Chapter 11: Simplest Actions
Gabrielle ran down the hall and stopped with a quick halt as she ran around in front of House.
"What is it?" he painfully asked. When he looked down in her eyes, all he could think about was what Maria had told him. It was just like some record playing over and over again. He couldn't handle it. For the first time in his life he was scared of ruining some one's life. It had finally dawned on him that anything he does wrong will directly affect her.
Gabrielle studied his eyes. She saw the true concern, something that she hadn't expected to see in him. "Why? Why would you just decide to kick me out like that?" Gabrielle asked. The warm tears of frustration started to rim her eye and slowly leak out. "There has to be a reason. No one just does something like that without reason," she explained trying to keep her voice calm and steady. "What did she say to you?" she quietly asked.
House just sighed. "Who? What did who say?" he asked. He was getting more and more irritated at the moment.
"Don't act like you're so clueless. Maria! What did she say to you!?" Gabrielle asked. She wanted to keep calm, but it was starting to fail. She stood back and watched him for a minute. She knew that he was trying to figure out what to tell her. "She told you that you would ruin my life didn't she?"
"Look, I have never taken care of a kid before! Why should I know what to do?" House asked.
Gabrielle shook her head and gave a soft laugh. "So? You think that Maria knew what she was doing at first? What about your mother? Did Cuddy get some sort of manual with Rachel?" she started rolling out questions to prove her point. "I know that you have an idea of what to do. I'm still alive," Gabrielle stated.
"Okay, so those were mothers that you all named. I happen to be a father who has never taken care of some one and would never be trusted with a kid. Why would you want to stay with me? Why would you think that I know what I'm doing?" House asked.
"Because you're my Father whether you like it or not and I love you damn it!" she answered. "Don't be worried, I know you know not to let be out all night with a boy, to not go to parties with out chaperones. You know that, it's common sense. I'm fifteen! You don't have to watch me to make sure that I don't get into to chemical cleaners under the sink and drink them! You don't have to make sure that I don't go out into the middle of the road," Gabrielle explained.
House just stood there and thought for a minute. "You think about that," Gabrielle said and then turned and left.
She went over to Maria's room and stormed in. It felt awful to just do that to some one who is dying, but she had to do it. "What the hell did you tell him?" Gabrielle asked as she made her way to her mother's bed.
"What do you mean?" Maria weakly asked.
"House just came over and kicked me out of his house. You had to have told him something now tell me what you told him!" Gabrielle demanded.
"Gabrielle," Maria snapped. "I'm still your mother and that is no way to talk to me."
Gabrielle calmed herself down. "I'm sorry. Now could you please tell me what you told him?" she asked.
Maria slightly turned and looked up at her. "I told him the truth of what I thought of him," she stated.
"Oh God," Gabrielle said as she turned around. "That's what I thought." Gabrielle started out of the room, but she felt bad about what she did. She turned back and smiled. "I know you're only looking out for me, and thank you. I love you," she said.
"Love you to," Maria said.
With that, Gabrielle walked out of the room. She had hated that her parents couldn't get along, but if that's how it was, then that was how it was going to be.
Cuddy just sat there in her office as she waited for some one to enter. She knew that either Gabrielle would return or that House would come in. One or the other. House walked into the office. No surprise. "How do you know that you're taking care of Rachel right?" he asked. Certainly not what she expected, but still, she was going to answer it.
Cuddy sighed. "Well, I know that she gets fed and burped and changed and bathed. I don't ignore her. Other then that, I guess you really don't know. Just use common sense, if they're happy and safe then you did it right. You'll most likely know when there's something wrong," she tried. There was no other way to answer the question. She herself wasn't quite sure of it.
House just sighed and then walked back out of the office. He had the same look in his eyes that he did when he would figure something out in one of his cases. Like something had finally fit together. House walked out and saw Gabrielle walking towards the office and stopped her. "Hey, Gabi," he called as he limped over to her.
Gabrielle stopped and turned to face him. She was hoping the hear that he was going to let her stay. "Hey there Ward Cleaver," she sarcastically greeted.
"You can stay if you want," House said.
Gabrielle stood there and studied his face for a second. She could see that he was sorry. "I will. Thank you," she said and then hugged him.
House just awkwardly stood there and looked around. He wasn't the hugging type of person. "Sorry," she said as she backed up.
"Right," he said. He then looked down and stared at Gabrielle for a minute. "Does Cuddy give you what ever you want?" he asked.
"I guess," Gabrielle said.
"Well, I've got clinic duty right now. Would you rather I take you to a movie or something?" he asked.
"You're using this to get out of clinic duty," Gabrielle said.
"So?" he asked.
"I love it, let's go," she said.
The two went into Cuddy's office together. Cuddy just looked up and sighed. "Dear Abby here has something to ask you," House said and then motioned to his daughter. Cuddy couldn't wait to here this.
