The Worse Of Two Evils
(Keep smiling. It makes people wonder what you're up to.)
Disclaimer: If we owned House, do you really think we'd be posting it and not airing it?
House was, for lack of a better word, shocked that he had a kid. And what's worse was that he had run the test a total of three times. All positive. He had a daughter.
"You know," Wilson began. "This is a lot like how I reacted."
"The test is wrong."
"You took it three times."
"Something's wrong with her blood," House reasoned.
"House. Accept it. She's got the same eyes as you!" Wilson argued.
"And yours doesn't have a damn similar trait that you do, and yet you're a hundred percent sure that she's your kid!"
"Because I remember Roslyn, and they look exactly alike. My mother has red hair, and my father has green eyes. I have both traits in my DNA, which makes it possible." Wilson looked at his friend. "You don't remember who her mother was or anything? Anyone you slept with, with the name "Pascal"?"
"Of course! I remember all their names!" House said sarcastically.
"You didn't buy hookers almost twenty years ago!" Wilson continued to argue.
"Probably a one-night stand," he reasoned.
"What are you going to do?"
"How the hell should I know?!" House yelled at him.
"And now you know how I feel." Some days, Karma was merciful. Today wasn't one of those days, for either men.
"There wasn't anything on the MRI," Foreman said, entering the office, startling the two men.
"Neither have mono," Cameron checked off.
"And Kasi's negative for diabetes," Chase finished. "She could be pregnant, though. It would explain her symptoms."
Wilson noticed House pale considerably.
"Why do you say that?" House asked, regaining his usual demeanor.
"Well, besides the symptoms and her age, nothing," Chase answered uneasily.
"Most teens are sexually active by sixteen, and we know she was being abused. She may have been raped as well," Cameron added. "We should test for STDs."
House immediately stood up, startling the other four doctors. He quickly left the office and made his way towards the girl's room. The social worker had left, probably to go talk with Bryn, leaving Kasi alone.
"Ah. Dr. Detective. How nice it is to see you again," Kasi snarked.
House flinched. It was something he would say.
"Are you sexually active?" he asked gruffly.
Kasi couldn't help but blush. "Why the hell do you want to know?" she demanded.
"If you're pregnant, it explains all your symptoms. Or you may have an STD. It'd be best to know sooner rather than later."
"I'm not pregnant," she denied. "I had my period a couple weeks ago."
"That could have been a miscarriage, or if you've been getting some since then, you could still be pregnant," House explained.
"Do the test then," she countered, holding out her arm.
"Second," he began. "Were you raped by your foster father?"
"If I was raped, then that would be worse than foster care, and I would have told," she answered. "I can take pain. I wouldn't take that lying down though…no pun intended."
House had to smirk at that.
"Ouch," she grumbled as he took more blood. "By time you guys are done testing me, I'm going to look like Swiss cheese. Ever think it was just the flu like I said earlier?"
House looked at her. "When did you say it was the flu?"
"Earlier when Dr. Cameron said she wanted to see my war wounds."
"If you just have the flu, they are in trouble," House growled angrily.
If they had made him worry about her for the last ten minutes for nothing, they were going to become quite acquainted with his cane.
Kasi just looked at him like he was crazy. He hadn't acted like this before hand.
House-House-House-House-House
House ran the tests himself, and was relieved when they were all negative. He then ran a swab that he'd gotten from the inside of Kasi's mouth, and ran it. Within a twenty minutes, it was for sure. She had the flu. Nothing more, nothing less.
"You idiots!" he yelled coming back into the office. "She had the flu! You couldn't test for the easiest thing in the world, and just dismissed it!" he continued to yell.
"Wow. And you said I was overreacting," Wilson accused, causing the fellows to look at House imploringly.
"What does he mean, House," Cameron asked.
"You always were the most curious. Why can't you be a cat, some days?" House snarked. He was still angry at them.
"Kasi, it appears, has some…similarities with House," Wilson said lightly. It was time for a bit of revenge.
"No," Cameron said unbelievably in a low tone, looking at House.
"She's your kid?" Foreman asked. "What's next? Cuddy having a long lost kid show up?"
"Now THAT would be funny," House smirked. "Now then, all we have to do is diagnose the other spawn, and we're done here."
"What are you going to do?" Cameron asked.
"None of your business," he glared.
"It has to be a virus," Chase commented. "Something that isn't contagious, otherwise Kasi would have had it since her immune system was compromised due to the flu."
Suddenly, House had a thought. "Where did they get those burns?"
"Uh, Kasi mentioned a bonfire before they were admitted," Cameron recalled.
