Her mother had been slightly distracted ever since meeting House. Lisa knew questions were going to be asked sooner or later. House had after all been in fine form and that all on its own always elicited questions from anyone who met him for the first time. When her mother did speak about it though, she shocked Lisa.
"I'm sorry, Lisa. All this time I have been chasing you about settling down, finding someone, having a family. I thought the hospital was taking up all your time, and one day you would suddenly find yourself alone. I didn't realise that you had already found someone."
"What, no, you mean House, no we aren't."
"I know dear, but you love him." The tone was gentle, but it was a definite statement of fact.
"Do I have a sign tattooed on my forehead suddenly? How come does it suddenly seem so obvious to everyone." Lisa huffed in frustration. Her life was rapidly spinning out of control, and with each step it just got worse.
"It's not obvious, dear, but I know you." after a short pause she continued, "You were in love with him in college. I knew that, but I thought you had moved on, become just friends. I thought your career ..."
"You're right mostly. My job, the hospital keeps me busy, there is very little time for anything else. I have been out with other people, but things keep getting in the way, and ..."
"And nothing can quite compete anyway."
Lisa sighed, her only acknowledgement to the accuracy of her mother's deductions.
"You have to promise me, Ma, you will not say anything to him. He doesn't know and he can't know."
"If you say so."
"Promise?"
"OK, I promise. Tell me what he is like. I'm guessing from what I saw today he must make your job rather difficult, but interesting."
Lisa laughed. "Those are two of the milder terms people have used to describe him. He is opinionated, self-centred, an ass who always believes he is right. He is rude and determined to get his own way. I have to fight him every step of the way just to get him to do his job."
"But ..."
"But he is a genius, which means that, infuriating as it is, he is right almost every time. He saves lives. He is funny and talented. He can make me feel better with a sarcastic comment, than any other person can with compliments. And sometimes, just occasionally, he does something completely unexpected and shows that underneath it all he isn't the ass he portrays most of the time. There are few people he really cares for, but for them, he will do practically anything."
Mrs Cuddy smiled softly at her daughter. She had promised her she would say nothing to Dr House of what she had learned today, but there was something she had long wanted to discuss with him, and the revelations of today just made it more important. Plus she was just plain curious to talk to the man who had captured her fiery daughter's heart.
