“You agreed to this and only now you want to change your mind,” Lisa Cuddy retorted back at the infamous Gregory House. It was the middle of a heated argument at her desk…and neither side was winning. “You had no objection to accepting her as a replacement for Cameron.”

House towered over her desk and looked down, his blue eyes trying to grate whatever he could out of her. He leaned onto his cane and snarled at her sardonically.

“And when was that?”

Cuddy rolled her eyes and put her forehead against the palm of her right hand. “At the board meeting last week! You were sitting right in front of me.”

“I was on Vicodin.”

“You’re always on Vicodin.”

House shrugged. “So, apparently, whatever I had decided then is irrelevant because I was under the influence.”

Cuddy’s eyes then widened in bewilderment. “House! We all voted on it!”

“I don’t think I did.”

“It was a majority vote, House. And you weren’t the majority.”

“Huggy Cuddy, I’ve got enough morons to handle other people’s lives with. Don’t choke me by adding another.”

“What is your problem with Barnett? You haven’t even met her! I mean she’s got a doctoral degree in microbiology and she—”

“How many hospitals has she worked at?”

“One. We went over this already.”

“She’s an idiot then.”

“She graduated from Averson Med at a marginal level! She’s passed the civil service exam—”

House twisted around mockingly. “WOW! Let’s give her a Nobel Prize!”

Cuddy got up from her desk and placed two firms hands down onto it. “She could be useful for your team House. At least give her some room to prove herself.”

“I’m starting to question your womanly intelligence Cuddy. You seem to have no problem with her assault attempt from the last hospital.” House twirled his cane a bit before speaking again. “She cut that patient like a birthday cake.”

Cuddy was speechless for the first few seconds, showing her inability in finding the right words to counter. “It was…a surgical mistake that the hospital excused. And the only one.” She shook her head and went back to her papers. “The point is that the good further outweighs the bad.”

“It was a scalpel Cuddy! You know those nice little silver edges that Chase likes to play with—”

“She’s qualified House.”

“She’s also psycho.”

“And this is coming from you.” Cuddy threw up her hands. “I’m absolutely astonished.”

“I’m a psycho with a cause, which includes you wanting to have my babies.”

Cuddy ignored him and shook her head. “You think I didn’t think it through before putting Cameron’s replacement up for debate? But the problem is that I hired you, which says a lot.”

“I cut people open for a reason. Even though I thoroughly enjoy it, I still do it for a reason.”

“House, look—”

They were interrupted by a weak knock on the doors of Cuddy’s office.