7.11—"Response"

"I'd like a large coffee, please," Dr. Cuddy said to the barista in the hospital cafeteria. The woman didn't say anything. She prepared Cuddy's coffee and handed it to her with an unfriendly look. The smile on Cuddy's face faltered, but she didn't say anything. The barista was probably just having a bad morning.

Cuddy took her coffee and headed to her office. Several nurses and a paeds doctor stepped aside and avoided her eye on the way there. She looked down at herself. Had Rachel spit up on this shirt? But no, she was clean. It was probably nothing, she was just being paranoid.

"Good morning," Cuddy said to Brenda as she entered the clinic on the way to her office. Brenda just glared at her and didn't say anything. Cuddy shifted the coffee to her left hand so she could open her door, now feeling worried. What was going on?

Throughout the morning, no one came to see her with a problem. She tried to call a couple different departments to set up meetings, but neither answered their phones. Cuddy told herself it was just a coincidence, they were busy with patients. They weren't avoiding her. Then she checked her email for the third time in an hour and noticed something. No one within the hospital had sent her anything since yesterday. All of her emails were from doctors at other hospitals. No one, not a single member of her staff, had contacted her in any way all morning.

Cuddy went through her day, trying to ignore her increased feelings of paranoia and isolation. At 1pm she finally forced herself to get up and go back out to get some lunch.

It was the same story. The moment she left her office, heads turned to the floor, avoiding her eye. People moved out of the way as she passed. Even the workers in the cafeteria handed her her food silently, making eye contact for only a second, and that was accompanied by a glare.

Cuddy felt like she was in some sort of bizarre dream. The lunchroom cashier held out her hand for the money without even telling Cuddy her total. She was almost prepared to take her salad back to her office to eat when someone finally spoke to her. It was an E.R. Nurse, a woman in her late thirties.

"Dr. Cuddy, I was certainly no fan of Dr. House's, but what you've done is wrong. I think you should be ashamed of yourself."

And she walked away before Cuddy could even open her mouth to ask what she was talking about. She looked around the cafeteria and spotted Foreman sitting in a booth by himself. She'd just promoted him; he wouldn't treat her like the scum of the earth for no understandable reason. Cuddy placed her salad on his table and, with a quick smile, sat down across from him.

"How's it going?" she asked.

Foreman glared at her. "You shouldn't have done that," he said.

"Foreman, what are you talking about?" Cuddy asked, her frustration getting the better of her. "What is going on?"

"You told me you fired House because you caught him having sex with Wilson in the hospital. You said the job was mine." He looked at her, a bit hurt and angry.

"That is the reason I fired House," Cuddy insisted. "I have proof that it happened, I took it to the board, they approved it."

"But you would have fired him anyway," Foreman argued. "You approached me about the job before that happened. But after Wilson left. And after you told Wilson you'd fire House if he left."

Cuddy looked scandalised. She lowered her voice and leaned toward Foreman. "How do you know about that?"

Foreman gave her a confused look. "The email."

Cuddy's face was blank. Comprehension dawned on Foreman.

"You didn't send the email, did you? Someone else hacked into your email and sent it. Well it's a good thing they did. Do I want this job? Yes. But not like this. Goodbye, Cuddy."

He picked up his tray and left.

Abandoning her lunch, Cuddy got up and hurried back to her office. She checked through her sent mail folder, she searched Foreman's name and went through every email she'd sent him since House had left. Nothing. Nothing unusual. Nothing to suggest what she did. If someone had hacked into her email, they'd deleted the evidence. And now she didn't even know what she had supposedly sent.

Cuddy's searchings were interrupted by a knock on her door. It was Dr. Trobe, one of her more senior employees and board members.

"Good afternoon," Cuddy said, trying to look professional. "What can I do for you?"

He did not return her smile. "In light of the recent information we've received about the resignation of Dr. James Wilson and the termination of Dr. Gregory House, the board has called a meeting to discuss...you. And we've decided we'd like to hear from you before we make any decisions."

"Decisions about what?" Cuddy pressed, standing up. "Phillip, I'm on the board, if you have a meeting, I've got to be present–"

"–Not when you're the doctor whose employment we're discussing," Dr. Trobe contradicted.

"What?" Cuddy asked, following him anxiously as he left her office. "My employment is at stake, what are you talking about?"

"As I've said, we've decided to hear from you before we make any decisions," he repeated. "The entire board will have a discussion, first with you present and then without you present. Whatever you need to say, you can say it then."

She followed him into a conference room where, to her slight surprise, the rest of her board was already seated. Dr. Trobe gestured her toward the chair at the foot of the table, which she settled in uncomfortably while he took the head.

"The rest of us know why we're here," he began. "So, to start with, Dr. Cuddy, I'd like you to identify this."

There was a laptop computer on the table, and as he spoke he pressed a button, causing an audio file to start playing. Cuddy heard Wilson's voice,

I don't want to resign. I'd like things between you and me and you and House to go back to the way they were before. Please, if you just admit what you did and apologise for it, I'll tear up that letter. Just...please, Lisa.

