Chapter 4

A/N: Yay! More happy reviews! You know I love it when you do, I'm guessing that you love doing it too :p it puts a little bit of sunshine into my day. Anyway, as per usual, on to my few words:

GallopGirl: thanks for the review! Oh, Anna is an interesting one indeed… just you wait…

Prinnie: hello there my kindred spirit, enjoy the chapter (well… the parts you haven't read already :p)! Anna's coming home soon, don't you worry now.

Remote Control Princess: You know what, I don't think this side of Cuddy is completely different to that of the show. I get what you're saying, she is definitely more carefree and a bit eccentric in this. But, I was watching the latest episode (2x06), and there is this eccentric quality to her, especially in the beginning of the episode, with her little "plot twist", and faux-dramatic reactions to House. I took that quality and amplified it a bit in this, in the context of Cuddy dealing with her daughter, and I also put that quality in Emily – only multiplied it by about 100! And yes you're right, Anna is very intriguing indeed…

Jojo: lol, sorry, but I didn't want to be too stereotypical by making them identical… and it works better for this fic with them looking different. All shall be explained later, trust me!

BookwormKiwi: Anna's personality is very interesting, if not a little strange! And let me tell you, Emily's story gets even more exciting…

StopTheWorldImGettingDizzy: There are many twists and turns coming up, you can count on that! Thanks for the review.

Jiminy Cricket: Well hello there, I wonder who this could be? A mystery reviewer perhaps:p hehehe ur such a cutie!

FriendsHolic: wooo0p go you! Reviewing every chapter! You rock! lol… anyway… I wouldn't start calling Anna the goodie girl quite yet… there is a lot of her still to be revealed. And on the daddy front, you might have to wait a while… that one isn't quite relevant yet! lol you've got ahead of me already!

And I'm spent. Here comes chapter four, where just a little more of Anna is revealed… don't forget to review at the end!

00

Earlier that evening…

Cuddy opened her front door and stepped inside, Emily trailing behind with her abundance of bags. As she walked through the entrance way she took a good look around, re-familiarizing herself with every nook and cranny of the house she'd lived in for a good eight years.

"Well, I'd love to say what a great job you've done with the place, but it's exactly the same as it was when I was last here. Oh no wait, you moved the coffee table!" Emily said, pointing to the living room. Cuddy just kept walking and took no notice of her daughter's comment. Emily dropped some of her bags near the door, and kept walking. Cuddy suddenly stopped and turned around.

"What are you doing?" she asked accusingly, hands making their way to her hips.

"I'm going to my room…" Emily said cautiously, not sure what the problem was, "unless you've managed to change it into a sewing room in my absence."

"What about your bags?"

"What about my bags?" Emily replied, confused, turning and taking a quick glance at the bags sitting by the door.

"Surely you haven't forgotten the rules of this house already?" Cuddy said, her eyebrow raising slightly.

"Ohhh," Emily said, realizing her error, "I was gonna come back to get them."

"Well, you can get them now," Cuddy replied, gesturing towards the bags. Emily tsked quietly and went back for her heavy bags, slinging them over her shoulder dramatically. They continued walking down the hallway.

"You've so turned it into a sewing room," Emily scoffed, as she approached her bedroom door. She opened the door and straight away dumped her bags on the floor, looking up to find her bed still in place, as well as all her posters and photos on the walls.

"I don't even sew," Cuddy called from her own bedroom, which was just next door. Emily cast her eyes over her old room with a smile and sighed contentedly. She then gasped as she noticed something important was missing.

"Oh my God! Where's my computer!" she called hysterically.

"What?" Cuddy said, immerging from her room into Emily's.

"My computer! What's happened to it?" Emily squeaked.

"Oh, that? I got rid of that ages ago," Cuddy said flippantly.

"But… I… you… wha…" Emily stammered.

"You told me you bought a laptop," Cuddy said simply.

"Yes, I did, but I don't have it anymore!" Emily said with a bit of a moan.

"What did you do to it?" Cuddy asked accusingly, crossing her arms.

"I didn't do anything, it was stolen!" Emily cried, dramatically flopping down on the bed.

"More like you accidentally left it at a bus stop or a park bench," Cuddy said, leaning against the doorframe, arms still crossed tightly.

"No, Dan stole it," Emily said bitterly.

"Who?"

"Dan, my boyfriend in California," Emily replied nonchalantly.

