"Butterflies and Hurricanes"
Chapter Three: It Always Comes Back to Kick You in the Ass
Diagnostic Medicine Office:
Chase's mouth dropped open, an 'oh shit' running rampantly through his mind. He couldn't believe his eyes. Standing there in front of him was the same girl he had thrown out of the lab yesterday. Underneath the new addition of a white lab coat, she was clad in a plain black t shirt today, with well worn looking jeans, her knees peeking through gaping holes, and as he peeked down, the same pink Converse shoes.
"You?" He repeated again, a sickening feeling spreading through his gut, as he stared at the girl he had been so rude to the day before. No, please God, no. "You're the new doctor!"
"You're Robert Chase?" She echoed, her nose wrinkling as if she had just caught whiff of something utterly foul, as she caught sight of his identification badge.
"Oh, kill me," she muttered to herself.
"What's going on here?" Another feminine voice piped up. Chase managed to finally pull himself out of his shock and glanced over to see Cameron, Foreman, and Wilson looking utterly confused. House, however, was just shooting him an evil glare.
Cameron spoke up again, this time to House, her blue eyes troubled. "I don't understand this, House. No offense, but you hate publishing."
Allison turned and looked at Chase, her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "And, how is it that you know her already?"
"Yes, that is very interesting, Chase, do tell," House spoke up.
Four heads immediately swivelled in Chase's direction, Caitlin however, looked angrily out the window. He gave a sheepish grin, and a forced chuckle, as he looked at the rest of team, who were all now expectantly staring at him. How in God's name was he going to be able to explain this without telling them what a complete ass he had been?
"Eh, it's uh, really quite funny... see, uh, I came across Ms. Mackenzie yesterday in the lab and uh, I thought she was a patient, so I told her to leave."
"Actually, that's Doctor Mackenzie ta ye, and ye were quite the arsehole," Caitlin burst out, pissed. The stupid jerk had actually yelled at her!
Foreman choked back a laugh, breaking into a false coughing fit to cover the fact, his face tinging purple from the effort. Cameron shot him a look of amusement, while Wilson looked on, struggling to try to contain his own mirth. House, however, looked bored as usual.
"No offense, Dr. Mackenzie, but you do look a little young," Foreman spoke up.
"Yes, yes, she looks a regular infant in swaddled clothes," House cut in impatiently. "Can we cut the crap for a moment and focus on the fact that things are going to change around here?"
Foreman, Cameron, and Chase whipped their heads back toward House. Wilson, however was using the opportunity to check out the girl that shared genetic material with his friend, and was finding everything to his approval.
"Now. Like I said, I will only be here half the time, so if you need something, run and whine to Mackenzie here, got it?" House snapped.
"Which means he'll be playing Game Boy for 6 hours a day now, instead of 3," Foreman joked softly to Cameron. She shot him a disapproving look, and Foreman sighed. She really needed to give up on this whole House thing.
This whole situation was killing House. The very thought of having to publish something for Vogler's sake made him want to pop several vicodin, and drown them all down with lots and lots of brandy. Or whisky. Or anything with alcohol. Distracted, hetook a pill as he surveyed his team.
Three heads nodded. "Good. Now. I will be in my office. Don't bother me unless it's an emergency, and even then you'd better be dying. Or better yet a patient. God,gotta love those dying patients." House began to limp his way out, popping yet another pill as he went.
Wilson shot a sympathetic grin toward Caitlin as he also turned to leave. "I've got to get back to my own department as well. Good luck, Dr. MacKenzie." With that, the door closed and Caitlin Mackenzie House was left to fend for herself.
Same room:
Left alone, without a convenient excuse for ignoring the others, Caitlin reluctantly turned and faced the three other occupants of the room. They still sat at the table, now turned around in the swivel chairs to face her. She felt like a prisoner in front of her executioners, and entirely, absolutely felt the like the new kid that she was. Clearing her throat, she frantically scrambled for something to say.
"Perhaps ye'd better introduce yourselves," Caitlin's voice wavered ever so slightly. Oh smooth, Caitie, real smooth.
