I figured I'd post another chapter tonight so that Green Penguin's brain doesn't explode! Thank you to everyone who's still reading this. A special thanks to Firetop for pointing out my formatting error. When I type these chapters in word, I put a row of asterisks between paragraphs where there's a change of location or point of view. Apparently, this doesn't always show up on the site when I download a chapter. I'll be sure to check, now, to make sure everything downloaded ok.

Dislaimer – House is not mine. Neither is Chase. Or Foreman. Or Wilson. Life sucks.

CHAPTER 27

House sat in his office chair, lights off, twirling his cane, and listening to Puccini. The paper with the DNA results was lying on his desk. He hadn't even looked at it. When David had walked in and laid it on his desk, he said, quietly, "I'm sorry." That pretty much told House what he needed to know. He was desperately trying not to think about the fact that he had apparently spawned Satan.

Instead, he thought about his two fellows who were currently hospitalized because of his…son. He thought about how he had felt last year when Foreman almost died and again when he was stabbed by Dumas. He felt helplessness, despair, anger…not things you feel about someone who means nothing to you. And Chase...his own heart had literally stopped when he saw the young man sprawled on the floor in Sera's living room. He had thought for one horrible moment that Chase was dead. House smiled a bit. Chase had pretty much shocked the hell out of him when he told him off. And he had felt a burst of pride that Chase had finally stood up to him. Pride...like a father feels for a son.

House rubbed his face. 'When the hell did this happen? When did I start caring about these people?' He looked at the phone and debated whether or not to call ICU again. Maybe he'd page Donna and see if she was able to get Foreman into a bed in the hospital. Anything…anything else to think about besides the piece of paper on his desk.

There was a light tap on the door and Wilson walked slowly into the room. He walked over to the desk and sat down. House looked at him inquisitively. Wilson reassured him, "Chase is going to be alright. They confirmed that he had curare in his system, so they gave him the antidote. He just needs to sleep it off. He only got a light dose of the nitrous oxide and sevoflurane. The combination of that with the poison was a bit too much of a shock to his system, but his vitals have evened out. I tried to get him removed from ICU, but they love him down there and wouldn't let me move him. I figure that they'll take good care of him."

Wilson reached over and picked up the paper. He scanned it quickly and glanced back up at House. He put the paper back down and asked his friend, "You okay?" At House's baleful look, he held up both hands. "Ok, ok…dumb question. What are you going to do?"

House leaned back a bit in his chair. "Well, I figured I'd call the kid up and see if he wanted to catch a game next week. Maybe he could squeeze in some time between murders…" House's voice trailed off. Somehow, that joke fell a bit flat considering Dumas had Cameron and Sera. He got out of his seat and started to pace around the room, limping heavily since he left his cane propped against the desk.

"I can't believe she never told me. How could she just leave and never tell me she was pregnant?" Wilson interrupted him. "You never told me any details. What reason did she give for dropping out of school?"

"Her mother had remarried a few years before to some diplomat…Ambassador Ling. He had to move overseas, and of course her mother went with her husband. Carmela told me that she wanted to go with them. Her stepfather's job would keep him extremely busy and she didn't want her mother to be alone. She moved, sent me a few postcards and letters at first, then we eventually lost touch. I didn't see her until she showed up here today." House glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost 2:00 am. "Well… yesterday."

House sat down and rubbed his hands over his face. "Apparently, she made me the bad guy in the scenario, because Sera looked like she wanted to beat the crap outta me when she realized who I was. "

House looked at the paper on his desk and slowly picked it up. He read it over, then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. He picked up his cane and leaned on it, the handle under his chin. "Only I could screw up a child that badly without even going near him." Wilson stared at him. "House, don't be an idiot. This had nothing to do with you! Carmela made sure of that! If she had let you into his life, he probably wouldn't be the person he is today."

House snorted. "Yeah…he'd be worse." Wilson rolled his eyes and gave House an exasperated look. "You aren't that stupid, House. There are a lot of things that you don't do right. But I know for a fact that you would be a good father."

"How do you know?" House all but shouted his question. "What have I ever done to indicate that I wouldn't screw up a kid? Hell, I can't even keep from screwing up the people that work for me. Look at Chase. According to Carmela, I treat him the same way my father treated me. I never say anything nice to him, I never encourage him, I belittle and verbally abuse him. No wonder he's so screwed up."

