Playing Mommies and Daddies

Sorry it took me a while to update, but i wrote this chapter this evening. Hope you like it :) A little Huddy :D

"Hey Imogen!" Cuddy greeted the little girl with a big smile.

But Imogen was still flicking through the channels on the TV, House gave a smug smile; Cuddy was doing as well as he was with the kid.

"Hey Imo!" he said loudly attracting the child's attention. "This is Cuddy."

"That's Lisa." Imogen responded as she cut across him.

"She has met me before House. We're not all strangers to Imogen." Cuddy informed him.

"I was only trying to be a good parent and introduce you." House snapped.

"I know this is hard for you but I'm here to help you today ok?" she replied grasping his shoulder.

House felt a sudden warmth tingle through his left shoulder. That was the one her hand had grasped. House shrugged away afraid that she might notice that it had affected him. It was better to be emotionally distant from her, who knew what would happen if she found out he liked her like that?

There was one of three options, first, she may laugh in his face and think that he was joking. Second, she took it seriously but didn't return his feelings and everything would be awkward from that moment on, or…she might actually return his feelings. No, that third option was silly; a woman like Cuddy would never go for a guy like House. House's lifestyle and personality were too outrageous for her. Cuddy needed a down-to-earth, simple guy.

Not a cripple with a Vicodin habit.

"Are you hungry Imogen?" Cuddy asked as she turned away from him.

"Yeah a little." Imogen replied after putting the remote down. She had found the off button; unlike her father Imogen didn't like the TV.

"What do you want?"

"Sandwich."

"What do you say?"

"Please?" Imogen said smiling so much she showed her pearly white teeth.

"What do you want in it?"

"Peanut butter and jelly."

"Ok then. It'll be ready in a minute."

Cuddy then turned back to House.

"Do you wanna make it or shall I?" she asked him.

"I don't have any of that stuff" he replied feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Do you not eat?"

"I practically live at the hospital if you didn't notice. When I haven't got a case, then you have me down the clinic wasting my time checking a runny nose which is apparently abnormally runny."

"To be a doctor, part of your job is to spend an allocated time within the clinic. If you hadn't spent so much time avoiding clinic duty then you wouldn't owe me so may hours to make up for it. You're your own worst enemy House."

"Can you stop fighting? I'm hungry." Imogen asked the quarrelling pair.

"Looks like we're going to have to go to the supermarket and pick up some supplies since your dad hasn't got anything." Cuddy told her.

"I'll get my shoes on then." Imogen said hopping off the sofa to retrieve her footwear. "You're coming too aren't you dad?"

The kid was giving him that look again, that look of pure innocence which could make him give into anything. His daughter had only been with him for a quarter of a day and she already had him round her little finger.

"They better have a decent parking space. I'm not walking twenty miles just to get to a supermarket." House grumbled as he made his way to the storage cupboard which held his shoes.

Cuddy and Imogen were already ready by the time House had forced his feet into the tightly done up trainers.

"Ready?" Cuddy asked him.

"Yeah."

"Keys?"

House snatched them off the table and put them into his jean pocket.

"You're driving by the way." House told Cuddy as he limped past her and Imogen.

"You can pay for the food then." She replied taking Imogen's hand and leading her out the apartment.

"You earn more than I do!"

"So?"

"That means you have more money to spend."

"Not on you and your kid."

They'd reached the car and they were still arguing about who was to pay for the food, Imogen then became distressed again and started wailing for her Mom.

"Look what you've gone and done." Cuddy hissed.

"I did nothing!" House retaliated "You're the one who started it."

"What's wrong sweetie?" Cuddy asked the child as she knelt down on the pavement to look at her properly.

"When am I gonna see mommy again?" a tearstained Imogen asked.

"You'll see her tomorrow." Cuddy said flashing a reassuring smile. Being a doctor she was used to giving out these types of smiles, it was like a natural art. "You're spending the night with your dad, so lets just go get you some food and maybe a DVD to watch. Sound good?"

"Yeah." Imogen mumbled.

"Ok, just hop in the car then and we'll get your stuff to eat."

After Imogen had settled in the backseat Cuddy shut the car door and turned to House who was standing helplessly. He was so glad that he had Cuddy, because knowing his short fuse he would've shouted at the kid as soon as she let a tear slip from her tear duct.

