Chapter 8

A/N: FINALLY! I know, it's been a long time. I've had some incredibly crappy writers block, and I've been busy with the relis coming to visit over the chrissy period. But, chapter 8 is here, and it is HUGE! It's like a double chapter. So that should keep you all happy for a while!

Thankyou to all my awesome reviewers, Gallopgirl, Jojo, Smiling4eva, QT Roo, BookwormKiwi, FriendsHolic, TNIIT, StopTheWorldI'mGettingDizzy, Princess-Leasel, Prinnie, you all make my day by pressing that little button and saying a few words.

What kind of asthmatic smokes? One with a LOT of issues…

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Anna Cuddy walked into Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, a sour look on her face. Her mother and sister had gone inside about ten minutes ago, Anna using the "I left something in the car" excuse, when really she just needed a cigarette. She hadn't wanted to come in the first place, but Emily insisted on having her there for the company. Anna had argued, "I'm sure you can find some male nurses to flirt with instead," but only received a glare from Emily in reply.

As she entered the hospital, she made a point to look around everywhere. It was nice. Of course, she didn't expect any less from her perfectionist of a mother. She smirked as she surveyed the plethora of glass, obviously an architectural feature suggested by Lisa – she always liked to keep an eye on what everyone was doing. Anna took off her dark sunglasses, revealing her pure blue eyes, and slipped her regular glasses on. As she began walking through the hospital, several people had to do a double take. She look like a younger Cuddy, though dressed in black chucks, black skinny leg jeans, and a black and tiny white polka-dots baby doll button-down shirt, with white piping around the edges and a wide black belt high around her petite waist. A few people walked up to her about to say something, but quickly stopped themselves and rushed away when they realized she wasn't the person they wanted to talk to. She walked casually through the hospital, peering through doorways inquisitively, and pretty much just having a good nosey. She wandered around for a while, opting to use the stairs between floors instead of the lift, and slowed as she reached the diagnostics department. She looked through the glass as a group of three young doctors sat at a table - all looking extremely tired and bored - and an older man stood in front of a whiteboard, tapping it viciously with a cane, obviously giving the three younger doctors an earful. She smiled as the younger doctors gave tired answers to the older doctor's questions, apparently throwing around possible diagnoses'. Anna sighed and stared for a moment. She was thinking of diagnostics for her specialty, but was tossing it up with oncology. Oncology was winning.

All this thought of college and doctors made her nervous, and she started looking for the way out. She headed down the stairs quickly, itching for a cigarette. Finally, she found the entrance she had come in through, and swiftly headed outside. She pushed through the doors and walked a few paces before stopping and reaching into her bag for her asthma puffer. She grabbed it and took a long puff before reaching back into her purse for her carton of cigarettes. Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby. She hastily flipped the lid back, ignoring the warning as habit had taught her to, and pulled one out, slipping it between her lips. She reached back into her purse for her lighter and pulled it out, lighting up. She took a deep drag, and sighed on exhale. Feeling her nerves calm, she put the carton and lighter back into her bag. She wandered casually back and forth outside the entrance, intermittently inhaling and exhaling puffs of smoke. She was just making her fifth pass back across the entrance, her cigarette half gone; when the door swung open and someone grabbed her by the arm and spun her around.

"What on earth do you think you are doing!" Cuddy demanded, snatching the cigarette from Anna's mouth.

"Hey!" she protested. Cuddy put a hand on her hip, a shocked look on her face.

"You're asthmatic!" she replied, scandalized, "What are you doing smoking?"

"It's not a big deal, mom," Anna said, rolling her eyes. Cuddy dropped the cigarette to the ground and stood on it, before picking it up and throwing it in the bin – not wanting cigarette butts to start collecting out the front of her hospital. She jutted out her jaw and crossed her arms.

"It is a big deal, it could kill you," she replied.

"I could also be killed by a car on the way home tonight," Anna said defiantly, crossing her arms to mirror her mother's, though her taller stature put her a good four inches above her.

