Greg House was winding up an insulting morning briefing with his staff when Suellen returned to the hospital a fortnight later.
"And that Chase is why you'll never be worthy to use the whiteboard markers," House concluded with a smug expression while the Australian rolled his eyes.
"What about the patient?" Doctor Cameron asked raising her pen in question as House busied himself with making a cup of coffee.
"Patient?" House asked. "What patient? Oh right the dying guy! Get me a MRI and go see what the lab has for us. Foreman you go and visit him first, see if he's ready to tell the truth before we find his big secret on the scan."
"What makes you think he was lying to start with?" Foreman remained seated while his two colleagues stacked their case notes preparing to leave.
"Everybody lies," Cameron whispered to Foreman who shook his head and followed suit.
An echoing thumping noise on the glass door caught the attention of the four doctors who all turned to see a young blonde teen in jeans and a hooded blue sports jacket waving a bandaged hand at House.
There was a silent pause as three of the physicians exchanged clueless glances, which increased when House passed them and headed to the door. It actually seemed as if he was going to go speak to a patient.
He pushed the door open and said something to the girl that they couldn't hear. Then turning back to his employees he snapped, "MIRs does perform themselves hop to it! I'll be in the clinic, call if you need me or even if you don't," then left.
"Did House just say he was going to the clinic?" Foreman asked incredulously appealing to his coworkers for conformation. "To treat a patient?"
"Nothing will surprise me any more," Chase said sounding bored and walked around Cameron to the door. "I'll go and get the MRI arranged. Meet me in ten Foreman?"
"Aren't you the least bit curious about who that was?" Cameron asked looking between the two men. She was already set on investigating the circumstances around House's new passion to heal people.
"No," they replied curtly in unison and left her alone in the office with a whiteboard full of symptoms.
Allison Cameron however felt differently.
After Suellen had made certain Cuddy wasn't in the near vicinity she waved to House to come and join her. House poked his head around the corridor, saw Suellen ushering to him and hobbled in her direction until he'd reached the safety of the empty exam room.
"That was really pathetic," Suellen said with disgust once the door was closed and curtains drawn. "A grown man afraid of four hours of clinic duty a week."
"Keep that up and I'll take the stitches from your hands and put them in your lips," House warned.
Suellen just shook her head and sat up on the exam table, unwinding the white bandages from her hands while House slipped on a pair of plastic gloves, snapping them in a maniacal manner just for fun.
"I thought I told you to let those hands breathe," he grumbled as he pushed a stool next to Suellen and slowly settled himself onto it.
"It did," the patient was quick to defend herself against the scolding. "I just put these on this morning because I was worried they'd split on the handlebars."
Then noticing House's questioning expression she added, "I had to ride my bike here."
"I thought your mother didn't work," House asked and pulled out the first stitch with the shiny medical tool. "Why didn't she drive you?"
Suellen winced before answering and resisted the urge to pull her hand out of the doctor's grasp. It was amazing enough that House had agreed to remove the black surgical threads in the first place so she had to be on her best behaviour to keep him there.
"She doesn't," she continued with their conversation. "She had appointments with her social circle today so I had to get here myself. Surprise, surprise."
Suellen had placed a certain emphasis on the word 'appointments' that connoted dissatisfaction and chagrin. House pulled out three more stitches then moved onto the next stage of the discussion.
"Daddy-o didn't tell you me were coming in today," he said in a simple tone as if it was only a passing comment but he knew very well the topic was an emotional landmine.
"Of course not," Suellen shifted back to get a full profile of House in her sights. "He hasn't seen me since he brought me in here. Unless the you count the voicemail he left on my mobile to say why he didn't come to Simon's funeral!"
"You mean the time you bit me." House had only nudged the landmine with his last comment and his devious mind told him it was either a full explosion or nothing. He didn't believe in middle ground.
"Oh I'm sorry! I apologised to you a dozen times afterwards. What are you going to do? Make me regret it for the rest of my life?"
"I had considered that yes."
"You are so infuriating," Suellen huffed stopping the argument before she completely lost her temper. She'd be really annoyed at herself afterwards if she gave House the satisfaction of sending her into full frenzy.
