AN: At this point, I definitely know that this doesn't follow the House timeline. New fellows and prison don't really help my storyline, so we're goin off course, folks!
Suddenly certain that I didn't post a disclaimer, so here it is… I DON'T OWN HOUSE! WISH I DID, SADLY DON'T! I also don't have a beta, so mistakes are my own!
As fate would have it, House's team received one of their specialty cases, keeping communications between Thirteen and Lily to shirt single worded texts, with the occasional full sentence. The day before their planned date, Lily put on a brave face and stepped out of the elevator and on to the fourth floor; a full tray of coffees in her hands. Despite false bravado, Lily slowly edged around the corner, peaking through the glass walls and sighing with relief when House was nowhere to be seen. With an extra bounce in her step, Lily strode toward the glass, lightly knocking, hoping to get just Thirteen's attention, and naturally grabbing the whole team's. With a newly formed blush, she followed the direction Thirteen pointed and made her way into the office. She smirked as dim eyes lit up at the sight of coffee heading their way, though professional decorum keeping them in their seats as long as possible. Setting the tray in the middle of table, Lily situated herself on the arm of Thirteen's chair.
"How did you know?" Taub asked, throwing caution to the wind by being the first to grab a coffee. Clearly not caring that he had no idea who this lady was, only that she brought coffee.
"I received a text at 3:42 am," Lily explained, pulling her phone from her pocket. "And I quote, 'Sarcoidosis? Who the fuck knows? More like douchebagdosis. Is that a thing? This guy is a douche.' I assumed you guys needed coffee somethin' fierce."
"You're an angel," Thirteen mumbled from her coffee cup, her hand instinctually finding Lily's lower back.
"Purely selfish reasons," Lily responded plainly in a hushed tone. "I want you bright and cheery for our date. Is your patient dying?"
"Nope," Thirteen answered, nose deep in the Styrofoam cup.
"That's good," Lily merely received a shrug. "Wouldn't want you to feel guilty for suggesting your patient has 'douchebagdosis'," another shrug, though coupled with a snicker. "Does he have sarcoidosis?"
"Nooo," Thirteen practically cried into her coffee. "Douche."
Lily chuckled as she checked her watch. "Gotta head back, just thought you could use a little pick me up. Good luck, guys," she offered a smile and a small wave to the small team before heading to the door, hiding a gentle blush and smile when she noticed Thirteen following her out. "You didn't need to walk me out," Lily laughed at Thirteen's seemingly characteristic shrug, though obviously tainted with exhaustion. "If you need to cancel, or reschedule, I totally understand. You're beat. Beyond beat; you're practically dead on your feet."
"Practically, being the keyword," Thirteen winked. "I'll be there," she frowned slightly at Lily's continued unsure expression. "We are so close, I can taste it," she placed a finger under Lily's chin, lifting her face until Lily's eyes met her own. "I'll see you at 8."
Lily nodded with a shy grin, which blossomed into a laugh at the tell-tale tilt of Thirteen's head and brought a finger to Thirteen's slowly pursing lips. "Whoa there, tiger. You gotta work for that."
"No fair," Thirteen whined with a pitiful but clearly affected pout.
"See you tomorrow," Lily said with a small wave as she stepped onto the elevator.
Thirteen sighed and turned back toward the office. She plopped down into the recently vacated chair, trying, and failing, to ignore the smirks directed at her. "Shut up."
Cuddy walked through the front door, ready to call out until she heard a predominately one sided, but cheerful conversation coming from Lily's room. Taking a moment to remember the day, she realized tonight was Lily's date with Thirteen. She carefully placed her bag and jacket on the couch, not wanting to alert the two to her presence.
"Okay, Rach, this is serious business," Lily said encouragingly, desperately trying to get the attention of the wayward toddler. "Little black dress and black heels, or red top, black skirt, and red heels?" She sighed heavily as Rachel devoted all of her tiny attention on successfully navigating the room in three inch heels.
Cuddy took pity on her frustrated nanny, though loving the vision of her daughter wobbling around in heels, she knocked lightly on the door frame as to not alarm the two. "Both."
