Candy Canes and Mistletoe

Chapter 28

The next day, Remy was exhausted, physically and emotionally. She had gone home to her own apartment around midnight after they had to rush their patient to emergency surgery to remove a two-foot section of bowel. House had gone home with Wilson and ordered them to page him if anything changed. Frankly, she was glad to be away from him for a little bit, which was ironic, because only a week ago she couldn't wait to see him again. He had infuriated her yesterday with his attitude and then he thoroughly confounded her. His little emotional roller coaster was enough on any given day, but yesterday she just wasn't psychologically capable of enjoying the ride.

It was morning now. She had just been in to do her rounds, checking on their patient, and was coming into Diagnostics to make herself a cup of tea before the day got rolling. The boys were already in and had mercifully started the coffee because she could smell it as soon as she stepped off the elevator. When she opened the door and saw House at the table in the middle of an animated conversation, she was flabbergasted. Not only was he ridiculously early for himself, he looked bright eyed and bushy tailed. He flashed a smile at her and then continued on with his story. "So, I said to the guy, 'the only kind of exam she's gonna give you is a prostate check with your slap and tickle'."

Chase chortled in laughter and Taub smirked like he'd been let into the 'he-man woman haters club'. Thirteen harrumphed to herself at the rapid turn around in his attitude form yesterday. Well, he, Alfalfa and Spanky could go scratch…

Remy eyed the room dubiously and then suddenly began to make a show of looking around the corners and under tables and chairs.

"What are you doing?" Chase asked her.

"I'm looking for a tarantula or a pterodactyl size bug," she told him, pushing her hair back behind her ears. She looked up and House smirked at her. "I'm figuring it must have crawled out sometime before he left last night because he's obviously on Comedy Central today."

"Evidently, you are too," House tossed at her with a smirk from behind his red mug.

Her grin only made it half way as she stabbed him with a look. Damn it, he was even sexier today. Black sport coat, baby blue shirt, that was almost neat, and a white tee underneath. Hot damn. She brought he hand to her rub distractedly at her eyebrow. She had to mentally focus and just keep walking to the coffee maker. Fuck the tea, she needed caffeine to be ready and alert if she was going to tussle with him and his potentially giant-sized bad mood again today.

Fixing herself a cup, she came to sit at the table. There was a strange and awkward silence as everyone sipped at their respective coffees. That was until he opened his mouth.

"Oh my God! Like, everyone who knows, is at the table here," he announced as if he were a blonde valley girl who just got the joke. "The only one, who doesn't know, isn't here. So we can all, like talk about it, and he'll still never know!"

Remy slid her eyes to him and watched him glow in his mirth. Taub and Chase just kind of covered up their amusement by sipping their coffees silently for fear of retribution from her. For some reason, they were completely tickled by him today.

"What's with the Sybil act?" she asked him sharply. "Yesterday you were a raging lunatic, today you're as giddy as a school girl. What gives?"

"So you're the only one who's allowed to have divergent mood swings from day to day?" he countered. "Just because I can shave my face and not my legs… no wait, this one's better because I obviously don't shave my face, just because I don't have a uterus…"

"Oh will you just shut up," she griped, halting his rambling before it went somewhere that really pissed her off.

"Well, now who's swinging to a ten on the cranky bitch-o-meter?" he smirked and added a dramatic roll of the eyes.

"I'm just suffering from a little bit of House-can-be-a-real-dick-lash," she tossed at him.

"Dick-lash? … That sounds like a personal problem or a goodtime," he chuckled, his cronies following suit.

Sighing, Remy stood up from the table and dumped her coffee in the sink.

"Where are you going?" Taub asked her, suddenly a look of concern on his face.

"Somehow clinic duty seems way more enjoyable this morning," she said tightly and walked out the door. She reached the elevator and pushed the button repeatedly hoping to get it to arrive immediately. Of course it didn't. Cocking her hip to the side, she crossed her arms and waited, her impatience mounting incrementally with each slowly passing second.

She could hear the thump step of his sneakers and cane behind her and she closed her eyes taking in a breath. God, what now?

He pulled up along side of her and just stood there in goofy adolescent silence, watching the numbers of the elevator tick upward. When the doors finally opened, he stepped inside with her like a shadow. No one was inside the car with them but it was still a little bit of a shock when he put his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him after the doors closed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, resting her hands on his arms to stabilize herself from his swift move.

"What's wrong?" he pressed.

Remy's eyes blinked in confusion and anger. "What's wrong? I asked you that yesterday and you told me 'nothing', that's what's wrong."

