October
Part 1: When a stranger calls
Author's note: Okay so I know that no one is going to read this whether I post it under House or Voyager or even in the crossover section. Why do I write it then? Cause my friend Ron said he was going to read it, HI RON! Anyway I'll be posting it in spite of the fact that it will get no reviews. I mean how many people watch Voyager that also watch House? 1, and that's me! LoL! ENJOY!
It was a dark and rainy day in October, although Cuddy wouldn't have said it was rain, more like the clouds split open and cascaded a waterfall down onto the earth. It was far past the time for her to go home but she was trying to wait out the rain. Of course she had an umbrella and could dart to her car but even an umbrella wouldn't be enough protection in this downpour, that and it was freezing cold outside. It wasn't cold enough to be snow, but it wasn't hot enough for the rain to be the least bit refreshing. Cuddy was standing by the door, with all of her stuff, shifting from foot to foot, trying to convince herself to make a mad dash for her car. At this point she didn't want to run into House because he would probably make some sort of smart-aleck comment about wet t-shirt contests and her breasts. She looked at her watch, it was an hour past the time she was supposed to leave and the rain showed no sign of stopping. She rolled her eyes slightly and then opened the door and stuck her umbrella outside and opened that too. She stepped under the flimsy thing and started to run for her car. She had a good parking spot, being the administrator and all, but that didn't mean she was going to get less wet.
Her shoes splashed into a puddle as she stepped off of the curb and she cursed her luck. Now her feet were soaking. Her breath came out in white, frosty bursts, as she finally made it to her car. She was getting ready to open the door when she noticed a foot clad in a purple high heel sticking out on the other side of her car. Whoever was there was lying on the cold pavement and not moving. She forgot about the door, and the rain, for a moment and walked over to the other side of her car. There, lay a woman in a skintight bodysuit and apparently had metal attached to her face and her hand, everything else was covered by the suit. The woman was absolutely soaked and when Cuddy reached up to take her pulse she noticed that her skin was almost freezing.
"I NEED SOME HELP OUT HERE!" She called just as thunder clapped overhead. She realized that she was actually going to have to go back inside to get some help. She looked around and saw no one, but she didn't want to leave the mystery woman. Still holding the almost useless umbrella over her head she reached into her pocket and pulled her cell phone. She called the front desk of the clinic and about a minute later she was met with help. She was only hoping that she wasn't too late.
After the mystery woman was safely in the hospital, Cuddy went into her office to find clothes that were dry. She always kept a second outfit in her office just incase something were to happen during the day to ruin her current outfit. She was pretty much soaked from the rain and wanted to get into something dry before going to check on the woman that she had found. She grabbed a t-shirt and jeans, not the most professional of outfits, and went into the bathroom to get changed. Once she was in dry clothes she felt a million times better. After that she made a few calls to find out where her Jane Doe had gone, and then headed for her room. She was just in a regular room where they had blankets on her and were pushing warm fluids; the woman was hypothermic when she came in.
Cuddy slid the door open slowly and stepped inside closing the door behind her. She went to the edge of the bed, where the woman was still out cold, and picked up the chart. It said that she had a minor head injury and would not be going for any kind of scans because of the metal implants in her body. The woman had been changed into a hospital gown, where her bodysuit was, Cuddy had no idea, but most likely they had to cut her out of it. She set the chart back down and looked at the woman's vitals, they all seemed normal and her body temperature was rising slowly to where it was supposed to be.
She noticed a small emblem on the bedside table, it must have come in with the woman and appeared to be her only belongings. Cuddy walked over to it and picked it up and looked at it. With the woman completely out like she was, someone could come in and steal the emblem, and it looked expensive, so Cuddy put it in her back pocket. She pulled up a chair and sat down in it, taking the woman's hand into her own. It was the normal hand she was holding, not the one with all of the metal on it, she didn't want to know what that metal was.
