"She is my boss!"
"So. Something like that wouldn't have stopped you a few years ago."
"Yes. Exactly my point. I'm not a sex crazed college student anymore."
"No, you're a sex crazed doctor."
"Ugh. You irritate me."
Thirteen had been arguing with her best friend Alice for the past half hour about what Thirteen should do about her crush on her boss, Lisa Cuddy. It was going nowhere on either side. Alice was convinced that Thirteen should at least try to make something of it.
"What's the worst that could happen? She says no."
"Yeah, or she fires me."
"Remy don't be ridiculous. It's not sexual harassment to ask someone out for drinks or dinner."
"You would understand if you knew her. That is more than enough for her. She is pretty uptight about all the rules, unless House is concerned. Which is another point. She is completely into House."
"You are full of excuses today."
"Not excuses. Valid points. You just can't tell the difference."
"Whatever you need to tell yourself. Besides, if she is so uptight, why are you so interested in her? Uptight and bossy isn't your usual type."
"I don't have a usual type, unless you count easy. Which leads up to another point. She knows that I was sleeping around and partying all night a couple months ago. She caught me in the clinic with an IV in my arm. She was extremely pissed off and wanted to put me through drug tests. What possible redeeming factor could she see in me? Especially since she is straight."
"How do you know she is straight?"
"For one, I've met her. That helped cement the idea. Also, if you were listening, you would know she is into House. Who by the way is also my boss."
"Oh what a tangled web you weave. I still think you should go for it anyway."
Throwing her hands up, Thirteen gave up on the argument. Clearly Alice wasn't going to give up on her side. She didn't seem to realize that Thirteen could lose her job, which despite how much she bitched about, she loved. She wasn't going to give it up just so she could get rejected by Cuddy. Besides, it was just a crush. Nothing serious.
It had been a week since Thirteen had talked to Alice about her crush. Only crush no longer seemed to be the appropriate word. It seemed to be more into the completely overwhelming infatuation stage. It was nearly impossible to keep her mind on her job, which her performance in said job was suffering considerably. It was hard to focus on a patient when all you could about was possible ways to seduce the Dean of Medicine. House just thought she was despairing over her Huntington's diagnosis, which admittedly still got to her, it was nothing compared to the staggering amount of time her mind was on Lisa Cuddy.
"Dr. Hadley."
The voice didn't even register to her. She just kept staring down at the patient file in front of her.
"Dr. Hadley!"
This time the voice was accompanied by a touch to the shoulder, effectively getting Thirteen's attention. She shifted in her chair to see Dr. Cuddy standing beside her.
"Yes?"
"Come with me please. We need to talk."
"OK."
Confused, but not willing to complain, Thirteen rose from her seat and followed Cuddy from the room. They made their way down to Cuddy's office in silence. Once arriving, Cuddy told Thirteen to take a seat while getting situated at her desk.
"Anything you want to talk about Dr. Hadley?"
Thirteen was confused to say the least. Cuddy had brought her down here, but was pretending like Thirteen had come herself. She was having trouble forming sentences in her head because it was difficult to concentrate when the woman you have been lusting after is sitting just a few feet in front of you.
"Dr. Hadley? I asked if you wanted to say anything."
Managing to get herself at least to a coherent stage, Thirteen presented the easiest answer.
"No, you brought me down here. So I'm sure you have something on your mind."
She honestly wasn't trying to be rude, it was just that her mind was swirling and she was frustrated with the effort needed to string together a sentence. Luckily, Cuddy seemed to brush off Thirteen's tone of voice.
"Yes. Well I've been getting people coming to me, telling me they are worried about you. I just wanted to see if you were OK."
"I'm fine. I do admit that I have been rather distracted lately."
"Your diagnosis?"
"No."
Thirteen really hadn't meant to say no. This conversation would have been easier if she had just pretended like her Huntington's was the problem, but now she had wielded the shovel digging her hole like a sword.
"Excuse me. Did you say no?"
"Yes."
"If it's not your disease, what is it?"
Immediately uncomfortable, Thirteen shifted in the chair. She thought she was making it clear that she had no desire to talk about the subject. She was wrong.
"Dr. Hadley I need to know what is going on with you. You have been making mistakes and more often than not you seem to have a vacant look on your face. Don't deny that whatever your problem is, that it's not affecting your job."
"I know it's affecting my performance, and I'm sorry. I really am, but I can't tell you the problem. It's... personal."
Personal would work. At least she thought it would. Although Cuddy looked very skeptical of Thirteen's excuses, she looked as though she was going to let it pass. Thirteen was wrong again.
"That is bullshit. If you can't tell me what's wrong then I'm going to have to take disciplinary action. Your current performance is unacceptable and I'm trying to cut you some slack but you're not helping yourself any with this rude and standoffish approach."
