A/N: hey guys! a reader commented saying they don't get notifications for this story anymore - could you let me know if you're experiencing this too, please? thank you so much xx
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A week and a half later, Talia was healing well. Effie was already strengthening up by herself, so Chase and Talia thought it was a good time for Elijah to meet her before bringing her through their front door. He'd been staying with Juliette whilst his parents pretty much camped out at the hospital together, determined to keep an eye on Effie's progress. They'd both been doctors for a little too long now, therefore they knew just how quickly things could turn around with NICU babies - so they were almost overly yet unapologetically cautious.
But surprisingly, everything was going well.
Finally, Effie was getting ready to go home. She was doing well without the tubes and she was already a little more responsive. She was 2lbs heavier than she was at birth, and her features were slowly filling out in her face. "Hiii my sweet angel girl," Talia cooed down to her as she cautiously changed her on the hospital bed. "Are you ready to meet your big brother? Huh? Daddy's just gone to get him," she whispered, gently manoeuvring Effie's tiny fist through the arm hole of the beige sleepsuit.
Then, as if on cue, the doors to Talia's room slid open and Elijah bounded through clutching a small bunch of flowers with Chase right behind him.
"Mama!" he giggled, rushing up to her and slamming his face into her legs.
"Oooft! Hiii baby boy!" Talia laughed back lovingly. She carefully bent down and kissed his face over and over again, having missed him more than anything in the world. "Ohhh, I missed you so much! How was Aunty Jules' house?"
"Good," Elijah grinned. His large eyes darted over to the little whimpering figure a few centimetres away from them, and he squinted in curiosity. "Oh."
For the first time in a while, Elijah looked slightly uncertain as his eyes floated back up to his mother again.
"This is your baby sister, bub," Talia whispered to him as carefully as possible. She scooped Effie up and slowly sat herself down on the bed instead, nudging her head to the side to indicate that Elijah should sit beside her - which he did.
"Baby," he blinked confusedly. "My baby?"
"Your baby sister, sweetie," Talia giggled slightly. "Her name is Effie. Say hiii, Effie!" Elijah rubbed his eyes and cocked his head to the side without taking his eyes off the baby.
"Hi Effie," he smiled shyly, lightly tapping the blanket that Effie was wrapped up in. He looked back up to Talia again. "Effie come home?" he asked Talia nervously.
"Yes, sugar," she laughed back. "She's coming home with us. Do you love her?"
"Yes," Elijah nodded confidently. He looked up at his father and cocked his head to the side again curiously. "Daddy love Effie too?"
"Yes, buddy," Chase chuckled from where he was catching the entire thing on his phone. "Don't worry. The Effie love train is truly alive and kicking! You ready to go, T?"
"In about two hours, yeah! They've pushed her final assessment back a bit cos the hospital is so understaffed, apparently," Talia grimaced, as Elijah hopped off the bed and went to run around the room to let off some steam. Chase pulled a face and sat down beside his wife instead, stroking Effie's fair blonde locks back with his index finger.
"Can't we just do it ourselves? We were literally doctors here-"
"Were. I don't even know who the Dean of Medicine is anymore to make that call," Talia scoffed back quietly. She looked over at her over-excitable son with a small smile on her face. "Has he eaten? Maybe you should go down to the canteen and grab him some food whilst we wait."
"Lij? Ya hungry, mate?" Chase turned his head to ask his son. Elijah nodded eagerly and bounded over to him. "Alright bud, let's go and get you a baked potato from the canteen or something-"
"Potatoooo," Elijah sang giddily. "Potato-tato-tato-TAAATOOOO!"
"Good god, what has he had today? Pure crack?" Talia murmured as Chase grimaced and stood up straight again.
"You'd think! I just think Juliette's place just puts him in a good mood - plus, he hasn't seen us properly for ages. He's just excited for us all to go back home and be a family again," he guessed with a yawn to finish.
"Really? Our toddler son told you all of that, huh?" Talia giggled playfully. She took Chase's sculpted face in her hands and kissed him softly. "Or was that my gorgeous super sweet and super sentimental Australian husband?" Chase blushed and rolled his eyes.
"Shut up, you. Lij, c'mon mate," he called out to Elijah once more. Elijah took his hand quickly and nodded.
"Mummy come?" he blinked at Talia innocently.
"Mummy has to wait for the doctor to check on Effie, then I'll meet you after, okay?" Talia compromised before kissing his little button nose. "Go on, honey. Go eat that potato."
"Okay," Elijah nodded before leaping out of the room with Chase scurrying after him.
"You want me to bring you back anything, babe?" he quickly offered up before he completely disappeared. "Caesar salad drenched in dressing?"
