Drama is a'coming – wanted to get the Grace/House history out early :D

Chapter 2: Suddenly

House sat in the corner of Clinic Room 1 mindlessly tapping a tune with his walking stick as the mother of the young boy sitting on the bed before him rattled off about his symptoms.

"He's been coughing for three days, now. He can't sleep, he can't eat. It affects everything; sports, school." She was saying, fiddling with the boy's jumper to make it sit straighter. "And this morning, he sneezed."

"Ms. Addley, Jason has a cold." House told her in a bored tone. "He'll be fine."

"He's showing classic signs of pneumonia." Ms. Addley pressed.

"Have you seen the news these days? Everyone is showing 'classic signs' of everything." House took out his pill bottle and swallowed a Vicodin.

"What're you taking?" Ms. Addley asked quizzically.

"Vitamins." House told her, stuffing the bottle back in his coat pocket. "Too good to share. Give your son cough syrup and bed rest, he'll be fine by the weekend." House got to his feet and limped over to the door to leave.

"And if he's not?" Ms. Addley called after him.

House pulled open the door and walked out. "Not my problem." He called over his shoulder.

Ms. Addley turned to her son. "Wait here, honey, mummy's going to see talk to the doctor some more." She turned and took off looking annoyed after Dr. House.

As she left the room, she brushed past Grace who was on her way in to fill the supplies cupboard. She watched after the woman who proceeded to corner her father and force him to talk to her before going into the clinic room. She spied the young boy sitting patiently on the bed.

"Hey there." She greeted him, walking over to the shelves and dumping the boxes of swabs and tongue depressors she was carrying on top of the counter.

"Hi." The boy replied.

"What's your name?" Grace asked.

"Jason." He told her. "I'm eight next week."

"Eight? Wow." Grace said in a tone a lot of people used when talking to a child; almost demeaning. "Are you having a party?"

Jason nodded. "My mum is getting a clown."

"Clowns, huh?" Grace stacked the supplies in the cupboard. "Never really got into the whole men wearing make up thing." Jason just looked at her with a slightly confused and innocent look on his face. "But you don't need to know that." She quickly added. "Are you having lots of friends come to your party?" She asked trying to sound casual.

"Yeah, my whole class." Jason said. "But not my dad. He said he'd come but now he's working."

"Well, that sucks." Grace said, turning around so she was facing the child. She leant back on the counter. "What does he do?"

"I'm not sure." Jason replied.

The way he spoke told Grace that maybe 'Daddy's on business' was a phrase Jason's mother used to explain why he'd abandoned them.

Jason looked up at Grace. "What does your Daddy do?"

"He's a doctor." Grace answered.

"Like you?" Jason asked wide eyed.

"No, no." Grace laughed. "No, I'm not a doctor. I'd like to be, though. One day."

"I want to be a fire man." Jason told her proudly.

"Nice." Grace nodded approvingly.

"My mummy thinks it's too dangerous. But she's a teacher; she thinks everything is too dangerous." Jason continued. "What does your mummy do?"

Grace averted his gaze slightly. She didn't want to lie to the kid, but she didn't really want to expel the inner demons of her past to an eight-year-old. "I don't have a mum." She said simply, which was basically the truth. Her mother left her and her dad when she was three and she hadn't contacted them once since. In Grace's mind, staying away was the best thing she could do. She had her dad, she didn't need anyone else.

"Why don't you have a mummy?" Jason asked, seemingly interested.

Grace shrugged. "Some people don't have mummy's." she told him blatantly, hoping that it wasn't too harsh. Jason nodded and didn't pry any further.

xxx

"Dr. House, I don't think you understand." Ms. Addley was saying to House as he tried to ignore her. "He had pneumonia as a baby and his pediatrician said there's always a chance he could get it again. It's getting colder, he's susceptible."

"He's fine!" House told her for the hundredth time. "Do you want me to admit him for the sniffles?"

"I want you to show some care in my son's health." Ms. Addley told him.

House turned to her. "So you want me to lie? Because I don't care. I diagnose and then I never see him again. I don't need to care. Caring is the parent's job, not the doctors."

Ms. Addley opened her mouth, prepared to yell quite a loud insult into House's face when her son came running out of the clinic over to his mother's side.

"What happened, Jason?" Ms. Addley asked concernedly.

"That girl fell down." He said worriedly pointing back to the clinic room.

"What girl?" Ms. Addley asked.

House immediately filled with worry. He headed towards the first clinic room. "Grace?" he called out, hoping that she'd come bounding into view. The nurse's at the station overheard Jason and were following House as he walked. One ran past him into the room and heard her say "Oh my God". House reached the doorframe and looked in.

Grace was sprawled out on the floor with blood pooling at her head.

House's eyes filled with fear. "Oh no."

xxx