Chapter 37:Gabrielle's Past (part 1)

Cuddy sat on the couch in the darkened living room after she had put Rachel to bed. It had been a long day and she was tired, but there was a curiosity in her that convinced her to watch the tape that Gabrielle had brought with her. She got up and started the tape and then settled back down on the couch.

The video started with Gabrielle walking out into the middle of Eloise's living room. She looked like she was about five. Her almost white blonde hair was pulled up in a small ponytail on the top of her head as she wore a pink tutu.

"Come on Gabrielle, show everyone what your Aunt has taught you," Eloise said.

Gabrielle just stubbornly crossed her arms and pouted. "I don't want to anymore. I just want to play outside," she said.

"Now come on Gabrielle," Eloise scolded. "You know that playing outside is for little boys. Little girls are supposed to be pretty little princesses and ballerinas. You don't want to be a boy do you?" Eloise asked. It was easy to detect the annoyance in her voice.

"Would it get me out of dancing?" Gabrielle asked.

"You little brat!" Eloise yelled and then set the camera down. Eloise came into the frame of the picture and stood before Gabrielle. "Now come on! I took all of that time to teach you something worth while! Now do it before I regret it!" she yelled.

"I already regret it!" Gabrielle yelled. Tears started to stream down her cheeks.

Eloise slapped her across the face. "You're the reason that your with me right now instead of your mother! She couldn't put up with a little bitch like you!" Eloise yelled.

"That's not true!" Gabrielle yelled in protest. "She loves me!"

"Then why isn't she here right now and I am?" Eloise asked.

Gabrielle just stood there and looked down as she began to cry.

"No use crying like a baby over something you can't change. Now act like you're supposed to and do what I taught you," Eloise ordered.

That was the end of the tape.

Cuddy just sat there and stared at the screen. It was hard for her to see anyone treat any kid that way. Everything that she had just seen made her start to wonder what happened off the camera. There had to be more behind why Gabrielle hated her so much. There had to be more behind it, she knew that Gabrielle would be able to handle anything could be said to her. Besides, if Eloise was that bad with a small argument like that, image what she could have been like over something huge.

"Give that Bitch what she deserves."

Cuddy quickly turned and saw the clenched fist resting on the back of the couch. Her eyes followed up his arm and stopped at his cold eyes which were now fixed on the screen. "Don't do anything that you'll regret," Cuddy warned.

House looked down and stared for a second. There was something in his eyes that sent chills down her back. He was hiding something, she didn't know what, but he was hiding something. "Please, you didn't think I was gonna kill her did you?" he asked. He went around and sat down next to her. "If anything I was going to call up her old "boyfriends" and have them come in and tell the court what she really is and then accuse her of trying to play pimp to Gabrielle."

Cuddy just sighed. "Go ahead and call all the people you want, but don't you dare make a statement in court that you can't back up," she warned. "You and I both know that if anything goes wrong, it's going to be her that's going to pay for it, not us, and right now, after seeing the way you reacted to that video, I'm not sure you could live with that," Cuddy said and then stood up. She walked off towards Gabrielle's room.

House just sat there and stared. He knew what he wanted to do, and he knew how to do it, but there was only one problem, he wasn't playing with little kids anymore. This was some one who was determined to win, and not a push over. When it came down to it, he knew Eloise to do what ever it took to get what she wanted. He remembered when he and Maria were dating, how she wanted to break the two up. When she couldn't talk either of them into it, she hired two hookers to go stay at his place and act like he was their regular costumer when he brought Maria home with him one night. There was no doubt in his mind that she would go down to the same disgusting level to win Gabrielle. "The minute she plays dirty, there'll be hell to pay. She'll have to learn that water doesn't play well with fire," he said to himself.

Cuddy walked up to the door and knocked. "Gabrielle?" she asked.

Gabrielle sat on the couch as she looked through one of her books from school. "Come in!" she said without looking up.

Cuddy slowly opened the door and entered the room. Gabrielle just looked up and saw as Cuddy walked over and sat before her on the couch. Without saying anything, Cuddy leaned over and hugged Gabrielle.

Gabrielle just sat there for a second and then hugged back. "I, missed you to Cuddy," she said.

Cuddy sat back and watched her for a minute. "Did she hurt you? Badly?" Cuddy asked.

Gabrielle's mouth hung open as she looked down in realization. "Oh," she said. "You saw that." Gabrielle sighed as she looked up. "No, but that was only because I was fast and alert. I had started learning when to avoid her and when to leave the room and when to not talk and all of that. I guess you can say that's when I started observing things closely."

Cuddy just sat there for a second. There was a question that she was wanting badly to ask, but she didn't know if she should. She wanted to know why. She wanted to know why she was there in the first place, why her mother would willingly let some one do that to their child. "Why?" she asked. It was all that she could say at the moment.

"Was I there?" Gabrielle asked trying to finish Cuddy's question for her. She knew that she would be getting a lot of questions, it was just becoming harder and harder for her to answer them. All of this was going back to a part of her life that she would just rather forget and let go of. Her eyes fell down to the floor as she lowered her head. Everything that she had tried to shove out of her head, was all beginning to come to her, not that she really had that easy of a time forgetting it in the first place, but it had been a while. Her bright blue eyes focused up on Cuddy as she kept her head down. "What I am about to tell you, I am going to ask that you do not tell Daddy," she said.

There was a seriousness in her voice that struck Cuddy. She simply just nodded in response.

Gabrielle watched her for a second and then reached down and grabbed the blue book that she had been carrying around with her. She gently laid it down before her and opened it to the first page.

Cuddy looked down and stared with interest. On the page, there was a picture of a very young Gabrielle with Maria and two others. There was a man standing next to Maria, and in his arms a little baby.

"That used to be my family," Gabrielle emotionlessly stated.

Cuddy slowly looked up at her. "What happened?" she softly asked.

I hope you liked it, I tried really hard to write a good update for my bday today :)