The chart had said something about metal implants all over her body, not just the ones on her face and her hand. Cuddy wondered if this was some new trend of body modification, if so it looked painful. She wondered then if the implants were for some other reason, but what would they be for, and why? She sighed gently. She knew that she was going to get House on this case but she didn't know why. She didn't have any weird symptoms per-say but she did have strange metal implants and Cuddy wanted to figure out what exactly they were for. She wondered if she should call House and his team right away or if she should at least wait for the woman to wake up.
"Captain?" The woman said and then stirred slightly. Cuddy looked up in time to see the woman open her eyes and look around. She became startled and sat up quickly before trying to pull the IV out of her arm. Cuddy gently put her hand over the needle before the woman could get to it and tried to calm her down.
"Relax, you're in the hospital." Cuddy said softly. The woman's eyes went wide and she looked at Cuddy like she couldn't believe the words she was saying. "What's your name?"
"Where am I?" The woman asked slowly, Cuddy wondered if she had heard her when she said that she was in the hospital.
"The hospital I—"
"I heard that, I want a location." The woman outright demanded.
"Princeton Plainsboro teaching hospital, New Jersey." Cuddy said slowly wondering why it was important. The woman looked at her and her eyes got even wider. She moved her legs to the side of the bed and quickly tried to stand up before getting dizzy and sitting back down. She brought a hand to her head and groaned softly.
"Where did you find me?" She asked and then lay back down. Cuddy looked at the monitor and checked the woman's vitals, her heart rate was a bit faster but other then that she was fine.
"You were outside, in the rain, on the ground. I had to get you back in here before you succumbed to hypothermia." Cuddy replied not understanding the reason why the woman was stressed, "I'm Dr. Lisa Cuddy, what's your name?" The woman looked at her skeptically for a moment. She looked like she was hesitant to reveal her name.
"Seven Of Nine, you may call me Seven." She replied after a pregnant pause. "You're a doctor?"
"Yes, and I'd like you to stay here a little longer so we can monitor you. You have a nice lump on the back of your head." Cuddy said, "Are you sure your name is Seven Of Nine?"
"Why would I be unsure of that fact?" Seven asked slowly.
"Just seems like an odd name to me." Cuddy said thinking that the bump to the head might have jostled her thought process.
"But it is my name." Seven said and then folded her arms over her chest, "Where are my clothes?" Cuddy instinctively looked for the bag of Seven's belongings under her bed but there was nothing there, she then assumed that what Seven was wearing had been scrapped once it was taken off of her body.
"They had to cut you out of the clothes you were wearing, I can get you new clothes, but you are far from being able to leave here." Cuddy tried to explain to her. Seven didn't seem to like this answer, Cuddy could tell by the look in her eyes but other then that her face remained stone cold and mean like it had been since she woke up. "I'll leave you to get some sleep, I'll be back in the morning."
"I do not require sleep." Seven informed her as-a-matter-of-factly. Cuddy was getting just a tad bit irritated with this Seven woman, she wanted to help her but she didn't seem like she wanted any sort of help.
"Well then watch TV. I'll let you know your prognosis in the morning." Cuddy replied as she motioned to the TV that was up on the wall across from the bed. Seven looked at the TV as if it was something that she had never seen before. Cuddy stood up and headed towards the door. When she got there she slid it open and then turned to look at Seven. She was willing to bet that this woman would have looked scared but she was almost like a robot…or…what if she was a robot? Cuddy shook that idea out of her head. Blood had been drawn from Seven so she knew that her being a robot was impossible, and even if she was one, where in the hell could she have possibly come from? Seven glared at her from the bed before pulling the blankets up over her and turning so she was lying on her side, back to Cuddy.
"Have a good night." Cuddy said and then left the room, shaking her head as she went. She was planning to go home. Chances were House would find out about this case in the morning, and she was sure even he wouldn't try to get out of this one. Seven was an interesting specimen to say the least. When she reached the elevator she turned back and went to the nurses station. "Hey Dana, make sure that woman doesn't leave her room."
"Sure, what's her name?" Dana, the nurse, replied as she looked towards the room that Cuddy was pointing at.
