Can you believe it? Another chapter! Thanks for reading!

I do not own any recognizable characters

.::11

"But, House, I thought we agreed to the liver transplant yesterday. What happened between now and then?" Wilson was standing there with a befuddled look as House picked at the stray threads in the sheet.

"Who said anything happened? I had alot of time to think about it, and I would just rather try to do the stem cell therapy first." Foreman's small snort of reproach tore House's gaze away from the oncologist and over to where some of his fellows, past and present, had congregated in the corner of the room. "I'm sorry. Did the peanut gallery have a comment?"

"House, you know you could be wasting precious time with this," Chase replied before taking a drink from his water bottle.

Foreman just shrugged his shoulders in resignation and shook his head, but Thirteen was giving him that assessing look she sometimes had.

"So did you ask your daughter yet about her thoughts, or are you just trying to make decisions in her best interest without talking to her? Because it would be a great way to start out on the wrong foot with the overprotective know-it-all parent routine."

House rolled his eyes and glared back at her. "Spare me the pseudo parenting advice. When she becomes a lesbian rebel I might seek you out for advice. Might. Until then just stick to the topic here, ok?"

The sound of a tap on the glass swung everyone's attention to the door as Diedre slid the glass back and stepped in, followed by Shelly and Blythe.

"What's going on?" Diedre asked as she faced the group of doctors encamped in the room with her father. "Did something happen, Dad?"

House covered his face in frustration and blew into his hands. "Why does everyone keep asking if something happened?"

"We were just discussing the stem cell option again with your father, Dee," Wilson supplied as House tried to reign in his temper.

"But why? I told mom I would do the liver transplant. Didn't you tell him, Mom?" the teenager asked swiveling to face her mother.

"Dee, yes. I told your father you would give him anything he needed, but this really is his decision, honey."

"Why would you not want to do the transplant? They said it was the best chance you had of getting better, Dad. Don't you want to get better?" Her voice had a beseeching edge to it, and House uncovered his face to look at his daughter, then his mother, and then Shelly, Wilson, and the rest of his team in the room.

"Yes Deidre, I want to get better," House said evenly, returning his gaze to the girl. Then abruptly he swung his arm. "Any chance the rest of you have somewhere else you need to be?" he asked irritably.

The group tried to conceal their smiles with varying degrees of success as they shuffled out of the room, and in the meantime House tugged on Deidre's arm until she was settled across from him on the end of his bed. House watched as she nervously picked at the rubber on the sole of her shoe until Wilson slid the glass door shut to leave them in privacy.

"Hey," he finally said, causing Diedre's head to finally look up and meet his eyes.

"Hey," she returned, relaxing a little and giving him a small smile. But her face immediately became troubled again and she looked at him in earnest. "Why aren't you going to do the liver transplant? I really want to do it, so don't refuse because you're worried about me -"

"Whoa. Wait a minute," House interrupted holding up a hand. "Before you go off again, I need to know what they told you."

"What they told me?"

"Yes. I want to know exactly what they told you about a liver transplant."

"Well, for me they had this donor guy come in and he told me about the procedure, and the recovery. And the things I need to avoid for a year, and signs of complications. Why?"

"What about my part? Did they tell you anything about what happens to me?"

"Besides you getting a new liver and getting better so you're not poisoned by your own body?"

House frowned a bit at her clean cut view of everything. "What about complications? Did they explain to you the complications and side effects I might have because of the transplant?" Diedre's eyes widened a little, and House could tell by her expression that she hadn't thought of or been informed of the downsides to having his liver replaced.

"First off, I'll have to take drugs. For the rest of my life. Anti-rejection pills that will tell my body to ignore the fact that there is an alien organ from another planet dwelling inside my body." Diedre gave a little smile and so House continued. "The drugs suppress my immune system, so there is an increased chance of me getting sick with little things that I would normally be able to fight off. So, working in a hospital with sick people would no longer be a good option for me. Plus, there's side effects to the meds themselves sometimes to consider. After the surgery I have to stay in the hospital for at least 3 weeks, including the ICU for the first couple of days. And then, the success rate of transplants is measured on the 5 year plan. Liver transplants are only rated with a 75-80% success rate, meaning after 5 years, only 75% of patients are still living."

Diedre was becoming paler and more frightened looking as he went on, so House reached over and grabbed her hand. He could see her fighting valiantly to keep her tears in check, and felt a small pang of emotion in his chest. Sadness? Pity? He wasn't sure. But he braced himself for her reaction as he divulged the last piece of information.

"Dee, there is also the chance that my body will just reject the liver outright. So at the end of my 3 week stay we might be right back where we started with no other options."

House just looked deep into the tears welling in his daughter's eyes, hoping he could telegraph some strength to her. It was a moment or two before Diedre swallowed hard and opened her mouth to reply.

"So the bone marrow transplant. That doesn't have the same kinds of side effects?" Unconsciously, House relaxed at her question. If she was taking it this well, he might not have to deal alone with an emotional teenager.

