damelola

Title: No Children (part 15 of 16)
Author: Lola Lauriestein
Rating: R for a little action at last !
Pairing: Cuddy/OMC, House/Cuddy, House, Cuddy, Wilson friendship.
Spoilers: Everything up to Wilson's Heart, takes place not long after.
Disclaimer: not-not-mine, House et al belong to David Shore, Fox etc. The song "No Children" is by The Mountain Goats, they are awesome and you should check them out.

Summary: Cuddy has a new boyfriend, House has a problem and Wilson is grieving. As matters go from bad to worse, will they be able to help each other as they once did? Friendships under strain and tough decisions ahoy. We are now approaching Huddy territory, fasten your seatbelts.

With thanks to my awesome beta,

lucyvanflick! Trust me guys, this would be a mess without her.

Your feedback so far has been constructive and very much appreciated. Thank you so much, I hope you enjoy these last few chapters. Please feel free to tell me what you loved (or hated!)

Chapter 15

“You are coming down with me

Hand in unlovable hand”

Cuddy collapsed against his half-naked body, the last few sparks of her orgasm firing powerfully through her body. It didn’t strike her as odd that she was straddling House on his beat-up sofa, her skirt hiked around her waist. It didn’t quite register for her that her panties had been torn off and thrown carelessly in their haste to bring their bodies together. For once, she didn’t give a damn about the details because she’d just had really incredible sex.

House, for his part, was just glad that she didn’t end up killing him in the process. He didn’t mind anyway because it would have been a hell of a way to go. His heart rate was somewhere in the range that would have a cardiologist telling him off, but it was entirely worth it.

Much as he tried to shut his brain up, he couldn’t help but notice how nice this part felt, too: Cuddy’s warm skin against his own, her delicate but strong arms wound around his neck. She was resting more against his left thigh than his right; even in her addled state she was considerate of him. She was pretty far gone if her enthusiastic response a few moments ago was any indication.

House couldn’t hide his smug grin as he mentally replayed exactly how well he had gotten her off.

“Wow, Cuddy, that was…”

“Shut up!” Her words were practically a groan. “Do not spoil this moment by comparing me to a hooker or whatever image you came up with.”

She eased herself from his lap, mourning the loss of contact from the very second she broke it. Pulling the throw from the back of the sofa, she dropped it lazily over them, instinctively curling into his side. She was both shocked and pleased when he put his arm around her and pulled her closer into an embrace of sorts. Who would have thought the prickly Greg House cuddled after sex? He certainly didn’t the last time around.

“I was only going to say that it was amazing.”

There was no petulance in his tone, just a quiet statement of fact. Cuddy felt a little bad for misjudging him, only to have her suspicions confirmed moments later.

“Though since you mention it, there was an almost professional standard to your work.”

Unwilling to move from the perfection of her current spot, she settled for bashing him lightly with her head.

“We should move. This can’t be good for your leg. Don’t you need Vicodin?”

Doctorly concern was kicking in as her buzz softly faded.

“Enabler! I’m on a reduced dose, not supposed to take my next lot for another hour.” Mouth agape in pretend shock, House clearly his usual self, sex or no amazing sex.

At that Cuddy sat bolt upright, not caring that her naked breasts were freed from the confines of the blanket. This was hardly the time for modesty.

“Are you telling me that you agreed to have your medication regulated? After years of bitching and moaning and almost going to jail? After almost sending me to jail? What the hell does Dr. Ramirez have on you?”

He met her eyes with a steely glare.

“She’s in love with me, wants me to get all better so we can live happily ever after.”

“Ana is a lesbian.”

“Until she met me, maybe. Anyway, you’re the one who’s been pimping me the whole deal. Don’t you know what it actually involved?”

Cuddy drew the blanket around herself, feeling the sudden chill in the room.

“I assumed you were doing the minimum – a few exercises, maybe a counseling session if you didn’t get thrown out. I happen to know the physical therapy alone is excruciating. I thought you’d postpone the drug reduction for a few months, if not forever.”

House folded his arms defensively across his bare chest.

“You never did have any faith in me.”

His words stung her more than she wanted to believe. How could he accuse her of that, of all things?

“I have always kept faith in you, even when you’ve given me every reason not to. I was just surprised you were doing the full program from the start.”

He looked tired all of a sudden, the endorphins that had been easing his pain must be fading by now. Rubbing at his eyes, he let the confrontation slip away from him.

“I don’t want to fight. Just for once, I want to not have to fight. I’m trying. I’m making no promises, so don’t give me all your expectations. This is what it is. Right now, I want to go to bed.”

