The Hospital was buzzing with energy the next day as Kutner and Greg walked in and they were quickly greeted by Cuddy who marched up to them with authority. "Kutner, you and the team have a critical patient. I've put Foreman in charge for the moment," she said to him and the looked down to Greg with confidence. "Greg, Jimmy and me have meetings all day so you're going to be staying with the children in the pediatrics wing. It'll be a lot more fun than having to stick by adults all day and I'm sure you will do just fine."
Greg blinked up at her as his heart raced in fear at the idea of having to be away from anyone he knew. He knew the other kids wouldn't like him, they never did, but at the same time it would be selfish and childish to ask her to inconvenience herself or the others on his behalf as they had already been doing so much for him. He kept his face neutral, "Thanks, Lisa," he said with a slight smile.
Relief flooded over her, she'd been worried that he would be upset but he was taking it well and looked slightly happy about the situation. "Good, Kutner will take you there on his way to the office and you be good, okay?" she asked as she hugged him and felt as he nodded his head in agreement.
She fidgeted with her bracelets as she watched them walk up to the elevator with concern.
"Are you Dr. Cuddy?" asked a tall older man dressed in a high dollar suit.
Cuddy turned and smiled, "Yes, and I believe you must be Mr. Richardson," she said getting into work mode.
Kutner watched Greg as they rode the elevator, "The kids in the PED unit are super nice. You'll have a good time," he said reassuringly.
Greg nodded keeping his mask in place.
After going through a cleaning process Kutner and Greg walked into the big room that had twelve beds lined up on one wall with school desks that lined up at the foot board of each desk and a white board on wheels 10 feet out, while the other side of the wall was lined with toys and other activities that a couple of kids were playing with. Kutner looked down at Greg, who was now wearing a pair of blue scrubs. "This place looks like a lot of fun, doesn't it?" he asked with a smile.
"Yes, Laurie," Greg said as they reached the desk were a woman with red hair pinned up sat.
Penny gave a strained smile up at them, "Is this Greg Kirkman?" she asked. She was frustrated with the whole situation. She wasn't a babysitter, she was a teacher with a RN license who was there to help watch over and care for the sick children that were in the hospital for long periods of time.
Kutner blinked at her as he thought about it, "Yes, Ma'am," Greg said without hesitation. He'd expected that Cuddy wouldn't have told the woman his real last name as it might draw suspicion.
Penny gave Greg a tight smile. "I'm Penny Whitehouse and I've been told that you will be staying with us for the day. This is a very unusual situation, as the only kids that get to come in here are patience but Dr. Cuddy asked me to keep an eye on you and promised me that you would be well behaved." She said watching the boy.
Something about the woman made him feel even more uncomfortable, "Yes, Ma'am," he said with a serious face.
Kutner put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "He's a good kid," he said firmly as his eyes searched the teachers. He understood that she probably wasn't excited about have to watch another kid, but he hadn't expected her tone to sound almost hostile.
"I'm sure he is," she said with a smirk as she stood. "You can leave now, Dr. Kutner, I need to get back to work and inform Greg of the rules."
Kutner swallowed looking down and Greg and then back at her. He didn't know why, but he was worried for Greg, even though he'd been told that Penny was great with children. "Someone will be here by 5 to pick him up," he said to her then looked at Greg. "Be good little man," he said and left.
She walked over to stand in front of the boy who had been too special to find a babysitter for. She took in his bruised knuckles and a light bruise on his face with irritation, a trouble maker. "Let me be clear with you. You are here because Dr. Cuddy said so, and I will expect you to follow all of the rules or you WILL be punished. Do you understand?" she said to see the boy nodd. "The number one rule is that when I tell you to do something, you do it without back talk. Second, we don't tolarate violence," she said as her eyes moved to his bruised knuckles, "of any kind. Right now is play time until the rest of the children are here, then we will have Reading lesson followed by History. There is a lunch time and then some more play time. When play time is over we will do Math and Science lessons which will be followed with art and play time again. You must raise your hand if you have a question or want to answer a question and I expect you to be nice to the other children. If you misbehave I will punish you and let Dr. Cuddy know."
Greg swallowed hard, "I will be good, Ma'am," he said seriously.
She nodded, "Okay, now go play with the other children," she said walking back to her desk.
