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Chapter 5 - Honeymoon
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"Good morning" he said entering the room and watching her as she slightly smiled.
He tossed an envelope toward her but she couldn't catch it and it fell on the bed.
"Bad reflexes" House said with a laugh.
"Bad aims" She replied, giving him a half glare that immediately turned into a smile.
Cuddy reached for the envelope. Two tickets for Newark.
She snorted as soon as she looked at the flight date, then looking up at him.
"We have been here for almost a month... please, tell me I don't have to be relegated in here for another two weeks" she said, shaking her head slightly.
House looked at her with a serious look, holding back a smile.
"Tired of being 'Mrs. House'?" He asked, this time not holding back that smile.
"No" she replied, before rectifying that, looking down "Er... yes" and... rectifying it again "... uh... I mean... no..." she said, shaking her head, unable to keep from laughing "oh my God... " she said, pausing and looking up at him again.
"Nothing personal" she said, raising a hand and smiling at him "... I'm tired of this" she said looking at the bed in which she had been for weeks "... I'm not tired of you ..." she added, then realizing what she had just said and what interpretation could be given to those words.
Interpretation? What interpretation? There was nothing to interpret... She meant exactly what she said... just she couldn't believe she actually said that out loud...
House continued to look at her, but didn't reply, just holding her gaze.
"You'll have to be patient a few more days, Miss Cuddy" he said, voluntarily stressing that Miss "I talked with Dr. Diaz ten minutes ago" he added "Your tests are good. And you can even go to the bathroom by yourself" he said with a wink.
Cuddy nodded, smiling slightly.
"But here it says... April 15" she said looking at that ticket "Today is... April 2, right?" She said, looking into his eyes to confirm it.
House laughed.
"Don't tell to Dr. Diaz that you don't know what day it's today" he said "Or he'll reject your neurological test and you'll really have to be here another two weeks"
She looked at him and nodded, smiling slightly.
Of course she wasn't sure what day it was. In there all days were the same and sometimes she really lost track of time. It was as if world had stopped. For four weeks. And as she had landed in a parallel dimension. From the bustle of her hospital to the calm of that room. Well... even too calm, for her taste.
"I'll be here...?" She repeated, looking into his eyes "And you?"
He was good to notice shades... but her too. He hadn't said 'we'll be here another two weeks'... he had said 'you'.
She looked at him as he smiled and ran his tongue on his lips.
"Since you want a divorce..." he said teasing her "I think I'll leave you here as I spend alone our honeymoon in this tropical Republika ng Pilipinas" he said pointing out those three words in Tagalog.
Cuddy looked at him, biting her lip and holding back a smile.
"Republika ng Pilipinas?" She repeated, looking into his eyes.
"Or... República de Filipinas" he pointed out in his best Spanish accent "... or simply Republic of the Philippines, Cuddy" he said, looking at her as she rolled her eyes.
Cuddy couldn't suppress a laugh.
"I got it, Banderas!" She said making fun of him in turn "But I'm sorry to disappoint you..." she said again, shaking her head "We can't do this so-called honeymoon..." she said gesturing for the quotation marks on the word honeymoon.
House looked at her running a hand on his chin. God... why it was so funny bickering with her?
"Because we're not married?" He asked looking at her as she nodded and gave him a look that was a clear 'right, House!'
"Always the same fussy killjoy!" He replied glancing at her with a look somewhere between amused and annoyed "I always thought that the honeymoon is the only good reason for getting married" he said as she smiled "Yeah, well, that and the wedding night" he added with a very mischievous look.
"I had no doubts about that, House" She replied rolling her eyes at him but failing to hold back a laugh.
"So, actually... we can't even get divorced, right?" He said, raising an eyebrow and looking at her.
"Er ...right" she replied, laughing, looking at his fake-thoughtful look.
House laughed and nodded to that answer.
"Fine" he replied standing up "Because you'll break my heart, honey" he added with a melodramatic expression emphasizing that honey and making fun of her again, as she rolled her eyes.
