When All That's Left is You

Working title: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Disclaimer: The plot, characters, places, and other entities seen on House and on The OC are owned by David Shore and by Josh Schwartz, respectively, and by Fox Broadcasting Company. There is no copyright infringement intended. All characters, places, and events in this story are either fictional or used fictitiously. All similarities to real life are coincidental. Furthermore, the medicine in this story is not guaranteed to be entirely accurate.

Synopsis: Before Remy Hadley moved from California to New Jersey to undergo her fellowship at the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital after obtaining her degree in medicine and completing her residency in Los Angeles, everything in her life was going smoothly and according to plan, until her mother died of a rare genetic disease and she finds out that she is bound to suffer from the same condition. She goes on a downward spiral; she's dying and nothing matters anymore. The only thing that's she's got left to hold on to is her job as one of the fellows in cynical, misanthropic, medical genius Dr. Gregory House's team of diagnosticians. But when she sees Marissa Cooper, the girl who had stolen her heart and had never given it back years ago in Orange County again, would the past bring something good and make her future something to look forward to despite the inevitable?

Author's note: This story takes place after House season 5, episode 5 "Lucky Thirteen" (it disregards everything beyond that, as I have not seen the episodes subsequent to that one when I started writing this). Also, it completely follows The OC's Alex-Marissa storyline in season 2, but does not follow the events that took place after Alex left, including, obviously, Marissa's death.

1

Their Second Chance

Kutner looked around as he carefully walked into the conference room carrying two Styrofoam cups in his hands. He struggled with the hot cups as he quietly opened the room and walked in.

The lone person in the room, a brunette wearing a lab coat, was sitting on one of the chairs cross-legged, scribbling across what Kutner recognized as charts scattered on the conference table in front of her.

She didn't look up when she greeted her colleague as she felt him enter the room. "Hey."

"Morning, Thirteen."

"You're early," Thirteen commented.

"Yeah." Kutner glanced behind his shoulder and he breathed a sigh of relief after he saw through the glass door and that House's office was empty.

"Where's Taub?" he asked.

Thirteen shrugged, still not looking up. "Not here yet."

"House?"

"It's barely six in the morning."

"Good." Kutner smiled as he set the coffee on the table and pulled a chair across Thirteen. He sat down. "…Because we ran out of coffee and I could only carry two from the vending machine. One for you—" he pushed a cup towards Thirteen, "—and one for me." He opened the lid and took a sip of the cup's contents.

Thirteen stopped writing and looked up. She scowled, eyes narrowed. "Thanks," she said after a while, and then removed the plastic lid as she, too, took a sip.

"You're welcome."

Thirteen put down her coffee and went back to writing on a patient's chart.

"So," began Kutner.

"You're going to ask me to cover for you, aren't you?"

"Yeah, how d'you—"

"You've made me coffee only once before since we started working together four months ago, and that was when you bailed out on work because you had a date and needed me to cover for you."

"Am I—"

"Yes, you are that predictable."

Kutner scowled. "You're starting to sound like House. It's creepy."

Thirteen ignored him. "So. You do have a date."

Kutner nodded. "With my parents. They're visiting for the first time since I moved to Jersey and my mom refuses to let me blow off another family breakfast. She's going to kill me if I don't come. Do you think you could—"

"Fine," Thirteen replied as she scribbled her name on the chart she was working on.

Kutner smirked and spread his hands on the table as he moved to stand up. "Kid on exam room one." He ran out the door after telling Thirteen, "I'll be back in an hour."

"You better," Thirteen muttered.

"I owe you!" Kutner called as he disappeared from the room.

"Doctor, the patient is—" a tall brown-skinned woman dressed in light purple scrubs began as Kutner hurriedly jogged by the nurses' station.

"Thirteen's taking care of it. Please tell the patient she's coming." The doctor waved at her briefly and sped off towards the hospital's exit. "I'll be back later."

"Okay." The nurse went back to the exam room where the first clinic patient of the shift was waiting to be examined, and told the patient's companions that the doctor was coming in a few minutes.

"Okay, thank you, nurse." The blond man smiled at her. She smiled back and closed the door.

"Dr. Hadley," she called out as she walked towards the nurses' station and saw the doctor standing on the counter browsing through patients' charts. "Dr. Kutner said you'll be taking the patient in exam room one?"

Thirteen nodded. "Yes, I am."

The nurse nodded. "Well here's the patient's chart. I've already done a quick assessment and taken the history and the vitals."

Thirteen smiled and took the chart. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, doctor." The nurse smiled and went back to the nurses' station.

Thirteen hastily turned the pages of the standard new-patient paperwork that were clipped neatly together on a clipboard. "Cough and colds… fever… tachypnea and trouble breathing… bilateral crackles… Could be pneumonia…" she muttered to herself as she skimmed through the chart's physical examination sheet and studied the significant findings while making her way to the exam room.

She opened the door when she got there, not lifting her gaze from the chart immediately as she began to introduce herself to the people in the room.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Ha—"

She stopped mid-word, her mouth agape as she was about to say her name, when she saw the last person she had been expecting to see since she moved out of California a little over ten years ago—the very same person that she had wanted to see so badly she almost drove back to Orange County that day when her life came crashing back down at her feet a few months ago… the very same person that broke her heart that night, so long ago now, it seems, yet it felt like it was only yesterday now that her dull blue eyes connected with those big, moss green ones that belonged to the person who had once—has always—had her heart.

There was a minute of silence and pure shock… and the sound of loud coughing in the background, which the occupants of the room became temporarily unaware of for what felt like hours.

"…Alex?"

Thirteen gulped soundlessly as she silently cursed Kutner for being such a baby to parents that aren't even really his.

"Marissa."