Fic: Crashing The Party, Cuddy & Cameron, PG
Title: Crashing The Party
Author: Lola lauriestein
Pairing: Gen, but Chase/Cameron, implied possible Cuddy/House
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2300
Disclaimer: Totally not mine. No harm intended; no harm, no foul, right?
Written for cuddy_fest, prompt: # 107. Cuddy, Cameron. AU. What if they had crashed Chase's bachelor party? (Bonus Points for drunk!Cuddy and drunk!Cameron)
A/N: Although it's told from Cameron's POV, it's really a chance to see Cuddy through her eyes. The shift in their relationship throughout s5 was pretty interesting I thought. Anyway, spoilers up to and including 5x22 'House Divided'
"Dr. Cameron?"
Cameron looked up from the stack of papers at the interruption.
"Dr. Cuddy?"
As her boss took that as an invitation into the office, Cameron instinctively straightened up in her chair.
"I heard about Chase. His little “immigration” problem?"
Cuddy took a seat in front of the desk without being asked; it was her hospital after all. She looked perfectly at ease anywhere within these walls, and Cameron envied her that a little. Cuddy stared at the photographs on the walls, skimming the diplomas out of habit. Cameron began to feel a little intruded upon.
"Yeah, House has never been big on subtlety. Still, how bad can it be? It's just a bachelor party. I'm secure about how Chase feels about me."
Cuddy's laugh chilled her to the bone. That was distinctly not a good sign.
"Two parties he's thrown for Wilson, that I know of. Bailing out 13 staff members from the Plainsboro Police Department was the tamer of the two. The other one had some kind of 'Fight Club' code, but I've heard some pretty scary rumors."
Cameron felt the blood drain from her face, and she took her glasses off with a sigh.
"Well, isn't it too late? What do you suggest I do?"
She sat there uncomfortably for a moment as Cuddy stared at her, apparently lost in thought. When she finally spoke, Cameron realized she had been holding her breath.
“Get changed into anything nice you have with you. Meet me in my office in ten minutes; we’re going out.”
Cameron didn’t have the chance to protest before Cuddy swept out, and so set about digging through the tiny cupboard at the back of her office to see what dry-cleaning she hadn’t remembered to take home yet.
Fifteen minutes later, Cameron hurried through the clinic in her least comfortable heels. She’d been able to dig out some flattering black pants and a red top that should be suitable for most places, but she really wasn’t looking forward to spending a whole evening with her boss. Perhaps she could duck out after one drink. Cuddy had a baby to get home to after all.
When she entered Cuddy’s deserted office, she paused for a second to wonder if she’d heard right. Then Cuddy emerged from the little bathroom by the windows and Cameron had to concede that she was impressed with what the older woman had achieved in such a short time. Her hair was swept up, which made her floaty purple dress look even more elegant. The shoes were the same designer heels she’d been sauntering around in all day, but the look definitely worked.
“I called us a cab, that way we don’t have to worry about how much we drink.”
Cameron nodded at the suggestion, her heart sinking as she realized this meant no early escape. She waited patiently for Cuddy to gather her belongings in her purse, then fell into step with her as they made their way to the hospital entrance.
Sure enough, a cab was waiting, and Cameron didn’t hear what address Cuddy gave as they were climbing in. She ran through her usual small talk until Cuddy insisted that they have a moratorium on all work discussion for the rest of the night.
Her excited smile was kind of infectious, and despite their long-standing edginess around each other, Cameron felt herself beginning to relax. After all, why should Chase have all the fun?
Of all the things she had expected Cuddy to pull from her purse, a quart of vodka wasn’t one of them. Cameron watched open-mouthed as the Dean took a hearty swig from the bottle, noting the cab driver’s disapproving stare in the rear-view mirror. She smiled apologetically at him, before having the open bottle thrust into her line of vision.
“Trust me, Cameron. You do not want to experience this sober.”
