Here's Chapter 25! As always, I say thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing. I'm glad you guys are still enjoying the story.
Chapter 25
6:00 AM
The Next Morning
Cuddy's alarm clock sounded, causing her to startle awake and quickly press the snooze button. She was lying on her stomach facing away from House as he was practically lying on top of her, his arms holding her closely to him. His rough, stubbly cheek scraped against her shoulder blade as he flinched from the sound of the alarm clock, grunting sleepily and taking in a deep breath.
"It is too damn early for that thing to be going off." He mumbled, rolling onto his back.
"It's six o'clock." She mumbled into her pillow. "I have to get up, I have an early meeting." She told him, lying there for another moment before slowly moving to get out of bed. She turned to him, as she stood up. She took a moment to watch him; his head was turned away from her, the blanket and sheet only covering him from the waist down except for a small portion of his left hip that was exposed to her. She smiled, remembering how amazing last night had been. They had taken their time, enjoying the closeness that they hadn't felt in each others arms for what seemed like forever, but had only been a little over a week. She let her eyes caress his features, starting at his handsome face and moving down to his strong shoulders and arms. She watched as his chest rose and fell with each slow breath he took. She admired his long elegant fingers as they were splayed across his stomach. She thought he had the sexiest hands; a musician's hands.
She blinked, snapping herself out her daze. She went over to pick up his t-shirt and pulled it over her head, slipping on her robe over it. She needed to go get Bella up. Cuddy was learning quickly that Bella wasn't an early riser unless she was extremely excited about something. It took Bella several minutes to wake herself up and Cuddy would have to make sure that she was actually awake before leaving her room. As Cuddy opened her bedroom door, she noticed that Bella was almost completely hidden under the comforter. If Bella's leg hadn't been sticking out from under them, she would never know that she was under there at all. Cuddy smiled and made her way over to the bed, gently pulling the covers down to her waist. Bella was lying on her stomach with her head resting on the pillow on the other side of her bed as she lay diagonally over the mattress. Cuddy sat down on the edge of the bed and gently rubbed circles over Bella's back until she began to stir.
"Bella, it's time to get up, Sweetie." She spoke softly.
She lay there with her eyes closed, still not having awakened yet. "Bella." Cuddy called her name again. "Get up, baby, we need to be ready to leave in about an hour."
Bella slowly opened her eyes and took in a deep breath. She shifted, turning her head to look at Cuddy. Cuddy could tell she was still on the edge of slumber, if she left the room right now, Bella would lay her head back down and go to sleep again. She learned that particular bit of information last week when they were going to go shopping one morning and Cuddy had gone to wake Bella up, having left her before she was fully awake. Cuddy had returned after getting herself ready to find Bella still in bed. When she asked her about it, Bella said she didn't remember her coming to wake her up even though Bella had looked at her and nodded her head.
Cuddy smiled at her now, as Bella was looking at her, sleepily. "Are you awake?" She asked.
Bella nodded, moving over and laying her head down on Cuddy's lap, cuddling up to her and closing her eyes. Cuddy chuckled. "I don't think you are." She said.
Bella nodded.
"Say something to me, before I start tickling." She teased her.
"I'm awake." She chuckled. "Don't tickle." She said with a sleepy voice.
Cuddy laughed. "Ok, then you have to get up. Go brush your teeth and get ready while I take a shower, ok?"
"Can I have a Pop Tart first?" She mumbled with her eyes still closed.
"Of course you can, sweetie. I just need you to get up, because I have a meeting in a couple of hours, so we need to get to the hospital soon."
"Ok." She answered, opening her eyes and lifting her head.
Cuddy stood up, placed a kiss on Bella's forehead and made her way out of the room. When she stepped into her bedroom, House was still in bed, having fallen back to sleep. Cuddy closed her bedroom door, in case Bella came looking for her. She didn't want to surprise Bella with a naked House in her bed.
"House." She called out, trying to wake him up. She went over and placed a kiss on his cheek and forehead, causing him to open his eyes.
"Are you trying to have sex with me?" He mumbled, grabbing hold of Cuddy's wrist as she backed away from him toward the bathroom. He pulled her back to the bed and she sat down beside him.
"No, I'm trying to wake you so you'll put some clothes on…Bella's up and I don't want her to come in here and find you naked." She told him.
