A/N: Once again, I've been terribly remiss in responding to all of your wonderful reviews. I really, really do appreciate them and I promise to be better! And also, a big thanks to everyone else who is reading this story and checking out my older stories. It gives me a warm glow to see my older babies getting some fresh views. Thanks to everyone!

Chapter 17

House was surprised to find himself enjoying spending time with Karen's son. Daniel was a bright boy with an interest in music and other things that House himself liked. They spent a lot of time together in those first few weeks.

Karen was thrilled that they'd bonded, but she was afraid that House was letting the boy get away with too much.

They stayed up late – even on school nights. House relaxed curfews behind Karen's back and let Daniel slide on household chores.

"Teenagers have to have limits." She told him.

"Teenagers need to be free to figure life out." He replied.

"He's not you. And we're not your parents."

"He'll be fine."

House even let him try out his motorcycle – in the driveway of course. But that still worried Karen.

"He doesn't even have his learner's permit yet." She told House. "It's not a good idea."

"Relax. We're only in the driveway. I'm not letting him do anything dangerous."

"What if he thinks he can ride it without you?"

"He's not stupid."

"He's a teenager."

"You worry too much, Mom."

Karen just shook her head. House's permissiveness with the boy continued, as did Karen's worry. She wanted to set the limits she knew Daniel needed, but she also didn't want to discourage the relationship between him and House. So she hoped that Daniel's normal good sense would keep him in line.

One evening, House and Karen went out to dinner. They used her car and when they came home, they went right to bed, assuming the kids were already asleep.

Until the doorbell rang an hour later.

They opened it to find a policeman standing with Daniel. The boy looked terrified.

"Oh, my God! Daniel! What happened?"

"Are you Mrs. Rossi?" the officer asked.

"Yes."

"And is this your son?"

"Yes, of course, he is. What happened?"

"He was riding a motorcycle without a license. We caught him when he crashed it."

"What?" House said. "What motorcycle?"

"An orange Repsol, license number, uh, Y91, registered to a Gregory House."

House stared at Daniel. "You were riding my bike?"

"You're Mr. House."

"Yeah. You took my bike?"

Daniel looked like he was about to cry, but he nodded and whispered, "Yes."

The officer handed Karen a piece of paper. "Here's the citation for underage driving, driving without a license and reckless driving. Mr. House, do you want to press charges for motorcycle theft?"

"Yes." House said.

"No." Karen said, glaring at him. "We'll take care of it. Thank you officer."

The police officer nodded. "The motorcycle was damaged and has been towed to the police impound lot." He handed him a card with the address..

"You wrecked my bike?" House barked.

Daniel looked miserable. The police officer nodded to all of them and walked away.

Karen closed the door behind him, then turned to her son. "Oh, Daniel, how could you?"

"You took my bike?" House demanded.

"Sorry." Daniel said in a small voice.

"Let me repeat that: YOU TOOK MY BIKE!"

"Okay, okay, I said I'm sorry."

"Where was your fucking head? Wait, I know, it was out looking for your fucking brain!"

Karen was very upset. "Daniel, that was an absolutely terrible thing to do. I can't even believe that you would ever consider that. I am so disappointed in you."

House turned to her. "He took my bike!"

"Yes, Greg, I know. And he'll be punished for it. Go to bed now, Daniel, it's late. We'll discuss your punishment tomorrow."

The boy slunk off and Karen sat on the sofa, clearly upset.

"Do you realize he took my bike?"

"Yes, Greg, I realize that. I heard the policeman when he told us and I heard Daniel when he admitted to it. I've also heard the twenty times you're repeated it in the last twenty minutes."

He sat down beside her. "I just can't believe that he would do that."

"Me neither. That's not the way he normally behaves."

He looked at her. "Are you blaming me? Because I let him get away with stuff?"

"No, I'm not blaming you. You don't know about teenagers and how they push the limits. I should have been more vigilant. But I really wanted the two of you to get along, so I let it go. But still, he knows better than that."

"What are you going to do to him?"

"What are we going to do?"

"Huh?"

"Well, it was your bike that he stole and damaged. You need to be a part of the decision on his punishment."

He realized she was right and he nodded. They spent the next hour discussing it and finally decided on the best punishment for the boy. And they decided House should tell him.

The next day, Karen sent Daniel to the kitchen where House was having breakfast. The boy entered with a hesitant step and stopped a few feet away from House.

"Sit down." House told him. As the boy complied, he said, "Do you want breakfast?"

Daniel shook his head and avoided meeting House's eyes.

"Okay, here's how it's gonna be. I'm not turning the accident in to my insurance company. I'm not having my rates go up because of you. And you're damn lucky that no one else was involved, because then we'd be screwed."

Daniel nodded.

"So, you are going to pay for the damage to my bike. Out of your own money."

Daniel looked at him then. "But I'm saving my money for a car!"

"Yeah, well, you'll have more time to worry about that. Your mom just pushed out when you can get your license by six months."

"But…"

"Hey, you know that getting your license is all about responsibility. You pull a stunt like this and all you show is how not ready you are to drive. So the repairs will probably cost more than you've got. I'll pay for it, and you'll pay me back."

Daniel nodded.

"Okay, we're done here."

"Really?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, I think your mom is going to ground you for some period of time or something. She'll tell you. But that's it for me."

Daniel just stared at him.

"What?" House asked. "You want more punishment?"

"I – well, I thought you were – I thought you would…"

"Spit it out kid."

"Well, you were really mad."

"Yeah, I still am!"

"Well, I thought you'd want to hit me."

House stared at him. A cold chill ran through him at the boy's words. He swallowed, then said quietly, "Why would you think that?"

"I screwed up! I screwed up bad! And you were really, really mad! I just thought you would probably want to hit me then. Hell, I deserve it!"

"No." House told him. "You don't deserve it. You're a teenager. That's what being a teenager is about, screwing up. Hopefully, you do all your screwing up with small stuff so that you learn not to screw up later with big stuff.

"But, let me say this right now: No matter how bad you screw up, I'll never hit you. Understand?"

Daniel nodded. "Can I go now?"

"Yep."

The boy left the room and Karen walked to the table and sat down beside him. She picked up his hand and held it.

"Thank you, that was good. And what you said about hitting him was great."

House shrugged. "Maybe."

She eyed him speculatively. "How often did your parents hit you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I've never said…"

"Of course you haven't. But with that speech, I realize that you had elders who didn't treat you like that."

"Leave it, Karen."

"I'm not intruding. It's your business. I'm just understanding you a little more every day."

She leaned over and kissed him. He didn't want her knowing the truth. He didn't want anyone knowing. Even Wilson only knew a little of it. He'd managed to keep most of it from his shrink as well.

But Karen had seen through everything and guessed at what he kept hidden. He stared at his coffee cup for a while, then looked at her.

"I don't like to talk about my childhood – which you have already guessed. Let's just say that I won't lay a hand on either of your kids for any reason. Thanks for understanding and not intruding."

She smiled, leaned over and kissed him.