Chapter 18

Coming to Terms

House hung up the phone and stared up at the ceiling. He had hoped he could goad her into coming down and entertaining him although he knew it wasn't really a good idea. She was interesting and he liked interesting. He knew what buttons to push with her, but it was the way she dealt with him that was so amusing. Even when he managed to upset her, she held her own and didn't give in to him. Had he called Susan, she would have been down at the hospital fawning over him, delivering a hamburger with fries and a shake. It wasn't that he was falling for Finley; it was just that she was something novel; a new toy. Or at least that's what he had to tell himself.

"I'm here to examine you." Chase said.

"Where's my doctor? She hasn't been in today." House growled, disappointed that Finley hadn't appeared.

"She's had back to back open heart surgeries because she canceled one of them to perform your angioplasty. One of them didn't go well, her patient died on the table and she's not exactly feeling like seeing you."

"Boo hoo. Tell her to suck it up and get her ass in her. I'm still her patient."

Chase called Finley on her cell phone. They spoke for a few seconds and then Chase handed the phone to House.

"Greg?"

"Yeah?"

"It ain't gonna happen. Grow up." Click.

House held the phone out and looked at it baffled. "She hung up on me."

Chase snickered. "Ewww…looks like you met someone who's not afraid of the big bad wolf."

"What is that?" Finley asked, her voice dripping with suspicion.

Susan winced. "Red Robin cheeseburgers and fries." She closed her eyes and waited for the screaming.

"Susan! He's just had angioplasty! He had an infarction in his leg, high cholesterol, an occlusion of 80% and you're buying him cheeseburgers and fries?"

The elevator opened on Finley's floor but she didn't get out, waiting instead for the door to close and take them to the penthouse.

"He asked for it!" Susan said, her eyes pleading for forgiveness.

"Oh and you just batted your eyes and said, sure honey, anything I can do to hurry up your demise!"

"It's one cheeseburger!"

"I saw him in the cafeteria with chili cheese fries yesterday." Shaking her head, Finley narrowed her eyes at Susan. "No, no one spoils my good work with their crappy diet while I just stand by." Finley stormed towards the penthouse doors and waited for Susan to open them. She turned the keys slowly, as if she could make Finley go away if she stalled.

Finley pushed the door open and marched inside, finding House reclining on the sofa reading a journal.

"Did you get me ketchup with my fries?" He called out without looking up.

Finley yanked the journal out of his hand and stood over him with her hands on her hips and jaw set like a drill sergeant. "You piece of shit! An angioplasty is not a 'get out of jail free' card! You barely missed the bullet and if I hadn't come up here to check you out you'd be dead or disabled. If you eat that hamburger, you can say goodbye to your life as you know it. I swear; I'll find a way to make you my bitch."

House stood up, standing within inches of Finley. He pushed her aside, grabbed the bag of cheeseburgers and pulled one out, opening it with a dramatic flair and taking a huge bite out of it, chewing it with big, wide strokes so she could see the masticated meat in his mouth.

"When you want another operation, you remember this act of defiance. From now on, you're no longer my patient, I'm firing you." Finley said throwing her head back to emphasize the words.

"Finley—" Susan tried to interject herself.

"Butt out!" Both House and Finley yelled in unison.

Susan gave them both a look of disgust and sat down, eating her Red Robin salad.

House turned back to Finley. "Works for me. You're a lousy doctor anyway; you refused to come see me when I asked for you."

Finley knitted her brow, confused. "Excuse me? You never go see your patients after you cure them; so why should I come see you?"

"Because—I'm me and you're you."

Susan and Finley both tilted their heads waiting for an explanation of the explanation.

"I'm your best friend's boyfriend."

"Oh, so that's supposed to elevate you into a position over my other patients?"

He took another dramatic bite of the cheeseburger to rub it in.

"Fuck you, Greg. Find yourself a new cardiologist." She stomped down the hall and out the doors, fuming. It took an hour before she could even take a bite of her own dinner. Around ten she went to bed and lay there looking up at the ceiling. She could feel that her blood pressure was still elevated from the anger she was feeling. Finally, she took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind so that sleep could settle in.

At ten-thirty there was a frantic knock on the front door and the anxious voice of Susan. "Finley, Finley, you have to wake up."

Finely opened the door to find Susan, her eyes bugged wide open, hugging a robe around her body.

"It's Greg, there's something wrong!" She started breaking down.

Finley grabbed her bag and ran up the stairs, not waiting for the elevator. When she reached the top floor, she realized that she was dressed in a pajama set that consisted of a pale green sleeveless shirt made of thin material and the same pale green material for the shorts that matched. The top clung to her braless breasts, defining her nipples as well as the swell of her breasts. Assuming he was probably having a cardiac arrest, Finley barely gave her clothing a thought.

The door was already partially opened, so Finley pushed through and ran into the loft. House was sitting on the couch, his hand up to the midsection of his chest, his face contorted with pain.

"Greg, where does it hurt?"

He looked up and patted his sternum. "Like really bad heartburn again."

"Take your shirt off."

House pulled his t-shirt over his head, exposing his chest and the gray curly hair Finley found so appealing.

Pulling her stethoscope out, she put the ends in her ears and started to listen. It took her a minute, but she realized that his heart had begun beating faster and that underneath his cotton lounging pants was the beginning of an erection. Looking up at his face, she noticed his eyes were fixed on her nipples. She quickly ducked around to the back to listen. Pulling the stethoscope off, she sat down next to his knees and shook her head.

"What is it?" House asked.

"First of all, you better hide that hard-on before Susan walks through the door."

"Yeah, well next time don't where a flimsy piece of gauze without a bra underneath."

"Grow up."

Susan came running through the door. House bent one of his legs up to hide the obvious.

"What is it?" Susan asked, breathless.

"It's heartburn."

"What?" House asked, shocked.

"I hear nothing to indicate that there's a problem, but I'll stay for an hour just to make sure. Suz, do you have some antacids?"

Susan disappeared and reappeared with some Prevacid.

"Take two."

"You really think he's going to be okay?" Susan asked.

"No! Not if he continues to eat like this. Susan, you are an enabler. You need to start cooking for him."

"I don't have time for that."

"Then next time it's not going to be heartburn."

"He's a big boy, he can cook for himself." Susan said, giving House the 'evil eye.'

Finley nodded. "You're right."

"Well, if you're going to babysit him, I'm going to bed. I have a big day in the morning." She walked over and gave House a kiss on the crown of his head before grabbing a glass of water and taking it back to her bedroom.

He looked over at Finley. "Well now I can say it."

"What?"

"Nice nips."

"Oh, grow up!"

"You keep saying that as if it's going to make a difference."

"I don't know why I'm here."

"I don't know either; you fired me as your patient."

"Yeah, I know I did. So I'll just sit here as your overqualified babysitter."

"Well, we could play spin the bottle."

She didn't dignify it with a response. "Greg, I'm asking as your girlfriend's best friend, please start eating right and exercising."

Rolling his eyes, he hunched his shoulders. "I'm fifty, it's hard to change."

"I can give you guys some recipes, set up an exercise program."

"Boring."

"Not necessarily."

"You can go home; if I need you I'll call Chase."

"Funny."

"No, really, the antacid is helping."

"Fine. I'll go. But, think about it. I'd hate to see my hard work undone."

"Why do you care? Don't you hate me?"

"I don't hate you. I just don't like you. I do like Susan and don't want to see her mourning your death and making you a martyr. I want her to have to live with you and realize that you're no prize and kick you out."

"You can leave now."

"Think about it."

Finley went downstairs and back to bed.