All right, another update...and promptly I might add. I hope you enjoy it! You know the disclaimer.
Chapter Twenty Five: Punishments and The Conference
Kara's body locked up as soon as House pulled into Cuddy's driveway. He put it into park and turned the ignition off. Cuddy and House both opened the door at the same time and Kara was forced to put her body into action. She opened her door and got out, closing it quietly. Her mind considered the possibility of running away. House wouldn't be able to catch her and her mom was in heels. Odds were good. She shook it out of her mind immediately. The jig was up and she should prepare for the consequences. He couldn't actually kill her...could he? It was always the surgeons who were the killers. Not diagnosticians.
She ducked her head and followed her mother inside of the house, feeling her dad's glare behind her. Kara took a seat on the sofa quietly, leaning back against the comfy cushions. House closed the door and then they both, Cuddy and House, took the offensive position. Standing tall and beside each other with hard glares directed both at Kara. "What were you thinking, Kara?" Cuddy finally snapped, breaking the ominous silence. "Principal Keller asked your father about the test you failed. We know we didn't sign anything." Kara cringed. They knew about the forgery. "Forging my signature is not acceptable. Kara, what are we suppose to do with you?" Cuddy asked, shaking her head at Kara.
Kara's mouth dropped open as her perfect chance appeared. She would so have to thank Skyler later. Kara pressed her lips together and conjured up some crocodile tears. "I'm sorry..." Kara said softly, giving her best innocuous look up at Cuddy. She could practically hear her mother's clogs slowing as she took in Kara's fake distraught expression. "All this stuff...it's just so difficult."
Cuddy tried to step forward, her arms opened slightly to take Kara into a hug, but House stopped her. "She's faking." House stated.
Cuddy looked over at Kara. Tears still trickled out of Kara's eyes. She sighed frustrated. "Kara..." She trailed off, swallowing hard. "You're grounded. You should know enough now that forgery is not the way. Go to your room."
Kara grimaced and got up slowly, heading towards her room. "And..." Cuddy said. Kara turned around quickly in disbelief. There was more? "That's just my punishment. Your father may make his own punishment as well."
House grinned. "Mom!" Kara whined.
"No, you deserve it. Forgery is against the law." Cuddy explained.
"So is murder!" Kara protested, throwing her hand out at House. House smiled even wider.
"You're father's not going to murder you." Cuddy said with a sigh, turning to look at House. "House," Cuddy barked, raising an eyebrow at his grin. He immediately frowned and shook his head.
"Come here, kid." House said, motioning to Kara. Kara gave a 'help me' look at Cuddy but she ignored it. Slowly, Kara slipped into House's rough embrace. "You're gonna wish you've been murdered." He whispered to her, patting her back reassuringly. "Now go to your room." Kara pulled away from House and retreated to her room.
Cuddy slid down on to the couch, putting her elbows on her knees. "How did you know she was faking?" She asked softly, putting her forehead in her hands.
House slowly joined her on the couch, leaning back and putting an arm on the back of the couch, watching her. "I didn't." He answered.
Cuddy looked up at him, alarmed. "Oh my god, what if she actually…" She began frantically, starting to get up.
House grabbed her elbow and forcefully pulled her back on the couch, closer to him in the process. "Did you see how quickly she stopped crying? Those are crocodile tears." House said soothingly, taking his hand off of the couch and putting it on his cane, twirling it between his legs.
Cuddy let out a shaky breath. "So, when do we do this parent teacher conference?" Cuddy asked lightly.
"Tomorrow at seven." House answered.
"I have an important meeting..." Cuddy began.
"I know. That's why there is no s in parent teacher conference." He admitted. Cuddy glared at him. "I know, I'm good." House said, getting up.
"House," Cuddy said, getting up too and walking over to him. House looked down at her carefully. "Thank you." She went on her tip-toes and kissed him lightly on the cheek. House blinked. "You're very good at this father business then any of us give you credit for."
House shrugged. "It's easier than it looks. You just have to think evil." He told her.
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "No. You just have to think like a younger, female version of yourself." She corrected him. He shrugged at her. "Now, are you ready for lunch?"
