Chapter 7: Calling Cards
Monday morning
"Cuddy."
"Mrhm..." Lethargic Cuddy turned her head a bit to the left, away from the annoying voice which tried to wake her from her dreams.
"Wake up, Cuddy!" The voice penetrating her sleep riddled mind.
Under great effort Cuddy succeeded into opening her eyes briefly just to shut them down immediately as she recognized the face which belonged to the voice. "House." she groaned as she buried her face into her pillow once more.
Her personal nightmare sat right next to her on her bed, beaming. "Stand up, Cuddy!" He took her by her shoulder and shook her slightly.
"Mrmph..." she grumbled displeased. "My alarm hasn't gone off yet..."
"Of course not... And it won´t..." House explained dryly and shook her some more. "I turned off..."
"You did WHAT?" Suddenly wide awake, Cuddy bolted upright. "What time is it?"
"Half past seven."
"My alarm should have sounded thirty minutes ago!"
"Good thing I woke you then, right?" House grinned.
"That would not be necessary if you hadn't set my alarm off..." Angrily she glared at him. "Why would you do that?"
"I wanted to sleep in..." he shrugged. "Your alarm would´ve woken me..."
"But you were already awake!" Cuddy spoke out disgruntled.
"Therefor I thought, I do a good deed and wake you..." He looked so damn self satisfied right now...
"Must you always have the last word?" she asked and glared at him. How lovely it would be to scratch his eyes out right now, alas Cuddy had no time; thanks to him she was already late... Damn him!
"Yes."
"Won´t get it this time." Arrogantly Cuddy arched a brow. This victory he wouldn´t get...
"I believe I will..."
"Care to explain?"
"I have the better stamina in such stuff, Cuddles." he replied sure of himself, grinning widely
"Prove it."
"Don´t you need to go to work?"
"Don´t you?"
"I'm gonna take my parents to the airport later this morning..." His face brightened in triumph. "So I'm going to be late."
"Arf." Totally frustrated Cuddy threw her hands in the air in resignation.
"Muhaha."
"What was that?" Confused she looked at him.
"I want the last sound as well..."
"Sick." She shot him a last choked glare before she stood up and made her way to the bathroom.
"But oh so satisfying." Being pretty at ease with himself, House grabbed his pills from his nightstand, swallowed one and then leaned back against his pillows relaxed.
"Good morning, Lisa!" Blythe's cheery voice greeted her as she entered the kitchen with frustrating awake eyes. Cuddy looked up at her, blinking sleepily behind her first cup of coffee.
"Oh, Good morning, Mrs. House, you're awake pretty early..."... and in good mood too! Cuddy frowned; being in a full state of awareness before two cups of coffee was plain weird.
"The lovely scent of fresh coffee woke me and I followed it into the kitchen..." Interested Blythe moved closer to Cuddy and her full can of coffee.
"Would you like a cup?" Questioning Cuddy arched a brow and opened the closet right next to her to get a second cup...
Blythe nodded. "I would love too, thank you." She took the cup which Cuddy handed her with a smile and sipped on the hot drink.
A few minutes they were quietly drinking their coffee in peaceful harmony till Blythe broke the silence: "Do you love my son, Lisa?"
Choking Cuddy tried to swallow the last sip of coffee which had taken the wrong way down. "Well, I married him..." she finally succeeded to answer.
"Yes, but do you love him?"
"Yes."
"Does Greg know?"
"Of course he´s my-"
"He´s not really your husband, right? You´re not truly a couple."
Speechless Cuddy stared at her.
"I know my son very well. I know when he lies and as he told me, you were his wife, he had been lying for sure."
"We are married..."
"But you are not his woman... This marriage wasn´t planed, was it?"
"No..." Beaten Cuddy's shoulder slumped as she stared into her coffee cup. "We were too drunk to have anything planed. He stayed married with me to protect my honor in front of my staff..."
"Greg isn´t that selfless." To underline her statement Blythe waved her head slightly. "I think, he stayed married to you, cause he wants to be married to you..."
"House isn't interested in a marriage. Least of all in a marriage with me... I´m sorry, but believe me when we're not busy pretending to be the perfect match, we're not all rainbows and lollipops".
"Rainbows and lollipops would just bore him... He loves confrontations... Well, maybe not necessarily with his father and me..." Blythe´s face took on a melancholic expression before quickly opening to a large smile. "But with you, there..."
