Hi everybody!
new chapter, where it's all about House and Cuddy nonchalantly relaxing at "home"… or is it? ;)

** CHAPTER 68 **

Once they arrived at his place, they both tossed their coats off and got rid of their shoes, before slouching down in the couch and snuggling up in each other's arms with a rush that felt so natural they'd now renounced to question it rationally.

Cuddy closed her eyes and moaned in delight, savoring the appeasing effect of their joined stillness, only cradled by the waving up and down movement of House's chest underneath her cheek. But after a few minutes, he wiggled cautiously to free one of his hands, and took the phone next to him to call the pizza delivery service.

"One giant pepperoni and cheese, please," he ordered into the receiver.

Cuddy instantly tried to straighten up and looked up at him, opening her mouth to speak but he promptly put his forefinger on her lips to shush her, tightening his grasp around her to keep her close to his chest.

"Oh and, throw in a small one with vegetables, too … That's right, vegetables!" he added, in mock disgust.

Cuddy thwacked him on the side of his arm then, and House looked down at her, flashing a mischievous grin at her.

"Ouch!... and I mean vegetables only. Yeah, you heard me: No cheese… I know!" he exclaimed, theatrically. Cuddy shook her head and sighed, but an amused smile was drawn on her lips. "But what can you do? … Hell, no! That one's not for me … Who would eat that, right? … Yeah, the skinny lady… Oh, but believe me, not so skinny… Ha, tell me about it!"

Cuddy looked up at him and frowned, as if saying: "Hey! I'm right here in case you haven't noticed!" but House conspicuously ignored her and he kept exchanging small talks over the phone for a while longer before hanging up and turning his head to look at her.

"You know Gianni secretly hates you," he said, beaming. "I think he's convinced you hold some kind of grudge against his country or something-"

"That's funny, I was under the impression that you two weren't talking about his country at all," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

"And yet, it was all about the breathtaking beauty of curvaceous hills and valleys," House said, smiling roguishly at her.

"Yeah, right!" she said, rolling her eyes.

"I've never been to Italy," she added after a beat.

"Oh, really?" House mocked playfully. "Not even for one of those international supposedly medical conventions you sometimes pretend to attend?"

"I don't pretend, I-" Cuddy started, but stopped when she saw House's teasing look, enjoying her touchy reaction.

"I never went there for a conference or anything anyway, but actually," she added, her voice becoming low, "I wasn't talking about work-"

House straightened up and arched his eyebrows incredulously.

"Are you saying-" A genuine hopeful smile flickered on his lips. "You'd want us to take a trip together? I mean, aside from me chasing you down in Boston."

"Shut up!" she said, and lowered her gaze, sulking.

"Seriously?" He didn't give up and held her chin up with his finger, forcing her to look up at him again. "You know I could take you to your words," he said softly.

Cuddy's eyes instantly glittered with keen expectations.

"Really?"

"I don't know. I'd have to get used to the idea first. I mean, you, being on my jock, twenty-four-seven, in faraway, romantic places that'd get you insatiably horny, with no one to disturb us? Hmm…" House tantalized, rubbing his cheek as he faked to give it a thought, but barely hiding his smile.

Cuddy stared at him, struck dumb with bliss for a moment and then, she sighed and nuzzled his chest.

"That'd be great, wouldn't it?" she whispered. "But, unfortunately, that's just wishful thinking."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, right now, we can't go anywhere anyway. There're too many things to deal with here, and-" She averted her gaze, and House squinted at her.

"Relax," he said, in a soft voice.

"I'm relaxed," she protested, in a tone that was saying the exact opposite.

"Not really," he simply stated. "But I know something that will relax you-"

"House! Pizza guy is going to be here any minute now. We don't have time to-"

He looked down at her and burst out laughing, completely won over by the way she'd just very seriously contemplated them possibly having sex.

"I'm not talking about that, you sex maniac!"

"Oh. Ok then," she answered, pursing her lips to hide her slight disappointment.

She looked so adorable. Truth be said, if the pizza delivery guy weren't actually going to show up soon, House would have made love to her right there and then. He sighed and sat up straight, pushing her gently aside in the process.

"I know a secret that you don't-"

"And that's supposed to relax me how?" she said, sounding already worried.

She shifted on the couch to face him and furrowed her brow. He smiled reassuringly at her.

"Trust me, it will!" he said, winking mischievously at her. "I'll tell you what it is, but only if you return me the favor-"

"What favor?" she instantly asked, suspiciously.

"I thought you would've asked about the secret first."

Cuddy paused and squinted at him. He could see he'd definitely hooked her by the way she seemed to already weigh her options.

"Nuh-uh" she said after a while, with a bit of playfulness in her voice, "I know a lot of secrets too and odds are I already know yours, if there is one anyway. So, if you wanna bargain with me, tell me your price first."

