The Affair, Part 2
“Are you crying?” House teased.
They were sitting side-by-side in bed, propped up against the headboard, sharing a bowl of microwave popcorn, as the The Way We Were credits started to roll.
Cuddy wiped her eyes.
“You’re not?” she sniffed, incredulously.
“Why on earth would I be crying?”
“Because it’s so sad. They were so in love, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”
“Give me a fucking break. Hubbell was a pussy. If he really loved Katie, he would’ve fought for her.”
Cuddy smiled, amused that House had such strong feelings on the matter.
“Not everyone can be quite as persistent as you, House.”
He made a face.
“Then that’s their problem.”
She gave a coy little smile.
“So, did you at least like the movie?”
“I’ve seen worse. Like Yentl.”
She swatted him.
“Do you think Barbra Streisand is pretty?”
He shrugged.
“She’s okay. Better than that Stepford Wife Hubbell ended up with. But I’m partial to a different Jewess.” He pulled her toward him.
“And you are my very own Gorgeous Goyishe Guy,” she giggled, quoting a line from the film.
“L’chaim,” he said, kissing her.
#####
Their affair, such as it was, had been going on for four months. Sometimes she came to the hotel, they had sex, and she left. Sometimes she stayed longer-room service, sex, card games, more sex. On rare special occasions, she spent the night. Those were House’s favorites, but he tried to play it cool.
On one such night, she woke to House writhing in the bed, racked by a horrific nightmare. “No!” he kept saying. “No, no, please!”
When they were dating, he used to have nightmares all the time-horrible, thrashing nightmares that scared her-but eventually they had subsided until they disappeared completely. She wasn’t totally surprised they were back, though. He’d had a rough couple of years.
“Hey,” she said, grabbing his arm, trying to steady him. “Shhh, House, wake up, You’re just having a bad dream.”
He jerked around one more time, then his eyes opened, terrified.
“There was so much blood,” he said, still stunned, not quite awake. “I didn’t mean it.”
She cradled him in her arms, just like she used to, murmuring in his ear, “It’s okay, House. You didn’t hurt anybody. I’m right here . . .I’m right here”-until he fell back asleep.
####
House had invented a game called strip chess. Every time you “checked’ somebody, they had to remove an item of clothing. “Checkmate” and they had to get fully naked.
They had been playing for 20 minutes, and Cuddy was down to a bra, stiletto heels, and panties.
House still hadn’t removed a stitch of clothing.
“What kind of idiot agrees to play strip chess with a genius?” Cuddy said, almost to herself.
“My favorite kind,” House replied, with a grin.
“Shut up!”
Then he slid his knight to an open square. “Check! Kindly remove your bra please!”
She looked down at the board, skeptically.
“Wait a second! You could’ve had checkmate if you’d moved your queen instead of your knight.”
“True, but I prefer delay of gratification. It’s only a matter of time, my pretty. Now…that bra?”
She raised her eyebrows, slowly removed her bra, threw it at his face.
She moved her bishop, and then, with a devious smile, licked her thumb and methodically began circling her nipples.
House watched her, his tongue practically hanging out of his mouth.
“Your move, stud,” she said with a smirk, squeezing her boobs together and leaning toward him.
“That’s…not fair,” he sputtered.
She looked down at his pants.
“Looks like all your blood has suddenly rushed to the wrong organ, pal.”
“Forget the game,” House said, going to grab her. “It’s dumb.”
She squirmed away.
“No! Those aren’t the rules! It’s your move!” she giggled.
House rolled his eyes.
“Oh, alright,” he said, vaguely moving a pawn across the board, without taking his eyes off of her.
She stopped her performance and looked down at the board with a triumphant grin.
“Bad move, House. Checkmate. You lose! Now strip!”
“You are such a little minx” he said, eagerly beginning to yank off his shirt and wriggle out of his pants.
“Stand up!” she commanded. “And take your time. You’re not the only one who likes delay of gratification.”
