The Island
Rating - T (for now. M will follow)
Pairing - Huddy
Disclaimer - Does someone actually believe we need this?
Takes place more towards the end of season 3
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"A speech? No way!" House was extra defiant when Cuddy dropped a proposal on his desk that was almost as thick as a dictionary. He picked it up and went to hand it back to her. "Remember what happened the last time I gave a speech?"
Cuddy shuddered at the memory. They were in Singapore and with House, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. He wouldn't even go with her to the other meetings; he would stay at the hotel room and rack up the bills with useless purchases and entertainment. Cuddy was almost sure he had a hooker over when she wasn't there.
"That won't be happening this time. If it does, I'll kill you, literally. This is a huge opportunity for the hospital to be extended in the pediatrics wing," she said, clenching her fists to emphasize her urgency for him to understand. Cuddy really wanted this, but House failed to see how he would help the cause.
"And I would benefit how?" he asked, not moved by the desperate look on her face.
"Because the application also includes a budget to expand diagnostics and allow you to hire a new fellow. However, that is only valid if I say so."
House drew his brows together. "So…if I agree to go with you to…wherever this is…you'll let me increase my department?"
Cuddy nodded quickly, only to be countered by House doing the opposite.
"I don't need a bigger department and I don't need another fellow if it involves having to be spending a week with you god knows where and giving a speech on something I don't care about." He handed her back the proposal with some fancy looking Japanese design and title on the cover. Cuddy was devastated. She reluctantly took the file back, face falling. House wasn't moved with the guilt look.
"If you're so concerned about making the trip by yourself, why don't you ask Foreman to go with you?" He swung his backpack strap over his shoulder, grabbed his cane, and limped around from the back of his desk, walking past Cuddy. "Or if he's too wild in bed, how about Cameron? I hear she sleeps in naughty lingerie. Maybe you two can share."
"Or…how about you go!" Cuddy pressed, following him closely at his heels.
"Sorry. I have a date tomorrow."
"The flight is in two days."
"I have a date that night, too."
"You don't have dates. You haven't had a date in years. It's a pretty big coincidence that you have one now all of a sudden."
House pushed the elevator button with his cane. "What can I say, the babes love me."
Cuddy slapped the proposal up to his chest, wearing her administrator look. "The babes will love you just as much in Japan. You're going with me. I don't care if you choose to expand your department or not, I'll find something else to invest the money in."
House frowned. "Then why do you want me to go if I don't want to increase my department? Since I have nothing to bribe me, and I don't have to be there, because I don't give a damn about pediatrics or the medicine this guy's peddling…"
"It's a favor to me."
Both of them stepped into the elevator. "Since when do I owe you anything?"
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "God, don't get me started on that. Just look through it when you get home. I know you don't care, but I trust you to give a speech that will influence the decision."
House chuckled, following a smirk. "Oh, Cuddy, you just don't want to be alone on the trip."
Her cheeks flushed when he wouldn't stop staring at her.
"And for some reason, you'd rather me go with you than anyone else." He put on some false charm and dramatically placed his hand over his chest. "I'm touched."
"Fine," Cuddy grumbled, taking the folder back. "I'll ask someone else. I only thought of you because of the opportunity to spread out your department."
"Even when I declined, you still wanted me. The answer is no. I can't even stand to be two feet beside you domestically, never mind halfway around the world."
"You've never complained before."
The elevator doors opened at the lobby and House walked out first. "Or so you think. By the way…" his eyes fell to her chest, "your shirt lost a button."
Cuddy dropped her head to look at the front of her shirt. She thought he was kidding to try to avert her attention away from him, but he was right. A broken off button had heavily revealed even more of her black Victoria Secret gel bra. She sighed and buttoned up her sweater with the top button. It was unusual that House wasn't staring at it the whole time. She generally notices when he's drinking her in with his eyes. That was the first time he looked at her chest during their entire conversation and it came as quite a shock.
