"Puppet Master"
Chapter Fourteen – "Stretching at Intermission"
By: Purpleu
Wilson left the conference room and made his way down the hall; he shook his head as he thought about the consequences of Hunter's actions. The hospital was already on shaky financial ground; the last thing they needed was to be paying out huge fines and having the state medical board, the Attorney General and anyone else who had jurisdiction in the area poking around. Who knows how many problems Cuddy dealt with by sticking them in the back of the closet?
This all couldn't have hit at a worse time, not just for the hospital, but for House. Thank God he had Lydia; but trying to lay the foundation of a relationship with all this nonsense going on, would be a nightmare for anyone never mind the fact that it was House trying to do it. Even for himself, this was lousy turn of events; Wilson was anxious to make sure things went well between him and Annie. He was looking forward to dinner on Monday and glad that Lydia had suggested they make it a double date; Annie would be relaxed and House could be a lot of fun if he allowed himself to just enjoy the moment. Lydia was certainly doing quite a bit to help in that area; Wilson just hoped she had the patience to deal with House when he was being an ass. As he pushed the button to call for the elevator Wilson let out a long sigh….
Lydia was pushing the chairs in around the conference table, gathering up the random pens scattered about and straightening things in general; what she was really doing was killing time until she was ready to talk to House. She hid it well from the others as she was saying goodbye, but she was definitely upset; upset with House for some of the things he said and upset with herself for "yelling" at him in front of his colleagues and his patient's family. Thank God, she did it in German so no one understood her. But what she had said to him was the truth: he was just keeping them all at arms' length rather than let them know he did this nice thing for someone and incurred Hunter's wrath in the process. Whether he was afraid to be judged weak because of what he did or who he did it for, she wasn't sure. Lydia wandered over to the coffee machine, having spied the box of Munchkins; she peeked into the box, pulled out a jelly-filled Munchkin and was just about to pop it into her mouth when House spoke.
"Hey, I told everyone before; those are for the pigeons that grace the ledges of the building. How else is a cripple supposed to get inside without getting pooped on?" Lydia smiled and batted her eyelashes in an exaggerated manner.
"I'm sorry, Dr. House; I didn't get the memo on that subject," she said and proceeded to pop the treat into her mouth. Well, at least the lines of communication were open, House thought.
"So, you're still talking to me? Or is that just because I'm offering the gift of food?" Lydia held her hand up indicating House should wait while she finished chewing the food in her mouth.
"The question should be, are you still talking to me?" she asked once she had swallowed.
"Why wouldn't…"House started to say.
"Because I was wrong to yell at you in front of everyone like that. Those are people whom you have to deal with on a professional level and I could have embarrassed you; at least they couldn't understand what I was saying," Lydia said, rolling her eyes in disgust at herself.
"That's the thing," House said very seriously. "No one understood a single word you said; that and how quietly you yelled made it really cool." He reached out and took her hand.
"It's an old trick that I learned from a nanny that worked for one of the other families I knew; speak very quietly within the earshot of one child. Their natural curiosity will cause them to settle down so that they can hear what you are saying. Then as the other children notice that their friend is quiet and listening to you, they will wonder what they are missing out on and they will become quiet. Eventually, you will have a silent room."
"I'm impressed; the only problem with it, is once the kids figure out the scam, all bets are off. Does it work on your own kids?"
"I've only needed to use it a few times," Lydia said. "Ben and Elise are very well-behaved children. I'm very firm with them as far as certain things are concerned; but I'm not a hard nose. I give into things once in a while, but I think every parent does that." She looked at House questioningly. "I've never shown you their pictures, have I?"
"Nope; I've met your son, but I have no idea what your daughter looks like."
"You met Ben a while ago; would you be able to pull him out in a line up?" House thought for a second.
"Not if my life depended on it." Lydia laughed.
