This fanfic is written for the Huddy Secret Santa on house_cuddy LJ as well and it is beta read by the great Jane (LEfan77) :D

Prompt: Post college, pre series by Audrey (aud_woman_in)

The Beginning

It had been a long, exhausting day and even though she loved her work, she was glad to finally be off the clock. It had been absolutely crazy at the hospital today. The clinic had been crowded and just half of the staff were around because the other half had this stomach flu that was currently making it's way through Princeton. Additionally, one of her best nurses decided to quit because the new head of oncology once again couldn't keep his fingers to himself and started an affair with her even though he was married and never had any intention of leaving his wife.

She sighed and watched a couple that was sitting in the very last booth of the bar arguing. The women seemed to be absolutely indignant while – judging by his facial expression – the man was obviously under the impression that his girlfriend was just exaggerating.

When she took a sip of her Piña Colada she suddenly heard someone clearing his throat next to her.

She removed her eyes from the arguing couple and turned her head to catch sight of a young, handsome man. "May I have a seat on this stool or is this place reserved for the lucky guy that has the honor to be here with you today?"

"It's always the same", she thought. "Every guy that looks good is a stupid macho that is full of himself."

"Talking big has never impressed me. You better try it on that girl over there." She pointed at a red head that – considering her clothes – definitely was much easier to get into bed.

"I am more into black haired women." He said and sat down on the bar stool next to her.

"And I'm into men that start a conversation with a sentence that didn't hint that they want to see me naked."

"I could also pretend not to want to sleep with you if you get turned on by that."

"I wouldn't even be turned on by you if you where the last person on this planet." Cuddy said coldly.

"Oh, come on…" He placed his hand on her arm and bent so close to her that she could feel his breath on her cheek: "I'll make it worth your while."

"Get your hands off of me!" She shoved him away from her hard and almost knocked him over. "If you are that needy go and get yourself a hooker!"

The man was surprised at her sudden outburst. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He was clearly angry now.

She wanted to shout back at him but another voice prevented her from doing so: "Hey, you moron! Hasn't your mommy taught you how to treat a lady?"

Her heart almost stopped when she suddenly realized that she knew this voice. She hadn't heard it in years but that didn't change the fact that she would always recognize it. She hadn't been able to forget it and she probably never would.

A cold shudder went through her body when she turned around and found herself face to face to no one else but the one and only Greg House.

"Who are you? Her bodyguard?" the man asked him provocatively.

"Oh trust me, she needs no bodyguard. She is perfectly capable of cutting off your balls on her own… So if you are attached to your testicles I'd fuck off as fast as I can." House said in his usual unfriendly manner.

Cuddy didn't perceive what either of them said. She was just standing there looking at House in disbelief. The macho-jerk that was still standing next to her was forgotten. Actually everything else in the world was forgotten right now. Thousands of thoughts were spinning in her head but each of them was related to him. To House.

"You know what? Just take the bitch and fuck her, I prefer chicks with bigger boobs anyway." The macho guy got up from the stool and wanted to make his way to the exit of the bar but unfortunately for him he got a pretty hard punch into his face before he was even able to make one step ahead.

House had punched him in his trap!

"House!" Cuddy was surprised at his sudden reaction. She definitely hadn't reckoned with that.

He didn't pay any attention to her right now, he was totally focused on the guy that had just referred to Cuddy as a bitch. "You better leave now before I get really angry." House warned.

"You son of a bitch!" The man hissed. Drops of blood were running down from his nose. He wiped them away with his hand, before he struck out and punched House back into his face.

"Stop!" Cuddy shouted loudly. She was standing a few feet away from them. She was aware of the fact that every single guest that was in the bar was watching House and this idiot with great interest like it was some kind of an attraction.

House was about to punch the moron once again when Cuddy caught hold of his arm. "No! Don't!" She said firmly. "He's not worth it."

House stared at the other man angrily but didn't punch him again, instead he shouted: "Just fuck off you moron!"

This again caused the other guy to get even more aggressive and he started moving closer to House again, preparing to hit him once more.

But to Cuddy's great relief two security guys busted into the room, approached the two wranglers shouting at them to stop and detained the moron.

"Should we kick him out as well?" One of the security men asked Cuddy who was still holding House's arm.

"I've got him under control." She assured them.

The security guys nodded and then lead the moron away out of the bar and left House in Cuddy's custody.

When the three guys had disappeared Cuddy finally let go of House's arm and turned to him. She wanted to be angry with him but this was a lot harder than expected. How could she be really angry when he just had defended her? How could she be angry when she actually just wanted to hug him? "Next time try to make less violent entrance."

