I made a slight edit to the end of the last chapter. Wilson does not come out of the room, so we leave off with Stacy in the hallway with her ear to the door
Stacy spun around when she heard her name. Cuddy was standing there with a grey haired old lady in a flowery, lacy dress, with a powder blue hat with flowers on it, and matching blue gloves. Stacy thought she was seeing things for a moment. "This is Stacy Warner, general council for the hospital." Cuddy had minatined a cool, professional demeanor, as if finding her employees pressing their ears against doors was just common practice. "Stacy, this is Mrs. Morris. She is here to see that her donation is being put to good use."
Stacy extended a hand and shook the old ladies gently, careful not to break her. Mrs. Morris, however, gripped Stacy's hand tightly and shook it vigorously. "How do you do?" Stacy asked politely. In answer she received the most scrutinizing look she'd ever gotten.
"Are Dr. House and Dr. Wilson in there?" Cuddy motioned toward the room Stacy had been eavesdropping on with such a natural, casual tone, that Stacy felt a wave of guilt. She much preferred being yelled at. That she could fight against, but indifference was trickier because she knew Cuddy would get back at her eventually and now she wouldn't know when.
"I think so, yes." Stacy realized she shouldn't have said "I think so" because it was quite obvious to all of them that she knew exactly who was in the room, but it was instinct. Cuddy rolled her eyes behind the old ladies back, but in full view of Stacy.
Cuddy knocked on the door, glaring at Stacy as if to say, "this is what you do when faced with a shut door. It is a much more effective way to gain entry than pressing your ear against it." To which Stacy shot her a look saying "what makes you think I wanted to go in there." The old lady shot them both a look that said "shut up already."
Wilson opened the door and ushered in Mrs. Morris, followed politely by Cuddy. Cuddy shot Stacy another look that said "don't even think about eavesdropping on me" but she tried to be more polite by saying, "Why don't you join us?" Although it was a question, Stacy was certain that she had no choice, so she followed Cuddy into the room and shut the door.
It turned out to be a conversation she wouldn't have wanted to bother eavesdropping on anyway. Introductions were made and everyone explained their job at the hospital while Mrs. Morris listened intently. It was all very dull, and Stacy found herself zoning out a bit. She decided it was far more productive to watch her chess pieces in action.
They didn't seem to be paying her much attention so it was the perfect opportunity to study the group dynamic. There was obviously something going on. House and Cuddy kept glancing at each other, and they stood close together. Wilson watched them almost as closely as Stacy was. He was the way in. If she could get him to deliver the news it would have much more impact. She had to keep her hands clean of the whole mess. It couldn't get traced back to her or House would figure out it was all a trick.
"Stacy!" She nearly jumped. She hadn't realized just how deep in thought she was until Cuddy called her name. "Why don't you take Mrs. Morris through the legal department, introduce her to the rest of the team." Again, it wasn't a question. Cuddy could be easily manipulated at times, but she was just as good at dishing it out.
It had been a long day. House was happy to finally be home. He poured himself a scotch, put on some Etta James, and sat back in his favorite chair. He needed time to think about all this. He had put off thinking about it for far too long.
Next to Wilson, Cuddy was House's closest friend. She had stood by him after his surgery when he did everything he could to drive her away. He cringed when he thought of some of the things he'd said to her. But she had hurt him years before. It was her idea to just be friends. He wanted to marry her back then, when they were lowly residents, but she had never given him that chance. She broke up with him the night he was going to ask her.
It had taken him years to get over it. Stacy was the first woman he'd met that could deal with him, a bitter, distrusting jerk. Stacy was one tough cookie. She must have known that he wasn't in that relationship 100. That's probably what really drove her away, not the leg, not the accusations. She'd told him she left because there wasn't room for her, which was probably not far from the truth.
A knock on the door pulled him out of his reverie. He thought about leaving it, but the knock became more persistent, so he pushed himself out of the chair and walked to the door. The peep hole revealed that it was Stacy behind all the knocking. That figured, he thought. She is nothing if not persistent.