Greg stood there for a moment, "Do I have too?" he asked.
Penny turned back to him and narrowed her eyes, "Yes, you do. None of these children have anything you will catch." she said bitterly.
Greg frowned, "I didn't mean that. I just don't... really know how to pla..." his sentence was cut off as she slapped his bottom hard knocking him off balance.
"That is your first and only warning," she said tartly. "Now, tell me what the first rule is."
Greg stood straight and ridged as he looked forward and not in her eyes, "The first rule is that I do what you say without any backtalk, Ma'am."
Penny nodded, "That's right. You know Dr. Cuddy kept saying how smart you are and yet you don't seem to be able to follow a simple rule, maybe she was wrong about you."
Greg flushed slightly, "I'm sorry, Ma'am, it wont happen again."
"I hope for your sake it doesn't," she said as she walked over and sat down at her desk. "You can go and play now," she said looking at him.
"Yes, Ma'am," he said as he walked over to the toys and activities section of the room.
"What's wrong with you?" asked a boy who walk over to Greg.
"Um... nothing," Greg said softly as he looked lost amongst the toys.
Chris frowned, "Don't lie. Everyone who comes here is sick. I have cancer and so does she," he said pointing to girl with no hair. "So what do you have?"
Greg swallowed as he bit his lip, "I'm not sick," he stated.
"Penny!" the boy cried, "He is lying. He said he wasn't sick!"
Penny looked at the two boys, "He's telling the truth, Chris. He isn't sick."
"Then why is he here?" Chris asked loudly.
Penny sighed, "Because no one else could be bothered to watch him," she answered.
Chris look at Greg with a frown, "Must be nice not to be sick," he said walking away from Greg.
Greg watched as more and more children around his age range came in, but none of them came near him as Chris and the girl informed them that he wasn't sick. Not that he minded, if they talked to him anymore than that they'd just find other reasons to hate him. No, it was better this way. He watched them, playing and talking amongst themselves. They smiled more than he would have thought they would and laughed about each others scars from different procedures. He noticed that as they would pull back their sleeves and pull up their shirts to show off the latest battle scar that none of them had as many as he did.
Then a bell went off and they started to go to the desks. He sighed as he'd already done the math and knew that once all of the sick children sat down there would not be a seat left for him so he made his way to a nice piece of carpet and sat down.
"Alright, so I hope you all had a good weekend," Penny said tenderly and then frowned slightly as her eyes went to Greg. "We have a guest today. Greg, would you stand up?" she asked.
Greg was use to the routine, he usually made it to at least three schools every year. He stood up quickly and started to sit again.
"Did I tell you to sit?" Penny asked in a tart tone in which the boy stood back up. She sighed, "Why don't you tell us something about yourself."
He never understood why adults did that, pose something as a question even though it was a demand. "My name is Greg Kirkman. I'm seven years old," he said watching the teacher to see if that would be enough.
Penny frowned, "When we introduce ourselves we come to the front and face the audience. I already know who you are," she said to hear a couple of kids laugh.
"Yes, Ma'am," he said walking to stand by her and faced the children, some with tubes in them. "My name is Greg Kirkman and I am seven," he said to see the kids just watching him with disinterest.
"And where are you from?" Penny asked.
Greg looked at her with blinking eyes, "I... I don't know what you mean, Ma'am," he said with confusion.
"She means, where do you live?" explained the bald girl.
Greg swallowed, "I was born in Alabama," he said looking down.
"I was born in Kentucky, but my home is in New York," Chris said with frustration. "Where is your home?"
Greg felt his face flush, "My father is in the Military so we just go wherever he is stationed at the time."
"You don't have a home?" Another girl asked shocked.
Penny too looked at Greg, "Where have you stayed the longest?" she asked trying to help the boy with the simple question.
Greg felt his face flush with embarrassment, "Japan, I was there for 8 months," he responded.
Penny sighed, "Right," she said figuring the boy was lying. "What do you like to do?" she asked.
Greg looked bewildered by the question, "I go to school and train to be a solider," he said not understanding what she meant.
"Sure you do," Chris commented rolling his eyes.
Penny smirked, "Greg, we don't lie here. I know it's fun to make believe but when I ask you a question I expect the truth. Now, what do you do for fun."
