Someone Like You
Chapter 2
Cuddy jumped at the loud bang as her office door was needlessly shoved open without warning, giving entrance to a rather cheerful Head of Diagnostics. Limping into the center of her large carpeted office, he stopped and placed his cane in front of him, both hands resting on the polished wood as he stared gamely at her unamused expression.
"Here I am, do with me what you will." House grinned, and then gestured to the busy bustle outside the office; "I said that we weren't to be disturbed."
Rolling her eyes, Lisa continued her attempts to clear some of the vast mountains of paperwork that had appeared on her desk seemingly overnight, barely sparing him a glance. "I don't think the insinuations that you sleep with me on a regular basis actually amuse anyone, House. Least of all me - but then that'd be the point, right?"
"It's not an exercise in amusement, Cuddy. It's a cred thing."
"A 'cred' thing? Do I even want to know?"
"Well, everyone thinks I'm screwing the boss, and the boss blatantly wants me, so I'm merely filling in the blanks for the gossip mills. It's a cred thing." House explained matter-of-factly, as though it was obvious. The small, amused smile he kept solely for these occasions when he tormented her appeared then, the blaze of his blue eyes pinning her to her chair.
To her credit, Cuddy didn't let her disbelief show, though she silently prayed he was kidding as she met his taunting gaze. "I'll add 'delusional' to your growing list of qualities. Is there something specific you wanted, or are you just filling in time before your soap?"
"It's ten AM, you have an appointment with your doctor." He replied simply, frowning slightly at the unlikely event Cuddy had forgotten.
"You are not my doctor, House." She told him in no uncertain terms, although a small smile found its way to her lips as she folded her arms over her chest defensively. As she held his gaze, Cuddy watched as his eyes dipped briefly to her neckline, something he often seemed to do, and by no means tried to be subtle about it. Clearing her throat, she added; "And I don't need your help with the injections any more."
"If you're about to tell me you have some bright-eyed, barely-out-of-med-school idiot of a doctor taking my place... or is it that assistant of yours - the one with the inappropriate ties?" House mocked huffily, moving closer to her desk until he was towering over her seated form.
Cuddy shot him an exasperated stare that she didn't really feel, fighting to keep her face from showing any trace of amusement as she stood up to face him. "Wow, you dislike someone based on the fact they dress properly for work, there's a surprise," she replied sarcastically, moving around her desk with an arm full of files. "Again, thank you for helping me out yesterday, but you're off the hook. You can go back to pretending to see clinic patients now."
House studied her with a curious expression on his face, silently considering what he'd just heard. "You've stopped the IVF treatments."
In all her life, Lisa had never met any who could be so astute so much of the time. When she'd first met him, that quality had entranced her; this lanky, nice-looking twenty-something who could merely glance at you and hazard a fair guess at what you were thinking. That perceptiveness hadn't faded over the years, if anything it had sharpened, and yet sometimes it would still surprise her, even after nine years working together.
"Yes." She replied, placing each folder back in its place on her bookcase, glad of the excuse to keep her back to him for fear of giving away to much.
"That's what you came to tell me yesterday." House deduced softly, his tone taking on that rare caring note that most thought he was incapable of. "Or maybe why you'd changed your mind."
Lisa turned, crossing her arms over her chest and meeting his deductive eyes in an attempt to stare him down, her expression a clear warning. She was fairly sure that he had already worked out one of her reasons for her change of heart and was afraid he'd figure out the other. "Leave it alone, House."
"Was it that half-wit donor I tracked down yesterday that put you off?" He added an overzealous shudder to the question, but something in his eyes gave away the seriousness in which he meant it. "Would've put me off."
Cuddy smiled genuinely for the first time all morning, finally seeing the funny side to that little debacle with her would-be sperm donor. "No, just something you said." As soon as the words left her mouth she was rolling her eyes in exasperation at her slip of the tongue, mentally cursing the diagnostician for preventing the sleep that allowed her to deal with him on a daily basis. Turning away from his suddenly too-piercing gaze, she sighed and added quietly; "I thought I'd wait a little longer, that's all."