"Hi Greg." She looked tired as she walked through the now open door.
"What's wrong?" He could tell she had something on her mind.
"Etta James? Sounds like you're the one with something wrong. I haven't heard you play this in years." She swayed gently to the music. She looked like she might have had a few drinks.
"Come in," House said after the fact. It was a pointless invitation because she was already sitting on the couch drinking from his glass. "That was mine."
"I need it more than you do." She looked at him. Her mind was going a mile a minute. She was going to give him one last chance. A plan had formed in her head. If he didn't take her up on this offer, he would pay dearly, and his precious little Lisa would go down with him.
Against his better judgment, House sat next to Stacy. He was not used to seeing her so depressed. She was a can do kind of person. She never let anything stop her. It was heartbreaking to see someone you loved in so much pain. He put an arm around her. "Is it Mark?" It still stung a little to say her husband's name. He knew it wasn't fair of him to be angry with her marrying another man, but that didn't stop him.
"I miss you." She let the tears come. She had worked herself into such a frenzy before arriving that the tears came freely. She buried her head in his shoulder.
There was a time when House would have done anything to get her back. It wasn't that long ago. When she first came back to PPTH she could see it in his eyes. It was gone now, and she knew exactly why. Lisa Cuddy! Stacy didn't know the whole story behind those two, but it was clear that there had been something there. Cuddy had always been there, and she always would be, like a bad rash that you can't get rid of no matter how much ointment you used. Stacy hadn't let Lisa stop her then, and she wasn't going to let her win this time.
"Greg," she strategically looked into his eyes, "I need you." She squeezed him tight. This might have started as simple jealousy, but something in Stacy had snapped. She wanted House back more than anything, even more than she wanted her husband to live, though she would not admit that to herself or anyone else.
House was stunned. Not long ago, she said she was in love with her husband, that she would never want House back no matter how much they felt for each other. Now that he was unavailable she wanted him back. Isn't that always the way. House knitted his brow. He considered himself unavailable, he was taken. It had been a long time since he felt that way. It was unsettling.
Stacy pulled herself closer to him. She started kissing his neck, and he started liking it. He had drunk more than he thought, and his inhibitions seemed to have gone on vacation. She pushed him against the sofa, pressing herself against him. She felt warm against his body. His mind flashed to Cuddy, she felt so soft and warm in his arms. He opened his eyes and saw Stacy's face getting closer.
He moved out of the way before she could make contact with his lips. "You're not thinking straight. You need to get out of the hospital for a while."
"Are you asking me out?" She was hurt by his brush off, but she wasn't going to give up that easily. Her hands moved down to his waist and fumbled with the button on his pants.
House's eyes grew to the size of saucers. It took all of his willpower to push her away. He really didn't want to. She was such a good lover, but this was all so wrong. "I can't let you do this, Stacy, you'll regret it."
"I regret a lot of things Greg, but loving you was never one of them." She kissed his neck again, and this time successfully worked her way to his lips.
House had a lot of regrets in his life, too. Probably many more than she would ever have. He knew that tonight would be added to the list, no matter how the night ended up. He let himself succumb to her kiss. It felt good, but not as good as he thought it would. His mind was flashing to Cuddy. She would never forgive him if he goes through with this.
House was desperate for a way out. He didn't want to hurt Stacy, kick her while she's down. It just seemed too mean, even for him. He needed a way out. He remembered that first night with Cuddy and an idea came to him. He grabbed his leg and let out a scream of pain.
Stacy jumped off him. She looked terrified and guilty. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." This was a minor setback. She had pushed too hard. She would have to regroup, come up with another strategy. "I'll be gentile." She sat back down next to him, and pulled him toward her this time. She would not put any pressure on his leg. She could still do this.
"No." House didn't know how else to avoid it. "Don't do this."
"I thought this was what you wanted. I've seen the way you look at me Greg. You still want me. Don't deny it."
"I'm not denying anything, Stacy, and I'm not doing anything."
"You're going to regret this."
