Rescued From The Fall

Chapter 1: Heartbreak

Author's Note: Okay I've gotten a lot of requests to finish/continue/reboot After All. I am doing it. There are going to be a lot of similarities but also new things. Two of my "fans" are helping this time so it should work out pretty well. After All was the original name, Rescued From The Fall are lyrics from the song After All sung by Cher and some other dude. It's the theme to some movie, I don't really care to look up which one either. I hope this time around it's not as rushed as it was before. This time around there is no Rachel to screw it up, so here goes nothing!

Five years later, Cuddy and House had a healthy five year old girl named Amy. She was, however, born with a few complications and was completely blind. That didn't stop her from living her life, albeit very sheltered. Cuddy never wanted to let her out of the house, and if it were up to her the poor girl wouldn't leave. House and Cuddy had painstakingly chose a home schooling teacher for Amy who spent the hours with her when both of them were at work. Cuddy worked normal hours and came home but sometimes House had to work weird hours, although he tried to tone that down to take care of his daughter.

House and Cuddy were together but not married. They slept with each other and life was good, they still lived in separate places and Cuddy had Amy most of the time, but House was very active in the girl's life and Cuddy had no complaints. The woman they had hired was Leila Dawson and on top of the fact that she worked with the blind she was also a psychiatrist so she was really able to help with the emotional aspect of coping with no sight. Not that Amy really had too many problems since she never knew a world with sight to begin with.

Cuddy and House knew they were going to choose Leila the moment they saw her interact with Amy. They were just so compatible from the time Amy was introduced to her at three years old. Now Cuddy couldn't imagine a life without Leila in it. They weren't really good friends or anything, but Amy completely adored her and Cuddy wouldn't take that away from her daughter. Leila was very smart and very beautiful, at first Cuddy was worried that she would try to steal House away from her but Leila showed no interest in him other than as an employer.

Cameron had gone on to get married to Chase about a year later. It was a beautiful wedding and Cuddy had been the maid of honor at it. House had gotten drunk then and made a really rude toast but everyone just chalked it up to him being House and it was overlooked.

It had been a long day and Cuddy came home from work tired as all hell to be greeted by a very tired looking Leila, which was different from how she usually looked. Dinner was cooking, which was also unusual because Leila was not required to cook anything. Cuddy was a little startled by all of this, "Is everything okay?" She asked, as she locked the door behind her.

"Yeah, Amy is sick. She's been vomiting all day." Leila said with a sigh, "I nixed the school work. She's just laying in bed sipping some juice right now." She brushed a strand of milk chocolate colored hair out of her face and behind her ear. Cuddy had never seen Leila with her hair completely down but assumed that it was very long because of the elaborate hairstyles she always had it up in. Right now it was in a very messy bun, it looked like she had over exerted herself that day and hadn't had time to preen.

"You should have called me. I would have come home and-"

"What could you have done that I couldn't? No offense but we are both capable of taking care of a sick child." Leila said with a smile and Cuddy wasn't offended. It was true, she was overreacting, Leila was also a doctor and besides what could she have done? Leila was just as close with Amy as she was and the girl would have been comforted by either of them. "I made dinner, just some garlic chicken with pasta. I made enough for two but I don't think Amy will be eating much."

"You want to stay? You look like you could use a good meal after today." Cuddy offered, setting her bag down by the door and coming into the house more. Leila lit up at the idea and started to head into the kitchen with Cuddy.

"Sure, it would be great not to have dinner alone again." Leila said.

"I'm going to go check on Amy." Cuddy said after getting out a bottle of wine and setting it on the counter. Leila nodded and Cuddy walked out of the kitchen and into Amy's bedroom. The TV in there was playing the movie The Little Mermaid and Amy was laying on the bed completely lethargic and looking out of it. Cuddy sighed, anyone who had been throwing up all day would look the same way so she didn't think much of it, other than pity.

"Amy honey I'm home." She said as she walked into the room and over to the bed.

"Mommy." Amy said softly and then yawned. She slowly sat up and reached her arms out for a hug. Cuddy pulled her into her arms. Amy was the spitting image of her mother, same dark hair and features, but she had her father's ice blue eyes. She also had a lot of House's personality which was interesting because she spent more time with her mother than her father. Maybe personality really was something genetic.

