Chapter 8: Confontation; Part two
Saturday, early in the evening
Cranky House stood in Cuddy´s bedroom, already wearing his suit. They had still one hour left before that damn fundraiser would start. One. Whole. Hour. Unnerved he gritted his teeth. "That dress makes your ass look even fatter..." he told Cuddy who was in the bathroom while he tried to do up his tie, eyebrows set into a deep frown.
"You don't even know, which dress I'm wearing..." Cuddy replied rushing from the bathroom. "You don't have the x-ray vision, have you? Besides you love my ass and you know it."
House laughed quietly. She was right, he had a sweet-spot for her ass... That was a fact well-known even before their marriage, so he did´t even try to deny it... Instead he just ignored her comment. "I don´t care which dress you´re wearing, Cuddles." he explained to her loudly. "Whichever it is it´s the wrong one... So change it. Then you should change your dress again. And again. And again. And again... Or I could just go and obtain you a new one..."
"You want to obtain a new dress for me?" Cuddy asked amused.
"Sure, why not? As a medical practitioner I´m capable of remembering your body-proportions exactly."
"Of course, as a medical practitioner." Cuddy threw in. "And as a guy who spends most of his work time staring at those body-proportions."
Another comment House decided to ignore. "Sure, obtaining that dress would take some time... Presumably till... hm..." He pretended to consider how long he probably would be away. It´s a pity that Cuddy couldn´t see his thinking-face through the wooden bathroom door. She would´ve been impressed by his actor-skills for sure. "I think, I could be back till midnight with the prettiest, ass-caressing dress, that the world ever did see."
"But then we would miss the fundraiser..."
"Seriously?" House faked astonishment. "Such a shame..." he smirked.
She should stop this bullshit now, she knew. She should stop playing games with him and tell him straight away that he would go with her to that fundraiser anyway... But she didn´t want to. She enjoyed the game too much. Grinning Cuddy took her favorite lip stick. "And why would it take you like half of the day to buy one dress?"
"Not 'buying', Cuddles. 'Obtaining'. I would go, try to find a good faerie and if I find one, I would use one of my three wishes for the perfect dress for you..." he explained demonstratively serious. "Finding a good faerie needs time..."
"A good faerie, egh?" Cuddy grinned so hard, that she had problems putting her lip stick on straight.
"Or a djinn... Whomever I find first..."
She snorted amused. "I´m sorry to crash your illusions, House." she said then and opened the bathroom door. "But djinns and good fairies are just like Santa Claus and the brownies non-existing..."
"Damn." House answered smirking. "Then I probably will never find a dress, that..." He had intended to add something funny but nasty bout her ass but the sight of her as she stepped out of the bathroom in a long red silky dress, took his breath away. Speechless he absorbed her appearance with wide eyes.
"That good?" Triumphantly Cuddy put her hands on her hips. "If it knocks you for a loop, I must look stunning."
"Damn, Cuddy." His gaze sweeping from her red stilettos up her small waist, lingering on her cleavage and stopping as his eyes met hers. " Why don't we just donate your dress and stay home? I can help you take it off..."
Laughing Cuddy shook her head.
One and an half hour later they were already surrounded by least hundred other people in their finest clothes.
"Why don´t you get us something to drink?" Cuddy asked House and placed one hand on his arm.
House arched a brow. "Why don´t you get us something?"
Cuddy smirked. "Because you´re such a caring husband, remember?"
"But I´m a crippled caring husband." With still arched brow, House drummed his cane slightly on the floor to underline his statement. "So why don´t you, the caring wife with two healthy legs, bring forth the alcohol?"
"Lisa!" an elder fat woman in a peppermint-green dress cut in suddenly and strode towards Cuddy and House.
"Oh damn..." Cuddy sighed quietly and forced herself to smile. Margret Hopkins. A rich bored lady who always tried to make a match between Cuddy and one of her male kinsfolk... Her hand closed around House´s arm in a strong grip. "House, I get the drinks, if you talk to Hopkins for me..."
House snorted and freed his arm from her grip grinning. "No chance, Cuddy..." Before Margaret reached Cuddy, House had limped off with surprising speed for a crippled caring husband...
One hour and ten boring discussions with other donors later, House and the drinks were still missing... What took him so long? Cuddy gritted her teeth. Supposedly he somehow managed to smuggle his game boy in here and was now hiding somewhere to murder trolls or something on that tiny screen... Therewith he would ruin his eyes someday... Provided that she wouldn´t find him and scratch his eyes out before...
"Is it hot in here or is this just you?" a familiar male voice interrupted her thoughts. Cuddy suppressed an unnerved groan before she turned around with a friendly smile on her lips to face Ian McBride. She couldn´t believe that he actually used the same dense patter on her twice in a row... "Ian McBride!"
