Author's Note: This is the second to last chapter, after this is House. (I know a lot of you are looking forward to that one, lol) Anyway, please please write a review!

Allison Cameron

Age 6

Allie didn't understand a lot of things. She didn't understand why her daddy left her, even though he sometimes called to say he was sorry. She didn't understand why Mommy was always yelling at her for everything. All Allie wanted to do was make Mommy like her. But Mommy was always angry, and Allie could never make her happy.

6 years later

Age 12

"Allison Charlotte Cameron, get your skinny little ss in here! I mean it!"

Allison rolled her eyes, and ignored her mother's calls until finally she couldn't take it anymore. She wrenched open her bedroom door and stormed into the kitchen.

"What the h3ll do you want? I'm busy."

"Don't you talk like that to me, missy. And I want you to clean up the mess you made in here. You're a selfish little slob, you know that? How long would it take you to just put your dishes in the dmn dishwasher?"

Allison fought the tears that were burning in the back of her eyes, threatening to roll down her cheeks any minute. It was funny how her mother could destroy any traces of rebellion in her with one degrading sentence.

"I'm sorry, mom."

It was meant to come out as a yell, but somehow all she could manage was a feeble whisper. She mentally slapped herself for not being more confident. Before she could make a move towards the counter where the offending dishes lay, the shrill ring of the phone pierced the air.

"Get that."

Her mother's tone was snappish, authoritative.

"Hello."

"Alligator? It's Daddy."

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to talk to my little girl. I feel like I barely know you anymore."

"Yeah, well whose fault is that, huh?"

"Alligator, I want to get to know you better, and you're not being very helpful."

"Well, sorry, Dad, but you're the one who left, and you're the one who never comes to see me, and I don't give a sh!t how well you know me, okay? Because you've been just about the worst dad in the history of forever, and I wish you would die! And don't call me an Alligator! I'm not a freaking reptile!"

Allison slammed the phone down, tears streaming down her face. Before her mother even had a chance to speak, she made a break for the door, grabbing her shoes on the way out.

She couldn't remember actually deciding where she was going, but she found herself puttering to a stop in front of the library. The cool air conditioning hit her as she walked in, making her shiver involuntarily.

"Hello, dear. Is everything alright?"

The old lady behind the desk looked somewhat concerned as she took in the angry preteen, who was striding purposefully towards the Non-Fiction section.

Allison didn't even bother to answer the lady's question, she just kept walking. She was humiliated by the fact that she was crying in public and she hadn't bothered to change out of the baggy sweatshirt and short shorts she'd been wearing around the house. She flung herself into one of the chairs in the Science area, knowing that nobody actually went there.

The tears were still coming as she internally berated herself. Why had she said those horrible things to her own father? She hadn't meant to, she loved her dad. She felt horrible, and lonely. Her mother never showed her any affection, and she'd blown any chance at a relationship with her dad. All she wanted was to be loved.

Present Day

Allison Cameron sat at her apartment, remembering. She'd been a train wreck as a teenager, always searching for validation and love in the wrong place, and always ending up with a broken heart.

She thought about House. Did she really love him? Or was it just another desperate plea for attention and approval? She knew she was stuck in a vicious cycle, forever giving love and never receiving. She didn't know if she purposely directed her affection in areas where it could never be returned, but she sure had made a pattern out of it.

Allison laughed scornfully at herself, and sat in silence for a while. Then suddenly it hit her like a ton of bricks. She knew what she had to do. She reached across the arm of the couch, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Daddy, it's me. Your Alligator."