"She calls herself Seven Of Nine, whether that's her real name or not I don't know. Just keep her in there no matter what she says or does." Cuddy ordered. Dana nodded slightly and then went back to work. Feeling satisfied that Seven wasn't going to go anywhere Cuddy went back to the elevator and pushed the down button. Now she would finally be able to go home and get some sleep.
The next morning she came back into work feeling refreshed. The day was warm and there was absolutely no trace of rain clouds in the sky. Cuddy came into work with a smile on her face, which got bigger when she saw Seven's case file on her desk with a note that said: Attn House. Apparently House had not gotten the case yet, which would mean she was going to have to go and find him. She knew that currently he wasn't on a case and should be in the clinic, but she knew that he would be in the last place but. She walked out of her office while looking down at the chart and ran right into Cameron. She almost let a mean quip exit her lips when she actually saw who it was.
"Where's House?" She asked, dispensing with the pleasantries.
"He said he was going to be in the clinic but knowing him…" Cameron trailed off and Cuddy nodded at her.
"If you see him then tell him I got a case that needs his attention." Cuddy replied knowing that Cameron would be reliable, even though that did not mean House would listen to her. Cameron nodded and went off to do whatever it was she was doing before she ran into Cuddy. Now it was time to check all of the exam rooms to see if House was maybe asleep in one of them, or doing other things, it was always a surprise with him.
She got lucky, the third exam room she checked was where he was. He was asleep in a chair with his feet up and the lights turned off. She immediately turned on the lights, walked over to him, and dropped the file in his lap, "You got a new case." She said loudly, he groaned and opened one eye to look at her. Her hands were on her hips and she didn't look too happy. Little did he know she wanted to be a big part of this case so he wasn't going to be getting rid of her any time soon.
"Ah Cuddy I was just having the most delightful dream with you in it. You see there was this riding crop and you—"
"Cut it out and get your ass in gear." Cuddy ordered him not moving from her spot until he actually sat up and opened the case file. He read over it quickly and then looked at her as if she must be completely insane.
"She has no symptoms, deal with it yourself." He said and then shut the case file and held it out in her direction. She moved her hands from her hips and folded her arms over her chest defiantly.
"She has implants—"
"Lots of woman have implants how is that—"
"Metal implants, all over her body." Cuddy cut him off. He looked at her oddly and then took the file back and started to read it more thoroughly. "Her worst symptom is a minor concussion but I thought you'd like to see her for yourself and maybe come up with an explanation as to what the metal implants are."
"Have you thought about just asking her what the implants are for?" House countered. Cuddy let her head drop for a moment before picking it up and looking at him. She had thought of that, but considering the fact that the woman thought that her name was some sort of fraction she didn't think she would be getting a straight answer from her.
"Did you see what she said her name was? I don't think she would be giving us straight answers." Cuddy replied shortly, "Even if you don't want this case I know you are just dying to see what she looks like."
"That I am. Good call." House said and then stood up with his cane and started to head out of the exam room. Even if he didn't take this case he would use any excuse to get out of clinic duty, not that he was actually doing clinic duty in the first place.
When they got up to the room that Seven of Nine was in, she was pacing back and fourth like a caged animal. She was only in her gown and bare feet but she looked a hundred times better then what she looked like when she had been brought in the day before. She had taken the IV needle out of her arm and there was a bandage over it, so obviously a nurse had been in to see her. Security was parked right outside of the door and was not letting her leave, Cuddy was glad that her orders still stood. House got a glimpse of Seven through the glass window and a smile spread across his face.
"What is she? A robot?" He asked rather loudly as they approached the door to the room. Cuddy was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she had thought the exact same thing the day before.
"Not possible. They took her blood upon admission." Cuddy responded and then slid the door open slowly. Seven turned to look at them and quickly advanced on Cuddy like she was about to strangle her. Cuddy, in turn, backed up and rammed into House who rudely pushed her forward again.
