Hello! Here I am with chapter 4! It's Rachel-centric and totally angstless! I just though we needed a break after the past chapters. By the way, thank you for your support, you're amazing! Reading your thoughts and opinions is really rewarding, and I can't believe some people actually favorited this?! It's just great, thank you so much! I hope I won't disappoint you!

Unfortunately, today I also have bad news: my little holidays are over, so from Monday I won't have as much time to write as I had in these past two weeks :( this means I won't be able to update every second day (more or less) as I'm doing now, but I think I will settle on once/twice a week.

In the meantime, enjoy!

IV. My Funny Friend and Me

When she got up that morning, Cuddy knew that this was going to be a busy day. In the morning, she had a meeting with a lawyer (she had to prevent a lawsuit against one of her best surgeons), then in the early afternoon she had another meeting, this time with a potential donor, one whose money could be used to improve the neonatal ICU, which was always a good thing: a hospital with a functional NICU was always seen as a worth-of-more-money hospital. Everyone loved babies.

Afterwards, she also had a board meeting, meaning she would probably be home late that evening, as the agenda was exceptionally full of things to discuss.

So yeah, busy day for the Dean of Medicine.

There was one thing Cuddy didn't expect, though. While she was waiting for the lawyer, she heard her iPhone vibrate. It was Rachel's babysitter, Jenny, calling her. That only meant problems. Jenny never called.

"Hi Jenny!" she said with a fake smile.

"Good morning Dr. Cuddy… Uhm, I'm calling because I don't think I can babysit Rachel today. I'm sorry… I-I woke up feeling dizzy and I've just thrown up… I think I may have caught a stomach bug or something…" the girl explained.

Great, Cuddy thought to herself. Jenny, like every day, was supposed to pick up Rachel from school and then stay with her until evening. Probably she would have also had to work overtime, that day.

"It's okay Jenny, don't worry…" she said gently.

"I'm really sorry Dr. Cuddy! If you want, I can pick her up and drive her somewhere… I think I could do that…"

"No, it's fine! I'll figure something out"

And she would. Of course, she had no choice. Unfortunately, it was too late to call her mom, and Rachel was too old for daycare, so there weren't many options left. She would pick up her daughter herself, and then leave her with her PA.

Still, there was no worse day than this to be without a babysitter.

She waited for Jones to be back: Cuddy had sent her to the Diagnostics Department with a new case about ten minutes earlier.

She had considered bringing it herself, but then she changed her mind. She wasn't ready to see House yet. It had been more than a week since that night in his apartment, and they still hadn't talked about it. Cuddy just didn't know what to say to him, and apparently neither did House, as he still avoided her like the plague.

As soon as she saw that her assistant was back, Cuddy went to her.

"Greta, I need a personal favor… my babysitter is sick and I really need you to keep an eye on my daughter today"

"Sure Dr. Cuddy, I just…" the younger girl started saying nervously.

"I know, this is not your job, but it will be just for a few hours and I will obviously pay you accordingly"

"It's not that, it's just… I'm really not so good with kids! I don't know what to say to them, or…"

Cuddy interrupted her once more, this time smiling.

"Don't worry about that! Rachel is very mature, and she is used to spending time with adults. I'm sure everything will be fine"

Rachel was spread out on the couch, her feet up against the wall, and her head hanging down.

She had been in her mom's office for probably less than half an hour and she was already bored to death. Mom told her she had a lot of work to do and Jenny was sick, and that Greta was a nice girl. Well, she was, she was just no fun. She was always on the phone, or writing something, never even considered her. She had given Rachel the remote of the TV and told her she could watch something, but there was nothing to watch!

So, after turning off the television, Rachel had looked around the office to see if there was something else she could do, but she found nothing. There were so many books she could have read (she loved reading), but she couldn't even understand the title of most of them.

Later on, she thought it would be a good idea to exercise her gymnastic skills, so she started cartwheeling around. At that point, Greta had opened the office door and told her to stop doing that, otherwise she could get hurt. Then, she had given the little girl a few pieces of paper and some pencils, and told her to draw something.

Rachel had rolled her eyes. She didn't even like drawing, not anymore.

And that's basically how she ended up lying upside down on the couch.

After a few minutes, she grew tired of that position, and she stood up.

