| |
First Impressions
by Gena Fisher
First Impressions
by gena fisher
Dr. Lisa Cuddy drew in a deep breath, held it to the count of five and exhaled. One manicured hand unconsciously touched her grandmother's pearl necklace, the other gripped the handle of her briefcase. Now or never, she thought and pushed through the office door.
"Dr. Cuddy!" Her new secretary, Iris, leaped from her chair as if scalded and rushed to greet her. "I wasn't aware you would be in today."
"I decided to get an early start." Two days early, to be exact but she had a lot to do. "I'll need coffee and quiet," Cuddy ordered, "lots of both." Iris nodded and disappeared. Cuddy relaxed just a little and turned her attention to the files on her desk. It wasn't going to be easy taking over as hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro and not just because she was a woman. She'd fought hard to get where she was, endured the political pitfalls and the boy's club mentality of her co-workers. Ambitious men were driven, while women possessing the same quality were labeled bitchs. She hoped it would be different this time, PPTH had a great reputation but she would have to be tough to make it. In the last few years the previous administrator had let things slide and she'd been hired to get the hospital back on track. She needed to reevaluate not only policies and procedures, but also personnel. She settled herself at the desk, turned her back on the view and got down to work.
Six hours, five cups of coffee and two bathroom breaks later she'd pruned some of the dead weight from the hospital's expenses and decided the one thing she needed was to hire Dr. Gregory House. She knew him by reputation and Dr. Wilson, the head of oncology, had written a personal recommendation. She knew he'd practically dropped off the face of the earth several years back, though in the last year or so she'd read articles where his name appeared as consultant on some truly baffling medical cases. By all accounts the man was brilliant and by turns demanding, belligerent, childish, stubborn and rude but Cuddy knew if she was going to reestablish PPTH as the leading teaching hospital in the state she was going to have to take chances, be innovative and hire only the best.
"Iris," she tapped the intercom key. "I'd like you to call Dr. Gregory House and arrange a meeting at his convenience this week to discuss a position on staff."
"Yes, Dr. Cuddy." Cuddy looked around the office please with her progress for this first day. Yes, this was all going to work out, she had a plan of action. Confident things could only get better, she stuffed her files back into her briefcase and headed for home. If tomorrow went anything like today, there wasn't going to be any problems she couldn't handle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Move, move, move, she thought to herself. Just keep moving, they can't hit a moving target, can they? Blue eyes scanning the doors, Lisa Cuddy stormed along the corridor, heels clicking like firecrackers in her wake. Ladies room. Yes, safety. She pushed open the door, checked all the stalls to make sure she was alone, then sagged with relief against one of the sinks. Christ what a day! Equipment on the blink, unhappy nursing staff, complaints from the maintenance crew, two patients threatening lawsuits for trivial matters and that asshole, Dr. Gregory House had never shown for his interview. She stared at herself in the mirror, amazed as always to see her mother looking back at her. They had the same eyes, the same nose, the same set to their chin. He mother never did anything by halves and neither did she. Cuddy squared her shoulders and gave a confident smile to the woman in the mirror. "Oh, you're going to be very sorry, Dr. House."
She stepped into the hallway just in time to see a tall man in jeans and a sports jacket, right hand clamped tightly around the head of a cane stop in front of room 16. As she watched he paused, head titled to the side, then gave the handrail a decisive whack. The sound made her jump. He's insane, she thought. But aloud she said, "Sir, can I help you?"
The man looked over his shoulder at her, then with an awkward movement turned and glared directly at her. "This place must have been designed by idiots. Are there special niches full of cheese as a reward for reaching the right office?"
Cuddy stomped on the urge to snap at the man. He didn't look at all well. He had a long face, and the intensity of his blue eyes made it seem pale in comparison. His hair was brown and swept back over a high forehead and a thick beard stubble covered his chin. He was attractive, made more so by the air of reckless abandon that whirled around him and Cuddy felt a slight jump in her pulse that made her anger return. "No, but we did take the precaution of purchasing signage for those unable to ask for help." She extended a polished nail towards a directional sign on the wall. For an instant she thought a flash of humor crossed his face, a lift of an eyebrow, a twitch of a lip, but it quickly turned to a grimace. He shifted his weight subtlety, taking more of it off his right leg. Beads of sweat had formed at his hairline and she noticed the neck of his colored t-shirt looked slightly damp. "Would you like to sit down?"
"What I would like, is to find Dr. James Wilson," he growled. Oncology patient, Cuddy realized. She'd just opened her mouth to offer to have Wilson paged when she heard footsteps behind her and Dr. Wilson's pleasant voice.
"Greg! I told you I'd come and get you. Oh, Dr. Cuddy," Wilson said when he reached her side, "I see you've met Dr. House."
Cuddy stared at the slightly unkempt, definitely ill and possibly deranged man in front of her. "This is Gregory House -"
"This is L. Cuddy?" House pulled back, eyes wide with surprise. "You said Cuddy was a great guy."
"Did I?" Wilson shrugged. "My mistake."
"That could explain some things," House said.
"Don't start," Wilson warned.
"I won't," House said. "But I will finish. Nice try, Wilson." House managed to get around the oncologist and was about to head for the door when Wilson caught his arm.
"Greg, give this a shot, please." Cuddy could see desperation in Wilson's dark eyes. She'd met him several times in the course of her transition to PPTH administrator and each time been impressed by his passionate desire to help others. She saw it tenfold right then. Wilson wanted to help House, wanted it so much he couldn't hide the fear and dismay that made him clutch at House's arm. "Greg," he said quietly, "you need this. You have to do something, anything!" Wilson had personally recommended House, and obviously with reason. He caught her eye, silently pleading for help. She would never know just what it was about House that caused her to do what she did. Normally she was a rational, level headed woman with an eye for trouble. House pulled his arm free, limping towards the door again.
"Let him go, Dr. Wilson," Cuddy called loud enough for House to hear. "I'm sure there's nothing he can add to this hospital." She waited. Wilson looked stunned. "I doubt he'd be happy as head of diagnostic medicine." House stopped. "He's lost his edge," she sneered, "he hasn't got what we're looking for." House stiffened and turned to glare at her.
"I could run circles around any of these so called doctors," House declared.
Cuddy, eyebrows raised, looked at his cane. "I really don't think so."
"Nice," he said, "make fun of the cripple." Cuddy saw amusement flicker into his eyes, followed by what she only later identified as respect.
"I will," she promised. "So, you taking the job?"
House cocked his head to one side and gave her a measuring glance. "Yeah," he said at length, "I'll need a staff. At least five-"
"Three."
"-a decent budget and," he flashed her a charming smile, "does this place have satellite or cable?"
Cuddy gaped at him, astounded by his arrogance. She wanted to think she could have fired him right then but Wilson was already hustling his friend away.
"Come on, Greg," Wilson said, hiding his gratitude behind a shy smile. This time House let himself be pulled away. Cuddy watched the pair of them go. Gregory House was going to be trouble, she'd known that from the first moment but she also knew he was an amazing diagnostician. So what if he had the personality of a plague carrying rat? If he got the job done, that was all that mattered, right? Besides had a feeling her life was going to be far from boring from now on.
Please post a comment on this story.
Legal Disclaimer: The authors published here make no claims on the ownership of Dr. Gregory House and the other fictional residents of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Like the television show House (and quite possibly Dr. Wilson's pocket protector), they are the property of Fox Television, David Shore and undoubtedly other individuals of whom I am only peripherally aware. The fan fiction authors published here receive no monetary benefit from their work and intend no copyright infringement nor slight to the actual owners. We love the characters and we love the show, otherwise we wouldn't be here.
|
|
|