Chapter 12

A/N: :o! 11 reviews! I love you! If it was legal to marry all of you, then I WOULD! Shame this country supports monogamy. lol! So my uncontrollable love (and quite frankly, a little lust) goes out to cazness (my Lena!), BookwormKiwi, StopTheWorldImGettingDizzy, Chromo26, TNIIT, Smiling4eva, QT Roo, prinnie (my kindred spirit), Princess-Leasel and bostonfan. By the sound of things you all loved House's final line! hehehe I'm glad it went down so well.

Anyway, I know this chap has been a long time coming, and I hope it doesn't let you down! Where it lacks the humour of the previous chapter in makes up for in dramaticness (well… near the end anyway). It's starting to get juicy!

Enjoy, and make sure to review!

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Emily smiled as Chase held open the passenger side door, and she slid into the car. Chase quickly moved around the vehicle and got in his side, slipping the keys into the ignition and starting the car.

"So what do you have planned for us this wonderful evening, Dr Chase?" Emily asked with a playful smile, buckling her seatbelt. Chase mirrored this action and returned a devious smile.

"Well," he teased, "there's this pub I know, just off campus, and there's a fantastic little known band playing there tonight."

"Oh really? Who?"

"Gismo," he replied, keeping his eyes on the road as they drove.

"Can't say I've heard of them before," Emily smiled, knowing where this was going. "And which member of the band are you friends with?"

Chase chuckled and shook his head, as his ploy was uncovered. "Lead guitarist and vocalist."

"Oh well in that case, I can't guarantee that I won't be going home with someone else…" Emily teased.

They arrived at the pub a mere 5 minutes later, after a car ride of flirty banter and comfortable silences. Chase, ever the gentlemen, opened the car door for her, and subsequently the pub door.

"Oh thank god," Emily said, as she looked around to see everyone reasonably casually dressed, "I was worried I was going to be underdressed."

"You look beautiful," Chase complimented, lightly placing his hand on the small of her back as he guided her through the door, "but you always look beautiful. Candy striper outfit or otherwise."

Emily blushed slightly and playfully slapped him on the shoulder. Not 10 minutes in, and the evening was already turning out well.

After saying a brief hello to Chase's old friend while the band was setting up, Emily and Chase grabbed a table, and had a light dinner. Emily was careful not to drink too much, as, like her mother, alcohol tended to affect her a lot more than the average person. They chatted about everything – from TV, to Emily's love of the Bangles which Chase's younger sister shared, to childhood anecdotes, to a heated debate about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Needless to say, Emily was on Jen's side.

The band was surprisingly good, and Chase was inwardly praising himself for making the right choice about where to go for dinner. Halfway through the band's final set, Emily insisted on trying to get a moshpit going, so, having dragged Chase up to join her, they both made complete utter fools of themselves, especially when Emily started trying to get strangers to join them.

They both laughed and applauded loudly when the band finished for the night. Chase wrapped his arm around Emily's waist and pulled her close to his side while they waited to say bye to Chase's friend – a move that Chase had insisted on, as he secretly wanted to show her off to his mate.

"Mikey, great show mate," Chase said as his dark-haired, tall lanky friend Mike approached them, guitar case in hand.

"If I were a label guy I would sign you," Emily added.

"Well, if only you were, my dear lady," Mike replied, giving Emily a reasonably flirtatious smile. Chase's grip around Emily tightened slightly.

"The last set was especially good," Chase commented.

"Ah yes, I could see you were enjoying it by the large amount of senior citizens being pulled up to dance by this fair maiden," Mike replied, continuing to flirt shamelessly with Emily. She laughed and slapped him on the shoulder playfully, toying with that green monster in Chase.

"Now, now," Emily mock-scolded, "don't go making little Rob jealous! He can't loose me on the first date."

Chase reddened a little, and Mike gave a knowing smirk.

"Well in that case, I better let you two love birds go. I've gotta go debrief with the band anyway," he said, giving Chase a friendly tap on the arm, and flashing Emily another smile before heading back to his band.

"So, it's still early," Emily said, once Mike was out of earshot, "I think I know a fun little place we could go."

"Should I be worried?" Chase asked cautiously as he saw a devious grin appear on Emily's face.

