A/N: For being such good readers/reviewers, I'm rewarding you with another chapter :) I love you guys!

Chapter 4

Several months later...

Angela sat staring out the window as she chewed the end of her pencil. House and her dad were outside gawking over the new motorcycle House bought.

"Angela? Angela?" Her private tutor called to her until she got the young girl's attention.

"Huh? Oh…sorry. I was just…"

"Staring at Dr. House again?"

"It's hard not to."

"He doesn't even know you exist. Get your head out of the clouds and focus on your History."

Angela scowled at the woman. Even though Emma was right, it didn't mean Angela wanted to hear it. House didn't come over very often anymore, since he was working long hours at the hospital, and when he did come by, he hardly spoke to Angela. She may as well have been invisible. And of course she couldn't expect much else. He was on his way to becoming one of the better Nephrologists and infectious disease specialists on the east coast. More times than not, he'd come with her uncle for dinner and then have to leave because of a new case. He was truly brilliant and it amazed her how his mind worked.

Sometimes she'd sit and read downstairs while her father, House and her uncle played pool. Once in awhile House would include her in the conversation or ask her how school was doing, but he never really paid attention to anything she said. His mind was forever working on the puzzle that was his patient.

At the end of the day, once Emma went home, House stuck his head in the doorway. "Is the coast clear?"

"Huh?"

"Crazy lady. Is she gone?"

Angela giggled. "Yeah."

"Wanna come outside and see my bike?"

"Sure!" She hopped down off her chair and followed him outside where the shiny black Kawasaki Ninja was waiting. "Wow. This is awesome."

"You like bikes?"

"Yeah."

House glanced at his watch. "Wanna go for a ride?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna be up all night on this case. Need the caffeine." He tossed his helmet at her and climbed on first. Angela put the helmet on and took her position behind him.

"Umm..where should I hold on?"

House grabbed her hands and placed them securely around his waist before giving her a few instructions on how to be a passenger on that type of bike. Then they were off.

He took her on a long ride through town until he found a Starbucks. It wasn't very busy so they managed to get the comfy leather chairs in the far corner. House got a regular coffee for himself and bought Angela a strawberry frappuccino.

"So how is it being home schooled?" he finally asked her, as he sat back in his chair and stretched his long legs.

"It sucks. But it's better than being you know where."

House nodded. "Your tutor is a piece of work."

"Yeah. She likes you. Better be careful."

"It won't be much of an issue anymore. I passed my last exam and I've been offered a job in Princeton."

Angela's face fell. "You're leaving?" You're leaving me?

"Gotta go where the work is. Your uncle is coming too. The dean of medicine is an old friend of ours. Wilson's going to be in Oncology and she's giving me a job in Nephrology with a chance to hopefully get my own Diagnostics department in a few years."

"You should. You deserve it," Angela said softly. "So when are you going?"

"Next week."

"Wow. Is that why you're being so nice to me?"

"I don't do anything to be nice. You should know that."

"You've done a lot of nice things for me."

"Because you deserve them. You're a good kid. You should have everything that you want. Stay in school. Take Law or Criminology or whatever it is. What do you want to do?"

"I want to be a cop. I want to protect people. Maybe I'll go to Hollywood and be a bodyguard to the stars or something," she giggled.

"You'd probably be good at that. You've got a set of brass balls."

She cocked her head to one side. "You think?"

"Yeah." House took a sip of his coffee and smiled as if he was remembering something. "I don't know if anyone told you this but the night of your accident, two of those boys came in with injuries. They claimed you did it and nobody believed them. But I did."

"You did?"

House nodded. "I also told them if they came near you again you'd finish them off."

"Wow. You did that for me?"

He shrugged. "I didn't want you to be a joke to them. Obviously they believed me. Have you seen them since?"

She shook her head. "No. I mean, I've seen them around town, but instead of picking on me, they turn the other way. I always wondered why."

"A little birdie told them about your martial arts training. And I've seen the size of your arms. I sure as hell wouldn't want to piss you off."

"You haven't managed to do that yet."

House smiled at her. One of the first, wicked smiles she'd ever seen and it made her feel warm and tingly all over. "Wait."

"You're not as tough or as mean as you want everyone to think you are. Yeah, you might be smarter than most people, but deep down you're a nice guy to the people who matter the most."

"And you think you're one of those people?" he smirked.

Angela blushed, worried that maybe she'd gone too far with that last bit. "Well..I..."

House chuckled and drained the rest of his coffee from the cup. "Just don't tell anyone. It'll be our secret. I have a rep to protect, you know?"

She laughed out loud. "I know all about that so-called rep, Dr. House."

"Oh you do, do you?"

"Uncle James tells me things."

"Like what things?"

