, ben j'ai le dico! comme tout le monde! :)