When Two Worlds Collide Chapter 24, a house, m.d. fanfic

Chapter 24

A/N: AH! I am horrible horrible horrible! I said I would update before I went away but I didn't! Although I have tried to redeem myself with this extra long and FINAL chapter. That's right, I'm finished!! Well… apart from an epilogue. But this is the final chapter of the 2 years and 2 month long saga. Phew. Hehe!

As always, thank you very much to those who reviewed, TammySMS, FoxyWombat, scheggia, confusedsarcasm, yoemanprince, Mim and MiaFr, I always get so excited to see I have a new review, so thanks so much for your kind words! You bring happy into my little world.

Anyway, don't fret friends, I have an idea for a new AU story brewing. Yay! So make sure you keep an eye out for it.

On with the story!

"Dr House was due in the clinic 45 minutes ago," Nurse Brenda drawled, handing Cuddy a stack of files over the clinic desk. "You need to sign these."

It was mid-afternoon on the day after Anna was discharged, and Cuddy was finding herself more swamped with work than ever. It seemed her workload had tripled because of the hours she'd spent at Anna's bedside.

"Page him again," Cuddy replied distractedly, scrawling her signature quickly on the topmost file.

"I've already paged him three times and called his office. He's not answering."

Cuddy sighed and continued signing. "I'll look after it. Has Emily come by my office yet?"

"I haven't seen her."

"She's late," Cuddy tsked, signing the last in the stack. She turned from the clinic desk and walked through to her office, ignoring her assistant's feeble call of "Dr Cuddy…" as she passed him. Noticing Emily's candy-striper uniform still sitting in the corner of her office she headed for her phone. Emily was now over four hours late for her pay-back job, and Cuddy would be damned if she let her daughter slack off when she still owed her. She dialed her house, but hung up when it rang through to the answering machine. The same thing happened again when she tried Emily's cell. Getting a little worried, she thought of where her daughter might be. Dialing a third number, she was greeted with a cheery female voice after the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi Bettina, its Lisa Cuddy. Is Emily there with you? She's late for work."

"Oh hey Dr C!" Bettina's overly bright voice bubbled down the line. "No, sorry, she's not here. I haven't even spoken to her today, actually."

"Alright, well if you hear from her can you please let me know?" Cuddy asked, starting to fidget with the phone cord a little nervously.

"Sure thing," Bettina replied. "Bye!"

Cuddy hung up the phone and sat down, biting her lip. Usually when Emily skipped out of doing work she would be with Bettina, or at least answer her cell. Worry beginning to set in, she had only just picked up the phone to dial Anna's number when said girl rushed into her office, cheeks slightly flushed.

"Have you seen Emily?" Cuddy asked, and Anna simply approached her desk and handed her a piece of paper.

"I found this on the dining room table."

Mom,

I've got somewhere to go, and I don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait up.

Emily.

"Oh God," Cuddy groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

"Talk about the vaguest note ever written," Anna mumbled.

Cuddy looked up at her daughter. "Do you have any idea where she could have gone?"

Anna shook her head and after a little hesitation, added, "But I know someone who might."

Emily pulled over on the side of the road, gripping the steering wheel with frustration. She'd taken a wrong turn somewhere, or missed a turn off and now she had no idea where she was. Grabbing the map and looking for a familiar street name, she couldn't help wishing she had someone with her to figure all this navigational stuff out. But she knew this was a trip she had to take by herself.

Anna strode down the corridor of the hospital, handbag still clutched tightly under her arm. Bursting through the Diagnostic Department door to a stunned looking staff, she put her purse down on the table forcefully. They all stared at her expectantly.

"Sorry, I'm all out of Ventolin," House said from beside the whiteboard, pretending to search his pockets.

"Dr Chase," Anna said with disdain, turning to face the blonde-haired man. Realization dawned on his face.

"Oh crap. You told her!" he accused.

"Emily's gone, and you better know where she is," Anna demanded, blue eyes piercing through Chase as she ignored everyone else in the room.

Chase simply looked slightly guilty and stood up. "I guess I should go to her office then…"

"I guess you should," Anna bit, staring daggers as Chase left the room.

"Uh-oh," House quipped, and Anna suddenly remembered he was there, "am I missing something?"

"Yeah. Clinic duty."

House clutched his heart and let out a faux-sigh. "Like mother, like daughter.

"House -" Cameron interrupted, and they both looked at her, having forgotten she and Foreman were even there, they'd remained so quiet.

"Why thank you for volunteering to do my clinic duty, Dr Cameron."

"But I didn't -"

"And you," House directed to Anna, "unless you think you're going to find your red and white striped sister in my office, should follow the pretty boy back to mommy's den."

Anna narrowed her eyes at the older doctor before turning swiftly on her heel and strutting out of the room.

Cuddy stood behind her desk, Chase sitting feebly in the chair opposite, and Anna leaning against the wall to the side.

"I understand you've been seeing my daughter," Cuddy said authoritatively, trying to keep her cool.

"Yes I have," Chase replied, trying to remain composed, professional, and most importantly not wet himself.

"Considering the situation I don't have time to grill you about it now, but don't think I won't later. Right now I need to know where she is," Cuddy asked, arms leaning heavily on the desk. Chase let out a deep sigh and run a hand over his face.

"She's in Hartford," he replied, and on receiving a blank look from Cuddy, continued, "I had a few connections, and I got her Harvey O'Brien's address. She's there visiting her dad."

