All right, everyone should like this chapter. You get introduced to a character of Kara's past. Hope you like it! Disclaimer: I own nothing from House M.D. Just Skyler, Kara, and the new guy.

Chapter Eighteen: Things Don't Work That Easily

It was the first time Kara didn't return before sunrise. She had made herself comfortable in Skyler's chair and fell into a light, unfulfilling sleep. "Do you think they noticed?" Kara whispered softly to Skyler as she sat up quietly, rubbing the sleep from out of her eyes. Skyler stared at her for a moment, confused at why Kara was there. "Last night wasn't a dream." She quickly reminded her friend.

Skyler groaned. "Oh, well, maybe not right now. Maybe in a bit when you don't come out." She offered, pulling the covers off. "Are you going to stay here all day?"

Kara gave Skyler a wry smile, knowing why she had asked that question. "Nope. And I'm not telling you where I'm going either." Kara said, straightening her clothes. She looked over to see her friend's apprehensive glance.

"Kara, you should tell me just in case you get into any trouble out there." Skyler began, becoming herself once again. It seemed that every time Kara went outside unsupervised, stuff seemed to happen. "Just a hint. I promise I won't tell your parents if they come hounding me."

Kara ignored the pleading look in her friend's eyes. "I've been out and about before. Just don't worry, Skyler. Now, give me some breakfast before I go on my way, will ya?" She said, smiling slightly to herself. Skyler groaned and nodded, opening the door and heading towards the living room. Skyler was always a bit slow in the morning. Kara popped open the window and looked back at Skyler's room. Skyler would be mad when she came back, but Skyler wouldn't let Kara leave any other way without knowing where Kara was. Kara surreptitiously slipped out the window and carefully made her way down to the ground. With two feet on the ground, she began to run. Running was something Kara didn't naturally do unless she had a reason too. And it was a pretty damn good one.

&

The sunlight shone directly in Cuddy's eyes, waking her from her deep sleep. She groaned and sat up slowly, looking around groggily as she searched for her alarm clock. Her alarm clock was lying on the floor, showing that it was ten o'clock. Cuddy gasped and practically sprang out of bed. She was extremely late for work. Cuddy was only glad that it was Sunday and Kara didn't have to go to school. She exited her room and stopped cold as House looked up from the television. She was wearing her thin white nightgown and he was definitely getting a show. Cuddy felt insecure for only a minute before her temper got to her. "You were awake!? Why didn't you wake me up?" She asked, outraged.

House stared at Cuddy for another minute before finally deciding that he had better answer her or face the wrath of Lucifer's daughter. "You said not to get any ideas." He told her. "I was listening to you."

Cuddy scowled. How could she argue with him? "How is it that you remember some stuff I say and then totally forget other stuff?" She asked.

"What?" House said perfectly, looking up at Cuddy innocently. Cuddy let out an aggravated sigh and went back to her room to no doubt change into something less thin and showy. House grinned and turned back to the television. He had silence for a few more minutes before Cuddy came out again, fully clothed and with her shirt buttoned all the way. She was walking fast, muttering something under her breath as she rushed by the living room to get the coffee from the coffee pot.

"You drank all the coffee?" Cuddy asked loudly, on the verge of anger, but not quite there yet because she had just woke up.

"If it's gone, then I guess so." House answered cockily, turning up the volume.

Cuddy entered the living room, snatching the remote from House's hand. "Go...wake Kara up!" She snapped, turning it off before going back into the kitchen with the remote in hand.

House stood up slowly, staring at the blank TV despondently. He wasn't going to limp over to the TV and turn it on manually. He snatched his cane up and went to the closed door, rapping his cane against it tiredly. After a minute or two of continuous rapping, he paused, frowning. Kara hadn't come barging out, giving him the death glare for waking her up. "Kara?" He asked, opening the door slowly. No one stopped him so he swung it open and stared at the empty bed. His eyes glanced over at the window that was carelessly left open. House cursed softly. First, he had to deal with Cuddy, if he was able to survive after that, then they would both have to either make their parents busy or tell them that they just lost their child. "Cuddy, you might want to forget about the coffee." He said loudly, turning slowly to the beast waiting in the kitchen.

