Disclaimer: I do not own House M.D.
The bright red numbers of the digital clock gave a small amount of light to a nearly pitch black room. Lisa Cuddy watched it patiently. It was a minute before she had set the alarm to go off. Normally, Cuddy hated it when she woke up before the alarm, but today was different.
It had been a restless day for Lisa Cuddy. She had gotten through the day robotically, starting from the moment she had woken up and looked at the calendar. Lisa was exhausted, even though sleepless nights and early morning wake up calls were disgustingly common to most doctors.
3,2,1...The high wail of the small clock sounded.
The hospital administrator turned off the alarm. She exited her room counting each step as her foot touched it, being sure never to place both feet on one step. Fourteen steps later she found herself standing inside her kitchen.
Glancing at the clock, which now read 1:36 a.m. Lisa scrambled throughout her kitchen gathering the supplies she would need.
Thirty seconds, she struck a match. Diligently, she touched the top of every candle on the cake which rested on her counter. There were only fifteen more seconds. Cuddy counted down the time in her head. Then, just as the clock turned to 1:37 a.m. she blew out the candles.
Dr. Cuddy looked down at the cake. Although it was dark, the words that she had carefully written in frosting were still visible.
"Happy Birthday Landon" she whispered, her voice straining.
The miserable moment changed once the phone began to ring.
"This is Lisa Cuddy" she answered.
What she heard on the other side of the phone surprised her.
" Dr. Cuddy, this is Detective Andrew Davis"
"Oh god." she groaned into the phone, "What did House do now?"
The detective took a moment before answering.
"That's not what this call is about."
Cuddy's mind quickly raced with thoughts as she tried to establish what a detective could be calling her for, but his voice interrupted.
"Lisa, we found your son."
The world around her began to spin as she grasped the kitchen counter in shock and confusion.
"That can't be right." Lisa whispered into the phone her voice trembling. "Detective Davis, Landon died eleven years ago."
"Lisa" the detective's voice softened. " The DNA matches. It's him"
As she finally came to realize what the detective was saying, Cuddy slid down the wall she had leant on for support, tears of joy and relief streaming down her face after years of pain.
She heard Detective Davis' voice one more time on the phone.
"Congratulations Lisa, it's you're boy."