She could see the people outside walking and talking and wearing those cool white coats, and she suddenly felt the urge to go and explore. She liked exploring new places. She also wondered if she could find uncle Jim. She was sure he worked there too: every time he came to her house for dinner, he and mom would always end up talking about work. He was a doctor, too.

The only obstacle between Rachel and her explorations was Greta. She wouldn't even let her cartwheel, it was very unlikely she would let her walk around unsupervised.

Unless she could find an excuse.

"Greta, I'm hungry" Rachel said, after coming up with what in her mind sounded like the best idea ever.

Jones looked at the little girl, who was now standing in front of her desk.

"Okay" she said smiling, "let me just finish this thing here and then I'll take you to the cafeteria"

"Isn't there a snack machine? I'm hungry now"

Jones didn't know what to say to that.

"I'm seven. I can go to the snack machine alone" Rachel pointed out.

The older girl thought about it for a few seconds. The machine was right outside the clinic, and plus there were nurses everywhere. No way something could happen.

"All right" she said eventually "It's in the lobby. You go through those glass doors, then you turn right and you should see it"

Then, she gave the little girl a few coins and watched her walking out with a big smile.

Rachel crossed the clinic and reached the lobby, as Greta instructed, but then she didn't direct towards the snack machine. Instead, she chose to look for uncle Jim.

But first, she needed to make sure Greta couldn't find her. It was a bit like playing hide and seek. She ran towards the elevators, mixing up with the other people that were already waiting for it, and ended up on the second floor.

She had a look around. Maybe finding uncle Jim was going to be harder than she expected.

Mom always told her that when you are in a hospital and you don't know something, you can ask the nurses. Rachel spotted one not so far away, and she decided to do just that.

"Excuse me nurse" she began, pulling at the woman's scrub top "Can you help me please? I'm looking for my uncle. My mom told me to wait for her in his office"

"What's you uncle's name, sweetie?" the nurse asked, bending over a bit "he's a doctor here, I guess?"

"Yes! His name is…"

Rachel was going to say Jim Wilson, but then she thought better. Mom always called him James.

"…James Wilson"

The nurse smiled gently.

"I know him, his office is on the fourth floor" she said "I need to check on a patient now, but let me see if there's someone who can take you there"

While saying the last sentence, the nurse turned around to look for a colleague, but by the time she found one, Rachel was out of sight. She had run towards the elevators as soon as she had heard the information she needed.

By the time she reached the fourth floor, she was pretty excited, and her excitement grew even more when she turned left and spotted a wooden door with uncle Jim's name written on it.

Mom always said that when a door is closed, you should knock before opening it. Rachel did so, but no one answered, so she opened it slightly, only to find out that the office was empty. Probably uncle Jim was around somewhere, like her mom.

Rachel sighed. She could wait for him in his office, perhaps he would be back soon.

Or she could explore the floor a little bit, which sounded way more interesting.

She started hopping and skipping along the hallway. It looked so big to her, and there were so many people walking around. She thought she would like to work in a place like this one day.

Suddenly, something got her attention. Not so far from uncle Jim's office, there was a glass door with another name on it: Gregory House.

Rachel smiled to herself. She had a friend named like that, once. She didn't remember much about him, it had been ages, but for example she remembered he had blue eyes, a cane and a funny voice. They used to have so much fun together, until he stopped coming over. She remembered writing him a letter once, but he never replied, probably because then she moved to Pittsburgh.

She paused that thought for a moment. What if this was actually his office? After all, she knew him when she lived here, so it was possible. Driven by curiosity, Rachel decided to explore the room, while she wondered why doctors had an office if they were never there.

There was nothing special around, nothing that triggered more memories. What caught her attention was a weird red and grey ball, kind of like a tennis ball, but bigger. She sat on the chair behind the desk, and started throwing the ball to the wall. It bounced off. That was the most fun she had since she arrived at the hospital, so she did it again. After a couple more times, she wondered if she could spin around on the chair after throwing the ball and still being able to catch it back.

That was the scene that House witnessed when, just a couple of minutes later, he stepped into his office followed by his fellows.

He glanced at the little girl, who in the meantime had stopped her game and was now looking back at him.

She was probably around six-eight years old, had brown hair, tied up in a ponytail, with bangs falling on her forehead, and bright green eyes, surrounded by a pair of round red-rimmed glasses.

