Me and Emily Chapter Two
Title: Me and Emily
Author: nomoretearsAS
Rating: K+/PG
Summary: When House discovers that Chase has a kid, he decides to find out more about both of them. House/Chase friendship.
Disclaimer: I don't own House, Chase, or any characters that you recognize.
Chapter: 2/?
Chase decided that he would just call Mrs. Graves, the neighbor who knew everything, and just head to a hotel. He held Emily close as he headed into Cuddy’s office. Cuddy knew about Emily, but had promised to keep it quiet. When Chase had started, he had heard of House’s reputation and knew that this was a prestigious fellowship. He didn’t want House to not take him seriously (although, it seemed that ended up happening anyway). However, Cuddy had never met Emily.
He positioned the little girl on his hip and she settled her head on his shoulder. He signed off on her paperwork and on Maddie’s as well. He dropped both charts at the nurse’s station, thanking the nurse who came and got him once again. Then he headed to Cuddy’s office.
He saw her at her desk and knocked at the door. She raised her head and saw him standing there and beckoned him in. She smiled widely at the little girl in his arms. "Hi Chase. Is this your daughter?" she asked. He smiled affectionately at Emily and nodded.
"Yes, this is Emily. The apartment fire that we had in here, it was my building. The paramedics brought both my daughter and her nanny in." Cuddy looked alarmed and Chase raised his hands in a placating gesture. "They’re both fine. I already sent Maddie home and Emily and I are going to go get a hotel for the night. I just wanted to ask if I could leave a little early and take the next two days to sort some things out."
She nodded, vigorously. "Of course, take the time you need." She reached out for the baby. "Can I hold her?" she asked him.
"Sure." he said, handing the toddler over. She fussed a little, looking at her Daddy, but he smiled reassuringly at her and she went without a fight.
"Hi there, sweetie. You must have had a rough day, huh?" she nodded and rested her head on Cuddy’s shoulder.
"She’s pretty wiped out." Chase said, smiling as her eye’s fought to stay open.
"I bet she is. Is there anything else you need?" Cuddy asked, handing the baby back to Chase. He shook his head and smiled politely.
"No, I think we’ll be okay, thank you." Chase said. He took Emily’s hand and waved goodbye to Cuddy as they left her office. He took a deep breath. At least he had two days to figure everything out.
He took Emily to his car and buckled her in. She was already asleep and he kissed her forehead gently before getting in the car himself. He drove them to the hotel that was just a block from the hospital. He got them a room and as he laid Emily down on the bed, he stepped outside, leaving the door open so he could hear her if need be. Then he dialed his neighbor, Mrs. Graves.
"Jean Graves." she answered.
"Hello Mrs. Graves, this is Robert Chase." he said.
"Oh! Robert, hello. How are you?"
"I’m fine. I was at the hospital...Maddie was there with Emily when the fire broke out. But both girls are just fine. I’m hoping that you’re okay as well? I was actually calling to see if you knew what happened...and which units were the most damaged?" he asked her.
" Oh yes, I’m just fine. The fire alarms went off and everyone got out safely. The fire started in Dan Palmer’s apartment, Dan fell asleep with food on the stove. But he’s fine and so is everyone else from the building. Dan’s apartment is completely destroyed and the one right above it, Jennie Howard’s. Everything else just has smoke and water damage. The fire department has the building closed for the night, but they said they’ll be able to open it back up tomorrow. Do you have a place to stay?" she rattled off, quickly. Fortunately, he was used to talking with her so he could follow her.
"Yeah, Emily and I checked into a hotel. How about you?" he asked her.
"Oh, heaven’s yes. I’m staying with my sister. Anyway, my other line is going off. Phone’s been ringing off the hook. If you need anything, give me a call. Talk to you later, Robert." she said, clicking off the conversation with Chase.
