Disclaimers: Don't own anything of House M.D… Too bad I don't even own Lisa E and Hugh Laurie…

A/N: Please, be gentle. I apologize for grammar mistakes cause English is not my first language…

Enjoy !

No Line On The Horizon

Lisa Cuddy was an accomplished woman. Mother of a beautiful girl, who had recently celebrated her 7th birthday, named Rachel, could successfully manage her private and professional life. Her job took her a lot of time but she dedicated a tremendous amount of it to the education and the happiness of her child, too.

This child, she had wanted her since her own childhood. When she was just a carefree, little girl, she already imagined a perfect life, in a beautiful suburban home, with children, and a husband. She had everything, except this last point which was the most complicated one in her life.

The father of her child was Gregory House. This misanthropic and antisocial doctor she had met in med school. She would have never believed that she would have that kind of relationship with him. But when it came to choosing her baby daddy, he was the first man she thought of, though.

After many IVFs which had all miserably failed, she told herself she would stop. But curiously, Gregory had said things that had brought her hope again. No, he hadn't been nice. No, he hadn't said anything positive. But he had been so true, so honest, that had only consolidated Lisa's desires to be a mother.

So when she needed help, she turned to him. It was so such more than just "help". She out-right asked him for a donation. For two weeks, he had avoided her, hadn't spoken to her, had complied to his clinic duties, had done absolutely everything he could not to be confronted by or to her. Indeed, she didn't beat about the bush. One Monday morning, she had asked a nurse at the reception to send House directly into her office as soon as he would come in.

She had been straight forward and fast. He had been bothered and had left as fast as he could. She knew this would have repercussions on their so-called relationship which was already so ambiguous. By then, it would be totally incomprehensible, unmanageable and confused. Nothing would be the same, whether he accepted it or not. And for her biggest surprise, he hadn't said no. He had, of course, compelled demands: he wouldn't have any responsibilities with the child, he wouldn't take care of it, he wouldn't serve as a babysitter and wouldn't assume any responsibilities which a dad has to assume.

Lisa didn't ask for more. She only wanted to be a mother, and not of a stranger's baby. But in spite of all those conditions which had been enunciated, this entire story had brought them closer. During the pregnancy, she had asked him a few favors like ice cream in the middle of the night. And as unpredictable and unusual this might have sounded, he had accepted, not without complaining, of course, but he had done it. And, during labor, he had held her hand. For every birthday, he had been there, for the first day at school, the first show. He persisted in saying that he didn't want to be a part of Rachel's life but subconsciously -or not- he had been so much more present than some other parents around the world. He had gotten himself attached to this little girl, his little girl. It took him a lot of time to admit it to himself, but he had. Rachel even had the right to call him daddy when they were on their own. He had needed to come up with a big game to convince her to accept to call him Greg in the presence of other people...

But when one day, without doing it on purpose, she had called him daddy, without noticing it, and he had responded as if it was normal... in front of Lisa, they had been discovered. And that had made Lisa feel like the happiest person in that moment...

Greg and Lisa had kissed each other one time, "by total accident". On several occasions, then. Next, they had made love... on several occasions too. But this wasn't like a couple, they had never been one.

He left early this morning. They had spent the night together, but he had planned on joining Wilson for the day. He always divided up his weekends like that: Saturdays with his best friend and Sundays with the two women of his life. Yeah, he had finally admitted that, too. So he left around 8am.

Lisa woke up an hour after that and Rachel was still asleep. The mother went to the kitchen and noticed that they were out of bread. She took her purse and hurried up to the baker's store, two streets down. She should be back before the girl wake up. She opened the door, left the keys on the table in the hall and decided to close the door with the spare key, to be safe.

9:43 am, Lisa went out of the baker's store, a French stick in her hand. Walking across the street, she heard agitation, and saw a mob. She met someone who told her that there was an accident with a motor truck. So the doctor in Lisa Cuddy decided to go see what was happening. There were so many people. She heard some of them talking about a motor truck running over a child, and then the driver had fled the scene. She hardly made her way through the crowd and were faced with the horrible scenery in which the accident took place.

9:47 am, everything stopped. The world clearly stopped, no more voices, not even a single word, no murmur, just a grisly silence. Nobody, no sensation, no wind, no feeling. Nothing. Lisa Cuddy had been totally cut off from the rest of the world...

She unhanded the bread and ran. When she saw the brown hair, the blue eyes wide-opened, she collapsed. The abdomen had completely exploded. The asphalt was covered in blood. A smell of lavender mixed with the smell of the smoke wandered in the air. Lisa passed her arms underneath the body and lifted it up closing the clothes of the child on its stomach, trying to maintain the organs together.

She rose the head of this little human being and met with its eyes. She saw a terrified look and her eyes lightened. Then, when the child slowly closed its eyelids, she wasn't able to hold back that helpless cry anymore.

