Notes: Everyone out there knows Ed Sheeran's 'Perfect', right? I'm perfectly conscious he wrote this song a few years after the ending of House MD, but I got inspired by this song for this chapter and the one after this, so I decided to use it anyway
Chapter 9 - Perfect
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Cuddy opens her front door and the hint of a smile plays on her lips at the smell of coffee coming from the kitchen. She runs a hand on her forehead and she looks down at the sweat stains on her top tank.
No, there's no way she's going to meet House like this. Labored breathing and sweat dripping all over her body. It's what happened when you have to reschedule your morning training from yoga to running, something she has to do since she can't practice yoga in the living room in front of a sleeping House. And now she definitely needs to shower, get dressed and maybe to have a cup of that coffee before being late.
Half an hour later she watches at herself in the mirror. She has had no time to straighten her hair, and it has curled up in her natural hair.
Her head suddenly turns at the knock on her bedroom room, meeting House's eyes.
"Holy -!" House's eyes moves from Cuddy's naked shoulders to the perfect curve of her lower back till her black pencil skirt "Sorry"
She turns to him, holding a light blue silk blouse still on the hanger in front of her chest, and another hanger in the other hand, a white blouse on it. But, what was supposed to be a glare, turns in a half-amused look, highlighted by the curling up of one side of her lips.
She just shakes her head slightly, turning to the mirror to give another look to herself.
"Well, it looks like you haven't changed you habits," she says, referring to House's aversion for knocking on the doors, or for waiting for an answer before entering.
She waits for meeting House's eyes in the mirror, but it looks like his eyes have been drawn somewhere else.
House's eyes move on Cuddy bare back again, lingering on the flesh-color strip across of it as his mind goes back at the feeling of his own fingers, moving under it and unclasping her bra... the feeling of her skin...
His eyes move down on her skirt as he imagines a matching flesh-color underwear under it. That skirt is so tight-fitting she just can wear a very small thong under it, or nothing at all. And he feels his jeans suddenly becoming tighter in turn to that thought.
She clears her throat.
"Enjoying the view?" She teasingly asks, not really annoyed actually, this time finally meeting House's eyes in the mirror glass together with the smirk of someone who has been caught with the hands in the cookie jar.
"Make yourself useless at least" she says "Which one? Blue or white?"
"It depends,"
Cuddy turns to House this time, and her blue eyes meet House's again, a questioning look in them.
"- on what kind of meeting" He adds, finishing the sentence.
Both Cuddy's eyebrows lift in an even more questioning look, and House rolls his eyes theatrically, like if she's playing dumb. His hand reaches for a paper on the dresser near the door and he turns it between his hands. The invitation to the fundraiser gala she's organizing.
"The white one," he says, looking up from the invitation card, gaining an even more questioning look from Cuddy.
House grumbles and a smirk plays on his lips.
"I guess you'll meet donors today. So... the blue one highlights the color of your eyes, Lisa. No matter how much low-necked the shirt is, your eyes will be distracting for the purpose. Put on the white one, with a white bra, lace maybe. So you can pretend you chose your underwear to get it unnoticed under the white blouse. The flesh-color one you're wearing just disappears under your clothes, and it doesn't bring enough attention on your breast"
Cuddy's lips part and she gives him a glare.
"Um... thank you for calling me a slut, House. Believe it or not, I don't sleep with every donor who steps into my office. But, maybe you're recovering after all"
House just shakes his head and he looks down for an instant. He still can't recognize himself. And Cuddy feels like shit for that comment.
Actually he never called her a slut, not using that exact word actually. Not anyone else word like that. He used to give her puns and innuendos and piercing comments...which she could paraphrase in a slut epithet anyway. But he obviously can't remember it.
"Fine, I'll go with the blue one then. Just in case," She tries an amused tone and he just shrugs, not returning her smile, but intently watching her as she takes the blouse from the hanger and she puts it on "there's not room for another man in this house right now"
He just nods and watches her as her arms slip into the silky sleeves, and the two sides of fabric meet in front of her chest.
"May I ask you something?"
Cuddy chuckles this time, not turning toward House and just continuing to button up her blouse.
"Just ask, House. I'm not used to this good-mannered attitude of yours"
He gives another little nod, still turning the Gala invitation between his hands.
"May I come to this Fundraiser thing?"
A laugh bursts from Cuddy's throat, and House holds her gaze.
"Ok, you're definitely not recovering yet" she smiles and shakes her head slowly "You, in a tuxedo and behaving? You sure I'm not the one having hallucinations right now?"