"You're paying." She said to him with a note of finality.

"Fine." He replied as he got in the passenger seat. "You better park close to the entrance though."

"Come on. Let's go before we starve your kid to death."

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They were now racing down the aisles mainly because Cuddy had taken to putting Imogen in the trolley and pretending it was a rally car. House had a hard time keeping up with them, he had to keep shouting and pointing to the items that they needed for the apartment every time they had missed something.

He paused in the middle of the freezer aisles to take a Vicodin to numb out the pain his leg was emitting out to him, in a way he was glad that Imogen was living with Anna and Richard, parenthood was defiantly not House's thing, but Cuddy seemed to be having a good time.

House knew how much she wanted a baby. She had even been desperate enough to want some stranger's sperm just so she could have that child she'd always wanted, but she'd had no luck with the fertility treatment.

Although Cuddy didn't look her age her body knew exactly how old she was. It also knew that she was nearing the period in her life when she couldn't have a baby; the window was closing faster than she would've liked it to but she still had some hope left that the treatment was going to work for her.

She'd never had so much fun as she was having right now in the supermarket, she felt ten years younger and the feeling of immaturity had come back. Her feet were now killing her from the high heels she was wearing but she ignored it because she was in an early state of bliss, only Imogen brought her away from these thoughts.

"Where's dad?"

They came to a halt and Cuddy looked behind but they saw no sign of House.

"Maybe his leg got tired and he went back to the car." Cuddy suggested "but he better give me some money to pay for this stuff."

"Maybe we should ask the shop people to find him. He might be lost." Imogen said as she went on her tiptoes to look for him.

"If you say so." Cuddy agreed wheeling the trolley in the opposite direction and making for the 'Customer Services'.

"How can I help you?" the woman asked from the desk.

"My dad is lost. Can you find him for me?" Imogen asked her.

The woman with the name badge Mary raised her eyebrows and looked at Cuddy.

"I reckon he's gone back to the car but she wants to see if he's still here." Cuddy shrugged.

"Well let's see if he's here." Mary said raising the microphone to her lips. "What's your dad's name?" she asked Imogen.

"Greg." Imogen replied.

"Last name?" Mary asked Cuddy.

"House."

"This is a customer announcement. Would Greg House please report to the customer help desk? Your wife and daughter are waiting here to collect you."

At the mention of the word wife Cuddy started to blush furiously and Imogen turned to her with a shocked face.

"Your not dad's wife are you?"

"No, no. We just work together." Cuddy said trying to control her burning face; she just wanted to get out of here as quick as possible. No doubt House would taunt her about this for the rest of her life.

House heard his name being called out over the loudspeaker and he heard the words 'wife and daughter' they made him laugh because they were the two people that he lived life without, but nevertheless he made his way to the customer service desk.

"So this is where you've been hiding out." He said. "And when did we become an item?" he asked Cuddy.

"We're not an item." She replied. "Now you're here can you just pay for the stuff?" she turned back to Mary. "Thanks for your help."

"No problem." Mary smiled back.

"Where were you dad?" Imogen asked.

"You ran off without me, how was I supposed to know where you were?" he replied lifting her out the trolley.

"Me and Lisa were worried about you."

"Oh were you?" House replied grinning slyly in Cuddy's direction.

"For your information I was not worried about you." She said squaring up to him. "I thought that you might be waiting by the car."

"In this weather? It'd aggravate my bad leg."

"Its sunny." She snapped as she loaded the rest of the shopping onto the conveyer belt.

"It's raining now." He pointed out to the window which presented them with a light drizzle.

"Can we just drop this?" she asked him.

"Whatever you say wifey."

"Call me that at work and I will fire your butt quicker than you can diagnose a runny nose."

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It was now three o'clock and Imogen had been fed and given lots to drink, she and Cuddy were now dozing on the sofa whilst House was researching into a new brand of Vicodin on the internet. He looked up from the laptop monitor and saw the two women sleeping; he couldn't help but smile to himself and grab his phone from the table.

Slowly and quietly he limped without the aid of his cane so he was standing in front of them and took a sneaky photo, House decided he liked the picture so much that he was going to set it as the phone's wallpaper.

He was getting sentimental about these women and it was starting to scare him.

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