"I didn't think so. I have pictures in my wallet," she said squeezing House's hand. They walked hand-in-hand back into House's office; he sat down on the chaise lounge in the corner, she sat next to him. Lydia reached for her messenger bag which held a small pocketbook. She took out her wallet and removed two pictures that she handed to House. The first one was of a young boy with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes; he was a good looking kid but bore only a slight resemblance to Lydia. The thing was he didn't give the impression of being related to Annie, either; the kid's father was her brother after all. No matter who he took after, the child looking back at House with a missing tooth and a gleam in his eyes looked like he was fun. He switched the pictures and was instantly taken aback; there, was a younger version of Lydia in front of him, from the auburn-reddish hair to the beautiful hazel eyes to the smile that even at this age, looked just like her mother's. House had to do a double take.
"Wow, there's no denying whose kid she is," he said obviously tickled at the resemblance.
"We get comments all of the time. One woman called her my 'mini-me'," Lydia said laughing at the memory. House smiled as he watched her face light up as she spoke about her daughter; he looked again at the picture of her son.
"He looks like the type of kid who knows how to kick butt," House commented. "He's solidly built for…what is he six?"
"Seven." House nodded as he handed the pictures back to Lydia. "Didn't you say he plays sports?"
"They both do; Elise and Ben play soccer and Ben just started lacrosse this past spring." She put the pictures back in her wallet and stood up as she put the wallet into her purse and her purse into the messenger bag. "They love to play sports, they love to play piano, they love monster trucks and both are incredibly bright." She hesitated for a moment. "Unlike their mother who can be stupid and moronic, it would seem." House rolled his head and very quickly stood up.
"I wasn't saying you were stupid or moronic; if I thought that, we wouldn't be standing here right now." Lydia had moved away from him and was leaning against the edge of his desk, her bag on her shoulder. House walked over and stood in front of her. "One of the things that has always…turned me on about you, is how intelligent you are; it may sound weird, but I find it sexy."
"But you still seem to have the idea in your head that I don't think enough of myself to go after whatever I want," Lydia said sparks flying from her eyes. "I know I could be a good doctor or a good teacher or whatever; I have a good enough opinion of myself to do anything I want."
"Except make the decision to leave an abusive marriage while there was nothing holding you back." The sparks that were in Lydia's eyes were very quickly replaced by the beginning of tears. She held them back while everyone was in the conference room; there was no need to restrain herself now.
"Don't knock someone's choices unless you've been in the same position." Normally, Lydia would have attempted to reason with House on a subject where they disagreed; but there was no place for logic in this discussion. The emotions for Lydia were too raw.
"Don't you get it?" House asked becoming agitated that she didn't seem to understand what the problem was. "I can't put myself in your shoes; they don't fit. I'm not criticizing your decision to marry the guy; everyone makes mistakes. It's the reason you stayed that I'm trying to figure out. You realized what he was like before your kids came along; why didn't you make the decision to leave then? Why wait until you had two kids that you had to drag into this? And why did you decide to come back here and find me? What made you think that was a good deci…"
"I couldn't make decisions!" Lydia yelled, dropping her head down and bringing her hands up to the side of her head. "My parents made all my decision for me from the time I was born. I've told you about that, but you don't know how bad it was. Even the day my mother died, that morning she instructed me on what to wear for the day; when I came out my bedroom with something different on, she told me that I didn't love or respect her. She said that maybe if she hadn't miscarried those other children, she'd have a child who knew how to take care of her and she wouldn't be dying. That wasn't the first time she had said something like that to me." She walked over to the chaise lounge and sat down. After taking several deep breaths to compose herself, she began to speak again. "You know what it feels like; even if the things they're saying to you aren't true, even if it's nonsense, it hurts and it frightens you." She looked up at House, who was trying to gauge his own reaction to what Lydia said; he felt sympathy, empathy, pity, love…but above all else, he was still confused.
