Of Medics and Men

She woke up feeling woozy and tried to remember what had gone on the previous night. It was still dark outside and the only lights were those two small lamps on the other side of the room. Her belly ached and she looked down to find herself naked, small bruises all over her body. With a quizzical look out the window, she stood stiffly and grabbed her robe off of the chair near the door. Someone had obviously prepared for her awakening, she realized, but who?

There was a good chance she had had sex before passing out, judging by the bruises and sticky feeling substance between her legs and she headed for the shower wondering why she didn't remember who it had been with and under what circumstances. The 'who' possibilities were nearly endless: House, Wilson, Chase, Foreman, Taub, Kutner, the very attractive young male nurse on the fourth floor…it could have even been Thirteen if she'd been drunk enough. The only thing that Cuddy knew for sure was that it was Friday and regardless of what had gone on the previous evening, she was still the Dean of Medicine and had a meeting with the Board of Trustees at 8 a.m. sharp.

All morning Cuddy sat among the stern, stony faced individuals that comprised the Board of Trustees of Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, but her mind was not on the topics that were being discussed. The hospitals quarterly earnings did not fit into the puzzle that she was attempting to figure out in her head. She was curious to know who she had been with, especially if it was one of the hospital staff, as she had to work with them.

She could probably ask Wilson if it had been him fairly safely. Sure he would look puzzled and question her motives for asking, and then question her about who it had actually been and why if he wasn't the lucky guy. The other options were out of the question, however. If it had been House he would lie to her, or be insulted that she hadn't remembered, or both; and if it hadn't been him, rumors would fly all over the hospital about the promiscuous Dean of Medicine and House would be all over her case until he found out every detail about what had gone on.

And House's determined curiosity would rule out the questioning of any of his team or Dr. Chase. Any weakness on her part regarding any member or House's team would give him an automatic advantage over her, as well as making for an awkward position on her part. She would just have to try and work out who she had slept with on her own in her own head.

Any of the candidates that she had considered earlier were completely possible. She had been more than a little horny lately and with enough drinks to make her completely oblivious of the proceedings of the escapade, the idea of random sex was even more probable. For that reason she tried to avoid contact with any of the possibilities.

It was lunchtime before she escaped from the meeting; unfortunately the first person she ran into was Dr. James Wilson. He didn't seem any different than usual, however, so she crossed him off of the list. If it had been him, it would be a dead giveaway. Anyone within a mile of them would have been able to tell that they had been inappropriately intimate. He was wrapped up in a case and didn't question her hesitation to talking to him, which she was thankful for.

The fact that it wasn't Wilson only made things harder for Cuddy, however, as the other options, minus the adolescent male nurse, could change her whole position in the hospital. She had worked too hard for too long to let some night of ecstasy ruin her career! She couldn't let this situation go unhandled. She holed herself up in her office and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to puzzle out who had been her secret lover.

She half expected one of the suspected faculty members to show up in her office and confirm everything by suggesting that they have a rematch of whatever kinky sex that had happened between them. No such thing happened, nor did anyone come to her guilty that they had slept with their boss and try to make everything less uncomfortable for themselves. Finally she decided that she would have to gauge each candidate's reaction to seeing her to figure out what had gone on in the darkness of her apartment. It would be the next day before she got to test out the reaction, however, as the team was already gone.

Chase was the first that Cuddy encountered the next day. He greeted her cordially, as per usual and she studies his face carefully as she asked how things were going in his life. He replied that things were going well. The answer was short and to the point and very Chase and she concluded that he was not her mystery man.

Foreman was next on her list. She cornered him in the cafeteria while he was searching for a decent breakfast. He was less than cheery and a little stressed out about the patient that the team was treating. Of course that was to be expected. She asked a few questions about how his life was going, but he made no exclamations of life being wonderful due to her skillful lovemaking. She was slightly disappointed with the way the encounter had gone, but didn't give up on finding the answer to her question.

Cuddy ran into Taub in the hall shortly before she took a lunch break. He shrugged her off and she questioned his motives. He could have been the one, she determined, judging by his slight blush. With more confidence she moved on to Kutner. He was completely normal, for Kutner, anyway. House was his usual grumpy self, sarcastic and not thrilled to see her as he assumed that she was there to tell him he wasn't allowed to do something. Taub was the most viable choice based on all of the men's reactions.

She called him into her office before he could exit the building at the end of the day and offered him a seat. "Look, Taub, we may or may not have done some crazy things the other night and I just want you to know that the whole thing was a mistake on my part," she explained quickly. "Let's just keep this between the two of us."

"What are you talking about he asked. I didn't see you the other night."

Cuddy was floored. There were no other options. She didn't say anything else, but allowed him to leave. When she left her office Cameron was standing at the nurse's station. "How are things going?" the blonde asked.

"Not great," Cuddy muttered. "I just made a complete fool out of myself."

"I suppose another round of what we had the other day would help, if you're up for it.." Cameron offered. For a moment Cuddy didn't understand what Cameron had said and then it all came flooding back to her. She had been very stressed and Cameron had invited her out for a drink. They had talked for hours and gone back to Cuddy's place while they were still sober enough to drive and had later partaken of a few more drinks. Their innocent kisses had turned into passionate groping and they had ended up naked in Cuddy's large bed with Cameron tying her up.

For a moment Cuddy stood staring at her employee shocked at their behavior, but the feelings that her memories had elicited made her think that she should take Cameron up on the offer. She smiled at the younger and joined her in walking out of the hospital. Perhaps it would turn out alright…