######
A week later, they were having sex; Cuddy was on top, riding him, so he could view her in all her glory, when he said, in a dreamy sort of way, “God, I love you.”
She stopped undulating, then rolled off him quickly, shooting him a dirty look.
“No!” she said.
His mouth dropped open.
“What?”
“You do not get to say that. You’ll ruin everything!”
“Christ, I didn’t meant it. It just slipped out.”
“Well, keep it in!”
“It’s not exactly a newsflash that I’m in love with you,” he said, sulkily, pulling the sheet up to almost his neck.
“That’s not what this is about,” she said. “This is about two consenting adults enjoying each other’s bodies. Remember? We had an arrangement! Sex, not love.”
“That’s bullshit Cuddy and we both know it.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“You rocked me to sleep when I had a nightmare!”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“You moan my name when we have sex!”
“You’re a good lover. That doesn’t mean I’m in love with you.”
“I think it does.”
“Well, you’re wrong.”
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
“And you get to make all the rules, all the time? Is that how this works?”
“Yes!” she said.
He looked at her, his eyes flashing.
“Forget it” he said, getting out of bed and hastily beginning to get dressed. “I’m outta here. I’m done.”
She suddenly felt her heart thumping in her chest.
“Oh come on, House. Don’t be a baby.”
“I have to go. I have an early consult in the morning,” he lied.
“You haven’t done a consult in 15 years,” she said, studying him.
“Turns out, people do change,” he said. Then, under his breath: “Obviously.”
“Rachel is staying with my mother. We have the whole night,” she said, patting the bed next to her. “Come back.”
“No,” he said huffily.
“You’re just going to leave me here all alone in this big hotel bed, all by myself?” Her voice was kittenish. She stretched, seductively.
He refused to look at her.
“Yes!” he said.
Her face turned red.
“Okay fine! Then go.”
“I am!”
There was a tiny hesitation, a standoff of sorts, as both waited for the other to cave-but neither did.
House grabbed his duffel bag and left.
#####
Despite his dramatic exit, it was still Cuddy who held all the cards in the relationship. House loved her so much, wanted whatever she was willing to give him. So five days later, he called her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, chastened.
She felt relieved beyond measure, but she couldn’t let on.
“I know you are.”
“I behaved like an ass. I shouldn’t have just stormed out like that.”
“Things are…complicated between us-I know that,” she said. “And it’s partly my fault.”
“No, it’s all my fault. You made the terms clear. I broke my end of the bargain. Can you forgive me?”
“Of course. Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. Well, other than the fact you left me with a serious case of blue balls. You can’t do that to a guy!”
“Oops. Sorry about that,” she chuckled. “Perhaps I can make it up to you?”
“So we’re on for Friday night then?” he said, hopefully.
“Hey, you’re the one who walked out on me, remember?”
“I promise, it’ll never happen again. Only an idiot leaves a woman like you alone in a bed.”
“Then I’ll see you at 8 o clock.”
He exhaled a bit. “Can’t wait.”
But after that, something did change-albeit ever so slightly. It became harder and harder for Cuddy to lie to herself about her feelings. Because she knew that House was right. That she had been in denial, pretending the thing between them was sexy and lighthearted and nothing more. To acknowledge the truth, that she loved him, that she had never stopped loving him, was simply too painful. It was admitting, on some very fundamental level, that she had no self control. She had tried her hardest to stop loving Gregory House, and she had failed, spectacularly.
####
After that, their arrangement started fraying around the edges.
Cuddy mentioned that she and Rachel were planning on seeing the new Pixar movie together.
“I’d love to go with you guys,” House had said.
“I’d love that, too, House. But you can’t.”
“I’m not fishing for an invitation,” he said, mopily. “I’m just saying I wish I could.”
“I know,” she said. “Me too.”
One night, after midnight, on a Wednesday, he called her. “I miss you,” he said.
“It’s just two more days,” she replied.
“I know but I want to see you right now.”