Both men turned when they heard a tired voice from the doorway. "Not everything is about you, House." Robert came into the room in a wheelchair being pushed by Donna. Eric followed behind slowly. Both men were in hospital gowns, although they both had scrub pants on underneath. Donna had a frustrated look on her face.

House stood up and walked over to Donna, towering over her as he asked, "What the hell are they doing here? Both of them need to be in bed!" Donna pulled herself up to her full height and put her hands on her hips. "Don't you raise your voice to me, Dr. House! I know they need to be in bed, but they won't stay there. And Eric threatened to push Dr. Chase down here himself if I didn't help them. They both needed to talk to you, so here they are! Make sure you return them when you're done!" Donna stormed out of the office.

Foreman and Chase both watched her go with bemused expressions on their faces. Chase wheeled himself over to where House was standing while Foreman snagged the other chair in the room. Chase took a deep breath and spoke.

"Look, House, I know I'm screwed up. I've been that way for a long time and it has nothing to do with you. Yeah, you treat me like crap. You're an ss to me 99 of the time. But…the things you say don't hurt me like the things my father used to say. I never got the impression that he cared about me at all. But you…you care. Even when you don't act like you do, you care. And that's what makes you tolerable. That's why we all stayed with you after our initial fellowships were over. Underneath the bstard, there is an actual person. Someone who I admire a great deal."

Foreman spoke up. "If I thought you actually meant even one-fourth of the stuff that comes out of your mouth, I would have kicked your butt a long time ago." He clapped House on the back. "You're alright, House!"

House stepped away. "Whoa, careful there! You never know when a pat on the back might escalate into some horrible group hug or something." Foreman smiled. "Don't worry – if I ever get caught in a group hug with you, I'm going to pack my bags, change my name, and move to Siberia or something!"

House half smiled as he limped over to his chair. As he was about to sit down, something that the neurologist said registered. "Change your name, huh?...hmm…" House looked at Eric. "Find Leggitt. I may have an idea on how we can find Dumas."

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Sera lay on the bed, drumming her fingers lightly on the mattress. She had been staring at the ceiling for the past hour, rage, hurt, and betrayal eating her up inside. Although she had suspected something untoward was going on with Carmela, she had no idea the deception ran so deep. Dumas was her son! She absolutely couldn't wrap her mind around that concept.

Dumas hadn't confirmed or denied it when she hurled the question at him. He simply laughed and walked out, saying, "You're the genius, you figure it out." But really, there was nothing to figure out. He was obviously Carmela and House's child. He had House's eyes, chin, and bone structure, but Carmela's lips and nose. The combination made for an extremely good-looking young man. She understood now how he had been able to get all of those women to accompany him to his place, or wherever he committed his crimes. Hell, if she had met him without knowing who he was, she probably would have gone out with him. He had the best features of both parents.

But both parents hadn't raised him. In fact, she didn't even think Carmela raised him. Father Shaw and his wife raised Winston, and she couldn't imagine what that sweet man could possibly have done to screw the man up this badly. She mentally shrugged. "Some people are just nuts, I suppose", she thought.

None of these thoughts were helping to ease the burning hate she felt for Carmela Ling. When her own mother had thrown her to the wolves of academia and became completely uninterested and uninvolved in her youngest daughter's life, the professor had stepped in and taken Sera under her wing. She both taught her and nurtured her and filled the void that her mother and later, more violently, her sister, left behind. "Faith…how could she let that monster hurt Faith? And Jamal? She worked with him, too. Joked with him, mothered him…how could she?" Sera blinked away the hot tears that were burning her eyes. She was so caught up in her misery that she didn't notice that the window in her room had slid open.

Sera jumped when she saw someone kneel down next to her bed. Her eyes widened when she saw who was next to her. "YOU…!", she began, before a hand was placed over her mouth. It took all of her self restraint to refrain from biting the professor. She jerked her face away from her mentor's hand and demanded, "What the hell do you want? To gloat? To laugh at me for trusting you?"

Carmela frown as she pulled out a little box and pulled a lock pick set out of it. "Actually, I wish you'd shut up. I'm trying to get you and Dr. Cameron out of here. I figure the chances are better at getting her if I have you." Carmela bit her lip in concentration as she attempted to get the lock on the shackles open.

