Title: More than Medicine

Category: House, M.D.

Genre: Romance/Drama

Pairing: Eventual House/Cuddy

Rating: M

Set: 20 years before Season 1

Summary: Prequel to "Past Recovery". They had nothing in common. Nothing at all. Except a passion for medicine.

Author Notes: Takes place 25 years before "Past Recovery", which is an AU of the second half of season 5. This is not a love-at-first-sight fic. This is a realistic romance. Which means that the relationship between House and Cuddy will take a while to develop. Since this is a college-era fic, the characters, especially House, might seem OOC. Anyways…on to the fic!

Author Notes 2: Most of the chapter titles will be song titles. No song lyrics will be used unless specified at the beginning of the appropriate chapter. All song titles and lyrics are copyright their respective owners.

=More Than Medicine=

-Chapter 1: Who's That Guy?-

'No. It's too early for this.' Lisa Cuddy thought as she pulled into the parking space closest to the residence halls on the University of Michigan campus. Summer had ended much to soon, and the atmosphere still held a bit of the season even as the returning students packed their belongings up to their rooms from their vehicles. Thankfully, Lisa had been given a room on the ground floor this year, her last year as an undergraduate, and she didn't have to travel very far with her luggage.

Pressing the button to pop the trunk, she turned off the car and got out. Walking around to the trunk to start removing her belongings, she had to jump back to avoid the path of a flashy car she'd never seen on the campus before. It had a sleek design, and she knew it wasn't a recent model. It drove past her in a flash of orange, swerving into a spot a few stalls down from where she herself was parked.

The now-obvious make and model of the orange car with the black stripe across the side wasn't what surprised Lisa. Even though the make was from 1974, it was not uncommon to see the model on the road. She'd heard good reviews about the Colt GT, but liked her own Ford Granada just fine, and hadn't wanted any other car. Besides, her Granada was only three years old. The eleven year old Dodge parked there wasn't her style, anyway.

No. What surprised her the most was who it was that exited the vehicle. It was a man who, like his car, had never been seen on the U of M campus. Unable to resist, she gave the new guy a once-over. Dressed simply in a pair of blue jeans and a sweater with the Johns Hopkins logo with a pair of sneakers, he didn't seem all that out of place. He was tall, probably about five or six inches taller than her. The fact that he was well built made her assume he was an athlete of some sort. The man had broad shoulders and his arms looked strong enough to bend steel. Immediately, Lisa decided she did not want to get in this man's way. Ever. Before she had finished analyzing him, he was closing the door of his vehicle and walking over to her. She couldn't help noticing he had a long stride. Blinking, she looked up at him as he came to a stop right in front of her.

"Need any help?" he asked. His voice was smooth and even. His clear, icy blue eyes were highlighted with a certain level of boredom. Clearly, he did not want to be there. As if he knew what she was thinking, he went on speaking. "I'm supposed to help the undergrads bring in their stuff." Shrugging he opened the trunk of the car and gazed at the contents.

"Oh. Um…" Lisa stuttered, slightly unnerved by the raw power the man seemed to radiate. 'Yeah…this is really not the kind of guy you wanna piss off,' she thought, nodding a couple times. Taking that as her acceptance of his help, the man picked up one of her duffle bags, throwing the strap over his shoulder. Removing two more bags, he started walking up to the entrance to the residence hall. Quickly grabbing another bag, she ran to catch up. It seemed she had been right about her earlier assessment of his strength; he didn't seem to have a problem carrying what were easily the heaviest bags she'd packed.

"Which room is yours?" he asked once they'd entered the building. He looked around as if he were trying to memorize the place. She quirked an eyebrow at that. The way he talked, it seemed like he was only hired help. What need would he have to memorize the layout of the residence hall? Sighing, she answered him.

"198, this way," she nodded in the appropriate direction, leading the way. Fishing the room key which she had picked up the previous week out of her jacket pocket, she unlocked the door and opened it wide. Setting the bag she carried just inside the door, she drug a chair over to prop the door open. She supposed she should be glad she had not been given a room mate this year; it meant less interference with her studies. And having medicine as her field of interest, she didn't need any distractions. This being her senior year, the workload was going to be heavy enough. There wouldn't be time for distractions. She heard her helper set down the three bags he'd carried in, and turned to look at him.

"How much more stuff do you have to bring in?" he asked, not sounding the least bit exhausted after lugging three duffle bags packed to bursting from her car to her room.

"Not a lot," she answered back vaguely, sweeping past him. Though she only meant to annoy him, it was true. She didn't know why she sought to annoy a man she didn't even know. Perhaps it was because the guy absolutely oozed arrogance. Maybe she wanted to distance herself from him, tell him that she wasn't interested at all in his good looks, or his strong arms. Which was probably what he wanted her to be impressed with. Men were all the same. And after Joel, who had broken up with her harshly just before the end of last year, Lisa wasn't certain she wanted any man taking any interest in her whatsoever.

She made her way back to her car, the hired hand right behind her. She stopped and felt him come up next to her.

"I'll get it, you go start unpacking." Without even glancing over at her to see if she agreed, he reached into the trunk and gathered up the rest of her bags. Rolling her eyes, she led the way back to her room and did as he suggested. She was starting to put her clothes away when he re-entered, setting the rest of her belongings down and dusting himself off.

She stared at him, but did not make any comments. When he didn't leave immediately, she furrowed her brows. "Is there a reason you haven't left to see if anyone else needs help?" she asked acidly before she could stop herself. Jesus, but the man unnerved her like no other.

"No one else has arrived yet," he pointed out. Lisa sighed. "And you look like you could use a bit more help."

"Why do you care? You're just hired help, aren't you?"

"My internship depends on this, okay? I have to show my boss that I can be dependable, so he told me to help the undergrads move in. That's what I'm doing, whether you like it or not. I'm just following orders." He blinked suddenly. Staring at him, Lisa realized that he'd probably revealed a lot more to her than he'd wanted. So, that was it, was it?

"You're interning at the campus hospital?" she asked. "You're a doctor?"

"I'm working on it," he answered back with a roll of his eyes. It was painfully obvious that he regretted answering her truthfully. Shrugging, she nodded once to show that she was okay with him continuing to help her, and letting him know she wouldn't ask any more questions if he didn't want her to.

He came up next to her and started helping her sort her clothes into piles to put away. Respectfully, he stayed away from her underwear. "So," he started. "What are you here for?" His blue eyes flickered over to her, catching the annoyance in her soft brown eyes. "Relax. I'm just trying to make conversation. It'll make this less boring. I hate being bored," he revealed.

"Medicine. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was twelve," she answered back, shrugging absently. "I've never seen you around here before."

"That's because I just came here," he stated as if it were completely obvious. "In case you can't read the sweatshirt, I used to go to Johns Hopkins." Of course, he'd been expelled for cheating, but he didn't want to reveal that. Ever. He had a reputation to protect, after all. He was grateful when she simply nodded and didn't press him. "I don't believe I got your name," he observed, turning his signature smile on the brunette undergrad. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he added, seeing that she turned to him with an odd look.

"Lisa Cuddy," she told, holding out her hand. The man took it in his strong grip and shook once, his eyes alight.

"Gregory House."

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