"Tell me about it..." Cuddy snorted. Finally a theme where she could answer freely to again... "We argue almost every..." Her inner-eye flashed House's smug expression from earlier this morning, before she went to shower.
"You´re smiling." Blythe interrupted her thoughts softly.
"What, I´m...?" Confused Cuddy frowned.
"You like to debate with my son, right? You like to be with him..."
"Well yes, I..." Quite helpless Cuddy shrugged her shoulders.
"Wanna know what gave his lie away?" Blythe switched the subject suddenly once more.
Cuddy stared at her with wide eyes.
"As he talked about you on the phone, his voice was full of longing... And you don´t crave for those things you already have, do you?"
Once again Cuddy didn´t knew how to answer.
"You don´t need to say anything, dear." Lovingly Blythe smiled at her daughter in law. "Just think about my words..." She seemed like she wanted to add something but House´s characteristic steps, the clicking of his cane on the wood panels as he went down the stairs, silenced her.
"Darling, where are you?" House purred brightly from out of the stairway, before he entered the kitchen in a rather good mood. Although the sight of his mother talking to his wife scared him a bit, he hid his worries of a possible conspiracy of those two women against him behind a cheery face, and limped to Cuddy. "There you are!" he greeted her and then looked at his mother. "Good morning, mom... My two favorite women in one room, great!" Smirking he looped his left arm around Cuddy´s shoulders, bent to her and kissed her slightly on the lips.
Amused Blythe arched a brow. "Stop schmoozing, Greg. We both know you to well to fall for your charms..." She winked at Cuddy.
Monday afternoon
Still a bit confused by the earlier chat with House's mother, Cuddy wandered through the floors of her hospital, using the time to run the conversation through her mind again.
"Do you think, this will work between them?" she heard a female voice ask, snapping her out of her reprieve. The voice came out of the nurse-room nearby. And it definitely belonged to nurse Nadja, that blabber...
"What? Who with whom?" another female voice asked back breathless. Cuddy twisted her eyes as she identified this voice as well. Nurse Nora, of course... Those two girls were always together gossiping bout the hospital staff... House just called them the N&N´s...
"House and Cuddy!" Nadja answered unnerved which made Cuddy stop abruptly. "They are barely married are barely getting any."
'What?' Cuddy arched a brow.
"What?" Nora giggled. "They are getting what??"
"Sex, Nora." Nadja explained impatient. "Somehow I feel pity for Cuddy... married to that bastard and not even getting any sex... Well, supposably his leg is to blame... Or do you believe, that there is much going on between their sheets?"
'This little mean..' Cuddy´s eyes narrowed, granted Nadja was right, she didn't sleep with House; but the fact that she believed House's leg would stop them! Shaking her head, Cuddy couldn't figure out why Nadja´s words got to her like that. She shouldn't care; after all she was famous for her fondness for gossip. She had anticipated gossip about her marriage with House... That´s why she had stayed married to him, why her fists were clenching at her sides was a matter she was choosing to ignore.
"Anyway, I don´t think that they have much action..." Nadja continued talking, totally unaware of the imminent danger. "They don´t even kiss..."
Cuddy would love nothing more than to storm in the nurse room and shut those two blabbers up... Before she was able to follow her impulse, she recognized her husband coming around the corner, walking towards her and a new idea flashed trough her mind.
'Not getting any, right?' she thought. 'Well, we see about this...' Striding purposely, she skidded to a halt in front of her husband
"Hello Cuddy." he greeted her smirking and drummed his cane on the floor lightly. "What can I-"
Her hot mouth, which pressed against his at a sudden, kept him from talking further. In a flash she had her arms around his neck, angling her body into his.
Confused House pulled back, unglued his lips from hers. "Cuddy, what...?"
Annoyed she pulled his head back down to her. "Kiss me already!" she hissed quietly against his mouth and pressed her lips against his once more.
"Not that I'm complaining..." he answered, their lips still brushing. "But what are you up to"? Despite his obvious confusion towards her spontaneous outburst of passion in public, at least ten eyes were staring at them and as far as he knew Cuddy would kill him had he started this. His left arm wrapped around her small waist and pulled her closer anyway.
"We're having a happy marriage, understood?" she whispered, trailing kisses down his neck.
