Chapter 19
A/N: SHOCK HORROR. I have FINALLY updated this fic!! It's been almost 16 months, but I am finally breathing some life back into it. It was such a big project of mine that it seems a shame to just let it die without ever coming to a proper end!
Anyway, I know a lot of you who were reading have probably moved onto other fandoms by now (I, for one, have moved on to Lost) but hopefully you, along with some new readers, will take the time to get back into it! A big ask, I know, but just by flicking back a few chapters you can probably jog your memory. If not, hey, think of it as a brand new fic you can read. (hehe)
So, a lot has changed in both House's world and mine since this fic was in the works. We all know that the universe of House is a drastically different one – all these new people, blonde Cameron… its nuts!! So this fic is set in a late season one to early season two sort of universe. As you can probably tell, I really didn't like Cameron when I was writing this… but now I don't mind her, and I kind of like her with Chase. So sorry for the occasional not-so-subtle Cameron bashing, and the blatant Chase sexiness with someone else.
As for my world, I finished high school last year and have been taking time off this year and writing music before I head off to uni next year. So… I have a lot of time on my hands to get this finished before March. Try your best to help me persevere! I haven't fully completed an epic fic since 2004, so with your help I know I can do it this time! WOOO!
WELL enough of all that business. A big shout out and thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed this fic, and to those who have reviewed it during its massive hiatus. prinnie, soccerchick13TNIITT, obylove, moo333, bostonfan, PurpleYin, PartayyyyLikeARockstarr (you may get your wish soon!), Friendsholic, Kris the fanficaholic, RogueButterly, cazness, Stacey, Georgina, GallopGirl, Princess-Leasel, jassy2009, kbmaillist, WrongfulActs, FoxyWombat, Chromo26, Buba, Mrs.Scott323, LJP, confusedsarcasm, you have all inspired me to finish so THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU!! You are all absolutely rad and your comments are really appreciated. I'm so glad to hear that you've enjoyed the story as much as you have. I hope you keep reading, even if you have moved on to another fandom!
I think this A/N has been sufficiently long and rambling. Any questions? Just ask. I wrote the first part of this chapter a year ago, so hopefully the rest is coherent with it!
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Cuddy pushed through her office doors late Sunday morning, wishing that she could have just stayed in bed. The prospect of doing paperwork all day was not appealing, in fact she'd rather be forced to sit through an entire season of 'The Simple Life' and force-fed white bread all day. Or maybe visit her parents, or set herself on fire, or cut off her left arm. Cuddy did not want to be a paper pusher, but sometimes she just had to do it. As she put her purse down and lugged herself into her heavy leather chair, she glanced up for a moment and almost leapt out of her skin.
"House!" she semi-shrieked. He just grinned like a Cheshire cat.
"What are you doing here? It's Sunday," she said, trying to lessen her pulse and control her suddenly erratic breathing.
"Isn't it obvious, I'm waiting for you, Cuddles?" he replied simply, rotating his cane on his lap as he sat near her office door.
Cuddy gritted her teeth, "Would you stop calling me that…"
"What, Cuddles? But you love it," he teased.
"What do you want?" she asked, sitting up straight and crossing her arms on her desk.
"A raise."
Cuddy scoffed.
"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't go for that one. In that case, I would like a strip tease," he continued.
Cuddy almost choked on her own saliva.
"Not going for that one either?" House frowned, standing up and moseying towards her. "Geez, you're making things a little hard for me here Cudsy…"
"Either tell me what you're doing here, or leave," Cuddy stated sternly, rubbing her forehead in annoyance. House sat down in the chair opposite her, and she stared at him expectantly.
"I'm here for the company, of course," he fumbled, knowing he had no real reason.
"Well if you don't mind, I have work to do, so go enjoy Wilson's company instead," she replied dismissively.
"Wilson is trying to prove to his wife that he's man enough for her, and is taking her on a picnic," House said mopily.
"Then go and watch your soap," she offered, bustling paper around trying to find what she had to work on.
"But watching you is so much easier, and more entertaining," House replied, sitting back in his chair and resting his cane across his lap.