Cuddy opened her mouth to reply but closed it as soon as she saw a nurse entering the room. She smiled as she reached for the plastic cup with two pills and for the glass of water she handed her. She looked at the pills in that plastic cup and quickly swallowed them, then looking at the nurse walking out of the room. She paused for a second to look at that empty cup.
"What's up?" House asked, watching her as she stared at that plastic cup.
Cuddy turned her head toward him.
"Vicodin..." she said looking up at him "We've been here for a month..." she added, realizing only then that certainly he couldn't be able to get a regular prescription for an opioid in those four weeks.
"The easiest way to overcome an addiction is to replace it with a new addiction" he said glancing at her with a tone halfway between sarcastic and mischievous "Well... I guess I've heard something like that somewhere..." he said, still looking at her.
Somewhere? In one of his TV show? And... did he mean a real new addiction... or...? ... Was it another of his puns? Because knowing House... God! ... He could even have replaced Vicodin with something stronger... something like...
He didn't miss the way in which her gaze immediately focus on his arms. C'mon Cuddy! I'm an idiot! But do you really think I'm such an idiot to take heroin?!
"I found a very good pusher" he said, raising an eyebrow.
Cuddy looked at him seriously, slightly widening her eyes. House held her gaze and looked at her as she looked down, shaking her head slightly.
"C'mon, Cuddy! I was kidding!" He said, laughing, as her expression didn't change at all.
House shook his head and laughed, reaching into his pants pocket and then tossing her an amber bottle which rolled on the sheets.
Cuddy turned it in her hand before looking up at him.
"Really?" She said, still looking at the label on the bottle as if she wasn't sure what she read was right.
"No" he answered seriously holding her gaze "It's Vicodin! Dressed up as Ibuprofen" he said, still looking at her as she put a couple of pills into her palm.
And he couldn't prevent the corners of his mouth from lifting up almost imperceptibly in a hint of a smile as he looked at her eyes, still fixed on those two pills.
"Since... since when?" She said without looking up.
"Since my doctor took my Vicodin away" he said meeting her gaze for a moment and then looking down as he took those two pills from her palm, putting them back into the bottle "... I almost killed a six-year old because I was in withdrawal... and I almost overdosed... " he looked at her as she opened her mouth to those words but no sound came out from her lips.
"And ..." he said, looking briefly at her and then putting the bottle back in his pocket "...Since someone perjured herself in front of a Judge... for me"
Cuddy continued to look at him without being able to say anything. 4 months. Four months without Vicodin. She was the doctor who had taken away his Vicodin ... she was the someone who had perjured herself for him ...
"But now don't flatter yourself!" He laughed, completely changing the tone of that conversation.
She smiled slightly, shaking her head.
"Anyway ... back to us..." he said, looking at her and taking the tickets that were still on the bed, then putting in her hands what looked like the brochure of a hotel "You can get divorced..." he said, making a quotation marks with his fingers as she had done just before "... or you can come with me and have a relaxing week in Boracay... white sand... ocean as blue as your eyes..."
Cuddy rolled her eyes and licked her lips.
"My eyes aren't ocean blue..." she said looking straight into his eyes.
He held her gaze. Why did she always have to find a reason to quibble?
"You're right" he said laughing "Mine are ocean blue" he said, raising his eyebrows "Yours are more like a Monsoons-swept ocean" he said looking at her as she closed her eyes for a moment and tilted her head by side, however smiling slightly.
"Um... actually I don't know if this is a compliment..." she said looking into his eyes "But... I can't take a vacation, House... I've been away from the hospital for over a month..." she said in a serious tone.
"And as far as I know it didn't go on fire" he said staring at her "You were in a coma for twelve days. You couldn't get out of bed for days, not even to stand up. It's a miracle you're alive. Do you really want to get out of here and get back to work the next day?" He said seriously, still staring at her "I'm not telling you really have to come with me to Boracay, Cuddy. But give yourself time... Being able to go to the bathroom by yourself is not the same of running up and down Plainsboro hallways after a flight of nearly twenty hours and thirteen hours of jet lag"
Cuddy looked at him slightly opening her lips.
"Actually the room is already booked" he said, looking as she stared at the brochure in her hands and then looked up at him with a questioning look "... It's a long story..." he said making a gesture with his hand but snorting as soon as he read in her eyes that 'well... so tell me...'
