Huli shares a laugh.
Alone again, Lisa pulled her hands back out of Hugh’s कमीज, शर्ट and erupted into full fledged laughter. He turned towards her, and laughed too.
Then he reached out and grabbed her hands and pulled her close to him, his arms encircling her.
“You thought that was very funny, didn’t you?” he was smiling at her.
She looked up at him with a slight pout and nodded yes to him.
“Yes, I most certainly did.” She put her hand up to her mouth to contain her laughter to no avail.
“Well अगला time we will try it the other way around and see how well आप do.” He was somewhere between laughter and being keenly aware that the feel of her hands against his skin was something he could get used to. Then it occurred to him that they had never really finished their conversation.
“What I was saying, before we were so gloriously interrupted is that, I would hope that when I come back, आप and I could spend much और time together. If..that is what आप would want.” He paused for a सेकंड and looked into her eyes like he was about to say the most important thing he ever had. “I प्यार आप Lisa.” He कहा it with a so much hope that it touched her at her very core.
Lisa couldn’t believe what was coming out of his mouth. Her brain was screaming at her to just tell him she loves him too, but she stood there in shock until she heard him say,
“Honey?” again.
“Oh God, Hugh you’re serious?? …YES..I want to be with आप and Oh yes…I प्यार आप too!” She couldn’t help herself. She put her hands on either side of his face and kissed him with everything inside her. He was startled as he often was द्वारा her openness. She pulled back and looked at him with a smile that couldn’t be contained द्वारा anything on earth.
He put one hand around her to pull her up to him and with his other hand he smoothed her beautiful hair. Then he bent down and touched his lips to hers. He had kissed her before and it was an amazing feeling, but nothing beat this. Nothing came close to knowing when he came back she would there and they could हटाइए on and आगे together. This wasn’t House and Cuddy this time, it was all them.
They hugged each other and laughed on that balcony with the city lights around them.
In their happiness, they wanted to forget about the others that were mere feet away having fun, talking and oblivious that the happiest people at the party weren’t even in the same room.
“We should probably get back to the party and make our excuses for why we both need to leave..at the same time.. AND early.” He put his arm out again for her to take, like so many times earlier tonight.
“So, why exactly are we going to leave early?” Lisa कहा it with a sideways glance and a slight smirk.
“I’m not sure, I thought maybe we could go play cards, or..monopoly perhaps.” They each turned at the same time and shared a look between that seemed to indicate they were both thinking of the same thing and it didn’t involve cards, या “park place”.
They walked back into the party together and each took a side of the room to “work” giving their “farewells” and “good nights” to the other guests. They each kept one eye on the other as they moved so they could keep a consistent flow towards the exit. Peter waylaid the plans when he stopped Hugh for a little discussion that regardless of content was not welcomed at the moment. He gave Lisa a helpless look from across the room. She was making her way over to him when Robert stepped in front of her.
“Hey, how’s it going?” he gave her the same sort of look she would expect from an older brother. It was somewhere between protective and accusing.
Lisa took in a quick breath, flashed a weary smile at Robert.
“Umm..great Seems like a very nice party. And you?”
“Yes, and if it’s such a great party, why is it that two of my best फ्रेंड्स seem to be in a hurry to leave?”
He pulled Lisa off the path and over towards a corner. She caught Hugh’s eye but he was knee deep in Peter and didn’t appear to be released any time soon.
“I have tried to ask Hugh what is up but he won’t answer me. I’ve haven’t seen him look this happy in..in...well I am not really sure that I have ever seen him look this happy for hours on end.”
Lisa took a breath in and straightened her back before she answered.
“Things are just fine, I mean, he is happy tonight, I can see that too, but I ..” she stumbled since she wasn’t sure exactly what she should and shouldn’t say. She adored Robert, but maybe he didn’t need to know everything.
“Did he tell आप he is leaving Jo?” Robert tipped his chin up and looked down his nose at her like he was studying her.
