Title: Thank you, Dr. House

Author: Kara B aricadavidson or karamuse

Rating: PG one dirty word

Pairing/Character: Lisa Cuddy

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine.

Theme: Time philosophy20

Summary:

It all happened so fast that she didn't have time to react. Of course guns had been pulled in her hospital before, but security was usually right there and she'd never been in the line of fire before, much less held hostage. The cold metal was pressed firmly into her neck.

And then suddenly it was as if time slowed to a halt. She could feel her heart pounding, hear every breath she took; could even see just about everything going on around her as everyone backed away from the man with the gun. Everyone moved back, except House. Idiot.

"You don't want to do this," House said calmly. "All you're doing is proving what an idiot you are." Cuddy winced as the gun pressed harder into her neck, mentally cursing House.

"Well I'm not leaving until my wife gets the care she needs!" the man yelled. "And she is the hospital administrator isn't she? She can make it happen!"

"Well given how incompetent she is, you would've been better going to someone else. She can't even make me do clinic duty." The man paused, considering House's words.

Meanwhile, Cuddy managed to shoot her least favorite doctor a glare i Thanks so much for the confidence in my abilities /i . Oh yeah, she made it obvious that he'd be in trouble later, whether or not he really would be.

"Tell you what, you put the gun down and I'll personally take a look at your wife's case," House said, waving off security when they finally decided to make an appearance. "I love a good puzzle."

"That's a lie because as soon as I put this down, I end up in prison!" the man accused.

"And if you keep waving it around, you disrupt this hospital's operations and our ability to help your wife," Cuddy finally spoke.

"Shut up!" the man roared. "I'm not talking to you."

"Give the security guard the gun and I'll see what I can do about letting you stay while we treat your wife," House replied reasonably. "I'm sure we can make an exception, can't we Dr. Cuddy?"

Was House crazy? How could they let a potentially dangerous person stay and basically supervise an operation? Especially one who'd come in waving a gun around and taking the hospital administrator hostage? "We can probably work something out," she managed to say, reluctantly. Once the situation was under control, security could take the man in custody.

"See, she's really a pushover, at least to me." House waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "So come on, put it down and bring out the charts so I can start looking at your wife's case. I can't heal her while we stand her… well, unless the position of God comes open in the next five minutes and I'm elected to fill in."

The man hesitated, loosening his grip on Cuddy slightly, then shoving her away so roughly that she fell. "Promise me I can stay with my wife," he said glancing at House. "And I'll give security the gun."

House glanced at Cuddy and the head of Security, a Major Davis, both of whom nodded. The guy handed over the gun and moments later was being put in handcuffs by the security guard. House turned to Cuddy. "Come on, you said he could stay with his wife. He's harmless and I'm willing to take the risk."

"Well I'm not. I can't!" she exclaimed.

"Oh come on, have a couple of the big bad security guards stand nearby. I'll even do an extra hour of clinic duty this week…" he offered.

"An extra two hours and I'll do that."

"Done," he replied. "Chase let Cameron know to work an extra couple of hours." Turning back to Cuddy he found her standing, hands on her hips, glaring at him. "Aren't you going to thank me?"

"For what?"

"For saving your quite lovely ass of course."

She gave a disgusted sigh and started to stalk back to her office. His arrogance was still astounding at times. Stopping mid-stride, she turned back. "Thank you Dr. House," then continued her trek back to her office.