"Is my Daddy free right now?" she asked acting innocently. Gabrielle lowered her head and looked up at Cuddy begging eyes.
"He knows he has clinic duty. He still owes me hours," Cuddy said. She knew very well what was going on. "He can take you to do something after work."
"What was that? Has Mommy dearest here never left work to go take care of her baby?" House asked.
Cuddy tilted her head and showed her annoyance in her face as she looked up at him. "First off, my baby is a baby, yours is a teenager. And second, she's right there."
Gabrielle then shrugged and looked up. "Okay, I'll help you with clinic duty. We'll split the patients up," she said.
"Okay, but I call the hypochondriacs," House said.
"Fine, I'll take the hard ones today, but tomorrow you take the hard ones. Remember, I'm only a beginner," Gabrielle said.
Cuddy thought that they were just joking around, but she had to be sure. "Wait, you're not seriously going to have her treat some of the patients are you?" she asked.
House shrugged. "Depends," he said and then looked over at Gabrielle. "You wanna?" he asked.
Gabrielle shrugged and returned the look. "Sure, why not? I've got nothing better to do," she said. They both turned and walked out of the room. Cuddy just glared in their direction and then shook her head and went back to her paper work.
House and Gabrielle stood in front of the crowd in the clinic. "Okay every one!" he announced. "I'm Doctor House, and this here is my assistant, nurse Zbin. Now she's going to check your blood pressure, heart rate and write down your symptoms for me before you come in, except for the first few people."
Gabrielle pulled out a syringe and put it on the ground and spun it around. Once it stopped, she picked it up and followed it's direction. "Your turn," she said to the young man before her. She watched as he got up and went into the examination room. Gabrielle just took the chart around and did what she was told to by her Father. She knew how to take the BP and heart rate, so there was no problem there. Once she was done with everything, she would hand the paper over the patient and told them to hold onto it until they were called.
Gabrielle kept the crowd going and House would do what ever he needed to do. There were only about three or four patients left when Cuddy came down to check on him. "Oh God they weren't kidding," she said once she saw Gabrielle in a white coat kneeling down before one of the patients. She rushed over and grabbed Gabrielle by the arm. "Excuse me, I need to talk this girl," she politely said and then pulled her off to the side. "What are you doing?" she scolded.
"I'm taking patient's BP and heart rate. That's all, nothing harmful," she explained.
Cuddy just glared at her. "I know you're not that naïve, and neither is your Father." Cuddy held out her hand and took the jacket, clip board, and stethoscope from her. "Go wait in my office, your Father will be there shortly," Cuddy said. Gabrielle started to walk away and then Cuddy turned and stopped her. "No wait, I'll come with you. I want to talk to you first," she said.
Gabrielle sat in the chair in front of Cuddy's desk. She sat there and just waited for what ever was coming to her. Cuddy sat there and stared at her for a moment. She felt for the girl, but she knew that she had to at least say something. "You know how serious it is to fake being a doctor?" Cuddy asked getting mad.
"Actually, I was a nurse. It's not the same thing," Gabrielle said.
"Still! People trusted their lives in your hands!" Cuddy argued.
Gabrielle sighed and then leaned forward on the desk. "All I did was take simple little things. I wrote them down and handed them to a real doctor. No one was in any danger," she explained and then leaned back in her chair. "Besides, you have to admit, those were all accurate. I know you looked them over." Gabrielle smirked at her.
"I have a bigger question for you," Cuddy said.
"Shoot," Gabrielle said.
"Why were you trying to help your father out right after he had done what he did to you?" Cuddy asked. It had confused her that they could go from enemy to friends in one minute. She would have never been able to do that.
Gabrielle laughed. "We Houses don't think like most people do. We don't go through the entire emotional show. We both know what had happened and I could tell that he was sorry when he told me to stay with him, so we dropped it." Gabrielle sighed. "You can't be mad at something that isn't there."
House walked into the room. "Yes mistress?" he asked in a low voice.
Gabrielle smiled as she stood up and turned. "She just wanted to thank you for letting her and Rachel spend the night to night," Gabrielle said and then gave Cuddy a quick little smug smile.
"That is not," Cuddy started as she stood up, but Gabrielle cut her off. "I think maybe we should him why you're staying with us," she said.
Cuddy clenched her fists and sat down. "Thank you House," she said.
Gabrielle just rolled her eyes. "You two are the easiest people in the world to manipulate." They both glared at her. The only problem was that it wasn't a lie. House wasn't easily hurt, but if you did hurt him, it effected him. She could see that in him. Then there was Cuddy, she was just plain easy. She liked both of them and really didn't want to hurt either of them, but if it were for their own good, she would do anything and neither of them doubted that even since they were set up on a date.