Chapter 14

Kate knocked on the open door and smiled as nicely as she could muster.

Stacy looked up at Kate, frowned, but then smiled. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Kate," said Kate, stepping into the office.

Stacy's eyes went wide. "My god, you've grown," she said.

Kate cocked her head. "You remember me?"

"Of course," said Stacy. "Saw you many times when I was with…" she trailed off. "Doesn't matter. Can I help you with something?"

Kate took another few steps into Stacy's office. "I was wondering if I could ask you some…legal questions?"

"Legal questions? Medically legal or…?"

"Kind of, I think…"

Stacy looked at the clock on her wall, then back at Kate. She looked pale, and a little too thin; her clothes hung on her and she didn't have a lot of color to her. But Kate's face was determined. Stacy could afford to be 10 or so minutes late. Stacy stood, told Kate to take a seat and closed her office door. Stacy sat next to Kate across from her desk.

"What do you want to know?"

"I have this…case worker?" Kate tried to remember, Stacy nodded, "and she comes by every week or so for, I'm not even sure. Anyway, I asked her about me practically living here and she said the family court or whatever put a stay on my case?"

Stacy nodded slowly. "I'd say the judge wants to wait to hear the results…" she hesitated, but realized there was no point in pretending she didn't know; it was the talk of the hospital. "from your stepfather's and mother's court case."

Kate hung her head. "Oh. And why is that?"

"Well, for example, if you're stepfather is found innocent, the judge might think there's no point in adjusting the custody. If he's not, well, obviously things will change."

"But in the meantime, my residence in Prince-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital?"

Stacy smiled gently. "Unfortunately. I'm sure your case worker and the court think this is the safest and least offensive option. You need lots of medical care, care that needs to be given in a hospital and you were already here when it all went down, so…here you stay."

"Well, nobody asked me," Kate said and crossed her arms.

"Going stir crazy are you?"

"A tad. Is that a reason to annoy family court?"

"Unfortunately, no."

Kate made a face and then remembered. "Hey, Stacy, what if…what if there never was a custody agreement?"

"What do you mean?"

"Pretty sure there was only, like, a verbal agreement?"

Stacy thought for a moment. "Did Wilson pay child support?"

"I think so?"

"That'd would've been court ordered probably – based off his pay, there may not have been an official custody agreement, but there was probably a footnote or something spelling out visitation or whatever."

"Oh, okay."

Stacy leaned back in her chair and eyed Kate. "You don't want to go back with your mom?"

Kate bit her lip, then shrugged. "I don't know. I've been having…" Kate shook her head, "nothing."

Stacy nodded and reached out to touch the arm of Kate's chair. "Custody agreements are always complicated, and made worse when other legal proceedings get in the way. Even harder if you're in denial."

"In denial of what?"

"I knew your mother, a long time ago. Colleen has always been…Colleen."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Colleen is smart, very smart, but also easily lead, and yet, always thinks she's right. I remember when you were really little – I hadn't met you, but, some of the things she was saying. Kate, they weren't…good."

Kate didn't have anything to say to that.

"And I'm sure James would love to have you live with him."

"Why do you say that?"

"He's always looked forward to when you visit. And the fact that he cooks and brings you meals pretty much every day, stays late just to see you, visits every weekend; I'd say he's invested."

"He's…" but Kate couldn't find the word.

"Overprotective is a common trait among parents," Stacy said.

Kate adjusted herself in her chair. "So in conclusion," she said, changing the topic, "nothing is going to change until a verdict with Doug's case?"

Stacy took the cue and nodded. "Yes. I am sorry. The stay will be in place until then, even if the trial gets postponed."

Kate's head snapped up. "Why would it be postponed? It's already months away."

"It happens. Things take longer than lawyers think, police lose evidence…witnesses don't want to testify. Lots of reasons. But I wouldn't panic."

"Too late." Kate sighed and stood up. "I should go…they want to put me in the magnetic torture device."

Stacy laughed a little. "The MRI isn't torture."

"But wearing those hospital gowns definitely is."