&

Even though it had been a long time since Kara had ran away, her feet still knew where she wanted to go. Earnest's Treasures stood before her, its red and white paint peeling and the smell of garbage clung to the air heavily. "Hey, Earnest!" Kara yelled loudly, taking a stick and hitting the wire fence to make a weird noise. "Earnest!"

"Damn it, this place is up to code regulat..." A dirty old man, older than House, yelled, shuffling out of a shack like building. He looked over at Kara and she could all most hear the clogs working in his mind as he processed who she was. "Hell, its little Kara! I haven't seen you in like..." He stopped, trying to think back that far.

"Yeah, Earnest, in like forever. So, let me in because I have a bunch of news to tell you." Kara told him quickly. Earnest pushed the button that opened the gate and she headed inside the trash dump site to the shack that Earnest called home.

&

"So, lemme get this as straight as a broken arrow, missy. You founded yer parents, who are in lub with each other, but can't emit it?" He paused as he poured some more mysterious liquid out of a black tinted bottle into his mug. "Now they said they wished they could go back in time and not have this preedickiement."

"Yeah, that's about it." Kara said, stroking Earnest's bull dog's head as it slept beside her peacefully.

"Well, hell, I'd wish I could go back in time if I had a kid like you..." He joked, laughing. It was obvious that he was drunk. He was always drunk. Kara and Skyler, whenever she came with her, had never seen him ever sober before.

"Earnest..." Kara snapped, frowning.

"I was only joking, little Missy. Well, what the hell do you want me to do about it?" He asked, becoming instantly serious. It was hard to take Earnest seriously. He had this engineer's hat on and it was always on crooked. His dirty tweed jacket was always buttoned up wrong and he would stumble around or mumble inaudibly half the time.

"Nothing, I just need someone to talk too." Kara told him sadly.

"What happened to whatsherface? Sarah was it? Sybil? Lucy?" Earnest asked.

"Skyler?" Kara asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Who's that?" Earnest looked around, as if she was here.

Kara groaned, putting her face in her hands. Kara, at the moment, was questioning why she had come to see the stupidest idiot in the whole world. But, at the same time, she knew the answer. Earnest, when he had rode around on those garbage trucks, always stopped by the orphanage to hit on Ms. Charles and give all of them little toys that he would save. Kara had known Earnest as long as she could remember and always found him a bit fascinating. "Earnest, can we just be quiet for like a few minutes, okay?" She asked.

"Mmkay." He answered, grabbing his bottle and drinking straight from it. Kara looked down at the now awake Smithy, the bull dog, who moaned in pleasure of having his head scratched. Although visiting Earnest was a nice thing to do, she couldn't help but feel horrible for running out on her parents like that. What if Skyler was right about what she said?

"You like me, don'tcha Smithy?" Kara asked him softly. Smithy looked up with his sad eyes, wondering why Kara had stopped. "I'll take that as a yes." She told him, continuing to scratch his head.

"The watah tastes strange..." Earnest trailed off.

&

House opened Cuddy's door, relieved to see Wilson waiting instead of anybody else. "You said there was an emergency? What is it? Is everyone okay?" Wilson asked worriedly, pushing past House. House closed the door and followed Wilson into the living room. He had found Cuddy. Well, at this point, it wasn't hard to find Cuddy. She had been sitting on the couch for over thirty minutes, just staring off into space. She was taking the news pretty well he thought. When he told her, she had rushed over to the room, only to start hyperventilating and talking way too fast for him to understand anything. He was able to bring her to her couch and sit her down, and that was where he had left her. Wilson looked over at House. "What happened?"

"I told her she looked pretty and she freaked out." House said with a smirk only to receive a glare from Wilson. "Kara ran away in the middle of the night."

"She what?" Wilson asked, shocked. "Did you call the police?"

"No." House answered slowly. He sat down next to Cuddy as Wilson stomped over to the phone and called for him. "Lisa." House stated, staring at Cuddy beside him.

