House watched the cancer patient watching the football on the screen. Mr Green was over sixty years old and had very few friends or relatives. He somewhat enjoyed House's company, which most doctors in the hospital found annoying, Wilson was at the top of the list to be annoyed.

House put a soda down on the patients beside table. Mr Green looked over at House.

"Is there any specific purpose to you being here?" He wheezed.

House shrugged. "I'm a doctor, you're a patient. You haven't complained in the last few weeks that I've sat here."

Green rolled his eyes. "No, I mean, don't you have… Doctor thing's to do?"

House looked over at him. He shook his head. "My licence to practice medicine has been revoked for the time being."

Green frowned, suddenly worried. "D-did you… W-what… Revoked?"

House sighed. "Long story,"

"I got time,"

House grinned. "The beauty of it is, you really don't. I've seen your chart."

Green looked slightly pissed off. "Dr House, I will call Wilson,"

House puffed out his cheeks and sighed. "Fine, I was cruel to my boss, she got tetchy and decided that the sex wasn't just that good to keep me so…" He shrugged. "Whatcha gonna do?"

Green's frown deepened. "You're boss is a male. Isn't he? Eric Foreman?"

House slurped at his soda, knowing that he had been thinking of… Her… He nodded.

"Yeah, it's a bloke, but he's gay so," He shrugged again.

"Sex gender confusion joke?" Green asked.

House nodded thanking his clever self for covering up his blunder.

"Okay," Green said. "You've had your little joke, tell me the real reason."

"You don't want to know,"

"I really do,"

"You really don't,"

"I could repeat myself, but then I'd just get bored, tell me."

"No,"

"Yes,"

"You're such a child,"

"Says the one hiding the truth from me like a stubborn six year old,"

House frowned. "Do you really wanna know?" He asked.

Green nodded. "Yes, I do, now spill."

House leaned forward. "I would, but… I left my psychiatrist several years ago. I'm not in the mood for revisiting bad memories."

Green gave him a dirty look. "Dr House, if you aren't going to tell me why you're license has been revoked and if you have nothing else to do then why stay in my room? Why not annoy your friend Wilson?"

"Because Wilson is an overprotective sap," House said. "And he knows what's happening in my life. If I go to him it'll be like going back to therapy and I'm not in the mood for his preppy pain in the ass voice." He pulled out a vicodin bottle and tipped a tiny pill into his palm.

"I thought you quit cold turkey," Green said. "Or at least Wilson said you did,"

"Smaller doses," House said. "Means less pain to me, and a lesser of a pain in the ass to everyone else, what else did Wilson say?"

Green took a breath from his oxygen mask. "Not much after that. He wouldn't tell me why for this rapid detox."

"Well goodie for him," House swallowed the pill and took another swig of his soda. "And even better for me,"

"Do you have kids?" Green asked.

"Do you?" House asked.

"Three sons, one daughter," The cancer patient replied. "But they hated me, left with their mom after we divorced. Jess the youngest of the boys is a right poof; he lives in old Paris with his partner Dennis. The rest of them are married and have kids, not sure what their names are… They never really talk to me anymore."

House blinked as if waking up from a deep and refreshing sleep. "You done with your life story?" He asked.

Green looked him up and down. "You're not married, so I guess no kids?" He asked.

House sighed and leaned back on his chair. "No, I had a kid,"

"Had?"

"Like I said, long story," He replied.

"What was his name?"

"Her," House corrected. "Her name is Rachel, she's thirteen and…"

"Mom took her away from you?"

"Would you stop guessing?" House asked. "Her mom is dead,"

"Oh,"

"Actually, both her mothers are dead."

"You're not making sense,"

"I never make any sense," House replied. "Rachel was adopted by my old boss. Old boss died, left her with me,"

Green nodded. "So where is she now?"

"Just away," House said.

"No more than that?"

"Nope,"

Green sighed and coughed a little. House stood up looking at him intently. "You okay,"

"Fine, fine," Green choked. "A little sore,"

House grabbed his cane and limped over to the phone. He tapped in a number. "Can I get a page on Dr Wilson? Okay, thank you," He pushed the phone back into its cradle. He looked at the patient with his bright blue eyes. "Wilson will be here soon to give you a morphine drip," He said, limping back to his seat.

"Thank you," Green wheezed. "But why the sudden kindness?"

House shrugged. "I'm a people person."

"Now that's a lie if I ever did see one,"

"Yeah well deal with it," House said.

"Had a tough life son?" Green asked.

"Not as bad as yours I imagine,"

"Cancer is boring if you ask me. Besides, there was always the likelihood of me having it. Never really interested me," Green looked at the cane with some deep curiosity. "How did you become a cripple?"

