Ch. 16

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Five weeks left to go. Cuddy and House had planned numerous details about the wedding, the where, the when, the how and the who. Cuddy had not given in and House finally relented, and consented helplessly to allow James Wilson to attend on one condition – that Cuddy would guarantee she'd throw the bouquet at Wilson directly. She enjoyed his twisted sense of humor and granted the demand immediately. After all, had Wilson not made the move on Cuddy, House would still be downing bourbon alone at the keyboard of his beloved piano in a dark, lonely apartment.

Cuddy had planned her mother's trip to take care of Rachel during their honeymoon and House had meticulously managed to keep secret every last detail of the trip. He enjoyed toying with her curiosity and demanded the right to chose the destination without her input. She knew he was up to something wicked, fun, but wicked, how could she say no? Let him have his fun.

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Cuddy still marveled at their ability to keep the engagement secret from the hospital staff. House had even blurted out he was going to secretly marry her in some godforsaken far away tribal location and impregnate her with triplets if she refused him the right to slosh through a patient's brain in search of a non-existent tumor that was paralyzing the front half of the patient's body but not the back half, making personal hygiene a major problem for the patient's nurse attendants.

His obnoxious rants as a play for getting his demands met was so well practiced and frequent that Taub, Foreman and Thirteen gave the comment no special notice despite Cuddy's furious pink blushing face. House enjoyed the fear on her face with a special evil smile that she intended to wipe off the moment they were alone.

Cuddy knew the bigger issue was breaking the nuptial news to her board of directors and preparing a plan to propose how this Dean of Medicine could continue to manage the hospital's number one problem employee who would soon be married to her. She still had not figured out the right approach but figured she'd share the news once the marriage was a done deal and not a moment before. After all what could they say once the Dean and the Diagnostician were officially man and wife? No one was going to quit, there would simply have to be a way to make it work. Harder still was getting two weeks off at the same time that House would be "on vacation."

They planned to have House attend a conference in Spain that no one had ever heard of which would give Cuddy the excuse to take the vacation while House was out and not able to wreck havoc in her absence. So far, so good. His trip had been approved and Cuddy's request would be seen as a smart move to time her vacation when House was out of the country.

Cuddy had implored Wilson to keep quiet about her eloping with House and to help "hold down the fort," during her honeymoon. Wilson had agreed to help her. How could he not despite the idea of the two frolicking in some exotic locale making him angry. It should be him with her and not House, not his former best friend! Wilson knew this was what Cuddy wanted and he wouldn't disappoint her. God help House if he did. Wilson would kill him or at least remove a significant chunk of his ass with both feet.

Harder still was seeing the giddy House trying to act "normal" for House while suppressing his obvious joy at impending plans for marriage, a life, a wife and future. Cuddy's anxieties about Rachel's adoption were rarely exhibited at the hospital, occasionally becoming noticeable when dealing with an infant in the clinic. Wilson knew the deadline for the adoption was soon but the wedding plans had him so distracted that he hadn't noticed Cuddy's wistfulness and worry.

Wilson had a new patient with an advanced stage of cancer that began consuming more of his time lately. The man was in his late forties, had lost his daughter almost a year earlier and he had fallen into a depression that left him completely unaware of his health issues until it was too late to do anything to save his life. The patient's wife had been active in seeking any opportunity to extend the final few months a little longer.

Perhaps the man's age being close to his own bothered Wilson more than usual but he could see himself in this patient. Wilson chose this special case to distract himself from the wedding plans of the woman he loved and spent hours pouring over medical journals seeking to find some means of treating this patient and postponing pain and death for even a few more months.

But life isn't fair and people die too soon, some even dying too young. And Cuddy recalled this important fact when she ran into Wilson's special patient inadvertently during a consult in Wilson's office with the patient and his wife. Upon opening the door, Cuddy stepped in to find herself in front of Rachel's grandparents, the parents whose daughter died after giving birth to her and leaving the baby behind in an empty house. An empty house Cuddy had explored one cold night in search of the infant's corpse after learning of the birth mother's secret pregnancy. That night she found the baby had not died but had been cared for by a homeless couple who allowed Cuddy to take the baby.

Cuddy felt her heart sink as the look of recognition flickered across the faces of the cancer patient and his wife. The woman gasped recalling Cuddy's heroic deed of bringing the baby to this woman's daughter shortly before she died of eclampsia. Cuddy's actions gave the dying teenage mother the best gift of her short life – seeing her baby alive -- but presented the grandparents with something too painful to endure, a reminder of their dead daughter.

Cuddy was speechless.

"It's you!" The patient said in a loud whisper. "You made Olivia so happy before she died." He had smiled for the first time in almost a year. Cuddy smiled weakly. "I remember her."

No one spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Olivia's mother stood up and reached to Cuddy taking her hand. "You found our grand daughter."

"Yes, I did. It was a miracle she was even alive." Cuddy said gently

"I know. I often think about her whenever I go in Olivia's room. I wonder if she looks like our girl, if she has Olivia's eye color, her hair color, her freckles." The woman said looking lost and forlorn.

"We've had a hard time living without Olivia," the patient said quietly. "I don't know if you remember us, but I'm Douglas Richards and this is my wife, Sandra."

"I do remember you both," Cuddy said. "I'm sorry I interrupted your appointment with Dr. Wilson."

Wilson's mouth was open in shock. He stood speechless and fearful sensing Cuddy's anxiety.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without Douglas! First Olivia and now him?" Sandra Richards started to cry. Cuddy stood frozen. Did they know their granddaughter was in her care?

Wilson suddenly spoke up, "Dr. Cuddy, we're nearly done here but I need to finish our discussion on Mr. Richards' treatment options. Can I catch up with you afterwards?"

"Huh?" Cuddy seemed dazed, her mind a million miles away in a place called Dread.

"Uh, yes. I'll see you later. Just stop by my office when you get a chance." Cuddy quietly closed the door and ran as fast as she could to the elevator punching the button to provide her an escape to the roof.

Wilson eyed the couple in his office. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." Wilson handed Sandra Richards a tissue box before leaving his office. Wilson tried to find Cuddy but she had disappeared before he could follow her. He strode to House's office and saw Cuddy wasn't there. House looked up and saw the fearful worried expression on his nemesis' face.

"What?" House said sternly.

"Have you seen Cuddy?

"What's wrong?"

"Rachel's grandparents are in my office right now. Cuddy stopped in and they remembered her – she treated their daughter before the girl died from …."

"…eclampsia. Shit!" House said tersely. "Did they say anything about Rachel?"

"No, I don't think they even know Cuddy's the foster parent."

"What's wrong with grandparents?"

"What?" Wilson asked confused.

"Which one of them has cancer?" House glared back.

"The dad, Douglas Richards. He's been depressed since losing his daughter…."

"Yeah, whatever…" House raced past Wilson in search of Cuddy. Snapping his cellphone from his pocket he dialed her cell but no answer. Heading to her office, House hopped down the stairs on one leg racing as fast as possible. Her office was empty.

House spun around headed to the elevators, still winded from the stairs. The elevator doors opened and House quickly entered and hit the top floor button. She had to be on the roof. Waiting for him to find her.

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Well, should I continue? Please review and tell me if you saw this coming. I have a bad feeling this may actually happen on our favorite tv show. Thoughts?