She held her chin up, defiantly, and House smiled victoriously at her. He'd just gotten her interested enough in finding out to divert her mind from her current stress and it was all he was looking for.

"One hour of relaxing massage," he stated.

"Your leg hurts?" she instantly asked, worry resurfacing in her tone.

"Will you forget about my leg for a minute?" he faked to protest. "Who says I'm talking about massaging my leg, anyway?"

"Oh-ho, right. Thirty minutes, then," she countered, without missing a beat. "I don't know if your secret is worth an entire hour."

"Nuh-uh, one hour, non-negotiable. You don't get to decide the worthiness of my shocking news!" he said, exaggeratedly widening his eyes.

"What guarantee do I have that this is not going to be a bubble burst in the end?"

"Because I said, return me the favor. So, it's a win-win: You get both the secret and the massage!"

Cuddy narrowed her eyes and scratched her chin.

"Tell me, why do I have the feeling that you're trying to screw with me?" she asked.

"Stop trying to rationalize. I'm the one doing that, remember? You only bask in the utopia of saving the word-"

She smiled softly.

"I thought, actually, that was the opposite-"

"Whatever!" he interrupted her. "We're just making a deal: I'm telling you a secret and you give me a massage in return. You should just enjoy the fact that I'm willing to throw in a free one for you, too, instead of wondering if I have an agenda."

"Well, I know you," she said matter-of-factly.

"Ok, I do have an agenda! I want you to relax. And if you must know, I'm not doing that for you, at all. My only goal is me and my personal comfort. I don't want to sleep next to a body stiff as a stick, that's all."

She stared at him with a fond gaze, melting at the vision of his sulky face, trying to hide his genuine care for her and her well-being in such an irresistible way. That was in moments like this one that Cuddy knew without the shadow of a doubt why she was in love with him.

"Give me your feet!" House commanded, putting her legs together and pulling them on his lap.

"You want me to massage your feet?" she exclaimed with slight bafflement, indirectly referring to the reciprocity of their deal.

"No, I want to massage yours. In case you haven't noticed, these are your feet there, and here, are my hands," he said teasingly, grabbing one of her bare feet in his hands and starting to rub the sole with his thumbs.

Cuddy immediately threw her head back on the couch's backrest and sucked in a sharp breath, squeezing a lascivious moan in her throat. As she closed her eyes, turning her focus inward to enjoy the delightful sensation fully, House studied her fondly, and continued to apply gentle pressures on her sore feet. He was already feeling her entire leg undeniably mellowing out under his touch.

"So, what's this infamous secret you wanna share?" she asked, with her eyes still closed, smiling at nothing in particular, just relishing the relaxing sensation of his gentle rubbing.

"You didn't tell me you'd hired another OB-Gyn," House said then.

Cuddy's eyes popped open, and she turned her head to look at him, startled.

"This is about me?" she asked, sounding as much upset as she seemed to be surprised.

"What?"

House let go of his grab and stared at her, intrigued, and a little bit panicked. Why would she assume that the mention of an OB-Gyn was related to her?

Cuddy sighed heavily.

"House, I'm not pregnant," she said right away, registering his unnerved gaze with an involuntary pang of sadness.

He continued to stare at her, waiting for her complete, rational, explanation to make sense.

"I-" she began, stammering embarrassingly. "I just arranged an appointment with her to… well, because-"

"Because what?"

"I am considering quitting the pill … to get an IUD," she quickly elaborated, before House's eyes would pop out of his orbits. "I've wanted to do that for a while now, but these past weeks … I was-"

"Distracted?" he suggested, smiling, as he seemed to have loosened up again at the obvious harmless, even touching, misreading of the whole situation.

"Gruber's never really been my regular gynecologist," Cuddy simply stated, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at the evocation of a name she'd rather forget about. "I didn't feel like making an appointment with him for that-"

Without a word, House took one of her feet back inside his hands and began to massage it softly, again. Cuddy acknowledged that as a sign that he'd read underneath her words and was not going to ask for more details. She stared at him with a grateful, almost longing gaze and tilted her head backward again to enjoy the sensation of his skillful hands unwinding her body so delightfully.

"I trust Erin," she said huskily, after a fleeting moment of perfect silence. "Dr Samberg, I mean. She's good, you know." She straightened up, sticking out her chest with pride a little, then added, "I stole her to Johns Hopkins eight months ago."

"Yeah, good for you!" House said, faking indifference but, he couldn't contain his proud smile either.

"She seems like a nice girl. You know her?"

"Me? No, not yet. But I know someone who does." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Ooh!" Cuddy exclaimed, suddenly understanding the implied comment, "Who? Come on, do tell!"