"Since when did you become little miss risk taker?" Cuddy asked, disbelieving of her daughter's attitude.

"Oh please," Anna replied sourly, rolling her eyes, and going back into her purse, pulling out the packet of cigarettes. Cuddy immediately snatched it away.

"Hey!" Anna protested angrily, "Give them back!"

"I am not gonna let you kill yourself by kick-starting an asthma attack. You should be smarter than that," Cuddy demeaned.

"Yeah, I've been getting that message loud and clear for the last 18 years," Anna replied bitterly.

"Anna…" Cuddy said, her voice softening and growing quieter, arms uncrossing. "What's going on? This isn't like you, smoking…"

"How would you know what is like me? You don't know me. And quite frankly, I don't want you to," she replied bitingly. Cuddy bit her lip and rubbed her neck uncomfortably.

"I know you still hate me about what happened with Linda -"

"At least you've got one thing right…"

"- but… I…" Cuddy trailed off, lost for what to say.

"See, no explanation," Anna replied, shaking her head and walking back into the hospital, leaving her mother outside, still lost for words.

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Chase was elated to escape the diagnostics room after House made another crack about his hair. They had been creeping into the lunch hour because Foreman spent a decade trying to explain his theory – and House gets cranky when he isn't fed – so he fired some bitchy comments at Chase. Just as Chase rounded the corner, a pretty candy striper approached him, and he smirked.

"Oooh, looking hot Emily," he quipped, chuckling at her red and white uniform.

"Insert laughter here," she said, holding her hands up together, palms about a centimeter apart. She looked quite the part, with her hair in low loose pigtails, and a white ribbon as a headband, matching her uniform.

"Clean any bedpans yet?" he laughed.

"Yeah alright, that's enough," she said sourly, "I know the boss lady, and wouldn't hesitate in getting you fired."

"Sorry," he replied, obviously not, a grin still plastered on his face.

"Escaped from Dr House's evil clutches?" Emily asked.

"Just about to go get some lunch. I wanna grab a Reuben before he comes and eats them all," Chase replied.

"Well what a coincidence, I was about to get lunch myself," Emily said with a playful smile.

"May I escort the young lady?" Chase asked humorously, offering his arm.

"Why of course," Emily replied in an uppity English accent, linking her arms through his, and smiling as they both headed off towards the cafeteria.

Foreman and Cameron rounded the corner behind them, Cameron immediately looking put-out as soon as she saw Chase and Emily happily linking arms.

"How long do you reckon, before those two are doing the no pants dance?" Foreman asked her with a smirk.

"I think she's just using him," Cameron said seriously, as they continued walking behind the two, who were constantly flirting and laughing.

"She's using him?" Foreman scoffed. "If anyone was using anyone, it would be the other way around. After all, she's Cuddy's daughter."

"Exactly," Cameron replied, crossing her arms and watching them. Foreman looked at Cameron and raised an eyebrow.

"Someone's acting a bit jealous," he commented. Cameron put on a scoff.

"Oh please. Why would I be jealous of her? I'm a successful, highly paid doctor, and she's just riding on her mom's coat tails. Chase isn't gonna be interested in her," Cameron defended.

"Looks like he already is."

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Chase and Emily sat at a table in the cafeteria opposite each other, he just polishing off his Reuben, and she, having finished her salad, picking at some fries. They had been engaging in flirty banter for the last half an hour, with Cameron watching from another table basically ignoring everything Foreman was saying to her. When the contents of Chase's sandwich slipped out from between the two slices of bread and Emily proceeded to erupt with laughter, Cameron couldn't help but completely turn and look at them, eyebrow raised. Even further, when a bit of sauerkraut had landed in Emily's hair after somehow being flung across the table, and Chase had leaned over to take it out for her, Cameron had blushed bright pink and immediately turned her attention back to Foreman, trying to hide her awkwardness.

"Cameron, what is up with you?" asked Foreman, obviously irritated by Cameron's distant behaviour – he was trying to talk about himself.

