DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to David Shore. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Special Thanks to emthefrootloop and Maria for beta reading.
SPOILERS: Up to season 3, you should know who Thirteen is.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
The First Time Dr. Gregory House Was Speechless
By Mindwalker78
"Dr. Cuddy, can I buy you a drink?" Remy, better known as Thirteen at Princeton Hospital sat down on the barstool next to Lisa Cuddy.
"Dr. Hadley," Cuddy smiled politely and glanced at the entrance, "I'm waiting for someone."
"At least someone knows my name," Remy grinned and signaled the bardtender to bring her a refill. "I was sitting here with my friends but they have to work early and just left." She watched the dean of medicine attentively.
Cuddy ordered a drink herself and they sat there for a while, Remy glancing her way and Cuddy watching the young doctor in the mirror behind the bar. Cuddy's martini was gone rather quickly.
"I'll give you another two minutes," Remy turned her face, "and then I'll buy you a drink."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Lisa Cuddy was a little bewildered at the way the other doctor watched her since she had entered the bar. At first she had thought she might be drunk, but she wasn't.
"Let me guess, you don't do the social thing with subordinates, right?" Remy played with the rim of her glass.
"Something like that, yeah,." Cuddy suddenly felt like the temperature had risen quickly in the last few minutes. At first she wasn't sure but now it was pretty clear that Thirteen was flirting with her.
Cuddy watched idly as she signaled the barkeeper to bring them both new drinks.
"Then it's probably a good thing I just got fired, right?"
"You what?" Cuddy blinked her blues eyes, truely surprised. She really had thought House was through with chosing his team.
"Fired," Remy put the glass in Cuddy's hand, took her own and clinked them, "Cheers."
Almost an hour later Cuddy wasn't even thinking of her date anymore or why he never showed up. After seven shots she had stopped counting and was just enjoying the company.
Around midnight, two laughing women hailed a cab and when it arrived at Cuddy's house, Remy got out of the car with her without a blink. Cuddy paid their driver and frowned for a second but when she watched the younger woman's profile in the dim light of the street lantern, she abandoned every feeling of doubt and just led the way to her front door.
She let Thirteen enter first and closed the door behind them, locking it. When she turned around and looked up, two green eyes stared directly into hers and before her brain could process all the information her body was sending, warm hands caressed her cheek and neck and soft, warm lips brushed over hers, tentatively first, then hungrily.
Cuddy's purse hit the ground and she burried her fingers in a mane of reddish hair, the other hand holding her close.
"Would you like something for breakfast?" Lisa stood by the kitchen counter, dressed in a long, figure-hugging nightgown when Remy came walking down the stairs.
"That'd be nice," Remy hesitated for a moment, stuffing her hands in her jeans pockets, but then nodded.
"Forgive me if I don't know how this works, but I usually don't ..." Lisa gestured with her hand and put another piece of bread in the toaster.
"Well, good then, because me neither," Remy combed a strand of stubborn hair out of her face.
"And I was wondering," Lisa put two sets of plates and glasses on the kitchen table, "because honestly, I didn't have the time or energy to go out and, you know..."
"Nothing has changed, really. I can count the last times I was out to party in the last two years on one hand." Remy's eyes followed the brunette's every move. She still waited for the awkwardness to begin but somehow they had gracefully skipped that part about the famous morning after. Remy's eyes lingered on the little bit of exposed skin of Lisa's back and remembered the feeling of running her hands along that elegant back, trailing kisses down her neck and shoulders.
Cuddy stood with her back to her when Remy walked up to her and placed her hands on her hips, their bodies touching. She could smell the fresh scent of shampoo on Cuddy's hair. Brushing her hair aside, she placed lingering kisses on her neck and Lisa let her head fall back with a sigh.
"Lollipops are out," House walked into Cuddy's office yet again without bothering to knock.