"Oooh that would be lovely, thank you baby," Talia smiled back gratefully as she rubbed Effie's snoozing little back. She watched Chase slip out of the room and sighed to herself as she slipped Effie's little pink hat on her head. She was so enamoured by her. She was absolutely beautiful and looked so serene all the time, and so gentle - Talia just wanted to protect her forever.
Then, in came Foreman.
Talia looked up at the sound of the door opening, and couldn't help but smile once she lay eyes on him. "Eric! Woww, it's been forever and a day!" she gasped quietly, so she didn't wake her snoozing daughter. Foreman grinned and walked over to her to kiss her cheek. "How have you been?!"
"Me? I'm not the one that just had their new baby in the same hospital she once worked in and birthed her last baby in!" Foreman pointed out cheekily, settling himself in a chair beside the bed. "How's it going? How is she doing?"
"It's going great and she's doing super well. She's our little warrior," Talia smiled back proudly. "We're just waiting for a nurse to give her the final one over so that we can actually take her home-"
"Did you want me to do it?" Foreman offered up quickly.
"What…wait you still work here?" Talia blinked in surprise. "I mean, if you could that would be great - thanks!" Foreman leapt up from the seat and gently eased Effie out of Talia's arms and over to the little examination table on the other side of the room, whilst Talia watched on intriguingly. "So…how much of the team are still here?" she asked slowly, only now realising that she had no idea what state the hospital was in anymore.
"Well…just me," Foreman sighed back as he weighed Effie. "I haven't even heard from the others since the day that House got sent down."
"But you stayed," Talia mumbled slowly. "So…how has it been?"
"Busy and overwhelming," Foreman answered honestly. "Nobody blames you guys for leaving, though. We couldn't believe what House did either. We knew he was unhinged but that?"
"Was disgusting, yeah," Talia cut him off shortly. She grazed her thumb over her lip as she watched Foreman listen to Effie's heart and lungs with his stethoscope. "Is she all good?"
"She's practically perfect. Put on a good amount of weight in a short amount of time, heart is good, lungs are clear - I'd say she's clear," Foreman confirmed with a small smile, making Talia let out a sigh of relief and prepare her baby carrier. He carried Effie over to her and gently handed her back. "Congrats on a healthy baby number two…despite the circumstances!"
"Thank you," Talia giggled, pressing a sweet kiss onto Effie's little forehead. "Ahhh. That's my girl. Let's go home." As she slowly prepared to lower Effie into her awaiting carrier and Foreman got the discharge papers ready, he cleared his throat slightly. "What's up? You've clearly got more to say, Eric," Talia smirked cheekily, knowing him all too well.
"I…wanted to talk about Leona," Foreman spoke bluntly. Talia looked up at him and bit her lip as the memory consumed her.
Trying to balance the joy of her new baby and the heartbreak of losing one of her closest friends for the past week had been absolute hell for her. She felt guilty the more energy she focussed on either situation, and it had come to the point where she didn't even know how to feel about it anymore.
"What about her…?" was all she managed to ask coldly.
"You…you two were pretty close friends, right?" Foreman pointed out with a serious face on. "Practically best friends, I mean."
"I was the poor bastard that had to diagnose her with cancer in the first place," Talia murmured thickly, "if that's what you mean."
"No, I know all that. I remember. It's just that…Wilson told me about how eager she was to die literally a day before agreeing to take the treatment to extend her life. He said her cancer had progressed but not to the point where she'd just die like that out of nowhere. The death shocked him, and he's the expert in his field," Foreman explained slowly and carefully.
Talia bit down on her jaw as her eyebrows furrowed together.
"Right…and you're telling me all this because…?" she scoffed.
And then her face fell.
"Shut, up. Are you standing there and boldly implying that I killed…that I killed my best friend?" she whispered hollowly, staring Foreman straight in his eyes.
"Not killed-"
"Euthanised, whatever, it's the same bloody thing Eric and you know it is!" Talia snapped. Her heart was hurting and her hands felt a little shaky. "Is that really what you thought I'd done?"
"I…I don't know - it's just odd timings, that's all," Foreman attempted to backtrack slightly.
But he could see by the look on Talia's face that it was too late - the damage had already been done.
"You're bloody joking?! If you'd looked at the actual timings on the CCTV footage, you'd see that I turned up to her room once the sheet had already been pulled over her damn head," Talia hissed, feeling the tears well up in her eyes already. "I went into premature labour because of the shock, but you think that I had the balls to euthanise her in the first place?! REALLY, Foreman?" Foreman's shoulders dropped and he let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm sorry. I didn't even mean to come across insensitive…it's just that it was something that made me look twice, and if it's making me look twice, it'll make the medical board look twice should they ever review it," he explained quietly, now sounding half sincere and half apologetic.