"Not as much as you will if you go through with it." He was being as truthful as he could without bringing Cuddy into it. Even if he wasn't seeing Cuddy, Stacy shouldn't do this, not now. If anything happened to Mark she would blame herself, and if he didn't die, she would have to live with the guilt of cheating on him at his time of greatest need. No good could come of this.
"I mean it Greg." She got up and grabbed her purse. For a moment House thought she was going to swing it at him, but instead she stormed to the door. When she swung it open, she stopped dead in her tracks. She was face to face with her arch nemesis, Dr. Lisa Cuddy. "Oh, that figures." She pushed past Cuddy and didn't look back.
"What was that all about?" Cuddy felt like a tornado had just blown past.
"I don't want to talk about it." House grumbled.
"I thought you could use some company, but if you'd rather be alone I can go." She turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm.
"Don't you dare. Is that scotch in your hand?" He noticed the bottle she was carrying in one hand, and not the bag she had in the other. She put the bag down just inside the doorway, but walked to the living room carrying the bottle.
"I thought it might keep you company." She smiled as she put the bottle down next to the near empty bottle on the coffee table. "Only one glass? Were you sharing?"
"I thought you might keep me company." He wrapped his arms around her waist. He didn't want to answer any more questions.
"I don't know. I don't want sloppy seconds." She was making a joke, but House didn't take it well, and she knew she must have hit close to the truth.
"She was here to talk about Mark."
"Has he gotten worse?"
Damn, she asked the question. House didn't know what to say, since he and Stacy hadn't talked about Mark at all.
"It's OK, House. I can go."
"No." He grabbed her hand. He didn't want her to leave. He no longer wanted to be alone. He wanted to talk, but he wasn't sure she'd want to hear it. "Stay."
She stayed. They talked about the hospital and life, they argued about baseball and work, and shared funny stories about Wilson and the past. It was all very pleasant. The bottle of scotch sat unopened on the coffee table. Cuddy's company was all he needed right now.
"Come here." He pulled her to her feet. They had been sitting on the couch, which he hated, and his back was starting to hurt. He wanted to sit in his beloved lounge chair, but he didn't want her too far away.
House positioned himself comfortably in his chair, and then pulled Cuddy toward him. She tried not to sit in his lap, concerned about his leg, but he gave her no choice. "Are you sure this won't hurt?" She carefully lowered herself onto his lap.
"Just get down here already. You're such a worrier, lighten up." He made a face like he was in pain. "No, I mean it, lighten up. What have you been eating lately?"
"Nice, you sure now how to get a gal in the mood." She kissed him despite his little joke.
House sat in silence. She had rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. His leg was throbbing, but he didn't care. He welcomed the pain. It took his mind off other things, though not for long. The problem with pain as a distraction is that it only works for so long. Eventually your body adjusts to the pain allowing your mind to function once again, whether it wants to or not. House's mind really didn't want to function, but he felt memories of this evening creeping back into his mind.
"Does Stacy seem strange to you?" He couldn't help himself. He had to talk about it.
"What do you mean?" Cuddy didn't lift her head, she was way too comfortable.
"She came here tonight to try to seduce me. She couldn't keep her hands off me." He didn't know if he should say it, given his current whatever it was with Cuddy, but she was still his friend, and he wanted to talk to her.
Cuddy suppressed a laugh. "I know it's hard to believe, but there are women out there who find you quite attractive. I can't imagine why…" she let out a little eep, as House gave her a little slap on the nether regions. "Fine, I can imagine why. You're a sex bomb, darling, you're just going to have to deal with it. It's not easy, I know, but you get used to it."
House looked at her for a moment. She called him Darling. Although she was only joking, House was embarrassed to admit to himself that he liked the way it sounded. Shake it off, man, he yelled inside his own head. "Um, I know I'm a stud and all, but her husband is dying. Doesn't it seem a little strange to you that she would come here to do the nasty with me while her husband is laying on his deathbed?"