Lisa bit her lower lip, furrowed her brows and said, “Did he tell आप that he was leaving Jo?”
“Nope, but I think आप just did.” Robert had a very “pleased with himself” look on his face. He reached over and hugged Lisa tight and gave her a किस on the cheek.
“Ok, that was enough interrogation for one night. Go ahead and enjoy yourselves. आप know I प्यार आप both.” He walked her over to the door with his arm still around her shoulders. Then he raised his voice towards Hugh.
“Hey Big Guy, your ride is leaving. आप better hurry it up.”
Peter patted Hugh on the back and he turned to head towards Robert, Lisa and the door.
“So, Lisa here tells me that she’s got a splitting headache and needs to get to बिस्तर immediately.” Robert was going to enjoy the little time he had to be a pest.
“Oh, well I guess it’s best if I get her घर right away then. The poor girl looks a bit flushed, don’t आप think?” Hugh was up for Robert’s game and thought he could play it just as well as he.
The two men shook hands, कहा their good nights and Lisa and Hugh darted out the door and to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, Lisa turned towards Hugh and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. For his part, it didn’t even take a half सेकंड to respond in the same manner. He kept one eye on the numbers indicating what floor they were on. When they got to the सेकंड floor he broke from her lips and whispered…”one floor left” through heavy breaths.
When the door opened at the lobby Hugh stood there in what could only be described as a sort of daze with a wide grin. Lisa was fixing her hair about two feet away from him. With a completely uncontained expression of happiness across her face. The घंटी, बेल boy who had been waiting for the elevator was totally oblivious. The security staff on the other hand, replayed the footage from that elevator ride और than a few times.
In the back of the limo on the way to Lisa’s place Hugh whispered things he had long wanted to say to her, and she giggled at the feel of his breath against her neck and the words he spoke.
“Hahaha…you sure know how to touch a woman’s heart!” she was giggling.
“As long as I eventually get to touch other parts of कहा woman as well, I am good with that.” He made a serious face but couldn’t hold it long and they started laughing together.
They made their way from the limo, to the elevator. Lisa gave Hugh a hungry glare.
“Umm…darling, आप had best keep your distance this time. There is only so much a man can take while in public.” He held his hand up to her.
She pushed herself over in the corner and tried to control her breathing. All it managed to do was cause her to giggle even more.
“Are आप laughing at me?” Hugh looked amused and then started laughing himself.
“Well, it is kind of funny आप know. We work together most of the year, we hang out together all the time and now आप can’t get too close to me या आप can’t contain yourself?.....hahahaha” She was holding her stomach with one hand and holding the rail with the other. “Now आप know how I feel ALL of the time…”
“How do आप know it hasn’t been a problem for me before today?”
He blushed and they both giggled together, keeping their distance all the while. As soon as the elevator reached Lisa’s floor, they both moved through the doors quickly and down the hallway to her apartment. She fumbled in her पर्स for her key. And Hugh leaned against the door frame staring down at her nervousness.
“Why are आप so nervous Sweetheart? You’re shaking.”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s because I have the most handsome man in the world standing here, waiting to get into my apartment with me.” Just then she got the key in the lock and turned the handle. She turned and looked up at Hugh as she opened the door. The she bit her lip, grinned and then proceeded inside with Hugh right behind her. She placed her पर्स on the सोफ़ा, सोफे and then turned towards Hugh who was not but two feet away.
“Do आप want anything to drink?”
“Absolutely not” he stepped closer.
Lisa swallowed and then said, “can I get आप anything to eat then? आप hungry?”
Hugh took one और step and reached out to grab her hand.
“Not for food”. He kept his gaze glued to her eyes.
Lisa felt her head buzzing and realized that when people कहा they were so in प्यार that they felt faint, it was a real feeling and this is what it felt like.
“Umm..ok, then…”
He closed the gap between them finally bending down to किस her. She put her arms around his neck and then broke the किस after a couple of seconds.
She looked up at him and said,
“You are absolutely sure this is what आप want?”
