A/N: Hey guys, so sorry it took forever to update. My mom had the computer in hawaii so I had to wait a week before I could even start writing, but hey I'm getting better at scheduling my time.... kinda. LOL anyways, if anyone reviewed or tried to PM me I am sooo sorry!! I have no idea how but my account suddenly disabled all alerts and private messaging, luckily I caught it! So yeah sorry if I haven't responded.
Also, sorry about the ending to this. It's a little rushed because it 3:30, I'm tired and I didnt know how tp really end this chapter lol. So yeah. This is self edited so if there are any mistakes, again I am tired and I am just thinking about going to sleep. LOL, again apologizing for the long wait and I hope you all like this chapter. Daniel Fisher comes in, and I just realized, I use the name Daniel too much lol, so dont get him confused with the loser from the first chapter lol. ENJOY!
"Bye mommy," Rachel gave her mother a great big hug before hopping from her arms into her grandmother's arms. "Tell daddy bye for me and I love you guys this much." She stretched her arms out as far as she could.
"We love you that much too sweet heart," Cuddy smiled and sent her daughter a big air kiss with a loud 'mwah' sound, which Rachel of course gave back. With a smile still plastered on her face, Cuddy watched as her daughter and mother walked off. She saw Rachel look back at her and give a big wave while they continued to watch each other till they were completely out of each other's sight.
After lingering for a moment, she turned around to get back to work. As she walked through the lobby, towards the elevator, she saw a man from the corner of her eye. She stopped abruptly and took a double take β her worse fear was alive. For a moment, she watched his interaction with Walters. He saw her and turned to her, flashing a smile that curdled her blood.
Her eyes wide with fear, she quickly rushed toward the elevator and pressed the up button frantically. The second the doors opened, she stood to the side and got in the moment she could. She pressed her floor and saw Walters and the man come towards her asking her to hold the elevator. She hesitantly pressed the close button and luckily the doors shut before they could reach it. Hastily, she walked to her boss' office and she was never happier to see him there.
House, who was still looking over the pictures when his guest entered, quickly put it under a few papers on his desk to make sure she didn't see it and placed his hands over his desk casually. He looked up at his former boss and saw a brief look of anxiety on her face before she hid it expertly. Quickly, he stood up ready to take her side in case she broke down.
"What's wrong?" He asked her concernedly, with his brows furrowed.
"Nothing," She answered too quickly. Cuddy leaned against House's desk nonchalantly. "Just wanted to know if Anderson told you who she wanted to fire yet." She obviously lied.
House could practically see the lies fall out of her mouth clumsily. He decided to play along and spare her for once. "No she hasn't, why are you worried she is jealous of our relationship and will try to break us apart?" He joked halfheartedly.
Cuddy could tell the pity that House relied on her and usually, she'd decline it, but this one exception she was more than happy to welcome it. "Yes, I'm afraid she'd take me away from the big bad wolf." She joked back with a small smile.
Before House could think of a comeback, they heard a soft tap on the door of House's door. They both turned towards the door a small look shocked and the fear reappeared β if only for a moment β on Cuddy's face as she took small steps backwards until she was against House's desk, a position she most definitely did not want to be in at that moment.
"Hello there," The man from the lobby walked into the room, without Walters though. "I'm Daniel," He turned to Cuddy and gave her a small, pseudo smile. "Daniel Fisher." He stuck his hand to House, who shook it as if everything were fine, before he stuck his hand out to Cuddy. "And you are?"
Cuddy realized the game he was playing and shook his hand cautiously as she gripped the table tightly in slight fear. "I'm Lisa Cuddy," She choked out while putting on the perfect artificial smile. "It's nice to meet you."
Daniel's hand lingered over Cuddy's for a moment before she tried to pull away. He had a quick mischievous glare in his eyes as he looked down at her. Cuddy tried harder to pull away as she felt his grip tighten just a bit. He finally let her go, but not without grazing her hand as he pulled away slowly. She now understood his intentions quickly and knew that he wasn't so innocent anymore, he was following her and he wasn't going to give up as long as she lived.
"I'm Gregory House," House quickly broke the silence that had formed when he saw the way Daniel touched Cuddy, as if savoring every feel he could. "What do you need, Cuddy and I were discussing a diagnosis." He tried to shoo the new man away. He could tell that the man made Cuddy feel nervous and defensive and if he got the man to leave he could use it as leverage to get information out of her. He was going to bribe her.
"Oh, by all means please go on. Don't mind me," Daniel maneuvered skillfully. "I'm just a passive observer, that's actually why I came here, hoping to catch you doing one of your world famous diagnoses." He was a liar, but a very good one and House had to give him some credit to that.
