CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Daddy's Secret

House was flabbergasted. He sat in his office, his chair turned towards the window, his mind reeling with what happened between him and Kathi.

"Women! Man, I hate 'em…maybe I should bat for the other team? Oh, Wilson would …"

"Wilson would what?" Dr James Wilson asked, sitting in the chair opposite his desk. House had no idea he wasn't alone; he never even heard his door open. "Come on, let's get something to eat," Wilson suggested.

House spun his chair around, stood up and approached Wilson. "That depends. Got $5?"

"For what, lunch?"

"No, for Stevie's college fund, you moron," House answered as he held out his hand for the $5.

Wilson shook his head then the men walked to the cafeteria. A few minutes later they were seated eating; well, Wilson was the only one eating but House couldn't. Wilson made a mental note of his lack of appetite, not sure whether it was because Kathi was in surgery that very moment or the pain in his leg had doubled as of late.

"Uh, if you're not going to eat that then I want my five bucks back," Wilson told House, who just gave him a dirty look.

Whatever was eating House was bothering Wilson, though he didn't know why or why he even cared it bothered him. Sure, Wilson was used to his emotionally stunted friend's quirks, and it wasn't the first time he'd pried into his life, but this was different. He knew House wouldn't just blurt out that he was hopelessly in love with Kathi or that his leg hurt like hell. But it sure ate at him. And for once the tables were turned. Ever since Wilson found out about Foreman and Wendy, House hadn't pried into Wilson's love life, or lack thereof. But now Wilson was trying to get some kind of truth, whether it be pain or Kathi, which to Wilson, all relationships were – a pain.

"You do know removing those cysts is a fairly common procedure. She'll be fine," Wilson said, hoping to get some kind of reaction out of him that would tell him the answer. Of course, House didn't answer and all Wilson could do was shake his head and snuckle…a laugh in between a chuckle and a snort. He was crazy to think he'd actually get an answer, and he was right.

"What the hell is so funny?" House started to ask but was interrupted by Stacy and a man as they approached their table.

"Hi, Dr House, Wilson," she said. "This is Judge Sasser, Kathi's father," she introduced.

Wilson nodded his head slowly in a hello and stood, excused himself from the table and left. House took his first bite of food and ignored the two.

"Dr. House, I need to talk to you about Kathi," the Judge said as he pulled a chair out for Stacy and sat in Wilson's empty chair.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll get a paternity test to prove I'm not the father," House said sarcastically, as if they were taking precious time away from his busy life.

"Greg!"

"Oh, Mrs. Warner, it's okay. You have quite the reputation in the court, Dr. House. You got Judge Cowan so upset and convinced he had heart disease he retired three weeks later and moved to Arizona. The funny thing is he died three months later."

"Heart attack?" House asked, even though he didn't really care.

"No, he got run over by the trash truck," Judge Sasser answered stoically then a smile crossed his face. "Look, I'm here because there's something you need to know about Kathi's medical history."

"Yeah, I know. I read her chart. Us doctors are required by law to do that before someone has surgery." House's face contorted in pain as he felt a sharp pain surge from his left shin up his leg and gave Stacy a nasty look for kicking him under the table.

"No, that's not…" the Judge looked at Stacy exasperatedly then back to House. "She has cancer."

House looked at Stacy shocked. "You have cancer, Stacy?"

Stacy frowned and shook her head. "No, idiot. Kathi does." That got House's attention.

A couple of hours later House was seated beside Kathi's bed absent mindedly flipping the channels on the t.v., not paying attention to what he was watching.

"…Back to four…previewing Monster Trucks…this season," Kathi mumbled.

House turned to look at her as she was looking back. "Look, I am the Remote God. I get to watch what I want to watch…you said Monster Trucks?" House asked.

She slowly nodded her head. "…Kitty Whiskers and Spot the Dogmata racing…"

"Oh, man! They haven't raced since…wait, they've never raced. AWESOME!" Realization kicked in that he was actually talking to a woman that knew about Monster Trucks. 'There's hope for women, yet.'

"You like 'em?" House asked, still stunned.

"Yeah…my brother got him hooked. Although I do like derbies a little better but only if there is a guarantee of at least six crashes." That made House laugh and she laughed right along with him. "Greg, look, I'm sorry about earlier…"

"Shhh, what channel was it on?"

"I'm not telling," she told him then turned serious. "Greg, my father came to see me before I went into surgery. You just had the unfortunate mishap of seeing me right after I heard…" She turned her head away from him, almost as if ashamed.

"I know, Kathi. He just told me," House said softly, almost caringly as she turned back at him with anger written on her face.

"How could he keep that from me? All I knew and he told me was I had PKD, not cancer. And you didn't even tell me when your troup took the MRI."

"Kathi, we never saw anything other than the cysts on your liver and pancreas."

"Well, that's why I went wonkers on you, Greg. I just figured it'd be easier…" She closed her eyes as if in pain. House unlocked the drug admin box and upped her morphine. Immediately her face softened and her body relaxed. "I don't…wan…do that to you…"

"Kathi, get some sleep."

She slowly shook her head and mumbled, "The thing is, I kinda like you, Greg." She then drifted off to sleep.

He sat watching her for a few minutes before he got up and went to his office. He saw the triplets sitting in the conference room – Cameron looking at a file, Chase reading a medical book and Foreman on the phone.

Anger grew inside him. He burst into the conference room and said, "Cameron, you've been elected Official MRI Retrieval person." She looked at him confused. "Yeah, I said you're an OMR. 'Omer', Ommmmrrrrr - sounds like you're meditating, badly."

"House, what are you rambling on about?" she asked him.

"Apparently, these two nincompoops can't even take a simple MRI to detect cancer…tumors, actually." The three still looked confused. "Look, I don't have to explain this to you. You three are doctors…YOU figure it out." House then stormed out of the room.

In the hospital's garage, House sat on his silent bike and wishing he could fly out of there – out of N.J., out West. Just drive. No itinerary, just wind in his face, his thoughts raging through his brain to try to justify what Kathi's father had done.

EARLIER IN THE CAFETERIA:

"You did what?" House asked Judge Sasser.

"Her mother had pancreatic cancer that started as PKD and when Kathi told me she had PKD I just…I didn't want her to do what her mother did."

"Oh, she left you for a younger man?" House snorted.

"Greg, knock it off!" Stacy warned him.

"No, she killed herself. I had Kathi's medical records changed so she didn't know she was dying."

"That's illegal," House said.

"So. You've never done anything illegal?" the Judge asked. "If you had a daughter that you knew was going to die, after watching your son die of the same thing, wouldn't you try to protect your remaining child?" House remained silent. "I told her, before she went into surgery. They'll find the tumors. She'll know soon enough. I wanted to be the one to tell her."

"That was brave of you, Judge. But she's not a child. I think she would have been able to handle…"

"That's not up to you to decide whether or not she could handle it," the Judge snapped.

House stood up angrily. "Oh, I don't think you really know your daughter."

"Oh, and you do?" he asked.

"Yeah. I think…I think I care about her."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ok, I know not everyone likes romance…but this isn't gooshy, I promise.

This has gone from Jury Duty to a dilemma House faces – and he enlists the aid of Cameron to help him make a decision, whether it be a mistake or not.

As it turns out, House gets another perspective into the making of Cameron's psyche.