Okay, I updated yay! I think it's a pretty long one too. Whoo! I'm not sure if I got House's dad's character right, so if he seems a bit weird, I'm sorry. It's been a while since I seen the episode with House and his parents, so yeah.

Chapter Twenty: The Prick and The Mistake

"Does cruel and unusual punishment mean anything to you?" Kara asked angrily, peering up at House, who stood in front of the white board. Cameron, Chase, and Foreman looked over at Kara for a minute before looking back at House. House and Cuddy, after talking to Kara about what they had meant and discussing what to do about Kara's running off, they decided that doing a little work wouldn't hurt her. Unfortunately for them, they didn't check up on Kara's standards, which for her, work made her dangerously ill. House was left to coming up with the punishment. First, he had made Kara walk back and forth between Wilson's and House's offices to carry pointless messages. Then, Kara had to carry a stack of very heavy paperwork to Cameron's office. When she got there, Cameron told her to send it back to House, because it had nothing to do with their current case, so she had to go back just to figure out that House just wanted some time to think of a better punishment. Now, she sat at the conference table with everyone else, copying all the diseases with their symptoms known to man in a huge book that was more than a thousand pages. She was page two and had all ready used three pieces of paper.

"No, it doesn't, now get back to work." He snapped, turning his icy blue gaze from Kara to his ducklings. "Well, what do we have so far?" He asked, raising his eyebrows and pointed at the board. It all ready had dementia on it and myoclonus.

Chase let out his breath loudly, giving a look that meant that he was lost for words. Cameron shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well," Foreman began. "His MRI came up with high signal intensity in the caudate nucleus and putamen bilaterally on T2-weighted images."

Cameron looked up quickly. "But that only points too..."

"Ooh, this is where you guys finally guess the answer that I, of course, all ready know. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease." House said eagerly, grinning wickedly as he moved, revealing CJD that he had written on the board. "Now, who wants to go tell the man that he's got an incurable disease that he's going to ultimately die from."

"House!" Cameron protested in horror. She couldn't believe that he found a man dying from an incurable disease fun.

"Can I tell him instead of doing this?" Kara asked quickly.

"No." Was House's quick reply. "Stop whining, Cameron. You all most had an incurable disease too." House told her. Kara could see the anger building in Cameron's contorted face. Instead of saying anything, she got up and left the conference room.

Slowly, Foreman and Chase gathered their things as well and started out after Cameron. "How did we miss that?" Kara heard Chase whisper to Foreman, who shrugged in return.

House wiped the board quietly and finally turned his gaze on his daughter, who was copying the book unhappily and at a snail's pace. "Tell you what," House said, leaning over her and blocking out her light. Kara looked up at him. "If you get to page five in the next twenty minutes, I'll let you off the hook for the rest of the two thousand seven hundred and twenty eight pages." He finished, picking up the book to glance at the last page. "I'll be back."

Kara stared at her father incredously as he limped out of the conference room and down the hall. She doubted that she could get to page five in an hour but she started writing faster, mashing her words up as much as she could and using shortcuts too.

&

House entered Cuddy's office without permission, slamming the door into the wall and then letting it close back on itself as he stood in front of her. Cuddy glared up at him from the intrusion that had made her jump and make a jagged line all the way down the page. She glanced around and then frowned. "Where's Kara?" She asked.

"Doing her punishment." He answered lazily, picking up one of the pens on Cuddy's desk and then placing it in his jacket pocket.

Cuddy raised her eyebrows. "Still? What's the punishment?"

House grinned wickedly. "Punishments. I made her carry messages from Wilson to me and then some paperwork to Cameron for no reason, and now she's copying diseases and the symptoms on to paper." He answered proudly. It was a good punishment.

Cuddy looked at him in shock. "I have to admit, House, that I had doubts that you would make her do something incredibly horrible, but you proved me wrong." She said, smiling up at him. Maybe House was maturing slowly.

House smirked. "I know, I'm that good." He told her egotistically, his chest puffing out slightly.

There was a moment of silence before Cuddy gasped. "Oh, Kara's school is having an in-service day tomorrow." She began, pulling up the school's calendar from one of her desk drawers.

"And you're gonna give me the day off to spend with Kara?" House asked hopefully.

Cuddy looked up at him sharply with an unamused look on her face. "No offense but I wouldn't let you spend the whole day with Kara without giving her a survival packet first." She told him, rolling his eyes at his ridiculous comment.

House frowned. "It's taken. Besides, you all ready left her with me once." He pointed out, as if that would help with his case.

"I know and looked how well that turned out. You freaked out when our daughter had her first period." Cuddy said. "I'm thinking that maybe she could spend the day with each of her grandparents."

"Not mine." House advised quickly.

"House, she has a right to know her grandparents." Cuddy told him with a sigh. House glared at her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Look, we can't just keep her here. Someone will notice and complain. I'm sorry, but that is just how it's going to be." Cuddy said, giving him a look which clearly meant that was the last word.

House gave her an icy glare and slipped out of the office. Cuddy watched him leave with a shocked expression. No nasty comments? Frowning, she turned back to her paperwork.