"So lock the door." He told her, bringing his arm around her waist, trying to pull her back in bed with him.
"I'm not locking my daughter out of my bedroom…put some clothes on. I have to get in the shower." She told him, moving away from him and throwing his boxers and jeans onto the bed, before slipping her robe off and removing his shirt. She smiled at him as he ran his eyes over her body. She placed his t-shirt on the bed and turned around to walk into the bathroom.
"Need some help in there?" He called out to her as she closed the door.
"Nope." She responded with a smile that he couldn't see as she turned the shower on.
10 Minutes Later
Bella rummaged through her drawers and closet to try to find something she wanted to wear today. She had already eaten her Pop Tart, fed Splat, and was now getting ready for her day. She decided on a pair of khaki pants and a purple t-shirt with a cat design across the front and side of it. When she stepped out of her bedroom to go brush her teeth once she was dressed, she heard Lisa's bedroom door open and heard footsteps coming out of the bedroom. But these weren't Lisa's footsteps, they sounded more like….
"Greg!" She exclaimed, running over to him and giving him a hug. "You spent the night?" She asked, happily.
"Yep…is that ok with you?" He asked, with a little bit of uncertainty.
"Yeah!!" She replied excitedly, jumping up and down. "Are you coming with us to the hospital?"
"Nope. I'm going home first…I won't be in until later." He said, making his way to the kitchen.
Bella followed him, holding onto his hand as they entered the kitchen.
"Can I go with you?"
"Nope. No one at the hospital is supposed to know that your Mom and I are together, remember? If I take you in with me, it would make people ask questions that don't need to be asked." He told her.
"Oh yeah." She had forgotten.
"And if you ever hear me say something about your Mom that sounds mean, it's just an act, got it?"
"Duh, I'm not stupid, you know?" She rolled her eyes.
"No you aren't…sometimes you're way too smart for you own good, kid." He told her as he started making some coffee.
Bella smirked at his statement. "That's true." She agreed, giggling at his expression.
"And not at all conceited." He said with sarcasm, making her giggle more.
Bella jumped up on the counter beside him as he tried to make coffee, watching him with interest. "I used to watch my Daddy make coffee too." She told him. "And he didn't ever do it like that." She scowled, pointing to what he was doing.
"Like what?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Do you know what you're doing?" She asked him, suspecting that he had no idea.
Greg rolled his eyes. "Of course I know what I'm doing, it's not brain surgery. Although I could do that too." He said, smugly. He picked up the coffee to read how much he needed to measure out.
Bella rolled her eyes. "I'll do it." She told him, pushing him aside as she scooted over on the counter so she could reach the coffee and measure it out to pour it into the filter.
"Geez, Bossypants, you'll be mini-Cuddy in no time…she's training you well."
Bella giggled at him as she concentrated on making his coffee for him. She pushed the start button when she had finished measuring the coffee and smiled up at him. "See, it's easy."
"Show off." He snarked. "Your dad taught you that?" He asked, after a moment.
Bella nodded. "Yeah. He always let me make it for him and he said I was the best coffee maker in the whole world."
"Hmmm, well, I'm the best coffee judge in the whole world and that remains to be seen." He pointed at her.
"It's true." She told him, shaking her head. "I always measure it just right."
"I guess we'll find out in a few minutes." Greg replied, rummaging through the cabinets for something to eat. He pulled a Pop Tart out and opened the wrapper. He ate it in silence as they waited for the coffee. When it was finished brewing a few minutes later, Bella got a coffee mug out for Greg, reaching for the coffee to pour him some, but Greg stopped her.
"I'll pour it, kid, wouldn't want you to burn yourself." He told her.
"I won't."
"You can pour the coffee on your Mom's time, I'm not getting blamed if you burn yourself, got it?"
Bella rolled her eyes, but moved over to let him pour the coffee into his mug. When he was finished and had put cream and sugar into it, he looked up at her before tasting it.
"Alright, kid, this better be the best cup of coffee I've ever tasted or you lose."
Bella nodded smugly, and crossed her arms in front of her. He put it up to his lips and took a tentative sip. She watched him carefully to see if she could read what he was thinking. He swallowed and just stood there, unfazed by what he'd tasted. She raised her eyebrows in question when he looked at her.
