“Lisa!” Hugh gasped, putting his hands on her waist and pulling back even as the sounds of cameras being reset and the directors calling for them began to float over from behind the wall. “Ok. Do not do that again.” Her eyes were shocked as she looked at him. “I’m serious. Unless wewe want me to haul wewe over my shoulder and take wewe back to my trailer, whether people are watching au not… stop it.”
    Lisa blinked slowly at him and then smiled flirtatiously, grabbing his arm and pushing him back out toward the hallway. “Come on, Hugh. I think David wants us.”
    “Lisa, hang on, let me touch wewe up…” Makeup was gesturing for her and David waved her in their direction.
    “It’s ok, go ahead,” he said. “I need Hugh for this one first.”
    “What’d I do wrong?” Hugh asked, completely straight-faced. Lisa almost choked. As the makeup artist flitted around her, adjusting here and there, Hugh and David bent their heads together and conferred about the scene.
    “We were talking,” David was saying. “What would it look like if House carried her down the hallway? au at least part of the way? There’s already been plenty of stumbling around the living room, this could just add another dimension to it… Hugh, what do wewe think? Can wewe lift her?”
    Hugh raised an eyebrow and looked in the direction of his co-star, who had finished with her makeup and was standing near one of the cameras, her hands on her lower back, stretching backwards.
    “Oh, I don’t know…” he drawled. “I suppose we could find out…” A crew member rushed up and handed his koti, jacket back to him, and as he pulled it on he looked again at Lisa. She had been aliyopewa another shati to wear, one that hadn’t been wrinkled and possibly ripped beyond repair in their frolicking… Hugh walked over to her. “Hey. We gotta go again.”
    “Aw, man!” Lisa whined over-dramatically.
    “Very funny,” Hugh said, putting his hand on her back and walking her back into House’s apartment, toward the hall. “Here’s the thing: David wants me to carry you, somewhere from around this point, until we’re off camera.”
    Lisa’s eyebrows flew upward. “Carry me? Ok… how?”
    “Well, I’m guessing not over my shoulder… either—”
    “Well.” Her voice had gone impossibly low. “I think I know what would work best. So why don’t we just see how things go and take it as it comes?”
    “Fair play to you,” alisema Hugh, grinning. “As wewe wish.”
    The scene was set.
    Hugh and Lisa eyed each other from off-camera, and Hugh reached out a hand to her.
    “Madame?” He said, his eyes dark and serious.
    “Sir…” Lisa took his hand, set it firmly on her back, and reached up to kiss him soundly, pulling him into the shot to begin the inayofuata take. As the back of her legs encountered the couch, she again started to pull at Hugh’s jacket, and got it halfway down his arm before—
    Shit, it’s stuck! She thought suddenly to herself. The kanzu, koti was caught on his watch, and was hanging ridiculously off the end of his right hand, but Hugh was not about to be stopped kwa a wardrobe malfunction, not when the alternative was to continue to feel the softness of Lisa’s skin in his arms… and speaking of which…
    Suddenly Hugh reached, the koti, jacket sweeping around her dramatically, and tore her shati upwards, hearing seams rip and Lisa gasp as it flew past her face—but not off her arms. The material Tangled at her wrists, binding them loosely together, and the two actors spun around, heading for the chest of drawers, their lips sealed so tightly that no one could tell they were both laughing hysterically inside. Hugh’s koti, jacket was being flung around like a matador’s cape until finally, as he lowered Lisa against the hard wood of the chest, he took half a step back and ripped the koti, jacket away from his wrist before grabbing her back to him, pulling her up into his chest as he stepped backwards toward the hallway. Feeling her lips part slightly under his, he grabbed the opportunity to quickly venture his tongue slightly in her direction, catching on her upper lip and tickling her gums. Lisa gasped appreciatively, her shati still hanging from her wrist and resting on his shoulder as they moved. The scent of her Hairspray was distracting him to no end…
    Suddenly they were past the doorframe and Lisa’s back was to the closed door on the right side of the hall. Taking a deep breath, she pulled him inexorably into her embrace, speaking every so softly against his lips as he crushed her to him again.

    “Ok…” she gasped into his mouth, “brace yourself, ok?”
    And as if she had drawn him a detailed portrait of her plans, Hugh suddenly knew exactly what she was going to do, and his entire body shuddered in anticipation of what was coming. In one fluid movement, Lisa tensed against the door at her back, Hugh bent his knees slightly, and then all at once she threw all her weight upward as his arms slid down her body, coming to rest just under her waist. Lisa hissed as the door scraped long and shallow against her bare back, and Hugh gasped into the skin of her neck as she somehow managed to steel herself for just enough time to wrap, upangaji pamoja her legs around his waist while his hands formed a utoto under her thighs, setting her just above his hips in a hugely dangerous place…
    “God…” she breathed, feeling him under her and taking his head into her hands to lower her lips onto his once zaidi as he started toward the bedroom. It was, however, their first time trying this little maneuver, and so they must be forgiven for not being the most coordinated pair in the world—as Hugh tried to crane his head upward to press his lips even harder against hers, he took an uneven step toward the open door they were aiming for, and landed awkwardly on the runner in the doorway. Just as they left the camera frame he Lost his balance—Lisa’s arms tightened convulsively around his neck as she tried to steady herself, and they pitched headfirst into House’s bedroom, Hugh just barely making it to the kitanda before dropping Lisa out of his arms and landing on juu of her, his face buried in the hollow of her throat. Lisa’s hand was idly caressing the back of his neck as her chest rose and fell rapidly under him, and he slowly raised his head to look at her.