Cuddy had to wonder if he wasn't feeling well. In any case, she had to find someone else to go with her. Maybe she could bribe Wilson into getting an assistant or a bigger office on another part of the floor, away from House. Maybe that new lab in oncology that she never got, thanks to House, would be enough to get him to go. Wilson would make a better speech and not leave the audience in awe and Cuddy wanting to kill him. It would be worth it in the long run. Cuddy wouldn't have to deal with the added stress and pressures House came with.
She checked her watch. Wilson was in a board meeting for one of his patients at the moment. Cuddy suddenly grew hot. The transplant committee! Dammit! She had been so wrapped up in the proposal to extend pediatrics that she forgot about the meeting! Hoping the board wouldn't judge her based on how odd her shirt looked with a missing button, she hopped back onto the elevator and temporarily forgot about the proposal.
"Only ten minutes late," Cuddy told herself, hustling to the conference room.
But when she got there, the room was empty and the lights were out. A frown splashed across her face. Did they leave just because she was late?
"Fantastic," Cuddy muttered and pulled out her cell phone to call Wilson. There had to be another explanation other than her being late.
"Didn't you get my message?" Wilson asked as Cuddy took the stairs back down to her office so she wouldn't lose reception in the elevator.
"What message?"
"The meeting was canceled because my patient died an hour ago."
Cuddy sighed. "God, no I didn't get that. I haven't been to my office all day." She hated hearing news that patients died. It always brought her mood down several notches, no matter what sort of frame of mind she was in at the time. "How?"
"She was misdiagnosed and had a brain tumor attached to the motor cortex. When we planned to do surgery to remove it, we knew it was going to be risky. Depending on how big the tumor was."
"Wait, you did surgery on her?" Cuddy asked, puzzled that she didn't know about it.
"No, I said we planned to, but she died suddenly. She seized and…that was it." Wilson's voice got incredibly low after that.
"I'm sorry," Cuddy said.
"If it was her heart, like I originally thought, I would've caught it sooner and with any luck from the transplant committee, she would've been able to be put on the list for a heart."
"Don't beat yourself up over it." More importantly, Cuddy hated it when Wilson started doing that and feeling sorry for himself.
Wilson said nothing after that. Cuddy almost thought that he had hung up, but the distant activity in the background told her that he didn't.
"Do you want to get some coffee or something?" she asked.
"I'm already in the cafeteria."
They said their goodbyes and hung up. While putting the phone away, Cuddy suddenly remembered the extra weight tucked under her arm. It was the proposal. It might not be a good time to talk to Wilson about it, but her time was running short. She completely banked on House going with her, so she didn't worry about it too early on. Of course, she should've known he was going to be a stubborn jerk about it.
Cuddy admitted she didn't want to make this trip alone. If anyone was going halfway around the world, they would want someone with them. It's only natural. All be damned if she knew why she picked House to go with her. He would only make her life miserable and probably even start a food fight at the conference because some random guy was staring at her ass longer than he should be. And then, of course, the guy will be the major benefactor in the proposition and cancel the agreement because of House.
Yeah, it's better he didn't go.
Cuddy found Wilson in a corner booth, slouched over and staring into a cup of coffee.
"Go in any further and you're going to need a snorkel," Cuddy joked lightly and then placed her hand over his shoulder. "You okay?"
She took a seat at the opposite side and placed the proposition in front of her.
Wilson didn't make eye contact. He just nodded. "In an hour or so I'll feel better. What's that?"
Cuddy rested both hands on top of the folder and looked hopeful. "This…is something I hope to talk to you about. But it doesn't have to be now if you're not up to talking," she said immediately.
Wilson frowned lightly. He would've thought it was something serious if she didn't look so anxious to tell him.
"No, it's okay. What is it?"
"You remember how I've wanted to expand the pediatrics wing for about a year, right?"
Wilson nodded.
"Well…there's this new benefactor in Japan that sells upbeat children's medicine around the world, real fancy stuff, and I told him about how the pediatrics wing was practically falling apart and needed to be repaired and…bigger. When I told him I didn't know if I could ever find it in the budget, he offers me the money if we agreed to promote his product at the hospital, just like that," she said, tossing her hands up. "Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars he's practically handing me if I can go to Japan and knock his socks off."
