Chapter 20

Tritter came back a few minutes later, carrying House's blue elbow crutches, and House felt and looked considerably better. The pain was much less, and his heartrate and breathing were almost back to normal.

Tritter uncuffed him and held out the crutches as House got up and accepted them.

He relaxed a little at the familiarity of distributing his weight over a leg and the two pieces of aluminum alloy. For a few steps Tritter put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him in the right direction back to the cell, but then he just walked slightly behind him through the long hallway without touching him. They passed other cells, all occupied. It looked like it was a busy night for the cops.

House held his right foot completely off the floor most of the time. He tried the occasional half step in between, but his leg was still complaining too much to keep that up.

When he briefly glanced back over his shoulder at Tritter, he saw that the man was looking at his feet and not straight ahead. And apparently he had been doing so for quite a while. House tried another few steps, gripping the crutches a bit tighter, then giving up again.

It annoyed House that Tritter had been watching him, had been studying how he walked, without him knowing. The testing was private. People were not supposed to see him try, tense up and not try anymore for a while. It changed how they saw him, it changed their eyes.

Tritter noticed House looking at him, and sped up a little so that he was walking almost next to House, then stopped him. "You still don't believe me?" House half asked, half accused Tritter.

Tritter looked at him, at his leg. Obviously trying to make up his mind.

"You walked," he stated, but not very convincingly.

House only briefly looked at him, but said nothing. He didn't owe the man an explanation, and he wasn't going to give him one. Tritter shook his head and started again, more firmly.

"I've seen you walk with only a cane. That leg was better.

A friend of mine said he saw you without anything, walking perfectly fine, about two months ago at some supermarket."

This time House really turned his face away, not wanting Tritter to see the pain of the loss on top of the physical pain. The trouble with cops was that they were great at reading expressions.. well, most of the time anyway. House wondered for how long Tritter had kept tabs on him.

Tritter waited for an explanation, while House waited for Tritter to start walking again. House won.

They walked in silence, as Tritter adjusted his views of House – wrong or right – in his head. Then, about ten feet away from the cell door, he stopped House by - almost carefully so - laying a hand on his shoulder.

House turned and looked at him.

I need a little input please. Evil Tritter or Human Tritter? (Human Tritter part half written...but keeping evil Tritter is tempting too..)