"Very."

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Cuddy sat in her dark car, pulled over on the side of a road not too far away from her home, her head leaning back against the headrest. As she had driven away from the restaurant the lump in her throat had only gotten bigger, and the few stray tears that had started falling were enough to blur her vision and force her to pull over before she had an accident. The ignition had not been off for one second before she had burst into tears. She wasn't usually the crying type; in fact, she couldn't remember having cried in years.

She hated House, she hated that he could get to her and that he always found a way of making every aspect of her life miserable. She felt like a fool, pulling over to cry, but all these months, even years of pent up frustration, anger and guilt had finally taken their toll, and she had to let it all out. She was angry about House, she was angry about Anna, she was angry about the two worlds she had kept separate for so long just suddenly crashing together, and splaying fragments everywhere. She was angry with herself for getting her hopes up about this date, and thinking she could have any semblance of a romantic relationship with a man. He didn't show, and she was left with House, bitter and cruel as always. She could usually brush off his insensitive jabs and comments, but he had caught her at such a vulnerable moment that suddenly those remarks didn't just roll off her shoulders. This time they stung.

So she sat hunched over in her car, forehead resting on the steering wheel as her chest lurched with each sob. She tried her best to cry quietly, but she was never good at stopping the deep sobs once they had started. She felt as if she had swallowed a whole orange, and it was lodged in her throat, forcing itself up and down with each banished breath. This process continued for quite a while, and as much as she tried to make herself stop, as soon as she had slightly calmed, a new onslaught would appear. She berated herself for acting like a 14 year old girl who just found out the guy she likes doesn't like her back. She was sure she looked a right fool, slumped over in her car, and was glad that there weren't too many cars on the road.

No sooner had she thought this than she heard a distinct knock on her window. Her sobs immediately ceased as she contemplated the dread of looking up into the face of whoever had caught her in such a horrid state. She quickly tried to wipe under her eyes whilst her head was still down, reduce the panda eyes, before flicking her head up quickly, pretending to be completely okay. As she turned to the window she faced a reasonably young dark haired male police officer, peering in through her window with concern. She gave a smile before pressing the button to wind the window down.

"Everything alright in here ma'am?" he asked.

"Everything's fine, it's fine," she replied, trying her best to keep a smiling front as she fought off the sniffles. The policeman then gave her a look, investigating her features.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked, searching her face.

"No, no I'm pretty sure you don't," she replied, trying her best to avoid eye contact.

"No wait, you're the head of that hospital! The Princeton Teaching one! I heard your lecture once, back when I was in med-school. That fell through for me, obviously," he said with a smile and a small chuckle. Cuddy forced a smile in reply.

"Dr Cuddy, right?" he asked, obviously thrilled that he knew who she was.

"That's me," she replied with dread, willing this situation to just go away.

"Hey Tony!" the officer called back to his colleague, who was waiting in the police car, "it's Dr Cuddy! You know, the head of the Princeton Teaching Hospital!"

"My partner Tony was in med-school too," the officer added, turning back to Cuddy, "but he never heard your lecture. Looks like they paired up the med-school drop outs, huh?"

Cuddy forced a smile, "looks that way…"

"But, ah," he added, his face turning back to one of concern, "are you alright? It looked like you were crying in there just before."

"No, no," Cuddy deflected, "I was… having an allergic reaction. To this new car air freshener I bought. My eyes were streaming, I had to pull over."

"Oh. Well okay then," he replied, not looking entirely convinced.

"I'm officer Mark Jacobs, by the way," he said, offering his hand for Cuddy to shake. She painfully obliged him and he gave a smile before saying "enjoy the rest of your evening," and heading back to his police car. Cuddy put the window up and immediately dropped her head to the steering wheel in complete embarrassment.

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Cuddy opened the front door, fully preparing herself for Emily's onslaught. Surely there would be hell to pay for coming home from her date early. She dropped her purse and car keys onto the dining room table, and was surprised when no one came rushing down the hallway. She mustn't have heard me come in. She started making her way down the hall, but still no one came out to greet her. As much as she was glad that she wouldn't be getting an interrogation right now, she was also a little hurt that Emily hadn't cared to come see how it went. Cuddy passed Anna's bedroom, the door slightly ajar, and turned back, knocking on it lightly. Anna was sitting on her beanbag in the corner, headphones on, listening to her record player and reading the jacket of a large, previously loved vinyl cover. Anna looked up when she noticed Cuddy's figure in the doorway.

