HouseH
NINE
"Where's House?" Cameron asked, pouring herself another cup of coffee.
"He's always late," Foreman replied bluntly.
"Not this late."
"Maybe we should just start coming up with some diagnosis for the patient," Chase suggested.
"There is nothing wrong with the patient," Foreman said, clearly annoyed.
"He's right," Cameron sighed. "House is clearly just looking for something to pass the time and annoy Cuddy with."
"Oh, I have much more to annoy Cuddy with than taking a patient that actually is sick."
They all turned when they heard the familiar voice enter the conference room. House just strode into the room, strangely graceful for a man with a cane.
"A fever of 102 and muscle aches," House said as he took out his pen and began to write the symptoms on the white board.
"House, those symptoms are normal for someone who is coming out of surgery. There is nothing wrong with her."
"They are normal for someone the first day after surgery. It's been three days and there has been no change, so there must be an underlying cause."
"Could be an allergy to something in the hospital," Cameron suggested.
"Go do an allergy test and a good history to see if she's ever had these symptoms before," he stated and waved the three of them away with his cane. Soon after they had left, House went down the hall towards Cuddy's office. He strode into her office and found her sitting on the couch reading a file. She didn't look up when he came in and tensed slightly when he sat down next to her.
"You were two hours late today, House," she said coldly, still not looking up at him.
"I had a late night," he replied simply, causing her to look up finally and glare at him. "Looks like someone is in a bad mood today. I don't even get a good morning kiss?"
"It's the afternoon, House," Cuddy replied, looking back down. She didn't want to look into his eyes anymore; she didn't want him to see how much that kiss had affected her. Just thinking about it again made her cheeks flush and she quickly stood up to walk back over to her desk. Before she could even take a step she felt House grab her wrist and she turned around to see him standing right in front of her. He kissed her lightly and then put his lips against her ear.
"Good morning," he whispered with a smirk before pulling away and leaving her office. Cuddy just stood there, sure that if she tried to move her legs would give out on her.
"It's the afternoon," she said, looking at the door as he closed behind him, wishing she could just hate him like everyone else. But she couldn't; couldn't even pretend to.