Borrowed
"You what?" Wilson yelled. House was standing in his office, Benji standing patiently outside.
"I'm borrowing him. It's no big deal, just could you give him a ride to my apartment after work. He can't exactly climb on board the bike, can he. That would be irresponsible."
"Know what's irresponsible, House?! 'Borrowing' a little kid!"
"He's-"
"You don't even like kids! Why do you want a kid living with you?" Wilson was still yelling and his face was turning a peculiar shade of crimson. Almost maraschino cherry.
"He's very, very interesting. More interesting than Animal Planet."
Wilson held his head in agony and tried to calm down. "House, you are a drug addict. You can't just have some kid march into your apartment."
A knock echoed from the other side of the room. House motioned for Wilson to open it.
"Hello, Dr. Wilson. At the rate you're going, you won't have a voice by tomorrow."
House laughed, but quickly stopped himself. He wasn't a fan of yelling either.
Wilson crouched down to Benji's height and got all cancer doc on him. "Benji, where are your parents? They're probably worried about you."
"Doubt that," Benji said with a slight chuckle, "my mom's dead and my dad's just as dead, just more subtly."
Wilson shot House a look and mouthed, "did you know that?"
House shook his head. He kinda figured though.
"What about foster parents? Aunts or uncles? Who do you live with?"
"Wilson, you're very kind and caring and all of your three ex-wives know that, but seriously, I'm better off with Dr. House. Thing is, young boys shouldn't ride back-seat on motorcycles in shorts and a t-shirt. But you, you have a very convenient car that could easily transport me to apartment 221B." Benji took another big breath and returned to his look of embarrassment and insecurity.
Wilson stood up and spun around. House sensed more yelling. "Did you tell him about my wives? Why on earth would you do that?"
House smiled, "that, Jimmy, is why he is more interesting than Animal Planet."
Wilson stood shocked. "You didn't tell him that stuff?"
House was at the point of beaming, "didn't even tell him about my bike."
"Dr. Wilson, you're House's only good friend, so it's kind of your duty to make sure he doesn't go and screw things up in other people's lives, but this isn't a screw up. People would very much benefit from my being borrowed."
At that moment House and Wilson both realized that Benji had very blue puppy dog eyes. And who can say no to a puppy?