“I do, too,” she said. “But we have to wait.”
“It’s hard,” he said, adding: “And I mean that, literally and figuratively.”
She gave a tiny laugh.
“Go to sleep, House.”
Then, a few weeks later, they were sitting in bed, still wearing fluffy terry cloth robes after having bathed together, when she accidentally let slip that she had bought a new dress for the New Jersey General gala.
“A gala?” he said, furrowing his brow.
Shit.
She tried to keep her voice casual: “Yeah, just this fundraising thing they do every year. Big band. Open bar. Drunk internists. That sort of thing.”
“And you’re going …alone?”
Shit, shit, shit.
“I’m going with the hospital’s Director of Finance. Not a date. Just as friends.”
“But he’s single?”
She fiddled with the rope tie of her robe.
“Divorced.”
“And you’ll…what? Sit at a table together? Share a few laughs? Dance together?”
“Something like that. . .”
“So it’s a date!”
“I said it wasn’t.”
“Does he know that?”
“I’m sure he does, House.”
He folded his arms.
“I don’t like it.”
“It’s not your call.”
“You’ve been fucking me for six months. I don’t have any say on whether or not you go to parties with some other guy?”
“House, you’ve got to trust me.”
“It’s hard to trust you when you’ve made it so perfectly clear that I mean absolutely nothing to you.”
She took his hand.
“Don’t say that. You know that’s not true.”
“How can I possibly know that?”
“We’ve been together for six months and I haven’t gone on a single date. I haven’t so much as looked at another guy.”
“You want a medal?”
“My sister and my mother keep trying to set me up with eligible men! Do you know how hard it’s been to put them off?”
“Then tell them the truth! Tell them you’re with me!”
“Oh, that’ll go over really well.”
His eyes widened.
“Then at least tell me that you’re with me.”
She inhaled.
“I’m with you House,” she said.
He sighed. His shoulders slumped a bit.
“Thank you,” he said.
She went to him, sat in his lap, kissed his eyelids, which were wet with tears.
“I love you,” she said. “I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to say it.”
“It’s okay,” he said, kissing her on the mouth. “I was playing the long game.”
“Your new special skill.”
“Only as it applies to you,” he said.
They kissed again.
“So now what?” House said.
“What do you mean?”
“When do we get out of this godforsaken hotel room and into the real world?”
Cuddy swallowed.
“I need more time.”
“It’s been six months!”
“And I just acknowledged that I love you. The next step is. . .telling my family and friends. Telling Rachel.”
“Rachel loves me.”
“I know she does, House. But I also have to explain to her that you did a terrible thing. But you went to jail and you apologized and sometimes, when we really love somebody, it’s important to forgive them.”
“And Arlene and Julia will understand that too,” he said, half-heartedly.
She shot him a look.
“Are you kidding?”
He allowed himself a small laugh.
“Okay, maybe not.”
“Just give me time, House. I love you. You’re the only man for me. I think we both know that now. I just need to figure out a strategy for. . . reinserting you into my life.”
“I can live with that,” he said, untying the knot to her robe and gently parting her legs. “Let’s see what else I can reinsert myself into.”
####
The following Friday, Cuddy was driving to the Hoboken Hilton and in an extremely good mood. Ever since she had told House she loved him, it was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt lighter, freer, almost giddy. She hadn’t realized how heavy the denial-the lie she was telling herself over and over-was weighing on her.
She had talked to House several times on the phone this week and, for the first time, they had dared to discuss the future.
“I can move to Hoboken,” House had said. “Or we can all move to Manhattan. Get a place in Gramercy Park.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves House. I haven’t even figured out way to tell my mother. I’m…petrified.”
“We’ll figure out something together,” he said. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she said. And something about her and House, united, acting as a team, heartened her.
So she was driving, quickly, eager to be in her lover’s arms again. She was in such a good mood, she didn’t notice the car driving erratically behind her, and she barely saw it coming when that car lost control, spun around, and collided with her, head on.
