A/N: Another update. Finally!
I had an idea a while ago to bring a few other fandoms into this story. Neither of them will play a very big role in the story, just a little fun addition if you are familiar with the TV shows. In this chapter I introduce the connection to In Plain Sight. If you don't know it, don't worry, I don't think you will miss much with the story.
I am hoping to have another chapter of IHYD up soon, hopefully this week or early next week, so if you read that, stay tuned!
Please enjoy and review!
Wednesday evening Lisa pulled into the parking lot of the yoga studio. She smiled as she saw the silhouette of Emily standing on the sidewalk not far from the door. She got out of her car and walked towards her. "You know, those things will kill you," she said, gesturing at the cigarette between Emily's fingers.
Emily snuffed the tiny butt out with her foot, grinning slightly. "After the amount of coke I've snorted I'm pretty sure I've got some bigger problems."
Lisa chuckled briefly before seeing the look on the other woman's face and realizing that it may not have been a joke after all.
"Don't worry; I'm sober." A sudden awkwardness settled between the two. Emily took another cigarette out of the pack and offered one to Lisa who declined. After lighting it and taking a deep drag, Emily started to fidget slightly.
"Are you ok?" After receiving a questioning glance, she explained. "I can usually recognize agitation when I see it. If it's what I said, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Lisa was feeling distinctly uncomfortable herself at the moment. She really didn't like the thought of being the source of Emily's discomfort. Lisa received a shake of the head along with a small smile from the other woman and breathed out a sigh of relief.
"You really don't want to hear about my shit, trust me."
Lisa stepped closer to Emily and placed a comforting palm on her arm. "I know you don't know me and I don't know you, but if you want to talk about it, I'd love to listen. I have to admit, you've been on my mind for the past two days." The last part she said quietly, a little embarrassed.
Emily put out the now finished cigarette. "Do you have any siblings?" she asked.
Lisa was surprised by the question. "Yes, I do. I have a younger sister, Julia. Do you?"
"If you had asked me that yesterday, I would have said no, but today…"
Lisa raised an eyebrow in interest.
"I got a call from a woman named Brandi Shannon in Albuquerque. She has been looking for her half siblings for years. I guess I'm it. She has an older sister, Mary. She said that she has no memories of her father, but her sister has a few. I don't remember him either. I'm not sure how I feel about having family. Since I was ten the closest thing I've had to an actual family was…" Maggie, she thought, "…were a couple paid by the state to take care of me and a few other lost souls." Emily wasn't sure what caused her to just spill this information to someone she had only just met. She simply had this instinctual feeling that she could trust Lisa and she felt comfortable talking to her.
Lisa was a little stunned. Obviously, this turn in life was deeply troubling Emily. It troubled her enough that she would talk about it to a virtual stranger. Maybe that was just Emily's way, though, she didn't know. She also didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry you didn't get to know your dad." Well that was lame, she thought.
Emily laughed, obviously noting Lisa's lack of something effective to say. "Eh, can't miss what you never had, right?"
"I guess that's one way to think about it, but you can wonder what it would have been like."
Emily paused to consider this idea when the pair saw the group inside move into the room and went inside for class, joining them.
An hour later they walked out the front door side by side. Feeling like she needed to prolong their time together, Emily had an idea. "Lisa?" she started, trying to get her attention.
"Yeah?" came the distracted response from the other woman.
Emily placed a hand on the back of Lisa's shoulder blade and continued on with her thought. "I was wondering if you wanted to grab some coffee or something. You know, just hang out for a little bit, but only if you want. I happen to know a place right by your hospital. I don't know if you've ever been in there, Queen Bean? It's where I work. We close up around nine but we can stay later, someone is usually there past ten and I do have keys."
Lisa turned her face to Emily smiling broadly. Emily's hand automatically fell to Lisa's, her finger tips grazing her palm. As if a switch had been flipped the smile was wiped off of the other woman's face and she pulled back a step. "I would love to, really, but I have to get home. I really wish I could," she said, apologetically. She really did want to go for coffee but the thought of Tracie at home taking care of her daughter was on her mind. She had told the sitter she would be home by nine. For a split second she thought she saw a look on Emily's face that she had seen on her own many times, one of complete loneliness, but as soon as it was there it was gone, forcing her to wonder if it had been there at all. "If we arrange it ahead of time I'd love to, though, just not tonight. Um, Friday night maybe?"
Emily smiled, a little self consciously. "Sure, that sounds great. I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to get home either, I open the store most days, tomorrow included."
