Chapter 7

Why me?

Foreman and Chase had been checking on Kelly when Cameron had entered the room.

"Hey guys, how is she?" she asked as Foreman and Chase looked up.

"Getting better. Her temp's down to 101 and her heart rate and BP seem to indicate that she's much calmer. I'm hoping that means that she's not in as much pain." Chase replied. Cameron cut him short as he made to tell her more.

"That's good, but look I just came from a meeting with a woman from DCFS, Cuddy, and House. The DCFS lady wanted to know if the surgery for Kelly's knee is really necessary. House is throwing a fit. I can see where he is coming from, but DCFS doesn't want to pay for it, and Cuddy can't promise that the hospital will pay for it. It seems like they think she's just a waste of time."

"What! If she doesn't have the surgery then she'll be in pain, terrible pain, whenever she has to walk!" Foreman blurted incredulously.

"I know that, House knows that, but their plan is to lock her up in some institution where she'll be kept 'calm,' which I take to mean drugged and tied up." Cameron replied sadly.

"Are you joking? We can't let this happen! She's autistic, not a vegetable! She'll be aware of all that's happening to her!" Chase was becoming more and more annoyed the more he heard.

"We all know that, but with her being completely unresponsive, it's really hard to prove. There's not a definitive test for autism, and I get the feeling that unless she's a savant, the people at DCFS aren't going to find any reason to change their minds." Cameron spat. She felt as Chase did; this whole issue was bothering her greatly. Just because Kelly didn't respond to people didn't mean that she deserved to be dumped into an institution and kept drugged.

"She was severely abused! Even in non-autistic children that can cause psychological withdraw. She was traumatized and extremely sick!" Foreman had to admit that there was something about the girl in the bed in front of them that made everyone who knew her, even a little bit, want to protect her. He knew that somehow, this silent fragile girl had managed to get to House. That impressed him.

At that moment House entered the room. He looked at the three younger doctors, and quickly assessed the situation. He saw Cameron and Chase's postures, and took in the surly, pissed off look on Foreman's face. He nodded to them, and then made his way to the chair at the side of the bed.

"So, Cameron filled you both in." It was not a question. House propped his cane against the side of the bed with the handle facing inwards.

"We have to do something! This is no better than the abuse she suffered under that bastard who kept her locked up!" Chase snapped.

"I know." His voice was resigned. He'd just gotten finished having this discussion with Cuddy and some bitch named Wyett from DCFS. He remembered her vaguely from the case with the schizophrenic mother and the kid. "Cuddy is willing to cover the costs, but DCFS won't sign unless we can prove that she really needs it. According to them she didn't act as if she was in pain when she walked. Those morons don't understand the first thing about autism. So. How are we going to get her to come out of her shell long enough to tell us where it hurts?"

Foreman looked around, and when no one else offered any solutions he spoke up. "There are some experimental treatments, supplements that can help. A few drugs that have shown promising results, but I'm not totally convinced that this is all because of her autism. She lost her mother at a very young age. She was shipped from foster home to foster home, and I'm sure this last one wasn't the only bad one she got put in. Everyone thought she was a deaf retard and then she was abused. A normal child would be severely traumatized from something like that, add autism and you've got what we see here."

"So you're saying we should just give up!" Cameron asked, more than a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"No, not at all. This is just going to be a lot harder then you think. What we really need is a person she likes…" Foreman trailed off as he looked over at the bed. Kelly was awake and looking right at House. Her left hand had wrapped itself around the head of his cane, and her thumb was tracing patterns on the smooth wood. "House."

House looked over and saw what Foreman did. He gave her a flash of a smile, and covered Kelly's hand with his own. She looked down at the touch and then glanced around the room before closing her eyes again.

"Looks like I was wrong." Foreman smirked. "Seems as if she likes at least one of us."

House shot him a glare that should have dropped him dead on the spot.

"Get out of here and page Wilson. I need to talk to him."