"Maybe it was robot blood." House said to her, not taking his eyes off of the amazing beauty in front of him. Cuddy rolled her eyes and turned her head to look at House. He looked at her quickly and smiled before his attention was brought back to Seven. "I'm doctor House I—"
"I do not require a doctor. I request to leave this hospital." Seven said, interrupting him. She inched closer to Cuddy, "I demand you release me."
"You're not a prisoner but I would like to know where you intend to go seeing as how your body shows signs of abuse and—"
"Abuse? I am not abused. I cannot stay here without violating a myriad of laws." Seven said and then looked House over just as he was looking her over, "What do you want with me?"
"Just here for a consult. So, Sevvy, are you a robot?" House asked and then was met with a glare from Cuddy. He just smiled at her and shrugged innocently, she didn't like him outright asking her that and he was pretty sure that she didn't want to be called "Sevvy". Seven looked at him like he was completely insane, and more then pissed with him at the same time.
"My name is Seven, and for the final time, I am NOT a robot." Seven said sternly. House nodded slightly and then approached her. He was a bit taller then her but the presents she gave off made her seem to be over six feet tall herself. They both stood there, locked in a glare, and he reached out and touched the metal implant above her eye. She retaliated by punching him in the face. He fell backwards and onto the floor, completely knocked out. Cuddy barely had time to gasp in surprise before getting down next to House on the floor.
"You knocked him out!" Cuddy cried, "He barely touched you."
"I do not like to be touched." Seven replied coldly, "When I was brought in, was there a badge with me?" Cuddy was trying to revive House while she thought about that little nugget of information. She had all but forgotten about the metal emblem that she had taken and put in her desk the night before. She shook House a few more times and finally managed to rouse him. He opened his eyes and a hand went to his left eye where he had been punched.
"Wow you really pack a wallop." House said and then slowly got to his feet. Seven looked at him with the same stone cold expression. "Remind me not to touch you again without permission."
"Duly noted. Where is my badge?" Seven said, it didn't seem like she even cared that she had just assaulted House.
"Go get some ice, House." Cuddy said to him and he got a weird smile on his face. Cuddy couldn't tell if he was mad at Seven for knocking him down or if he was just way more intrigued by that fact. "I have your badge, it's in my desk. Give me a moment to go get it."
"I'll stay here and watch her." House offered quickly.
"No, you need to go get an ice pack." Cuddy replied and then grabbed House's arm and started to pull him out of the room. Seven sat back down on her bed and looked out of the window. The gown she was wearing showed an implant that was in her arm. Cuddy slid the door shut and then turned to House. "You can see her all you want after you get some ice on your face."
"Thanks, MOM." House said and then hurried off to get an ice pack for his eye. Cuddy took in a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. She took one looked back at Seven before walking towards the elevator so she could go to her office and get the badge that Seven was talking about. She had put it in her top desk drawer. She guessed she shouldn't have moved it but she was afraid it was important and might get stolen if she just left it out like it was.
Once she got to her office she immediately went to her desk and pulled the badge out and clutched it tightly in her hand. As she was turning to leave, the badge spoke to her. "Janeway to Seven." It said. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at it. Obviously this was some sort of communicator, someone named Janeway was trying to reach Seven.
"Hello?" She said slowly as she looked at the badge. There was no answer. She rolled her eyes feeling stupid for talking to no one. She was about to turn and leave again when things got blurry and went dark, just for a split second. She blinked, trying to clear her vision, and all of a sudden she was somewhere else, somewhere that was not the hospital. In fact the room looked space-aged, futuristic, something that she had never seen before. She turned her head to see a woman standing across from her behind a computer consol. Along with her, she was wearing red and black, was a woman in yellow and black that had the most bizarre forehead that Cuddy had ever seen.
"Transporters are offline again." The woman with the forehead ridges said, "And that's not Seven Of Nine." The dark blond women looked at Cuddy and then back to her colleague. She looked surprised and a little worried. After another moment she stepped down from behind the computer consol and approached Cuddy.
"Looks like we have some explaining to do." The woman said and then held out her hand for Cuddy to shake, "I'm captain Kathryn Janeway and you are now aboard the star ship Voyager."
