A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story (even if you don't comment). It's been a blast writing this, and we still have a long way to go.
So, our favorite couples relationship is somewhat rocky at the moment. Last chapter ended with Brad offering Cuddy to go on a date with him or House gets sued for what he did over the past weekend...But, never fear! A loyal Huddy fan since day One is not about to have our favorite couple split up.
Will Cuddy go on a date with Brad or remain loyal to the man who she has loved for over half her life? Find out below. This chapter is a emotional roller coaster due to Cuddy dealing with her own emotional roller coaster right now.
It's still Monday. Trial is in three days on Thursday.
Chapter 75:
Two hours after returning home from the hospital the same day she had paid a visit to Brad Kowalski to persuade him not to sue House for their heated altercation the past Friday evening, Lisa Cuddy was sitting on her couch editing a journal article, when she heard her oven timer beep.
After laying down her pen and then sending a text message that said simply, 'Want to talk…making lasagna :),' Cuddy set her phone down and then wandered into the kitchen. Taking the homemade tofu lasagna out of the oven, she set the rectangular glass pan on the stovetop and let it rest, as she covered it with a piece of foil.
Ten minutes later, she heard a familiar knock on the front door. Taking a deep breath, she picked herself up off the couch and walked into her foyer.
They didn't say anything to each other when she opened the door, but, as always, their familiar eye lock said so much without either of them uttering a single word. Cuddy gave him a small smile.
"Lasagna, eh?" House remarked, before limping past her into her house without waiting for an invite.
Closing the door behind him, Cuddy smirked and followed him into the kitchen. "I hope you're hungry," she said quietly.
"Starved," he replied.
Sitting down at the kitchen table and leaning his cane on the corner after taking off his jacket, he kept his eyes on her as she retrieved two plates out of the cabinet by the oven and silverware from a drawer. After cutting two pieces of lasagna, Cuddy placed a plate in front of where he sat, and then sat down across from him with her own plate.
She noticed he didn't start devouring the food right away.
"Something wrong? I mean I know it's tofu and all, but…"
House laid his fork and knife down on the table and looked across at her. "I'm sorry," he said softly, as he locked eyes with her.
"I know," she whispered.
She dug into her meal. "The lasagna's going to get cold if you don't eat it," she commented, after swallowing a mouthful.
House smirked at her. "Maybe I like cold lasagna."
She shook her head, amused, and went back to eating her dinner.
As they both ate in comfortable silence, House couldn't take it anymore. "What are we doing?" he asked after swallowing a mouthful of lasagna.
Wiping her mouth with her napkin, Cuddy glanced at him and chewed her bottom lip, thinking. "I don't know," she finally said, quietly.
"Did you really mean what you said to Cameron and Foreman today about how I need to grow a pair of balls?"
Cuddy chuckled lightly. "I forgot I said that….And no, I didn't mean it."
"Because I'm pretty sure I already have a pair," he continued, after hearing her response.
Cuddy smoothed her napkin and fiddled with her hands, which were clasped together in her lap.
"Greg, I….," she hesitated. "We…need to talk."
House waited with batted breath, preparing for the worst.
Picking her head up, Cuddy forced herself to look at him across the table. "I…I visited Brad Kowalski today."
As House opened his mouth to yell at her, she held up her hand. "Let me finish."
Once she knew he wasn't going to interrupt again, she continued. "I went to tell him not to sue you."
She watched as his anger turn to mere confusion. "But…," he stammered, "Why? Why are you still…protecting me after what I did to you?"
Cuddy chuckled softly, although more to herself than to him. That was a good question. She found herself almost always going to bat for him. Still, after all these years, even after he was a complete bitch to her. She still found herself protecting him. But why?
She sighed. "I don't know. It's just…something I've always done, I guess…" she said quietly. "Look at me: even when I'm pissed at you, I still find myself protecting your ass."
She scoffed, dropping her head in her hands, her elbows on the tabletop. "We're so screwed up," she muttered, more to herself than to him.
"So, what did he say?" House pressed.
Picking her head up, Cuddy took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly before speaking. "He made you a…proposition…," she began slowly.
"Which is?" House asked, concerned as he noticed how she started acting.
Cuddy opened her eyes and locked onto his.
"He won't sue you…if I agree to go to dinner with him."
House stared at her, not believing what he had just heard. "That's ridiculous," he finally exclaimed.
Cuddy stayed silent, watching him.
"Lisa, you…you are not going on a date with him! If I didn't get a warm feeling about him on Friday night, I am certainly not too keen on the idea of him taking you on a date just so he won't sue -"
"I'm not going to let him sue you for something like this," Cuddy interrupted him, "Especially when we both will be coming off Thursday's trial. And since when do I need your permission or approval to go anywhere?"
