Late for work

[dr_gregoryhouse]

Who: House, Cuddy (closed)
Where: Cuddy's office
What: House is about three hours late to work
When: Monday 22nd May, the day after House and Wilson return from Atlantic City. Just after midday.

Comments

[dr_l_cuddy]

Cuddy had been burying herself in paperwork all morning. It wasn't hard to do; there were always mountains of paperwork waiting for her. And it was still easier to busy herself with numbers and reports than to actually deal with life. Especially her life.

The fact that she'd just survived another birthday didn't make it any easier. She'd tried to ignore that, too, but a cheerful phone call from her parents and a card from one of her brothers had made that impossible. Hell, her brother hadn't even signed the card. The signature had obviously been forged by his wife. Normally that wouldn't bother Cuddy, but given that she hadn't wanted any reminders to begin with...well, it simply added suckage to a day that was already overflowing with suckage.

She rubbed a hand over her forehead, fighting off a headache caused by staring at numbers and graphs and footnotes for hours without a break. She really needed to stop and get some lunch. And she would. Soon...soonish at least. In the meantime she wanted to finish reviewing some requests from the legal department. She only briefly glanced up when House walked in, barely registering who it was. Then she did a double take, noting the helmet and bag.

"Are you just getting here?"

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House wondered what would be the smartest way to answer that question. Just be honest? Not honest? He couldn't really scope what mood Cuddy was in - other than somewhat distracted. Normally, Cuddy was on the ball when it came to him being on time or not to work. Then again, things weren't exactly normal between them lately.

"No," he replied, looking down at his helmet, then back up at Cuddy. "Just thought I'd carry my things around with me all day. Best form of theft prevention is to keep all your valuables on you."

[dr_l_cuddy]

Cuddy's jaw tightened at House's smartass response. She figured it was probably the only reason he'd stopped in her office--to rub her nose in the fact he was flaunting the rules again. Normally he preferred to hide his transgressions, at least until such time as it suited him to be discovered. Apparently this time it suited him to be discovered immediately.

"Are you even going to pretend to have a valid excuse for being late?" she asked as she signed off on release of records request. She looked back up at House. "Or did you just stop by to wish me a happy Monday?"

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House pursed his lips. Out of sheer habit, he started thinking of a possible false excuse for being late, seeing being a smartass to Cuddy was way more familiar than being awkward around her.

"It all started off when I was making my way to work this morning," he began mock seriously. "Travelling down the Brunswick Pike, this big sixty foot monster came out of the Carnegie Lake and started eating passing motorists." He gestured to himself with a mock look of relief. "Didn't get me, thank god."

His expression sobered at the look on Cuddy's face. "What?" he argued. "It's true!"

He gave a relenting sigh because he knew Cuddy wouldn't let him get away with being a smartass for long. He decided to just cut to the chase, be frank with her.

"How're you doing?" he asked, a little awkwardly but earnestly all the same.

[dr_l_cuddy]

"Of course, the famous Carnegie Lake monster," she said dryly. "You are lucky then. I hear it has a taste for doctors and sarcastic bastards. You'd be a real taste treat."

Cuddy grabbed another folder, determined to ignore House until he got tired of annoying her and went off to find someone else to annoy. She really didn't expect him to ask about her and she had to bite back some retort along the lines of 'what difference does it make to you?' Instead, she took a long moment to study his face, looking for hidden motives.

"I'm coping." A stern voice in her head rebuked her for the lie and she silently told the voice to shut up. She was coping. She might not be coping well, or in a healthy manner, but it was still coping. She was still a functioning, productive member of society so it counted.

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House nodded once. Coping was alright, he supposed, even if he didn't believe her. In truth he'd expected her to snap at him, so he was content to settle on 'coping'. Besides, if she'd said anything more than that, said she wasn't coping, House wouldn't have known what to say to her, anyway. Comforting and talking things out was Wilson's MO, not his.

Uncertain what else to say to her, House puffed his cheeks out and glanced around her office idly. Well, actually, he knew what he wanted to say to her - he was just building up the courage to say it.

After a long pause, he finally looked back to Cuddy. "Happy, uh..." He gestured at Cuddy with his helmet. "Happy birthday for yesterday."

God, that sounded lame. He didn't do birthdays, for a start; he always made a point of pretending he never knew when people's birthdays were. But he felt he kind of owed it to Cuddy to at least make an effort, pathetic though it was.

Knowing that was probably the last thing Cuddy expected to hear from him, he quickly sought to cover himself with a sarcastic comment or jibe - something about going through her computer files. He caught his tongue just in time, though - saying something like that would no doubt remind her of the whole stalker thing. So, he just stared at her, awkwardly.

