Thanks to nikkinicky420, Aly, and lily moonlight for reviewing! I'm glad you liked the last chapter!

Chapter Thirty Eight: An Unlikely Hero

Miami, Florida

Cuddy took hold of House's hand. She couldn't tolerate the sight, what had happened to her. Most of the team had hated her, thought she had worked her way through the competition to being a doctor to just win, and knew she had to have the right answer to everything. That had been the way she acted, but not everyone had hated her. Wilson, he had loved her, even if he had broken up with her. This shouldn't have happened to her, Cuddy kept thinking, she didn't deserve it. Amber Volakis had died in the hurricanes that had devastated Florida. And they were now attending her funeral.

She hadn't seen Amber for such a long time; it had been almost two years now since she last heard from her. They had been working at Princeton Plainsboro, back in New Jersey, now that the floods had completely receded, when Wilson burst through the doors of her office. (Yes, she still worked as administrator at Princeton Plainsboro, even though it had been a long time since she had worked there.) She had signed, "What's wrong?", while House translated to him what she had signed and Wilson only replied with more cries of sadness, giving House a paper that explained of how Amber died and that her funeral was being held in Miami, her new home. That was when they figured out where she had evacuated to, after Hurricane Arthur hit the east coast. Wilson had loved her all along, even if they had broken up.

She cried, probably loudly, because she couldn't hear. When she looked up at House, tears rolled down his face, and even she was surprised that he was crying. It wasn't like him, but it was nice to see that he actually cared for others besides himself and her. Wilson was probably sobbing the loudest of them all, only wishing for Amber to be alive. The old staff—Cameron, Chase, and Foreman—stood by the new staff—Kutner, Taub, and Thirteen—also crying too. And she knew how hard it must have been for Amber's family, especially for her mother and father, to hear that Amber had died in the catastrophic storm that had devasted millions around the world. There was no one that wasn't crying, how couldn't they, when they all knew Amber so well?

Cuddy turned around, just to look at the setting sun for a minute. But that wasn't the only thing she saw. Lilly Rush and Scotty Valens were standing farther away from the group, looking at her. She smiled and nodded to them. They didn't have to come to Amber's funeral, they hadn't even known her. But it made everything better, to know that two more people did care for her. She then mouthed the words, "Thank you."

Lilly nodded. When she turned around, Lilly whispered in Scotty's ear, "We're not the only ones who attended the funeral."

She nodded to her right, where Horatio was standing. Along with him were Calleigh and Eric.

Cuddy stood there, still firmly gripping on House's hand. He didn't seem to mind though; he only tightened his grip around her hand. He turned to look at her with his tear filled eyes. He mouthed the words, "Are you okay?"

She nodded. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Horatio Caine, who was a CSI investigator for the Miami PD, standing by two other CSI investigators. She smiled again; glad to see that more people she knew had attended the funeral. But she realized the only reason they had come to the funeral was because of her. They knew her and not Amber. They still felt sorry for her, because she was deaf.

She had only seen Horatio, back in Montana, but they hadn't truly ever met. He would have never known she was deaf or even heard of Amber, so what was his reason for being there anyway? But soon she found out the answer.

After the funeral had ended, Horatio walked up to her. "Lisa Cuddy?"

House didn't have to interpret for her, she could lip read her own name. She nodded.

As he began talking again, House signed to her what he was saying. "Amber Volakis, she was a doctor that worked for you?"

She signaled to House, while he said, "She worked for me. Dr. Cuddy is my boss."

"Amber Volakis had been a witness in a crime before we had evacuated Florida. I told her about the upcoming hurricanes and she insisted that she was leaving soon, but by reports it said that she stayed behind, helping others through the storm."

Cuddy stared at him in disbelief. The Amber she remembered didn't treat patients just to help them; she did it so she could impress House and have him hire her for the job. She never would have thought she would go helping people in the storm. That was what Cameron was going to do, back when Hurricane Arthur was going to hit New Jersey, but she had decided to evacuate to Chicago instead. Amber had had a caring side to her, a side that Wilson had only known about. "She died a hero," Cuddy signed.

