Where will Steven turn for help with the bullies at school?

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Chapter 27.

"Dr. House, I'm dying, right?" Helen watched him as he read her latest lab results. They showed symptoms not usually associated with alcoholic liver cirrhosis, including a high white blood cell count and gallstones.

"You wanna die?" he asked, more curious about her mental state than anything.

"Oh, no!" she insisted. "It's just that you haven't found out what's wrong yet."

He studied her face. "You watch too much TV. Not that I have anything against it." He just knew that she was trying, not very successfully, to strike a tragically-dying heroine pose. "Your liver's shot, at least partly from too much booze, and you've got some other probably non-fatal condition." He emphasized 'non-fatal'. "We'll find it. Just give us time."

"Oh."

They both looked toward the door when they heard Marty slide it open. He brought Steven into the room.

"Hi Mom." The boy tried to smile. "Hello, Dr. House." He didn't know whether Alex's father would have told his mother about what he'd done. All he knew was that the tall man scared him a hundred times more than the bullies in his class.

"How was school today?" Helen asked him.

"OK" he replied, but he couldn't look any of them in the eye.

"Well, unfortunately we've gotta send your mom off for another test," House told him.

"I guess I can take Steven to my office," Marty suggested.

"Or he can come with me to mine," House said. "Allie's bringing Alex soon and they can entertain each other and stay out of my hair."

Steven's eyes lit up, despite his fear of the man.

"I'll bring him back after your ultrasound," House told the patient.

"Thank you, doctor." She smiled wanly at her son and Marty.

"Dr. Marshall will be along to take you," House said. "C'mon kid."

"Marty, before you go..." Helen stopped Marty from leaving too. "Dr. House wouldn't say, but just in case I...I mean if I don't pull through..." She simpered.

Marty looked at her. "House? If you were dying he would have just said so. He doesn't beat around the bush."

"Oh."

"And you don't have to worry about Steven," he reminded her, assuming that was where she was going.

"But your..." she couldn't bring herself to say the word 'wife'. "...Dr. Lloyd. Doesn't she want children of her own?"

Marty sighed. He didn't think he had to share everything about his life or Nancy's with Helen, but he knew he should explain. "Nancy had a child, about fourteen years ago. There were complications during the delivery, excessive bleeding and damage to her uterus. She can't have another child."

"Oh, yes, I remember, Steven mentioned a girl. Is that the baby she had?"

"No. Nancy's baby died before she was two. Our girl, Audra, well her mother died many years ago, and her father's not in the picture. Her grandparents raised her but when her grandmother was dying she went to live with Nancy. We're in the process of adopting her."

"So you have a child. I don't want Steven to feel like an outsider."

"That's not going to happen. Nan and I love him already, and I guess Audey empathizes with him. She certainly doesn't want him to go through any of what she had to. Plus, they get along really well, both are quiet, smart, good kids."

Helen sighed.

"Don't worry." Marty walked to the door. He was not going to stay

and buy her pity-me act. "You're not gonna die and Steven will be just fine."

Steven and House walked to the elevator side-by-side, although it wasn't easy for the boy to keep up. He wondered why the doctor was being nice to him, but the prospect of playing with Alex again kept him from thinking about it too much.

They got on the elevator. "Are you going to make my mom better?" he dared to ask.

"I'll find out what's wrong," Dr. House replied. "Someone else can cure her."

They got off on the same floor where Dr. Wilson's office was. It wasn't far to a door that read 'Department of Diagnostic Medicine, Gregory House, MD'. When they entered the office, Steven looked around in amazement. The desk was filled with interesting things, an old oversize red and gray tennis ball, a small TV, a yo-yo, and a PS6. He remembered that Tommy said that Dr. House played video

games. "When will Alex be here?" Steven asked.

House sat down behind the desk and picked up the ball, tossing it back and forth in his long-fingered hands. "Soon."

Steven looked around some more, but he found the silence and the piercing blue eyes studying him to be disconcerting. "Why do you have a yo-yo?"

"You ask a lot of questions, kid."

Steven shrugged. "People won't tell me things unless I ask."

House kept his smile to himself. "You wanna play with it?" he asked.

The boy nodded, then quickly said, "I won't take it."

"You better not," House said, handing the toy to him.