"How the hell did you make it through school with a four-0 if your parents made all the decisions? They sure as hell weren't sitting next to you in the classroom giving you the answers."
"Of course not; that….that was a different world, the classroom. There, I was allowed to make my own decisions; it was encouraged and I was even allowed to make mistakes. I was expected to always come home with 'A's, so I very rarely screwed up. But in all aspects of my life: clothes, food, friends, they controlled everything; Annie was my one bit of rebellion. I felt a connection with her and I didn't care whether they liked it or not. As it turned out, they did like Annie; it was just that they hadn't picked her to be my friend." Lydia dug out her pocketbook and took some tissues from it. She wasn't crying, but there were a few tears coming down her cheeks and she wanted to wipe them away. House had remained standing by his desk; he now moved over to the lounge and sat down next to Lydia. She turned to look at him and managed a slight smile; she was clearly relieved to be getting all of this out.
"Abuse takes on all forms," House said, speaking intently. "Your parents abused you. You're like one of those kids that gets kidnapped and kept away from everyone for years and years; when they get out, they have a hard time functioning and orienting themselves to society." He looked at Lydia. "But you never seemed to have any problem functioning; you were friendly with everyone and you obviously made some hard decisions about Annie. I take it you were her heath care proxy?" House asked.
"And her power of attorney. I had no alternative but to do those things; I had to take care of her. It may not have been hands on care, but I had to make sure her needs were attended to," Lydia said. She hesitated, and then a torrent of words came from her. "Do you know, the first time I went grocery shopping after my mother died and I had no one telling me what to buy, I had a panic attack? I stood in the middle of the store, after going up and down all the isles numerous times and my cart was still empty. I had put things in, I had taken them out. I finally just left the shopping basket, ran out of the store and called Annie. She came and calmed me down; she went into the store and helped to pick out a few things. I was able to go back a few days later by myself. I slowly learned how to make choices about all sorts of things; most importantly I learned that if I took the wrong option, it wasn't a tragedy." Lydia took a deep breath. "Then Annie was attacked and I felt my whole world fall apart; I had no choice but to knuckle down and make decisions that would help her. And just when I began to get my confidence back up…."
"Your ex came along." Lydia nodded and began to sniffle.
"I hate Malcolm Hunter so much right now," she said. "You said you were going to take the week off so we could have time together, but I knew things were probably not going to work that way; you were going to have a case that you had to get involved in, but I hoped that at least you'd have some time to come home and relax and maybe we could talk and I could explain things to you," she said in one long breath. "There is still so much I need and want to tell you. And I want you to tell me what me what you've held back for too long." Lydia put her head down. "And because of that bastard this is all coming out at the wrong time and place." House reached over and took her hand.
"You've got some time before you have to leave for your interviews; start talking." She looked at House with confusion.
"But, you're expecting Hunter to come by; and you said you wanted to see Tyler and you have to meet…"
"Look are you sure you want to talk?" House asked as he looked at his watch. "'Cause you just wasted eighteen seconds telling me what I should be doing instead of sitting and talking to you. Remember that priority list we talked about and how the ranking order could sometimes change?" Lydia nodded. "Well right now you are number one with me. I suppose it should be Hunter in the top spot so that I don't wind up a three time loser…well, two and half time loser would be more accurate." Lydia was confused, then realized what House was referring to.
"You mean the fact that the women in your life walked out on you when you needed them the most." House made a face.
"Well, Cuddy was just a delusion I was having in the coma; that's why she only gets a half star rating. Stacy….Stacy I pushed away, made it impossible for her to stay here and take what I'd become. You…" He looked at Lydia. "I haven't had a hell of a lot of experience with the concept of dating and making a relationship work. I dated a few girls in college for a few weeks at a time; then came Stacy. I told you, I asked her to move in with me five days after we met."
"Why did you move things so quickly? Were you that…head over heels in love with her?"
