Gift of Screws, Chapter 20.2
Title: Gift of Screws, Chapter Twenty, Part 2
Author: Duckie Nicks
Rating: NC-17 for sex
Characters: House, Cuddy, Rachel Cuddy
Author's Note: This piece takes place in the future when Rachel is five; House and Cuddy are in an established relationship.
Warning: This fic also contains sex. If that bothers you, don't read.
Summary: For a price, House agrees to celebrate Purim with Cuddy and Rachel. But although he's getting all the sex he
wants, he's still not sure he'll be able to last the weekend. Established relationship, contains sexual situations.
Previous Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 (Part 1), Chapter 9 (Part 2), Chapter 9 (Part 3), Chapter 9 (Part 4), Chapter 10 (Part 1), Chapter 10 (Part 2), Chapter 10 (Part 3), Chapter 11, Chapter 12 (Part 1), Chapter 12 (Part 2), Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18 (Part 1), Chapter 18 (Part 2), Chapter 19 (Part 1), Chapter 19 (Part 2), Chapter 19 (Part 3), Chapter 19 (Part 4), Chapter 20 (Part 1)
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
“You killed me!” House accused. The dreaded continue screen popped up on the screen.
But that didn’t seem to have any effect on Rachel. If anything she seemed happy for the opportunity his death - well, his character’s death - had given her.
“Now I can play too,” she said with a grin.
“I don’t think so.”
“Because you are supposed to be getting dressed,” Cuddy answered for them both.
Instantly House and Rachel looked in the direction the voice was coming from. Cuddy… did not appear happy at all. In fact she seemed downright angry. A finger pointing to a spot on the floor right front of her, she said, “Get your bottom over here right now, or you’ll be in time out until we leave.”
Rachel hesitated.
“Now, Rachel.”
She frowned but stood up. Still, she didn’t head towards her mother. “I don’t want to wear the tights,” she confessed sadly.
“I don’t care. You are wearing them.”
Rachel hung her head and slowly made her way back to Cuddy, who had in the few passing seconds decided to turn her irritation on House.
“And you need a tie.”
That caught him by surprise. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“It’s dinner at someone’s house.”
“Yeah, your boss’s home,” she snapped. “Pick out a tie or I will.”
Still it seemed odd to him. “Did I have to wear a tie at his rehearsal dinner? I thought that was business casual.”
Her response was simple. “Different wife.”
“Which number are we on?”
“Four? Five? Who cares?” she guessed, grabbing hold of Rachel as she tried to slip through the doorway unnoticed.
“We have to wear suits and ties for a wife with a six month expiration date?”
“She’s also wife number one. They got remarried. So… yes.”
“But -”
“House, I really don’t have time to deal with this. Just put on a damn tie.”
His point still stood: it seemed like a lot of work to please someone who he would probably never, ever see again. Rationally he understood that he didn’t have a choice. This was his boss - and Cuddy’s for that matter. And they were going to be surrounded by people far more important than a department head with tenure. He had no problem offending or embarrassing in general, but in this case, he was the lowest on the food chain… which admittedly never really mattered all that much to him. But Cuddy was in a predicament as it was, what with employees selling drugs and the D.E.A. investigating; he couldn’t afford to make the situation worse for her. So he would do his best to behave himself.
“Fine,” he agreed, making faces at her as she walked away. He would behave, but he wasn’t above mocking her in their own home. He guessed though she wouldn’t care as long as he played nicely publicly.
And he would do that. But getting all dressed up, being nice to the people he didn’t care about at all, wasn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his evening.
All of that went out the window though the second he saw Cuddy once she was dressed and ready to go.
She looked hot.
A voice inside his head whispered that he probably should have figured that out on his own, that if he had to look nice, then she would really go out of her way to look as gorgeous as she could.
Well, he thought as he took in the sight of her in a tight, blue dress rendered in overlapping sheer fabric, she had more than succeeded in that department. She was meant to be looked at in that dress with that body. The material lying across her clavicle was nearly see through, and every inch of bright blue chiffon or silk or whatever the hell it was clung to her body perfectly. Simultaneously leaving everything and nothing to the imagination, it was guaranteed to make her the center of attention.
Admittedly given the investigation the hospital was going to be under, she was going to be the center of attention either way. But dressed like that, she was going to have many of the boards’ minds on things other than work.
When he went to zip her up, his fingers paused on the zipper. “You sure you want this up?”
She smiled but said, “We have to go.”
“Okay,” he said helping her with this finishing touch. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a dozen offers for a threesome tonight. Which is fine… as long as the offer comes from a really attractive woman.”
Turning to him, she said knowingly, “You like it.” It was probably intended to be a question, but there was absolutely nothing about the sentence that seemed like a question.
“I do” was his enthusiastic reply. “You look stunning.”
She leaned into him then. Her lips nearly on his mouth, she whispered, “Then you should see what I’m wearing under it.”
He pulled back so he could assess what possible undergarments she might have been wearing. In his opinion, she couldn’t have had anything on under a dress that tonight. Shaking his head, he said, “You’re not wearing anything under that.”
She smirked. “Believe me, I am.”
“Prove it.”
“Not now,” she said shaking her head and straightening his tie. “We have a party to go to.”
He frowned in disappointment. “So you’re just telling me that to drive me insane.”
“Of course.”
He slapped her ass as she walked away from him. “You’re a tease,” he accused.
Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at him. “I’m not teasing you.”
But that was exactly what she was doing. Admittedly he was ready to bone her when she was sick in bed in her pajamas. There really weren’t any circumstances when his desire to fuck her was absent, so in a way, she was always a tease to him.
When she looked like that though?
It took all of his willpower to pretend like he wasn’t desperate to have sex with her right then and there. Rachel, of course, made that easier by being in such a foul mood over the whole thing.
It was clear that she didn’t want to go. She hadn’t said anything to his knowledge as to why she would rather stay home, but it was obvious that the last place she wanted to be was with them at this party.
