This has been rolling around in my head for about three months now, so I've got a good few chapters written!
Someone Like You
Summer was always Lisa Cuddy's favourite season. When she was a child, it was because summer meant the end of her school year, the beginning of whatever summer camp her parents had decided on that year. Not that she wasn't grateful. Had she been given the choice she would have undoubtedly chosen to spend the majority of her vacation away from home rather than with a variety of babysitters whilst her parents worked constantly. As an adult, it was more to do with the sunny hours during the longer days feeding her patience with certain doctors at the hospital. During the summer months she was just more inclined to leave her work behind and actually arrive home before the sun set - although not by much most nights.
Thankfully that night she'd managed to get home with enough time to set out on an early twilight jog, smiling at the assortment of neighbours she knew by faces rather than names. She wasn't home enough to know any names, much less have actually conversed with them, with the exception of her next door neighbour, who she only knew because of an emergency and only then because her son heard there was a doctor living next door.
Finally she crawled into bed around midnight, silently cursing her workaholic tendencies for her lack of social life, and was asleep in minutes.
Only a few hours passed until she was roused from sleep by the unusual humming sound of a motorbike engine. Unusual in itself in her neighbourhood, Cuddy couldn't train her mind to let the sound go in order to return to sleep. The engine was killed by what sounded like close proximity, piquing the interest of her traitorous mind. Sighing, she slipped out of bed, grasping her robe from the back of the bedroom door as she made her way to the front of the house. Halfway there, a loud knock sounded at her door, continuing without pause. Glancing at the clock, she saw it to be just after ten to three. There was only one person who owned a motorbike and would decide to turn up without warning at some ridiculous hour of the morning. Swinging the front door open as her irritation mounted, she was met with the sight of House's lean figure resting casually on his cane with both hands.
"Shouldn't open the door without checking who it is first, Cuddy. Never know who might come a-knockin'," he warned, inviting himself into the hallway.
"I'll keep that in mind, along with being surprised when said person appears without explanation and then talks me to death. What do you want, House?"
"A booty call?" he offered casually, his startling blue eyes studying her for her reaction. "But only if you promise to let me cuddle this time."
Cuddy narrowed her eyes at his characteristic attempt to bait her; curious as to why he'd decided to annoy her so late in the evening. "I'm sure you realise that I - like most people - actually prefer to sleep during the night, so if you are here to play games then postpone them to daylight hours. Goodnight."
He didn't move, not that she'd really expected him to, instead studied her with the same expression she'd seen countless times when weighing up test results on a tricky diagnosis. "You did it on purpose."
"Did what on purpose, House? You do realise it's three in the morning, right?" Cuddy sighed, already dreading what this little visit would do to her work-day - one that started in mere hours.
"This afternoon in my office - you did that deliberately."
Cuddy hadn't the energy or the inclination to decide if House was deliberately being obtuse or if he was genuinely asking her something he evidently couldn't wait until morning to find out - either way it was far to late at night. Giving him her best exasperated stare, she placed her hands on her hips and responded; "I have exactly two and a half hours before I have to get up again and deal with whatever lunacy you decide to throw at me today. I'm going back to bed."
"As seductions go, that was pretty lacking, Lisa." The imposing figure standing over her retorted condescendingly, his bright blue eyes sweeping over her silken robe overtly, before finally settling on her chest. "But hey, I always knew the cane turned you on."
"Yes, Greg, I'm desperately trying to get you into bed with me. How about we get to it right here?" Gesturing to the couch a few feet away, she stepped into his personal space, tilting her head backwards and speaking softly as though he'd be more inclined to listen; "You want to just skip the foreplay and get right to it?"
House actually stood looking slightly stunned for a minute, before his usual bemused expression returned, along with a knowing smirk. "Is this what I get for keeping a secret, or is it an extension to getting to see your butt twice a day?" He feigned needing to think for a minute. "No, never mind, it's not that important to me after all."
Smiling sweetly, Cuddy feigned moving in to kiss him, instead breathing against his mouth, "If I wanted to seduce you, you'd know about it." Promptly she backed away, grinning at her victory in their incessant games.
Feeling his eyes on her back as she moved back to her bedroom she heard House mutter; "Everybody lies."
--H&C--
Morning came too soon for Lisa, as she'd gotten back into bed and immediately wondered whether the games she and House had been playing lately were becoming a little too personal in their content. Damn the man for being so infuriatingly attractive. She wasn't sure when he'd progressed from a professional nightmare to someone who she enjoyed seeing everyday, even if it was just to banter with - or more often than not argue over professional ethics with. Somehow the image of introducing him to her parents kept appearing in her head, and it both amused and terrified her. How on Earth had this happened? The man was a brilliant, smart-assed, self-centred, son-of-a-bitch, and in no way would ever think of her as anyone other than the woman who stood between him and his sometimes wacky practice of medicine. But there was just something about the thought of House meeting her mother that made her smile, imagining their immediate and inevitable face-off from the second they were introduced.