"Well, that's for me to know and you to find out." Then she got up and headed for the door. "Race you back to the bike!"

House shot after her but she had a good head start and the bike wasn't very far. She felt him grab her wrist and he pulled her into his grasp. They were both out of breath and laughing by then.

"Well well, what's this?"

The familiar voice made them both turn to face Samantha and a couple of her friends. "Isn't he a little old for you?"

"Isn't your skirt a little too short?" Angela snarked back, feeling somewhat safe with House so close to her. And she could've sworn she felt his hand on her upper back.

"I'm not the one with a man old enough to be my father."

House snorted in amusement. "I'm not that old."

"Why are you wasting your time with her? I heard her legs are locked together at the knee." Then, to Angela's horror, Samantha walked up to House and ran her hand down his chest as she licked her lips. "Forget that little dyke. You need a woman."

"When I see one, I'll let you know. I'm not into jail bait."

Angela let a giggle escape and Samantha turned on her. "What's so funny, you stupid slut?"

"Oh, so now I'm a slut? I could've sworn I was a dyke a minute ago. Which is it?"

Samantha reached out to pull her hair but Angela merely stepped back. "I don't go in for cat fights. If you want to hit me fine, but I hit back twice as hard."

"She's not worth it," he whispered in her ear and shoved his helmet in Angela's hands. She climbed onto the bike, purposefully wrapping her arms tightly around House's waist while Samantha stared.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," House chuckled as he started the engine and roared out of the parking lot.

They returned to the house and Angela reluctantly climbed off. When she gave back the helmet she turned away and headed inside without a word.

"Sweetie? What's wrong? Jennifer called to her as she ran past and up the stairs to her room.

"We went to Starbucks and some of her old classmates were there," House explained.

"When did you go to Starbucks?"

"Just now."

Jennifer's eyes narrowed. "You took her on that...that...crotch rocket?"

"She had a helmet."

"I don't care if she has a suit of armor. She is not to ride on that thing again, Dr. House, is that clear?"

"Calm down, Jennifer," David said as he joined the conversation. "She's back, safe and sound."

"And we went to Starbucks. Not a bar."

"I don't care. Angela is too young to be cavorting with a man twice her age on a motorcycle."

"I don't care what you think of me, but I'm not some pervert who likes young girls. You can ask your brother if you don't believe me."

"I don't have to ask my brother. I know your type, Dr. House. You're not fooling anyone."

"Do you honestly think your daughter would even let me lay a hand on her? Hell, she'd probably bust my balls. It wouldn't be the first time she kicked a guy's ass."

"Now what are you talking about?" Jennifer demanded, clearly it was the first she'd heard.

"What I mean is, she beat up two of the kids who tried to rape her at the dance."

Jennifer looked at David for confirmation and he nodded. "Tim Tucker wanted to press charges against her, if you can believe that. Thankfully, a few witnesses came forward and told us the real story. He's lucky he didn't spend the night in jail."

Jennifer went upstairs to Angela's bedroom and knocked on the door. "Angela, can I come in?"

"Whatever. There's nothing to talk about."

"I think we have plenty to talk about."

"Like what?"

"You like Dr. House, a lot, don't you?"

She shrugged.

"You know nothing can ever come of this...little school girl crush."

Oh go bake a cake! You don't know who I am anymore!

"I'm not in love with him if that's what you're thinking. I don't even like him that much. He's an egotistical, self-centered jerk. And if I never see him again I won't lose any sleep over it!"

"Dr. House is twice your age! He's a man of the world and he has his whole career ahead of him. You're not even 16 yet. You don't know what you want."

"I never said I wanted him. Honestly, Mother. You can be so ignorant."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I heard you yelling at House downstairs. He gave me a ride on his bike. So what? We went to Starbucks. Big deal. We ran into some girls from school and she totally came onto him. It was gross! Then she even tried to pull my hair! I told her I don't do cat fights. I had no problem with knocking her on her ass. One day I will, and it won't be pretty. All those kids will be sorry they ever picked on me. I'll bust all of them when I become a cop."

"That's another thing. Emma says you've been distracted lately."

"Yeah well if she wasn't such a boring teacher I wouldn't be distracted."

"You don't like her?"

"She's okay. But she constantly hits on House and makes gaga eyes at him whenever he's here. It's sickening. And she says I'm distracted? What a load of crap!"

"Angela! Do you want to finish tenth grade?"

"Yeah. I might be distracted but I'm still pulling A's, so she can't say anything about it. Don't worry Mother. I'm not going to drop out of school. I'll probably never see House again once he's gone to Princeton. That's...hours away. And to a fifteen year old who can't drive, it might as well be another country."

Jennifer nodded but she wasn't entirely convinced.