"Are you referring to the fact that you're going to cook food?" House asked worriedly. Cuddy turned to look at him slowly. "My stomach's pretty sensitive." He added.
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"You have got to be kidding me! Don't they make professionals do this?" Kara asked loudly, glaring furiously at her father. They were standing in front of the MRI machine. House had brought along his favorite coffee mug and Kara had to bring yellow gloves, a mask, paper towels and a cleaning spray. House had made her change into some loose-fitting scrubs that he had Cameron get.
"I don't know. Anyway, I want to see it shine, kiddo." House said, taking out a piece of paper and a paperclip.
"What's that for?" Kara asked. House showed it to her.
If Found, Please Return to House
"Don't lose it." House said, clipping it to the back of her scrubs. "Have fun. I'll be back later." He said, putting the mask over Kara's mouth and nose.
Kara watched him leave the MRI room and turned her glare on to the huge expensive machine. She crawled inside and began spraying the alcohol smelling cleaner, scrubbing it carefully. With her luck, this machine would break.
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Cuddy entered House's office, frowning as she found him listening to his Ipod. He took out his headphones and looked up inquisitively at her, as if she had interrupted something important. "Where's Kara?" She asked.
"Starting one of her many punishments." He told her candidly. Cuddy raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't worry; a monkey could do what she's doing. Now, what do you want?" He griped, glancing at his Ipod before looking back at Cuddy
"You have a new case." She said, leaning slightly against the door and crossing her arms. "I put it on your table. Cameron and Chase are all ready looking at it. Where did you send Foreman?"
House turned his Ipod off and got up. "Nowhere. He's skipping out...that bastard." He said, frowning and shaking his head.
"No. He's probably being responsible and finishing up some clinic duty...like someone should be doing in his free time." Cuddy told him.
"He's still a bastard." House told her, shrugging his shoulders and pushed past Cuddy, making her go out into the hallway in the process. "Now, I'm going to go check on our evil minion." House said, starting forward with a determined look on his face. Cuddy watched him walk away.
"Wait a minute, your case..." She said, realizing that she was letting him walk away but he all ready turned the corner. She pressed her lips together and shook her head at him.
House walked into the MRI room. "Cinderella!" He said, chuckling at his own joke. He watched as Kara came out, glaring at him angrily.
She took off her mask. "What?" She said quietly.
"Are you finished yet?" He asked impatiently.
"Basically." Kara answered, peeling off her yellow gloves.
"Good, come with me then." He said, heading towards the door. He glanced over his shoulder when Kara didn't follow. "That wasn't an option."
Kara followed him quietly. "That wasn't an option." She mimicked silently behind his back. She followed him into the conference room, where Foreman, Cameron, and Chase were discussing the current illness. "Sit." He barked. Kara sat on the far side away from House. "So, what do you think about him?"
"You mean her." Cameron corrected automatically.
"Who?" House asked.
"The patient." Cameron answered.
"Yeah, him." House confirmed, nodding his head.
"The patient's a woman." Cameron defended, looking up at House.
"Women don't look like that." House said, looking over at Chase, who was trying to hide his smile.
"How can you..." Cameron began outraged.
"Please someone tell me what they have on their mind before Cameron explodes." House said unenthusiastically, looking apathetic.
"Um," Chase began, straightening himself and running a hand through his blonde hair.
"Um?" House repeated. "Well, looks like you have some things to do, don't you. Cameron, why don't you go find your happy place? Or go tell he-she in there that it's beautiful or whatever you do." He said irritably. "Mini-me, come on." House said, heading out of the door.
Kara rolled her eyes and followed her father out the door and passed the patient's room. She paused slightly as she saw the sight of the woman. It was a very...ugly woman. She wasn't a man but she could be taken as one if Kara didn't look close enough. She wrinkled her nose and followed her dad to the elevator. She suddenly ran straight into House's cane. "Go down the stairs. I'll meet you in the lobby." House said, closing the elevator door.
Kara groaned and headed down the stairs quickly, beating House by about a minute. "Now, I want you to go outside and face the east wall of the hospital and count all the bricks on that side. Once you got the number, report back to me."
