Author's Note (Part One): First off, thanks for all the reviews, reads and alerts. You guys make my day when I get those little notices in my inbox. Happiness! Okay, I didn't update twice; I almost didn't update once. I've been kinda under the weather lately and haven't felt up to writing. But I got so excited about the airing of tonight's episode that I had to finish and post before it aired. So, here it is! I hope you enjoy it! Characters belong to Shore, lyrics belong to Van and the Devils and Rangers belong to... their fans.

Here Comes the Night

My girl with another guy,

His arm around her like it used to be with me,

Oh-oo it makes me want to die.

"I didn't know you liked hockey," Wilson said, descending the Rock's stairs to their seats.

"Yeah. Love it," House replied dispassionately, limping his way slowly down. "How much farther to these seats? With the rate we're going I might not have enough Vicodin to last the game."

Wilson glanced at their tickets, "Not much farther. House, how much did you pay for these seats?"

"I don't remember. 500 bucks."

"500? You paid 500 for something that wasn't a controlled or illegal substance?" He stopped and nodded to the row to the left of him. "This is us."

"I told you I like the sport," he said, motioning for Wilson to sit down first.

"How come you always get the aisle seat and I'm always stuck next to some stranger who smells like stale beer?" Wilson whispered as he and House took their seats.

"I'm taller. And I'm a cripple."

"Excuses, excuses," Wilson mumbled as House popped two Vicodin.

"Hey, go get me two chili dogs and one of those big beers," House said, retrieving a rumpled five-dollar bill from his pocket.

Wilson frowned, "Why don't you go get it yourself?

"Uh, hello," House said as if it were obvious."Stairs. Gimp."

"Fine," Wilson said, standing and taking the money from his friend. After climbed over House he looked at the crinkled bill and sighed, "This is five dollars."

"Yeah, I know. And?"

"And the stuff you want me to get is going to probably cost over twenty."

"Probably."

"Well?" Wilson said after waiting for House to give him more money. "Aren't you going to give me more money?"

House looked at him, confused, "You do know who I am right? I never pay for anything."

"Then why give me five dollars?"

"I thought I would be nice and give you a tip," House shrugged.

Wilson rolled his eyes and gave House back his bill, "Here. I don't want it. I'll be right back."

Wilson continued to make his way up the steps and House smirked. After glancing back to make sure that Wilson had left the arena, House rumbled around in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small set of binoculars.

Bringing them to his face, he hunched down in his chair and started to scan the crowd in front him. He knew that their seats were somewhere nearby and wished he had written them down when he had the chance. House had bought tickets in section 18 after he found out, with some bribery, that Lucas had inherited section 19 tickets from a client. House remembered that the seats were close to the ice, but couldn't remember exactly how close. When a quick glance at the section didn't work, House decided to look more carefully, slowly scanning the seats for Cuddy and her date.

"Something tells me those aren't for watching the game," Wilson said, appearing out of nowhere carrying two monstrous beers and a bag full of food. He held out one beer for House to take.

House lowered the binoculars and took the glass. "What makes you think that?" he asked as Wilson struggled past him for a second time that evening.

"Well, the fact that the game hasn't started was my first hint," Wilson said, taking his seat.

"You caught me. I'm checking out chicks. This way I can stare at their boobs and their boyfriends won't get mad," he said, taking the bag of food from Wilson and ferreting out his two dogs.

"Mine are the ones with cheese," Wilson said, watching as House pulled open the wrapper of one to reveal a cheddar-chili-covered dog.

"I like cheese," House said, opening his mouth for a bite.

"Uh-uh-uh," Wilson scolded, snatching the dog from House. "I'll take that."

"I wasn't really going to eat it," House said, rolling his eyes and pulling out another dog.

"Yeah, right," Wilson said taking a bite as House found one of his and put the paper bag on the ground. "Seriously, what's the spy gear for?"

"For the game. I was just passing time until the puck drops," House said, eating his dog and looking throughout the binoculars again.

"No, you're up to something," Wilson said, finishing his dog and taking a swig of beer. "What are you up to? Do I even want to know?"

House continued his search, "You don't want to know."

Wilson grabbed his next dog from the bag on the floor, "House, please tell me you didn't drag me here to do something stupid and embarrass me."

"When have I ever embarrassed you?"

"Do I really have to answer that?"

"No." House grinned, "Bingo." He had found Cuddy and the PI. The were about six rows in front of them in the adjacent section, the third from the glass. Before House had a second to discern anything else from the situation, Wilson grabbed the binoculars from him. "Hey!"

"Let's see who you're looking at," Wilson said, fighting House's attempts to get the binoculars back while holding the rest of his chili dog in his mouth and trying to find the exact spot where House's view had been focused.

"It's not nice to take other people's things," House said, grabbing at the binoculars, but still thwarted by Wilson.