"Nah, I had more room in my closet than she had in hers. Besides, I figured it made things easier if we didn't work out; if she wanted to break things off, it was, 'There's the door, don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out.' If I wanted to break things off…"
"It was, 'There's the door, don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out,'" Lydia said mimicking House's intonation.
"See," House said smiling, "That's why I have such faith in our relationship; great minds think alike." Lydia gave him a look. "Sprechen, Fraulein." She laughed and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling.
"Fine; I'll say what I want to say for now, and at a later date we can discuss things." She began twisting the tissue in her hand. "My ex, after a few months of being married, turned nasty. He knew I was hoping that Annie seeing us together would trigger something to bring her out of the catatonic state; he had no such faith. He knew I wasn't going to leave him; that I was going to keep attempting to use our 'marriage' to try and wake Annie up. He used to say I was 'stupid' for marrying him and 'moronic' for thinking that it would ever help Annie. He used those words all the time…even…in bed." Lydia looked away from House. "I know you use those words as a regular part of your vocabulary: to your team, about the patient, about the kid behind the counter at the local fast food restaurant. I heard you use them at Mayfield; but when you used them here, in relation to Mrs. Hunter marrying Malcolm, I felt like you were talking about me, too. I felt that whatever opinion you held about her, you thought it of me. At that point, you reminded me of my ex and you are the farthest thing from him in every possible way." She stopped to wipe her eyes and House took the opportunity to jump into the conversation.
"I have very little tolerance for what I see as abject stupidity, whether it comes from a lack of knowledge or a lack of brain power, doesn't matter. When it's from a person that I know to be more intelligent than their words or actions would indicate, it makes me insane." He looked at Lydia. "It has been driving me crazy trying to figure out why a woman as smart, as beautiful, as fun and as loving as you are wouldn't leave that kind of treatment; now…I can sort of understand," House said as he put his arm around Lydia. She went to lean in to him, when she noticed someone pass by in the hallway.
"Greg, people can see into your office," she said pulling back a bit.
"Yeah, that's what usually happens when you have glass for walls," he said glancing over his shoulder. House pulled Lydia back closer to him. "I'm not hiding you from anyone; well, from one person, yeah, but…"
"Who?" she asked, surprised. House studied his cane for a moment and then looked at Lydia.
"Hunter," said House. "I don't trust that SOB any more than I think I could win a one-legged kickboxing match." Despite the seriousness of what House was saying, Lydia couldn't help laughing at the way he said it. House managed a little smile as he watched her reaction; he took great pleasure in making Lydia smile. But he was very serious about Hunter. "He is ruthless and completely without a conscience; if he knew about you and could find a way, I wouldn't put it past him to try and hurt you. If that happened…" House got a very intense, fierce look in his eyes. Lydia reached over and took his hand.
"That's not going to happen," she said. House let out a sigh.
"I hope not." It took a moment, but he realized that Lydia was staring at him. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Now I know why you kept asking why I stayed with my ex; I was a mystery you couldn't comprehend and that's what was driving you crazy," said Lydia.
"All women are mysteries to men," answered House. "But, in your case, I was just trying to figure you out in self-defense; if you're going to keep hanging around me I might as well protect myself from as many missteps as I can." Lydia smiled and snuggled next to House; she tilted her head and placed a gentle kiss on his neck and then another and another. "Um…as much as I really like what you're doing, there is, as you pointed out, only one opaque wall to my office; I don't think anyone around here is ready for a lecture and demonstration of human sexuality, especially presented by an expert like me." Lydia looked at him.
"Oh, so you're an expert," she commented, a slight teasing tone to her words.
"You have any complaints?" House asked. Lydia shook her head.
"None," she said as she closed her eyes and put her head on House's shoulder. "You do realize that if it weren't for Hunter we could be at home, lying in bed naked next to each other?" House formed a huge grin on his face. "I see you like that idea," Lydia observed.
"Of course," he said. "I'd be a fool not to; it's the idea that you keep calling my place 'home' that I like, too."
