It had been almost a week since Cuddy had first seen Genny M. Gracen. Cuddy had tried calling her, many times, but all she ever got was a message-less machine. Cuddy had found that the only thing that Genny had left to get in touch with her was that phone number. After the first two days, Cuddy started looking for an address, or anything that could help her find Genny. As it turned out, she really did need the antibiotics and she could get very sick if she didn’t get them soon.
The next morning she thought back to everything that they had talked about six days ago and figured out that she was probably listed under dance. Cuddy got the phone book and looked under dance, finding dozens of entries. After about twenty minutes of going page by page she found what she was looking for, Gracen Lines: Dance Studio. The address was for a building not to far away.
Cuddy walked up to the building the address had implied and stood at the doors a moment. She was nearly run over when five or six little girls came running out. They were wearing little black leotards and were followed by five older women. She smiled at them as they passed and went in. Walking up the flight of stairs she could hear soft music playing as she came to a landing. The large double doors were open and there was another older woman standing in the door way.
Cuddy stood off to the side of her and looked in the room. Genny was there in a long, flowing black dress that looked like it was made out of the same material as the leotards. She had her hair pulled back in the tight bun that was accustomed to ballerinas. She was helping a small girl with foot placement and smiling at her. She looked happy as the little girl smiled back and ran off to get her bag. Cuddy backed out of the door way so Genny wouldn’t see her as the mom turned around.
“Oh, sorry! Good idea getting an early start on enrollment, she’s one of the best.” said the mother to Cuddy as the little girl dragged her away.
Cuddy just smiled at them and watched as they went down the stairs. She only turned back to the room when she heard the music change. It was no longer the soft happy music, Cuddy recognized it as Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor. Genny began to dance, moving her body to the music. It was like she was telling the story of the music with her movements. The delicate leaps and graceful bends, the perfectly precise foot placement, mesmerizing pirouettes and statuesque poses. Her emotions played out on her face what her body couldn’t convey, a few tears slipping from her cheeks.
As the music came to a close and Genny took her final pose, Cuddy realized there was someone coming up the stairs. She looked back into the room seeing Genny move over to the cabinet where the music was stationed. Cuddy decided to make her move before another class started and walked into the room.
“Give me a minute Jaime, I’m putting the music in and then I have to change shoes.” said Genny, not turning around.
“Genny.” said Cuddy, walking in a little further.
“Oh, sorry!” said Genny brightly, turning around to see Cuddy.
As soon as she saw who had called her name the smile left her face, being replaced by a blank stare.
“Oh, it’s you.” she said, turning around and heading for the wall lined with chairs where her foot wear was.
“Genny, we really need to talk.” said Cuddy, following her to the chairs.
“Look, Dr. Cuddy, I don’t know why you decided to come out here. My foot is doing much better and the cut is healing fine.” said Genny, unlacing her ballet slippers and taking them off.
Cuddy sat down in a chair beside Genny and watched her work on the shoes. She was replacing the soft slippers with black, three inch, stiletto heels.
“Look, even if the cut is getting better, your lab work showed you had an infection.” said Cuddy.
“I know.” said Genny, not even bothering to look up.
“Genevieve?” came a male voice in the room.
Cuddy looked up and was startled to find a tall, lean, but nicely muscled man standing in the center of the room. He was wearing a white tank top and tight black pants with shiny dance shoes. His hair was a mixture of light brown with a few lighter blonde highlights on the short tips. His skin was the color of café leche and looked as smooth as any woman’s. It seemed as if everything about this man had been designed to highlight his beautiful light green eyes. They reminded her of sea foam that had turned green from the algae, that same light and soft color.
“Hey Jaime, give me just me a minute and then we’ll get started.” said Genny, looking up at him with a smile.
“Alright.” said Jaime, in a faint Latin accent.
“What do you mean you know?” asked Cuddy, returning her thoughts to Genny and not the insanely attractive man practicing sexy dance moves in front of her.
“I came back a day later and got the antibiotics.” said Genny, strapping on her shoes.
“How did I not know about this?” asked Cuddy.
“I don’t know, but I have to practice now.” said Genny, standing up.