"How are you feeling?"

"I threw up ten times today." Amy said and then kissed Cuddy's cheek. Cuddy put her hand on her daughter's forehead, she was warm but she wasn't dangerously overheated, just a little fever that would probably break by morning. Cuddy would get her some children's aspirin and that should help things on their way.

"That's a lot. I bet you feel really crummy." Cuddy replied and pushed some hair out of the girl's face. Amy nodded and reached for her cup of juice which was on the bedside table and took a really small sip. She then set the cup back down carefully and laid back in bed.

"Your tummy is growling mommy, you should eat." Amy said and then yawned again. Cuddy laughed slightly, she could feel her stomach growling of course but couldn't hear it, although she didn't put it past Amy to hear anything.

"You going to be okay while mommy has dinner?"

"I'll just sleep. I'm tired." Amy replied. Cuddy nodded even though Amy couldn't see it and leaned in and kissed her forehead softly.

"Love you baby girl." Cuddy said and then stood up and headed out of the bedroom.

"Love you mommy." Amy replied as she drifted off into sleep. Satisfied that Amy was going to be okay Cuddy went out to have dinner.

When she got into the kitchen, the food was already set out on the table and Leila was sitting there waiting for her. She hadn't started to eat, which was actually a very nice thing for her to do. The glasses of wine were poured and Leila looked over at her, "Is Amy okay?"

"Yeah she's doing fine." Cuddy said, "So, how are you?"

"Tired, but I'll be fine." Leila said with a smile and started to eat, "How's House doing?" Cuddy picked up her fork and dug into the pasta. She actually was very glad that Leila had decided to cook, if it had been up to her she would have just ordered out that night, she was tired herself.

"Good, he's turning down cases left and right though. Then he's complaining about clinic hours, it's amazing how much I can be in love with that man." Cuddy said with a mouthful of food, "This is really good Leila."

"Thanks, cooking became a hobby of mine after my mother died and I had to take care of my father." She replied with a smile, "He died last year."

"I'm sorry." Cuddy said and then took a sip of wine, "I don't know much about you and I should. Is there anything you'd like to share?"

"My parents were wall street fat cats from the time I was very young. They were always there for me, day traders, and I wanted nothing. I am an only child, a very wanted only child. In inherited a small fortune and a very good portfolio when they died." Leila said and then sighed, "I don't have to work but trust me, life sucks without a job. So here I am." She smiled.

"I wish I had enough money that I didn't have to work until Amy was in college but I understand that life can be mundane without a purpose." Cuddy replied.

The rest of the dinner was a bit silent but not uncomfortable as they were both hungry and were more focused on eating than talking. When it was over Cuddy invited Leila to stay for coffee but she politely declined saying that she really needed to get home to feed her cat. After she left, Cuddy went in to check on Amy again, who was fast asleep. Cuddy turned the TV off and tucked Amy in more before kissing her warm forehead and heading off to take a shower. Leila would be there in the morning and hopefully Amy would be on the mend.

When Cuddy woke up, she got the immediate sensation that there was something wrong. It was probably because she had woken up by her alarm clock and not by Amy making noise in her room. Amy never woke Cuddy up on purpose but she was an early riser and liked to play in her room quietly until Leila or her came to say good morning. She slapped the alarm off and quickly got out of bed, pulling her robe on.

"Amy, honey?" She called as she made her way towards her daughter's bedroom. It was eerily quiet, the TV even hadn't been turned back on. Now Cuddy was scared into action and she rushed into Amy's room only to find her face down on the floor in a puddle of vomit. "AMY!" She screamed and got down by her. The poor girl was burning up, to a point where it was dangerous.

"Oh God, baby, stay with me okay?" Cuddy said, pulling her into her arms. Her body was hot to the touch and Cuddy knew she had to get her into some ice water quickly, then straight on to the hospital. With the strength only a mother had in these situations, she picked Amy up and brought her into the bathroom where she placed her in the tub and started to run cold water.

She heard the front door open, it was Leila and she was right on time. "LEILA!" Cuddy screamed from the bathroom just as Amy started to go into a seizure. "Shit...SHIT!" Cuddy cried and pulled Amy into her arms trying to brace her. Leila raced into the bathroom to find Cuddy and Amy, and the scene looked desperate. The moment she took everything in, her heart choked up and she let out a gasp.

