Antes de esta Vida
A House, M.D. fan fiction
Rating: K
Chapters: Epilogue or Wrapping Up Loose Ends
A/N: I couldn't resist writing a last chapter! Enjoy!
Epilogue
The story of the curmudgeon Dr. Gregory House's marriage proposal to the hospital administrator only served to magnify his already inflated, err, legendary reputation at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. The fact that there were more than 20 people as eye-witnesses could not be denied.
For a few days, it was heard that Brenda Previn fainted at the sight of Dr. Lisa Cuddy and Dr. Gregory House kissing in the clinic. Another version said she whacked him on his good leg with a cane and threatened to numb both legs with lidocaine if he didn't let the Dean of Medicine go.
Nobody but House knew how Brenda was into his little scheme from the start. And so were Dr. Tang, Jill, Jorge, a few other hospital staff, and even that errant clown.
But not without payback of some sort.
Unbeknownst to Cuddy, in exchange for their cooperation in his master plan, the doctors and nurses involved asked for Dr. House's compliance by way of several demands:
One lollipop a day is the limit.
No more rigging of the lockers and the doors in the male doctors' shower rooms.
No more swapping of the DVDs from the pediatric patients' video library with the ones from the fertility clinic.
There were at least ten demands from the people involved before they gave their consent.
But he really got hit with Brenda's demand to meet his clinic hours every single day for a year, and actually pay for his lunch.
The last two he tried to fudge off until the last minute.
"Wilson willingly pays for my lunch, you know?" he grumbled.
"Everybody knows that you've managed to exist here thanks to Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Cuddy," she pointed out. "They practically feed you and keep you alive, you know."
"Yeah, I know. But Wilson never wants to give me a bath. I've always asked him but he keeps refusing. It's giving me serious body issues," he said with a pout while batting his eyelashes at the nurse.
"Enough. Either you accept these two most important conditions or I'll be blabbing to Dr. Cuddy and everybody else here on what you're planning to do," she said with finality.
She placed a printed sheet of paper in front of him to sign and shoved a pen in his hand.
"Hey this is illegal, you know. I'm being coerced. I need a lawyer for this," he complained.
"Quit whining or you're going to marry me instead," she threatened.
"That's bad enough for me. Signing already, look! Please, I don't want to sleep with the Bogeyman," he mock pleaded.
Brenda Previn's smile was clearly predatory, and that made House really think that he had just signed a pact with the devil herself.
*****
Even though everyone in the hospital – from the janitor to the parking attendant – quizzed them, none of House's team had any idea of what their boss had been up to.
Foreman, Chase and Cameron had repeatedly tried all tactics to get Taub, Thirteen and Kutner to talk. Bribed them with dinner, drinks, concert tickets, even dates (Cameron artfully warded off any suggestions that she go out with Dr. Hadley). Taub and Thirteen knew that it wasn't really the idea of House proposing marriage that ticked off the original trio but more of the fact that they didn't make bets on it.
Except Kutner.
As Cameron glumly walked out of the diagnostics conference room, once again thwarted in her attempts to fish information from the team, Kutner continued to toy with his phone.
"Hey, Kutner," Taub called out from across the corner of the table. "You really didn't know anything about House's game?"
Thirteen observed quietly from her place, her eyes never leaving the other fellow's face.
"No. None of my business," he simply said.
"But I do owe him something."
*****
It took three days for Wilson's anger to thaw.
That he had to hear it from the night janitor (the one who wears his pants backward) of the news of Greg and Lisa's engagement--and the ensuing soap-opera ending--was the last straw. It was bad enough that he was the first person people asked to verify if the rumors were indeed true.
Some best friend.
While he felt miffed that Greg didn't even tell him his plans, a part of him understood his friend's desire for confidentiality. This was a huge step for House.
Maybe House is growing up.
He had gone to Lisa the very next day with flowers (No roses or sunflowers as he had heard that House had the monopoly on them) and wished her mazel tov. He couldn't miss the sparkle in the administrator's eyes or how she seemed to glow.
Funny how it turned out that they may be right for each other.
His rumbling stomach reminded him that it was time for lunch and he proceeded to the cafeteria.
As usual, he and House were lined up next to each other, but barely speaking. It was not until they had reached the cashier that Wilson crossed his arms and looked expectantly at House.
The man muttered something in what sounded like curses in Japanese, all the while extracting cash from his wallet and giving it to the cashier, who sported an ear-to-ear grin.
James clapped his friend on the back heartily.
"Good going, buddy. Keep doing this and I might forget the whole thing ever happened," he said cheekily.
"Shut up, Wilson. I hope you choke at the reception," House grumbled.
Fin
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the epilogue! Liked it? Loathed it? Please review. I may be inspired (or discouraged) to write another fic if you leave reviews!