FIC- Lies for Love Part Three
Title: Lies for love
Pairing: Thirteen/Cameron, Thirteen/Cuddy
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Pretty much zilch. This is set at the beginning of Season 5 when House has his new team but contains nothing about them specific to episodes.
Disclaimer: I own... nada.
Summary: Thirteen can't remain faithful and risks losing everything that matters to her.
( Part One.) ( Part Two)
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3.
Leaving Kutner and Taub to take care of the LP, Thirteen hurried to the locker room going straight to the mirror. She didn’t know how she’d missed the love bite on her neck; how stupid could she be? Of course it was entirely possible that it had been Cuddy who gave it to her, but then there was always the chance that it was Cameron. In fact it was more than likely to have been Cameron considering that she hadn’t had sex with Cuddy for the last few days. She had simply held Cuddy when they were in bed together, not able to bring herself to touch her in any remotely sexual way straight after being with Cameron. In addition to this Cuddy was gentle with her, and even when they had rougher sex it was nowhere near as forceful as it had been with Cameron these last few times.
If only Cameron had still been sweetness and light when they were in bed together, this wouldn’t have been a problem at all. In all honesty Thirteen didn’t know how she could lie her way out of it if Cuddy saw the love bite. Hell, she’d been lucky that she hadn’t seen it so far; it wasn’t like they hadn’t spent any time together! Now that she’d located it towards the back of the left side of her neck, it was glaringly obvious. With her hair tied back it was more noticeable; that must be why Cuddy hadn’t seen it, as Thirteen had only worn her hair down around her girlfriend.
Pulling her ponytail free, Thirteen checked that it was covered. Satisfied, she left the locker room and made her way to the clinic, intending on getting her hours for the week over and done with.
**
Unfortunately for Thirteen the clinic wasn’t overcrowded, and there was a severe lack of patients. This meant that there was a great deal of standing around and waiting until someone wished to be seen. It also meant that she had time to process her thoughts; something that only served to make her feel terrible. What she’d done with Cameron was so stupid, so risky, and now that House was sniffing around it made things extremely awkward. All he had to do was show up at the wrong time, say something that made Thirteen inadvertently reveal what had been going on. She would have to be more careful around him, something that should be easier now that she was no longer seeing Cameron. As long as Cameron did as she asked and stayed away, then there shouldn’t be a problem, she reassured herself.
“Dr. Hadley, can I see you in my office?” Thirteen turned to see Cuddy standing before her wearing a red shirt and one of her trademark tight black skirts. Thirteen felt her heart beat a little faster. No matter how many times she set eyes on Cuddy, she never failed to be affected by her choice of clothing.
Smiling, she nodded and trailed after her girlfriend, unsurprised that Cuddy had the blinds closed. She shut the door behind her, affording them total privacy. Discreetly checking that her hair hid the love bite, (she’d have to cover it with make up later on) she placed a soft kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek.
“I missed you last night,” Cuddy complained, pulling Thirteen into her arms. “Where were you?”
“I didn’t finish until late again, so I went home,” Thirteen lied, hating herself and praying that Cuddy wouldn’t check with House. She hadn’t before, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t at some point in the future. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to do this for much longer. “But House thinks the patient has bacterial meningitis, and Kutner and Taub are doing an LP to confirm. If it is then I can come to yours straight after shift today.”
Cuddy smiled. “Only if you want to.”
“Of course I do,” Thirteen said sincerely, burying her head in Cuddy’s shoulder. She inhaled deeply, loving the smell of the perfume that Cuddy wore. It was a slightly fruity scent with a hint of spices; a fragrance that suited Cuddy perfectly. “Are you finishing on time?”
“I plan to,” Cuddy informed her. “If you do then I will, I’ve done extra paperwork at home all week so I’ll take tonight off for us.”
Thirteen grinned, lifting her head up and pressing her lips to Cuddy’s. She nibbled on her bottom lip until Cuddy opened her mouth and reciprocated, before flicking her tongue against Cuddy’s, battling against her for dominance of the kiss. She raised her hands, cupping them around Cuddy’s face and manoeuvring her so that their mouths seemed to dance together; moving in time to non-existent music. Unable to stop herself from going any further, Thirteen snaked her arms around Cuddy, pushing her back and trapping her between herself and the desk. Attempting to resist, Cuddy protested against Thirteen’s mouth refusing to accept with a simple “Can’t here,” though Thirteen ignored her.
“Just two minutes,” Thirteen moaned, a hand now inside of Cuddy’s shirt, groping her chest and eliciting sighs from the older woman.
“Seriously,” Cuddy continued. “The door... isn’t... locked.” She was breathless, distracted by Thirteen’s kisses against her collar bone. It took a few seconds, but eventually she seemed to find the strength within, and more firmly she instructed Thirteen, “Stop!”
Recognising the fact that Cuddy meant what she was saying Thirteen groaned, reluctantly letting go of her girlfriend. “Not fair,” she frowned, acting like a child who had just had their sweets taken away from them.
“Petulance really isn’t attractive Rems, I’ve told you before,” Cuddy teased, brushing Thirteen’s hair from her face.