Sera sneered at her. "You never could get the hang of picking a lock. Didn't Dave give up on trying to teach you?" Carmela sniffed disdainfully. "I never thought that I'd be put in a position to have to pick a lock. I believe David tried to teach me simply to alleviate boredom on that particular day. However, this lock has a simple pin-and-tumbler design, so it shouldn't be too hard to do."

Sera tried to keep quiet. As much as she despised her former mentor, she despised being chained up more and she really wanted to get out of there. But she couldn't help but ask the question that had been running through her head since she saw Dumas. "Why? Why didn't you tell us? We could have stopped his killing spree a long time ago. Before he killed Faith and…Jamal." Sera's voice became louder. "How could you?!! HOW?!"

"Shhhhh! I do not want him coming in here." Carmela stopped what she was doing and looked at Sera. "It was never supposed to go this far. I actually did stop him…a lot of times. He would have killed way more than he did. I never knew ahead of time who his intended victim was going to be." She went back to working on the lock as she continued talking. "I was in Munich at that conference that time he kidnapped you. By the time I got back, Jamal had already gone to save you. It was too late to do anything to help him. And Faith…well, that was the first time he had planned on grabbing you. After her comments on 20/20, he decided to make it a two-fer and get both of you. I made him agree not to hurt you. I tried to talk him out of hurting Faith, but he wouldn't listen. He said that he needed to have one of you and I didn't want to see you get hurt. It was the best I could do at the time…"

Carmela had finally opened the lock and the chains fell off of Sera's wrists. Carmela didn't even finish her last sentence. Sera reached over and wrapped her hand around Carmela's throat, crushing her windpipe. The professor started gasping for air.

"The best you could do? THE BEST YOU COULD DO?!! You btch!! The best you could have done would have been to tell all of us that your friggin' son was the murderer. Or that he planned on killing my sister. Or where his house was located. There are so many things that you SHOULD have done in that scenario!! But you didn't, did you? YOU LET THEM BOTH DIE!!"

Sera emphasized her words with violent shakes. She was sitting up on the bed. There were still chains around her waist holding her in place, but she only needed her hands. She looked at the woman on her knees by the bed. Carmela was no longer gasping, but was desperately clawing at Sera's hand, which still had a vise grip on her throat. Carmela's eyes were wide and panicked. Sera felt a rush of satisfaction at the fear in the older woman's eyes. Satisfaction, power, and a blinding hatred. "I wonder if this is how Winston feels when he kills someone", she thought. That thought was like a splash of ice water. Sera looked at Carmela, who was barely struggling anymore and, with a gasp, let her go.

Carmela lay on the floor, gasping and choking for air. Sera fell limply back on the bed, in shock over what she had almost done. She sat back up quickly when she heard his voice from the doorway. "What a coward. You don't even have the guts to take care of the woman responsible for the death of your sister and fiancé? Quite frankly, I thought you were tougher than that."

"You call me a coward? You're just angry that I didn't do your dirty work for you!" Sera shot back. She looked over at Carmela, who was getting to her feet. She was still coughing and breathing heavily as she looked at Dumas beseechingly.

"Honey, please don't be angry. I don't care about Dr. Cameron anymore, but I told you not to touch Serenity. I'm going to take her with me, then I want you to take Dr. Cameron and leave. Don't worry about me…I'm sure once I explain the circumstance, my consequences won't be that severe."

Sera looked at Winston as he started to laugh. "Worry about you? Why would I worry about you? In fact, Mother, you don't have to worry at all about what the Feds are going to do with you."

Sera knew it was coming about half a second before Carmela did. But neither of them had time to react as Winston threw the knife he had been holding behind his back. Carmela and Sera both looked in shock at the hilt of the knife protruding from the professor's chest. Carmela only had time to look at him in horror and betrayal before falling to the floor.

Sera closed her eyes. She did NOT just see Carmela get killed by her own son. She heard Winston say softly, "As you can see, Serenity, I don't need anyone to do my dirty work for me." Sera kept her eyes closed. She had thought she wanted the professor dead. She thought she wouldn't care what happened to the traitor. But as she once again felt the tears in her eyes and heard sobs rising in her throat, she realized that she did care after all.

Okay, this detail that I screwed up (and there have been a few) leaped out at me when I typed this sentence, so let's just say Father Shaw started out as a Lutheran pastor, got married, then later became a Catholic priest. They have to apply to the local bishop, who then sends a special application to the Pope, to get permission. So, that's what Father Shaw did. Sorry for the mistake, but I got so caught up in the story that I forgot the whole no-marriage rule!