"It's the best, isn't it?" She asked with a smirk.
"Hmmm. Well, I have to admit that it is pretty damn good…but not the best."
"It is too." She replied with mild indignation.
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is not."
"Oh my god…you two just wait for me, don't you? Just to piss me off." Lisa remarked as she came into the kitchen, heading for the coffee.
Bella hide a smile as she looked at Greg. He winked at her.
Lisa fixed a cup for herself and took a sip of it. "Mm, this is really good. Did you make this, House?"
Greg looked at Lisa and narrowed his eyes at her, causing Bella to laugh at him. Lisa looked between them and furrowed her brow. Greg rolled his eyes.
"The kid made it…little miss 'I'm the best coffee maker in the world'." He replied with sarcasm.
Bella busted out laughing at Greg again. She knew he had been lying about the coffee and Lisa just busted him. Lisa chuckled at him and looked at Bella.
"Did you really make this?" She asked.
Bella nodded, through her laughs. "Yes."
"I'm leaving." Greg grumbled, setting the coffee down on the counter. "Don't think you're getting away with being the best coffee maker in the whole world and not making my coffee when I get into work, kid." He pointed his finger at her.
Bella had stopped laughing long enough to look at Greg with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "I told you I was the best." She said.
Greg walked out of the kitchen, grunting. "Whatever."
Bella chuckled and looked at Lisa. "He's grouchy in the morning."
"Sweetie, he's grouchy all the time." She said with a smile as they both heard the door slam on his way out.
11:00 AM
House was seated at his desk, his feet propped up, listening to his iPod and playing his PSP. He had just reached level 8 on his game, when Taub came into his office. He glanced up at him but shifted his eyes back to his game. He could hear him mumbling about something but had no idea what he was saying, nor did he care. He had managed to ignore his team all morning, but unfortunately it looked like that was over. He paused his game and removed his headphones with a heavy sigh.
"I'm so sorry, were you saying something?" He asked sarcastically.
Taub glared at him. "I was trying to apologize about what I said yesterday. I know you don't care but I thought I'd at least make the effort."
"Gee, thanks. Anyway, I don't care what you said about me, but you might want to be careful what you say the next time the Boss's kid is in the room."
"I didn't know who she was and anyway it slipped out before I knew what I was saying…so, sorry, House."
"Yeah, whatever, get out before you screw up my winning streak." He told him, turning back to his game and resuming play.
Taub turned and left the room as a smirk appeared on House's lips.
Ten minutes later, he looked up to see Cuddy and Bella entering the room. He pressed pause again, removed his headphones and stared at them as they stood in front of him. Bella had a smile on her face and Cuddy looked tired.
"Are there any members of the Board still left breathing?" He asked her.
"Unfortunately." She sighed. "I see you're working hard, as usual." She said, walking over and sitting in a chair opposite him as Bella stood beside her.
"Yes I am…do you have any idea how hard it is to get past the killer monkeys on this level…little vine-swinging bastards." He replied disdainfully, holding his PSP up before setting it on the desk beside him.
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Maybe instead of playing your little game, you could be doing your actual job."
"If I were doing my actual job, I wouldn't be able to watch the kid for you." He stated with a smirk.
Cuddy raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Since you don't have a file in your hand, I assume that's why you're up here?"
Cuddy smirked. "Yes. So do you mind?"
"All of the doctors in the other room are staring at us." Bella told them, turning her head back to look at House after having her eyes on the doctors in the conference room.
House grabbed his big tennis ball and threw it at the glass door. "Get back to work!" He yelled at them. They immediately turned their heads and resumed their work. The ball bounced off in the corner of the office. "Get that ball, woulda kid?"
Bella left her mother's side and retrieved the ball for him, setting it on the desk where it was before.
House glanced up at Cuddy with a smart aleck grin.
Cuddy shook her head at him. "You're unbelievable."
"I know." He interjected, with a shrug.
Cuddy chuckled, tiredly shaking her head. "I have to go into another meeting in a few minutes because the last meeting didn't go so well, could you watch Bella for me?"
"I suppose I could put up with her. Besides, I believe I demanded another rematch of that last poker game we played."