Cuddy gave it some thought. She could see why any woman would not be able to keep their hands off House. She was having a hard time right now, but he did have a point. Stacy wasn't the kind of person who went around throwing herself at men, even House. "She has seemed stressed lately, but that's to be expected." Cuddy took a gulp and asked the question. "Did she succeed?"
It took a minute for House to figure out what she'd meant, and it almost made him blush. "No," he mumbled half embarrassed, half disappointed. "You haven't noticed anything else?" It was really bothering him. The more he thought about it, the more wrong it seemed.
"Nothing. She's been her usual bossy, pushy, manipulative lawyer self. That's why I asked her back."
"Is it really?" House didn't think Cuddy was entirely behind Stacy's being back at the hospital. It just didn't seem to make sense. Why would Cuddy bring back House's ex-girlfriend right when she and House were starting a… something?
Cuddy didn't answer. She didn't want to lie to him, and she didn't want to tell the truth, so she said nothing, and let him draw his own conclusions. In the silence she found herself drifting off to sleep.
House knew exactly what her silence meant. Stacy had conned her into taking her back, but why? House pondered the possibilities in silence. He could feel Cuddy's soft, regular breathing and realized she'd fallen asleep. He pulled the afghan off the back of the chair and placed it over her. Then he put his head back and drifted into his own sleep.
He slept restlessly, his mind haunted by strange dreams. He and Cuddy were on a boat, making love. It was wonderful. He was young and healthy, his leg as fit as it used to be. He thought this would be a good dream until a shark jumped out of the water and bit off his leg. Cuddy bashed the shark in the head with an oar, but it was too late, the leg was gone. House spun around to face Cuddy, but it was now Stacy, and she wasn't holding an oar anymore, she was holding his leg. House woke with a start.
"Is everything OK?" Cuddy was stirred awake by his sudden movement.
"Stop asking me if everything is OK," House snapped.
"Sorry."
"It was just a bad dream."
"I hope I wasn't in it."
"You were. You saved me from a man eating shark. You're my hero." He smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead.
"Can your hero sleep in a real bed?" She felt stiff from being curled up in his lap. It was nice and all, but she had work in the morning and needed to get some real sleep.
"You're finally going to get off me?" House pushed her off his lap and laughed as she landed on the floor.
"If you weren't a crippled I'd kick you're arse." She got up and brushed herself off. Then she followed him into the bedroom. "Do you have something I can wear?" She was in jeans and a tee shirt, which weren't all that comfortable to sleep in.
"I vote for birthday suit," House said excitedly.
"I'm sure you do, but it's too late for that. I need to get some sleep, and so do you." She looked at him and realized he looked like shyte.
House walked over to the dresser, his shoulders hunched in defeat. He pulled something out and threw it to Cuddy. It was an old Ozzy tee shirt. She went into the bathroom and came back in nothing but it. It was the sexiest thing House had ever seen. If Cuddy thought she was going to get into his bed looking like that and not have sex with him she was sadly mistake.
She actually didn't seem all that sad when she finally drifted off to sleep a half hour later. She had a very pleased smile on her face as a matter of fact. It was identical to the one House had on his face as he laid back and looked out the window, waiting for sleep to come.
House woke the next morning to the smell of brown sugar and the sound of activity in the kitchen. He threw a robe around his naked body, grabbed his cane and walked to the kitchen. He saw Cuddy searching through his cabinets. Usually he would find this very intrusive, and make a snide comment, but she looked so cute on tip toes, his tee shirt riding up and showing a flash of her round bottom, that he let it slide.
He tried his best to tip toe up behind her. He did surprisingly well for a man in his condition. The rubber tip on his cane helped immensely. For a moment he thought she had heard him, but she was so busy trying to figure out how he had organized his kitchenware that she didn't hear him until his warm breath was on the back of her neck, and his arms were around her waist.
She jumped in his arms. It's a good thing House used Corelle dinnerware because several plates went crashing to the floor. He laughed as she looked at the mess at their feet. "Oops." He said in that House way that only he can do.
"I made French Toast," she said, taking two new dishes from the cabinet and stepping over the ones on the floor.
