rp for l_cuddy_md; and, eventually, harvard_law

[rubicks_complex]

House stood in front of the bathroom mirror, frowning at his reflection as he attempted to knot his necktie into some kind of neat looking knot. This was his fourth attempt and he was getting annoyed on top of already feeling agitated from nerves. Stupid that he was feeling nervous about having dinner with Cuddy because it was Cuddy he was having

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[l_cuddy_md]

Cuddy twisted one way and then the other in front of the mirror, trying to see her dress from every angle. It was a simple, sleeveless sheath of black silk. The neckline, front and back, was relatively modest compared to some of the things she wore. The hemline, too, falling at just a couple of inches above her knees. But the way the silk draped over her curves and whispered over her skin as she moved...it certainly felt sinful

[l_cuddy_md]

Cuddy gave a throaty laugh when House claimed to be better when he was bad. What made him so frustrating to deal with is that with him it seemed to be true. He always seemed to be on his best game when he was breaking the rules. It had made him a difficult employee, but on a personal level...well, she liked a little bit of bad in her men.

A subtle shiver ran down her spine when he caressed her shoulder. "If you keep your hands all to yourself it wouldn't be much fun for me," she said suggestively. She finished her wine and set the glass on the bar. She looked back at House with a slightly more serious expression.

"Don't bother giving compliments unless you mean them. In fact, don't bother trying to be someone you aren't. Just don't go picking fights, with anyone, and we'll be okay." She stood up, which placed her right between his knees as he sat on his bar stool. She rested her hands on his thighs.

"What do you say we stop wasting time in the bar and go have dinner?"

[rubicks_complex]

"Ah, but you could use your own hands," he said just as suggestively. "You can have a lot of fun with yourself and I can have fun watching

[l_cuddy_md]

"You'd never be satisfied with just watching." She didn't know if he was simply trying to mess with her or if he really had a fantasy about watching. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd mentioned it. Of course she'd mentioned tying him up more than once and she had no desire to actually do it. She really was just messing with him. Still, it made her wonder

[rubicks_complex]

"Depends on how good your cooking is," he said. "Depends on how much of it you cook, too. Good cooking with generous helpings tends to bring out the glutton in me."

He untangled his arm from hers as they reached the door, and pulled the door open for her. He did it casually, as though to pretend he wasn't aware that he was being gentlemanly - he was fully aware of what he was doing, though. With a good enough incentive, House knew when to be charming and gentlemanly when he wanted to be. Added to the fact that the drink had calmed him considerably: he felt much more confident, no longer bothered that he was in the suit for now, even almost eager to make a decent impression for Cuddy. He didn't feel as uncomfortable right now about being seen in public with Cuddy, either.

Stepping out of the bar after Cuddy, he discreetly touched her back, then slid his arm around her waist lightly as they headed for the dining room. "But I'll go with dessert for now," he continued, leering at her. "Hopefully, it's something creamy. With lots of

[l_cuddy_md]

"You've already had more than a taste of my cooking, and I haven't heard any complaints yet," she pointed out. She didn't really think she'd be hearing any complaints in the future either. Sex was one area in which she was reasonably confident of herself, unlike relationships or even, at times, being a doctor. Not that she was particularly creative or daring, but she truly enjoyed sex and she knew how to share that enjoyment with her partner

[rubicks_complex]

He grinned at her laughter, stepping into the dining room after her when he held the door open. "I'm not worried about dessert," he said, moving to the side to let the door swing shut behind him. He glanced down at her hand on his chest, then back up to her face. "I'm pretty sure there are a few tasty things in the menu. Cherry Pie Surprise, maybe. Or Banana Split. See, if I pick the dish, then I'll know what's coming." He paused and smirked in amusement. "Well, I pretty sure I'll be coming

[l_cuddy_md]

"We know who will be coming, but the question is do you want to know what will be coming? Maybe you should let the chef surprise you. I'm sure I could whip up something both hot and sweet

[rubicks_complex]

House watched the guy walk off. God, the people who ran this hotel were freaks. The way they barely spoke a word and barely expressed any form of human emotion on their creepy faces, they reminded House of zombies - just more coordinated, and with less brain-biting and no rotten flesh.

He turned his attention back to Cuddy when she mentioned someone wanting music to hula to. He gave her a questioning look. "What, you mean there are hot Hawaiian hula babes in the hotel? How come you never told me that?"

