Story Title: Shades of Grey
Chapter Title: The Meaning of Family
Disclaimer: I looked everywhere, but I can't find my proof of ownership- damn
Author's Notes: Thanks kibbiekoo31. You totally made my day!
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Silence descended upon the room.
Christine could feel the tears well in her eyes. She willed her hand to brush them away, but it remained limp at her side. Her father, here, standing in front of her. His steel grey eyes were wide and his mouth hung open in surprise. Not in a thousand years did she suspect to see him again. It had been too many years since he walked out on her. Too many years since that door had closed.
Her mouth felt dry and she gapped, as if she was a fish struggling to breath out of water. "How . . . how? It can't be."
House just looked at her. His voiced had escaped him. He rested heavily against his cane.
Christine felt her body began to tingle and her legs were suddenly unable to hold her up. She reached out blindly behind her and grasped the doorframe. Her nails dug into the frame. Her body fell limp against the frame.
"It isn't possible. It can't be." She whispered, well aware of the three unknown set of eyes upon her and her father, who was struggling to keep himself upright. She had already given up attempting to steady herself and slid down the wall. Christine rested her head back against the doorframe and hugged her knees to her chest. With one arm around her knees and one arm resting on top, she buried her head, trying to block out the past five minutes of her life. "It's not possible, not possible." She whispered into her arm.
"It is very much possible." House whispered back. He straightened his back as much as possible and calmly strode forward. "How are you?" He asked, with a slight grin.
Christine was aghast. "You can not, after not seeing me for four years, just swagger up to me and ask me how I'm doing!"
House narrowed his eyes and clenched his cane. "What was I suppose to say? I'm sorry for leaving? That I've been searching tirelessly for you all these years? Please, Christine you have to give me more to work with."
Christine's body went taunt. She had not endlessly thought about what she did for her father to hate her, only to finally find him and only get a mouthful of crap from him. She raised her head from her arm and her eyes grew cold. "I can not believe you just said that."
House crocked his head. "Said what?"
Christine's eyes narrowed. "You haven't so much as sent me a Christmas card in four years and all you can bother to say is that you don't care."
"Christine."
Her eyes blazed with furry. Pushing herself off the ground, Christine slowly rose to meet her father in the eye. With a deadly seriousness, she walked forward so she stood a mere six inches away from her father. Even with the added height of her heels, Christine just barely met House's height, but that did nothing to stop her. "I came here expecting a nice, quiet, summer and there is nothing, nothing, you can do to take away from that. Do you understand me?"
House, looking slightly amused,shook his head. "A quiet summer? With you I highly doubt that is possible."
Christine practically growled as she tightened her hands at her side. She didn't even blink as House smiled sweetly and sighed dramatically. He turned to leave, but Christine's hand grabbed his arm. He looked at her death grip first and then met her eyes. "Yes?"
"You don't even know me." She said, quietly. The edge in her voice was unmistakable, and dangerous.
Cameron stood and slammed her palms down against the table. "I want to know exactly what is going on here!"
House didn't release his glare from Christine. "Nothing, Cameron. Sit."
"No."
At her refusal, House turned and Christine tightened her grip. "What?"
Cameron stood under House's gaze. Chase and Forman looked up at her like she had suddenly gone crazy. "Something's clearly going on here and you better bloody fix it."
House understood the double meaning in her statement, but he didn't like it. "Cameron, you should really stay out of matters that don't concern you."
"So I should stay out too, right? Because it must not concern me either." Christine spoke up from behind him.
House sighed and turned back to her. "Why would you think that?"
"You certainly didn't treat me any better than you treated her. Your daughter, your team member, what's the difference, right? We're both just here to serve a purpose."
"Now, you can't just make those assumptions . . ." House began.
"I can and I will!" Christine snapped. She crossed her arms and stood defensively against the wall. "You couldn't be bothered to stay and tell me what I could and could not do, so why should I start listening to you now?"
"That's just unfair." House said.
Christine's mouth fell open. "Oh, so now we're talking fair, huh. Let's start with me. Oh, here's my first unfair thing. How about my father leaving me when I was fourteen!"
"That's a low blow, Christine." House said.
"Like you would know, or care." Cameron broke in. Christine glanced at her and Cameron grinned slightly, just enough that Christine saw.
"Christine!"
All five people in the room turned to see Doctor Cuddy come running into the room. She seemed slightly out of breath and horror spread over her face as she noticed House and Christine standing toe to toe.
"How, wonderful," House said, "Our own little family reunion."
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Oh, oh, oh . . . that was exciting . . . grins