Thirteen was absolutely stunned. She was sure now more than ever that Cuddy hated her.
"I'm more afraid of the consequences if you actually knew what was wrong."
Once again, Thirteen hadn't meant to let that slip. It seemed impossible for her to lie to Dr. Cuddy. It was proving to be a rather large problem.
"Dr. Hadley are you back into the habits that got you in trouble last time?"
"Oh God no. That's not what I meant. It's just embarrassing."
Cuddy looked shocked. Whatever she had been expecting, it was not that.
"Embarrassing?"
Blushing, Thirteen nodded her head. Cuddy got up from her chair and walked around the desk to lean against it in front of Thirteen.
"You can confide in me. If you need it, we can arrange for you to have some time off to get your head straight. I am your boss and need to know what's going on with you."
When Thirteen didn't respond, Cuddy grabbed her hand and squatted down so she was just about eye level with her.
"You can trust me."
Without thinking, Thirteen leaned forward and kissed her. It was light, more a graze than a kiss. After a few seconds, Thirteen pulled away to see a very shocked Cuddy. When Cuddy didn't say anything after a very long minute, Thirteen stood up to walk out the door.
"I'm just going to go."
She proceeded to walk out the door, leaving Cuddy still kneeling in front of her desk with a shocked look on her face. Once out the door, Thirteen all but ran back to the differential room, stopping just long enough to tell Foreman to let House know that she was taking the rest of the day off and turned to head back to the door. He tried to question her about her frazzled appearance, but Thirteen wasn't having it and sprinted off to the doctor's lounge to get her things. After collecting her purse, Thirteen tore through the hospital, and then through the parking lot to retrieve her car. She broke the speed limit all the way home, not slowing her pace till she was safely inside her house, leaning against the door. She finally let herself think about what she had just done. She was possibly the stupidest person on the face of the planet. She had just kissed her completely straight boss. She was dreading having to go to work tomorrow and face the consequences of what she had done.
One thing Thirteen knew for sure was that she needed her best friend. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed Alice's number and waited for an answer.
"Remy? Shouldn't you be at work?"
"No. I left early. Can you come over? I need to talk to you."
"Sure. Are you OK?"
"Yeah I'm OK. I think. Just come over so I can tell you what's going on."
"Alright. I will be there soon."
"Thanks."
Thirteen sat on her couch, impatiently waiting for the arrival of her friend. When she heard the knock on her door, she tripped over herself in her haste to answer it. She collided headfirst with her door, and feeling a little dazed managed to wrench the door open for Alice. Only it wasn't Alice that was waiting for her, it was Lisa Cuddy, and the second she set eyes on Thirteen, she threw herself at her, kissing her with unbelievable passion. Thirteen couldn't tell what was making her head spin anymore, the door or Cuddy, and she didn't care and barely missed a beat in kissing her back. She pulled Cuddy closer to her, their bodies crushing together. They started to back into the house, not once letting their lips part and allowing their hands to roam over the others body. Thirteen felt something pressing against her thighs, a table she was pretty sure. Then the worst possible thing happened. She heard a light knock and realized that neither her nor Cuddy had bothered to shut the door.
"Remy? Why is your door open?"
Alice moved farther into the room and spotted Thirteen with a woman unknown to her, curved into each other.
"Whoa. What the hell is going on? You know I don't sleep with my friends."
Cuddy blushed and quickly disentangled herself from Thirteen muttering something about having to leave. Thirteen grabbed her arm before she got far and spun Cuddy around to face her.
"Please don't leave."
"I shouldn't be here. I need to leave."
She pulled her arm free and continued out the door, pushing past Alice. Thirteen stared after her while Alice was jabbering at her.
"Remy. Remy! Who was that and why did you call me?"
"That was Cuddy."
"Whoa! Seriously?"
"Yes."
"Why did you call me in such a huff if she was here?"
"Because she wasn't here when I called. I kissed her at work and then left because she didn't say anything and looked like she was going into shock."
Thirteen went to sit on the couch, hanging her head in her hands while Alice shut the door and then came to sit by her.
"Sorry man. I wouldn't have come in if I had known."
"I'm not mad at you. You didn't know. Besides, I'm the one that called you."
"What are you going to do?"
"I haven't a bastard clue."
After sitting with Thirteen for a couple hours trying to cheer her up, Alice eventually gave up and decided to go home.
"Hey Alice. Sorry I'm being such a loser friend. I'm just not sure what's going to happen and it's got me worried."
"I understand. Just try not to let it get to you so bad. I hate seeing you so sad and mopey."
"Alright. I'll try. Bye Alice."
"Bye. Remember, don't get too down on yourself."
Thirteen managed to pull a smile for her best friend and showed her out. After Alice left, Thirteen went straight to her room and got in bed. Needless to say, she didn't sleep much. All she could think about was what tomorrow had in store for her.