Chapter 12: A Surprise Guest

Saturday Morning, October 31st

House and Cuddy slept entangled in her sheets. They had an amazing week. Wilson had come home from work on Monday to find House and Cuddy asleep on his couch. He decided to wake them knowing that Cuddy needed to get home to relieve the nanny. After she left, Wilson suggested to House that it was probably time for him to go back to his own place. House knew he was right, so he moved all of his stuff back to his place but he still managed to find his way to Cuddy's bed at some point ever night that week. The situation worked great for both of them, Cuddy got to spend a few hours with Rachel before she needed to go to sleep and House got some time with his piano. Then at night, they had each other.

They had managed to stay relatively argument free for most of week. They shared their usual banter at work and some sexual teasing at home and on the whole, it was a very good week.

Cuddy untangled her body from House's. It was only 6am but she wanted to get Rachel up and dressed. They were going to do a little afternoon trick-or-treating and then she was driving Rachel to Cuddy's sister's place. Tonight was the Halloween masquerade fundraiser and her sister was taking Rachel for the rest of the weekend. She hadn't mentioned the party again to House but she knew he didn't forget, it was all the hospital could talk about all week. She really wanted him to go but she wasn't going to bring it up again.

House got up around 9 and made his way to the kitchen. Cuddy and Rachel were playing in the living and Rachel was dressed like a Minnie mouse. Of course, that brought an instant response from House. "Wow, torturing her all ready. Doesn't she have the rest of her life to get corrupted by Disney crap?"

"Well, happy Halloween to you too! Is there such a thing as a Halloween scrooge?"

House smirked a little as he poured himself some coffee and headed to the living room. He actually loved the concept of Halloween. A day with very little religious significance, most people didn't realize it stemmed from being the eve of all soul's day, and there was no pressure to get together with family or exchange meaningless gifts. It was a day to put on the mask and pretend to be someone else for a little while. He found most people went with the opposite direction and instead of hiding who they really were they used Halloween to dress as their innermost desires. Women loved to dress like the seductive devils, men as their pimps, little girls as the princesses they always wanted to be, and teenage boys as the monsters they felt they were. Yeah, House thought, Halloween was okay with him.

Cuddy told House about her plans for the day and House just nodded. He had some plans of his own but he wasn't about the share them with Cuddy. When Cuddy told him about being sans Rachel for the evening House piped up "Great, then when the fundraiser is over you can come to my place and give me that long awaited performance."

Cuddy just smiled at him and gave him a seductive "will see" response. She was a little disappointed that he hadn't changed his mind about the fundraiser but she wasn't going to make a big deal over it. House was House, after all. If she dragged him there and he didn't want to be there, he would just make her life more miserable in the end.

8pm – PPTH

Cuddy was rather impressed that she still looked pretty good in her belly dance outfit. Her top was a beaded green and blue that was bordered with dangling coins that made a lot of noise when she moved. Her skirt was layers of blue and green sheer that was bordered on the hips with a belt of coins. She had a neck scarf that matched the skirt that she wore as a shawl over the top to help tone down the outfit a little. She wanted to look good but she didn't want people staring at her bare midriff all night. She accessorized the outfit with heals and dangling earrings made of coins that matched the belt. She hardly ever wore her hair up but she did tonight to let the earrings have their due.

She wasn't sure what people would think of the outfit but when she walked into PPTH's lobby, she felt like every man and woman in the building was staring at her. She was hoping it was because she looked good and not because she had some type of wardrobe malfunction. She looked around the room to see who was wearing what. It was hard to make out since a large portion of the hospital was dressed like ghouls. The resident had decided to do a Michael Jackson tribute by dressing as characters from Thriller. They all looked really good and she was happy that everyone was having a little fun with Halloween themed fundraiser.

She noticed a man from the bar immediately start to approach her and as he got closer Cuddy just sighed. Great, just what I needed tonight. She thought sarcastically. Approaching her was no other than Richard.

Richard was dressed as a 1920's Al Capone type gangster. He was in a black suit, a white hat with a black band, and black and white two-toned dress shoes. He had a fake machine gun slung over his shoulder and was chewing on an unlit cigar.

When he approached Cuddy spoke first "Hi Richard, I didn't know you were still planning on coming. I would have gotten you a free ticket."

"That's okay. It is a fundraiser after all. If you gave free tickets to all your friends you wouldn't make much money would you."