Greg swallowed, "I'm not lying, Ma'am. I sometimes play the piano," he said trying to answer the question honestly, but it was obvious that the woman didn't believe him.
"Right," Penny said with irritation, "I think we've wasted enough of our time on this. I have some books, paper, and a pencil on my desk. Please get them and sit back down."
Greg did as he was told. The class was boring as he already knew all the answers and after the twelfth time of raising his hand the teacher told him to quit being a show off. When lunch came he sat by himself, as usual and at play time the teacher approached him. "Why aren't your playing with the other kids?" she asked.
He shrugged, "They don't like me."
Penny watched him, "And why do you think that is?"
Greg swallowed as he thought about it for the millionth time in his life, "Because I'm different."
"No," she said watching him, "it's because you lie."
He looked up at her with a serious expression. "I don't lie," he said looking back at the other children.
Penny shook her head. "Fine, I warned you that you'd be punished if you didn't do as I asked. I have asked repeatedly for you to tell the truth and you keep lying, so I will have to punish you."
Greg kept his eyes on the other children as he felt his heart race. His father was the only one who ever punished him. If he got into trouble at school they let his father know so he could discipline him. He didn't know what to expect and that was the most terrifying thing of all.
She got more frustrated as the boy showed no remorse or even worry about being punished. "Okay, Mister Cool Guy, lets see how you feel after a couple of lick and some time in the time out room," she said grabbing his arm and leading him to a corner with a door. "Now, I am going to give you three swats and you are going to tell me why I am punishing you."
Greg stood there as she gave him three hits on his bottom but when she was done he didn't know what to say, "You punished me because... because I was bad?" he said with hesitation.
"Bad how?" She asked but the boy didn't respond. "You lied and lying is bad."
"I didn't lie," Greg said back sternly.
Penny shook her head as she opened the door to the closet, "You can think about what you've done in here," she said as the boy went in and she closed the door.
Greg sat in the dark empty closet alone and it was fine. It was better to be alone then surrounded by
people who didn't like you. The teacher and the kids didn't want him there, she'd referred to him as bother several time, so why was he even here? Lisa, had only left him her because she thought he couldn't be responsible for himself, but he could. Hadn't he protected, Foreman? He was smart and strong enough to take care of himself so why was he punishing this teacher and class with his clearly undesired existence when he could relieve them of it and satisfy both them and himself? He peeked out of the closet to see that they'd already started the science lesson without him. None of them even glanced his way as left the classroom.
The hospital was huge and interesting with sounds of doctors talking to patients, machines making odd noises and the strum of urgency that always hung in the air of such a place. It was a lot more welcoming then the children in the pediatric wing. He was just wandering around when he noticed that he was walking by Jimmy's office. There was a part of him that questioned if it was really and coincidence or had his subconscious lead him here? His heart fluttered as he looked at the door but stopped as he realized it was locked. His heart ached in a odd way as he looked in the DDX room to see no one was there and the door was also locked which only increased the ache. It took him a moment before he realized the weird feeling was sadness.
Loneliness filled him as he walked down another hall and another, until the elevator opened and he realized he'd made his way to the lobby. He swallowed as he glanced at Lisa's office. He wanted to run to it but knew that wouldn't be fair to her, even though she would probably let him stay there. Instead he walked out of the elevator and decided that he would let her discover him when she walked out of the office.
Greg looked around the lobby and his eyes stopped on a big bowl of suckers on the counter. He loved red suckers and he could see a big one sitting on top as if it had been put there just for him. He glanced around to see no one paying any particular attention to him and licked his lips as he eyed the sucker again. Lisa had given him suckers from the bowl plenty of times and said he didn't need to ask for one since they were out for any of the children to have but knowing that didn't make it easy. He had never had the kind of...freedom he'd had here. He frowned as the word 'freedom' was the only word he could think of to describe this new life and environment. He wondered if the slaves had felt as confused as he did about all the new rights they were given. His breathing increased as he slowly made his way to the bowl and it took him a full minute of standing there, in front of the bowl, before he started to lift his hand. He had been so concentrated on the bowl that he didn't notice the hand reaching toward him until it grabbed his arm and he let out a terrified squeal of panic as he saw the nurse holding his arm.