Bella's jaw dropped and she rolled her eyes. "I beat you twice, you ain't gonna win, you know?" She stressed, crossing her arms.
Cuddy looked up her. "Twice?" She questioned with surprise.
"Oh good job, big mouth, you've done it now."
Cuddy looked between House and Bella. "No. Poker. Understand?" She pointed at them.
Bella nodded, lowering her head.
House rolled his eyes. "Fine, killjoy."
Cuddy sighed and stood up. "Thanks for doing this, House. Bella, I'll hopefully be out of my meeting by 1:00, but you can either stay with House or come back to my office, ok?"
Bella nodded and gave her a hug. "Sorry your meeting sucked."
Cuddy smiled and returned Bella's hug. "Thank you, Sweetie. I'll call you later, ok? Don't let House get into too much trouble." She told her, glacing at House.
House rolled his eyes. "Me? It's her you should be worried about."
"Right." She responded with a smirk and placed a kiss on Bella's head. Cuddy pulled some money out her pocket and handed it to House. "Don't forget to feed my child."
House took the cash and pocketed it. "Aye, aye, Cap'n." He saluted.
Cuddy smirked and made her way out of the office.
Bella turned to him. "What are we gonna do?" She asked curiously.
"Don't know, got any suggestions?"
Bella shrugged. "We can't play poker…maybe we could play hide and seek?"
House looked intrigued, dropping his feet to the floor. "In the hospital?" He asked.
Bella nodded with a smile.
He narrowed his eyes, realizing something. "You know that if your Mother found out about this she'd ground your ass, right?"
"Well, I don't hear no suggestions from you?" She replied smartly, crossing her arms.
"Not saying I don't like the idea, I'm just saying if she finds out…your ass is grass."
"So's yours." She pointed out. Bella sighed, coming to stand next to him at the desk. "I don't want her to get mad at me."
"Fine, we'll stay on this floor, I'll give you my cell in case we need to cut it short." He told her, handing her his cell phone. "If you need help for any reason and you can't make it back here to my office or Wilson's, call him, because I won't have a phone on me. If it's not urgent, make your way back here and page me. We'll play for an hour and then meet back here, no matter what, understand?"
Bella nodded.
"Oh and another thing, unless it's me calling you on that phone, do not answer it." He pointed at her with seriousness. "Even if it's Cuddy."
Bella nodded. "Put it on vibrate, so you can't call me and find me." She told him, handing it back with a smirk on her lips.
"Damn it! Too smart for your own good." He mumbled, taking it from her and putting it on vibrate.
Bella chuckled, and took it back from him when he handed it to her.
"Ok, you hide first." He told her. "And no hiding in the women's bathroom."
"No hiding in the men's bathroom then." She responded, pausing at the office door and pointing at him on her way out.
"Deal."
House watched her leave and take a left down the hallway. He chuckled to himself and gave her one-minute to find a hiding spot before he got up and followed after her.
Bella ran down the hallway, knowing she wouldn't have much time to hide. Several people turned to see her running down the hall, so she decided she better slow down in case Greg started asking if anyone had seen which direction she went. Bella didn't expect Greg to play fair. It didn't matter though, because she was a master at hide and seek; having done quite a bit of it in NYC for reasons she didn't want to think about right now. There were about a million great places to hide in a hospital, but she was limited to this floor. There were a lot of offices on this floor, making it challenging because she didn't know if anyone would be in the offices or if they would be locked.
As Bella was walking quickly down the hallway, ready to turn the corner, she looked behind her to see if Greg was back there and as she rounded the corner, she ran smack into something hard. She fell backwards, landing on her butt; her hands having come down to unsuccessfully break her fall. When she looked up, she saw a tall pair of legs that belonged to a huge, intimidating man in a uniform. She looked at his face and thought she recognized him.
The man held his hand out to her, to help her up. "I'm sorry, miss, are you alright?"
Bella nodded, taking his hand and standing up. "Sorry, sir."
"I've seen you around here before, haven't I?"
Bella shrugged. "Maybe." She looked closely at him and raised her eyebrows in surprise, remembering him. "I seen you too. You're Big George." She replied, giving him a smile.
"Oh my god. You're the little girl…Bella, right?"
Bella nodded. "Yep."
"You're talkin' now…and you're lookin' much better than the last time I saw you too." He said, smiling down at her.