House smirks at Cuddy amused look, watching her fingers as they don't button the last button, leaving her cleavage partially visible. Actually he isn't sure he wants to recover completely and being back to be the man she had known in the last ten years... actually he isn't sure he wants to 'meet' the man he had been in the last ten years.
"You sure you can call it 'behaving', Lisa?" House teases, running his tongue on his lips "Maybe I'm just trying to hit on you. I'm breathtaking in a tuxedo, you know?"
"And modest"
Cuddy's crooked smile gets a mirrored one on House's face.
.
A couple of hours later House snorts from the sofa. He's supposed to rest. His head aches a little less now, but both Cuddy and Wilson haven't allowed him to do anything else than resting in the past week. He's definitely dying of boredom.
.
Cuddy reaches out for her cellular phone and watches for a moment at the incoming call before answering it.
House.
She's used to upsetting call from him, always with a perfect timing for annoying her with one of his unnerving requests, or at least to disturb her in the middle of a meeting. Now a call from him is at least weird and, honestly, she's more worried than upset now.
"Sorry to bother you, "
The hint of a smile plays on Cuddy's face at the sound of House voice, and she gives a glance at the old man sitting in front of her desk, controlling her facial muscles in her best attempt to stay unperturbed.
"Is everything ok, Dr. House?"
She just asks in her professional tone, not rude though.
"Have you already had that financing?"
"Not yet"
"You should have wore the white blouse"
She can "feel" his smirk on the other side of the line and she mentally rolls her eyes at him, just looking down instead, and then again at the man in front of her. Her teeth bite on the inner flesh of her lower lip.
"House," She just says firmly, pushing him to go on.
"Sorry," he chuckles "I need the password of your PC. It looks like the traumadidn't give me hacking abilities"
"Perfect. Capital P"
"Um," House laughs "Who's the modest one here, Sunshine?"
She wants to explain it's just the title of a famous song. Her favorite lately. But she has no time to talk on the phone now. For a moment she finds herself wondering if she left something somehow compromising on her personal computer, but she has no time for that either.
.
Time. Yeah, time is never enough. She actually needs 48-hour-days. And she doesn't need to give a look at her watch neither... no more patients in the Clinic waiting room and the bright lightening in there has turned in a soft one, indicating that she's clearly far from her scheduled work time. And far from dinner time.
She had texted House she was being very late, and she had reminded him of the many take-away menus in the first drawer of the kitchen counter. She rarely orders food actually, so it's just a sort of collection. It comes in handy with her nephews sometimes. And at least, now, she doesn't have to worry about a man in his forties starving to death.
The umpteenth budget report, revising the papers for a keynote lecture, the Fundraiser Gala preparation. Not to mention that in the last month she had to replace Dr. Meyers in his Endocrinology Class since he got mononucleosis. Preparing tests and correcting them is draining.
It's far from dinner time, but it looks like she has too much to worry about now to worry about her own starving.
She closes her eyes and her fingers massage the point between her eyebrows, then opening her eyes again at the knock on her office door. A very young assistant appears on it, holding in his hand a packet of papers as the Dean gives him a little smile. Marcus takes just a step into the office and suddenly stops as soon as someone, towering over him from behind his shoulders, steals the papers from his hands.
He turns abruptly, giving a scolding look to the man behind him, even if he's at least double his age, and almost double his size.
"It's ok, Marcus. Thank you" Cuddy says as the boy just nods, exchanging a look with the intruder.
House gives him a piercing look and Cuddy can almost see the young one blushing lightly and looking away, then hurrying to leave, almost tripping, passing under House's arm as he keeps the door open for him.
"What was that?" Cuddy's look is serious, but her tone is intrigued and curious.
House just gives a look at the papers now in his hands, as a crooked smile plays on his lips.
Cuddy lift both her eyebrows in a questioning way, then her mouth opens and closes in disbelief as House throws the entire packet in the waste basket near the door.
"What the hell are you doing?" Her tone is now clearly upset.
"You really didn't get it, right?" He pushes the subject, even if she clearly has no idea what subject is he talking about.
House walks to her desk and turns around it, then stopping behind her seat, bending down to reach the keys of her keyboard. He ignores both her "what?" and her "House?" and just stops when he finds what he was looking for. He points at the screen.
"Notice nothing weird, you Dean of Medicine?" He asks as Cuddy's eyes move on the screen of her computer. The summary of the grades of the students of the Endocrinology Class.
