Chapter 3

A/N: Another abundance of reviews! I am loving you guys sick right about now… thanks for all the love, etc… and keep it coming too. As usual a quick shout out:

GallopGirl: yay! Thanks for adding me to your favourites list! Makes me feel special :p

prinnie: you know, I hadn't thought about Emily/Chase… but now you've given me ideas… hehehe! All shall be revealed in due time my dear, in due time.

Jojo: ahhh… I think you're thinking identical twins. They're not actually identical, their fraternal… but that shall all be explained later when Anna gets to PPTH… hehehe indeed she will!

Hero: Anna's creeping in slowly, and don't worry, she'll be at PPTH in a chapter or two… personally, I'm excited!

Remote Control Princess: Ohhh, you have no idea how much fun I had writing that Chase bit! I just felt so cheeky, it was great. Thanks for the review.

StopTheWorldImGettingDizzy: hey there, don't worry, more house/cuddy interaction coming soon (mmm I don't really like word huddy either)… I'm just establishing the twins atm, but soon, soon… we will have our interaction! I've got it all planned out…

Bookwormkiwi: Well, glad you're getting into it now. I'll try and keep the chapters interesting for you :p

The Orange Elf of Oblivion: hehehe I love Chase is gay jokes! I don't think he is (although I know there are a lot of chase-slash fics out there)… I just like to toy with him :p I always love the token aussie in stories (gives me a chance to shatter that 'kangaroo-in-the-backyard' image), so you shall be seeing more of him, quite possibly embarrassing himself too, in the future…

Anyway, that's enough drabble from me. Though I sense some more drabble in future chapters… don't ask me why. Anyway, I know we're moving kinda slowly, but like I mentioned to a reviewer, I just gotta establish the new characters – and have some fun with it :p the big plot twists (well, more of them) shall be coming your way soon. But, for now, enjoy this chapter…

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Emily sashayed towards her mother's office confidently, a wicked smile on her face. She was having too much fun for it to be legal. As she approached the nurses' station in the clinic, she smiled flirtatiously at a group of young male doctors and waved, saying a quick "hello boys," before disappearing through Cuddy's office doors, leaving them all gaping. She stopped in the foyer of the office, noticing her mother's absence at her desk. She crinkled her nose slightly, then grinned as an idea struck her. She turned quickly to face Cuddy's assistant, and flashed him a flirtatious smile.

"Hey," she said, sauntering towards his desk and leaning on it suggestively.

"Ah, hi," he replied, a little overwhelmed, and completely chuffed by her advances.

"I'm Emily," she replied, tossing her hair flirtatiously.

"I'm James, Dr Cuddy's assistant."

"I know," she grinned. "Tell me James, have you ever heard of the Bangles?"

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Cuddy walked briskly down the corridor towards her office. She had just been to find House, but on arriving at his office she had been informed by Dr Cameron that he had gone home. She was irritated by the fact that she wouldn't be able to pester him about clinic duty like she had wanted. There were always many things to get angry at House about, but clinic duty was Cuddy's all-time favourite. Nothing riled him up more than clinic duty, and quite frankly, she thrived off his annoyance.

As she approached the nurses' station, she noticed them all giggling quietly and sneaking glances at her office. As she reached the office herself, she saw what they were giggling at, and what she saw did not make her happy. She pulled open the doors to find her assistant James, and Emily dancing crazily in her office. Emily was on the couch, jumping up and down, and James was dancing across the room playing air guitar. Cuddy's mouth dropped open in disbelief. She could hear the muffled sound of music, but as she opened the second set of doors, the full volume of the Bangles' 'Walking Down Your Street' hit her.

"What the hell is going on!" she said loudly trying to be heard over the music. James stopped immediately, and Emily slowed her jumping.

"We're just having a good time, mom," Emily smiled.

James' eyes widened, he looked at Emily and squeaked, "Mom?"

"You better get back to your desk before I fire you James," Cuddy said sternly, and James almost ran out the door.

