ship_manifesto | You Can't Stop Our Love!

Title You Can't Stop Our Love! - a House/Cuddy manifesto
Author Lil (

gleam)
Email pink.glitter@gmail.com
Fandom House M.D.
Spoilers Anything up until the posting of this manifesto is fair game, so at least through episode 3x10.
Notes This manifesto is dedicated entirely to the pairing of Gregory House and Lisa Cuddy on the show House M.D. Take flames and derogatory remarks elsewhere, please. Also, this is a very image heavy manifesto, but all images are beneath the LJ cut.
Special Thanks my better half,

appelezmoi_coco and my BFF

lissie_pissie for reading this in a thousand and one different stages and never failling to help with encouragement. Thank you both so much!
EDIT: I've had some inquiries about this manifesto, and if I'm going to be continuing to update it to include season three information. The answer to this? Is a resounding yes! I think it will be a great project, and a lot of fun. I intend to try and add onto the post here, but since it could get quite heavy I'm going to make a public post on my LJ. Check out

gleam to see it!

You Can't Stop Our Love! - a House/Cuddy manifesto

What do a cranky, pill-popping misanthrope and a voluptuous, sharp-tongued knockout have in common? On the hit Fox medical drama House M.D. the answers are found. Currently in its third season House finds itself constantly in one of the top five rating spots weekly, and has gained rapid popularity with viewers across the country. The show's plot revolves around Gregory House, a middle-aged, irritable doctor with a severe pain problem, Lisa Cuddy, his brisk, no-nonsense boss who tries to keep both him and her hospital in check, and the team of doctors that answers to them both - all while trying to solve intense and challenging medical cases.

Him and Her

Gregory House

Ill-tempered and borderline misanthropic, Gregory House is as well known for his brash bedside manner as he is for his vast medical knowledge. As the head of the department of diagnostic medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital he is the one who faces the most challenging cases, sometimes with only hours to come up with a diagnosis to save a patient's life. His reputation puts him as one of the best doctors in the country, but because of his less than conventional methods of practice he has been fired from several hospitals. Lisa Cuddy hired him despite this, and though he continually tests both the limits of the hospital and her personally, she has yet to fire him for these offenses.

House's pain problem is due to an infarction in his leg that went untreated for several days and consequently worsened. His girlfriend of the time, Stacy, had to make a critical and life-saving decision and agreed to let Cuddy remove the damaged muscle to prevent the damage from spreading further. Because of this House and Stacy's relationship ended soon after and he has needed a cane to walk ever since, in addition to a constant supply of Vicodin.

Lisa Cuddy

The Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, Lisa Cuddy graduated second in her class from medical school. She was given the job of dean at age thirty-two, making her one of the youngest to hold that position as well as one of very few women. Her intelligence and wit are sharp and fine-tuned, and she is able to run the medical complex with efficiency and a relative amount of ease. She met Gregory House when she was an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan, but the nature of their relationship there is something they do not speak of to anyone else. She also took over House's medical case when he was hospitalized with the infarction, but it was too late to fix the problem entirely. It is rumored she actually did or assisted with the surgery on his leg, but she has made no mention of this.

The Relationship

Season One

From the beginning of the series it is evident House and Cuddy have some sort of past together. He speaks to her in a fashion that indicates he is comfortable with her as well as what her reactions will be, and she retaliates to his remarks in a way that compliments this, giving the impression she has dealt with him frequently and knows what to say to initiate an argument as well as how to shut him up - and how to be something resembling a friend. Continually she threatens to fire him, to which he refuses to look perturbed and replies that he 'has tenure,' a fact which can't be argued. The two are continually testing one another's limits and neither chooses to show any sign of relenting.

When Edward Vogler, the head of a powerful pharmaceutical company, comes to Princeton-Plainsboro with a hundred million dollars he's ready to give, Cuddy is forced to act in the better interest of the hospital and give in to many of his requests. But when Vogler takes a dislike to House it is Cuddy who continually defends him and refuses to stop, even when it leads Vogler to question her intentions.

Vogler: "Are you sleeping with House?"
Cuddy: "..what? No."
Vogler: "But you did, right? A long time ago."