"Don't tell me this one is yours too" House said in a mocking tone, glancing at Taub.

The doctor didn't even have time to deny it.

"Hi House" the little girl greeted, waving her hand.

"She's not mine, but I'm not sure you can say the same" Taub finally replied, looking at his boss.

But House was seriously confused now. He thought she was just a random kid, maybe the daughter of some patient, but she clearly knew him, while he had never seen her before. He simply had no idea who that kid was, he didn't know any kids that age, or at all. The only kid he had known in the past decade was…

His heart skipped a beat, as everything fell into place. The age, the hair and eye color.

"Rachel?"

She giggled and run towards him, throwing her arms around his body.

House was paralyzed.

He had thought of her in the past, of course he had. Back when he was dating Cuddy, he had grown to love the kid too, although he had never said it out loud.

He just never expected to see her again. He thought she would have forgotten him in no time, or that Cuddy would have talked her into hating him.

Instead, Rachel still remembered him, and with clear affection.

This thought caused a warm feeling in his chest, and he hugged her back. The last time they hugged, about a lifetime ago, she would only reach his leg. Today, her head was against his belly.

"You… you have grown a lot" he said, with more tenderness in his voice than he would have wished.

"Everyone says that" she replied, breaking the hug.

Suddenly, House realized his fellows were all still in the room, and were probably looking at each other with quizzical looks. Before this happened, they were trying to figure out what was wrong with their new patient, but right now his priority had become finding out what Rachel was doing in his office.

If Cuddy Jr was around, probably Cuddy Sr was around too, which meant no good for him.

"Guys" he said to his fellows "you resume the differential. The lady here and I need a moment to catch up"

House led Rachel outside, and they sat on one of the benches in the hallway. After a couple of questions, she explained everything he wanted to know, like what she was doing in the hospital (sick babysitter, busy mom) or how she had come to find his office (boring PA, missing uncle Jim) or how she recognized him (name on the door, plus blue eyes, cane, and funny voice).

He was genuinely impressed. But although he wanted to talk more to her, he just couldn't. Cuddy's assistant was probably freaking out already, and he really needed to focus on his patient. Rachel didn't react well to this news.

"I wanna stay with you. Greta is boring" she whined.

"I know kid, but I have to work. Maybe another time" he replied, taking out his phone from his pocket, ready to call Jones and tell her to come pick Rachel up.

"But I missed you" the little girl said, this time hugging him again, in a last attempt to make him change his mind.

For some reason, that did something to him. He missed her too. And the chances that he would see her again soon were close to zero.

He sighed. Maybe he could keep her for a while. He already worked with four morons who knew nothing about medicine, one more wouldn't make any difference. Plus, he figured she would probably get bored quickly.

"Okay kid, listen to me" he said, turning to face her and removing her arms from around his shoulders "you can stay here, but you have to follow the rules, otherwise you are going back"

Rachel cheered up immediately.

"What are we doing? Is it a game?" she asked in excitement.

"Kinda" he answered "a man is sick and we are trying to figure out what's wrong with him. If you want to stay here, you need to be silent the whole time and to follow me everywhere. It's very important. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"All right"

House called Jones anyway, just to tell her that Rachel hadn't disappeared and that she was going to stay with him until further notice. Then, he took the little girl's hand and they went back to his office.

"Romans, we have a new fellow for today" he announced in a solemn tone "This is Dr. Cuddy and she is going to listen to us doctoring for the rest of the afternoon"

Rachel giggled. House was as funny as she remembered.

"Cuddy as in Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine?" Park asked.

"I think that's her daughter" Chase replied in a low voice.

House didn't even noticed them.

"Dr. Cuddy" he said, this time addressing Rachel "these are your colleagues: Dr. Chase, Dr. Park, Dr. Adams and Dr. Taub" he pointed at each of them while speaking.

"So if everything is clear for everyone, let's get back to the patient. Where were we?"

The result of the differential was potential lymphoma with consequent paraneoplastic syndrome, so the patient was scheduled for an MRI.

Much to House's surprise, Rachel had been quiet the whole time. He had given her a piece of paper, so that she could draw something in case she got bored, but she didn't even use it. So, he had decided to do the MRI himself, and take the kid with him, just to keep her busy. Also, he had asked Taub to go to the pediatric ward, and see if he could find a kid-sized white lab coat (he had heard that sick children liked to play doctor).