"I also told you yesterday that none of this had to do with Stacey," he reiterated, but his tone was gentle, almost loving.

Remy's heart squeezed in her chest. God, it was really difficult to stay mad at him when he was looking at her lips like that. "Tell me how am I supposed to believe that?"

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and sighed. "Just believe it."

The bell dinged and they broke apart before the doors opened and she walked out. He remained inside and just kind of looked at her as she watched the doors close on him for the second time in two days.

Just believe it… How was she supposed to do that? How was that supposed to make her feel better? He hadn't given her anything concrete, any explanation or anything real to go on. Remy felt no more reassured than she had before she'd stepped foot in the hospital this morning. He was not himself since he returned from Boston and that fact scared her very much. The mood swings, the lows… the highs… his giddiness from earlier. She hoped it wasn't what she thought it was. She prayed that it wasn't Vicodin.

Crossing to the nurse's station in the lobby, she checked on her messages. She had a couple of follow-ups from clinic patients, meds she needed to renew and a message from her cousin, which she'd get to later. One of the kids probably needed their allergy medicine refilled. Slipping the pieces of paper into her lab coat pocket, she looked up and saw Cuddy standing on the side of the counter, looking all lovely in her spring pink sweater and floral skirt. Not moving fast enough to avoid her, Remy paused when the woman approached her.

"How is the patient doing?" she asked.

"He's in stable condition. The ICP has gone down and they removed a two feet of dead bowel last night," she relayed. "House thinks it's Chagas."

"Good," Cuddy nodded. "I see you're no longer parked in House's spot."

Remy shook her head and tried to put on an air of levity. "No, I threatened to tell you about the butt so he released me from my obligation."

"Excellent tactic," she said with conspiratorial a little smirk. Remy actually did laugh with her this time. The whole thing was really kind of absurd. If only she knew it was all a lie…

"Dr. Remy Hadley…" A loud booming voice abruptly shouted down to her from overhead.

Instantly, both she and Cuddy turned in the direction of the voice. It was coming from the second floor balcony.

It was House…

"Oh God, not again…" Cuddy moaned in dismay.

Remy's eyes went wide. Something wasn't right… But, he didn't look crazed or insane. He had a boyish gleam in his eye. What the hell was he doing?

"Catch…" he called to her and tossed down something that she had to sprint a few feet to grab hold of which was no easy task in her slippery heels.

"House…" Cuddy hollered up to him. "Get down here this instant!"

"Not yet…" he refused with a stubborn smirk.

Remy looked at the object in her hand. It was a box.

Cuddy came up beside her and looked at what she was holding. "What the hell is that?"

Remy looked at her. "I don't know."

"Well open it," the woman rushed her in hurried tones. The box was wrapped in gold paper and a shiny ribbon. Like a gift… or a cruel practical joke, Remy wasn't quite sure.

Cautiously, she tore open the paper to reveal a tiny black box…

Like the kind…

"Oh my God!" she gasped as her stomach flip-flopped and her pulse sped up.

"Remy Hadley, will you marry me?"

His deep voice echoed throughout the entire lobby and Remy felt herself start to shake as people stopped everywhere, all of their inquiring eyes on her and the crazy man leaning over the balcony railing.

"Oh my God!" Cuddy's voice echoed in utter shock as she covered her mouth with her delicate hands.

Fingers trembling, Remy opened the lid of the clamshell box and her eyes flooded with tears as she saw the beautiful diamond ring nestled in between the black velvet folds of the inside. It was a very large, very delicate, exquisitely designed antique style platinum engagement ring. Astonished, she looked up at the balcony but he was gone. Unsure, uncertain that this was really happening, she looked at Cuddy whose face said it all. The woman was downright speechless.

Suddenly, the elevator doors opened and he stepped out. Remy's heart raced as she laid eyes on him. He had that same, nervous smile on his face as he did the night he first kissed her on the balcony all those months ago. But there was confidence in his step as he ignored the onlookers and made a beeline to her. She was frozen in place as her world suddenly began to spin around her. This couldn't be really happening, could it?

As he came to a stop in front of her, his hand came to her face and his fingers curled around the back of her head. His eyes were a deep shade of sapphire and the unanswered question reflected deep within their pools. He was uncertain, afraid she would turn him away. His vulnerability was wide open to her and it all came down to this single moment in time. Everything since he had stepped off that plane had vivid clarity now. Something had definitely changed when he saw Stacey. Something had shifted in him, changed him and moved him. Now Remy realized what it was, what his turmoil was all about. She had become that single woman in his life who mattered, supplanting that first. His unrest and indecision was because she had become his only.

