Chapter 21

Wilson leaned against the doorway of Cuddy's office, watching her work. He smiled as he noticed her continually trying to tuck one stray strand of hair back from tickling her face. Giving up in frustration, Cuddy stood up to go the ladies room and fix her hair. She was startled to see Wilson in the doorway, as she hadn't heard him approaching.

"How long have you been standing there?" Cuddy asked him.

"Long enough to know you just give up and let your hair down," Wilson replied. "You're cute when you're frustrated."

"James, someone will hear you," Cuddy reprimanded him.

"And so what if they did?" Wilson challenged. "I've been dying to tell people for weeks. You only wanted to wait until you could talk to House. You did, and you still don't want people to know. Did he say something to scare you off?"

"Of course not. It's just; I've never let anyone… I'm the boss, James. I'm supposed to be in control, on top of everything. If people start knowing stuff about my personal life, they'll see me as…"

"Human?" Wilson interrupted. "Not to fight that immutable logic, but have you considered your personal life will be pretty obvious when you start showing in a few months? Oh, and by the way, did you think there wouldn't be rumors about you being unmarried and pregnant?"

Cuddy looked a little surprised. She hadn't counted on that. Naturally, she'd realized that everyone would know she was pregnant, but it hadn't occurred to her that she might be questioned about it. Actually, nobody but House would have questioned her on it. The rest of the staff would simply have gossiped about it behind her back. That was even worse.

"I hadn't really given it a lot of thought," she admitted. "How bad do you think the rumors would be?"

"About half the staff would think the baby was House's," Wilson mused. "Maybe a quarter would assume you'd had IVF because you couldn't get a man, and the rest would be a weird mix of folks assuming you were sleeping with an older man, a younger man, or a lesbian."

Cuddy reacted to that last. A lesbian? Well, she'd certainly heard the rumors about her and House, and about some other older man or a younger man, but a woman?

"Are people really saying that?" she asked Wilson. He merely shrugged.

"Fine," she said.

"Fine?"

"We'll tell people." Cuddy said. "Who should we tell so we could be sure it'll get around? House already knows and hasn't said anything, so that's out. Who's the nurse in pediatrics with the big mouth?"

"Come on," Wilson said, taking her by the hand, "there's a much easier way to do this." He pulled her out of her office and into the clinic. Pausing just long enough to make sure a few different nurses were watching, he pulled her close to him and kissed her thoroughly, leaving no room for speculation about what was going on. "See you at dinner," he whispered in her ear, and then left the clinic area, grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary and the canary's best friend.

Cuddy looked sheepishly around the clinic. An eerie silence had fallen over the normally bustling space. The nurses who had seen the kiss smiled at her. Cuddy walked back to her office, keeping her head up, until she reached her office. As the door swung closed behind her, she could hear a near explosion of chatter. She smiled. At least James will be able to collect on that bet, she thought.

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After his appointment with Quig, House was hungry so he'd gone to the cafeteria looking for Wilson. He checked his watch, bewildered. It was the right time, why wasn't he here eating? After waiting a few minutes, he grumpily paid for his own sandwich and took it back to his office to eat. He was unaware of the scene in the clinic, for the time being, as most of the cafeteria workers despised House too much to actually speak to him.

While House was eating his cold Reuben sandwich, Cuddy knocked lightly at his door and came in. She sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk and waited for him to acknowledge her.

House ignored her as long as he could. But she did have the most irritating way of staring at you, almost so that you felt like she was making a mental list of all the little things that she could be ordering you to do. He was always a little afraid that if he let her just watch him for too long, she'd come up with some truly devious scheme to make him miserable. She did seem to have a knack for it.

Making a frustrated face, he put his sandwich down, wiped his fingers on his napkin and swallowed the enormous bite he'd been chewing.

"You know, it's illegal to force someone to work all day without allowing them a break to eat lunch. I know, I looked it up," he said to her.

"I came to ask your opinion on something," Cuddy said.

"No, I don't think that blouse is too low-cut for a professional woman," House offered. "Oh, you had a specific topic in mind?" he said, in response to the look she shot him.

"The board has been looking for a way to get some publicity for the hospital, to try to attract some donors," Cuddy began. House looked pained. Was she going to ask him to give a speech? Did she learn nothing the last time? Or worse, some fund-raiser where he'd have to get dressed up? Of course, that would mean Cameron in a slinky dress. Maybe it wouldn't be terrible. His mind began to wander back to the little red thing she'd worn to the poker tournament when Cuddy's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Are you even listening?" Cuddy asked.

"Nope," House said.

"There's a family looking for doctors and hospitals to donate their services to perform a surgery to separate their conjoined twins. I thought I'd propose to the board that we offer to donate the use of the hospitals facilities. What do you think?"

"Will it involve any extra work for me?" House asked.

"I can't see how," Cuddy answered.

"Then I'm all for it," House said. "Can I finish my lunch now, boss?"