"Make sure that's all he wants you to do," Wilson said.
Cuddy's smile was wiped from her face. "What do you mean?"
Wilson scoffed. "Come on, Cuddy, you're smarter than that. No guy is going to give you that much money and expect only a marketing of his product in return. You should know that by now. Look at Vogler."
It was Cuddy's turn to scoff. "He came with strings the second he stepped through the door."
"But that's my point. He wanted something. He wanted to be chairman of the board and fire anyone he couldn't control. You don't even know this new benefactor, do you? For all you know, he could have a criminal record."
Cuddy glanced dumbly at him. "Give me a break. He wouldn't be this famous if he had a record. His reputation would be worth nothing. And he's Japanese."
"So? That gives him a reason to be perfect?"
"It means he's smart! I trust him."
"Just because he's Japanese—"
"Drop it," Cuddy interrupted. "I didn't come down here to argue with you, I came to ask if you wanted to come with me. Plane leaves in two days and it's for a week." Cuddy sat back into the booth with a defeated sigh.
Instead of his mouth dropping or his eyes popping out of his head with that request, he nodded. "I think it would be best if you had someone with you." He picked up his coffee cup and closed the newspaper he never got around to looking at.
Cuddy smiled. That was easy!
"…Except I can't go."
Her smile faded. "What? Why?" She sounded disappointed.
"Oncology conference next Tuesday, booked way in advance."
Cuddy went back to feeling down again. Damn her for not doing something about this earlier! "Can't you cancel it?"
Wilson shook his head and apologized. "Ask House."
Cuddy laughed at that. "Tried already. He didn't budge."
"Then what about Foreman or Cameron?" Wilson tried. "Or…Chase even."
"House wouldn't let them go, and with Cameron, we'd probably kill each other by the time we reached the pacific time zone."
"No you wouldn't."
"Wanna bet on that? She can't stand me. She's as bad as House with walking the opposite way when I come down the hall. No matter who I ask, they'd all say no and make up an excuse."
Wilson sighed and stood, taking his coffee and newspaper with him. "I'll talk to House. I don't want you going there alone. He's better than nothing, I guess, but ask around anyway. You never know."
Wilson was good at convincing House to do anything. She didn't want him to go, for all the reasons listed above, but did want him in the way that he would provide companionship and be there to protect her if need be. House may be a jerk, but when it comes to Lisa Cuddy, her life is guaranteed saved when he's around.
Cuddy thanked Wilson and he left. Cuddy checked her watch after drumming her fingertips gently on the surface of the table. It was going on four o'clock. Since she really didn't have anything else to be done today, she intended to leave early after going through every person in diagnostics, asking them to accompany her on the trip. She had asked Foreman first when she saw him passing through the hall, looking at a chart. He was nice about it and apologized when he declined. He didn't give her a reason, other than he was busy. Cuddy was hesitant to ask Chase and was a little relieved when he declined. He said he had a date. They both knew it was a lie.
Cuddy wasn't going to ask Cameron, but as a last resort, she was as good as any.
"You're kidding, right?" Cameron asked, lowering her glasses to the bridge of her nose and raising her eyes up at Cuddy. She was going over some charts in the office when Cuddy walked in. "You want me to go with you to Japan?"
It was a dumb request and Cuddy immediately apologized.
"Wow…you really don't want to go alone. Sorry, high altitudes make me nauseous. Ask House. He'll do anything for you."
Cuddy left after that. The tension was so thick in the room and only a few sentences were said. She kicked herself mentally for asking Cameron. She kicked herself for practically begging everyone to go with her. Was she really that scared to travel alone? The fact that her first choice was House made that conclusion viable. He's better than nothing. She hoped Wilson could talk him into it.
