Doctor House liked his women like he liked his coffee – hot and sweet. So when he laid his eyes on a nurse from his department on his first day at Lima Memorial Hospital, he knew she would be perfect for his collection.

During the first week he found out that her name was Carole Hudson, she was a widow and had a teenage son. She wasn’t seeing anyone at that moment. Actually, it had been years since she was with someone, as far as the other nurses knew. For House it seemed perfect.

He was thinking of asking her out right away but decided against it. She hadn’t been on a date for years so he was sure she wouldn’t want to go to with a guy she had just met. That’s why he had to be patient, become friends first. And so he did. Keeping an act of a nice man he became closer and closer to the woman.

It was a few weeks after he started working in Lima when he decided it was time to make a move. Carole was standing by the reception looking through a file. House straighten up and walked towards her, pushing a queer boy out of his way.

“Move, fairy,” he scoffed silently and added much more loudly. “Hey, Carole!”

The woman looked up, smiled, waved at him, and went back to the file. It was obvious she was busy but House had been waiting for too long.

“So, how are you doing?” he asked, smiling at her.

“Same old, same old,” Carole uttered, smiling as well. “You, Greg?”

“Pretty well…” House said, faking nervousness. “So I’ve been thinking if, um… Do you have anything planned for this weekend?”

The woman looked at him curiously. “Nothing special. I have a day off on Saturday so I will go do some groceries shopping, clean the house, cook, and maybe read a book in the evening. Some work, some relaxation, you know?”

“Would you like something more interesting? Not that I say your plans aren’t, they are fun, of course…”

Carole giggled. “Not really. So what do you have in mind?”

“You, me, dinner…”

“Um, a date?” she asked uncertainly.

“Well, I would like it to be a date but only if you want that… If you don’t, I’m fine with going out as friends. So what would you say?” he asked and made sure his face looked like he was impatiently waiting for her answer.

“It’s a date then,” she finally said and House couldn’t be happier.

…

House had a week to plan their date. It was simple – he will finish at half past six on that day. On his way to Carole’s he will buy some flowers. They will have dinner at the Breadstix and if everything goes well he will take her to his place for some drinks and maybe something more. Hopefully, something more.

Saturday came quickly and House spent the last two hours looking at his watch at every possible moment but the time seemed to go really slowly.

Finally it was almost half past six and he headed towards the elevator. The corridor was deserted, only one boy almost running towards him, two mugs in his hands. It was that flaming gay volunteer, whose existence annoyed him to no end.

House stopped by the elevator, waiting for it to come, when he felt someone’s body slamming into his, and some hot liquid pouring on his clothes. While shouting at the boy furiously he noticed it was coffee. Cursing under his breathe House went back to his office where he had emergency change of clothes.

He changed as quickly as he could and went to the parking lot. He would need to drive faster if he wanted to be on time. However, there was a slight problem. There were two cars by each side of his car and one in front of it like it always is in a parking lot. The problem was a car behind it, which was parked horizontally and blocked the way for House’s car.

Fuming and cursing inwardly he started randomly shouting in hopes to find the owner of the car. Of course it was unsuccessful. He had to go inside and ask the receptionist to make an announcement on the microphone. After that he went back to his car to wait for the owner.

House checked the time. He had fifteen minutes. It meant no flowers for Carole. He ran his hand through his grey hair and waited. Five minutes later a strange looking guy with a mohawk appeared.

“Sorry, dude,” he said approaching. “I came here for like two  minutes and didn’t think it would cause any inconveniences.”

“Two minutes?” House yelled. “I’ve been waiting for good ten minutes!”

“Well, I said I came here for two minutes but you see I met this hot chick and we started talking. You should have seen her boobs! Like a Greek goddess’. If it wasn’t for you I would be in a bathroom with her right now. You kind of ruined my evening, man.”

“I ruined your evening? I’m late for a date because of you! Move your car NOW!” he yelled ant took the phone out. He needed to tell Carole he would be late and ask if they could meet at the restaurant.

“Sure, sorry about that,” the guy said and unlocked his car. He tried to start the engine a few times while House talked on the phone, but he couldn’t. “Um, we have a problem here.”

“Don’t tell me that–”

The guy got out of the car and nodded sadly. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s going on. My baby was perfect just until now.”