"I feel at home there," Lydia said as she shrugged. "It's not that your apartment is just where you sleep at night; everything about it says you, from the piano and guitar to the books on your shelves." She gestured at the things in House's office. "Here, too, it's the same thing. If someone had shown me a picture of this, I would have known it was yours." She looked at House. "I'm not going to lie to you; when my kids get here, it will be your home and my home. But the word 'home' will always enter into it."
"I'm glad you said that; because if you were to say, 'OK, we're going to House's House,' people might suspect that you have a speech problem of some sort. Now, going back to that idea of lying in bed naked; you do know that we would be doing far less talking, don't you?"
"We do lots of talking when we're in bed; it's one of the many things I really like. I like it a lot more than just rolling over and going to sleep, which is all I ever knew." Reminding himself of Lydia's extremely narrow band of experience, House felt it would be best if he said something.
"Come here, my naïve little vixen," House said pulling Lydia in even closer than before. "I'll give you a heads up on something: most guys' M.O., is to do something like that; maybe not immediately, but after hearing how he rocked her world, most guys fall asleep."
"And if he didn't rock her world?" Lydia asked, thinking of herself in the past.
"Then he falls asleep even faster." Lydia bent in half and covered her hand with her mouth to prevent her laughter from echoing throughout the office; the truth of House's words hit a chord with her.
"It really is sad how well I used to relate," she noted. "At least you always stay awake for a good long while."
"I only fall asleep because you wear me out. You are younger than me, you know; and you certainly don't lack for enthusiasm." Lydia smiled shyly and glanced at House out of the corner of her eye. His face looked so much more relaxed than it did a little while ago; she always thought he was a good-looking man, but when he was in a good mood….she melted.
"Do I have a zit in the middle of my nose, or something? Because you're staring at me again," House said.
"I just like seeing you a little less upset than you were before. Not that I blame you one bit for your reaction to what Hunter's doing. Had Hunter been practicing for a while when you two butted heads?" Lydia asked.
"A little over a year. It was his first major case for the firm he had been working for. Needless to say, they canned him immediately. It almost ruined him…put him a cardboard box, as it were."
"But you didn't go after him deliberately. It's not like you said 'I'm going to ruin this man's life.' You saw there was a problem with the evidence he was presenting, that it was a lie and you pointed it out. You were doing it to protect the client you were testifying for." House sighed.
"Well, one, I didn't point it out very quietly. There were more subtle ways I could have done it; and two, it was Cuddy I was testifying for. Maybe I was a little overenthusiastic at pointing out where Hunter was wrong." Lydia pulled back at little and looked at House.
"Greg, you didn't lie to get Dr. Cuddy out of trouble, did you?" House gave her a look.
"I was in lust, I wasn't insane. No, I did not lie. I saw that Hunter was lying and he knew that I had figured him out. If looks could kill, I wouldn't be talking to you right now." He turned to say something and saw that Lydia had a funny look on her face. "You're wondering just how Cuddy showed her undying gratitude to me, aren't you. I've told you already: we had a one night stand back in our 'win one for the gipper' days. Other than an occasional kiss or grope and the few times we had to give each other IM injections in the ass for various reasons, nothing happened." Lydia looked down and to her right, away from House; she took a moment before she began speaking.
"You and I are both dealing with insecurities about each other's past and we're doing it needlessly, but I guess that it's part of human nature to question things." She turned to look at him as she took his hand. "You're going to ask 'Am I just the lesser of two evils?' and I am going to wonder if I'm really the greatest of three goods; and yes, I'm including Dr. Cuddy in there, because sometimes the possibilities of an unfulfilled love have the most powerful draw of all." Lydia wasn't sure of the expression House had on his face, what he was thinking; but she came this far, she figured she might as well finish her thoughts.
