Disclaimer: I do not own House
A/N: Hehe okay so I finally edited this and I added in a few new lines and changed a little, but not really that much LOL. This is self-beta-ed but....i waas kinda doin my nails while editing so if there are a few mistakes I'm sorry ^^
Thanks to Southern Cowgirl and GreGgles for their AWESOME nicknames!!! hehehe without them this chapter wouldnt be as awesome! XD
Please enjoy!
House was called into work early on Tuesday after the patient had crashed. He was a bit surprised to see Cuddy still sitting at one of the desks as confident as ever. What did Walters talk to her about? She didn't give Cuddy immunity to get fired, that was his job and she obviously didn't fire her. What could they have possible discuss? She seemed too self-assured for their talk to have just been discussion over coffee, Walters told her something and he needed to know what.
"Alright everyone," House decided to push the thought to the back of his head. "So why did the patient suddenly seize? I thought you all said she was getting better." He sounded a bit annoyed, though it was just a simple act, he didn't really care.
He let his applicants bounce around several ideas before firing two of them for being complete idiots, 32 and 6. They suggested two outrageous diseases; he wondered why they weren't the first to leave. That meant that he only had to fire one more person and he'd have his team. One thing's for sure: he knows who he isn't firing.
When Sarah showed up to spend sometime with her beloved boyfriend, House dismissed everyone to test out their individual theories, and the one who got it right would choose the two candidates that House would get to pick from to fire. He'd probably give them a test before firing them, though. He had a feeling who'd win the little challenge, but he could be wrong. It has been done before.
As Sarah spoke to him and cuddled with him, his minded drifted. Lucas said he'd get the research in by that day when he had only called the day before. That meant either Lucas already had the research and was going to hand deliver them or he was getting a little too cocky. Either way, House was hoping he'd manage. This was probably his only way to get the information he needed and, more importantly, wanted. Unless he was actually willing to wait the months it would take to gain Cuddy's trust and get her to just tell him – obviously he wouldn't.
House was pulled out of his thoughts when he realized Sarah had stopped speaking and was now staring at him annoyed. She had done that several times through their long relationship and he never understood why she'd never told them they needed to talk. He concluded that either she was madly in love with him or she was just not the type of person who liked to be single. Whichever the reason was, it had some how kept them together longer than any other relationship he had with anyone at that hospital. House began to consider that it could be a bet to see how long she'd last with him and if it was, she was probably winning.
"I better check on the idiots," House stated as he stood up and broke her stare on him. "Hopefully they haven't kill the patient yet or blown up the lab." He began to limp out of the room with Sarah following right behind him. She quickened her pace to catch up and grabbed hold on his arm so they could walk down together.
They got closer to the lab before Sarah stopped House right in front of the open door and looked at him with sad eyes. "Oh Greggles, I'm sorry, but I must get to work." She pouted a bit.
House merely cleared his throat and looked at her embarrassedly. "Sarah," He began in a hushed tone. "I told you not to call me that at work, especially not in front of my lackeys." He told her sternly while pointing at his employees, who were discreetly listening in.
Sarah merely chuckled and gave him a playful push on the shoulder. "Oh Greggles, calm down." She smiled. "It's my special pet name for you. Don't you like it?" She gave a small pup pout. House mumbled something under his breath. She leaned up and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "Now I have some work to do, be good Greggles." She smiled as she sauntered off.
House walked in after he straightened his suit and cleared off any look of emotion from his face. He looked around and saw everyone at least trying to act as if they hadn't heard a thing or laugh. When he turned to his favorite employee, he saw her smiling brightly, not acting at all as she looked through her microscope testing for whatever disease she had suggested.
"What are you so happy about?" He asked her as he narrowed his eyes. He saw her stand up and she pulled her slide out of the microscope as her smile simply widened.
"Me?" She asked in mock shock. "Oh, nothing," She grinned as she began to walk passed him to another table. "Greggles," She whispered as she brushes his shoulder. She began to giggle light heartedly as she picked up another slide to look at.
