Chapter Six
"What?" House looked at Titania in surprise.
Titania paused as the food was delivered. After saying thank you and taking a few bites of her food, she continued.
"Mom and Will went to tour Africa a month and a half ago on vacation. They called at their usually time one day, a few weeks into the vacation, saying that they were on their way to Nigeria. A week passed and I got a call from a doctor. They were being treated for Neisseria meningitidis. They had met someone working in a village that had an outbreak and was looking for volunteers. Mom and Will loved to help others and they've taken a lot of vacations over the years that turned into volunteer work. They contracted the disease and it had lead to Sepsis. The day that I got the call about what happened, I started packing and made arrangements for the following morning to go to them. As I was leaving for the airport, I received the call that they passed. A couple weeks after that, they were home and this pass Saturday they were buried. I was going through some of their things while I waited for their bodies to be released for burial. I found some notebooks from mom's semester when she met you. She had some notes about you and they got me thinking more about you. I felt that it was time that you knew about me. So I decided Sunday that I'd come here and find you. I did sign up for a conference for work but other than that, I'm here to see you."
House took in everything she said as he chewed his sandwich and fries. He finished them off and looked at her.
"I have no reason to believe that you are my daughter. I only suggested this meeting because I wanted to prove you were lying. I was a little curious about what happened to Harvest all these years later."
"Mom had a good life with Will. I'm really glad that they found each other."
House just slightly nodded and turned his head to the window.
"So how was your life all these years?"
"Why do you want to know? I just told you I doubt that you're my kid. I don't have to talk about any of this with you."
"You're right, you don't. But it's not going to hurt you to talk with me. It's not for long. I'm leaving in less then a fortnight. After that you won't hear from me again. I just want this time. But I respect that it's all up to you. I'll leave you for now." With that, she stood up, threw money on the table and walked out of the diner. House looked out of the window and saw Titania hail a cab. He stood up and limped out of the diner, deciding to skip the rest of the day at work. He needed to do some thinking.