She rose an eyebrow at the child, "Oh now, I didn't hurt you," she said in a calm voice. "Those suckers are for children who have come to the clinic to see a doctor, but I will give you one if you have a little chat with me. What do you say?" she asked with a warm smile.
Greg swallowed hard, he'd been taught to do as adults say from his father but Lisa had told him to be wary of strangers. "No, please let me go, Ma'am" he said tugging his arm from her.
Brenda gritted her teeth, "You are going to talk to me," she said grabbing the boys blue scrub shirt but the child slipped out of it and starting running away. Her eyes widened at the scars on the child as she started towards him.
He felt his eyes water as everyone's eyes went to him and he ran wild as he looked for an escape and ran into a room and curled up under a table as he tried to calm down, but his eyes widened as the nurse walked in the room with his shirt still in her hand and locked the door.
She walked into the room slowly as she locked the door behind her, nothing could have prepared her to see that much physical abuse done to a child. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said softly as her eyes watered. "I just wanted to talk to you," she said softly.
Greg felt ashamed as he was shaking with fear from this woman and he took a deep breath as he crawled out from under the examination table and stood with it between them, looking at her.
Brenda's lip trembled as the boy stood in front of her with scars across his body and stared at her with those same cold blue eyes of his father, Dr. Greg House. She shook her head in sorrow for the boy, "I knew the moment I saw you that you were your fathers son. I... I thought he was just trying to put his responsibilities on everyone else, avoid taking care of his own responsibilities. Dr. House is a selfish man but I never thought... even he could do that to his own child," she said softly.
Lisa had been going over her last meeting and making notes when she'd heard the disruption outside and after making a couple more notes she walked out. She noticed how the parents were holding their children extra close as they whispers to each other and concern hit her as she walked to the nurses station. Brenda wasn't there so she spoke to Ellen, "What happened here?" she asked with authority.
Ellen looked at her with confusion, "I'm not sure exactly. It all happened pretty fast. That boy you've been taking care of was in here and Brenda was trying to talk to him I think when he took of his shirt and started running from her then went into exam room 3. She went in there to talk to him and give him his shirt I think." She said softly but her voice dropped down to barely a whisper, "Dr. Cuddy, he... he had scars on him."
Lisa started towards the room quickly. She opened the door to find Greg standing across the room behind a table with his shirt still off and Brenda standing by the door with his shirt in her hand and her phone out. "What is going on in here?" she asked with dark eyes on Brenda as she walked to stand between her and the boy.
"Lisa," the boy said with a quivering voice as he ran to the back of her and wrapped his arms around the woman.
Brenda shook her head in disgust, "I'm going to call Child Protective Services, that's what's going on. I knew Dr. House was a cold heartless person and that you are always trying to protect him, but I never thought you'd go this far. He'd abusing his son and your are trying to keep it quiet! What happened to you?" She asked with anger.
Lisa saw the phone and bit her lip, the authorities couldn't be involved in this and as much as the story Brenda had cooked up disgusted her, she could see how she'd came up with it. "This isn't what you think, you've got it all wrong," she said looking at the woman and the phone. "Put the phone down and let me explain."
"No," Brenda said starting punch in number on her phone and slapped Cuddy's hand away from it as she tried to grab it.
Greg felt a burning hot fire erupt in him as he saw Lisa's hand slapped and he ran at the woman knocking her down, "I will not let anyone hurt, Lisa!" he yelled and grabbed the phone to hand to Cuddy.
Brenda looked at the boy and then Dr. Cuddy in shock, "You're crazy," she said, "this poor child doesn't even understand what's happening to him."
Cuddy stopped the call and turned off the cell phone, "Greg," she said harshly as she was shocked he'd pushed Brenda down but as the boy stood ridged at the sound of his name spoken in the tone her breath caught in her throat. He'd just been trying to protect her. "Greg, honey, you know better than to push someone down."
He looked at her with emotion and confusion, "She hurt you and after all you have done for me I can't let someone hurt you. You've... treated me like a son. I... I can't let someone hurt you." He said as his eyes watered. "I just can't."
"Come here, sweetie," Cuddy said and the boy ran into her arms as she picked him up hugging him tight.