Wilson, I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't give Monica my blessing to sleep with you and I certainly didn't hire her to break you and House up. I have nothing to apologise for, Wilson. But you're not resigning.

I am resigning. My mind was made up the moment I found out you're plotting against us. I can't work under these conditions, Lisa. I can't work for a woman who wants to steal away House's–and my–one chance at happiness.

...

...

I'll fire him. You're not leaving, Wilson. You go, he goes. And if you really love him, you know how much this job means to him. You'll stay.

No. I don't believe you, Cuddy. I'm calling your bluff. I'm leaving. If you can find it in you to admit what you did was wrong and make a sincere apology, I might come back. But right now I'm on my way to my office to clean out my things.

The board stared at Cuddy while she struggled to regain her composure.

"Dr. Cuddy," Dr. Trobe prompted. "Can you identify this recording?"

Cuddy cleared her throat. "That was...a conversation I had with Dr. Wilson just before he resigned. I...was not aware the conversation was being recorded."

"So you acknowledge that was your voice on the file, in addition to Dr. Wilson's?" another doctor sitting to the right of Dr. Trobe asked.

Cuddy nodded. "I...in retrospect, I realise I should not have made that threat. I have no excuse for it other than that I was emotional, I'd worked with Dr. Wilson for years and I did not want to lose him based on a misunderstanding. It was a threat I never intended to carry out. What I said, I said solely for the purpose of trying to talk Wilson out of resigning. I still shouldn't have said it and I regret saying it, but Dr. Wilson was right, I was bluffing. I didn't fire Dr. House until two days later, after I discovered him and Dr. Wilson...engaging in illicit behaviour on hospital property. That has already been discussed with this board. If Dr. Wilson hadn't already resigned I would have let him go as well. And I would have fired House for it regardless of whether Wilson resigned. I would not have fired him if the...incident in Wilson's office hadn't occurred."

The other members of the board exchanged glances.

"I've got to say, Lisa," Dr. Trobe spoke up. "It's a pretty convenient coincidence that Drs. House and Wilson engage in this illicit behaviour, giving you an excuse to fire the former, less than forty-eight hours after you threaten to do so."

"Perhaps, but that's all it is—a coincidence," Cuddy insisted. "I have irrefutable evidence that it took place and neither Dr. House nor Dr. Wilson denied that it happened. I asked this board if we wanted to allow Dr. House to make a statement before we agreed to dismiss him but we decided the evidence spoke for itself. I admit, I've given House a lot of room over the years to operate as he pleases, but we all agreed this crosses the line. What our employees do in their personal life is not the business of the hospital as long as they keep it out of the hospital. Dr. House dug his own grave on this one—I'm sure you'd be calling me into a meeting if I hadn't let him go for his behaviour. I admit, saying what I said to Dr. Wilson was a mistake, and it's unfortunate that it came at such a time to cause you to doubt my reliability, but I assure you, the threat was completely empty and the fact that House's termination occurred so shorty after it was an unfortunate coincidence. I can also promise that nothing like this will ever happen again."

Cuddy held her breath as the board members looked at each other.

"All right," Dr. Trobe said. "We've heard what you had to say. I'm going to ask you to step outside while we discuss this privately, and we'll call you back in once we've reached a decision."

The rest of the board nodded along with him, and Cuddy expelled her breath as she got up.

It wasn't very long before they called her back in. Cuddy wasn't sure if that meant good news or bad news, but she kept a couple of fingers on her wrist, monitoring her speeding heart rate.

"In light of what you've had to say, we've decided not to suspend your employment," Dr. Trobe said, causing Cuddy to breathe a silent sigh of relief. "We still take your threat to Dr. Wilson very seriously, but we agree that Dr. House's actions merit termination despite this. And we recommend you write Drs. House and Wilson a letter of apology. We will be sending a memo to the staff with our decision, but since the two of them no longer work here, it would be best for yourself and the hospital if you let them know what happened." At this point, Dr. Trobe did give a small smile. "You wouldn't want to get involved in a lawsuit."

[]

Cuddy felt relieved as she walked back down to her office, but that didn't make her any less pissed off. How dare Wilson record that conversation without informing her? In her office, on her turf? It could have gotten her fired. And yes, the board would send out a memo and the staff would know they supported her, but people would still draw their own conclusions.

And what if—Cuddy winced—what if this got out? What if some of her doctors had already sent it to contacts at other hospitals? That recording could destroy her reputation! Wilson and House were playing dirty, hitting below the belt. At least Cuddy had kept her sex pictures between herself and the board. Of course, it was too late to spread those now. The board would probably know it was her. And they would not be impressed. No, she was too professional for that.

She would have to find another way to hit them below the belt.

[]

"I'm not wearing a tie," House announced.

"Greg, we're meeting with Cuddy and her lawyer. You should wear a tie."

"I'll wear a tie if it needs to be done to win a bet, or on a first date, or when I go to court. We're not going to court. It's just a lawyer meeting. It's a conference room at the hospital. I'm not wearing a tie."