"No, it's not. You should remember that the next time you come to my apartment and steal my food," he replied, words muffled by the hot dog.

"Fine. Have it your way," House pouted. As Wilson continued his search and ate his dog, House stopped fighting, grabbed the bag of food off the floor and began eating the fries inside it.

"Those are my fries," Wilson frowned without glancing in House's direction.

"Not any more. Now they're my fries. My tasty, tasty fries." House took several fries and shoved them in his mouth, making sure to make a lot of noise as he ate them.

"You love hockey, huh?" Wilson asked as he found Cuddy and Lucas.

"Yep," House said, still shoveling fries in his mouth.

Wilson handed back the binoculars. "Then I suppose it's just coincidence that Cuddy is here on a date with Lucas."

"What? Cuddy's here? No way!" House said dramatically.

"Didn't we have a conversation about meddling in Cuddy's affairs? Didn't we say it was a bad thing?"

"Did we? I can't remember," House said, faking amnesia.

"I can't believe you dragged me with you to spy on Cuddy!"

"Really? We've known each other this long and you still didn't expect this?"

"I thought you'd think about it, but I didn't think you'd actually go through with it, seeing as we had just agreed that it was better that you not stalk her any more."

"I'm not stalking her."

"No, of course not. You're just following her around, watching her secretly and doing anything you can to take out the competition so you can have her all to yourself."

"When you say it that way, you make it sound like a bad thing."

"Do you really think that driving Cuddy to the brink of killing you is a good thing? Then, by all means, continue down the path you're on."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're no fun?"

"Let's just sit here and watch the game. Do you think you can do that?"

"Sure," House smiled.

"Why does that smile make me nervous?"

"Probably because you're being paranoid."

"House."

"Fine. I swear, from this moment, I won't do anything to ruin Cuddy's date with Lucas. I'll just sit here in my seat and spy on them quietly like a good stalker." Wilson narrowed his eyes appraisingly. "Scout's honor." He held up two fingers.

"That's the peace sign, but it's good enough. Could it be that you're actually going to act like grown-up for once in your life?"

"Careful. I'm getting the urge to stomp my feet and hold my breath."

Wilson laughed, "Fair enough. I'll shut up."

"Let's watch the game," House said, slouching in his chair, putting the binoculars to his face and focusing in on Lucas and Cuddy.

Wilson sighed heavily, but didn't say anything as he silently turned his attention to the ice.

The two periods of the game passed without incident-- Wilson cheering with the crowd, House mesmerized by the interaction between Lucas and Cuddy. They both seemed to be enjoying the game, screaming support for the Devils, but in no way that would suggest that they were more than just friends. In fact, at his count, Lucas had tried four times for some sort of physical contact, but had yet to succeed as Cuddy had tried her hardest to ignore all of his attempts.

"Wow. Did you see that shot?" Wilson asked, amazed, as he sat back down in his seat, having risen to root Patrik Elias to his second goal of the night.

"No," House said, lowering the binoculars, "But I did see Cuddy subtly lean away from Lucas as he tried to give her a congratulatory hug.

"Have you seen any of the game or have you been creepily staring at Cuddy all night?"

"The game's boring," House said flatly, garnering some dirty looks from nearby eavesdropping fans.

"You might want to keep your opinion to yourself or at least lower your voice so we don't get mobbed."

"It's not my fault that watching Cuddy continually spurn Lucas' advances is more interesting than some guy shooting a puck."

"If you tried to pay attention, you'd probably like it. There's plenty of violence, as there is in all of your favorite sports--"

"There's no violence in beach volleyball--"

"No, but there are breasts. Violence or breasts, that's all you require from a sporting event."

"It's why I don't like tennis or golf," House smirked, turning his gaze to the ice. "There's no one even out there."

"Of course not, the second period just ended."

"Second period, you say?" House asked, grinning widely.

"Yeeeees," Wilson replied suspiciously. "Why are you so happy?"

"No reason. Just glad it's intermission."

"House, you said you wouldn't do anything. Why do I have the feeling you did something?"

"Correction, I said I wouldn't do anything from that point forward. I didn't say anything about what I might have done previously."

"House--"

"Shhh, just watch the scoreboard. Should be any moment now." He smiled as Wilson looked from House to the jumbotron comically, awaiting the worst.

"Thanks," Cuddy said as Lucas sat back down, handing her a bottle of water. She opened it and took a sip to help fill the somewhat awkward silence.

"That was a mind-blowing shot," Lucas said, staring at her intently.

Cuddy nodded, "It was. Definitely."

"I'm just glad we're beating the Rangers. Last time we played them we sucked."

"I know. No one seemed to be able to do anything. Even Brodeur was having problems," she said taking another drink.