"Did they say where they got them? As in, where they were?" House asked, already knowing the answer. "Mosquitoes are quite common around this time of year, aren't they?" he asked rhetorically. "If they were having a bonfire, and not just playing with matches, they would have likely tried to do it where they were covered, and also where there was water."
Foreman looked up. "You think she has the West Nile virus?"
"Symptoms fit," House replied.
"So do about another hundred things," Wilson pointed out.
"I didn't see any mosquito bites on her, and neither did the nurse who got her in the gown," Foreman also pointed out.
"Maybe because the evidence was burned away. She wasn't the one with the bruises on her arms, and probably had her blazer off, or had been in short sleeves depending on when she got it. MRIs only show swelling in about one-third of those diagnosed with it, which would explain why nothing showed up," House explained. "Go test her. Get an LP."
Just as they were about to leave, their beepers went off. Kasi had either flat-lined, or had escaped again.
House-House-House-House-House
"Have you found her yet?" Heather asked.
"Not yet, but the others are looking for her," Cameron replied, hooking an IV to Bryn.
"I have that stupid virus?" she asked.
"That's what the tests show."
"Then what are you hooking me up to? I thought there wasn't a cure for it?" Bryn asked.
"No, but since we know what it is, we can treat the symptoms and make sure you don't get worse. We caught it soon enough that you shouldn't have any problems once it's cleared up."
"Bryn. You know Kasmira. Where is she?" Heather asked.
"Don't know, not worried. She's resourceful. She's smart enough not to come to my room. That's the first place you'd look!"
"We should leave," Cameron said, motioning for the social worker to follow. "If you need anything, just press the call button."
"How long will she have to stay in the hospital?" she asked once they were out of range.
"About a week. Maybe two to be safe," Cameron answered.
"And do you know what Dr. Wilson is planning on doing?"
"I don't know. I can tell he's been thinking about it, but I can't be sure." Cameron looked at the social worker questioningly. "What will happen to them? If Bryn's father doesn't take her, and no one comes to get Kasi?"
"Back into the system, go to whoever will take two kids who are about to graduate. Chances are that they'll just stay at orphanages until they're eighteen. Parents don't usually adopt children older than ten, let alone a couple of teenagers who should be looking at colleges. And besides, who said anything about Kasmira's father?"
"Nothing," Cameron caught herself. "I was just saying…hypothetically."
House-House-House-House-House
Kasi had managed to grab her stuff and ran up to the roof where she was hiding. No one had come up there yet, but she figured it'd only be a matter of time. She wasn't steady enough to try skating off the roof and pulling a stunt from a Tony Hawk game, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to simply go out the front door.
"Life sucks," she grumbled, throwing a small rock at the brick opposite her.
"Tell me about it."
Kasi swung around in time to see House appear.
"How'd you manage to get up here? There weren't any elevators, only stairs." she questioned.
"I'm crippled. Not legless," he answered, taking a seat next to her.
"Can't be good for your leg."
"And this can't be good for my liver," he said, popping a Vicodin.
She gave a snort, but just went back to staring at the view in front of her. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a long time. They were both in deep thought.
"I know," she finally said, causing House to look up.
"You know what, exactly?" House asked.
"You shouldn't have needed more blood, which means you used it all doing something that you hadn't informed me of. You got angry at your employees for not just checking if I had the flu, and I've heard of you. You like looking for whatever's out of the ordinary. When you asked if I was pregnant," she made a weird face. "You acted like you were, I dunno, disappointed. Kinda like a parent would if they found out their kid had knocked someone up or found out their daughter was knocked up. All in all, you weren't the same you were the first time I saw you. I just put two and two together."
"I wasn't planning on telling you," House told her.
She looked at him. "Then why'd you come up here?"
Another silence passed between them.
"When's the other guy gonna tell Bryn? He was worse at hiding it than you, and that's saying something!"
"Does she know he knows?"
"She knows, but won't admit anything. We've both been through so many guardians that we know not to get our hopes up."
"He wasn't planning on telling her either."
"Please. He looks like he cares more than the woman that took my Skittles from me."
At that, House smirked. "My spawn has apparently picked up on being right."
"I'm right here, y'know."
House's beeper decided to go off at that moment.
"Damn. The Wicked Witch of the Funbags decided to show herself," he complained.
Kasi started laughing. "Who?!"
"My boss." This caused her to laugh harder.
Author's Note: One more chapter, and this story is done. Then, hopefully, we'll have enough time to come up with another mini-series or a few one-shots to go with Bryn and Kasi. Kinda hard since school is back with sharp pointy teeth, but chances are one of us will get bored and start writing a story during math or history. So, until the next update, peace, and thanks for the reviews!