He could understand that, because he really didn’t want to go either. He had said he would, though he hadn’t wanted to go. But now he definitely would have preferred to stay home. Maybe the weekend had just made him wary, but somehow he felt as though only bad things could result from them going to this party. He would say something wrong or Cuddy wouldn’t right things at work, and then the relative amount of bliss they’d achieved during the rest of the afternoon would be gone. So he understood how Rachel felt. He wanted to stay home too.
But Rachel was taking this thing to a whole other level. She whined when Cuddy put her coat on. She whined when they got in the car. She whined in the car on the drive to the Sanford Wells’ mansion. She whined when they pulled into the long and winding driveway and when they started to make the long trek to the house. She whined and whined and whined and whined until they were at the front door and Cuddy had had enough.
Crouching down so that she could look Rachel in the eye, Cuddy told her, “That’s enough, Rachel.”
“I wanna go home.”
“I don’t care.”
“But -”
“No,” Cuddy said sternly. “That’s enough. We have listened to you complain the entire time, and it’s not going to work. You are here. You’re going to be a nice little girl and play with your friends. You’re going to eat your dinner like a good girl when it’s served to you, and you are not going to complain about any of it. You’re going to be polite. Do you understand me?”
“But -”
“Uh uh.” Cuddy shook her head. “That’s it. If I hear any more complaints for you, I’ll put you in time out here, and everyone will know how naughty you’re being.”
Rachel shifted on her feet uncomfortably. She definitely didn’t want that, which was what Cuddy had been planning on. Nothing worked quite like shame; her own mother had taught her that. At the time, Cuddy had hated Arlene for it, but now she understood: embarrassment was a powerful motivator.
“Is that what you want?” Cuddy asked, knowing that the answer would be no. “Do you want people to think you’re being bad?”
Rachel enthusiastically shook her head no.
“Then stop complaining. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“All right.” Cuddy hesitated for a moment before saying calmly, “You’ll have fun. You don’t need to worry about that.”
Standing back up, Cuddy prepared herself for the evening she was about to have. Rachel surely wouldn’t be a problem now. The second she saw her friends, she wouldn’t be any trouble. But that just left everything else as a possible source of conflict.
House must have noticed her reluctance, because he looked for her to give him some sort of sign that it was a good time to ring the doorbell. That took her a few moments, to muster up the courage necessary to start this whole process. But when she did, she nodded her head.
Seconds later when a butler opened the door, Cuddy was reminded why she had always thought this particular marriage was doomed to fail. Sanford Wells, for all of his wealth and power, was a fairly down to earth guy. He liked Buffalo wings and basketball games; he liked living in a fairly suburban neighborhood, though it was definitely an upper class neighborhood. He did not particularly appreciate or care for the finer things in life, and rumor had it around the hospital that, in fact, he had never been a successful heart surgeon; he was simply frugal and had managed to amass wealth by never spending it.
Cuddy knew that that was definitely not the case. He had money. But as event staff took their coats and her purse, she remembered that Wells was rarely interested in showing off.
In contrast, the first Mrs. Wells, now also the fourth or fifth, depending on whose count you believed, needed her riches to be on display. She was not a tacky woman by nature; if anything, Cuddy had always found her to be a woman of refined taste, an intelligent, successful board member in her own right. But this woman clearly had no qualms about turning a holiday party into an extravagant affair. Everything about their home and this party spoke to how interested she was in making everyone else appreciate their wealth.
Yet Cuddy was polite the second she spotted their hosts.
“Dr. Cuddy,” Wells called out to her, approaching her with a frosty wife on his arm.
“It’s nice to see you,” Cuddy said to him, as he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “How are you, Arianne?”
“I’m fine,” she said with a tight-lipped smile. It was the kind of expression you made when you felt as though your present company were painfully awful. Cuddy knew this, because she was sure her own face held the same expression. “And yourself?”
“Good,” Cuddy said in an equally false conversational tone. The two women had never been friends or even liked each other very much; this was as nice as their conversations got.
Wanting to distract from that, she said, “I’m sure you’re familiar with my partner, Greg House.” House didn’t say anything, because his gaze was on a woman ten feet away from him who had large breasts. Cuddy forced herself to ignore that, although she violently squeezed the hand of his that she was holding. “And this is my daughter, Rachel.”
Rachel waved shyly but didn’t speak. Cuddy hadn’t expected her to though. Although Rachel wasn’t a quiet child - or a shy one - she was not the precocious life of the party. She preferred to be ignored at evens like this, because really, in all honesty, what she wanted was to be home in her pajamas watching a movie.
Frankly Cuddy understood the impulse.
“Yes, hello, Dr. House,” Sanford Wells said, forcing House’s attentions away from the other breasts in the room. House also did not speak though. He simply inclined his head in respect. “I hope you don’t mind, but I do need to speak to your boss for a little bit.”
House shrugged. “I don’t mind that at all.”
“Wonderful. It won’t take but a moment.” Wells said this as much to House and Cuddy as he did to his wife, who seemed agitated at the very idea of her husband spending any time with Cuddy.
Which… was understandable, given the history there.
But Cuddy preferred not to think about that. Rumors of that relationship had already tainted enough in her life.
“I understand,” she said, having anticipated this moment the entire time.
“You have some things to discuss,” Arianne said, as though she were deducing the reason behind this private conversation that needed to take place.
“It’s business, dear.”
“Of course. In that case, Dr. House, I assume you’re a whiskey drinker.” From the look on his face, Cuddy knew he wanted to tell Arianne that at this moment, he was a bleach drinker if that was going to make this party a little less unbearable. But he simply nodded his head in her direction. “I have a bottle of Glenfarclas, 50 years old, from 1955. Have you heard of it?”
She didn’t give him a chance to answer the question before she looped an arm through the arm Cuddy herself wasn’t holding on to. “Come. I’ll let you have a glass. I wish to know how it tastes, and unfortunately, my health doesn’t permit me to do so at the moment….”
Cuddy let her take him, though she had no doubt that that conversation wasn’t going to end well for her own relationship with House. Nothing Arianne could tell House was going to be good. But for the time being, Cuddy couldn’t worry about that now.