He sat forward, giving the knot of his tie a quick yank. He was looking forward to getting this thing off at the end of this dinner. "If there are hot Hawaiian hula babes in here, find me a ukulele and I'll happily provide a mele or two for their hula'ing."

[l_cuddy_md]

"If you think Lilo's hot, then we seriously need to have a conversation. She'd only about six years old."

Every time Cuddy thought about that it made her sick. It made her angry. Lilo might be a bright, confident, even precocious child but she was just a child. She shouldn't be here.

But there was nothing she could do about it and she didn't want to bring the mood down so she deliberately set her anger aside for the moment. She gave House a smile that wasn't quite as easy as it had been earlier, but she kept her mind on the positive aspects of having met Lilo and the smile was at least genuine.

"She's a cute kid. She promised to teach me how to hula, so if you've got a hankering for a hot hula babe, I guess you'll have to settle for the next best thing--me." She tilted her head, curious. "Do you actually know how to play the ukulele?"

[rubicks_complex]

House's face dropped when informed that the hot hula babe in question was actually a kid. Oh. He felt momentarily dirty for cracking a joke about hot hula babes, though pushed it aside quickly - he hadn't known the person was a kid, so he had no reason to be irked by what he'd said. Still. A six-year old girl. If Cuddy had told him who the someone was, then he wouldn't have stuck his foot in his mouth like that

[l_cuddy_md]

"I love to dance," Cuddy said. She loved music but she wasn't very musical. She never got much past the beginner level with her piano lessons and her singing voice was one best kept strictly in the shower. But she could move. She was reasonably graceful and dancing was her way of connecting to the music. It also happened to be great exercise and, if done well, sexy as hell.

"I've never tried hula, but Lilo says there's only four basic moves. I figure I can handle that." She shook her head in disbelief when it turned out House knew a little something about a ukulele. She shouldn't have been surprised. House was always full of weird and obscure information. Sometimes she wondered how he had enough room in his brain for the important stuff.

"You could be Don Ho," she suggested, and nearly sniggered at the idea of House strumming a ukulele and singing Tiny Bubbles. She wiped the smirk from her lips and reached across the table, laying her hand on top of his. "Help us wannabe hula babes out and I promise there'll be a nice lei in it

[rubicks_complex]

House gave Cuddy another curious look when she said she loved to dance. He knew she liked to exercise but he never knew she liked dancing. Not for the first time, he was struck with the realisation that there were a lot of things about Cuddy he had no clue about.

He smiled wryly at her suggestion that he could be Don Ho. "What, and sing songs about seeing the world through the eyes of a person drunk on champagne? You know, the person he claimed to love in Tiny Bubbles could've been some fat, sweaty midget, but the point of his song was that everybody is good-looking and everything is wonderful when your brain is addled with alcohol

[l_cuddy_md]

Cuddy couldn't entirely disagree--things often seemed better through a haze of alcohol. Heaven knew a few of her dates would've been far more attractive with the benefit of a few pre-date shots of whiskey. The effect, though, was only temporary, and she'd learned back in college that those dates always looked much worse by morning light and with a hangover

[rubicks_complex]

"Happiness is a warm gun," he replied dryly when Cuddy said he didn't believe in happiness. "Anyway, you would be happy about that, but that wouldn't bring you happiness," he then argued.

His belief was that happiness was never a lasting thing, and if people claimed they had lasting happiness, then they were clearly in denial about something. People could be happy about something that had happened, but happiness itself was a myth, as far as House was concerned.

He rolled his eyes dramatically when Cuddy went on to say her and the kid would have to make their own music. "I could make my own lei, but you wouldn't last long before you'd want to lei your hands your hands on me and help me make my own lei."

He upturned his hand and stroked her inner wrist before lightly clasping his fingers around two of Cuddy's. "Seeing you haven't mentioned anything about this kid having parents here, I'm going to guess she's here on her own."

[l_cuddy_md]

"It wouldn't be all rainbows and kittens, but it would bring some happiness," she argued right back. That's how you found happiness, by finding smaller bits of happiness and gathering them in, joining them together until you had enough to withstand the unhappinesses in life. And she knew better than to try and convince House of that.

"I don't know--my hands might be too tired from all that hula-ing to lei you," she said, which was such an obvious lie she didn't even try to make it sound convincing. The real challenge would be to get her to keep her hands off of House. Frankly it was a challenge she had no interest in taking on