Chapter 5: Equal Treatment
Elisabeth took the note upstairs to her bedroom where she knew that Jessica would be. Getting to the doorway, she stopped a moment and just watched her sister for a moment, trying to figure out how she would handle the new information.
Jessica had her back to the door as she worked on her science homework. She didn't even notice that anyone was there with her until Elisabeth decided to knock on the door frame. "Yes?" she asked. Since she didn't get a response, she knew who it was. "Hold on a sec," she requested as she finished the problem that she was working on.
Elisabeth walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder. Without any sort of hesitation, she leaned over and pointed to a part of one of the equations that Jessica had gotten wrong.
"Thanks," Jessica breathed out as she erased the problem and started over. She hated to be corrected, but Elisabeth also knew that even more than that, she hated to be wrong when the teacher would call on her for the answer.
While waiting for her to finish up, Elisabeth went and sat down on the bed. Carefully, she unfolded the note and reread it. The only thing on that paper that made her the slightest upset was the name on the bottom. It could have been any other boy there, but it had to be the one that Jessica liked.
In a way, she always felt a little sorry for Jessica. She wanted the attention, but never seemed to get it. She wanted to be the one to stick out and here she was in a family where she was practically the only normal one. Even though that should have been enough to make her the one to stand out, it didn't.
On the opposite end, she herself got more attention than she wanted. Most people felt sorry for her. Pity. She hated it. Her mother was constantly worried about her, her father would try to ignore it, but always had that look in his eyes when ever she would have slight issues with breathing. She could remember when she was younger, there were times that Gabrielle would give up a couple of her plans to stay home and hang out with her because she wasn't feeling well or she just couldn't breathe well that day and couldn't handle going out.
Elisabeth was five years old. Cuddy was outside in the back yard with Tommy while Rachel and Jessica played. Elisabeth wasn't having that easy of a time though. Her next appointment was within that week, so there was a good amount of build up in her lungs.
"Hey Bethy," Gabrielle greeted as she came down the stairs.
Elisabeth sat up and looked over the back of the couch. Smiling, she waved.
Gabrielle returned the smile until she heard her cough. A squeaky, seal cough. "Not feeling good today huh?" she asked as she went and sat down next to her.
Elisabeth shook her head and then curled up and laid down on Gabrielle's lap. Looking up at Gabrielle, she saw her smile to her and then pull out her phone and call one of her friends.
"Hey, sorry Ally. It's gonna have to wait a bit. That okay?" she questioned.
"What is it?" Jessica asked, sitting down next to her.
Elisabeth briefly held up the note and then handed it to her. She watched her sister as she started to read it. At first, a small smile appeared. The same as their mom's. She was genuinely happy for her. The moment that she got to the bottom though, it was obvious.
"Oh," Jessica whispered, disappointed. She folded the paper back up and handed it to her. "I see," she stated.
Elisabeth just nodded. She knew that she should just tell Donnie no at that point. There was no use in getting her more upset. Stuffing the note back into her pocket, she stood up and headed for the door.
Jessica looked up and watched her. There was something that she had always had in the back of her head, something more real to her than most other people. Her sister wasn't always going to be around. As a matter of fact, her time was a lot less than her's. "I think you should go with him," she spoke up before Elisabeth got too far down the hall.
Elisabeth stopped and thought for second, trying to make sure that she had heard her right. She went back and stopped in the doorway and asked her if she was sure about that.
Jessica just nodded. "Go for it," she responded as she forced a smile. It wasn't like it was her fault anyways. Donnie liked Elisabeth, not her, and that wasn't going to change with Elisabeth's answer to him.
Elisabeth just nodded and then went back downstairs, she knew what Jessica was doing. The same thing that Gabrielle did when she would cancel plans to stay home with her. The same thing that House did when he was home by himself with the kids and he would let her do just about what ever she wanted. The same thing that Cuddy did when she would let Elisabeth stay home from school when ever she wanted, even a few times when she wasn't sick, just because she wanted to.
Instead of going into the kitchen where she could hear House, Cuddy, and Rachel talking, she went and sat down in the living room by herself.
"Hey," Tommy softly greeted, trying to keep his parents from hearing him.
Elisabeth turned and saw him standing by the stair case with an envelope in his hand.
"Are they in a good mood?" he carefully questioned.
Elisabeth nodded and then starting to laugh, asked him if he was in trouble.
"Yeah," Tommy answered. "It isn't even my fault," he stated.
Elisabeth just rolled her eyes and turned back around. There was one thing about Tommy that she loved, he didn't go out of his way to treat her different like others did. He treated her like he treated everyone else. That might be annoying, but it was still equal treatment.
"It isn't!" he argued. "She has no idea what she's talking about and I wasn't about to just let her slowly corrupt every in that class and let us be behind when it comes to living our lives," he informed her and then headed to the kitchen, hoping that either House or Cuddy would see his point.
He walked into the kitchen to see House and Rachel sitting at the table while Cuddy stood at the stove.
"You know, I did offer to cook," House stated.
Cuddy just sighed. "Right. The last couple of nights I let you do that we ended up eating take out. I don't think we should do that a third night in a row," she explained.
"You're just mad cus you didn't think of it first," he shot back.
"Actually, the Chinese last night wasn't bad. As a matter of fact I would go for it again tonight," Rachel informed her.
House looked over and smirked to her. "I knew there was a reason I liked you," he said.
"Mom? Dad?" Tommy called. He was standing back in the doorway.
"Hey, look who argued with the teacher again," House announced, spotting the letter in his hand. It happened often enough that they had both expected it from him.
House actually thought it was funny. He liked to see his son argue with people, prove his point. Cuddy on the other hand though, wanted him out of trouble.
"Tommy!" Cuddy exclaimed as she set the spoon down by the stove and walked over. "What did you do today?" she asked, getting ready to yell at him.
"Well, since it changes all the time, let's take a look at what it says," House sarcastically remarked as he motioned for Tommy to come over to him.
Tommy obliged and handed him the letter. House opened the envelope and pulled the letter out and read it over. "Surprise surprise, he has been arguing with the teacher and getting the class wound up," he stated and then looked down to Tommy. "Sounds like someone's also a ring leader," he said.
"Don't encourage him!" Cuddy warned as she snatched the letter out of his hands.
"Oh come on! He's not out robbing banks and killing people," House argued.
Cuddy sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Tommy, Rachel, can you two please leave your father and I alone for a few minutes?" she requested.
The two got up and quietly left the room. Once they were gone, Cuddy looked over to House. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" she questioned.
"Lisa, he argues in class. He basically says what every one in there is already thinking but is too afraid to say it. He's a leader who doesn't like bull shit. What's so bad about that?" he asked.
"He's going to have to listen to people his entire life. Letting him get away with constantly disobeying his teachers is going to give him the wrong message," she told him and then went back to the stove and checked on the vegetables that she was steaming.
"Great, you wanna raise an ass kisser," he responded.
Cuddy just ignored him. She knew that he wanted a rise out of her.
"Why don't you just be happy with your three little perfect angels and let me have this one?" he requested.
"You're giving me the daughters in exchange for your son?" she implored.
"No!" House replied. "I just want you to not become the wicked witch of the west every time he does something wrong," he explained.
Cuddy decided to just him have his way this time. "All right," she said and then turned to him with a smirk. "But, that means that you take care of all his punishments. Anytime the teacher wants to talk to one of us, you'll go by yourself," she stated.
"Fine," House replied.