Unfortunately, this is going to be kind of a short update. This next big section was originally meant to all be one big chapter, but if I stick to that, at this rate it will be May before I get it finished. The Muse has plenty of ideas and motivation, but sadly my writing time has been sucked away by other obligations this past week. So, minute as it is, at least it's something, right? I do have some written beyond this, but as always, I make no promises for my posting timeline. Stay tuned for a little A/N at the end, as well ;-)

Shout-outs for reviewers who make me smile (and there can NEVER be too many of you, in my book...): IHeartHouseCuddy, striker90, Alex, Abby, HuddyGirl, linda12344, Guest, OldSFan, and JM!

Chapter 8- The Singing B

It was easy for the Princeton-Plainsborough tables to forget that not every person in Beasley's knew Amber Volakis personally; how she could so easily twist someone's seemingly innocuous words for her own personal gain, lie without guilt, and cheat without a hint of regret. So when she stepped onstage to sing "Bitch," she received the response from a Saturday night karaoke bar crowd that any attractive redhead in a tight, but not too-short black leather skirt and coordinating knee-high leather stiletto boots would expect. Several men whistled and whooped, causing Wilson to peruse the male patrons with a disapproving and possessive eye.

House noticed his friend's irritation, and chided, "Are you honestly surprised that men who have never spoken to her find her extremely physically attractive?" Wilson redirected his sneer toward House.

"Is he always so supportive of your romantic relationships?" Cameron wondered sarcastically.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. He may or may not have been a significant factor in my last two divorces."

"I find that…" House began, but he was interrupted by Cuddy.

"Save it. She's starting… shouldn't you be paying attention during your own audition process?"

After the opening A major electric guitar riffs of the song, Amber began the more contemplative first verse in a pleasing, if slightly breathy soprano that would at the very least spare her from an unfavorable audience response. Cuddy enthusiastically cheered on her new buddy from their front row seats, but internally the long-ago veteran rock singer wondered how the harsher tones of the refrain and subsequent verses would sit in Amber's contrastingly clear vocal timbre. The dean needn't have worried, however, because when the prolonged 5 chord hailed the coming chorus, the redhead took the necessary diaphragmatic breath and launched into the notes with a chesty gusto that Cuddy hadn't expected to hear based on the earlier verse.

Glancing surreptitiously at House out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that he was subtlety contented by Amber's unanticipated chops. Also, Wilson looked positively swollen with pride at the woman on the stage, and that particular observance made Cuddy smile. In some messed up way, those two seemed to work, and she largely suspected that Dr. Volakis's ability remain mostly unfazed by House's antics didn't hurt.

At the song's end, Amber did a dainty little curtsey and blew the starry-eyed Wilson a kiss that contradicted her personality's manifestation of its lyrics. This brought yet another round of laughs from her coworkers and friends, but the patrons of the bar gave her a resounding cheer as she left the stage. Upon returning to her table, she received a congratulatory kiss from her boyfriend immediately, followed by a high-five from Kutner, and an unexpected hug from none other than Cuddy herself.

"Amber, that was great!" she complimented genuinely. "And I love that song. Always have... this group may not let you live it down for a while, though," Cuddy smiled warningly.

"I know, but I bring it on myself," the redhead shrugged casually. When the administrator raised her eyebrows in response, Amber continued, "It's not like I'm clueless as to how my nickname ended up to be 'Cutthroat Bitch.' I take what I want to get where I want, and I don't apologize for that." As she was talking to Cuddy, House slowly approached Amber, scrutinizing her curiously but not without a hint of mocking about his expression.

"Well? Did I at least manage to touch a pinky to the underside of your lofty expectations?" she asked, crossing her arms with a defiance that may have been a subconscious defense against any insults her former boss might toss her way. Surprisingly, he gave her a curt nod and reached out to pat her condescendingly on the head.

"That'll do, bitch. That'll do."

Amber could have been insulted. After knowing House in both a professional context and a personal one in his role as her boyfriend's best friend, however, she knew that the closest thing he would ever give to a genuine compliment would be laden with sarcasm. She gave House an obligatory eye roll, but followed it with a smirk and a small shake of her head. Cuddy just laughed, thoroughly entertained to see House treating someone in his bizarre little circle besides herself or Wilson with his backhanded version of affection.

"Hey, Taub!" the group heard Kutner's usefully loud voice cut through the conversations and interlude of "Hey, Ya" bumping throughout Beasley's. "I didn't know if you were gonna make it, man… and you just missed Amber sing 'Bitch.' It was epic!"

"Yeah, I didn't know if I was going to make it, either. Whenever we have to have dinner with the Rosenbaums, Mrs. Rosenbaum always wants my medical opinion about every tiny ache and pain she's experienced since the last time we ate dinner at their house," Taub explained warily.

"And how often do you have to endure that?" wondered Forman.

"About three times a year. But that's at least two times a year too many. Who else's human sacrifice did I miss besides Amber's?"

"House, Forman and I sang 'Midnight Train to Georgia' as a group. It went over big… we've been getting all kinds of smiles and winks and waves from several ladies ever since," boasted Chase, who seemed to be crossing over the thin line from tipsy to drunk. "One of them even sent Forman a drink!" Forman grinned haughtily, raising his drink and winking at very pretty dark-haired girl a few tables away who obviously wasn't old enough to be a college graduate.

Cameron sent a glare in her boyfriend's direction, but he was too busy talking to the other guys to see it. So he's back to being a douche again. Figures, she thought to herself, continuing to scowl. Her body language was not lost on Kutner, who was sitting just a few seats away, and he continued to be baffled by Chase's seemingly blatant disregard for his very hot girlfriend's feelings. The more time he had spent talking to her over the course of the evening, the more it felt like what he had already acknowledged as a crush seemed to be descending into more deep-seeded emotional territory. All he knew was that he wanted more than anything to make that currently troubled expression leave her face.

A/N: I don't know if people in the House fandom do this, but over in Megamind quite a few of us have "author" pages on facebook so that we can follow one another, chat, 'n so forth. My handle on there for my writing page is... shocker... "Vast Difference." So if you should be so moved, you can search for my page on there and "like" it. Sometimes I'll ramble on about writing stuff, or fandom stuff, or random stuff, and probably Huddy stuff as well if some of you interested parties were hanging out over there :-P So yeah... mosey on over and give me a "like" if you want :-)