So far so good. He is making it clear that he is just a friend. Still, why is he here?

"So, how have you been?" Cuddy asked

"Well, it has been a strange week without Alex, I have had a lot of free time on my hands. I am heading up to my parents tomorrow morning to pick him up so I thought I would treat myself to at least one night of adult entertainment. Can I get you a drink?"

"Sure, a glass of white wine would be great."

As Richard made his way over the bar Cuddy scanned the crowd looking for back-up. She really didn't want to be alone with Richard. She spotted Cameron and Chase in the corner. She started laughing out loud when she saw them.

Cameron was dressed like an Australian Rugby player and Chase as a surfer. Chase was holding a surf board and was wearing a pair of brightly colored swim trunks. She was a bit impressed with Chase shirtless attire, he was much more toned than she gave him credit for. He completed his outfit with a white strip of sunblock down his nose. Cameron was wearing one of Chase old rugby shirts and had her hair up in a poly tail. She had on a pair of shorts and socks pulled up to her knees. She even had the black bars under her eyes to block the glare. The three of them chatted for a while about the party. After a good ten minutes or so Richard returned with her wine.

"Sorry it took so long. A was chatting with some lonely guy at the bar. He looked like he needed a friend so I didn't want to just walk away." Cuddy briefly thought that she was a real idiot for not falling for a guy like Richard. He was really a true gentleman.

Cuddy introduced Richard as her friend and the four of them chatted for a while. Then Cuddy excused herself to socialize with other guests. She was really happy that Richard continued to talk with Cameron and Chase. She didn't want to be entertaining him all night long.

Cuddy felt a lot of eyes on her as she made her way around the room. Maybe the belly dancer outfit was a little too much, but she was proud of her body and she worked hard to have that body so she liked to show it off now and again. Of course, some of the men were really starting to give her the creeps with their blatant stares. In particular there was one guy dressed as a ghoul or zombie or something that was just downing drinks and staring at her. Cuddy figured it was probably that lonely guy that Richard was talking too. Sure enough, a few moments later when she looked back, Richard was at the bar chatting with this guy.

Richard was trying not to monopolize Cuddy. He wanted her to feel comfortable with him again. He noticed that Cuddy was here by herself and he was hoping to be the one to go home with her. He wasn't giving up on her yet. After the conversation with Cuddy's friends Alison and Robert had stalled, he quietly excused himself and made his way to the bar.

"So, How did it go with the hot belly dancer?" The guy at the bar asked.

"Oh, she is just a friend." Richard answered. He wasn't about to give this stranger his life story.

"Are you kidding me? A hot piece of ass like that. Do you have any friends you are willing to introduce me too." The man said as he ordered yet another drink.

Richard was getting annoyed with this guy. He made a derogatory comment about Lisa's body the last time he was at the bar. He decided to put the guy in his place.

"She not, as you say, a 'hot piece of ass'. She is actually the most beautiful, smart, funny, amazing women that I think I have ever met. I'd appreciate it if you would watch what you say about her around me." Richard was done being nice. He walked away from the man to go find Cuddy who had just looked over in his direction.

Richard made his way across the lobby to Cuddy's side. Cuddy smiled and said "Is that creepy guy your new friend. He keeps staring at me and he is making me really uncomfortable."

"Oh, he is definitely not my friend, or a nice guy from what I gather. He keeps downing bourbons and he keeps talking to me about you. Do you know who he is?"

A small smile started creeping up on her lips as she lifted her eyes to meet the strangers for the first time that night. He was dressed in costume with a tattered beat-up shirt with many holes in it. He wore a black cape with a hood over his top to give him a dark and sinister appearance but Cuddy figured the cape was more to hide his identity than anything else. He had a skeleton type mask on so his face was completely hidden from view except for his eyes. She couldn't see his eyes from where she was standing but she could sense their piercing blue stare.

Cuddy instantly felt her mood elevated just be his mere presence. Then she got a little nervous as she realized that House knew exactly who Richard was but poor Richard was probably being lead around like House's puppet. She needed to find away to keep them apart for the rest of the night. Thankfully she spotted Foreman and Wilson chatting with some of the nurses in the corner of the room. She quickly led Richard in that direction.

