Sorry it took me so long! But people insist I have a social life and all that crap( yeah, I know!) I've been busy. But since you're such awesome people I wrote a longer chapter for your reading pleasure! :D
We're getting ready for the reunion, munchkins! /cue to evil laugh.
PS: Hopefully next chapter will be beta read :)
It was eight o'clock at night when they finally arrived their destination, as they pulled over, Cuddy couldn't help but to feel a bittersweet sense of nostalgia floating through her body. Going back to the place where she'd spent almost half of her life brought back memories that had long been buried in her subconscious. She was suddenly reminded of her father and how he used to push her on the big red and yellow swings, she remembered the long inspirational conversations she used to have with her grandmother during the turmoil of her teenage years and she was also reminded of the countless times she used to sit on the roof whenever she needed some peace and quiet .
She was brought back to reality by House's hand caressing he elbow.
"You're ready to go?".
She looked at him and smiled - "Yeah, we should probably go in. I told nana we'd be here half an hour ago, she's probably calling search teams at this point". She spoke, as she reminded herself of her grandmother's unique personality.
House puffed - "Well, we would have gotten here on time if someone, who I'm not gonna nominate, hadn't had to stop at every single rest stop to go pee-pee, now would we?" - He flashed her is characteristic grin and lightly kissed her forehead before getting out of the car.
Meanwhile, inside of the house, a worried Evelyn Cuddy was looking out the window and letting a sigh of relieve escape her lips as she watched her granddaughter's silver Prius park on the side of the road. She practically ran out the door.
House and Cuddy weren't even done getting their bags out of the truck of the car when Evelyn got out of the house and ran to her, secretly, favorite granddaughter.
"Lisa! Oh my God, I was worried sick about you!" - Cuddy was startled by her grandmother almost smothering her to death. No, seriously, Evelyn had such a tight grip on her that she could swear her lungs had shrunk a tiny bit. The elderly woman finally decided to let go of her, albeit love induced, death grip and took a few seconds to look at her beautiful granddaughter, taking her wrinkled hands in Cuddy's soft ones.
"Oh , Lisa... you look way to skinny!" - Evelyn noticed with a scrawl on her face - "You've been working yourself to exhaustion again, haven't you?" - she turned her attention to House, who had be standing there, looking at the whole scene - "You told me you'd take care of my little girl!"
House would never admit it but he did get a kick out of spending time with Cuddy's grandmother, the woman had some sort of vibe eradiating through her fragile body that intrigued him. On the outside, Evelyn looked like a naive, little sweet old lady that spent her days knitting and petting her cats, but, once you got to know her, you'd see that, on the inside, she was a kick butt old lady that wasn't afraid to speak her mind and, contrary to popular believe, had experienced all extreme sports known to mankind. He had the most entertaining argues with her, must to Cuddy's dismay.
"Oh, she gets all the ogling and hugging while I'm completely ignored and when you finally seek in you cold, cold heart the kindness to acknowledge my presence, I get yelled at. So not fair..." - He mockingly spoke to the ebony hair colored woman - "I'm hurt, Evelyn..." - he put his right hand on top of his chest while his left covered Cuddy's view of his mouth, pretending to be hiding something from her - "... I thought I was your favorite."
House's sarcastic tone made Evelyn role his eyes - "Oh, stop being a baby, Gregory! You're a big boy now, and..." - she let go of Cuddy's hands and stepped closer to him, leaning in to embrace her, hopefully soon to be, grandson in a friendly hug - "... don't worry, you'll always be my number one." - she said playfully as she winked her eye at the diagnostician.
"Cuddleeees! I think your grandmother is hitting on me" He shouted with a chuckled.
Cuddy rolled her eyes "Here we go..."
"Can't blame an old lady for trying. C'mon let's get you two inside, you must be starving!" And with that, Evelyn took Cuddy's hand and led her inside the house.
"Psssh, sure! Leave the cripple carrying the heavy baggage, you're all made from the same dark matter!"
Both Cuddy ladies laughed and kept making their way to the front door.
"Oh, stop being such a baby, Gregory!" Cuddy shouted as her body disappeared inside the house.
Half an hour later, the trio was in the kitchen savoring one of Evelyn's many culinary delicacies. House, of course, was piggin' out and eating like a cave man, something that made Cuddy to twist her face in disgust.
"God, House, you look like you haven't eaten in months!"
"Cuddy, your grandmother makes the best food ever! Do you know what it's like to eat Wilson's revolting culinary mooches? It's taking a toll on my caliculus gustatorius."
Cuddy just rolled her eyes - "Sometimes I think I'm dating a ten year old..."
House looked up, looking offended - "Hey! Ten and a half, thank you very much! God, Cuddy you-"
In the meantime, Evelyn was watching the couple's banter and smiling to herself. Sure, Gregory House was a pain in the ass and a rude jerk at times but she had never seen her baby girl so happy. Cuddy had suffered enough in life and seeing her smile was the best thing she could ask for.
"Okay, kids, stop arguing and eat you dinner!" - Evelyn interfered in what she guessed was House and Cuddy's weird concept of foreplay.
After dinner, they had moved to the living room and were enjoying a hot cup of chocolate by the fireplace.
"Shoot!" Cuddy said out of nowhere.
Both House and Evelyn looked at her puzzled.
"Nana, you know where can I find an open pharmacy at this time of the night?"
"Why, hun, do you need something? Are you feeling ill? Are you okay? I have some medicine in the bathroom." It was typical Evelyn to jump to an overdrive snowball fallacy.
"No, no! I'm okay." - Cuddy reassured her two loved ones - "I just... forgot my pill at home." - she admitted, slightly embarrassed.
