House was alone in his office, his eyes closed as he listened to a rare piece of Rolling Stones vinyl. Lying on his ottoman chair he Mất tích himself in the music. Out of the blue, the record stopped. House opened his eyes to find Cuddy standing there, looking out of the window he noticed it was late; the lights were turned off with just the glare of the corridor lights providing a soft glow on Cuddy’s legs, which he started his gaze at before moving slowly up to her ngọc lục bảo green eyes staring down at him.

“What are bạn still doing here?” Cuddy pondered as she folded her arms. House picked himself up and sat upright, allowing for Cuddy to sit down on the footrest.

“What time is it?” House watched as Cuddy slowly sat down, like a feather falling from up high.

“Your team is still busy doing tests. You’re patient is still sick, which would make it eight-thirty at night.” Cuddy let out a soft sigh; the atmosphere was tense; who would cave first?

“We haven’t really, talked about last night.” Cuddy spoke in an assertive voice, concealing her feelings.

“Did it…mean anything to you?” Cuddy voice was filled with worry, and hope.

House broke his gaze with Cuddy, before he grabbed his cane and moved to his bàn chair.

“Do bạn want it to mean something?” House held his cards close to his chest, even though Cuddy was hiển thị him hers.

“I can’t do this. I don’t want to go all in, and lose everything.” Cuddy sounded genuinely invested in this relationship, making House re-consider his position.

Cuddy turned to walk away from him, when House stood up and grabbed her arm. Stunned bởi his forwardness, Cuddy looked back at him and gasped lightly as House pulled her in close.

“I don’t want bạn to think that I don’t care…I do.” House let go of the ball and chain he had been dragging behind him for years, and felt better for it. Cuddy relaxed, and stepped in closer to him.

“We want to be together, but we can’t.” Cuddy đã đưa ý kiến this with regret; she knew how big of a step it was for them both to admit their feelings after so long.

“I just said-“

“How we both feel, what we both want, but not now…I’m sorry.”

House released his grip on her arm as she left, brushing a tear from her face.

House stood there in dis-belief. Had he just opened up his locked an toàn, két an toàn of feelings, only to be dismissed anyway? He knew they both would have trouble feeling this way, but he didn’t expect Cuddy to be the one to stop it.

*

Cuddy opened the door to her office, then she made her way to the seating to the side. Collapsing into the chair, she curled over as she thought about what happened last night to what could have happened if she didn’t just slam down on the brakes. Dabbing away her tears, she stood back up, grabbed her áo, áo khoác and cặp, vali, cặp tài liệu before leaving.


When she crossed the car park area, she looked up at the full moon shining amongst the stars. Simple things like this made her smile, something that she rarely had the chance to do anymore.

Opening her car door, and sliding delicately in, she put her hands on the wheel and looked off to the distance in deep thought. Without a một giây of hesitation she started the car up, and began driving home.

*

House waited, until the sound of heavy rain hitting the window of his office made him grab his áo khoác and leave.

Cuddy arrived home, turned on the hallway light before slipping off her heels and taking her áo khoác off. Making her way to the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of wine. Before making her way to the living room, she decided to bring the bottle with her.

House drove halfway to his home, before he made a sharp turn, in the opposite direction towards Cuddy’s trang chủ instead.

Cuddy was curled up underneath a blanket in her living room. She removed her make-up and had changed into a baggy t-shirt, with pyjama pants. Sitting in silence, trying to clear all the things she had been through in her hectic day. Feeling numb, annoyed with herself.

House pulled up at Cuddy’s home, this time he never second-guessed what he was going to do. Before he could even knock on the door, Cuddy answered.

“I hoped it was you.” The rain carried on falling, with bouts of rumbling from the thunder in the clouds. House and Cuddy stood there in silence, looking deep into each other’s eyes. House grabbed her, both of them standing in the rain kissing and holding on tightly to each other.

Her feet lifted off of the floor, House bringing her in closing the door behind them. They separated and Cuddy took a step back, and took hold of House’s hand. Leading him into her bedroom, she turned off the hallway light and they kissed before she closed the door…

TBC