Cameron took a tentative sip, the vodka burning her throat in a not entirely unpleasant way. Cuddy’s glare told her that a sip wasn’t going to cut it, and so she took a bigger gulp, gasping as she handed the bottle back. With practiced ease, Cuddy made her way through the rest before slumping back against the seat.
At a loss for something to say, Cameron was startled when the taxi pulled up in front of Wilson’s apartment building.
“Wilson’s hosting the party? But he was dead against it.”
Cuddy shook her head as she paid the driver.
“Oh, Cameron, don’t you get how House operates by now? What better way to make Wilson come to a party he disapproves of? He was in the cafeteria office three hours ago complaining that House didn’t try hard enough to talk him into coming. He’s probably up there swinging from the ceiling by now.”
They strolled in through the front door of the building, which had been thoughtfully propped open with a few medical textbooks. The frat party vibe was already in evidence when they saw the empty crates stacked up in the hallway and plastic cups discarded all over the place.
Cuddy made her way confidently towards the open door of Wilson’s apartment, but turned to Cameron just before they entered to offer some last-minute advice.
“Don’t seek Chase or the others out right away. Try to blend in until you’re good and drunk, then they’ll be happy to see you.”
Cameron shrugged, she wasn’t sure how long she intended to stay at this testosterone fest anyway.
“Trust me. They don’t call me Partypants for nothing.”
That almost made Cameron fall over.
“They call you Partypants?”
“Never mind.”
When the two women entered the room full of men in rumpled suits and half-naked women, Cuddy seemed to evaporate into the air. Cameron took her advice and stayed close to the walls, grabbing a glass of something disgusting, sticky and very alcoholic from a stripper with a tray.
It might have tasted nasty, but it certainly made the next three drinks seem almost necessary, just to wash it down.
Cameron had just discovered the delights of the sundae bar when she came across Cuddy again. The Dean was definitely disheveled, but still managed to look pretty stunning. They dissolved into drunken giggles when they saw each other again, and when Cuddy fished a few twenties out of her bra, Cameron’s jaw fell open.
“Seems some of these guys thought I was a stripper playing hard to get. Nice to know I have a back-up plan if I want a job that lets me spend more time with Rachel.”
They had to shout to be heard over the pulsating music and yells from the men in the room. For a moment, Cameron thought she saw Thirteen disappearing into one of the bedrooms, but she couldn’t be sure. When she turned round to ask Cuddy if she’d seen her, the older woman had disappeared again.
The party became infinitely more fun with each drink that passed her lips. At one point she got chatting with a gorgeous girl called Karamel who handed her a pair of pants and tried to tell her something about someone called James. Cameron was officially too buzzed to give a damn at that point, so she draped the pants over the back of the nearest chair and continued dancing with a bunch of guys she vaguely recognized from Ortho.
She couldn’t avoid Chase forever, not in a relatively small place like this. Thankfully when their paths did cross, he was so far gone that he thought it was totally normal for the bride-to-be to show up at his bachelor party. He kissed her enthusiastically, before Foreman dragged him off for a ‘special drink’ that she really didn’t want to speculate about.
It had been surprisingly fun, Cameron thought as she tried to find somewhere to sit. Letting off steam wasn’t something she did easily, but she also couldn’t pretend not to be relieved that House had stopped short of throwing a full-on bacchanalia.
Since every available surface was occupied by some guy getting a lap dance, Cameron decided it was time to escape the party area and see if there was anywhere else in the apartment that she could slip out of her slightly torturous heels for a little while.
She walked into the kitchen, saw the Deputy Head of Oncology peeing in the sink and walked straight back out, shuddering at the image that was going to take way more alcohol to erase.
The bathroom door had hazard tape hanging from the frame, and a crude ‘Do Not Enter’ sign, but Cameron could see that it was slightly ajar. From years of being trained to be intrusive, she knocked lightly and pushed her way in. It meant stepping over the seemingly unconscious form of one of the surgical interns, but he was breathing and practically in the recovery position already, so she ignored him.