Cuddy neither confirms nor denies rumors of her past relations with House, yet refuses to be intimidated and ends up sending Vogler and his money away when he threatens to shut down the diagnostics department. This was a serious blow to the hospital and it has been argued that no administrator would have done this without a firm reason. Lisa Cuddy did have a firm reason - Gregory House.

House was aware of the choice Cuddy had to make, and after she stands up to the rest of the hospital board to get Vogler dismissed, he poses a question to her as though to find out why she did it.

Cuddy: "Well, you only cost us $100 million. Could have saved some lives, could have made a few jobs, helped a few people. Yippee."
House: "You voted to get rid of him."
Cuddy: "The lesser of two evils."

This clearly indicates that Cuddy believed House to be a greater asset to the hospital than a hundred million dollars, and that his value was far greater than that monetary amount.

Season 2

The show's second season starts off at a different angle, since the presence of House's former lover, Stacy Warner, appears to be an upset for any development in other relationships. However, all of that aside House and Cuddy continue to grow both separately and together, with no impact from outside interference having an effect on this. They are strong enough in their pseudo-relationship to where other people don't shake them.

House comes to Cuddy's assistance (Humpty Dumpty) when a handyman worker falls from her roof and develops strange symptoms. Cuddy takes this as a personal fault and it is House who jolts her from that state in ways that express care as well as professionalism. It is evident in how he addresses and deals with her that they are close, but again that there is an issue that needs to be dealt with. During the course of this particular episode House uses familiar tactics of breaking into a patient's home on Cuddy, the difference being he knows precisely where she keeps her key. This raises several questions from friends and co-workers about the nature of their relationship, and neither will confirm nor deny that anything has or hasn't happened. Additionally, House insists upon being the one to search Cuddy's bedroom and surveys the scene declaring 'This is where it all happens,' and promptly sits down on her bed.

House puts Cuddy to the test and forces her to make what is for her an impossible decision. But at the end of the day when she is in conceviable distress, he does come to her office.

House: "Cuddy, you see the world as it is and you see the world as it could be. What you don't see is what everybody else sees: the giant, gaping chasm in-between."
Cuddy: "House, I'm not naive. I realize—"
House: "If you did, you never would have hired me. You're not happy unless things are just right. Which means two things: you're a good boss and you'll never be happy. By the way, why does everybody think you and I had sex? Think there could be something to it?"

The relationship between House and Cuddy continues to intensify, and it becomes clear that they do care about one another in a way that is reserved exclusively for them. Cuddy is the one House comes to when he is in a bind - not another member of his team - and she is the one who tends to bend completely out of her normal way to try and fix whatever needs it.

Towards the end of the season Cuddy begins behaving strangely, and when she asks Wilson on what appears to be a date House sets out to find just what is going on, thus uncovering a secret Cuddy wished to keep buried. Her secret? She wants to have a baby and because she is not involved in a relationship has chosen invitro fertilization as her method of becoming pregnant.

House: "Dinner with Wilson was an audtion. It's too bad he didn't land the gig. You would've had fun."
Cuddy: "I was considering a donation, not a party."
House: "So, when is our 'dinner'?"

House clearly presents an interest there in being the father of Cuddy's child. Also, his continual want to find out what was going on with her displays a strong concern for her well being as opposed to the common, passing concern he has for others he interacts with. He was also able to give specifications about her, particularly concerning when her cycles occurred each moth because he notices first her visit to the kids' cancer ward, and then her consumption of frozen yogurt, 'sprinkles included.' This clearly indicates he monitors her closely on a monthly basis and has remembered what he has seen.

Cuddy is surprised to find out House has not told her secret to anyone and thus begins to trust him with more details of her plans, including the administration of shots two times a day that are required for the fertility treatments. Shots that have to be administered...

..there.

(note the definite look of appreciation...)

Cuddy also asks him to help her in reviewing files on possible sperm donors. House responds to this by rejecting all of her choices, insisting that whoever she chooses to father her child should be more than a number in a file.

House: "But, you should know, genes matter. Who you are matters. You want someone you can trust."
Cuddy: "Someone like you?"
House: "Someone you like."