"Nothing, I…" she stumbled, "wouldn't you have thought she'd look more like Cuddy?"

"Huh?" Foreman replied, slightly confused.

"I mean, yeah you can tell she's her daughter, but her colouring is completely different, and her hair is straight and light brown…" Cameron mused.

"Umm, Cameron, this is a bit awkward that you don't know by now… but it takes two people to have a baby," Foreman said, as if he were talking to a child.

Cameron cracked a smile and let out a small chuckle, "I know that. And I know that she probably looks like her dad, but I always thought that if Cuddy ever had a baby she'd make it look like her, like through the power of her mind or something. Will it to be exactly how she wanted."

Foreman raised an eyebrow. "This was all those times you've thought about Cuddy having a baby."

Cameron shook her head and laughed at Foreman, "Okay, new subject."

"Well, I'd love to see you try to fumble your way out of this one, but I gotta use the john before we get back to work, so I'll see you in a minute," he said, getting up from table and walking off with a grin. Cameron looked back over at Chase's table to find he too had gone, and Emily was left polishing off the few fries she had left by herself. Cameron saw this as an opportunity, and quickly got up out of her seat, and headed towards Emily. She immediately sat down where Chase had been sitting.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Dr Cameron." Emily looked up from her salad and gave a small smile.

"So I've heard," she replied.

"And you must be Emily," Cameron added.

"Indeed I must," Emily replied, sensing that this girl was going to start probing for information very soon.

"Dr Cuddy's daughter?" Cameron went on, still looking for more confirmation.

"Look familiar?" Emily asked, sticking her chest out, squishing her breasts together and smiling wickedly. Cameron turned bright red and quickly tried to look anywhere that wasn't Emily's chest. It took her a moment to work up the courage to ask another question to this girl who so obviously wouldn't be embarrassed by a thing Cameron could throw at her.

"So… I guess you're used to hanging about at your mom's hospital," Cameron said casually, knowing full well that Emily hadn't been to Princeton Plainsboro in all the years that Cameron had been working there.

"Nah, Anna and I never usually hung around where she was working – we had school and stuff, and she was always so busy at work that us visiting would just be an extra burden," Emily explained.

"Anna?" Cameron asked, confused.

"My sister," Emily answered casually, popping a fry into her mouth.

"You have a sister?" Cameron continued, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Twin," Emily said, just as casually as before.

"So how do I know that I'm really talking to Emily?" Cameron asked, trying her best to be playful.

"Because I'm Emily, and not all twins are identical. We're fraternal," Emily replied, a hint of frustration creeping into her voice. Cameron tried her best to ignore that hint of condescension and continued her questioning.

"So what do you do? Are you at college?" she asked, still trying her best to be nice.

"No, I'm an actor," Emily replied, having finished her fries and wanting to get away from this nosey doctor. Emily saw that flick of a smirk in Cameron when she told her that she was an actor – that happened a lot when she was talking to doctors, especially ones like her grandfather.

"What about your sister? Is she an actor too?" Cameron asked, a small smile growing on her face.

"No, she's a med student. At Harvard," Emily replied, slightly bitingly. Well, that shut Cameron up.

"So," Cameron continued, after a moment or two of silence, "I noticed you were having lunch with Dr Chase."

"Rob? Yeah, he's a great guy," Emily replied. Cameron's stomach tightened as Emily casually used Chase's first name.

"He is. Are you two…?" Cameron asked, hinting towards a relationship.

"Oh no, no," Emily answered with a chuckle, "but, you never know..."

"Really? Well, I better warn you – he's not really a commitment kinda guy."

"Well thanks for the heads up Al, but I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself," Emily replied, sick of Cameron's probing. Cameron churned at the nickname.

"It's Cameron, or Dr Cameron," she corrected slightly icily.

"Oh sorry, I thought we were doing first names, since you weren't calling me Cuddy," Emily quipped back.

"Even if we were, the name's Allison," Cameron spat, trying her best to remain composed and nice. This conversation was getting heated very quickly.