“But…” said Cuddy, staring up at her.
“Look, you are welcome to sit here and wait until I’m done. That’s all I can do for you right now.” said Genny, turning around and walking to the music cabinet.
Cuddy just stared blankly at her as she turned the music on and met Jaime in the middle of the floor. It was like her brain wouldn’t turn on, she couldn’t think of anything to do but sit there and wait.
Cuddy took her coat off after she had decided to stay and placed it in her lap along with her purse. She sat there and watched as Genny and Jaime danced what she realized to be a Tango. They carefully and meticulously went over the correct location of every single body part depending on the timing of the music and where their partner was. It was a methodical and grueling process. It seemed like every single centimeter of movement had been thought out and planned.
Watching this exchange of ideas and body language was a strange thing. It didn’t look the least like dancing to Cuddy. It looked like two mechanical robots trying to dance while watching themselves in the mirrors that plastered the walls. The music kept stopping and starting and Cuddy finally gave up on trying to figure out where exactly they were after twenty minutes.
She had been watching the two ‘dance’ for over an hour when she realized that they had finally stopped. The music was off and they were just talking now. She dragged her brain back into consciousness and listened to them for a moment. They were talking about everything they had just gone over. They eventually decided to run through the entire number once and then take a break.
This time when Genny started the music up Cuddy was paying attention to the two dancers. As they began to sway and convey the emotion of the music Cuddy began to feel a but flushed. The passion and desire, the fury and the sorrow, the lust and longing displayed on their faces as they seemingly effortlessly glided across the wooden floor. They were all over, in each others arms one moment, looking like they were about to make love, the next feet apart with rage and grief almost seeping from their pours.
Cuddy was transfixed on the two of them and hardly realized that the song was over and they had stopped dancing. Moving so that she was sitting up more straight in her chair, she quietly tried to clear her mind and face of her thoughts, feeling the hotness of her cheeks. She watched as Jaime and Genny said a few words and then Jaime walked to the opposite side of the room. He sat down and started taking his shoes off, taking sneakers out of his bag.
“You’re still here?” asked Genny, coming to sit on the chair by Cuddy again.
“I told you I wanted to talk to you.” said Cuddy.
“And I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want to talk to you the first time we met?” asked Genny, removing her heels and slipping her feet into the black flats.
“Look, I took the time to look you up, come out here, and sit here waiting for you.” said Cuddy.
“I’m really touched, and a little disturbed, that you would take such an interest in me, but I got what I needed four days ago. If there was something else you needed to tell me you could have left it in a message with your twenty others. Beyond that, anything else you need is your problem, not mine.” said Genny, standing up.
“After everything I’ve done, the least you could do for me is give me five minutes of your time. After all, you’ve taken up nearly two full days of mine.” said Cuddy.
“Like I said, that’s your problem, not mine.” said Genny, reaching down to pick up her water bottle.
“Please, just a few minutes.” said Cuddy, standing up quickly.
The change from being seated for so long to rising suddenly didn’t agree well with Cuddy and she almost immediately felt dizzy. She quickly sat back down, closing her eyes and leaning forward to try and quell the feeling.
Genny was suddenly squatting in front of Cuddy with a look of concern on her face and a hand on Cuddy’s knee.
“Dr. Cuddy, are you alright?” she asked.
“Yeah, I just need a minute.” said Cuddy, taking deep and slow breaths.
“Is something wrong?” asked Genny.
“It’s probably just low blood sugar and BP. I guess I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast, they say you shouldn’t do that when your pregnant, right?” she joked, starting to feel a bit better.
“Oh Jesus Christ! Of course…ok, are you feeling better?” asked Genny, not sounding quite as sympathetic and more annoyed.
“Yeah, I think so.” said Cuddy, opening her eyes again.
She found a pair of annoyed, yet still worried, bright blue ones staring straight back at her.
“Alright, you wanted five minutes…it looks like your getting a whole lunch out of me, come on.” said Genny, effortlessly standing up from squatting for nearly five minutes.
She held out her hand to Cuddy and Cuddy just looked at her for a moment.
