Chapter Seventeen
Q and A
Thanks to Shikabane-Mai, Boys Don't Cry, mj0621, thevigilante15, gabiroba, PaulaAbdulChica2007, EOshipperSVU-MSR-HUDDY, HouseAddiction, DrusillaBraun, BlkDiamond, CalleighWolfe, Huddytheultimate, RHSecretLove, HOUSEM.D.FanForever for their reviews. Y'all are awesome!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to House. All characters and ideas belong to David Shore and respective owners under FOX.
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"Please introduce yourself to the court." Stacy began as she stood up, flashing Cuddy a reassuring smile.
She didn't need it. The hours of preparation had her ready. She felt ready, fierce.
"My name is Dr. Lisa Cuddy. I am a graduate from University of Michigan. I am currently the head of Cardiology at Mercy General Hospital in New York." She stated.
"Please describe your relationship to Jessica Alexis Cuddy."
"She is my daughter."
"Do you believe you can handle your job along with the responsibility of raising a child?" Stacy questioned.
Cuddy nodded. Her gaze shifted from her best friend and to the judge that were staring curiously at her. She already had them at appearance. A put together woman in a black suit with a light pink blouse underneath, sitting prim and proper with her legs tucked under the chair. She looked responsible. She looked professional.
"I may work overtime, especially sometimes late at night, but I always bring my work home with me and always come home in time to cook dinner and to tuck Jesse in at night." She answered, voice calm.
"So you put your daughter before your job?"
"Yes."
Stacy feigned a thoughtful expression. "Then I am curious as to why charges were brought before you?"
"Some cop has it out for me to testifying for a former colleague." Cuddy answered carelessly.
"Objection! Hearsay and relevance." The prosecutor, a sickly looking small man with too big glasses said, rising.
"Withdrawn." Stacy threw back without waiting for the judge to make a call. Her philosophy was that you could not unring a bell and she rung it.
"Anyway, back to your daughter Dr. Cuddy, what was she like as a child?"
"Objection! Relevance?"
This one, Stacy was going to argue. "I merely wanted to prove how much the witness knows about her daughter. Only then can Your Honor truly conclude whether or not she was there through the past unbringing of her only daughter and whether or not she will continue to be present and to raise the child in the future."
"Overruled."
Cuddy smiled, her eyes becoming distant. It was as if she was far away, reliving a pleasant memory locked in her mind.
"She is the sweetest child." She started. "All rosy and happy. The first day I took her home from the hospital. She was sleeping and it just looked so peaceful. Her eyes had been moving beneath her lids and all I could think was what would someone so new to the world dream about. I couldn't believe I had created that miracle."
Stacy smiled at her as she continued. "She has lungs. I'll be the first to admit that. She has lungs and she gets a lot of use out of them when she's upset, but I could always quiet her down. Her first word was calling for me. It was on a September night, a Friday. I had just gotten home from work and relieved the sitter. She was sleeping and when I came into the room to check on her, she just opened her eyes and said 'Mommy' and giggled like I was the best thing she had seen all day."
House watched her answer with watery eyes. He had never seen this side of her. She had told him how badly she wanted children, but never had he seen her talk like this. Her voice sounded so happy, content. Her eyes captured pure bliss as she spoke of the most precious aspect of her life.
He wanted her to always be like that. He loved seeing her angry, furious. He loved seeing her care, but to see her truly joyful was like witnessing the parting of the Red Sea. It was beyond beautiful. More than anything, he wanted to be the one to bring that to her eyes. He could bring her anger, tears, pain, but he wanted to bring her that bliss, to be the reason for it.
He wanted to hear his child talk, say her first word, but he knew that he deserved missing out on some parts of her life because of the price he had to pay for his mistakes. As unfair was it was, there had been no other way.
The questioning went on. Stacy painted a vivid picture of her background, her education, her credentials. And then it was the prosecution's turn.
"Dr. Cuddy." The prosecutor stated briefly. "Let me wish you congratulations on your job transfer."
Cuddy visibly stiffened as she caught whiff of the malice underlining his voice. "Thank you," she responded. The judge glanced at her. The warm tone of voice was gone and replaced with a hard icy voice with looks that shot daggers.
The prosecutor took a small step back, looking at Cuddy for a moment too long. He saw in her blue eyes that she had the personality of a woman who could face down lions barehanded.
"Dr. Cuddy, I'll get straight to the point."
"I pray that you will."
The prosecutor gave her a glare which she returned with a small smirk.
