DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything related to Fox or the TV show House. I'm only borrowing some characters. The characters belong to David Shore and company.
A/N: Sorry for the late update… School's a killer.
A few more chapters and ASH will finally be complete…
But I assure you guys, that there are a lot more that's going to happen!
Starting with this chapter.
ANOTHER SHOT AT HAPPINESS CHAPTER 50: HARD TO IMAGINE…
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House checked Mia while Cuddy prepared her soup. He noticed that her fever went a bit higher; it was now up to 103 F. He furrowed his brows as nothing much seemed unusual. Her eyelids were a little swollen, her appetite decreased, experiencing tiredness, and high fever.
"Mia, can you sit up for daddy please?" House requested his daughter.
"Don' wanna," Mia said, shaking her head.
"But daddy has to find out what's hurting you," House informed her, a hundred and one percent more gentle than the way he speaks to his idiotic clinic patients.
"Daaad," Mia whined hoarsely, "I don' wanna."
House sighed. That's irritable added to the list of symptoms.
House decided to act a bit stricter so that he can check his daughter's lymph nodes.
"Mia, please sit up. Daddy has to check your neck," House said in a firm voice, a pinch of gentleness still lingering in his tone.
"Oh okay," Mia said on a sigh. House smirked but helped his daughter sit up.
"What are you checking?" Cuddy asked House when she entered the room with a steaming bowl in her hands.
House just answered her as he continued to feel Mia's neck. "The lymph nodes in her neck and at the base of her skull are a bit enlarged."
Cuddy pursed her lips, "Any suspects?"
"Roseola," House answered, "Explains everything so far since she doesn't have cough or a cold."
Cuddy nodded in understanding. "And Roseola is contagious so the kid from the daycare must have had it and Mia just got infected if she played with the kid or got near the kid enough to catch the virus."
House nodded, "Yeah. Make sure your staff cleans the place better." Cuddy nodded, not in the mood to argue with him about the way her staff kept the hospital sanitized.
"We better wish she doesn't get a febrile seizure though. We're doctors but it's still different when you see it happening to your child." Cuddy said, looking at Mia who had her face buried in House's chest.
House nodded. Cuddy was right. It was a whole lot different.
Cuddy sat beside House and Mia then started blowing on the soup. Mia was looking at her with swollen eyelids and slightly teary eyes. Cuddy smiled softly at Mia as she took a spoonful of the soup and gently eased it a few centimeters from Mia's lips.
Mia just looked at the spoon with a pout.
"Mia, you have to eat a little," Cuddy scolded very kindly.
Mia sighed and opened her mouth as her mother helped her with the soup.
"Now, that wasn't bad was it? Unless mommy put spiders and creepy crawlies in your soup," House tried cheering her up.
Mia offered a little smile at House while Cuddy slightly sneered at him. Mia then chuckled a little when House made a face at Cuddy. A few curls were now splattered on her face since she left the warmth of her father's chest a while ago.
"That's our baby," Cuddy cooed when Mia was able to finish the bowl of soup a few minutes later.
"Mommy, can have water please?" Mia requested.
Cuddy smiled at Mia, proud that her daughter knew how to be polite—except when she's on a sugar rush. She nodded and left to get water.
"How are you feeling?" House asked, knowing that Mia was probably feeling like crap.
Mia stuck out her bottom lip and gave her daddy a hug. "Cold. You warm daddy." Mia said, rubbing her face on House's chest, trying to absorb the warmth. House smiled and rubbed Mia's back soothingly as his other hand took her comforter and wrapped it around her, pulling away for a moment to wrap her front with it. Mia immediately hugged him again.
Cuddy came back with the glass of water and smiled at House and Mia's position. House was hugging Mia as he looked at Smiley with a smirk while Mia looked like she was going out of a cocoon with her eyes closed, her bottom lip stuck out the way hers usually did, her hair messy, and her pretty face scrunched up a bit.
"Is she asleep?" Cuddy asked House who gave Smiley a final smirk then turned to her.
"No," House and Mia answered in unison. Mia's eyes remained closed when she answered.
"Here's you water sweetie." Cuddy said and handed Mia the pink Sippy cup.
"Thanks," Mia said with a soft smile. "You're welcome," Cuddy replied, sitting next to Mia, tucking away the loose curls that landed on her face.
Mia yawned and rubbed her face with both hands tiredly then looked up at Cuddy.
"Wanna go to sleep now?" Cuddy asked her. Mia nodded.
House gently ran his hand on Mia's back and up her neck as he kissed the crown of her head affectionately, "Goodnight princess, mommy and daddy loves you." House whispered.
