Chapter 7

That night—the Sheraton Four Points

Cuddy stood in front of the full length mirror and inspected herself carefully. She had kept her dark jacket and skirt from that morning, preferring to change into another blouse and don the pearls. That should do it. Securing her room behind her, she stepped across the hall to House's room and knocked on the door.

He opened it and peeked out. "Almost ready. Tie's fighting me." With that, he closed the door again.

She had to grin. At least he's trying to play nice. She checked her watch and knocked again. "Michael will be meeting us any minute."

He opened the door revealing a surprisingly wrinkle free navy suit with a white shirt and dark tie. "Michael, huh? We're here for a couple of hours and you're already sizing up the boss?" He smirked.

"I learned from the master," she countered sarcastically. "Speaking of learning, where did you pull this out of?"

"I wanted to surprise you," he declared almost mischievously. "Some boss lady always wants me to look like this. We wouldn't know her, would we?"

"Maybe," she replied, not giving an inch in their verbal judo fest. "Still, House, you should do this more often." She straightened his tie. "There."

"Anything else or can I presume I pass muster?" he cracked irreverently.

"It'll do," she noted, conceding a smile and a sparkle in her eye. "You almost look handsome, House."

He shrugged while sizing her outfit up as well. "Trying to snowball the boss into a job. Who knew? By the way, nice tact keeping the cleavage under wraps. Don't want to give away too much."

She looked around anxiously, trying to see if anyone had overheard him.

Now it was his turn to smirk. "Come on. Let's impress this dude." With that, he labored toward the elevator.

Downstairs

Once the duo got off of the elevator, they surveyed the lobby for the resident administrator.

House spied Fishburne immediately. "Eleven o' clock. Guy in the gray suit."

She nodded. "Remember, you need a job, House."

"That's relative," he deadpanned.

She pointed out, "Your rat needs food."

He frowned and rolled his eyes. "Sure. Bring Steve into this. I thought you were above blackmail."

She smirked. "As I said, I learned from the best." Feeling very pleased that she had scored one on him, she headed toward their host.

Damn. Realizing that she had just evened the score for the evening, he followed her over to Fishburne. "Evening."

"Dr. House, I'm Michael Fishburne. Pleased to meet you," the administrator greeted while shaking his hand. "I trust you both had a good flight?"

"We were fine. Thank you," she agreed, responding for both of them. "So where are we heading for dinner?"

"What are you in the mood for? We can do Chinese, Italian, Middle Eastern, American," their host suggested.

"Lisa's really into fish. Know a good seafood place?" House suggested, instinctually looking to cause some difficulty.

She gave him a curious look. We come to the desert and you ask about fish?

"As a matter of fact, there's La Vitae Aquae. I know the chef. The fish is flown in from San Diego daily and it's a favorite place of mine. The Duboises love the calamari and scallops there," Fishburne agreed. "Excellent suggestion, Gregory." Then he asked, "Sorry. You prefer Greg or Gregory?"

"Greg works, Michael. Thanks," House relented, feeling disappointed that it didn't have the desired effect.

She squeezed his hand quickly and smiled, letting him know she appreciated his effort.

Two hours later—La Vitae Aquae

House's cynicism turned insight paid off big time. Everything seemed to go right from the service to the quality of the wine and fish.

In addition, Dr. Fishburne introduced staff members as he saw them—almost making it seem rigged….that is if House hadn't picked the spot himself. "How's your flounder, Lisa?"

She allowed a bite to melt in her mouth. "This is wonderful. Mmm…I would swear that this came from New York."

"Calamari's all right," House acknowledged, chewing the dish carefully and sampling the flavor therein. Seeing the cup of lemon wedges, he took one and squirted it on his meal. "Better."

"Glad you like it," their host replied smiling. "You're a hard man to please, Greg, from what I understand."

"I have high standards," House replied matter of factly.

"High standards mixed with a hefty mix of ingenuity and irreverence." The administrator studied the diagnostician's reaction. "I've reviewed your file carefully."

House didn't seem fazed. "Isn't that what interviewers normally do, Mike? Besides, I live to solve puzzles. Think of it as my big reason for being a doctor."

She stiffened, hoping he hadn't blown his chance (and maybe hers in the process) by that remark. "What Greg means, Michael, is that he's the best at solving conundrums that give other doctors headaches."

"I see." Fishburne rubbed his chin. "As Angela would tell you both, I value ingenuity and creative thinking on my staff. I don't like to get overly bogged down in the details or red tape. Every day matters are one thing but I don't want to lose patients because of bureaucratic nonsense."

House nodded, eyeing the other man carefully. "What about your board?"

"What about it?"

"They like to step on toes or what?" House inquired pointedly.

Lex and Angela, you were right on the mark with his attitude. "I don't allow them to do that. Rather, I convene it twice a year to deal with the basics. I prefer to trust my faculty, Greg. I have one question though of you. Let's say there's a case you're working on that throws you into the gray area of ethics. Would you be willing to come in and talk to me about it?"

House shrugged. "I guess." He took a gulp of wine and continued, "Are you willing to listen if I present something that may seem out there? Sometimes my mind goes to weird places."

"Inspiration does such things. I will want to know why you think that." Fishburne chuckled warmly. "Don't worry; I don't have a form or require a report on my desk. I will ask for your rationale. Is that what you required of him, Lisa?"

"Exactly," she agreed. When he bothered to come to me. "Edward Vogler was a stickler for the rule book."

"Rules are meant to be bent and occasionally reworked," Fishburne indicated. "As long as you remember that my door's open for such questions, we'll get along fine." He held out his hand. "Welcome aboard, both of you."

"That's it?" House asked, expecting a greater full court press from the other man.

"That's it. Trust me; if I had an issue with you, I'd have asked you about it." He shook both of their hands. "Especially from my two newest department chairs."

"Thank you," she accepted enthusiastically. "I'm looking forward to getting back into the field again."

"This should be interesting," House concurred. "Can't wait to see who the players are."

"That happens at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon in my office. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," their boss informed them. "Meantime, you're free to explore the city. The Talon's a wonderful café. I would like to see you both at 12:45 so that we can sign the paperwork and make this all official before everyone else comes?"

"We'll be there," she agreed.

"Excellent. Now that we've got that out of the way, who's up for dessert?" Fishburne asked, signaling for the waiter.