"Alright, so Cuddy, you said the patient had a tachycardia right after you gave her the steroids for the infection. Well it's probably because the steroids are too strong for her, so why don't you try to put her on antibiotics." Too bad House was a better liar.
"Well, she has an allergy to the antibiotic as well as penicillin." Cuddy prolonged the fake diagnosis after seeing House's tactic. "Is there any alternative to what we can do?"
House saw his boss coming down the hall and knew that he was home free in a matter of seconds so he thought for a quick answer to make the conversation seem to stretch. "Well, why did she have the tachycardia? She was on steroids a few months ago forβ"
"Ah, Mr. Fisher there you are." Walters entered the room, perfect timing. "I see you've met the head of Diagnostics, Dr. House and one of his fellows, Dr. Cuddy."
"Yes and they showed me a very interesting glimpse at the diagnostics program. I do think I want to invest my money here." Fisher stated, same man, same lies.
"That's good to hear." Walters smiled. "Why don't we finish the tour," She motioned his towards the door and gave House and appreciative smile before leaving the room. How easily fooled some people could get.
The room was silent for a moment as Cuddy kept her eyes on the shut door in front of them. House turned and leaned to see her face before trying to follow her eyes. He put his head next to hers and looked at her and the door several times.
"I don't think you can open the door with your eyes, I mean I know they have a scary power but I don't think they can do that." House joked and Cuddy finally gave in and let out a soft chuckle, how he knew her so well she would never find out.
She turned to him and shot him a genuine, sincere smile. "Thank you," She told him admiringly, her eyes suddenly glistened at him as if they were filled with tears he knew weren't really there. "I really appreciate that."
"No problem," House shrugged off nonchalantly, "I'll find a way to use that against you." He gave a joking smile; though he knew what he was going to do he wasn't going to do it at that moment. "But you really should check on the patient." He told her, knowing that she was safe for the time being.
Cuddy gave a soft nod before turning toward the door. She began to head out but stopped in her tracks. She turned and walked up to House and gave him a hug. She remembered why it was also so hard for her to stay mad at him forever. Turning back on her heel swiftly, she accidentally knocked over a few papers on House's desk while slipping suddenly.
"I'm so sorry," She apologized as they both got down, picking up the mess even though it gave House's leg immense pain. "I have no idea how that just happened," She spoke embarrassedly. "I'm usually more coordinated, I have no idea how I slipped."
"Stop apologizing and clean up the mess," House commanded halfheartedly as he picked up a few papers and tried to ignore the pain.
Cuddy couldn't help but laugh a bit as she continued to clean. Once the mess was gone, she fixed the papers in her hand and looked down to see the enveloped that Lucas had given House. She recognized his handwriting almost immediately and she held it up to House with a brow cocked.
"You still have Lucas on the payroll?" She asked him surprised. Who did he need to look up nowadays? She looked back down at the stack of papers in her hand and her expression immediately changed. "What's this?" She asked as she dropped all the papers on his desk and picked up the top paper, reading it quickly.
"Cuddy, don't," House reached to grab the paper away but Cuddy turned around and walked away from him as she continued to read.
After reading the page she turned to House outraged and shocked. She then remembered the size of the envelope and quickly walked back to the desk to search through the papers. House placed his hand on top of the stack of papers to stop her.
"Cuddy, it's nothing you know I do this to all my employees." House told her sternly.
"Move your hand or I'll move it for you." Cuddy spoke in a threatening voice.
House refused to budge so she took his hand and pushed him off, yoga has really made her stronger. House caught himself before he could fall backwards and Cuddy began to quickly, and professionally, look through the papers. She found the pictures that Lucas sent and she looked at House angrily.
"You sent Lucas to spy on me?" She asked with disbelief. "You son of a bitch, I told you to mind your own damn business!" She exclaimed after he didn't answer. "It doesn't matter what happened a few months ago, but you couldn't let it go because it was something I knew that you didn't." She ranted on. "God, I can't believe I actually began to trust you again."
"Cuddy, this was for your own good." House told her.
"No," She refused. "Screw this! House, stay the hell out of my personal life and I don't want you anywhere near Rachel again." She stormed off.
House furrowed his brows angrily after she slammed the door. He punched his desk angrily at everything that just happened. How could a good plan have gone so wrong?
A/N: Okay, yeah I know alot of you are mad but this is setting up the rest of the story LOL. So dont hate me just yet! I hope you liked this chapter and I hope you hate Fisher, if you dont you will soon enough LOL. I'd love to hear all your thoughts, good or bad, and if you want this updated super soon you better go on my page and vote on the poll. Right now this is tied for second place to get updated next and all your votes matter, so go ahead and vote. Hope you guys liked it and please do review
-Jess