Kelly's eyes opened the second the others left. As the colors faded, only teal was left. A small smile drifted onto her lips. House saw it and sighed.

"Why'd you pick me?" He asked her softly, "I'm just a cranky, old, crippled, bastard." He watched as a look of concentration covered her face. She then gave a gentle tug and pulled her hand out from under his. She placed her left palm up and ran her right hand over it twice. When House didn't reply, she tried again.

"I know, I know. Give me a minute. I'm new at this signing thing." House growled at her, but it wasn't his usual condescending tone. It instead held a note of playfulness. She looked up at him and repeated the sign a third time.

"Good?" He asked and got a small shake of the head in reply. "Yes it is, that's the sign for good."

"Actually, no, it's not." House jumped a little as Wilson made his presence known.

"Ok then Mr. Smarty-Pants, what does it mean?" House snarked at his friend.

"It's 'nice.'"

"Riiight." He looked over at Kelly. "You think I'm 'nice?'"

yes nice

"So, she does talk." Wilson said.

"Yeah, too bad I don't speak her language." House watched her for another moment and then turned to Wilson. "How the heck did you know what she was signing?"

"I watch TV." Wilson offered.

"I'm the smart-ass here Wilson."

"No really, there's this show that Julie made me watch called Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. It's about a deaf FBI agent. I learned a few signs from it."

"It sounds like Julie isn't the only one who likes the show." House said with a smirk.

"What can I say? The lead actress is a hot blonde."

House sat with Kelly for another 45 minutes until she finally dropped off into sleep. Getting up out of the chair proved difficult, and House grimaced as his leg told him what it thought about sitting for so long in the horrible plastic chair. During the 45 minutes, House had been able to get Kelly to sign three words to him. "Yes," "Nice," and "No." It was a start, but she had been unwilling to talk about herself at all. She would answer any number of questions about him, or the nurses who visited frequently, but if he even approached a question about her, she clammed up. She also seemed unwilling to talk to anyone but him. When Wilson had asked her a few questions, it was as if he wasn't even in the room. As frustrating as it was, House had to admit it was mildly funny that out of all the people who had visited her, Kelly had chosen him.

When he arrived back in his office, Cuddy and the annoying woman from DCFS were there waiting for him.

"Ah, Doctor Cuddy, come to tell me you won't let me treat my patients again?" He asked acidly.

"Actually Dr. House, Mrs. Wyett has signed the consent for Kelly to have the surgery." Cuddy replied with a smirk.

"But…?" House asked

"But, you have to agree to continue working with her after the surgery. So far you're the only person who can get through to her, and Mrs. Wyett would like to see if Kelly can testify against her foster parents." Cuddy seemed positively gleeful at the idea of him having to work with a patient.

"Ummm…no. I'm not a shrink or a babysitter. I don't even know Sign Language." He replied.

"The DCFS would be willing to have you go to classes in order to learn Sign, and as far as not being a psychiatrist, Kelly has been to 3 of them, and she didn't respond at all." The annoying Mrs. Wyett found it important to speak up. House gave her a glare before turning back to Cuddy.

"If you do this, I'll let you off clinic hours while you're helping." She said after a moment of thought.

House signed and limped over to his desk. Lowering himself into the chair, he looked up at the two women before him. Would it really be so bad to try and help this girl? He knew that learning ASL wouldn't be too much of a problem. How hard could waving your hands around be? He drummed his fingers against the edge of the desk and finally looked back up at Cuddy.

"Fine." He said, "Now, let me get back to work."

"I'll set up some lessons with an ASL interpreter," Mrs. Wyett added as she walked out the door. Cuddy remained behind for a moment and gave him a glare.

"You aren't just doing this to get out of clinic duty are you?" She asked after a moment.

"Of course I am," he waved his hand dismissively at her and she sighed and took off after the DCFS lady. He waited a few moments and then turned to his computer. He opened a page on the Internet and picked a site from his bookmarks. The heading of the page read "Cure Autism Now" House shifted slightly and began reading.