*Forty nine, I believe?
Reviews I mean, not the chapters. I know I'm on twenty eight, that much I am certain. But it's Emma's wedding, the Houses have watched their baby grow up... and now she's getting married to a business law teacher. So Huddy sweetness and the little girl we've grown to love have sweet reminiscent memories. Reviews are appreciated, you know. Just like everything else: Broadway tickets, House marathon in class, a guaranteed acing of my Geometry exam tomorrow?*

Memories
She's a newborn. Her mother's wedding dress is in the chair, her father smiles and stoops over his new wife and looks down at the bundle of joy they created. "We're finally a family." She whispered to him.
"What do you mean?" He asked. "We were always a family."
"I mean a real family." She grinned. "What will we name her?"
"I don't know the first thing about names, Lisa." He warned. After a few minutes, he cooed. "Emma."
"What?"
"Let's name our baby Emma." He grinned. "Naming her Lisa wouldn't work, and Emma isn't the most popular name in the book. We haven't treated an Emma, the name doesn't have a backstory. And... it's beautiful." If she had known him a little less well, she would have expected him to cry of joy. Of course she was surprised when he did.
"How sentimental." She grinned. "House, are you crying?"
"Of course not." He denied the obvious tears in his eyes. "Emma?"
"Emma's beautiful." She kissed House's cheek. "Emma Marie House."
"I love it." He embraced his tiny daughter, and then his wife in turn. "I love you."
"I love you too." Her amorous reply. "And you too, Emma House."

She's one year old. Toddles around the office, usually crawls though. Doesn't speak, but is as curious as a cat. Or, in some cases, as curious as a House. He picked up the little dark-haired girl and set her on his shoulders, holding her legs so she wouldn't fall off. Foreman and Chase were there to witness it, Cameron at the table. "I never thought I'd see House a father." Foreman's remark.
"And him married." Chase's reply to his statement. "To Cuddy."
"It's a love story." Cameron mused.
"You're such a girl, Cameron." Chase teased.
"At least I'M working on the case and not gawking at a baby girl. Future pedophiles." Cameron's retort to the two. "She's just like any normal child. Haven't you two ever seen one?"
"Of course. We see babies all the time." Foreman responded.
"But they aren't House's spawn." Chase tried to prove his case valid. "One day, you may have a kid like that."
"Nope, not looking for love. I'm looking to solve this CASE so we ALL keep our jobs."
"There's a difference and not looking for love and avoiding happiness." Chase told her.
"I WAS happy. You all don't seem to understand that."

Two years old. She runs and walks and frisks about, but she's never far from her parents' sight. Chase and Cameron had watched the little girl, and she wondered what it would be like... her and Chase as a family.
"One day, you and I will be like them." Cameron told him.
"I sure as hell don't want to be like House." He told her flat out.
"Not like that, I mean... we will be a happy family." Cameron grinned.
"Is this your way of telling me..."
"I really love you, Chase." Her smile was frank, her embrace short but loving.
"You said I was the last person you'd fall in love with." He reminded her.
"I lied." Cameron runs after Emma and scoops her up. "Emma, say hi to Uncle Chase." The girl waved, but said nothing.

Another year passed by.
As Cameron and Chase's wedding drew nearer and nearer, Cameron approached Cuddy in her office, making sure House was there too. Cuddy was warmed by her husband's embrace, their daughter coloring an anatomy poster vividly with shades of red, pink, peach, and white. "Dr. House, plural, I need a favor of you two."
"We're kind of in the middle of something." House kissed his wife's neck, softly and slowly, seeing Cameron watching. "Fine then. What do you want?" Cuddy asked, pushing House away slightly as though to say "not now".
"I want Emma to be our flower girl, for the wedding." Cameron grinned.
"What do you say, Emmy?" Cuddy asked her daughter, getting off of House's lap.
"Kay." Emma replied, and darted over to Cameron's side.
"Remember the wedding's next month." Cameron reminded them.
"Like I can forget when you and Chase are always talking about it." House's sarcasm was bitter and spiteful but it worked for him.

Emma was four years old. Her mother and father had just come back from Las Vegas, the conference, and she was expecting a little one for Emma to call her brother or sister. House was working hard with his partial team: Chase, Foreman, and Cameron's long-term replacement a doctor that went by the number Thirteen. "Don't worry, honey, she'll come back. She always does." Cuddy told her husband, holding him close to her. "I know she was valuable to your team."
"I'm not worried about her as much as angry at him. There are few people I worry about." He turned around and pulled her until she bumped into him. "I'm worried about you, Emma, and the little one."
"That's a relief."
"And Chase is a jackass." House sputtered. "If Cameron won't come back for him, she'll come crawling back for us. All four of us."

