A Little Life Less Ordinary

Disclaimer: House, M.D. does not belong to me. Please don't sue; all I have is a packet of spearmint chewing gum.

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: House/Cuddy

Summary: "You're pregnant," he stated to the inside of her well stocked refrigerator, as if it were an unequivocal truth. It figured that House would work it out before her. Unashamedly House/Cuddy with everyone else thrown into the mix . . .

Author's Note: Just for clarification, this is set towards the end of season three, but I've taken a few liberties with the storyline as Foreman and Cameron have not resigned and Chase was not fired.

Thank you to: TVHollywoodDiva, J Lesley, LordXwee, AdeleParker, HolyMacaroni, C Elise, Casper1311, Kat the Kritic, Shikabane-Mai, BlkDiamond, Sappy13, glicine, xoRetributionox, Sokerchick, Merlynnod, Senator Elizabeth Organa, starkidtw, Nicole, Kerry-Aod, insanehouseaddict, Nerds United, kish32, Artemis-M and CRaZY TeDDy for reviewing. You guys rock. Also, sorry for the delay – this chapter was a monster to write.

Part Six

In which there is an impromptu declaration of love . . .

.: Chapter Seventeen :.

House jabbed the elevator button with the bottom of his cane. The metal doors in front of him started to close as commanded.

Wilson, however, had other ideas; his hand managing to just squeeze past the closing doors and force it open. He stared at House, and House stared back. A small grin was playing on Wilson's lips, eager to make its presence known.

He stepped silently into the elevator and took up his position beside House.

House wordlessly jabbed the elevator button again with his cane, and the doors shut successfully this time.

"Staggered starts," Wilson finally spoke, "That's cute."

House's expression conveyed the state of 'confusion' vaguely well; "Drinking already Wilson?" he retorted, "That's not so cute."

Wilson brushed off House's remark, "I saw you and Cuddy drive in this morning. Nice of her to give you a ten minute head start," he said eyeing House's cane with little subtlety.

"I don't know what you're talking about. The Dean of Medicine simply saw one of her employees struggling down the sidewalk into work and just decided to fill her quota of ass-kissing for the day by asking said hobbling employee if he'd like a lift."

Wilson's grin grew wider, "You're smiling."

"And you're getting old."

"You're happy."

"And you need breath-mints."

"You so had sex with Cuddy last night."

But before Wilson could get his answer, the elevator doors opened and House limped out without another word, sporting a rather large grin that was thankfully free from Wilson's further scrutiny – the oncologist having been left behind to stare at his friend's disappearing back instead.

House just continued walking, only stopping to push open the glass door to the conference room. He marked his entrance with the jovially spoken words, "Good morning people!"

But it didn't stop there: "It's a lovely day; the sun is shining, the birds are thankfully not twittering and we have zero cases."

Chase and Foreman raised their eyebrows.

"It's raining," Foreman stated bluntly, jerking his thumb in the direction of the window and the miserably wet weather.

"So?" House retorted, before limping his way over to the other side of the room to make himself a coffee, which, he realised shortly, should have been made already. Turning around sharply, he pointedly stared at his two fellows.

"Where's Cameron?"

Chase shrugged, "Don't know."

Foreman waved his hands, "Don't ask me."

House let it slide. For the moment, that was.

"So why are you guys still sat here?"

Both men looked up at him blankly.

"Either go home or do my clinic hours, there really isn't much point-"

"Yes there is," the words were spoken as she walked through the door.

Ten minutes were far quicker than he remembered.

House rolled his eyes for effect – the barest hint of a smile playing furtively on his lips, managing to escape under the radar.

"Dr Cuddy," He ground out between his teeth in an effort to appear somewhat more displeased than he actually was at her interruption, "Come to put a dampener on our celebrations like the party pooper you really are?"

He watched in stifled joy as she deliberately avoided his gaze, walked across the room and slid a patient file across the table. The red tinge to her cheek to any casual observer would have been pegged down to copious amounts of blusher – but House knew better. The only make up she was wearing was the lipstick she'd smeared on in a rush in the car this morning.

"You have a case," she stated to no one in particular.

"What case?" House asked, empty coffee mug in hand as he rounded the table to stand behind her, paying no mind to what others may have termed her 'personal space.'

"That case," Cuddy bit out. She was squirming and House was enjoying every minute of it.

"You know you should seriously consider getting laid?"

Chase's and Foreman's eyes classically bulged wide at the left field crudity; although it was arguable they really should have been used to it by now. Cuddy turned to face House, mouth open, also apparently caught off guard.

House simply shrugged, his eyes twinkling merrily, "You just seem a little highly strung, that's all."

He sensed the change in her before he had even seen the visual clues - though the sparkle in her blue eyes, and the glint of challenge was warmly welcomed. She didn't reward his statement with a response and instead brushed past him. It was a contact which could have been entirely avoided, and only led to the conclusion that she had done it deliberately. A warning – two could play at this game.

He watched her leave; an appreciative smile on his face and his eyes hopelessly fixed firmly on her ass.