"Eric Foreman. Neurology." The handsome black man said. He was a little older looking than the others, a more world wise expression on his face, Caitlin noticed. He was snappily dressed in a pinstriped shirt with a bright red tie, and black slacks. "Welcome to Princeton-Plainsboro," he continued, a friendly smile transforming his visage.
"Allison Cameron, Immunology," the other woman piped up. Caitlin took a close look at her. As the other female in the department, she hoped that Allison would help to make Caitlin's entry into the department smooth and perhaps as painlessly as possible. Allison didn't look like she was much older than Caitlin, with long brown hair swept up into a loose bun, and bright blue eyes hidden behind small glasses. She had a warm, welcoming smile that eased some of the intense flip flopping of Caitlin's stomach.
She turned and glared at the last person. He had enough grace to look sheepish and remorseful. "Robert Chase, Intensevist."
Caitlin was sure she hated Robert Chase already. He had been an utter prat to her the other day. Arrogant and rich, she thought. Plus, he was too good looking. Long brown hair fell in strands in front of his light blue eyes. He had a surfer look to him, with a button down shirt with the collar undone and the paisley tie tugged loose.
"Alright, then. As ye know, I am Dr. Mackenzie. Diagnostics of Infectious Diseases," Caitlin said, a forced smile playing upon her lips. Her stomach was still in complete knots, and she had to resist the urge to wipe her palms against the sides of her legs.
"If you don't mind me asking, you have a very interesting accent. Where exactly are you from?" Foreman asked, his dark eyes curious.
Caitlin flashed a small, but much more real smile. "I'm originally from Scotland. However, I've been in the States for about eight years now."
"Well, welcome." Cameron spoke up softly. She smiled encouragingly at the young girl, and Caitlin was grateful for the other woman's kind manner.
"Thank ye." She looked over at her new team, feeling completely nauseous but put a falsely cheery note to her voice. "Shall we get started then?"
A few hours later:
Just about two in the afternoon, there was a slight lull, and Cameron, Chase, and Foreman met back up in the office. Chase plopped himself down in his favorite chair with a sigh of relief, tugging at his tie with one hand to loosen it. It had been a very long morning that stretched into an equally long afternoon.
Cameron was sitting at the desk, peering at the computer through the dark framed glasses perched on her nose. Chase was pretty sure she was answering House's emails again. Foreman walked in only a few seconds later, also loosening his tie as he sat down in the other chair.
"Where's Dr. Mackenzie?" Cameron asked, not looking up from the screen.
"Talking to Cuddy, I think," Foreman answered, as he picked up an article he had been reading earlier.
Chase let out another sigh of relief, but this time for a different reason. He wasn't too excited about seeing Caitlin Mackenzie, especially after he had made such an ass of himself.
"That bad, huh?" Foreman asked, looking highly amused, as he peeked over the edge of his medical journal.
"Oh God, you don't even know, Foreman,"Chase moaned. "I was a complete jerk. I thought she was a patient! How was I supposed to know? She wasn't wearing a coat or an I.D... Plus, can you blame me? She bloodylooks 15 years old."
Eric nodded, in understanding. "She does look mighty young. The way she dresses doesn't help either. How is she able to get away with that? I bet you a hundred dollars that Cuddy is giving her the dress code right now."
Chase smirked, "you're on."
Cameron looked up, a frown upon her face and shook her head. "Guys, don't even start. You haven't even given her a chance yet."
"I just can't believe that House hasn't put up more a fuss about this than he has," Foreman replied. "I mean the man hates doing any kind of administrative work. Actually, the man hates to work, period."
"That is strange," Cameron acknowledged, looking a bit worried. "This isn't like him. I wonder why he's taking this so well. I mean, I know its been difficult with Vogler around, but still..." She trailed off, blue eyes clouded.
"Oh, I'm sure he plotting something." Chase rejoined.
Silence fell over the room, with the sound of Cameron's typing the only noise to be heard.
"How old do you really suppose she is?" Chase wondered aloud, a few minutes later.
Foreman glanced over from the scientific journal he had been perusing.