“Well, come on. Either get up, slowly, and come with me or I’m gonna let you sit here staring at the floor until you rot. It’s your choice.” said Genny, shaking her hand slightly.
Cuddy took her hand and slowly stood up, placing her coat and purse over her arm. Genny reached back down for her heels and picked them up before slowly walking Cuddy out the double doors. Before leaving the landing she turned around and pulled the doors shut, taking a key from a small hidden pocket in her dress and locking the doors. Genny put the key back in the pocket and started off around the stairs on the landing.
“Where are you going?” asked Cuddy.
“We’re going up to my apartment for lunch.” said Genny, waving a hand at the small elevator hiding behind the second set of stairs.
“Oh.” said Cuddy.
“Yeah, come on.” said Genny, again not waiting for Cuddy.
They rode up to the fourth floor and got off in a small entry way with a sliding door. Genny walked up to the door and pushed it aside easily, revealing a multi level studio apartment.
“Welcome to Chez Genevieve.” said Genny, walking in after Cuddy and sliding the door shut again.
“Wow, it’s nice.” said Cuddy, surprised at how tidy and modern the apartment was.
“Yeah, come on.” said Genny.
Genny dropped her shoes by the door and led Cuddy into the surprisingly large kitchen. She dumped her water bottle out and placed it in the sink, starting to wash it.
“Have a seat.” she said, motioning to the stools at the island counter the sink was attached to.
“So, how much does an apartment and studio like this run you?” asked Cuddy, trying to get Genny to talk.
“Only the upkeep, I own the building.” Genny said simply.
“Really, you own the building?” asked Cuddy.
“Yeah, so I hope you don’t mind crimini, shiitake, and garlic pasta with a chanterelle salad.” said Genny, putting the bottle and top on a towel to dry, then moving around the kitchen gathering the ingredients and utensils.
“That sounds great, so who is Leo?” asked Cuddy, deciding to be blunt since easing into it obviously wasn’t working.
“Sorry, who?” asked Genny, clearly pretending not to know.
“When you came into the clinic, the first time, you said something about not liking doctors and how it was the same when Leo was sick.” said Cuddy.
“Oh, well, the doctor I saw when I came back didn’t bother me at all. I actually kind of liked him, his style or what ever.” said Genny, changing the subject and handing a glass of orange juice to Cuddy.
Cuddy decided that she would go along with the change for a while, ease Genny into the answering questions phase. At least she was talking now…the blunt approach had worked.
“Really, what doctor was this?” asked Cuddy, drinking the juice.
“I think he said his name was Dr. McFeelygoodin, but the signature on the script he gave me said Dr. House. I’ll trust that the latter is correct, because while a name like Dr. McFeelygoodin would be extremely hilarious and cool, it would be an enormous pain in the ass to sign.” said Genny, placing the pots on the stove and turning the heat on.
“You would be correct about it being Dr. House you saw. It would also make sense why I hadn’t heard about you coming back.” said Cuddy.
“Well, as doctors go, no offense to you, he’s the only one I’ve liked in while. Even if he doesn’t do his charting, you should keep him around.” said Genny, working on the salad now.
“It wouldn’t look so good if I fired his or her father…wait, how do you know about charting?” asked Cuddy, finishing the orange juice.
“My parents were doctors.” said Genny, stirring the pasta.
“You don’t like your parents?” asked Cuddy.
“No, they were great, they’re dead.” stated Genny, going back to the salad.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” said Cuddy, having already suspected this answer.
“It’s fine, it was a while ago.” said Genny.
A silence fell over them as Cuddy thought of what to say next, but before her brain had time to work something out, her bladder butted in.
“Right, so where’s the bathroom?” she asked, taking the directions Genny gave her.
When Cuddy came back to the kitchen Genny was putting the pots in the sink and running hot water over them. She had plated the salads and the pasta, set out silverware, and poured both water and milk for both of them. Cuddy sat back down at her original seat as Genny came around the island and sat next to her.
“This looks and smells wonderful, thank you.” said Cuddy.
“Thank you.” said Genny, taking a bite of her salad.
Cuddy took this as her moment to be blunt again and find out some more about Genny.