"You had a boyfriend in California?" Cuddy asked, disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I told you about him. Anyway, when we lived together and -"

"Wait, you lived with this guy!"

"I was running out of money, remember? Well, when I broke up with him he stole my laptop. And my TV, VCR and DVD player. I'm just glad he didn't take my iPod, and I hadn't bought TiVo yet, like I planned," Emily said.

"Huh. No wonder you ran out of money," Cuddy scoffed.

"Mom," Emily said in a disapproving tone. Cuddy rolled her eyes, and then noticed the bags sitting right next to the bedroom door.

"So instead of dumping the bags outside the front door, you chose the bedroom door?" Cuddy said, eyebrow raised.

"Well… it's in my room, so technically I am within the 'house rules'," Emily replied cheekily.

"You always manage to find a loop hole," Cuddy said, shaking her head.

"Okay," Cuddy added, trying to reason, "I'll make you a deal. I'll help you unpack, as long as we do it now."

Emily sighed dramatically, "fine." She got off the bed and grabbed a bag, flinging it onto the bed just as dramatically. Cuddy too, took a bag, and placed it on the bed, opening it up. They each put things away silently for a minute, both mother and daughter comfortable, and knowing where things belonged. Emily was just putting a pair of jeans in the wardrobe when her mother cleared her throat loudly. She turned around to see Cuddy, one hand on her hip, the other holding up a black lacey g-string.

"And what is this?" Cuddy asked, a small smirk on her face. Emily quickly snatched the panties away.

"Just underwear," Emily replied self-consciously, quickly shoving it into the drawer.

"I think I should stop here," Cuddy said, holding her hands up, a grin growing on her face, "I don't want to see any more."

Emily scowled and snatched the bag from Cuddy.

"You are horrible," she replied, a small blush growing on her cheeks. Cuddy just laughed in reply.

"You'd never be so mean about Anna's underwear," Emily said, unpacking the bag discreetly.

"Anna wouldn't have that kind of underwear," Cuddy replied matter-of-factly.

"As if you'd even know, you never talk to her," Emily said, finishing with the sensitive bag, and getting another.

"I talk to her," Cuddy said, obviously lying.

"I talk to her. I know you don't," Emily replied, looking up from her unpacking to make eye contact.

"Ok, so I haven't talked to her in 3 months," Cuddy said.

"Mom…" Emily said warningly.

"Fine, since Christmas. But she hasn't made any effort to call me either," Cuddy tried to justify.

"You need to rise above it," Emily said dramatically, "you need to make the first move."

"Just… keep unpacking," Cuddy replied dismissively, obviously becoming uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. Emily sighed quietly and went back to the task at hand, hoping to breach on the topic of Anna a little later.

00

Cuddy lay awake in bed that night, hours after she and Emily had said their goodnights. Emily was actually tired for once and had gone to bed early, and Cuddy decided to follow her example. She rolled over again, for the third time in the last few minutes, and let out an exasperated sigh. There was no way she was going to get to sleep with this one particular thing on her mind. She glanced at the clock, 11:07pm, and decided it wasn't too late to call. After all, college kids always stayed up obscenely late. She sat up, turned on the beside lamp and picked up the phone. She took a deep calming breath before dialing the number she had somehow memorized, although she never called it. It rang once… twice… three times, and continued ringing until it cut through to voicemail.

"Hi, you know who you're calling, leave a message."

Cuddy quickly hung up, afraid of leaving a message and saying something that could be interpreted badly. She tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed, putting the phone back down on the nightstand. She turned off the lamp and lay down again, shutting her eyes. She might not have got to talk to her, but all the same, it was nice hearing Anna's voice again.

00

Anna lay on her bed, continuing to blow puffs of smoke above her face therapeutically. She attempted a few smoke rings, but she still hadn't mastered that art yet. She closed her eyes and was just beginning to completely relax when her cell phone went off, causing her to jump suddenly. She sat up irritably and picked up her purse, fishing through it for her phone. She pulled it out and was about to answer when she saw the word 'home' flash repeatedly on the screen. There was only one person who that could be. She stared at the phone for a moment, debating what she should do, before huffing and throwing the phone carelessly back into her purse, and dumping it onto the ground beneath her feet. She lay back down, took off her glasses, placing them on the nightstand, and let out a deep sigh. She was not going to deal with the genetic betrayal that was Lisa Cuddy, tonight.

00

A/N: Coming up next: the contents of Cuddy's computer reveals a few little secrets… please review!