Brenda watched this with conflicting feelings. On one hand she was warmed by the love the child had for Dr. Cuddy and on the other hand she couldn't understand why Cuddy wouldn't want to get this boy the help he needs and put the monster who had hurt him behind bars. She stood up, "Okay, you have one shot to explain this to me or I will call Child Protective Services," she said unable to look away from the deep scars that ran along the emaciated boys back.
Cuddy hugged the boy tight, "Can he have his shirt back," she said and the other woman handed it to her. Cuddy put the boy down and handed him the shirt that he quickly put on. She looked down at the small boy and swallowed. "It's hard to believe," she said slowly looking to the woman. "I couldn't believe it at first, even now I sometimes think I'm in some weird dream or nightmare, I can't decided which." She took a deep breath, "Greg, tell her you're real name and date of birth."
Greg looked at Lisa surprised and then at Brenda, "I'm sorry I pushed you but you shouldn't have hurt my Lisa, Ma'am." He said and swallowed, "My name is Gregory House and I was born on the 11th of June in 1959."
Brenda shook her head, "That's not possible, that would make you.." she paused thinking about it and her eyes widened, "that would make you 47 years old."
"Tell her your parents name and professions and tell her where you go to school." Cuddy instructed Greg.
"My parents are John and Blythe House. My father is a pilot in the United States Army and my mother is a homemaker. I travel the world going to different military schools as my mother and I follow my fathers career." He said casually without hesitation or thought.
Brenda blinked at him and then at Dr. Cuddy. "This isn't possible," she said shaking her head as she and the others knew Dr. House's father was in fact named John and worked in the military.
"That's what I thought too, but just look at him and tell me that he isn't, House." Cuddy said to the woman. "The reason Dr. House was gone after he showed up wasn't because he was trying to avoid him, it's because he IS him." She said putting her hand on the boys shoulder. "And do your really believe that I would cover this up if House was ABUSING a CHILD?"
Brenda swallowed as she looked at the boy and could see House in him. "He looks like House because he's his son, that makes sense and you just told him to memorize the other stuff." She said not being able to believe the story Cuddy was giving her.
"She doesn't LIE and neither do I, Ma'am!" Greg said furious at the woman. "Just because you're too STUPID to understand the truth doesn't make any less so. I am Gregory House. I was born June, 11 1959 and my social security number is 234759011. If you don't believe her than look it up yourself, but don't call us liars because you can't handle the truth."
Brenda blinked at the boy who's eyes smoldered in the same way House's did and it made her skin crawl. "How could this be possible?" she asked looking to Cuddy.
Lisa sighed, "Dr. Kutner bought what he thought was a novelty toy, a time gun, and shot Dr. House with it. It was set at six years old and this is what happened." She said indicating to the boy. "If you call CPS, and they pull his social they are going to find out he is suppose to be a middle aged man instead of a boy and at some point he is suppose to turn back into the man he is. If he does that under their custody I don't know what they will do to him." She said seriously with concern.
Brenda looked from her to the child, "Tell me something only you would know. Something that happened around you that would be in a newspaper that Dr. Cuddy or Dr. Wilson wouldn't know. I'll look it up and if what you say is true then I'll believe you.
Greg bit his lip. "My father killed a girl in Center, Utah in the woods. Her name was Susanna Gilbert and I think she was 14. All the photos are black and white but she had long blond hair and green eyes." He closed his eyes remembering her, "She was wearing a pale blue dress with flowers on it," his eyes opened with a haunted look, "and it wasn't an accident. She was killed because of something she saw," he said with moist eyes.
Brenda felt scared by all the detail the child was able to give her on such a devastating event. "How would you know what she was wearing and what did she see?"
The boy took a step back and leaned on Lisa who let her hands hold him gently against her. "I was there. It was in December but I can't remember the day and she saw me naked on my knees cleaning my father...cleaning his...peepee with my mouth." He saw her look at him with horror and revulsion. "She looked at us the same way and I think she was going to scream but he shot her and then the bad stuff came out of him. Lisa and Jimmy said it was wrong that he had me clean him like that but it didn't hurt like the whip at least not on my body, it just hurt on the inside some, and maybe he wasn't trying to hurt me, maybe he just wanted to show me he loved me, right? I mean he could love me, that's possible, I am his son so he could have just been trying to love me." He said as he started mumbling and some tears fell.
Brenda looked at Lisa who was picking the small boy up, "Baby, I know that's what you want to believe but..." Lisa was interupted by the small boys loud voice.