"Well, she looks 18, but obviously she can't be. She probably around your age, Chase, and she's just one of those unlucky girls cursed with a baby face. However, no matter how old she is, she is damned young to be in the position she's in right now. I mean, we've all got at least another 2 or 3 years before we can even think about doing what she's doing right now."
"But we are doing what she's doing," Chase argued, feeling petulant. Somehow the idea of this girl getting the best of him made him feel uneasy. Probably because he had already managed to completely piss her off. "We diagnose and treat just like she does."
"That's not the point, Chase. It's the name that matters. She's got the all important title that we don't have. Not to mention those extra numbers on her paycheck that we most certainly don't have." Foreman replied.
"Eric's right, Chase," Cameron said. "She's got power that we don't have. Can you imagine being House's equal?" Cameron drifted off a bit, looking a bit dreamy.
Foreman rolled his eyes. Cameron really had it bad for House.
Just then the door opened, and the object of Cameron's affections limped in. "You guys have nothing to do? That's hard to believe."
"Just a break." Foreman replied quickly.
"I'm answering your email," Cameron's voice floated out from behind the computer screen.
Sycophant, Chase thought irritably.
Chase couldn't resist, his curiosity getting the best of him. "House, so how old is she really?"
Those intense blue eyes swerved his way. "Chase, why don't you just pass her a note in gym class, with the little check boxes for yes or no? This isn't kindergarten, I'm not her keeper. Ask her yourself." he replied irritably.
He had just spent the past three hours looking over some new information on adrug currently in FDA testing. He hated anything involved with administration, although he did have to admit Cuddy wasn't too hard on the eyes.
God, he hated Vogler. Idiotic obese man using his money to flaunt his power, and probably compensate for a low self esteem. Yes. That sounded nice, and it made House feel slightly better about himself. He still felt extremely cranky though and his leg hurt. He popped a pill and glared at his youngest member in his team. Scratch that, he thought, Caitlin's the youngest now, by a good 6 years.
"Get back to work," came his terse command, as he turned and returned to his chains and shackles of paperwork.
As soon as the door closed, Chase closed his eyes, and Foreman buried his nose back into his article. Allison glanced up a few moments later, the corner of her mouth twitching upward as she shook her head in amusement.
Later that day:
Caitlin was exhausted. How the hell did they do this all day, every day? And this apparently was a good day. No emergencies, no patients checked in, and no cases of unidentified diseases. She had spent most her day running around getting used to the new hospital, as well as seeing the dozen or so patients scheduled for the day, as well as the several walk ins.
At lunch time, she had walked past House's office, but found him in his typical foul mood.
"No. Apparently I don't have time to eat lunch anymore. Cuddy chained me to my desk until I finish reading through these articles," he had said grumpily, when she came to see if he was hungry.
So Caitlin rolled her eyes and left him muttering something about 'Vogler, pompous, and idiot' and decided to make her way to the hospital cafeteria. At least she hoped she was making her way to the hospital cafeteria. She wandered around a bit, before realizing she had roamed into the oncology wing.
Oh great Cait, now you're really lost. She glanced around as she slowly continued the hall, looking for a sign to direct her into the right direction, when she suddenly slammed into someone, and papers fluttered to the ground around her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Caitlin apologized, as she bent down to pick up the scattered papers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the person bend down next to her, and then a hand suddenly grasped hers, stopping her from picking up any more.
"Dr. MacKenzie, it's okay."
Caitlin looked over see to her surprise, a smiling Dr. Wilson. "I've got it," he continued, with a laugh.
He picked up the last piece of paper, stood, and then offered a hand to the still startled Caitlin. Accepting the offer, she slowly came to a stand beside him, feeling her face burn with embarrassment.
"Where were you off to in such a hurry?" he asked.
Caitlin smiled sheepishly. "Ah, I seemed ta have lost my way. Would ye be so kind as direct me ta the cafeteria?"
Wilson glanced at the gold watch adorning his wrist. It was lunch time and he was getting hungry- he wondered- "Well if you wouldn't mind... perhaps I could accompany you to lunch? Then I could show you the way myself."