"Oh" - Evelyn said surprised while House sat back in the couch grinning in the background - "Well, dear, you can't be missing those... There's a 24/7 pharmacy in downtown Portland."
Cuddy turned to House and smiled apologetically.
"Oh, no! Cuddy, it's ten o'clock at night, it's cold and I'm lazy. There's no way I'm getting out of the House." He crossed his arms over his abdomen.
"C'mon, House, it's just a few blocks away... please!" She tried once more.
"Cuddieeeeee" He whined - "My leg hurts!"
She scoffed - "I can't believe you're using the cripple card again!"
"Well, it's way past my bed time"- Evelyn said, as she got up and kissed her granddaughter, who was currently sitting on the floor next to her, on the top of her head - "I'll leave you two love birds to settle your decisions, although, in my opinion, Greg, you should get your lazy behind off the couch and drive your girlfriend to the pharmacy." - She grinned at House.
"Ooh, C'mon! Two against one? I knew I should have brought Jimmy along..." House gave in and got up from the couch.
Cuddy smiled at her grandmother who winked at her.
"You can take my keys. Nigh night!" And with that she disappeared down the hallway.
Not long after, House and Cuddy were making their way to downtown Portland, trying not to fall on their asses as they made their way to the entrance door. It was dark and the snow was falling again so there wasn't that much time to enjoy the view as Cuddy wished.
As they made their way in, a little bell announced their presence and a funny looking man, with an hilariously appalling red bowtie turned to them.
"How can I help you?"
Cuddy looked at House and then turned her attention to the man "Umh, good evening sir. I'm looking for..."
While Cuddy was requesting her pills, House spent his time wandering around the pharmacy, looking at all the different tablets and capsules stored in square glassed displayers and, just for fun, naming all the diseases he could think of that could be treated by the several types of medicine he was looking at.
While lost in his game, he didn't even noticed the small golden bell ringing again much less the woman whose entered caused it to ring.
Emma Sloan was, once again, running to the pharmacy at inglorious hours at night, something she though she wouldn't have to do anylonger once her son passed the baby stage. Wrong! Joshua had gotten himself, don't ask her why, a gigantic rash on his back and she had no choice but to come and buy some kind of lotion before her son ripped is skin off with the scratching.
Much to her surprise, when she was debating whether to go with "Halibut" or "Bepanthene", her eyes landed on no one other but Dr. Gregory House.
"Dr. House?" She called.
Hearing his name, he turned his head to the slim woman with a familiar face.
"Who's asking?" - He inquired with a hint of suspiciousness in his voice.
Emma took House in a quick embrace, something that left him with an expression close to one of a deer caught in headlights.
"I'm sorry..." - Emma said as she pulled away - "You probably don't remember me. I'm Emma Sloan, I was your patient four years ago at Princeton Plainsboro. I was diagnosed with Mirror Syndrome..."
Emma Sloan... Emma Sloan... Emma Sloan... Oh! - House's brain tried to recapitulate to all his previous patients, which was stupid considering he'd had over thousands of patients and he really didn't put that much effort into remembering their faces. But then, out of the sudden, something clicked in his brain - That Emma Sloan!
Emma Sloan had indeed been a patient of his, she'd been pregnant back then and he'd diagnosed her with Mirror Syndrome. Her fetus was cauding her to have liver and kidney failiure. He remembered he'd wanted her to terminate the pregnancy but due to Cuddy's annoying meddling, they had manage to save the baby by engaging on a risky procedure that almost cost her life.
Before he had time to say anything, Cuddy appeared by his side, looking slightly annoyed.
"With all the pharmacists in the world, we had to get the Mormon one. Seriously this people-" Cuddy stopped talking when she noticed the other female presence in the room with them.
"Umh, hello..." She said doubtful, looking at House, searching for an answer to the question of who was the lady standing in front of them.
Emma's smile lit once she set eyes on Cuddy - "Dr. Cuddy is so good to see you!" - she embraced Cuddy as well, only this time, in a much friendlier way - "I'm Emma Sloan, I was a patient of yours a few years ago, I don't know if you remember but you saved my baby's life."
Cuddy didn't need to think much before realizing who was standing before her. Emma Sloan, of course!
"Oh yes, of course, I remember! It's odd finding you here. How's your boy?" Cuddy genuinely wondered about Emma's son. House not so much but he stayed quiet .
"He's wonderful, thanks to you an Dr. House!" - the woman's happiness when talking about her son was touching, something that made Cuddy's heart warm - "And I have to admit that it is odd finding you both here, together."
Cuddy blushed and glanced at House.
Emma picked up on the doctors' embarrassment and smiled.
"Well, if there's anything I could do, here's my card..." - she handed House a small card - "I'm currently running my photography business here in Portland. If there's anything I can do for you, I'll be glad to do it. I can't thank you enough for saving Joshua's life, he's my everything. Thank You."
"We were doing our job" Cuddy spoke, blushing a little.
"What she said."
After Emma left, House could see the pride in Cuddy's eyes as she smiled at him. He knew that seeing Emma was the best thing that could happen for Cuddy to have faith in herself as a doctor.
That night, they both slept like babies. The thoughts of whta could possibly go wrong during Cuddy's high school reunion were replaced but the satisfaction on saving two human lives.
How badass is Cuddy's Gran?
Penny for your thoughts :3
The correct answer to last chapter's clue was 'Louboutin':D a.k.a. GOD
And the winners are...
-IHeartHouseCuddy with 3 points! Making a total of 5 points :)
-LiaHuddy with two :D
and last but not least
- dlb42694 getting a total of 1 point :)
Cookies for everyone who participated and reviewed
4th Chapter's clue: I was a bad ass polish lady that took no shit from radioactivity - Who am I?