"So you want to go to dinner with him?" House shot at her, aggressively, ignoring the latter part of what she had just said.
"Of course I don't," she replied, on the verge of tears. "But I also don't want you to get sued, Greg…" She threw her hands up in sheer aggravation. "Why the hell does this have to be so god dammed complicated? And why the hell am I still protecting you?! God, Lisa! "
"So, what are you doing to do?"
Cuddy slid a hand down her face, frustrated. "I don't know. I'm not going to dinner with him, but -"
"Then make up your mind!" House yelled angrily, interrupting her. "Lisa, you need to make a decision! The 'Lisa Cuddy' that I know and have known for years is stronger than the 'Lisa Cuddy' I'm seeing right now."
Cuddy gasped as though she had been slapped across the face.
And frankly," he continued, aggravated as he took no notice of her reaction, "I prefer the strong Lisa over this weak one that I'm seeing right -"
"You think I'm being weak?!" she exclaimed softly, staring at him as though she couldn't believe what he was saying.
"Right now, yes."
"Greg, I – I just told you that I don't want -"
"Yeah, but you didn't make a decision," House told her coldly. "Maybe you do want him to ask you on a date -"
Cuddy had enough. "Shut up, Greg!" she exclaimed, as she rose from her chair, staring at him, extremely pissed off at him. "Jesus Christ, do you even hear yourself?!" she said angrily.
"You don't like me telling you that you are being weak, and you know what? It pisses me off to see how you are acting right now," House spat at her, angrily. "The 'Lisa Cuddy' I know would have told Brad to go to hell."
"Oh it pisses you off!?" Cuddy replied sarcastically. She tried to maintain her composure but was failing. "For your information, my weakness would have been if I didn't tell you anything and deciding on my own. My weakness would have been saying 'Fuck it. Let's go out to dinner and not tell House. Oh and maybe start a goddamn sex rendezvous while we're at it!.'"
She immediately turned away from him, and suppressing a sob, stormed out of the kitchen, walked quickly down the hallway and went into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her as hard as she could.
Alone in the kitchen, House cleaned the two plates from their dinner, and covered the lasagna, placing it in the fridge. After cleaning up the rest of the kitchen, he limped into Cuddy's living room and sat down on the couch, leaning his head back. Rubbing his thigh, he closed his eyes, thinking.
Pounding the couch cushion with his fist, House exhaled, bitterly frustrated at himself. Why did you have to do that, House? he thought bitterly to himself. Why do you always have to go and fuck things up? None of this would have happened if you would have just minded your own fucking business and not punch Brad in the first place.
After about twenty minutes of stewing in his thoughts, House got off the couch and limped to the bedroom door. Knocking, he received no answer. Concerned, he slowly pushed the door to the bedroom open.
Hus eyes immediately fell on Cuddy's sleeping figure on one side of the bed. Slowly limping over to the side where she lay, he glanced at her.
She was curled up in the fetal position on her side, wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and nothing covering her legs. Her work clothes littered the floor. Her left hand was resting on the center of her belly as the other hand was underneath her pillow. A box of tissues lay on the nightstand next to her head, with a couple used ones thrown on the floor in a crumpled heap.
House looked at her closely. Even sleeping, she looks stressed he thought to himself.
He swore under his breath as he once again started to become frustrated. All of this was his fault.
'Even now, I'm still the reason why she is so stressed. If Friday wasn't enough, look what I fucked up and did now. You should just leave, Greg. She sure as hell doesn't deserve you now.
He stopped. Did I really just think that?! I can't leave her. I'd be crazy too.
Trying to ignore all the ruminating thoughts going through his head, House stripped down to his boxers, and climbed into the bed beside her.
Glancing at her backside, he restrained himself from waking her up and instead, rolled over away from her, closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep while plagued by all his thoughts.
Cuddy opened her eyes and glanced at the clock that sat on the bedside table. It read 3:28 A.M.
She sighed and turned her head, shocked to see House sleeping beside her.
He was on his back, with his head turned toward her. His mouth was slightly agape as he snored lightly.
She wanted to move closer to him and lay her head on his chest, but she refrained. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him, wanting so badly to reach out and run her fingers through his four days' worth of stubble.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, turning away from him once more.
God dammit, Lisa, you're supposed to be mad at him! She thought bitterly to herself. Her thoughts ruminated as she stared at the alarm clock, watching the minutes and seconds go by silently. He's right. I am being weak. I give him a thousand chances but always protect him.
Frustrated, she threw the covers back and without disturbing him, she headed out into the kitchen.