"He loves me! He..." Greg said as he was crying, "has to love me."
Brenda felt sick and grabbed a trashcan to throw up in at the thought of the story. She cleaned herself up with paper towels at the sink. "I will look it up," she said but she had a haunting feeling that she'd find out the story was true. "I'm sorry," she said to Dr. Cuddy and the tiny boy that was somehow Dr. House, "I just thought I was doing the right thing," she said.
Cuddy nodded at her, "I know but, Brenda," she said facing the woman as she was at the door," this doesn't go any farther than this room. Please," she begged, "it would kill him to wake up and find out everyone knew."
Brenda looked at her and nodded and then at the boy, "I will never tell a soul as long as the story checks out," and with that she was gone.
It took a while for Greg to calm down and Cuddy held him as she walked back to her office. When he finally calmed down she looked at his red eyes and face from the tears and swallowed, "Greg, why aren't you in the Pediatrics department like we had discussed?"
Greg swallowed looking down, "I'll go back, I'm sorry I bothered you," he said as she started towards the door feeling unwanted and rejected.
"Stop," Cuddy said with authority as she walked over to stand in front of him. "Why aren't you were you are suppose to be Greg?"
He looked up at her, "I left, that's why!" he yelled at her.
She felt her anger rise as his tone and defiance reminded her of House and made her hand into a fist to stop herself from slapping the boy. "Greg, you will tell me what happen and not yell at me, do you understand?" she said in a stern tone.
Greg narrowed his eyes, "Or what?!" he asked through gritted teeth. "You going to give me a hug?"
Cuddy glared at him, "Or I'll give you a spanking," she said in a threatening bluff.
The tiny boy held up his chin up with a tight jaw, "Give my your best shot," he said darkly.
She shook her head, "Why are you acting this way, Greg? I'm so disappointed in you. I thought you were better than this." She said taking a step back from him.
The words hit Greg harder than he thought possible and his voice quivered though he kept his mask in place, "I t..told you I.. I'm bad."
"No, you're not, Greg. That's why I can't understand why you're acting like this. You're a sweet boy and I love you. Please tell me what happened," Cuddy said and got on her knees so she was eye level with him. In all retrospect she was madder at the teacher for not even noticing or caring that he was gone then mad a him.
He hung his head, "Mrs. Whitehouse said I was bad," he said softly.
She felt her mouth go dry, "Gregory, what did Mrs. Whitehouse do after she said that?" she asked with concern.
"Nothing much," he said with a shrug as he crossed his arms in a self comforting gesture.
Cuddy ran her fingers over the boys cheek bones and then moved his chin gently so he was looking at her, "Honey, please tell me what she did?" she begged.
Greg sighed, "It's no big deal. She just hit my bottom a couple of time and put me in a dark empty closet. She kept saying how much of a bother I was and calling me a liar so I sneaked out after a while."
Her heart raced as she tried to stay calm, "I want to see where she hit you, okay? Can you show me?" she asked.
He shrugged, "Yeah, I guess but it wasn't that bad," he said turning and pulling down his pants and underwear.
Cuddy glared at the two bruises on the child and took a moment to calm herself, "Thanks, Sweetie. Can you tell me why she punished you?" she asked trying to sound calm though all she could think about was killing the teacher.
"She kept asking these stupid questions and she didn't like my answers or the fact I wasn't sick, neither did the kids." Greg said pulling his pants back up and turning to her.
"What kind of questions?" She asked.
He looked back at the carpet, "She wanted to know where my home was, but we move around a lot so I didn't really know what to say. I tried to explain but they all thought I was some freak and then... then she asked what I like to do for fun." He swallowed as stood there staring at the carpet.
The idea of how hard such a simple question had to be for the boy who had never had a birthday until a couple of days ago, or even been allowed a toy crushed her. "What did you say?" she asked rubbing his arm.
"I told her that I went to school and trained to be a soldier, but she didn't believe me, none of them did and later she told me that they hated me because I'm a lair and punished me when I told her I wasn't lying." Greg said finally meeting her eyes.
Cuddy nodded to him as she took her hand and stood, "I think I need to have a talk with Mrs. Whitehouse."