He licked his lips and his voice was gravely, thick with emotion. "Will you?"

"Yes!" She cried. "Yes! I will marry you!"

Relief flooded over his features and he pulled her tightly to him, kissing her deeply, passionately, openly announcing to the world that she was his. There was no hiding any more, no clandestine affair, no secrets. The balcony had been his catharsis. His way of coming full circle. What he had committed there one year ago was now replaced with the new memory of how he had asked her to be his wife, his partner. It was a commitment to both himself and to her.

Remy kissed him back, clutching the fabric of his coat under the box still in her hand. Smiling, he pulled back from her slightly and took the box from her fingers. His face was serious but there was joy in his eyes as he removed the ring from its nest and slipped it onto her finger with a reverence that made her heart still.

Remy thought she might actually die with sheer happiness as she stared into the gleaming shining diamond on her finger as she rested her hand against the lapel of his dark jacket. The ring looked like it had been made solely for her. The diamond was beautiful and clear with a series of smaller diamonds flanking it on both sides in delicate scrollwork. And of course it was set in a design that screamed both his perfectionism and her funky flair. He had impeccable taste. Who knew?

Out of the corner of her eye, all of a sudden, she could see Wilson looking on with a pleased smile. She hadn't even realized he was in the lobby. Cuddy who had moved over by him, still looked like she had been hit in the stomach with a two by four. Off to the side, Chase and Taub had somehow appeared, as word had spread no doubt like wildfire throughout the hospital. They, too, had expressions of delight as they witnessed the scene that absolutely no one saw coming.

"You are… so frustrating!" Remy said as she laughed against the crook of his neck, still in complete disbelief.

He chuckled deep within his chest. "Wouldn't be me, if I wasn't."

"Have you talked to Nolan about this?" she asked cautiously.

"Repeatedly," he said with a self-deprecating smirk. "Many, many times."

Remy hugged him, knowing how much he disliked having to pass his life-decisions by a filter to see if they were good for him or not, but glad he at least had sought out the support. And personally thrilled that the psychiatrist had been given the green light.

People began to mill about, going back to their days, offering congratulations and well wishes to them as they went.

Chase and Taub, Wilson and Cuddy closed ranks around them.

"Nicely played," Wilson said holding out his hand for a shake.

House returned it, though not releasing her totally as his hand slipped down protectively around her waist. "It was a gamble that could have gone horribly wrong."

Remy shook her head and touched her hand to his face. "No, not at all."

The present members of their team shook his hand and offered her gentle kisses and words of best wishes. But there was one in the mix who was not so admiring.

Cuddy's eyes narrowed as she took a breath. "I don't even know what to say." Her tone was cool, almost chilly.

"Congratulations would be a start," House prompted, his tone a little harsh with her.

She raised her eyebrows at him, incredulous. "Congratulations? You want my blessing, House?" her voice quivering in her disbelief. Suddenly, the administrator turned her cool gray eyes to Remy and something changed in them. Remy wasn't sure but she might have seen hurt, possibly even envy. But within an instant, Cuddy's expression changed into her cool, reserved practiced demeanor and any flash of what was there, her shock, her bemused faltering and her irritation was replaced by her supreme professionalism. The woman turned her head to level a reserved, if not stubborn look at House and then spun on her heel and left without even saying a single word to her.

Remy bit her tongue as they watched their boss stalk away back to her little domain. She knew the reaction wouldn't be good but to be faced with it was another thing.

House pressed a kiss to her temple and guided her with a gentle nudge in the direction of the elevator. "Come on, let's go," he said. "She'll have her temper tantrum and it will blow over." He looked over his shoulder at the team, "Everyone, let's saddle up the wagons and head back to the home front!"

Wilson, Chase and Taub followed as they rode the elevator back up to diagnostics.

"Foreman is going to give birth to a litter of kittens," Chase muttered.

"Ya think?" Taub responded dryly.

"He may be more mature than you think," Wilson added optimistically.

"We'll see," House said. "Homey's got a brand new bag, or so he says."

The doors opened and the group stepped out.

In two point five seconds, Foreman rounded the corner and came down the hall… fast.

Remy could see the look on his face.

He had heard.

It wasn't just a punch… it was a tackle and a sickening crack as his fist connected hard with House's jaw sending both men into the glass wall with a resounding thud…