Good Company, Good Food

By Ellie

Disclaimer: I don't own House or Cuddy. I'm just playing and promise to return them relatively unscathed.

Chapter 2

Cuddy drove into the diner's parking lot and immediately noticed House's bike already parked in the handicapped spot next to the entrance. She entered the restaurant and saw House at a table in the back. She made her way to him, ignoring the stares of the few Princeton-Plainsboro employees and students who were there grabbing a quick bite.

House grinned as she took the seat opposite him.

"It looks like that our torrid affair is going to make the gossip rounds again tomorrow," he whispered intensely at her. His eyes then took on a mischievous glint. "I know! When we're done eating, you need to throw your drink in my face. The med students will love that!"

Cuddy unwillingly grinned in response. "I don't know House. I'm more of a 'slap in the face' kind of gal."

House chuckled appreciatively. "I always suspected that you were into that sort of thing, Cuddy. Do you keep whips and a black leather corset locked up on your office? Don't let Chase find out. You may not ever get him out of your office, and you'll be forced to punish him for being a bad boy. But maybe you'd like to do that?" he asked, mockingly.

"Please," she said derisively, "Chase is much too pretty for my taste."

They were interrupted at this point by the waitress coming to take their drink order. The waitress left to go get their drinks, and Cuddy and House were once again left with each other.

"So, what behavior of mine needs to be discussed?" Cuddy asked him.

House grinned and checked his watch. "Less than five minutes. I knew you couldn't contain your curiosity until I had a hamburger in front of me."

"Oh please. If the situation were reversed you would have ambushed me as soon as you came into the diner."

House nodded his head in acknowledgement but continued on. "We're not talking about me though. We're talking about you. More specifically we're talking about your behavior with Cameron earlier this evening."

"Cameron?"

"Yes, I believe your exact words were, 'You don't have to lie to him.' How did you know that Cameron was about to lie to me about my parents catching an earlier flight?"

Cuddy started to respond, but House interrupted her. "That was a rhetorical question. I know Cameron. I know you. She tried to find Stacy to find out if she could force the guy to come and have me look at him, but Stacy's gone this week so when she couldn't find her she went to go look for you. Cameron explained how mean old Dr. House wanted to lie to the poor jerk who's so worried about his new job that he can't be bothered to save his friend's life. You, being the hard assed administrator that you are, immediately put the kibosh on lying to the jerk and came up with a new plan." He affected a tragic expression at this point and continued on. "A plan so evil that I hardly dare speak it. You encouraged a member of my staff to lie to me about the whereabouts of my parents in order to manipulate me into going to see the jerk."

She smiled at his surly tone. "You are such a drama queen. It was all for the good of the hospital," she told him in her most superior voice.

"It's good for the hospital to have doctors lying to each other?"

"Not generally no, but you're special."

"Gee, I feel so swell. Are you going to send the short bus to come and pick me up for work every morning?"

"House, if Cameron had lied to that guy he probably would have sued her and the hospital. You will do neither."

"You're so sure of that, are you?" he grumbled.

"You know you have it good at this hospital."

"Yeah, I'm forced to do work that I don't want to do, and I have my boss telling my underlings to lie to me. I have it great."

House watched as Cuddy's mouth opened in disbelief and her eyes began to glitter with anger. He loved to get her riled up.

"House you get to pick the cases that you want and you get to pick the staff that you want. I don't ask you why you hire the people that you do because I know I won't like the answer, but I want to give you that freedom. The only thing that you are 'forced' to do is the clinic – which is something that you agreed to do when you took this job." She paused for a breath and House started to speak, but she raised her hand to stop him.

"No, it's still my turn," she continued. "Let's play out your little scenario where you sue me for encouraging Cameron to lie to you. First of all, I have about a million anti-character witnesses against you to line up. Second, if somehow I got fired, do you honestly think that the person who replaces me will let you get away with the crap that I let you get away with?"

House enjoyed watching her rant, impressed by her ability to demonstrate her anger effectively and yet never raising her voice above a loud whisper. He finally couldn't control his amusement any longer and allowed a slight grin to escape. "What I do know is that the new fictitious Dean of Medicine probably wouldn't have as great a rack as you do, so for now you're safe."

Cuddy closed her eyes and took a deep breath - half exasperated and half amused. "So you're not going to sue because you like to ogle me?"

"Oh Cuddy, if you didn't at least partly like to be ogled you wouldn't wear the outfits that you do," House chided her.

Cuddy fought the smile that was coming to her lips. "House, one of these days I'm going to kill you. I'm a doctor. I could figure out a way to get away with it. Hell, even if I was caught I could parade all of those anti-character witnesses I mentioned before and not only would the jury acquit me, but they would wonder why I hadn't killed you sooner."