To be continued…
They were sitting side-by-side in bed, propped up against the headboard, sharing a bowl of microwave popcorn, as the The Way We Were credits started to roll.
Cuddy wiped her eyes.
“You’re not?” she sniffed, incredulously.
“Why on earth would I be crying?”
“Because it’s so sad. They were so in love, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”
“Give me a fucking break. Hubbell was a pussy. If he really loved Katie, he would’ve fought for her.”
Cuddy smiled, amused that House had such strong feelings on the matter.
“Not everyone can be quite as persistent as you, House.”
He made a face.
“Then that’s their problem.”
She gave a coy little smile.
“So, did you at least like the movie?”
“I’ve seen worse. Like Yentl.”
She swatted him.
“Do you think Barbra Streisand is pretty?”
He shrugged.
“She’s okay. Better than that Stepford Wife Hubbell ended up with. But I’m partial to a different Jewess.” He pulled her toward him.
“And you are my very own Gorgeous Goyishe Guy,” she giggled, quoting a line from the film.
“L’chaim,” he said, kissing her.
#####
Their affair, such as it was, had been going on for four months. Sometimes she came to the hotel, they had sex, and she left. Sometimes she stayed longer-room service, sex, card games, more sex. On rare special occasions, she spent the night. Those were House’s favorites, but he tried to play it cool.
On one such night, she woke to House writhing in the bed, racked by a horrific nightmare. “No!” he kept saying. “No, no, please!”
When they were dating, he used to have nightmares all the time-horrible, thrashing nightmares that scared her-but eventually they had subsided until they disappeared completely. She wasn’t totally surprised they were back, though. He’d had a rough couple of years.
“Hey,” she said, grabbing his arm, trying to steady him. “Shhh, House, wake up, You’re just having a bad dream.”
He jerked around one more time, then his eyes opened, terrified.
“There was so much blood,” he said, still stunned, not quite awake. “I didn’t mean it.”
She cradled him in her arms, just like she used to, murmuring in his ear, “It’s okay, House. You didn’t hurt anybody. I’m right here . . .I’m right here”-until he fell back asleep.
####
House had invented a game called strip chess. Every time you “checked’ somebody, they had to remove an item of clothing. “Checkmate” and they had to get fully naked.
They had been playing for 20 minutes, and Cuddy was down to a bra, stiletto heels, and panties.
House still hadn’t removed a stitch of clothing.
“What kind of idiot agrees to play strip chess with a genius?” Cuddy said, almost to herself.
“My favorite kind,” House replied, with a grin.
“Shut up!”
Then he slid his knight to an open square. “Check! Kindly remove your bra please!”
She looked down at the board, skeptically.
“Wait a second! You could’ve had checkmate if you’d moved your queen instead of your knight.”
“True, but I prefer delay of gratification. It’s only a matter of time, my pretty. Now…that bra?”
She raised her eyebrows, slowly removed her bra, threw it at his face.
She moved her bishop, and then, with a devious smile, licked her thumb and methodically began circling her nipples.
House watched her, his tongue practically hanging out of his mouth.
“Your move, stud,” she said with a smirk, squeezing her boobs together and leaning toward him.
“That’s…not fair,” he sputtered.
She looked down at his pants.
“Looks like all your blood has suddenly rushed to the wrong organ, pal.”
“Forget the game,” House said, going to grab her. “It’s dumb.”
She squirmed away.
“No! Those aren’t the rules! It’s your move!” she giggled.
House rolled his eyes.
“Oh, alright,” he said, vaguely moving a pawn across the board, without taking his eyes off of her.
She stopped her performance and looked down at the board with a triumphant grin.
“Bad move, House. Checkmate. You lose! Now strip!”
“You are such a little minx” he said, eagerly beginning to yank off his shirt and wriggle out of his pants.
“Stand up!” she commanded. “And take your time. You’re not the only one who likes delay of gratification.”