Cuddy chose then to ignore him, and continued with her work. So they sat there for a moment, Cuddy trying her best to remain focused with House sitting there, twiddling his thumbs and watching her.
A moment later, House blew a raspberry. "So…" he tried to initiate.
"Sit and be quiet, or go," Cuddy replied quickly and dismissively. So House sat and was quiet. Of course that didn't last for long.
House grinned and let out a little laugh, causing Cuddy to let out an aggravated sigh and stop working.
"Stop trying to distract me," she growled.
"I'm not," he defended, then let out a chuckle, "I was just picturing you in that cute little tennis outfit from yesterday…"
"Quit it."
"You quit it."
"Quit it!"
"You quit it!"
"House! Stop being so juvenile," she hissed.
"You started it," he pouted childishly. They sat for a moment, both eyeing each other, before Cuddy went in for it.
"What were you doing yesterday, anyway? Who told you I was playing tennis?" she demanded.
"Jimmy has a big mouth."
"So, why'd you turn up? You had no business to intrude on my personal life -"
"Well sorry for trying to get to know you a little…"
Cuddy scoffed, "as if you need to 'get to know' me! You were fishing around for some dirt on me, I know, I saw you talking to Emily."
"A lovely conversationalist," he replied smoothly.
"I want to know what you said to her House, what did you try to get out of her?" Cuddy ordered.
"Was there something to get out?" he played innocent.
"Ugh!" Cuddy growled, "what did you say to her?!"
"Why don't you just ask her," he replied, "your bestest bud."
"Because she's not talking to me!" Cuddy blurted out before she had a chance to stop herself. All of sudden the silence fell between them like a ton of bricks, and the hint of satisfaction on House's face told Cuddy what she had feared.
"Why you scheming little bastard," she hissed, raising from her chair and slowly slinking around her desk, "this is what you wanted all along, isn't it?"
As she approached him House stood up, making sure he had the power of height over her.
"This whole little ploy," she spat, eye to eye, centimeters apart, "was all about you finding out how screwed up my relationship with my daughters is! Well I'll tell you something for nothing, House; you should be studied, because this sort of behavior is not human. I can't believe that even you would sink so low as to sneak around stealing private information wherever you can! You're a sick, egomaniacal, worthless piece of sh-"
House's lips suddenly crashed onto hers. She froze for a moment, completely shocked that House had decided to kiss her, mid-insult. But then her angry mind couldn't control her body and she softened into him as his hand held the side of her face, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down closer and parting his lips with her tongue. They kissed passionately, Cuddy's thoughts fading to a hazy grey. Neither of them could say how long they'd stayed in that embrace before House pulled away suddenly, leaving Cuddy standing there dazed, lips a full red and eyes half closed. She looked up to see him and he stared back down at her, breath heavy and lips swollen.
"What was that supposed to do?" she breathed.
"Exactly what it did," he replied cryptically, still staring her down.
"Wh-what?" she stammered.
"Get back to work," House whispered sternly with a smirk, before walking out of the office, leaving Cuddy standing there breathless and utterly confused.
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Emily swung through the front door with an angry sigh.
"What's up with you?" Anna asked, sitting at the dining table with her laptop open in front of her.
"Nothing," the lighter-haired sister huffed, flinging her bag onto the table and sitting down.
"Mmhmm, sure."
"Is mom here?"
"Nope," Anna replied, popping her lips, eyes still on her laptop.
"Good."
"You should cut her some slack."
Emily almost choked on her own saliva. "Excuse me?"
"Why are you bitched out at her all of a sudden? It's like you've been me for the past couple of weeks," Anna commented.
Emily only huffed in reply.
"Is it because of that doctor you're seeing?"
"No, its not Rob. God, not everything is about that, Anna," Emily snapped.
"Woah, where did that come from?" Anna turned to her sister, eyes widened.
"And where do you get off being so self-righteous and miss know-it-all, anyway? You're the one with all the issues." Emily pushed back her chair violently.
"Hey!" Anna gritted her teeth. "Don't you take your anger at her out on me. That's not fair."