"Helen planned a vacation with her sister and niece... but apparently her sister had a set back and they decided to postpone it. So... well, the room is already booked and just waiting for me." He said with a shrug.
"Actually... for us" He pointed out looking into her eyes.
Cuddy held his gaze for a few moments before looking again at the brochure in her hands. That 'us' made her a strange effect. It was a strange feeling having become in a sense a 'we'. Or at least to be that in front of Helen's eyes. And of everyone else in that hospital.
"I tried to dissuade her" he added, looking at her as he could almost hear the sound of her thoughts "When that woman had something in her head changing her mind is almost more difficult than changing yours!" He said, looking at her as she looked up meeting his eyes again.
"I'm not the best roommate, Cuddy, but... I know how to lower a toilet seat if that's what's bothering you!" He said, looking as she smiled slightly and shook her head.
"Um... it's not because of that, House..." she said, biting her lip slightly "House, I don't... er... I'm sorry, I really have to go back... I can't..." she repeated, immediately feeling the weight of those words among them.
House didn't replied and just looked at her, nodding.
...
Cuddy rechecked the flight number on her ticket before putting it back in her purse and close the zipper.
"The cab's here" House said, appearing on the doorframe and looking at her as she nodded and took her suitcase.
They both looked for an instant at their reflection in the cab window while the cab driver put their luggage in the trunk.
They looked like a very unusual couple and not at all a well-assorted one. At least at first glance. Cuddy in a pair of black trousers and a white blouse that gave a little glimpse of her cleavage... and her Louboutin. House in a pair of sand-colored knee-length trousers and a khaki short-sleeved shirt. She in her hospital-boss-ready-for-a-meeting version, he in a very tourist version.
...
They walked together into the International Airport of Manila - Ninoy Aquino and looked at the departures board. Cuddy's flight had half an hour of delay. House's one was apparently on time. They looked at each other and Cuddy gave him a half smile.
"You sure?" He asked, looking into her eyes.
She nodded, biting her lip slightly, and House just nodded back.
"Thank you... for everything" she said with another slight smile, as he just nodded again "Um... see you in Princeton" she said, casting another glance at the departures board and greeting him with a half smile, then turning toward her gate.
"Cuddy?"
She turned back toward him and looked at him as he slipped his hand into his pocket and then handed her an amber bottle.
She couldn't help but smile as she took it and read the label.
Rifampicin 600 mg. 4 pills. The prophylaxis of meningococcal meningitis.
"Just in case" he said looking into her eyes.
"Thanks" it was the only word that found its way through her lips as she slightly smiled. She watched him as he nodded, smiling back and then turning away, walking in the opposite direction to hers.
She kept to look at him as he walked away, biting her lip slightly, until he disappeared down the hallway.
Why the hell she felt as if her feet were glued to the floor!?
She looked again in the same direction where House had disappeared before turning in the opposite one. She handed her luggage to the boarding-desk and looked again at the ticket in her hand. First class. Seat 3B. By the hallway. A 22 hours flight with a three-hours stopover in Japan. When she travelled with a friend she always reserved a seat by the window... but not when she travelled alone. She wasn't thrilled at all by the idea of being for nearly 20 hours trapped between a window and some stranger.
She sat in the waiting room. She took her book from her purse and let Isabelle Allende distract her mind. For about ten minutes. She sighed realizing she had actually read four times in a row the same line without those words produced an image in her mind... and she closed the book, placing it on the empty seat next to herself.
She uncrossed her legs, stretching them slightly in front of herself and then crossed them again, looking at her watch. House's flight was gone at least twenty minutes ago. She watched the people sitting in front of her in the waiting room. A bunch of guys in their early twenties, a couple of businessmen reading their newspaper and a couple holding hands. Not far from that a woman was chatting with whom looked like her boyfriend, laughing from time to time... her hand resting on his knee. And she sighed again, taking her book and putting it back in her purse.
She smiled slightly as her hand found that amber bottle. Her thumb lightly touched the name on that prescription, while she bit her lip and tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
Mrs. Lisa Cuddy House.