Chapter 16: Everybody Lies (part 1)
Tommy walked past Jessica and Elisabeth's room and spotted Jessica, sitting at the window. Deciding that she wouldn't care since the door was open, he walked over and stood behind her, looking over her shoulder at the view out in the driveway. He could see Rachel and Gerald standing together out by the sidewalk, while Elisabeth and Donnie stood a little bit closer to the house.
"Why do you find it necessary to punish yourself by watching the two?" Tommy implored.
"Just curious," Jessica answered without taking her eyes off her sister and Donnie. She truly was interested in seeing how things went between them. It might have hurt her to see them together, but it would bother her more to see them apart.
Tommy shrugged and went ahead and joined her. "Anything exciting going on?"
Jessica shook her head. "No. All they've done so far is just stand there and talk," she replied.
Tommy looked down to her for a moment and then looked back out the window. "Happy about that?" he questioned.
"I don't know," she confessed. It was all confusing to her. Yes, she did want Elisabeth to enjoy herself and she wanted her to have want ever she wanted. On the other hand, this was the boy she liked. This was the one person that she wanted to notice her above everyone else. She had cared about what this boy thought and cared about how she was around him.
ooo
Rachel and Gerald stood off by themselves as they said goodbye to each other.
Gerald stood awkwardly as he faced Rachel. This was his first time going out with a girl and he was a little nervous. "See you Monday?" he asked, and then immediately hated himself for not thinking of something better to say when he saw Rachel's smile fade a little.
"Of course," Rachel replied, wondering if he was going to say anything else. She was expecting something better than that.
"All right then. See ya," Gerald said and then hurried off across the street. He hated walking off real quick like that and leaving, but he wanted to get home before he said anything else to embarrass himself.
"Bye," Rachel called out to him, her eyes following him with concern. She then turned towards the house and started walking. "And the romance is dead," she muttered to herself.
Meanwhile, Donnie and Elisabeth were doing the same thing in the driveway. "Did you have fun tonight?" Donnie implored.
Elisabeth smiled to him and nodded. This was one of the best nights that she had in a while. It was weird, lately, everyone had been rushing around and akin sure that she was enjoying every single minute, when all they did tonight was sit together and talk, and she loved it.
Donnie nervously laughed. "Good, because I did too," he responded.
Elisabeth held her finger up, telling him to wait a moment as she picked up her purse and started to dig through it. She grabbed onto her pad and pen and pulled it out.
Donnie held up his hand. Right now, he didn't want to sit there and wait for her to write everything down, he wanted to just ask simple questions and get home. He enjoyed being with her, but he too had been nervous all night, and getting home would help a lot. "You don't have to write down things anymore, I just have one yes or no question," he explained.
Elisabeth went ahead and put the paper and pen back into her purse and waited for him to speak. She could see that he was nervous, and found it to be cute.
"Do you want to do this again?" Donnie offered.
Elisabeth's smile grew even bigger as she nodded. There was no way that she could turn that down.
"Good," Donnie nearly sighed out in relief. He then looked up to her and got himself ready again. "And another question, is your birthday by any chance coming up soon?"
Elisabeth's smile slightly faded as she shook her head. No, her birthday was not coming up, ever again. Her birthday was at the end of August and she only had until March. She had been keeping her short expectancy a secret from everyone else. That just wasn't something that she wanted to talk about with other kids. Besides, she didn't want the pity or special attention from everyone else, to be suddenly liked by the people that usually ignored her. She didn't need that.
Donnie looked to her disappointment. "Oh, I was just wondering. I had an idea of something that we can do. My Uncle has a boat that we take out sometimes. I guess we would have to wait anyways, he usually bring the boat in in October and doesn't take it back out until June. I just thought maybe if it was within the next couple of weekends," he informed her.
Elisabeth shrugged, fighting to hold on to her smile. This was the first time that it had really hit her, she knew that she would never be able to take that offer. She was going to die in six months and she wouldn't be able to go out on the boat. She wouldn't be able to go to any dances with him, or go to the beach with him. Someone wanted to make plans with her, and she couldn't.
Donnie could see that she felt bad, and decided that it was time for him to go. "Anyways, good night," he said, offering a small smile.
Elisabeth waved to him. As he started to walk away though, Elisabeth went and grabbed his wrist, causing him to turn around. Once he stood there, looking to her, she closed the space between them and kissed him on the lips. Once she pulled back, she laughed at his wide eyed expression. She then waved to him again and turned and walked towards the house.
