Decembers
Spoilers: "Act your age" – The last scene. Nothing about the plot is mentioned though.
*Beginning in Italics is taken from episode.*
"Why can't it December/December?"
House took a moment to think. It had been a long time since they had talked about things this personal, well other than the times he interrupted her dates.
"Because sometimes…the female December shoots down the male December before he can even get an explanation out."
Up to now it had been a light conversation, but he had to go and change that, didn't he? Why did he have to bring up things that were buried in the past for a reason?
"What are you talking about House?" She turned to him and questioned.
"You know very well what I'm talking about. You never gave me the chance to explain why I did what I did."
She didn't need this. There was a reason she never got too personal with him: he always found a way to bring up the biggest mistake she had ever committed.
She turned away from him and didn't spare him a second glance as she briskly walked to her office. She had her assistant cancel all her appointments and then locked her door.
House would have none of this. This…thing! between them had gone on long enough and he was tired of her dismissal of him and his part of the story.
He followed her to the Dean of Medicine's office. Her secretary, thinking it was some other unimportant employee of doctor who respected the rules, was about to give him an excuse not to go in there, then she saw who it was. It was pointless to tell him anything. In the end he would do as he wished either way, so she even made his life a little easier. She tossed him the spare key she had and he smirked.
"You know, I think you are going to be my favorite secretary yet." He told her as he unlocked the door.
He went in as quickly as his third leg allowed him to. House found his treasure right where he expected to, lying on the chair by the door with her eyes closed.
He made no noise as he approached her and sat on the coffee table before her. She startled him by speaking first. "What do you want?"
"How'd you know?" He was flabbergasted. He knew he had been silent.
It was her turn to smirk. "I heard the keys. Besides, you're the only one who would dare to come in here after I told Terry I wanted to be alone."
"Right..."
She opened her eyes and looked at him pointedly. "I will say it again. What do you want? I really don't feel like arguing with you at the moment so…" She let her sentence hang, hoping against hope he would give up while he was ahead and simply leave.
He looked down and played with his cane. What had he come in here for again? He looked up into her eyes and everything came back to him: all the feelings that he tried to repress on a day to day basis came flooding back while looking into her eyes. He never could resist them.
Gently, as if it were made of some extremely precious and breakable material, he took her hand. At the same time as the gentlemanly action surprised her, it felt like coming home at the same time. He used to hold her hands the same way when they were together. It was something she'd miss every time she would see his hands. It warmed her heart, but also brought painful memories to mind.
She removed herself and stood. "Just say what you were planning on saying and leave."
"Fine, but I won't leave. Now sit down so I can start."
Seeing that the only way to get her way was for him to get his way, she obeyed. He, in turn, stood and paced the area in front of the coffee table.
"That day you saw me at the mall with that girl, you didn't see the whole picture. She wasn't a lover or an ex-girlfriend. She was, and is, my cousin Tasha. See, she's in the tourism business, and was helping me out with some things. I was trying to book us a surprise trip; a honeymoon of sorts."
"Honeymoon?" She didn't understand.
"Yes."
"We have never been engaged, House."
"No, we weren't, but I planned on changing that in the next few days. I was taking you to Vegas that weekend to…um…get hitched."
Her brows furrowed. "We were going to Miami to visit my parents that weekend."
He cringed. "Yeah, no we weren't. I just told you that to get you to agree to the vacation. I was going to surprise you at the airport. There was no way you were going to think I really wanted to marry you, mostly because I had explicitly told you that I would never get married. So, I was going to make the big romantic gesture."
"Were my parents in on it?" It had been weird for her to find that her parents had sided with her boyfriend, and not her, after their breakup, maybe this explained it.
"Yeah, they were. You know, it's funny, but they act more like my parents than the ones who actually hold that prestigious. They have always felt guilty because they never told you anything. They were in on it from the start. Before you ask, I made them promise me they wouldn't. If you didn't want to come to me directly, then there was no doing."
"All this time…why didn't you make me listen to you? Why didn't you tell me? I always thought that I wasn't good enough for you and that you had to go to another woman for what I couldn't give you."
He sat next to her and took her hands in his again. "Lisa, only a real dumb-ass would cheat on you. I have only ever wanted you, you're perfect."
"Then why go to Stacy? Why date her and move in with her. Annoy the hell out of me, make me sadder? Because, if that wasn't the goal, you're a real bastard. You managed to reach it and surpass it at the same time!"
"Stacy was the rebound. For the first few months we had sex I called your name out. Eventually I learned to only do that in my mind and force her name out of my mouth." He shook his head. "Do you know what finally made her leave?"
"I thought I did before; but now? No, I don't."
"She left because she found this." He pulled out a small jewelry case from his jacket. She furrowed her brows in question when he put it in the hand he held.
She opened the box and almost gasped. She was going to question him on why Stacy had left if he was going to propose, but he shook his head no. "Just read the inscription."
She did.
'I love you Lisa. Forever, Greg.'
Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes.
"Why are you showing me this? We aren't together anymore. It won't change anything."