"I believe that the only thing that will lessen the uncertainty we both feel is the passage of time. And we are starting out in the best possible place: we were friends first." House's expression changed to a questioning look. "I know; we had a passionate ending there and a lust-filled beginning here. But before all that, we did nothing but sit and talk and listen to each other. As much as we learned a lot about each other back then, we've got even more to discover now and in the future. The best thing to do, is to take each day as it comes." Lydia smiled as she said her last words, seeing a look in House's eyes that she had seen so much of in the past few days: respect and love. It always made her feel wonderful.
"You know, if all the women I ever met had the attitude you do, I'd be dealing with a white picket fence and about twenty kids right now," he said squeezing her hand.
"Twenty?" House gave Lydia a sly smile.
"Come on, you know how much I love to do the deed." Lydia giggled and buried her head into his shoulder.
"Yes, I do," she said as she moved her head up until their lips met. House was intently cursing out the architect who designed the hospital at that moment; he knew it was getting close to the time when Lydia would have to leave for her interviews, but a little private make out time would be nice right now and glass walls were not conducive to that activity.
"I love you," Lydia said quietly as she stroked House's cheek.
"You don't have to whisper," House said. "These may not be sound-proof walls, but you'd have to really shout, I LOVE YOU TOO," he yelled at the top of his lungs, "for people to hear you. See?" House turned and indicated the people who were passing by in the hall and had stopped to see what the shouting was all about. Lydia sat with her head in her hands.
"Now I know why I have a slight edge over the other ladies who were once a part of your life; I'm willing to sit here and take that kind of behavior while they would have shaken their heads and walked away."
"You're catchin' on," House said smiling. "I hate to be the death of a party, but it's getting close to the time when we're going to have to part company so you can prove to everyone that you'll have the kids at their school playing Moonlight Sonata before the year is over. You might want to visit the little girl's room before you go; you look a bit disheveled."
"And whose fault is that?" Lydia asked indignantly.
"Yours, of course. For being so sexy." House stood up and offered Lydia his hand. She took it and rose from the chaise lounge; House reached up and stroked the back of her head. "I love you so damn much it scares me; I'm not used to the feelings that go with it…or the responsibilities. I've never been responsible for anyone but me and I've sucked at that." Lydia laughed as she put her arms around him.
"But, Stacy…"she began.
"Stacy was a lawyer and a good one; she could have bought and sold me at the point we met. But as far as emotional responsibility…that's where I really bite the big one," House admitted.
"Mistakes are OK, if you learn from them," Lydia said. "And I am sure, back at school, you were a very good student."
"Only because I was usually smarter than the teachers." Lydia leaned forward and gave House a long kiss.
"I give up," she said as she pulled away. "Now, where is the ladies' room?"
"Come on, I'll walk you down the hall to the facilities; then you can escape down the back stairs," House said making his way to the door. Lydia looked at him curiously.
"What's wrong with the elevator?" House hung his head down.
"I find most people's paranoia comes from irrational fears." He picked his head up and looked at Lydia. "Fear of Malcolm Hunter is not irrational. I was very serious when I said if he knew you were part of my life, he'd find a way to go after you. I know he could be here any time in the next hour, but … I would just feel better if you avoided any chance of running into him." Lydia saw the concern in House's eyes; this wasn't the way House would normally react to things, so she decided not to argue.
"That's fine; I'll just take my bag with me." She gathered up her pocketbook and messenger bag and joined House over at the door. "Lead on." House started down the hallway and after a few steps, reached over to take Lydia's hand. They walked side by side, passing some staff members along the way, most of whom said "Hello" or "Good Morning". Lydia responded to their greetings; House either ignored them or simply nodded his head. She sensed that something unusual was going on.
"Do that many people typically say something to you as you walk through the halls?" she asked. "Because I noticed that they were turning around and looking at us after they had passed by."
"Nope; they normally act like I'm not here; that's because I typically treat them that way. I think I'm getting noticed because of the beautiful woman at my side." They had arrived at the ladies' room.