Of all the things she’d expected to find in the bathroom at a bachelor party, Cuddy leaning against the tub with House’s head in her lap wasn’t one of them. Mortified, and yes, with a pang of jealousy, she began to back slowly out of the room. Cuddy opened her eyes at that point and motioned for her to stop.
“This isn’t…. I just got down on the floor to check he was alive, and he decided to use me as a human pillow.”
Cameron suddenly felt really drunk. The tiles on the floor gave the unfortunate impression that the room was moving somehow, and without a thought as to how clean the floor was, she slumped down with her back to the door, holding it closed.
This night was getting more surreal by the minute, so why fight it anymore?
“Lisa, I’m getting married.”
Cuddy didn’t flinch at the unexpected use of her first name. Cameron had tried it a couple of times before, since taking over as temporary Dean. Most of the time she stuck to the more deferential ‘Dr. Cuddy’.
Stroking absent-mindedly at the hair on the side of House’s head, Cuddy fixed her with a slightly unfocused stare.
“You’re doing the right thing, Cameron. Take a chance. You love each other, you say you don’t love House anymore, so why not? If you keep putting your career first, you’ll end up like me.”
Cameron opened her mouth to protest that she’d be very happy with Cuddy’s life, but was cut off pretty abruptly.
“Oh sure, I’ve achieved a lot. And I’m proud of it, I really am. But I can’t tell you how much it sucks not having anyone to share it with. Marry Chase; don’t end up alone and stealing babies from crack dens. I’m making it work as best I can, but it doesn’t have to be this hard, you know?”
It made a sad kind of sense, Cameron thought as she pressed her head against solid wood and waited for the world to stop spinning. The room was quiet after Cuddy’s little speech, the sounds of their mingled breathing just audible over the constant thump of music from the living room.
The party was beginning to fade, the yells growing quieter as grown adults who ought to have known better were filing out into the street, throwing up in the gutters like drunk freshmen.
Just as she was beginning to feel relaxed, the edges of sobriety starting to sharpen once more, Cameron had her peace rudely ripped away.
“What the hell are you two doing here?”
Of course, House would be more pissed about her presence than Chase. That was just her luck. She noticed that he hadn’t bothered to remove his head from Cuddy’s lap, or maybe he was still too hammered to risk it.
With a sigh that seemed to rise up from her toes, Cameron thought about answering him, about justifying the girly invasion of his own personal pig-fest.
Instead she stood, on shaky legs, and opened the bathroom door once more.
“Goodnight, Dr. Cuddy.”
“Goodnight, Dr. Cameron.”
Leaving Cuddy to deal with a disgruntled House probably wasn’t fair, but then there was an apartment full of strippers to distract him with if things got too difficult. Not to mention that Cameron wasn’t entirely convinced that there wasn’t something more going on with those two.
It didn’t matter, none of it did. She had fun, Chase hadn’t been participating in an actual orgy, and for the first time since saying yes, she felt like she was doing the right thing. She knew she’d probably still get cold feet, that there was so much she and Chase hadn’t talked about yet.
She called for a taxi, wondering whether to round up Chase or leave him to sleep it off on a floor somewhere. While she sat on the front steps, waiting, she thought about Cuddy and how their relationship had changed in the past year.
The pissing contests over House had diminished, certainly, but Cameron felt trusted, included like she hadn’t in her first three years there. There was even something approaching friendship between them, as tonight seemed to prove.
It wouldn’t have been a lie, if Cuddy had let her get the words out. She’d have been happy to live that life, to achieve those amazing things, to get all that respect. Hell, even House respected her in his own grudging and immature way. If Cuddy was giving her blessing, well, it certainly didn’t hurt.
As the yellow car pulled up at the curb, Cameron decided to head home alone. Whatever Cuddy said, it wasn’t always so bad to be on your own, and this was her last chance to appreciate it.
She’d regret it in the morning, reaching for aspirin and knocking back Evian by the liter. But for now, Cameron was really glad that Cuddy had given her tonight.
