Chapter 23

All eyes turned to the new arrival. Wilson lowered his head and shook it. Cuddy rolled her eyes. But Bob, being the person she was, went to him.

"Oh, Greg, I'm happy you were able to come." She tried to play it down, since she knew he didn't like PDA's.

"Is everyone here?" he asked her quietly.

She nodded and he grabbed her and kissed her hard on the mouth.

When they broke apart, she hissed at him. "You are such a child. No actually, you're an old hound dog, marking your territory."

"Just so long as the other dogs don't go sniffing around my territory."

She just shook her head and led him into the yard to meet everyone. When they got to Devon, the two men eyed each other warily.

"Greg, this is my colleague, Devon Miles. Devon, this is Greg House."

Devon smiled tightly. "Dr. House, it's… nice to finally meet you. Roberta's spoken about you often."

"Hello, Di-" House felt Bob elbow him. "Devon." He said with a smirk. But underneath the smirk, he was eyeing the younger man. He was George Clooney handsome, tall and athletic looking. Jealousy flared even more.

"I'd like this to not be awkward. Obviously, Roberta has chosen you. And we had really only started to date. I hope you don't mind if we continue to be friends?"

Bob interrupted before House could say something snarky. "I choose who I am friends with, not Greg. We are friends, Devon, and we will continue to be so."

"Right." House said. "And I gave her permission to say so."

She glared at him. Devon eyed the two of them warily, then excused himself and walked away.

Bob turned to House. "Stop being an ass. Oh, wait, I should say, stop being yourself."

"Do you want me to put on an act?"

"For today, yes. Pretend that you're a normal human being with manners and good sense."

"Normal's overrated and manners are for wusses."

She blew out a breath. "Fine, Greg. Be yourself. Be a jerk. Make sure my friends hate you. But remember, I do intend to keep seeing them, so if they don't want to be around you, then that's less time I spend with you. And less 'diddling' too."

He gave her a look, but she ignored him and walked back into the house.

In the kitchen, she saw Cuddy getting some ice out. She saw Bob's face and said, "What did House do?"

"Just being himself."

"Oh, God, who was he being himself to?"

"Devon."

Cuddy looked interested. "So, tell me about Devon."

Bob tilted her head and looked at her friend. "You like him?"

"Well, let's see, he's handsome, charming, great body, killer smile, uh, what do you think?"

Bob chuckled.

"Only, would it bother you? I mean you were dating him."

"Not at all. I really wasn't actually dating him. We went out, but we were just friends. It was always Greg for me. You know that."

Cuddy nodded. "So it would be okay if I…"

"Go for it!"

She did. By the end of the party, Cuddy and Devon had made plans to meet for a drink in a few days. Bob was thrilled. She felt a lot better about having to stop dating Devon, if he moved on to someone else. And who better than her girlfriend who needed a love interest?

House saw Wilson was standing by himself, so he made his way over to his friend.

"So where did the new future ex-Mrs. Wilson go?"

Wilson rolled his eyes. "She's just a friend. We've had dinner once or twice. Roberta told me to bring a date."

"Yeah and Bob's my 'friend' too and you wouldn't believe the things that we do."

"I really don't want to hear that. Beth is a friend. She works in Pediatrics and we've talked about the kids. That's it."

"Uh-uh. You don't bring someone from work to a party where other people from work will be unless you have more on your mind than food. "

Just then, Beth returned to his side. She was blonde, a few years younger than Wilson with a pleasant face. While not gorgeous, she was petite and nicely put together.

She smiled at House. "You must be Dr. House. James has told me about you."

"Don't believe him." House said. "It's a lot bigger than he says. He's just jealous."

Beth looked confused.

"Ignore him. He's an idiot." Wilson told her. "Come on, let's go get some food."

He led her away and House called after them. "Right, food. Is that the new euphemism for sex?"

"I thought you two were friends?" She asked Wilson.

"It's a complicated relationship."

The rest of the party proceeded with few incidents. House spent most of it harassing Wilson and his date or teasing Cuddy. But for the most part, people ignored him.