Chapter 08: In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (Reprise) In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (Reprise) This time, as she awoke in the middle of the night, it took only a moment for her to realize what had disturbed her sleep.The thunderstorms had increased in intensity over the past few hours, and there was a gusty wind blowing noisily against the house in addition to the crashing of thunder and the rapid flashes of lightning.She propped herself up on her elbow to check the clock, and then put her other arm out behind her. Although the sheet felt warm, her fingertips did not encounter a solid shape as she searched behind her.Sighing softly, she turned and confirmed that the other side of the bed was indeed empty. She lay back and stared up at the ceiling, watching the quick succession of light and shadow flicker across the room as the lightning continued.Although he hadn't directly answered her with a yes when she asked him if he would be staying for the night, the fact that he hadn't said no had led her to hope that he would. Turning back onto her left side, she rose up slightly to plump her pillow, and then, as the lightning flashed again, she saw that his clothes were still lying where she had tossed them on the floor.With a grin, she propped herself up and looked over at the bathroom.Although the door was open, the next bolt of lightning confirmed that he was not in that room either. She cocked her head to the side and was finally able to detect, between the rumbles of thunder, some indistinct sounds coming from the direction of the kitchen.Smiling, she threw off the covers and rose out of the bed.Pausing to throw on a silky, light-blue robe, she padded on out into the hallway. There was a soft glow coming from the kitchen threshold, and she entered the room and grinned.House was bending down, and there was something quite comical about the sight of his bare buttocks bobbing up in the air as he searched through her refrigerator. "Something I can help you find?" she asked, switching on the under-cupboard lights. He apparently had heard her coming, because he did not appear startled by either her voice or the sudden increase in light. "You know," he said, standing up and reaching out to pick up a carton of orange juice as he turned, "that if you expect me to be spending some of my nights over here, you're going to have to invest in better junk food."He opened up the carton and raised it to his lips, taking in a big swallow."Or some junk food," he said, closing the carton and returning it to the shelf. "And you're going to have to learn to use a glass when you do that," she said, leaning back against the counter. "After what we've been doing this evening, you're concerned about getting my oral flora on your disposable container?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. He closed the refrigerator and moved over to the pantry, beginning to search through the shelves there. "There were some carrots and grapes in the fridge," she said."Isn't that good enough for my little jackrabbit?" she teased. "I believe the word stallion is much more appropriate, don't you?" he snorted, frowning down at a box he was holding in his hand before tossing it back on the shelf. "Well, there were definitely some alfalfa sprouts in there too," she said."All right, from now on I'll be leaving a plate of raw meat out in case I get a visit from my tiger," she promised. She walked over to stand beside him."There's a bag of chips and some M&Ms hidden behind the cereal boxes, on the top shelf," she informed him. He reached up to move a granola box out of the way, and then paused and looked back at her."You hide them from yourself?" he asked, squinting one eye as he turned to look at her. She shrugged."Not exactly.But, that way, they're not in plain view every time I open the door and I have to work a bit to get to them." He pulled down the bag of candy, ripped it open and poured out a handful into his palm."How many calories do you think you work off by having to pick up a box?" he asked, after gobbling them down. "None," she said, widening her eyes."But it gives me a few more seconds to decide if I really want it before I reach out and grab for it." "No wonder you're so desperate to get laid.Grab first, think later," he advised. "Hey, any more smart comments, and the next time I hide them, I won't tell you where they are," she threatened, reaching out to grab the bag away from him. He quickly moved it out of her reach, and poured the remaining candy into his palm. "Hey, piggy, give me some!" she protested, trying to reach around him. Using his advantage in height, he raised his hand over his head to keep it out of her grasp."I don't know," he said, smiling down at her."Are you sure you want some?Don't make a hasty decision, now." "Yes, I'm sure," she hissed."And just remember that you're naked and in the middle of a room that contains many sharp implements." He immediately lowered his arm, but kept his hand pulled close to his chest, and looked down into his palm."What colors do you like?" he asked, grudgingly. She tossed her head."They all taste the same," she said. "Yeah," he snorted, "that's what they say about women too." "Spare me the details," she said, as she reached over and picked a few candies out of his hand."You're not exactly the sweetest guy I ever met, either." She ate hers one at a time as he continued to swallow mouthfuls of them, so they finished eating at roughly the same time. "Now that you've satisfied that appetite," she said, striding back towards the door, "want to go satisfy another one of your hungers?" She paused by the door, with her hand on the light switch.He crumpled up the empty candy wrapper and tossed it onto the counter before bending over to pick up his cane. "The garbage is right there-" she began, sounding