A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update again. I hope I'll be able to update more frequently from now on.
Disclaimer: still not mine. All characters (yes, House too) belong to FOX and David Shore! I wish they didn't….
Reviews are greatly appreciated!!
Chapter 4 – part I
When House dismounted his motorcycle in front of his building he could see light shining through the window of his living room.
He opened the front door of his apartment and stepped inside. He expected to see Anna on the couch, being asleep or watching TV, but besides the glow the floor lamp next to his couch was emitting and the quiet noises the TV was making, the room was completely empty. The kitchen light was turned off, so she couldn't be in there, unless she was searching for food in the darkness.
Looking for food in Greg House's kitchen was a hopeless quest anyway. He rarely bothered to buy real food or to cook.
Most of the time he ate in the hospital cafeteria, stole Wilson's food or ordered in. He mainly subsisted from Scotch and Vicodin anyway.
"Honey, I am home!" House yelled cheerfully. There was no reaction. 'Maybe she is in the bathroom', he thought.
He threw his backpack down, shrugged his leather jacket off and limped over to the couch where he plopped down and put up his feet without taking his shoes off. He had to grin. Anna would hate that.
House had never really cared about things that were considered proper. When the cushions got a little dirty, so what? It was the part of the couch where his feet were all the time, anyway. He always sat on his couch the same way, because Greg House liked routine and he liked it when things stayed the same. Anomalies bothered and intrigued him at the same time.
Stacy had always complained about his habit of putting his dirty shoes up on the furniture. But that was just one of the many little things she hadn't like about him. He had never changed or even bothered to try. Stacey had known what she had got herself into from the beginning. He had told her all about his flaws on their first date. Maybe that was the reason why it hadn't gone very well. Nevertheless, she had moved in a week later and stayed for 5 years.
Most people treated House differently than anybody else, because he was a jerk. They expected him to behave like an ass and therefore had no expectations of him. Not Anna, tough.
She had always been different. She had certain expectations of life and people and expected them to behave accordingly. And she made no exceptions. Not even for him.
He could still clearly remember the first time he had put his shoes on the couch in her presence as it were yesterday:
It was the first evening of Anna's stay. Stacey and he had sat down in front of the TV while Anna was unpacking her suitcase in her new room, which had previously been House's study and in which they had - due to Stacey's constant insistence that the girl needed a room of her own and couldn't sleep on the couch for a year - put up a bed, a desk and a dresser. Much to House's dismay, of course.
He had flat out refused to give her his beloved oak desk he had inherited from his grandfather a few years back, so Stacey had driven to WalMart the day before and bought a not too expensive teen-desk and matching chair which Stacey wanted him to put together. After 30 minutes of utter refusal on his part, Stacey had ended up doing it herself while House was smugly watching TV.
If the girl hadn't arrived that day House would have ended up with no dinner and a pouting Stacey who wouldn't have talked to him for at least a day, but as it was, this Anna girl was to arrive in a few hours and since Stacey wanted very badly to leave a good impression, one good enough to compensate for his undoubtedly bad one, she had no choice but to quietly overlook his faux pas this time.
She used to say that "The first impression often determines the sentence". Like this was a courtroom and they were put to trail House thought.
Although in a way he felt like being the defendant in a courtroom here. His whole behaviour was closely scrutinized and then jugged by Stacey and this Anna girl and if he didn't behave the like wanted him to, Stacey would impose harsh punishment on him, like badly cooked dinners and sex-deprivation. 'Great' House frowned. 'This girl was here not even an hour and already made is life hell'.
When Anna entered the room a few minutes later she looked awfully tired and exhausted. Even more than before, House noticed.
He sat on the couch, his feet up on the cushions still wearing his Nike sneakers, like usual. Stacey sat with a somewhat stiff posture in the armchair next to him.
'She never really drops her countenance' House thought. House was out of countenance all the time. But nevertheless or maybe even because of that, was this one of Stacey's traits that House found so attractive about her.
Anna stood hesitatingly at the door, apparently not really sure what she was supposed to do. House rolled his eyes 'great' he thought 'another timid, self-conscious brownnoser, like I haven't enough of them at work already.'
"Anna!" Stacey exclaimed when she became aware of the girl's presence. "Do come in! You don't have to stand at the door. You live here now too. That means you can walk around freely in the apartment, go wherever you want - "
"Except our bedroom!" House piped up "it's absolutely off limits. Wouldn't want you to get traumatized by walking in on us having sex and I end up having to pay the shrink trying fix your already screwed up teenager soul, which was long ago damaged beyond repair because Daddy or Uncle Adolf couldn't keep his little friend in his pants -"
Stacey's forceful push against his shoulder silenced him. "Ouch, what was that for?" he yelled, rubbing his shoulder. Stacey sent a death glare in his direction while addressing Anna in what she thought was a sweet and comforting voice she used every time she tried to convince female members of the jury of her client's innocence. House thought it just sounded faked and silly, but he wasn't about to tell her that. Not when he was still licking his wounds from her latest attack.