"Aren't you going to pick those up?" House looked at her incredulously.
"Don't you have a maid?" She made no sign of going back to pick up the dishes. Instead she put some French toast slices on the two plates she'd brought to the table and placed them in front of two chairs.
House sighed deeply and made a big production of bending over to pick up the plates.
"Oh, I would have gotten those," Cuddy watched him, but made no sign of going to help. House sighed more heavily and shook his head.
They sat down to eat. "Not bad." House spoke with his mouth full. The French toast was actually way better than not bad, but he wasn't going to give Cuddy the satisfaction of praising her, not after the whole plate incident.
"Thanks." She didn't sound all that enthusiastic about it. She had hopped for a stronger reaction from House. Brown Sugar French toast was her specialty. She'd been making it ever since she was a little girl.
They had finished, and cleared the table together. House liked having Cuddy around for breakfast. It was very domestic. It was also a sad reminder of the way things could have been. He tried not to think about it. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. She really was the best kisser he'd ever kissed.
"You owe me more than a kiss." She pulled at the rope that was holding his robe closed.
House had wanted to drag her back to his den, but he knew that when a woman was in the mood you had to act fast. "You're so demanding!" He didn't even bother trying to sound put out.
She finally managed to untangle the knot and slip his robe off. A brush of cool air tickled his skin and set his hairs on end for just a moment before her warm body wrapped itself around him. She pulled the tee shirt over her head quickly and tossed it aside, where it lay with his robe quite as she was about to lay with him, all tangled and twisted together.
He felt the edge of the table press up against his buttocks. She was definitely in charge of this particular meeting, and he quite liked it. Her mouth was all over him. He felt like dessert. "Would you like some whipped cream with that?" He asked as she put her tongue in places it would not normally be.
"Nope. I'm good." She smiled at him. She was having fun.
"I know you're good. I taught you everything you know. That wasn't the question."
"Wait, you taught me? I don't think so buddy." She pushed him up onto the table.
He'd never had sex on a kitchen table before. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The Formica top was cold and hard, not to mention slippery. He had to hold on to the edges to keep them both from skidding off the edge. Cuddy had to constantly readjust her position in order to keep their bodies aligned. This caused a good deal of rubbing against the Formica for House, not that he was complaining. His foot slipped, sending a chair across the room and causing them both to crack up.
"We are never doing this again." House commanded. He was way too old for this sort of thing.
"Let's finish what we're doing before we start looking to the future," Cuddy managed to say between heavy breaths.
"Easy for you to say, you're butt isn't being flattened by the hardest surface since my…" He couldn't finish his thought. He was busy finishing something far more important.
Cuddy rolled over next to him. "Ewe, this is awful." She felt her sweaty flesh sticking to the table top.
"Gee, thanks." House looked dejected.
"Not you, you were amazing, as always." She kissed him quickly and got up. She threw on the tee shirt before helping pry House off the table to which he had become quite stuck.
They both burst into gales of laughter when they saw the debris scattered around the kitchen. Napkins, condiments, and other tabletop casualties lay scattered across the floor. The chair House had kicked was laying on it's side like a fallen soldier.
"I have to get a new table." House was looking at it in disgust. "I can't eat off that thing anymore."
"Don't be so dramatic." Cuddy had started to pick up the mess.
"Don't you have any sense of hygiene? You're a doctor." He was horrified at the thought.
"You can wash it, you know." She went over to the sink and wet a sponge. "Where do you keep your cleaning supplies? Never mind." She had looked in the cabinet under the sink and found what she needed.
"I can see my butt marks." House was looking at the table. He'd never done anything as crazy as that, well, not in a long time anyway. "That won't come out. It's in my head. It will never go away."
Stacy had been working overtime. She was determined to see her plan get started. She had to do some research, but she was sure she would find what she was looking for. Lucky for her, Cuddy was a very predictable woman. She came in early every day, and left late, but she always had a tennis date on Wednesday evenings, and her board meetings were every Tuesday.