“You know, Rachel,” Wells said to her daughter who was practically clinging to her hand. “I think you have some friends here. They’re playing games in that room right over there,” he said, pointing to a room down one of the long hallways. “Why don’t you go see what they are up to?”
Rachel looked to her for reassurance. Cuddy did her best given the circumstances. A hand smoothing Rachel’s hair back, she said, “Go on, honey. I’ll come find you in a little bit, all right?”
To say Rachel looked unenthusiastic was an understatement. But she must have known that she had no other choice, because without much hesitation, she started to trudge her way through the other partygoers down the hallway.
Finally alone with Sanford he gestured to a hallway that started on the right side of the room. “Shall we?”
Cuddy nodded her head. “Of course. I was expecting this conversation.”
He smiled genially as he guided her down the hall to his office. The second he opened the door, she was not prepared for John Kelley to be standing there.
“Lisa,” John said, almost silently imploring her to remain calm.
Instantly Cuddy regretted both coming here and letting House go. She had no interest in being alone with John, no desire to be with the man who had kissed her earlier today without any regard for what she wanted. She didn’t want to talk to him, though she had created this charade with him.
In the back of her mind, a betraying voice whispered how she had ensured that this scenario would happen. She had asked for John’s help. She had, as House had pointed out, kept the check - which would only make John think that perhaps he still had a chance with her. And now John was here.
“Hi,” she said breathlessly feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of her.
Closing the door behind them, Sanford said, “I’m sure you two know each other very well.”
“Yes, of course,” Cuddy answered, forcing herself to remain calm. She could not let John think that he had gotten to her. Though he had obviously upset her, the last thing she could let happen was for this to become a professional problem. “How could I forget the face of our best donor,” she said with a smile that felt as forced as it got. “I didn’t realize you were going to be here.”
She tried to make the comment sound as though it were merely an interested one. It could have been an accusation, and in a way it was, but that was not what she wanted her boss to hear.
“Well,” John replied calmly. “I was watching the news, and I saw a story about Princeton Plainsboro. Naturally I wanted to make sure that there wasn’t a problem with the investments we’ve made recently.”
Cuddy shook her head a little. “Problem?” She didn’t understand.
“Mr. Kelley here -”
“John,” John corrected.
“Of course,” Sanford Wells said apologetically. “John is aware that the D.E.A. has decided to investigate our hospital.”
“I wasn’t aware the press had gotten wind of this.”
“Apparently they have. I think it’s safe to assume that we’re going to receive some blowback for this from our investors,” Sanford told them both. “In fact when John showed up here, I was concerned that he wanted to withdraw the funds he has given us for the year.”
“I won’t lie,” John admitted. “My uncle isn’t going to be pleased about this, and our support will probably be lax for the next month or two. But I was telling Sandy here that there should be no problem with the donation I made to you guys a couple days ago.”
Suddenly feeling like she was on the page as the other men in the room, Cuddy nodded her head in understanding. This was, after all, a lie she had created. It wasn’t hard to know where to pick up from there.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said. As soon as she did that though, she couldn’t help but think that there was some sort of odd subtext to the whole thing. No, she had never believed that there would be any sort of problem cashing the check. After what John had done, it was obvious that he would be stuck allowing the money to go through. Unless he wanted to be slapped with a sexual harassment suit, he really had no other option other than to pretend as though he was on good terms with Cuddy.
Yet at the same time, she had feared that he would create some sort of problem with the check. Outwardly he had every right to withdraw his company’s financial support. And part of her had worried that he might do that just to spite her. But here he was saying that he had no problem giving the hospital the money, and she couldn’t help but think that his supposed reluctance had had nothing to do with the imbroglio they were in currently.
“I would hate,” he explained, just furthering that feeling inside her. “To think that a few poor choices by a couple misguided employees would ruin all the good work you all do. And I’m happy to help in any way I can.”
“That’s wonderful,” Cuddy said, not knowing whether or not she meant it at this point. “I’d planned on calling you Monday,” she lied. “To tell you what the hospital is about to experience. I apologize for not being the one to warn you.”
Wells was the one to accept the apology. “I’m glad things worked out this time, Lisa.” The use of her name caught her attention. “You’ve obviously been of great service to the hospital. But if we hadn’t received John’s assurances of a large donation, I’m not sure I would have been able to protect you from the rest of the board. I am glad that’s not in my future, thanks to John.”
Taken at face value, his words hurt. It was clear from what he was saying that, no matter how much she had done for the hospital, she would have had a hard time convincing anyone of keeping her if she didn’t have that check to hand over. He was saying John was the reason that difficult conversation wouldn’t take place.
Admittedly that wasn’t exactly something she didn’t know. After all, hadn’t that been why she had gone to him in the first place? She knew it had been, but hearing it nevertheless hurt.
Especially since she knew Sanford Wells well enough to understand that his comments weren’t meant to solely be taken superficially. There was an undercurrent there, a silent order that, if the board had to choose between her or John’s contributions, they would not side with her. He would encourage them to choose her, but the money would win out in the end, so she’d better maintain that relationship.
Sure, that sounded like an almost insane amount of subtext, and someone might argue that she was reading into his words far more than she needed to. But she had worked with and known Wells long enough to understand when he was getting at something. He was a man of few words, and he always made sure to make the sentences he did utter as potent as possible.
She was not imagining things.
A forced smile on her face, she said sweetly, “Believe me, I know he’s my knight in shining armor. I’m very lucky to have had -”
“Don’t be modest, Lisa,” John interrupted. To Wells, he explained, “She’s spent a lot of time keeping me happy. The least I can do in return is ensure that the hospital will remain under her expert guidance.”
At that Sanford Wells smiled. “I’m glad to hear that, and I’m thrilled for all of us, most especially the hospital, that this situation is at least in part on its way to resolving itself.” He made a big show of glancing down at his watch. “I’m sorry to cut this conversation short, but I just know that if I skip out on my own party for any longer my wife will be cross with me. Excuse me.”