"How did it go?" Cuddy asked as soon as Elisabeth closed the door behind her.
Elisabeth turned and saw House and Cuddy sitting on the couch together and went to join them in the living room. She told them both that she had a good time.
"How good?" House questioned.
Elisabeth laughed and replied that it was just good, not too good.
"Good," House stated.
Cuddy rolled her eyes at him and then turned to attention back to Elisabeth. "Anyways, I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself," she said.
Elisabeth nodded and then headed upstairs to go get ready for bed. The first thing she did was head into the bathroom to wash her face and all of that before bed.
Once she was in the room, she closed the door and locked it. Now, she was alone. Standing in front of the sink, she looked up and solemnly stared at her reflection, wanting badly to tell Donnie that she could go out on the boat with him, to be able to tell Gabrielle that she could meet her new niece or nephew, to see the day when Rachel finally does get to wear make up, to be there when Jessica finally gets the attention that she wants, and see Tommy when he gets older and more creative and how much trouble he'll get into. All the sudden, she was really thinking about all of this, and it was just now hitting her now, how much she will be missing out on. She always knew that she would miss out on a lot, but something changed.
She lowered her head as the tears began falling. Se wanted so badly to just be able to have a few more years, she knew though, she would always just want a few more years. There was nothing she could do about it though, so it didn't really matter. Picking her head back up, she took another look at herself. She didn't want to die.
ooo
Jessica sat up in her bed, processing what she had seen earlier. They kissed. She wasn't mad at Elisabeth, she wasn't mad at anyone. She was jealous though. In a way, she felt that that should have been her out there kissing him. That should be her getting to go to dinner with him.
As soon as Elisabeth slowly entered the room, she looked over to her and hid the fact that she had been up there feeling bad "So, did you have a good time?" Jessica implored, forcing a smile.
Elisabeth looked up to her and smiled.
"Good," Jessica replied.
Elisabeth watched her for a moment. She was acting distant, distracted. The smile was fake. She clapped to get her attention and then asked her if there was anything wrong.
"No," Jessica quickly answered.
Elisabeth just looked down and slightly nodded to herself. She then told Jessica to let her know if there was anything that she could do for her.
It was apparent to Jessica that she was not about to let it go. "It's nothing. I just got in a fight with one of my friends. It was over something stupid," she lied.
Elisabeth knew right away that she was lying to her. It had to be that she was out with Donnie. That was the only thing that was going on tonight that would get to her. That was also the only thing that she would feel that she would have to lie to her about. She decided to tell her that maybe when Jessica and Donnie get to know each other a little better, that maybe she could be the one to go out on his boat with him.
Jessica looked to her with confusion. The boat part threw her off, but she ignored it. "Trust me, I don't even think he knows I'm here," she told her.
Elisabeth shrugged. Even if he didn't notice her now, she thought maybe she could start having him come over here to hang out, and she could introduce the two. That way, in a few months, they might be together, instead of her and him.
"Besides, he's with you, and no matter what you think, I don't wanna change that," Jessica assured her.
Elisabeth nodded. There was her proof, she was feeling guilty. It was definitely jealousy over her and Donnie. Right now, she did feel bad, but at the same time, she had just had a great time with him, and she was only going to be around for a short time, so she wanted to keep him for now. She wanted to be the one with him, and then Jessica could try going out with him.
ooo
Gabrielle briefly stepped outside and grabbed the mail. "You think we got anything?" she asked Jason, who was in his play pen.
She smiled at the little boy as he ignored her for the toys in front of him. She then started going through the envelopes, spotting the usual bills and ads. Then, there was something that made her stop.
"What the hell is this?" Gabrielle softly questioned to herself. There was an envelope addressed to Andy from Missy. Instead of getting herself worked up right away, she slid the letter back into the pile and left it on the table, thinking maybe Andy could open it when he got home and show her what it was.
ooo
"Hey! I think there's something here that you could help me with!" Klein called out down the hall as soon as he saw House making his way towards his office.
"Really? I don't," House replied without even stopping.
The doctor caught up to him and held the file up. "Come on, this seems more like something that you would get. I just want an opinion on something while I wait for one for one of the test results," he requested. "Fifteen year old girl. Decreased lung capacity. No fluids, no infections, and no muscle damage or nerve damage," he explained.
House stopped and looked over to him. Something was wrong here, this was a case that he should have gotten. He and his team had been bored for the past few days, and he could tell that Klein had just received this patient. There was no real reason as to why this wasn't handed to him. "You said no fluids, those aren't the only things that can build up in the lung cavities," he stated, covering up the fact that he was getting irritated with Cuddy.