"Not if you don't mention her bloody mental state in the damn autopsy report. Common sense, Eric?" Talia grumbled out.
Then her dark eyebrows narrowed again.
"Why the hell do you care so much? This is weird, even for you. Have they promoted you or something?"
Foreman looked a little guilty then.
"They are…trialling me as the Dean of Medicine. I just wanted everything to be in order under my name before they made the final decision," he admitted awkwardly, dropping his head slightly.
Talia let out a short laugh and rolled her eyes. How she didn't see that coming earlier - she had no idea.
"Of course. Trying to dog me into it as soon as you get a bit of power to absolve yourself of it all - I know that we were never the closest, Foreman, but that is low," she muttered in annoyance, grabbing the release forms for Effie and signing them angrily. "You really think I snuck back into here, dressed as a nurse, got the lethal drugs, administered the lethal drugs, and killed one of my closest friends? Then, if I said I did it, what would you do - go and tell the board like a good little Dean wannabe?"
"No, I'd probably try and cover it up like I did for your husband, remember?" Foreman shot back cooly.
Big mistake.
"Oh, is THAT why you've come to me first? The Chase's = The Murderers? What, did you think I killed Ryan, too? I know that was a rumour circulating in the hospital whilst I went on that course, I'm not stupid," Talia snapped as she felt herself start to get heated. Before they could continue the argument, the doors slid open again and in came Chase and Elijah once more. Elijah practically skipped through with a bag of his baby crisps clutched in his hands and a box of juice, so Talia cleared her throat and straightened herself up before he noticed that something was up.
He was scarily good at that kind of thing - a little like her.
Chase's own face fell into one of surprise as soon as he spotted Foreman standing there.
"Oh! Hey mate, haven't seen you in a while," he chuckled friendlily, grabbing him in for a hug and slapping his back jovially. "How ya been, pal?"
"Great, thanks. I just checked the newest member of your clan out - she's all good and ready to go," he announced proudly. Chase grinned over at Talia happily - but was stunned to see that her face was still a little stiff.
"Awesome…right, T?" he blinked anxiously.
"Very awesome, yes," Talia smiled back sweetly. She looked over at her son who was still bounding up and down like a bunny. "Was the canteen closed?"
"Yeah, they didn't have any of the baked potatoes and the leftover food looked pretty crap so Lij and I gave up and came back," Chase sighed. "We're probably gonna have to stop off somewhere before we go home, though. The groceries aren't being delivered until tomorrow."
"Yeah, that's fine," Talia sighed, fiddling with her fingers. "Baby, you might as well take Elijah and Effie into the car. I just gotta finish talking about something with Eric." Chase squinted slightly at her suggestion but quickly nodded, reading her eye contact all too well.
"Sure thing. Lij, let's go bud! Let's wait for Mummy in the car," Chase told him brightly, holding out one hand for him to take and grabbing Effie's baby carrier with the other. Elijah nodded obediently and gripped onto his hand. "See you in a bit, babe. Bye, Eric!"
"See ya," Foreman sighed, watching Chase bustle out of the room with the kids attached to him. Talia couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight of him being all father-like to their over-growing family, but as soon as he slipped out of view, she turned to her old colleague again and her smile dropped.
"I didn't kill my friend, Eric. And you can honestly go to hell for thinking otherwise unprovoked," she hissed to him once the doors had shut again. "Screw you for ever coming to me with that suggestion, and I mean that."
"I'm not even saying you did. I mean, if you did-"
"I DIDN'T!"
"…I'd understand cos she was your friend and she was in pain," Foreman persisted on quietly, clearly not ready to give up. "But you were there-" Talia rolled her eyes and was about to shoot back her venomous rebuttal - until she really thought back to the day she actually arrived to the hospital in that panic.
And who she saw leave as she turned up.
And how flustered they looked.
"What's that face, Talia? What does that face mean? What have you remembered?" Foreman asked her almost immediately.
Talia swallowed and looked back up to him again.
"I didn't…look, you can go to the autopsy if you want. Or you can tell the board your suspicions. Or you can check your damn security cameras and match up when I turned up to the time of death. You're an asshole either way - I wanted her to live more than she wanted to live, whether that's hard for you to accept or not is hardly my concern," Talia muttered coldly, before standing up, shoving on her jacket, grabbing her bag and storming out of the ward too.