Later Cuddy comes to House's office with what appears to be the intent to say something.

Cuddy: "Thank you for the injections."

House: "You're welcome. You came all the way up here just to ask me that?"

Cuddy: "..No.."

Cuddy is looking at House in a new way, almost as if something has come to her mind that she wouldn't have thought of before. She smiles at him in a way that is warm and sweet, and House regards her with curiosity as to why she would have come all the way upstairs just to thank him. He also says 'you're welcome,' something he has not done when anyone else has thanked him before. Usually at the gesture of gratitude he returns it with a scoff or demeaning remark. Instead with Cuddy he does none of those things, and in turn looks at her too in a new way.

Cuddy's expressions indicate she is pleased with him as well as what she is thinking, and when House asks if there is more she wants to ask him she does confirm this. Could it be possible she was going to ask him to be the father of her baby? House did previously state the father should be someone she trusts, and someone she likes. Clearly, he falls into those categories.

Season 3

The third and current season of House marks new developments in House himself as well as his relationship with Cuddy. At the end of the second season House was shot by an angry former patient and hospitalized under Cuddy's care. During this time Cuddy administered a ketamine treatment to him. The ketamine was supposed to impact House's brain to where he would not be in pain. The result is he is able to walk, run, and have full use of his leg again without any semblance of the pain he had been feeling since the infarction.

House thanks Cuddy in front of Wilson for the ketamine treatment not only for saving his life but for taking away his pain. She seems pleased with this, but her concern continues to be for his pain returning.

House also comes to Cuddy's house - specifically to her bedroom window - in the middle of the night when he has an epiphany about the diagnosis of a patient. This indicates again he has been to her home before, as he knows which window is the one to her room.

Despite her dismissal of his diagnosis Cuddy takes a surprising turn and administers the treatment to the patient in question. The patient recovers the way that House predicted he would and Cuddy is equally shocked and relieved by this. When Wilson questions her as to why she did this, Cuddy simply replied "because he's House." That statement indicates that despite any misgivings about his present state she still believes in him because he is who he is and she trusts both him and his judgement implicitly.

When a decision is made by Wilson and Cuddy to keep House's recent medical success from him due to his developing recklessness, it is Cuddy who begins to feel the guilt of this first and goes to see how House is feeling. She worries that the effects of the ketamine are wearing off and the condition of his leg is deteriorating. House denies this but his behavior indicates his perceived failure is causing more harm than good, and in a moment of honesty it is Cuddy who tells him the truth.

Prior to telling him, Cuddy displays definite signs of conflict. She clearly wants to help House, but is torn between which way is the best.

Ultimately she chooses to tell him the truth, and House responds to this by having a few words with the baby he believes Cuddy to be carrying.

Though the issue of the lie placed a strain on House's relationship with Wilson, it seems that Cuddy's honesty won her a great deal of House's favor. He treats her normally after this time, and her concern continues to be for his well being.

When House irritates the wrong patient - Detective Tritter - and ends up in an intense legal situation it is Cuddy who attempts at first to intervene and prevent trouble. She arranges a meeting between the two in her own office, stepping in to attempt to get House out of further trouble. She does this without knowing Tritter is a detective.

When the situation with Tritter escalates and House is arrested for possession of his Vicodin it is Cuddy who comes again to his assistance, providing him with the name of an attorney she believes can help. This is after he keeps the information of how bad the situation has become from her and while she should be more concerned with how he endangered the hospital she puts that aside to help him.

Throughout the course of his prosecution Cuddy is forced to take action to help not only House but her hospital as well. She continues to insist that the accusations of House's being an addict are false and stands by the statement that the Vicodin does nothing more for House than enable him to work through the constant pain he is presented with. She stands by him and continues to do what she can to ensure he is able to continue working while preventing further escalation of the lawsuit.

In addition, House seems convinced that Cuddy is pregnant and continually makes remarks about her physical state regarding this. She vehemently denies these accusations, but throughout season three thus far, House has found more than one moment to prompt her about this.

Special Moments
these are just a select few of my favorites - listing them all would be excessive since there are so many!

a very sweet, shared smile

a shared look, not as sweet but just as intense

so much emotion.

who is House looking at that way?

no one but Cuddy.