A tearing, piercing cry. A cry of pain. A revolting pain, inconceivable, unimaginable cry. A cry which lingered, for what seemed like forever. The complete agony accompanied by an infinite despair... Lisa Cuddy screamed to death. She screamed to the skies, she screamed all her pain and sorrow. She didn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't believe it.

9:52 am, the truth caught up with time. Lisa squeezed a bit stronger this dead-still body against her heart. And it was the heart of her heart, the blood of her blood, the flesh of her flesh, the organs of her organs, the soul of her soul, the life of her life, that she was caring, in her arms, unable to do anything else but scream. And she bent over, then started rocking back and forth, cradling the child. The doctor in her knew that everything was lost, everything was over. But the mother who was crying until her voice was failing still had some hope.

"Come back... I love you my angel, my baby... Open your eyes... Talk to me... Talk to me, please… I'm begging you... Talk to me… Come back, please… I love you more than anything, I love you, I love you, I love you..."

And the cries started again, stronger than before. Maybe she was hoping that the sky would hear her, that the sky would bring back her child...

She heard some man telling her to let go of the little body, but she squeezed harder, stronger. They tried to bring her back to reason, but she was still screaming. There wasn't any reason... There wasn't any explanation... And she remembered the key she left on the chest... A mistake…

She felt many hands on her body and was slowly raised before being laid down on the stretcher. She saw the doors being closed and felt she was now moving.

Yes it was her, Rachel. This little seven year-old girl... This little girl, so unique... so irreplaceable. Her, Rachel, this one that her mother left in her sleep... This one who should never have left... Died.

Lisa didn't know it was her daughter who was there, she thought it was a stranger. Nobody was helping her, she knew she had to go and save her. She didn't care about anything else. She had only one thing in mind: rescue someone... Why? Why? Why did it had to be her? Why? Why? Why?...

Lisa wanted to help her daughter, to reassure her, to give her love, to make her feel that love, to carry her, to help her go, to go with her until her last breath, to help her soul go in peace, so she wouldn't feel lonely... She gave her the biggest help everybody wants sooner or later. She prevented her from feeling alone during the final moment of her so short life...

Rachel had woken up and her mother hadn't been there to kiss her. She had decided she would go find her. She couldn't deal with the distance between the two of them. And without knowing it, she had created the biggest distance that no one could ever imagine...

10:23 am, here they were. She was still screaming, so the nurses decided to place Lisa and her daughter in an isolated room. The ambulance-man had recognized the dean of medicine so he had called the hospital to keep them updated and to inform them of the situation. A nurse had called Lisa's emergency contact... who turned out to be House. When she told him the terrible news, he rushed over to the hospital.

He arrived not too much after the ambulance which was definitively carrying the two women of his life. He abruptly entered the room. The door closed after him and he stopped suddenly when he saw the condition of his daughter's body. He saw Lisa's profile, her clothes covered with blood, she had dropped off Rachel on the floor and was rocking back and forth, hands intertwined together. She was praying... She was praying so hard, so loudly. She was crying. Her entire body was shaking. But there were no tear. She didn't have any tears. The shock was so big, too big, that no tear had been able to run.

He stayed there, frozen, without knowing what to do. It was hopeless, it was over. They had told him that Lisa was enraged and refused that anybody touched her. He couldn't speak. His lips were unable to move. His cane had fallen on the floor the moment he saw the abdomen completely opened. Of all the horrible things he had seen in his career, this was, by far, the worst. His blood, his flesh, his organs, his soul, his heart. That was him who was there, on the floor... Or he had wanted this, so he wouldn't be feeling that much pain...

He managed to put a foot after another until he reached Lisa, standing just behind her. She certainly hadn't noticed his presence. First, he knelt down behind her, then he touched her shoulder slightly but with one short movement, she pulled his hand away. He tried one more time. And two and three... Each attempt was in vain. Lisa didn't let anybody approach her.

He couldn't leave her this way, he couldn't handle seeing her like that, so desperate... He had to do something. He took her in his arms. She struggled at first, tried to break away, but he tightened his embrace. He hold her, strong, but not too much. He exhaled warmly on the hollow her neck.

Slowly, she started regaining some calm. Her cries were losing in intensity to end in one, single, deep sigh. She stopped gradually from moving to finally stand still...

They didn't move for a moment. She was in his arms and they were still rocking, together. Then, she felt a drop falling on her neck... It was warm, it was a tear. The man she loved, the father of her child, was crying... And the contact between this salty water and her flesh actuated her tears. Lisa collapsed, sobbing.

10:57 am. A child who doesn't have its parents anymore is an orphan. But a mother who doesn't have her daughter anymore, how do we call her?...

Lisa Cuddy was nothing.

...

Thanks for reading! This story has in fact happened in real life… And I'm really sorry that it is so sad but I had to write it.

Please, review even if you didn't like it. I just want to have some opinions.