Kate left Stacy's office feeling no better about her life, but also, no worse. So Kate considered that at least a little bit of a win. A part of Kate thought that Stacy would say 'of course courts always side with the mother, you'll be back with her soon' with that too wide smiles adults give you when they don't really care but think they're giving you great news. Kate took her time returning to her room – she knew as soon as she was there a nurse would be in soon to tell her to get changed ready for her MRI. Which Kate definitely did not want. She didn't care what everyone else said, that thing was torture. It was too bright, the bed thing was like concrete, the tube was like a coffin, you had to stay completely still while doctors looked at your literal insides, and the noise was horrendous. Loud, clunking, echoing, scary, and you had to 'block it out' because 'it would be over soon' but it never was. Kate always had trouble breathing in the MRI; her heart beat fast, and she could never seem to catch her breath. And this time she was scared that they'd say she'd need more brain surgery. Her shaved bottom part of her head was mostly easy to cover but she couldn't have braids or wear anything than her hair down or a low pony. What if they had to go somewhere else in her brain to remove another tumor or white matter and had to shave her whole head. Kate shuddered.
She reached her room and tried to be as stealthy as possible to avoid nurse detection but within ten minutes of her sitting down and pulling out a book there was a knock.
Kate didn't bother looking up from her book from her chair by the window.

"I need to get you prepped for your MRI Kate," said a male voice.

The four nurses that rotated shifts on Kate were all women. Kate looked up. Oh god. It was Doctor Woods. Kate took a breath.

"So I'm going to need you to get undressed and in your gown, I can get you a fresh one if you need and remember to take off anything metal. Don't forget to be hydrated so while you're changing I'll get you some iced water, yeah?"

Kate closed her book in defeat. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Doctor Woods smiled and left without another word, thank god.

"I need Doctor Foreman," said Doctor Finch to House.

"I'm using him," said House flatly as he continued writing on the whiteboard.

Foreman sighed. "I can help him."

"What about our dying mother?" House said sarcastically.

Foreman rolled his eyes and went out to the hall with Finch. "What's up?"

"I've got the MRI booked for Kate Wilson since you're the one that operated on her, I thought you'd want to be in there to see the results," said Finch.

"She seems fine, yes?"

Finch shrugged. "Mostly, but it is the brain and apparently her psychiatry appointments are not going well, so I can't imagine the white matter issue is any better."

"Well isn't that fabulous. Yeah, I'll do it."

"Thanks."

Foreman walked down to Kate's floor. She'd been in the same room for months so at least it was easy to remember where she was. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, her hair loose, wearing a hospital gown.

Foreman smiled at her. "Good morning, Kate."

Kate grimaced. "If you say so." She frowned at Foreman. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to be doing your MRI."

"Why?"

"I am your neurologist."

Kate rolled her eyes.

"You ready?"

Kate froze. "Now?"

"Yeah, you're booked in," Foreman checked his watch, "5 minutes. If we get down there soon we'll only have to wait 15 minutes if we're lucky."

Kate scratched her arm for no reason. "Is it just you?"

"You want Doctor Woods to come?"

"No," Kate answered quickly. "But…what about…my…Dad?" she finally got the words out.

Foreman sighed. "It's not cancer. We know that, it's a routine test, Kate, you'll be fine."

"I know that," Kate said, but she didn't actually believe it. "But could you, you know, at least maybe get a nurse to page him. Just in case he's free?"

Foreman closed his eyes and took a breath. "Sure," he said. He turned and went to the nurse's station. "Excuse me," he said quietly to the nurse that turned. "I'm taking Kate Wilson to MRI, if Doctor Wilson comes by, can you tell him?" he asked in as a low a voice he could without seeming rude.

The nurse nodded.

"Thanks." Foreman went back to Kate. "Let's head down."

Kate pursed her lips, kicking her legs on the side of the bed. "Okay," she gave in and slipped off the edge of the bed and followed Foreman.

They only had to wait ten minutes. Doctor Finch arrived just as they previous patient and doctor finished.

"Good morning, Miss Wilson," Finch said.

Kate just nodded.

Foreman opened the door, and they all headed in.

"Can we wait?" Kate asked as she came face to face with the MRI.

Foreman was losing his patience. He had an actual patient upstairs, who might be dying of god knows what, and he was on MRI duty for the charity case. He didn't hate Kate, of course not, and of course he felt terrible for all that she'd been through. But keeping the kid here because it was easier for child services to not have to place a sick kid in foster care was ridiculous. She would be coming in most days anyway for her treatments – Wilson could see her pretty much just as much. And Kate wouldn't be hogging a beautiful corner room that any other patient would be glad to have. She wasn't even on paediatric floor for god's sake! "I paged him," Foreman lied. "He's clearly busy and doesn't think this is a big deal either, okay. You'll be fine."

"Doctor Foreman's right," said Finch and went into the exam room.

Kate took in a shaky breath. Foreman gestured to the MRI bed. Kate slowly walked over and slid herself up. Foreman helped her lie down and he placed Kate's head into the pillow block. Kate stared up blankly at the ceiling.

