Chapter 8
Cuddy took in a breath, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to see as the Coroner led both her and House to a room at the end of the hall.
The room where the body was kept was cold, the sight of the dead man lying naked in front of her, a bit unnerving to say the very least.
"Remember, we have nothing to fear from the dead, only the living." The coroner says to her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder before closing the door behind them and moving towards the corpse on the table.
Cuddy looks over at House, who is also studying the corpse however; his blue eyes are scanning the body in a most peculiar way, not in fear, or apprehension, but rather…..
"Wanna a closer look?" The Coroner asks him.
"Yeah." House says with a nod, walking up to the body.
She doesn't want to seem timid, or afraid in front of the Corner, and so Cuddy steps up as well.
"Looking for clues?" The corner asks House, knowingly.
"I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes." House responds.
The Coroner smiles at him, "Well let me give you a little background first," he says, before picking up the chart on the small table beside where the corpse is resting and opening it up.
"As I had said in my office, our patient was a healthy adult male, then around six months ago he started having some minor complaints of headaches and diarrhea. He went to his family physician, but nothing unusual was found."
Cuddy listened along with House while staring down at the body, pushing away the more morbid thoughts of her surroundings and looking for any external signs that may lead to why this seemingly healthy man had suddenly passed away.
"So is there anything external we should be seeing?" House asks as his eyes continue to focus on the body.
"Perhaps." The coroner tells him before continuing. "I can tell you a few weeks after his initial symptoms, the man complained of vomiting and blood in his urine. His family doctor sent him to both a GI doctor as well as a Urologist. The Urologist put him on antibiotics and the GI doc ran some tests, but they still came up with nothing in regards to the patient's symptoms.
"Had he been outside the United States recently?" Cuddy asked, having read a book a while back regarding some very strange and rare diseases that could be picked up by the unwary traveler.
"No." the coroner answered.
"What about any scandalous behavior?" House asked.
"Scandalous behavior?" The corner said with amusement.
"Drug use, drinking, wild women …you know every guy's fantasy." House goes on to say with a grin, pulling out a few examples that were the cause for some deaths in the detective novels he read.
"Well, he did marry a woman half his age." The Coroner tells him.
"So how'd he end up dying, heart attack during sex?" House asks, with a wiry grin.
The corner laughs, "I'm afraid not, you see as the man's symptoms progressed, he eventually went into convulsions and then slipped into a coma before his death."
As House and the Coroner continue to speak, Cuddy remains focuses on the corpse, her eyes starting once more at the top of the man's head, looking at his thinning hair, the skin on his face, his mouth, his neck, looking for something…anything, a prick of a needle perhaps, a cut, or a bruise as her eyes move down from the man's right shoulder, to his arm, then his wrist …until…..
"His fingernails." She says aloud, garnering the attention of both House and the Coroner.
"What about them?" The coroner asks with a pleased expression.
"There are vertical lines on them." She responds.
"Those are Aldrich Mee's lines." The coroner says.
"Arsenic poising." House and Cuddy both say in unison.
"How'd you know?" Cuddy asks House.
"Detective novels, and you?"
"I did a paper for school once on ancient methods of poisoning."
"You two work well together." The coroner remarks.
They turn to face him.
"So who killed him?" House asks.
"Well, the man's young, pretty wife had taken out a very hefty life insurance policy on our dear departed man about a year before he started to become ill." The coroner states.
"Did she really think no one would ever figure it out?" Cuddy asked with disbelief.
"People are strange." The corner replies in answer to her question, "You see, one thing you have to remember when you become a physician is that the human mind is capable of some really strange things, things you would never dream of. Sure you'll have your classic cases of the common cold and the flu, along with the obvious injury or accident, but once and awhile…. you'll get that gut feeling that something isn't right. Those are the moment you're going to treasure more than anything. Unfortunately for Mr. Whitehouse the physicians in charge of his care didn't think to look beyond the surface. "
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After discussing the case of Mr. Whitehouse some more, the three of them headed back to the Coroner's office, where he proceeded to tell them about some other interesting cases he had been involved with during his 30 years in the business. He shared charts and photos with them, answering their questions as he prompted them to figure out what had happened to the lives that had been lost, making them laugh when the mood called for it and most importantly, treating them like the young adults they were and not kids.
