Thanks so much for all of your lovely comments!

House was a little out of character in the last chapter due to a severe case of Spring Fever! Also, the kids are mellowing him a bit. My opinion, though, is that he's about 20% brick wall and 80% marshmallow. He is very guarded, but has it in him to care deeply. In the show, House rarely demonstrates that outwardly, but if you watch his face carefully, he gives himself away.

Disclaimer: The House guys own House. I just borrow him occasionally! The kids are all mine on loan from their parental units!

Chapter 36 In Which House is adopted

House was in his office getting his mind ready for the day. Although, in the minds of the Disciplinary Committee, the daycare was supposed to be a "disciplinary action", House considered it recreational. It amused him all the more that the "stuffed shirts" thought that they were punishing him. The daycare was fun! The last thing he would do would be to voice that opinion, though.

As House was sitting at his desk looking at his most recent case file, he noted some movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly scanned the room and seeing nothing obvious, went back to work. Not long after, House heard a sneeze and a giggle. They were a nearly silent sneeze and giggle, yet they were indeed audible to House. House thought he recognized them as belonging to a child. A child? It occurred to House that if one child was in his office then possibly one child was missing in the daycare. It also occurred to House that it was the same child that had recently been missing before and there was sure to be panic when it was discovered that he was missing again.

House got up and moved to the conference room to call down to Amy "Amy, I think that I have one of your little wards. Is Henry supposed to be in class?"

"No, Greg," replied Amy. "His mother called and said that Henry wouldn't be in today. He's spending the day with his father."

"Call me Dad, then because he's hiding in my office! I'll go talk to him and I'll call you if you are needed." House then proceeded to call maintenance. House realized as the phone was ringing that he didn't know the name of the man he was calling.

"This is House. Are you Henry's dad? I have him here with me. What do you want me to do with him?"

"Yes this is Mike, Henry's dad. I'm glad to know he's safe. I just noticed that he was missing. I'm supposed to be off work today and got called in on an emergency. I couldn't get hold of his mother. I had a minor hazmat issue and so I told Henry to stay put. When I got back to my office, he was gone"

"Henry doesn't know that I know he's here yet. I'll keep him with me unless something comes up, at that point I'll deliver him to you or the daycare."

"That sounds great. Thanks for keeping an eye on him. I guess that I should have taken him straight to the Daycare, but I thought I would be done in a few minutes. The people who called me really underestimated the problem. Henry really likes you; he'll consider this a treat."

When House hung up the phone and looked into his office, Henry was sitting in House's recliner with his arms crossed in front of him and a big smile on his face.

"Someone's in my chair!" said House, with a menacing look on his face. "He doesn't belong there, either!"

"Must be Alex," responded Henry in a voice that sounded like he didn't know whether he should be scared, or not.

"It doesn't look like Alex to me, but it does look a lot like Henry. It couldn't be Henry though, because he's waiting for his daddy in his office."

"I'm Henry and I want you to be my daddy because my daddy's too busy to play with me today."

"What makes you think that I'm not too busy to play with you?" asked House. "After you tell me that, you can tell me how you ended up in my office" House wasn't being playful when he spoke these last words. He was being very stern. He knew that Henry had disobeyed his father and that his wandering was beginning to become a very dangerous habit.

Henry looked at House's face and realized that the fun wasn't starting anytime soon. He stared at his feet for a long time before he answered. House waited patiently for Henry to begin.

"You aren't too busy when I'm at school. You looked for me when I got lost. I want to play with you today. You must have a big job to have such a big office. Do you live here?" Henry looked at House for the first time since starting his speech. House nodded for the little boy to continue. "I was going to follow Daddy to see what he was going to do, but when I saw you, I decided to follow you instead and you came in here and sat at your desk. I came in and sat behind this chair 'cause I wanted to see what you were going to do. Did you hear me sneeze? I'm sorry if I was bad, Mr. Greg." A tear fell down Henry's cheek."

House melted. He had never made a kid cry that he had cared about. Kids who were patients, or the kids of patients had cried, but that hadn't affected him like this did. House sat down on the footstool and lifted Henry onto his lap. He lifted the boy's face so that he knew they were eye to eye."

