fic. Game on: Lisa meets Gregory
TITLE: Game on: Lisa Meets Gregory
AUTHOR: Waylandsmithy
PAIRING: House/Cuddy
RATING: Teen
Lisa Cuddy had learned early to stand up for herself. There was her name for a start. What kind of surname was that for a Jewish girl in a small WASP town in rural Maine? Her illiterate great grandparents had patiently repeated their patronymic over and over to the Irish- American official on Ellis Island until he had rendered Kadinsky as Cudd followed by an unreadable squiggle and then the letter ‘y’ on their papers.
Cuddy they had become and Cuddy they remained. This was the story told her by her father. It was a common enough one amongst immigrants from Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. When you were escaping from persecution, hoping for a new life, the correct spelling of a name you could barely read yourself was not something to concern you overmuch.
The young Lisa could understand that but, she pleaded with her father, couldn’t they change it back now? Her father smiled, gestured at the certificates and medical licence displayed on his office walls. It was too difficult, too much trouble to change the whole family identity after the best part of a century, just because some foolish boys at her elementary school had made the connection between Cuddy and cows. Besides, he added, if she really was intending to follow him into the medical profession, she had better get used to giving back as good as she got. The few women who had been in med school with him had needed to develop thick skins to deal with real misogyny from fellow doctors and patients alike, let alone a bit of teasing.
Privately he doubted that his very pretty, bright, daughter would get much beyond twenty without being snapped up by some young man, especially if Lisa’s mother had anything to do with it.
By the time she graduated from high school Lisa had become adept at cutting the ground beneath the feet of those who commented on her name and drew attention to her full breasted figure, a figure of which she was, not unreasonably, proud. She was popular, had plenty of girlfriends and grades which were the envy of many. Her father ruefully calculated the many thousands of dollars of his savings it was going to take to get his little princess through college and med school, dollars his wife declared were wasted, although, of course, it would give her daughter unrivalled access to a suitable husband. Jacob Cuddy looked indulgently at his wife. The women’s movement was certainly passing her by. Of course, that made life easier for him. His daughters were as different as could be.
~
“That’s Gregory House”, Madeleine hissed under her breath to her friend as a tall figure shot past them in the hallway, weaving through the throng of students as they left the lecture room. Lisa caught sight of a flapping, none too clean white coat and the back of a head of unruly brownish hair, worn rather longer than was fashionable. Tucked under his left arm was an enormous bundle of folders, case files by the look of them. As she looked, the bundle connected with the head of an unwary small figure and the files scattered in all directions. Recriminations ensued. Lisa heard the tall man say loudly “Agreed, you can’t help being short but you can help being a MORON.”
Lisa and Madeleine exchanged glances. Madeleine shuddered dramatically. “I told you so,” she said. She had spent part of the previous evening regaling Lisa with her sense of the unfairness of life, particularly the unfairness of having the dreaded Gregory House as a supervisor in some of her labs. He had made her cry, she said, just because she had messed up some basic chemistry and now he reminded her of it every time he saw her. Privately, Lisa thought Madeleine was a bit of a drama queen and prone to exaggeration. If half the tales she heard about this young doctor’s unorthodox brilliance were true, Madeleine was lucky to have him as a mentor, and to blazes with his sarcastic personality.
As she told Cameron years later, he was already a legend at Michigan when she was studying medicine there. He seemed, although he could not be, surely, oblivious to the wash he left in his wake, whether he was interacting with his peers, med students or the senior staff. Even then he had as little personal contact with his patients as a junior doctor could manage. There was some story going the rounds about his rage with child services over a crack addicted baby he had delivered to a teenage junkie but it did not seem like the House they knew about.
They gave more credence to the whisper that he’d lost the highly prestigious internship at the Mayo Clinic because he’d been caught cheating. He seemed too arrogant to do that, but on the other hand they all knew he was impatient and liked to cut corners. “Work smart not hard” had been his credo from the beginning, though the long hours he put in belied that.
She had not sought him out; that long ago but never forgotten evening; instead he had put himself in her path, it seemed. In her own very different way, Cuddy also had a high profile at Michigan. Her professors spoke warmly of her, she was popular with her mostly male peers, while being neither a suck-up nor exploiting her obvious assets. House had certainly noticed her but he generally avoided any unnecessary social contact with his contemporaries, leave alone med students. Rumour had it that he had a taste for low life and hung around jazz bars in the seedier parts of town in his rare free time.