Kara's mouth dropped. "Does cruel and unusual mean anything to you?" Kara asked him injudiciously.
"No, I can't say it rings any bell. Have fun." House said, waving his daughter goodbye.
"But, dad..." Kara trailed off.
"Don't, but dad, me. Be careful I don't have you counting in Spanish." He patted his daughter on the head before turning away from her. Kara muttered something under her breath before heading out of the hospital. House swung by the cafeteria, sitting at the table with Wilson and grabbing some of his French fries.
"Oh, you can have them; I wasn't going to eat them." Wilson said sarcastically, looking over at House from his paper.
"Thanks." House said, grabbing the container.
"I was kidding!" Wilson exclaimed, trying to grab his remaining French fries but House swatted his hand away.
"Actually, you were being sarcastic. I get the fries because you didn't name the emotion correctly." House told him.
"That doesn't make any sense." Wilson stated despairingly.
"I know." House said, smiling.
Wilson sighed and resumed to his burger. "Where's Kara?" He asked.
"Doing a punishment." House answered quickly. "You got any ketchup?"
"If I did, I wouldn't be giving it to a French fry stealer." Wilson snapped, narrowing his eyes at House's ignorant behavior. House seemed to have an uncanny ability to know when Wilson was eating.
"French fry stealer? Stop being childish." House reprimanded, frowning at Wilson.
"So what exactly do you have Kara doing in a hospital?" Wilson asked, leaning back and folding his arms across his chest.
"Right now, she's counting bricks." House answered indifferent.
Wilson looked up abruptly at House's idea of punishment. "Counting bricks? What kind of punishment is that?" Wilson asked bewildered.
"It's not. It's just something that makes me laugh. And makes her wish she had a normal punishment." House answered straightforwardly.
Wilson shook his head silently at House's outlandish ideas. Only House could get away with something like that. "You're crazy." He said, grabbing his burger with both hands and taking a big bite out of it.
"And you're stingy." House added, snatching the ketchup packet underneath Wilson's napkin. "Sharing is caring." He said as he put the ketchup on his stolen French fries. Wilson rolled his eyes as he watched House finish his fries. "So, I need you to watch Kara for me."
Wilson sighed and leaned forward. "Why am I not surprised you need something? Why can't you do it?" Wilson asked.
"I have to go to a parent teacher conference." House answered unhappily.
"Cuddy's letting you go?" Wilson asked, surprised.
"I'm her parent." House pointed out.
"Cuddy wouldn't let you go if she could go. You must have set it up at a conveniently busy time for her." Wilson decided answering his own question.
"Will you?" House asked.
"I guess." Wilson said hesitantly, checking his wrist watch.
House chuckled. "You guess? Like you had any plans." House shook his head at Wilson's charade. Wilson's eyes narrowed and he grabbed the rest of his burger, getting up and leaving House at the table.
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House tapped his fingers impatiently on the chair's arm as he waited for Principal Keller to let him in. Apparently parent teacher conference meant, parent, principal, and a teacher. The secretary had her nose buried in a Cosmopolitan and he was pretty sure that if something would happen, she wouldn't know it. Finally, a little red light flashed on the phone. "Mrs. Graves, please let Miss House's parent in." Principal Keller said from the speaker phone, startling the woman. She looked up from her magazine and nodded at House.
He got up and walked into the principal's office where Keller and another teacher were waiting. "Mr. House, nice to meet you." Principal Keller said, shaking House's hand. "This is Mr. Thomas, your daughter's arithmetic teacher." He added, gesturing to the man beside him.
"Yeah, so what's this exactly about?" House said indifferently, leaning his cane against Keller's desk.
"Your daughter is failing Arithmetic and Science, and is barely passing English." Keller began calmly, reading out Kara's file.
"So wait, she's passing English?" House interrupted.
"Barely." Keller repeated.
"Okay, so this meeting is about her Arithmetic and Science." House said, putting his fingers together and watching Keller over them.
"Yes. You're daughter used to be an orphan, correct?" Keller asked. House nodded. "And you two are separated right?"
