Well guys here is the next chapter, but before you read it I want to thank all of you who have left me such wonderful reviews, as well as giving a big shout out to all of my Fox site Huddies who are reviewing again as well :) I cannot tell you how much that means to me. Hope you enjoy this next chapter and please let me know your thoughts.
Chapter 2
As Lisa Cuddy confidently made her way across the room through the sea of people surrounding her, she kept her eyes focused in on House, her gaze never wavering as they both silently reached for their verbal armor.
House looked good in his tuxedo, handsome, with a dangerous quality to him that was very well deserved, but of course Lisa would never tell him that even though her eyes made no apology for tracing the clean lines of the black garment he was wearing before looking back up to his face which of course held his smug smile as his eyes focused in on her breasts.
Drawing closer to him, Cuddy spotted Wilson out of the corner of her eye as well as a third person, a pretty young woman who she did not recognize.
She wondered if the girl was a new med student who she had not yet met, taking notice of the black dress the girl was wearing which was sure to make many of the men attending the fundraiser turn and look her way.
House bit down on the inside of his bottom lip as he watched Cuddy make her way to him, the assertive stride in her step an undeniable turn on for him.
Casually, he swallowed the rest of the drink in one long gulp as she reached him.
"House I'm glad to see that you made it." Cuddy remarked before turning her gaze to the pretty girl who had been talking to Wilson.
"I'm sorry but I don't think we've met before…I'm Doctor…." Cuddy started to say before House interrupted her.
"Lisa Cuddy, or as everyone else in the hospital likes to call her Doctor Chesty McBreasty, Dean of Medicine as well as the Hospital's Playmate of the month." House snarked with a huge grin.
At hearing the comment, Wilson almost spit out his drink as Honey stood speechless in shocked silence.
Turning her head in House's direction; Cuddy flashed her patented "GO TO HELL" glare at him and proceeded to offer her hand to the young woman.
"As Drunken McBastard just said, I'm Doctor Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine, are you one of the new med students joining us this year?" She asked managing to produce a smile.
"Oh no I'm not a med student, my name is Honey Conrad and I'm Greg's date." Honey replied, shaking the attractive woman's hand.
For a split second Honey noticed a peculiar look take over the striking woman's face that seemed to be a mixture of anger and disappointment, but before she could analyze the look any further, the Dean of Medicine standing before her quickly recovered, smiling once again.
"Well it's nice to meet you, Honey." Cuddy said, while shooting House another glare before letting go of the girl's hand and grabbing onto House's arm.
"Will you excuse us for a minute? Doctor House and I need to discuss some business." Cuddy then stated, not giving Wilson or Honey time to respond to her request before she led House to the far corner of the room away from the crowds of people at the fundraiser.
House felt the strong grip Cuddy had on his bicep, the pressure she had applied just above the elbow telling him she had reached the top of the chart on the 'Pissed off at House scale'.
Once they reached her desired destination, Cuddy spun around to face him, their bodies only inches apart from one another in the crowded space.
"What in the hell were you thinking bringing a hooker to the hospital fundraiser?" Cuddy hissed at him trying to keep from yelling and creating a scene.
"She's not a hooker." House responded back with a smirk.
Cuddly let out a hushed sarcastic laugh.
"House…. her name isHoney…she's at least twenty five years younger than you and unless her parents were tripping on acid…. girl's named Honey that look like her are either strippers or prostitutes." Cuddy responded, folding her arms across her chest.
House let a small smile form on his lips.
"Doctor Cuddy…..I am shocked at how easily you can label someone like that, in fact I am downright appalled." He said in a hurt tone.
"Stop with the line of crap and get her out of here." Cuddy demanded, leaning towards him.
House scoffed at her request.
"I'll have you know I have met my fair share of strippers and prostitutes named Lisa but I would never automatically assume since YOUR NAME is Lisa that you are stripper or a hooker. But….if you want to prove me wrong, I've got a couple of one dollar bills in my wallet that I'm sure can buy me a pretty decent lap dance." House countered, watching Cuddy's eyes light up with anger.
Opening her mouth to respond his words, Cuddy words were left unspoken as a tall man with an athletic build and broad shoulders walked up to them.
"There you are." The man said from behind them, abruptly bringing their argument to a screeching halt.
House looked over at the man who had interrupted their conversation, the guy looked to be in his early forties, his curly jet black hair and a chiseled jaw the kind of features that would guaranteed the man could have his pick of any of the women at this party with as little effort as a well placed smile.
Continuing to study the man, House watched the stranger move closer to Cuddy, casually put his arm around her waist, kissing her gently on the cheek as the intense stare Cuddy had been giving to him softened into a smile for the dark haired man.
