Chapter eight- Self Control.
The two women got on well as they went about putting the finishing touches to the tree. Cameron had been right, and Cuddy was relieved to be able to just do what Cameron said, and relax for a change.
"So, I take it you will be coming to the Christmas party, Cameron, you obviously love the holidays"
"I will, and I do love them. There's just something magical about Christmas" Cameron replied distantly, tweaking at a bow, making it look just right.
Cuddy smiled down at the young immunologist:
"I guess you visit your family?"
Cameron looked Cuddy in the eye, and laughing almost nervously, said:
"Uh, no."
"Really, I'd always imagine you as the type to-"
But Cameron cut in slightly surprising the older woman.
"We're not that close" Cameron said briskly picking up the box which had contained lametta. Cuddy couldn't help but notice the slight nervousness which had come over Cameron. So she tried to lighten the situation as she helped the younger doctor by picking up some of the other boxes.
"So, how about grabbing some lunch?"
Cameron was quite taken aback.
"Sure, sounds good. I best tell House, or-"
This time it was Cuddy who cut in.
"Don't worry. I talked to Wilson. He's got it covered."
Cameron smiled, realising that Cuddy also cared for House, just in a different way. Cameron also realised how pleased she was to be in female company, something she had sorely missed after taking up her job at Princeton.
The two women pretty much remained silent as they gathered up their lunch, until the usual 'I'll pay' 'No, really, I'll pay' that always seems to occur when people eat with acquaintances rather than friends, and reach the till. Cuddy got her own way in the end, but only because she got the money out faster. It was surprising how stubborn the young doctor could be.
As they sat down together, they fell into a pleasant conversation which was mostly about the upcoming party. Cuddy was clearly worried about it:
"So we've got the meal as always, then a bar and..."
"And?"
Cuddy visibly cringed:
"And dancing… could this be more clichéd? I'm hiring a DJ!" Cuddy was getting more distressed by the minute, until Cameron calmly started her comforting.
"No, no. It doesn't. Sound clichéd I mean. Everyone's going to enjoy it. They did last year- why would that change?"
"I don't know" Cuddy sighed. "It's just so irritating. I spend my life organising this hospital. It IS my life." Cameron was surprised at the truth behind these words "and I can't even organise a party."
"Dr Cuddy, with all due respect…" she trailed off "Can I be blunt?"
"That's what I need. Go ahead"
"Ok. Well, in my opinion, you're thinking way too much into this. You have organised these parties for years. I think I'm speaking for most of the hospital when I say that most people only go for the free bar and the chance to slow dance. The rest is a great bonus for them. By the time we left last year, I'm fully aware that neither Chase nor I were sober enough to remember anything about the party. Foreman had a great time. House, was House… you can't expect anything else. I think you should just sit back now. Everything's planned. Let it run. The last thing you need is to be stressed at Christmas."
Cuddy listened intently realising Cameron was right, she expressed her thoughts out loud.
"You're right. One hundred percent." She sighed.
"Do you have your dress yet?" The perfectly innocent, polite question was immediately regretted by the immunologist, as it was met by a look of utter horror and dismay in the eyes of the dean of medicine.
"Oh God." Said Cuddy through gritted teeth. She looked utterly deflated "I can't believe it. Shoot me. Right now."
Cameron raised her eyebrows at Cuddy, and smiled a little. Cuddy closed her eyes and said:
"Bad joke."
"Do you…" Cameron wasn't sure how to phrase this "I'll help you look. I already got my dress, but…" she trailed off for a moment, before hurriedly adding, noticing the surprise in Cuddys eyes, "It doesn't matter, I guess you have other people to go shopping with."
Cameron picked at her salad and didn't make eye contact. How embarrassing, it was probably now blatantly obvious that she didn't have any girlfriends of her own to go shopping with, so she had jumped at the opportunity, and offered a teenage like idea of a shopping trip. To her boss. Her completely in control, successful, hardworking boss. This was Cuddy she was eating with, not Miranda Sears from oncology. She hated situations like this, situations where no one will talk for-
"No!" Cuddys voice interrupted Cameron's train of thought "I don't have anyone else to go with. It would be appreciated."
"Oh. Sure, any time." Cameron returned to being herself. Cuddy whipped out her palm pilot from her Prada purse before she realised what she was doing. She didn't even bother turning it on, just dropped it back into her purse with a resigned sigh:
"So, are you busy tomorrow?"
"Nope, tomorrow's good, but I'm going for drinks with Foreman and Chase tonight, so don't expect me before noon" both women laughed at this before Cameron continued "so maybe, I'll drop by your place. You live on Chestnut Avenue, right?"
"Yeah, 3600, you need directions?"
"No, it's fine; I went to a patients place just a couple of blocks away with House once. He told me."
"Right." Smiled Cuddy with an eye roll.
The two carried on chatting comfortably for the next few minutes until the handle of a cane cut through the air and loudly hit the table just inches away from Cameron's tray. The sound visibly startled the small brunette, as she jumped and looked up at House. The look she gave him was not anger, but a kind of amused smile with raised eyebrows.
"House?"
He looked over at Cuddy. Her reaction to the noise had been the same as Cameron's but now she was just sitting with her eyes close, obviously taking three deep breaths and counting backwards from ten. When she opened her eyes and looked at House with an exasperated look on her face, she was met by a cheeky grin. He was pleased that he had interrupted a perfectly pleasant lunch. He spoke to his boss then:
"No one steals my Cameron." He prodded said Cameron with the end of his cane "shift". She did as she was told until she had moved around to the back wall of the booth she and Cuddy had chosen. She was now trapped between the two, who were sitting opposite one another. Sure enough, Cuddy had to start an argument:
"Your Cameron? I hardly think so."
"She declared her love for you too?" House said with a mock confused look on his face.
"House!" Cameron was seriously embarrassed now, and her eyes started scanning the cafeteria for Wilson. Where is an oncologist when you need one?
"Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it with her" He said, winking at his protégé as he reached over and snatched up some beetroot with his fork.
Cameron just shook her head and smiled over at House. If Wilson hadn't have come over at that precise moment then Cuddy would have once again felt like an intruder into the situation.
"Ah, sorry. You don't mind if we?" Wilson trailed off, his polite manner the complete polar opposite to the arrogant confidence of his best friend.
"No, no, it's fine" Cameron started to reassure Wilson as he pulled up a chair so he could sit facing opposite to the immunologist.
However, despite the quiet manner of Cameron and Wilson, no such behaviour was about to rub off on Cuddy and House. Therefore, the stilted conversation half of the party had intended on conducting was out of the question. In his typically sarcastic and abrasive manner, it was House who first initiated conversation, but it was more like shooting a metaphorical bullet, directed squarely at the dean of medicine.
"You know, there's a rumour down in haematology that your real name is Lionel Cuddy. Don't worry, I defend you. But there are pictures and I myself am starting to have doubts."
"Cute." Cuddy said sarcastically, before saying in a sickly sweet polite manner "But remember House, it's me who signs your pay checks. And I'm pretty sure you can't afford to keep a bike and a corvette on the road if I lower your pay."
"Ah but, what would you do when we go out on our dates? What then?" He pretended to be genuine concerned and to be considering his own question. Then he pointed at Cuddy with a face which said 'aha!' "I get it! Horseback! THAT'S your thing!"
Cuddy took this remarkably well. Usually, she would have argued back, but she wasn't going to feed his childish manner by attempting to retaliate. So, much to Cameron and Wilson's relief, she just rolled her eyes. To the quiet personalities at the table, Cuddy's acceptance was an action of self control. However, to House, it was simply the evidence that she had lost the battle.