"If next time no one is trying to grope you, it won't be necessary for me to make such an entrance."

Cuddy's serious facial expression disappeared and got replaced by a smile. "What the hell are you doing here, House?"

"Actually I just wanted to 'celebrate' because I managed to get fired again but then I saw you and this awful guy that tried to hit on you and… you know the rest." With his hand he wiped away the few drops of blood that were running down from his lower lip.

Cuddy took a napkin from the counter and carefully dabbed off the blood from his lips. "He hit you pretty hard."

"Not as hard as I hit him."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. That's typically men. Everything they do seems to be a competition. "What are you doing here in Princeton?" She still felt completely overwhelmed to see him again.

"Worked at Princeton General."

"Seriously?"

"Yep… For 2 weeks I was their star diagnostician and now I'm their ex wonder boy."

"W… When did you move here?"

"About a month ago… I take you live here as well?"

She nodded. "I moved to Jersey 4 years ago when they offered me to take over the internal medicine department of Princeton Plainsboro."

House took the napkin from her, continued to press it against his lip and murmured: "So you are a chief of medicine now… I always knew you would climb up the ladder of business faster than a monkey could."

She laughed. "Actually I don't have my own department anymore… One year ago our dean retired and I took over for him."

Now he was really surprised. Cuddy was a dean? His Cuddy already was a dean of medicine? A feeling that felt an awful lot like pride made itself through his body. "You do know that dean of medicines usually are old, fat men that are too dumb to be real doctors?"

"That doesn't include Princeton Plainsboro anymore… … What about you? Why did they kick you out at Princeton General?"

"They couldn't handle my exceptional personality… and neither could those douche bags at Maryland General."

She smiled. Not because it was funny that he got fired… No. She smiled because he was still the same old House she got to know years ago in med school. "You can be quite a handful sometimes… actually most of the time."

"You haven't seen me in 6 years… Maybe I've changed."

"In med school there was such a weird guy that always told me that people don't change."

"I think that was a smart guy."

"He was." She agreed and smiled.

Each of them had ordered a drink. Cuddy a martini and House a scotch. They were now sitting on a table to continue their dialogue in more comfortable surroundings.

"Tell me something interesting." House requested.

"Like what?"

"For example, something about the guy that is appeasing the ache in between your legs if it itches."

"House!" She slapped him lightly on his upper arm.

"I'm just curious!"

"How about you just ask me directly if I have a boyfriend, like every other human being would?"

"That would just be boring." He took a sip of his drink. "… So do you have a lover?"

"No…" Was her short answer. "And you? Was any woman able to tame you?"

"Nope. I'm free as a bird."

"I was so not!" Cuddy said in between laughter.

"You were drunk like hell!"

"I was tipsy!"

"You are tipsy now… Back then you were wasted."

"That's not true!"

"You asked me to have sex with you… in the bar…in front of all the people."

Cuddy started laughing even harder. "I didn't!"

"You so did. Melissa had a hard time keeping you from undressing yourself."

"I just wanted to get rid of my pullover… I was hot."

"You sure were." He grinned teasingly and wriggled his eyebrows.

"Not like that, you idiot!"

By now they were on their 3rd drink. Both were already slightly tipsy.

"It was a good time." House said. A small smile was on his face.

"Yeah… We had lots of fun." She admitted.

"… especially after the party at Tom's." There was once again a teasing expression on his face.

She didn't dare look at him but nodded. He had just reminded her on the event she actually wanted to forget. "Yeah… Even though the outcome in the end wasn't so funny anymore."

"Cuddy I…" He wanted to explain it to her. He wanted to tell her that he hadn't called her because he got expelled and because he thought it was better this way. Better for her. And better for him. It had both saved them from getting hurt. But Cuddy didn't let him explain.

"It's okay, House… I knew from the start on that this was nothing serious. I knew that it just was a one-night stand. Let's just remember the great time we had and not how it all turned out."

"This wasn't just…"

She cut him off once again: "No, House… Don't… It's fine… I just wanna spend a nice evening with you, without talking about this incident."

"Okay…" He backed down. Telling her that their night back in med school was much more than just a one-night stand would be hard enough for him anyway. So he was kinda relieved that she didn't even want to hear it. "Can we then at least get something to eat? I'm starving."

The smile that had disappeared from her face came back. "Good Idea! I'm kinda starving as well."

It was dark outside. The countless street lamps were switched on and bathed the town in a soft light.

House and Cuddy were sitting on a bench in Plainsboro Park, eating the very best sandwiches Cuddy ever had eaten in her whole life.