“Neither is denial,” Thirteen shot back, annoyed at being left frustrated.
“I’ll make it up to you later,” Cuddy promised. “I actually just called you in here so you could update me on your case... which you’ve already done.”
“You only ever call me here for work related stuff,” Thirteen protested.
Cuddy sighed. “Maybe that’s because I’m your boss and this is the middle of a work day in my office,” she said, a hint the sarcasm she usually used against House shining through. Thirteen couldn’t help but notice that it was delivered with less irritation, and there was a sparkle in Cuddy’s eyes that told Thirteen she was just playing with her, teasing. It was a side of her that she didn’t often show within the hospital, usually saving it for when they were alone together elsewhere.
“Fine,” Thirteen gave up, knowing she would never be able to convince Cuddy otherwise. She still held out hope of one day persuading her to indulge in activities of a sexual nature in her office, but she had a feeling that it would take a lot of hard work before she did so. “I guess I’ll see...”
Thirteen was about to finish her sentence when the door was flung open and House came crashing through. Cuddy raised an eyebrow at Thirteen as if to say, “Look what would have happened if we’d carried on” and then turned her attention towards House.
“Thirteen! What a pleasant surprise,” he exclaimed, joy in his voice that Thirteen could only guess was because he was about to say something to humiliate her. “I had a chat with Cameron.”
Thirteen felt the panic rise within her. No, he couldn’t talk about this now; not with Cuddy in earshot. She faced House turning her back to Cuddy, and tried to signal through her facial expressions that he should shut up. No such luck, apparently.
“Apparently you got your facts confused. It was a patient in the clinic, not the ER that you were... discussing,” he stated knowingly. “And I like your hair down by the way.”
Damn. Cameron had obviously come up with an excuse that they’d been talking about a clinic patient, whereas Thirteen had told House it was an ER patient. Discrepancies such as this wouldn’t have been picked up by anyone normal but of course; House was anything but normal.
“What are you talking about?” Cuddy asked, confused.
Thirteen frantically searched her head for an answer, wanting to reply before House. Again, luck wasn’t on her side.
“Thirteen has a new friend in the form of Dr. Cameron,” House informed her. “And by friend I mean...”
“He’s being an idiot,” Thirteen interrupted, turning to face Cuddy. “Ignore him.”
Cuddy continued to look towards Thirteen, still wearing a confused expression on her face. Thirteen tried to keep her own face neutral, knowing that Cuddy wasn’t stupid. She’d pick up on the slightest hint of guilt.
“Right...” Cuddy said slowly, her eyes flitting between House and Thirteen. It looked as though she were watching to see if either of them was going to give anything away. “Why are you here, House?”
“Do you want the real reason or a made up reason that means you’re not going to yell at me?” He asked her.
“The real one,” she snapped.
“I overheard two porters discussing your choice of outfit today. To quote Bill, “She looks fucking hot maaaan!” I wanted to see for myself.” He shrugged his shoulders. “For what it’s worth; I agree. Very nice.”
Cuddy sighed, shaking her head. “Go away.”
“Fine. Thirteen,” he gestured for Thirteen to follow, which she attempted to do, before Cuddy spoke.
“Dr. Hadley, I still need to speak to you,” she said, her voice impassive.
Knowing that this was about what House had just said and dreading what Cuddy was going to say, Thirteen reluctantly stopped.
“I’ll catch you up,” she said to House.
He nodded, watching the two women for a few seconds before walking out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
“What is it?” Thirteen played dumb, figuring that was the best thing she could do right now. If she acted nonchalant about this whole situation then maybe Cuddy would assume there was nothing to it except for House and his ability to read something into nothing; no matter how small.
“What did House mean?” She asked bluntly.
“About what?” Thirteen returned the question with a question.
“Cameron,” Cuddy replied. “Something about a patient?”
“He saw me talking to her in the car park this morning and he wanted to know what we were talking about, so I told him it was a patient in the ER,” Thirteen lied, feeling awful but taking every care in the world not to show it. “He went and asked Cameron because... well because he’s House, and she apparently told him it was a patient in the clinic.”
“So what were you really discussing?” Cuddy pressed. “It obviously wasn’t a patient.”
“It was him, but there was no way I was going to admit that,” Thirteen told her, the lie easily rolling off her tongue. “I guess Cameron shared my view.”
Cuddy’s cheeks darkened. “Oh right. Sorry it’s just... for a moment there I thought... you know...” Cuddy’s voice trailed off.
“You thought what?” Thirteen asked, looking as innocent as possible.
“That you were... I don’t know, that you and Cameron had been...” she stopped talking again, but the implications were clear.
Hating herself for having to reassure Cuddy that something wasn’t true when really it was, Thirteen took Cuddy in her arms. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Lisa. I love you.” She buried her head into Cuddy’s shoulder, thereby preventing Cuddy from seeing the anguish in her eyes.
“I know, I’m just being silly. I’m sorry,” Cuddy apologised, making Thirteen feel even worse. “Just forget I said anything.”
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