House looked at the computer screen in the darkness of his apartment. Wilson won a bet on whether or not their latest patient suffered because of a blood clot in their upper leg and House's punishment was that he had to pay him fifty bucks and take a Spongebob character quiz.
"I've been reduced to a squirrel, how exciting." He grumbled. "Now that that's over, I'd say it's time for pop-porn." Wilson sighed over the speaker.
"House."
"Opps I mean popcorn. You know as a celebration and all that stuff." House threw one of his Vicodin pills in the air and let it fall into his mouth where he proceeded to swallow. "You don't have any kids do ya Wilson ol' buddy ol' pal?" House tried to start a conversation.
"You know teh answer to that. Now can I please go back to sleep? It's one in the morning." He kept a nonchalant smirk on his face as he heard Wilson yawn.
"But what if I have a nightmare? I could wet the bed in my condition."
"So sleep on the toilet but whatever you do I don't care because I'm going back to sleep." House was about to respond to that when Wilson hung up.
"Oh he is so getting me a new scooter." He threw another pain killer in the air and again caught it in his mouth. Then there was a knock on the door, much to House's aggravation. He took the cane by his side and limped over to the door. "Sorry I'm diabetic." He yelled through the wood. As he opened it he was surprised to see no one there.
He looked down and found a letter.
"G. House. Wonder who that could be?" Back in his apartment, he slammed the door shut with his cane and switched the light on. "Let's see what we got for fan mail this time." He sat on his favorite chair and read it over with wide eyes.
Greg,
I know it's been a while, over a decade actually, but I thought that there was something you should know. All those years ago when we hooked up, I didn't want to tell you about this. You're smart enough to know what happens next aren't you? Well, I got pregnant. I didn't want you to know because I thought you'd be angry with me. That's why I broke up with you a few weeks later. The baby was yours and I found out when I ran the DNA test myself after the birth. She's so beautiful, Greg, she's got your eyes. Her name's Kathleen and she's almost sixteen. I'm going on a business trip to Spain soon and I need someone to look after her. My parents are in a nursing home now so they're out of the question and I was an only child. So please, please will you look after her? I'm sending her over on Friday.
All my love,
Sharon
House shook his head. "Sharon, I'm so confused." He kept reading the letter, over and over again. "Kathleen, she'd name her daughter that. Our daughter. Damn, I have a kid!"
He quickly dialed for Wilson.
"What the hell do you want from me? I haven't done anything to you today."
"You stole fifty bucks from me and I was forced to take a Spongebob Queerpants quiz. You're not going to believe me, as if you ever did in the first place. But I have a daughter."
"What?!" He heard Wilson shout. "You can't have a kid, you're too mean too have kids."
"And you're too mundane for kids. Her name's Kathleen, she's turning sixteen soon." His pager went off and he could here Wilson's go off too. "Ugh, what does she want now?" House asked himself, refering to Cuddy. "I'll meet you there." They hung up and House tugged his jacket on and slid his feet into his favorite Nikes. Soon he was at the hospital and Cuddy met up with him and Wilson in the hallway while he was walking towards his office.
"What I miss?" Cuddy looked at him in annoyance.
"Twenty-eight year old female. Experiencing pain in the left arm along with epigastric discomfort. She's going into-" He stopped in his tracks turned around, and cut her off.
"Cardiac arrest yeah, yeah I know the works. Put her in thrombolytic therapy she'll be good to go." House started walking to his office again with Cuddy and Wilson following close behind him. "Why are you following me?" He turned around and pointed at them with his cane. "You're not Taub." He said to Wilson. And to Cuddy he replied with a "And you! You're definitely not Thirteen. However, there is a possibility that you could be cut-throat bitch. Maybe, just maybe..."
Cuddy sighed. "Can you please check on the patient?"
"No! I gotta get ready for my kid. At least I should be getting ready, maybe I'll just run away to Vegas and become a father all over again. Hopefully I'll be able to hear the news this time." She rolled her eyes.
"Please, as if I haven't heard that excuse before. Now get to work, we've got other patients to worry about."
"No, I think for the first time in his life, House is serious." Wilson told her. "He just called me. Said her name is Kathleen and she's almost sixteen years old." She looked over at House, only to find him in his office and toying with his oversized tennis ball without a care in the world.
"House, do you really have a daughter?" He shook his head and shrugged with an innocent expression.
"I dunno. I only, just now, recieved a letter from Sharon Harper at," He looked at his watch. "One in the morning saying that I've been a dad for sixteen years. Kathleen's coming over on Friday and Sharon didn't give me a number to decline the offer. Clever bitch, I taught her well."
"Oh...my...god. House has a daughter?" Wilson nodded. "House has a daughter. A fifteen year old daughter that he's just now learning about? You haven't even tried to help that poor girl?" House extended his arms while holding his cane in his right hand.