"Star ship? As in, space?" Cuddy asked slowly and looked around. Sure she didn't know how she had gotten to this room, or where it was, but it was hard for her to believe that she was now in space and not on earth. She nervously shook Janeway's hand as she stepped off of the transporter pad. "No way, I don't believe it." Or maybe she did sort of believe it, they were obviously trying to get to Seven and if she came from outer space then that might explain exactly why she was as she was.
"I know it's hard to believe but—"
"Prove it to me. Prove that I am in space." Cuddy cut Janeway off. Janeway looked at her and then to the woman with the odd forehead.
"Alright, but it would help if I knew your name." Janeway said to her. Cuddy felt stupid that through all of this she hadn't once revealed her name. She smiled sheepishly and looked at Janeway apologetically.
"Dr. Lisa Cuddy." She said, "Nice to meet you I suppose."
"B'Elanna, I'm going to show her around notify me as soon as transporters are back online." Janeway said to the other woman in the room that Cuddy now knew as B'Elanna. She had never heard that name before in her life and to her it sounded exotic in a way. She offered B'Elanna a small smile but the woman didn't seem to notice.
"Captain it could be a number of hours before—"
"Just make it happen. This way Dr. Cuddy." Janeway said and then started to lead Cuddy out of the transporter room. Suddenly the whole place shook, not violently but definitely enough to be noticed. Janeway turned to look at B'Elanna, obviously wanting some sort of explanation.
"I don't know how to explain it but we are back in the delta quadrant, in the correct time frame…" B'Elanna said, trailing off her train of thought when she saw the look on Cuddy's face. Janeway didn't look to happy about this revelation.
"What time period are you from? Are you going to tell me that we somehow went into the future?" Cuddy asked, directing the question at both women in the room. Janeway went up to the control panel where B'Elanna was standing and started to push a few buttons looking over information like it was complete Greek to her.
"Well, Dr. Cuddy, welcome to the 24th century." Janeway said slowly. Cuddy's eyes went wide and she stumbled back until she hit a wall. There she tried to steady herself, it didn't seem like these people were joking around. Either she really was on a spaceship in the 24th century or these people believed they were on a starship in the 24th century. She was still unclear how she had even gotten there, and now she was supposedly three hundred years in the future?
"No, I don't believe this. Did House put you up to this?" The only thing her brain was telling her was that this was an elaborate practical joke orchestrated by House. She didn't know why but that was way easier to believe that House was behind this.
"How are we going to get Seven back?" Janeway asked B'Elanna, ignoring the fact that Cuddy was going into panic mode.
"WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR DAMN ROBOT?! WHERE THE FUCK AM I?" Cuddy screamed in an outburst that was entirely out of character for her. She guessed normally she would have remained rational but now she was faced with the fact that she might be in the future, which meant a search party had long since given up on her and she didn't exist on earth any longer. Now she was on some starship in a place called the delta quadrant, it wasn't sitting well with her. Janeway looked at her and came down from the consol and put her hands on Cuddy's shoulders.
"Hey, it's okay calm down. We are going to get you back, I don't know how yet but we will. I just need to know, was Seven safe where you left her?" Janeway asked her. Cuddy took in a few deep breaths and let them out slowly. Seven would be safe in House's hands, she highly doubted there was anything House could do to her to make her unsafe. There was probably no way House was going to let her out of his sight either. She was a medical mystery.
"Seven is fine I left her with one of my best doctors." Cuddy replied. "Is she a robot?"
"No she's not a robot, I'll explain everything to you in due time. Now, how about a cup of coffee or something?" Janeway offered. Cuddy was thinking she was going to need something a lot stronger then coffee to calm her down, but it might be nice to actually just sit down and talk things through. She was still convinced that Seven was some sort of robot, even though they had drawn blood from her when she arrived. There really was no other way to logically explain the metal that littered Seven's body. Slowly she nodded and Janeway took her arm gently and led her out of the room.