He was a lost cause; and he could hardly care less.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"There's something going on with House and Cuddy," Chase said breaking the silence of the laboratory. It wasn't odd that he had chosen randomness over mundane pleasantries, those two being the only options available to colleagues when attempting to overcome awkward and unwanted silences. After all, in consideration of his long standing inability to even match his ties and shirts, it was no surprise that randomness had never been a stranger to Chase.

Foreman rolled his eyes, "You're not starting that up again are you?"

The blond intensivist moved away from the eyepiece of the microscope and shrugged, "What? You honestly didn't notice anything odd going on between them this morning?"

Foreman snorted, "Come on. They're always acting like five year olds around each other. If House wasn't yanking Cuddy's pigtails and she wasn't letting him chase her round in circles, then I'd be worried."

Chase shook his head with a ghost of a smirk on his face before looking back down the microscope at the liver biopsy they had just carried out for their patient.

"The liver's clean," Chase said.

Foreman nodded, "House was right."

That came as no surprise to either of them.

Foreman sat back further in his chair, arms folding across his chest, "So what about you and Cameron?"

"What about us?" Chase asked, not reacting to the bait.

For that, Foreman had to give him some credit, "There's something going on between you two and it's pretty damn obvious."

Chase leaned back in his seat, folded his arms across his chest, almost as if mimicking Foreman's position, "There's nothing going on."

Foreman shook his head and muttered, "You're as bad as House and Cuddy."

Chase sat up straight, "Excuse me?"

"I'll give you three guesses where Cameron is right now."

"What-"

But it seemed Foreman had lost all patience and so interrupting Chase before he'd barely got one word out of his shell shocked mouth, he gave him zero guesses,

"She's probably sat in her apartment – pining; like she did over House, and now over you."

Chase laughed. Faced with such a ludicrous assumption as that, there really was no other sane option but to laugh, "What?"

Foreman rolled his eyes, grabbed the test results from the printer before heading for the doors, "You guys are hopeless," he muttered before leaving an entirely bemused Chase behind him.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"You called?" House hollered into her office, his head poking through the door.

Cuddy looked up from her paperwork; pen now held precariously between two fingers, "No," she answered bluntly.

House shrugged, "Oh," was all he said, and then proceeded to invite himself in nevertheless.

Cuddy sat back in her chair, ready to protest, though the smile creeping up on her did nothing to substantiate the words, "Shouldn't you be working on your case?"

"I have Chase and Foreman running tests," he answered as she stood up and made her way over to the shelves, files in hand. His eyes never left her as he stalked closer.

"I'm sure they're done by now," Cuddy muttered into the books in front of her.

House sidled up to the bookcase, his arm casually resting on one of the shelves, his cane down by his side, and himself alarmingly close to Cuddy.

She knew she'd trapped herself the moment she had stood up and walked across the room. It would have been far safer to stay behind her desk; the dark wood would have given her at least a little protection.

She needed time to process things. Last night, well, last night had spiralled out of control, and she didn't know what to think.

But some part of her, she realised, was fervently rallying for the side that waved the banners demanding she damned the consequences and just let things be.

In the end, her inner struggle could only end with one victor, and it was easily and disappointingly predictable as the hint of the smile on her face vanished and she did her best to look up at him, her expression hardened.

"House-" she started with a tone that didn't particularly allure him. He decided to cut this conversation short. After all, he knew just exactly where it was heading.

"You're pregnant," he said.

Cuddy's mouth opened and shut again.

"I think we've established that already," House continued, "And no I don't think we need to discuss it, because no, it really doesn't bother me."

"But-"

She didn't have a chance in hell of retorting since he'd edged even closer if that were possible. His breath hot on her face, a smirk curving the edges of his mouth, "And so now we have that sorted, what say you to me, you and that sturdy looking desk over there?"

She could feel her cheeks burning up, the heat of his skin through even several layers of clothes, so close – and her resistance so hopelessly futile. One taste, last night, was all it had taken to shatter that resolve she had formed so many years before after their first time; and now with his lips finally on hers, recklessly teasing her, she wondered why she had ever bothered trying to resist.

After all, saying no to House had never been one of the strongest abilities in her repertoire.

"I'd say it'd be damn uncomfortable," she said against his lips, the abandoned smile once more surfacing.

He moved away ever so slightly, gave her a wicked smile of his own as his grip around her waist tightened and whispered, "True."

She wondered just how ridiculous a situation this was. She knew House had never really wanted to father a child. It would be hopeless to assume he would want to be a father to a child who wasn't even biologically his. She knew in her heart that she desperately wanted this to be something real, something tangible and meaningful, but the cruelness of reality echoed inside her head telling her that that could never be a possibility.

And this, whatever this was, could only end in one way.

But as House pried her lips open with his tongue, his hands coming up to tangle in webs of her hair, she found herself succumbing with frightening ease, leaving time for only one last passing thought in her hazy brain. And that was that this, whatever it may be, maybe, just maybe, would be worth it.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

A/N 2: Apologies for the long wait. I'm afraid the next chapter might take a while as well since I have exams in January and learning the anatomy of the head and neck seriously sucks the muse dry. But then again, knowing me, the great procrastinator that I am, I might just find the time to write some more soon – either way, I'll try and have the next chapter up as soon as humanly possible!

Thanks again for reading and please let me know your thoughts,

SmilinStar

xxx