"You ladies love it."
His teenage patient snorted and exchanged her annoyed expression for one of mixed amusement and repugnance. A comment like that deserved a nasty remark.
"So that explains your outstanding dating record of late- oww!"
House had removed the last stitch on her right hand with a sharp jerk and now received an angry glare. Tiny droplets of blood were rising from the minuscule holes where the skin had previously been sewed together and Suellen brought the wound to her mouth to futilely blow the sting out of it.
"Put that over your hand," House commanded as he threw her a large adhesive strip from a nearby draw and took the other hand in his. With one hand occupied and the other bleeding Suellen removed the plastic backing with her teeth and carefully angled her neck and wrist to apply it correctly.
"The ones you put in my arms popped on their own," she informed House who was going to explain that he'd used the dissolving kind in the smaller cuts when the door behind him opened.
His heart skipped a beat thinking Cuddy had found his hideout but when he turned to see Doctor Cameron smiling radiantly from the doorway his heart rate steadied.
"Close the door!" he snapped with a tone of urgency before focusing his blue eyes back on Suellen's petite hand. When she'd complied with his order House chose interrogation over welcoming.
"What do you want?"
"The lab results came back negative for STDs and toxins," she informed him, her kind expression unwavering. "We can definitely rule out syphilis as a cause."
"Charming," Suellen said dryly with the corner of her mouth rising with twisted amusement.
"You should have paged me," was House's indignant response. "That way you could have at least given me an excuse to leave."
Cameron took a moment to provide a believable cover story. "I thought you might like to know straight away."
Neither doctor nor patient responded to that obvious fabrication. In fact, nobody said anything for close to a minute. Cameron stood there smiling like an air hostess flicking her eyes between House and Suellen indicating she'd like an introduction, House's eyes bore into the handiwork he'd left in Suellen's hand and Suellen, feeling incredible awkward, looked at the roof.
Then after what seemed like an uncomfortable eternity, House caved. Sitting upright again he rotated in his chair so he could see both his employee and his patient at once.
"Doctor Cameron," he pointed the medical scissors at her then flipped them in the opposite direction. "Offspring of Wilson. Offspring of Wilson, Doctor Cameron."
Suellen took a moment to lower her self-esteem metre another a notch before saying hello with a polite smile and nod. Allison Cameron however was not one for small, passing greetings. Besides, she'd just discovered a hidden fact about House's best friend so she had to obtain as much information as possible in this rare opportunity.
"Hello I'm Doctor Cameron," she was suddenly uncomfortably close to the minor and shook her good hand gently. "It's very nice to meet you. So you're James Wilson's daughter? Not the Doctor Wilson in optometry?"
"Don't look so surprised," Suellen said simply after nodding yes. "Promiscuous men usually sow one or two heirs along the way. Though I'm aware that you probably never knew of my existence. Besides Doctor Cuddy and Gregory here most people don't. Oww!"
"I've got a reputation to keep! Call me Doctor House around here or people will think I've gotten soft and cuddly."
Fat chance Suellen thought but aloud said: "Reputation? Oh you mean your bad reputation. Oww! You did that on purpose!"
"My you're perceptive."
As she watched the two bicker like an elderly couple, Cameron tried to get a hold on the current situation. In less than five minutes she'd been introduced to Wilson's secret child who had labelled her own father a slut with an acute consciousness of reality. Not to mention that someone had just called House by his first name, which always sounded abnormal to her.
"Of course I knew about you," she lied slowly breaking through the patient/doctor argument. House and Sullen exchanged a sceptical look before both looking back at the beautiful immunologist.
Cameron once again took Suellen's healing hand into her own and held it tenderly as she displayed a warm smile. Seeing Suellen's wallet partially poking out of her front pocket she saw two letters on a key chain, a capital S and a lower case U.
"You're all he ever talks about! Susan, Susan, Susan," Cameron moved her hand up and down with every repetition of the name. "He's so fond of you!"
"My name in Suellen," came her dull monotone.
"Oh."
House was amused, but he was the only one. While he smiled and chuckled quietly Cameron let go of Suellen who was wearing a very uninspired expression. She tried to compose herself, but after one has a folly like that, it's incredibly hard to recover.