House knew his face must have been red by now. “I don’t care how but you move that garbage now!”

“I can’t… I have to call a friend. His friend is a mechanic so the guy knows about cars. I could have never guessed because he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. So when he helped me to change a tire once–”

“Shut up and do something!”

“Fine fine,” the boy raised his hands in mock defence and after a moment dialled a number. “Hey, bro, how is it going? No way! Oh my god, and what did he do then? Uhum… No! I can’t believe it…”

House cleared his throat pointedly.

“Oh, sorry, dude, there is this old man with me and he is kind of impatient. I need your help. What are you doing right now? Oh really? I always wanted to try it. Maybe next time we could double date and do that. I know I’m single but I could bring any cheerio,” the guy said and caught House’s eye. “So okay, I can’t start my car. And you know I’m useless with them. Could you come and look at it? When? Of course half an hour is perfect. I will just wait for you inside. Oh, I’m at the hospital. Just call me when you are here. Great. See you later, bro.”

“Half an hour?” House shouted.

“Sorry, it’s all I can do,” the guy shrugged. “Listen, I will give you a few dollars and you can take a taxi. What would you say?”

Even though House didn’t think it would be nice to come to the restaurant by a taxi instead of his car, he had no choice so he agreed. Not because he needed money for taxi, but he couldn’t let that guy go without any consequences.

On his way he agreed to meet Carole by the entrance to the restaurant. When he arrived, she was already there, looking a bit cold.

“Hi,” House smiled and hugged her. “I’m so sorry I’m late.”

Carole smiled back and they went inside. “It’s okay, don’t worry. I only waited for, like, ten minutes.”

“I wish you didn’t have to wait at all… By the way, you look stunning,” he said to her and then faced the staff member who came to meet them. “Reservation under Dr. House.”

The boy smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, sir, but you were late and we had to give the table to the girls over there,” he said pointing towards two girls in cheerleading uniforms. “If you give us ten minutes, we will set an extra table for you.”

“Of course, sweetie,” the woman said and watched the boy move quickly.

House massaged his temples. “This shouldn’t be happening, I’m very sorry.”

“Things happen, you are worrying too much. It’s just ten minutes,” Carole said and looked around the restaurant curiously even though it wasn’t her first time there.

Twenty minutes later the same boy came. “Sorry for the wait. Please, follow me.”

They followed the boy to the extra able which was set by the kitchen door.

“You must be kidding me,” House shook his head.

“I’m sorry, sir, but this is the only place where we could set the table,” the boy apologised.

Carole smiled at him. “And we won’t need to wait for our food to travel through the whole restaurant.”

“You are right, madam,” the boy smiled and gave them their menus. “So, my name is Blaine and I will be your waiter tonight. I will give you a few minutes to decide what you want.”

“I will have a glass of–” House started but the waiter was gone.

House was getting more and more irritated by each minute as the boy seemed to have forgotten them completely. Fifteen minutes passed before he came back.

“I’m sorry, guys. It’s a hectic night,” Blaine smiled. “So, what would you like to order?”

“I will have orange juice and a chicken lasagne,” Carole said.

“Perfect choice,” Blaine nodded, writing down the order. “And you, sir?”

House looked at the menu again and read. “Tomato juice and–”

“I’m sorry, we ran out of tomato juice a few minutes ago.”

“Grape juice.”

“Still waiting for them to be delivered.”

“Lemon juice?”

“Only available on weekdays.”

“So what juice can I get?”

“Orange,” Blaine gave him a small smile.

“Fine. I will have orange juice. And beef lasagne.”

Blaine’s smile fell a little. “I’m sorry but–”

“I will have what she’s having,” House finally snapped and Blaine wrote down his order.

“I’ll come back with your drinks in a minute.”

He didn’t. It took ten minutes for the drinks to come. For some reason the boy chose to come when Carole was in the bathroom.

“Here are your drinks, sir,” Blaine said and put the glasses on the table. “Are you here on a date, sir?”

House glared at him. “Why do you care?”

“You see, we have live performance tonight by an a cappella group from Westerville. They take requests for songs and could serenade the lady if you wanted.”

“How much?”

“Ten dollars for a song.”

“Fine,” House said in a hope to make the date less horrible. “Tell them to sing something romantic. From Gregory to Carole.”

