Chapter 6: Simon Says

Rachel followed the man to an apartment building that wasn't too far down the road from where they had met earlier. The place seemed nice, but it really didn't matter to her. "My daddy doesn't own a house?" she asked out of pure curiosity.

"Afraid not sweety." This was a lot easier than he had originally thought. "Does that bother you?"

Rachel looked up at the building as they climbed the small set of stairs to the front door. "No, I guess not."

He flashed his ominous smile in her direction. "Good," he said as he opened the door and showed her in.

Rachel stepped in and looked around. What was on the inside did not necessarily match what she had seen on the outside. She looked over and saw the walls with torn wallpaper, the floorboards creaked while half of the them either stuck up from the ground or were missing. This was when she felt uncomfortable. "Where's my daddy?" she asked. The nervousness could easily be picked up from her voice.

The man took her up the stairs without saying one word. Rachel would start to pull back away from him, but it was no use, his grip was tight. Once they got upstairs, there was only one door, and he opened it and basically threw her in there. "Listen kid, I don't know your father. You're just that stupid to believe me. Now stay here while I go call your mommy and see if I can't get that money that she owes me."

Rachel just stood there as the door slammed shut before her. There was nothing she could do. Her body began to shake as tears began to fall from her eyes. Her throat dried as she tried to say something, there was nothing to say, nor could she think of anything to say, but to just say something, anything at all would help somehow. The little girl slowly sat down on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. "I didn't mean to leave if you wanna come get me now," she said somehow hoping that her mom would come through the door within the next few moments.


House walked Cuddy into her house. There was no sign of Rachel from today except for the fact that she had been to the bookstore.

The house was dark, but House had managed to walk her to the kitchen where she stopped and checked the phone messages. Nothing. Nothing at all. Cuddy slowly hung up the phone and stayed frozen for a minute with her hand on the receiver and back to him. Her shoulders began to shake, and she lightly sobbed as she turned her tear stricken face to him. "No," was all that she could get out as she shook her head.

House just looked down with defeat. It was hard for him to really say anything, what could he say? Her daughter, the one that she had tried so hard to get was gone. She had run away from home. "You need someone to stay here with you?" he asked. It probably wasn't the best question, but it was the only one that he could think of at the time.

Cuddy just shrugged and slowly walked around the table. There was nothing that anyone could do unless they showed up at her doorstep with Rachel well and happy.

House couldn't stand to see her like this. He took the seat next to her and put his arm around her. Her head went down to lean on his shoulder.

The two just sat there like that until the phone rang. House got up to get it. "Hello?"

"Hello. I doubt that you remember me or my face but I should let you know that I have your kid here and you ain't getting her back til I get what I deserve. Now listen carefully, and if you interrupt me I swear it, the kid gets it. Rule number one, never make a move unless I tell you to do so. Two, I see everything you do, be careful, and last, I want my five hundred thousand here in a week. Anything done against these rules and the kid gets it."

"Granted. Where do you want to meet for the switch?"

"You know the old Tony's bar? Out back behind there."

"Alright, I'll see you there in a few days." House hung up and looked over at Cuddy who had been eagerly listening in on half the conversation.

"Was that?" she started to ask. She didn't have to go any further since House nodded as he went and sat back down next to her.

"How much money you have at the moment?" He asked.

"How much do I need?" she asked. Right now she was willing to fork over any amount of money, just as long as she had a way of getting it.

House was about to tell her the full amount, but he could see how stressed out she was. "Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

Cuddy just blankly stared. That was a lot of money for anyone. She wasn't about to hesitate handing it over, but what she was worried about was getting it. That was more than she made in a year. "Okay, I'll go to the bank tomorrow, search through some money I have here," she said more to herself.

"You know, if you need any money," House started.

Cuddy turned to him and slightly smiled. "Thank you, but I couldn't ask you to spend your money on my daughter. Its, really, I'll take care of it." She stood up and walked off a little bit away from the table. She tried her hardest to calm herself down, but it was no use. "I won't be at work tomorrow," she said, slightly beginning to sob. "So if anyone asks, just say that I'm sick or something."

House just looked over to Cuddy with sympathy. She still had her back to him, but he could still her desperately trying to wipe off her face and hold back until he had left. He stood up and went over to the door. "If you need anything," he said.

Cuddy looked over to him. Her eyes were puffy and her face all red. She wasn't able to say anything, so she nodded to him.

House nodded in return and then left. It was hard for him to just leave her like that, but he had things he had to do, like coming up with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He could do it, he just needed some time.


The next day at work would have seemed weird without Cuddy there, if he would have actually stayed more than a couple hours. He went in long enough to see if there were any cases for him and then left.

His first stop was at the bank to see how much money he had saved up and all of that. He ended up taking out all eighty thousand dollars, and with the six thousand that he had stashed at home, he was almost halfway there.

He sat in his living room as he looked around and thought about what to do. There had to be more things that he could do to get more money before he turned to taking out a loan. "Well, my paycheck should help a bit," he said as he thought out loud to himself. With the paycheck, he would get himself up to ninety thousand and five hundred dollars. He suddenly got an idea, he got up and went over to where he kept his Megadeath autographed guitar. "This should get me closer to what I need."