Epilogue - Part C
"I've met your parents. They seem like very lovely people."
Veronica Blackwell took a sip of her wine as she sat back in her chair and watched Dr. Anthony House. He was an amazingly handsome man–and she wanted him. The moment he walked into her office, she knew she was going to have him–it was only a matter of time. And as she watched him across the table, she knew tonight was going to be the night. Normally she would put her men off for awhile. Sex on a first date wasn't her style. She liked to put up the barricade–make them chase her–make her sure they were panting over her, before she relented and allowed them into her bed. But this one was something special. This one, she knew she had better act fast upon, or someone else was going to grab the prize.
She had seen his father during her five years at PPTH, had heard stories of him and his charisma that had either sent the ladies running in fear of their lives or drooling after him in hopes that he would deem them appropriate for a romp or two–never more than two, so she heard. She also heard that in his day, he was undeniably an absolute stallion. That was, until he met up with Tony's mother and supposedly, his vision only focused on that little mouse of a woman.
Veronica had seen Allison House too, and wondered just what it was that tamed the wild Dr. Gregory House. She certainly didn't seem like anything special in her opinion. But, that was neither here nor there. A man in his seventies might be worth trying for, if he didn't have a young replica of himself only in his late thirties. No, Veronica gave up any notion of trying to win the elder House when she came face-to-face with this version.
"My parents?" Tony asked with a smile as he pressed his fork into his last piece of chicken cordon bleu, then looked up at her again over the candlelight. "You must be mistaken. You "are" talking about Gregory House, aren't you?"
"Yes," she laughed. "Of course. He's an absolute dear."
"Uh-huh." Tony put the piece of food into his mouth and chewed it as he watched her.
"What? You don't find him so?"
"My father is just about anything "but" a dear. You must not have associated with him directly, or very often."
"No," she seemed to blush as she sipped at her drink again. "Not very often. But he was "reasonable" when he had to deal with me."
"Now, if you were simply talking about my mother–then I'd agree with you. She is definitely very lovely." He leaned back in his chair and picked up his scotch and took a drink from it.
"Yes, of course she is." Veronica watched him, then lowered her voice as her eyes spoke volumes. "If it's alright with you, I think it's getting rather late. You wouldn't mind if we started home, would you? I think I'd rather finish the night in the comfort of my own surroundings. It would be so much more relaxing having our drinks there, don't you think?"
He looked up at her with a semi-smile that made her insides absolutely melt and she was nearly afraid that if she tried to get up right now she might stick to her seat.
"Of course, whatever you say."
Tony got up from his chair and took Veronica's arm as they made their way to the valet who handed him his keys. He glanced over at her as he drove onto the street and started toward her home, five miles away. His eyes traveled down over her long legs which she had crossed and was showing off magnificently at the moment. When he looked back up at her face she was smiling a very confident smile. He knew that if he wanted–he could easily be in her bed within the next twenty minutes. He no sooner had his eyes back on the road than he felt her hand on his thigh. Christ, he thought, if he wanted, he could probably pull the car over right now and have her go down on him. She seemed that eager.
But he drove on, watching the road intently as they entered a commercial area of town. He tried very hard not to snicker as her hand continued to caress him. He had to admit, he hadn't had a woman this near to his crotch in quite a while–but still, the most she was getting out of him was a meager semi-hardness. Oh well, he thought as he glanced over at her and smiled, noting that the way she was leaning back against her seat and breathing heavily, she seemed to be getting more out of the caress than he was.
He stopped at a traffic light and in an attempt to not start laughing, because he was starting to find the whole situation rather comical, he looked across the street at the convenience store/gas station. That was when she caught his eye. How could she not? She looked absolutely adorable! She had her hair pulled back in the cutest pony tail. She was wearing a white blouse that was opened to the top of her breasts and tucked inside a pair of short denims and her shapely legs ended in a pair of white flip-flops. He watched as Jessica Wilson started to run from the store but was yanked back inside when her blouse got caught on the door handle. She very precariously tried to keep from dropping the cardboard container that held what looked to be four large Coke slushes as she regained her balance and, this time, slowly pushed her way through the double doors. But as soon as she was on the sidewalk she started sprinting toward the car near the gas pumps. This time she got no more than five feet before she slipped out of her left flip-flop and went down onto one knee that she scraped on the macadam. Still, she managed to hold onto her drinks as she got up and unsteadily walked back to look for the flip-flop that was now lying four feet behind her.
