Miracle at 221B, A Huddy Christmas Story

Part 1

Lisa Cuddy sat at her desk, reviewing the last of the budget reports she would be presenting to the board next week. She was distracted by the view from the windows behind her. Every few minutes she would pause, look up from her papers and stare off into the snowy campus that surrounds PPTH. The snow had been falling steadily all day.

The dreariness she saw every time she looked outside reminded her of the evening of Rachel's naming ceremony. She tried to keep her focus on the report in front of her. Once she reviewed and signed off on it she would be free to go home at last, and maybe make it without overtime for her nanny. These had been a rough few months for her at work, and she was glad the holidays were approaching. Rachel was taking her first steps, and she would be ready to enjoy this Hanukah and Christmas. Cuddy was even thinking about taking a few days off to visit her family with Rachel. She couldn't wait for the holidays.

She wanted so much to get into the holiday spirit this year. Last year's holidays had been filled with the drama of the adoption. The Tritter mess had left its mark on her holidays a few years before, when House had nearly killed himself with Vicodin and bourbon. She needed a good Christmas this year, a good Hanukah - and she was determined to get it.

Cuddy even wanted the holidays to be a special time at the hospital this year. With the recent losses of Amber and Kutner, and the changes in diagnostics, well, morale had been down. This building, these people - the clerical staff, the custodial staff, the nurses and doctors and lab technicians - they needed this holiday season to be filled with joy and happiness as much as she did. That's why she had planned the first ever "across the hospital" gift exchange.

She had the tech guys develop a program that would match up hospital personnel for a gift exchange. All 2,343 employees would be participating, and everyone would learn who they would be Santa for tomorrow. Wilson had suggested that a picture of the employee be included with the name since so many people didn't know each other. She thought he had a point, and that it was a shame that they all didn't know each other. This place had been her home, and these people her family, for many years now. She suddenly couldn't wait to get to work tomorrow, knowing the holiday season would officially begin at the hospital.

She finished the reviewing the report and fired off an e-mail to her department heads indicating their budgets had met with her approval and would be brought to the board next week. She scheduled a meeting for Cameron since she did have a few concerns regarding the ER's reports and then she carefully put all of the files away, stood up and stretched, and walked over to the windows.

The snow kept coming down. She thought about the night of the naming ceremony. She was standing in the lobby with House, ready to head out into the stormy night. She had wanted very badly to ask him to come to the ceremony. Truth be told, she wanted to beg him to come. He was her dearest and oldest friend.

For Cuddy, that was just one of a number of regrets she harbored regarding her interactions with House this past year. She wondered where their relationship would be right now if she had asked him to come, if she had stopped acting like a child for once and not allowed her pride to rule her heart. She sighed heavily and shook those thoughts from her mind. There was nothing she could do about it now. He was back from Mayfield and their friendship, at least, was back to normal. She methodically put on her jacket and grabbed her coat and purse, ready to head back home for the evening, thinking she was at least happy to still have him as a part of her life.