&

The door opened to the conference room and Kara looked up frantically, seeing her father enter the room. "It hasn't been twenty minutes yet, has it? I'm just on..." She paused for a moment, finishing a word before flipping the page in the book. "I'm just on page four!"

"Relax." He told her soothingly, coming up to her side and closing the book. "You're going to be going through hell tomorrow so I might as well give you the rest of the day off." He picked the book up, examining it. "Put that up on the top shelf over there." He pointed to the place.

Kara took the book from him and walked to the shelf, trying to place the book on the top shelf of the very tall bookshelf. She managed to get it in there and grinned triumphantly at House before frowning. "What do you mean by I'm gonna be going through hell tomorrow?" She asked.

"Come on, it's all most time for me to leave." House told her, glancing at the clock.

"You came in late, though. Mom says you have to stay because..." Kara began.

"Cuddy says a lot of things." He pointed out. "Doesn't mean I care."

"You should." Kara told him. House rolled his eyes and started out of the conference room, beckoning Kara to follow him. Somehow or other, Kara and House both made it out of the hospital without Cuddy noticing and House drove Kara to his house. When he reached the house, he called the hospital so they could give a message to Cuddy that House had Kara with him. He wasn't going to call her himself. That was like committing suicide. Or becoming deaf. After he called and left a message, he turned his cell off and unplugged his phone. Kara watched him with an amused expression on her face. "Mom's gonna kill you when she comes and picks me up."

"I doubt your mother would commit murder." House said, giving Kara a 'get real' expression. He sat down beside and went to reach over for the remote, only to find that it wasn't in its usual place. Muttering something under his breath, House stood up and began to gaze around the room.

"Dad, how did you and mom meet?" Kara suddenly asked, causing House to take his attention off of the missing remote and settle on his daughter.

"Why would want to know that?" House asked carefully, wondering where that question had come from. Usually there was a warning to these types of thing, like when someone started talking about their parents and stuff. It just wasn't usually out of the blue. Kara stared at him sternly. "Ask your mother. She remembers it probably better than I do." Kara's eyes widened slightly and he realized what he had sounded like. "She's better with the story telling." He added.

Kara sighed heavily and stuck her hand down in the couch's cushions, where the remote had fallen and clicked the television on. After receiving a deathly glare from House, she surrendered the remote over to him. After about an eternity, Cuddy finally made it to House's apartment. She knocked on the door loudly and House answered. "Why are both of your phones off?" Cuddy demanded angrily, putting her hands on her hips as she stalked into the apartment.

"Since when have you been worried about my phones? Because, if you want, I should be getting the bills pretty soon." House countered easily, sitting back down on his couch and putting his gaze on the television.

Cuddy sighed and stepped in front of the TV, blocking it from his view. "I need to be able to contact my child if the need arises." She told him.

"Cuddy, I do enjoy your rotund ass most of the time, but when you use it to block my TV, then I get a little upset." House said, grabbing Cuddy's forearms and moving her out of the way. Cuddy had to admit that House was surprisingly strong. She glared up at him and he glared down at her.

Kara, who had just come from the bathroom, stopped and stared at her parents, who were inches a part from each other. Her heart raced as she thought they were going to kiss! She took a step back and Cuddy spotted her. "Come on, Kara. It's time to go home." She said as House let her arms go. Kara nodded and started towards the door, catching the irrated glance at House thrown by Cuddy. Cuddy followed Kara out, leaving House with his now unblocked TV.

&

Kara stood uncomfortably between Cuddy's parents as they waited in line for the zoo. The orphanage might have been poor but even the state sponsored trips to the zoo. So many trips to the zoo that Kara knew all most all the names of the incarcerated animals. Only this time, it was good thing to keep them in the cages, because some of the animals would probably end up running ramped and killing people. Her grandfather paid the money and they entered the zoo. When House had said that tomorrow would be hell, she didn't think he would be right. Cuddy had warned her that her parents, Kara's grandparents, were still in slight shock and probably wouldn't know what to do with Kara. She had advised her to be nice and be thankful. Two things that Kara all most never used.

"What animal do you want to see first?" Her grandmother asked, looking over at Kara with fake excitement.

"Um, it doesn't matter." Kara answered quietly. Apparently that was the wrong answer, since her grandmother linked arms with her like a schoolgirl and led her off to the first exhibit.

"We can see all the animals." She told Kara. Kara groaned inwardly. So that was where Kara found herself for most of Monday morning, being dragged around by her mother's parents and seeing animals that were too interested in sitting then doing anything else. Finally, her grandfather's cell began to ring, signaling that Cuddy was calling, in which they would meet for lunch and then Kara would be shipped off to another pair of grandparents.

They exited the zoo at a leisurely pace and met up with Cuddy in the hospital's cafeteria. House was there too, looking as if he was dragged here against his will. "So, did you have fun?" Cuddy asked as Kara sat down in her respected place between House and Cuddy.