"Don't worry, sweetie" Stacey continued, flashing Anna a smile. "Greg was just kidding. His sense of humor needs some getting used to. Of course you are allowed to enter our bedroom if you want to. Don't worry about surprising us in ANY" another death glare was shot House's way "kind of position. There won't be any of that in the near future. I can assure you" House just frowned but kept quiet.
"And now, why don't you sit down, Anna dear. You look really tired." Stacey pointed to the only vacant chair in the room. It was a big, comfortable recliner that stood on the other end of the couch. The end where House's feet were located. Anna nodded uneasily. During House's and Stacey's "conversation" she hadn't said a word. Her initial confusion about House's words had - once she had progressed, translated and understood them - turned to annoyance. Who did this man think he was?
Here she was in a foreign country with people who didn't talk her language and who she didn't know at all but who she was supposed to live with for the next year and one of them had done nothing but made her feel unwelcome.
On top of that he seemed to have no manners at all. He behaved rudely not only towards her, but towards his girlfriend as well. So far she didn't understand what Stacey saw in this guy.
Stacey appeared to be a nice, sensible person, who could be tough if she need to and knew exactly what she wanted and apparently she wanted this impolite, harsh man with his wicked sense of humor.
These thoughts made Anna shake her head. She would never understand why some couples were together. Why sometimes people who were totally different or just plain weird for that matter, were attracted to each other was beyond her.
"Ah, look at this" House amused voice interrupted her musings "she might not have the ability to speak, but at least she's not deaf and too dim-witted to express her wishes non-verbally. She shakes her head and that means 'no', even in that barbaric Nazi-country of hers on the other side of the big, big ocean I assume. So, 'no' she won't willingly feel the need to enter our bedroom and scare the living hell out of Mt. Gregory so that it won't be possible to climb him for the next few days. Problem solved." House looked smugly around.
Stacey looked like she was about ready to kill him, but before she could say anything, Anna spoke up for the first time she had been in the room. Maybe it was the exhaustion or just his abrasive behaviour towards her all day, but Anna had finally had enough and was about to tell him so.
"Oh, don't worry, Greg" Anna said. She pronounced his name more with a C- instead of a G-, so it sounded almost like Craig.
"I surely won't be coming into your bedroom, because firstly I don't want to be scared for life upon the realization of how poorly bestowed Americans are. I might lose faith in all of your people right from the very start.
Then of course I am clearly aware, that there is a black sheep in every flock and that not every single person of a whole nation is a rude scumbag, who doesn't seem to care about other people's feelings or shows any manners at all.
By the way, putting one's feed up on the couch without taking the shoes off is considered bad manners where I come from and that's probably the same in that "progressive" country of yours where 90 of the population still think that Darwin was a blasphemer and that there's a difference between killing a life by aborting a child and imposing the death sentence, I assume."
When Anna had finished her little tirade, there was a dead silence in the room. Stacey's mouth hung open and her face registered deep and utter shock.
House and Anna were silently staring into each other's eyes. Bright blue met deep brown. The tension in the room was so thick that you could almost here it crackle.
'Maybe I have gone too far, insulting my host parents who were volunteering to take me in and give me food and shelter for a year, getting no money in exchange' Anna thought. She didn't know where the words had come from. Maybe it was really the tiredness or just Greg's demeanor that annoyed her so much, but there was no taking them back now and she wasn't about to back down. So she firmly held his gaze.
After about a minute what seemed forever to Anna, something in Greg's face changed. His initially surprised look which had soon turned into anger vanished. His harsh features softened and a small smile appeared on his face.
"Now look at that, Stacey" he said without looking in Stacey's direction at all. He still stared at Anna. "Our little daughter here can talk after all. And what a mouth she got on her. She clearly gets that from me" House had an almost proud look on his face. "You know what they say ' the acorndoesn'tfallfarfromthetree'." And with that he took his feet of the couch and bend down to untie his shoes.
Anna sighed deeply and relaxed back in her chair. Stacey still hadn't uttered a word. She was, if even possible, even more shocked then before.
From this moment forth Greg House was nothing but polite and sweet to Anna. He didn't really know why that was. There was just something about Anna and her nature that brought out his best behavior and it didn't even bother him or cause him any discomfort at all.
House never yell at her, no matter what she did, nor did he take out his bad mood or anger on her and never once did he put his shoes up on the couch whenever Anna was around.
TBC…
HOUSEMDHOUSEMDHOUSEMDHOUSEMDHOUSEMDHOUSEMDHOUSEMD
A/N: That was the first part of Chapter 4. I splitted it because it's quite long. Sorry about the long flashback. There won't be many more in the future. This story concentrates on Anna and House's relationship in the present (after they see each other again after 10 years). I just tried to explain their background why House is so nice to her.