Stacy waited until Wednesday. Sneaking into Cuddy's office with Cuddy in the boardroom next door was too risky. Stacy was going to need enough time to sift through the files. She imagined there were a lot to go through.
Wednesday finally came, and she watched as Cuddy ran out the door in her tennis outfit. Stacy couldn't imagine why she needed to change at work, and prance around in her short little tennis skirt. Then she saw House out of the corner of her eye, and it was obvious. House watched the door swing shut appreciatively, then turned and went back to his office. She wondered if he came out every Wednesday just to watch Cuddy leave.
The office was impeccable. This wasn't going to be very hard at all. Cuddy was a very organized administrator. Just as Stacy suspected, the file for House was enormous, and it was not surprising that most of the complaints never made it to the legal department. Cuddy was very protective of her favorite boy.
Stacy knew what she was looking for. She brushed past the numerous complaints of patient mistreatment until she came to a very promising case. An intern had complained of House making a sexual comment to her. It seems she dropped the charge after a little chat with Cuddy. That wasn't surprising, though it could be considered highly unethical.
Stacy stuck the file in her briefcase. Cuddy wouldn't miss it. There were so many files in House's drawer, actually he had a couple drawers, and at first Stacy had envisioned one as being a shrine to Greg, mementos like the napkin he used at lunch, and the wrapper from a candy he'd once given Cuddy. As fun as that would have been, both drawers just contained files
When she got back to her office she opened up the file. Carter, Jodi. She was an intern Cuddy had shadow House for a day. Seems he made some comment about her wardrobe, about her shirt being too low." This made Stacy laugh. She was thinking of the way Cuddy dressed, and how House didn't seem to mind it one bit. Yes, Stacy thought, this one would do just fine. She picked up her phone and called the extension in the file.
Jodi seemed like a nice enough girl. Stacy had asked to meet her for lunch off campus. She didn't want them being seen together, but she told Jodi it was for confidentiality reasons, which it actually was, just not for Jodi's sake as much as her own.
"I don't know why you wanted to see me Mrs. Warner. I dropped the charges against Dr. House several months ago." She looked nervous. She was very young. Stacy wondered if she'd made a mistake with this one, but it was too late now.
"I know, but a second complainant has come forward and it would really help her case if we could establish a pattern of behavior." She waited, let it sink in.
"He only made a comment. It was really harmless. I over reacted. I don't think I can be any help to you." Jodi had dismissed it as just an annoying eccentricity after talking with Dr. Cuddy, but Mrs. Warner looked very serious.
"You were lucky. It says here that someone else was in the room?" Stacy was reeling her in slowly. Years of practicing law had made this sort of thing second nature to her.
"Um, yeah, Julia, she's another intern. What do you mean I was lucky?" Jodi wasn't sure where this was going. It was just a comment.
"The other girl, my client, she got more than just a comment."
Jodi's eyes popped open wide. She was shocked. Cuddy had assured her that House was a harmless old man, just a little grumpier than most because of the pain he was in. She'd made Jodi feel sorry for him. Stacy's implications made him seem more like a dirty old man preying on impressionable young girls. "Is she another intern? What did he do?" She had so many questions.
"I really can't discuss that. It's confidential. What I can tell you is that the charges against Dr. House are very serious, and it would be a big help if you would write a statement to be read in court. I am asking it of all his victims." Stacy wanted to cringe. She was making him sound like a letch, but Jodi was a hard sell. Cuddy must have given her quite a talk.
"Oh, I, yes, I will write something down. Do I give it to you?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt lucky to have had Julia with her. Who knows what might have happened if she'd been in the room alone with him.
"Yes, put it in a sealed envelope and leave it on my desk. Don't put your name on the envelope. I want to keep it confidential." She knew that whenever a lawyer used words like confidential and privileged with the uninformed they would usually do what they were told. She was certain Jodi would follow her instructions to the letter.
Jodi hurried away from the meeting. She was all excited, not in a good way, but in a very nervous, scared kind of way. She felt she had to go warn the other interns to stay away from Dr. House. He wasn't quite as harmless as they thought.