CHAPTER 13

House found a parking space near the front and calmly exited the vehicle. With each hobbled step closer to the automatic lobby doors even his stomach churned. Would she be ugly? Beautiful? Old? A minor? He suddenly remembered his tongue-in-cheek comment about Dateline NBC and pedophiles. Was he stepping toward the death of his medical career? He didn't want to end up on camera. Just how would he survive in prison? Not shower?

Get a grip man. You can do this. You WANT to do this. He then remembered Eileen Simons and how good she felt in his arms. He didn't want to have to choose between two women. He hadn't ever been faced with that. He didn't have the slightest idea what to do. When he got within a few feet of the door he took a deep breath and, throwing logic (and caution) to the wind he stepped through them.

After an agonizing block of time that felt like 30 days instead of 30 minutes, Eileen heard the SWOOSH of the automatic door and instinctually knew who walked through them. She gulped and held her paper up, her long legs crossed, her boots barely staying on. She heard a THUMP, THUMP, THUMP then nothing. She peeked around the corner and saw House standing about 15 feet in front of her, staring at her boots. He was, as promised, wearing his grey and orange runners.

The corners of his mouth were fighting to stay up, and his body was relaxing. She peeked again, only this time his eyes were gliding up her legs, to the long portion of naked leg that peeked out of the trench coat before it disappeared behind the newspaper. Eileen hid behind the paper again, suddenly relaxing. His approval felt so good… but not nearly as good as his touch against her. She suddenly wanted those hands all over her. But first…

She heard the THUMP, THUMP, THUMP as it echoed through the lobby. He stopped about 5 feet away this time. Suddenly she saw a cane emerge above her and slowly lower onto the paper, thereby revealing the person behind the paper curtain… and she was exposed.

HOUSEMDHOUSEMDHOUSEMD

The first thing House had seen when he stepped inside was those damned green boots. They were lime green alright… and they were cowboy boots… and their owner was wearing a black trench coat. But most of the person was covered with a newspaper that was shaking. Nervous? For some reason he grinned at this. It made him feel good she was as nervous to see him as he was to see her. He'd enjoyed the leg he saw; it was long, full but not fat. It meant the woman was healthy and wasn't afraid to eat. He liked that. He stepped closer, stopping about five feet from her when he caught some dark hair and an eye peeking at him from the side of the paper then quickly disappear. With a smile, House lifted his cane and slowly brought it down on the paper, thereby lowering it for his first view of LIME GREEN BOOTS.

It wasn't what he was expecting.

HOUSEMDHOUSEMDHOUSEMD

Eileen sat still as his eyes roamed over her. She could see he didn't fully compute what he was looking at, as he was silent and hadn't got upset yet.

That lasted all of about 5 seconds. Then…

House's eyes widened, his mouth dropped, and she guessed, for the first time in his life, he'd been completely and utterly surprised. He coughed then found his voice. "What in the name of…YOU!" He pointed to her. "YOU are LIME GREEN BOOTS?"

She nodded, trying her best to be just as surprised as he was but she wasn't that great of an actress. Eileen had been too nervous, too high-strung. She just couldn't fake anything. But she tried as she opened her mouth…pointed to him…but even she knew she wasn't fooling anybody. It failed miserably. "Dr… Dr. House? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"Wait! You're LIME GREEN BOOTS?"

"And you're Dr. Destructo, Mr. Pistol, Mr. Sex-God-On-High?" House looked around with embarrassment.

His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. "Wha…? I mean, how…?"

"Well, I guess this is a small world Dr. House."

"Big internet." She nodded, her hands fidgeting as she couldn't look him in the eye. He gulped and wiped his mouth. She could tell he was getting over the shock fairly quickly, and a slight twinkle entered his eyes…then quickly disappeared. He stepped closer as he caught on to her. "You aren't surprised to see me." She opened her mouth then closed it. His eyes widened. "You knew I was ONR didn't you?" Eileen nodded. "When did you find out?"

"Is that important?"

"You better believe it is. You knew and you DIDN'T tell me?"

Any sort of illusion that this meeting would've been something special immediately died for the both of them. It was quickly going downhill and both knew it… only House didn't seem to care. He was quickly growing angry and Eileen didn't know what to do about it. So she threw some logic out there. "How could I have told you? You wouldn't have believed me."

"If you'd come to me and told me you were LIME GREEN BOOTS from the Shoe Board I would've believed you. Nobody around here knows that; nobody but Wilson knows I'm ONR. But you made me meet you in TRENTON, of all places, just to humiliate me?"

"No!" She shook her head emphatically and quickly stood up. "It wasn't like that at all. I found out on Thursday…"

"…when you were in my office?"

She nodded. "You had the internet up when I dropped off the folder and I saw your user name."

"That was before you practically begged me to meet you."

"I didn't beg you!"

He stepped closer and she saw anger in his eyes. This wasn't going to end well. "You did this to humiliate me!"

"No! I…"

"Well, you win lady. If you were looking for a way to get rid of me, you found it. I don't want anything to do with either of you or the boots." He turned to leave but stopped and turned around. "What are you wearing underneath?" She felt like crying and wouldn't answer. "Are you naked?" She shook her head. "Take off your coat."

"Why?" Her voice was quavering as she fought against the tears and the shaking lips.

"Because I want to see what I'm rejecting."

She shook her head, tears flooding her vision, and turned to leave but he stopped her. "Take it off! You OWE ME that much." He ground between his teeth, fighting to keep his humiliated anger from leashing out onto her.

Eileen put on a surprisingly brave face as she unbuttoned the coat, untied the belt then chucked it. House's face hardened and his breathing nearly stopped. The woman was so beautiful he physically ached to touch her. His eyes brushed her breasts, skimmed her shoulders and took in the miniskirt. His erection hurt with engorgement but he wasn't going to let her see the power she had over him.

The power to hurt him like she did. Even he knew in the back of his mind he shouldn't be reacting like this but…damn it! Nobody steps on his pride like that!

He turned, without a word, and limped out of the hotel.

Eileen sat on the couch and cried.