CHAPTER 14:

Dressed in a white form fitting cocktail dress with gold, small, chain linked-straps, Cuddy proceeded to apply a soft, shimmering lipstick to her barren lips as she looked into her dresser mirror. Once finished, she plopped her lipstick into a matching white, small purse and snapped it closed. Just then, she heard a knock at her door. Upon hearing the knock, she began fidgeting with her dress to smooth it out and then ran her fingers through her softly curled hair…reminiscent of the style that she had for Chase and Cameron's wedding. As she gazed at her reflection for a moment, she took a deep breath for the nerves ran through her like a shockwave. She wasn't nervous about going on a date. She was nervous about going on a date with House, because she didn't know what to expect. However, that aspect was what was so exciting and interesting about him. He wasn't your average guy. He was a brilliant, complex man with the ability to make you want to smack him one minute, laugh with him for another and hug him for the trauma he's been through in his life. As these thoughts raced through Cuddy's mind, another knock was heard at the door breaking her from her trance. She went down the hallway to answer the door. As she opened the door, she beheld a sight which she had never quite seen previously in this manner. House stood before her looking handsome and polished and holding a bouquet of a dozen white roses.

Putting her fingers to her lips, trying to overcome the emotions she was experiencing at the moment, she looked at the roses with pools beginning to form in her eyes and said to him, "Oh House….they're beautiful."

Trying to deter the emotional outburst, House teases her by responding, "You really think so? Cause' I figured I'd give them to your nanny since she has to put up with your perfectionist complex on a daily basis."

Cuddy laughs and sweetly says to him, "You're an idiot." Looking into his ice blue eyes in a reflective state she remarks, "I still can't believe you remembered I liked white roses. It's what blew your cover with the PI you hired last year, you know."

With mock innocence, House says, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She smiles and he hands her the roses.

Taking them, she tells him, "Come on in while I put these in water before we go."

Holding the roses in one arm, Cuddy takes her right hand and holds the door open for him as he limps inside. She then closes the door and guides him to her living room area while she heads to her kitchen. And as usual, House can't help but stare at her ass as she goes into the kitchen.

Noticing the silence in the house, House comments, "It's awfully quiet in here. Kid's a little too young to rebel and run away, especially since she can't walk yet."

Laughing a bit she says, "My nieces and nephew wanted to spend some time with her, so my sister decided to give me a break and take her for the weekend."

"So you're basically subjecting her to a weekend of your sister's neuroticism. Don't worry. That's not something years of therapy won't be able to fix. Remind me before the night's over to give you Dr. Scott's number."

From the kitchen we hear Cuddy give a hearty laugh, then she say, "You're such an ass."

Emerging from the kitchen, she looks at him and says, "I'm ready."

At that moment, House got his first real look at her. He stood there silent for a moment just looking at her completely captivated by her beauty. The vision before him caused a subdued smile to come across his face.

Seeing that mesmerized look in his eyes, Cuddy couldn't help but ask him, "What?"

Feeling slightly shy that he was caught, he deflected what he was really thinking by answering, "I was just imagining you naked."

She gives him a sly smile.

He then asks, "Seriously….why can't you dress like that at work? I would be way more motivated to get things done."

She jokes back, "No you wouldn't, because you would be too busy staring at my breasts."

"And you think tonight's going to be any different? Now who's delusional?"

Walking over to him, she laughs, gives his shoulder a slight push and says, "Let's go before I change my mind."

Later on that night, House and Cuddy are engaging in some light conversation as they eat their dinners. House was taking a bite of his prime rib as Cuddy was cutting into her bruchetta topped grilled chicken.

Looking at his tie, Cuddy comments, "Nice tie. How many of Wilson's did you have to go through to get to that one?" She takes a bite of her chicken.

"What gave it away? The burst of color or the girly perfume smelling cologne?" He wonders with sarcasm. He takes a drink of his seltzer with lime.

Swallowing her chicken, she tells him, "No….just the fact that you would never own a tie that actually matched that shirt, since you only own about three of them."

" I don't know . I was thinking of broadening my horizons. Maybe start wearing ties to work." He says wittingly.

She responds by saying, "If you did that, then I wouldn't get anything done."

With a devilish arrogance he says, "Why? Because my sexiness would overwhelm you and keep you from doing your job?"

"No…..because I would think something was wrong with you and I don't want to have to send you back to Mayfield."

He smiles and comments, "Nice." Smiling, he takes a bite of his prime rib.

Cuddy takes a sip of her wine. She then says, "I ran into one of your old bosses the other day…Dr. Nell."

With a faux reflective expression on his face, House remarks, "Ah….Dr. Nell…the administrator from hell. Was he trying to pimp one of his books?"

"No. Just himself." She says as she cups her right and left hands over each other.

House remarks, "It was only a matter of time, before he realized his books suck. Now he's subjected to sucking…"

Cuddy interrupts him, before he can continue his sick thought, "I got it. Thanks." Sarcastically she tells him, "And he had nothing but nice things to say about you." So laughing she asks, "What did you do to him?"