"Both?" Lily asked confused. "You want me to layer up? I may be young but I definitely don't put out on the first date," she winked.
Cuddy rolled her eyes and motioned Lily to hand over the dress. She carefully draped it on the bed, crossed the room to Lily's closet, pulling out a sheer red shawl and sweeping Rachel up into her arms while simultaneously grabbing the red heels.
"Ooh, I like, I like," Lily murmured, a mischievous painted on her face.
"Pitty face," Rachel squeaked from Cuddy's neck, suddenly shy.
"Aww, thank you, Rachel," Lily crooned, delicately pinching the toddler's chubby thighs, resulting in Rachel squealing delighted directly into Cuddy's ear and attempting to squirm away. All three jumped at the ringing doorbell and Lily grabbed her phone to check the time, 7:30, and seeing a text from Thirteen, sent ten minutes prior.
Dr. Delicious: Okay, so it's not quite 8, but I'm on my way…
"Ugh," Lily moaned tossing the phone on her bed. "That's probably her. Worst female ever. Who's ever early?"
"They solved their case at 5 and she was out the door by 5:15," Cuddy smirked at the frustrated woman and continued in a sing song voice. "Someone is awfully eageeeerrrr."
"Yeah, well, she's gonna have to be eager for another 15 minutes," Lily muttered, grabbing her brush. "Wanna go make her nervous?" Her only response was a wicked smirk and devilish snicker as Cuddy left her room, shutting the door behind her.
Lily could hear the mutterings of a conversation being held while shimmying into her dress, she couldn't make out the words, but could hear a distinctly firm tone coming from Cuddy. She smirked as her heard a faint "yes, ma'am" from Thirteen. Fortunately, she had thought to do her makeup before even contemplating her outfit, which only took a couple minutes to wiggle into. Thanks to genetics, her hair had a natural wave and she was only adding a few extra curls, and just twisting the front back with a bobbypin, adding just a spritz of hairspray. Grabbing her phone, she checked the time, proudly acknowledging that she was ready at the time she planned before tossing it into her clutch. She touched up her lip stick, adding just a smidge of lip gloss for extra shine, popped both into her purse and after stepping into her heels, made her way to the living room.
"I spoke with Taub about fifteen minutes ago, patient is doing well and should be released in a couple days," Lily grinned and rolled her eyes at how quickly the serious talk turned into work talk. She took a deep breath, attempting to steel her nerves as she turned the corner; her heart fluttering when she caught Thirteen's attention. "Hot damn."
"Not too shabby yourself," She spoke through her blush, gratuitously taking in Thirteen's perfectly snug slacks, white button up and vest. Sooo gay, Lily thought with a giggle, quickening her pace to Thirteen's side.
"You ready?" Thirteen asked, clearing her throat, suddenly entirely aware of Cuddy, Rachel and the length of Lily's dress, ending a solid five to six inches above her knee. Lily nodded shyly and grinned giddily when Thirteen took her hand; their hands intertwining perfectly.
"Dr. Hadley," Cuddy called in her most authoritative administrator voice just as the women reached the door. "Have her back by 11," Thirteen struggled to speak, her mouth opening and closing several times, while simultaneously looking between Cuddy and her watch, before Cuddy took pity on her. "I'm kidding. Go," she winked at a giggling Lily, waving goodbye as the two women crossed the threshold.
Thirteen brought Lily to a wonderfully respectable, but not too stuffy restaurant, where Lily was able to enjoy a delicious, though extremely overpriced, cheeseburger and sweet potato fries. They spoke about their childhoods, laughed over stories of Lily's child written and acted plays and how her mother cried when she opted to not only leave home for college, but to go into child development rather than theater. Thirteen stayed fairly silent on her parents; which Lily found odd, though she didn't want to press, but did regale Lily with tales of the crazy antics her and her brother would get into and how in high school, she and a girl were caught pantless in her bed and her parents bought the story that they were just taking a nap…and had to take their pants off because it was so hot and humid.