“So who was Leo again?” asked Cuddy, taking a bite of the pasta.
Genny didn’t answer for a moment as she chewed slowly, thinking about how to answer.
“Leo’s my son.” she finally said, glancing quickly at Cuddy.
“I didn’t realize you had a child. Your place is so…well, clean, and -” said Cuddy, being cut off.
“He’s not here anymore.” said Genny, not looking at Cuddy and taking a bite of pasta.
“Oh, is he with his father?” asked Cuddy.
“No, and why are you asking me about him?” asked Genny, finally looking at Cuddy.
“I just…I had a child once, a daughter, when I was around nineteen. I placed her up for adoption, I thought it was the best thing for her…at the time.” said Cuddy, taking another bite.
“I see, well, I kept my son. I was seventeen and alone when I had him, but I made it work. I didn’t make the mistake of abandoning him.” said Genny.
“That’s not what I was saying, I was just wondering where he was.” said Cuddy.
“Why do you want to know so badly?” asked Genny, putting her fork down and looking at Cuddy.
“I don’t know…I just, do.” said Cuddy, not able to think of a good reason.
“He’s not here because he’s dead. I think this needs some parmesan.” said Genny, jumping up from her seat and going to the refrigerator.
“Oh, god, Genny…I’m so sorry.” said Cuddy, not knowing what else to say.
“Yeah, me too, do you want cheese?” Genny asked, grating parmesan on her pasta and salad.
“How long ago…” Cuddy halfway asked.
“About four years, are you sure you don’t want any cheese? I’ll just leave it out, in case you change your mind.” said Genny, sitting back down in her seat and taking a large bite of the pasta.
“What…what happened?” asked Cuddy carefully.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about this, okay.” said Genny, getting up and putting the cheese away now.
“Genny, if you for any reason are hurting yourself in any way because of how you feel about this…” said Cuddy, not able to finish her thought.
“Ok, you need to leave now. I’m sooo glad we had this little lunch powwow, but I have another class to teach in an hour and I need to clean this up before.” said Genny, almost pushing Cuddy through the apartment.
Genny slid the door open and half way shoved Cuddy out.
“So, yeah, I’m all better and thanks for stoppin’ by and all, don’t do it again.” said Genny, sliding the heavy door closed and locking it.
The next morning she thought back to everything that they had talked about six days ago and figured out that she was probably listed under dance. Cuddy got the phone book and looked under dance, finding dozens of entries. After about twenty minutes of going page by page she found what she was looking for, Gracen Lines: Dance Studio. The address was for a building not to far away.
Cuddy walked up to the building the address had implied and stood at the doors a moment. She was nearly run over when five or six little girls came running out. They were wearing little black leotards and were followed by five older women. She smiled at them as they passed and went in. Walking up the flight of stairs she could hear soft music playing as she came to a landing. The large double doors were open and there was another older woman standing in the door way.
Cuddy stood off to the side of her and looked in the room. Genny was there in a long, flowing black dress that looked like it was made out of the same material as the leotards. She had her hair pulled back in the tight bun that was accustomed to ballerinas. She was helping a small girl with foot placement and smiling at her. She looked happy as the little girl smiled back and ran off to get her bag. Cuddy backed out of the door way so Genny wouldn’t see her as the mom turned around.
“Oh, sorry! Good idea getting an early start on enrollment, she’s one of the best.” said the mother to Cuddy as the little girl dragged her away.
Cuddy just smiled at them and watched as they went down the stairs. She only turned back to the room when she heard the music change. It was no longer the soft happy music, Cuddy recognized it as Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor. Genny began to dance, moving her body to the music. It was like she was telling the story of the music with her movements. The delicate leaps and graceful bends, the perfectly precise foot placement, mesmerizing pirouettes and statuesque poses. Her emotions played out on her face what her body couldn’t convey, a few tears slipping from her cheeks.
As the music came to a close and Genny took her final pose, Cuddy realized there was someone coming up the stairs. She looked back into the room seeing Genny move over to the cabinet where the music was stationed. Cuddy decided to make her move before another class started and walked into the room.