There was no expectation that she or John would follow after him. And though it probably would have been smart for her to do just that, she stayed behind. House had said she wouldn’t let herself be alone with John, that she wouldn’t give him another chance to pull anything. In the back of her mind, she knew she was proving her boyfriend wrong. But this was too important to let go. If John had something to her boss of all people, she knew she needed to put a stop to that.
“What did you tell him?” she asked when she was sure Wells wasn’t within hearing distance.
John held up a hand as if to tell her to calm down. “You wanted to make it seem like I hadn’t written the check just to get you out of this jam -”
“That’s not the way I would like to put it,” she said simply.
He nodded his head in understanding. “I thought if I came here, made it seem like I was worried about the money going through and your scandal -”
“How did you find out about that?” she asked. She had told him she wanted the money; she had not told him why.
“It is on the news now, Lisa.”
“Oh.”
“I thought it would all be more believable if I acted worried,” he explained. “I’m not, by the way. I have complete faith in you.”
The fact that he clearly meant it didn’t make it any better. Hours ago, he had completely abused her trust, and the sting of that betrayal hadn’t gone away. He might have had faith in her, but what did his faith mean to her?
“So you thought that you’d also take this time to tell him that we’re not getting along,” she accused.
“I didn’t tell him anything about that,” he said honestly.
“Right.” She didn’t believe him. “He just -”
“Noticed how unhappy you were to see me,” John suggested. “I didn’t say to him that we’d had a fight. That’s not exactly a moment I’m proud of, and he seems to care about you an awful lot.”
She nodded her head. “He does.”
“Why would I tell him that I kissed you?” After a brief pause, he added, “How could I when you didn’t want him to know that you came to my house today?”
That was a good point, but it didn’t matter to her. “Forgive me,” she said sarcastically. “If I question your ability to think logically after what you did.”
He looked hurt, though she didn’t feel sorry for what she said. “Are you ever going to forgive me for that?” he asked quietly.
“You haven’t even apologized,” Cuddy snapped.
“You’re right,” he admitted after a moment. “I haven’t.” He sighed. “Look, Lisa, I want you, and I’m not gonna apologize for that. But… I shouldn’t have kissed you. That wasn’t right of me.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Maybe she shouldn’t have been making this more difficult for him, but she didn’t care. She was in no mood to make things easier for him. After all, he hadn’t been considerate of her needs. He hadn’t thought of her feelings when he’d kissed her. She didn’t think he deserved any more than he had given her.
“It was hasty of me… and I didn’t think about how you might react to it, cause I wasn’t really thinking. I just wanted you. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t,” she agreed firmly, unsympathetically. He seemed dismayed that nothing he had said had made her warm up to him. “If you say you’re sorry, then fine.” She shrugged. “I guess I can believe that. But what you did isn’t something I’m going to move past just like that. You kissed me. You’ve been investigating my boyfriend, spying on him. That wasn’t a sudden choice. You didn’t just decide to do that,” she said knowingly. He might have wanted her to believe that it had been a hasty decision, but it was anything but that. His actions had proven as much.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he told her, sounding as earnest as she thought he could possibly sound. “I just wanted to know that he was going to treat you right. I didn’t want you to be with someone who -”
“That’s not your responsibility. And ultimately none of your business.”
“I know.” He looked down then away.
“I’m happy,” she declared. “Regardless of your feelings for him, he makes me happy.”
“Does he?”
The question was honest. That was the part that bothered her. It would have been easy to disregard it if he were asking out of anger or jealousy, if he were trying to manipulate her. But there was no malice behind the words, making it impossible for her to resort to anger. Perhaps she should have gotten irate with him. But if anything, the question made her sad, that he would assume she would stay in an unhappy relationship. He thought that little of her.
“Of course he does,” she said in softer tones.
“Because it seems to me that a guy like that must come with a lot of baggage. And even if you love him, that can’t make it easy all the time.”
She shrugged. “Everyone has problems. We -”
“I just can’t imagine that all that work is worth it,” he said casually. “But….” He sighed, obviously resigned to the truth of the situation. “That’s not my call to make, and I shouldn’t have tried to force you to… I don’t know, want me.”
“Thank you.”
“But you’re still mad at me,” he deduced.
She shot him a conciliatory look. “It’s not that simple.”
“It never is.”
“I need time,” she explained. “I need to know that I can trust you again. That’s not going to happen with one apology.”
He nodded his head. “Okay.”
She repeated herself, feeling as though the point were worth making again. “I need time… and John, if House sees you here, we both know what will happen.”
“I wouldn’t hit him.”
“You would.” He seemed hesitant to believe the idea, but she knew that was exactly what would happen. “He’ll guarantee that that happens, and if you hurt him, there’s nothing you can say, because I will protect him.”
John clearly didn’t like that. “So he’ll piss me off so much that I hit him, and that’ll be my fault.” He laughed then, but there was little humor in the sound. “You must really love him to put up with him.”
“I do.”
“I’ll leave,” he said decisively. “I just hope he’s worth all the trouble for you, Lisa.”
Her instinct was to assert that House absolutely was. Most of the time she thought that was true, but today she had trouble opening her mouth and speaking those words. As much as she loved him, this weekend had proven that they were… at times so far from domestic bliss that that goal didn’t even seem remotely attainable.
And the thing of it was… they had worked through so much already. They had compromised and fought for this relationship with everything they had, all in the hopes that they would eventually get to some magical other side where things were automatically better. But all this time later, it seemed as though they were no closer to attaining that.
Part of her felt that they just had to work a little more at it. They just had to try; he had to get along better with Rachel, and Cuddy had to let him in their lives a little more. She had to be willing to share responsibility for Rachel with him. They just had a little more work to do before things could truly be perfect.
But then there was another part of her that wondered if that was how good relationships lasted or if theirs was simply one that would always be difficult.
She would never say that to John though.
And then Cuddy couldn’t defend her relationship even if she wanted.