"And you fired someone." Cuddy hadn't looked forward to this moment. She knew House could read her like no one else and she really didn't need his sexist comments right now. It was hard enough to concentrate and get some work done without his probing questions.
"Yeah, old news. I called and asked her back," House made one of his faces.
"Do I want to know what happened?"
"I was in a bad mood."
"So you thought someone else should suffer?"
"Nah, it wasn't that bad, at least she seems chipper this morning." House leaned on his cane.
"So?" Cuddy looked up from her paperwork.
"You gonna order new ones?" he smiled.
"Order what?"
"Lollipops."
"Out!"
Once the door closed behind him, Cuddy sighed. Just what she had suspected. She had known the minute Remy had told her she was fired that it was just some spur of the moment thing from House. But for some reason or another she hadn't cared last night. And she would be damned if she regretted anything. Cuddy rubbed her temple. Sometimes she wished she could ignore rules just like House did.
When Cuddy got back home that day, she noticed a small piece of paper on the kitchen table. She couldn't remember if it had been there in the morning, but then again, she hadn't paid that much attention. They had skipped breakfast and she was kind of in a hurry when she left the house, already half an hour late.
"Give me a call
555 763 4782
- Remy"
Cuddy grinned and then sighed. How could she have gotten herself in this mess. She did want to call but she also knew she shouldn't. She was the dean of medicine and superior to the hospital staff.
After a glass of wine, she sat on her couch, and with the phone in her hand finally dailed the number she had memorized.
Unfortunatly, her call went straight to voice mail and she hung up quickly, unsure of what to say. Then she remembered House's team's new case and it was fairly safe to believe they were all still at the hospital.
When Remy finally made it to her locker that night, all tiredness fell from her when she looked at her cell and saw the missed call. Smiling, she quickly changed and went home for a couple of hours of much needed sleep.
After another wild debate whether or not House's treatment could work, she had sent them all out of her office except for Thirteen, who she politly asked to stay behind to discuss the paperwork with the firing and hiring.
House had watched her one moment longer than neccessary but left without a comment.
When the door had closed, Cuddy stood up and walked around her desk. Leaning against it, she tried her best to keep a grin off her face. Remy just smiled at her.
"Care to join me for dinner tonight?" Cuddy asked and Remy raised an eyebrow.
"So, it isn't inappropriate anymore?" The younger doctor bit her lower lip, which looked incredibly sexy to Lisa.
"Is that a yes?"
"Only if you let me choose the restaurant."
Meanwhile, House had been hanging around the nurses station and watched the two women through the glass doors to Cuddy's office.
He knew something was up but he just couldn't put a finger on it.
Dinner was a quiet affair and when Remy made a trip to the bathroom, Cuddy mused about how quickly things progressed between them. It wasn't just how good the physical connection was - Cuddy blushed slighty thinking of their night together, and the morning - but how relaxed and happy she felt. Maybe House wasn't right after all, she could be happy.
"So, are you up for some dessert?" Remy joined her back at their table and winked mischievously at Cuddy.
"Actually ... " Cuddy blushed some more and trailed off.
"Yeah, I think that's an even better idea," Remy narrowed her eyes knowingly.
Cuddy paid their check and they hailed a cab to go to her place.
Suddenly, some things Lisa Cuddy always paid attention to weren't so important anymore. She didn't care that she had to be in the office at 9 a.m., or what other people might say when they saw them together at the restaurant or walking down the steet. It was like a heavy weight was suddenly lifted of her shoulders and she could breathe again.
Right now she could smell the clean fragrance of Remy's perfume; her sitting right next to her on the back seat of the cab, smiling at her.
Walking up to her door step for the second time this week, they didn't even make it inside before their mouths hungrily met, Remy's hands finding their way inside Lisa's blue blouse and Lisa's hand grabbing firm buttocks.
It took them a while until Cuddy managed to find her key in her purse and led them inside.
Neither of them noticed the man sitting in the dark corner of the front porch; it was the first time Dr. Gregory House was out of witty remarks.
The End