"It's going to be fine," Foreman said, "It's just an MRI."

"Easy for you to say," Kate said.

"Hold still, it'll be over before you know it."

Kate closed her eyes. Foreman sent Kate into the machine. He heard her breath hitch, but he thought nothing of it. Foreman went into the exam room and turned on the MRI imaging.

"She's a little dramatic," Foreman said.

Finch laughed a little. "Wilson really didn't want to come down for this?" he asked.

"Uh…no," Foreman said as he made sure all the screens were properly set up.

"Huh, that's a first, he doesn't even let us start her dialysis without him in the room. You sure you paged the right number?"

Foreman felt a little guilty. And then concerned. He'd thought that Kate was being a little bit pathetic. He didn't think of Doctor Wilson having his kid being poked and prodded every day. "You know," Foreman said, "Maybe I didn't…" Doctor Wilson was usually nice. He hated to think how far Wilson could go the other way if he was bad. Foreman didn't want to find out.

"All good," said Finch, standing up, "I'll get someone to page him now." He left the room.

The machine hummed and then started its imaging.

Wilson had to confront Stacy. Of course he did. This was going to end terribly for everyone. No matter the outcome, it was going to end terribly. He went to her office.

"What the hell did you do? Were you just cold and lonely?"

"Course he told you, he's an 8-year-old boy."

"Hey, you're the one who kissed him."

"Why are you so worked up over this?"

"Because you're married."

"Not to you. This is none of your business."

"The last time you left, I was the one stuck picking up the pieces."

"Oh right. He cried himself to sleep every night. That so sounds like him."

"He's been pining for five years!"

"You're being dramatic."

"No. Actually, I'm underplaying. This is me being restrained."

"It was one kiss."

"Are you being intentionally thick? This was not just a one-night stand. You can't toy with him."

"I'm not. He's probably toying with me. I do-I don't know what I'm doing."

Wilson shook his head. "Oh, boy."

"Also, did you know Kate was in here earlier this morning?" Stacy asked.

That caught Wilson off guard. "What?"

"She had some questions, about the legal system."

"What kind of questions?"

Stacy shrugged. "What a stay was, when the custody hearing would be, things like that."

Wilson frowned. "How did…how did she seem?"

"Frustrated. Angry. Tired."

Wilson sighed.

"Was there ever a custody agreement between you and Colleen?"

"What?"

"A custody agreement. A court ordered one. Kate seemed to think there wasn't."

Wilson shook his head. "Not an official one. Colleen told me when she'd send Kate and she did; I paid child support as ordered though."

"And you didn't question that?"

"Question what?"

"That Colleen would send Kate to you whenever she wanted. You didn't want to contest that?"

"I found out Colleen was moving with Doug across the country three days before they left. When would I have time to contest that? We were never married. I had just gotten remarried to someone else. I had a few other things going on."

Stacy raised her eyebrows.

"By the time I realized what an idiot I was and filed a contest in Nevada they'd moved to Hawaii and my contest was invalid. Colleen assured me everything was good. Every time I spoke to Kate on the phone, she seemed fine. When I saw her, she was happy. Kate never mentioned seeing me more, she never cried when she left, she never…said anything was wrong. I didn't want to be that guy."

"What guy?" Stacy asked.

"The guy that forced his kid to see him because it made him feel like less of a deadbeat dad but the kid hating every moment."

"Kate's not a little kid anymore, Wilson."

"I know."

"And you're not a deadbeat dad."

"I have no idea what I'm doing."

"That makes two of us."

Kate closed her eyes. She tried to breathe. But every time she took a breath in, it was shaking. It was as if her own lungs didn't want to work. The noise was intense. That knocking. That constant knocking. Like something or someone was trying to get in there with her. To tell her she was dying. To tell her she'd screwed up again. Forgotten something. Done the wrong thing again. That knocking. It sounded like leather belts smacking on walls. It sounded like a syringe being tapped. It sounded like the belts being strapped around her ankles to the foot of her bed because she'd grown too strong. It sounded like them being unlatched and clattering to the wooden floor when she was immobile.

"Kate?" Foreman said through the microphone. The girl was not holding still at all. "Kate, you need to be still."

Foreman looked through the window, Kate's legs were…flailing? "Kate, you all right?" he said into the microphone.

A part of Kate was aware her name was being called. Unfortunately, the voice was distorted in her mind. All her mind could do was fold it in to what her brain thought was happened.

"What the hell?" asked Finch as he came in to the room and saw Kate, "What's happening?"