"Oh God..."

"Call an ambulance! Hurry!" Cuddy demanded, tears running down her cheek. She had absolutely no idea what was wrong with Amy and she cursed herself for not being more vigilant. How could she have slept through the night? How could she have not heard Amy get up earlier? Surely the girl had cried out for her mother right as she was about to throw up or after wards.

As the tub filled up with cold water, the convulsions died down, but Amy still didn't wake up. It would be a bit of time at the hospital before they knew if there was any brain damage or not. Cuddy was not looking forward to explaining this to House, or even breaking the news to him in the first place. Her first worry, however, was Amy and taking care of her. She brushed some hair back out of her daughter's face as she continued to cry.

"It's okay baby, just hang on, please just hang on." She whispered over and over until sirens could be heard off in the distance.

A very long hour and a half later, Amy was moved to the pediatric ICU without any word on her condition. House was there but he wasn't saying anything to Cuddy. She had explained the situation to him and repeatedly apologized but he still had nothing to say. When they took Amy off for tests, he had tried to muscle his way into the rooms, to a point where security was called on him.

As they sat there in the ICU next to their daughter, there was silence. Cuddy was holding Amy's hand and House was across the room sitting in a chair, glaring in Cuddy's direction. She couldn't believe that he was silently blaming her for this, how was she supposed to know any of this would happen? They were both completely in the dark as to her condition and no one was coming in the room to tell them what was going on.

Leila had left to get them all coffee, she was a wreck just like Cuddy but trying to hold it together more for the sake of the family. She wanted to distract herself, keep busy, that's exactly what she had done when her father had gotten deathly ill and it seemed to work. After paying for the coffee, she headed back to the room. It was supposed to be only family but Cuddy had demanded that Leila be there, it was only fair to Amy.

As she approached the room she saw an unknown male doctor walk in before her. Knowing that this was the news on Amy, she hung back and stayed in the shadows. The longer she waited to go in there, the longer she would be in the dark about Amy's condition. She couldn't imagine what Cuddy and House were going through in that moment. Sure she had lost both of her parents, but that had been after a long and lingering illness in both of them, and she had ample time to say goodbye. Not that the situations were even comparable, Amy was their daughter and Leila knew without words that she had been a miracle child.

Leila sat down in a nearby alcove and set the coffee tray down on the table in front of her. She picked up her cup and and took a sip, looking at Amy's door. If it was good news, there would be sighs of relief, and the air would become thin and light hearted again, but it didn't seem to be getting that way. Suddenly there was a cry of anguish from Amy's room that could only have belonged to Cuddy.

Forgetting about the coffee, Leila got up and rushed towards the room just as the male doctor was leaving. Cuddy was hunched over Amy's bed, holding her and crying full force. House looked angry beyond belief, Leila had never seen anyone so mad. She swallowed hard, not even wanting to ask what was going on.

"What is-"

"She's a fucking vegetable Leila." House said before Leila could finish her sentence. Leila felt her heart shatter into a million pieces at those words. She had been with Amy for two years and now, now it was all over. The little girl she once knew was now no more than a shell. She wouldn't be coming back, she wouldn't be playing checkers any more or reading books or playing the piano. It was over, completely over. "Give me one of your cigarettes."

"House I am so sorry." Cuddy cried, not moving from her spot by Amy. House came over to Leila, completely ignoring Cuddy which had to be worse than him giving her any kind of acknowledgement. He held his hand out and Leila removed her pack of cigarettes from her jacket and handed him the whole thing with a lighter. She was stunned beyond having tears at that moment, she just didn't know what to do. Crying seemed like too much energy at that point. House took the items from Leila and quietly left the room.

After another moment of standing there, Leila muscled up the courage to walk over to Cuddy and put a hand on her shoulder. It was times like this that she wished that she knew her boss better, that they were actually friends and her presence would be comforting. Cuddy quickly shrugged her hand away. "Go away." She snapped. Leila bit her bottom lip and nodded, her best bet was to go find House and have a smoke with him. Cuddy needed her alone time to grieve and it was best to let her have it.

"If you need to talk, I'm here." She said softly and then turned and left to go find House. She caught up to him directly outside and called out, "House!" He turned to look at her, a cigarette already in his mouth waiting to be lit.

