House stood and watched out the vast windows of his office as Lisa Cuddy, halfway out of the car, pecked Lucas on the cheek before heading into work late.
"Could be meningitis?" Chase threw out from the table.
"Not likely. Rashes are only reported in some cases." Taub replied coolly.
"Meningococcal meningitis causes a skin rash." Chase explained.
"So does lyme disease, plus the patient is experiencing irregular heartbeats, which has been reported in some cases." Thirteen spoke up.
Before Foreman could participate, House spoke up, continuing to stare out the window as Cuddy strode into the hospital. "Good. Test for both. Would you really be surprised if it was meningitis?" He a sardonic look at them.
Taub smirked in gloat while the others shrugged and got up to go get the tests. Foreman stay in his seat, smirking at House. "You're thinking about Cuddy."
"Oh shut up, the whole team's become obsessed with me and Cuddy. It's distracting." He shot back defensively.
"The hospital lost a huge donor yesterday."
"Since when do I, or anyone else, care about the hospital's donors?"
"There's a repeat of that casino night fundraiser tomorrow night to pick the money up. Lucas can't go."
A moment of silence swirled throughout the room as both of them thought up plans. Even though Foreman was usually an emotionless or angry guy, he found House and Cuddy's relationship amusing, and it distracted House more than it should.
".. Go fix whatever they screwed up." House ordered.
Foreman smirked and left the room, leaving House to think.
He could ask her to the fundraiser, but everyone knew she'd shoot that down with a "what would Lucas think" rejection. How could he win her over better than Lucas would? …. Time to ask Wilson.
"Mr. Sestito, you have lymphoma.." Wilson started.
Suddenly, House burst through the door, of course without even a knock as a warning. "I need you."
Wilson blinked at the old man's completely shocked look before raising his index finger in the "one moment" sign and joining House out in the hallway.
"Is he dying?" House nodded towards the patient in Wilson's office.
".. Yeah. He has stage four lymphoma." Wilson sighed.
".. Is he going to die before the end of this consult?" House inquired.
Wilson rolled his eyes, "What do you need, House?"
House looked away, suddenly becoming infatuated with the design on the marble floors of PPTH. "I need to find a way to go with Cuddy to the fundraiser."
Wilson raised his bushy eyebrows. "Wow, if only there was a way to communicate with another human being, say through sound.."
"Both you and I know just asking her won't work. I need a plan. Something better than what Lucas would do." House snapped.
Wilson paused in thought, then narrowed his eyes in realization. "And you want me to ask her. That's it, right?" He inquired. That would be the only reasonable explanation as to why House shared his feelings in front of him and asked for his help.
House didn't reply, indicating his answer was yes.
"House, me asking her for you just… I can't…" Wilson searched for an excuse not to ask Cuddy.
House simply stared at Wilson, hoping.
Wilson wasn't a moron. He could see the hopeful look in House's cold blue eyes. He had to help his friend, right? He was so close to admitting his feelings to Cuddy instead of everyone else, and this could help him be just a tiny bit more sane… "Fine, I'll ask her."
House nodded and replied with an awkward thank you before disappearing down the hallway to find his team looking defeated in his office. "Tests were negative?"
"For both meningitis and lyme disease. All we know is he has a fever and a rash. It could be anything." Thirteen explained.
"Where were you?" Foreman inquired curiously.
"Don't worry about it." House's eyes held a hint of warning.
Meanwhile…
Wilson burst through the doors of Cuddy's office, a thoughtful look planted on his normally friendly face, to see the woman scribbling feverishly across some papers as he expected.
Cuddy didn't even notice Wilson until the familiar sound of her office doors rattling themselves closed snapped her from her thoughts. "Can I help you?"
"Not me. House." Wilson explained slowly, sitting down in a chair in front of his boss' desk.
Cuddy sat back and placed her chin in her hand, readying herself for the long, unacceptable medical request that House forced Wilson into asking.
"Umm.." Wilson tried to pull the words out of his mouth.
"Well, what stupid procedure does he want?" Cuddy inquired hurriedly.
"Oh, it's no procedure.. he.. he wants to go to the casino night fundraiser with you. " Wilson spoke carefully, as if he brought up one false word she would reject automatically.
Cuddy's eyes widened in surprise. "Wilson, I.. I'm dating Lucas. Not House."
"Well, Lucas doesn't have to know, does he? And you don't exactly have to be dating House to go to a fundraiser with him, right?" Wilson argued gently.
"Well… why didn't House ask me himself?" She inquired, obviously searching for any deflection possible.
"Are you really asking that question?" He paused while Cuddy remained silent, awaiting a real reply from him.
Wilson sighed. "He was afraid that you'd say no if he asked you."
Another moment of silence.
"Well, tell House I'm sorry, but --" Cuddy was cut off by one of Wilson's famous rants.
"Would it really hurt to have fun for once in your life, Cuddy? You and I both know that you want to go with him. Don't think about the consequences. Be… think of yourself as a teenager. Just do it." Wilson coaxed.
Cuddy frowned and a soft sigh followed soon after. "Wilson, I don't think I can do this."
"I know you can. You love him. And don't try to deny that, because everyone else seems to know but you that you're only dating Lucas because he's the closest you can get to House." He explained.
"I'm not dating Lucas because he's like House!" She defended.
"Right. Well, are you going with House or not?" He questioned.
Cuddy gazed at him for a moment. "Fine. I'll go."
The corners of Wilson's mouth upturned into a smile. "Great. You two will be okay. Don't worry about it."
"Thanks, Wilson." She dismissed.
And with that, Wilson rose to his feet and scrambled out the door to go tell House the news.
"You idiots. How could you not have thought of a tox screen?" House scolded his team darkly as Wilson entered his friend's office.
"You didn't think of one either. Which means you were thinking of something else…" Foreman wore another smirk.
"Go run the tox screen." House rolled his eyes while the four team members rose to their feet and filed out of the room.
House and Wilson sat there in silence for a few moments before Wilson decided to speak up with the big news.
"It took a bit of persuasion, but Cuddy said yes." Wilson explained, feeling like a teenager asking out a girl for his friend.
House's face took on a look of shock. "She did?"
Wilson nodded. "House, be careful. Cuddy's feelings aren't magically all better after the 80's party incident. She loves you. Don't screw it up tomorrow."