House: "Okay, fine, I'll be the father of your child."

(no complaints from Cuddy...)

while Chase and Cameron have previously played with the ball on House's desk, only Cuddy is allowed to touch his cane. coincidence...?

Communities, Fanfiction, and Fan Videos

Communities

house_cuddy - House/Cuddy on LJ - the place to be! - an overall great group of people.

locked_office - Locked Office - a House/Cuddy Community - a community designated for a more selective group of shippers, but still incredibly nice!

huddy_lims - House/Cuddy Last Icon Maker Standing - a community for a last icon maker standing challenge featuring House and Cuddy

Fanfiction
fanfiction disclaimer!: some of the stories written here may contain material of a mature nature. please read at your own discretion, and do enjoy!

Cuddy's Secret - a season three companion fanfiction series - by

appelezmoi_coco and

gleam -

cuddys_secret

Red Shadow by

cincoflex http://www.cincoflex.net/hmd/shadow1.html

Game On by

phineyj and

snarkbait http://phineyj.livejournal.com/10867.html

Three's A Crowd by shadowfood (not finished) http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2802214/1/

Wonder by

angelfirenze http://community.livejournal.com/house_cuddy/344044.html

Comfort by Ellie http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2838963/1/

Good Company, Good Food by ellie http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2680716/1/

Curve of the Peach by

cincoflex (http://www.cincoflex.net/hmd/curve.html)

Confessor by

cincoflex http://community.livejournal.com/house_cuddy/87702.html

Eight Simple Rules for Dating Greg House by

ijemanja http://ijemanja.livejournal.com/30801.html

Happenstance by

ijemanja http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2858999/1/

Fight Me Like You Do by

leiascully http://leiascully.livejournal.com/441760.html

The Land of Qualms by Phrenology of a Waffle (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2637614/1/)

Crappy New Year? by Flying Cat (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2731332/1/)

We Ourselves by Gomey (http://community.livejournal.com/rest_your_bones/10919.html#cutid1)

Persuasion by Dizzy http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2925003/1/

Vodka Tonic by

ijemanja http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2677841/1/

Lisa Cuddy, Future Doctor Partypants by

leiascully http://leiascully.livejournal.com/457615.html#cutid1

Fan Videos
note: these are youtube links

Take on Me by lissie1015

Why by lissie1015

Pink by lissie1015

Come Down to Me by DoctorLisaCuddy

Cruel to be Kind by DoctorLisaCuddy

How to Save a Life by DoctorLisaCuddy

I Won't Say I'm In Love by DoctorLisaCuddy

Accidentally in Love by DoctorLisaCuddy

Crash into Me by dgmpepper

All I Know by Grimore

A Million Ways by vntageretro

Personal Thoughts

I actually came into the House fandom because of House and Cuddy. I was told that I would love not only Cuddy but her relationship with House. This turned out to be true, and from the first moment I saw them interact I wondered how there could be any denying they had feelings for one another. And I believe that their relationship involves a professional respect as well as a deep-rooted care that goes back to a time before the show itself began. While the other members of his team profess their loyalties to him at different times Cuddy is the only one who has showed true, unwavering faith in him. Despite the hardships he brings to the hospital she continues to keep him on staff, and goes to great lengths to keep him there. Additionally, she accepts House for who and what he is, not because he is damaged, powerful or anything other than himself. All of the admiration and care that she feels and displays for him is simply because he is what he is, not an ideal or fantasy.

In addition, House shows an undying concern for Cuddy and what she thinks of him. She is the one he goes to for approval and he who brings her back to her senses when emotions become too strong. His evident concern for who fathers her child shows he thinks highly of her and her happiness, and does not want her to settle for anything mediocre.

I believe that House is not a person that needs to be fixed. The scars he has endured for years have become part of him as has both his attitude and nature, and that anyone attempting to change those would alter who he is drastically. He needs someone who can accept him for who he is, faults included, and be his equal in all meanings of the word. And since it has been Cuddy who has stayed by his side throughout all of their hardships in both past and present, it seems clear that she would be that one.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Craig Armstrong - - Lissa Montage