"Hey," she said, a little more timidly than she had hoped.

"You're home early," Anna pointed out, only uncovering one ear.

"Well… it didn't go exactly as I had planned," Cuddy replied.

"Oh," Anna said, noticing the smudged mascara under her mother's red eyes and deducing that things really didn't go well at all.

"He was… unavoidably detained," Cuddy reasoned awkwardly.

"He stood you up?" Anna replied, suddenly feeling horrible for wanting to smirk. Cuddy rolled her eyes at her daughter's choice of words, and changed the subject.

"Umm, where's Emily?" she asked, trying to remain casual and hide the fact that she'd been crying, "I expected her to launch herself at me the moment I stepped in the door."

"She's ah…" Anna fumbled, "… at Bettina's."

"Bettina's? Is she back from 80s school already?" Cuddy replied, a little confused as she recalled Emily telling her that Bettina wasn't getting back from college for a few days. She studied 20th century history, but only paid attention to classes on the 1980s.

"Apparently so," Anna lied.

"Oh. What time is she getting back?" Cuddy asked, shifting her weight to the other foot, and leaning slightly on the doorframe, awkwardly wetting her dry lips.

"I wouldn't wait up," Anna replied, looking away from Cuddy and putting her headphones back on properly, expecting her mother to leave. Instead, Cuddy pushed the door open the rest of the way and wandered into the room, sitting herself down on the bed opposite Anna and her beanbag. Anna looked up from the record cover suspiciously. She could sense things weren't going to end well for her.

"So, um, what are you listening to?" Cuddy asked, trying to make some casual conversation, but instead making things even more awkward.

"The Free Design," Anna replied, still able to hear her mother over the soft harmonies.

"Oh," Cuddy answered, obviously not knowing who they are.

"Late 60s family band," Anna added, sensing the need for clarification. "I got it second hand today." Cuddy nodded awkwardly, and they sat quietly for a moment before Anna let out a small aggravated sigh.

"You know you don't have to pretend to care about my music. You can just go to bed or whatever," Anna said, putting the record cover down next to her and crossing her arms. Cuddy huffed irately.

"I'm not pretending to care about anything," she reasoned. Anna scoffed.

"I'm enjoying this small talk just as much as you are. And by the looks of things, it's not that much," Anna replied, making a point of turning up the volume dial on the vinyl player. Cuddy squared her jaw and stood up, deliberately smoothing down her dress. She strode purposefully across the room – the two steps that it took – and quickly pulled the headphones cleaning off Anna's head, who had intentionally ignored her since turning up the volume.

"Hey!' Anna gasped.

"When did it ever become okay for you to give me this attitude?" Cuddy said unsympathetically, standing tall in front of her seated daughter.

"When it became okay for you to drive family members away," Anna combated. Cuddy's face contorted with anger at this comment, and her cheeks flushed red in rage.

"I did not drive Linda away!" Cuddy spat.

"Oh really? Then why the hell did she move to Boston! It certainly wasn't to get away from all the college kids!" Anna yelled back, standing up with a snap, arms rigid beside her.

"They moved for Ted's job, you know that," Cuddy tried to reason, shaking her head with anger, clenching and unclenching her fists in a failing effort to stay calm.

"Sure, and the fact that you two were fighting had absolutely nothing to do with it!" Anna spat, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Cuddy yelled, pointing her finger aggressively, and that vein in her forehead starting to pulsate. It was at that moment that the shrill ringing of the phone broke their argument. Neither woman moved, both stubbornly staring each other out, blue to blue, Cuddy's heels making her the same height as her daughter. The phone rang three more times before Cuddy finally broke, and strode out of the room, heading for the receiver. Anna was left standing, chest heaving up and down in aggravated breaths, as she contemplated the pain her mother had caused her in the past.

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A/N: Well, there you go! Don't forget to review on your way out.

Coming up next… Emily and Chase's date continues, and Cuddy makes an unexpected phone call…