Lucas smiled, moony. "I know I've said it before, but it's just so cool that you're into hockey. There aren't a lot of attractive, intelligent, single women out there-- let alone ones that like hockey."

"I'm sure there are plenty," she said screwing the cap back on her water.

"Nope, you're the first one I've ever met. The kind of girl to marry and take home to meet mother... Or at least, I would if my mother weren't dead... But you get the picture. It's like you're the perfect woman... Or at least my perfect woman."

"That's very sweet," Cuddy said, a little uncomfortable.

"I hope I'm not freaking you out or anything--"

"Oh, look!" she interrupted, pointing to the jumbotron. "Someone's getting proposed to." Little wedding bells ran around the two long, thin banner-like parts of the scoreboard.

'You're the woman of my dreams' the top center LED screen read. 'I love you so much.'

"Aww," Cuddy said, obviously enchanted.

"That's really swe—" but the words died on the PI's tongue as the center message changed to read 'Will you marry me, Lisa Cuddy?'

The moonstruck look on Cuddy's face was quickly replaced with one of horror as she saw herself staring back at her from the bottom, large screen. She didn't notice how shocked Lucas was until she turned toward him, with a stiff smile, and saw the look of terror on his face as well.

"Lisa, you have to believe me," Lucas managed to whisper to her without moving his lips, mouth frozen in a smile, "I did not do this. I swear."

"Ok, I believe you. But if you didn't do it, what's the alternative?" she whispered back as the crowd and the announcer began demanding an answer.

"I have no idea, but I swear it wasn't me. You believe me don't you?" he begged under his breath.

Cuddy stared at him for a moment and slightly nodded her head, forgetting that her face was still being broadcast to the entire arena. Suddenly, the crowd erupted in cheers, all assuming that Cuddy's nod was her way of accepting the proposal.

"Oh my god," Wilson said, almost speechless. House grinned widely as they saw Cuddy and Lucas' horrified faces fill the screen on the scoreboard. "I can't believe that you... 500 for seats and now... How much did this little stunt cost you?"

"Me? Nothing," House said, still transfixed as he watched Cuddy and Lucas stare and mumble at each other.

Wilson looked at him, confused, "Are you saying that you got someone to do it for free?"

"Of course not! It cost over 3,000. It's just that I didn't pay for it."

Wilson looked just as scared as Cuddy and Lucas as he reached for his wallet in his back pocket, "I can't believe you! We talked--"

"Calm down. You didn't pay for it either. Gladys did."

"Gladys? You swindled money from a little old lady?"

"No, she gave it to me. She was happy to once she found out what the screen was going to say."

"Let me guess," Wilson said frowning, "You didn't tell her that the one proposing wasn't you."

"It never came up."

"Taking an elderly woman's money by lying to her--"

"Stop being such a downer and watch the show."

Wilson shook his head and faced the scoreboard where he saw Cuddy nod, "Did she just accept his proposal?" The crowd roared approval.

"No. She nodded, but they're obviously talking about something else under their breath. See his lips moved a little," House pointed out. Audience members began chanting for a kiss.

"Well, everyone seems to be happy about something," Wilson replied as the call for a smooch grew louder.

"No way she kisses him," House replied confidently as his comment was drowned by a thousands of Rangers and Devils fans calling for a lip-lock.

House's heart dropped into his intestines as he saw Lucas Douglas lean over to give Lisa Cuddy a quick kiss. He watched Cuddy drape her arms behind Lucas' head as he put his around her, turning what was at first a quick peck on the lips into passionate kiss. The crowd cheered, Wilson's mouth fell open and House collapsed against the back of his chair wondering how his plan could have turned out so badly.

The scoreboard was filled once more with game stats and video of the players on the ice as the third period started. House turned his binoculars toward the pair again, but, much to his dismay, he found them sitting closer, laughing intimately.

"This is your fault,"Wilson said, eyes fixed on the game. "If you had just listened to my advice then all of this could have been avoided."

House stopped staring at Cuddy and Lucas and put the binoculars back in his jacket pocket. "Do you really think that now is the time for lectures?"

"I said you'd push them together and you did. Now they're all close and cuddly and before--"

"Yes, you're right!" House said, angrily. "I should have taken your sage advice. But I didn't and now the woman I... you know... is making out with another guy. You were right, you were right, you were right. Now can you just drop it? Believe me seeing them suck each other's faces is punishment enough. I don't need your scolding to feel like shit. Let's just watch the damn game."

Wilson nodded, "Let's watch the game."

House and Wilson spent the remainder of the evening in silence watching the Devils beat the Rangers-- an outcome that made every fan in the audience happy with the exception of one.

Author's Note (Part Two): I hope you liked it! Next time, House talks to the PI, Wilson talks to Cuddy.. and the return of Gladys. Happy Episode Four!