Author: Lola lauriestein
Pairing: Gen, but Chase/Cameron, implied possible Cuddy/House
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2300
Disclaimer: Totally not mine. No harm intended; no harm, no foul, right?
Written for cuddy_fest, prompt: # 107. Cuddy, Cameron. AU. What if they had crashed Chase's bachelor party? (Bonus Points for drunk!Cuddy and drunk!Cameron)
A/N: Although it's told from Cameron's POV, it's really a chance to see Cuddy through her eyes. The shift in their relationship throughout s5 was pretty interesting I thought. Anyway, spoilers up to and including 5x22 'House Divided'
"Dr. Cameron?"
Cameron looked up from the stack of papers at the interruption.
"Dr. Cuddy?"
As her boss took that as an invitation into the office, Cameron instinctively straightened up in her chair.
"I heard about Chase. His little “immigration” problem?"
Cuddy took a seat in front of the desk without being asked; it was her hospital after all. She looked perfectly at ease anywhere within these walls, and Cameron envied her that a little. Cuddy stared at the photographs on the walls, skimming the diplomas out of habit. Cameron began to feel a little intruded upon.
"Yeah, House has never been big on subtlety. Still, how bad can it be? It's just a bachelor party. I'm secure about how Chase feels about me."
Cuddy's laugh chilled her to the bone. That was distinctly not a good sign.
"Two parties he's thrown for Wilson, that I know of. Bailing out 13 staff members from the Plainsboro Police Department was the tamer of the two. The other one had some kind of 'Fight Club' code, but I've heard some pretty scary rumors."
Cameron felt the blood drain from her face, and she took her glasses off with a sigh.
"Well, isn't it too late? What do you suggest I do?"
She sat there uncomfortably for a moment as Cuddy stared at her, apparently lost in thought. When she finally spoke, Cameron realized she had been holding her breath.
“Get changed into anything nice you have with you. Meet me in my office in ten minutes; we’re going out.”
Cameron didn’t have the chance to protest before Cuddy swept out, and so set about digging through the tiny cupboard at the back of her office to see what dry-cleaning she hadn’t remembered to take home yet.
Fifteen minutes later, Cameron hurried through the clinic in her least comfortable heels. She’d been able to dig out some flattering black pants and a red top that should be suitable for most places, but she really wasn’t looking forward to spending a whole evening with her boss. Perhaps she could duck out after one drink. Cuddy had a baby to get home to after all.
When she entered Cuddy’s deserted office, she paused for a second to wonder if she’d heard right. Then Cuddy emerged from the little bathroom by the windows and Cameron had to concede that she was impressed with what the older woman had achieved in such a short time. Her hair was swept up, which made her floaty purple dress look even more elegant. The shoes were the same designer heels she’d been sauntering around in all day, but the look definitely worked.
“I called us a cab, that way we don’t have to worry about how much we drink.”
Cameron nodded at the suggestion, her heart sinking as she realized this meant no early escape. She waited patiently for Cuddy to gather her belongings in her purse, then fell into step with her as they made their way to the hospital entrance.
Sure enough, a cab was waiting, and Cameron didn’t hear what address Cuddy gave as they were climbing in. She ran through her usual small talk until Cuddy insisted that they have a moratorium on all work discussion for the rest of the night.
Her excited smile was kind of infectious, and despite their long-standing edginess around each other, Cameron felt herself beginning to relax. After all, why should Chase have all the fun?
Of all the things she had expected Cuddy to pull from her purse, a quart of vodka wasn’t one of them. Cameron watched open-mouthed as the Dean took a hearty swig from the bottle, noting the cab driver’s disapproving stare in the rear-view mirror. She smiled apologetically at him, before having the open bottle thrust into her line of vision.
“Trust me, Cameron. You do not want to experience this sober.”