"We did find some sort of substance in there, that's what I'm having checked right now," Klein responded.
"Let me know what it is when you find out," House instructed and then headed straight fro Wilson's office and headed straight in. "You ever get that feeling that someone has been lying to you, and not very well?"
Wilson quickly looked up to him. "What do you mean?" he implored.
House closed the door behind him and approached the desk. "Doctor Klein out there, has a case that I should have gotten. He even said that it was something I should've gotten. Now after a few days of me and my team just sitting there bored, don't you think that anything would have been handed us?" he questioned, his voice steadily rising.
Wilson looked to him with confusion. He honestly had no idea what was going on with this. "You think I'm the head of some conspiracy against you?" he asked.
"I think you know something," House gruffly stated.
"What kind of case did he even get?" Wilson inquired, starting to really get curious about this whole situation. There had to be something that House wasn't telling him, something more.
"Young girl that can't breathe. No signs of the normal infections or anything like that," House answered, knowing that Wilson would agree with why he didn't get it in the first place. He knew that was the reason, it still bothered him though. He should be the one to let people know whether or not he could handle something, he wasn't a little kid, he was a grown man.
Wilson just looked to him and sighed. "House, I think you know why you didn't get that case," he tried to get him to understand and then went back to updating his files.
"Of course I know why. I just wonder how the hell she thought she could pull something like that without me knowing," House muttered, looking off to the side. More than anything, he felt betrayed. The person that should he should have been able to trust, went behind his back, and also, the one that should trust him enough to be able to believe him when he said he could handle something, obviously didn't.
"She was looking out for you," Wilson stated.
House stood up and started for the door. "I don't need anyone to look out for me, I need someone to let me do my job," he said right before he left.
ooo
House angrily threw open the door to Cuddy's office and barged in as she was talking to a possible donor. "How fragile do you think I am?" he demanded.
Cuddy's eyes widened as she looked up to him. "House!" Cuddy snapped. She then politely smiled to the older man that was sitting in front of her desk. "Excuse me a moment," she requested and then got up and grabbed House's arm and led him outside the room and over to one of the clinic rooms and closed the door. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Cuddy snapped, her arms folded as she stood there before him.
"I should be asking you the same question," House replied.
"What are you talking about?" Cuddy implored, trying to keep calm.
"The patient that Klein got, the one that I should've gotten," House explained.
"Are you seriously telling me that you would've been okay with treating that patient?" Cuddy asked, close to losing her patience with him.
"I don't know if I've ever told you this, but to me a patient is a puzzle. That's all," House argued, almost yelling. The only thing that kept him from yelling was the fact that he knew she would just leave if they got too loud in there. She hated a scene.
Cuddy huffed, she knew that he would be upset when he found out, but she didn't want to deal with this right now. Why did he always have to pick the worst times to do this stuff? "If they don't mean anything to you, then why are you so upset over not getting this particular one?" Cuddy asked.
"My own wife is treating me like a little kid!" House gruffly announced. "I don't need anyone to decide what I can and can't handle and I sure as hell don't need someone to sit around and filter what happens around me," he sharply explained.
Cuddy's expression soften as she dropped her arms to her sides. "Well you don't exactly have the best record when it comes to dealing with pain," she mentioned.
House was angry, and she was only making it worse right now. "How many times do I need to tell you, this is a patient. I am a doctor. I do not get emotionally attached to the patients and I do not care what they have, just as long as it's something interesting," he sternly informed her.
Cuddy threw her arms up in defeat. "Fine, you want me to transfer her over to you?"
"I want you to stop being my fucking babysitter and let me be a doctor," House demanded and then turned and left, slamming the door behind him.
Cuddy stood there a moment, keeping her eyes on the door after he left. She didn't know how to feel right now, angry? Maybe? Upset? She just pissed off her husband over something that she did to try and keep him from pushing her away, and it completely back fired.
Carefully, she opened the door and headed back to her office. At that point, she was just relieved to see that the donor was still there and pasted a fake smile on her face as she apologized to him and then went on with the meeting.
Okay, I know that this chapter seems a bit jumpy, and there is a lot that happened, but believe me, this will all pull together soon enough. I think most of you can see where I'm going with the whole patient story here, and the story between Gabrielle and Andy will be more clear in a couple of chapters. I hope you enjoyed this chapter none the less, and please let me know what you think. Reviews are always appreciated.