"Well, I don't know what you want me to do considering that I had no idea I even had a daughter in the first place. If I remember correctly, and believe me I do, she broke up with me! She's the one that didn't want me to know about the baby!" Then his computer made a "bing" sound. "It's Sharon. She wants to talk over web cam, how very mature." Cuddy commented.
"You're one to talk about maturity." He responded.
"You're one to talk about one talking about maturity." He opened the chat box. "Hello Sharon darling. How've you been this fine morning, I mean, if you can even call it that." Sharon sighed.
"Greg I didn't want you to find out like this but I had no choice. You know how I work."
"No, Sharon, actually I don't know how you work. Apparently it takes sixteen years to say I'm pregnant these days." Then he heard a tired voice in the background.
"Mom? Who's shouting?" Sharon had a worried expression and lied to who ever asked the question.
"It's just the t.v. honey. Go back to bed now." Then footsteps made themselves present and a young teenager appeared on the screen.
"What are you watching? Some radom old guy, another random old guy, and a random old chick. Um, you're not thinking about a four-way are you mom? Ugh. That's too gross to even think about." Sharon's eyes went wide.
Cuddy on the other hand, had wide eyes and an open mouth. "Excuse me but it's impolite to-" She was interrupted.
"To tell the truth. Yeah, yeah I know how it is." Both doctors looked at House.
"Well, she is my daughter after all. Hiya kiddo. I take it you're Kathleen." Kathleen looked nervous.
"That guy knows my name, why does that guy know my name?" Sharon looked from House to Kathleen with hesitation.
"I am God." He tried to joke. Sharon rolled her eyes and shook her black locks.
"Kat, this is Doctor House." She introduced.
"Doctor House? Okay that's great he's got my medical records what else is new with the doctor dearest?" House popped in with a synthetic smile and an irratated gaze.
"You wanna know what's new? I'm your dad. I suppose you're thoughts are most likely either "no way!" or, "so freaky." maybe even the ever popular, "OMG!" at the moment."
Kathleen looked at him with fear in her blue eyes that looked so much like House's, her father's, own. "Um, c-could you hold on for a minute? Thanks." She went to the bathroom to get something, and came back with a mirror. "Okay, dad, let's see if you're telling the truth." She held the mirror next to the computer and compared House's image with her reflection. She looked just like him and her mom. "Oh my god." She whispered.
"Nailed it. Now gimme my fifty bucks back." He said to Wilson, who shook his head and disagreed.
"No way. You lost it in a bet. Get your own fifty bucks."
"Ah but I will once you give it back." He lifted up his cane, pretending it was a powerful machine gun. "I'm not afraid to use this and don't think I won't." Wilson shook his head again and everyone returned their attention to the screen.
"You can't be my father, my father's dead. He died from an overdose of pills before I was born." House shrugged.
"Maybe eventually I will. You never really know these days." He threw three pills in the air and caught all of them in his open mouth. "Ta da." Kathleen's mouth dropped and for a second she looked scared. "Aw don't give me that face now. Will a pony make it all better?" House asked with a smirk.
"Uh, yeah actually, it just might. Sixteen years and I'm just now learning about you. I don't even know your first name. So yeah, thanks for being there for me dad, thanks a lot." Kathleen stormed off and House merely shouted to her,
"My first name's Greg!"
"Greg." Sharon shook her head at him. "Please, she's just learning about you. Don't be so crude." Cuddy took in a breath and looked the other way with her eye brows raised.
"You do remember who you're talking to, right?" House asked Sharon.
"Fully aware of that and I know exactly what I'm asking him to do. You're a father start acting like one!" House extended his arms both ways and shrugged.
"Well I've been acting like a father for the last sixteen damn years without knowing I was one in the first place. It's your own stupidity, Sharon, don't pin the blame on me. You know as well as I do that it's your fault that Kathleen didn't know about me and I didn't know about her." Sharon had tears in her eyes.
"I know that, and I know exactly what I'm doing, House, I am entrusting you to look after our daughter. Is that too much to ask for? Can you be mature just this once?!" Desperation was obvious in her voice as it cracked every here and there. "I'm not asking very much of you, I'm not asking for you to love me again, or to pay for child surrport, or anything else like that! I just want you to watch over Kat for a few weeks, just until I get back. After that you'll never have to see her again. Can you handle that?"
House looked at his ex with a blank, yet emotional, stare. He nodded slowly, giving in to her. Sharon frowned for a second and wiped away a tear from her left eye using the sleeve of her red shirt.
"Thank you. Now I need to talk things over with Kat. I'll be back on when I'm finished so don't go anywhere. She may want to talk to you and you better let her." House nodded again, not saying anything. The chat room turned black and House turned his swivel chair around to face Wilson and Cuddy.
"So, whaddya think?" Wilson shrugged and shook his head, at a loss for words. Cuddy, however, was not.
"I think you should check on the patient." He rolled his eyes and limped out of the office, muttering something about a "bitter virgin".