"Your throne room, my lady," House said elaborately gesturing with his hand and bending slightly from the waist.
"Thank you, kind sir," Lydia replied with a mock curtsey. "I'll be out in a minute." She entered the rest room and left House standing in the hall. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes; he knew Lydia really hated Hunter right now, but House didn't mind the monkey wrench that was being thrown into things, as long as it all came to a satisfactory ending. If it weren't for M&M, he would be so much happier than he was right now; and he wasn't sure he could handle that much happiness all at once. It seemed to House, that he disagreed with Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip; happiness was not a warm puppy. Nor was it a warm gun as John Lennon seemed to think. Happiness, House thought, was more like a string bikini; as much as it is a great idea on its own, it's going to fit different people in different ways. On some it will look fantastic; on some it won't work no matter what adjustments you make. As far as House was concerned, he was the sit-by-the-pool-with-a-cool-drink-and-watch-the-passers-by-fixing-their-straps kind of guy. He was warming up to the idea of at least putting on a pair of board shorts.
"You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet only seventeen," his cell phone suddenly blared at him; what was going on that Wilson was calling him already.
"You're lucky you called when you did; a few minutes earlier and you would have caught Lydia and I in the throes of passion," House told Wilson.
"House, your office has glass walls and Lydia is too much of a class act to do something in public like that," Wilson answered.
"Look, I didn't want to make you jealous or anything, but she's really a wild woman. I'm serious; she's in the ladies room right now trying to pull herself together. Wait, I'll prove it." House pushed open the door to the rest room. "Fraulein, where are you right now?"
"The ladies' room," she replied hesitantly.
"And why are you in the ladies' room?" House asked.
"For the usual reason and to fix myself up so I look presentable at my interview."
"And where were you when you became unpresentable looking?"
"In your office, on the chaise lounge; Greg, why…"
"No more questions, witness is dismissed." House let the door close. "Believe me now?" he said into the phone. There was silence for a moment.
"What do you think the odds are that Annie is anything like Lydia?"
"I don't know; look how much alike we are." House heard a long sigh from the other end of the phone.
"Why do I even let you drag me into these conversations?" Wilson asked. "Look, I need you down in legal as soon as you can get here." House's playful mood quickly disappeared.
"What's happening? Tell me he's already done the filing."
"No," Wilson said. "At least not that I'm aware of. Cheryl Cooke was just caught with an armful of file folders that she did not have authorization to remove from the medical records storage room; and they all relate to you. I quickly pulled Jen Crawford, head of medical records, and Mark Heller, head of legal into a conference room and filled them in on what we knew. Davidson and Mrs. Hunter are coming down here shortly; Lindeman's team is almost finished with an initial evaluation on Tyler. They are allowing Ms. Cooke a phone call to her lawyer, but making sure it's not Hunter." House leaned against the wall; this new development was a huge plus for their side. He heard the bathroom door open behind him and greeted Lydia with a smile.
"What was that all about?" she asked, referring to the grilling House gave her a few minutes ago. He put his hand over the mouthpiece.
"I'll explain later," he whispered. She gave him a skeptical look. Taking his hand away from the phone, he continued to speak to Wilson. "I'm at the end of the hallway by my office; let me get to a more private place where we can talk." He indicated with a nod of his head that Lydia should follow him. He quickly looked around and spotted the door leading to the back stairway on the north side of the hospital. "Hold on a sec," House said as he led Lydia into the stairwell. He quickly filled her in on what Wilson had told him so far; her eyes opened wide with delight. "OK, I'm in the stairwell which should be safe; people would rather pay money to a gym than use facilities that are readily available to them." House indicated that Lydia should move closer; he didn't want to use the speaker. "I've got Lydia listening in. What's next?"