"You do it to me."
"Woah, just slow down. Did something happen with Bettina?"
"She blew me off," Emily muttered.
"Ah, I see."
"He owned the entire series of 'Saved By The Bell', I can't compete with that."
"No one can," Anna tried to sympathize. Emily raised an eyebrow.
"And on the topic of 'all of a sudden', when did you turn over this new leaf?"
"I asked you first."
Emily rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh. She took a moment to gather her thoughts.
"I'm just…" she started quietly, "I'm just sick of all this shit, you know? I mean why the hell did she never tell anyone about us? All those years we didn't visit her at work I never knew it was because we weren't meant to exist."
Anna looked down at her lap.
"Sometimes I wonder if all families are this screwed up," Emily said with a small laugh, wiping at her eyes. Anna mirrored her chuckle.
"That dinner at Uncle Jimmy's…" Emily trailed off.
"I know. That was hella weird. Though the image of her passed out on the floor is one I will cherish," Anna sniggered.
"But she's not supposed to be like that, Anna, she's our mother," Emily stated emphatically.
"When are you going to realize she's not just our mother? Her life didn't begin when we were born. She was her own person before we came along, and she still is," Anna replied. Her eyes stung as she remembered that night she'd walked in on her mother crying. Something changed in her that night, and she didn't know what it was, but all of a sudden she felt herself cutting Cuddy some slack. Even after everything that had happened with Linda…
Emily sat there quietly, hands wiping at tears that were escaping unwillingly.
"Do you ever think about our dad?" she asked in a whisper, as though she wasn't meant to speak of it.
Anna lifted her head and looked into her sisters eyes. In that moment there was something unspoken between them, some bond or camaraderie that they knew they had always had but never explored.
"Yeah," she nodded softly. Emily reached out and took her hand, and for once she just let her hold it.
00
Cuddy stumbled in her front door late that afternoon, bewildered and frazzled from a surprisingly hectic and... surprising day.
"I'm home," she called into the hallway, receiving an acknowledging noise from the living room and nothing from Emily's end of the house. She moved into the dining room and put her purse down on the table, letting out a small relieved sigh to be home.
"What's for dinner?" Anna asked, moseying out of the living room. Cuddy turned around and gave her an 'are-you-serious' face.
"I just got home. You're in charge of it," she delegated.
"Gee, thanks," Anna mumbled in reply, and Cuddy rolled her eyes. "How's pizza?"
"Not pizza."
"Chinese?"
"Not Chinese."
"… Tacos?"
"Not Tacos."
"Why don't I just make us a pot roast," Anna retorted sarcastically.
"Sounds lovely," Cuddy faux-smiled. "Where's Emily?"
"In her room. Bettina blew her off for some guy today," Anna reported.
"That's not like Bettina…"
"He owned the entire series of 'Saved by the Bell'."
"Ah, I see. Any messages?" Cuddy asked.
"Want to change long distance carriers?"
"I'll take that as a no," she replied, resting her arms on the table with a sigh. They had an awkward silence for a moment, both standing there looking at each other rather blankly, neither really knowing what to say to the other.
"Well, if we're all up-to-date then, I'm gonna go watch some more Arrested Development," Anna said, swiveling on her heel and walking back the way she came.
"I'll join you," Cuddy sighed, glad to immerse herself in someone else's problems for 30 minutes. Well, 21 without commercials.
They had got eight minutes through the first episode - Cuddy not really paying attention and rather thinking about her encounter with House – when the doorbell rang. Cuddy snapped out of her thoughts and looked over to Anna to answer the door, but she was so immersed in the program that she hadn't even heard it ring. Cuddy let out a miniscule groan and hauled herself out of the chair and towards the front door, stocking clad feet padding on the floorboards. Turning the cold handle she opened the door and her throat closed up.
It was Linda.
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A/N:da-da-dAAAAH! Talk about shoving a lot into one chapter. And now Linda is here GASP!. Please take the time to review, it would be great to know your thoughts!
Coming up next… all cards are on the table. The past with Linda is finally revealed!