"These ones," House's finger points to a couple of lines "they all got an A till one month ago. But it looks like you gave them more difficult tests compared to Meyers' and their A(s) turned in B and B in their last examination"
"I gave them nothing impossible. I'm not that harsh"
"You are. A real pain in the ass sometimes. But it's not the point" House teases as Cuddy gives him a halfhearted glare "These ones are the point instead" he points to the rest of the class grades. 13 students. "Their grades have turned from a collection of C and B, at most, to A. All the 13 of them. They're clearly cheating you out"
"You got this just in a few hours on my computer? How is I didn't notice?"
Cuddy's mouth opens and her widen eyes meet House's. He's right. It's clear something is wrong, and they are clearly cheating behind her back. She runs a hand on her face and sighs.
"Well, a few hours on your computer... your young assistant's look... and the fact that I caught him as he put one of those papers in the back pocket of his jeans. How long has he been working here?"
Cuddy's mouth hangs open again and her look moves from House to the door and back to House. One month. The answer to House's question. Lucille, her assistant, has turned out to have mononucleosis too (nothing weird still there had been rumors about she and Meyers having an affair) and she couldn't have been picky. She needed an assistant right and there and Marcus had been the only available one.
"Wonderful" Cuddy sighs in exasperation and her hand massages her forehead. She has to add 'firing her new assistant and finding a newer one' to the endless list of things to do. And surely she isn't going to let the class making fool of her, and that means she has to prepare another test for the following day "If I catch the one who started this I-"
House laughs at the look in Cuddy's eyes.
"Oh c'mon. They're kids,"
"Yeah, kids who are supposed to become doctors, House. They are supposed to be responsible"
Another laugh comes from House's throat.
"And yet, I remember you being part of a criminal conspiracy once" he teased "A pretty good performance as far as I remember" he teases more.
She rolls her eyes. She swallows and runs her tongue on her lips, preventing a smile from forming in there.
"That one was just the first one of a hundred times series in which I had to save your ass, House"
She intended to give him a glare, but it turns in an amused smirk.
# "Greg, you're out of mind!" Cuddy grabs House's shirt from behind his shoulders, but he doesn't stop and just keeps to walk down the stairs of the auditorium toward the teacher's desk.
"Don't be a pain in the ass. I just want to have a little look, "
"Or your ass kicked out," she says "You don't need it to pass the test"
His purpose is clear. To give a look at the papers Mr. Ericsson has in his bag, ready for tomorrow Endocrinology test. Gregory House well knows he doesn't need to cheat to pass the test actually. It's just a business deal. Selling the test questions and winning a bet... it's just business.
"I'm not helping you. If you want to be expelled, well, suit yourself"
House ignores her and he reaches for Mr. Ericsson's bag on the desk, looking at Cuddy's back as instead she heads to the same door beyond which Ericsson has just disappeared in turn. House's fingers look for the papers folded in the business bag and he quickly unfolds them to give a look.
. Hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.
. Adrenal gland and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
. Renin- angiotensin-aldosterone-system.
. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone...
Banal. And predictable.
House looks up with an amused look, but it suddenly disappears as his eyes catch Lisa's.
It's like panic has washed up the color from her face and her posture tenses even more as their eyes meet. She abruptly turns to the door again almost bumping against the teacher.
Actually House just catches sight of a glimpse of Ericsson's dark green jacket, but enough to hurry to put the papers back in the bag.
He hears an "Oh my God..." from Cuddy's lips. A whisper honestly, but loud enough to be heard to him too.
She leans on the teacher's arm like in an attempt to steady herself as her free hand covers her eyes and the books that are in her arms fall loudly on the floor.
"Are you all right, Miss?"
House hears Mr. Ericsson asking in a worried tone, and his hand takes Lisa's forearm to support her from falling.
She doesn't answer and instead she lets herself falling on the ground.
She doesn't move as the teacher checks her pulse and calls for help. She can feel the voices of the group of people forming around her like bees around a beehive.
Then, an arm slips under her neck and shoulder and another one under her knees and she feels herself scooped up in strong arms. She lets her head fall back, fighting the temptation to rest it against House's chest instead. Equally she lets her arm swinging as he does his best to settle her motionless body better in his arms.
"I'm taking her in the infirmary" he says.
There's no answer, so probably the teacher just nods.
She waits a minute before lifting her head slowly and resting it in a more comfortable way against House's chest. Her arm moves to his chest in turn.
House chuckles on her hair, but she doesn't open her eyes yet.