"I haven't told you the best part yet," Wilson said. "As it turns out, the DA has had its eye on Hunter; it seems that he's been going after doctors at other hospitals in the county with the same kind of set-up he's planning on using against you. They were probably all just practice runs to make sure the system would work. Someone in the DA's office noticed all the activity and very quietly started an investigation. What we have here, puts their case over the top; and you'll never guess who the ADA is who's leading the investigation." House thought for a moment.
"Atticus Finch?" he said, naming the character from "To Kill a Mockingbird."
"House, the ADA is Kyle James, the husband of your patient that you worked with on Monday." House's eyes darted back and forth.
"The diabetic whose list of ailments takes up half the Merck's Manual? I never would have pegged her hubby for a dirt bag."
"He's an Assistant District Attorney and he's speaking with legal right now. They were aware of the fact that his wife was in here because he and Heller are friends. When James heard that Hunter was coming after you and big time, he went ballistic; I think he wants to nail Hunter even more than we do."
"I somehow doubt that," House said. Wilson laughed.
"No matter what, this is a fabulous turn of events. Get down to legal as soon as you can; they need to go over some things."
"Yeah; as soon as I say goodbye to Lydia."
"Great; good luck, Lydia," Wilson said.
"Thank you, James. I'll see you later."
"Be down in a minute," House said and he ended the call. He looked at Lydia who had a huge smile on her face.
"Greg, this wonderful!" she exclaimed as she hugged him.
"It's far from over," House said cautiously. "If they don't throw his ass in jail before he gets a chance to file those documents, I'm still screwed. The judge may look at everything and say M&M's a dick and throw the whole thing out; or they could say their hands are bound by the law and they have to let things proceed. I won't be satisfied until this is all finished." Lydia looked at House sympathetically.
"It's almost over," she said. "Just another few days and M&M will get his shell broken." House laughed at Lydia's analogy.
"Come here." He pulled her in for a kiss which he repeated multiple times. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too," she said giving him a tight hug. She pulled back and looked at her watch. "I have to go," she said sadly.
"I know." House looked down at the stairs and made a face. "It's going to take me forever to get down those; I'll say goodbye here." He looked at her standing there, looking so beautiful and professional all at the same time. "Hey, they aren't going to keep me here forever; I should get out at a decent hour and it seems to me I haven't actually taken you out on a date yet. I don't know about you, but I don't count take out from a sports bar and pizza as real dates." House tilted his head to the side. "Do you like hibachi cooking?"
"I like a lot of different cuisines; when I traveled around, I always managed to find something that I liked."
"Good. There's a really good place about twenty minutes away; it will be the perfect setting for me to tell you the story of how I decided to become a doctor." Lydia smiled.
"I would love to hear about that." She looked at her watch again. "Well, I'll text you when both interviews are done, probably around three." She gave House a kiss and moved to the stairs.
"Sounds good; hopefully by then I'll know if I can still afford to take you out or if it's Spam by the highway." Lydia scowled at House.
"You are not going to have to worry about a place to live," she said as she made her way down the steps. "I'm going to have lots of empty moving cartons; I'll save you a few." She started giggling as she scampered down the steps.
"Hey," House said as he leaned over the railing. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"But, you already fit the part: the unshaven face, the cane. You're the perfect little tramp." She continued down a few more steps then paused to look up at him. "Only you're cuter. Ich liebe dich."
"Ich liebe dich auch," House replied. He heard the sound of the door open, and then close below. Standing there for a moment and thinking, he came to a very important realization; despite the fact that PYT, aka Cheryl Cooke reminded him of a younger version of Cuddy with her tight skirt and low cut blouse, there was one undisputable fact: no one could ever have the package put together the way Lydia does. He began to twirl his cane in the same manner Charlie Chaplin would, then grabbed the straight end of it, and brought it near his mouth like a microphone.
"Ain't no woman like the one I got," he sang out in a loud voice and grooved on the melody floating through his head as he reached for the door; time to go find Wilson.