Hi! Thanks for the reviews; they mean a lot and I'm glad you all like it.

One thing that has been brought up: the fact that 'House did nothing wrong' and Chase having an attitude. That issue will be covered, ok:o) Thanks for mentioning it, though, because it's another arc I can add. Steph

CHAPTER EIGHT

Several days had passed since House got the call about his dad's surgery. He had politely told his mom that he was involved in a very tricky case, which she didn't believe. She couldn't blame her son for that, after all the things his father put him through. Still, that was no excuse for him not to come see his father. She hated being stuck in the middle of her husband and son, but although she'd support her husband on certain situations, she'd always talk with her son that it wasn't entirely his fault. She had repeatedly told him that his father didn't have a good childhood himself, but that didn't ease House's trepidation about their relationship. She just couldn't make him understand his father, no matter how often and hard she tried. The stories Mom House told her son about his father's upbringing never did bring any sympathy from House.

'Honey, please try to understand where your father is coming from,' Blythe said one day when House was about 14.

'There's a lot you don't know, but I'm only telling you this because I'm hoping something will click inside you and you'll have some idea of where your father is coming from.

'You know Granpa House died very young and left Granma with your father and four uncles, aged from 6 years to 17, your dad being the middle boy. Granma couldn't handle raising all five children on her own, so she had her sister and brother-in-law raise your father when he was about your age; she kept the two smaller boys and the two older boys worked to help pay the bills.

'It was hard on him. His uncle reared him in the carpentry business until he was 18, when he joined the Marines. They treated him well and he was given so many opportunities, more opportunities he wouldn't have had had Granma kept him with her. She did it to protect her son, to give him a better life than she thought she could provide herself. He was at a vulnerable age, you see.

'But she did it because she loved him, but your father never saw it that way. In your father's eyes, he could only see that his mother gave him away, that she didn't love him anymore. That seriously hurt him and he never got over that.

'When I first met him at Ft Hood, he wasn't like he is now. Actually, he was worse. When we started dating, it was only after six months that he finally trusted me enough to be himself when we'd go out. I think it was more like he was afraid that I'd hurt him, so much so that he was afraid to give me a part of him he swore he'd never give anyone.'

'Do you understand, honey?'

House never did understand, although he tried once. After his father forced him to sleep outside once and punished him with cold baths, he gave up trying. So much anger, pain and resentment built up within House that he decided it wasn't worth it. Nope, his father wasn't worth it. Never was, never would be.

Cameron's condition hadn't improved and she'd since slipped into a coma. Chase spent the past few nights at her bedside, only leaving to use the bathroom or get something to eat in the cafeteria. Foreman took over House's clinic duty, with Cuddy's permission, while House would drop by to check on her condition and to find the cause of the coma.

The exhaustion Chase felt made him too vulnerable to House's attacks and he said little to him whenever he'd come by. House would discuss with Chase the reasons why she'd deteriorated, and he offered little clues, only saying that it wasn't uncommon for head trauma cases to do so.

That alone bothered House. His main concern was getting her back, and it wasn't looking good. Physically, she'd recover fine. But the bleeding in her brain, if things continued to go the way they were, would more than likely cause mental damage.

House would have to hire another pion, and he didn't want to have to do that.

No one could replace Cameron.

He wasn't willing to have to train someone new.

He wouldn't give up on her.

She wouldn't die.

He wouldn't let her die.

Not as long as House himself breathes.