Reputation

Summary: An 18-year-old girl Job-Shadowing at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital catches the attention of House. Slowly, they become friends, although the girl has no idea who he really is. At the same time, everyone keeps warning her to avoid the infamous House. What will happen when she finds out that the person she's come to know and the person who's supposed to make her life miserable are one-in-the-same?

Disclaimer: I don't own House the show, or character. FOX, NBC Universal, Bad Hat Harry, etc. do.

A.N.: At points in the story, House and the Ducklings (the only time, I hope, I will ever break the 4th wall) get one of their interesting cases, but I don't really go into detail. Part of the reason being, I have barely any medical knowledge whatsoever, and the writers do a much better job than I ever could. But mainly because I wanted to focus on the relationship between House and the girl in the story. Hopefully, the fic will seem real and not too clichéd. Enjoy!

Part One: Not-So-Formal Introduction

She entered the hospital somewhat apprehensively, dressed it what she hoped looked like "professional attire". Man, even the sound of that made her yawn. But if she wanted to do this right, might as well grin and bear it.

Upon further inspection, she realized the teaching hospital was big—bigger than she expected. Pushing the fear of getting lost aside, the girl approached the nurse's station and gave her name with a smile. She had a feeling something big would come out of her being here.

She had no idea…

"Twelve noon; Dr. House takes his hour lunch." House told one of the nurses at the Clinic desk. Simple enough. Cuddy wanted him to log every second of his time in the Clinic? Fine. He'd let the whole hospital know. Of course, that didn't mean he—and the hospital—couldn't "forget", occasionally, to return.

"Hour lunch? How'd you manage to score that?"

Wrong again.

Wilson made his way over, eyebrows raised in feigned astonishment. House sighed.

"So, I'm not entitled to some time away from runny noses and mothers continuously whining, 'Is that normal'?"

Wilson, as always, followed when his disgruntled friend began to briskly amble away. "Sure, but an hour? Doesn't Cuddy's wrath scare you a little? She could give you even more Clinic hours." He paused. "If that's possible."

"Nah. I'll just tell her my feng shui guru said the negative tension from Clinic duty is affecting my chi."

"Except for the obvious fact that you don't have a feng shui guru." The oncologist pointed out.

"I could."

Wilson smirked, then turned to depart, telling House,

"Go to lunch."

'Lunch' turned out to be more of a long walk around the grounds. The battery pack of his Game Boy needed recharging. Wilson was working—where the fun was in that, he didn't know. And the Ducklings…actually, he hadn't run into them yet today. Mostly likely, Foreman, Cameron, and Chase were doing all they could to find a so-called "interesting" case for him to try and solve.

In other words, all was most certainly not right with the world.

House glanced around the quad. Nothing particularly entertaining. Other doctors on their lunch breaks. People he didn't recognize—no doubt the families of patients. Definite no-no.

Just as he was about to admit defeat and go crawling (or limping, as the case may be) back to the Clinic, something caught House's eye.

A girl—she couldn't have been more than a teenager—sitting under a tree alone, writing. That in and of itself wasn't enough to peak his interest. But her lunch tray was. He went over to her.

"See, there are two types of people at this hospital," the doctor began without preamble. "Those who are stupid enough to purchase a meal from the cafeteria and actually consume it. And those smart enough to not even bother with the atrocious food here and bring a lunch. You, however, have an untouched sandwich, mystery vegetable, and sugar-inducing-coma dessert resting on your tray. I'm intrigued. Why buy the stuff if you have no intention of eating it?"

The speech at its end, the girl put down her pen and looked up at him. "I don't eat when I'm nervous, but it's my first day; I wanted to make a good impression."

House tilted his head slightly. "You're obviously too young to be a doctor, unless you were one of those super-smart babies like in the movies. Then I'd be more creeped out than intrigued." The girl smiled, her blue eyes catching in the sun.

"I'm from Westside High School, and I'm in the Job Shadowing program. I was supposed to be working with a Dr. Gerritts, but there was a mix-up. Seems he's on vacation for the next two weeks."

"That would make things difficult." House quipped.

"The Dean of Medicine, Dr. Cuddy, apologized and told me that, for now, I should just fill out some paperwork until she can find me something to do."

"Ah, Dr. Cuddy. You can bet she'll find something to keep you occupied." He paused, thinking aloud to himself. "Hmm. Maybe the Clinic…"

"Clinic." The girl repeated. She looked from the man to his cane, noticing it for the first time. "Are you a patient at the hospital?"

"Yeah—the Psych Ward." House put a finger to his lips. "But don't tell anyone."

She smiled again, nodding slowly. "Well, I should turn in these papers." Rising, the girl collected her things. With one last grin before leaving, she said, "I'll bring a bag of chips or something tomorrow."

House raised an eyebrow in mock interest and watched her walk back inside. Technically, he was supposed to be going back as well. Although, as long as the kid would be keeping Cuddy distracted for at least a few minutes, he didn't find it necessary to hurry.

Lo and behold, a yellow paper flew at House's leg and stuck there with the afternoon breeze. He stooped to retrieve it and skimmed it over.

"Name: Samantha Harding. Age: 18. School Attending: Westside High School…"

The paper was hers. And it was then he realized that neither of them had exchanged their names. With House, that was a given. With her, well…he found that odd. In his experience, people couldn't wait to tell him their names, their parents' names, and life stories. First the lunch thing and now this? Samantha Harding was getting more and more interesting. He liked interesting.

Paper in hand, House, too, went back inside. Once at the nurse's station, he handed it to a male nurse, and tried to sound nonchalant. "A high school kid who's Job Shadowing here dropped that."

The nurse looked from the paper to House blankly.

House sighed. "Could you return it to her, please?"

"Any reason why you're being so 'nice' today?" asked the nurse.

"I wouldn't want her tracking me down for it while I'm busy."

There was a skeptical look from the other man. "Or, while I'm in the middle of an important level." House covered.

The nurse seemed to buy that and put the paper aside. "I'll find her as soon as I get a free minute."

"Thank you." House said with exasperated sarcasm. He pivoted and came face-to-face with the Clinic. Oh, goody, he thought.

Okay, it's my first House fic. Be kind. Hey, if I get enough good reviews, I may just post more ;) Oh, and, I know close to nothing about the actual Job Shadowing program, only what I've heard from friends. So I apologize if I messed anything up.

L.S.