It was after midnight when Kelly received the text.

x- Awake? -x

x- Yep. Call me. -x

"Are you still at the hospital?" She didn't bother to say "hello".

"No, I'm home." He'd just pulled up, actually, and was still in the car with the heat blasting. House sighed heavily. "Sorry I didn't bring your car back."

"It's okay. But you should have come over; I wasn't sleeping."

"Yeah... Well..."

"Tough night?" she broached gently.

"It was fine. I just need to get some sleep."

He was a terrible lier when he was tired. "Okay. You going in tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, eventually."

"I need you to come get me and take me with you. You never wrote me that prescription for my thyroid medication, and I realized I'm completely out."

"You might not need it anymore. They should have checked for that."

"Well, if they did, they didn't tell me."

"Okay. I'll be by at -"

"House, I think you should come over now."

A pause. "I really just need -"

"Whatever you need you can get right here. Just grab some stuff and come over. Okay?"

He thought that he needed morphine, to block the pain and the memories. But when he arrived at her hotel room he realized he'd been wrong.

"Greg, you're drenched. Don't you own an umbrella?"

House hadn't bothered to change his clothes, but had simply followed her instructions to pack a bag and get there. He shook his head miserably. "My leg hurts," he blurted, needing to express something of how he felt but not able or willing to identify that it was really his mind and his heart that were in pain.

If she had been mildly concerned before she was truly worried now. She pulled over a chair and ordered him to sit, untying his running shoes and pulling them off. "I'll run you a bath," she said as he followed her further into the suite.

"Wow," he murmured. "For someone who's unemployed..." He had known the hotel was upscale, but looking around he was sure this must have been one of the most expensive rooms.

"I mentioned my parents are well off, didn't I?" she asked while she led him into the elaborate bathroom and started to prepare the large jacuzzi tub. "Well, that may have been an understatement. My dad's loaded. And I'm not technically unemployed, because I'm kind of the CEO of the organization the heads the shelter I lived at and the others I started."

"Next time I try to buy you a meal, remind me of this conversation," House quipped, pulling off his tee-shirt.

"Don't lock the door; I'll bring you some tea," she told him, excusing herself without waiting for a reply.

He didn't hear her return, the sound of the jets masking her approach. But even through closed eyes he felt the lights dim and he lifted his head.

"Here's your tea." She set it on the side of the tub, then went about collecting his wet clothes and hanging them up to dry, conscious of him watching her. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah."

She met his gaze to see if he was telling the truth, and decided that he was. "Good." She piled some towels in his reach. "Soak as long as you want. I'm going to go read for awhile."

"No, stay." For a second he didn't know where the voice had come from. Of course, it was his own.

"You're naked," she pointed out with a sassy smile.

With that, he could feel the clouds start to dissolve. "So? I've seen you naked."

"No, you haven't," she protested.

"Uh, yeah, I have. You weren't THAT out of it; don't pretend you can't remember."

Feeling the heat rise to her face, she hefted his overnight bag onto the large counter and started to paw through it, saying nothing. She of course DID remember that first day in the shower, how discreet and gentle he'd been as he'd dried her off and helped her dress. "I'll hang up your clothes for tomorrow. Did you bring dry shoes?"

"I left them in the car," he told her, wickedly delighted that he'd made her blush. Then his volume dropped. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, by the way."

She knew right away what he meant by that statement. "One more word, Greg House, and I'm sending you back home."

"Fine, fine." He laid back again and closed his eyes. "What's room service like in this place? I didn't get dinner."

"I'm pretty sure the kitchen is closed... although everyone's been very helpful here since they realized my credit card has no limits."

"I feel I should point out that I liked you BEFORE I knew you had money."

"Whatever. I'll order take-out from somewhere."

Less than an hour later House was bathed and dressed and fed and almost delirious with exhaustion. He felt foolish being tucked in but she insisted.

Kelly set his phone on the bedside table. "Do you need anything else?" She pulled the covers up around his chin and smoothed his spiky hair, which was still damp. "I have your pills right here; I found them in your pocket. Do you need water?"

"I'm fine. Just come to bed."

"You wish," she said with a smile. "This suite has two bedrooms. You get this one all to yourself."

"Why?"

His voice revealed nothing, his gaze unwavering despite his fatigue, and while the answer should have been simple it left her flustered. "Because, silly, I'm all better now. You cured me, remember? I don't need you anymore."

Was that disappointment in his eyes?

"Then why am I here?"

This caught her completely off guard. It was a good question. "Because..." She grasped for the words. "Because it seemed like you needed me." She didn't know what to expect. Whether he would deny it, or make a joke. She certainly hadn't expected acceptance.

"Okay. So...come to bed. Please."

She looked at him incredulously. Such a thinly veiled admission could only mean one thing. "My God, Greg, what happened today? Just tell me."

"Nothing." House immediately shut down. "I'm really tired," was his excuse.

Kelly shook her head but gave in; she could recognize that he had closed himself off. "Okay. Tomorrow, then."

"Fine," he agreed dismissively just to get her to stop asking questions.

Leaving his side, she began turning out the lights around the suite and wondering what to do. But in the end she called out "good night" and made her way to the second bedroom where she crawled under the covers before she could stop herself.

20 minutes later the text came.

x- I said "please" -x

She laughed aloud, and knew that he heard. And yet she didn't move. Instead she turned off her phone completely and tucked it under her pillow.

He wasn't the only one who was shutting down. In the short time it had taken for him to reach out to her again, the reality had settled in that in two days she would be leaving this place. And Kelly knew far better than House the dangers of caring and then losing.

Yet 10 minutes later it was all forgotten. He was switching on her lamp. "I saw Wilson today."

Kelly patted the bed beside her. "Tell me about him."

And House did.