"You what?!" Cuddy fumed.

"I'm sorry, she was just really desperate to know him and talk to him, I had to help her out."

Cuddy let out an aggravated sigh and shook her head. "You shouldn't have done that, Dr Chase."

Emily knocked on the door of a large white house, settled on a green block of land in a good, friendly neighbourhood. There was a child's bicycle on the front lawn, which was obviously well loved. It only took a few moments before the door was opened by a blonde woman in her late thirties, dressed in white Capri pants, a blue twin set and a motherly set of pearls.

"May I help you?" she smiled sweetly, and a blonde little girl dressed in a fairy costume, about six or seven years old appeared at her side, clutching onto her mother. Emily's eyes softened and she smiled at the girl who she assumed would be her little half sister.

"Hi, ah, does Harvey O'Brien live here?" Emily asked, nervously playing with her hands.

"Yes he does, are you here to see him?" the woman replied, still smiling friendlily.

"Yes. May I please?" Emily requested, and the woman and her daughter stepped back, inviting Emily into their home. It was nice. A family home, pictures of fun summers at the lake sitting on the mantel, a bookshelf with both children's and adults books, and toys on one side of the room. This was a happy home.

"Who's at the door, Sue?" a man called as he entered the room, a young boy behind him, baseball glove on his hand. Emily looked up at this man, and her breath caught in her throat. He was tall and lanky, windswept dark blonde hair, deep blue eyes and glasses perched on his nose.

"Oh, hello," he said, on noticing Emily.

"Are you Harvey O'Brien?" she asked, a nervous lump in her throat.

"Yes," Harvey nodded.

"I'm Emily Cuddy," she explained, "I'm your daughter."

House sat at his desk, casually tossing his oversized tennis ball in the air as he lazily surfed the internet. He'd sent the remaining two members of his team off to do tests, and was currently enjoying his moments of peace. He was about to open a games page, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was Anna Cuddy's purse. Now usually, he wouldn't be one to blatantly go through someone's bag, but this was a Cuddy, and those three women intrigued him to no end. He picked it up off the edge of his desk – where he'd put it on discovering it left behind on the conference table - and set it in his lap, pulling open the zip. He peered inside and pulled out a few regular handbag items – sunglasses, lip balm, house keys and a cellphone. He raised an eyebrow as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, asthma puffer and a tiny book entitled "The Little Book of Stress Relief". He fished around and pulled out another item, a small pack of super tampons, and smirked to himself as he recalled the last time he saw a pack of super tampons. Like mother, like daughter indeed. He finally pulled out the last item, a streamline black wallet. He opened it and fished around. Bankcard, various membership cards, Harvard ID. He looked through the notes compartment and for a minute considered nicking a few bucks, but he wouldn't put it past Cuddy to castrate him from stealing from her daughter. There were no photos, nothing really personal in this wallet. He chuckled at the bad driver's license photo and was about to close the wallet when something caught his eye. He looked closely, and sure enough, he saw exactly what he thought he saw. He snapped it shut and stood up, grabbing his cane and purposefully striding out the door.

Emily and Harvey sat in the living room on opposite couches, the coffee table between them. Emily's hands were clutched tightly in her lap, and Harvey leaned forward, his hands rubbing his forehead and elbows resting on his knees. Emily nervously tried to make conversation.

"I'm sorry to barge in like this, I can see you're very happy with your life and your family, but I just needed to meet you. I mean, my sister and I -"

"I'm not your father, kiddo," Harvey said, sitting up straight and rubbing the back of his neck. Emily sat, confused for a moment.

"What?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"I'm not your dad. Your mom's Lisa Cuddy, right?"

"Yes," Emily replied, still confused.

"We only went out for just on two months," he explained.

"I know, but -"

"I broke up with her when I found out she was already four months pregnant."

"You shouldn't have done that," Cuddy whispered, rather frantically as she reached for the phone and quickly started dialing a number.

"What are you doing?" Anna asked, finally speaking up.

"I'm calling Emily," she replied, nervously biting her lip as the phone rang.

"No, no, this can't be happening," she whispered.

"Mom, what's going on?" Anna asked, her brow furrowed with worry, her voice filled with concern. Cuddy closed her eyes and continued chewing her lip nervously, dropping the phone to her chest in defeat as it rang out.

"He's not your father," she said quietly, her voice filled with remorse.

"What?" Anna replied, a little more forcefully than intended.

"Harvey O'Brien isn't your father. I just told you that when you and Emily started asking questions," Cuddy explained, dropping into her chair sorrowfully.

"You're saying… you lied to us about our own father?" Anna asked, stepping forward to the desk, her voice thick with emotion. Cuddy nodded, and Chase sat back, feeling very out of place and intrusive. Anna let out an angry sigh.

"Well… if Harvey isn't our dad, then who the hell is?!" Anna cried angrily. The door pushed open and House walked in, wallet clutched in his hand. All eyes turned to him, and then Anna looked back at Cuddy. She saw the way her mother was looking at House… and then she knew the answer to her question.

"He is," Cuddy said, her voice choked and deep, her eyes filled with regretful tears and fixated on House. Her secret was out.

A/N: Talk about ending abruptly. But you know that's how I like to do it:) Please take a few seconds out of your day to leave a review! You will receive a virtual cuddle. And not to boast, but I cuddle well. So if you don't review, you're really missing out.

Next: Epilogue.