Not even ten minutes later, she headed back to the bedroom with a mug of tea in her hand. She halted in the doorway when she noticed House was awake.
"Can't sleep?" he asked, knowing that she made tea when she was wide awake late at night. No doubt, he had to be some of the reason for her insomnia.
Cuddy walked over to her side of the bed and set the mug down on her side table after taking a sip.
"No," she replied softly, as she climbed back into bed. "How long have you been up?"
"Couple minutes," he replied, watching her.
I'm…sorry about before," she whispered, turning her body partially to face him more directly.
"You shouldn't be apologizing, Lisa," he told her. "Once again, I screwed up and I'm sorry…you've already given me more than enough chances to fuck up."
"Stop, Greg," she whispered, searching his eyes, as she tried to convey to him her forgiveness. "You've deserved all those chances…we aren't perfect. We're both screwed up. In fact, this relationship is far from perfect -"
"Yeah, but the shit I've done. To you -"
"Greg, listen to me," she interrupted, her voice beginning to tremble, but she fought it. "We're both screwed up. But we move past this. We move on…I'm sorry I didn't talk to you first before I talked to Brad. I just thought…that – that it was something I wanted to do on my own -"
"You didn't have to."
Cuddy didn't say anything and just let out a tired sigh, wiping her eyes as she leaned back against the pillows.
"I shouldn't have said what I did to you about Brad," House started after a moment of comfortable silence. "I was…I was wound up."
"I know," she replied softly.
"See? You're doing it again. Giving me a second chance!"
"Why do you always have to analyze these things?"
"Because," House told her, "if this were any other relationship, you would have gone out the door a long time ago…but you're still here."
"Don't," Cuddy said, her voice breaking again. "Don't do this. Please." She closed her eyes as she felt her emotions start to overwhelm her (no doubt, partly due to hormones, and partly due to well, the whole situation), and she took a much needed breath.
"You know I'm right," House told her softly, as he watched her.
"Damn hormones," she muttered, as she wiped her face with her hand as she felt the tears begin to fall. "God, this is so screwed up – we're screwed up."
She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Look at me: I can't even stay mad at you. Even when I want to so bad, I can't…and to figure out why would probably take a lifetime."
"Some things are best left unknown."
Cuddy chuckled softly, as she heard his response. "That's probably true…God, I want to be mad at you but love you at the same time."
"Yeah, I tend to have that effect on women," House replied, dryly.
Cuddy let out a laugh and shook her head, amused.
"Well," she replied, "I accept your apology. I'm not saying what you did to Brad was okay, but I could see why you reacted defensively…just don't go hitting every guy who talks to me."
"Oh don't worry. I'm not going to turn into that boyfriend."
"Well, given your track record so far…" Cuddy began, smirking at him.
"So, are you going to tell me about Brad?"
"You really want to know?"
House shrugged.
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. Now you're playing it off like you never wanted to know anything." She smirked and moved closer to him.
"We dated in med school," she began.
"I knew it!" House exclaimed.
Cuddy rolled her eyes again. "Do you want me to keep feeding your ego?"
House didn't answer her right away. His right hand traveled to her naked thigh and he ran his hand gently upwards, caressing her thigh softly, as he leaned over and planted tiny kisses on her collarbone after sweeping her black curly hair away from her neck.
"If you want to," he mused, in between kisses.
"Let's see…talking about my ex while my present boyfriend is attempting to feel me up...that's not very conducive, is it now?"
"Then stop talking," House muttered, as he moved his lips behind her ear, kissing her ear lobe. His hand found its way beneath her t-shirt and he caressed the curve of her belly.
Placing her palm on his cheek, Cuddy drew him closer to her face. With both hands on either side of his face, she kissed him fully on the mouth. The kiss was slow and full of passion and longing. Full of what they both wanted to express but couldn't through words.
After a minute, House pulled back and searched her eyes silently.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"For?"
"For taking me back."
Cuddy brought her hand down to rest on top of his on her stomach. "I'm not going to dinner with him."
"I figured you weren't."
"But I'm not going to let him sue you for this either. It's stupid." Stifling a yawn with the back of her hand, Cuddy took a sip of tea from the mug on the nightstand and then settled back against the man beside her, who wrapped his arms around her as he gathered her close to him.
"Just do one favor for me, okay?" he said, as he caressed the curve of her belly.
"What's that?"
"Let me see the 'strong' Lisa Cuddy on Thursday morning, and not the weak one."
Cuddy was silent for a few seconds, lost in her thoughts. Facing away from him, she smiled as she placed her hand on top of his around her body.
"Deal."
TBC...