“Give me a minute Jaime, I’m putting the music in and then I have to change shoes.” said Genny, not turning around.
“Genny.” said Cuddy, walking in a little further.
“Oh, sorry!” said Genny brightly, turning around to see Cuddy.
As soon as she saw who had called her name the smile left her face, being replaced by a blank stare.
“Oh, it’s you.” she said, turning around and heading for the wall lined with chairs where her foot wear was.
“Genny, we really need to talk.” said Cuddy, following her to the chairs.
“Look, Dr. Cuddy, I don’t know why you decided to come out here. My foot is doing much better and the cut is healing fine.” said Genny, unlacing her ballet slippers and taking them off.
Cuddy sat down in a chair beside Genny and watched her work on the shoes. She was replacing the soft slippers with black, three inch, stiletto heels.
“Look, even if the cut is getting better, your lab work showed you had an infection.” said Cuddy.
“I know.” said Genny, not even bothering to look up.
“Genevieve?” came a male voice in the room.
Cuddy looked up and was startled to find a tall, lean, but nicely muscled man standing in the center of the room. He was wearing a white tank top and tight black pants with shiny dance shoes. His hair was a mixture of light brown with a few lighter blonde highlights on the short tips. His skin was the color of café leche and looked as smooth as any woman’s. It seemed as if everything about this man had been designed to highlight his beautiful light green eyes. They reminded her of sea foam that had turned green from the algae, that same light and soft color.
“Hey Jaime, give me just me a minute and then we’ll get started.” said Genny, looking up at him with a smile.
“Alright.” said Jaime, in a faint Latin accent.
“What do you mean you know?” asked Cuddy, returning her thoughts to Genny and not the insanely attractive man practicing sexy dance moves in front of her.
“I came back a day later and got the antibiotics.” said Genny, strapping on her shoes.
“How did I not know about this?” asked Cuddy.
“I don’t know, but I have to practice now.” said Genny, standing up.
“But…” said Cuddy, staring up at her.
“Look, you are welcome to sit here and wait until I’m done. That’s all I can do for you right now.” said Genny, turning around and walking to the music cabinet.
Cuddy just stared blankly at her as she turned the music on and met Jaime in the middle of the floor. It was like her brain wouldn’t turn on, she couldn’t think of anything to do but sit there and wait.
Cuddy took her coat off after she had decided to stay and placed it in her lap along with her purse. She sat there and watched as Genny and Jaime danced what she realized to be a Tango. They carefully and meticulously went over the correct location of every single body part depending on the timing of the music and where their partner was. It was a methodical and grueling process. It seemed like every single centimeter of movement had been thought out and planned.
Watching this exchange of ideas and body language was a strange thing. It didn’t look the least like dancing to Cuddy. It looked like two mechanical robots trying to dance while watching themselves in the mirrors that plastered the walls. The music kept stopping and starting and Cuddy finally gave up on trying to figure out where exactly they were after twenty minutes.
She had been watching the two ‘dance’ for over an hour when she realized that they had finally stopped. The music was off and they were just talking now. She dragged her brain back into consciousness and listened to them for a moment. They were talking about everything they had just gone over. They eventually decided to run through the entire number once and then take a break.
This time when Genny started the music up Cuddy was paying attention to the two dancers. As they began to sway and convey the emotion of the music Cuddy began to feel a but flushed. The passion and desire, the fury and the sorrow, the lust and longing displayed on their faces as they seemingly effortlessly glided across the wooden floor. They were all over, in each others arms one moment, looking like they were about to make love, the next feet apart with rage and grief almost seeping from their pours.
Cuddy was transfixed on the two of them and hardly realized that the song was over and they had stopped dancing. Moving so that she was sitting up more straight in her chair, she quietly tried to clear her mind and face of her thoughts, feeling the hotness of her cheeks. She watched as Jaime and Genny said a few words and then Jaime walked to the opposite side of the room. He sat down and started taking his shoes off, taking sneakers out of his bag.
“You’re still here?” asked Genny, coming to sit on the chair by Cuddy again.
“I told you I wanted to talk to you.” said Cuddy.
“And I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want to talk to you the first time we met?” asked Genny, removing her heels and slipping her feet into the black flats.
