"One And Only" – A sequel to "Set Fire To The Rain"

Guys, thank you so much for all your kind reviews! I've never received 21 reviews per chapter (IMHO my other fics suck XD but that's just me). I'm working hard on this one because I want it to be my sort of "masterpiece" LOL. I have to thank my newly acquired beta partypantscuddy and all the peeps who were of great help this week :)

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Chapter 2

I don't know why I'm scared, I've been here before
Every feeling every word, I've imagined it all,
You never know if you never tried to forgive your past
And simply be mine...


He grabbed his leather jacket and his car keys. He wanted to know what was on Cuddy's mind and she was going to tell him everything. He started the car and drove to a place he hadn't been in over 25 years.

House had been driving for hours and still there was no sight of his destination. He was enjoying the trip, humming to the greatest songs of The Rolling Stones while his motorcycle was moving fast through the almost nonexistent traffic of the night. He had to release the tension which was accumulating in his muscles due to the news the secretary had given him.

It was almost 1am when he decided it was time to stop to a Motel and get some rest. He took the next exit and reached a familiar place. While still at University, once a month he would drive from the campus to Cleveland and spend two days of pure relaxation with a friend. He stopped at the first motel he found and repressing a grunt of pain, got off the bike. After checking in, he immediately walked to his room. He went to the bathroom and took a shower after taking a change of clothes from his backpack. He stepped under the water, enjoying the hot liquid falling onto his chest. His whole body was tense from the long drive and he really needed to get some rest before leaving again.

A few more hours and he would be able to see her again, to talk to her and receive an explanation. He needed to know why she ran away from Princeton and was now on maternity leave. Only eight months have passed which meant the baby was probably his and he didn't even know if he could be a father or not. But did he want to be a father to his child, or would he back out in the end? He shook his head and stopped the water. When he was dressed in his boxers and T-shirt, he laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling thinking, until sleep overtook him minutes later.


Cuddy woke up to the sound of a baby crying. She immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the crib which was positioned on the other side of the room. Seeing her mother's face, Emma stopped crying and gurgled happily. Cuddy smiled at the small little girl who seemed very entertained with her mommy's curly hair. She was only two months old but she had such a strong grip in her tiny hands that Cuddy yelped when Emma tugged at her hair, causing the baby to coo when her mother tried to free her hair from the strong grasp.

"Emma, please! Let it go!" she asked politely. The baby smiled and let the hair fall from her little hands. Cuddy sighed and kissed the baby on the cheek. "Hey sweetheart! What are you doing up? Did Emma wake you again?" Rachel entered the room with a really bad case of bed head. Her hair was a total mess and her cute dark blue eyes were half closed. She walked to the big bed in the middle of the room and sat on it before glancing up at her mom and nodding. "I'm sorry honey. You can sleep a little more in my bed while I'm making breakfast." Cuddy got closer to her older child and planted a soft kiss on her forehead; Emma happily gurgled at the sight of her sister and whimpered when her mother didn't let her get a kiss from the sleepy toddler. Rachel who was getting used to the news of having a little sister in the house, smiled and kissed Emma on the cheek making her smile. Cuddy couldn't still believe what a fantastic life she was living with her two little girls. She felt like nothing could go wrong in her perfect world. She caressed Rachel one last time before heading to the kitchen to cook some breakfast and breastfeed the two month old.

It was almost noon when someone rang the doorbell of the Cuddy household. Cuddy who was sitting in the studio, sighed and walked to check on the little girl who was peacefully sleeping in her crib before running to answer the door. "I'm coming!" she half yelled. When she reached the end of the hallway, she checked herself in the mirror and opened the door. Her smile faded and was suddenly replaced by a frown. She froze on the spot at his sight. His hair ruffled and messy due to his helmet, his 5 o'clock shadow covering his cheeks and his deep blue eyes made him look more handsome that she had ever thought would be possible. He wasn't smiling at her and his eyes were neutral, emotionless.