So it was with surprise that she found herself on a tennis court in the almost deserted sports complex with him one late summer evening. Lisa was as competitive on the courts as everywhere else and while she had conceded to herself his much greater height and reach as they warmed up, she did not expect to be quite so thoroughly trounced in such a short time. He could not spend all his spare time in bars, then.
Annoyed with herself for allowing it to matter and rattled by his constant flow of teasing semi-sexist comments, she challenged him the only way she knew how; and it worked. She firmly slammed the door on the feminist voices in her head and went for it.
Several beers and much tempestuous conversational wrangling later, in the tidy confines of her room, where a magnificent desk took pride of place, heated half-serious debate turned to a clash of lips and teeth and tongues. At some point, Lisa felt him pull back a little, hesitate, but she only held him more tightly to her, while her mind processed the thought “he’s more of a gentleman than he seems,” before giving way to sensation.
She woke before it was fully light and stared in appalled fascination at the figure stretched out beside her. What had she done? What had they done, properly speaking but she knew it would be useless to expect him to share her conviction that this had been stupid. Lisa Cuddy simply did not do one night stands. And he, he was trouble with a capital ‘T’. Everyone knew it, from the lowliest pot washer in the hospital canteen to the Dean himself. Sooner or later and probably sooner, his brilliance would not be enough to protect him and he would be on his way. Fun though; oh yes! She could not quite bring herself to regret it as sincerely as she felt she should.
A pair of rather bloodshot blue eyes examined her quizzically. House sat up with a groan and a shake of his head. “I hate that beer” he said.
“Well, you drank enough of it”, she replied. Thinking it was better to get practical matters over with, she added “It’s ok, I’m on the pill.”
“You needn’t worry either, about STDs I mean; I’m not exactly the campus Lothario” he said rather gruffly, avoiding her eyes. Relieved, Lisa said the first thing that came into her head “You were great; it was…great”, she finished awkwardly.
He grimaced as he fumbled for his clothes. “Yeah, but I don’t do reruns, especially with my juniors.”
Cuddy drew herself up to her full height, which wasn’t much, but she had great dignity when she chose to use it. “I won’t always be your junior. One day I am going to be Dean of Medicine at a top ranking university hospital.”
House laughed at her. “When that happens I’ll come and work for you - which means never.”
“When that happens, and it will, I may consider employing you!”
AUTHOR: Waylandsmithy
PAIRING: House/Cuddy
RATING: Teen
Lisa Cuddy had learned early to stand up for herself. There was her name for a start. What kind of surname was that for a Jewish girl in a small WASP town in rural Maine? Her illiterate great grandparents had patiently repeated their patronymic over and over to the Irish- American official on Ellis Island until he had rendered Kadinsky as Cudd followed by an unreadable squiggle and then the letter ‘y’ on their papers.
Cuddy they had become and Cuddy they remained. This was the story told her by her father. It was a common enough one amongst immigrants from Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. When you were escaping from persecution, hoping for a new life, the correct spelling of a name you could barely read yourself was not something to concern you overmuch.
The young Lisa could understand that but, she pleaded with her father, couldn’t they change it back now? Her father smiled, gestured at the certificates and medical licence displayed on his office walls. It was too difficult, too much trouble to change the whole family identity after the best part of a century, just because some foolish boys at her elementary school had made the connection between Cuddy and cows. Besides, he added, if she really was intending to follow him into the medical profession, she had better get used to giving back as good as she got. The few women who had been in med school with him had needed to develop thick skins to deal with real misogyny from fellow doctors and patients alike, let alone a bit of teasing.
Privately he doubted that his very pretty, bright, daughter would get much beyond twenty without being snapped up by some young man, especially if Lisa’s mother had anything to do with it.
By the time she graduated from high school Lisa had become adept at cutting the ground beneath the feet of those who commented on her name and drew attention to her full breasted figure, a figure of which she was, not unreasonably, proud. She was popular, had plenty of girlfriends and grades which were the envy of many. Her father ruefully calculated the many thousands of dollars of his savings it was going to take to get his little princess through college and med school, dollars his wife declared were wasted, although, of course, it would give her daughter unrivalled access to a suitable husband. Jacob Cuddy looked indulgently at his wife. The women’s movement was certainly passing her by. Of course, that made life easier for him. His daughters were as different as could be.