"C'mon," House said. "I don't want to drag out that tiresome story again,"

"So you've had to tell it before? That means, you're not open about meaning… You don't want to accept it. That's curious. You've dealt with the drug issues and the problems it presents. Yet you refuse to deal with the fact that you're a cripple,"

"I dealt with it," House snapped as the older man got into a touchy subject. "I filled in the paperwork, I went to therapy,"

"But you didn't deal with it on an emotional level. Is that just Dr House? Never dealing with anything that anyone else would find upsetting, confusing or even life-changing. Moving on, never stopping…"

Wilson slid open the door. "Did you page me?" He asked.

"Yes," House said. "This patient needs his morphine increased." He motioned towards green.

"Don't you have clinic duty?" Wilson asked as he unlocked the morphine drip and dialled it up.

House shook his head. "Nope. Don't you remember I have no license to practice with?"

"Get Foreman to write the prescriptions." Wilson suggested. "It would be better than sitting around listening to some patient's semantics."

House looked up at Wilson. He shook his head again. "What I meant by saying I can't, I mean I don't want to. " He said.

"It'll take your mind off Rachel," Wilson said.

"Is that why you have been so distracted?" Green asked.

"You've been discussing your family life with a patient?" Wilson asked incredulously.

"No, I-" House rubbed his forehead and got up. "I don't need an intervention from either of you. None of you know what I'm going through and… none of you should try and pretend you care."

With that House limped off in a blind fit of rage.

…

She was sitting in the home twitching. Her slender arms tossed around her as she tried to concentrate on the TV in front of her. She sat on her own with no friends or nurses by her side. House stood away, watching her, as her limbs flailed around her helplessly.

"You won't get any sense out of her," one of the nurses said. "She has Huntington's Career. Her mind is basically shrinking."

"I know what she has," House snapped. "She used to work for me,"

"She probably won't remember you," The nurse said.

House looked at her. "No one deserves to be alone," He said silently. Slowly he limped over to her and sat by her side.

She looked at him with her pretty big brown eyes.

"Hi Remy," House said.

She said nothing. Her head twitched violently to the left. "Thirteen," She said.

"What?" House asked.

"You… You used to call me Thirteen," She said. "I-I-I don't want to change that just because I…" Her arms continued to flail about with no control. She tried stopping them but it didn't work. House took a gentle hold of her hands. On her left hand was a silver wedding ring. He looked up at her.

"Oh Remy," He said. "Who's the lucky man?"

She laughed, her entire left arm twitching. "Unlucky I should think," She said. She looked at House. Her eyes met his. "I don't remember your name," She murmured.

House moved some hair away from her eyes. "Names don't matter," He replied.

Remy's head jerked to the right. "Cold," She whispered.

House sighed softly and reached for Remy's jumper that sat around her waist. He pulled it gently over her head and onto each arm. She tried smiling at him, but she couldn't.

"Greg," She whispered.

"Yes?" He asked.

She looked up at him, her entire body swaying uncontrollably. "I'm scared," She said. "I'm so scared…"

And for once House couldn't respond, because he finally knew what fear felt like.

…

Simon sat down beside Stacy, who sighed and folded her arms.

"Hello," He said. "I'm Simon, but I'm okay with you calling me dad,"

Rachel folded her arms. "I'm not calling you dad," She said.

"Your 'father' is a narcissistic drug addict," Simon said. "I'm saving you from him,"

Rachel leaned forward. "You're a liar. A heartless liar with no proof of anything,"

"I have plenty of proof," Simon retorted. "It's just a matter of collecting it."

"My father never did anything to me." Rachel said. "I don't care if you want me back in your life. If you wanted me when I was born, then you had plenty of time. Why now?"

Simon slammed his fist onto the metal table with a nasty noise. "I am you're father Rachel Wells, not Greg House!"

"No!" Rachel shouted, standing on her feet. "Greg House is my father, you're just some evil good-for-nothing bastard only out for yourself!"

"You are an idiot!" Simon said. "You have been blinded by his antics for too long!"

Rachel glared at Stacy.

"Alright," the lawyer said. "I think we've exhausted our vocal chords by shouting, Mr Wells, please leave."

Simon got to his feet, picking up his suitcase. "I'm your father Rachel," He said. "Mr House is not," He left with Officer Gray. Stacy looked over at Rachel.

"You didn't need to shout," She said. "Who knows what he's gonna do next,"

Rachel sat back down. "I hate him," She said, folding her arms. "I just wanna go home."

Stacy's face softened. She got up and kneeled in front of the young girl. "Rachel, sweetie, I want you to get home as soon as possible, but these things takes time and with allegations this serious, it could take a while."

Rachel wiped a tear away. "I just want to go home," She said.

I hope you like this. I loved writing the tender moment between Thirteen and House, I liked that a lot. I'm not sure about the rest of it though. If you have any questions check me out on formspring, the website link is on my profile.
As ever thank you for reading and please tell me your thoughts as you review.