He bent down and scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. She giggled, kicking her shoes off on the way.
The morning came and the sun shown through the windows of Lisa’s bedroom on two people who had no intention of moving from their current positions. Finally, Lisa was the first to move. She slipped out from under Hugh’s arm across her hips. She went into the bathroom to clean up and when she came out Hugh was squinting through the sunlight to get a look at her.
“Good Morning Beautiful!” he propped himself up on his elbows with the sheet ending at his waistline.
Lisa smiled at him, “Good Morning. How did आप sleep?”
“Sleep? Oh yes….sleeping was good but it was everything that happened BEFORE I slept that …” Hugh yawned and ran his fingers through his hair. “…that I won’t forget any time soon.”
She sat on the edge of the बिस्तर and pulled her knees up to her chest.
“How about we have breakfast before आप leave and head…well…home?”
“It really isn’t my घर anymore, but I appreciate the sentiment. And I really am hungry this morning.
Lisa got up to go make breakfast but she turned around at the doorway and watched Hugh get up from the बिस्तर with nothing on. He was looking around for anything that resembled his clothes from the night before.
Lisa giggled from the doorway, “They are over on the chair in the corner.”
He stretched and then looked back over his shoulder.
“Naughty girl, I thought आप were in the kitchen.”
“Ok, I really am going now, but आप can’t blame me for looking.”
She heard the शावर, शॉवर running, then doors opening and closing like he was looking for something.
“Lisa!”
She stepped back into the doorway.
“Yeah?”
“Towels?”
“Oh, the सेकंड set of doors over the sink. Use one of the गुलाबी fluffy ones….hahaha”.
A few मिनटों later the call came again.
“Lisa!”
“What can I get आप this time?”
“Please tell me आप have an extra toothbrush.”
“Oh, in the third drawer on the right there are some new ones. Use one of those. आप might as well just put it अगला to mine.”
She giggled again to herself as she walked back to the kitchen.
When he emerged from the bedroom, Lisa was just putting breakfast on the table. They looked at each other and for a second, there was a touch of awkwardness between them. They had spend the last six years working together and yet, with all of the closeness there was nothing that beat the intimacy of the last evening they had shared. It was mental and emotional and as fully exposed as they had allowed themselves to be to each other, they knew there was not going back to what they had shared before. The stakes were much higher and deeper now.
They sat down at the तालिका, टेबल together and talked about the party from the night before. They laughed over little things.
“So…when will आप be back? From England I mean.” The thought of him being gone from her now, of all times when there was the promise of so much ahead, was turning her inside out.
“I don’t know the exact date, but I will let आप know. We start filming on the 14th already so it won’t be long. I’ll be back before my birthday.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Well, that is to say it will feel like months, but in reality not like other summers.” And he winked at her.
Lisa was trying to keep a ब्रेव face. She was so full of happiness and anxiety all at once it was as if her दिल were doing flips inside her chest. She wanted to make sure that this wasn’t all just a misunderstanding. She wanted to know was real.
“Hugh, आप are 100% without a doubt that this I what आप want? Because if आप don’t…if आप don’t I understand…”
He put his finger up to his lips to motion her to be silent and she obeyed.
“Come over here you.” And he patted his lap for her to sit on to which she again, complied.
When she sat on his lap she was a little higher than eye level with him. He curls fell into her face and she brushed them back with one hand and held on to his neck with the other.
“Lisa Edelstein, I am 100% positive, without a doubt that this is what I want and I will NOT change my mind today, tomorrow, अगला week, in two weeks या in two hundred years. So I guess that you’re stuck with me unless, आप want to change your mind.”
“No way Mister!” she smiled.
After many parting words and promises and embraces, Hugh left to England and Lisa stayed back to keep herself busy with appearances and celebrating her birthday with फ्रेंड्स waiting for Hugh to return.
The “rest” of the story will be determined when Season 7 starts filming. …or at least according to me.
; )
Hugh and Lisa at the after party.