"Thanks. I'm Lisa's daughter now, did you know that?"
"You're Dr. Cuddy's daughter?" He asked with delighted surprise. "Well, congratulations young lady, I'm happy to hear that."
Bella smiled from ear to ear. "Thanks, Big George. And thanks for finding me that time in the basement."
"You're welcome, darlin', I'm so glad I did."
Bella caught a glimpse of Greg down the corridor and gasped. "I gotta go, I'm playing hide and seek with Greg and he can't find me. See ya, Big George." She said, running down the hallway.
"See ya." He laughed, shaking his head at her.
Bella hauled ass down the hall, looking for a room to hide in. When she came upon Greg's office again, she smiled. He wouldn't look for her in here. She made her way inside, seeing the four doctors in the conference room. She walked in and looked at them.
"I'm hiding from Greg, I was never here, ok?" Bella told them, moving to the corner of the room to hide under the sink. "I hope none of you are bad liars." She said to them, as she closed the doors.
12:15 PM
It had been an hour since they had been playing hide & seek and House hadn't found the kid. She was good, he thought. And she was small and could fit into tiny spaces, which made it difficult for him to find her. He hadn't completely thought this through when he agreed to play with her. He had looked pretty much everywhere he could think of and had even asked some people if they'd seen her. He hated losing and that's the third time he had lost to this kid. He walked into his office and sat down in his comfy chair and closed his eyes, waiting for the kid to show up. A few minutes later she popped her head into his office from the conference room.
"I beat you again." She said, with a big smile on her face.
"Yeah, yeah, you're a genius." He rolled his eyes.
"You're a sore loser." She told him. "I'll try not to be so hard to beat next time." She said, sitting down in the chair opposite his desk.
"Arrogance doesn't become you, kid…leave that to the professionals…that would be me, in case you didn't catch that."
Bella smirked smugly at him. "You can't beat me at hide & seek, I'm a master." She told him, pointing her thumb at herself.
"Oh really? Well, it's been about 40 yrs. since I've played so I'm a little out of practice." He said sarcastically. "So how did you get to be this big hide & seek master, huh?" He asked, trying to taunt her a little.
Bella's face grew serious, but she tried to hide it. "I just did." She shrugged and looked away from him, moving over to one of the chairs at his desk and sitting down.
House watched her and narrowed his eyes, catching on to her sudden mood change and knowing that it had something to do with her past. He usually tried not to push her, but his curiosity won over. "Can I ask you something, kid?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Depends if I have to answer."
House smirked. "It's up to you."
Bella nodded. "Ok."
He already knew the answer to this but he wanted to hear it from her. "Where did you run off to after your parents died?"
She averted her eyes from him and lowered her head. She seemed to be thinking about it and House wasn't sure if she had decided to ignore his question or was just gearing herself up for the difficult answer. Finally she sighed and looked up at him.
"New York City." She mumbled.
House nodded, glad that she had answered and that she'd told him the truth. "Why?" He pressed on, his voice soft.
"Mattie said so." She shrugged.
"You did everything Mattie said?" He asked her with a serious tone. She seemed to have a close relationship with her brother, which was understandable given what they'd both gone through, and he wondered just how well a 14 year old kid could take care of his much younger sister.
"He was my brother." She told him softly, as if it were the obvious answer.
House nodded in understanding. "Do you think you'll ever talk about what happened to him?"
Bella looked at him with panic in her eyes, but didn't say anything. She didn't need to; House read it loud and clear. "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to tell me."
Bella lowered her gaze to the floor. "I'm not ready." She mumbled, wiping a small tear away that had escaped her eye.
"Ok." He told her softly. "I get it…I don't like talking about my past either, kid, I'm not gonna push you to talk about yours." Letting her know he didn't have the best stories to tell either.
Bella glanced up at him and nodded, understanding what he'd told her.
They sat in silence for what seemed like forever, neither of them looking at each other, lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly he heard Bella clear her throat. "My daddy taught me how to draw." She told him out of the blue.
House looked at her curiously and nodded his head, not really knowing if he should respond to that.
"He used to draw buildings and they would get built. I forget what you call that."
"He was an architect." He explained to her.
Bella nodded. "Yeah, that's it." She said, recognizing the word. "But he used to draw other stuff too, not just buildings."
