Risky Business
Disclaimer: If I owned anything I seriously wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfiction. Ok, maybe I would.
Chapter Twenty-five: Day Old Blues
House behaved surprisingly well that night, sitting and coloring with the disabled ginger while Wilson cooed over the sleeping (boring) baby. He was even well behaved when Stephanie returned with promised Thai food, shockingly enough. Usually he would go at it with her until Wilson was exhausted from watching them, however that evening he was surprisingly… calm. It was unnerving to everyone, except for maybe Lacie who seemed to particularly enjoy his company, now that she could remember who he was for more than a few minutes at a time.
Maybe his niceness was due to the fact that he was actually thoroughly enjoying his conversation with Lacie. Perhaps, as Wilson would have noted had he cared to pay attention, it was due to their similar thought process and even more similar maturity level. House didn't really mind either way. On the contrary he found this ability to converse with her fascinating. He wished Rachel could talk and wondered if she too would be able to hold such engaging conversation, yet she just sat in Wilson's arms and drooled, occasionally making irritated faces as she relieved herself. He decided she would not be engaging, no matter how well she could articulate her bowel movements.
Stephanie made her way over to the table after clearing away the remains of dinner and washing the dishes, sliding into the chair next to her boyfriend and kissing his cheek softly. She smiled when he blushed and turned to look at the others seated around her, "Are you all content to sit here and draw, or would you like to watch a movie?"
"What kind of movie?" House asked, eyebrows rising slightly.
"A kid friendly movie, House." Wilson sighed, shifting Rachel from his arms to Steph's.
"Now, when you say kid friendly-"
"A children's movie, House."
He wrinkled his nose and looked down at the drawing of the unicorn he was diligently working on, "I'm ok."
"I'm ok, too." Lacie grinned at the adults. "I'm enjoying this drawing and talking with doctor House."
Wilson managed to smile, "That's… great, Lacie."
"However, if you aren't having fun I won't mind if you watch a movie with Miss Stephanie."
"That's thoughtful of you, Lacie." Stephanie laughed, standing up. "James, why don't we put Rachel down? Can you get her blanket?"
"Oh, sure." He smiled at the tiny red head and stood up. "Keep an eye n House, please."
"I'm not a child." The man scoffed, picking up a red crayon. "Should he poop rainbows or butterflies?"
Lacie shrugged as Wilson rolled his eyes and left the table, "He should poop what horses poop."
"That's no fun. I think he'll poop rainbows."
"Because unicorns don't exist you can make them do anything." She responded, still hard at work on her stick figures.
"In art you can make anything do anything. Like making paint splatters sell for thousands of dollars."
Lacie smiled and nodded in full agreement. "Or make yourself walk."
House's shoulders slumped slightly, "Yeah. Or that."
"You can treat it symbolically, too. Like, I could draw myself flying, or as a bird, to show my freedom."
"Specifically freedom from your hot set of wheels?"
She shrugged her shoulder, "And from paralysis. Wouldn't you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because drawing myself better won't make my leg stop hurting."
"Technically nothing will. Well, medicine may. Sometimes."
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, some times."
"Miss Lisa says physical therapy is suppose to help." The little girl sighed and dropped her pencil. "But I don't know. It hasn't helped me at all."
"Well it's only been a couple of weeks, kid."
"How long have you been doing it?"
"I… I haven't."
"Oh. Why?"
Why indeed? Maybe because deep down, he liked being miserable. Well, no, he didn't think that was it. It was more of a fear that if it did help he wouldn't be himself. The fear that misery was a bigger part of him than he was.
"I'm lazy."
Lacie rolled her eyes. "I bet I'd get better faster than you. Especially since you're lazy."
"I'll take that bet. First one to recovery gets frozen yogurt."
She raised an eyebrow and grinned at him, "Can it be from Yogurt Land?"
"Sure."
"How will we know since you don't go to physical therapy?"
"I'm going to start this week."
"Oh." She picked up her pencil again, her dark mood obviously forgotten. "How convenient."
"I thought so." He scribbled his name along the bottom of his less than stellar picture and handed it to her. "You can have it. Irritate Daddy Dearest with it."
"I don't think it will irritate him, he just won't think it's funny. He doesn't like poop jokes."
"That's not- Never mind."
Lacie grinned and wrote her name (in cursive) on the back of her drawing before handing it shyly to the doctor to examine. "You can have this one, so you don't forget me."
"I won't. Trust me, I've tried. You keep turning up all over." House paused a moment and looked at the colorful work of nine-year-old art. "What is it?"
"It's you and me and my dad and Miss Lisa on a pirate ship. See, you and Miss Lisa are holding hands and my daddy is holding my hand."
"I see why you don't want Daddy to have this one."
The redhead's cheeks turned a shade similar to her long locks, "Well… I know Dad likes her, and she likes him, but I think she likes you more."
House smirked and nodded at the kid, "Very perceptive. She totally wants me."
Lacie shrugged, "I guess I don't care either way. I just think if you two like each other so much maybe you should go out."
"Agreed." He sighed, folding up the picture and putting it into his pocket. "I guess it doesn't really change anything though, does it?"
"Nope. And I still can't fly."
He was about to comment on how absolutely depressing she was when there was a sound knock at the door. House glanced at the kid with a puzzled look, "Daddy knows how to keep a date short, huh?"
She looked just as confused as he did and shrugged, "My bed time isn't until ten, so they shouldn't be back until nine thirty. This is weird. Oh well, will you help me clean up?"
"Could I not and say its part of your therapy?"
"No, House." Wilson sighed as he passed by, rolling his eyes at his friend as he went to answer the door. "Please, for the love of God, be nice."
He rolled his eyes and scooped up a handful of pencils. "I'm always nice."
"Right." His friend scoffed, pulling the door open, "Peter, Lisa, didn't expect you back so soon…"
The couple in question stepped through the door quietly, Peter mumbling something about needing to turn in early or some other bullshit. Cuddy, who upon entering had looked almost awkward, narrowed her eyes upon seeing House. "What are you doing here?"
A/N: And I stop here! Haha, I really wanted to squeeze in another update before my last vacation of the summer, since I'll be gone for two weeks! Sorry this update was kind of late, I have actually been strangely busy. :] Enjoy!