After House had translated, Horatio nodded. "A hero indeed she was." He put on his sunglasses and turned to look at the setting sun. "Dr. Cuddy and…"

"Dr. House," he replied.

"Dr. Cuddy and Dr. House," said Horatio, "I thank you for this talk."

"No, thank you," Cuddy signed, "for attending Amber's funeral."

House again translated. Horatio replied, "It was my honor to do so." He turned to walk away, leaving her and House stand there alone. They soon left, where Amber's memories would be left in Miami.

Maybe Lilly and Scotty had attended Amber's funeral only because they had heard of her from Cuddy. But Horatio had attended her funeral because he knew Amber. He had actually talked to her. He had deserved to be at the funeral. And Amber, she hadn't died as she had been remembered while competing for the job as doctor on House's staff, back in New Jersey. She had died trying to save lives. She had died as a true hero, something no one would ever forget.

It had been five hours after they had attended Amber's funeral. They were now back in New Jersey; back to living the normal life they had a year ago. Of course, nothing would ever be the same, not after Amber had died. Wilson would be miserable, and he had already decided to take some time off at work, Cuddy had allowed him too. She too, would be miserable, not only mourning the death of Amber, but living her life soundless. Hers and Wilson's life would never be the same.

She was outside, sitting on the front porch of her house, gazing out at the stars. She had just had dinner with House, who had decided to take care of washing the dishes for her. She knew she should have helped him, but even that didn't make her move from her spot. She was too distracted by the beauty of the night. The door opened behind her, although she didn't hear it, and didn't know it was House until he came to sit down next to her. "Are you okay?" he signed.

She nodded. When it came to their conversations, they were usually long, and House would sign to her for hours. He was the only one who would ever sit down with her and listen to what she had to say. Even Cameron wouldn't discuss much with her; she didn't like having to sign for a long period of time.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" he signed inquiringly. "Is the Amber thing bothering you?"

"Not Amber," she signed quickly.

"Then what is it, Cuddy?"

She looked up at House. "I need to hear again, House," she signed. "I can't live my life like this anymore, not being able to hear anything. I want to hear your voice, not just imagine it. And I want to hear my voice again, although I probably won't even sound the same, since I haven't actually talked for a long time. But forgetting that, I think I should get the cochlear implant. Do you support that?"

"I support whatever decision you make," he signed. "This is if you want a cochlear implant, though. If you want to get it just because of me, then I think you should reconsider your decision."

Cuddy shook her head. "I want this for me and for you. I'm not stuck in between not hearing and hearing anymore. I need to hear. I can't live in soundless world for the rest of my life. But first, I'm going to have to figure out if I'm a good candidate with had having Meniere's."

House didn't sign anything after that, being quiet for a few minutes. "Look, about not supporting your decision to get that surgery a year ago, I'm sorry."

"How come you didn't support my decision? Was it because of me becoming disabled?"

"Maybe it was because of that then. I didn't want you to end up miserable, like me."

"You admit you were miserable. But I'd be more miserable if I had dealt with Meniere's than being deaf."

"I guess I thought you'd be able to control the Meniere's, like it wasn't even there. But when I saw your worsening condition, I knew you were right. You would be more miserable with the disease than being deaf. But Cuddy, I've realized that being deaf didn't make you disabled or different. You're a normal person, just like everyone else. I love you for who you are, if you can hear or not. I just want to make sure you're happy with your life, I don't want you to ever become miserable like I did."

Cuddy took that thought into consideration. He had been miserable before, but now he wasn't. She still had one question for him. "Was that really the reason why you told Stacy to leave?"

He knew what she was talking about. Stacy, who had originally been his wife, had come to Princeton Plainsboro with her husband, Mark, saying that he needed medical treatment right away. She had taken a job at PPTH, after asking Cuddy if it was okay, and while House was treating Mark as a patient, Stacy had begun to fall in love with House again. When she was about to leave Mark for House, he told her that no matter what, he wouldn't be able to make her happy because he couldn't change. Wilson had said the only reason why he told Stacy to leave was because he wanted to be miserable.