As he passed Cuddy he tried to explain, "I didn't know she was your daughter, I -"

"Save it, or I am firing you right now," Cuddy said, not facing him, her eyes still locked on Emily. James quickly retreated out the door. Cuddy crossed her arms and stared out her daughter, who was still standing confidently on the couch.

"Are you going to get off my couch?" she asked.

"Depends. Will you yell at me?" Emily replied.

"Can you just go and turn the music off please?" Cuddy said with an aggravated sigh.

"Fine…" Emily replied, jumping off the couch and heading over to the desk, turning off her iPod, which was sitting snugly in the dock for its speakers. She turned around to face her mother and crossed her arms.

"Okay, I'm going to give you a chance to explain before I completely bite your head off," Cuddy said coolly, with a bit of bite.

"There's not really much to explain. James said he'd never heard the Bangles, and we came in here to listen to some of their music," she replied just as coolly as her mother had.

"Alright, if you're gonna play innocent, then I'll just have to go straight into it. What on earth did you think you were doing? This is my office! In a hospital! I could have come back with benefactors, or important clients! Do you have any idea how hard it would be to explain such an immature act as this! You're 19 for god's sake, show some self control!" Cuddy lectured.

"Mom, don't freak out! I was just trying to show him a good time! I'm sorry, he just seemed so uptight, he needed to loosen up. I promise it won't happen again," Emily tried to explain. Cuddy let out a deep sigh, and tried to calm herself.

"You do understand that I am not happy about this, don't you?" Cuddy said sternly.

"How could I have missed it?" Emily said sarcastically. Cuddy just shook her head in disbelief and then let out a little chuckle.

"What?" Emily said, a bit confused by this sudden change in her mother's reaction.

"I can't believe he was playing air guitar," Cuddy smirked. Emily's face broke out in a broad smile and she now considered it safe to move a bit closer.

"I know, he was really jamming out there," she grinned.

"Do you think if I asked I could get him to do it in front of the whole staff?" Cuddy laughed.

"Right now I think he'd do just about anything to not get fired," Emily chuckled, as her and Cuddy both looked through the glass to see James sitting nervously at his desk, pretending to work.

"Okay, well," Cuddy said, heading towards her desk to gather her things, "lets head on home and… never speak of this again."

Emily grinned, "sounds good."

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Anna opened her dorm room door, and the thick stench of cigarette smoke hit her like a ton of bricks. As she closed the door behind her, she could see Marianne and her boyfriend on the couch each dragging on a cigarette, a bottle of beer in hand, and a lot more empty bottles on the table.

"Oh hey, Anna!" Marianne giggled. "Did you get lots of study done?"

"Enough," Anna replied begrudgingly, making a beeline for her bedroom.

"Oh no, don't go!" Marianne said with a bit of a slur, as she noticed Anna was going to her room.

"It's been a long day, I'm just… going to bed," Anna replied.

"But it's only 8 o'clock!" Marianne protested, leaning over her boyfriend drunkenly.

"Woah, babe, it's like… 11 o'clock," her boyfriend said in a low drawn out voice.

"Fuck!" Marianne squeaked, before irrupting into a fit of giggles. Anna quickly grasped at her doorknob, desperate to get away from her nightmare of a roommate, her shaky hands having trouble gripping. She finally managed to get it open and quickly retreated, closing the door behind her. She dropped her book bag and rushed across the room to her dresser, pulling open the top drawer and grabbing her asthma puffer, taking one long puff. She let out a deep breath as her airways freed up. She paced across her room nervously, fighting an inner battle with herself. One side of her finally took over, and she reached under her bed, grabbing out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. She cursed herself inwardly as she pulled one out and stuck it between her lips, flicking the lighter on and touching its flame to the cylinder's tip. She took a drag as the paper began to burn and plonked herself on her bed. She lay down, blowing puffs of smoke into the air, as her air purifier blasted away next to her on the nightstand.

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A/N: Well, there you go, another chapter. Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to review, it'll only take you 30 seconds, I promise!