"Bravi Ragazzi" [10/22] (House M.D.)

[bananfisk]

Fandom: House M.D.
Rating: M
Category: F/M, Gen
Relationships: Rachel Cuddy/Anthony House (OC), Sophie Taub/Anthony House (OC), Sophie Taub/other OCs.
Background relationships: Allison Cameron/Gregory House, Remy Hadley/James Wilson, Lisa Cuddy/Jerry Barrett, Spoiler pairings.
Summary: Year 2029. Three youngsters travel back and forth in time while they learn about love —and themselves.


~~

Future I (Rachel)

 

May, 2035

Anthony and Tulugaaq stood atop a green hill, observing the suburbs of San Francisco with a pair of binoculars each.

"I still think it was stupid to come here, Tony".

Anthony huffed.

"I need to know, Tulu. I need to know if this whole thing is worthy".

Behind the glasses of a two-storey penthouse, Rachel Cuddy moved around. It looked like she was making breakfast. Anthony still couldn't see his future self in there and it was making him anxious.

"An actress? You're better than that".

"I already had this conversation with my dad..."

"Really? What he'd say?"

"That I shouldn't look for my female clone, basically. So Rachel's an actress, so what?"

"She can cheat on you the moment she starts working with one of those Netflix pretty boys. And we're always moving around, Tony. In time, but still".

"I'm taking the risk. I just like her..."

"Sophie is gorgeous too".

"Aw, come on! Don't go there, Tulu..."

"I'm just saying..." Tulugaaq shrugged. "If I had any chance with Sophie, I wouldn't—"

"What? What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. Nothing, man. Oh, look, your future self just appeared!"

Anthony got spooked even though they were only 5 years into the future. His other self had shorter hair and wore more expensive clothes. Still in pajamas, he kissed Rachel playfully before sitting down to eat.

"You've made it, House, congratulations", Tulugaaq said with slight sarcasm.

Anthony couldn't believe it had (or would had?) been as easy as saying no to 'Blondie' that night at the Boogie Wonderbar.

"I still need to know if we're truly happy", he said.

"Fine, suit yourself".

Tulugaaq put the binoculars down for a moment to grab a beer bottle from his backpack.

"Jesus, Tulu..." Anthony shook his head. "You could get sick as hell with that..."

The Native Canadian shrugged and smirked.

"It's in my blood, remember?"

But Anthony knew there was more than stereotypes at play. He knew Tulugaaq never met his father, that his Inuit mother somehow pushed things through and got him that Rutgers scholarship... But Tulugaaq had already picked up the drinking habit when he was 13.

Inside Rachel's penthouse, things seemed to be going pretty well. She chatted excitedly with the future Anthony, who nodded and gazed at her as if she was the only woman left in the world. Her black hair was a bit wavier now, her nails had permanent polish (pink), but her essence hadn't changed. No plastic surgery, still the same Rachel Cuddy that Anthony had met.

Suddenly, they both stood up from the table. Rachel spoke very close to Anthony, who smiled and held her by the waist. It was then that Present Anthony noticed they both had rings on their wedding fingers.

"Dude!" He shouted at Tulugaaq.

But he was surprised when Tulugaaq shushed him and spoke lowly, in his native Inuktitut:

"Don't you notice a buzzing sound around here?"

"Buzzing? Like a bee?" Anthony replied in the same language.

"A digital bee".

Anthony understood the implications immediately and glanced around looking for the 'insect'. Since he was so tall, he was able to catch it with one hand and squeezed it hard. He knew it wouldn't die because it wasn't a real animal.

"So that's how paparazzi work in the future", he said to Tulugaaq.

"Let's dismantle it and put it in my beer bottle. It's empty now".

So they both disarmed the drone, piece by piece. When it was inside the bottle, they stared at it.

"Nosy little fucker", Anthony commented.

"Thank the Gods we're wearing hoodies", Tulu added. "Do you think it heard our conversation?"

"It didn't have a live transmitter, so even if it recorded something I don't think it's reported to the owner yet. But... Crap, this is one of the disadvantages of traveling to the future".

"We need to get the hell away from here, Tony. There might be more drones".

"But... I think my future self is married to Rachel".

"WHAT?"

"Or engaged at least. They both have wedding rings".

"Shit... You move fast, man".

Anthony smirked. Just then, his mother's car pulled over by the penthouse and all three got out: Allison, Greg and Angie.

"Alright, that is a serious relationship in capital letters", Tulugaaq said, using his binoculars once again.

"Whoa, dad looks old..." Anthony said, a little amused. "And Angie got tall, like me..."

"Do you still wanna stay here?" Tulugaaq asked him.