######
A week later, they were having sex; Cuddy was on top, riding him, so he could view her in all her glory, when he said, in a dreamy sort of way, “God, I love you.”
She stopped undulating, then rolled off him quickly, shooting him a dirty look.
“No!” she said.
His mouth dropped open.
“What?”
“You do not get to say that. You’ll ruin everything!”
“Christ, I didn’t meant it. It just slipped out.”
“Well, keep it in!”
“It’s not exactly a newsflash that I’m in love with you,” he said, sulkily, pulling the sheet up to almost his neck.
“That’s not what this is about,” she said. “This is about two consenting adults enjoying each other’s bodies. Remember? We had an arrangement! Sex, not love.”
“That’s bullshit Cuddy and we both know it.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“You rocked me to sleep when I had a nightmare!”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“You moan my name when we have sex!”
“You’re a good lover. That doesn’t mean I’m in love with you.”
“I think it does.”
“Well, you’re wrong.”
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
“And you get to make all the rules, all the time? Is that how this works?”
“Yes!” she said.
He looked at her, his eyes flashing.
“Forget it” he said, getting out of bed and hastily beginning to get dressed. “I’m outta here. I’m done.”
She suddenly felt her heart thumping in her chest.
“Oh come on, House. Don’t be a baby.”
“I have to go. I have an early consult in the morning,” he lied.
“You haven’t done a consult in 15 years,” she said, studying him.
“Turns out, people do change,” he said. Then, under his breath: “Obviously.”
“Rachel is staying with my mother. We have the whole night,” she said, patting the bed next to her. “Come back.”
“No,” he said huffily.
“You’re just going to leave me here all alone in this big hotel bed, all by myself?” Her voice was kittenish. She stretched, seductively.
He refused to look at her.
“Yes!” he said.
Her face turned red.
“Okay fine! Then go.”
“I am!”
There was a tiny hesitation, a standoff of sorts, as both waited for the other to cave-but neither did.
House grabbed his duffel bag and left.
#####
Despite his dramatic exit, it was still Cuddy who held all the cards in the relationship. House loved her so much, wanted whatever she was willing to give him. So five days later, he called her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, chastened.
She felt relieved beyond measure, but she couldn’t let on.
“I know you are.”
“I behaved like an ass. I shouldn’t have just stormed out like that.”
“Things are…complicated between us-I know that,” she said. “And it’s partly my fault.”
“No, it’s all my fault. You made the terms clear. I broke my end of the bargain. Can you forgive me?”
“Of course. Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. Well, other than the fact you left me with a serious case of blue balls. You can’t do that to a guy!”
“Oops. Sorry about that,” she chuckled. “Perhaps I can make it up to you?”
“So we’re on for Friday night then?” he said, hopefully.
“Hey, you’re the one who walked out on me, remember?”
“I promise, it’ll never happen again. Only an idiot leaves a woman like you alone in a bed.”
“Then I’ll see you at 8 o clock.”
He exhaled a bit. “Can’t wait.”
But after that, something did change-albeit ever so slightly. It became harder and harder for Cuddy to lie to herself about her feelings. Because she knew that House was right. That she had been in denial, pretending the thing between them was sexy and lighthearted and nothing more. To acknowledge the truth, that she loved him, that she had never stopped loving him, was simply too painful. It was admitting, on some very fundamental level, that she had no self control. She had tried her hardest to stop loving Gregory House, and she had failed, spectacularly.
####
After that, their arrangement started fraying around the edges.
Cuddy mentioned that she and Rachel were planning on seeing the new Pixar movie together.
“I’d love to go with you guys,” House had said.
“I’d love that, too, House. But you can’t.”
“I’m not fishing for an invitation,” he said, mopily. “I’m just saying I wish I could.”
“I know,” she said. “Me too.”
One night, after midnight, on a Wednesday, he called her. “I miss you,” he said.
“It’s just two more days,” she replied.
“I know but I want to see you right now.”
“I do, too,” she said. “But we have to wait.”
