Chapter 4

Chase, Cameron, and Foreman stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, and watched their boss. They had solemn looks on their faces; he was just sitting there, sad and alone. The House they used to know, and didn't want to know again. Cameron broke the silence.

"Should we go and talk to him?" she asked. Foreman rolled his eyes.

"No, we should leave him alone, give him time to think." He said. Chase looked over.

"Maybe we should, maybe he needs to talk to someone for once in his life."

"And what life are you living in, Chase?" Foreman asked, "He'll just push us away, it's useless."

"Maybe not," Cameron said, " He has changed a lot since he married Lisa."

"He has changed, Cameron," Foreman replied, "But not that much."

Cameron sighed, and Chase put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to go talk to him," she said. Chase grabbed her to keep her from leaving.

"We should listen to Foreman on this one, Cameron," he said, abandoning his earlier statement, " Just let him think."

" I don't care what you guys do," she said, and started to walk off again, " But I'm going over there."

"Don't, Cameron," Foreman warned, " He needs time to be alone, if he wanted us, he'd call us."

"We all know House is too proud to admit he needs someone." Cameron stated, it was true, and they all knew it. Wilson and Lena walked up behind them.

"So," Wilson asked, "How is he?" Cameron jumped.

"Alone." She answered.

Lena caught a glimpse of House, and started towards him.

"Daddy!" she squealed. House turned his head around, and gave a visible sigh. He got up from the table, and walked over to the crowd.

"Hey, Lee," he said as he approached. He glared at Wilson as he bent over to her.

"Can I see mommy, daddy?" she asked, "Uncle Wilson said I could." House shot him a more scathing look.

"She wouldn't go to sleep, House," Wilson explained, "So I brought her here."

"You could have called first." Lena looked up at him expectantly. " Mommy can't have visitors now, Lee, you can see her tomorrow."

"House," Wilson said, " Take her to see her mother."

"She needs rest, Wilson, I'm about to go home." Cameron looked up.

"I'll take her, House." She said, and picked up Lena.

"No, Cameron, you won't." he snapped, "Just give her here, and I'm going to take her home."

"But Daddy!" Lena cried.

"No buts, Lena, lets go."

Wilson stopped him. "House, you're going to have to take her sometime, why not now?"

"Because I'm not ready to!" he yelled, "You happy now, now you know what a baby I can be." He looked at Cameron, "Cameron, you glad to know that I actually have a soft side? That I'm even more damaged than you think?"

"House," Wilson tried to reason. Cameron joined in.

" House, I'm not glad that this was the way I figured it out. But it is nice to know that you can be a human being at times."

"Cameron," Wilson said, " Let it go, House, I'll take her to see Lisa, you go home."

"NO!" he shouted, " Lena is MY daughter, I will take her in the morning, like I said I would, now," he looked at everyone, and settled on Lena, " Let's go home, you'll see your mother tomorrow morning."

"But daddy!" she tried again, "Uncle Wilson said I could."

"Lena, is uncle Wilson your father?"

"No." she replied, defeated.

"House," Cameron tried, " Let us take her, you go home and get some rest, we can handle her."

"She will go tomorrow, no more questions!" he stated. It hung in the air. Foreman and Chase stood back with self-satisfied smirks on their faces. House took Lena and left.

" I told you not to bother him, Cameron." Foreman said.

"Do you really have to rub it in?" she asked

"You two stop it," Wilson admonished.

They stood there for a while, silent, as if they were still watching House stare into space.

"We could have done something." Cameron said, and left.

"Nothing would have helped!" Foreman yelled at her back.

"I'm leaving," Chase said.

So they left, leaving Wilson and Foreman alone in the doorway of the cafeteria.

"Maybe we should leave too," Wilson suggested, "It's been a long day for everybody, we should go home and rest a while, see you in the morning."

"Yeah," Foreman agreed, "see you in the morning."

And Foreman was alone. He stood in the doorway for a while longer, and decided to leave, as well. A day had never seemed as long as this one to him. He hoped the best for House and Lena.