Things for Cuddy just hadn’t been going very well lately. Since Cameron bailed, Cuddy was having a hard time. She really couldn’t blame Cameron though, it wasn’t her fault. She had done a great job with everything, even House, but she was right, Cuddy was the only one for the job. Even though she had been having a rough week at work, things hadn’t been nearly as bad as they were about to get. She knew that the current medical examiner had retired, that’s why she had hired a new one two weeks ago. What she hadn’t known was that he had taken a vacation in Mexico the week after she hired him.

While he was down there he had gone parasailing and been in an accident. She hadn’t found this out until the day he was supposed to come to work and hadn‘t, today. She had called his number and his mother had answered. Apparently, he had broken his both his legs, his pelvis, and his left arm. He had multiple smaller injuries as well and they were keeping him in a medical coma for the time being. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to accept the job after all.

Cuddy had a few of the doctors around the hospital on call for the time being, but that was only a short term solution, a very short term solution. She was supposed to have today off to spend with Rachel, and now she was stuck here, dealing with this.

Things got worse from there when her nanny called to tell her that she had a family emergency and couldn’t stay with Rachel. Cuddy didn’t even have the energy to be slightest bit angry. She just told the nanny to bring Rachel and supplies to the hospital. As soon as she hung up, her phone rang again and she answered it. It was a doctor she had met at a conference a few years ago, Dr. Marsh. They had stayed in touch and occasionally did favors for each other. Dr. Marsh told Cuddy that she heard about her problem and might have a solution.

About a week ago a young forensic M.E. working for the FBI had been working at Dr. Marsh’s hospital on a case. Marsh said that the M.E. had been heading to NJ on her new case, but that she was just a filler and that her contract was up with the FBI. The M.E.’s name had been Dr. Syrrin and she was looking for a less stressful and more stable job. Dr. Marsh gave Cuddy Dr. Syrrin’s number Cuddy thanked her, hanging up. Cuddy had no idea who this person was, but she worked for the FBI and Dr. Marsh had given her a good reference, so she must be good. Cuddy called the number Dr. Marsh had given her and hoped that Syrrin was still in NJ. To Cuddy’s surprise and relief, Syrrin was still in NJ and she said that she could come in for a meeting right away. She could be there as soon as twenty minutes.

Not five minutes after Cuddy hung up with Dr. Syrrin, the nanny brought Rachel in. As soon as the nanny had left Cuddy tried to tidy up her recently disheveled office, she had made a real mess looking for a replacement M.E. Cuddy had hoped that Rachel, who was asleep when the nanny brought her in, would sleep through the meeting, but as soon as Cuddy sat down she began to fuss. As soon as Cuddy picked Rachel up, she knew that she needed a diaper change and brought everything over to the couch to quickly get Rachel situated again.
Of course as soon as she began the diaper change there was a knock on her door and it opened. She looked up at the young woman who just stared at her for a moment.

“Dr. Lisa Cuddy?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m sorry, my nanny had an emergency and -” Cuddy tried to explain but was cut off by a waving hand as the girl stepped into the office and closed the door.

“It’s fine, babies are cool. They don’t say much.” she said sitting in the large chair next to the couch.

Cuddy finished with Rachel and put her back in her stroller while she cleaned up and looked this young woman over. She wore dark jeans, a black t-shirt with a red vest, a gray jacket, and gray slip on flats. She carried only a manila envelope with her, had sat down in a sofa chair for an interview, and didn’t seem to be acting too formal. However, Cuddy had been changing a dirty diaper when she knocked. Still, she hadn’t introduced herself yet and she was dressed pretty casually. Cuddy didn’t know what to make of her quite yet.

When Cuddy was done cleaning up she stood up.

“Excuse me for just a moment.” she said, going to the bathroom to wash up.

When Cuddy came back out of the bathroom she found the assumed Dr. Syrrin squatting in front of Rachel’s stroller with Rachel holding her finger.

“She’s cute.” said the young woman, slipping her finger from the baby’s and standing up.

“You like babies?” asked Cuddy.

“They’re fine, better than most adults.” she said, sitting back down in the chair.

“Really?” asked Cuddy, going back over to the couch.

“Sure. Oh, wow, I just realized that I completely forgot to introduce myself! I’m Dr. Emmelythis Tyrican Syrrin. Everyone just calls me Emme or Mets, for my initials.” she said, shaking Cuddy’s hand.

“I figured.” said Cuddy smiling.

“Sorry about my appearance. I don’t really wear a lot of nice clothes in my line of work.” said Emme.

“It’s fine, I’m just glad that you could make it on such short notice and that you were still in town.” said Cuddy.
The next thirty minutes were spent talking about Emme’s resume and the job offer. Emme didn’t outwardly show much interest in the job, but she seemed genuinely excited about the prospect. There were a few mentions of how she did have a few problems with taking orders or with interacting with others. Still, they weren’t really bad and every reference said that she was great at what she did. Cuddy thought of how this resume reminded her of another doctor when he was younger. Only Emme seemed a bit nicer, if not a bit more weird. Plus it wasn’t like she would be working with a lot of live patients anyway. Cuddy had made up her mind and was just about to finish things up and give Emme a final offer when her door burst open and the previously mentioned doctor limped in.

“Why the hell am I scheduled for two extra clinic hours a day for the next two weeks?” yelled House, not noticing or caring that Emme was there.

“Because you don’t have a case and you gave a guy with a piece of a pencil stuck in his tongue an MRI so you could watch your soap.” Cuddy said calmly, hoping Rachel wouldn’t wake up.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” House screeched.

At this Rachel stirred and started to whine.

“House, please.” said Cuddy with a pleading look.

“What, am I screwing with your personal time?” asked House loudly and sarcastically, making Rachel start to cry.

At this Emme stood up, looking coyly at House as Cuddy picked Rachel up and tried to soothe her. Cuddy noticed that Emme had a wry smile on her face as she looked at House, getting his attention.

“You must be the infamous Dr. House. I’ve heard about you just about every place I’ve been to. I’m Dr. Syrrin, could I just borrow you, privately, for a moment?” asked Emme, acting like a school girl with the quarterback of the football team and walking over to Cuddy’s desk.

“Yes, actually, I am Dr. House!” he said, finally glancing at Emme with a sly smirk and slightly tilted head as she walked away from him.

He limped over to her where she stood at Cuddy’s desk and Emme leaned in to whisper in his ear. She began to whisper something and Cuddy almost thought she heard a small whimper come from House. When Emme pulled back from House’s ear she wasn’t smiling anymore. Instead, she looked like she had just scorned an animal or something. House didn’t even glance back at Emme as he turned around and promptly proceeded to exit Cuddy’s office. He did still have enough steam to glare at Cuddy as he limped out, holding his hand a bit strangely. Cuddy stared at his back, mouth slightly open, as House left her office. Cuddy’s attention turned back to Emme as she came back over to the sofa chair. She just looked at Emme questioningly and in shock for a moment before speaking.

“How…what?” asked Cuddy.

“It must have been something I said.” said Emme, feigning surprise.

“When can you start?” asked Cuddy suddenly.

She hadn’t meant to blurt it out quite like that, but she was so surprised. If Emme had some kind of leverage over House, Cuddy could really use her.

“Uh, is tomorrow alright?” asked Emme, the corner of her mouth turned slightly up.

“See you then, and welcome to PPTH!” said Cuddy, holding her free hand out to Emme.

“Thanks.” said Emme, shaking Cuddy’s hand.

The next day Emme showed up for work and was even early, saying she wanted to get acquainted with the facility. From day on, everything went smoothly and Emme did an exceptional job, at least for a few weeks.