They stood there for a moment longer before a wave of light headedness washed across Lisa. She pressed the heel of her hand into her temple and momentarily squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hey, are you ok?" Emily asked, concerned, reaching a hand out in case she needed to steady herself. She knew that look.
Lisa waved off the offered hand, embarrassed that she had let this happen in public. "Yeah, I guess my day is just catching up with me."
Emily gave her a reassuring smile. "Go home. Drink something, eat something, and get some rest. Trust me, it'll help." She knew this from experience. There had been an occasion or two when she had actually given in to her perceived weakness and done the sensible thing for herself.
"And here I was thinking I was the doctor," Lisa joked. "But you're right, that does sound like what I need. I have a tendency to take care of everything and everyone except myself, especially when life gets busy."
Emily again reached out her hand and took Lisa's and looked her directly in the eyes. "Hey, you're important too. You need to take care of yourself in order to take care of others around you." Lisa was lost in the depth of emerald as Emily spoke. As soon as the words themselves where finished, Lisa was sure those emeralds conveyed an additional message. I know.
She immediately broke eye contact as well as the physical contact, completely freaked out. "I, ah, I really need to get home," she stammered. "I'll see you Friday." She quickly walked to her car leaving Emily to reflect on what had just happened.
Emily couldn't believe how she had just behaved. She finally had a chance to have a friend and she may have completely just blown it. She had come on way too strong. She hadn't even meant to come on in that way at all, but it had happened. The signals she was getting from Lisa had been completely confusing to her as well. One second it felt like she wanted a friendship, the next maybe something more, and the next she was running away so fast she wasn't sure what had just happened. Had it been so long since she had had any type of relationship, friend or otherwise, that she just didn't know how to do it anymore? She slowly made her way to her own car with tears starting to cloud her vision.
CUDDYCUDDYCUDDY
Around eight thirty the next morning Lisa walked into a very crowded Queen Bean Coffee before going to the hospital. She wanted to see Emily and make sure she was ok after her sudden departure the night before. After thinking about it, she knew that there was no way Emily could know about her "secret life" and felt that she was simply being paranoid. As she waited in line for her turn, she took a good look around.
The woman on the register shouted over her shoulder at the person manning the espresso machine. "Yo, Ballet! We need a double Ball Buster and a Hot Clucker!"
"You got it, Ren!" Suddenly a loud crash was heard reverberating throughout the room, along with a cheer of "Q'Pla!" from the man also working as well as a few of who she assumed were regular custumers.
"Everybody awake yet?" called the woman from behind the espresso machine. "Nothing like a pitcher of scalding milk splashing down the front of you to get the morning going, right?"
That was when Lisa recognized the voice of Emily from behind the steamy machine. Well, the fact that the person named Ren had called the woman Ballet didn't hurt either. She decided to speak up. "Are you ok, Emily?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Thank- Lisa! Hey!" Emily smiled but quickly returned her attention to the machine in front of her. "I'm fine, thanks. Just a little milky now. How are you? Are you feeling better?" She absently tried to tuck her bangs which were in the "too long for bangs but too short for anything else" stage behind her ears.
"I'm great, thanks. Rest did me a lot of good. I'll leave you alone. It looks like you are quite busy."
"I am, but getting bothered by you…" Her sentence was cut off abruptly by one of the portafilters virtually exploding out of the machine after she had neglected to tighten it all the way. "Crabby patties!"
Lisa chuckled at her creative explicative. "Really, I can see I'm distracting you. I'll let you get back to work and I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"
"Sure," Emily said with a huge grin. After Lisa walked back into line Emily made her way over to Renee at the register and whispered into her ear. "Ren, see that woman back there with the wavy dark hair in the suit? Whatever she wants is on me today."
Renee looked over at Emily with a knowing grin. "Sure thing, Em. Nice catch!"
Emily blushed slightly. "She's not mine, in fact, she's really just a friend I only met a few days ago, but I uh…" She blushed even more deeply before Renee gave her a knowing smile. Emily made her way back behind the espresso machine and continued on with the orders.
When it was finally Lisa's turn, she gave Renee the order for her coffee. She wasn't in the mood for anything fancy so she simply got a black Guatemalan blend. She was utterly surprised when Renee insisted that her beverage was on the house today so in return she insisted on leaving the price of the coffee in the tip jar. While she was waiting for her drink, she was distracted by a slight commotion from around the espresso machine.
"You know, Ballet, that really hurt the other day when you refused to let me take you on a date," a man said, half joking.
"Aw, I'm really sorry about that, it's just, you see, you're really not my type," she answered with a smile.