He answers her, " I was still a young doctor, but not stupid. And all this idiot wanted to do was sell his books. So, one day, this reporter from a medical journal came to do a story on him at the hospital. I came into his office seeking permission for a procedure only to hear him telling the reporter about a patient that I treated with a rare disease and taking all of the credit for it. Apparently, the story was listed as one of his cases in his latest book. When he saw me walk in, he gave me one of these evil stares as if to tell me not to open my mouth."

Cuddy reacts with dry acerbic wit, "And knowing you the way I do, I'm so sure you listened and kept quiet and didn't make a scene."

"I started asking him specific questions about the case which, not surprisingly, he couldn't answer. He started getting pissed with me."

"Not surprisingly." Cuddy interjects.

House continues, "Then the reporter starts asking me who I am. I told him that I was the crazy medical genius who saved this guy's plagiarist ass from killing the patient in question. Then, I started to tell the reporter about the case in detail. Nell kept telling the guy I was a liar. That was until I told the reporter to come with me and showed him the case with my name all over it. Apparently, the reporter then called the family the next day who confirmed that I was the doctor who saved their kid's life. A week later there's a big article about me calling me a young, promising genius. Nell's article never made it in. That day Nell called me into his office and fired me. Told me he didn't need some arrogant, unprofessional lunatic in his hospital. I told him the next time I see him that I hoped he learned to become a real doctor instead of one who pretends to be one and that he stop cheating on his wife with his assistant. Funny thing is…his wife got some photographs of her husband in a compromising position with his assistant. I can't imagine who would do something like that. Can you?"

Cuddy laughs and says, "You definitely show no mercy."

He says, "It has nothing to do with mercy and everything to do with that fact that I just can't stand people who exploit medicine for their own personal gain while the rest of us are trying to work our asses off to do the best job we can no matter what the cost. If we kill someone, we learn something. If we don't kill someone, we still learn something. We don't write about it when we've learned and experienced nothing. Sometime after that an article came out about Nell calling him a fraud. Turns out that he was fired from his position and it took him awhile to get a job again. Payback's a bitch."

Listening to him speak so passionately about what he does, Cuddy felt this sensation within her as to why she loved this man so much. For as difficult as he can be and as obsessive about his puzzles, when it all came down to it, he was an advocate for the patients and good medical care even if it meant breaking the rules. He'd do anything he could to save a life. Cuddy kept these thoughts to herself, so as not to infringe on his persona.

Cuddy looks at him and says, "This is a date for us to get to know each other better. So, let's play twenty questions with one question and answer a piece about something we may not know about each other…..and no questions about what kind of or colored underwear I'm wearing."

House disappointed says, "Damn. Well, there go my first two questions."

Cuddy tells him, "I'll start. I know how much you love music. When did you start playing instruments?"

"When my dad was away on duty, my mom needed cash. So, she stripped and I accompanied her." He says jokingly.

"Fine. Forget it." Cuddy says a bit disappointed.

Seeing the look of sadness on her face, House looks at her and says, "I was twelve. Since I was a military brat, we moved around a lot. We were on a base in Virginia and a slightly older couple lived next to us, who didn't have any kids. The woman's husband was an air force pilot and she was an officer's wife, which was pretty much the norm. One day I was outside exploring and heard the sound of an acoustic guitar being played. I turned to look where the music was coming from and found the wife on the porch strumming away. I went over and asked her if she wouldn't mind me listening. She gave me a smile and said that she didn't mind at all. I watched her hands as she played and tried to imitate them. I could feel her eyes looking at me as I pretended to play. She stopped and asked me if I'd like to try. Being twelve I thought that was the coolest thing. So, she put the guitar in my hands and guided me through some chords. I was so obsessive even then that I had the chords licked in a matter of minutes. Then, I heard my mom calling me for dinner. But before I went, the woman whose name was Mrs. Douglas, as I remember, asked me if I'd like some lessons. I said sure. So, from that day on, I spent my afternoons taking guitar lessons while her husband was away on duty overseas. About eight months later, Mrs. Douglas and her husband were moving to another base down south. But before they did, Mrs. Douglas gave me her guitar. At first I couldn't take it, but she insisted I have it as a gift for keeping her company all those months. After that I never heard about her again. I always wondered what happened to her though."

"That was so sweet. I imagine you started taking piano after that?" She asks him.

House laughs, "Funny story about the piano. I used to listen to my mom's old jazz albums. She liked Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Sinatra….a whole bunch of people. My father hated it. So, I'd purposely blast it. Anyway, when I was in school, I used to sneak into the music room and fiddle with the piano trying to match the chords I heard on some of the blues albums. I got to be really good at playing by ear. One day on one of my secret playing sessions, I hadn't noticed that the music teacher was listening to me play and was impressed by what she heard. She offered to give me lessons for free once a week after school. She said I had a gift that shouldn't be wasted. So, I ran home and asked my mom. She thought it was great, but my dad disagreed saying that music was for sissy boys. My parents argued about it, but my mom used the excuse that this could keep me out of trouble. Imagine that….me in trouble."

Cuddy quips, "I can't imagine that at all."