House nodded, continuing to stare at the back of her head; studying the silver clasp that held her mass of darks curls clipped back from her face, until she chanced another glance at him, meeting his eyes once more. Cuddy wasn't sure if there was a look of understanding that flashed across his face or whether she was just over thinking it, but she felt the now-familiar feeling of attraction bloom in her stomach again as he stared at her like that, brilliant azure eyes analyzing her face intently. For what, she couldn't even guess.
Minutes passed, until suddenly he turned, limping out of her office without another word, as Cuddy watched him leave, unsure as to what had just transpired.
--H&C--
Most days Cuddy found herself leaving the hospital at eight or even nine in the evening, but she'd spent so much of her afternoon fighting a loosing battle to focus that she left just after six on this particular occasion, much to the surprise of the nurses stationed just outside her office. Whether her inability to concentrate was from the morning's run-in with House, or from lack of sleep, she wasn't sure. Either way, she'd decided, she had House to blame for an afternoon of lost work.
The welcome smell of Chinese food filled her car as she turned into her quiet street, reminding her how little she'd had to eat all day. Just as she was promising herself a long soak in a nice, hot bath after she'd eaten, Lisa spotted the unmistakable luminous orange of a motorcycle parked proudly in her driveway. Torn between anger at the prospect of her leisurely evening being ruined and reluctant amusement at the impertinence of him, she pulled her blue Jaguar in beside the unmissable bike, scanning the front garden for any signs of its owner. Gathering her things from the passenger seat - mostly a large bag of Chinese takeout that she knew she'd hate herself for in the morning, she exited the car and began rummaging in her purse for her house keys.
"You're home early," came a deep voice by her shoulder, startling her into nearly dropping everything she was carrying.
Conjuring her most deadly glare, she shot him an exasperated look over her shoulder and then ignored him to continue the hunt for her elusive key-chain.
"It's not my fault you're all jittery on caffeine," House muttered indignantly, easily personifying a six-foot-something six-year-old.
"It's your fault I need so much caffeine." Cuddy snapped back, her tiredness dampening her usual flare for sparring with the troublesome doctor, especially when his close proximity was causing the smell of his leather jacket to intoxicate her senses.
"My, my, Lisa. If the neighbors are listening what will they think?"
Narrowing her eyes at his remark, she managed to juggle the bags she held enough to place the key in the door lock, wishing she had an extra hand to slap the smirk from his face as he watched her struggle in amusement. "You are a pain in the ass, House."
His eyes brightened as he grinned, prompting Lisa to turn back to the door before she acknowledged how attractive he looked when he did that. "Yes, but sweetheart, I'm your pain in the ass." The sickly sweet, designed-to-annoy tone of his voice cued her to look back over her shoulder at him in time to see him glance sideways at the next-door garden.
It was only at that point that she noticed her elderly neighbor out on her front patio, smiling in none other than her antagonizing guest's direction. "House," she began in a hushed voice, hating that she had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye despite the added height of her heels. "Please tell me you haven't been chatting to my neighbor?"
"Who, Mary?" He turned to give the woman a wave and a smile as though he'd known her for years, before continuing; "She wanted to know who – and I quote - 'Lisa's nice new man' was."
"Marilyn." Cuddy corrected under her breath, pushing open the front door finally and all but shoving House inside.
"I told her not to be too worried by the loud noises during the night – explained how insatiable you are in the nighttime hours."
Whirling around so fast House nearly tripped over her, Lisa glared at him with a shocked expression; "You did not-"
Rolling his eyes, he bent his head so he was eye level with her. "Oh relax, I was assuring her how simple a hip replacement surgery is. Well so long as the surgeon isn't too juiced to tell an arm from a leg – but that almost never happens."