House nodded once more, acknowledging her, but keeping silent, wondering why she was telling him this.
"He was real good at it…and he used to let me make buildings on his computer. But they wasn't as good as his, though."
"You've got talent, kid…and talent isn't taught, it's inherited. You're dad must've been really good at what he did to pass on that kind of talent to you."
Bella smiled at him, appreciatively. "Thanks." She mumbled, shyly. "Did your dad give you any talents?" She asked him.
House scoffed. "Not any good ones."
Bella scowled. "Why not?"
"Because he wasn't the best dad ever." He told her, mildly explaining what he meant.
"Oh." She mumbled, before looking up at him. "Is that why you don't got kids?"
He looked at her tilting his head with a bit of confusion and admiration in his expression. This kid was smart. She had caught on to the fear he had that he would turn out like his father if he ever had kids. He didn't want to reveal too much; it had always been a sore subject for him. "Maybe that's why, I don't know, kid." He lied, averting his eyes, hoping she would just drop the subject. He could tell she was watching him out of the corner of his eye. He ventured a look at her and he noticed her lips had curved into a small smile.
"You don't gotta be afraid…you'd be a good daddy, Greg."
He scoffed again, shaking his head. "You don't know that, kid. You think you have me figured out but what you don't know is that I'm a mean bastard just like him, and no kid deserves to grow up with that."
"You're not mean to me…and you're not mean to Lisa." She told him, shrugging her shoulders.
"You haven't known me long enough…and she's known me for too long, she's used to it."
Bella looked away from him. "Well you can't be too much of a mean bastard if she's known you for a long time and she still loves you." She pointed out. "I mean, your dad couldn't have passed on any bad talents to you if he was a bad man and you still hate him after all this time, because if you was bad, you wouldn't hate him so much. I think you just pretend to be mean, but really you're good inside."
House furrowed his brow at her. 'Did he just get a lecture from an 8 year old?' He thought. "So you're logic is…I'm a good man, because I hate my father?"
She shrugged. "You're good because you know the reasons that makes him a mean bastard are wrong, and you hate him for it."
After a moment he looked away from her. "It doesn't matter anymore, he's dead."
"Then he can't be mean to you anymore…so why do you care?" She mumbled.
House rolled his eyes. "How old are you again, kid? You're not gonna charge me $600 for that little therapy session, are you?"
Bella shook her head with a smirk. "Nah, that was for free."
House laughed at her. "You getting hungry yet?"
Bella nodded with a smile. "Yeah."
House stood up and made his way to the door, opening it for her. She took his hand in hers, holding onto it tightly. He couldn't believe he'd just had a conversation about his father with a kid. He had to admit, she made some good points. But it still didn't change the fact that he should never be anyone's father. This kid had too much faith in him and one day he was going to disappoint her and hurt her. It was inevitable. As smart as she is, she's still just a naïve little kid. She's had hard life so far, with a lot of disappointments. He cared too much about her to become another one.
3:00 PM
Bella sat atop the counter of one of the nurse's stations on the 6th floor, with Greg standing beside her, discreetly pointing a remote control at the TV in one of the patient's rooms. After lunch, they had gone back to his office and hung around for a while before he took her up to the roof to show her the skyline. They spent about an hour up there until they both got bored and headed back downstairs. They played foosball in the doctor's lounge, drawing a crowd when it suddenly became competitive, as it usually did with them. She had gotten some help from Dr. Chase, whom she thought was cute and loved his accent. However, they ended up losing to Greg anyway. After that, Greg had bet that he could change the channel on any television in the hospital without being inside the room and without anyone knowing. She didn't believe him…so here they were as he demonstrated it to her.
"Isn't that sort of mean?" Bella asked.
"Maybe. But pissing people off is what I do best; usually to their faces…this is just another level. And nothing pisses people off more than having their TV programming messed with." He told her as he flipped the channel again and watched the guy inside yell at the TV. He smirked, looking over at her. "Wanna try it?" He asked, handing her the remote. She started to take it from him when he pulled it away. "By the way, in case I didn't mention, this little baby is need to know only, got it?"
Bella nodded, taking it from him when he handed it to her again.
"But how come you picked him to piss off? Did he do somethin' mean to you?"