[dr_l_cuddy]

Cuddy slowly raised her head and stared at House, incredulous. Happy birthday? Aside from the fact that it hadn't been a happy birthday, House never remembered birthdays. He never even tried to remember. Didn't it just figure that this year, when she didn't want to remember her birthday, he did.

She leaned back in her chair watching House as he stared at her in turn. Okay, she got it. He was trying in his own clumsy way to make up for being such a bastard. She would've preferred he just apologize and stay out of her way. Or even simply stay out of her way. Because House trying to be nice meant she had to be nice in return. She didn't want to be nice. The things he'd said hurt.

She knew that holding onto that anger wasn't helping her, though.

"Thank you," she said, unable to entirely dismiss her natural suspicions about House's behavior. "Please tell me you didn't put sugar in my gas tank or super glue on the toilet seats to celebrate."

[dr_gregoryhouse]

"Cherry bombs in the toilets, actually," he joked. "Figured if you're going to celebrate, might as well terrorise people while you're doing it. Like in true Cuddy spirit." He cocked his head in the general direction of the staff parking lot. "Got Wilson to decorate your car with toilet paper and shaving cream, too."

He smirked and then sobered again. He got that she was still angry with him, though he wondered how much longer she was going to remain that way. He'd apologised last time, sort of, so as far as he was concerned he didn't really get why she'd still be holding a grudge as big as the one she currently seemed to be holding.

The incredulous look she'd given him when he wished her happy birthday didn't inspire confidence for the reason he was actually here. He shifted on the spot restlessly and considered turning around and leaving her office. Might as well get this over and done with now before he chickened out.

"I, uh..." He looked down and set his helmet on the floor, followed by his bag, and then started towards Cuddy's desk as he reached into his inside pocket and fished around. "I got you something."

Reaching her desk, he produced a folded up piece of paper which he tossed down in front of her. It was a receipt with the price scribbled out crudely in pen so Cuddy couldn't see it. On the top of the receipt was the address for the Marriott Seaview Resort and Spa, the receipt being a confirmation of credit card purchase for a reservation he'd made online.

"From me and Wilson," he explained. Not that Wilson knew about this. Not yet, anyway. He'd spent ages agonising over whether or not to go ahead and book a reservation. He finally decided to go ahead with it when he came to the conclusion that Cuddy deserved it after everything that had happened to her recently. "Weekend at the Marriott in Galloway. Said you wanted a vacation, so..."

Oh god, this was awkward. He kind of wanted to escape and spend the rest of the day - maybe the rest of the week, or month, or year, maybe the rest of his life - avoiding Cuddy.

"It was either that, or a gorilla-gram at your next committee meeting," he finished after an uncomfortable pause.

[dr_l_cuddy]

"Cherry bombs, of course. Why didn't I think of that?" Cuddy was half tempted to have security check the bathrooms, just in case. But she suspected House would save something as dramatic as cherry bombs for a more important occasion than her birthday.

Her frown deepened as House approached her desk saying he'd gotten her something. Surely that didn't bode well. If House didn't do birthdays, he certainly didn't do presents. She retrieved the piece of paper from her desk and peered at it, uncomprehending until House explained.

Her eyes shot up to House, then back to the receipt. When she raised her eyes again her lips were parted in mild shock. She sat there and blinked. Then blinked again, hard. Then she suddenly realized she was trying to blink away tears. She hastily raised her hand to brush away the moisture.

"I...." She cleared her throat. To say she was overwhelmed would be a gross understatement. "I don't know what to say."

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House didn't really know what to say, either. He half expected her to refuse the gift, seeing she was still so evidently pissed at him. He also noticed the way she'd wiped her eyes, which just made him feel even more uncomfortable because what the hell was he going to do if she started to cry?

He didn't want to just stand there, feeling stupid while Cuddy wasn't sure what to say, so he pointed at the receipt and replied, "It's booked for this Friday night through to Sunday. Check-in is at four, so you might want to think about leaving work early. Make the most of it."

Before going ahead with placing a reservation, he'd scouted around online to find out what facilities were in the resort. The Elizabeth Arden Red Door treatment spa was part of the reason why he'd settled on the Marriott, as he figured Cuddy, like most women, probably liked the whole pampering thing. "If you want to make use of the beauty salon... thing, that's included in the price," he said, sounding even more lame and awkward than ever. "You just need to make an appointment with reception when you get there."

[dr_l_cuddy]

"You...you're serious, aren't you?" She waved the receipt at him. "I mean...this isn't a joke?"

She knew it wasn't a joke, not even House would be that cruel. She simply couldn't quite wrap her mind around the idea that he was giving her a gift. This gift. A gift he'd obviously put some thought and effort into choosing.