"I wish you all the luck in the world, Lisa, from what I've seen tonight I believe you'd make a very good physician." The Coroner says, shaking her hand as he stands with her and House near the entrance to the building.
"Thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me."
The coroner then turns his attention to House. "I know you said you had an interest in Physics, but I wouldn't rule out a career as a physician as well. You asked some very good questions in there."
House smiles. "Trying to keep us working together?" He asks, nodding over towards Cuddy.
The Coroner shrugs his shoulders. "You should know something about fighting the laws of physics." He replies, a small smile upon his face before he bids them goodbye again before heading back inside.
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"Sorry for keeping you out so late. You won't get in trouble, will you?" House asks Cuddy, the both of them now standing beside her car once more in the empty school parking lot.
"It's okay; I told my parents I was going to be tutoring someone after the game so I could stay out a little later anyway."
"Do they always buy into your lies?"
"There not all lies; I do tutor several students, mostly athletes who need to maintain good grades in order to be eligible to play."
"Maybe I should join the football team." He teases.
"I think track is more of your style." She says with a peculiar certainty.
He gives a look, "How'd you know?" He asks, that confidence she carries around with her, proudly on display.
"That day when you waited for me after school I wasn't at detention. I volunteer once a week to help file papers in the office."
"And snoop." House adds.
Cuddy smiles at him. "I like to think of it more as research."
He rolls his eyes at her. "Whatever makes you sleep at night."
She ignores the jab. "So are you going to try out for the track team?" She asks.
He looks down at the ground for a moment, "Yeah, probably." He tells her, lifting his gaze to her once more.
"Listen, thanks for tonight." She says softly, looking up at him, her heart begging her to step forward and kiss him, her mind warning her of the compilations that would come of it if she did.
"What are friends for….right?" House replies with a shrug.
"Right, okay then, I'll see you Monday at school." She says, feeling a bit disappointed even though she's the one who's laid out this border between them.
"Listen I gotta get going." He tells her before, turning away from her and reaching for his helmet resting on the handle bars of his motorcycle.
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House had allowed Cuddy to go ahead of him in her car as they had left the parking lot, the headlight of his motorcycle, a beacon behind her as she started off down the street. He was there with her for ten or so minutes until she made the next turn, then he was gone.
Gripping the steering wheel she assured herself that she was doing the right thing by keeping him at arm's length. That it would be better for both of them in the long run when summer would return and he would be on his way to college and to the future he had dreamed off, without his abusive Father and without any of the trappings a broken heart would inflict upon a person.
She kept repeating these things inside of her head as she pulled back her sheets and climbed into her bed, her eyes getting heavy within a few minutes. However, when she was carried into her dreams the memory of his face came along for the ride, the feel of his leather jacket keeping her warm as they danced together out in the moonlight, pulling on her heartstrings, the feel of his lips on her own as he held her closer to him than anyone before him ever could, causing as sigh of sweet surrender to escape from her lips as she slept.
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His plan had worked, he could see it in her eyes as she had moved in to embrace him tonight, however House did not have a smile on his face as he lay in his bed with his headphones on and the music playing.
The way you walk,
The way you talk and try to kiss me and laugh in four or five paragraphs…
All your compliments and cutting remarks are captured here in the quotation marks….
I'm giving you a long look…..everyday, everyday, everyday…
Everyday I write the book…
It was the yearning that was eating away at him now, the yearning to be near her, to see her smile, to feel her hand in his own, to kiss her….. again, and again until they were both out of breath.
Instead of continuing to fight the frustration, he gives into it, his right hand lowering to the button of his jeans as the image of her fills his mind. Her smile, her long, dark hair, the naked curves of her body, exposed to him inside of his brain. He wonders if her skin is as soft as it seems, if she'll arch her back when he lowers his lips to one breast and then the other, he wonders what kind of sounds she'll make when he's between her thighs, doing his best to drive her crazy, wonders if her slender fingers will tug at his hair or take hold of his shoulders as he starts to taste her, his tongue venturing inside of her in hopes of eliciting a soft moan from deep within her throat. With his heart racing, he changes up the scene in his fantasy, wondering if she'll hold onto him as tightly as he's imagining, her fingernails pressing into his biceps as he hovers above her and with a thrust enters inside of her as she looks up at him and takes in a sharp breath, the erotic thought, sending a tremor of excitement throughout his body as his lets out a gasp and succumbs to the raw desire now coursing through his veins.