"Well Allison, as lovely as this has been, I've got to get back to work, and I think you do to," Emily said, standing up.

"Of course, those bedpans won't clean themselves," Cameron smirked. Emily squared her jaw as Cameron quickly sauntered away.

00

"Can you fire someone for me?"

"Who?" Cuddy asked casually, not looking up from her work.

"Allison Cameron," Emily replied with distaste, as she sat down in the chair opposite her mother.

"Well hun, I'd love too, but that would be unfair dismissal," Cuddy said, still not looking up from her mounds of paperwork.

"She's a bitch," Emily added, crossing her arms defiantly. Cuddy looked up from her paperwork with a raised eyebrow.

"Sounds like someone had an unpleasant experience just recently," Cuddy replied, folding her arms on the table and leaning forward in interest.

"She basically ambushed me in the cafeteria at lunch and started shamelessly probing me for information on myself and Anna, and… other stuff that wasn't her business. She wasn't being very nice about it either, let me tell you," Emily said, carefully omitting their talk of Chase from the conversation.

"Well that's a little rude," Cuddy replied simply.

"You're telling me. She seemed so pleasant from a distance… but I spose looks can be deceiving," Anna said.

"I wonder why she suddenly decided to bring the claws out on you?" Cuddy asked, bemused. Emily then decided it wouldn't be a good idea to tell her mom that she'd been flirting outrageously with a hot young doctor.

"Who knows? These sorts of attacks are never paired with logic," Emily replied flippantly. "She was like a lioness on the prowl... hunting down her prey then ripping at me with her huge claws, teeth bared, ploughing into my flesh."

Both women were silent for a moment, processing, then laughed at the visual Emily had created.

"Yeah alright, that's enough, she's one of my staff and quite frankly she's a decent doctor. Although I admit her 'high moral stance' and need to know everything about everyone is annoying at times, she inevitably gets the job done," Cuddy said, turning her attention back to her work. They sat quietly for a minute, Cuddy doing her paperwork, and Emily twiddling her thumbs and looking around absent mindly. Emily had already gotten changed out of her candy striper outfit – she always brought a change of clothes so that she wouldn't have to wear it to and from the hospital – so she was just waiting for her mom to finish up work so they could go home.

"Where's Anna?" Emily asked, bored with just sitting around.

"How should I know," Cuddy replied, still writing, "I haven't seen her all day."

"Last I saw her she was in the oncology department following Uncle Jimmy around and hanging on his every word," Emily added.

"Oh yes, you know he mentioned that you hadn't come to visit him yet," Cuddy replied with a small smirk and looked up from her work, interested.

"I'm saving it for when he least expects," Emily smiled deviously. Cuddy laughed to herself for a moment, then remembered something important.

"Oh, when did Anna start smoking?" Cuddy asked, obviously disapproving of the notion.

"Oh… only a few months ago. It's a long story," Emily replied flippantly.

"Most of your stories are," Cuddy quipped.

"True. Well… her roommate Marianne," Emily said, then sticking her fingers in her mouth and pretending to gag, "by the way, she's like a chain smoker, and Anna would come home from class and the dorm would just be completely shrouded in smoke. After a while, as could only happen to Anna, she became addicted to the second hand smoke. So, when Marianne lit up, Anna would go and sit next to her, sucking up the smoke in the air," Emily made loud sucking noises for dramatic effect, "and all that. Then, Marianne went on spring break, and there was no second hand smoke, so Anna took it up first hand."

"I'm surprised she hasn't had an asthma attack somewhere along the line, you know what a sensitive asthmatic she is," Cuddy replied.

"Well… she always takes her medication before and after she smokes. I think she's addicted to the meds too," Emily said. Cuddy shook her head in disbelief.

"What happened to miss anti-smoking, anti-alcohol, anti-drugs, anti-gambling, anti-animal testing, anti-everything?"

"She grew up."

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Please take the time to review on your way out.

Coming up next… Emily and 'Uncle Jimmy' have a little chat about Anna and Cuddy, and Cuddy announces that she has a date…