Wilson sighed and straightened his own tie. "All right, whatever you want, House. Are you ready to go, then? We don't want to be late."

House scoffed. "You don't want to be late. I'm indifferent to lateness."

"House," Wilson said, grabbing his arm and forcing him to catch his eye. "You want to do this, right? This was your idea."

"I know," House said, stepping back and breaking eye contact. "Yes, I want to do this. She hurt us. I want to win zillions of dollars in a lawsuit, or the hospital, so we can both work and we don't have to work for her."

"But you'll settle for your job back," Wilson clarified, scanning his eyes carefully. "What she did was wrong, but if she offers your job back, you'd rather work for her than not at all."

House didn't look at him.

"House?" Wilson prompted.

"Yes," House said finally. "If she folds enough to give me my job back, I'll take it. But as a last resort, all right?"

"All right," Wilson agreed, eyeing House attentively.

"Let's go," House said, not looking at him. "We don't want to be late."

[]

They met their lawyer at the hospital. He was a dignified older man with grey hair and a matching suit. House noticed uneven breathing on occasion and wanted to diagnose him with a lung problem, but he would need a scan first and kept remembering he couldn't order scans anymore.

House trudged down the hallways with Wilson and the lawyer, trying not to look at anything. Why did it have to be here? Why couldn't they meet at one of their lawyers' offices?

The blinds were drawn in the conference room, rendering the glass walls pointless. It was just as well; House didn't want to spend more time with Lisa Cuddy in his field of vision than was strictly necessary. Their lawyer entered the conference room first, taking a seat at the table. House followed with Wilson behind him.

Sitting on the end of the table were two women. Cuddy was wearing her best professional-seeming low-cut blouse. The fact that she was leaning over the table to read something gave everyone in the room an ample view of her cleavage, but House ignored her to focus on her lawyer.

A woman, middle-aged but still attractive, with shiny, straight dark brown hair. There were laugh lines around her mouth, but they added character rather than detracting from her beauty. She was wearing a suit showing far less cleavage than Cuddy, but it was still feminine. On her chest rested a small crucifix on a gold chain around her neck.

House opened his mouth; he had stopped breathing.

Stacy Warner looked up and smiled at him. "Hi, Greg," she said softly.

House didn't say anything. He didn't close his mouth. His brilliant blue eyes seemed faded, registering first shock, then a flicker of pain before finally reverting to a forced stoicism. For a moment he stared at Stacy, then he turned his head a fraction of an inch to look at Cuddy. She was biting her bottom lip and she swallowed.

"House..." Cuddy started, her tone apologetic, as she started to get up.

House turned around. "Forget it," he muttered to a distressed looking Wilson. "They win. I don't care. Let's go."

"House–" Wilson started to say, but he was interrupted by Cuddy.

"House, I–"

"–Get away from me," House said, turning to glare at her and wrenching his arm from where she'd tried to touch him. "I said you win. Isn't that enough for you? Keep your hospital, keep you money, keep–"

"–No, House, forget it, I'm sorry, you can have your job ba–"

"–I don't want it," he said sullenly, looking at the ground. "Forget it. You win. I don't care."

"House," Wilson said softly, stepping between him and Cuddy and looking him in the eye. His hand closed firmly around House's wrist. "Come on, let's go." He guided him out of the room without looking at anyone and let the door close behind him.

Wilson and House's lawyer cleared his throat. "I think we may have to reschedule this," he said. He turned to Stacy. "After I speak with my clients, I'll call you–"

"–That won't be necessary," Cuddy cut him off.

"I'm sure Dr. House didn't mean...the meeting hadn't started, we weren't on record yet–"

"–If they want to schedule another meeting, you can speak with me directly," Cuddy said, looking him in the eye. "But for now, you can go..." she broke eye contact and sank into a chair, sighing and putting her face in her hands.

Stacy looked up at the other lawyer until he left, and then got up and sat down next to Cuddy.

"Lisa, what?–"

"–I messed up," Cuddy said, her voice breaking. "I lied. I didn't hire you because you know House and you'd help me win the lawsuit. I hired you because I knew how much seeing you again would hurt him, and I wanted to hurt him. Or I thought–" Cuddy sniffed, and wiped a couple of tears from her cheeks. "Stacy, I wanted him to give in, I wanted to break him, but I didn't want...Stacy, you saw him. He looked so...broken. I did that. I hurt him. I wanted to hurt him and I did, but what...what for? Why? So he would love me instead of Wilson?" She gave a humourless laugh. "I called you here because I knew he loved you...and he'll never love me as much as he loved you. And he'll never love me the way he loves Wilson." She sniffed again. "I screwed up, Stacy. And now I've lost not only two of my best doctors, my boyfriend, my reputation...I've also lost two of my best friends." Cuddy accepted a Kleenex from Stacy and wiped her eyes. She looked at her lawyer. "So what do I do?"

Stacy bit her lip and shrugged. "You apologise."

Cuddy chuckled again. "You really think they'll forgive me?"

"No," Stacy said. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it."