"We're not even dating." House answered, raising an eyebrow slightly. What did this have to do with Kara's grades?
"Is she acting out in any way at home?" Keller asked.
"Hold on." House said, leaning forward. "You think this is our fault?"
Keller sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not completely. I have a degree in psychology and..." He began.
"I don't care what the hell your degree is. Kara sees us everyday and she's perfectly fine about what's going on between her mother and me. She hasn't been acting out at all. So we may not push her to do her homework, but that can be fixed. Don't you have tutorials or something?" House snapped furiously, glaring bitterly at Keller.
"Perfectly fine? Are you sure?" Keller asked. House stared at Keller quietly.
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"How long do you think its going to last?" Kara asked Wilson for the umpteenth time. Wilson slowly tore his eyes off the television and glanced over at Kara.
"I don't know. I never had my parents go to one and I don't have a child." Wilson answered, picking up another piece of pepperoni pizza. "So, I never asked you. How many bricks are on the east side of the hospital?" Wilson asked with an amused voice.
Kara smirked slightly. "Three hundred and forty seven." She answered easily. Wilson stared at her for a moment. "You want to know a secret?"
"What?" Wilson asked.
"I didn't count the bricks." Kara answered in a sing-song voice. "I just made up a number."
Wilson shook his head. "What did you do the whole time? You were gone for almost an hour." He wondered.
"I took a nap." Kara told him smugly. "Mom says I can sleep anywhere."
"You're young." Wilson reminded her. He got up and went into the kitchen.
"Hey Wilson? How do you know the way around my dad's house so well?" Kara asked. She watched as he came out with a drink.
"He let me bunk with him for awhile." Wilson answered sentimentality. Kara opened her mouth to ask him more inquiries but the door opened and House shuffled in with a look that could kill. Kara's buoyant demeanor quickly sunk down as fast as she slid down into the couch. Wilson even returned his attention back to the television.
House made it to the front side of the couch. "Start getting ready for bed." He told Kara. Kara bounced up quickly even though it was only eight thirty and grabbed her bag, hurrying to the bathroom. Kara turned on the faucet and then pressed her ear against the door in hopes she could hear anything. House made a sigh and collapsed on the couch, rubbing his chin.
"It didn't go that well?" Wilson asked uncertainly, lowering the volume of the television. House grunted. "You're going to let Cuddy go next time?"
House looked over at Wilson. "I wouldn't even let Cuddy go through something like that." House admitted. Wilson looked surprised. "They said it was our fault for our daughter to be failing. They said that because there are separation issues, we're involuntarily hurting our daughter."
"Separation issues? You guys aren't divorced or anything and you see each other every day." Wilson said, thoroughly confused.
"Exactly." House agreed.
"So," Wilson asked, downing his drink. "What are you going to do and what are you going to tell Cuddy?"
House sighed and shrugged. "I'll figure it out later." He said indifferently, grabbing for the remote and changing the channel. Wilson nodded. House slowly turned to face him. "That was a kind way of kicking you out." He pointed out.
"You're welcome." Wilson countered, shrugging his jacket on. House grunted again. "Goodnight, Kara."
"Night, Wilson!" Kara called from the bathroom, jamming her toothbrush in her mouth. She pulled it out when she heard the door close and put some toothpaste on the brush, finally doing what she was told. A few minutes later, Kara exited the bathroom, dressed in her night clothes. House had made her a bed on the couch already. She perched lightly on the edge of the couch and spotted House leaning on the frame of his bedroom door.
"Your mom has a lot of stuff to do and she has to stay later than usual. I'll take you to school tomorrow." House told her.
"Okay." Kara said, nodding her head. She opened her mouth and then closed it. She knew better than to ask him more about the conference. "Goodnight, Dad." Kara said softly, throwing back the covers.
"Goodnight." House repeated, turning the living room light off and closing his bedroom door. Kara waited until her eyes adjusted to the darkness and the slit of light coming from House's bedroom. She was going to have to pick up the pace and actually...pay attention in school.
There we go. What is House going to tell Cuddy? We're getting to the part where it begins. Please review!