"She didn't want you to be there to bask in her great mistake either I see." House said grimly and then lit the cigarette. Leila was surprised to hear this. She figured House was somehow blaming Cuddy for this in his head but she didn't think he'd come right out and say it. She reached out and took one of her cigarettes and he handed the lighter over to her.

"House, it's not her fault. You can't believe that, right?" Leila asked after lighting her cigarette. House glared at her and then sat down on a bench. It was normal in a situation like this for him to be blaming someone, but it didn't mean it was healthy. In truth it was no one's fault. How could any of them foreseen that a stomach virus would turn into this?

"Tell me everything that happened." House said. Leila took a seat next to him. She then took a long pull on her cigarette and looked at him. "They are saying it's Reye's syndrome."

"Wow." Leila breathed, the precise cause of Reye's syndrome was unknown and could be very quick and deadly, in this case it had made it's point. It was rare, very rare, and why it had chose to attack Amy was beyond her. "Well, yesterday, shortly after I arrived Amy threw up. It just looked like a virus to me, so I quickly got her into bed and got her some juice. She proceeded to throw up quite a few times throughout the rest of the day. Then Cuddy came home and that was that."

"You didn't notice anything odd? Any behavior that was off about Amy?" House asked and then took a drag on his cigarette.

"No, she was very lethargic but nothing that would have indicated any of this." Leila said wishing she would have also seen the warning signs. Since it was so rare to contract such a thing, she wouldn't have even been looking for those symptoms. Chances were the worst of them happened during the night while all of them slept. "House, it's really not Cuddy's fault, I can promise you that."

"How is it not her fault, Leila?" House snapped and took an angry drag from his cigarette, "She should have been up to check on Amy at least once last night. Bullshit she isn't responsible." He looked away from her and she sighed, feeling tears shimmering in her eyes. She brushed them back and gently put a hand on his shoulder, very surprised when he didn't immediately shrug it away like Cuddy had.

"I know words cannot take away any of the pain but if you want to talk to anyone..." She trailed off and shrugged. House just sat there in some sort of stoic silence that Leila couldn't comprehend. All of this was very tragic, and now came the battle of keeping the girl on life support or taking her off. All of them knew there was no chance of recovery, but Leila didn't know if Cuddy would have the strength to let Amy go. At least not right away.

That night, Leila was on her way home when she received a call from House. He had told her that she had left some stuff at his place and she should probably come collect it as now was as good a time as any. She didn't want to think that this was the last time she was going to see House, there had always been something about him that was attractive to her. It would be horrible to use this tragedy to draw herself closer to him but she couldn't lose Amy and a man she had always pined for all in one day.

What Cuddy didn't know about Leila's relationship with House was that it was deeper than she would have liked. They got along really well for some reason, and although they were more close friends than anywhere near lovers, Cuddy would have hated it. Until that moment at the hospital when House had asked for one of her cigarettes, Leila was sure Cuddy didn't even know she smoked. That was something House did know, however, and even had shared a few with her in the past.

They had dinner together a few nights a week, after Amy was left with Cuddy and always just hung out like pals. There was never any sexual tension thrown her way by him, but whenever she looked into his wonderful blue eyes she knew he was the man that she wanted to be with. She highly doubted that he knew she had feelings for him because she was very good at hiding them, but they were all about to spill to the surface in one instant.

Leila let herself in with the set of keys that had been made for her. "House?" She called, setting her bag down on the floor. She shut the door behind her and didn't hear an answer. Fearing the worst, like a vicodin overdose, she hurried into the condo only to find House in Amy's room. He was sitting on her bed looking at a picture in a frame but she couldn't see what the picture was of.

"In here." He said in a soft voice. He wasn't crying he was just very out of it and very depressed looking. Leila had never seen him so downtrodden and it was breaking her heart.

"Can I get you something?" She asked slowly, "A glass of wine or whatever?" He shook his head and moved over on the bed like he wanted her to sit down next to him. She sighed gently and took her seat next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. The picture he was holding was one of him holding Amy when she was maybe two years old.

"She's gone."

"I know," Leila replied sadly, "But she's in a better place." That's when House tensed up. She knew he had been well aware of her religion and how it impacted her, and she never tried to impart that on Amy or him but she had just realized that she had said the wrong thing.