Sure enough. Emma turned five and greeted her baby brother on August 29th. Cameron was back, and Thirteen had left quickly and anxiously to find another job. Space was made between Chase and Cameron, and the team's tight bond went down the drain.
But it started with a common cold.
"Greg, take over for one day. I'm sick, the kids are sick: no one should be around the hospital right now. Not unless we want them sicker." Cuddy warned over the phone, the love in her voice muted by the cracks in every other word.
"Get better, darling." He blew a kiss into the phone, and she gave a light chuckle followed by a hacking cough. "I'll bring you three soup on the way home. Chicken noodle?"

Six year old Emma was far cuter than younger Emma. She got prettier by the hour, and House would swear that every single one of the hospital's employees loved her. Some it was parental, others it was LIKE THAT love her. It was all in his head though.
Lunch one day, Wilson and Emma and House were eating in the hospital cafeteria. "So, Emmy, what do you want to be when you're older?" Wilson asked abruptly. House reached over his tray and took a few fries: half for himself and half for Emma.
"I want to be a doctor." Emma told him proudly. "And a mom."
"Two powerful jobs there, kiddo. Why don't we start by getting you through third grade?" House asked.
"Third?" Wilson was stunned.
"Skipped kindergarten, opted out of second."
"She'll be in middle school by the time she's nine." He told his best friend. "That will not be good for you or Cuddy."
"She's always flirting with older men, I'm not concerned." He was referring to the fact that she always played with Chase's fluffy blonde locks. "She can be anything she wants to be, and knowing her it won't be some teenage prostitute."

Seven fell on them hard. Avery was sick, really sick. Emma was in fifth grade and coping with the age difference of three years with most of her classmates. They tried to push her up another grade to sixth, and the success of that rang out in her second semester schedule: she'd be a middle schooler at seven! Avery getting worse, slowly but surely, was tearing the family apart. "I will not let you let him go." House told his sobbing wife, wrapping her in his arms as they sat in the hospital waiting room. "The doctors are going to take care of our baby boy, don't cry.. shh... shhh." He tried to comfort her and pulled her up to himself, her head buried in his tee shirt. Emma sat by them, watched them cry but showed no emotion.
"He'll get better." Emma told herself, tried to reassure herself. But it didn't work, even on herself. There was nothing positive coming from a boy who hits his leg on the side of a table and it just kept bleeding.
"We got it to clot." Cameron said. "We just don't know why it wouldn't."

Leukemia cleared after rounds and rounds of chemo. Sometimes the House parents thought the only reason he hung on was Emma. "She was the only one to never give up hope." House said, clearly and promptly: seeing his son and daughter play with the stuffed elephant Emma had gotten him.
"I never thought I'd see this." Cuddy admitted. "He's better, Emma's a happy eight grader." She said, and stood on her toes to kiss her husband's cheek.
"That worries me. Next year, we'll have a high schooler. A nine year old in high school." He grinned. "I can't even imagine."

The March after Emma turned nine was all she asked for. Still in the eighth grade, graduation approaching, her mother announcing she was expecting another baby. Avery was better and didn't have to go for any more chemotherapy. And her father was as crabby and childish as ever. "But Cuddles!" He whined, stepping into the office. He didn't even care that his children were sitting there: Emma reading Anne Frank for the school project they were doing on the Holocaust, Avery coloring in the poster with crayons of green, blue, orange, and purple.
"Greg, it's out of the question."
"But why?" He complained. "It's always at a big hotel, let's do something local this Christmas. The party would be so much more fun at our place."
"You just want an excuse to NOT have to wear your suit."
"No, I just don't want to hire a sitter." He limped up behind her and pressed both his hands onto his wife's flat stomach. "And I don't want my pregnant wife, who's due around then, driving her intoxicated hubby home."
"Then don't drink." Her response, followed by a light kiss.
He kissed her back.

Emma's tenth birthday wasn't quite as celebratory as the others. Her parents were gone, they had left her, left all four of them with Cameron. It wasn't the worst punishment, minus the fact that she hadn't done anything wrong.
Woke up early, made herself pancakes and left a tray of them by the stove. Mixed up some cupcake batter, set in the liners into the pan. Oven preheated to 350, batter poured in and tossed in the oven.
Cupcakes done, quickly frosted. Cameron woke up and she offered her pancakes before going to get ready for school. Got dressed, grabbed her backpack and was driven to school. The twins and Avery hindered her from getting to school on time.
Test given early, accused of cheating. We all know how THAT went down. *If you don't... go back and read it again.*
"Cameron, thank you." Emma told her as her teacher walked out.
"What for kiddo?"
"For helping fix my grade."
"Your teacher's a wackjob, that was TOTALLY irrational."
"She's not known for being rational." Emma grinned. "But then again, neither is daddy."