House's eyes narrowed more as he let out a deep, low growl. "Ha-ha," He said dully. "That's so hilarious." He rolled his eyes when he saw Cuddy not even try to hold in her full laughter.
After her fit of amusement Cuddy put down the two fragile, glass slides she had between her fingers and looked up at her boss with a warm smile. "Alright, I have a proposition for you." She told him in a way he remembered from Princeton.
She had one of those half wicked smiles, like from the time they had a wager for Clinic duty. For every patient he had to touch to diagnose he gave her ten dollars and every patient he didn't touch she'd pay him. It was most fun for him and he had won of course, only loosing a hand full of patients for various reasons but it was beneficial to both sides. That was probably the only time she didn't necessarily have to force him to do clinic work.
"Fine, what is it?" He asked suspiciously as he came out of memory lane.
A knowing sigh came out of Cuddy's mouth as she gave him another warm smile. "I'll stop calling you Greggles if you stop calling me Cuddles." She smirked. "A nickname for a nickname," She knew she was bargaining with the devil, but she found it fun.
"Awe, but Cuddles, that's my special nickname, specially picked out for you." He stated in faux hurt tone. He saw her shrug carelessly as she continued to smirk, waiting for him to fold. "Fine," He agreed bitterly, but thought of a quick replacement. "I'll stop calling you Cuddles, Party Pants." He smirked back at her victoriously believing he had won.
Cuddy closed her eyes and shook her head. She knew this would be fun. "Oh I'm fine with that," She smiled competitively, ready to play his game. "Sweet Sauce," she crossed her arms.
House narrowed his eyes accepting her challenge as their battle began. "Cuddy-kins," He threw out.
"Tinkle winkle," She shot back not missing a beat.
"Dr. McFunBags," He began to close what little space they had between them.
"Dr. McCane." One step and they were standing face-to-face and chest-to-chest as they both stared into each other's eyes, with their own competitive edge.
"She-devil," He decided.
"Banshee," She quickly retorted.
"Succubus,"
"Incubus,"
"Harpy,"
"Prude,"
"Prune,"
"Bastard,"
"Bitch,"
"Felon,"
"Perjurer,"
"Drug addict,"
"Ex-drug addict," He quickly corrected her a bit defensively. "Godzilla," Though the game wasn't over.
"Sorry," She apologized quickly, albeit she wasn't ready to give up either. "Tiny,"
House thought a bit for his next come back. She had just insulted his jewel; he'd have to think of something good. A smirk appeared on his face as it came to him. "How now brown cow?" He recited with a chuckle.
Cuddy pouted a bit. "That's not very nice, E.D." She told him in false hurt.
House looked at her in a bit of confusion. "E.D.?" He took a step back and cocked his brow.
Cuddy's lips curled into a victorious and mischievous smirk. "It's short for," She narrowed her eyes knowing she'd won. "Erectile dysfunction," She chuckled as she grabbed her slides and walked right passed him back to her microscope.
House stood there a bit bewildered. He looked up to see all his employees had been watching them intently but quickly returned to their work. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he made his way over to his obviously worthy opponent.
"When and how did you suddenly get so witty?" He asked her in part compliment. He saw her blush so she obviously caught it. "Last time I left you, you were…" He didn't really know what to say. Last time he had see her before Boston she was witty, charming, had a beautiful laugh, so there wasn't much change, other then her distance and abrasiveness – which he was working on fixing – she was the same woman from four years ago.
Cuddy's smile suddenly disappeared at the memory of what had happened in Princeton. She looked serious as she bent over to look into her microscope and addressed her boss without looking at him. "Last time you left me, I was your boss so obviously I had some wit to get there." She retorted in a dull and almost cold tone.
House damned himself as he realized that he had just helped her partially put up a wall that he had worked hard to throw down. He thought of something to help him recover the momentary relapse. "Well yeah, I expected you to be pretty witty," He complimented uncharacteristically and shyly. "I mean that's one of the reasons Lucas dated you, or so he told me." He spoke awkwardly. He didn't really enjoy that part of their life when Cuddy belonged to Lucas, but he knew it was some of the best months she had and would help him recover from the setback quickly.