"Not on this hill specifically, but I want to know if I'm still a time traveler in this universe". Anthony looked at his friend's incredulous face. "I don't know, maybe I gave it up because of Rachel's fame or something".

"I doubt we can login to TMZ from our phones".

"No, but..." Anthony turned his head towards the trapped drone. "That one might".

Tulugaaq grabbed the bottle and laughed a little.

"Do I look like an engineer, Tony? I can't put this thing back together".

A painful little voice whispered inside Anthony: Sophie could have done it.

"We oughta try, Tulu. We obviously can't be seen on the suburbs down there. Or in any part of the city".

"Just shave your head and we can move".

Anthony laughed.

"No way! Let's just try to reassemble the drone, alright?"

"And hope it has a hotspot somehow?"

"Yes".

And soon enough, House style, Anthony was squatting with drone parts between his fingers. Tulugaaq sighed and decided to join him.

"I think I remember the order in which we disarmed it..." Anthony said. "If we go backwards... Maybe..."

"Huh..."

About half an hour later, they had the drone working again (albeit with some bumps). Anthony had cut off the connection with its owner and found a tiny hotspot button, which he pressed.

"If it has a password we're screwed", Tulugaaq said, observing a blue light blink.

"Gossip journos are not very bright", Anthony said. "Let's put our hopes on that... Okay, we can connect our phones now".

Both friends took out their phones, turned off airplane mode and tried to connect them to the drone's hotspot.

"Password", Tulugaaq noticed. "Damnit, House!"

"Hang on..." Anthony grabbed the drone. This SPT models all come with the same default pass. If I remember correctly..." He took his phone again and started typing. "SPT000... Whoa, it worked!"

"Really?" Tulugaaq laughed and tried it himself. They had wifi now. "Stupid paparazzi... You were right as usual, Tony".

"Hah, thanks. Okay, I'll google my name now".

Anthony hesitated for a second, then typed on the search bar:

Dr. Anthony House

The results showed more science websites than gossip ones.

"What do you got?" Tulugaaq stood next to him to see. "You're on the MAX site??"

"No way... I can't act! It's... Hang on".

Anthony tapped sone more and saw he was on the list of producers for a show called Fear the Walking Dead: South Korea.

Tulugaaq was laughing loudly.

"That shit is still on air?? Jesus H. Christ..."

"Hey, I was generous, apparently", Anthony smiled. "Rachel's on the front cover".

"Yeah, I can see that. So you actually went to South Korea for that show".

"Looks like it... Hey! I'm on the TMZ site too!" Tap, tap, tap. "Rachel Cuddy tells it all: Moving in with physicist boyfriend, new Walking Dead season next fall, the screenwriters strike and more on exclusive interview..."

There was a brief silence.

"You're still a physicist, thank the almighty!" Tulugaaq said, and both started laughing.

"Apparently... Though I can't know for sure if I'm still time traveling here unless... No, Rutgers is secretive about it, as usual".

"Hmm... If we could somehow fly this drone inside Rachel's house..."

"An app might do".

Anthony downloaded a remote for drones app, but it wouldn't connect.

"Damn... Looks like I'll have to guess or something".

"I'll go snooping around Rutger's site, there might be some hidden clues there. You go rest, Tony. I have another beer in my backpack".

"No, thank you", Anthony sniggered but laid down in the grass anyway.

 

 

***

 

It was already past noon when Tulugaaq finished with his 'research'.

"The project is alive in this timeline, Tony. Professor Sharma is still in charge, only he calls it Project W now".

"Smart move. Not many people know about wormholes".

"And we're in photos too, dude. Look".

Tulugaaq showed his friends the university's photographs, and sure enough, they were both still the stars of the Physics department.

Tulugaaq sighed and grinned.

"All was well", he quoted.

Anthony laughed, albeit a bit nervous himself.

"Guess so... We should go back now".

But while they were getting ready, he took one last look at Rachel's penthouse, which his parents still hadn't left. They were probably having lunch together. This was confirmed when Dr. Cuddy's car pulled by the driveway as well and the Barrett-Cuddy marriage got out. Anthony sighed: he couldn't believe nothing was wrong or off in this universe. His mother had told him something always went wrong in her own travels, and that he shouldn't expect a perfect parallel universe, ever. Well... Maybe this one wasn't perfect, but from what Anthony had seen, it was enough. He was engaged to Rachel, his parents were still alive, his in-laws visited, he was still on the time travel project...

"Let's go, Tony".

Tulugaaq and Anthony hid behind a tree and pulled up their sleeves. Anthony thought of Rachel, of how much he owed her an apology and a promise to never act like an ass again; and followed Tulugaaq's countdown:

"Three, two, one..."

They pressed on the watches' red buttons and disappeared from that alternate future.