Disclaimer: I don't own House M.D., nor the characters. I don't own the song "I'm Not Afraid of Anything" by Jason Robert Brown either.

Author's Note: I would actually prefer posting this in one go, but it's eighteen pages and over five thousand words and I think that's asking a bit too much, so I'm posting in three parts in three days instead.


Lisa's dark curls were plastered to her forehead, the heat wave causing the most unpleasant experience as her thighs stuck to the leather seats in her father's light blue pontiac. Lisa shifted uncomfortably, peeling her skin from the leather. She looked to the back of her mother's head.

"Mom, how much longer?" Lisa whined, wrinkling her nose.

"Not much." Ilana Cuddy called back over her shoulder. She turned in her seat to look at the other child behind her. "How are you doing, Katie?"

"Fine, Mrs. Cuddy." Lisa's best friend, Katie, answered.

Lisa rolled her eyes and looked to her father now. "Dad, how much longer?"

"Twenty five minutes as long as there's no traffic coming up," Gabriel answered her, his fingers drumming on the steering well.

Lisa smiled, content with the answer. She knew she should have asked her father in the first place. He usually gave her the most exact responses to her questions.

Katie gave a gentle poke to Lisa's arm. Lisa turned to her friend and made a face, getting her to laugh.

"Come here," Lisa instructed giving a wave of her hand.

The seat belt tugging against her waist, Katie leaned closer to Lisa. Lisa reached out to the blonde french braids still in place from the previous night's sleep over and tucked a few out of place strands in amongst the braid. Lisa patted her friend's hair.

"There." Lisa flashed a smile and sat back.

"Are we going to go down to the beach as soon as we get there?" Katie asked excitedly in a loud whisper as a poor attempt of keeping any adults from the conversation.

Lisa nodded. "We always go to the beach first thing. The back of the house leads right to the ocean."

"You girls will have to be chaperoned when you're near the water," Ilana entered into their conversation.

"We're old enough to go by ourselves," Lisa replied.

"Eleven is not old enough." Ilana shook her head and looked at her daughter over her shoulder. "I won't even let your dad go near the ocean without a chaperone."

That warranted a laugh from Gabriel, but Lisa only frowned. She looked toward Katie, who shrugged in response.

"Jennifer's going to be there this year." Gabriel spoke up. "You remember Jenny. She just turned seventeen. She can go out with you girls. Excellent swimmer."

"I'm a good swimmer, too!" Lisa exclaimed. "And so is Katie. We don't need to be watched over, Dad."

"It'll make your mom feel better if you had a chaperone and that's how it's going to go, Lisa," Gabriel told her. "No ifs, ands, or buts."

"Gabe, that's the turn." Ilana pointed toward the left.

Lisa faced Katie to clue her friend in. "Jenny's nice. I guess if we have to have a chaperone, it might as well be her."

"Sounds good to me," Katie replied and then distorted her face in order to get Lisa to laugh.

Jenny's afraid of water.
I mean, she swims so well, but still she's afraid of water
And so she won't go near the sea. Not me.

Lisa stood in her blue swimsuit, the hot sand beginning to scald her feet. She glanced out at the waves crashing as Katie, in her pink swimsuit, waited for her where the foam dissolved into the wet sand. Lisa looked back down at the seventeen year old stretched out on a towel.

"Aren't you coming in, Jenny?" Lisa asked.

Jennifer looked up at Lisa and shielded her eyes against the sun. "No, you go ahead."

"I thought you liked swimming," Lisa said. "My dad said you're really good."

Jennifer sat up and watched as Lisa bounced her weight back and forth between her feet. She directed her gaze back up at Lisa's face. "You're going to burn your feet off."

Lisa stepped onto Jennifer's green towel. "No, I won't. Why won't you swim?"

"I don't want to." Jennifer squinted as she looked out over the ocean. "It's a lot different than lakes and pools. I don't like it."

"But, it's fun," Lisa replied.

"Maybe, but I'm not going in unless either of you are drowning," Jennifer told her. "Those waves can be pretty rough. It's not my thing." Jennifer picked up her book from next to her. "You better go in. Your friend is waiting."

And Katie's afraid of darkness.
I mean, she sleeps and all, but still she's afraid of darkness.
So when the lights are out, she has to hold my hand.
I don't understand.

"Lisa..." Katie whispered in the darkened guest room at the beach house.

"Huh?" Lisa stirred slightly in her spot next to Katie.

"Did you hear that?" Katie asked, glancing around the room.

Lisa turned toward her friend. "Hear what?"

"Someone walking around," Katie answered and looked to Lisa.

"No," Lisa replied.

Katie raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Lisa said and sensed something odd in her friend's tone. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to sleep here," Katie was suddenly near tears. "I want to go home."

"Home is two hours away, Katie," Lisa told her.

"I don't like it here." Katie pouted. "I keep hearing things. I want to go, Lisa."

"I'm right here." Lisa slipped her hand into Katie's and gave a squeeze. "We'll be fine."

Katie felt slightly comforted, but she was still unsure. "I just don't like the dark."

"Well, I'm here and I'm not leavin' so you'll be all right," Lisa assured her. "There's nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on. Okay?"

"Okay." Katie gave Lisa's hand a squeeze.

I'm not afraid of anything.
Tell me where's the challenge if you never try.
So watch me fly. I'm not afraid.

"What are you going to put for the assignment?" A thirteen year old Lisa asked, turning slightly toward Katie as they walked to Katie's house after school.

"Well, I want to be a baker like my nana." Katie pushed her dirty blonde hair from her face. "Besides, I already work in the bakery with her on weekends. What do you want to be?"

"A doctor." Lisa gave an affirmative nod.

"You can't be a doctor."

Lisa and Katie both stopped in their tracks and turned around to the face the boy, whose voice had jumped an octave higher on the 'a' in can't. He was around the same height of both girls, but he was built much bigger than they were, especially with his baby fat still clinging to his body.

"Shut up, Mitch," Lisa told him, planting a hand to her hip.

"Yeah, buzz off," Katie added in.

"Okay." Mitch shrugged. "But you're going to fail the assignment."

Lisa's eyebrows drew together. "Why?"

"Because you can't be a doctor," Mitch said. "You can be a nurse, but not a doctor."

"Who says?" Lisa demanded.

"My Dad's a doctor and all his doctor friends are men." Mitch turned his face upward in order to enforce the fact that he was right.

"So?" Katie asked.

"So doctors are men, stupid." Mitch sneered at Katie.

"There are women doctors," Lisa shot back in response to Mitch.

"Yeah, but they're not as good as men doctors," Mitch replied. "That's why women all become nurses instead."

"Well, I'm going to be the best doctor in America and I'll make sure I never treat you even if you are dying," Lisa told him hotly.

"I wouldn't want a woman doctor anyway."

Mitch pushed past Lisa and hurried toward his house. Lisa picked up her speed to go after him, but Katie grabbed her arm.

"Lisa, don't," Katie warned.

"I'm going to hit him." Lisa tried to pull away from Katie. "Girls don't do that either."

"He's a jerk." Katie tried to cool her down. "And you're going to be a great doctor."

"I know I will." Lisa stopped fighting against Katie, but her eyes remained on Mitch. "I'd still like to punch his lights out though."

"He'll get what's coming to him," Katie said. "Especially if he's dying and you're his last resort."

"Yeah." Lisa turned toward her friend and smiled. "Thanks, Katie."

Katie threw her arm around Lisa's shoulders and led her toward her home. "Come on. Nana promised chocolate chip cookies."