Because finally John had left.
Continue on to the next chapter
Author: Duckie Nicks
Rating: NC-17 for sex
Characters: House, Cuddy, Rachel Cuddy
Author's Note: This piece takes place in the future when Rachel is five; House and Cuddy are in an established relationship.
Warning: This fic also contains sex. If that bothers you, don't read.
Summary: For a price, House agrees to celebrate Purim with Cuddy and Rachel. But although he's getting all the sex he
wants, he's still not sure he'll be able to last the weekend. Established relationship, contains sexual situations.
Previous Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 (Part 1), Chapter 9 (Part 2), Chapter 9 (Part 3), Chapter 9 (Part 4), Chapter 10 (Part 1), Chapter 10 (Part 2), Chapter 10 (Part 3), Chapter 11, Chapter 12 (Part 1), Chapter 12 (Part 2), Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18 (Part 1), Chapter 18 (Part 2), Chapter 19 (Part 1), Chapter 19 (Part 2), Chapter 19 (Part 3), Chapter 19 (Part 4), Chapter 20 (Part 1)
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
“You killed me!” House accused. The dreaded continue screen popped up on the screen.
But that didn’t seem to have any effect on Rachel. If anything she seemed happy for the opportunity his death - well, his character’s death - had given her.
“Now I can play too,” she said with a grin.
“I don’t think so.”
“Because you are supposed to be getting dressed,” Cuddy answered for them both.
Instantly House and Rachel looked in the direction the voice was coming from. Cuddy… did not appear happy at all. In fact she seemed downright angry. A finger pointing to a spot on the floor right front of her, she said, “Get your bottom over here right now, or you’ll be in time out until we leave.”
Rachel hesitated.
“Now, Rachel.”
She frowned but stood up. Still, she didn’t head towards her mother. “I don’t want to wear the tights,” she confessed sadly.
“I don’t care. You are wearing them.”
Rachel hung her head and slowly made her way back to Cuddy, who had in the few passing seconds decided to turn her irritation on House.
“And you need a tie.”
That caught him by surprise. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“It’s dinner at someone’s house.”
“Yeah, your boss’s home,” she snapped. “Pick out a tie or I will.”
Still it seemed odd to him. “Did I have to wear a tie at his rehearsal dinner? I thought that was business casual.”
Her response was simple. “Different wife.”
“Which number are we on?”
“Four? Five? Who cares?” she guessed, grabbing hold of Rachel as she tried to slip through the doorway unnoticed.
“We have to wear suits and ties for a wife with a six month expiration date?”
“She’s also wife number one. They got remarried. So… yes.”
“But -”
“House, I really don’t have time to deal with this. Just put on a damn tie.”
His point still stood: it seemed like a lot of work to please someone who he would probably never, ever see again. Rationally he understood that he didn’t have a choice. This was his boss - and Cuddy’s for that matter. And they were going to be surrounded by people far more important than a department head with tenure. He had no problem offending or embarrassing in general, but in this case, he was the lowest on the food chain… which admittedly never really mattered all that much to him. But Cuddy was in a predicament as it was, what with employees selling drugs and the D.E.A. investigating; he couldn’t afford to make the situation worse for her. So he would do his best to behave himself.
“Fine,” he agreed, making faces at her as she walked away. He would behave, but he wasn’t above mocking her in their own home. He guessed though she wouldn’t care as long as he played nicely publicly.
And he would do that. But getting all dressed up, being nice to the people he didn’t care about at all, wasn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his evening.
All of that went out the window though the second he saw Cuddy once she was dressed and ready to go.
She looked hot.
A voice inside his head whispered that he probably should have figured that out on his own, that if he had to look nice, then she would really go out of her way to look as gorgeous as she could.
Well, he thought as he took in the sight of her in a tight, blue dress rendered in overlapping sheer fabric, she had more than succeeded in that department. She was meant to be looked at in that dress with that body. The material lying across her clavicle was nearly see through, and every inch of bright blue chiffon or silk or whatever the hell it was clung to her body perfectly. Simultaneously leaving everything and nothing to the imagination, it was guaranteed to make her the center of attention.
Admittedly given the investigation the hospital was going to be under, she was going to be the center of attention either way. But dressed like that, she was going to have many of the boards’ minds on things other than work.
When he went to zip her up, his fingers paused on the zipper. “You sure you want this up?”
She smiled but said, “We have to go.”
“Okay,” he said helping her with this finishing touch. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a dozen offers for a threesome tonight. Which is fine… as long as the offer comes from a really attractive woman.”
Turning to him, she said knowingly, “You like it.” It was probably intended to be a question, but there was absolutely nothing about the sentence that seemed like a question.
“I do” was his enthusiastic reply. “You look stunning.”
She leaned into him then. Her lips nearly on his mouth, she whispered, “Then you should see what I’m wearing under it.”
He pulled back so he could assess what possible undergarments she might have been wearing. In his opinion, she couldn’t have had anything on under a dress that tonight. Shaking his head, he said, “You’re not wearing anything under that.”
She smirked. “Believe me, I am.”
“Prove it.”
“Not now,” she said shaking her head and straightening his tie. “We have a party to go to.”
He frowned in disappointment. “So you’re just telling me that to drive me insane.”
“Of course.”
He slapped her ass as she walked away from him. “You’re a tease,” he accused.
Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at him. “I’m not teasing you.”
But that was exactly what she was doing. Admittedly he was ready to bone her when she was sick in bed in her pajamas. There really weren’t any circumstances when his desire to fuck her was absent, so in a way, she was always a tease to him.
When she looked like that though?
It took all of his willpower to pretend like he wasn’t desperate to have sex with her right then and there. Rachel, of course, made that easier by being in such a foul mood over the whole thing.
It was clear that she didn’t want to go. She hadn’t said anything to his knowledge as to why she would rather stay home, but it was obvious that the last place she wanted to be was with them at this party.