He smiled to himself and turned off his phone. His pager was on if anyone absolutely needed him, but he figured that he and Emily would both get some sleep if his phone wasn’t going off all night. He quietly let himself back into the room and looked at Emily, still sound asleep.
She was a little sooty, but she was fine. Like Maddie said, she was mostly just shaken up from the day’s events. His apartment was two floors below Dan Palmers and on the other side of the building. But she still must have been scared. Maddie, too, Chase knew that Maddie was afraid of fire. She wouldn’t even light candles.
He stripped off his shoes and socks and suddenly, exhausted, flopped into bed next to Emily and fell sound asleep. Emily woke him up early the next morning. She had climbed on top of him and was laying on her stomach on HIS stomach. "Daddy?" she sing-songed. He pretended to sleep on, snoring loudly for her benefit and she giggled. "Daddy get up!" she cried out.
He snored louder and she giggled some more. Suddenly, he grabbed her and began tickling her and she laughed loudly. "Stop! Daddy stop!" she giggled. Finally, he pulled her to him and kissed her.
"Morning baby girl. How are you?" he asked.
"Good. Is Maddie coming today?" she asked. He kissed her once again.
"Nope, it’s just us today. We’re going to go back home and see how it looks." She got a fearful look.
"I don’t want to go home, Daddy." she said, pouting at him. He figured that she was probably scared of the fire.
"There’s no more fire, love. I know that was probably really scary, huh?" he asked her and she nodded vigorously. "Well, Daddy will be with you this time. He won’t l et anything happen to you, okay?" She nodded again and threw herself into his arms. He kissed the top of her head.
"Love you, Daddy." He buried his face in her hair.
"Love you, too, baby."
He got up and took a shower and then gave Emily a bath. They both got dressed and Chase took Emily to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. Usually he cooked her breakfast, but that wasn’t really an option this morning. He loved spending time with his daughter and unfortunately he couldn’t spend as much time as he wanted to with her.
Maddie had been with them since he moved here. She was fantastic with her and Emily loved her to death. Chase had come to love Maddie, too. She was a part of his family, not just an employee. He would call her later in the day and make sure that she was okay after the fire. He’d also check her out one last time, just to be safe.
They finished their breakfast and they headed back to their apartment. He pulled out his wallet and headed up to the fireman who seemed to be standing guard over the building. "Can I help you, sir?" The fireman asked.
"Yeah, this is my building. I was wondering when we can get back in and see how our places are." Chase smiled at the man, shifting his daughter on his hip. He hadn’t realized how heavy she was getting.
"We’re letting residents back in as long as you can prove your residence." he said. Chase pulled out his driver’s license and handed it to him. The fireman looked it over and then nodded and handed it back to Chase.
"So, where you from with that accent?" he asked while beckoning over another fireman.
"Australia." Chase told him. The other fireman had come over.
"John, can you take these two to their apartment? It’s apartment 113." John nodded and turned toward the building. Chase followed him, still carrying Emma.
John took them to their apartment and Chase fished out his keys. He unlocked the door and braced himself for what could be inside. But it wasn’t as bad as he thought. There was some smoke damage to the walls, but that was it. Chase let out a breath he didn’t realize that he was holding.
Emily had her face buried in his shoulder. He tapped her gently on her back. "Look up, baby girl." Cautiously, she raised her head. "See, it’s not so bad." He turned to John, who was standing in the hallway. "So, when can we come back in?"
"Whenever you want. There are only a few apartments that we can’t let people back in permanently. There’ll be a fireman out there for the rest of today and probably tomorrow, too. All you have to do is show him your license, okay?" John said. Chase nodded.
"Thank you. Are we okay to just be here?" John nodded.
"If you need anything, just come out and get one of us." he said, leaving the father and daughter alone in their apartment.
"Okay Emmy, we’ve got some cleaning to do. And then, you and I will watch a movie, okay?" Chase asked, setting her down on the floor. She nodded and hugged his leg and the two of them started picking up and cleaning up the smoke.
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