"Was there Vicodin in the apartment you were staying at during your stay at New Jersey?"
"Yes." She responded, knowing full well what road this was taking.
"Was your daughter also staying in this apartment?"
"Yes, but there was…"
"Thank you Dr. Cuddy." He cut her off. "Do you know that Vicodin is illegal unless prescribed by a doctor."
"Yes." She said. "I am a doctor, I do know that."
"Well then, why were you allowing your daughter to stay in an apartment with a man that had been charged with drug possession?"
A soft murmur ran through the crowd, especially from the people that had been completely fooled by Cuddy's appearance.
"Objection!" Stacy said, jumping to her feet.
"Order!" The judge called. "Sustained. The prosecution will not bring past cases into this trial."
The prosecutor shrugged. "Dr. Cuddy, what would happen if Jesse were to ingest one of those white pills? Would she suffer any lasting harm?"
"OBJECTION!" Stacy yelled. "Leading."
"Sustained, you are on thin ice, Counsel." The judge said.
"I'm sorry your Honor." He said. "I'll rephrase. What are the affects of Vicodin on a young child Doctor?"
"Overdose is likely." Cuddy answered bitterly. "Brain damage, coma, death. All very possible."
"So knowing the risks, you still allowed your child to be around that dangerous and harmful substance?"
"He's her father!" She burst out. "I was staying there because I had to! Not because I wanted to!"
"No further questions." He said, cutting her off again. She looked about ready to cry.
Wilson turned to glance at House, who sat in the back with a staring expression toward the front of the room. He looked distant. Wilson reached back and touched his arm. He came to.
"You okay?" He whispered.
"Yeah, it's nice to know she never wanted to really be with me. She had no other choice." He said, biting tone in his voice.
Wilson shook his head. "No, she loved you."
House didn't seem to hear. His attention was once again captured by what was going on in the witness stand as Stacy called redirect and approached Cuddy.
"Are you married, Dr. Cuddy?"
"No, I haven't had luck in the relationship department." She said, glancing in the direction of the judge.
"Then how did Jessica come to be?"
Cuddy took a deep breath. "I couldn't find someone that could handle my position of power or that I felt a connection to. But instincts told me it was time. So I decided that I could do it after thinking about it long and hard. I wanted to be prepared. Then I had invitro fertilization." She said. "Two didn't take. One I…" She hesitated there, the pain still great as she thought of the first child she could have had. Some instinct had told her it had been a boy.
"I lost." She finished. "Jesse was my last attempt."
"It must have been hard for you." Stacy said, her voice gentle.
"I have no regrets. The losses made me understand how precious a child is." She replied, her eyes casted downward.
"So it's safe to assume that because she is so precious and because you have failed so many times, then you would be very protective of your daughter?"
"Yes." Cuddy answered, before the prosecution could object.
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Her legs were shaky as she stepped down from the stand. Stacy went and helped her back to the seat where she sank down and began to cry. She felt like she had ruined her only chance to tell her side of the story.
Stacy put a comforting arm on her shoulder. "You did great."
"Don't lie."
Stacy sighed and sat down beside her. "It's going to be close. The minute the judge heard drugs and Vicodin, she may have condemned you."
Cuddy rubbed her face and smoothed back her hair. "I can't lose this one, Stacy. I just can't."
Stacy nodded and looked up just in time to see House slipping out of the courtroom.
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The social worker was beside herself. She was scared and worried. Samantha was young and she was new. She thought that taking care of a doctor's daughter would be a breeze, especially when Tritter told her that the girl had always behaved in her mother's presence.
She only wished that were true now. The child's cries had softened, but she refused to eat. She screamed the moment anyone came near and Samantha was starting to fear for her health. With no avail, she patted the baby's back and tried to quiet her. The screams grew louder.
More milk wound up on the baby's face and clothes than in her tiny mouth pursed together. With a sigh of regret and trying to keep herself from screaming herself, she grabbed her car keys and the child and pulled out of her garage.
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"What are you doing here?" Chase asked as House limped past him into his office.
"You didn't move anything." He stated, peering at his desk before him, amazed.
"No, we were afraid of you sticking a cane down our throats." Foreman retorted.
House pulled open a drawer and started to dig around it.
"What are you looking for?" Chase asked. "And if Fisher sees you here, she'll have you arrested."
"She can't." House threw back. "I'm a patient."
Foreman rolled her eyes. "What's your condition?" he asked, hiding his gladness to see his boss behind business.
