Alternate Ending to 'Unfaithful'
Cuddy stood at the nurse's station looking through all the messages that were left for her during the day, but mainly she was just stalling. Then, finally, she saw House exit the elevators and head to the front doors, undoubtedly going home to an empty apartment and a few glasses of bourbon. As House passed by her, she grabbed her briefcase and began to walk to catch up to him. They reached the front doors and stopped, both looking blankly outside at the falling snow while their minds raced.
As if trying to avoid the silence, House spoke in a soft tone, "It's cold out there."
"At least you have shoes that cover your toes," Cuddy replied, in an equally soft tone.
House peered down at her feet, and then returned his gaze to the darkness beyond the hospital doors.
"So, it's tonight?" he asked, barely audible.
Even though Cuddy was wanting to invite him, she had hoped that he wasn't the one to bring it up. "Yup. Bad weather for it, huh?" she said, trying to make it sound like it wasn't something she was looking forward to.
"Maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe your sister will decide the roads are too dangerous to drive on," House answered.
This certainly wasn't the reaction that Cuddy had expected from him. She thought for sure he'd try to get in one more barb about her spiritual hypocrisy.
With a gentle laugh she replied and gestured, "Fingers crossed."
House moved his eyes to Cuddy and met her eyes. Cuddy opened her mouth to tell him that she wanted him to be there, but at the last moment, her head won the argument over her heart, and she fell silent.
A brief flash of sadness appeared in his eyes as he said, "Have fun," and walked out in the cold winter night.
Despite not wanting to part ways, they did, the same old story not changing its course just yet. House headed to his car parked in his handicapped space as Cuddy walked towards the parking garage. With every step, she cursed herself more and more for not having the courage to invite him. She stopped and turned to watch him limp away from her. She didn't want him to be alone tonight, and she didn't want to be without him either.
"House," she called out to him. With the aid of his cane, he pivoted to turn and face her.
"I want you to be there tonight," she blurted out.
House stared back at her for a moment and then nodded. She nodded back and, not knowing what else to say, turned away from him and started back to her car. It was House this time who watched Cuddy walk away, the movement of her hips, even partially hidden by her coat, was enough to mesmerize him. And then House smiled.
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Cuddy was preoccupied at the ceremony, repeatedly walking to her front window and looking out for any trace of House. Every time there was a knock on the door, her heart began to pound but was disappointed when it was anyone else but him. From across the room, she made eye contact with Wilson, who gave her a knowing look of comfort.
When all the guests had arrived and were conversing in small groups amid Cuddy's ground floor, a familiar knock came from the front door. Handing the baby off to her sister, Cuddy went to answer the door. As she opened the door, what she saw left her both breathless and speechless. House was standing in front of her in a grey tailored suit, a white ironed shirt and a solid blue tie, no cane to be seen.
After a few moments of stunned silence, Cuddy finally smiled and said appreciatively, "You made it."
"Sorry I don't have a gift for Rachel," House replied, "I wasn't invited until a couple hours ago, so no time to go to the store."
Cuddy laughed. "You wouldn't have bought her a gift even if you had been invited for a month."
"Ah, so you do know me," House teased. He then looked past Cuddy into her house at the gathering of people. Cuddy saw a hint of nervousness and trepidation in his eyes. She knew that this was hard for him. Placing himself in mundane situations and acting like a 'regular' person wasn't something that he did often.
"It's not going to be that bad, it'll be over before you know it," Cuddy said, trying to reassure him.
Stepping into the house from the cold, he said, "We'll see."
House walked up to two of the familiar faces in the crowd - Chase and Wilson.
Eyeing Chase up and down, he asked, "Since when do seminary boys wear yarmulkes?"
Wilson answered for him. "Since I gave him one to wear for this JEWISH ceremony. I got one for you too." He held out a blue and white yarmulke, similar to the one that Chase was wearing.
"I am NOT putting that on," House stated.
"Too bad, it would have covered up your balding spot rather nicely," Wilson joked.
"Call me when you reach puberty and your facial hair starts coming in, I'll throw the bar mitzvah myself," House quipped. "Now. Time for the booze." He made a beeline for the serving cart.
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Cuddy kept an eye on House all night, but not because she didn't trust him to behave. She was actually fairly certain that he was going to be on his best behavior; the way he looked at her when he first arrived told her that much. She was just amused at watching House trying to interact with people and having casual conversations. Cuddy even swore at one moment that she actually saw House bite his tongue so that he wouldn't say something rude to one of the guests.
It had to happen. It was inevitable. As House was filling up his wine glass, he ran into Cuddy's parents.
Cuddy's mom stuck her hand out. "Hi. I'm the proud grandmother. How do you know Lisa?"
House looked down at her hand and took it, "I work for your daughter, I'm Greg House."
Mrs. Cuddy's eyes widened as the name registered with her. "So you're the one who gives Lisa such a hard time at work?"
Cuddy's father butted in. "He wouldn't do it if she couldn't handle it. She's a strong girl." He put his arm around Lisa, who had just walked up to join the conversation.
Mr. Cuddy's comments had really resonated with House. Was he harder on Cuddy because he knew that she could take it? He had never put serious thought into it before. But he was even more amazed at the way that Cuddy had described House to her mother. He gave her a 'hard time'? That was certainly putting it mildly. He made her job so much harder than necessary. He had pushed her to tears on more than one occasion. And yet, she brushed off his actions as nothing more than a minor annoyance - on the outside at least.
Cuddy's laugh broke House's train of thought, "Thanks dad. But the way I look at it - the more he misbehaves, the more clinic duty he has to do. And more of our patients get to be treated by the best doctor in the hospital."
"Yeah because no one else is competent enough to cure those runny noses," House said sarcastically.
Mrs. Cuddy looked down at her watch, "My, it's getting late. We'd better get going honey. You don't need any help cleaning up?"
Cuddy shook her head, "No, I've got help. Thank you for coming; it means a lot to me." Cuddy quickly glanced at House after saying this.
"It's our granddaughter. We wouldn't have missed it for the world," Mr. Cuddy replied as he wrapped his daughter into a warm embrace.
Mrs. Cuddy turned to House, "It was nice to meet you Greg. Try to take it easy on Lisa these next couple of months."
House smiled, "I'm not going to make any promises."
As the guests began to slowly trickle out, House disappeared into another room. When everyone had finally left, Cuddy let out a sigh and went to put Rachel in her crib. As she gave Rachel a kiss on her forehead, she heard the faint sound of music coming from down the hall. Walking to her study, Cuddy saw that House had discovered her piano. His eyes were closed as he was already lost in the music after just a few notes.
"I see you found my piano," Cuddy said, almost regretting the distraction she caused for him.
"It's old, it's got character. I like it," House replied softly as his fingers continued to gently caress the keys.
"It was my grandmother's," Cuddy said absently, as she herself had become caught up in House's playing.
House stopped playing for a moment and looked up at her, "Thank you," he said.
"For what?"
"For inviting me."
"I wanted you to be here. Thank you for coming," Cuddy said as she looked down and ran her finger along the top of the piano.
House said nothing in response, but rather, began playing a new song. Starting off with a very classical music feel, he slowly transitioned into a more uptempo beat, resembling that of traditional Jewish music.
"That's pretty. Who is it?" Cuddy asked.
Without looking up House answered, "It's nothing that you have heard before."
Cuddy took this to mean that House had made this arrangement on his own. She smiled as she recognized a few lines from the Rolling Stones.
"What's the song about?"
This time House looked up at Cuddy, "It's about this girl I know."
THE END.