House smiled at her statement and then reached for his non-existent drink.

"Hey, the waitress never came back with our drinks or to take our food orders," he groused.

Cuddy looked around to see if she could find the waitress, but came up empty. "They aren't that busy," she complained.

House looked around a moment longer, found nothing, and then pulled the ketchup and mustard bottles from their spot at the end of the table. He then grabbed the rest of the condiments from the side of the table until everything was lined up in front of him. Cuddy watched in surprised silence as he began to construct a mini-tower from the things in front of him.

"What are you doing?" she asked him finally.

"It's a little trick I learned in high school. Whenever my friends and I went to a restaurant and the waitress would ignore us because we were just a bunch of teenagers who wouldn't tip her that much anyways. We would make a tower out of the things from our table. You wouldn't believe how quickly the waitress would come after that."

"I'm so sorry about the wait for your drinks," their waitress said, appearing out of nowhere and out of breath.

"That's alright," House said. It was all that Cuddy could do to keep herself from giggling at the triumphant glance he shot her. "We managed to keep ourselves busy," he told the waitress, "but we're ready to order now."

House and Cuddy gave the waitress their orders, and Cuddy burst into laughter as soon as she left. House smiled back at her.

"You know, I haven't had to do that since college. We don't look particularly poor tonight. I bet she's making out with her boyfriend in the back." he stopped and eyed Cuddy carefully. "Or … you have a reputation for being a bad tipper? Wilson always pays when we come here, and he's a good tipper. The waitresses know that. They don't know my own personal tipping habits so they would want to be extra nice to me, and that just leaves you. Cuddy are you cheap?" he asked.

"No," she answered in an offended voice. "I'll have you know that I'm a good tipper. My first job was being a waitress and I know how important the tips are. If one of us is the cause for the crappy service, I'm betting it's you and your behavior. When Wilson's here he balances out having to deal with you."

"I'll have you know that I am a perfect gentleman when I'm here." Cuddy snorted in reply. "I am," he protested. He was about to continue when something distracted him from behind Cuddy. "Hmm… It looks like I was right the first time," he whispered. "That busboy just came out from out back with smudged lipstick on his face." Cuddy turned around to witness the person in question quietly closing the door he had just exited. "I guess both of our reputations are in tact," he said.

"Mine is. I still don't believe that you're a gentleman when you come here."

"Okay, I may not be 'a perfect gentleman', but I do behave myself with people who prepare my meals." Cuddy raised her eyebrow in disbelief. "I don't want any extraneous body fluids making their way into my food."

"Now that I believe," Cuddy replied.

The waitress came back with their food orders, and a silence descended upon them as they ate their meals. House watched Cuddy as he ate, glad that she was one of those people who could be interesting conversationalists, but still didn't feel the need to fill up every moment with idle chit chat. At that moment he could tell that her mind was elsewhere – probably thinking of the next day's budget meetings, he mused. He could almost see her doing math in her head.

"What?" Cuddy asked when she looked up and saw House grinning at her.

"Nothing," House replied, trying for an innocent face and not succeeding.

"Then why are you laughing at me?" she asked.

"It's just interesting watching you plan out the next fiscal year in your head as you eat Dino's famous French fries."

Cuddy smiled as she picked up a fry and swirled it through the ketchup. "Well I have to plot out my strategy to keep you and your little groupies in a job."

"I have tenure. They can't fire me."

"No, but they can close the Diagnostics Department and say that you have to work with the infectious disease or kidney guys."

House paled a little at the thought, and Cuddy laughed at his obvious horror. "Don't worry, House. No one likes you, but they can't deny that the publicity that your cases bring is good for the hospital."

The waitress soon came by with their checks. Cuddy glanced at her watch and was surprised to see how late it was.

"I need to go home and get some sleep," she said as she put her money on the table. House did the same and they both walked out of the diner.

"You forgot to throw the drink in my face."

Cuddy smiled and ignored his comment as they paused atthe motorcycle. "Good night, Dr. House. Don't forget that you have Clinic tomorrow."

"Of course not, Dr. Cuddy," he responded. "I'll be sure to be there bright-eyed and bushy tailed with my best bedside manner on."

"And don't think that just because I'll be in meetings all day long that you're going to be able to skip out on them. I'll still be keeping my eyes on you."

"Good to know for when I'm taking a leak."

She smiled and walked to her car. House watched her until she got in her car and started it. He then started his bike and headed for home. He didn't think that he'd have any more problems relaxing.

The End

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed.