Chapter 11

A/N: FINALLY the new chapter arrives! It's been sitting around on my computer almost all week… but I got suspended from ffnet (can you BELIEVE) cos I had a songfic with lyrics in it… it was probably some HouseCam lover that ratted me out… pssssh! lol! But nah, I have now removed all my songfics so it won't be an issue anymore!

Anyway, I'm now back at school (final year, wooo0p!), so no doubt there won't be too much time for fic. But then again, I say that every year, and every year I still write and read heaps.

Reviewers! I love you! I have secret, sordid little love affairs with your words. Smiling4eva, GallopGirl, TNIIT, cazness, QT Roo, Princess-Leasel and Prinnie, you are CHAMPIONS! And I never realised how many of my reviewer were Australian before… so there you go!

Now, just for a quick disclaimer, there are a few bits in here that are from You've Got Mail, so, I DO NOT OWN YOU'VE GOT MAIL. Dang, I wish I did though! Love that film… I'm sure there will be some more references to it later in the fic as well. Anyway… for now, READ and review… lol

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Cuddy took a deep breath to calm her nerves as she backed out of her driveway. Despite herself, she was exceedingly nervous about this date, as she hadn't been on one in months. Sure, she'd talked to Max a bit, on the phone and via email, but she still felt like she was meeting someone completely new. Of course, not one to be hypocritical, Lisa had posted a photo of herself on the website, but had taken it down a few days later after receiving a number of highly explicit emails, and a comment from her long time friend, Susan, stating that it looked very "anonymous sex", as it was a full length photo taken at the beach, and Lisa had been wearing a large hat at the time that shadowed most of her face. So, consequentially, neither Max or Lisa knew what each other looked like. They had agreed that Lisa would have a book and a red rose on the edge of her table (very 'You've Got Mail', which Lisa was pleased with), and Max would carry a copy of the same book, so that they would be able to recognise each other. Naturally, Cuddy had withheld this little tidbit of information from her daughters, for if she had told them, relentless mocking would have ensued.

As she quickly pulled out into the street, a pair of headlights came speeding from the right, and both cars had to screech on the brakes to stop from colliding. Cuddy immediately pushed her palm hard on the horn, with a loud "what the hell!" and the other driver honked rudely in response. Cuddy gave an aggravated sigh and quickly drove off in the other direction.

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Chase drove down the street, trying to concentrate on driving on the correct side of the road. No matter how long he lived in the states, he would never get used to driving on the right hand side. He tried to look at the numbers on the houses without slowing down, and before he knew it, a car pulled out of a driveway, and he had to slam on the breaks to stop from hitting it. The other driver honked their horn loudly, and Chase honked back just a ferociously, shouting "watch where you're going!" It was just after he'd yelled this that he noticed the number on the letterbox – 925 – and the car that he'd almost ran into. That house, and that car, belonged to Dr Lisa Cuddy.

"Shit!" he cursed, trying to hide his face as Cuddy drove away in the other direction. He waited for her to disappear around the corner before he finally took a breath and pulled nervously into Cuddy's driveway.

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Emily closed the front door behind her and let out a sigh. Anna emerged down the hallway.

"Thank god, I thought she would never leave," Emily sighed. Anna raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you relieved that she's gone? Isn't that my job?" Anna asked.

"Gnah, Rob is gonna be here any second," Emily ranted, quickly rushing past Anna, down the hallway and into her bedroom.

"Excuse me?" Anna said, disbelievingly, following Emily and standing in the doorway as she rushed around her room, throwing off her pink t-shirt and pulling on a white crochet tank top and a denim waistcoat, keeping her black short shorts on.

"There is a guy coming here?" Anna asked, arms crossed angrily.

"No, not coming here, he's picking me up," Emily replied, hurriedly doing her hair in the mirror. Before Anna had a chance to reply, the doorbell rang.

"That would be him," Anna said in a deadpan voice. Emily turned to Anna and gave her the puppy dog eyes.

"Could you get that? Please? I'm not quite ready," Emily begged. Anna huffed and turned out of the room, heading to the front door. As soon as she opened the door she recognised that wavy haired doctor.

"Are you serious!" Anna shouted at Emily, although she was still facing Chase. Chase flinched in surprise at this sudden outburst.

"Hi, I'm Rob Chase, you must be Anna," he said politely, once he had recovered.

"Yeah," she replied dismissively.

"You're a doctor at the hospital. This is great, oh this is just fantastic!" she added sarcastically. Chase looked at her strangely, missing the point.

"Mom is going to murder you!" she shouted, once again at Emily, taking Chase by surprise. Emily quickly rushed down the hallway to calm Anna, almost tripping over her the long ties of her sandals that she was trying to do up as she walked.

"Hi," Emily smiled to Chase, briefly ignoring Anna.

"Hi," he smiled back, and Anna rolled her eyes and almost gagged at the sappiness of their smiles.

"This is sickening. And wrong," Anna said pointedly. Emily huffed slightly and gave an apologetic look to Chase.

"Can you excuse us for just a minute?" Emily asked, grabbing Anna by the arm and dragging her out of the room. Chase nodded in compliance as the two girls went quickly out of sight.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Anna said, as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Anna, it is not a big deal -"

"Pssh!" Anna spat, "This is probably the worst idea you've ever had."

"He's sweet, he's funny, he's a nice guy. Let him be," she reasoned.

"He is a doctor at the hospital. He is mom's employee," Anna said as if she were speaking to a child.

"I've never heard you say the word 'mom' so many times in the space of a minute," Emily quipped.

"You're changing the subject. Of course you are changing the subject," Anna said dramatically. Emily scoffed.

"I'm supposed to be the dramatic one," she replied, eyebrow raised.

"Emily, this is not a good idea," Anna said rationally. "Mom is going to have a hernia when she finds out."

"That's why she's not going to find out," Emily hissed.

"What, you want me to keep this a secret?" Anna asked, crossing her arms.

"Yes. Please," Emily begged. Anna took a moment to mull, arms still crossed defiantly.

"Fine," she caved. Emily broke out into a huge grin and kissed her sister on the cheek, who recoiled at the unnecessary show of affection.

"Thankyou," she sing-songed, and rushed out of the room calling "don't wait up!"

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Cuddy sat at the table, nervously jiggling her leg. She picked up her phone and checked the clock on the display again. 8:20pm. He was already 20 minutes late. She didn't know how long to wait for, she had already deflected three waiters that tried to take her order. She looked tensely across the room and spotted two waiters talking to each other by the kitchen door. They were facing each other, but intermittingly taking a glance at her. She figured they were probably betting on what time her date would show up, if at all. She could just imagine them all in the kitchen, laughing as they placed bets on her life. Thriving on her misfortune.

A large group were seated at a table nearby, and looked bewildered when there didn't seem to be enough chairs for their party. A younger man headed over to Lisa's table and asked "is this seat taken?", and when she replied "oh yes, I'm expecting someone" he didn't seem to buy it one bit, heading back to his group.

She spotted someone arriving out of the corner of her eye, and looked up hopefully. But it was not who she had wanted or expected to see. There stood Greg House, scanning the restaurant, obviously looking for someone. Cuddy quickly grabbed the book resting on the edge of her table and buried her face in it, covering her face with her hand and pretending to be knee deep in the book.

"Lisa Cuddy," Greg's voice called from in front of her. "Hello! What a coincidence. Mind if I sit down?" Cuddy looked up and closed the book.

"Yes I do. I'm expecting someone," she replied, trying to remain cool, although her heart was beating at a million miles an hour. This unexpected turn of events did not help her nerves. What if Max came and saw her talking to House? Things could not turn out well.

Despite her protests, however, House sat down carelessly and rested his cane on the chair. He picked up her book before she had a chance to snatch it back from him. He scoffed as he saw the title.

"The Da Vinci Code? Oh Cuddy, Cuddy, I didn't see you as the cliché novel type of girl," he smirked.

She quickly snatched the book back from him, "do you mind?" and put it out of his reach.

"So who are you meeting? Someone you met on the internet, no doubt, knowing your J-Date record," House replied, leaning back casually.

"Would you please leave?" Cuddy asked, trying to remain civil and pleasant in the public restaurant.

"I'll get up as soon as your friend comes. Is he late?" House whispered in mock-surprise, making a point of looking at his watch.

"As it happens, it is none of your business who I am meeting, or where I met the person I am meeting. And why are you here, anyway?" Cuddy asked, slighting indignantly.

"I always cruise the restaurants on Wednesdays, it's when I get my upset rejected girls, just naïve enough to go for some hot sex with an older man," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Cuddy gave a disgusted look and let out a sigh.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, getting frustrated at the fact that the minutes were creeping on, and Max could arrive at any moment. House ignored the comment and reached for the red rose, sitting on the edge of the table. He put it between his mouth and nose and twirled it carelessly. Cuddy gave an aggravated sigh.

"It's a joke to you, isn't it. Everything's a joke to you," she spat. House just smiled and continued twirling the rose.

"How did you even know I was here, anyway?" she asked, folding her arms defensively on the table.

"News spreads around that hospital awfully fast, Dr Cuddy. Especially when your daughters can't keep their mouths shut," he replied, and Cuddy finally snatched the rose out of his grasp, putting it in the book, safely out of House's grasp.

"What, so you thought you'd just come and gatecrash my date?" she asked angrily.

"Oh so it is a date? I thought it was a simple dinner with a friend," House replied innocently.

"And these daughters of yours," he continued, "such mystery, such anonymity. Tell me, Dr Cuddy, why the shameful secrecy all these years?"

"It's none of your business. My professional and my personal life are separate, and I'll thank you not to cross over into my personal life," Cuddy replied bitingly.

"You didn't seem to mind it 20 years ago. As I recall you loved having me in your personal life," House said cockily.

"That was a long time ago. Things change, people change. I'm a different person House, I have responsibilities," Cuddy replied, her cheeks flushing slightly as she recalled that month where she spent almost every waking and sleeping moment with Greg House.

"Hmmm, indeed you do. You're now the witchy old administrator," House said, scrunching up his face and putting on a voice as if he were telling a fairytale to a child, "putting curses on all simple doctors who dare pass her. Of course, fun is not allowed in her world!"

Cuddy sighed as House indulged himself. "Her two offspring damned to the confides of their home, never to grace the great castle's halls…"

"Are you quite done?" Cuddy asked with her eyebrow raised.

"I just wonder what it is that they've done that makes you so ashamed of them," House replied, leaning forward across the table.

"I'm not ashamed of my daughters," Cuddy said angrily.

"Then why did no one know about them until they magically appeared at the hospital just over a week ago?" House continued.

"Because it wasn't important," Cuddy spilled out quickly. House was silent for a moment, raising his eyebrows.

"Your kids aren't important to you?" he asked.

"No, that's not what I meant," Cuddy reasoned with frustration, shaking her head, "they had nothing to do with the hospital, and they needn't have at all if Emily hadn't just shown up out of the blue…"

"All this secrecy, Cuddy," House said with a dramatic sigh, "surely points to something even more sordid… some deep dark secret you've been keeping hidden… who knows what else there is to know about you! Just who is Lisa Cuddy?"

He ploughed into her eyes, searching for some sort on answer to his question. He leaned across the table, his face unintentionally close to hers, only centimetres apart. She chewed her lip as he stared her out, his ice blue eyes wide with curiosity. As he lingered so close to her, she couldn't help but remember that month back in college, where more often than not he would be this close to her – if not closer. They spent weeks tangled up in bed together, the bliss of their relationship seeming never ending. But as it happens, that bliss came to an abrupt end.

"Please leave. I beg you," she said in a quivering voice. House nodded, sat back into his chair, grabbed his cane and stood up, walking from the table and sitting down again at the very next table, his back to her. Cuddy reached into her purse, pulling out her compact. She opened it and looked into the mirror, pretending to inspect her lipstick, then sliding it slightly to look behind her. He looked sideways at her, and she turned away suddenly, quickly shutting the compact closed.

"Lisa Cuddy, were you spying on me?" House asked playfully.

"No," she replied in annoyance, trying to ignore him.

"You know, at this rate he's probably not even going to show. You see those waiters over there?" he asked, pointing to the same two waiters who Cuddy had seen earlier, "I bet you anything they've got a pool going on whether or not your guy's going to show up. I mean, a woman of your age -"

"Shut up House," Cuddy replied angrily. Her attention immediately turned to a man walking in the restaurant, but as she looked she noticed he had to be at least 70 years old, and he smiled as he headed over to a woman seated a few tables away of the same age.

"I am going to take a wild guess that that isn't him, either. Who is he, I wonder? Will you been mean to him too? Will you start out as sweet as sugar candy and then suddenly, miraculously, like a bolt from the blue, find that sharp little tongue of yours? Or will you just pop out the funbags as an opener?" House teased.

"No I won't," Cuddy replied defensively, "because the man who is coming here tonight is nothing like you. He isn't surly, rude or inexplicably cruel. He doesn't take pleasure in making everyone else miserable, or stick himself into other people's personal lives where he isn't welcome. Completely unlike you, he is kind and funny, he is wonderfully considerate -"

"But he's not here. He's left you waiting, like some sad sack middle-aged spinster -"

"That is enough," Cuddy spat, feeling a lump rise in her throat. She hated that Greg House was doing this, and was getting to her like this.

"I don't know what it is you get off on, but I am certainly not going to put up with it anymore. I've had enough of your rudeness and your insensitivity," she said, picking up her purse, her voice faltering at the oncoming tears she was trying her best to fight back. "Goodbye Greg." And with that she stood up, and walked quickly out of the restaurant, almost whacking straight into a man coming in the door.

Greg got up and moved to sit in the chair Cuddy had vacated. That was when he noticed the book and rose she had accidentally left behind in her rush, and he picked it up, placing the rose on the table and opening up the book, deciding to see what all the fuss was about. He was snapped out of his reading only a few moments later however, by a male voice.

"Are you… Dr Lisa Cuddy?" he asked, confusion in his voice. He stood tall at the table, his devastatingly handsome physique emphasised by the warm lighting. Man, Cuddy was going to be pissed she missed this one.

"You must be Max," House replied, with a warm smile.

"I thought… I thought Lisa Cuddy was a woman," Max said, perplexed, and a little frightened. House paused for a moment before answering.

"I am."

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A/N: hehe oh House, you make me laugh! Anyway, thanks for reading… please be sure to review on your way our.

Coming up next… Cuddy arrives home early to find only Anna there, and Emily and Chase's date comes with an unexpected ending…