frustrated.Then she broke off and started to giggle. House paused in mid-step and peered over at her. "I know this will come as a shock to you, but to most men, laughter when you are looking at their naked bodies is not an aphrodisiac," he informed her. "I'm sorry," she sputtered, trying to stop and catch her breath."But, I've just never seen you walk naked with your cane before.And the cane and your-" She stopped again to laugh."They just are kind of swinging together in rhythm," she finally managed to blurt out, moving her hands back and forth to demonstrate. His frown deepened as he continued to walk towards her.Raising his cane in the air, he deftly managed to undo the tie around her waist.He then very slowly moved both halves of her robe to the side, exposing her breasts. "Is that the only similarity you can see between them?" he asked, tapping the end of his cane very gently against her collarbone. "Oh, no," she breathed, smiling as she reached up and, circling her fingers around the smooth surface, slowly ran her hand up and down the cane."There is a remarkable resemblance between the two now," she assured him, as she looked down. "Hey, you know what?" she added, suddenly releasing her grip, and moving to flip off the light switch."I think I have some edible body paints in my bedroom."She turned and began moving down the hallway towards the bedroom, shrugging out of her robe as she walked."If you hurry, I'll bet we'll even have time to paint some flames on that one," she said, turning back and pointing at him."That way they'll be perfectly matched." He smiled and began to hurry after her.But House, being House, could of course not let her have the final word. "Why don't I call Home Depot?" he suggested, as he came through the bedroom doorway."Have them send over a couple gallons of shellac?We might as well do your ass while we're at it." THE END Ending notes: Thanks to all who took the time to leave reviews and comments, they were all appreciated.I especially want to thank those who made me feel welcome as I entered into this new (for me) category of fanfiction.` shippers' seem to be an exceptionally friendly and forgiving bunch! medical twist.Cuddy's TGA was TGA, and nothing (other than a combination of strenuous sex and stress) was probably the cause of it.Her illness was never important in itself to me, it was the springboard for a way to make them have to stop and reevaluate what each of them was getting (and not getting) out of the relationship.If it was strange for Cuddy to have House explain why they were sleeping together, her initial response that the situation seemed unbelievably weird was the impetus for him wondering if there was any way their affair might turn into more than what they had initially agreed on. So, it only took seven chapters for them to finally admit that they actually wanted to have sex with each other, not just make a baby for Cuddy and help House pay off his Visa balance.Maybe in about ten more chapters, I'll finally get these two mule-people to admit they might even like each other!There's an outside chance that in about thirty chapters I might even get them to admit to a deeper affection. I mentioned to my editor that the sex scene turned out a lot differently than what I had originally imagined for them.Talk about stubborn-those two absolutely refused to just shut up and have sex.But then I realized it's their verbal sparring that I love most about their relationship.Their banter, their joking, their conversations have always been the most exquisite form of foreplay for them anyway, there's no way they'd suddenly abandon that just because they were moving on to the main course. Besides being my first story in this fandom, this piece was also a new experience for me in that this was actually the first time where I had completed writing the story (well, except for the gratuitous sex scene and some minor polishing of details), before beginning to post.I felt an urgency about making sure that this would be up and posted before the last four episodes of Season Four would air and make the whole storyline completely implausible, and vowed not to start something that I couldn't finish in time to accomplish this goal.In the past, I have sometimes found myself `painted into a corner' when I wanted to introduce a storyline or plot twist, but found that what I wanted to write was incompatible with what was already posted.I also plead guilty to writing stories that have started to drag on and on, having lost their original intent or purpose and have to admit that several of my tales have an abrupt change in tone mid-way through the story.The other nice thing about writing this way was that it allowed me to release at least two chapters a week, with the hope that it would keep the story fresh in the minds of the readers without giving them too many long chapters to absorb at once. As an avid reader of fanfiction, I must also confess that I myself have invested too much time reading some glorious chapters of intensely interesting stories only to find that the author abruptly stops, having lost the time, will or inspiration to finish what they've begun.So, if it is a while before you see me posting another at least know that I promise you that any story I do start to post will be completed. I already have some more ideas for House/Cuddy, a few are quite dark, one is only slightly -centric and the other is a bit of (combined smut and fluffiness).I also confess that they are likely to get even more contrived than this story.But, gosh, what are we shippers to do?If Davie Shore and Katie Jacobs don't hurry up and get those two into bed, we've just got to do it ourselves, anyway we can! Here's hoping that Season Five doesn't get interrupted by an actors' strike and that we get the promised House/Cuddy storyline we've been promised.