Chapter 29

House walked through the downstairs of his home, checking all the windows and doors to see that they were locked, then he went upstairs where he looked in on his son.

"Hey." House stood in the doorway of his son's bedroom. "I see you're still up."

"Yeah," Tony looked at him from where he lay on his bed, reading through one of his mothers medical journals. "You're home early, aren't you? I thought you were staying at the hospital all night."

"Change in plans." He looked more closely at the journal Tony was reading through. "Most fathers have to worry about catching their sons looking at something a little racier than a "medical journal," if they walk in their bedroom unexpectedly at this time of night"

Tony chuckled at his father. "I don't buy porn magazines, dad. I'm a good kid."

"Yeah."

"Seriously, though–I don't waste my time or money with them. Some of my buddies' fathers had some when we were younger, and we'd sneak in to check them out–but that was about it. Anyway, I think I'm going to steer clear of anything that has to do with sex for awhile. I'll stick with medical journals–I was actually hoping it would bore me into going to sleep."

"Not working–huh?"

"Not yet. But I'll give it to the end of this article."

House nodded then turned and closed the door behind him as he went to his daughter's room next. As he half expected, he found it empty so he went on to his own bedroom where he found Allison and Dee both sleeping soundly on his bed. He went to his dresser and removed his jeans and pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms, then went to the bed and slid Dee closer to her mother. He got in next to them and turned toward them, putting his arm around them both as he hoped he could find sleep easier than his son. But his mind raced with thoughts of Amanda Fleming and what Barry Anderson was going to initiate tonight. He knew he'd find out tomorrow, unless something drastic happened, then perhaps, they would notify him sooner.

He rolled onto his back and was just dozing off when Dee jerked in her sleep and her left hand flew back and hit him in the face. He thought he actually saw stars on that one. Sometimes he was amazed at his daughter's ability to turn into an octopus while she slept. He knew it wouldn't be long before she would fling her arm back again–or throw her leg over (and sometimes that could be even more painful for him than a punch in the nose), so he sighed heavily as he got back out of bed. His normal course of action was to pick her up and carry her to her own bed, but with tonight's activities at the hospital, he chose to simply stretch himself out on the chaise lounge in the corner of the room. He knew he would wake up sore, but he preferred the security of knowing that his family was all safe and together. If he could, he'd move Tony closer as well–but he didn't think his now-adult son would find it so comforting.

It took another hour, but House finally found a position comfortable enough to try to sleep in. He fixed his pillow behind himself and started to relax again when the telephone rang and startled him so badly that he nearly picked it up and threw it across the room. But, stopping mid-toss, he thought better of it and answered it so it wouldn't wake Dee.

"Yeah–what do you want?" He said grumpily.

"All I wanted was another chance," Amanda Fleming said sadly on her end of the line. "Why couldn't you have seen that I needed you through this? Instead of coming to help me deal with my daughter's death–you've avoided me for weeks. Every opportunity I gave you to meet with me, you tossed away."

"I don't know what you're talking about," House said quietly and calmly as he sat up, knowing he was dealing with someone that was as unstable as they come. He glanced over at the digital recorder they had put on their telephone soon after Tara's murder, and saw that it was picking up their conversation. "What opportunities?"

"Every day, as you and your daughter would be in the pool–I waited for you by your car. Why didn't you just open the gate and come to me?"

"I–I. . ." House swallowed with difficulty. The thought that she had been standing only a few yards from his daughter, turned his heart stone cold. "Um, I didn't know you were there."

"Yes, you did! I know you did! I could hear you talking to me! When you'd put the girl to sleep, then you'd go back to the pool and talk to me!"

"And–what did I say?" This time, House was on his feet and nudging Allison awake. When she looked up at him, he put his finger to his lips to quiet her, then grabbed a pencil and paper from the dresser. He wrote–Fleming's on phone. Lost it–NUTS. Something's going down. Danger.

"You told me that you loved me. You told me how you wanted to make love to me and what you wanted me to do to you. You even told me that we could try to make a baby together."

House knew exactly what she was talking about–but in her mind, she had deleted Allison from the scene altogether. He'd often swim with Dee and put her in the playpen after she fell asleep, then Allison would get into the pool with him, and he'd say those things to her.

"Where are you now, Amanda?" He tried to remain calm.

"Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"We could start fresh. We could try to make that baby–tonight–right now."

"I'm at my office. Are you going to come now, Greg?"

"Uh," House wrote to Allison–call Foreman–tell him to get Security to Fleming's office!

"You're not! You're only saying that! Is she there?"

"Who, Amanda?" House watched as Allison opened her cell phone and went to stand at the bathroom doorway as she waited for Foreman to answer.

"You know who! I saw you leave tonight! You went home to be with her, didn't you?"

"No. No one's here with me. My wife and family went to visit her mom and dad. Really–I can come to the hospital and we can do whatever you want. But, Amanda–you have to tell me what you want."

"I want my daughter back," Amanda started to weep. "I want that whole week back. I would never have sent Victor and Tara over to your home! Then we wouldn't have come for your birthday–and nothing would have happened between Tara and James. Then nothing would have happened between us–and we could have gone on as before. But everything went wrong! She wouldn't listen to me anymore! She wouldn't go back to Tony! She said she had to be with that bastard who got her pregnant last year!"

"Who–Amanda. Who got Tara pregnant?"

"Ryan! Ryan Schreffler!" She screamed at him as she continued to sob. "But we took care of that mistake before anyone could find out! Even then, she kept telling me that she'd be fine if I'd let her go to be with that piece of garbage! What kind of a future was that for her? She'd have three kids before she was twenty! And how would it look for my career, having a daughter like that? She would've turned into simple trailer trash."

House looked at Allison and she nodded, silently assuring him that Foreman had been contacted and Security was on their way to her office.

"Amanda," House said slowly. "Is that what this was all about? Your career?"

"We could have been so good together," she said in a small voice. "Together we could have climbed to the top! You could have taken me there–and no one would ever question my capabilities again!"

"I'm not sure I understand what I have to do with your career."

"Can you imagine if we had been together as a team? As partners? We would have been the top nephrologists in the country. No one could have surpassed us! We wouldn't even have to practice anymore! We would have our reputations to carry us–we would be renowned throughout the country–if not internationally!"

"But what about Victor?"

"What about Victor?" She asked. "Victor could have that daughter that he insisted we have–and they'd be quite happy together. They always were, you know."

"What are you saying, Amanda?" House asked, but he could hear loud knocking coming from Amanda's end of the telephone.

"Dr. Fleming! This is Security. We need you to unlock this door."

"What did you do, Greg?" Amanda whined into the telephone. "You're not coming here to be with me. Are you?" Greg could hear the sound of a drawer being opened. "If only she would have gone back with your son–we would have been able to work something out again. But she wanted "him" instead. And she flaunted it in my face that she had just allowed that filthy pig to implant his seed inside her again! I couldn't allow that. Could I?"

The shot exploded in House's ear, then he heard the splintering of wood as the door was broken through. He could hear several voices from a distance.

"God! Well, we don't have to worry about being shot at!"

"Is that her?" Came another voice.

"I guess so. She has her ID badge on. Her hair looks the same."

"Glad you can tell. Because her face is splattered across the windows behind her."

At this point, House hung up the telephone and looked at the worried eyes of his wife. He pulled her into his arms and moved until he was sitting on the bed again. They remained silent as he leaned back against the headboard and pulled her onto his lap, then maneuvered their daughter so she was laying against them both. He simply lay his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Allison remained quiet. She had heard the bang and could well imagine what had happened. She would let him speak when he was ready.