Caitlin was startled by the request. "Oh. Aye. If ye wish to. I mean I don't want to take ye away from your work."
"No, no. I could use some food myself. Come then, let me show you the way. There's a lovely little spot where you can take your food and eat outside..." His words trailed off as he started down the hall. Caitlin shook her head in amusement, and then scrambled to catch up.
It ended up being quite a pleasant lunch in which Caitlin rethought her earlier opinions of James Wilson. Wilson ended up being a good humored man, without any of the previous condescension that she had detected earlier and the conversation flowed easily.
"Do you mind if I call you Caitlin?" he asked.
"No, Caitlin," Caitlin corrected.
Wilson looked confused. "What?"
"That's how ye say my name... KITE-uh-lin"
"Oh... I see... That's beautiful."
The conversation paused as the two of them chewed their food. There was a slight awkward moment where both of them found themselves unsure of what to talk about. It was Caitlin who finally broke the silence a few moments later.
"How long have ye known my uncle?" Caitlin asked.
Wilson looked thoughtful. "Oh, I don't know, probably about 8 years."
"And ye are still friends with him? Amazing." Caitlin said in mock disbelief.
He laughed. "He's not all that bad. Underneath that acerbic exterior is a man who just wants to be loved."
Caitlin laughed a bit bitterly, somehow that remark bothered her deeply. She had grown up with the notion that House had wanted nothing of what was left of his family. "Well I honestly wouldna know. I havena seen my uncle since I was a wee child."
"What happened? House isn't exactly open with past history. Honestly, I didn't even know he had a niece, or that she was such a genius." Wilson smiled at Caitlin.
Caitlin felt her lips tug into an answering grin. He might be a bit older, and sometimes bordering on sleazy, but she still had to admit he was an attractive man with a charming smile.
"My father, Matthew... he's Uncle Gregory's older brother. There was a quite an age gap, about 8 years or so. My mum has never told me much, but apparently, the two of them were never that close to each other growing up, and the differences were exacerbated when my father married my mum."
Wilson nodded at her as indication for her to continue, fascinated at this in depth look at a completely different side of his old friend. "Why is that?"
"Ye see, my uncle was in love with my mum. She's a wee bit younger than Uncle Gregory, and from what I've heard they were engaged and when she went home to meet my grandparents, she ending up falling for my dad. They got married and moved to back to Scotland where my mum is from." Caitlin continued. "Uncle Greg never forgave my dad."
"Understandable," Wilson said, feeling a surge of sympathy for House. God, the man simply had a terrible track record with the ladies.
"And the rest as ye know... is old history." Caitlin finished, her expression suddenly distant, and her eyes a little sad.
History filled with unanswered questions and childish longings for the father figure she never had. Anna House had always given vague answers to Caitlin's queries about her uncle, and about her parents' past. What little she had knew was what she had dug up on her own.
The conversation lulled as Wilson suddenly felt a bit guilty about prying into the girl's past. After a few more moments, he slowly changed the subject, and soon the two of them were enjoying more pleasant conversation.
After they finished, Wilson walked her back to the Diagnostic Wing, both enjoying the conversation. Wilson discovered that Caitlin had inherited her uncle's sharp wit, and Caitlin found that Wilson also had a razor sharp humor himself. Has to, she thought to herself, if he wants to keep up with Uncle Greg.
Caitlin paused in front of the glass doors to the front of Diagnostics and smiled at Wilson. "Thank ye for going to lunch with me. It was very kind of ye ta take time out of your schedule and do that. It's nice ta know that there is a friendly face around here."
Wilson grinned. "It was my pleasure, and please stop by for lunch anytime. I could use the break, and I enjoyed having company."
Caitlin smiled again as she turned and entered the wing. Perhaps things here at Princeton-Plainsboro wouldn't be so bad after all.
About an hour later, she had gone back to the Dean of Medicine's office, and had another conversation with Lisa Cuddy, who welcomed her warmly, and Caitlin brought up the idea of her going by her mother's maiden name, which paper work wise, fortunately happened to be her middle name as well.
