When Two Worlds Collide

A/N: Hello there! This is my first House fan fic, though I've been reading House fics, and writing fics for other shows for ages. I haven't written anything in a while… so what better way to procrastinate studying for exams than to start a new fan fic! Anyway, this is a House/Cuddy pairing, although it's a Cuddy-centric fic. Please read and let me know if you think I should continue!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters you don't recognize. Woopdy-friggin-doo!

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Dr House stood at the nurses' station in the clinic, glad to be rid of the last two hours of painful clinic duty. Having signed out, he quickly made a turn for the door, but only to collide with someone rushing into the clinic.

"Woah!" she cried, loosing control of one of her many bags, and having it fly halfway across the room. Both parties just managed to keep their balance, and on doing so, the girl turned to House with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry," she cringed. She pushed back the straight light brown lock of hair that had fallen in her face during the chaos and gave an awkward smile.

"Lisa Cuddy's office?" she asked. House was still too confused and overwhelmed from the collision to come up with a clever response, so instead just pointed vaguely in the direction of the office. The nurses watched from their station and smirked over House's sudden loss of speech. The anonymous girl, who could be no more than 20 years old, picked up her far-flung bag and slung it over her shoulder, joining the other five or six bags she was holding. She flashed a familiar grin before disappearing through Cuddy's glass doors.

House simply stared after her and blinked his eyes repeatedly. "What the hell?"

The girl pushed her way through the first set of doors into Cuddy's office. Her assistant quickly jumped up and protested.

"You can't go in there, Dr Cuddy's on an important phone call!"

His protests went unnoticed however as the girl headed straight into the office. Cuddy looked up from her desk and her eyes widened. The girl dropped her bags down dramatically.

"I cannot believe you hung up on me!" she said theatrically.

Cuddy sighed and spoke into the phone, "I'm going to have to call you back."

"Since when have we started hanging up on each other?" the girl ranted. "I've never hung up on you before, and I wasn't aware that this was going to become a 'hanging up' family."

"Emily, I didn't hang up on you," Cuddy tried to reason.

"Umm… as I recall, yes, you did. I got home and I didn't have a key, and I went to get the spare from Mrs McClutsky, but she refused to give it to me on the grounds that you told her never to give it out to anyone but you!" Emily fumed. Cuddy rubbed her forehead despairingly.

"So, seeing as you wouldn't take any of my calls, I had nowhere else to go but here," she continued. Cuddy let out a deep sigh.

"What's going on?" she asked. Emily's explosive front fell, and she looked around awkwardly and she mumbled something.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Cuddy said, standing up and leaning forward across her desk. Emily gave a defeated sigh.

"I got evicted," she cringed.

"You what!"

"I got evicted, okay? I ran out of money…"

"You could've asked me for money," Cuddy offered.

"Yeah… well… I didn't think of that," Emily said sheepishly. Cuddy sighed and walked around her desk towards the girl, but stopped short.

"What on earth are you wearing?" she asked, noticing Emily's tank top, tiny shorts and dark brown cowboy boots.

"California, mom," Emily replied, as if that were more than enough of an answer.

"Oh, right…" Cuddy said with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Anyway, I need to move back home for a while. I wasn't getting as many jobs in California as I hoped I would."

"Have you thought of maybe trying a different 'career' than actor slash model?" Cuddy asked, with a slightly raised eyebrow. Emily rolled her eyes.

"Do you have to put the slash in there? I did a modeling job once, mom, once. And why do you always have to be so condescending about my career? Just because I'm not a doctor doesn't mean I'm not gonna have a fulfilling life," Emily argued.

"I'm sorry sweetheart," Cuddy said, biting her lip to suppress a chuckle.

"So, yes. I'm here because I need the house keys."

Cuddy smiled. "Come here," she said, holding her arms out to her daughter, who willingly embraced her.

"I'm glad you're home, I missed you too much," Cuddy said, gently stroking her daughter's long hair.

"I missed you too, mom," she replied. Both women gave satisfied smiles as they pulled out of the embrace, and Cuddy took the opportunity to look her daughter up and down.

"You look good," she said, "been working on the tan?"

"Of course," Emily replied, now taking her turn to check out her mother. "Would it be a compliment if I said you didn't look any older?"

"I guess."

"Well good. Though I can't help but notice you're missing an important button on your blouse," Emily pointed out. Cuddy looked at her blouse, confused.

"No I'm not…" then it clicked, and her daughter's quip about her low cut top registered. Cuddy simply rolled her eyes in reply.

"So, I'm probably not gonna be out of here for another hour or so… why don't you go grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria or something, and you can come home with me. Oh, you didn't bring your car did you?" she asked.

Emily shook her head, "Taxi. I, ah… parked my car illegally whilst I was battling it out with Mrs McClutsky, and it got towed."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, "it could only happen to you."

"I know. See ya in an hour," Emily said, heading out the door.

"No less!" Cuddy called after her, but her plea seemed to go unnoticed.

Emily had not been gone two seconds when House came hobbling in through the doors, almost tripping over the bags that were still lying on the floor where they had been dropped.

"Well, well, well," he sing-songed, "it seems Dr Cuddy is dipping into the younger age demographic… the female one too! Oh, you cradle snatcher, you. I only wished I'd come in a few minutes earlier – could've caught some cinemaxx for free!"

"House!" Cuddy protested, her eyes wide and her temper flaring, "That was my daughter!"

"Woah!" House replied, blinking his eyes several times. "You have a daughter?"

Cuddy sighed. "Actually, I have two."

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A/N: So there you go! Sorry it was so short… I just really wanted to end the chapter there. Hehe! Please review and let me know what you think… this is all I've written so far, so if you've got a hankering for more, I just might find the time…