Cameron took a tentative sip, the vodka burning her throat in a not entirely unpleasant way. Cuddy’s glare told her that a sip wasn’t going to cut it, and so she took a bigger gulp, gasping as she handed the bottle back. With practiced ease, Cuddy made her way through the rest before slumping back against the seat.
At a loss for something to say, Cameron was startled when the taxi pulled up in front of Wilson’s apartment building.
“Wilson’s hosting the party? But he was dead against it.”
Cuddy shook her head as she paid the driver.
“Oh, Cameron, don’t you get how House operates by now? What better way to make Wilson come to a party he disapproves of? He was in the cafeteria office three hours ago complaining that House didn’t try hard enough to talk him into coming. He’s probably up there swinging from the ceiling by now.”
They strolled in through the front door of the building, which had been thoughtfully propped open with a few medical textbooks. The frat party vibe was already in evidence when they saw the empty crates stacked up in the hallway and plastic cups discarded all over the place.
Cuddy made her way confidently towards the open door of Wilson’s apartment, but turned to Cameron just before they entered to offer some last-minute advice.
“Don’t seek Chase or the others out right away. Try to blend in until you’re good and drunk, then they’ll be happy to see you.”
Cameron shrugged, she wasn’t sure how long she intended to stay at this testosterone fest anyway.
“Trust me. They don’t call me Partypants for nothing.”
That almost made Cameron fall over.
“They call you Partypants?”
“Never mind.”
When the two women entered the room full of men in rumpled suits and half-naked women, Cuddy seemed to evaporate into the air. Cameron took her advice and stayed close to the walls, grabbing a glass of something disgusting, sticky and very alcoholic from a stripper with a tray.
It might have tasted nasty, but it certainly made the next three drinks seem almost necessary, just to wash it down.
Cameron had just discovered the delights of the sundae bar when she came across Cuddy again. The Dean was definitely disheveled, but still managed to look pretty stunning. They dissolved into drunken giggles when they saw each other again, and when Cuddy fished a few twenties out of her bra, Cameron’s jaw fell open.
“Seems some of these guys thought I was a stripper playing hard to get. Nice to know I have a back-up plan if I want a job that lets me spend more time with Rachel.”
They had to shout to be heard over the pulsating music and yells from the men in the room. For a moment, Cameron thought she saw Thirteen disappearing into one of the bedrooms, but she couldn’t be sure. When she turned round to ask Cuddy if she’d seen her, the older woman had disappeared again.
The party became infinitely more fun with each drink that passed her lips. At one point she got chatting with a gorgeous girl called Karamel who handed her a pair of pants and tried to tell her something about someone called James. Cameron was officially too buzzed to give a damn at that point, so she draped the pants over the back of the nearest chair and continued dancing with a bunch of guys she vaguely recognized from Ortho.
She couldn’t avoid Chase forever, not in a relatively small place like this. Thankfully when their paths did cross, he was so far gone that he thought it was totally normal for the bride-to-be to show up at his bachelor party. He kissed her enthusiastically, before Foreman dragged him off for a ‘special drink’ that she really didn’t want to speculate about.
It had been surprisingly fun, Cameron thought as she tried to find somewhere to sit. Letting off steam wasn’t something she did easily, but she also couldn’t pretend not to be relieved that House had stopped short of throwing a full-on bacchanalia.
Since every available surface was occupied by some guy getting a lap dance, Cameron decided it was time to escape the party area and see if there was anywhere else in the apartment that she could slip out of her slightly torturous heels for a little while.
She walked into the kitchen, saw the Deputy Head of Oncology peeing in the sink and walked straight back out, shuddering at the image that was going to take way more alcohol to erase.
The bathroom door had hazard tape hanging from the frame, and a crude ‘Do Not Enter’ sign, but Cameron could see that it was slightly ajar. From years of being trained to be intrusive, she knocked lightly and pushed her way in. It meant stepping over the seemingly unconscious form of one of the surgical interns, but he was breathing and practically in the recovery position already, so she ignored him.
