They put the 'pretty' in 'pretty damn weird', too, and he was just as glad it was time for General Hospital so he had a good reason to leave. He'd never admit it to anybody but himself, but this whole crazy pregnant alien situation gave him a raging case of the heebie-jeebies.
"Dr. House!" Luthor called from behind him.
There was way too much corridor left before the elevator for Greg to have any hope of getting away, so he stopped and turned around. Luthor caught up with him in no time at all, he noted bitterly. Armed-and-Lethal Babe came along, a lovely looming presence five feet behind her boss's left shoulder-blade.
"You're just leaving?" Luthor stopped and took a breath, and continued in a calmer voice. "That's quite a bombshell to drop, and then just leave."
"Diagnosis is made, and I have other things that demand my attention. Important things." He'd been wondering for weeks now whether Jason would end up with Carly or Sonny. "My team is there. And Dr. Wilson has delivered more babies than any other oncologist in New Jersey. Always getting trapped in elevators with pregnant women. It's like a fetish for him." Go away go away go away, he thought. House hated how that almost never worked. He was missing his damn soap.
"Mercy," Luthor said, confusingly. He put a hand out without looking back, and his bodyguard handed him a slip of paper. He gave it to House.
It was a check for twenty million dollars, made out to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. The memo field said 'donation'. It was signed and looked legitimate.
"You have twenty million in checking?" House blurted.
Luthor stared up at him with an unnervingly calm gray-blue gaze. It was as if handling obscene amounts of money had restored his equilibrium. "Fifty million more if Clark survives all of this, if he gets better. And another thirty million if the baby does. That would more than replace Vogler's money, and should do quite a bit to restore your credibility with the Board." Luthor looked House up and down and smirked. "Of course, it won't solve your numerous personality defects."
"Oh, yeah? Well, you hit like a girl." House mentally winced the moment the weak comeback was out of his mouth.
Luthor and his bodyguard both smiled at that one, genuinely amused. House watched them go back to Kent's door. Then he turned and hobbled away.
All through GH, the check was burning a hole in his pocket. Stupid billionaire, ruining his enjoyment of his soap opera... As soon as the ending credits rolled, he made his way up to Cuddy's office, ready to put a triumphant face on things.
"She's not here!" lisped the latest boy-toy, popping out from behind a filing cabinet.
"I can see that," House grumbled, letting her office door close behind him. "Where is she?"
"On vacation. Vegas, I think. I'll take that!" Secretary Boy swooped in and plucked the check from House's hand. "Very nice!" he exclaimed.
Cuddy was gone? "She didn't tell me she was going on vacation," he mused.
"Could it be because, oh yes! You're not the boss of her! It's the other way around! See?"
Well, it was obvious why this was the one she kept. House ignored the assistant's antics and headed back down to Diagnostics.
"I'll see this gets deposited properly!" Tinkerbelle fluted after him.
"You do that," House muttered. Where had Foreman gone for his vacation? If it was Las Vegas, too, then life was beginning to resemble a soap opera even more than usual.