He could understand that, because he really didn’t want to go either. He had said he would, though he hadn’t wanted to go. But now he definitely would have preferred to stay home. Maybe the weekend had just made him wary, but somehow he felt as though only bad things could result from them going to this party. He would say something wrong or Cuddy wouldn’t right things at work, and then the relative amount of bliss they’d achieved during the rest of the afternoon would be gone. So he understood how Rachel felt. He wanted to stay home too.
But Rachel was taking this thing to a whole other level. She whined when Cuddy put her coat on. She whined when they got in the car. She whined in the car on the drive to the Sanford Wells’ mansion. She whined when they pulled into the long and winding driveway and when they started to make the long trek to the house. She whined and whined and whined and whined until they were at the front door and Cuddy had had enough.
Crouching down so that she could look Rachel in the eye, Cuddy told her, “That’s enough, Rachel.”
“I wanna go home.”
“I don’t care.”
“But -”
“No,” Cuddy said sternly. “That’s enough. We have listened to you complain the entire time, and it’s not going to work. You are here. You’re going to be a nice little girl and play with your friends. You’re going to eat your dinner like a good girl when it’s served to you, and you are not going to complain about any of it. You’re going to be polite. Do you understand me?”
“But -”
“Uh uh.” Cuddy shook her head. “That’s it. If I hear any more complaints for you, I’ll put you in time out here, and everyone will know how naughty you’re being.”
Rachel shifted on her feet uncomfortably. She definitely didn’t want that, which was what Cuddy had been planning on. Nothing worked quite like shame; her own mother had taught her that. At the time, Cuddy had hated Arlene for it, but now she understood: embarrassment was a powerful motivator.
“Is that what you want?” Cuddy asked, knowing that the answer would be no. “Do you want people to think you’re being bad?”
Rachel enthusiastically shook her head no.
“Then stop complaining. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“All right.” Cuddy hesitated for a moment before saying calmly, “You’ll have fun. You don’t need to worry about that.”
Standing back up, Cuddy prepared herself for the evening she was about to have. Rachel surely wouldn’t be a problem now. The second she saw her friends, she wouldn’t be any trouble. But that just left everything else as a possible source of conflict.
House must have noticed her reluctance, because he looked for her to give him some sort of sign that it was a good time to ring the doorbell. That took her a few moments, to muster up the courage necessary to start this whole process. But when she did, she nodded her head.
Seconds later when a butler opened the door, Cuddy was reminded why she had always thought this particular marriage was doomed to fail. Sanford Wells, for all of his wealth and power, was a fairly down to earth guy. He liked Buffalo wings and basketball games; he liked living in a fairly suburban neighborhood, though it was definitely an upper class neighborhood. He did not particularly appreciate or care for the finer things in life, and rumor had it around the hospital that, in fact, he had never been a successful heart surgeon; he was simply frugal and had managed to amass wealth by never spending it.
Cuddy knew that that was definitely not the case. He had money. But as event staff took their coats and her purse, she remembered that Wells was rarely interested in showing off.
In contrast, the first Mrs. Wells, now also the fourth or fifth, depending on whose count you believed, needed her riches to be on display. She was not a tacky woman by nature; if anything, Cuddy had always found her to be a woman of refined taste, an intelligent, successful board member in her own right. But this woman clearly had no qualms about turning a holiday party into an extravagant affair. Everything about their home and this party spoke to how interested she was in making everyone else appreciate their wealth.
Yet Cuddy was polite the second she spotted their hosts.
“Dr. Cuddy,” Wells called out to her, approaching her with a frosty wife on his arm.
“It’s nice to see you,” Cuddy said to him, as he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “How are you, Arianne?”
“I’m fine,” she said with a tight-lipped smile. It was the kind of expression you made when you felt as though your present company were painfully awful. Cuddy knew this, because she was sure her own face held the same expression. “And yourself?”
“Good,” Cuddy said in an equally false conversational tone. The two women had never been friends or even liked each other very much; this was as nice as their conversations got.
Wanting to distract from that, she said, “I’m sure you’re familiar with my partner, Greg House.” House didn’t say anything, because his gaze was on a woman ten feet away from him who had large breasts. Cuddy forced herself to ignore that, although she violently squeezed the hand of his that she was holding. “And this is my daughter, Rachel.”
Rachel waved shyly but didn’t speak. Cuddy hadn’t expected her to though. Although Rachel wasn’t a quiet child - or a shy one - she was not the precocious life of the party. She preferred to be ignored at evens like this, because really, in all honesty, what she wanted was to be home in her pajamas watching a movie.
Frankly Cuddy understood the impulse.
“Yes, hello, Dr. House,” Sanford Wells said, forcing House’s attentions away from the other breasts in the room. House also did not speak though. He simply inclined his head in respect. “I hope you don’t mind, but I do need to speak to your boss for a little bit.”
House shrugged. “I don’t mind that at all.”
“Wonderful. It won’t take but a moment.” Wells said this as much to House and Cuddy as he did to his wife, who seemed agitated at the very idea of her husband spending any time with Cuddy.
Which… was understandable, given the history there.
But Cuddy preferred not to think about that. Rumors of that relationship had already tainted enough in her life.
“I understand,” she said, having anticipated this moment the entire time.
“You have some things to discuss,” Arianne said, as though she were deducing the reason behind this private conversation that needed to take place.
“It’s business, dear.”
“Of course. In that case, Dr. House, I assume you’re a whiskey drinker.” From the look on his face, Cuddy knew he wanted to tell Arianne that at this moment, he was a bleach drinker if that was going to make this party a little less unbearable. But he simply nodded his head in her direction. “I have a bottle of Glenfarclas, 50 years old, from 1955. Have you heard of it?”
She didn’t give him a chance to answer the question before she looped an arm through the arm Cuddy herself wasn’t holding on to. “Come. I’ll let you have a glass. I wish to know how it tastes, and unfortunately, my health doesn’t permit me to do so at the moment….”
Cuddy let her take him, though she had no doubt that that conversation wasn’t going to end well for her own relationship with House. Nothing Arianne could tell House was going to be good. But for the time being, Cuddy couldn’t worry about that now.