"I'm impressed, Lise. You just earned a nomination for Emmy awards" he teases, whispering on the top of her head "Fabulous control on your antagonist muscles. A very good fainting. You almost got me there!"
Cuddy just grumbles something incomprehensible and inaudible against his pectorals and he smirks.
"I'm serious. You're the perfect partner in crime"
A smile plays on her lips and she slaps his chest.
"Shut up, you idiot. Just take me out of here" #
"Well, my personal Bonnie, it looks like I still owe you a dinner"
Cuddy smiles and she shakes her head.
"Well, Clyde, I still owe you a beer for... er... your lesson for my Anatomy test. We're even"
"I'm offended. Are you the one calling me a male prostitute this time? I didn't sell my hot body for a beer, Sweetheart"
Cuddy rolls her eyes and slaps House's arm, strong enough to get an 'ouch' from his mouth.
"I wasn't referring to that very private lesson, House"
She glares at him this time, holding his stare then looking down as she feels her cheeks blushing slightly.
"Anyway... I'm sorry House, but I'm very busy now, I-"
It's just an attempt to change the subject, but she stops as he heads to the door without a word. Maybe she has been too rude... he just wanted to help and make fun of her in the only way he can remember. It was just a joke after all, and, to be honest, she's the one who started it this time, on the same morning, reproaching him for his subtly derogatory suggestions about her dressing like a hooker to deceive donors. Guilt rises in Cuddy's stomach and she feels a lump forming in her throat. She opens her mouth to say something, but she stops as soon as House doesn't reach out for the door handle, but, instead, he bends down to take a paper from the waste basket.
He moves back to the desk and takes the pen from the open folder in front of Cuddy, quickly dashing off something on the paper, marking something here and there, crossing out some lines and writing down something else. He quickly reads it one more time and he puts it in front of Cuddy again. His eyes don't meet hers and guilt hits her even harder at the realization that he has just rewritten, and fixed, the test for her students.
"Anyway," he says in turn this time "I'd like to be here just to bother you, like I know you were used to, but this was supposed to be a formal visit instead"
He sits down in the chair in front of her desk, and she automatically straightens her back, giving him a questioning look.
"Formal?"
He nods.
"It's been three weeks and I still remember just useless little pieces of my life. I can't need a babysitter forever. It's time for me to go back to my apartment and to try to have my medical license back. Is your so-called consultation offer here still on the table?"
Cuddy's eyebrows furrow and she looks down at her own intertwined fingers before looking at him again.
Why is she shaken now? It's something good, right? House's attempt to be back to normality. With or without his full memory. It's good. And yet...
She swallows at the lump in her throat and at the sudden hole she can feel in her chest. And for a moment it's like being once again on that bench in the Campus... alone, after House's disappearance.
...C'mon Lisa, you're so pathetic!
"Sure"
It doesn't exit her mouth steady and firm like she intended to, but if he notices it he doesn't show it.
"Er... I can arrange for tomorrow if you like" She tries to keep it professional, and she watches him as again he just nods.
She gives a nod in turn, and her hand reaches out for the phone receiver. House's team has been on a case for days and she knows Foreman is still in his office...well, House's office.
House nods once more as soon as Cuddy closes the call, and this time he takes something from his pocket, then putting it in front of Cuddy. She doesn't reach out for it, and she just looks at the silvery key that has been House's in the last days and that will be back under the second vase on the left on her front door.
He doesn't say anything, but he looks at her like he's reading her mind. Is it that clear? That she feels not at ease? That she can't be indifferent to this new 'him'? That she's struggling against her own feelings? But she can't allow herself to let go. She would like to be back to the girl she was twenty years ago, but too much time had gone. And most of all she can't allow herself to fall for him. Not again. She has a soft point for him. She's always had. He's as interesting and smart and handsome as much as he's irritating and upsetting. He's definitely not a predictable or ordinary man... but she does't know if she's ready to admit to herself, or to anyone else, that he's the most extraordinary man she's ever met.
It's her turn to nod at House's 'thank you' as she tries her best to keep her role. He stands up and smirks this time, meeting her gaze again. His eyes shine and his smile grows larger, then a chuckle escapes his throat. He can read a 'what?' in Cuddy's eyes, and he answers her unspoken question before she can say it out loud.
"Since I'm not a patient anymore, I'm allowed to flirt with my boss now, right?"
Cuddy's eyebrows lift for a second and then her lips part slightly. Just a second. Then she gives him the same piercing look, a nod and a chuckle in turn.
"Well, yeah, I'm sure Foreman will be thrilled" she teases giving him a smut look.