“Look, I took the time to look you up, come out here, and sit here waiting for you.” said Cuddy.
“I’m really touched, and a little disturbed, that you would take such an interest in me, but I got what I needed four days ago. If there was something else you needed to tell me you could have left it in a message with your twenty others. Beyond that, anything else you need is your problem, not mine.” said Genny, standing up.
“After everything I’ve done, the least you could do for me is give me five minutes of your time. After all, you’ve taken up nearly two full days of mine.” said Cuddy.
“Like I said, that’s your problem, not mine.” said Genny, reaching down to pick up her water bottle.
“Please, just a few minutes.” said Cuddy, standing up quickly.
The change from being seated for so long to rising suddenly didn’t agree well with Cuddy and she almost immediately felt dizzy. She quickly sat back down, closing her eyes and leaning forward to try and quell the feeling.
Genny was suddenly squatting in front of Cuddy with a look of concern on her face and a hand on Cuddy’s knee.
“Dr. Cuddy, are you alright?” she asked.
“Yeah, I just need a minute.” said Cuddy, taking deep and slow breaths.
“Is something wrong?” asked Genny.
“It’s probably just low blood sugar and BP. I guess I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast, they say you shouldn’t do that when your pregnant, right?” she joked, starting to feel a bit better.
“Oh Jesus Christ! Of course…ok, are you feeling better?” asked Genny, not sounding quite as sympathetic and more annoyed.
“Yeah, I think so.” said Cuddy, opening her eyes again.
She found a pair of annoyed, yet still worried, bright blue ones staring straight back at her.
“Alright, you wanted five minutes…it looks like your getting a whole lunch out of me, come on.” said Genny, effortlessly standing up from squatting for nearly five minutes.
She held out her hand to Cuddy and Cuddy just looked at her for a moment.
“Well, come on. Either get up, slowly, and come with me or I’m gonna let you sit here staring at the floor until you rot. It’s your choice.” said Genny, shaking her hand slightly.
Cuddy took her hand and slowly stood up, placing her coat and purse over her arm. Genny reached back down for her heels and picked them up before slowly walking Cuddy out the double doors. Before leaving the landing she turned around and pulled the doors shut, taking a key from a small hidden pocket in her dress and locking the doors. Genny put the key back in the pocket and started off around the stairs on the landing.
“Where are you going?” asked Cuddy.
“We’re going up to my apartment for lunch.” said Genny, waving a hand at the small elevator hiding behind the second set of stairs.
“Oh.” said Cuddy.
“Yeah, come on.” said Genny, again not waiting for Cuddy.
They rode up to the fourth floor and got off in a small entry way with a sliding door. Genny walked up to the door and pushed it aside easily, revealing a multi level studio apartment.
“Welcome to Chez Genevieve.” said Genny, walking in after Cuddy and sliding the door shut again.
“Wow, it’s nice.” said Cuddy, surprised at how tidy and modern the apartment was.
“Yeah, come on.” said Genny.
Genny dropped her shoes by the door and led Cuddy into the surprisingly large kitchen. She dumped her water bottle out and placed it in the sink, starting to wash it.
“Have a seat.” she said, motioning to the stools at the island counter the sink was attached to.
“So, how much does an apartment and studio like this run you?” asked Cuddy, trying to get Genny to talk.
“Only the upkeep, I own the building.” Genny said simply.
“Really, you own the building?” asked Cuddy.
“Yeah, so I hope you don’t mind crimini, shiitake, and garlic pasta with a chanterelle salad.” said Genny, putting the bottle and top on a towel to dry, then moving around the kitchen gathering the ingredients and utensils.
“That sounds great, so who is Leo?” asked Cuddy, deciding to be blunt since easing into it obviously wasn’t working.
“Sorry, who?” asked Genny, clearly pretending not to know.
“When you came into the clinic, the first time, you said something about not liking doctors and how it was the same when Leo was sick.” said Cuddy.
“Oh, well, the doctor I saw when I came back didn’t bother me at all. I actually kind of liked him, his style or what ever.” said Genny, changing the subject and handing a glass of orange juice to Cuddy.