“You know, Rachel,” Wells said to her daughter who was practically clinging to her hand. “I think you have some friends here. They’re playing games in that room right over there,” he said, pointing to a room down one of the long hallways. “Why don’t you go see what they are up to?”
Rachel looked to her for reassurance. Cuddy did her best given the circumstances. A hand smoothing Rachel’s hair back, she said, “Go on, honey. I’ll come find you in a little bit, all right?”
To say Rachel looked unenthusiastic was an understatement. But she must have known that she had no other choice, because without much hesitation, she started to trudge her way through the other partygoers down the hallway.
Finally alone with Sanford he gestured to a hallway that started on the right side of the room. “Shall we?”
Cuddy nodded her head. “Of course. I was expecting this conversation.”
He smiled genially as he guided her down the hall to his office. The second he opened the door, she was not prepared for John Kelley to be standing there.
“Lisa,” John said, almost silently imploring her to remain calm.
Instantly Cuddy regretted both coming here and letting House go. She had no interest in being alone with John, no desire to be with the man who had kissed her earlier today without any regard for what she wanted. She didn’t want to talk to him, though she had created this charade with him.
In the back of her mind, a betraying voice whispered how she had ensured that this scenario would happen. She had asked for John’s help. She had, as House had pointed out, kept the check - which would only make John think that perhaps he still had a chance with her. And now John was here.
“Hi,” she said breathlessly feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of her.
Closing the door behind them, Sanford said, “I’m sure you two know each other very well.”
“Yes, of course,” Cuddy answered, forcing herself to remain calm. She could not let John think that he had gotten to her. Though he had obviously upset her, the last thing she could let happen was for this to become a professional problem. “How could I forget the face of our best donor,” she said with a smile that felt as forced as it got. “I didn’t realize you were going to be here.”
She tried to make the comment sound as though it were merely an interested one. It could have been an accusation, and in a way it was, but that was not what she wanted her boss to hear.
“Well,” John replied calmly. “I was watching the news, and I saw a story about Princeton Plainsboro. Naturally I wanted to make sure that there wasn’t a problem with the investments we’ve made recently.”
Cuddy shook her head a little. “Problem?” She didn’t understand.
“Mr. Kelley here -”
“John,” John corrected.
“Of course,” Sanford Wells said apologetically. “John is aware that the D.E.A. has decided to investigate our hospital.”
“I wasn’t aware the press had gotten wind of this.”
“Apparently they have. I think it’s safe to assume that we’re going to receive some blowback for this from our investors,” Sanford told them both. “In fact when John showed up here, I was concerned that he wanted to withdraw the funds he has given us for the year.”
“I won’t lie,” John admitted. “My uncle isn’t going to be pleased about this, and our support will probably be lax for the next month or two. But I was telling Sandy here that there should be no problem with the donation I made to you guys a couple days ago.”
Suddenly feeling like she was on the page as the other men in the room, Cuddy nodded her head in understanding. This was, after all, a lie she had created. It wasn’t hard to know where to pick up from there.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said. As soon as she did that though, she couldn’t help but think that there was some sort of odd subtext to the whole thing. No, she had never believed that there would be any sort of problem cashing the check. After what John had done, it was obvious that he would be stuck allowing the money to go through. Unless he wanted to be slapped with a sexual harassment suit, he really had no other option other than to pretend as though he was on good terms with Cuddy.
Yet at the same time, she had feared that he would create some sort of problem with the check. Outwardly he had every right to withdraw his company’s financial support. And part of her had worried that he might do that just to spite her. But here he was saying that he had no problem giving the hospital the money, and she couldn’t help but think that his supposed reluctance had had nothing to do with the imbroglio they were in currently.
“I would hate,” he explained, just furthering that feeling inside her. “To think that a few poor choices by a couple misguided employees would ruin all the good work you all do. And I’m happy to help in any way I can.”
“That’s wonderful,” Cuddy said, not knowing whether or not she meant it at this point. “I’d planned on calling you Monday,” she lied. “To tell you what the hospital is about to experience. I apologize for not being the one to warn you.”
Wells was the one to accept the apology. “I’m glad things worked out this time, Lisa.” The use of her name caught her attention. “You’ve obviously been of great service to the hospital. But if we hadn’t received John’s assurances of a large donation, I’m not sure I would have been able to protect you from the rest of the board. I am glad that’s not in my future, thanks to John.”
Taken at face value, his words hurt. It was clear from what he was saying that, no matter how much she had done for the hospital, she would have had a hard time convincing anyone of keeping her if she didn’t have that check to hand over. He was saying John was the reason that difficult conversation wouldn’t take place.
Admittedly that wasn’t exactly something she didn’t know. After all, hadn’t that been why she had gone to him in the first place? She knew it had been, but hearing it nevertheless hurt.
Especially since she knew Sanford Wells well enough to understand that his comments weren’t meant to solely be taken superficially. There was an undercurrent there, a silent order that, if the board had to choose between her or John’s contributions, they would not side with her. He would encourage them to choose her, but the money would win out in the end, so she’d better maintain that relationship.
Sure, that sounded like an almost insane amount of subtext, and someone might argue that she was reading into his words far more than she needed to. But she had worked with and known Wells long enough to understand when he was getting at something. He was a man of few words, and he always made sure to make the sentences he did utter as potent as possible.
She was not imagining things.
A forced smile on her face, she said sweetly, “Believe me, I know he’s my knight in shining armor. I’m very lucky to have had -”
“Don’t be modest, Lisa,” John interrupted. To Wells, he explained, “She’s spent a lot of time keeping me happy. The least I can do in return is ensure that the hospital will remain under her expert guidance.”
At that Sanford Wells smiled. “I’m glad to hear that, and I’m thrilled for all of us, most especially the hospital, that this situation is at least in part on its way to resolving itself.” He made a big show of glancing down at his watch. “I’m sorry to cut this conversation short, but I just know that if I skip out on my own party for any longer my wife will be cross with me. Excuse me.”