"Thank you for trying to make me feel better," Suellen spared her from saying an embarrassing apology or creating another flimsy cover story. "But you don't have to lie to make me happy, it's really only one step up from lying to yourself to be happy."
"Well," Cameron managed after a moment more of articulate dismay. "You certainly have a few ideas."
Suellen shrugged at that remark and the attending doctor put a second adhesive strip over her opposite hand before telling her to remove her jacket so he could inspect her arms.
"Most of what I say I've read in books," she continued with a mild smile and slipped her arms out of her jacket, "and the rest I just make up."
Cameron couldn't help but smile at that honesty. She had a soft spot of kids, that was no secret, but Suellen didn't strike her as a regular fifteen-year-old. There was a certain manner in her speech that told of maturity and she spoke in such a veracious way it was almost a charm.
"Hate to break up this little Mother's Club meeting," House's voice made both females groan mentally. Criticism from House was like the flu, nobody was totally immune to its effects and it left you reeling really lousy afterwards. "But don't you have a patient to duel Grim Reaper for Doctor Cameron?"
"It was very nice to…"
"Out!" interjected House.
"I'll see you ag…"
"Out, out get out!"
Suellen sent Cameron off with a smile and once she'd gone changed it into a frown then aimed her canons at House.
"You could have handled that differently," she said in a matter of fact tone.
"Probably," House surprised her with his admittance. "But it doesn't mean I had to."
"She's nice," Suellen sighed with defeat and put her jacket back on.
"Yea she's nice," he mumbled in a barely audible voice before jumping back into his regular demanding, condescending tone. "Is there anything else you need to tell me? Something you want to share with your Uncle Greg?"
The teenager smiled at him for a second before giving his question any serious thought then said, "Nothing of great significance. Mum's got me taking some kind of herbal placebo but that's about it."
"What's that supposed to do?" House asked as she jumped nimbly off the table to the floor.
"Who knows?" Suellen's response was almost a whine. "Those marketed herbal pills are all the same crap."
"I love it when you think like me. Makes me so proud."
"Personally it scares me," Suellen admitted with a nervous chuckle and was ready to say goodbye when House cut across.
"But that wasn't what I was asking." House supported himself on his cane as he moved across the room to throw his gloves in the rubbish. "I meant about your friend's funeral."
When he looked back at Suellen he saw that her confident demeanour had faded. She stood firm refusing to look directly at him and knotted her fingers together again and again. Her mouth opened, closed, opened to begin a word then stopped again.
House waited patiently from his position on the opposite side of the room, leaving her plenty of space to gather her thoughts and juggle all of her possible choices.
There was so much going around in Suellen's mind at that moment it was impossible to articulate. Thinking about how she'd known Simon for so long that she couldn't really believe he was gone. How his sister didn't understand that death was permanent, having never so much as experienced the loss of a goldfish in her four years. Then there was the way Martha had unscrupulously made a spectacle of herself at the wake, telling everyone about the devastating impact it had on Suellen and informing all that she too had been through the terror of a sinking ship. Eventually she lifted her head and spoke.
"No there's nothing," she said coldly.
"How did they have the funeral?" House asked the question reasonably gently in one of his quieter tones. "There wasn't a body."
Suellen squeezed her eyelids closed tight attempting to banish the image of Simon's face pallor and lonely sinking slowly with his hair drifting in all directions from the water's pull.
"We all put something in the coffin," she snapped her eyes open again and focused them on her companion to assure herself she wasn't in that terrible place again. "Something that reminded us of him. His school uniform, some CDs he liked, photos, books, stuff like that. I found it pretty hard to find something though. How do you summarise someone's life with a single object?"
House didn't answer the question and felt that he wasn't expected to. Suellen was venting her thoughts more than speaking to him and he saw it ultimately as a win-win situation. His curiosity was satisfied while Suellen partook in a therapeutic process.
"Did you really expect Wilson to show?" he took the conversation on a different tangent before Suellen got too caught up in her recent trauma.
"No," she admitted with far more ease than the previous question and began to collect herself again. "But I really wanted him to be there, and he did say he'd go."