"Hey." Cuddy said softly, almost as if she was embarrassed at being caught by this man while in the heated exchanged of words with him.
"Hi. I'm Doctor Gregory House, and who might you be?" House questioned, thrusting his hand out in the direction of the good looking man, therefore forcing the guy to remove his arm from around Cuddy's waist.
"Jeff Hansom." The man replied back with a confident smile, accepting the ragged looking doctor's hand.
House shot Cuddy a "you gotta be kidding me look" as the guy with the pearly whites shook his hand hardily, watching as Cuddy bit back her smile acknowledging the man's last name was rather amusing.
Pausing for a moment, House held their gaze before continuing.
She really likes this guy, He thought, reading into her body language with that important fact giving him all the more reason to see just what Mister Smiley was all about.
"Lisa and I were just discussing the possibility that she may have missed her calling in life as a stripper." House said in a matter of fact manner, testing the guy as he watched Cuddy's jaw drop.
The man continued to smile, seemingly unnerved by the comment.
"Well even though Lisa does have the kind of body most men would pay good money to see, luckily all of my shows are for free." Jeff answered back confidently without a trace of resentment, placing his arm around Cuddy's waist once more as he staked his claim on her.
"So you're into private shows now?" House questioned Cuddy, taking his eyes away from the man by her side.
"Really none of your business Doctor House." Lisa responded with a bit of bite to her tone, moving her hand behind Jeff's back as his fingers curved around her hip.
House kept his face calm and void of emotion even though at that very moment he could have kicked himself for not picking up on the signs that Cuddy had started dating someone new.
Maybe it was because he had been so preoccupied with Honey that his instincts were not as sharp as they usually where when it came to her, or maybe it was Cuddy herself had been trying very hard on her own not to let anything slip about this new man in her life.
Either way, House was sure of two things, one that Jeff Hansom was a jerk, and two that he was going to make sure Cuddy realized that as soon as possible.
"Well they're about to start the first course so we better get seated." Jeff said after studying House for a few more seconds.
Cuddy nodded and let Jeff lead her away from House as he took her hand in his own.
"So that was the famous Doctor House huh?" Jeff said to Lisa with a smile as they walked up to an empty table near the dance floor.
"Yes, that was him." Lisa responded, waiting as Jeff pulled out her chair for her.
Sitting in the chair, Lisa pushed a small breath of air through her pursed lips, trying to ease the tension away after the awkward meeting between House and the man she was currently dating.
"Do you want something from the bar?" Jeff asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Some merlot would be nice." Cuddy answered with a small smile, looking up at him.
"Ok, merlot it is, I'll be right back." Jeff responded, leaning down to kiss her cheek before heading over to the crowded bar.
Watching him leave, Lisa again let a small breath of air escape her lips.
She had been seeing Jeff for about three months now and for the first time in a long time she felt that this relationship may indeed have some staying power to it, and with any luck ….may indeed turn into something more.
Within those three months she did have some close calls in regards to House finding out about her dating the good looking successful man, with the pain in ass doctor making his usual smartass remarks about her looking tired or noticing the scent of the perfume she was wearing on a particular day, but luckily she had come up with some pretty good lies or avoided the subject before he could dig any deeper.
Lately though, House had seemed to be preoccupied himself and even though they had their daily run ins at the hospital, his concerns about her social life had not been as invasive as they had once had been.
"Hey, are you alright?" Jeff asked her, coming back to the table with the glass of wine she requested in his hand.
"Yes, it's just that sometimes need a few minutes to recover from the insanity that is Doctor House." Lisa responded, giving him another small smile while taking thewine glass from him.
"Is he always that rude to you?" Jeff asked, sitting down next to her.
"He's House. Which means rude is basically his middle name, but he's a brilliant doctor as well as a being a pain in the ass, so it all kind of evens out in the end." Lisa answered.
Jeff smiled over at her.
"By the way did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?" He asked placing his arm around the back of her chair.
"Yes, but it's always nice to hear it again." Lisa responded before she jumped in her seat as the sound of a loud bang caused by a cane hitting the top of the table filled her ears.
"Doctor Cuddy, do you mind if we join you?" House asked, not waiting for her response as he took the seat across from her.
"Would it even matter if I said no?" Cuddy asked him.
"Not really." House replied, removing his cane from the tabletop as Honey sat next to him.
Following House's lead, Wilson, Chase, Cameron and Foreman, who was accompanied by a pretty nurse from Pediatrics named Amy; all took their seats around the table as well.
Leaning forward and looking over at Wilson who was seated on the other side of Honey, House spoke.
"So Wilson, where's the nurse from Radiology you've been screwing on company time?" House questioned.
Wilson immediately looked over at Cuddy, placing his hands in front of him as a buffer.