~
“That’s Gregory House”, Madeleine hissed under her breath to her friend as a tall figure shot past them in the hallway, weaving through the throng of students as they left the lecture room. Lisa caught sight of a flapping, none too clean white coat and the back of a head of unruly brownish hair, worn rather longer than was fashionable. Tucked under his left arm was an enormous bundle of folders, case files by the look of them. As she looked, the bundle connected with the head of an unwary small figure and the files scattered in all directions. Recriminations ensued. Lisa heard the tall man say loudly “Agreed, you can’t help being short but you can help being a MORON.”
Lisa and Madeleine exchanged glances. Madeleine shuddered dramatically. “I told you so,” she said. She had spent part of the previous evening regaling Lisa with her sense of the unfairness of life, particularly the unfairness of having the dreaded Gregory House as a supervisor in some of her labs. He had made her cry, she said, just because she had messed up some basic chemistry and now he reminded her of it every time he saw her. Privately, Lisa thought Madeleine was a bit of a drama queen and prone to exaggeration. If half the tales she heard about this young doctor’s unorthodox brilliance were true, Madeleine was lucky to have him as a mentor, and to blazes with his sarcastic personality.
As she told Cameron years later, he was already a legend at Michigan when she was studying medicine there. He seemed, although he could not be, surely, oblivious to the wash he left in his wake, whether he was interacting with his peers, med students or the senior staff. Even then he had as little personal contact with his patients as a junior doctor could manage. There was some story going the rounds about his rage with child services over a crack addicted baby he had delivered to a teenage junkie but it did not seem like the House they knew about.
They gave more credence to the whisper that he’d lost the highly prestigious internship at the Mayo Clinic because he’d been caught cheating. He seemed too arrogant to do that, but on the other hand they all knew he was impatient and liked to cut corners. “Work smart not hard” had been his credo from the beginning, though the long hours he put in belied that.
She had not sought him out; that long ago but never forgotten evening; instead he had put himself in her path, it seemed. In her own very different way, Cuddy also had a high profile at Michigan. Her professors spoke warmly of her, she was popular with her mostly male peers, while being neither a suck-up nor exploiting her obvious assets. House had certainly noticed her but he generally avoided any unnecessary social contact with his contemporaries, leave alone med students. Rumour had it that he had a taste for low life and hung around jazz bars in the seedier parts of town in his rare free time.
So it was with surprise that she found herself on a tennis court in the almost deserted sports complex with him one late summer evening. Lisa was as competitive on the courts as everywhere else and while she had conceded to herself his much greater height and reach as they warmed up, she did not expect to be quite so thoroughly trounced in such a short time. He could not spend all his spare time in bars, then.
Annoyed with herself for allowing it to matter and rattled by his constant flow of teasing semi-sexist comments, she challenged him the only way she knew how; and it worked. She firmly slammed the door on the feminist voices in her head and went for it.
Several beers and much tempestuous conversational wrangling later, in the tidy confines of her room, where a magnificent desk took pride of place, heated half-serious debate turned to a clash of lips and teeth and tongues. At some point, Lisa felt him pull back a little, hesitate, but she only held him more tightly to her, while her mind processed the thought “he’s more of a gentleman than he seems,” before giving way to sensation.
She woke before it was fully light and stared in appalled fascination at the figure stretched out beside her. What had she done? What had they done, properly speaking but she knew it would be useless to expect him to share her conviction that this had been stupid. Lisa Cuddy simply did not do one night stands. And he, he was trouble with a capital ‘T’. Everyone knew it, from the lowliest pot washer in the hospital canteen to the Dean himself. Sooner or later and probably sooner, his brilliance would not be enough to protect him and he would be on his way. Fun though; oh yes! She could not quite bring herself to regret it as sincerely as she felt she should.
A pair of rather bloodshot blue eyes examined her quizzically. House sat up with a groan and a shake of his head. “I hate that beer” he said.
“Well, you drank enough of it”, she replied. Thinking it was better to get practical matters over with, she added “It’s ok, I’m on the pill.”
“You needn’t worry either, about STDs I mean; I’m not exactly the campus Lothario” he said rather gruffly, avoiding her eyes. Relieved, Lisa said the first thing that came into her head “You were great; it was…great”, she finished awkwardly.
He grimaced as he fumbled for his clothes. “Yeah, but I don’t do reruns, especially with my juniors.”
Cuddy drew herself up to her full height, which wasn’t much, but she had great dignity when she chose to use it. “I won’t always be your junior. One day I am going to be Dean of Medicine at a top ranking university hospital.”
House laughed at her. “When that happens I’ll come and work for you - which means never.”
“When that happens, and it will, I may consider employing you!”