Save You Chapter 1, a house, m.d. fanfic

A/N: My first House fanfiction! I've actually been sitting on this idea for a while (a few years at least) and now that House is finally on Netflix, I can rewatch the episodes and make sure that I get most of the facts right. Not everything will match up with this show since it is AU. Slight OOCness because it's difficult to perfectly capture the personality of House.

Takes place just before the pilot episode

Another long day. Or maybe it was still yesterday. The days were starting to run together; it was getting difficult to differentiate. But it wasn't as if House cared. The routine was always the same, so what did it matter what day it was?

As he stood at the elevator, House heard a voice behind him, a voice he hoped he wouldn't have to hear at all that day. "Dr. House," Lisa Cuddy said sharply from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, House saw that she was holding a manila folder. No doubt some sap's medical information. "You have clinic duty this morning." Cuddy held out the file to House. "I think you'll want to take this."

House did not take the patient's file from Cuddy. Though the elevator had not shown up yet, there was still a chance to get out of this. "And what gave you the impression that I'd ever want to take a case in the clinic?" It was probably just a child who got a toy stuck up their nose or an adult complaining about sore legs after running two miles.

"Because," Cuddy began as she forced the file into House's hand. "I think you'll find this patient to be interesting."

"And what makes you say that?" House very much doubted that any patient in the clinic was of any interest to him.

House expected Cuddy to walk away without saying anything or even make a snide remark. But Cuddy didn't even crack a smirk. She remained having a completely serious countenance. "She says she's your daughter."

"''"""""'"""""'""'""'

It took a while for the doctor to show up. And when he finally did, the girl felt relieved. Finally, she was seeing him for the first time. He looked… nothing like she had imagined. But what did it matter? "Are you Dr. House?"

House stared at the girl for a few moments. Her chart said she was seventeen, though she looked nineteen. "No," he answered as he stepped further into the room.

There was noticeable disappointment in the girl's tone and eyes. "Oh…"

"You seem disappointed," House said, stating the obvious. He set aside the teen's file and sat in the chair next to the examination table. He seriously considered pulling out his Game Boy. But he could not deny that his interest was piqued. After all, Cuddy said this girl claimed to be his daughter. So instead, he crossed his legs and stared at her with folded arms as he leaned back in the chair.

The teenager turned her body so that she was facing him. She also adjusted her position so that she was sitting Indian style. "I was told that Dr. House was the best doctor here," she explained, as if that clarified everything.

House pursed his lips slightly. So, she told Cuddy she was his daughter but she wasn't going to outright tell him. There was no resemblance between the two of them. She had pale skin and dark brown- perhaps it was black- hair that hung down to the middle of her back. And then he noticed her eyes. They were the same color as his. "There must be something seriously wrong if you want to see the best doctor," he remarked, not letting on that he was the doctor she wished to see. Now that he noticed her eyes, House was studying her more carefully.

"Just a routine checkup."

Just a routine checkup was what she claimed. A closer look at her revealed to house that she needed a checkup for sure. Her skin wasn't just pale. It was sickly pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. House stood up and gently placed his cool hands around her neck, checking for swollen glands. It was all part of the routine checkup, after all.

"When did you move to America?" House began to interrogate.

The question seemed to catch the girl off guard. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. "How do you know I wasn't born here in the States?" the girl countered. Though she had been caught off guard, she still didn't miss a beat.

Greg smirked as he took away his hands. She was quick and that definitely reminded the doctor of himself. "Your accent. It's not strong, but it's still there. Say 'mom.'"

"Mum," was the reply.

"Point proven. Australian?"

"British."

Dismissively, House said, "Same thing."

The girl tried to suppress a faint smirk. "Not really." But what did it matter? As far as she knew, this wasn't Dr. Gregory House and she would not be seeing him ever again. "We, Mum and I, moved here when I was ten." And even though it had been seven years, she had yet to completely use the accent, not that she minded. "From Paddington, originally."

As she- Greg couldn't recall her name- spoke, his mind was reeling, trying to remember his life and what happened seventeen years ago. He actually didn't know much about the world outside of the hospital, but he did know that Paddington was in London. He had never been to London. From this information, he drew the conclusion that this girl's claims were false. She couldn't possibly be his daughter.

"Mum was from here, though. She moved to Paddington from New Jersey. That's why we came back here."

Damn.

House stepped away from the examination table and took the Vicodin pill bottle out of his pocket. He removed the top and dumped the prescribed amount into the palm of his hand before swallowing the pills dry.

The teenager watched this with great interest. A little too much interest in House's opinion. "You are Dr. House."

He raised his eyebrows as he put the pill bottle back into his pocket. "What gave it away?" He tried sounding uninterested, but truthfully he wasn't sure how convincing the act was.

"The cane and the pills. That woman… her name was Dr. Cuddy, I think? When I asked about you, that was how she described you. Well, actually she said 'crippled and addicted.' I can only assume this is what she meant. Oh yeah, and the general attitude of an arsehole."

Now House was no longer trying to hide his disinterest. What was the point? She knew who he was and he- sort of- knew who she was, or at least who she claimed to be. Gregory picked up her file again and read the name. "Dexter Woods… Dexter's a boy's name."

"And House is a noun," the girl named Dexter retorted. "Your point?" Again, House smirked. He still very much doubted that this girl was his daughter. But a small part of him silently admired her wit. Dexter smirked as well and continued when there was no verbal response. "Dexter's a family name. Mum was obviously expecting a boy. Guess she was so set on the name that she didn't bother to change it."

That must have been quite the shock at the delivery, House thought to himself, pretending to read her file more in depth. "No daddy dearest in the picture?"

There was a long pause. Dexter wasn't making eye contact, instead paying attention to the fingers she was twiddling. "About that…" She trailed off and slowly looked up to meet his eyes, the eyes that matched hers. "There's something that I should tell you."

But there was no need for her to tell him anything. He was still in denial. House was always in denial about something. While Dexter didn't ring any bells, the name Woods did. It was a name he hadn't heard for a long time; for at least seventeen years.

"I know. You're my daughter."