"You have a perfectly good daddy to play with. The best I can ever be is your friend and some people think I don't make a very good friend. No, I don't live here, but I do spend a lot of time here. I was working at my desk when I heard you sneeze." House realized that it wouldn't do Henry any good to soften. "You will never be bad, but you made a really bad choice, today. Your dad told you to stay put because he wanted you to stay safe. You disobeyed him and followed him, and then you made another bad choice when you followed me. You are too little to run around by yourself. Don't do it again. Do you hear me?"

Henry nodded silently, his eyes wide.

"I am busy today, but I'm not too busy to keep you safe and out of trouble. Your dad wanted to be with you, too, but sometimes we don't always get what we want. You need to promise to stay with me, though, and I can't promise that we will have time to play. My team is gathering next door. Do you see them? You can sit with us, but don't say anything unless I ask you."

House and Henry walked into the conference room. Chase pulled up a chair for Henry and Henry crawled into it and gave Chase a tentative smile.

"You shot me didn't you?" asked Henry.

"Yes, I believe that I did," responded Chase.

"And you were there, and you were there, and you were there, too!" Henry exclaimed, as he pointed to Kutner, 13, and Foreman. Henry pointed to Taub, "You weren't there, though, I would have remembered your nose."

House and the other ducklings all stifled laughter.

Okay, if the Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man can all focus, the Wizard, needs you to do your jobs. We don't want the Wicked

Witch to come looking for us.

"Would all this make Cameron or Wilson Toto?" Taub asked with feigned interest.

"The real question is who I consider to be the flying monkeys," snarked House. "Can we get some work done here?"

House commenced the differential. To the doctors working on the case the time flew by. As he suspected, Henry was very bored and was having trouble staying awake.

"Henry what do you think?" asked House, wondering if he had figured out that they were trying to diagnose a disease.

"I think its chicken pops" said Henry with conviction. To the surprise and awe of the adults, he continued, "He has a rash and a fever. I did that too when I had them."

"Smart Boy!" said House as he smiled at Henry. "I'm going to send the team to run the tests and we are going to see if Toto is buying lunch."

"Toto? Really? Can I pet him?"

"You can certainly try!" said House as he lifted Henry from the chair.

Wilson wasn't in his office so House and Henry went to the cafeteria without him. House couldn't imagine what he would talk to the child about for the duration of a meal, but Henry didn't have any trouble keeping the conversation going.

"Mr. Greg, why do those people call you a house?"

"House is my name. Greg House."

"Are you a doctor?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"I like solving puzzles"

"Me, too; wanna work puzzles at school, next time?"

"I guess we could."

"You know Miss Lisa?"

"You know I do."

"Are you gonna marry her?"

"Not today."

"Mr. Greg?"

"MM" (mouth full of food)

"Why do you come to my school if you're a doctor?"

"Miss Lisa made me come to school the first time, because I didn't think I would like it, but then I made some friends and found out the place was pretty cool, so I keep coming back."

"My mom made me come, too. I guess its okay. I would rather be at home and just play."

"Me too."

As they were finishing up lunch, Henry's dad came to find them.

"It's lunchtime, I see!" said Mike to House and Henry. "Did you have fun Henry?"

"I got to help! I said it was Chicken Pops!" responded Henry.

"Were you right?" asked Mike.

Henry looked to House for the answer.

"He got as close to an answer as anyone else on my team," said House. "You have a bright little boy. If he'll stop running off, he might survive to make something of himself."

"I thought he seemed precocious but I wasn't sure," replied Henry's father. "You know, a father always wants to believe that his son is top-notch, but not every father can be right about that."

Henry looked from his dad to House.

"Top-notch, is that good?" asked Henry warily.

"It's the best, son!" replied his father.

Henry beamed up at his dad.

"Henry, you keep that dad of yours. He's the best friend you've got."

"I know!" answered Henry, as he danced around his dad. "Dad, can we go to Chuckie Cheese and get pizza? I don't like the sandwich that Mr. Greg got me."

"What's wrong with a Reuben?" asked House as he started on Henry's untouched sandwich.