"You knew better," House said bluntly and advanced across the room to her.
"True," Suellen said with a sigh in a voice that hinted she'd conclude the conversation soon. "But I never stopped hoping when he makes a promise. That's why it hurts so much when he lets me down."
"Oh, well, at least he's reliably unreliable," the doctor said in false optimism and ruffled Suellen's hair to deliberately annoy.
"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine," Suellen said sarcastically and battered his hand away. "Though thanks for your help all the same."
She opened the door and House was about to push past when she placed an open palm on his stomach, halting him. He was about to threaten her with his cane when she spoke to someone just outside the door.
"Hello Doctor Cuddy!" she said very loudly and lucidly to give House a clear description of the scenario just outside the door. "How are you? We haven't spoken in a while have we? Well, unless you include that brief encounter the other week ha ha."
Suellen stepped out and closed the door with a firm bang. Saving House from Cuddy's wrath was her way of settling her debt. In her experience, she knew it was dangerous to owe Gregory House a favour.
"All I'm saying is that it wouldn't hurt if the guy was wrong every once in a while," Foreman said a few days later when their patient was on the road to recovery. "His head can hardly fit through the door."
"If he'd been wrong the patient would be dead," the trio came to a halt so Chase could select a snack from the vending machine. "Are you saying that someone should die just so House can learn a lesson or two?"
"Of course not," Foreman wore an irritated expression as his colleague punched in the code of the chosen sweet. "It's just infuriating to have to put up with a guy who walks around like he's all that."
"That's because most of the time he is," Cameron loyally supported her employer making both men sigh in exasperation. There was nothing nobody could do to prove to her that House was a jerk.
Chase scooped his chocolate bar out of the machine and the three continued their migration back to the office. Foreman turned his head so he could look the immunologist in the eye before he spoke to her.
"Isn't there anything House can do that'll make you realise he's just a narcissistic pig?" he implored.
"He's a good doctor," Cameron defended and Chase pushed open the glass door to the office. "Besides saying what you think doesn't make you a bad person. He's only being honest with people."
"That doesn't stop you from keeping your opinions to yourself," Chase supported Foreman and stepped inside, holding the door open for the other two to follow.
"People need to be told the truth."
The intensivist and neurologist silently surrendered and admitted they were fighting a lost cause. It didn't matter what they said or did to smash her delusions and misconceptions, Cameron would continue to make puppy eyes at House all the same.
"I can't understand how you and Wilson can tolerate him," Chase sat in his chair heavily and ran his fingers over the chocolate wrapper. "The two of you are nothing like House."
"Oh I wouldn't say that."
The voice came from behind and all three doctors turned to see Suellen standing in House's adjoining office holding a bunch of addressed envelopes with a large shoulder bag hanging at her hip. She smiled at the doctors and approached until she came to the connecting doorway, then leaned against the frame.
"Hi Doctor Cameron," she said with a smile to the lady. "What should I do with House's mail? Leave it on his desk to collect dust or put it straight in the shredder?"
"I'll take care of it," she warmly getting out of her seat to take the mail. Once she had it in her hand she turned to the two men looking rather confused.
"This is Suellen," Cameron said gesturing to the shorter girl with an open palm then added, "Wilson's daughter," for extra clarity.
The two doctors were silent for a moment before they both made noises of understanding. They remembered her as the stranger who'd miraculously got House to the clinic and from the stories Cameron had told afterwards. Chase nodded his head and lifted his hand in greeting while Foreman walked over to shake hands.
"I'm Doctor Chase," the blonde said, "I work for Doctor House."
"I'm Doctor Foreman," the neurologist said in an amicable tone as he shook her hand.
"How are your hands today Sue?" Cameron asked too late.
"Better," she said simply ignoring the stinging skin and started to search the bag for more mail.
"That looks bad. What happened?" asked Foreman noticing the serrated red lines running down her palms.
The injury was fresh, the stitching only recently removed by House or so he presumed. The laceration was too atypical to tell what had caused it without further investigation and there was no doubt that the scarring it would leave would be nasty and permanent.
"I was…" Suellen stopped short as the recollection of the injury came vividly to mind.
