It had been a particularly long day in the foreign town, as she massaged her neck and her shoulder blades in the small hotel room. Leaned over the table in the kitchen, she had her eyes on the article. The headline was preposterous, every word bringing more disgusting, annoying, and revolting emotions to her as she ever so badly wanted to deny them, feeling them bubble to the surface as her chest tightened up. The picture was entirely unbecoming of him. Then again all pictures of him were awful, not the most photogenic human being. But in person… Well in person, he wasn't that great either but he was okay. Chuckling to herself, she shook her head, her eyes glassing over. The stupid idiot got himself damn killed. And why? Because she wasn't around to kick him in the ass, most likely. "Not like having me around ever got anything done, anyway. The asshole still didn't listen to me. Rammed his stupid fucking car into my living room, for Christ's sake," she snorted, her short dark brown tendrils falling in her angular face. Her dark caramel eyes were tired, full of pain as the tears teemed over their red rims, a hand coming up to rub her temple. "Goddammit, House. You're such a dumbass," the woman let out, her voice cracking slightly as her hand shook as moved cover her trembling lip.
"I hate you. I really hate you." And with that the woman's strong, yet frail body shook with the silent sobs that began to spill over. Because she knew that was far from the truth.
The little girl was hiding in the connecting room. They had rented them out after her mom had gone away from the big doctor place she was always at, away from the bad memories that were at her messed up home that was being fixed. Blinking a few times as she hugged her little stuffed monkey, she started to think. It was nice here. But it was loud and the people here in this far away place from home… Well all they ate were pasta and pizza and they went to a building where it looked like it was falling and people were talking really weird all the time. Like they were aliens speaking a different language and it hurt her little four year old brain. Sighing, she pouted. She wanted to go home. Vacation was fun, but… she wanted to go home, even if they were still making changes to her home. It was then though that little Rachel heard a soft little hollow sound, almost like a wailing coming from the next room. It was something she'd never heard before, as she turned and looked over at her superhero, the one that was always strong. "Mommy?" she whispered as she walked in softly.
And well, Lisa Cuddy was never one to cry publicly, and as much as she smiled tried to recuperate and wipe the tears away, they just kept coming the moment she heard her little daughter's voice, tucking the article away. "Oh, s-weetie. Hi, C-Come with mama, yeah?" she hiccupped, stretching her arms out, the rivulets of tears streaming down her face as the sensation bit at her nose, her chest heaving. The little girl obeyed and walked a few more paces, crawling up into her mother's lap, and snuggled into her chest, Lisa just cradling her there, sniffling a few times.
"Mommy's just s-sad…" she began, clearing her throat and breathing out slowly, trying to regulate herself. "You remember House, right?" she whispered into the little girl's hair, kissing the top of her head, forcing herself to speak even though her throat was closing up. The small girl just nodded and traced circles on Cuddy's collarbone. Closing her eyes, the poised woman continued. "Well, it's just… Well it's that mommy never really got to say goodbye to him. She never really got to fix things. And now… Well he's… Well… Now he's gone far away."
The little girl furrowed her brow. She didn't understand. "Like vacaton?" she asked curiously, blinking a few times at the older woman.
Cuddy just grinned the the innocence and couldn't bear to tell her the real truth, sighing and nodding as she chuckled a little, her age showing in her eyes as she looked down at the being in her arms slightly. "Yeah, like a vacation. But… But this time.. This time it's a permanent stay, Buttercup. I'm not gonna see him again."
"But no cry! It sound fun," the small girl replied, giggling. "We can go homes though, right?"
Lisa Cuddy then smiled back and pulled her daughter closer, and kissing her on the nose. Initially, she had left New Jersey, unable to face reality, trying to avoid facing the wreck House had left her home in. It was now that she realized it wasn't her home that he'd wrecked, not really.
"You've got that right," she whispered, throat closing up again, doing her best to keep it together. If not for herself, but for the tiny girl in her arms.