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Cuddy walked into the room in her set of white sterile scrubs with Greg who had to change into a new set. "Mrs. Whitehouse, did you forget something?" she asked with condescension.
Penny's eyes widened slightly on Greg and she looked to the closet and back to the boy, "He was suppose to be in the time out closet. I assure you." She said glaring at the child.
Cuddy was happy that the other children were already back in their rooms, "Mrs. Whitehouse you will look at me while I'm talking to you. Greg is a child and you are the adult. It is your responsibility to make sure he is safe. And exactly how long did you plan on keeping him in a dark closet?" She asked with daggers in her eyes.
Penny narrowed her eyes, "Look, just because you are the administrator of the hospital doesn't mean you can make me babysit that trouble maker. He was a disruption to the class so I punished him and put him in the time out closet. The children I teach in this classroom have enough problems to deal with." She said crossing her arms.
Cuddy felt her hands tighten into fists and only stopped when she realized that she was squeezing Greg's hand hard. "I will have you fired if you speak to me in that tone again. I should already have you fired. You lost a child that you told me that you'd be responsible for and you," her mouth twisted in disgust, "put bruises on him."
Penny sighed, "Look, I gave him a few swats and he didn't act like he even noticed them so I doubt I left bruises on him. I'm sorry that Greg got loose in the hospital I am, but if he hadn't been lying to the entire class then he wouldn't have been in trouble to start with."
Cuddy frowned, "He wasn't lying."
Penny took in a deep breath. She'd gotten out of the public school system for this very reason. Parent's always assumed their children were perfect. "So you're telling me his parents move across the globe as his father is a pilot in the Army and for 'fun' he goes to school and trains to be a soldier." She said sarcastically.
Cuddy wanted to slap the woman, "Greg, how many toys do you have at home?" she asked keeping her voice soft and warm.
"I'm not allowed to have toys," Greg answered her.
"And how many friends do you have?" Cuddy questioned.
"I'm... I'm not allowed to have friends but I think of you and Jimmy as friends along with Laurie, Chase, Cameron, and Foreman." He answered.
Cuddy watched as Penny rolled her eyes. "He isn't lying. If you don't believe me then ask him more about how he trains."
Penny saw this all as a waste of time but played along to keep her job. "Fine, Greg, how do you train to be a soldier?" she asked.
"I do my fitness routine morning, 300 sit-ups, 100 eight count body builders, 50 pull-ups and half an hour of running. Then when I get back from home my father and I practice other techniques, like falling, living off the land, fighting, shooting, climbing and other stuff like that. If I get into trouble my dad makes my punishment part of my soldier training by teaching me how to hold my breath longer, control my body temperature, distance my mind so I can handle the pain better, and other endurance things." Greg explained.
Penny shook her head, "And you expect me to believe this?" she asked.
"Honey, take off your shirt," Cuddy said to Greg.
Greg looked up at her, "But... I don't want to."
Cuddy swallowed, "I know, but I need you to."
Greg pulled off his shirt and stared at the carpet and Penny's eyes widened at the scars on the... God, how could he be that skinny and be walking? She looked to Dr. Cuddy who stared at her with cold eyes.
"Turn around, Gregory," Cuddy said and as the boy did so the lashing marks across his back made the woman flinch. "How'd you get these marks on you're back, Greg?"
The boys voice was soft as he spoke, "They were a part of my pain exercise to learn how to tune out the pain."
"Do you understand now?" Cuddy asked Penny to see the woman nod. "Here, Sweetie," she said handing Greg his shirt which he quickly put on. "Greg is a special child that I am taking care of and though he might not have cancer he has done more than his share of suffering. I left him in your care because I thought you could be trusted with him, but obviously that is not the case." She said grabbing the boys hand to leave.
"Please, don't go," Penny begged. "Dr. Cuddy, I wish you'd explained this to me sooner but I shouldn't have treated him like I did and I'm so so sorry, Greg."
Greg looked confused by the woman's apology to him while Cuddy looked a little less cold.
"I promise if you ever leave him in my care it won't be like this again. I know I screwed up this time but I swear it will never happen again." Penny said adamantly.
"Leave him with you again?!" Cuddy scoffed, "You left marks on him, you're lucky to still be alive. I have put a write up in your file and I will personal be watching every step you make for the next two months," she said and then walked out holding Greg's hand.