KIDS

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This story is the sequel to MOTHERS, so it might not make much sense for those who didn't read that story first. If you didn't read it I suggest you to read that first. For those, however, who liked those 40 chapters... here I am ... as promised! I'm not going to revealing anything... apart from the flashforward of the first chapter then the story will come back where we left it, and, albeit with ups and downs, will always be strictly Huddy! I'll wait like always your reviews! And... the rate is always M... because I have no doubts anymore about your tastes! ;)

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CHAPTER 1 - Memories

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She was sitting in her office unable to focus on the document in front of her. Her eyes stared at the two pictures on her desk, but her mind was far away from that room.

We were so happy that day ... she thought looking at the picture of her wedding.

It wasn't a classic pose in front of a photographer. That picture had been taken by Wilson after the ceremony. She liked the spontaneity of that picture. House wrapping her waist and looking into her eyes with a look that still could send her a shiver down her spine. He hated wedding receptions as much as the ceremony in itself, and she knew it, but in that picture his smile was spontaneous and... just for her...

She smiled thinking about the emotions of that day. She could relive those emotions just by looking at that picture... as if they had been captured in a single shot.

That day was a sunny day on May and he had awakened her with a kiss... well... not just a kiss...

May 17th. Their second anniversary and now also their wedding anniversary.

Her gaze lingered on the other picture on her desk. House holding an asleep baby Grace and looking at a smiling Rachel beside him. Grace was just two months old.

She could remember the exact moment in which she had taken that picture. None of them was looking at the lens. House looked at Rachel, Rachel looked at Grace. And they smiled.

She smiled back at the memory of those long sleepless nights. It had been a year since that picture and those moments seemed now so far away.

Memories are always sweeter than reality... she thought... in memories fears, fatigue, tears... everything fades, leaving only the warmth of good times... or a fade image of the bad ones...

She touched those picture as if she could touch those moments of her life.

Her heart clenched as a thought invaded her mind ... someone was missing in those pictures... Someone else would have to be in a picture on her desk and... in its father's arms. But there would never be...

"Hey..." a voice woke her up from that thought. His voice.

She looked up and for a moment her gray-blue eyes met House's piercing blue ones. She couldn't avoid biting her lower lip imperceptibly, and she looked down, avoiding his gaze.

House still look at her while she looked down.

"Let's go home?" he asked, approaching her.

Cuddy nodded and closed her computer.

Neither of them spoke as she wore her coat and they exited together from the Princeton-Plainsboro main door on that cold evening in late February.

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House went into Rachel and Grace's bedroom and his eyes tried to focus the images in the dark of the room. It was three in the morning.

Rachel was asleep in her bed. Cuddy sat in the rocking chair by the window holding Grace in her arms and rocking her slowly.

"Is she asleep?" He asked.

Cuddy nodded.

"Just a bad dream ..." she said as she stood up still watching the asleep baby in her arms. Every time she looked at her it seemed impossible that it had already been over a year since she had held her in her arms for the first time.

She stroked her soft brown curls and brushed her cheek with her lips while she put her in the crib, tucking the blanket.

"Come, let's go back to bed..." House said, reaching for her.

Cuddy slipped under the covers and shivered at the contact with the sheets.

House reached out to her and she clung to him looking for the warmth of his body, stroking his chest through his shirt. She missed the contact with his body ...

House stroked her arm and felt her relaxing in that caress...

He sought her eyes and bent to kiss her lightly, touching her lips...

He kept to look at her as if to ask permission before deepening the kiss.

She closed her eyes and kissed him back seeking and stroking his tongue.

He gently stroked her waist and slid his hand further down to stroke her inner thighs and the soft fabric of her lace panties. She whispered a mmmhhhh to that caress continuing to kiss him in a long, deep, slow kiss.

Her body needed him... her mind was in desperate need of being relieved from the painful thoughts that crowded it...

House stroked her hip again, then moving up to caress her breasts.

His hand went back down her body savoring the feel of her skin beneath his fingers as his mouth didn't leave hers.

He loved her skin... he loved her body... he loved her.

His hand stroked her slightly again and touched her belly. And she immediately froze.

Her tongue stopped in his mouth and she opened her eyes meeting the piercing blue of his.

She put a hand on House's chest, slightly pushing him away from her, while a lump clenched her throat more and more...

"I-I'm sorry..." she whispered, turning her head to avoid his gaze "I-I... c-can't..."

House looked at her and saw her eyes filling with tears again as she looked away.

"It's all right..." he whispered.

She couldn't look into his eyes. Looking at those eyes was too much painful. In those eyes she saw the same look of that night.

Those eyes...

She loved those eyes...

Grace had those same eyes... right.. those same eyes... Grace had those same eyes...

House pulled her to him and held her in his arms while she hid her face on his chest.

He just held her as she sobbed against his chest and his shirt dampened with tears. He couldn't do anything else for her... just holding her tight.

He should have protected her... he wanted to protect her... but he had failed...

He didn't feel guilty. He had no guilt. But he felt helpless. Completely helpless in front of a destiny that they hadn't deserved.

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I know this is not what the most of you hoped to read... but I promise better days for them! It will be a "for better and for worst" journey! Keep reading and...please leave a review ;)