Foreman was dressed like the star of the evening, Michael Jackson himself. Complete with the one glove studded in silver. Cuddy could barely contain her laughter. Wilson was dressed as a pirate and was having fun showing off his "hook" to the nurses. She could tell Wilson had already had one to many as he was slurring and talking at a very loud volume. Cuddy introduced Richard to them and was about to ditch him with Foreman and Wilson when all of a sudden Richard grabbed his stomach and said he didn't feel well and ran out of the room.

Foreman and Wilson looked a concerned for her friend but Cuddy just made eye contact with the man and the bar and started storming her way towards him.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Cuddy yelled as she poked him in the shoulder.

"I was just proving a point." House said

"And what possible point could you prove by spiking an innocent mans drink with god knows what?" Cuddy was angry but not as angry as she tried to sound.

"Oh, its God now. I can't really get any higher than that can I"

"I'm serious, House. What did you do to him? And why did you bother coming if you were just going to sit at the bar and get plastered"

"Relax Cuddy, he is going to be fine. One or two trips to the bathroom and he be ready to hit on you again in an hour or two."

"He wasn't hitting in me. He came because he's a friend" Cuddy defended.

House just tilted his head and looked at her with an expression that said 'please don't tell me you are THAT naïve'.

Cuddy smirked a little at his expression and conceded a little "Fine, maybe he was hitting in me, but that is still no excuse for you to drug him!"

"I didn't like the way he was looking at my woman, okay!" There was an underlying rage in House's voice.

Cuddy loved hearing those words escape House's lips and it was really hard to stay even pretend mad at him. She stepped in front of House so that her legs were between his while he sat on the stool. House's face was about even with her breasts and he took a moment to enjoy the sight before him.

"Your woman, huh. I kind of like the sound of that. Of course, you could have defended you woman just fine by telling her you were coming and then actually standing with her, thus preventing anyone from hitting on her."

"Cuddy, in that outfit, I don't think my presence is enough to keep the entire male population in this room from staring, fantasizing, and ultimately hitting on you."

Cuddy then moved even closer to House and leaned into his ear whispering "well, maybe we should give some sort of a sign to let people know that your woman is spoken for."

House couldn't help himself from smiling. He wanted all night to taste her lips and now she was granting him an invitation in front of the entire room. He had no problem staking his claim. He slipped his mask to the top of his head as he placed his arms on her bare midriff and brought her mouth down to his. He kissed her passionately and hard, he kissed her in such a way that left no doubt that she was his woman and everyone else should back the "F" off.

If they weren't so enthralled with each other they would have noticed that just about every person in the room was staring at them. Chase's jaw almost hit the floor. Outside of Wilson, no one in the room knew who this mystery man was that the Dean of Medicine had started making out with.

As soon as the kiss concluded House immediately pulled his mask back down. He liked the idea of the mystery man making out with Cuddy. This party needed something like that to liven it up a bit.

After the kiss Cuddy grinned at House and then grabbed her wine and headed back into the crowd. She thought people were staring at her before! She was grinning a bit until she saw Richard coming out of the men's room. At least he hadn't witnessed the kiss. She walked up to him and asked how he was feeling.

He thought he had just eaten something that didn't agree with him. Cuddy agreed with that idea, she didn't like lying to him but it wasn't like she could admit to him that her boyfriend spiked his drink with prescription strength laxative.

"Maybe you should head home" she suggested. "We could meet in the park one day next week so Alex and Rachel can play." She didn't want to give Richard the wrong idea but she thought if she promised another interaction soon that he would be more willing to leave. Thankfully he took the bait.

"yeah, that is probably a good idea. Excuse me" he said as he ran into the bathroom for round two.

Cuddy then made her way over to Chase and Cameron. She acted as if it wasn't a big deal that she just made out with some strange guy at the bar. Chase and Cameron just looked at her and weren't quite sure what to say. Finally, Cameron broke the awkward situation by asking about Richard. Cuddy explained that he wasn't feeling well and then they chatted about hospital business for a few minutes before Cameron finally got the nerve to ask "So, who is the man at the bar?"

Wow, this was going to be interesting. Cuddy looked over at House to get a silent confirmation about outing his identity. House just flipped up his mask as he took another swig. Cuddy looked back at Cameron and said "That, is my boyfriend"

Chase and Cameron casually looked over at the man who exited the bar stool with his mask in top of his head and started limping over towards them. The expression on their faces was priceless.

A/N: More to come from the party but let me know what you think so far!