…
Once the Chases all got home, their takeaway dinner included, Elijah slammed himself at his little table and pulled out his plastic fork, eagerly chomping into his tasty chicken and potato dinner. Whilst he got down to business, Chase carefully lowered Effie into the Moses basket situated on their sofa, and Talia pulled off her coat and attempted to calm herself down. The entire car journey had been silent for her, because she was running through Foreman's words in her mind. She was offended, she was hurt and she was confused - but more importantly, Chase was anxious to ask if she was okay in the fear of upsetting her even more.
But he knew he had to - because if not, she'd bite it back and it would manifest into a mess.
"T? You've looked livid ever since we stepped out of the hospital," he mentioned tenderly, as Talia reached into the plastic bag and started pulling out different takeaway boxes. Talia shut her eyes and, before she knew it, burst into tears right there in the middle of the kitchen. Chase practically flew over to her and collected her into his arms. "Ohhh here we go. T, do we need to get you back on your meds? I was so scared of this happening," he murmured as softly as possible, rubbing her back in smooth motions.
"No," Talia sniffed miserably into his chest. "N-no, it's not post natal depression or anything. It's f*cking Foreman, Robert."
Chase's eyes darkened and he pulled her away from him slightly.
"What? What do you mean? What did he say?" he frowned. Talia took a shaky breath in and wiped her streaming eyes with her sleeves.
"He…h-he implied that I euthanised Leona," she whispered, still unable to believe it herself.
"HE WHAT?!"
"I know, it doesn't even make sense. Just because I'd ended up in the hospital at the same time as her time of death, which only happened because she left me a post death note that I read before I was meant to," Talia mumbled thickly, now going back to taking out the takeaway. "As if I'd do that to my own f*cking friend? It's out of order to even suggest."
"Damn right it's out of order! And he chose to bring this up with you two weeks after you prematurely gave birth? Good ol' Eric, killing it with the timings as usual," Chase scoffed under his breath. "Don't worry. I'll talk to him."
"No point," Talia sniffed as she cracked open one of the lids and tipped the sweet and sour chicken into a bowl. "He's being promoted to Dean of Medicine, which is why he's all up on my ass in the first place."
"…he is?!" Chase winced, taking out a bowl for himself too. "God. As if he couldn't have an even bigger head than he does right bloody now."
"Mate," Talia smirked slightly, finding herself cheer up slightly. "I'm happy for him, but there's a time and a place to be an asshole. And this afternoon was neither that time nor place - how he thought it was…no idea."
"Well, at least you're smiling again. So you've definitely taken it better than I ever thought you would," Chase pointed out proudly. "I think you're finally getting better with all this stuff, you know? The Talia a year ago would not have reacted like this."
"I am getting better. I think it's because I'm finally happy, my kids are healthy, my husband is beautiful and I'm feeling kinda stable for once," Talia hummed back, planting a sweet kiss on his unsuspecting lips.
"Mmm. And I love you greatly for it," Chase smirked once they broke apart. "So…is Foreman gonna try and report you or what?!"
"No. He wouldn't dare. He just wanted to do the 'it's my hospital and I need to know everything that's going on in it' scene to me, cos I'm the only one that would ever really listen," Talia murmured, making Chase roll his eyes again.
"Of course. And…why would he think Leona was euthanised anyway?" he suddenly frowned. "She had pretty aggressive cancer, it wasn't completely unheard of for her to suddenly die like that-"
"He said the timings were a little off and that her refusing treatment to then accept the treatment and suspiciously die was…well, suspicious," Talia explained tiredly, running her fingers through her hair. "Then he thought that me turning up on time was…well, you know - weird."
"No, what was weird was Leona leaving you a suicide note in the first place," Chase pointed out with an annoyed grumble. "Why would she even bother doing that if you were the one euthanising her? Come on, that's common sense-"
"Exactly. But…I didn't…I didn't even tell Foreman about that," Talia admitted quietly, lowering her head. She bit down on both lips as Chase blinked at her, the confusion now apparent in his eyes.
"…why?"
"Because the letter implied that Leona was always going to die. Whether it was before Effie's birth or not - she was planning to die, and she gave the letter to me after saying she would take the treatment," Talia explained quietly. "She wanted to leave the world with me on a high note. This entire thing…was planned."
"So…oh god? You think she was euthanised?" Chase hissed with widened eyes. "Someone in that hospital did that? Y-you… you don't think it was Wilson, do you?"
"No. Wilson was the one saying she was depressed to Foreman. Acknowledging that would be ratting himself out because that's what made Foreman come to me in the first place," Talia muttered under her breath. "There was…there was someone else I saw rushing out of the hospital as I turned up, and she looked a hot mess on that day."
"She…?" Chase trailed off.
"It was Remy. I saw Remy in that reception five seconds before I saw Leona's corpse, Robert."