She didn't know if she'd be able to make the most of it. There was too much on her mind. Not just House, and Wilson, but the stalker and the upcoming trial and.... She was going to do her best though. A spa sounded amazingly good right now. She could definitely go for a little pampering. Or a lot of pampering.

Still clutching the receipt in her hand, she got up and walked around the desk. She walked right up to House before he could figure out what she was doing and run away. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him.

"Thank you," she said softly.

[dr_gregoryhouse]

No, it definitely wasn't a joke. He supposed he could see why Cuddy would think it was a joke, but he'd put so much thought into this gift that the idea of Cuddy possibly treating this as a joke stung.

"April Fool's," he joked stiffly. He watched her stand up from the desk and then begin to round it. "About a month and a half late, but who said practical jokes only have to fall on one specific day when--"

His words cut off when Cuddy suddenly hugged him. He stood there motionless, uncertain what to do or where to look. He threw a glance towards her office door to make sure no one was looking in before lifting his hand and awkwardly placing it on her back and giving it a pat.

He extracted himself from the embrace after she thanked him and looked down at her. "You deserve it," he said quietly.

[dr_l_cuddy]

"Yeah, well, how often does any of us get what we deserve?" she said softly. Or hell, maybe she had gotten what she deserved. House had been right about one thing; she was at least partially responsible for bringing the stalker and all its aftermath on herself.

She stepped back, then retreated behind her desk. She hadn't thought about it before hugging House, but it was a little weird. It was the first physical contact she'd had with him since...since that night. Just as well the thought hadn't occurred to her earlier or the hug would've been really awkward. More awkward than hugs with House usually were, that is.

She sat in her chair, suddenly feeling a little awkward about everything: the gift, hugging House, everything. "You do realize this doesn't get you out of clinic duty?" she said, trying to get back to their usual give and take.

[dr_gregoryhouse]

He watched Cuddy circle the desk again, glad for the physical space. It had occurred to him, too, that this was the first physical contact with Cuddy since that night, and the memory of that along with the memory of the fight he'd had with Wilson the night before made him feel a little on edge.

So, he was glad when Cuddy initiated familiarity between them. He relaxed somewhat and rolled his eyes with an exasperated show of hands. "Damn," he cursed with mock indignance. "Your ruthlessness knows no bounds. And here I was, hoping I could sweet talk your ruthlessness away. So much for that."

His face dropped to a more serious expression again as he studied Cuddy's face. Now would probably be a good time to leave, though he did wonder if anything had come of the whole issue with Cuddy's stalker. He remembered her saying she was going to press charges, along with the restraining order she'd gotten against the guy.

"So, uh..." He looked down, studying the floor. "Still pressing charges?"

[dr_l_cuddy]

"You should know better by now. It would take a lot more than sweet-talking to get me off your ass." Of course, House could simply do his job and that would get her off his ass, but that would be too simple and easy. House was never simple or easy.

Cuddy settled in behind her desk, but she'd kind of lost her earlier momentum. She'd certainly lost her concentration. Maybe she should go ahead and take a break: get some lunch, take a walk, something.

"What? Oh...yes," she said, abruptly pulled back to harsh reality. She was pressing charges but not because it would help her. Nothing would undo the damage he'd done. It wasn't going to make her feel all better to see him go to jail. The humiliation of having to expose her own stupidity in a courtroom would certainly cancel out some of whatever benefit she'd get from seeing him convicted. But she could stop him from doing it again, or at least slow him down. If she did nothing and he attacked another woman...that was guilt she didn't want.

"The cops, the lawyer, they don't exactly tell me everything that's going on with the investigation and...I'm not sure I want to know," she admitted. "I'll do what I have to do but I don't want to waste any more time on him than I already have."

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House frowned at Cuddy. "But this is to do with justice for what happened," House argued mildly. "The cops and the lawyer not telling you everything that's going on, that's them keeping you in the dark. You'd be keeping yourself in the dark, too, by not demanding to know what's going on. Don't you want to know that the decisions being made and the direction of the investigation is going in your favour?"

He sighed and cocked his head to the side as he watched Cuddy's face. Why wouldn't she want to know? Because she didn't want to think about the guy? Because she didn't want to face what had happened? Because she felt embarrassed, humiliated?

He wasn't sure what prompted it, but he had a sudden memory of Cuddy in his office the Saturday after... that night, flash into his mind. How she'd stood there while he attacked her, said hurtful things, degraded her for what had happened... He let his head drop forward as a stab of guilt went through him. God, in hindsight, he really could have handled that better. That was an understatement of the year. He lifted his hand to his forehead and gave it a rub before turning his eyes back up to Cuddy.

"Do you not want to know because... you think it's your fault?" he asked tentatively.