Tony couldn't keep his laugh from escaping this time, which stopped Veronica's massage instantly. A beep behind him alerted him that the light had changed to green, so he crossed the street and veered off into the gas station/store's parking area, next to the flip-flop, which upon closer inspection, was torn and unwearable at this point.
"Tony?" Veronica asked with raised brows.
"Excuse me for a moment, won't you?" Tony said absently, as he got out of the car and moved to stand behind the girl who was trying to pick up the damaged shoe with one hand and very carefully hold onto the cardboard container of slushes.
"Dammit!" Jessica said to herself as she straightened, but when she turned to head back toward the car, she ran directly into the man standing only inches from her. "Oh my God!"
Tony looked down at his slush covered suit jacket, dress shirt, tie, trousers, and shoes. Jessica looked horrified as she pushed up a pair of glasses that were riding low on her nose. He really couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. Oh yes, this was definitely Jess!
"Will you ever stop ruining my best clothes? If you're not vomiting on them, you're throwing stuff on them."
"Ohhh!" Jess moaned as she looked at the mess she had created, then glanced into the car he had parked nearby, noticing a very irritated Veronica Blackwell getting out of the passenger's side.
Tony looked at her and thought she was the most appetizing tidbit he had ever seen, all the way from the black framed glasses that covered her beautiful brown eyes, down to her now skinned knee and then on down to her pink polished toes that she was having trouble with as she tried to stand only on her shoed foot.
"Well, well. A knight in shining armor coming to help a damsel in distress," Veronica said in a tone that she tried to convey as being friendly, but Jess could hear the stiffness lying beneath it. "I know you, don't I? Aren't you in that little office across the hall from me?"
"Um–yes, Mrs. Blackwell. I'm in administration," Jess told her as she watched Tony removing his jacket and place it on the hood of his car, then remove his tie and start to unbutton his shirt.
"You're interning in administration, aren't you?" Veronica's attitude of superiority was revealing itself.
"Dr. House, I'm very sorry for messing your suit, but, really, I'm in a hurry," Jess tried to escape the uncomfortable situation, deciding the best way to deal with Veronica at the moment was to ignore her.
"Dr. House?" Tony raised his brows at her as he pulled his shirt from his trousers and removed it as well. "Since when do I warrant a "Dr. House?"
"Okay!" Jess nearly growled as she looked at him. "Tony–I've got to go! I have to get more slushes to replace these!"
"You're in quite a hurry for Coke slushes."
"Hey! What'd you do to the slushes?" Came Jackson House's voice from behind Tony as he approached them. "Dee said she wants slushes–and she's in no mood to argue about it!"
Tony turned to see his brother, having evidently come from the car that Jess was heading toward.
"I broke my shoe, Jack! You have to go back in and get more. I can't go in without my shoe!" Jess explained as she reached into her pocket and handed Jackson some bills. "And hurry!"
"Did you tell him?" Jack asked as he started toward the store's doors. "You better fill him in."
"Dee's at the hospital. She started having the baby about an hour ago. She's demanding Coke slushes."
"Four of them?" Tony asked with amusement.
"She wants two–and James wanted one."
"That's three."
"Tony," Veronica interrupted. "I'm not exactly sure who Dee is–or James, but we really should be going. I could get you out of that suit and get it cleaned for you before the stain sets in."
This remark turned Jessica's gaze back to her and she quickly averted her eyes as she pushed her glasses up again.
"If you'll excuse me, Mrs. Blackwell. It was nice to see you."