"I need my medical file. I rescued it from Cuddy's office when Voldemort moved in." He said, pulling out a thick file from the back of the drawer.
"Can I ask…?" Chase started.
"No." House cut him off and limped toward the door to slam into a young woman carrying an infant wrapped in a small blanket.
"Watch where you're…" he started and then his eyes caught on the wriggling and crying bundle, the soft wails tugging at this heartstrings.
The woman was in tears. "She won't eat. Won't sleep and won't stop crying." She sobbed. "I'm a social worker and I've trained for this, but she won't stop.
"Jesse…" He murmured softly, about to reach out and take the child but stopped himself and clenched his big hand into a fist.
"Chase." He ordered. "Get her to Pediatrics."
"She's your daughter." Chase said, taking the baby rather awkwardly.
"I can't touch her until the trial's been decided. Last thing I want is to end up in jail before the verdict. Tritter put a restraining charge on me." He explained impatiently. "Get her to Pediatrics and tell Burke that if anything happens to her, I will kill him with my bare hands."
Chase nodded and raced down the hall.
"I'm gonna follow him before he accidentally drops her." Foreman stated chasing after him.
House watched them go for a moment before turned the opposite direction toward the elevator and out of the hospital, leaving Samantha standing in front of his office, wringing her hands.
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"Your Honor, he should only be a few minutes." Madeline said, glancing around the courtroom from the corners of her eyes.
"Who?" Cuddy whispered to Stacy, who quickly put a finger to her lips.
"Was he properly notified of the time he should appear in court?"
Madeline hesitated, looking flustered for the first time in years. "Yes, but…"
"I'm here." Came a voice from the doorway.
Heads turned to focus on a figure limping into the courtroom and approaching the bench. Security guards moved their hands to their weapons.
"What's he doing here?" Cuddy hissed into Stacy's ear.
"Our secret weapon." Stacy replied. "That could still ultimately backfire."
Cuddy drew a sharp breath in, as she pursed her lips. An expression she had when she was worried or angry that things were not going as she had planned.
"Give him a chance. He could turn the tables for us." Stacy whispered.
Cuddy fell silent and sat back, purposefully not meeting House's eyes as she was sworn in and settled into the witness box.
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"What is your relationship to the child in question?" Madeline asked.
"I'm her father." He answered, no trace of any sarcasm in his voice.
He met Cuddy's eyes and she would never figure it out, but she felt reassured. With medical cases, she trusted him with it all, trusted him with her life, and suddenly she felt like she could relinquish that control into his hands once again. When his blue eyes met hers, she felt her shoulders loosen as if he had silently told her that she would be okay. With that reassurance, she let go of that control she had held tighter to her chest than a winning poker hand.
"Are you on any drugs?" Madeline asked bluntly. No use sugar coating the truth.
"Yes, Vicodin."
"Do you have a prescription?" She asked.
"Yes, I had an infarction in my leg. The pain is unbearable so I take it for the pain." He stated.
"Would you ever leave it out in the open?" Madeline continued.
"No of course not. I need those pills. If I lose them, then I have to deal with the pain." He answered, as if it were obvious.
"Let's move on." Madeline flashed him a half smile, telling him he was doing good.
He didn't return on, but moved his gaze past her back to Cuddy. To most, she would have appeared calm and untouchable, but he could see past that. Most people would see the ladylike way her hands were placed upon her lap, but not the way they clenched each other until her knuckles were as white as pearls. Most people would see the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she took each breath, but they would not see how fast each breath came with the too quick beating of her heart. He smiled, a smile reserved only for her, all traces of his sarcastic cynical self thrown into the wind and forgotten.
"Dr. Cuddy and Jessica have been staying at your apartment while Dr. Cuddy was in the hospital is that correct?"
"Yes."
"What was she like when interacting with her child?"
"She was incredible. I mean it was amazing." He spoke directly to Cuddy now, eyes meeting hers. "I'm a doctor, I've treated children, but none of the children were as responsive to their parents as Jesse was to her. She could quiet her down without any effort at all and it was as if she were psychic. Whenever Jesse cried, Lisa knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it without even a moment's hesitation."
She was going to cry. Hearing the one person that would never say those words speak them outloud was almost too much for her. House wasn't that kind of person. He never praised anyone. The nicest thing he had ever said to her was 'you are not an idiot'. That was the nicest thing she would have ever expected from him. Nothing along the lines of what he had just said. Thank you she mouthed silently to him.