Blaine smiled at him and wrote it down. “The singers will be here in twenty minutes.”

When Carole came back Blaine had already left. They resumed the conversation and waited to the food. It came twenty minutes later and the musicians were still nowhere to be seen. They had almost finished their food when a group of teenage boys entered the restaurant. House saw one of them talking to Blaine before they went on the stage.

“Good evening, everyone,” an Asian guy said. “We are the a cappella group from Westerville – the Warblers. We are here to entertain you tonight. The first performance is a song requested by Gregory. It’s for you, Carole!”

“Oh, Greg,” Carole blushed as the music started playing and the same guy started singing.

Here we go again, I kinda wanna be more than friends
So take it easy on me, I'm afraid
You're never satisfied. Here we go again
We're sick like animals, we play, pretend
You're just a cannibal
And I'm afraid I won't get out alive.
I won't sleep tonight!

Oh oh, I want some more
Oh oh, what are you waiting for?
Take a bite of my heart tonight!

Both Carole and House sat there stunned while the group of boys danced around the restaurant, the lead singer and two others focusing on their table. When they finished Carole clapped politely while House looked as if he was about to kill someone. At that time Blaine came to collect their plates.

“Did you enjoy your evening?” he asked smiling charmingly.

“It was lovely,” Carole responded.

“What the hell?” House shouted and everyone looked at him. “I asked for a romantic song!”

Blaine bit his lip nervously. “I thought it was romantic. I mean, after I sang it to my friend, we became boyfriends not long after…”

“Oh, you have a boyfriend?” Carole asked softly, trying her best to do the damage control.

“Yes, I do,” Blaine nodded enthusiastically. “He is amazing. He is very talented. He looks like an angel and his voice – don’t get me started! Oh, and we just took our relationship on a new level. Look.”

Blaine showed her a ring on his finger.

“A promise ring?” Carole asked admiring the piece of jewellery.

“Yes. We have matching ones,” the boy said.

“It looks familiar. What’s your boyfriend’s name?” the woman asked.

“Kurt,” Blaine said dreamily.

Carole gasped. “I know him! He is the sweetest – you are a lucky man!”

“I know. I don’t know what I did in my previous life to deserve his love but I’m glad I did it!”

“That’s sweet.”

“That’s disgusting.”

Carole looked at House with disbelief.

“Excuse me?” she asked him.

“It’s okay, madam,” Blaine assured her, took the plates, and disappeared into the kitchen.

“What the hell was that?” Carole demanded.

House snorted. “I hate fags. They think they own the place. And that little prick–” he said but couldn’t finish as a hand collided with his cheek.

“You are disgusting,” she muttered and stormed out of the restaurant.

…

Once Carole hopped into her car and tried to start the engine, a weird noise came out of it. The day couldn’t get any worse. At that thought it started raining. She sighed resting her head on the wheel and thought what to do.

She needed to go to work early in the morning so she couldn’t leave the car in the parking lot of the restaurant. Hence, taxi was not an option. She needed someone who knew cars…

After arguing with herself for a few minutes, because it was Saturday evening and people usually had plans for a weekend, she dialled a number of the only man she knew who was good with cars.

“Um, hi, Burt, this is Carole. I’m really sorry to bother you but my car is making strange noises and I’m afraid to drive. I would take a taxi but–” she was cut off by the man’s words. “Thank you so much! I’m at the Breadstix. Thank you, thank you! Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.”

Burt had promised to be there in ten minutes so Carole jumped a bit when five minutes later someone holding an umbrella knocked on the window. She quickly lowered it.

“Hi, Burt! I’m so–”

“If you say you are sorry again, I will leave,” the man laughed.

Carole joined in. “Okay, I won’t say it out loud but know that I am.”

“Fair enough. Um, here,” he said and handed her a thermos.

“What’s that?” the woman asked.

“It’s hot cocoa. I don’t know if you like it but Kurt had made some and it’s cold outside so I thought I would bring some for you.”

Oh, thank you, it’s lovely. Kurt’s cocoa is the best. I keep trying to make him give me the recipe but he is really stubborn.“

“Even I don’t know it. Though I’m such a bad cook that I wouldn’t do much with that recipe anyway,” Burt laughed again and Carole smiled at him. “So, let’s go to work. Start the engine.”