"Thank you," Cuddy told him hesitantly once more, as she did the day before with the bag of candy. She hadn't expected that from House and it was definitely not in his nature, but she couldn't help but appreciate the effort he took to trying to make her feel better.
House cleared his throat to end the moment and hid behind his walls for a little. He watched his employees as they all worked until Walters came in curiously with a manila envelope resting in her hands. She was very tempted to open it, but it belonged to House and if she opened it she knew he'd get back at her by invading her privacy more than he already had.
"House," She called out causing him and Cuddy to look at her. "Some man just came by and dropped his off, asking me to give it to you. I think he said his name was Lu—"
"Thank you," House interrupted as he snatched the envelope from her hands. "Looks like my monthly playboy prescription has arrived," He lied. "Bye Walters," He shooed her away before turning to his employees. "Now if you don't mind I'm going to be alone in my office. Only disturb me if you are all wrong. If someone is magically correct cure the patient and go get lunch or something. Just don't bother me." He told them before he quickly limped out. He knew when it came to dirt Lucas was the best man around and he didn't want Cuddy to know he was snooping again.
--
Vinson rushed into House's office panting and looked at him incredulously. "I thought you paged me saying you were hurt and needed my help." He let out tiredly. "I was downstairs in the lobby and ran all the way up here, what the hell is going on?"
"First off you idiot, if I was hurt I wouldn't have been able to page you," House rolled his eyes. "Second off, my private investigator friend came by and dropped off a few things he found out about Cuddy." House began to go through a few pictures as the note lay scattered on his desk.
"Wow, that was fast," Vinson picked up one of the note and began to skim through it. "And that's a lot of information. Didn't you say you called him just yesterday?"
"He collected these over the last four years," House stated as he furrowed his brows and focused on one picture in particular. "Some creep, other than the P.I., has been following Cuddy. He had the right to be suspicious." He gave the picture to Vinson to look over.
Vinson suddenly put down the picture and looked at House curiously. He saw House keep his eyes on the pictures so he just asked. "If you're so concerned about her right now, why did you even leave Princeton?" He cocked his brow. "If you had stayed there, you could have kept an eye on her 24/7."
House heard the question and furrowed his brows as he began to recall the day he quit.
--
Flashback
House had awoken that day in deep thought. He had been Rachel's father figure for over a year, but he saw no improvement in his relationship with Cuddy. Though his bonding with the young child had started as a scheme to grain the mother's heart, he began to grow fond of the baby and began to have an odd desire to be in her life not just as a father figure but just as a father. He wasn't sure how Cuddy had felt yet and he was too afraid to take a chance, not after what had happened during Lucas. He wanted to play it safe and decided to just gauge her reaction to what he says and does.
As he walked through the doors earlier than usual, he quickly signed in and headed straight for his Boss's office. He picked his way through her door and sat himself comfortably until they arrived. He was pleased to see that it wouldn't take them long when he peaked through her shades before he leaned back in the couch relaxed.
When Cuddy walked in he saw her smile at him as though she had expected him to be waiting for them. She hastily made her way to her desk to unpack and begin to work. She was obviously late so that only meant one thing.
"Where's your precious angel?" He asked her, trying to hide the sincerity in his voice. He did find Rachel cute and it was rare when he let it slip and call her 'their' angel.
His question was answered when he heard a little girl cry Daddy as she ran in and hopped onto his good leg, giving him a warm hug in the process. He smiled happily and saw Cuddy smile back at him. He tried to focus on the little princess on his leg, but couldn't help but glance at her mother a few times.
"Where's your daddy?" He asked jokily. Some how it had become an odd sort of inside joke between him and Rachel, he noticed Cuddy start to catch on but she couldn't really get the grip of the joke.