"House..." she whispered.

"Mind if I come in?" he asked politely. Cuddy nodded and stepped to the side to let him enter the house. She closed the door behind her and reached for his jacket and helmet. "Let me get those" she said with a soft smile. He murmured a thank you and gave her the two items she requested. She lead them into the living room and gestured him to sit down on the couch. "You want something to drink?" she asked. "Coffee." Cuddy smiled and went into the kitchen. After a couple seconds House followed her into the other room and sat on a stool and watched her move around the kitchen.

She felt his eyes following every her movement and when she glanced at him from over her shoulder, she noticed the dark circles around his eyes. "You drove from Princeton till here on that death trap of yours?" she asked curiously. "Yup" he confirmed. She placed a cup of coffee in front of him and smiled awkwardly. He took it in his hands and smelled the spicy aroma of the brown liquid in the mug before taking a sip. "I hope this is not poisoned" he smirked. "Oh, I'd never do that!" she replied playfully with a smile. For a moment she thought they were back to the old times where everything was fine in their own and very peculiar way.

She sipped her coffee and nearly choked on it. "Uh, I've never understood how you could drink dark coffee without sugar!" he smirked as she made a disgusted pout before standing up from the stool. "Wait, let me see if I still get that right" he said while staring at her. " A hint of cinnamon and one and a half tea spoon of brown sugar". Cuddy stared at him dumbfounded before nodding, taking the mug in her hands and adding the ingredients. He had observed her making the same movements for about a year when he used to sleep over at her place and he wasn't surprised when he saw that everything in this kitchen resembled her old place. She reached for the cinnamon box in the cupboard over the cooker and put some of the spice in it. Then she looked for the brown sugar that sat on the shelf next to the fridge. She had a sad smile on her lips, while perfecting her coffee and adding the same things she added every morning. When she turned around she took a sip of her coffee and her face lit up in delight. "I still don't get how you can drink that thing. It's disgusting. Cinnamon and coffee are a big NO!" Cuddy grinned and took another sip of her coffee.

The following minutes were spent in complete silence until his phone went off to the sound of Abba's Dancing Queen. Cuddy laughed a little remembering that ring tone was set up to play every time Wilson called. He took the phone from his jeans pocket and answered.

"House."

"House, where the hell are you? You didn't come in this morning and you're not in your apartment. Smith wants your ass in his office now!" Wilson asked.

"I'm not in Princeton. Actually I'm not in New Jersey at the moment. And I knew he'd have gone gay on me sooner or later!" he informed his friend.

"What? Where the hell are you?"

"I needed to see someone. Uhm, for some business of mine. I'm sure Smith will be happy I won't bother him for a couple days." he said lowering his voice.

"House, is everything alright?" Wilson asked, clearly concerned.

"Yes, Wilson. Stop worrying, I'm fine. I'll call you when I get back." he ended the call and stared blankly at the mug in his hands. When he heard muffled cries coming from a room down the hallway, Cuddy immediately stood up and walked fast towards the soft noise. House stood up, and without bothering to put the mugs into the sink, followed her once again. House didn't enter the room but decided to sit in one of the chairs placed in the studio. The room was incredibly big and contained her old desk, the one he had secretly ordered to put in her office at PPTH. Along with the desk, there were bookshelves full of medical journals and books, a couple chairs, a couch but what made House's eyes light up was the vertical piano next to the window. House stood up hesitantly and made his way towards the instrument and inspected it, caressing it with his skilled hands.

"It was my dad's." her voice came from the doorway. "My mother wanted to toss it away, instead I convinced her to give it to me for my new home."

"It's a good one. Never seen one old like this before." Cuddy smiled and pressed few of the keys. House looked up at her in shock.

"You know how to play?" Cuddy shook her head no and smiled. "Naah, when I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time in the living room while my dad was playing. I guess these few notes got stuck in my head." Cuddy sat on the couch while House kept observing the piano. "You can play it if you want." He shook her head but she insisted. "She's not going to wake up anytime soon. Go on."