"Lisa!" he smiled brightly and placed a generous filled champagne glass in her hand. "So, how is the most beautiful woman in this room feeling?"
Wow, a repeating again... The man owned even less style than she'd assumed... "Fine." she replied. Her chin started to cramp from all the fake-smiling... House would pay, she decided cranky... If he was here right now, she wouldn't have to deal with this idiot... Why do you get a fake-husband, when he isn't even around to chase unwanted admirers away? "I'm looking for my husband." she stated still smiling. "Did you see him?" Innocently she gazed up at him.
"Your husband?" Irritated Ian let his left hand sink, which he had raised before to touch Cuddy´s hair. "You´re married?"
"Yes!" she nodded enthusiastically and showed him the golden ring previously belonging to Houses grandmother on her left hand, then she spotted House - of course without any drinks - limping towards them as she glanced over Ian´s shoulder. Her eyes brightened in sight of her near salvation. "There he comes." She threw him a kiss.
Ian turned around and frowned slightly as he recognized House. "That is your husband?" he asked in disbelief.
"Isn´t he gorgeous?" Cuddy asked back happily and gifted House with a love drunk smile. She would let him pay for that later too, that was for sure...
Ian arched a brow arrogantly. "Well..." Apparently he had recovered from his shock. What a pity... "Somehow I doubt that.." He turned to Cuddy and looked her deep in the eye. "...that this cripple is able to satisfy you..."
Stunned Cuddy stared at him as his words sunk in. He hadn´t said that. He. Had. NOT. Said that.
That smudgy grin on his face told her otherwise. Best Cuddy had hit him. Forget the damn money, she didn´t care any longer. No one was allowed to talk about her husband like that.
But before she could mutilate Ian, House, who missed Ian´s last sentence, arrived at them and wrapped one arm possessively around Cuddy. "There you are, dear..." he purred and already prepared himself for being kicked from his loving wife because he had left her alone for so long but instead she snuggled up against him like a sweet warm soft toffee and greeted him with a kiss on the mouth.
"Hello my heart." she said tenderly then glared at Ian with icy eyes. "My husband never failed to satisfy me ever. Mr. McBride." she explained coolly, placed the champagne glass against her lips and emptied it with one single gulp. "And now, please excuse us." She pushed the empty glass in Ian´s free hand and smiled sardonically. "My husband and I missed the opportunity to screw in an elevator earlier, we'd best get to that."
"Sex in the elevator, ehg?" Grinning House supported himself with his left hand on the elevator wall, against which Cuddy leaned. With his right hand he pressed his cane near to Cuddy´s hip against the wall too, so Cuddy was kind of trapped between his arms. A fact that Cuddy was aware of, but which didn´t really bother her at all. Instead of she enjoyed his scent filling her nostrils and the warmth of his body so close to hers. He had something calming. He always had... Yes he annoyed her pretty often and most times she would love to straggle him, but always when something made her really angry, or scared; he succeeded with the same annoying manner, which she damned on normal days, to soothe her.... A fact, of which House will hopefully never be aware of...
"I was angry..." she explained relaxing somewhat, although her eyes still burned fire at the memory of Ian's infamy.
"Why?" House prodded for information, bent down and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair.
"He talked bad about you..." Cuddy shrugged her shoulders. "Nobody talks bad about my husband scot-free."
House snorted. Yeah, right. Somebody talked bad bout him and that caused her to suggest sex in an elevator with him. He smirked. For sure that wasn´t the only reason... "You always talk bad about me..." he uttered quietly kissing her throat, her chin. Her mouth.
"Yes..." she mumbled distracted from his lips. Her eyelashes fluttered closed. "But I love you, that´s something different..."
In a flash he had straightened up and removed back his hands from the wall like they'd been scorched. "Don't say that..." His voice was as blank as his face.
"What?" Confused she blinked at him.
"We´re without audience here." he stated coolly. "So you don´t need to say it. It´s pointless. " The elevator stopped and House left without looking at Cuddy, while she stood still speechless in the elevator.
The doors had closed behind him and the lift started to move again, as Cuddy realized what she just had uttered to House, she loved him.
Damn.
THANKS again to RougeButterfly for being such a fantastic beta.
And a big fat THANK YOU to Di-Bee for encouraging me so much and for being so curious about my story. She asked and asked me about it till I translated the ninth chapter for her too (So you won´t need to wait for it long... It just needs to be betaed ^-^) So this part of chapter eight is for her!
And thank you all for your kind reviews! I just love to recieve them. ^-^
Please be a doll and leave me a few lines. I just love to hear what you thought bout it. And finally I can promise everyone who reviews a nice long preview for chapter nine (Thanks to Di-Bee again. Isn´t she gorgeous? ^-^).