When Cameron arrived with Alex, she found House teaching Steven how to 'walk-the-dog' with the yo-yo.

"I see you have a new playmate," Cameron quipped, while her son just let out a happy shriek. "Steven!"

"I figured with Steven here, I wouldn't have to entertain Alex," House said as his wife moved in for a kiss.

"Dad, can we play with your PS6?" Alex asked.

He pretended to debate it, but finally agreed.

"Come into the conference room a minute," House told Cameron. "I wanna talk to you."

As they entered the room Cameron asked, "Talk or grope?"

"Yeah, that too." He pulled her close. After another more intense kiss he asked, "What do you think of Helen and Steven?"

She let out a breath. "She's sick, and scared, and she's playing the situation for all it's worth."

House nodded. "She's not going to die. I'm sure of that."

"I just hope that she doesn't cause any problems for Marty and Nancy," Cameron said. "As for Steven, I don't know. The poor kid hasn't had any breaks in his life. Maybe with Marty and Nancy he finally will. Alex likes him, and our son has good instincts about people," she added.

"He does, doesn't he?" House marveled.

"You're planning on observing Steven, aren't you?" she asked. "Maybe between the two of you, Alex and you can find out more about everything he's dealing with."

Chapter 28

"My dad has the best games!" Alex told his friend. "This one's called 'Bots and Bunnies. It's an old one, but Gretchen says it used to be her favorite."

"What do you have to do?" Steven asked.

"You have to help the Bunnies get all the carrots before the Robots do, and then you have to help the Bunnies get away, but the Robots move really fast."

"OK," Steven said, and they began to play. As they played they talked.

"I started my new school today," Alex said. "It's way better than my old one."

"I wish I went to a different school, one where the kids weren't so mean," Steven told him.

"Why, what did they do?"

"They make fun of my name and my clothes and my good grades," Steven said.

Alex nodded in understanding. "They're just jealous because you're smarter than they are," he replied.

"I guess," Steven said. But knowing that didn't really help that much. "I drew a picture today of you and me playing in your room. Junior was in it too."

"Cool!" Alex said grinning.

"Yeah, it was. 'Cept Bobby ripped it."

"Oh," Alex said, disappointed.

"The teacher, Mrs. Banks taped it and put it up on the wall. I just hope no one ruins it even more."

Alex looked at Steven. "Are the other boys bigger than you?"

"Alan and Lonny are, and Bobby's just strong," Steven answered.

"Maybe you can take boxing lessons," Alex was telling Steven when House reentered his office.

"Why would he need those?" House asked.

The boys looked at each other, and Alex said, "It's OK. You can tell him." But Steven still seemed reluctant, so Alex told his father, "Steven drew a picture of me and him and Junior at school today."

"A-huh," House said, not sure what the connection was.

Steven swallowed. He'd never confided in an adult before. In fact, Alex was one of the few people he'd ever really told anything, but the younger boy was so easy to talk to. "You're sure I can tell him?" he asked Alex.

The other boy nodded.

"One of the boys in my class ripped the picture. He's always pushing me and his friends always tease me."

House didn't say anything. He wished it were Allison here listening to this. She'd know what to say and what to do.

"They're jealous because he's smarter," Alex explained.

House nodded. "They're idiots. Did you tell your father?" he asked.

Steven shook his head.

"Maybe Alex is right. Tell Marty you want to take boxing lessons," House said.

"I...I can't do that!" Steven exclaimed. "I don't want him to think I can't take care of myself."

House understood his reluctance. An almost seven-year-old boy shouldn't have to take care of himself, but House guessed he'd been doing so for a long time. Still, taking boxing or something like that would not only give him the means to defend himself, it would also give him more self-confidence.

"Dad, can we send Steven for lessons?" Alex suggested.

House looked at his son. "And you with him?" Alex had been asking for boxing lessons for months, but they'd decided he was too young. No wonder that was what he'd suggested for his friend.

"We-ell" Alex said. He should have known his father would realize that was really what he wanted. "Isn't there something Steven and I can do together?"

Instead of answering Alex, House asked, "Steven, is there anything you'd like to do?"

The boy looked at House, then at Alex, then back to House. "I'd like to learn karate, or jujitsu, or maybe tae kwon do."