[Closed to Cuddy, Amber] Maybe this is worse than he had first anticipated.

[c18_h21_no3]

House checked his watch.

3:24.He had six minutes before Cuddy transformed back into the Wicked Witch of the hospital's west wing and sent her flying monkeys out to drag him to the depths of the Radiology Department if he refused to show up all by himself. He sat back in his chair, rotating a rubber band around his fingers as he stared intently at

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[dean_ofmedicine]

Cuddy wasn't playing any games anymore. She had a stunned Aussie left in the Surgical department to prove that. She stood outside the MRI suite with her arms crossed, glancing at her watch again. He had six minutes. He if wasn't here in six minutes, he was going to be lining up in the unemployment queue to claim benefits. She could see Amber inside the suite looking up at the clock also. She gave Radiologist a minute and a half longer before she was suggesting she go collect House for Cuddy. Amber didn't like House, and Cuddy knew it, but she also knew that every employee that 'didn't like' House meant there was usually an underlying admiration or respect there, otherwise the person's feelings usually lay much deeper than just 'didn't like'. In fact, she had been privy to more than a small handful of death threats issued in House's favour.

Her face was schooled into a pinched frown, wondering if this was the point in time she had always feared she would reach. That she just tolerated him too much that she could take no more. She had

[cutthroatbitch]

Amber hadn't been surprised when Cuddy called and requested an MRI for House. It just really threw her off when she did. Not because the Radiology department was ridiculously busy today, but because it set off a fear about her own health. If House could relapse, could she too? She made a concerted effort not to let on to any discontent, though. Cuddy was waiting outside for House to appear, and any other hospital Dean of Medicine probably wouldn't give an employee to the exact tick of a clock to keep a vital appointment before coming down heavy on them. But this was Cuddy, and he was House. It was a whole different rulebook that no one else had access to read at play. Amber didn't even want to begin to understand it. She didn't get why they just didn't jump in the sack and get it on to save everyone else the aftershocks of their pent-up UST

[c18_h21_no3]

Standing in the doorway of Radiology, House thumped his cane against the tile, half wanting to get the two doctors attention, half not. He knew he had to do this.

Didn't mean he wouldn't do it kicking and screaming.

Scratching his forehead with his thumb, House limped over to the green tinted window and tapped on the glass, eyeing Cuddy. "You and your head monkey going to do this, or am I going have to give you my ruby slippers before you let me back on the case?"

[dean_ofmedicine]

Cuddy exited the MRI suite and gave him a Look, eyebrow coolly raised as she analysed him. If she mentioned the fact she already had taken him off the case, he wouldn't stay for the procedure. Time to do that fancy footwork with House she had so pristinely honed over the years, despite the height of the Jimmy Choos. She reached up and hook her hand gently around the back of his neck, still watching him to make sure he was okay. She couldn't help it. She was worried about him. A couple of silent beats passed. "You're lucky you came, Dr House," was her simple, quiet answer.

She dropped her hand and pulled her shoulders back to straighten to her posture and then held a hand up to Amber to indicate they were starting. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you how to lie on the platform. Will I be needing to restrain you?"