A few minutes later the car was good to go and Carole couldn’t stop thanking him while Burt kept telling her to forget it.

“What are you doing next Saturday? I could cook you a dinner,” she suggested, hope clear in her voice.

“The ‘menu’ of the dinner will have to go through Kurt’s inspection but I would love to have dinner with you,” Burt said, somehow shyly.

Carole smiled brightly. “I will call you next week to set the time, okay?”

“Perfect.”

“So, goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Burt said and went to his car, smiling as Carole left the parking lot.

…

One week ago…

Kurt tried his best to pretend that everything was fine when Mrs. Anderson opened the door that afternoon. He smiled at her with his charming smile.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Anderson,” he said.

“Kurt…” the woman said in a mock threatening voice.

“Yes, Mrs. Anderson?” Kurt asked innocently.

The woman sighed. “You know, one day, Kurt, I will make you call me Sarah.”

“I’m looking forward to that day,” he giggled.

Sarah shook her head and let the boy in. “Blaine is in his room.”

“Thank you!”

Kurt ran upstairs and once he got into the room and shut the door, he started talking, not really paying attention at Blaine who was lying on his bed, a biology textbook opened in front of him – as if he just needed to say things, which had been on his mind the whole day, out loud.

“I can’t believe it. He’s been pining over Carole for weeks now. Ever since he woke up from the coma, it’s all I hear. ‘Carole this’, ‘Carole that’. It’s so annoying!”

“Great to see you too, love,” Blaine uttered, smiling fondly at his overemotional boyfriend.

“And I told him many times – ask her out! But nooo… He wanted to wait for god knows what.”

“I missed you too. My day was okay,” Blaine said suppressing a giggle while sitting down.

Kurt started walking back and forth in front of Blaine’s bed.

“And you know what happened today?” he asked suddenly.

“No, I haven’t watched the news yet but I was planning to go through some websites after I’m done with homework. But I guess you are going to tell me what happened in the world while I was busy with biology.”

“Very funny, Blaine, very funny,” Kurt rolled his eyes. “So I start my shift and two hours later I see Carole. And I make a decision – I have to ask her to come for dinner next weekend. She has always been so nice to my dad while he was at the hospital and she always asks me how he has been doing. So it wouldn’t be suspicious, right?”

“Well–” Blaine started.

“It was rhetorical. Of course it wouldn’t,” Kurt muttered impatiently. “Okay, so I’m walking towards her and what I see is that homophobe jerk House waving at her. And what does she do? She smiles and waves back!”

“Unbelievable!” Blaine quipped, watching Kurt with amusement.

“Exactly! But the worst part is that he asked her on a date this weekend! Can you believe that?”

“I–”

“Of course you can’t, why am I even asking? You know what? She said yes,” he finished and climbed on the bed defeated.

Blaine quickly wrapped his arms around the boy and snuggled with him. He really did love his boyfriend’s insanity. It made his life more interesting.

“So what are we going to do about it?” Blaine asked him after a moment.

“What do you mean?”

Blaine smiled mischievously. “Carole deserves better. As far as I know, House is an asshole. My mom had a check-up with him and she said she had never met someone that unpleasant. I don’t understand what Carole sees in him.”

Kurt chuckled coldly. “Oh you should see him with her. He is a perfect gentleman…” he said and Blaine could see something changing in his eyes.

“You have a plan,” he stated.

“We have to show her his real face,” Kurt said and wiggled out of Blaine’s grip. He sat up and took his cell phone out of his pocket. “I need to make a few calls.”

Blaine sat up as well. “Wait, first of all, do you know when exactly and where their date is?”

“Oh, Blainey, you have no idea how much nurses gossip…”

“If they gossip at least as much as the volunteers, then I think I know,” Blaine said and earned a playful smack to his upper arm. “Sorry, love. So what do you know?”

“The date is on Saturday. House is working until half past six so he is picking her up at seven because on Saturday Carole has a day off. Then they are going to the Breadstix.”

“Why is it always that place?” Blaine growled.

“Because there is nothing better in Lima,” Kurt smiled. “Say, does Trent’s family still own the restaurant?”

“Uhum,” Blaine nodded.

“Okay, so you call him. And… Wes because we will need the Warblers. In the meantime I will call a few old friends,” he said and found the first contact he needed – Noah – and dialled.