Practically stumbling from her room, she made her way to the kitchen in search of caffeine, pulling a hand through her mass of tangled curls. As she reached the doorway, she had to stand and stare for a good two minutes before she believed she wasn't hallucinating.
There, standing by the sink in the blue shirt and pants he'd been wearing the night before, was Greg House, sipping from a cup as he looked out on the garden. Frowning, she cleared her throat to announce her presence, folding her arms across her chest as his he turned his brilliant blue eyes on her.
"Nice," he grinned, lecherously scanning her figure in the hip-hugging pink nightdress.
Refusing to let him win by going to retrieve her robe, Cuddy grasped a mug from the tree-stand on the countertop and poured herself a coffee from the nearly full pot already there. Sipping cautiously, she scanned the room and found he'd slung his jacket over one of the kitchen stools, his cane hooked over the towel rail. "Made yourself at home, I see?"
House swept his eyes back to her face, not a trace of guilt in his features as he stared at her, amused. "Permission from the boss."
"I don't remember inviting you to stay, House." She made a face as the taste of the beverage she'd been sipping finally registered. "My God, you call this coffee?"
"Is it my fault you abandon your guest to fend for himself? I had to figure out the coffee machine all by myself - its just not good manners, Cuddy. Your mother never teach you that?" He moved close to her, reaching for the pot behind her and brushing her bare arm as he manouvered around her.
Trying to ignore the flash of sensation at the accidental touch, Cuddy moved aside to let him work. She nearly jumped when his large hand grasped her wrist to stop her movement, her eyes flicking to his. Belatedly she realised he was steadying her hand so he could dump a large teaspoon of sugar into her mug, even stirring it for her. His eyes stayed on her once he released her wrist, but she kept her own firmly on the cup she held tightly in both hands, sipping the now-sweet liquid slowly. House stood next to her, taking his time refilling his own coffee and glancing inquisitively at her every few seconds.
"So why did you come here in the middle of the night? Trouble sleeping?" She ventured with a slight smile, glad to have found something to break the silence.
His hand stopped stirring the second sugar into his coffee as he looked up to meet her eyes. "Like I said, you did that yesterday to bug me."
"When I thanked you for helping me?" Cuddy asked incredulously. "I didn't realise gratitude was so unappealing to you. It was just uncharacteristically nice of you to keep that to yourself, so I -"
He shook his head, then levelled her with his intense azure gaze; "There was something else. And you deliberately didn't tell me."
"House, are you seriously telling me you turned up in the dead of night so you could find out what you think I didn't say? If there was any doubt before of your insanity then I think it's safe to say we have proof now." She frowned at him, fighting off an amused smile at his cheerful uncaring smirk.
"Can't be hospital stuff… or clinic stuff… so it must personal." He tilted his head to one side and narrowed his eyes accusingly; "You're not dating Wilson after all, are you?"
Cuddy hid a grin by sipping her cooling coffee, refusing to encourage him by showing her amusement. Long ago she'd admitted to herself that she enjoyed his unique brand of sarcastic humour, usually used at the most inappropriate of times, in front of patients or donors in order to cause her maximum embarrassment. "You don't think Wilson would tell you if he was dating someone?"
Ignoring her somewhat rhetorical question, he continued; "So it doesn't involve illicit love affairs with my bestest pal. Does it -"
"I'm not standing here all day while you work out a differential diagnosis on my visit to your office yesterday. Has it occurred to you that if there was something I didn't say, that there was a reason I didn't say it?"
Cuddy stared at him, awaiting a glib House-like retort. When none came, she set her partially full coffee cup down on the surface behind her, brushing past House on her way back to her bedroom. "See you at work, House. Try to be in before lunch today."
She felt his eyes follow her path out of the kitchen and across her dining room, knowing he was still stood by the coffee-maker, the counter easing a lot of the weight from his bad leg in place of his cane. As she dressed, her mind idly wondered if she'd find the brilliant-if-suspected-insane doctor still frequenting her home when she emerged, but the thought was solved when she heard the familiar rumble of his motorcycle start up and then fade into the distance. Picking her favourite pair of shoes from their place in the corner of her brightly-lit bedroom, Lisa grabbed her keys and hurried through to the kitchen before deciding to have something to eat from the staff room when she got to the hospital instead.
It wasn't until she was nearly at the front door that she spotted the note taped to the back of it, the familiar black-inked handwriting of her early morning guest catching her eye.
'Your office, 10AM to continue the fun we started yesterday. Don't be late,
G
Cuddy smiled, pulling the paper from the door as she tried to work out if she was more surprised at his promise to be in before ten in the morning or at the warm feeling she felt at the thought he cared enough to help her out with choosing donors and administering the injections. Not that it mattered so much now, but until she told House of her decision to stop the IVF, she could at least allow herself the small – if inappropriate - feeling that she was cared for.
--H&C--