Cuddy realized she had a chance to recapture the moment she had almost spoiled with her disbelief.

“Want me to come with you?” The smile she used on him was unfairly seductive.

He nodded in assent, grateful that he didn’t have to ask for her help. There was no way his protesting thigh was about to let him take more than one step unaided. They were almost at his bedroom door, Cuddy propping him up as they went, when he chose to speak again.

“So you know Ramirez likes chicks, huh? Please tell me you know from personal experience. Hell, even if you don’t, make it up for my bedtime story.”

The mildly lecherous look he gave her as they stumbled naked into his bed was enough to make her laugh out loud. House would always be House, and for all her frustrations, it was exactly how Cuddy liked him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cuddy rearranged the few sparse items on her desk out of boredom. Predictably, House was screwing with her by taking forever and a day to respond to her page. He was probably waiting behind the clinic desk, waiting for her to give up and start on something else, before he would make an appearance. Just as she was considering replies to the last few emails she had received, he came barreling through her office door, not bothering to close it behind him.

He looked good, standing there in a rumpled red t-shirt and dark jeans. God knew where his blazer - the one concession to work attire - had gone. Cuddy hoped some obnoxious patient had vomited on it, just to teach House a lesson. Whatever the reason, she was grateful for the chance to observe the contours of his well-defined arms. Thoughts like those she quickly dismissed, especially since they were most of the reason she had paged him to her office. Before she could launch into her carefully prepared speech, he began one of his own.

“I assume you summoned me either to tell me ‘This can never happen again’ or to tell me the exhaustive list of rules you’ve compiled because we both know it’s going to happen again. Which one is it?”

That deflated her; she snapped her mouth closed and pouted at him a little. For House, she had an array of facial expressions, and she could feel the one that just screamed ”Busted!” on her face right then.

“So you were aiming for the former but knew it would be the latter. Interesting.” He made no effort to hide his smug grin.

Flustered again by his insight, Cuddy tried to regain the upper hand she had once been so adept at maintaining.

“It’s worth… exploring. And of course, there would have to be some rules. You’re bad enough most of the time without thinking you can do what you want because you’re sleeping with the boss.”

She caught him unawares with that much honesty, but he recovered quickly.

“Well, in fairness, the whole hospital already thinks that’s why I can do pretty much whatever I want.”

Rolling her eyes, she attempted to get the conversation back on track.

“As I was saying…”

“Yeah, yeah, I can guess. No gossiping, no asking for favors, no sex at work. All the usual, boring stuff.”

She sat back in her chair, relaxing at the prospect of House taking her seriously for once.

“Hardly unreasonable. I don’t know what you expect from… us, but I’d like to at least have a repeat of last night. You don’t blab to the entire hospital, although I’ve accepted that you’ll tell Wilson, and just maybe I won’t kill you in your sleep.”

He laughed at that. Not a belly laugh, but the short snappish one she’d forgotten he possessed.

“I’ll behave, Cuddy, if it means regular trips to your pleasure portal.”

The wink that accompanied his reply was enough to make her laugh as well. One of these days, she might even get him to stop using ludicrous words to describe her assets, but she wouldn’t bet her life on it.

“Don’t behave too much, or I won’t have an excuse to spank you, now will I?”

His eyes went saucer-wide at that little remark. It was gratifying to know she hasn’t lost her ability to shock him.

“Now get out of my office as some of us plan on doing some work in the next six hours. You have a patient but try not to break any equipment, or you know, any laws today if you can avoid it.”

Cuddy could have no inkling that in five hours she’d be chasing him down a corridor, screaming at him for breaking the portable CT scanner just to prove a point to his whiny patient. For the moment, she was content to smile at him and wonder how soon she could have him in her bed. All of a sudden, her evening looked remarkably clear.

He left with a parting shot about her ass, as much for her benefit as for any eavesdroppers in the clinic. She supposed it would be more suspicious if he started acting responsibly for a change. Cuddy also assumed that she must be approaching certifiable status to have slept with House and worse still, be looking forward to doing it again.

The weird part was that she didn’t feel anxious or worried like she usually did when doing something so unusual. In fact, like one of House’s crackpot ideas, this whole ’thing” between them might actually be crazy enough to work.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2
Chapter 3, Chapter 4
Chapter 5, Chapter 6
Chapter 7, Chapter 8
Chapter 9, Chapter 10
Chapter 11, Chapter 12
Chapter 13, Chapter 14