Of all the things she’d expected to find in the bathroom at a bachelor party, Cuddy leaning against the tub with House’s head in her lap wasn’t one of them. Mortified, and yes, with a pang of jealousy, she began to back slowly out of the room. Cuddy opened her eyes at that point and motioned for her to stop.
“This isn’t…. I just got down on the floor to check he was alive, and he decided to use me as a human pillow.”
Cameron suddenly felt really drunk. The tiles on the floor gave the unfortunate impression that the room was moving somehow, and without a thought as to how clean the floor was, she slumped down with her back to the door, holding it closed.
This night was getting more surreal by the minute, so why fight it anymore?
“Lisa, I’m getting married.”
Cuddy didn’t flinch at the unexpected use of her first name. Cameron had tried it a couple of times before, since taking over as temporary Dean. Most of the time she stuck to the more deferential ‘Dr. Cuddy’.
Stroking absent-mindedly at the hair on the side of House’s head, Cuddy fixed her with a slightly unfocused stare.
“You’re doing the right thing, Cameron. Take a chance. You love each other, you say you don’t love House anymore, so why not? If you keep putting your career first, you’ll end up like me.”
Cameron opened her mouth to protest that she’d be very happy with Cuddy’s life, but was cut off pretty abruptly.
“Oh sure, I’ve achieved a lot. And I’m proud of it, I really am. But I can’t tell you how much it sucks not having anyone to share it with. Marry Chase; don’t end up alone and stealing babies from crack dens. I’m making it work as best I can, but it doesn’t have to be this hard, you know?”
It made a sad kind of sense, Cameron thought as she pressed her head against solid wood and waited for the world to stop spinning. The room was quiet after Cuddy’s little speech, the sounds of their mingled breathing just audible over the constant thump of music from the living room.
The party was beginning to fade, the yells growing quieter as grown adults who ought to have known better were filing out into the street, throwing up in the gutters like drunk freshmen.
Just as she was beginning to feel relaxed, the edges of sobriety starting to sharpen once more, Cameron had her peace rudely ripped away.
“What the hell are you two doing here?”
Of course, House would be more pissed about her presence than Chase. That was just her luck. She noticed that he hadn’t bothered to remove his head from Cuddy’s lap, or maybe he was still too hammered to risk it.
With a sigh that seemed to rise up from her toes, Cameron thought about answering him, about justifying the girly invasion of his own personal pig-fest.
Instead she stood, on shaky legs, and opened the bathroom door once more.
“Goodnight, Dr. Cuddy.”
“Goodnight, Dr. Cameron.”
Leaving Cuddy to deal with a disgruntled House probably wasn’t fair, but then there was an apartment full of strippers to distract him with if things got too difficult. Not to mention that Cameron wasn’t entirely convinced that there wasn’t something more going on with those two.
It didn’t matter, none of it did. She had fun, Chase hadn’t been participating in an actual orgy, and for the first time since saying yes, she felt like she was doing the right thing. She knew she’d probably still get cold feet, that there was so much she and Chase hadn’t talked about yet.
She called for a taxi, wondering whether to round up Chase or leave him to sleep it off on a floor somewhere. While she sat on the front steps, waiting, she thought about Cuddy and how their relationship had changed in the past year.
The pissing contests over House had diminished, certainly, but Cameron felt trusted, included like she hadn’t in her first three years there. There was even something approaching friendship between them, as tonight seemed to prove.
It wouldn’t have been a lie, if Cuddy had let her get the words out. She’d have been happy to live that life, to achieve those amazing things, to get all that respect. Hell, even House respected her in his own grudging and immature way. If Cuddy was giving her blessing, well, it certainly didn’t hurt.
As the yellow car pulled up at the curb, Cameron decided to head home alone. Whatever Cuddy said, it wasn’t always so bad to be on your own, and this was her last chance to appreciate it.
She’d regret it in the morning, reaching for aspirin and knocking back Evian by the liter. But for now, Cameron was really glad that Cuddy had given her tonight.