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Wilson convinced House to go. He had to put in a little effort to do so and wasted about two hours shifting around pros and cons. One of House's pros, of course, was the ability to see Cuddy's ass sway multiple times a day as opposed to only a handful of times a the hospital, as well as the luxury of getting more opportunities to look down her shirt. Wilson didn't care what his reasons were, as long as he was going. Cuddy thanked Wilson the next chance she got. However, Cuddy knew it was all going downhill the moment House was late getting to the airport. They took separate rides there. She was waiting for him by the terminal for well over an hour and was on her third cup of coffee. She kept glancing down at her watch. The flight was in an hour and they still needed to go through security and register their bags! Good thing she already had tickets. They would be late for sure if she didn't!
Cuddy ignored the medium flow of traffic as passengers walked by the bench she was on as she tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. That also caused a few stares. At one point, three additional people sat on the bench and had no room to move. Personal space was an issue with Cuddy. Rubbing shoulders with a stranger wasn't going to make that smile appear on her face any time soon. Luckily they were only there for about five minutes. After they left, she tried calling House's cell again once she could move. Like before, she got no answer.
She angrily flipped her phone shut again and squeezed it into her fist. A recording of a voice came over the loudspeaker again, saying the same speech over and over every time, something about the Department of Homeland Security and if she had to hear that one more time, the loudspeaker was going to be ripped from the wall.
She was so stressed that her hair was getting frizzy. Once upon a time, it was very thick and curly. Even though as she got older, it thinned out tremendously, but would occasionally become frizzy if she was stressed, even with hairspray on.
Airport shuttles were coming down the strip left and right, letting off handfuls of passengers, but House was never one of them. She cussed under her breath and flipped her phone back open to call Wilson when a loud voice at the side of her made her flinch.
"There you are! Why are you sitting around when we have a plane to catch?!"
Cuddy grumbled something under her breath as House so casually stood there, backpack strap swung over his shoulder, cane in hand, black sunglasses on his face, and a yellow Hawaiian button-up shirt with yellow shorts. Cuddy stood up quickly. "I was waiting here for over an hour!" she yelled, but then stopped dead at his outfit. "What…are you wearing?"
House looked himself over. "I found it in my closet yesterday. What? You don't like it?"
Despite him making her wait and stressing her out before her day even started, she had to laugh at how serious he sounded. It's as if he actually liked what he wore.
"Absolutely not," she said, stifling another laugh by putting her hand to her mouth. "You look awful. I'm not sitting next to you on the plane."
House's face fell serious. "Well thanks a lot. No sex for you on this honeymoon."
Cuddy grabbed the handle to her rolling suitcase and took the lead into the airport. "It's definitely not a honeymoon and you're sleeping on the couch."
"You couldn't get two rooms? Or at least a room with two double beds?" House was whining…not one of his best features. "You know I can't sleep on a couch with my leg."
"And I can't sleep with undergarments on, but with you in the room, I'm definitely giving it a shot," Cuddy said, sliding her suitcase through the machine and meeting eye to eye with a frowning security woman. Cuddy took a claim ticket and left her suitcase in the hands of the baggage handlers to be put into storage on the plane. Even House had a small suitcase, which surprised Cuddy. He kept his backpack and she kept her purse and briefcase.
"Oh don't change your nightly regimen just because I'm there!" House said, walking beside her. "I wouldn't want to inconvenience you too much!"
"It's definitely no bother, trust me."
He eyed her up and down as they walked. "You know, Dr. Cuddy, you are looking exceptionally lovely in that outfit," he said, complimenting her on her white button-up formal shirt with a collar and black wide-legged dress pants. "That spaghetti-strapped top you have on reveals too much though," he added, not missing a chance to look down her shirt.
"Thank you, wardrobe police. Evaluate what you have on your own body before picking on mine."
Cuddy groaned when there was a longer line than normal. Although today being a holiday didn't help much. She checked her watch again. They only had a little over a half hour to get to the plane and judging by this line, they would barely make it, if at all.
"This is great," she muttered. The lines were at least a mile long and there were only two security scanners open. Every passenger appeared to be stopped for one reason or another, holding up the lines even more.
House's eyes suddenly went wide as he looked out in front of him. Cuddy's eyes followed his in question.
"Hijack!" he yelled very loudly over the crowd.