"What?" House breathed, distracted from her tenderness.
"If I'm forced to have a fake-marriage..." she explained against his left ear before nibbling on his lobe. "...then at least it's a damn happy fake-marriage."
"Just like or favorite idol Britney Spears? I´ll manage..." His hand wandered over her back to her ass. He looped his right arm around her too, pressing his hand, which was still holding his cane in a strong grip, against the small hollow of her back. I moments like these he cursed his cane even more... He really wished to be able to place his right hand on her gorgeous globes too... "I even would allow you to have your way with me on the balcony, if it would help you..." If Cuddy was up for a show he would be the last one to let her down... He tilted his head to gain better access to her mouth, kissing her deeply. Who knew if he would ever get an opportunity like that again?
"Very generous..." she mumbled against his mouth just to fall into another kiss with him.
"A trait of mine which mirrors itself in many of my activities..." He smiled against her lips. Her taste on his tongue made him light. "Wait till we are naked on a balcony..." He used the grace of the moment to suck on her neck, caressing the soft skin with his lips and enjoying her quick pulse pulsing against his mouth. Her scent filled him.
"Balcony?" Cuddy asked sighing, using his shoulder for leverage as her bones turned to warm wax and her mind to gruel. Why was she doing this again?
"Balcony... Office... I don't care as long as we're both naked..." He kissed her again, bathed in her taste, absolutely determined to reach as much as he could of her.
"Get a room." Cuddy´s newest assistant suddenly crashed the moment. What was her name again? Benny? Berta?- She made Cuddy pull away from him, evidently she was the devil so he didn´t liked her. Even if her name had been Angelina Jolie, hell, even if she had been Angelina Jolie!
"What?" Cuddy stepped out of House´s embrace and turned to face her assistant, arching a brow warningly. "Did you say something, Brenda?"
Brenda... Right. House shot Brenda a death glare and tried to pull Cuddy against him again but she moved away once more.
"Well..." Brenda uttered. "A package just arrived for you, Dr. Cuddy."
"Dr. House." House corrected her.
"Nooo." Brenda waved her head. "The package was clearly addressed to Dr. Cuddy..." She looked at her boss. "It´s on your desk."
House rolled his eyes arrogantly and snorted. "May be... But now she is Dr. Hou-"
"Thanks Brenda..." Cuddy cut him off rudely, nodded gracefully at her assistant and turned around to make her way to her office...
Ten minutes later Cuddy sat behind her desk and stared in bewilderment at the box nestled on her desk in-between the weekly memos and her keyboard.
Calling cards
10.000. calling cards. At least.
Waving her head she played with the card between her fingers, then put it aside to dispel the whole box.
'Dr. Lisa House' was written on every card in clear letters. Nothing more. Just those three words on. Every. Single. Card.
On the bottom of the box she found a small handwritten note.
'Congratulations, you survived two month of marriage' stood there in House´s lousy script. Cuddy smiled. She put all cards but one back into the box. The remaining card she put into her briefcase together with House´s note.
Wheow! Am I fast or am I fast? Don´t answer that, it´s a retorical question *giggles*
GREAT THANKS to RogueButterfly for betaing this time and for making it possible that I can update today. My regular beta is pretty busy this times so I asked RogueButterfly to help me out... Well, she betaed this little piece in like one hour. Isn´t she gorgeous? (yeah, a retorical question again ^-^)
THANKS to all of you for keeping me high on reviews. I´m like walking on fluffy clouds here, thank you so much.
ADDITIONS:
For all who wonder like Sab (Thanks for your review, by the way!): I chose 'snow queen' as House´s nickname for Cuddy cause she calls him 'heart'. The snow queen is a person out of Hans Christian Andersen´s fairy tale 'The snow queen'. The snow queen is really evil and forces a young boy to fall in love with her by planting a splint of her broken magic-mirror in his heart. 'Snow white' is a princess out of a fairy tale from the Grimm brothers.
SOME BRIBING AND SOME BAD NEWS
I promise to give everyone who reviews (review please and let me stay on my cloud please! Pretty please?) a preview on chapter eight (that was the bribing-part. Well and the begging part too. ^-^) but I probably will not be able to update this story for two weeks (yeah, this are the bad news...) because university will start tomorrow again and I´m afraid it will keep me really busy. I´m sorry.