"He's an idiot…keeps giving the nurses around here a hard time, not that I care about that. I'm bored so…he gets pissed off for my amusement."
Bella shrugged. "So he's a jerk?"
"Yep."
"We can make him watch whatever we want him to?" Bella asked, thinking she could get into this. Maybe the guy wouldn't be so mean if he was given a hard time too.
"Yep."
Bella smirk mischievously and switched the channel to The Cartoon Network. The man scowled and looked at the remote in his hand. She heard a muffled 'what the hell' through the glass doors of his room as he yelled at the television again. Bella chuckled with amusement at the man before looking at Greg with slight concern.
"He ain't gonna have a heart attack or nothing is he?" She asked him.
"Don't worry, I checked, he was in for surgery to repair a compound fracture to his tibia after an accident on his ATV."
Bella scowled. "I don't know what you just said."
Greg looked at her and laughed. "He's safe from a heart attack." He assured her.
Bella nodded with satisfaction as she changed the channel on him again.
After satisfactorily pissing the guy off they got bored of him too and decided to got back to the doctor's lounge and watch TV themselves. As they made their way down the hall to the elevators, Greg's cell phone rang. He answered it with his crabby voice.
"What do you want?" He asked.
Bella couldn't hear what was being said so she just walked beside him in silence listening to his side of the conversation.
"Wonderful. Get a history and do the usual song and dance and I'll be there as soon as I can."
Greg hung up and looked down at Bella.
"Sorry, kid, gotta go to work."
"You got a patient?" She asked, having learned exactly what Greg does when he says he has to work. They stepped onto the elevators and Greg pushed the button for the lobby.
"Yep…you gotta go back down to your Mom's office now."
Bella looked at him and nodded, disappointed that she wouldn't get to hang out with him anymore today. "Are you coming over tonight?" She asked.
"Nope, not unless I break my own record and figure this thing out in the next 3 hours, which is not likely."
"But what about your date with Lisa?"
"Another time. Don't worry, you'll get to have Wilson all to yourself one of these days, kid."
Bella chuckled and rolled her eyes.
3:48 PM
Cuddy sat behind her desk, her mind on her work after having a stressful morning and being unable to get caught up on the ever-present piles of paperwork that she had to go through on a daily basis. After her meetings she had allowed Bella to stay with House, hearing over the phone that she had been having fun being with him. She was happy Bella was having a good time because of how bored she'd been the previous day at the hospital. Cuddy had decided to look into something for her to do during the days before she would have to start attending school.
A few minutes ago she had approved a patient for House and needed to get in touch with him to take Bella from him so he could work. She had just picked up the phone receiver to call him when she looked up to see him step into her office with Bella clinging to his neck as he gave her a piggyback ride. She smiled at them, seeing how cute they looked together. She was surprised that House would even allow a piggyback ride; she was afraid it would hurt his thigh. But it didn't seem to be bothering him.
"Cuddy, I seem to have misplaced your kid. I swear, she was right behind me." He told her with mock panic in his voice.
Bella giggled at him and looked over at Cuddy. Cuddy smiled widely at them.
Bella continued to giggle. "My arms are slipping." She said as she laughed uncontrollably.
"Ahhhh!" House exclaimed. "I seem to have a talking monkey on my back." He yelled in panic before his expression changed to one of recognition. "Oh, there you are. Cuddy, I found your kid." House helped her slide down his body until she landed on her feet before losing her balance and falling on her butt, still laughing.
"You ok?" He asked, his lips quirked into a small smile.
Bella nodded, standing up. "Yes. Thanks for the ride, you're a good little piggy." She said, petting his arm gently.
Cuddy laughed at her statement as well the expression on House's face. She stood up and walked over to them, standing in front of House and looking up at him with a smile. "Everything go ok?"
"Well, other than your kid being a menace and a really bad influence on me, everything was fine."
Shaking her head at his comment, she changed the subject. "You have a patient. Your team has the file." She told him, slipping her arm over Bella's shoulder.
House nodded. "Rain check on the date?" He asked.
Cuddy nodded in understanding. "I'll hold you to it."
House smirked and gave her a quick nod. He glanced at Bella. "See ya, kiddo." He said, before leaving the office.