Wilson finished up the call and came back, looking slightly agitated. "The police said that they will be here soon, but they can't put a missing person's file out yet. She has to be gone for more than twenty four hours before they can do that." He said, setting the phone down and sitting on the other side of Cuddy. Both men were quiet for a moment. "Lisa..." Wilson began, taking his hand in hers and patting it. "I think she's in a state of deep shock. Do you know how to..." He began, but suddenly House got up. "House?" House came back in a few seconds, holding something behind his back. "What do you have, House?" Wilson asked, alarmed by the strange glint in House's eyes.

House stood in front of Cuddy and suddenly, threw a glass of water straight in Cuddy's face. He had always wanted to do that...under different circumstances of course. Very different circumstances. She gasped and sputtered. "House! What the hell was that for?" She yelled viciously, giving him a glare that was even worse then her death glare.

"You were in shock." Wilson said quickly. He never really understood why he would come to House's defense.

Cuddy sighed loudly and wiped the water from her face with a handkerchief from Wilson. "So, she really ran away?" She asked softly. House and Wilson nodded. "Why?"

"I don't know..." House told her. Wilson's eyes widened with horror. The conversation he had had with her yesterday ran through his mind.

"Umm..." Wilson said hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck. Both eyes turned slowly onto Wilson. "I might have an idea..."

&

"Missy, lemme tell ya a story." Earnest said as he came down the small hill. Kara had wondered off to the back of the dump, where one could watch the river flow and no one would be able to spot you. Kara looked up at him, as did Smithy, who wagged his tail happily. Earnest stumbled at the bottom but managed to get his balance back, before plopping down beside Smithy and bringing out his alcohol. He took a big swig of it before setting it down. "Once upon a day, there was this lil' girlie. She was a cute lil' bugga with lots of spunk and smiles. Although she looked damn right cheery on the outside, she wasn't feeling the same on the inside. Somethin' was troublin' her. So one day, she met a very handsome, very witty, totally awesome garbage man..." He stopped, swatting a fly before turning back to Kara. "Where was I?"

"She met a very dirty, slightly delusional, totally weird garbage man." Kara told him, smirking.

"Ah, yes." He said, not even knowing that Kara had changed it on him. "So, the garbage man sees the lil' girlie and goes to her, because she's cryin' in a corner all by her lonesome. The man says 'What's wrong, lil' Missy?' and the girl stops cryin' long enough to say 'Nothin'. The garbage man is very smart for he goes 'If you be cryin' 'bout nothin', there's lil' hope for you because you would be cryin' for a long time.' The lil' girlie says 'Mmkay maybe it is 'bout somethin'." He stopped, but this time it was to wet his whistle. "The man said 'That's good...now tell ol' Earnest what the matter is.' I bet you didn't think it was me." He looked over at Kara.

"Nope." Kara lied.

Earnest chuckled. "Anywhos, the lil' missy tells me 'bout her troubles. When she was finished, I pondered for just a moment. You see, this lil girlie was very able to see things as they were...no butterin' up things for her. She wanted answers. And this very handsome, very witty, totally awesome garbage man was able to tell her that things don't work out that easily, even if ya do a wishin' on a starie. Because, ol' Earnest had had some 'ifficult times in his life as well and cryin' 'bout it...or runnin' 'way...ain't gonna do ya no good 'bout it." He finished. "You do remember that lil' girlie, don'tcha?"

Kara nodded quietly. Of course she remembered. That lil' girlie was her. Slowly, she stood up, dusting her jeans off. Earnest, no matter how drunk or weird he was, managed to make sense in the end. That was why everyone had so much respect for him. One couldn't judge him from the first appearance. One had to get to know him. "Thanks, Earnest, for the story."

"No problema, conquistador!" He told her, trying his hand at Spanish. Kara stared at him for a moment before starting back up the hill, leaving ol' Earnest to his drinking.

Don'tcha love Earnest? Will Kara go home? What does Wilson mean by 'I might have an idea…'? Review and find out!