"Anyway, I took lessons afterschool where the teacher taught me classical pieces too. I hated those. I loved playing the jazz pieces only. For years I practiced on the school's piano. Then, on my sixteenth birthday, my mom bought me a piano. She saved up money from the work she did knitting blankets and baby clothes for people. It was old, but it was in pretty good shape. I used to annoy my father everyday playing on that thing. Little did he know, that I played it to give me an escape from him and all his insults…..the mental abuse….and the punishments he used to give. I used to sit playing blues songs, because that was the only thing that seemed to make me happy. Ironic, isn't it?."

Cuddy looks at him for a moment feeling his pain, because of how vulnerable he was to her at that moment.

She simply says to him, "I'm sorry, House."

"Yeah…well…..life sucks and you need to let it out in a way that won't piss too many people off. I guess that's why I enjoy playing the blues." He pauses a moment then says, " Now, I believe it is my turn to ask you a question. After all the crap I've put you through on a daily basis, why do you still keep me around? Why did you hire me?" He inquires.

"That's two questions." She replies with a coy smile.

House rolls his eyes and says, "So I'll owe you one. Don't deflect. That's my job. Now just answer the question…or questions as they case may be."

She answers him. "I hired you because I knew your potential from the first day I met you at Michigan. You had this amazing ability to think outside of the box when everyone else was afraid to get out of it. You were always thrilled by the exploring aspect of medicine and that fascinated me. If you didn't know the answer, you looked for it. You were determined and I felt that this spirit is what the medical profession lacked. You were never afraid and I admired you for that. As to why I've never fired you like all the others, it's because you're a damn good doctor, House. You have this special gift for medicine and observation that I haven't seen in too many people. You are brilliant and full of wisdom based on what you've experienced. That's why I created the fellowship program for you. You have a lot to give and a lot to offer gifted doctors. Yes, you are a pain in my ass when you teach them how to break my rules. But then you encourage them to think on their own and go with what they feel is right even if it's wrong. In that case, they learn something. You may be insane, House. But you aren't stupid. I see putting extra money aside for lawsuits as a result of your insanity as being more of an investment."

Curious, House asks her, "Were you really in my endocrinology class?"

She looks at him with a smile and says, "I believe it is my turn to ask you a question."

Anxious, House reacts, "So I'll owe you two."

Laughing she says, "I was in your endocrinology class, but I audited it. I heard a lot about you and saw you on campus a few times. I thought I'd try to get to know you better. Since I worked in the admissions department for my work study, I had access to the mainframe. I looked up your schedule and saw my opportunity. I thought you were crazy, but I also thought you were interesting. I guess I'm always attracted to the men who are as messed up and complex as I am."

House laughs and gives her a smile.

Then she said, "Now it's my turn. Why me? Why are you interested in me?"

With that question, the waiter interrupts and says, "Anything for dessert?"

House turns to the waiter and says, "Just coffee for me."

Cuddy chimes in, "Coffee for me too."

The waiter proceeds to take their plates, as Cuddy looks into House's eyes awaiting his answer.

In a moment of deflection, House remarks, "Did you see that guy's mole? I think it's bigger than one of your breasts."

Cuddy looks him sternly in the eyes and says, "Don't deflect. Just answer the question. Why are you interested in me, House?"

Nervous, his eyes look downward and then back into her eyes, "I can't answer that yet."

Confused, she says, "What do mean you can't answer that yet? You, the man with all the answers and the most rational human being can't answer a simple question? You asked me out and clearly had a reason for it…unless….this has nothing to do with taking me out and everything to do with you trying to get me to sleep with you. The grab of my breast didn't work, so you think roses and dinner will." She throws her cloth napkin down on the table, puts her head in her hands while saying, "God, I am such an idiot."

Seeing her dejected state, House sits there for a moment feeling like a jerk, because he does have a real answer for her and her assumption isn't it.

With that idea in his mind he says to her, "Cuddy, that's not why I asked you out. Although that dress doesn't stop me from fantasizing about it."

She picks her head up still looking a bit distraught and angry at him.

House continues, "I know you're pissed at me right now, because I won't answer your question. Feel free to punish me later…..in whatever way you want. But the truth is….I don't want to answer your question here…..in a crowded place where we can barely hear ourselves. I want you to be able to actually hear the answer….when we're alone….just us."

A bit skeptical she gives him a look and asks, "You aren't screwing with me? Are you?"

"I haven't screwed with you in over twenty years." He says comically.

Smiling at him she says, "You're an ass. You know that?"

"So it says on my driver's license and hospital badge." He jokes.

She laughs.

After dinner, House takes Cuddy home. When they get to the front door, Cuddy looks into his eyes and remarks, "I had a good time."

Smiling at her he says, "Me too."

"Yeah, I noticed. Especially when you kept dropping you're napkin under the table."

"I can't help that I'm a bit clumsy." He says sarcastically.

"And lecherous." She quips back.

"Words can hurt you know." He jokes.

They stand there for a moment. Then Cuddy asks, "Do you want to come in?"

"Depends on if you want me to." He answers softly and a bit seductively.

She looks into his ice blue eyes and says softly back to him, "I want you to."