Kara finished her bite of pizza before answering. "Yeah, we went to the zoo." She answered, nodding her head. She swore she all most gave herself a migraine from not rolling her eyes and not saying something sarcastic.

"That's sounds cool. I haven't been at the zoo in years." Cuddy quipped.

House coughed loudly and snatched his drink, drinking into it deeply. Kara had a good feeling that it was to keep him from saying something. Cuddy still sent an icy glare his way when her parents were looking elsewhere before continuing on with her conversation to them. The time passed fairly well and Kara waiting in Cuddy's office with her parents for House's parents. House looked slightly worried and kept trying to think of excuses to leave. Cuddy kept denying him right of passage.

Finally, House's mother entered the room. "I'm sorry we're late." She said, smiling tiredly.

"It's quite alright. Kara, sweetie, are you ready?" Cuddy told her, looking over at her. Kara nodded and approached her grandmother carefully, wondering why her father seemed to hate his parents. She beckoned for Kara to follow and walked out of the office, Kara right on her heels. Cuddy looked over at House. "I'm sure she'll be fine." She assured him, reaching up and patting House on the shoulder.

"Easy enough for you to say. You don't know them like I do." House reminded her, sighing and glancing over at Cuddy. "Now, I have a question." Cuddy raised an eyebrow at him. "Kara's wondering how we first met."

"What's the question?" Cuddy asked, looking at him confused.

"What am I suppose to tell her? That you..." House said quickly, remembering the story quite well.

Cuddy's eyes widened and she placed her hand over his mouth, shutting him up. "No! We'll come up with a story." She told him frantically. House grinned mischievously and nodded.

&

When Kara got into the car where House's father was waiting for them, she knew that something wasn't right. First of, the car was on, but nothing was playing. Who sits in a car with nothing on and waits? The man that she was supposed to call grandfather sat rigidly in his seat and stared blankly out ahead. Once they were both buckled in, he shifted into reverse and exited the hospital's parking lot without a word. "Where did you go earlier?" Her grandmother asked politely, breaking the silence.

"The zoo." Kara answered quietly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

Her grandmother nodded and they continued driving until they got to the mall. Her grandfather parked and they exited the car. House's mother linked arms with her as well, but it was different then when Cuddy's mother did it. "How about some shopping? You can get anything you want." She offered pleasantly. Kara smiled weakly and they entered a busy store, looking through clothes. Kara all ready had enough clothes and it wasn't like she could wear them at school. She had to wear a dumb old uniform. Time seemed to slow down painfully and soon, her grandmother had to go to the bathroom. "Do you have to go?" She asked her, putting down a shirt.

"No." Kara answered glumly, trying to keep her gaze off of House's father. He stood against the wall, not leaning on it but looking like he was, and just watched us quietly. She nodded, went up to her husband and told him something, before leaving Kara in the jungle of clothes' fixtures and ugly mannequins. Kara, finally gaining up the courage, put the jacket she was looking at down and walked over to her grandfather quietly, leaning against the wall beside him. "Hi." She said, looking over at him.

Nothing. She tried to more times with the same results.

"Usually when someone says hi, it requires for the other person to say hi back." Kara said, her patience wearing thin.

"Really?" The man asked, raising his eyebrow. "I heard it also requires someone to know you and like you."

Kara was quiet for a minute, feeling like she had just been hit. That was a double whammy. One that Kara would have been proud to have said, but not to have been said at. "Wha...you...you don't like me?" Was the only sentence that could have come out right in Kara's mind. She had many thoughts whirling around from that response.

"It's not that I don't like you. I don't like this situation. Having to baby-sit my son's mistake. If he wasn't so damn..." The man said slowly, as if he didn't really mean the first part.

Kara stopped him before he got on a roll. "Baby-sit? I'm thirteen. I don't need a babysitter. And, I might be a mistake, but at least my dad's taking care of it." Kara defended, not liking him all ready. Calling Kara a mistake was not a good thing.

"Taking care of it?" House's father mused. "I know my son. He doesn't have to lie about not being with your mother." He started. There was a way he said those words and that entire sentence that made Kara want to kick him in the back of leg like she did to House when he refused to treat her and Skyler.

"You don't have any right to talk about my parents like that!" Kara snapped loudly.

"I have a right to talk about anyone, actually." He pointed out. That was when Kara snapped.

"No wonder my dad doesn't like you! You're an asshole! A snobby prick that has no idea about anything! My dad warned me about you! God, what..." Kara said venomously, causing people to look over at the duo. Suddenly, there was a stinging area of her cheek, where House's father had slapped her.

"Keep your voice down." He hissed angrily. He began saying something back to Kara, but Kara didn't hear a word. Her cheek felt as if it was on fire. Tears stung in her eyes and she looked over as her grandmother came into view. Her grandfather stopped when she came into earshot.

"What's wrong, Kara?" She asked worriedly.

"I want to go back to the hospital. Now." Kara answered firmly.

Oh! I bet you weren't guessing that! Review and you will be pleasantly rewarded! Cough...cough...hint...hint...huddy...hint...hint...cough...cough. ;)