"Um, I don't know … Let's say they have babies one day … how would we call them … Gynoncologists?" His smile broadened and he waited for her to react, which she did almost instantly.

"What, Wilson?" she exclaimed, her jaw dropping at the revelation.

House was still conscientiously massaging her feet and he nodded his silent approval.

"Wilson and Erin? Wow, that's-"

"Incredible?"

"No, I mean, great!" She paused for a second and studied House's impassible face. "Coz, it's… great, right?"

"Can't tell. Wilson said he hasn't banged her yet!" House answered, deadpan.

"Really? Damn, too bad, considering that's exactly what I was referring to!" she said, without missing a beat, and rolling her eyes at him.

"Oh, you meant the fact that he's over cut-throat bitch, now?"

Cuddy shook her head.

"Yes. Not sure I'd have phrased it like that, though."

"They just met," House commented, with an almost jealous, defensive edge to his voice.

Cuddy didn't fail to register his visible aggravation and it brought a fond smile on her lips.

"Oh, come on!" she chuckled. "There's a beginning to everything. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but the important thing is that Wilson is finally trying to move on. And we should be happy for him that he is, don't you think?"

House pouted and didn't answer. Cuddy freed her feet from his grab, and she repositioned herself on the couch to come closer to him. He let her approach and she gently caressed his stubble with the tip of her fingers and then, teasingly smiled at him.

"This is not about sharing a secret to relax me," she said, non-judgmentally, but with sparkles of mischief in her eyes. "You are the one stressed over that news. You're afraid you're gonna lose Wilson if he starts seeing another woman, just like you were scared when he first started to date Amber. And you wanted to bring this up because you needed someone to talk about it."

House remained silent and simply rolled his eyes in disapprobation.

"House," Cuddy said softly, coming closer to his face. "Wilson is your friend and no woman is going to change that."

He let out an indistinct grunt of protestation, which made her chuckle irresistibly.

"Look at us. We're together and it didn't change your friendship with Wilson," she went on, with a purring voice.

"Yes, it did."

She pulled back a little and studied him, surprised.

"What do you mean, it did?" she asked, puzzled.

"I mean-" He took a deep breath and brushed her jawline with his fingers gently. "I want to be with you … not Wilson-"

"But you want to be with Wilson, too," she objected. "You can be with Wilson, too. That hasn't changed!"

"Maybe. But perhaps I want to be with you more." He looked away, almost embarrassed.

His uneasiness as he made his confession made Cuddy literally melt with tenderness.

"Aww!" she said, with a fond smile. "And that's what worries you? You're afraid you're going to grow away from Wilson because of me?"

House stared intensely at her, not really knowing what to answer, or how to answer it. When he was looking at her like he was in that instant, it made him almost painfully aware that he'd now reached a terrifying point where he was incapable of imagining his life without her. Did he really have to tell her that? Or were her eyes trying to tell him that she already knew?

Cuddy slowly leaned down to his face and kissed him, softly. He slid his hand behind her head, and cupped the nape of her neck, pulling her closer. A yearning moan escaped her lips, and she deepened their kiss, her tongue searching for his, as her hands tugged at his tee-shirt.

Just when he was about to start exploring the voluptuous curves she was rubbing against him by slipping his hand underneath her shirt, the doorbell chimed and they both instantly froze, before swiftly removing their hands away from whatever dangerously slippery places they were about to explore.

"Pizza guy!" Cuddy said breathless, jumping out of the sofa. "Go grab something to drink, I'll get it."

She walked round the couch and headed to the door, while House got up too and went to the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of wine for her and some beers for him. He was fumbling into one of the drawers to find the bottle opener when he heard Cuddy call him.

He didn't notice the change in her tone right away. He stepped out of the kitchen to ask what she wanted but instantly stumbled, almost losing balance when he saw her, with an incredulous face, staring at him with a confused gaze.

"This, err… woman says she apparently forgot something in your bedroom last time she was here," she said wryly.

At the threshold just next to her, House saw Candy, the woman he'd called to massage his sore thigh after Cuddy had left him. She was smiling sheepishly at him, and by the way she was dressed and made up, there was not the slightest doubt about her occupations to challenge a rational and witty brain like Cuddy's.

House closed his eyes briefly and the thudding, quickening sound of his heartbeats started echoing loudly into his ears, making him feel dizzy.

(…)

A/N

I know I didn't exactly update at a very regular pace lately, or I should say these past months… so maybe you'd need to have a look at Chapter 49 to help you remember who the girl who just showed up at the door, visibly threatening to ruin a perfect Huddy moment, is…

so, what do you think is going to happen next? good things?... bad things?

oh, and just so you know, I'm already working on the next chapter, so I won't leave you hang wondering about what comes next for too long.

Huddy bliss to you, all through the summer up until September! ~ maya