There was no expectation that she or John would follow after him. And though it probably would have been smart for her to do just that, she stayed behind. House had said she wouldn’t let herself be alone with John, that she wouldn’t give him another chance to pull anything. In the back of her mind, she knew she was proving her boyfriend wrong. But this was too important to let go. If John had something to her boss of all people, she knew she needed to put a stop to that.
“What did you tell him?” she asked when she was sure Wells wasn’t within hearing distance.
John held up a hand as if to tell her to calm down. “You wanted to make it seem like I hadn’t written the check just to get you out of this jam -”
“That’s not the way I would like to put it,” she said simply.
He nodded his head in understanding. “I thought if I came here, made it seem like I was worried about the money going through and your scandal -”
“How did you find out about that?” she asked. She had told him she wanted the money; she had not told him why.
“It is on the news now, Lisa.”
“Oh.”
“I thought it would all be more believable if I acted worried,” he explained. “I’m not, by the way. I have complete faith in you.”
The fact that he clearly meant it didn’t make it any better. Hours ago, he had completely abused her trust, and the sting of that betrayal hadn’t gone away. He might have had faith in her, but what did his faith mean to her?
“So you thought that you’d also take this time to tell him that we’re not getting along,” she accused.
“I didn’t tell him anything about that,” he said honestly.
“Right.” She didn’t believe him. “He just -”
“Noticed how unhappy you were to see me,” John suggested. “I didn’t say to him that we’d had a fight. That’s not exactly a moment I’m proud of, and he seems to care about you an awful lot.”
She nodded her head. “He does.”
“Why would I tell him that I kissed you?” After a brief pause, he added, “How could I when you didn’t want him to know that you came to my house today?”
That was a good point, but it didn’t matter to her. “Forgive me,” she said sarcastically. “If I question your ability to think logically after what you did.”
He looked hurt, though she didn’t feel sorry for what she said. “Are you ever going to forgive me for that?” he asked quietly.
“You haven’t even apologized,” Cuddy snapped.
“You’re right,” he admitted after a moment. “I haven’t.” He sighed. “Look, Lisa, I want you, and I’m not gonna apologize for that. But… I shouldn’t have kissed you. That wasn’t right of me.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Maybe she shouldn’t have been making this more difficult for him, but she didn’t care. She was in no mood to make things easier for him. After all, he hadn’t been considerate of her needs. He hadn’t thought of her feelings when he’d kissed her. She didn’t think he deserved any more than he had given her.
“It was hasty of me… and I didn’t think about how you might react to it, cause I wasn’t really thinking. I just wanted you. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t,” she agreed firmly, unsympathetically. He seemed dismayed that nothing he had said had made her warm up to him. “If you say you’re sorry, then fine.” She shrugged. “I guess I can believe that. But what you did isn’t something I’m going to move past just like that. You kissed me. You’ve been investigating my boyfriend, spying on him. That wasn’t a sudden choice. You didn’t just decide to do that,” she said knowingly. He might have wanted her to believe that it had been a hasty decision, but it was anything but that. His actions had proven as much.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he told her, sounding as earnest as she thought he could possibly sound. “I just wanted to know that he was going to treat you right. I didn’t want you to be with someone who -”
“That’s not your responsibility. And ultimately none of your business.”
“I know.” He looked down then away.
“I’m happy,” she declared. “Regardless of your feelings for him, he makes me happy.”
“Does he?”
The question was honest. That was the part that bothered her. It would have been easy to disregard it if he were asking out of anger or jealousy, if he were trying to manipulate her. But there was no malice behind the words, making it impossible for her to resort to anger. Perhaps she should have gotten irate with him. But if anything, the question made her sad, that he would assume she would stay in an unhappy relationship. He thought that little of her.
“Of course he does,” she said in softer tones.
“Because it seems to me that a guy like that must come with a lot of baggage. And even if you love him, that can’t make it easy all the time.”
She shrugged. “Everyone has problems. We -”
“I just can’t imagine that all that work is worth it,” he said casually. “But….” He sighed, obviously resigned to the truth of the situation. “That’s not my call to make, and I shouldn’t have tried to force you to… I don’t know, want me.”
“Thank you.”
“But you’re still mad at me,” he deduced.
She shot him a conciliatory look. “It’s not that simple.”
“It never is.”
“I need time,” she explained. “I need to know that I can trust you again. That’s not going to happen with one apology.”
He nodded his head. “Okay.”
She repeated herself, feeling as though the point were worth making again. “I need time… and John, if House sees you here, we both know what will happen.”
“I wouldn’t hit him.”
“You would.” He seemed hesitant to believe the idea, but she knew that was exactly what would happen. “He’ll guarantee that that happens, and if you hurt him, there’s nothing you can say, because I will protect him.”
John clearly didn’t like that. “So he’ll piss me off so much that I hit him, and that’ll be my fault.” He laughed then, but there was little humor in the sound. “You must really love him to put up with him.”
“I do.”
“I’ll leave,” he said decisively. “I just hope he’s worth all the trouble for you, Lisa.”
Her instinct was to assert that House absolutely was. Most of the time she thought that was true, but today she had trouble opening her mouth and speaking those words. As much as she loved him, this weekend had proven that they were… at times so far from domestic bliss that that goal didn’t even seem remotely attainable.
And the thing of it was… they had worked through so much already. They had compromised and fought for this relationship with everything they had, all in the hopes that they would eventually get to some magical other side where things were automatically better. But all this time later, it seemed as though they were no closer to attaining that.
Part of her felt that they just had to work a little more at it. They just had to try; he had to get along better with Rachel, and Cuddy had to let him in their lives a little more. She had to be willing to share responsibility for Rachel with him. They just had a little more work to do before things could truly be perfect.
But then there was another part of her that wondered if that was how good relationships lasted or if theirs was simply one that would always be difficult.
She would never say that to John though.
And then Cuddy couldn’t defend her relationship even if she wanted.
Because finally John had left.
Continue on to the next chapter