"A better place? A better...fucking...place?" He turned to her and actually grabbed her throat, not to the point where he was choking her but it did hurt. She cried out and tried to wrench away but that didn't work, so she did the only thing she could do and backhanded him across the face. He tackled her down to the bed, pinning her arms to her side and straddling her. By this point both of them were breathing amazingly hard and the sexual tension had cracked into his brain. "You amazingly stupid, WHORE!" He spat at her. She swallowed hard and before she could verbally retaliate he pulled her into a rough and dominating kiss.

She kissed back passionately as he bit into her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. She screamed out into the kiss and turned her head away as he started to push her skirt up to gain access to her panties. She would be lying if she said his rough touch wasn't turning her on even more. Leila was the kind of girl who liked to be completely dominated in every way when it came to sex. She had to be in control every single day at every single moment, she needed to be able to lose control.

When he thrust into her, still fully dressed himself, she screamed out in passion. He still had her pinned to the bed and she was struggling against him the whole time. It wasn't that she wanted to get away it was that she wanted to touch him and he was making that impossible. He leaned down and started to bite at her neck roughly as he thrust into her at a feverish pace. It was pleasurable and painful all at the same time.

"Fuck me House!" She growled loudly.

"You're damn right!" He spat back and then chomped down on her shoulder. She screamed and arched her back, finally his hands moved from her arms and came up to roughly caress her breasts through the fabric of her expensive blouse. Her arms came up and her hands rested on his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin through the fabric of his shirt.

"Hit me! Take it out on me!" She cried and without even a second thought he backhanded her across the face hard. This only fueled her arousal and she let out an animalistic roar, bringing her legs up to wrap around his waist, pulling him even further inside of her. He was really good at this and his cock was the biggest one she had ever had inside of her. In moments she felt like she was going to cum. "Shit House...FUCK! I'm-"

"Look at me!" He demanded, looking deep into her eyes, "You look at me when I'm making you cum!" Her eyes immediately turned up and looked into his and in that instant they both exploded, screaming their passion loudly as they did. House collapsed on top of her nearly crushing her, and she let him it was all part of the domination of the fact that he had just used her up as if she was nothing. Finally he pushed himself off of her and without a word he got up and headed towards the door.

"House-"

"This isn't over." He growled, "Not nearly." Then he was gone and she could hear water running in the bathroom. She smiled brightly as a single tear crawled down her cheek. She couldn't have been happier with the way things had turned out.

Cameron came into the room just before visiting hours were over and stopped behind Cuddy. "Lisa, I just heard." She whispered. Her and Chase had been on vacation in the Bahamas for a week and Cameron had just heard about Amy on a tearful message from Cuddy when she had gotten in the door. The distraught woman turned to face her and got up. "I am so sorry."

"Oh God Allison." Cuddy breathed and then came to her close friend and was embraced. Cameron didn't know what to say, she had been given all of the details, every last one. There was really no more she could do than offer comfort and a sympathetic ear. She brought her hand up and started to stroke Cuddy's hair gently. "It's my fault, and House won't even look at me, and Leila...God poor Leila."

"Shh, this is in no way your fault." Cameron soothed. It seemed like a House thing to do, not to talk to Cuddy over this, but was he blaming her? She hadn't out right said that he was but it seemed to her if Cuddy thought it was her fault there was someone pulling the strings behind it. House could be very cruel when upset and she wouldn't be surprised if he had said or done some things that he couldn't take back. "House didn't say-"

"He didn't need to. Cam, I know it's my fault." Cuddy whispered and then pulled away, wiping her face with her hands. She looked over at Amy who lay there still like she was just sleeping and let out a choked sob. Cameron put her arm around Cuddy and turned her away from the bed.

"Come on, lets get something to eat." Cameron said softly. "You will feel better."

"But Amy is-"

"I know, honey but look at you. How long have you been up here?" Cameron looked Cuddy over, she would have still be in her pajamas and robe had House not forced her to get changed into the spare clothes she kept in her office. She really did need to change, she had been wet and stained with vomit. "Come on you know she'll be well taken care of."

"I guess you're right." Cuddy said, suppressing a yawn. Together they walked out of the hospital room, not a word between the two of them.