Water rushed everywhere furiously as voices screamed hysterically with fear and desperation. Pleading, begging, crying to be heard over the water as her feet tried to hold steady while the corridor rocked and bucked continuously under and all around her. Hearing had become the primary sensory function now with the invading water splashing in her eyes mixing with the tears of frustration. Her hands curled around the side of the door and she pulled and pulled channelling all her strength into her already strained arms.
From behind Robyn was calling her name, shouting something in a terrified voice through the roar of the water and the piteous wailing Grant was making from behind the door. With gritted teeth and complete commitment to her task Suellen ignored Robyn, the stubborn element of her character refusing to give up on freeing her friend. The door was jammed, opening only a few centimetres then no further.
Grant thumped the door with his fists, his terrified face visible through the glass window in the middle. He gave another scream and a moment later Suellen was slammed against the steel door her mouth and nostrils burning as they filled with salt water. Slipping on the wooden floor she fell flat and the water covered her, throwing her to and fro for a few seconds with its treacherous pull.
Gathering her feet beneath her Suellen broke the surface gasping for air and pulled herself up by grabbing the door handle. The invading water was now waist high and Grant was more hysterical inside his prison, beating and kicking on the jammed door. The electric lights above them were fading, flicking on and off between light and darkness and still the freezing water came.
"Suellen we gotta go!" she heard Robyn yell from the other end of the corridor. "She's gonna roll!"
"Suellen get me out!" Grant's face was pushed against the glass tears running down his face and his skin a dead white. "Please don't leave me here!"
"We have to go now!" Robyn was coming up the passageway now holding the wall railing for support. "We can't stay! She's sinking!"
"Suellen please! Sue! Suellen!"
"Sue? Sue? Suellen!"
Her blonde head snapped up to see she wasn't below deck on the sinking Albatross in the cold and dark but in the diagnostics office at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital where it was warm and dry. All three doctors were staring at her with confused worry and Doctor Foreman had been calling her name.
What had happened? One moment she'd been having a pleasant conversation and delivering staff mail then the next she'd been back on the doomed schooner. The memory had felt so real she was certain only moments ago her skin was soaked and that the ocean was trying to kill her.
"Are you all right?" Foreman asked leaning in slightly. "Do you feel ill?"
"No, no," Suellen was quick to reassure him. "I just zoned out for a minute, you know, late night. I cut my hands in an accident, nothing serious."
"Well if you're sure…"
"I am," she said firmly and handed over the mail addressed to him. She was giving Chase his when Doctor House came in the room glowing with conceit and wearing a vindicated smile ready to give a glorified speech about himself.
"Here we go," Foreman grumbled quietly and took his seat at the table.
Luckily for him and unluckily for Suellen, the mail girl's presence in the room changed his target from his employees to his friend's kid.
"Well if it isn't Cuddy's latest employee," his said with false merriment and ruffled her hair so violently Suellen's neck was forced down. "Tell me, do her errands pay more than fast food?"
"Not enough to cover your malpractice suits," she retorted and shoved his hand away roughly but not hard enough to unbalance him.
"So cruel," he pouted and got a response in the form of a closed door, Sue walking out of the office to finish the mail rounds. If she wanted to play games she'd stay home with her siblings.
"Nice kid," Chase said breaking off another part of his chocolate bar. "How come she's working here? Favour to Wilson?"
House walked up to the Australian and snatched the sweet out of his hands, breaking of a section and devouring it with gusto. "Cuddy thought it would be a good idea to keep her busy," he said through a mouthful of food. "And for once I agree. It would be my recommended treatment for someone suffering Post Traumatic Stress."
The three young doctors exchanged sharp questioning glances before all turning to House wide-eyed wanting an explanation.
"Oh right," their mentor said handing the empty wrapper back to Chase. "You didn't hear about that. Gather round kids and I'll give you all the gossip."
Author's note: Ok that was chapter three, I hope you enjoyed. I know it was a bit uneventful but I had to establish all the central characters before I could move on with the juicer stuff so I threw in a little flashback teaser for spice. With any luck the next chapter will have a bit more substance to it. Please let me know how I'm going and I hope to see so some reviews. Thanks guys!