"It wasn't because I wanted to be miserable," House signed. "It was true, that I couldn't make her happy. I couldn't change for her."

"You make me happy," signed Cuddy. "You changed for me."

"I guess it was more complicated for her. But I'm glad she decided to stay with Mark. I wouldn't have been happy with her anyway. The part that I make you happy and changed for you is because I truly love you."

"I love you too Greg. But, what if we did decide to get married? I mean, that may be far away from now, but have you considered the thought? I want to have children, House; I've been trying to have children for such a long time. But there's a fifty percent chance that they could inherit Meniere's from me, or even become deaf like me. I don't want you to have to go through that, I don't want to have to go through that myself. I don't want to see our child, our children suffer."

House took her hand. "Our children will be beautiful no matter what. They won't suffer. They'll be okay."

"So you're saying that you'd want to get married?" she signed.

He nodded. She smiled; glad to know that he loved her that much, that he loved her for who she was. He signed to her, "May I ask you a question?"

And now he was using good manners. "Yes," she signed.

"How come that FBI agent thought you looked so much like Lianna Sardo?"

Cuddy froze at that question. It had been a year ago when she had talked with Samantha Spade and told her about Lianna. But she had promised to tell him about it, she remembered. "Lianna Sardo," she began, "she…she was my sister. We were identical twins."

House gave her a look of disbelief. "You, Lisa Cuddy, had a sister and you two were twins?"

She nodded. "I didn't know if it, until a few weeks before we evacuated New Jersey. She had another sister that lived in Albuquerque, but that was her foster sister. Lianna had been out to find her real sister, which was me."

"And what had happened to her?"

"She had gone missing back in 2003, in search of her daughter. But instead, she found a drug addict who was pretending to be her daughter. Wendy Halpert, that's her real daughter. She is the closest connection I have to Lianna now."

"Closest connection?" signed House. "Does that mean she's…?"

"Dead," she finished for him. "She's dead. She called me, sending me a video of her killing herself. She did it because of the stress in her life, first with what had happened to her while she went missing and because of her busy schedule, since she had been a neurosurgeon."

The two were silent for a while, looking at the sky. House thought for a moment, thinking of the news he had just been told. "You know, there have been a lot of questions that have been answered, but what about Thirteen?"

"What about her?" Cuddy signed.

"Did you ever figure out her name?"

She smiled, which gave almost everything away.

"You knew all along?" signed House. "You know her real name?"

"Maybe," she signed with a shrug. She did secretly know her name, she had found out during the time of the storm. She had found a piece of paper on the floor that had read, "My real name is…" and it was signed Thirteen. She hadn't checked it out with Thirteen first; she knew how well it went the first time when she had asked her.

"Any hint?" he signed questioningly.

She shook her head.

He gave her an imploring look. "Please?" he signed.

She laughed. "Since you said please, I'll give you a hint. Dr. Hadley. Now go figure out the rest of the name." She stood up from the steps, walking over to the door.

She looked at House as he signed, "Are you going to just leave me out here alone?"

"I could send you home," Cuddy signed. "But then you wouldn't be able to have dessert."

House immediately got up from the steps and walked over to her. He let her go in first, he was really showing his manners that night, and followed her into the kitchen for the dessert she had promised. But before she could let him have dessert, she signed, "Where had you been during the time of the storm?"

House smiled. "In Montana, not only working as a doctor, but also figuring out how the weather would take its turn."

"A good doctor and a good weatherman, huh?" signed Cuddy. "Maybe I should ask you about how the weather's going to be like everyday I come to work."

"Maybe," House signed in agreement.

They both smiled, and then they sat down at the kitchen table, enjoying the cake that was on their plates.

Chapter 40- A short, sweet Calleigh/Eric chapter!

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter will be up Tuesday or Wednesday! Also, I know I've said this many times before, but to those who do know Thirteen's name, don't tell or say it in a review. Her name will be revealed in the sequel to this story. And the countdown continues...2 more chapters until the end!