Indeed, Sir

Title: A Rum Thing Indeed
Characters: Bertie, Jeeves, House
Rating: Gen
Words: 700
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Never will.
Summary: Bertie discovers American TV
Author note: Crossover ficlet written several years ago for queenzulu  and never posted anywhere. Just found it on my hard drive.

“I say, Jeeves,” I remarked. “This is a puzzler and no mistake.”

“Indeed, sir?” replied Jeeves, holding the shoe he was polishing up to the light and inspecting it carefully. There was something about the tone of the fellow’s voice that I didn’t like.  Perhaps it was the hangover I was nursing.  But it seemed to me that Jeeves had managed to fill the two syllables of the word “indeed” with something very like impertinence. And I was not in the mood for impertinence. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was feeling disgruntled, but I was far--very far--from gruntled.

I replied with some asperity. “When I say, ‘This is a puzzler, Jeeves,’ I rather expect an offer of help. Not the implication that I am a fat-head to whom the smallest thing is a puzzle.”

Jeeves put the shoe back down on the hotel carpet and addressed me with a suitably respectful demeanor. “I regret that I gave offence sir. None was intended. May I be of any assistance?”

“I certainly hope so, Jeeves,” It was hard to stay angry with the man, and besides I needed his considerable brainpower—the man eats only fish—to help solve the current mystery. Without budging from my place on the sofa, I  pointed the remote control toward the large television ensconced in the hotel’s wooden console. “That fellow, who’s always solving mysteries—what’s his name?” I began. It was on the tip of my tongue.

“Sherlock Holmes, sir?”

“Good Lord, no. I’m referring to this chap, the medical man—there.” Jeeves turned his gaze toward the screen and squinted for a moment.

“I believe that is Dr. Gregory House,” he declared. “Star of the eponymous American television show.”

[More here: http://maineac.livejournal.com/26389.html]