"Goodnight sweetie, sweet dreams." Cuddy kissed Mia on the cheek. She then helped Mia get settled in the bed and tucked her in.
"Mommy?"
"Yes sweetie?" Cuddy asked Mia.
"Can daddy stay please?" Mia requested shyly. "I wan' hug him. He's warm."
Cuddy looked at House who nodded in return. She suddenly furrowed her brows in thought when House suddenly smiled softly at her.
"How bout you sleep with us tonight?" House asked Mia who immediately nodded and raised her arms, signaling Cuddy to carry her.
Cuddy wrapped her arms around Mia as she carried her to their room. House got Smiley and put him down on the floor when they reached the master bedroom.
"You're so warm, sweetheart," Cuddy whispered as she stroked Mia's curls.
"I'm cold mommy, not warm." Mia corrected in Cuddy's neck.
Cuddy chuckled a bit. She put down Mia and settled her in between her and House who pulled the duvet over them.
"Love you mommy and daddy," Mia whispered before she finally started dozing off.
After four days…
Mia's fever went down after three days. She now had rosy-pink rashes on her stomach and a few on her neck. They still had to look after her though.
House and Cuddy was a bit spent the day before. On the tail end of this, Mia had a fever that went back to 102.2 F, she was also irritable, and she had tantrums most of the time.
On the fourth day, her fever was gone and all that was left were the rashes that were thankfully not irritating and not itchy. House's guess was right. It was Roseola.
That night from work, Cuddy allowed House to go with Wilson to a bar. Wilson told her that he wanted to go out with House that night and since Mia was okay, and they were free, she agreed. She stayed with Mia that night, playing with her, reading her stories, and telling her some.
A few hours later around ten in the evening, the hospital called her and said that there was a very bad five-car pileup that needed more doctors, unfortunately, those on nightshift weren't enough. She didn't want to leave Mia behind, and she couldn't bring her to the hospital since she was still getting better. She called House but he wasn't answering. Maybe he put his phone on silent, she thought.
She decided to ask her neighbor and her friend to watch over Mia for awhile while she went to fetch House, hoping he wasn't drunk yet.
At the bar…
"How's Mia doing?" Wilson asked House. They were at a table near the pool table.
"She's getting better," House said, slurring just a little.
Wilson nodded, he wasn't drunk yet because he wasn't drinking too much because he had to drive back home. House on the other hand, he'll make sure would ride a cab or he'll drop him off.
A few hours later, Wilson definitely knew he wasn't going to drive home that night. And neither was House. Wilson was still a bit sober but not sober enough to drive. House was halfway totally drunk by that time.
"I'll get the tab," House said and stood up. He suddenly remembered that Wilson did ask him out tonight so Wilson had to pay.
When he turned around to look at Wilson, his friend was already holding up a bill with a smirk on his face. House smiled silly and snatched the bill and headed to the bartender. Wilson, out of boredom watched as House "paid" for their drinks at the bar. He noticed a woman checking out his best friend.
"Paying up," House said and handed the bill to the bartender. What he didn't see was the attractive woman with long legs, silky black hair, and green eyes who was looking at him as if he was some knight in shining armor. The woman was very attractive but she was way too drunk.
While waiting for the bartender to hand him his change, House looked at the assortment of expensive drinks on the display cases at the bar. He turned the other way to look at Wilson who was looking at him. Wilson shifted his eyes to House's side to indicate some other woman's presence.
When House turned to where Wilson was telling him to, he was surprised to find the drunken woman's lips glued to his in a fraction of a second. He wanted to pull away at once but the woman wrapped her arms around his neck. He had to pry her arms open before he was able to look incredulously and disgusted at the woman and walking back to Wilson. House knew better than to slap a woman. He wanted to hit the woman but he kept his rage bottled up and just talked to Wilson to calm himself down.
When Cuddy got to the bar, she was disconcerted and angered at the same time upon seeing a woman kissing House. Her House! The father of her child! Her fiancé!
What hurt her most was seeing the woman's arms wrapped around his neck. Tears started falling from her face and she turned on her heel quickly and made her way back to her car. She was slightly thankful that neither House nor Wilson saw her.
Everything happened so fast that she didn't notice how sickened out her fiancé was about what happened.
Thoughts rampaged through her head. Her heart was pounding as she drove carefully along the road.
But one thing was on the forefront of Cuddy's mind and it was more than hard to imagine:
Did House just cheat on me?
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A/N:
Okay… Again… Are you guys still there?
Only a few answered…
What do you think will happen next?
Lemme know what you think.