His condescending tone was not lost on her, but she was too hungry to further delay her dinner, dropping the bags on the dining room table and heading into the kitchen in search of something to drink. On her return, she found House had shed his leather jacket, and was pawing through the take-out bag, setting out each box on the table until he found something he liked the look of. She placed a glass of orange juice in front of him, sipping from her own glass as she watched him expectantly, hoping whatever it was he wanted this time would be short and sweet.
"You got plates for this little feast?"
"You're inviting yourself to my dinner now?"
"Think of it as a favor. I eat half of this and you won't feel half as guilty in the morning." House offered graciously, raising the colourful glass of juice to his lips.
Too tired and hungry to argue further, she retrieved two plates and set them down in front of her uninvited guest, content to let him dish the food out. He handed her one of the now-full plates, pinning her with another of his intense, blue-eyed stares before she backed down, turning towards the living room. Those wordless stares would be her undoing, she knew. While he had the unique ability to understand how her mind worked, she had absolutely no idea what he was thinking most of the time - not on any deeper level than game-boys and Angelina Jolie, at least.
Abandoning the pointless struggle to work the impossible man out, she sank into the large, deep cushions of her sofa, feeling her aching body respond to something other than the uncomfortable office chairs it was subjected to all day, everyday. House followed a minute later, immediately commandeering the plush armchair opposite her as his own. Setting his cane against the wall next to the chair, he went for the remote on the coffee table without asking, flicking the large television on with a delighted smile as he found a channel he liked. Fighting the growing realization that her loneliness had reached a level where she was actually thankful for House's intrusion if only for the company, she kept her eyes firmly on the soap-like teen drama unfolding on screen as she ate.
"What is this?" she asked quietly as she set her dish aside, beginning to feel sleepy from the effects of a full stomach.
He turned to her, feet up on her coffee table as he placed his cleared plate on the floor and dug into his shirt pocket for his pill bottle. "One Tree Hill. It's got basketball and cheerleaders, that's all you need to know."
Cuddy laughed, slipping her shoes off and curling her long legs underneath her. "Isn't there an age limit on lusting after girls with pompoms that you've surpassed by decades?"
"I like to go against the grain, makes life more interesting." He responded quickly, as though it should be something she'd never noticed about him before. His eyes moved from the screen back to her own as his pleased-with himself smirk returned full force. "Would this be a good time to mention a certain outfit in the back of your closet?"
Her gaze shot from the television to his thoroughly smug face, trying to decide if he was bluffing or about to admit to yet further invasion of her privacy.
House's eyes wandered over her with a leering smile. "I honestly don't know which image I prefer more – you in the cheerleader get-up or that wonderful little tennis outfit... oh and then there's those handcuffs you keep in your desk for special occasions..."
"For the last time, House, I do not have-" Sighing in exaggerated exasperation, Cuddy placed her chin her hand as she awaited his latest taunt.
"So... was it a secret boyfriend with a fetish? You always struck me as the naughty schoolgirl type-"
"Now that you're done eating, I can throw you out on your ass." Cuddy interrupted as she stood, picking up her discarded plate and bending to retrieve his before belatedly realizing he was taking advantage of his position by looking down her low-necked top. Refusing to voice her annoyance, she left him to watch the end of his beloved show, taking the dishes to the kitchen as she toyed with the idea of opening a bottle of wine. She was beginning to seriously wonder if she was losing her mind – could she really be feeling something for Greg House? If she rationalized it she could make the argument that she was drawn to his intelligence, to his ability to work out the most obscure of medical cases that crossed his desk. But if she was honest with herself, his humour, his inability to go a day without some form of sexual reference about her was as flattering as it was embarrassing, and the man did have a unique talent for knowing how best to aggravate her.
Cuddy shook her head, opening the door to the small larder where she kept a few bottles of wine as she decided that yes, she was most definitely losing her mind.