"This tastes great!" She exclaimed when she swallowed the second bite she took from her veggie Sandwich. "I can't believe I've never eaten a sandwich from them before."

"I can't either. You live in Princeton for 4 years and never have eaten Sammy's sandwiches?"

"I never really had time to discover all the gourmet temples in town." She said in a sarcastic voice.

"Were you too busy pushing papers and bossing around your employees?"

"And doing all the other things a dean has to do."

"I guess this doesn't include having fun?" House took bite from his sandwich.

"It usually doesn't even include a free weekend."

"You are a workaholic."

"I'm determined to do a good job. I don't get what's bad about that?"

"Nothing's bad about it… I'm just asking myself where partypants is…"

"I never was the one that partied a lot."

"But you always were ready for some fun."

"Not always… Remember the day when you hid all my notes so I would go to the cinema with you?"

He grinned. "You were so pissed at me..."

"You knew that I had to study!"

"But in the end you didn't seem to be as pissed anymore…" He turned his head to the side in order to look at her.

Cuddy nodded. It was all she could do right now… The memories were all coming back and over flood her.

All those years ago, when they went to the cinema together they had kissed for the very first time… It had happened in front of Cuddy's dorm… They could both remember this moment like it was yesterday.

This kiss that had first seemed so harmless, had turned out to be so much more.

They have both kissed and slept with other people several times but neither House nor Cuddy could remember any of these moments as clearly as they could remember the kisses they had shared and the night they had spent together.

Cuddy cleared her throat. She was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. All those memories confused her. "It's already late…" She got up from the bench. "I should go home now."

"It's not even 10pm yet… Do all deans of medicine have to go to bed that early?"

"I have a board meeting tomorrow morning." She took the paper her sandwich had been wrapped in and tossed it into the trashcan before she turned around and started walking away.

"Hey!" House got up from the bench as well and followed her. "You can't just walk away…"

She ignored him and kept walking. She wanted to get away from him. He confused her. He made all these feelings that she had kept locked away come to the surface again.

"Cuddy!" House took hold of her arm and so forced her to stop.

"What?" She looked at him angrily.

House didn't say anything for a few moments. He just watched her while his fingers were softly tracing her lifelines. "I want to spend the night with you."

Cuddy thought she might have misunderstood him, but when it sunk in that he really just had said what she thought he had said, she did something she hadn't ever done before.

She slapped him across his cheek.

House was startled… Cuddy was so petite and small, he didn't know that she could slap that hard. His hand went to his cheek that had a red handprint on it and rubbed it while his eyes were still focused on hers.

House was still surprised about the slap in his face when Cuddy suddenly surprised him once again: She made a step closer, gripped him by his t-shirt and pulled him so close that their chests were touching before she smashed her mouth on his.

It took him a few moments until he finally realized what was happening and started returning the kiss eagerly.

Cuddy threw her arms around him and pulled him even closer into her. Her hungry mouth was still kissing him forcefully.

The kiss got more passionate with each passing second. Their tongues were fighting for dominance.

Cuddy could already feel his growing erection pressing against her belly when she suddenly broke the kiss. "Let's go to your apartment." She whispered against his mouth.

"Too far away…" House pecked her on the lips "What about yours?"

"Too far away as well." She said before she kissed him once more.

"There's a hotel 2 minutes from here" He murmured against her lips.

"Okay." She agreed before she deepened the kiss once again.

House had no clue what was going on and why she had suddenly changed her mind but as long as she kept kissing him like that he really didn't care at all.

The sun was making its way trough the sloppily closed curtains and tickled House's nose.

He slowly opened up his eyes so they could get used to the bright light.

It took him a few moments to remember where exactly he was. When his memory came back, his lips formed to a grin: He was in a hotel room where he had spent an incredible night with Cuddy.

He sighed a contented yawned, before he turned around to spoon up against the perfect body of the sexiest women on this planet.

But as soon as he had flipped over his body he realized that he was alone in bed.

There was no sign of Cuddy. The half of the bed she had slept in was already cold.

Usually House didn't mind when the woman he had slept with was gone in the morning but somehow it was different with Cuddy. It always had been different with her.

He was about to get up when he suddenly felt something lying next to his hand. He looked down and caught sight of a piece of paper. A piece of paper with a note on it:

„Today 14:30 job interview at Princeton Plainsboro. Shower, shave, wear a suit and be on time. – Cuddy."

A grin spread on his face.

He was so going to get this job.

-end-

Merry Christmas!

(please forgive me again for the not so creative title of the story)