Pairing: Huddy with House/Rachel interaction
A/N: YAY! I finally wrote another House fic! Gosh, it's been what? A year? School's been pretty crazy since it started back up in August so I've been dying to write something, anything. Just got around to it during this break. So, this is my...eighth I think...House fic and my second Huddy fic. I've had the idea of this story since the promo pics for "Big Baby" were released about a year ago and I finally got a chance to get it down. I wrote this in two days so forgive any mistakes you might find. I did take the time to edit it though. So this story takes place the night after House solves the case in "Big Baby." Anyways, I'll let you readers get on with it. Hope you enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: All I own is this scene...unforunately.
The Things I Do For You
Cure patient? Check
Destroy Cameron? Check
Annoy Cuddy? Not check
He smirks softly to himself as he arrives on the last item on his mental to-do list. Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we? Raising his cane, he begins rapping on the door before him in a steady beat. A shuffling from inside alerts him to the presence of the house's inhabitants and a short while later the door opens revealing a slightly disheveled Cuddy in nothing but a tank top and pajama bottoms.
His smirk grows wider. "'Morning, Cuddles!" he exclaims, lowering his cane in order for it to once again support his weight.
"It's the middle of the night." snaps his boss as she crosses her arms across her chest in an effort to shield herself from the cold, night air and House's wandering eyes.
He makes a show of acting surprised. "Goodness, is it? And here I thought it was just the winter solstice."
She glares at him for a moment before grudgingly stepping aside, knowing that he wasn't going to just disappear because she wanted him to. Helping himself to the warmth of Cuddy's house, he limps inside, somewhat disappointed at the lack of resisting banter.
"I was just about to put Rachel to bed so if you could try to be a little less obnoxious than usual, I'd really appreciate it." she says after closing the door behind him and heading down a hallway.
With nothing better to do, he follows. "Sure. Unnaturally loud baby needs its beauty sleep after screeching about five decibels below the sonic boom for a whole day so it can get up tomorrow and start the cycle all over again. I get it."
"She's more tolerable than you, that's for sure." Cuddy says from inside the nursery.
He stops just outside the door and contemplates entering the kid's lair before damning the choices to hell and stepping inside. He stands awkwardly in the middle of the room as Cuddy performed all the preordained motherly rituals that constituted putting a child to bed. Unconsciously, his hands tap his cane on the ground a few times as he looks around the small yellow nursery.
"I gotta hand it to the kid." he says casually after a while. "If it wasn't for the little worm's screams, my patient probably would've—" He draws a finger across his neck while making a harsh scoffing noise in the back of his throat.
Cuddy throws him a look over her shoulder. "Finally found your muse, House? She's flattered."
"She shouldn't be. They're all jailbait until they're 18 anyway." he quips.
Cuddy lets out a laugh in spite of his comment, knowing it was his way of thanking her in helping him solve his case.
Just then a phone rings from somewhere in the house and Cuddy pries herself away from the crib. "Just a second." She rushes off to answer the call, leaving House alone in the nursery. Her flustered voice carries through the house and he catches the words, "Cameron" and "benefactor" mentioned several times. He smirks. Cameron never had the balls to do Cuddy's job.
He's about to head out of the nursery in order to continue his task of annoying Cuddy when she reappears looking slightly panicked. He knew what that look meant: her baby was in trouble. And by baby he meant the hospital.
"That was Cameron." she says, shifting her weight from leg to leg restlessly. "There's been some sort of issue and a patient's family wants to speak to me."
He squints at her. "It's the middle of the night. What insignificant boo-boo could've possibly occurred that you would need to look at?"
"Yes, well, as you so graciously proved earlier, 'the middle of the night' means absolutely nothing to people these days."
Touche. He opens his mouth to retaliate with a witty retort but she turns away and begins running around the house to change into more presentable clothing. Suddenly, he regrets dropping by.
She's back barely a minute later in a completely different outfit with her briefcase clutched to her side. "I need to go to the hospital to sort this out."
"I'll just show myself out then." he nearly cuts her off, knowing what words were about to leave her mouth and he wanted nothing do to with it.
"House." She moves deftly in his way as he attempts to make an escape.
Cringing inwardly, he braces himself for her next sentence.
"It's too late for me to call my babysitter and I can't leave Rachel here by herself." He waits for her to continue even though he already knows where this is leading. "Could you just stay here until I come back?"
And there it is. He curses himself and his god-awful timing.
"I'd only be gone about an hour. Two max." Cuddy hastily adds. "You don't even have to be in the same room. You could just take the baby monitor with you." As if to prove how much less imposing this was, she walks over to a dresser, picks up the device, and holds it up.
