Title: The God of Winter
Summary: Three little ducklings all in a row, oh no where did one go?
Rating: G
Pairings: none
There they were at another fundraiser. Texas Hold 'em poker, such a fad. Of course, Cuddy had to do it on Halloween, requiring everyone to wear costumes. So there they sat all bedecked, except Chase's chair was occupied by a very attractive woman. Her auburn hair was cut to soften her jaw line, and a light blue dress that billowed and clinged in just the right places. Next to her sat Cuddy, who didn't seem to be wearing more than her standard slutty office wear. Of course, House was in his standard fair as well, with the addition of a name tag that stated, "Hi! My Name is El Diablo". Wilson, on House's other side, seemed to have taken the costuming seriously in his 19th century garb and pipe.
Foreman, who had apparently waited until the last minute to get a costume, was decked out in a carpenters garb and looked like one of the Village People. Cameron with wings and pixie dust could have been anything from a princess to a fairy or a fairy princess.
"So, Cuddy? What are you suppose to be?" House casually raised 100.
Cuddy smiled baring her teeth, and hissed a bit just for effect. "A vampire. Call."
A few minutes of steady playing, and House needed a distraction. "So, where is Chase?"
The auburn haired woman looked up, "Not sure. He's around here some where." Some chips casually clinked into the pot. "I think he dressed up as Steve Irwin -- Lord knows he had to buy all that khaki new."
Foreman snorted into his drink and the bet passed around. Chase's replacement was causally pulling in the pot as Foreman asked, "So what are you?"
"Morana, Chase's date."
"No, what's your costume?"
"Oh. I'm dressed as an average woman."
Cameron scoffed and glitter fell from her wrinkled nose. "How is that a costume?"
Morana turned, green eyes wickedly alight, purring she replied, "You can trust that there's nothing average about me." Coins clinked into the pot. Morana was doing fairly well -- better than everyone but House and tying with Wilson and Cuddy.
"It must be hard." All eyes turn to Morana. "I mean, you work together and know each other really well, poker for you can't just be about luck. In fact," more chips were tossed into the pot, "I would hazard a guess that luck has nothing to do with who wins."
The round finished, Morana winning again. Wilson turns, chips rattling in his hands. "So, what do you do?" The chips transfer to the pot.
Clinking follows as House and Cuddy go in. "Who me?" Morana's smile is back, lips curving in a devilish fashion. "I'm a dominatrix at the Gilded Cage." Her chips are even louder as she doubles the pot, putting Foreman and Cameron all in.
Aghast and not even really thinking, Cameron pushes her money forward, with Foreman not far behind. "So you're job is what exactly?" Only House could ask that question.
"I have some specialties: voice," and suddenly she shifted her demeanor, darker and commanding, her voice was a throaty husk, low and purring, everyone bent over to hear her whisper, "and knots. The beauty of them." She literally purrs eyelids at have mast as she visualizes something, something that she loves "I can tie a knot that will tighten with your every breath, tighter, and tighter till all you can feel is the rope pressed against your flesh and my hand holding your life, deciding whether that last breath will bring you that much closer to the final goal," tension ratcheted up a notch, and her eyes slipped all the way closed "then release. Oxygen flooding you and your limbs, bringing clarity and life." Morana sat back perfectly normal the spell broken and her husky voice back to normal, but everyone else at the table was looking rather hot under the collar. Foreman and Allison -- who'd just lost the pot -- didn't even seem to realize it as they sat gasping to regain composure.
The betting continued and the chips flowed around the table, exchanging hands until it was down to Morana and House. Cuddy and Wilson were still there, watching to see who would come out on top. They were fairly evenly matched, and Morana was carefully counting her chips and eyeballing House's to see if she could put him all in.
Cameron walked up in the middle of her deliberations and asked, "Have you seen Chase? There's a problem with an ICU patient's meds and they need to ask him a question.
"No, haven't seen him, but I know where to find him." She pushed her chips forward, "all in."
House studied her carefully, the cards and her even gaze revealed nothing, damn it! "Well where is he?"
Morana looked up at Cameron, "Oh yeah, well did you know that Morana means Death? Morana was the Slavic Goddess of winter and death. 'S why I picked it."
"Picked what?" House looked up forgetting about his cards. There was something about the way she said it, sparking something and he had to know. "Why did you pick that?"
Morana just stared back evenly, "Fine! Call!" House was sure that he had her cards beat, but he wanted the mystery solved.
Morana flipped her cards to reveal two aces giving her a four of a kind, better than House's full house. Damn! "I picked Morana for my name tonight because it seemed very appropriate." Standing, she smoothed her dress. "About that ICU problem?"
"Oh! Yeah, where is Chase?"
"Right here." Morana's lips quirked into a familiar lopsided smile and a very familiar masculine voice left her throat, "or don't you recognize me, luv?"
"Oh My God!"
"She really is Chase!"
She smirked straight at House, "After all, it is come as you aren't night."
"So you came as a woman?"
"So I came as a dom." Chase winked his still perfectly made up eye and sauntered off, swaying his hips, and even knowing what he did, House couldn't help but think that Chase was the best looking woman he'd seen in a long while.