So now, House and Rachel were sitting together in the MRI room, both wearing their white coats.

It surprised him how much she looked fascinated by the images that appeared on the computer. She kept asking question. He ended up telling her random facts about the human body, like why the blood is red or how the digestive process works. She had listened to him carefully, genuinely curious, and then she had burst into laughter as he pronounced the word "poop". She was seven, after all.

Later on, when the MRI was completed (House found a small liver mass, that seemed to confirm the diagnosis of lymphoma), he took Rachel to the cafeteria and got her a chocolate muffin. Now it was her time to talk, and, as House soon found out, she really talked a lot.

"It's Michelle's birthday in two weeks and I'm sad because I won't be able to see her. Do you think she will be mad at me?" she was asking him, her mouth full of muffin. Michelle was her best friend in Pittsburgh, it was one of the hundred things she had said earlier.

"I don't think so. If she's really your BFF, she'll understand" House replied, taking a sip from his coffee mug. He was sitting at a table in the cafeteria having a random conversation with a second grader, and it strangely felt not weird at all.

"Mom said I should ship her something, like a frame with a picture of us, but I think Michelle would prefer a friendship bracelet. What do you think? Would you like it if your best friend shipped you a friendship bracelet?" Rachel asked again.

House had a flash in his mind of him and Wilson wearing matching bracelets.

"Oh, I would love it" he said ironically, but the little girl didn't catch the irony part, so she smiled, glad that House agreed with her.

"You know, in first grade I also had a boyfriend" Rachel added, giggling. Then she gave a furtive look around, and gestured House to come closer to her, as if she were going to reveal a big secret.

He leaned towards her.

"We even went roller-skating once" she whispered into his hear, covering her mouth with one hand.

"You little rebel" he commented, and she giggled again.

"Now there's a boy in my class" she continued "he keeps teasing me but for Valentine's day he got me a necklace and a daisy"

"Well, then he's totally into you" House said, in a fake serious tone.

"You think?"

He nodded, drinking some more coffee.

Rachel ate the last piece of her muffin, reflecting on what he had just suggested, then asked him another question.

"Is there someone you like?"

House took a moment to think of a nice answer. "Yes, your mom", for example was probably not an appropriate one. He decided to remain vague.

"Yes I do. But she doesn't like me back" he replied eventually.

Rachel seemed saddened by his statement.

"Why not?" she asked.

Once again, he had to think about something.

"Once I… crashed into her dollhouse, with… uh, my toy tank. Didn't do that on purpose, but it got her mad"

The little girl was looking at him with understanding now.

"I think you should apologize. Maybe get her a daisy, or invite her roller skating" she said wisely.

House gave her a half smile. He wished it were so easy. Also, he wished it didn't feel like he was talking to Wilson.

Thankfully, in that moment Adams approached the table, ending the awkward talk.

"The patient agreed to have the liver mass removed, so Chase brought him to surgery" she announced, looking at House.

He nodded. This only meant one thing: since he needed to go check on the operation, Rachel needed to go back with her mom's assistant.

He turned to the little girl to break the news to her, but she spoke before he could even open his mouth.

"What's surgery?" she asked.

"It's a place for grownups kid. I have to take you back downstairs" he answered.

"No please, I wanna stay with you" she said, as she got up from her chair, reached him, and threw her arms around his neck. Hugs had worked once, maybe they would work again.

"Not this time kid" he said firmly, trying to drift apart "it's really not possible. You wouldn't like it anyway"

"But why not?" she asked pouting, looking at him in the eyes.

At that point, Adams interrupted the discussion.

"In surgery they cut people open. There's blood, and bowels, and it's really gross" she said, trying to sound convincing.

Her goal was to make Rachel think of surgery as a scary thing, but the final effect was the exact opposite.

"They cut people open?!" the little girl repeated, her eyes wide open "that's so cool! House please can we go there? Pleasepleaseplease"

House really wanted to kill Adams.

He knew he should have said no to Rachel, he should have brought her back. But unfortunately, the Cuddy women really seemed to be his soft spot.