"I'm dating Karen White, but I can assure you, all of our social activities are outside of the walls of this hospital and to answer your question House, Karen had to stay late, but she should be arriving shortly."
Cuddy nodded at Wilson before looking back over at House.
"Let's try to have some civilized conversations from here on out during dinner ok?" She said to him with a forced smile.
"Fine with me boss. So how about those AIDS patients? They really are a fun bunch, except for the whole dying part that is." House snarked, leaning back in his chair.
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Throughout the duration of the meal, the rest of the people seated around the dining table with House kept the conversations on track as much as possible even when House's smartass remarks threatened to occasionally steer them off course.
Glancing over at House, Cameron fidgeted in her dress, changing her posture several times during the meal.
Why haven't you at least commented on my dress?, Cameron thought continuing to look over at House, whose eyes were focused on Cuddy at the moment, her boss's obsession with his boss something that brought out a sudden spark of jealously within her.
Gritting her teeth in frustration, Cameron moved her hand underneath the table, smacking Chase's hand away discreetly as he tried to maneuver it further up onto her thigh.
When Chase had come to pick her up tonight at her apartment and saw her in the clingy red dress, he had pressed her body up against the wall of her living room, with his mouth finding her neck while his hands moved down to her hips.
The replay of the scene in her mind made Cameron smile at the thought of how much Chase wanted and needed her, causing her hand to find his hand under the table once more and place it back onto her knee as she looked in his direction, residing herself to the decision that she was tried of trying to figure out how she could be attracted to two men at the same time, giving into the feeling of desire she noticed in Chase's green eyes as he looked back at her.
Meanwhile as Cameron turned her attention to Chase, House kept his attention focused squarely on Jeff and Lisa, trying to get a feel of how serious their relationship really was.
The creep with the pearly whites had made sure to be touching some part of Cuddy's body during the entire meal, whether it was brushing his arm against hers as they ate, or moving his hand onto the back of her neck as he told her another in a series of lame ass jokes and what made it even more annoying was the fact the Cuddy seemed to be enjoying it.
Sipping the last drops out of alcohol out of drink number two, House exhaled easing back into his chair, glad to see that 'mister touchy feely' was now focused on talking to Forman who sat at the other end of the table, with his left arm rested against the linen of the tabletop.
"Oh crap." House suddenly muttered to himself, putting his glass back down on the table, noticing that Jeff's right hand was out of site, concealed beneath the edge of the tablecloth.
"What did you say?" Honey asked looking over at him with her brilliant hazel eyes.
"I was wondering if you would be so kind as to get me another drink? My leg's a little stiff." House asked, rubbing his thigh for sympathies sake.
"Sure no problem." Honey answered, taking the glass from his hand as Chase got up from the table as well to get another beer.
Once Honey was out of her seat, House waited for the perfect moment to drop his napkin onto the floor.
That time came when the discussion at the table turned to politics, engaging everyone around him with the subject matter.
After checking to make sure no one was looking at him, House pushed his napkin off of his lap, watching it fall beside his right shoe.
Leaning down in his chair, House peered under the table, spotting the very shapely left leg of Lisa Cuddy being cupped at the kneecap by Jeff's right hand while his thumb gently rubbed her soft skin.
House glared at the opposing appendage.
It was a good thing that Cuddy's legs were crossed otherwise he would not have hesitated to reach for his cane and whack Mister Smiley's knuckles.
"Greg, do you need any help with that?' Honey asked as she stood beside the table, looking down at House whose hand was gripping the napkin that had fallen to the floor.
Startled, House jerked his head up, smacking the top of it against the bottom of the table with the glasses resting on top of it teetering, but thankfully not spilling, as everyone turned to look in his direction.
"Are you ok?" Honey asked with concern placing her fingers up to her mouth.
"I'm fine." House mumbled rubbing the back of his head.
"It sounded like you hit your head pretty hard. Maybe I should take a look at it." Wilson offered.
"It sounded worse than it actually was, now shut up." House said in a tone that told everyone along with Wilson they better not say anything more about the incident.
"Maybe Honey should get some ice from the bar and wrap in your napkin, just to make sure you don't end up with a giant lump on the back of your head." Cuddy teased taking a sip of her wine while a knowing smile formed on her face.
Cuddy's smile caused House to tilt his head, she knew what he had been up and was loving every minute of his embarrassment.
"I said I'm fine." House repeated, taking a sip of the scotch Honey had brought him as he kept his eyes focused on Cuddy.
"Don't you think you should stop drinking after receiving a blow to the head like that?" Wilson questioned.
"Don't you think you should shut the hell up before I get a headache that has nothing to do with the fact that I hit my head against the table?" House questioned in return, turning to face his friend while his mind replayed the sinister smile Cuddy had just given him.