Eleven rolled past. Her prom date picked her up at seven, junior prom was going to be great. Matt Duncan was a man like no other Emma had ever met: sweet, compassionate, and always willing to laugh. "You ready for the time of your life?" He asked her.
"I guess so. I've never been much good at dancing though." She warned.
"Don't worry, it's all a game at prom. Every dance has good and bad dancers. You'll catch on anyways."
"Kay." And like that they left.

His twelve year old: prom queen and high school graduate. Going to ECU, all mindset on being a doctor. "What now?" House asked, pretty sure he or his wife were bound to start crying.
"We have a college-bound baby." She got all sentimental. "This day was always coming, Greg."
"Aw, Cuddles." He pouted. "Does my little damsel need to be saved?"
"I'm not a damsel in distress. I just don't want her getting hurt." Cuddy smiled shortly.
"None of us do, that's why I'm here to protect her. All the women in my life will be safe as long as their night in shining armor is around."
"Well, if you aren't playing Prince Charming." She teased. "Who's your Snow White." Cuddy playfully punched his forearm.
"You." He kissed her. She quickly escaped him and continued down the hospital hallway. "Aw, come on, Snow, that was no fun!" He whined, limping at a quicker gait than usual.
"Not in front of the staff, Greg." She hit him in the chest with the file she just picked up.
"Snowy-White, Rosy-Red, do you beat your lover dead?" And she continued to walk away.

Emma's thirteenth birthday was something like no other. For starters, Candace and Ellen, her roommates, made her cupcakes and planned her a big party. Small, only with the people in their study group, which is about a dozen. "Thanks for the party, you two."
"What else could we do for the one person on this campus who won't spend their birthday in a bar?" Candace teased. "It's the least we could do."
"I'll pay you back." Emma guaranteed.
"How? You already give us all your notes to study by before our tests." Ellen reminded her.
"I just... thank you!" She hugged the two lovely ladies in her room. They smiled at her, and shortly after they were all in bed; getting rest before their test.

Fourteen, Emma thought, I guess I'm fourteen now. Cameron called her that morning, a case of pernicious anemia and a bleeding disorder. What a present, thought she, a case for me to crack.
Emma had really been living in her head those days, and who could blame her? Candace and Ellen, her roommates, had left: one ran away with her lover, another couldn't afford the school anymore. And that left Emma alone. Which left more time for fantasies: dreams of her saving lives, or meeting her Roland. Perhaps being fourteen was considered invaluable, but it meant everything to Emma.

A fifteenth birthday for Emma, celebrated by a letter from the new college. They were sending her to a sorority. "A sorority? That can't be good!" She shouted. This was a new school, a masters degree going under her belt.
"Miss House, we just thing it would be better if you lived with other girls, rather than alone."
"I prefer being alone." She snapped. "I've always been alone. You expect you can change that?"
"Well, no. But maybe you'll make new friends." The man offered. "Close friends."
"I'm fifteen. The youngest one there is at least four years older than me. Some of them could have kids, kids my brother and sister's age."
"It's either you move into the sorority house until you graduate, or you leave our campus."

Sixteen and seventeen were irrelevant.
Eighteen is history we all know.
Nineteen, though, was a dream sequence.
Her hair curled and up. The dress fit like a glove, the gloves on her arms were beautiful and delicate. She felt like a princess.
Her dad walked her down the aisle and didn't want to let go of her arm. "Daddy, I'll be fine. You will see me at work everyday, like usual." He didn't cry, he didn't smile: he just released. Cameron took the bouquet and the veil was lifted. Her flower girl, Merry, was right behind her in a light lilac dress. Much like Cameron's in miniature size. Joseph was dressed to the nines, his best man was Avery, who wore sunglasses with his suit. Her loser brother.
"Do you-" The preacher began. He was quickly interrupted with an in-unison "I do." from Emma and Joseph.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife." Before he could finish the statement, he saw his lips smash into her's, and her arms wrap themselves around his neck.
*Happiness is found only in a completed exam and a wedding. So we've dealt the sap, now where's that good ole family drama I'm so good at concocting? And no wedding malfunctions, yay! However, "instant drama" is a powder packet I have on hand. Be afraid! And review. I got twelve reviews while working on this chapter. Thanks! LML.*