The Dress

Instead of going off to screw, they went to a bridal shop. It was time to start looking for the perfect dress.

"Oh, what are we doing here?" Lo groaned. "You tricked me."

"Yes," Cuddy said proudly, opening the door for her friend. "On the plus side, you get to watch me try on dresses."

"And why is that a plus?"

"I'm wearing very skimpy lingerie." Cuddy smiled.

"You tease!" Lo followed Cuddy into the shop.

"Hello Ladies," an over botoxed, over decorated pseudo debutante glided over to them. "And who's the lucky bride?"

Lo quickly pointed to Cuddy, wanting nothing to do with any of this. "I'm just here to watch her get changed."

Cuddy shot her friend a look. "I'm just looking, right now."

The shop girl glanced down at Cuddy's ring. Antique, good quality, all three C's were nicely taken care of. She smelled good taste and a decent amount of money. "Have you given any thought to what style dress you want? We have princess, modern, mermaid, si..."

"Mermaid?" Now Lo had heard everything.

"Yes, it's very fitted in the bodice then flairs out at the bottom..."

"Like bellbottoms?" Lo asked unconvinced that there was any way that was flattering.

"Like a mermaid's tale," the shop girl corrected. "Why don't you have a look around. My name is Yvonne. So if you see anything you'd like to try, just let me know." Yvonne headed back behind her counter and started counting tiara's again.

"You think that's her real name?" Lo flipped through a rack of discount dresses.

"I don't think I care," Cuddy said, walking over to a mannequin. She pulled at the large tulle skirt uncertainly. "I always wanted to get married in a dress like this. I used to call it a ballerina dress." Cuddy had wanted to be a ballerina when she was a child, but Lydia had gotten the dance lessons, so Cuddy got jujitsu lessons instead.

"House would laugh at you as you walked down the aisle." She was not wrong.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not sure it's right for me anymore, anyway." She moved on to a mermaid dress.

Lo hurried over. "Oh, you've got to try that one on."

"Why?" Cuddy didn't like it at all.

"I wanna see what it looks like." Lo checked the sizes, then pulled one off the rack. "Oh, Yvonne, can you put this one in a dressing room for our bride to be?"

Yvonne came over and took the dress.

"She's very helpful, isn't she?" Lo started checking the racks with greater interest. This could be fun.

"That's her job."

Lo pulled a few more hideous dresses and handed them to Yvonne while Cuddy was off looking at a few more serious options. Eventually they met up in the dressing room.

"What the hell is all this?" Cuddy looked at the dozen dresses Lo had picked out.

"Entertainment." Lo smiled. "You dragged me to this temple of doom, now I'm going to make you pay."

Cuddy glared at her friend, but began getting undressed. It wasn't worth arguing.

The first dress she tried on was the one she'd seen on the mannequin. It fell prettily off the shoulders and had a simple, shirred bodice. The tulle skirt was definitely of the princess variety.

Cuddy took one look in the mirror and made a face.

"It's...nice." Lo was trying to be supportive.

"I look like I'm trying to be 25." Cuddy pulled the dress off and put it back on the hanger with disappointment.

Next she tried on one of Lo's picks. They'd decided, for every real dress she tried on, she'd try on one of Lo's joke dresses. It was a mermaid dress, fitted tightly from boobs to knees, then fanning out in a big circle. Cuddy tried to walk in it and though she never had any trouble striding through her hospital in her tight little pencil skirts, the additional material at the bottom of the dress made this one a choir.

"This is a no." Cuddy didn't even bother looking in the mirror. She felt horribly uncomfortable, and she was already going to feel enough of that during the ceremony.

"You look like a salt shaker." Lo agreed it was a no, she just phrased it better.

"Thanks," Cuddy said, slipping out of the dress and throwing it at her friend.

It was time for another of Cuddy's picks. It was a very simple flute dress. On the hanger it had looked elegant in it's simplicity, but on, it looked...blah.

"Is that it?" Lo looked on disapprovingly.

"It's a no?" Cuddy wasn't feeling it, but maybe she was just being too picky.