Cuddy decided that she would go along with the change for a while, ease Genny into the answering questions phase. At least she was talking now…the blunt approach had worked.
“Really, what doctor was this?” asked Cuddy, drinking the juice.
“I think he said his name was Dr. McFeelygoodin, but the signature on the script he gave me said Dr. House. I’ll trust that the latter is correct, because while a name like Dr. McFeelygoodin would be extremely hilarious and cool, it would be an enormous pain in the ass to sign.” said Genny, placing the pots on the stove and turning the heat on.
“You would be correct about it being Dr. House you saw. It would also make sense why I hadn’t heard about you coming back.” said Cuddy.
“Well, as doctors go, no offense to you, he’s the only one I’ve liked in while. Even if he doesn’t do his charting, you should keep him around.” said Genny, working on the salad now.
“It wouldn’t look so good if I fired his or her father…wait, how do you know about charting?” asked Cuddy, finishing the orange juice.
“My parents were doctors.” said Genny, stirring the pasta.
“You don’t like your parents?” asked Cuddy.
“No, they were great, they’re dead.” stated Genny, going back to the salad.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” said Cuddy, having already suspected this answer.
“It’s fine, it was a while ago.” said Genny.
A silence fell over them as Cuddy thought of what to say next, but before her brain had time to work something out, her bladder butted in.
“Right, so where’s the bathroom?” she asked, taking the directions Genny gave her.
When Cuddy came back to the kitchen Genny was putting the pots in the sink and running hot water over them. She had plated the salads and the pasta, set out silverware, and poured both water and milk for both of them. Cuddy sat back down at her original seat as Genny came around the island and sat next to her.
“This looks and smells wonderful, thank you.” said Cuddy.
“Thank you.” said Genny, taking a bite of her salad.
Cuddy took this as her moment to be blunt again and find out some more about Genny.
“So who was Leo again?” asked Cuddy, taking a bite of the pasta.
Genny didn’t answer for a moment as she chewed slowly, thinking about how to answer.
“Leo’s my son.” she finally said, glancing quickly at Cuddy.
“I didn’t realize you had a child. Your place is so…well, clean, and -” said Cuddy, being cut off.
“He’s not here anymore.” said Genny, not looking at Cuddy and taking a bite of pasta.
“Oh, is he with his father?” asked Cuddy.
“No, and why are you asking me about him?” asked Genny, finally looking at Cuddy.
“I just…I had a child once, a daughter, when I was around nineteen. I placed her up for adoption, I thought it was the best thing for her…at the time.” said Cuddy, taking another bite.
“I see, well, I kept my son. I was seventeen and alone when I had him, but I made it work. I didn’t make the mistake of abandoning him.” said Genny.
“That’s not what I was saying, I was just wondering where he was.” said Cuddy.
“Why do you want to know so badly?” asked Genny, putting her fork down and looking at Cuddy.
“I don’t know…I just, do.” said Cuddy, not able to think of a good reason.
“He’s not here because he’s dead. I think this needs some parmesan.” said Genny, jumping up from her seat and going to the refrigerator.
“Oh, god, Genny…I’m so sorry.” said Cuddy, not knowing what else to say.
“Yeah, me too, do you want cheese?” Genny asked, grating parmesan on her pasta and salad.
“How long ago…” Cuddy halfway asked.
“About four years, are you sure you don’t want any cheese? I’ll just leave it out, in case you change your mind.” said Genny, sitting back down in her seat and taking a large bite of the pasta.
“What…what happened?” asked Cuddy carefully.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about this, okay.” said Genny, getting up and putting the cheese away now.
“Genny, if you for any reason are hurting yourself in any way because of how you feel about this…” said Cuddy, not able to finish her thought.
“Ok, you need to leave now. I’m sooo glad we had this little lunch powwow, but I have another class to teach in an hour and I need to clean this up before.” said Genny, almost pushing Cuddy through the apartment.
Genny slid the door open and half way shoved Cuddy out.
“So, yeah, I’m all better and thanks for stoppin’ by and all, don’t do it again.” said Genny, sliding the heavy door closed and locking it.