House

The father walked into the room quickly. His clothes were wrinkled and musty. I glanced at him and mentioned, "Zip up your fly."

He jumped, stunned, and quickly zipped it up. His wife stared at him for a moment and then turned to her daughter. Thirteen had told me the little girl's room was in a state of chaos, but why? The bed had just been slept in…

"You're having an affair!" I pointed my cane at Dan.

Dan paused and opened his mouth, "No…"

"Why would you accuse him of that?" Rochelle, the mother, stammered.

I stood and leaned on the window, "Your daughter's room is a mess, with a bed slept in only hours before we went in…"

The man came closer, "You went into our house?!"

"And then, you've obviously been removing your clothing lately…" I smirked.

"Dan," the mother sighed. "It's my yoga instructor, isn't it?"

"You knew?" I replied and Dan with me.

"A-ha!" she pointed at him.

Ella stirred and woke from her bed. "Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Rochelle raised her eyebrows. She turned to her husband, "I want soul custody. Now, please leave."

"But this…" he shouted.

I stood and ushered him to the door, "You heard her. Get out."

*******

Scarlett

I grinned and stared at the computer screen. The clips rolled through from my footage.

"How's the movie?" Uncle James called from his desk.

I removed the headphones from my ears and turned to face him, "It's good. Great, actually."

He smiled and wrote something on his paper. I looked back at the screen and saw that I had paused the movie… on House. His blue eyes blazed, frozen in time. This was inappropriate. He was, what, fifty? I couldn't have feelings for him, and I didn't. Of course not. Strictly business.

"Are you ready to go?" my uncle stood from his spot and gestured toward the dark night.

"Sure," I bent over and put my computer it in it's bag.

His office door flew open and House limped in and looked around, "Damn… nice tattoo."

I stood up quickly and threw my hand to my lower back. The two men's eyes penetrated my back, I could just feel it.

Uncle James spoke first, "When did you get that?"

"Ummmm…" I didn't turn to face them. "Mexico, about a year ago."

Remembering it, I had a flashback. Carry, my friend, and I went down to Mexico for a friend's wedding. At the bachelorette party, we both got so drunk, it wasn't even funny. We then went to a tattoo parlor and I got a winged heart on my lower back.

House smirked and didn't reply. That was new. No snarky comment. No.

"So," Uncle James was angry. "So you thought that was okay?"

Finally, I twirled to see both of their faces, one cringing and the other pleased. "You're not doing yourselves any good by gawking like that."

"Why would we gawk?" House watched me walk toward the door.

I lay my hand on the door frame and chuckled, "Men…"

"Wait just one minute, young lady!" Uncle James shouted at me as I walked off. "You can't just traipse around foreign countries and get tattoos!"

"Stop trying to be my dad…" I whispered to myself. There wasn't much more I could take. Before he could run after me, I darted into the ladies restroom. I stood at the door to listen for him.

"Scarlett! Scarlett Delilah Wilson, where are you?" he yelped through the empty hallways of PPTH. As soon as he stepped past the bathroom I looked into the mirror. It had been about a week and I was already frazzled from him. Uncle James had always been overprotective, but once I hit eighteen he was overbearing, overprotective and stubborn.

The restroom door opened. House walked in and shook his head, "You know, this is the first place most people look."

"Why are you in here?" I jumped backward.

He shrugged and slid down the wall, "Why not?"

I gestured toward my surroundings, "Woman's restroom?"

"Yes, but you see…" House began. "The word woman contains the word man which means that the wo is just a cover."

"Unbelievable. You think you can get away with anything, don't you?"

"Yes," he stopped and looked at me for a moment.

I pushed back my hair and stared into the mirror again. Silence. House and silence just didn't go together. At least, from what I had seen of him. He stood again and took a pill from his pocket. Before I could see him put it into his mouth, I stepped into a stall and took some toilet paper from it.

"I suppose Wilson's left by now?" he called to me.

I walked back and began to wipe the lipstick from my mouth, "He probably has. He's good at getting mad, but not good at taking care of what he's mad about."

Reaching down for my bag, I pawed at the air, then realizing it wasn't there.

"Birthday… December 14th… blue eyes… blonde hair…" House read off my driver's license.

"What are you doing?" I turned to see him rummaging threw my purse.

He picked up an orange bottle, "Oh! This would be great to tell your uncle… antidepressants!"

"Give me my purse!" I didn't want to go into the details of my current state.

House laughed hardily and held the bottle up to the light, "We're learning so much about you today."

My eyes began to well up with tears, "Just stop it!" I ran up to him and took the bag and the pills. He furrowed his brow and watched me put it on the counter to sort through the mess. "You don't know what I've been through… what I've done."

Our eyes met in the mirror, "I don't." He paused and took a deep breath, "Do you need a ride?"

********

"Not the ride I was picturing," I mentioned calmly to House.

"You know," he handed me a helmet.

I placed the heavy item on my head and watched him slip onto the motorcycle with ease.

"Are you coming?" he motioned to the back seat.

I scoffed and slowly slid onto the bike. "You know, Uncle James is going to flip."

House shook his head and grabbed my right hand. Slowly, he slipped it around his waist. "Hold on tight!"

The motorcycle roared as I wrapped my arms around him. Colors around me whirled as the vehicle took off from its spot. We came dangerously close to crashing several times before halting next to a car.

"Wow…" I whispered in his ear. The window of the car rolled down, so I turned to see who it was. I screamed.

Uncle James stared at me from the car. "Scarlett! What are you doing there?"

"She's with me," House looked over at him and then sped away.