Cuddy gave him a withering look, and left. She decided to pitch her idea to the board. Even if the publicity did nothing for them, they'd be doing a good thing for this family, and their students would have a unique learning experience.

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Cameron peeked her head into House's office just as he was cleaning up his mess from lunch.

"Oh, you've already eaten," she said, disappointed. "I was going to buy you lunch."

"Where were you half an hour ago?" House asked, disgruntled. "I had to pay for that myself," he whined. Cameron laughed.

House stood from his chair and nodded for her to follow him. She went through the balcony door behind him, shivering slightly at the chill in the air. Autumn was here for sure.

House pulled her back to him, leaning up against the one spot on the balcony that had no door or window. Completely hidden from view, he kissed her softly.

"I missed you," he breathed against her lips.

"Me too," she replied, kissing him back lightly, teasingly. He groaned.

"Don't start what you can't finish," House warned.

"Who says I can't finish it?" Cameron asked with raised eyebrows. House smirked. She was getting better at this every day. He placed another soft kiss on her lips before letting her go.

"I've got interviews this afternoon," House told her. "No skipping work for an afternoon delight."

"Too bad," Cameron teased. "I've heard good things about the supply closet on the fourth floor."

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Wilson sat in one of the chairs across from House's desk, rubbing his temples vigorously. They'd already seen four candidates for the open fellowship, and House had managed to scare or insult all of them. In fact, he believed he might have made that last woman cry. He'd been expecting House to be difficult, maybe he'd been wrong to schedule so many interviews in one day.

"Headache, Jimmy?" House mocked.

Wilson merely scowled at him. He rubbed his hands across his face a few times and then crossed another name off his list. Thankfully, they only had one more interview today. If he could just get through this one, he could go back to his office and be alone.

"The next applicant is Dr. Michael Jasper, a cardiologist, graduated second in his class from Harvard. Just try to be a little less yourself, all right?" Wilson went to the doorway and called for Dr. Jasper, then returned to his seat without seeing who followed. House was smirking at him.

"I'm sorry," Wilson said to the young woman who had sat beside him "There must be two Dr. Jasper's? We wanted Dr. Michael Jasper."

"That's me," the woman replied. She was average height, but overweight, with jet-black hair and extremely dark brown eyes. "My parents were expecting a boy. My dad filled out the paperwork before I was born, and by the time they got over the fact that I was a girl, it was too late." She smiled warmly.

"Okay," Wilson said. "So, your application is very impressive, and your attending, Dr. Brooks, gave an absolutely glowing reference." Wilson paused. He looked down to check the notes he'd made, but his pause was exactly the opening House was waiting for.

"You know obesity is a huge contributor to heart disease," House said, conversationally.

"And hypertension, diabetes, stroke, certain types of cancer, miscarriages, kidney and liver disease…shall I continue?" Dr. Jasper looked at House squarely. "I assume you're not just testing my medical background, but rather commenting on the fact that I'm overweight."

Wilson groaned as he checked his watch. Less than three minutes, that might be a personal best for him, he thought to himself.

"And how do you think patients will feel after seeing an overweight doctor? Think they're likely to follow your advice?" House asked.

"Well, I imagine that they might think I'm human. And if they've seen you first, it would probably be a refreshing change of pace," Dr. Jasper retorted.

"Ha," House said. "And if I asked you why you're overweight?" House continued.

"I'd say it's partly due to my genetics, but also due to the fact that I don't always eat as healthy as I should. I'd say that working two jobs while I put myself through med school, an internship and a residency left me with little time for exercise. It's who I am." Dr. Jasper looked at House for a moment before she continued. "I've heard quite a bit about you, Dr. House. In fact, Dr. Brooks urged me not to apply for this fellowship. He seemed to think I might find you difficult to work with."

"Dr. House does have something of reputation, but that mostly stems from his high expectations for the members of his team," Wilson interjected, and both House and Dr. Jasper looked at him in disbelief.

"May I ask you a question?" Dr. Jasper asked House. The tone of her voice made it clear she intended to ask whether House agreed or not. He nodded. "If I asked why you're such a bastard?"

House smiled. "You're hired."

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"Well, she didn't cry. Is that the only criteria you have for new fellows now?" Wilson asked House.

"I need someone who isn't going to be afraid of me," House said. "Well, a little afraid is okay. I'll save the threatening her with the cane for her second day." He smirked at Wilson.

"Right. She seemed the type to intimidate easily," Wilson replied sarcastically. He looked at his watch. "You busy tonight? Lisa's got a board meeting, feel like dinner?"

"Lisa, huh? So I take it we're not keeping this little fling of yours a secret anymore?" House asked.

Wilson looked at him, puzzled. Was it possible House hadn't heard about their scene in the clinic?

"You're joking," Wilson said. House just shook his head. "I kissed her in the clinic this morning." House raised his eyebrows. "Collected about $1500 too."

"Nurse Brenda owes me $600," House smiled. "Cameron's meeting me at 10, but I've got time to eat."