Cuddy had looked thoughtful. "Yes, that's probably a good idea. Besides," she smiled, "with a man like Greg as your uncle, who'd want to be saddled with the name, House, anyway?"
Caitlin had smiled and decided that Cuddy would be a good person to have on one's side. She seemed capable and strong, and Caitlin had to respect anyone who could dish out to her uncle and have him actually listen.
When she got back, had picked up a few more files and run through them. Before she knew it, the next time she looked up at the clock it was almost 5 pm. With a tired sigh, she rubbed her temples, and then plopped herself into one the comfortable swivel chairs provided in the office. She considered getting up and seeing if House was in, but her sore feet voted against that.
Where was everyone? she wondered. She hadn't seen them all day. In Chase's case that wasn't such a bad thing, but she did need to get to know her team. She sighed again. It was Friday, and she had planned on convincing her uncle to spend some time with her. She had come to this hospital with the ulterior motive of figuring out some of her family's mysteries. There were things about her parents' past that left her puzzled and confused.
Behind her, she heard the muffled sounds of mingled voices coming closer. Then the door opened and the softly accented voice of Chase, the feminine voice of Cameron, and the smooth tones of Foreman broke the silence.
"Oh hey, Dr. Mackenzie." Foreman said.
Caitlin turned around and smiled. "Dr. Foreman. Drs. Cameron and Chase. How were your days?"
"Uneventful, thankfully," Cameron replied softly, shooting Caitlin a small friendly smile. "How was your first day?"
"Yeah, what do you think of House?" Foreman cut in. Chase, however, avoided her gaze. Good, the jerk should be embarrassed, Caitlin thought.
Caitlin gave a small crooked grin, "Today was alright, I think it's going ta take me a while ta get back into the swing of clinic duty. And House. Well, House was well, House. I'm sure ye know what that's like."
Three heads nodded in unison. They certainly did know.
There was a moment of silence where Caitlin noticed that Foreman was giving some kind of meaningful glance to the other two, with a slight head nod in Caitlin's direction, to which Chase suddenly shook his head violently. Amused, because she was sure that they didn't know that she was still watching them, Caitlin saw Cameron shoot a chastising look at Chase. Finally Foreman turned back around.
"Uh, listen. The three of us usually go out for a drink or two on Friday night. You know just to take a load off. Would you like to maybe come with us?"
Caitlin bit her lip. She would love to be able to get to know the team a bit better, but she couldn't go with them. She hadn't wanted to reveal her age to them so soon, but with a mental sigh realized she couldn't turn them down without a good explanation. Damn it. She had been hoping to put this off longer.
Cameron noticing her hesitation cut in quickly. "Listen, it's okay if you don't want to. We just didn't want you to think that we were excluding you. We really want to get to know you better."
Chase muttered something under his breath about, "Probably thinks she's too good for us."
"Chase,"came the equally low chastising tone of Foreman, Cameron also shot him another disapproving look.
However, Chase's remark steeled Caitlin's resolve. She didn't want them to think that because she was in a position of authority that she was taking that to her head. She wanted them to like her. As much as she hated to admit it, their opinions of her mattered to her young psyche.
"Listen," she began hesitantly.
"You don't have to explain," Cameron broke in. "But know you're invited anytime."
"No, wait." Caitlin said, desperate for them to understand. "I do want to go. I want to get to know you guys..."
Foreman cut in before she finished. "Good, come on then, we're going now." He began to shuffle her toward the door.
"Wait!" She almost yelled. The three other doctors turned around with looks of confusion. "I want to go, but I can't." Before Foreman had a chance to speak again, she spoke again. "I'm... I'm... well. Uh..."
"Yes?" Cameron asked softly.
"I'm not old enough to go to bars." Caitlin muttered softly, looking down, her face flushing brightly, suddenly wanting the floor to open up and reenact the Biblical tale of Jonah and the whale, and swallow her whole.
"What?"
A/N: Posted... simply because it is Tuesday... and Tuesdays are good days. :)
I forgot to state the obvious,I don'town House. Thank you forreading chapter three, I hope you enjoyed it. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you guys may have!Chapter four is written and will be posted soon.