"House!" Cuddy hissed as everyone that had ears turned their heads to him with questionable frowns. Some looked shocked and horrified.
"What? I see my friend Jack!" House told everyone, holding his hand out. "Just letting him know where I am!"
That's not what he meant and Cuddy knew that. He didn't have a friend named Jack! Some passengers believed him, but the ones more up along the front of the line expressed their worries to security that House might be a terrorist. Suddenly, two security personnel were walking up to them. Cuddy slapped her hand over her face. Terrific! Now they were going to miss their flight because House is an even bigger idiot than she thought.
"I'm going to need you to come with me, sir," a burly older man said. Judging by his face, it's a man no one wanted to mess with. A woman who looked as if she should be working in a prison had accompanied him, taking Cuddy's things while the man took House's backpack.
"I was just calling my friend Jack!" House said, trying to look as innocent as possible, and a little angry to make it all sound true.
"That's all it was," Cuddy said, forced to surrender her things, including her purse. "Jack was supposed to meet us here, isn't that right?" she hissed the last part through her teeth, glaring up at House.
"Oh…yeah…but he came here a little early and I wanted to catch him before he went into the terminal, but," House shrugged, "looks like he boarded the plane without us."
"Looks like he'll be getting to your destination ahead of you, because you'll be in jail for a few days. Come with me."
Cuddy tried her hardest to hold back a yell of frustration as the burly man lead the way and the woman followed behind Cuddy. Jail?! Only House would do this! That son of a bitch! She didn't even care that they were being stared down by everyone in the area. She was too busy fuming at the face, thinking that the next time she gets House alone, he's going to have a nice little welt on his face!
"He's not a terrorist," Cuddy said when they entered the security office next to the scanners. She glared up at him again, hating that he looked so innocent. "He's an idiot!"
The woman was through rummaging around in Cuddy's bags and they were given back to her.
"I told you a hundred times, I was waving to my friend Jack! Since when did that name become extinct?!"
"Since the September 11 attacks!" the man yelled at him. "Obviously you think it's a joke, but it's not."
"Look, I'm not involved in this," Cuddy said, holding her hands up and defending herself. "I'm a doctor and I'm on my way to Japan for a very important meeting. So is this moron I'm with."
"You're a doctor?" the woman asked, frowning.
"No, I'm just traveling with my very sexy woman here and my friend JACK," he stressed.
"Doctor or no doctor, we can't let you on that plane." The woman looked up to Cuddy. "You can't go either, I'm sorry. We need to take every precaution these days after what happened on that day." The woman actually sounded somewhat sympathetic when it came to Cuddy, as if she understood.
Cuddy sighed and reached into her pocket. The two watched her carefully, making sure it wasn't a weapon she pulled out.
Cuddy slapped her hospital ID down on the desk the woman sat at. "My name is Lisa Cuddy; I'm the Dean at Princeton Plainsboro. This flight is very important to me and my hospital. The only reason I'm traveling with this bum is because I didn't want to fly alone. Although now I'm really wishing I took my Oncologist instead."
"You asked Wilson?" House asked, not knowing about that. "I thought he just asked me because you were talking about it."
"He wasn't my first choice, but anything's better than you right now."
Now the woman looked very sympathetic. She believed Cuddy, every word, but protocol was protocol. She handed her back her ID, shaking her head. "I'm sorry Dr. Cuddy."
"So you're telling me I have to go to jail because House decided to say hi to a friend?"
"Greg!" Someone yelled outside, hurrying to them. The four in the room looked back to see who could be calling him. A man, not much younger than House, approached the door out of breath, as if he ran to them from the other side of the terminal. "I got worried when you didn't show up right away."
House grinned. "Oh, hi JACK," he stressed again, gathering an immediate frown from Cuddy.
"You're Jack?" the burly man asked.
"Yeah…man, you had me worried. Why are you in here?"
"I'd like to see some ID," the woman said, holding out her hand.
Jack frowned, but reached into his wallet anyway and pulled out his driver's license. His name, was in fact, Jack. Jack McCloud, to be exact, making him sound like some sort of bounty hunter. Cuddy frowned, a little muddled at this, but didn't want to make it look terribly obvious.