    “Jesus, Lisa…” he whispered as he propped himself up on his elbows, their lower limbs still entangled. They regarded each other in disbelief; the effect of the last few sekunde was far too obviously apparent in their eyes and in their bodies, and now they had to go back out there… Ducking his forehead against hers briefly, Hugh gasped out a faint smile at her and pushed himself backward to his feet. “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” he added as he reached a hand to pull her to her feet. “But I hope to God they don’t have us do that again. I don’t think I can take it.”
    Lisa looked him very slowly up and down, her eyebrow reaching epic heights, and when her gaze reached his eyes again…
    “Wuss,” she breathed wickedly, brushing tantalizingly close past him as she went back out into the hallway to meet up with David and Katie. Hugh looked down at his shoes and focused very, very hard on remembering that nature documentary he had seen a few years back… it had involved lions and antelope, and quite a lot of mastication and not a little crunching of bones…
    He sighed heavily. Good. I think you’re presentable now.
    As Hugh came back after Lisa, who was still clad only in the lacy tank juu that had been under her shirt, he stopped and frowned first at her, and then at the director.
    “We’re not doing that again, are we?” He asked David, reaching a tentative hand out to gently brush his fingers against Lisa’s back. She visibly jumped at the sting his touch evoked, and turned toward him, her eyes plainly asking what the hell he was doing. “I mean, look at her back. She’s mauled herself on that door…”
    “Let me see,” David said, turning his actress around to see the raw red scratches that ran the length of her spine. “Ouch—geez. Guys, do we have any Neosporin around? Get it for me, would you?”
    “Right here,” Eddie said, jogging up. “Holy hell, Lisa, what did wewe do?”
    Lisa rolled her eyes at Hugh. “For God’s sake, it is not that bad. We can do it again if we have to…”
    “No.” David alisema finally, watching as she tried to reach around herself to apply the balm between her shoulder blades. “Hugh, would wewe give her a hand? She can’t reach.”
    Lisa turned to hand him the tube, her eyes meeting his. “Do wewe mind?”
    “Does it come with a raise?” He cracked, taking the medicine and gesturing for her to turn back around. “You were saying, David?”
    Lisa hissed at the first contact of Hugh’s fingers, then slowly relaxed her back muscles as he began to gently massage the area, rubbing the salve in gently, not missing any spots—and getting, Lisa suspected, a good many spots that hadn’t been affected. She made a mental note to thank him for that… later.
    “Well, we were just thinking maybe we shouldn’t use that take wewe just did,” the producer continued. “I think it was just that side of pushing it—our viewers are going to be suspicious enough that House has somehow managed to detox in one night; just wait ‘til they see House carrying his boss through the hallways on two good legs without a problem.”
    “You didn’t witness the head-first pitch through the doorway that nearly had me dropping her on the floor?” Hugh said, finally capping the tube and handing it back to Eddie. “It wasn’t my most graceful moment.”
    “Even so,” Katie broke in. “Between those two takes we’ll be fine. We’re going to take a quick break, and then we’ll get the scene in Cuddy’s office… and then Lisa, I think you’re done for the season, no?”
    The light was extinguished behind Lisa’s eyes as she registered that fact, and she unconsciously turned toward Hugh for confirmation. The slight tilt of his head told her that he had not realized this either… and neither of them quite knew what to do with that piece of information.
    One of the doors swung open, and the four of them all turned to see that some of the other cast members were starting to float in—right on time, here was Anne for the scene in Cuddy’s office, and Kal back for just the smallest little piece of that scene as well, and then Robert came in on their heels. Lisa and Hugh exchanged glances one last time before heading off to wardrobe to change for the inayofuata scene.
~*~*~
    Coming back out, dressed in one of her zaidi casual Cuddy outfits, all things considered, Lisa hovered around on the edge of the set watching the activity. Hugh was talking animatedly with Kal, catching up on what he’d missed since he had left. Anne was perched on the kitanda in Cuddy’s office, and Robert’s voice was floating around a nearby corner. He sounded…
    Lisa frowned and leaned back against the wall, just a few feet away. His voice sounded funny; not angry, but…
    “I’m just surprised you—I know, you’re right, it’s better, just—”
    Shrugging, Lisa closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. It took the threat of Armageddon au a badly cooked hamburger to get Robert riled up; everything was surely fine.
    “Yeah, no, I understand—I do, it’s just filming, we’re doing the finale and wewe know how late that goes sometimes…”
    How in the world did wewe forget that today’s your last day? Lisa was berating herself as the indistinct sound of Robert’s voice faded into white noise behind her, lulling her into sleepy complacency. Just days zamani wewe were counting the hours until wewe could be on vacation, and now…
    “No, I understand. I do."
    Lisa smiled. Robert sounded so comforting, so in control. Hugh was so lucky to have a good friend like him around that he could relax with… someone besides her, anyway. Robert was his staunchest supporter, never envying Hugh his position in the spotlight, always there to lend a hand and—Lisa winced—always willing to open his big mouth and warn her when she was going just that littlest bit too far in her flirtations. She sighed slightly, turning her ear toward the corner slightly to hear better. He did mean well. And then Lisa picked up the tail end of his conversation, and her entire head went cold.
    “Ok. I’ll send him in your direction as soon as he’s done, I promise. All right. I’ll talk to wewe later, Jo.”