"I wouldn't be getting your marrow directly, just the stem cells. So no, there aren't that many risks involved. And then if it doesn't work out there is still the option of the liver transplant as a last resort." House's eyes narrowed for a moment as his mind worked. "The donor rep didn't explain any of the details of the bone marrow transplant to you?" He was starting to feel that familiar irritation growing in his chest from the total incompetence of some people.

Diedre just shrugged. "He didn't explain much about your end of it. He said that for me I would just be sedated and then they'd stick me with a harvesting needle into my hip. So what happens afterwards? Do they separate my marrow stuff and just give you the parts you need?"

House gave a small chuckle at her process description. "Yes, exactly. Your marrow stuff has the cells in it that might regenerate my liver tissue." Diedre playfully swatted at him for mimicking her and House ducked. "Hey! Hey! No beating the sick cripple!"

"You get what you deserve, buddy! You should think twice before making fun of a kid! Especially your own daughter!"

The two laughed and House could feel the tension and seriousness passing over and away like a cloud.

"So how do you like your Grandma?" House asked her after they had composed themselves. Diedre brightened at the question.

"Gram? Oh she's lovely! She brought all these old pictures with her and it was so cool to see pics of you as a baby!" House rolled his eyes at the memory of those photos, but Diedre took no notice. "And the pictures of her when she was younger! It was amazing to see someone who looked like me staring back from another time period! And Gram showed Mom and I how to make fish tacos. She said that she adapted the recipe from some tapas dish she learned to make when she was staying in Spain or Portugal or somewhere. Have you ever had them? I don't really care for fish, but these were really good!"

House just shook his head as Diedre continued on about her night together with Blythe. As he watched his daughter his mind was rewinding to his own childhood, and the afternoons spent prowling the far away cities and ports they would call home for a few months time. How he and his mother would laugh at their own attempts to bargain with the shop owners with only a little command of a foreign language, or how they would sample local cuisine for lunch before going back to base to cook the all American meals his father liked for dinner. How his mother always let his father order for her whenever they went out, but when she was alone with her son she was forever daring and suggesting they try something new or unknown. He realized slowly that these are things he should tell Diedre, that she would probably love to hear. Especially things about him in case the surgery...but no, he wouldn't think about that right now. For once he would turn off his inner cynic and just enjoy some time with his daughter. Making new memories.

It was some time later that Shelly and Blythe reappeared.

"We just came by to let you know we were headed out for some lunch," Blythe explained as she came in to hover over her son.

"Yes. So how's it going in here you two?" Shelly added ruffling her own daughter's hair. Her tone was light but House thought he could see the fear and uncertainty lurking in her eyes before she looked down at her daughter.

"Dad and I decided that the bone marrow is the next best step. It can still give us options if..." Diedre faltered a bit and Blythe reached across to grip her hand.

"Yes, if there are any complications, I agree with you and Greg. It's nice to still have another option if things don't go as planned," the older woman soothed, meeting her son's gaze.

House merely nodded before he dared to look at Shelly again. Their gazes locked and he felt himself drawn into her brown eyes with the flecks of gold. Searchingly, he could see that most of the fear had been replaced with relief and thankfulness. Again, he wondered how they could just communicate with merely a look. Maybe it was a by product of reproducing together. Pushing the thought aside he welcomed when she broke eye contact, the sound of her voice interrupting his wandering mind.

"So, what are you two having? We thought maybe we could grab something to have back here with you if that's okay," Shelly deferred to Greg.

"If it beats hospital food, I'm all for it," he agreed watching through the glass wall as a nutrition staffer walked past pushing the meal trays. Looking back at his daughter he added, "but you go too Dee. Make sure they don't get me a tuna salad or anything like that," his voice dropped in a conspiratorial whisper at the last part.

Blythe rolled her eyes. "Heaven forbid it has mayonnaise in it!" she chuckled good-naturedly as Deidre scrambled off the bed and took her proffered arm. Shelly hung back a bit as the other two headed for the door, and House was surprised when she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Thank you," she said softly. "I know I said I would stand behind whatever decision she made and everything. And I know Dr. Chase seems to think that this isn't the best treatment option for you, but. Thank you."

House found himself covering her hand with his other one before he realized what he was doing.

"Hey, she's my kid too. I don't want her having a rougher time than she has to."

His response made Shelly's face light up in a smile and the little laugh lines around her eyes to crinkle. Impulsively she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and then she was withdrawing her hands and hurrying out the door to join the others before she was missed.

House found that he couldn't keep the thoughts about her lips, and the softness of her skin under his fingers, from out of his mind after they were gone. It was a little unsettling to say the least. His body already betraying him, it was only a matter of time before his mind turned on him as well. He wiped a hand over his face and tried to focus on setting up Diedre's bone marrow harvesting instead. Pulling out his cell phone he scrolled to Wilson's number and hit send. An oncologist would definitely know who to call that was good enough to go near his daughter.

~tbc