"Happy now? Can we go?" House asked, standing up and readying himself.
"You can go. Sorry about the inconvenience, Dr. House."
House scoffed and left the room in a rage. Cuddy followed, but didn't dare say anything until they were away from security completely.
She opened her mouth, but didn't get a word out when she saw House reach into his wallet to pay Jack a fifty-dollar bill and tapped him on the shoulder with thanks.
After that, he walked away. Cuddy stared after him, jaw dropped.
"What was that?!"
House walked onward with a smug smile on his face.
"I'm serious, House! Who was that and why did you pay him?"
"I'm starting a new trend with whores," he said, continuing to walk down the terminal. "Guys might be fun, too."
Cuddy screwed up her face in disgust.
"Relax, I'm kidding," he said, never wanting to see that face again. "I was late because I was trying to find someone named Jack. The lines were long and I know we might miss our flight, so in order to prevent you from biting my head off and being pissy, I planned to get caught and then have this Jack guy come up and rescue us. That way, we didn't have to stand in the long line."
Cuddy's eyes went wide. She didn't know whether to thank him or smack him senseless.
"But what if he didn't show up?! House, you could've gotten us thrown in jail! I could've lost my license and my job—"
"They won't take away your license, Cuddy."
"They will if we get arrested for terrorism!" she said loudly, attracting ears and turned heads again.
"Keep your voice down. I didn't meet anyone with the first or last name "terrorism" to help us out so have fun getting out of that one."
Cuddy scoffed and shook her head. "I hate you."
"No you don't. You love me. We made our flight because of me."
"We also could've made it in jail because of you! That was the stupidest thing you've ever done…But thank you," she added quietly.
House smiled. "See, you don't hate me. You could never hate me. I'm too loveable."
"Don't push it," she muttered, smirking slightly. She couldn't help it. Any normal person would've waited in the line, but because this flight was too important to miss, House took it to the next step and got them out of line. No one else in the world would do that for her. Only House. He was definitely one of a kind.
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They boarded the flight on time with about fifteen minutes to spare. They had assigned seats in coach. House sat towards the front, while Cuddy sat near the back. It was a relief not to be near him. He would only drive her insane. This way she could read without him interrupting, although before arriving at their layover at LAX, he frequently had to "go to the bathroom" so he would be constantly walking by her. She was thankful that both seats next to her were taken so House couldn't sneak his way in with her.
After LAX, the flight was nonstop to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. This time, Cuddy did get stuck with House, much to her dismay. It took seven hours to get from New Jersey to California and now she has to spend fourteen hours attached to his hip in coach.
"Did you know that it's a fourteen hour time difference in Japan? Makes me feel like I'm living in the past in New Jersey."
"Ha…ha…" Cuddy drawled out, thinking that was the dumbest joke he's ever made.
"Come on, Cuddy, we're going to be together for the next fourteen hours on this flight, don't you think we should be nice to one another?"
"That'll be the day," Cuddy muttered, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, even before they took off. House frowned upon that.
"You're going to sleep already? We're not even in the air yet!"
"I'm tired. I was up earlier than usual. Plus, the less time I stay conscious with you, the better the trip will be."
"You could've at least let me have the window seat if you plan on sleeping the entire time," House muttered, shifting in his seat to make himself comfortable.
"Stop moving around," she said, opening her eyes up slightly. "You're making the seats shake."
"Oh, well, excuse me, your highness, I didn't realize I was," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "You're the one who dragged me onto this stupid trip and so far I've been getting the short end of every stick."
Cuddy nearly busted out laughing. "You? What about me when you had your little escapade leaving the airport? I think it's only fair you're paid back."
"I did it for you!" he said, very un-House-like
"You never do anything for me. You try to avoid me."
"Then why would I do it? I certainly as hell don't want to be on this trip. I'd rather be home, watching reruns of Heathcliff on YouTube."
