There was neither hide nor hair of Nigel for two weeks and everyone started to let their guard down, especially Cuddy. She had known Nigel some time ago and hoped he would see reason. Still, it gave her pause to think he would come back after all these years anyway and pursue her. She remembered their conversation from the day of the Charity Event. It had started out as a simple catch up visit (he had even brought flowers), but turned quickly.
"I've never stopped thinking about you, Lisa."
Cuddy had been silent, unsure of what to say. He had just told her of his most recent relationship gone bad. He seemed heartbroken, so she had listened, but this was not the expected follow-up.
"I want you to come back to me." He pleaded.
"What brought this on?"
"I haven't been married again, no relationship has worked out for me since us. Rhonda just left me." There was an awkward pause. He looked at her hands, "No ring."
"I have moved on." She had told him, firmly.
"Is there someone else?"
"That doesn't matter, I'm not going to be with you either way."
That's when he had become angry, "You're just going to dismiss me like that, not even give me a chance?"
"Nigel," Cuddy began, staying calm, "You just showed up out of the blue after so many years-"
"And I don't get the time of day from Madam Queen."
Cuddy had become angry then, "Do not put this on me, you can't just show up out of nowhere and expect me to drop everything."
It had ended sorely. He had shown up drunk to the charity ball but thankfully it didn't have the chance to get ugly. She figured he must have sobered up and rethought his position the next day.
Things seemed back to normal. Normal until her assistant told her she had someone who wanted to talk to her and didn't have an appointment. She walked into her office to find Nigel. Sighing, she approached him sitting at one of the chairs that faced her desk.
"Before you kick me out, Lisa, I just came here to apologize." He said, urgently.
She got behind her desk, still reserving judgment, and allowed him to continue.
"It's just that I drove all the way and could only think of you." He began.
Cuddy stiffened.
"No one has ever made me feel the way you did and I got it into my head that…" He sighed, "Well, it doesn't matter now. I just wanted to come here and make sure there no hard feelings."
Something wasn't quite right, but Cuddy couldn't put her finger on it, "There are none." She assured him, "I do have to get back to work though." Now, she just wanted to get him out of there, especially if he truly meant them to end on good terms. Somehow, she wasn't quite comfortable with turning her back on him and allowed him to get up and walk toward the door in front of her. When they got about half way, he turned on her quickly. His large hand was at her throat before she could utter a noise. Her hand came up to wrestle his arm away and he turned them around and put her back against the wall.
His surprising attack had sucked all the breath from Cuddy's lungs, but when she filled them again to scream, his large hand covered her mouth. With his other hand, he exposed a Glock 19 from his jacket pocket. She saw it and looked back at him with wide blue eyes.
"I drove sixteen hours to get here and all I could think of was you and you can't give me the time of day. I tried romance but you blew me off." His words grew harsher as he hissed them into her face. Still, it was not loud enough for anyone on the outside to be concerned.
"Sixteen hours and you can't even have a cup of coffee with me." His teeth were gritted. He removed his hand from her mouth and motioned with the gun barrel against his lips, "Shhhh."
"Nigel, it isn't like that, I am seeing someone." She generally hated to use this excuse that men almost always backed off for because they respected another man's girlfriend rather than her desire to simply not be with him, but when a gun was introduced, she wasn't opposed to compromising her principals a little.
"A cripple." Nigel growled, "You'd rather be with a cripple."
Cuddy looked confused.
"Didn't think I knew, did you? I saw you over there with him, kissing him."
She suddenly realized that Nigel must have been spying on she and House and her stomach turned unpleasantly, "Nigel, please just leave." It was all she could think of.
"I am leaving, but we're leaving together."
This left her speechless.
House checked his watch again. Cuddy was going on fifteen minutes late for their planned lunch together. He hated planned lunches since they had to be professional while in the confines of the cafeteria and the rest of the hospital, but he'd suffer through wanting to constantly touch or kiss Cuddy if it kept her from griping that they never spent any time together except in bed.
He stood, flipping his cane around and nearly hitting a doctor with a plate full of burger and fries. The other doctor had to dodge and then catch his tray before it spilled all over the floor. With a curse back at House, he made his way to a table.
House limped out of the cafeteria and toward Cuddy's office.