“It’s hard,” he said, adding: “And I mean that, literally and figuratively.”
She gave a tiny laugh.
“Go to sleep, House.”
Then, a few weeks later, they were sitting in bed, still wearing fluffy terry cloth robes after having bathed together, when she accidentally let slip that she had bought a new dress for the New Jersey General gala.
“A gala?” he said, furrowing his brow.
Shit.
She tried to keep her voice casual: “Yeah, just this fundraising thing they do every year. Big band. Open bar. Drunk internists. That sort of thing.”
“And you’re going …alone?”
Shit, shit, shit.
“I’m going with the hospital’s Director of Finance. Not a date. Just as friends.”
“But he’s single?”
She fiddled with the rope tie of her robe.
“Divorced.”
“And you’ll…what? Sit at a table together? Share a few laughs? Dance together?”
“Something like that. . .”
“So it’s a date!”
“I said it wasn’t.”
“Does he know that?”
“I’m sure he does, House.”
He folded his arms.
“I don’t like it.”
“It’s not your call.”
“You’ve been fucking me for six months. I don’t have any say on whether or not you go to parties with some other guy?”
“House, you’ve got to trust me.”
“It’s hard to trust you when you’ve made it so perfectly clear that I mean absolutely nothing to you.”
She took his hand.
“Don’t say that. You know that’s not true.”
“How can I possibly know that?”
“We’ve been together for six months and I haven’t gone on a single date. I haven’t so much as looked at another guy.”
“You want a medal?”
“My sister and my mother keep trying to set me up with eligible men! Do you know how hard it’s been to put them off?”
“Then tell them the truth! Tell them you’re with me!”
“Oh, that’ll go over really well.”
His eyes widened.
“Then at least tell me that you’re with me.”
She inhaled.
“I’m with you House,” she said.
He sighed. His shoulders slumped a bit.
“Thank you,” he said.
She went to him, sat in his lap, kissed his eyelids, which were wet with tears.
“I love you,” she said. “I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to say it.”
“It’s okay,” he said, kissing her on the mouth. “I was playing the long game.”
“Your new special skill.”
“Only as it applies to you,” he said.
They kissed again.
“So now what?” House said.
“What do you mean?”
“When do we get out of this godforsaken hotel room and into the real world?”
Cuddy swallowed.
“I need more time.”
“It’s been six months!”
“And I just acknowledged that I love you. The next step is. . .telling my family and friends. Telling Rachel.”
“Rachel loves me.”
“I know she does, House. But I also have to explain to her that you did a terrible thing. But you went to jail and you apologized and sometimes, when we really love somebody, it’s important to forgive them.”
“And Arlene and Julia will understand that too,” he said, half-heartedly.
She shot him a look.
“Are you kidding?”
He allowed himself a small laugh.
“Okay, maybe not.”
“Just give me time, House. I love you. You’re the only man for me. I think we both know that now. I just need to figure out a strategy for. . . reinserting you into my life.”
“I can live with that,” he said, untying the knot to her robe and gently parting her legs. “Let’s see what else I can reinsert myself into.”
####
The following Friday, Cuddy was driving to the Hoboken Hilton and in an extremely good mood. Ever since she had told House she loved him, it was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt lighter, freer, almost giddy. She hadn’t realized how heavy the denial-the lie she was telling herself over and over-was weighing on her.
She had talked to House several times on the phone this week and, for the first time, they had dared to discuss the future.
“I can move to Hoboken,” House had said. “Or we can all move to Manhattan. Get a place in Gramercy Park.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves House. I haven’t even figured out way to tell my mother. I’m…petrified.”
“We’ll figure out something together,” he said. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she said. And something about her and House, united, acting as a team, heartened her.
So she was driving, quickly, eager to be in her lover’s arms again. She was in such a good mood, she didn’t notice the car driving erratically behind her, and she barely saw it coming when that car lost control, spun around, and collided with her, head on.
To be continued…