"Right here," He heard her respond as she grabbed his nose and pulled off the fake skin he had applied onto it. He had a feeling that Rachel and Cuddy were both amazed at how well he could 'guess' where Rachel would pull, but truth be told he put fake skin anywhere he thought a baby would pull. Even places he didn't think she'd pull, just to be safe.
House chuckled as Rachel laughed happily and he put her down on the floor gently. "Why don't you go get me a lollipop, you know the kind I like." He winked as the girl obliged and ran out to the Clinic. He knew the nurses couldn't deny her anything she asked and they could get mad at him, but never at her.
He looked up to see Cuddy smiling at him lovingly as she watched them admirably. House knew that it was now or never, he had to gauge Cuddy's reaction or else he'd never do it. He looked down in remorse of what he was about to say.
"I quit," He spit out quickly to get it over with. He looked up from the corner of her eye and thought he saw the look of confusion so he promptly said the words he would regret. "I'm sick of playing daddy for your little brat." He held back the tears as he thought of leaving Rachel when they were so close.
He heard Cuddy gasped and when he glanced up, he saw anger, pure anger, or so he assumed. "House, don't do this…"He heard her beg. Did that mean she wanted him to stay in her life? "Rachel has fallen in love with you, you can't just leave her." He heard her try to convince him.
So she just wanted him around for Rachel, but he didn't even know if she, herself, liked him. They fought each and everyday for stupid reason, so he didn't really expect her to be in love with him. He's tried to change, but it wasn't enough. He knew he'd have to end everything right here and right now. He took a deep breath as he prepared to say probably the biggest lie he has ever told.
"I told you," He hid his feelings of hurt and sorrow. "I'm sick of playing that brat's father." He let out angrily, though he was angry at himself not really at the girls. He glanced up for a moment and saw what he had seen the whole time, pure and utter anger.
"Just leave then," He heard her command. "Get the hell out of here." There was his confirmation. She never really wanted him around; she was just putting Rachel ahead of herself as usual.
He walked out and saw Rachel coming back towards him. Why had it taken her so long? He shrugged off the question and pulled her aside for privacy. He kneeled on his good knee painfully as he looked at her with sorrow.
"Rachel, sweetie," He began softly and made sure no one could hear him. He was only caring towards Rachel and he didn't want anyone seeing and ruining his hard worked for cold hearted reputation. "I'm going to leave for a little bit. I don't know when or if I'll be back, but I want you to take care of yourself and your mother got it? And watch out for anything suspicious things, like I taught you." He asked her firmly and got a sad nod from her. "Ok that's a good girl. Now go into her office and promise me you'll be good?" He saw her tear up as she realized his was leaving. "Please don't cry, I promise I'll be back." He lied, he couldn't take her tears. It'd ruin everything.
"Okay daddy," She agreed sadly. "Here's your lollipop." She handed him the juicy, red candy. She wiped her tears away and he knew that she had decided to hold a tough front. She gave him a big, warm, tight hug. "I'm going to miss you daddy." She whispered into his ear.
"You too, Rach," He whispered back as he gave her a soft kiss on the forehead and pushed her along towards the office gently. He watched as she walked in timidly as she waved goodbye to him.
Now he could go, get out of their lives, hoping, thinking and believing it was best for them.
--
House cleared his throat and shook his head. "The only reason I care right now is because she got hurt, nothing else." He deflected. Leaving was the hardest choice for him, but it had to be done. Though now he realized it was probably wrong and regretted it. But he had a chance to fix it, to make things better and he hoped that it was for the better.
A/N: I bet you guys didn't really think that House had a side to this story did you? hehe well he diiid haha what did you all think of it though?
Well the poll is officially closed and I added up the votes from the reviews too and the results are still the same as the poll on my page. You can look and that can be your special sneak peak lolol. The result, if you dont look, will be revealed in either the next chapter or maybe the chapter after that. Hehe but reeeeally soon. Oh and the poll results will only be up for limited time, maybe up till New Years Eve in case you decide last minute to get a spoiler
Reviews are all read and appriciated!! :D Ya'll are so nice
-Jess (yes i went back to nicknames XD)