After dinner, it seemed Thirteen opted for a twist on the traditional dinner and movie first date by taking Lily to a play she heard about from friends. Though she thoroughly enjoyed the play, she found the confidant and ever wandering hand of one Dr. Remy Hadley to be quite distracting. Every so often, Lily would feel feather light touches sliding up her thigh, she would allow it to just reach the hem of her dress before gently grasping the offending limb, either placing it back at her knee, or recrossing her legs and dropping it on the opposite leg; however, she never returned it to its owner. Though, by the fifth removal, she simply clasped the hand in her own, bringing Thirteen's knuckles to her lips before bringing their linked hands to her lap.
Faster than she could comprehend, Thirteen was bringing her car to a stop outside of Cuddy's house and before Lily could react, Thirteen hopped out of the car, rushing to the passenger and gallantly opened the door for her. Lily relished at the girlish giddiness that encased her entire body as Thirteen helped her out of the car, keeping hold of her hand as she walked Lily to the front door.
"I had an amazing time," Lily whispered, unable to stop the smile on her face. "Thank you."
"I did too," Thirteen awarded Lily with the first shy smile she's seen from the other woman. "Thank you for coming."
Lily looked down at their clasped hands, once again enthralled with how perfectly they fit together.
"Well, I guess I should go?" Thirteen mumbled, slipping her hand free and snapping Lily out of her thoughts.
Lily started to open her mouth, almost immediately shutting it, unable to voice the words tumbling around her brain. Rather than standing dumbly on the porch, Lily slipped her finger through Thirteen's belt loop, pulling her body flush with her own. Despite her delicate gasp, Thirteen instinctively wrapped an arm around Lily's waist, preventing the gap from reopening. Lily looked up into eyes that stubbornly refused to pick a color, realizing that she would be more than happy to simply stand there and stare into them for an eternity. Rather than maintaining a sexual tension fueled staring contest, Lily moved her free hand through Thirteen's hair, bringing their mouths together. She sighed contentedly as the lips she'd yearned for all week and all night, fit so perfectly against her own. Almost reflexively, Lily's grip in Thirteen's hair tightened, eliciting a moan from the doctor and allowing Lily to swipe her tongue along Thirteen's bottom lip before slipping it into her mouth. Thirteen happily allowed Lily in, pulling her body even closer and brought her own free hand to cradle Lily's cheek. Both women seemed wonderfully pleased to continue on with their midnight makeout session and were sorely disappointed when their lungs disagreed. They broke apart, though continuing to keep their bodies together, not entirely ready to break the full connection. Lily was the first to move, both hands moving to Thirteen's face, bringing their mouths together once again. With a touch more aggression, Lily took note as Thirteen's breath quickened exponentially and her hands gripped Lily's hips so tightly, it could be considered painful, if it wasn't so delicious. When Lily pulled away, Thirteen audibly whimpered, causing Lily to sympathetically deliver gentle peck to Thirteen's lips; entirely unable to stop herself from not-as-gently nibble Thirteen's bottom lip.
"Goodnight, Dr. Hadley," she whispered against Thirteen's lips, placing a final, gentle kiss before unhappily extracting herself from Thirteen's grasp.
"Yeah, night…" Thirteen mumbled, not moving from the spot.
Lily regretfully, though that is not to say a little smug, made her way back into the house, finding Cuddy in the kitchen.
"She's still standing there," Cuddy smirked.
"I know," Lily responded with a wink.
"A bit of a tease, wouldn't you say?"
"Not necessarily," Lily explained, grabbing a water from the fridge. "I gave her just enough to want more, but I'm not giving it up. If she wants more, she'll come back."
"Good girl," Cuddy responded with a hint of pride. She bit back the laugh as Lily remained fixed to the spot as she watched as Thirteen finally gained her bearings and was now making her way back to her car, sitting there for a moment before driving off.
"Need me to take the night watch tonight?" Lily asked absentmindedly, still staring outside.
"Nah," Cuddy replied with a grin. "You just go…or stay here…and bask in your late night make out glow."
"Ha, ha," Lily mocked, rolling her eyes and starting toward her room. "Good night."
"Night, Casanova," Cuddy joked, earning a true laugh from Lily before she shut her bedroom door.