Cuddy chuckled. "The idea of you doing something for someone else that has a positive effect doesn't sound anything like you, so forgive me if it's taking a short time to see it your way. I'm still concerned about how we were almost arrested."
House rolled his eyes and tossed his head back against the seat. "For the love of god, woman, will you get over it? Just think of it as a bribe."
"Bribe?" Cuddy repeated. "Bribe for what?" She hated to ask.
"I can still expand my department and hire another fellow without having to perform a speech," he said, followed by a silly smile.
"I thought you weren't doing that?"
House chortled. "You kidding? A bigger office means more places to hide from you and another fellow means less work for me." He crossed his legs at the ankles, interlocked his hands behind his head, and stretched out with a satisfied sigh.
"Not a chance," Cuddy muttered. "Now that I know your plans, forget it."
"Oh come on!" he said, straightening himself up. Stretching out was just for dramatic purposes to add on to the end of his sentence. His face fell serious. "You promised!"
"When we get back to Princeton and IF I see your performance approve, we'll talk about the development for your department."
"MOOOM," he whined, putting on a pouting face.
"AFTER you give that speech."
He watched her zip open the main compartment on her carryon and pull out the proposal. It made him cringe even worse than it did the first time he saw it. She slapped it down on his lap.
"It's something to keep you busy for the next fourteen hours while I sleep."
House flashed an 'I officially hate you' look at her with the addition of narrowing his eyes while Cuddy grinned in return.
"That is the last time I do anything good for you."
A chuckle arouse in Cuddy's throat as she was forced to take back the documents. "It's about the only good thing you've ever done for me, House."
The banter had to be put on hold as the flight attendants went about the plane, speaking of what to do in an emergency. That went on a good five minutes before the plane took off. House had no choice but to listen. He couldn't put on his iPod shuffle because the radio waves would interfere with takeoff. Cuddy even had to elbow him in the middle of it because he refused to put his cell phone on airplane mode when the woman up front had told everyone to either do that, or turn them off. Cuddy grabbed it from him and turned it off when he was being stubborn. She kept it and tossed it into her briefcase so he wouldn't turn it back on. House muttered something under his breath and grabbed a random magazine from the pouch on the seat in front of him. Cuddy didn't bother with him. At least he was being quiet and not being a nuisance to anyone.
Cuddy watched one of the stewardesses head up from the isle, checking and making sure there was no luggage on the empty seats and that everyone was properly buckled up. She rolled her eyes when the young woman stopped at their row.
"Sir, you have to buckle up," she said in a sweet tone.
House didn't look up from the magazine that almost covered his face. "Sorry, can't. Bum leg."
"We can't take off unless you do."
House glanced to Cuddy, smirking. "Really?"
"House, buckle your damn seatbelt. Don't do this," she hissed, tempted to put it on herself.
"Give me my extra fellow."
"House—"
"Then I don't buckle up. Sorry folks, this flight is high and dry!" he yelled out.
Cuddy felt embarrassment wash over her as her cheeks flushed. "For the love of god…" she murmured and reached across his lap to grab the first half of the seatbelt and connected both of them together, followed by a whisper of apologies to the stewardess, who then moved on with a frown.
Cuddy didn't realize she was still leaned over in House's direction, face inches away from his and her hand on his lap, over the buckle of the seatbelt. She couldn't find the ability to breathe and her heart skipped a beat.
House glanced down at his lap. "Take back your hand unless you plan to take it to the next step." His voice didn't falter. He was still the same House, even though he hadn't been this close to his boss in a while.
Cuddy pulled her hand away and straightened herself up in her seat. "Next time, don't embarrass me." She continued on and the feelings immediately went away.
"Next time, don't get me aroused and not finish the job," he countered sarcastically.
Cuddy shot him a look. "I wouldn't have had to reach over if you grew up and did as you were told!"
This was going to be one stressful flight.
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I thought I would get away from the usuals and try something new. I love drama and there's nothing more dramatic than being stuck on an island! Don't worry, House will still be House. He won't be OOC at all, but being stranded with hardly any resources makes people do funny things, so he'll have his moments. Reviews help me update faster, so tell me what you think!