The questioning went on. First covering how Jesse was taken care of while Cuddy was in a hospital bed, the process in which Cuddy got pregnant, the role he played in it. Madeline did not paint a picture of a happy little family, but one as quirky and different as the people caught up in it. One that was real.
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"Dr. House, have you ever been charged with a crime?" The prosecution wasted no time in getting started.
He hesitated. "Yes."
"What crimes?" He asked, emphasizing the 's'.
House looked down before answering. "DUI in high school. Drug possession and distribution with intent to sell. Speeding."
"Do you think you deserve to be a father? With your record? With your drug charges? Do you think you deserve to be a father?" The prosecution demanded.
"Objection!" Madeline yelled. "Badgering!"
"Sustained, watch your step Counsel." The judge ordered.
House was looking down at the floor by now and Cuddy was almost shaking. Wilson clasped his hand in hers and tried to calm her down, give her the reassurance she so desperately needed.
"Dr. House, were you recently fired from the hospital where you work?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
House couldn't resist. His moment of civil behavior was over and he was glad it was. He would have given the world to protect Cuddy and it was easy when he was talking about her to be civil and nice, but when it came to Fisher, he couldn't contain himself.
"Because she's an idiot." He started. The prosecution opened their mouth, but he surged forward. "She's a complete moron and she'll cost hundreds of patients their lives with the way she's been running the hospital. Medicine is all about risks. You try to prevent as many as you can, but real diseases won't obey polite coaxing not to kill a person. Every treatment is a risk and some are riskier than others. She's a coward, afraid to get sued, holding back on treatments, she doesn't even know her stuff."
"Thank you Dr. House." The prosecution started again.
"Cuddy was much better as a Dean, at least she knew where to draw the line between lives and money. Fisher doesn't see that boundary. She fired him because I told her so, because I wanted to save my patient and she didn't think my patient's life was worth a couple of dollars. She is a crazy ass bitch and fucking lunatic!"
"THANK YOU DR.HOUSE." The prosecution said raising his voice.
The judge turned to House. "I will not have that kind of language in my courtroom. Any more profanity out of you, Dr. House and you will be contempt."
He was breathing hard when he shut his mouth and the looked at Cuddy with an apologetic look. He hadn't meant to say so much, hadn't meant to make himself look like a spiteful doctor. What he didn't know was that no one thought that. Wilson was looking back on the patients that had died. Cuddy was regretting leaving PPTH.
Alex stood up from the back of the courtroom, startling everyone. What was the ADA doing there? Without a word she stormed out of the room and shut the door firmly before her.
The courtroom returned to routine. Endless questions, violating House's privacy, trying his best to dodge questions that could harm the case.
"Redirect Your Honor." Stacy said, looking up from her place beside Madeline.
"Let me bring you back to your criminal record. Dr. House how many charges have you actually been indicted on?"
"Just the DUI and the speeding. The others were dropped."
'Because the Judge saw a vengeful cop instead of an actual case right?"
"Objection!" The prosecution yelled.
"Withdrawn." She stated with a smirk in their direction. "Thank you Dr. House."
He stepped down from the witness stand and limped to the back of the room, only hesitating a moment as he passed the row Cuddy was sitting in, with her hand still clasped in Wilson's. Wilson glanced at him, but he shook his head. He knew Cuddy was probably still at least a little bit angry at him. In time she would forgive him, but not so fast. It'll take a little while before she'll forgive him for screwing up as big as he did.
He watched the back of her head as Wilson testified followed by Tritter and various other witnesses. He was hoping for some sign that she had forgiven him for the pain he caused her. She never gave him that sign. He kept holding out, however, never doubting that it would come.
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"I'll return in about ten minutes with my decision." The judge stated, retreating to her chambers.
Stacy moved to sit beside Cuddy, and replacing Wilson while Wilson and Madeline came to House. No one said a word. House debated telling Cuddy that Jesse was in the hospital, but decided against it. She was already terrified, hearing such news will cause some sort of break in her and he didn't want to risk it. He would tell her when the verdict was out, if it was in their favor.
The seconds ticked by as if hours, years, decades. For once in his life, doing nothing didn't bore House. He sat there and stared. She did the same as she closed her eyes in a prayer, falling back on her Jewish roots. He was not religious, didn't believe in God, but now he turned his eyes upward, for the first time without contempt.
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Author's Note:
Okay, that was incredibly long. I'm still hoping everyone had the patience to read through it. Thank you so much for reading. This story is coming to a close with only a few chapters left. I hope everyone liked it so far. Thanks again.