“Yes Cuddy, something I can help you with that is more important than a dying 45 year old Marine?” House asked with a smirk on his face, glancing down to the area right below her neck as he spoke.
She thought she could speak; she wanted to prove that she could have a conversation with him that didn’t make her feel like a school girl. She really believed that if she could look into his eyes again, just stand her ground, she could shake this feeling. It just had to be a fluke.
“I…wanted to know...when you will be able to fulfill your clinic hours this week?” She spoke it knowing that it came our sounding as awkward and forced as it felt.
Her lips tightened as if she was afraid if she spoke anymore, she would only make it worse.
House looked at her with eyes wide that slowly narrowed and he let a slight whistle from his lips as they did.
Lisa drew a short breath thinking the whole time that if he got any closer to her the butterflies in her stomach would surely fly right out her middle.
“That isn’t why you’re here, is it? You could have asked me that in an email. Instead you come here and interrupt my differential just to ask this?”
“But…you never read your emails and I thought…” She did her best at trying to sound convincing but at the same time she knew she was losing this battle.
“Cuddy, is something going on you should tell me about or are we going to just keep playing this game?” He came so close to her that she could feel his breath on her face as he said it. She looked over and saw the team looking at them. House stared intently at her as if he was trying to see what it was that she was thinking, and then broke the gaze right when she thought she couldn’t hold her breath a moment longer.
“So glad you needed to endanger a life just for a special alone moment!” House yelled over his shoulder as he turned to walk back to his team.
Cuddy balled her hands in to fists and walked out of his office thinking about how infuriating he was. “Oh he is so awful…how could I possibly think…why would I even…” She couldn’t even form a correct thought because exactly the opposite of what she had hoped for had happened. Now she knew for sure that she had NO control over her feelings for Greg House.
Lisa spent the next two hours trying hard to finish the paperwork on her desk and even harder to keep House at the back of her thoughts, but both were nearly impossible. Maybe she could figure out a way to avoid seeing him altogether.
The intercom made her jump.
“Dr. Cuddy, Dr. House is asking for a consult in clinic room H”.
“I’ll be right there” she rolled her eyes as she rose from her desk and headed out to the clinic.
“Did you say room “H”?” she asked the desk nurse as she passed.
“Yes, that is where the page came from”
“What the hell is he doing in the clinic” she shook her head.
She opened the door to see House sitting on the exam table.
“Where is the patient House?” she shut the door behind her.
“The patient is you Cuddy.” He said with a smirk.
She was only slightly aware that her mouth had just parted and stopped short of dropping open completely. Instantly she went on the defensive.
“House, come on, maybe you have time for this kind of thing, but I have a hospital…”
“Lisa” he said it so soft she almost didn’t hear it. “What was the real reason you came to my office today?”
She wanted to say something but, she felt the butterflies again, and the short, quick breathes coming.
He slid off the exam table and moved closer to her, with his eyes locked to hers the whole time.
“You’ve had your try at normal now” and with that he was practically over her. She thought about backing up, but she felt that if she moved away, whatever force was holding her upright would be broken and she would surely fall to the ground in a heap.
House slipped his arm behind the small of Cuddys back and without even a moment of hesitation she put her arms around his neck and their lips met with a force that by all rights should have shaken the hospital walls.
“My God” she could hear the words in her mind as they kissed but nothing else could possibly be thought as every bit of Lisa Cuddy was currently wrapped up in an embrace that was as passionate as it was completely lacking control. House holding her up as she clung to him, her fingers stretched out touching whatever part of his hair, his face, his shoulders she could reach.
When she didn’t honestly think she could maintain this with her clothes on she slightly turned her lips to the side and gasped for a breath. House just pulled her to him even tighter, as if that was possible. He breathed in her ear, “So much for normal”…
And she whispered back, “Normals overrated”.