House's team had paged Wilson for a consult a couple of hours ago, but he was busy with dying patients, so he only answered as soon as he freed himself. It had been a busy day, but thank God it was going to be over soon.

He was told the patient was in surgery, so he figured House would be there as well.

However, he wasn't prepared for the scene that appeared in front of his eyes as he stepped into the OR gallery: standing in front of the glass, House was holding the hand of a little girl, both of them were looking down at the surgeons, and both of them were wearing the lab coat.

"Good evening, Dr. Wilson" House said, acknowledging his presence.

"Good evening Dr. Wilson" Rachel mimicked, turning around and giving Wilson a big smile.

The oncologist winced.

"R-Rachel? What…" he stammered "House! Can I talk to you outside for a second?"

House knew he had no choice.

"Dr. Cuddy" he said to Rachel "I have to talk to Dr. Wilson for a moment. Will you notify me if Dr. Chase needs something in the meantime?"

Rachel nodded, and took a seat on a chair.

The two men left the room.

"So, the patient has fever, itch, seizures…" House started saying, but Wilson interrupted him straight away.

"House! Are you totally insane? She's seven! And what is she doing with you anyway?!"

House told his friend the whole story, what Rachel was doing at the hospital, how they met, and her weird interest in medical stuff.

Wilson folded his arms to his chest, focusing on how wrong it was to have a second grader watching a real surgery and ignoring the fondness in his friend's words as he talked about the little girl.

"But surgery House?! The OR gallery is not the right place for a child!" he insisted.

The diagnostician shrugged.

"I told you, she was curious. And who am I to stop a young mind from fulfilling its curiosity? Besides, she frankly seems fine to me" he said, glancing back at Rachel, who was still sitting on a chair with her eyes fixed on the monitor.

"You know who is not going to be fine?! You, when the elder Cuddy finds out what you allowed her child to do!" Wilson retorted.

House rolled his eyes in annoyance. Actually, he didn't think about the other Cuddy, or what she would say. She was not talking to him anyway, so no way he would see the kid again soon. He just had nothing to lose.

The two men talked a bit about the patient, then went back into the room and sat next to Rachel. For the first time since the surgery started, she looked away from it and went to sit on Wilson's lap, she kissed his cheek and started telling him everything about her fun afternoon with her friend.

House observed them, how affectionate they were with each other, the way she played with his tie while speaking. She had hugged House a couple of times too, but it was far from being the same thing.

Of course, he thought. Wilson had seen her grow, through a webcam yes, but House didn't even have that.

Suddenly his pager went off, distracting him from his thoughts. It was Jones. Meaning, Cuddy Sr was done with her meetings and wanted her daughter back.

"Kid!" he said to Rachel "Time to go, momma is back"

It was almost seven, so the clinic was already closed to patients when House and Rachel arrived there. There was only Cuddy leaning on the nurses desk.

As soon as Rachel spotted her mom, she run towards her.

House saw Cuddy bending towards her daughter, telling her that what she had done was not nice and that she shouldn't have run away from Jones without saying anything. He saw the little girl nodding, whispering something that he couldn't quite catch. Then, he saw the two of them hugging.

"All right, go get your stuff, you can tell me everything you did today while we are on the way home" he heard Cuddy say softly, and then he saw Rachel running cheerfully towards her mom's office.

That left him alone with Cuddy.

He thought his presence was not really needed, so he turned around to leave the clinic, but she called him back.

"House, wait"

She was walking towards him. He would have thought she was going to kick his ass, but she actually didn't have an angry expression on her face.

Did she want to talk about what happened at his apartment? Now?

He hoped not. It was one of the most humiliating things that ever happened to him, and he hoped he would never have to talk about it again.

"Thanks for watching her" Cuddy said instead, cracking a smile.

House wasn't expecting this.

"I mean, really… I don't know what the two of you did, but she seemed… happy. So thank you" she continued, taking another step towards him.

He didn't know what this was, if she was just being polite, or if she was trying to tell him something more. He just nodded.

"You're welcome" he said.

Then, Rachel came back and hugged House once again to say goodbye.

"When am I going to see you again?" she asked.

"I don't know kiddo. Soon I hope" he answered honestly.

Then they said goodbye again. House stood there in the empty clinic until the two Cuddys were out of sight, then he went back to his patient.