He runs through his options. He could stay and subject himself to the kid's unpredictable wrath for two hours. Or he could go home, kick his feet up, grab a beer, and end up with something else eating away at his conscience if something did manage to happen to the kid. Groaning internally, he makes his decision and takes the baby monitor from Cuddy.
"I'm counting down. If you're not back in two hours, Jr.'s gonna have to ride the night out alone."
Smiling with relief, Cuddy steps forward and places a quick kiss on his cheek, taking him by surprise. "Thank you, House." She then whisks out of sight and out the door before he has time to change his mind.
Slightly at a loss, he just stands there for a moment, the light pressure of Cuddy's lips still faintly on his cheek. He then berates himself for acting like such pussy before sneaking a glance at the crib and slinking off to the living room. Upon seeing the 60-inch plasma screen mounted to the wall, he thanks Cuddy for leaving him with one decent thing to keep him occupied. With a heavy sigh, he finds a comfortable position on the couch and proceeds to surf the channels before finally turning to a rerun of an old Spongebob episode. He's barely settled in when a soft mewling noise starts coming from the baby monitor. He frowns disapprovingly at the device as if the baby would somehow get his message. A second later the whimpering stops and he grins in a self-satisfied way only to roll his eyes in exasperation when it starts back up again after several moments of silence.
Five minutes later the baby showed no signs of letting up much to House's annoyance so, grumbling, he gets to his feet and limps for the nursery. Peering over the rails of the crib, he looks down to see a wide-awake Rachel staring back up at him.
"Look, kid." God, what am I doing? "Your Uncle House here has a bum leg so how about you just go to sleep so I don't have to keep dragging my invalid self back and forth to check on you."
Rachel blinks at him and House takes this as her response. He turns around to head back to the living room only to hear the cries pick back up again. Sighing, he looks forlornly back at Rachel.
"What do you want from me? A lullaby? 'Cause, I mean, I would but I just don't know any songs that'd be appropriate for a time like this." Did he just slip her some sarcasm? Great, he thinks, like she's anywhere near understanding the concept of sarcasm.
She raises her arms up to him in response. He stares down at her. You gotta be kidding me. But then he sees the beginnings of a whimper start to form on Rachel's mouth and quickly scoops her up before any noise comes forth. Holding her out in front of him, the two engage in a staring contest, his bright blue eyes drilling into her wide, green ones. For some reason, she seems completely captivated by him and just continues to stare even as his own eyes start to water. Just then, she lets out a small yawn and he takes this as his cue to quickly, but gently set her back down. But the moment her little feet touch the mattress, a soft whimper escapes her mouth and he lifts her back up to eye level.
He scowls. "So, now what, Princess? I can't just stand here and hold you forever. Have some pity on your cripple of an uncle."
She looks at him, her eyes dancing, and for a second, he swears that she's laughing at him. Her eyes then shift to look past him almost as if she was trying to prove a point. Rolling his eyes at both his situation and his delusions of having telepathic conversations with a two-month old baby, he takes the hint and, after gingerly cradling her against his shoulder, makes for the living room.
Having reached the couch, he carefully lays himself down, Rachel still held softly against him, until he's spread out on his back across the length sofa. He shifts into a more comfortable position, conscious of the ten pound human being resting on his chest. God, she's so tiny he feels like he could break her. When he's finally comfortable, he stops his squirming and glances down at Rachel who was now laying on her stomach across his chest.
"You're lucky I think your mommy's hot." he mumbles to the ceiling.
Two tiny fists clench at his shirt in response. He sighs, his breath lightly ruffling the sprout of dark hair on her head, then places a hand securely on her back. This was going to be a long two hours.
An hour and a half later, Cuddy walks up the steps to her porch, keys jingling as she fumbles to get them out. She successfully unlocks the door and steps inside, expecting House's whining voice to reach her ears in a moment. But instead, silence greets her.
"House?" she calls out, alarmed.
A flickering light in the other room catches her attention and she half runs to see what it is, clutching her keys like a weapon. But upon reaching the entrance of the living room, her grip relaxes and a soft smile creeps across her lips as she takes in the sight before her.
A clearly exhausted House lay fast asleep on the couch, one arm dangling over the edge of the mattress while the other rested protectively on an equally unconscious Rachel. Soft snores escape from House's slightly open mouth, causing Rachel to vibrate gently with the movements of his chest.
Cuddy lets out a quiet laugh. She knew the two of them would get along just fine. Slipping off her heels so as to not wake the two slumbering figures, she tiptoes over to the remote and turns off the forgotten TV. Briefly, she entertains the idea of taking a quick picture of the two but quickly pushes it away. This was a moment she wanted to keep to herself. She then gently throws a blanket over them and, after taking one last look at her daughter and impromptu babysitter, silently slips out of the room.
A/N: I know Cameron "quit" Cuddy's job at the end of the episode but I'm assuming that she can't just leave without at least finishing the day. So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)