Cuddy had just shut down her computer for the day when Wilson knocked on her door. He waved and she gestured for him to come in as she retrieved a printout from her LaserJet.
"Cameron's article on diagnostics in emergency medicine. The journal issue was published today," she said as she stapled the sheets of paper and then put them into her briefcase. "What's up?"
"I saw Foreman in House's office about 20 minutes ago," he started. "He was in there in the dark, putting something under the blotter on the desk, so after he left I went to see what it was..." he took the single sheet of House's letterhead out of his own briefcase and handed it to Cuddy.
"This is House's handwriting on House's letterhead," she said frowning sadly.
"Yes, I think Foreman must have taken it out and put it back," he said. "I don't think it was just too much Vicodin that lead to this..." he struggled to find the right word, "situation." He didn't want to say breakdown out loud even though that's what he was thinking.
Cuddy laid the unfinished letter on her desk and held her forehead in her palm. "No," she agreed, "I don't think so either. But you know House..." she trailed off sighing.
Wilson nodded sadly, "Mayfield has a good program," he said. "I'm sure they'll realize it's not just the leg and the Vicodin."
"Yes, well, the question is will House?" Cuddy asked as they walked out of her office.
Cuddy was relieved to encounter little traffic on her way home that night. She looked forward to having a long evening with Rachel before her daughter's bedtime.
"Welcome home, Mommy!" Amelia exclaimed animatedly as the door opened. Rachel's nearly bald little head bobbed around like a baby robin's as she looked for her mother.
Cuddy smiled and sighed happily as she took her daughter from Amelia's arms. "How was your day?" she asked the baby and looked at her nanny.
"We had a great day. She drank all of her bottles, and had two naps. I brought her out for a walk at 3 and she really liked that," Amelia said as she retrieved her backpack from the hall closet. "If it's nice tomorrow we'll do that again."
"I might need you to stay late one night next week, if that's OK?" Cuddy asked.
"Sure, Lisa, classes end for the semester this week. Just let me know," she smiled, leaned down and kissed Rachel. "Night-night, Rachel," she sang sweetly. "See you tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, Amelia. See you tomorrow." Cuddy closed the door behind the nanny. She kissed Rachel's sweet baby-scented head. "Mommy had such a long day. I'm so glad to be home with my sweet girl."
She carried Rachel facing out on her hip as she prepared a bottle and put together a salad for herself with one hand. Leaving the salad on the kitchen counter she carried Rachel and the bottle to the living room where she snuggled with the baby while feeding her her baby formula dinner.
After Rachel was fed Cuddy put her in her swing while she ate her own light meal and read Cameron's article. She wondered if House even knew about the article. It was clear that Cameron's diagnostic skills, honed under House, were an asset to the PPTH emergency department.
Rachel started fussing and Cuddy busied herself with baby bedtime preparations. With a clean diaper and cozy pajamas Rachel calmed down and rocking in her mother' arms put her right to sleep by 8:00pm. Cuddy carefully placed her infant daughter in her crib, turned the nightlight on and tiptoed out of the room.
Cuddy went to her bedroom closet and pulled a cardboard box off the top shelf. She pulled a well worn deep sky blue sweatshirt with University of Michigan embroidered on the front in maize yellow out of the top of the box and searched through the papers for one of several books in the bottom of the box. She knew from its particularly heavy weight that she had found the book for which she was looking: Introduction to Organic Chemistry. She took the aged textbook out of the box and opened to the title page where, printed neatly in a now very familiar handwriting was:
"To the future Dr. Lisa Cuddy: it's all about chemistry. G. House."
She smiled remembering the dashing, athletic, 20-something med student Greg House who had given her this copy of the organic chemistry textbook he had recommended as a companion to the one her professor had chosen for the course after he helped her study for her first organic chem exam.
She had only been a freshman. She knew of him before she actually knew him due to his reputation on campus. She had been really surprised when she discovered that her chemistry tutor, whom she had contacted in response to an index card ad for chem tutoring left on a dining hall bulletin board, was none other than the Greg House. He was tutoring undergrads for extra cash.
But, that note... the note in the book. That wasn't just about molecules and equations. It was more about bonds, she thought and carried the book out to the shelves in the living room. It deserved to be kept in the light.