"Well, if you ever decide you want to date black people, here's my number." He slipped her a piece of paper with a few digits written on it.
Emily looked at him sympathetically while trying not to laugh. "Race truly has nothing to do with my decision, you know," she said with a teasing smile.
"Aw, come on. Now you're just messing with me. What's so wrong with me that you won't let me take you out? It's just one date!"
Emily put down the cup she was holding and leaned across the counter as if to tell him a secret but instead shouted across the room. "Honey, I'm flattered, really, but it's not you; it's your gender."
The man's friends started whooping after her statement and the man acted like he had been punched. "Seriously? You just get hotter by the second!" he exclaimed. "You sure about that date? I mean, your lady friend is welcome to tag along too…"
Emily shook her head. "Yes, I'm sure, and I don't currently have a lady friend, but nice try." She couldn't help stealing a quick glance in Lisa's direction, but hoped that it had gone unnoticed.
Lisa picked up the coffee Renee had placed on the counter in front of her and watched the display with amazement. Emily certainly had a way with customers, that was for sure. Each man in the group placed a bill or two into Emily's tip jar before exiting Queen Bean. Lisa smiled at her as their eyes met before she also exited and made her way to the hospital to begin her day.
When she got to her office, Cuddy was surprised to see someone there. Actually, shocked would be the right word. She double checked her watch which did, indeed, read just before nine and looked back up at her desk chair to see House still occupying her seat. Her good mood immediately deflated. "What do you want, House?"
He simply stared at her, scrutinizing her, as she went about her normal routine upon entering her office. He watched as she placed her bag on the floor and took out her "doctor" supplies and placed them in the pockets of her lab coat which hung on the coat rack. His silence was irritating her. She slammed her coffee cup on the desk in front of him before asking again, this time with quite a bit more venom, "What do you want, House?"
"You, Cuddy," he said simply.
She let out a slightly sarcastic laugh. "In your dreams. Get out of my chair."
"I don't want you, well, maybe your funbags, although, you've gotta admit, those really aren't as fun recently, are they? No, I just want to know what's going on in your head."
She sighed. She really didn't need this, so she tried to get rid of him as fast as possible. "The only thing going through my head is the thought of how much I want you out of my office. As for my "funbags", it's called getting older, which happens to all living beings. Despite the rumors you try to spread, I am one. You got your answer, now get out of my chair."
He didn't budge. "You're constantly tired, you're cranky, which can't be explained by PMS since you're not at that point in your cycle, and you've lost weight. What's up with that?"
She could feel her pulse and breathing quicken. "I'm a single mother who runs a hospital. I'm allowed to be tired. You're in my office for no reason, thus the crankiness. The stress of dealing with you is causing a decrease in appetite. Satisfied?"
To her relief, he vacated her chair and walked to the door. Before leaving he turned around. "If I had said that to you six months ago, you wouldn't have justified me with a response, yet now you feel like you need to make excuses. You think you're fooling everyone, but you can't fool me." He turned back around and left her alone with that.
She locked her office door behind him and walked into her private bathroom, locking that door as well. Leaning against the sink she brought her hands to her face, breathing deeply, trying not to go into a panic attack. Of course he knew. He knew her too well. He knew everything about everything. He was always right. But really, so what? She purged, although she refused to acknowledge how often, she binged sometimes, and maybe she "forgets" to eat to the point where she feels foggy or gets dizzy and her arms and legs start to tingle. Fine. It wasn't a problem, though, really. It didn't rule her life. It didn't get in the way of things. She did it on her own time. It wasn't like she was coming to work drunk like some people or high on Vicodin like House or anything. She wasn't doing anything she could actually get into trouble for or get a patient killed because of.
Feeling a little calmer, she carefully splashed some water on her face making sure to not completely ruin her makeup and caught sight of her shaking hands, particularly noticing her damaged nails, and scowled. Damned hydrochloric acid, she thought. She would have to do something about that. Luckily, right now dark, opaque nail polish was in style and not thought of as a marker for a disturbed teenager as it had been when she was younger.
Still feeling unsettled but much better than a few minutes ago she walked back to her desk and took note of the stack of paperwork she had to get through today and then over to her coffee cup. Just seeing the Queen Bean logo was enough to bring the memory of Emily smiling at her as she left the store back to the forefront of her mind, causing her to smile and forget about House for the time being. She couldn't wait until tomorrow. She didn't know why she couldn't wait, though. She had coffee with other friends, right? No, the truth was she really didn't. She didn't really even have friends. She finally had a friend.
Like what you see? Hate what you see? It really won't change my story/writing/mind, but I'd love to hear your opinion!