Cuddy turned to Bella after House left, inquiring about her day. Bella proceeded to tell her everything they'd done, including the game of hide & seek that they'd played.
"And then after lunch, we played foosball in the doctor's lounge and Dr. Chase helped me and I thought he was real cute and I liked his accent." She finished, as she quickly and excitedly blurted out every detail of her day.
Cuddy listened to her carefully, but after hearing that she and House had played hide and seek in the hospital, everything else she said had almost gone unheard. "Hide and seek, Bella? You two played hide and seek in the hospital? Did House let you run around the hospital alone?" She asked, trying not to get upset.
Bella nodded, her smile falling from her face. "But we didn't go off the 4th floor and Greg gave me his cell phone in case I needed it and he said we could only play for an hour." She looked at Cuddy. "Are you mad at me?"
Cuddy sighed. She wasn't mad at Bella, but she couldn't believe House would let Bella run around alone. "No, I'm not mad, but I don't want you to do that again, ok? The hospital can be dangerous and there are a lot of people around and I wouldn't want you to get hurt. If something happened to you…I don't know what I'd do."
Bella nodded. "Ok…sorry." She apologized, dropping her gaze to her hands in her lap.
"It's ok." She said, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I love you." She whispered in Bella's ear, letting her know that she wasn't upset at her.
"Me too." Bella answered, laying her head on Cuddy's lap.
Bella sighed as Cuddy brushed her hair away from her eyes. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Cuddy had seen Bella close her eyes and thought she had fallen asleep but was surprised when she turned her head to look up at her.
"Lisa?" She said, softly.
"Yeah."
"Do you think Greg doesn't want to be a daddy because his daddy was mean to him?"
Cuddy looked down at her with surprise on her face. She had no idea where Bella had gotten that. How did she know anything about House's father? She didn't even know anything about House's father. All she knew was that House hated him and that he had passed away last year.
"I…I don't know, Sweetie. Who told you about House's dad?"
"He did. He said he wasn't the best father ever and that he was a mean bast-…man," she corrected quickly, "and I thought maybe he didn't want to be a dad because of that."
"Sweetheart, I don't know much about House's father, he's never told me anything about him. But I can imagine that, if his dad was a mean dad to him, it would be hard to see yourself as a good father to your children. And I also think that if House does think that about himself, then he's just being an idiot…because he would never be mean to a child."
Bella nodded. "I told him that he wasn't a mean man, that he just pretends to be but he's really good inside."
Cuddy smiled. "I think you're right…and thank you for telling him that, I'm sure he was happy to hear that from you."
"I don't think he believed me." Bella said sadly, turning her head away from Cuddy.
"Bella, I know you love House and he is a good man. I've known him for a very long time and he has had moments in his life where he wasn't a very nice man, but that's only because he's been hurt; inside and outside. And I believe with all of my heart that even through those hard times, he has never stopped being a good man."
Bella nodded her understanding. "Do you think he would ever want to be my daddy?" She mumbled.
Cuddy looked at her with sadness, turning Bella's face gently toward her so she could look into her eyes. "I don't know, baby. I don't know. But maybe if you just keep showing him how much you love him, he'll see that the love you have for him will outweigh all the bad stuff that makes him afraid of being a daddy." She told her softly.
"Really?" She asked, with a tinge of hope.
"It's worth a shot, don't you think?"
Bella smiled. "Yeah. Greg is worth a shot."
Cuddy smiled sweetly at her daughter and nodded, feeling the slight sting of tears in her eyes. Cuddy hadn't realized that Bella wanted House to be her dad. She could understand it and had thought about it herself, but didn't know Bella had been thinking about it. House would be an amazing father, but maybe it was as Bella had pointed out…maybe he was scared he would turn out like his own father.
Cuddy wanted to know all about House's life and in having this conversation with Bella; she realized that she didn't know much about him at all. In all of the years that she'd known him, he had never talked about his childhood. Back in college, she knew of him and his reputation and she admired and respected him a great deal, which is what made her pursue him. But she didn't really know him and she wanted to change that. She wanted to know the man that she was in love with completely. Cuddy knew it would take time because he didn't like to talk about his life, preferring to keep his past in the past. But she wanted to know, and she was willing to be patient and wait for him to share everything with her…no matter how long it would take.
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