Chapter 7

House and Wilson walked into cafeteria. Wilson kept glancing at House, accessing his mood. He finally couldn't hold his curiosity in any longer.

"So have you talked with her yet?"

House shot him an annoyed look.

"Come on. Aren't you the least bit curious?"

House walked up to the counter. Grabbing a burger, fries and bag of chips, he quickly glanced at Wilson and said, "I had lunch with her Tuesday."

"Wait, what!?! That was two days ago. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't a big deal. She talked, I said that she wasn't my daughter, she left."

"House, it is a big deal. You can't avoid this. You need to find out if it's true."

House walked away and turned to find a table, leaving Wilson to pay. As Wilson turned to find what table House claimed, he stopped short to a still House. Following his gaze, he saw Cameron and a woman around the same age. He took in the woman's appearance as she laughed at something Cameron said. He assumed that she must be Titania from the look on House's face. He didn't see much in resemblance until he saw her eyes.

He drew in a deep breath. Then turning to House said, "Guess she didn't leave after all."

Wilson then walked over to the table the ladies were at.

"Hi Wilson. Have you met Titania Stevens?"

"No I haven't. Hello, James Wilson." He held out his free hand and took hers, noting the vividness of her eyes even more now that they were close up. There was the blue of his friends but also a deep emerald green that made them pop even more. They reminded him of the sparkling blue green of tropical waters.

"James, please join us," Cameron said before calling out to House, "you can too House, as long as you behave."

Wilson smiled at her and House rolled his eyes but took a seat, saying, "For the record, I'm just sitting here for the possibility of some juicy gossip, not because I want to talk with her." He nodded his head in Titania's direction, who just smiled sweetly in response.

"I wouldn't expect anything less at this point."

"So Titania, where are you from?" Wilson asked, before taking a bite of his salad.

"Well, all over actually. From birth to two years it was Paris. My maternal grandparents had moved there while mom was pregnant with me. After I turned two, mom decided she wanted to go back to school and got into Oxford. That is where she met Will. He had been the TA in one of her classes. A few years after that, Mom and Will married and Will got a teaching job at Oxford. We stayed there for five years. Mom's parents had moved back to the states during that time and mom really missed them. Then Will received a job offer at Harvard and decided to take it, partly because he knew it would make mom happy to be closer to grandma and grandpa. So I was in Boston until college. I decided to go to Stanford. After that, it's been over seven years in San Francisco."

"Wow. So what do you do for a living?" Wilson asked.

"I'm a solar project developer."

"What do you do for that?" Wilson said with interest.

"I help in the construction and installation of solar panels for hospitals and schools. The company does instillations for private homes as well but I liked the corporate end. "

"How did you get into that" Cameron asked with interest.

"I grew up green. Mom loved the whole hippie age. She even lived in a commune that was run by some cousins and their friends, the summer after her high school graduation. She was all about natural and organic and recycling and alternate power. I grew up loving nature. I also loved building. I was always playing with blocks, always drawing out plans for buildings and homes and whatnot. When it came time to think about college I decided that I wanted to something with both my interests. I heard about the job I'm in now and decided that was what I wanted to do. So I went for mechanical engineering."

"That is awesome." Cameron said.

House finally joined the conversation with a question of his own.

"You said the other day you were also in town for a work conference. What is that for?"

"My company is actually holding a series of lectures for the colleges in this area that have the mechanical engineering course study besides talking with local businesses about the benefits of switching to solar power. Since I'm in the division that works with hospitals and schools, I'm talking with local ones about what we offer."

"Are you speaking at the conference?" Cameron inquired.

"I giving a couple lectures."

"You must do well."

"I do."

"So how much you make?" House asked.

"House! That's so rude!" Cameron hit him on the arm.

"Uh, yeah. That's the point" he replied smartly.

"It's ok. I make $80,000 now."

House whistled. "Nice."

"Yes it is. I've been very blessed."

"So how long are you in town for?" Wilson asked.

"Ten more days. I have only today and tomorrow left for the conference. Then I took a week so I can stay to see Greg."

"Yeah well looks like you're going to have to find something else to fill your time." House said.

"Why? Why won't you even consider the possibility that I could in fact be your child?"

"For starters, you're what, twenty five tops? Too young to be my kid if you were born my first semester of college."

Titania sighed but smiled and reached into her purse, drawing out her wallet. She opened it and held it up to show her ID to House.

"As you can see, I was born August 2, 1978. So I'll be thirty one in a few months."

House stared at the ID for a bit then looked up.

"Okay so you're old enough," he said but still had the stubborn look and tone.

Titania sighed and put her wallet away.

"I know it's going to take some time getting used to me but it is true. I don't have a reason to lie to you, not now." She had a sad look in her eyes that caught his attention. He looked at her questioningly but she just wiped her mouth with a napkin and started to get her tray of food together to dispose of. She turned to Cameron saying, "Thank you so much for inviting me to lunch with you and the information. I appreciate it. And it was nice meeting you Dr. Wilson. Allison told me some about you and your friendship with Greg." She started to stand up and tilted some and grabbed the edge of the table.

"Whoa. You okay?" Wilson said, reaching out to her.

"Yeah, guess I stood up too fast." She stood for a moment to steady herself before picking up her tray and turning to House.

"I planned on getting to know you and spend time with you and I will." Then turning to Cameron and Wilson said, "I got a tip that Elements is a great restaurant and planning checking it out tonight. Would you two like to join me? Seven?"

"Sure, sounds good to me." Cameron said.

"Count me in." Wilson added.

"Hey what about me?" House asked, looking put out.

Titania raised an eyebrow at him. "You're obviously not invited."

House huffed, stood up and limped away. The three stood, watching him go.

Wilson turned to Titania. "That was great. I think I'm in love." Titania laughed.

"Well from what I've heard about him and witnessed first hand, I figured I have to be a bit tough with him."

"You've definitely gotten his attention know. I just hope you can handle what you're getting yourself into." Cameron said.

"Oh, I can. Once I pump you guys for more info. So tonight at seven?"

"We'll be there" replied Wilson.

"I'm looking forward to it. See you then." Titania walked away, disposing of her tray and left the cafeteria.

Cameron turned to Wilson with a glint in her eyes. "This is going to be quite amusing. Think he's going to be able to handle this?"

"Not sure. But he sure is going to fight it."

Cameron nodded in agreement before making her way back to work, looking forward to dinner that night and learning more about the woman who in her opinion was undoubtedly House's daughter.