Disclaimer: I do not own House or any its characters.
Takes place during Season 6 Episode 8, Ignorance is Bliss. (Slight variation from the actual woman that was at the house that House entered for dinner.)
House wasn't sure what his plan of attack would be when he arrived at Cuddy's Thanksgiving Dinner. He knew what he wanted the outcome to be, but he usually works best on his feet. He's get a feel for the social temperature at the dinner and proceed from there.
After an uneventful 3 hour drive in which he'd run through the endgame scenario of a not so broken hearted Cuddy, post Lucas, returning to her sexually charged banter with him at work; he pulled up at the address that she'd given him with the invitation to dinner. It was a very elegant Tudor style house in an upscale neighborhood. House stepped out of his car carrying a bottle of wine as his limped up to the door. Devious determination bubbled up inside as he rang the bell. The door opened by what House assumed must be a relative of Cuddy. She was short, about 5'4, mid twenties, too young to be Cuddy's sister, she was dressed in a palates exercise outfit showing her midriff. Looking up at him with crystal blue eyes she simply said, "Hi."
House knit his eyebrows together and gave a hint of a smile as he said, "You're not Julia."
"No," she answered, "I'm the house sitter; they're in Hawaii for the week. You must be Dr. House."
House didn't reply, he just lowered his head and looked away from the young woman.
She pressed her lips into a hard line, "She told me to offer you a turkey sandwich," she said dejectedly. She turned her head away as if embarrassed. "I've met Dr. Cuddy a few times; I would never have taken her as a person that would pull a stunt like this. I'm sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry about? Forget it." He turned to walk away and then turned back to her. "Here," he said handing her the bottle of wine. "You deserve this for having the uncomfortable pleasure of greeting me at the door." He turned again to leave but she quickly grabbed his arm.
"Uncomfortable yes, but not completely unpleasant. Please, stay. The job pays well but it kind of sucks spending the holiday alone."
House looked down at her hand on his sleeve. The woman was a bit taken aback by the look on his face. He looked at her hand as though it carried some sort of alien disease and he wanted it removed from his orbit.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly retracting her hand feeling awkward. She knew at once that she should let the man go but something in his face, his eyes, compelled her to try to keep him there.
"Thanks but no thanks," he bit out, "I like alone, I do it very well." he turned again and took a step toward the street, but again she stopped him in the threshold of the door.
"I don't have any sort of traditional dinner, but I made a small pot of turkey chili, it would go well with the wine, please join me."
House was intrigued by the petite brunette with the thick plait that hung down her back, she hadn't turned around but he could tell that her hair was extraordinarily long. "Why?" he asked simply.
"I don't know," she said looking up at him, "I just want you to stay."
In truth she looked as puzzled as he felt, and enjoying a puzzle he decided to stay. He said nothing, just have a slight nod.
"Great, let me take your coat." She set down the bottle of wine and reached up on tip toes to help him remove his coat.
He followed her through a corridor noticing that her braid did indeed end midway down her perfect, round, and firm ass. He found himself in the kitchen which did smell of onions and peppers. After tossing most of his morning bagel away he was unable to control his stomach's growling. Being his observant self he noticed the place setting for one at the counter/bar, the wine glass which sat begging to be filled and the two tapered candles flickering in front.
"I knew you were hungry," she said with a warm knowing smile.
House's eyes moved around the room, "Looks as though you were bent on enjoying your dinner for one." The tone in which he stated that sounded more like an accusation than an observation.
"Just because you're alone is no reason not to celebrate."
"If you're alone, what's to celebrate?"
Again she was a bit taken aback by his brusque comment. "Things could be worse," she replied, "I could have been sent to an empty house to spend the holiday because people didn't want me around."
House's eyes shot up to her face, she had a fiery look in her eyes and a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. House liked her witty reply. He decided at once that this might not be the worst thing ever. He openly smirked, "Touché, what's your name anyway?"
"Maya, Maya Jensen."
"Gregory House, Why do the initials on your handbag there identify you as M.M. Maya?"
She turned to stir the chili and spoon it out into bowls. "You don't miss a trick do you? It stands for Maya Michaels. I recently reverted to my maiden name, Jensen."
She pulled out another place setting and handed it to him motioning for him to move the settings to the table instead of the bar. He hung his cane on his arm as he hobbled to the table to set the places. "Judging from the leather and the style of purse you carry, I'd say the ex is loaded, so why are you here house sitting rather than living in a luxury penthouse?"
She nonchalantly began to answer as she pulled out a corkscrew and another wine glass and handed them to House. "It wasn't one of those, 'I caught you cheating and now I'm going to take you for all your worth' sort of things."
"What sort of thing was it then?" he asked as he began to uncork the wine bottle.
She carried the two bowls to the table, "It was an 'I stupidly married you when I was too young to know better' sort of things."
"Ouch, don't hold back, tell him how you really feel."
She returned to the kitchen to retrieve the condiments. "Grab the candle there huh? I was barely 18 when I married him, he seemed nice, he was nice actually. He was too nice, but I wasn't really cut out for all the dinners."
Again House's brows knit themselves together and he couldn't keep the grin from tugging at the corners of his mouth. 'You lost me, you left him because he was too nice and took you to dinner?"
"God no," she said sitting down in the seat next to him at the small table for four. "I divorced him because I could barely stand him, and he didn't take me to dinner he brought people over for dinner, six nights out of seven."
"So you don't like to cook."
"I love to cook, I wasn't supposed to cook, it had to be catered."
"And you're complaining that you didn't have to slave over a hot stove?"
"I didn't like entertaining people that I had nothing in common with for hours on end every night."
"And things are better now that you can house sit for people on exotic vacations?" He said sarcastically.
"I do this on holidays from school."
"So this helps pay your way through secretarial training?"
She laughed then, "No, my husband did cheat, I drove him to it but still… Anyway, I got more than enough to pay for my education. I'm studying biochemistry. It's interesting and I don't have to socialize. This I do," she said waving her arm around, 'to stay at beautiful places for free and avoid awkward social situations."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Here he sat with a beautiful woman that didn't love to socialize 24/7, was quick witted, had just sat jalapenos down on the table as a condiment to chili and had a collector's edition Sherlock Holmes novel sitting by her purse. House sincerely smiled for the first time that day. "I think I'm in love."
She looked up at him and they laughed in unison.