He took the box from her hand and the ring from the box. Slowly he slid the ring into place and kissed it. "This…this belongs to you. It says I am yours forever. That hasn't changed. I am yours and this ring is for you to know that I will always love and wait for you. Because no matter how old I get and how many women I meet, none of them come even close to comparing to you. You are and always will be the one for me."
All she could do was stare at the ring and wonder at all that it implied. It was gorgeous and perfect and felt so right on her hand. She could have it and all that came with it, and yet she wasn't sure.
As she became lost in thought, House slipped out and went to his office. He needed to be alone with his thoughts for a while. He'd just bared his soul and needed to recoup before he interacted with anyone. He shut all the blinds and closed the door, not bothering to lock it. There were only two people who would come in without knocking: one was away at a conference, and the other didn't seem to be in the mood to make him do any clinic hours, so he was safe.
Ten minutes later, Cuddy was still in the same position House had left her in. Her state of shock was so great that she did not notice her office becoming darker as the sun went down. When she finally did, the room was in complete darkness except for the small streams of light coming in from the anteroom.
She had done a lot of thinking in those few hours and she still couldn't piece together everything. Gregory House, the man whom she had once been completely in love with, and secretly still was, had given her an engagement ring. He had actually given her an engagement ring after how many years of them having a purely professional relationship?
The man truly threw her. How was she supposed to react to that?
She looked down at the ring and couldn't help the flutter her heart gave at the sight of it. She couldn't help it. Even after thinking for all these years that he had cheated on her, she was still in love with him. Just like the inscription said, forever. She would be forever in love with him. There was no doubt about it.
So what was holding her back? Her own insecurities, that's what was holding her back. How could she so willingly fall back into his arms? She wasn't easy, never had been, but where Greg was concerned, she just melted. How could she not when he smiled her that smile he reserved especially for her?
She missed seeing him every day. Sure, she saw him at least once a day to tell him to go to the clinic, and more often than not, they exchanged certain words in the halls or in one of their offices. It wasn't the same as being with him.
She wanted to wake up to his goofy grin after spending half the night up talking or doing…other things. She wanted to find the little notes he left for her with some weird fact or romantic notion or other. She wanted to surprise him with new lingerie and then proceed to model what was hidden by the scraps of coth. She wanted the debates they used to have, from which actor was better to which new procedure was more worthwhile. She wanted Greg back in her life and she missed him, all of him, from the annoying to the endearing.
Now, with this ring on her finger, she realized that what she really wanted was to be Mrs. House. She wanted to be tied down and have someone else to think about. She wanted to feel needed and wanted again.
This was the change she needed, and boy was she going to get it.
Lisa went into the adjacent bathroom and freshened up; removing all traces of make up and tears. She applied a new coat of lipstick and eye shadow. She fixed her clothes to better show her features and tease House even more. She was going to go home with him tonight, but she would make damn sure to drive him crazy until then.
Looking in the mirror one last time she smiled. With every second that passed she got more excited. This was her deepest desire coming true. It even surpassed her wish for a baby, not that that would be a problem anymore, now that she had the perfect father lined up.
She raced against time to get to his office as quickly as possible, as if her lives depended on it. A brightly smiling Dean of Medicine was an odd sight on her way to the diagnostics department.
She stopped in front of his door, and took two deep breaths before opening and shutting it quietly behind her. The sight of him made her smile almost distort her face. He was sitting in his easy-boy, with his feet up and his head back on the head-rest.
Her heart was in her throat. "Ask me." She said without precedence or explanation.
His head shot up. "Ask you what?"
"Ask me," she moved closer, "what you were going to ask me at that airport we never got to."
Apprehensively he got up and moved to stand in front of her. "I can't kneel anymore."
She wiped away the tears that were already forming and chuckled. "Doesn't matter, just ask me."
He took her hands and looked into her eyes. "I've been practicing this speech for a long time. In none of the scenarios in my head did it involve this hospital, or clothes for that matter."
She rolled her eyes. He would never change, he had to be in control, and she loved him for it. "Go on already."
"Don't rush me. There is a certain finesse to this, you know?" He smiled her one of the smiles she loved so much. "Now, Lisa Cuddly, my own personal pin-up-girl. Will you make me the happiest man on this planet of ours, tie my ball and chain to your ankle and make your fun-bags my own fun-bags forever?"
She had to award him points for creativity.
"Yes, I will tie you ball and chain to my ankle and be forever yours, but only if you tie my one set around your ankles. And, promise to never show the tattoo on your butt of me, that I know you have, to anyone, but yours truly."
"Ooh, kinky, Greggy likey. Would you get a tattoo of me on your butt and make it a matching pair deal?"
"And ruin my perfect complexion? Never! Now get over here and give your fiancée a kiss."
"With pleasure."
They were, finally, right where they belonged. December does get together with December, they just have to remember that as things age, they only age for the better. After all, a fifty year old wine is better than a two year old, and with age comes wisdom and patience and a deeper love for those who you care for. Besides, December is when all the magic happens, isn't it?