"A panic attack, I think," said Foreman. "Kate," he said again into the microphone, "Just breathe, you're going to be okay. This will be over sooner if you hold still."

Wilson came into the room. "What's going on?"

"She's panicking," said Finch.

"You need to turn it off," said Wilson.

"What? Why?" asked Foreman.

"You really think you're going to be able to calm her down like that?"

Foreman rolled his eyes, but pressed the emergency stop button. He, Wilson, and Finch went into the MRI room. Wilson and Foreman pulled out the bed. Kate had her hands over her ears, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Kate," Foreman said.

Wilson frowned, but gently touched Kate's arm. "Kate," he said softly. "Kate it's over. Help me get her up," said Wilson to Foreman.

Together they moved Kate up to sitting. She slowly dropped her hands from her ears. After a little while Kate opened her eyes, looking down at her knees.

"We'll try again later," said Finch. "You right here, Foreman?"

Foreman nodded. He knew they'd have to clear the room. And soon.

Kate fiddled her hands in her lap as her breathing slowly went back to normal. "Sorry," she croaked out.

"It's okay," Wilson said and he rubbed her back. "Deep breaths," he said, and Kate began breathing to Wilson's slow count.

Foreman eyed Wilson and Wilson just gestured to his other hand to Kate, still recovering from her panic attack. Foreman rolled his eyes and checked his watch.

After five more minutes, Wilson suggested they go for a walk. He and Foreman helped her off the machine's bed. Wilson wrapped her arm around Kate and they left.

Wilson took Kate outside, walking towards the school; it was nicer than around the hospital. Kate kept avoiding eye contact but hadn't walked off anywhere so Wilson took that a good sign. Unfortunately, he didn't really know where to start the conversation. It was nearly five minutes of complete silence.
Wilson took a breath, "Do you remember Stacy?" He didn't know where that came from, but it was better than nothing.

Kate thought for a moment. Did Wilson know she'd talked to her? "Yeah."

"She kissed House." Wilson wanted to hit himself, was he the teenage girl here?

Kate was stunned. "I thought she was married."

"She is."

"And she kissed House of all people?"

"Apparently he's a hard man to let go."

"Yeah, but he's like, a virus, not someone you go around kissing."

Wilson smiled at that.

"Did she tell her husband?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Wilson shrugged. "She said she doesn't know what she's doing."

Kate nodded. Then paused. "You…you spoke with Stacy? Today?"

Wilson turned back once he realised that Kate has stopped walking. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"To talk about her kissing House."

Kate frowned a little. "That's all?"

Wilson nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"You're such a bad liar."

"At least I tried, right?"

Kate took a breath. She was tired. She walked over to the side, sat on the edge of a retaining wall. "Trying to lie is better than telling the truth?" she asked.

Wilson sighed and sat down next to Kate on the wall. "Yes?"

"What'd she say?"

"That you asked her about…stuff."

"Ah, yes. Stuff. That makes me feel so much better."

"She didn't say anything bad…or specific," well, that was kind of lie, yes. But Wilson thought that's what Kate was worried about so maybe it a good lie. If she bought it.

Kate didn't answer. Just watched people walk by for a little while. "Will I ever be better?" she asked.

Now that caught Wilson off guard.

"I mean will be able to walk for more than 10 minutes at a time without feeling faint? Am I always going to be hooked up to a machine?"

Wilson cocked his head. "You've got a lot of things to recover from still. Your body is fighting. That takes time."

"How much time? It's been months?"

"Well, if we get this MRI, we'll be able to see how your brain's doing. And I'm not a neurologist, but I know the brain is an important part of health. And I'm pretty sure you

can't live without it."

Kate managed a small smile. "And if my brain is looking good?"

"Then we can start getting those kidneys of yours better and some physical therapy so you can get your strength back up."

"And if my brain isn't looking good?"

Wilson took a breath. "Depends on the bad. There are always options."

"If Foreman has to shave my head again to cut into my brain; I'm going to go insane."

"Well, that'll look good; a crazy bald teenager running around the hospital. Cuddy will love that."

"Maybe I'll just die."

"That's not funny."

"At least I'll have my hair."

"Most of it, since the bottom was shaved off."

Kate eyed Wilson. "Now that's really not funny."

Wilson smiled. He wrapped an arm around Kate's shoulders, she leaned into him; resting her head under his arm. Kate took a deep breath, and somehow, she felt a little better. Wilson rested his chin on top of Kate's head. He kissed her hair lightly and they stayed like that for a while. In the fresh air, watching the people walk by.