"It's definitely a no." Lo got up and pulled another dress off her rack, while Cuddy got out of that one. They exchanged dresses and it was time for a good laugh.

Cuddy slid the dress up, cringing as she saw layer after layer of ruffles. "What the hell Lo?" She didn't need to zip up the back. There was no way in hell she was walking down any aisle in this thing.

Lo was laughing as she quickly took a picture on her camera phone. "You look like a stack of cupcake tins."

"Am I going to get one of these witty observations with each of your dresses?" Cuddy was already out of the hideous thing.

"Yep." Lo tried to catch the dress as Cuddy threw it, but she got swallowed up in the lacy ruffles.

"Great." Cuddy looked at herself in the mirror. She was in a beautiful satin sheath dress. It was certainly age suitable, and very elegant looking. Better than her last pick. She turned and looked at Lo.

"It's very pretty." Lo liked it, she just didn't LOVE it.

"Yeah. I'll put it aside." Cuddy sounded very unsure. She was already losing her tolerance for dress trying, and it wasn't the worst dress in the world. It was just so very boring.

"Oh, try this one." Lo handed her a thin bit of lacy material. It was certainly lighter than anything she'd tried on yet. Cuddy realized why when she put it on.

"The middle is missing." She looked down at her barely covered midriff.

"You look hot," Lo kidded.

"I don't want to look hot! Well, not until after the wedding."

Cuddy looked over at the pile of yet to be tried on dresses and groaned. She really needed a drink. "After this let's go get some drinks."

"You don't have to ask me twice." Lo handed her another dress and Cuddy dutifully put it on.

It was another princess type dress, with a big skirt. This one was satin with a light tulle overlay. Much subtler than the last one, and it had a drop waist, which highlighted the figure House loved so much. She liked it.

"You look beautiful," Lo said, when Cuddy looked at her expectantly. She really did look beautiful.

Cuddy pulled at the strapless top again. Something was poking her under the arm. Still, she loved the dress.

"Try this one on." Lo was tugging at the zipper up Cuddy's back.

"You don't like this one?" Cuddy frowned.

"I like it. But you shouldn't settle on the first one you like. Try this one." Lo had been saving the best of the worst for last, and she wasn't letting Cuddy out of the shop until she tried it on.

"What the hell is this thing?" Cuddy held up the yards of swirly fabric in disgust.

"It's a dress."

"This is the last one I'm trying on." Cuddy put it on. It was horrible. Miles of skirt surrounded her covered in strange, giant ribbons twisted around like roses. It had huge puffy sleeves that came up to her ears and a cloying sweetheart neckline that reminded her of every bad wedding dress in every romantic comedy she'd ever seen. "My mother'd probably love this one.

Lo laughed. "I'll take a picture for her." She clicked her camera quickly before Cuddy could get out of the monstrosity. "She can Photoshop in the guy of her choice."

Both women laughed. "Let's get out of here." Cuddy was about to put her street clothes back on.

"One more, since we're here."

"I'm not putting on another of your crazy dresses, Lo."

"No, here, one of yours." She sifted through the remaining dresses. "This one."

The dress was a subtle lavender color. Not quite white, but definitely not purple. In the right light it would probably look almost silver. It had straps covered in roses that fell off the shoulder, and a tight fitting, shirred bodice that crisscrossed over Cuddy's breasts. The waist dropped down to an A-line skirt that had a gentle upsweep that was fastened to her hip with three more little satin roses. The overall effect was that of a very elegant princess.

Cuddy smoothed out the skirt then turned to look in the mirror. She burst into tears.

Lo rushed over and gave her a hug. "This is the one, isn't it?" She looked at her friend in the mirror. Cuddy looked stunning. The weariness she'd shown while trying on the last few dresses was replaced by a sort of glow.

Cuddy nodded. It was finally real. Wearing this dress made the whole thing seem real. She was getting married. It had taken her 41 years, but she was finally getting married. She had found her perfect man, and now she was wearing her perfect dress, and she couldn't believe it was all real, but for the first time she knew, she knew it was, and this was going to happen, she had found her happily ever after.