House sat on the bench and started to play a song both of them knew by heart. She laughed out loud and that made his heart grow a size bigger. "You can't always get what you want." he sang sounding more like a drunk. He had always loved her laugh, he could spend hours and hours listening to it and he felt so proud when he was the reason she was laughing. He smirked in response and when he was done playing he turned around to face her. Cuddy was on the couch, her head positioned on her knees with tears falling down her cheeks. She sobbed one more time and tried to regain her composure before talking.

"I didn't know I was pregnant when I left." she whispered. "I decided to leave Princeton because I couldn't stand having you near me and not being able to... " she stopped and sighed. "I wanted to move on and Dr. Lamb has been offering me this job for ages. I took a chance and came here." she kept going with her story, unable to look at his face. "I bought this house, my sister helped me with the moving and I found myself alone, ready to start my new life. I wasn't the Dean of Medicine anymore, I felt less pressure on my shoulders and I had more free time to spend with Rachel." she smiled. "When I first didn't get my period I though it was because of the stress of the new job and the new surroundings. I thought my body needed to get used to my new life style. But when I started to feel sick I decided I needed to get checked out." A tear silently fell from under her eyelashes down her cheek. "At first I thought it wasn't true and that both the tests I took were false positives but they weren't. I was completely shocked. A baby would have changed all my plans and I was alone again and I didn't think it was the right thing to keep it..."

House shifted in his seat, stood up and walked around the room thoughtfully. "You wanted to terminate." he stated. It wasn't a question and Cuddy confirmed it by nodding. "I was scared I could go through another miscarriage. I didn't want to give this baby a chance even if she deserved it. But in the end I decided to take this chance knowing that everything would have changed, this time perhaps for the better." She smiled sadly. "You've always been a sucker for babies," he said with a smirk. She nodded and smiled again. "I wanted a baby for so long and I finally had the chance. Again. This time I felt it was the lucky one and it was. I carried the baby full term but doctors had to perform a C section." Cuddy informed him.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" he asked. Cuddy shook her head slightly. "I thought it would have been better for you and Wilson not to know about this. But I guess I was a fool because nothing can stay hidden from the genius for too long." she said smiling. House walked towards her and sat on the couch. "I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to know the reason you left so I called the Dean's office and asked for you. A woman told me you were on maternity leave. I did the math and I found myself driving here on my bike." he explained. "I just need to know something."

Cuddy looked at his eyes which were staring back at her. He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "She's yours." she confirmed. House nodded. "Would you have ever told me if it wasn't for me coming here today?" He asked truly interested. "Yes, I think... I just needed some time to get used to the baby myself..." House nodded and stood up. "I should probably go." he said and walked towards the door. "Wait! You just got here after driving from New Jersey, stay for lunch. It's the least I can do." she pleaded and received a nod in response.

She smiled at him as they both exited the studio, directing towards the kitchen. Cuddy stopped to check on the baby and this time House followed her inside the room. The curtains were drawn protecting the infant from the sunlight. Cuddy reached into the crib and caressed Emma's tummy. House sneaked a peek from behind her shoulder and felt uneasy when the baby girl looked at him with her dark blue eyes. "What's her name?" he asked. Cuddy looked up to him briefly and smiled before turning her attention back to her child. "Emma." Upon hearing her name escaping her mom's lips Emma gurgled happily and grabbed Cuddy's hand placing one of the fingers in her tiny mouth. "Actually, her name's Emma Joy." she continued. House nodded. "I've never liked the name Emma, but when I saw her I felt like that was right." she said with a smile. "And well, you know the other story." Cuddy turned around to face him. "I'm sorry for not telling you about her but I needed to make up my mind first. But thanks for coming here. I don't think I'd have had enough courage to come down to Princeton with her." House nodded another time and together they walked towards the kitchen.


I'm working on the third chapter already but I'd love if you could share your ideas with me... Leave a review plz :)