Jessica started to make her way toward the car about twenty yards away, stepping lightly on the foot that was shoeless but after only two steps, Tony scooped her up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way. As he approached the trash can he moved closer so she could drop her empty containers inside, then he sat her on the hood of the car.
"Tony, we really should be going now." Veronica's over-friendly tone was grating on Jessica's nerves.
"We've had an accident here, Veronica," Tony said as he lifted Jessica's injured leg so quickly that he nearly knocked her off balance. He started to inspect the abrasion, but she tried to yank her leg away from him.
"Really, Tony! I'm fine!"
"No you're not. You're bleeding. You need medical attention–and unless you've forgotten, I am the new head of trauma." He moved his eyes up over her bare foot that held in his hand, over her leg, to the injured knee, then up until he was looking directly into her eyes. "And this is a trauma."
Again, Jess's hand nervously went to her glasses to push them up, and he couldn't believe how absolutely adorable her gesture was.
"I think she can manage with a skinned knee. She looks like a "big" girl." Veronica's intended insult didn't go unnoticed by Jessica as she looked at the much thinner woman, making her more than a bit self-conscious about her above average breasts and slight roundness of her bottom. Okay–so she wasn't a scarecrow such as this woman–she was–athletic. Oh, who was she kidding–she was too clumsy to be athletic–but she was definitely not "big! She wasn't any larger than Dee when Dee was in her nonpregnant state–it's just that she was almost five inches shorter than Dee.
"What are you doing?" Jackson said as he approached them with the replacement slushes. "We have to get these to Dee."
"I think Dee will manage until we take care of Jess's knee. Go get the first aid kit from my trunk."
"Wow, Jess! How did you manage to do that?" Jackson asked after seeing the pink and gray area on her knee, then started toward his brother's car where he opened the trunk and retrieved the kit.
"Tony," Jessica said very quietly as she glanced from Veronica back to him. "Please, don't do this."
He almost put her foot down and walked away from her; she seemed to be wearing her heart on her sleeve as she looked up at him. She wasn't appreciating the extra attention she was getting in the middle of public. But Jackson was there in no time, handing him some antiseptic to clean the area. He quietly cleaned the scrapes, being careful not to cause her too much discomfort, then spread some antibiotic ointment on it and a large adhesive bandage.
"There," he said as he placed her foot back down on the bumper of the car. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Just then Jackson's cell went off and he reached into his pocket.
"Yeah. Really? Well, I'm not going after the slushes the next time–she can stop on the way and get them herself. Okay. I'll see you in a few minutes." He replaced his phone and looked at Tony and Jess. "False alarm. The contractions stopped. They're sending her home."
"See?" Tony placed his hand on Jess's thigh, above her injured knee and gently stroked his thumb over it. "All this for nothing. You can go home and tell Dee that after she has this baby I'm going to kick her ass for ordering you around like you're her servant."
"Dee's my best friend. She would've done the same for me."
"Well, now that we have "that" settled," Veronica tried to say casually, but it came across with a bit of a huff. "We can go on our way."
"Oh–while we're here, I guess I should introduce you to my brother, Jackson." Tony released his hold on Jess's leg and turned to his date. "And in case you haven't figured it out, our sister, Dee, is about to have a baby–but, I guess it won't be tonight."
"Hey," Jackson said quietly as he squinted his eyes and studied the woman. "Do you know who she looks like?"
"No," Tony said slowly, not knowing if he wanted to hear his brother's opinion on who his date resembled.
"Sure ya do! Remember that old witch. . ."
"Okay," Tony broke in as he took Veronica by the arm again and started back toward his car before looking back at his brother and giving him a death-defying glare, then leaning his head toward Veronica's as he deposited her into her seat. "Don't mind Jackson. He's talking about a Halloween party we went to a few years ago. They had a contest for the most attractive witch."
"Oh, of course."
Tony got behind the steering wheel then pulled out of the parking lot as he watched his brother and Jess get into Jackson's car and do the same. He glanced over at his date, seeing that his explanation was perfectly acceptable to her and he knew that the excitement of this evening was only just beginning.
