2 years writing and publishing this.
It genuinely feels crazy to me that after 2 years there are still people reading this, and for that, thank you so much, truly Thank you :D (I don't know how many times I've written thank you in these notes, but in 2 years I'm sure it hasn't been enough.)
That being said, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, this is the continuation (second part of the same chapter) of a 'filler' chapter.
Enjoy.
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After taking my bath, clean and with my muscles much more relaxed after the hot water, I forced Gabe to get off the couch as soon as his cartoon ended, sending him straight to take a bath.
It was impressive how such a small child could smell so bad.
On my own on the living room couch with the TV still on, just making background noise, my eyes closed and head tilted against the backrest, I mentally went over everything that had happened that day, completely mentally and emotionally exhausted.
In a way, going to the hospital to use the books and learn a couple of things from House had become a fundamental part of my routine, something I really appreciated, but unfortunately, it had slowly started to become a bit difficult.
Surely thanks to Vogler, Chase had become an exhausting presence in the hospital, which I did not appreciate at all, making the idea of taking some time off slowly but surely grow in my mind.
Decided to take a vacation from the hospital, I opened my eyes with determination. "Vacation" I murmured, amused, because, to be honest with myself, I didn't owe anyone anything, not to Dr. Cuddy, not to House, and especially not to Vogler.
Damn it, I was a High School student, I absolutely did not need to be at that moment in such a volatile and hostile environment.
I could use that time well to spend it with my siblings, who, apart from Gabe, I hadn't seen much lately. There was also Diane, obviously... After all, thanks to summer break, there weren't many people in the college dorms.
Completely breaking my train of thought, Teddy surprised me by opening her door abruptly, stretching the house phone cord as she rushed out of her room. "I'm going to ask my mom, wait" she said excitedly, leaving the phone on the floor right in front of her door. "Mom!" she exclaimed a second later, while trotting to my parents' room.
Puzzled by the situation, theorizing what could have happened, I came to a couple of conclusions, all quite possible. Given my sister's excitement and her need to ask mom, I was completely sure it had something to do with her friends, going to the mall, the movies, maybe even a sleepover at one of their houses.
Betting with myself, I waited, interested to see what would happen. A couple of minutes later, smiling triumphantly, Teddy returned and picked up the phone. "She said yes, but she has to talk to your mom" she declared, hopping on her feet, "she's coming" she added a second later, as if answering a question on the other end.
Following Teddy's gaze, we both looked at the short hallway that led to my parents' room, both of us waiting for mom to appear. Seconds later, she did, carrying Charlie on her hip, who was playing with a fabric plushie.
Seeing me on the couch, mom checked the wall clock in the house. "You're home early" she said, smiling curiously.
"There was a case, but fortunately it was solved quickly" I explained calmly.
Before mom could continue the conversation. "Mom!" Teddy said impatiently.
Continuing her way to Teddy. "Yeah, yeah" mom murmured, rolling her eyes exasperated.
Watching mom and Teddy exchange Charlie and the phone, I chuckled, amused by the slight anxiety on my little sister's face as she saw mom take a couple of seconds to bring the phone to her ear while trying to fix the phone, before anticipation got the best of her, her face was hit by the baby's plushie.
Amused, watching Teddy try to stop Charlie, I stood up and approached to take the baby myself.
Even after I rolled the living room chair, mom still hadn't brought the phone to her ear. "Hello?" mom finally said when I took Charlie from Teddy's arms. "Ah yes, hello Ellis how are you?" she asked, even though the other person couldn't see her, smiling falsely.
Surprised because in my theories it hadn't crossed my mind that Teddy was talking to Meredith, and partly disappointed in myself, because I knew very well that from Boston, Teddy and Meredith talked often during the week by phone.
Nodding, obviously listening to someone talking on the other end of the phone, mom did her best to make sure the disgust didn't show on her face. "Yeah, we're doing well too" she stated a moment later, with some effort, clearly Dr. Grey hadn't asked. "Anyhow, Teddy told me you'd be traveling and need someone to watch Meredith?" she asked, accentuating her fake smile even more.
Amused by the obvious dislike Dr. Grey caused mom, I got distracted for a moment, allowing Charlie to hit me with her toy pretty close to my eye, surprising me.
"Come on Charlie," I said, with exaggerated disappointment. "We're watching mom try her best to be cordial" I added jokingly.
Mom, who was listening carefully to the phone, frowned, making strong gestures for me to be quiet. "Sounds pretty important, congratulations" she said, again with false kindness. "Well anyhow, Bob and I are more than happy to welcome Meredith into the house for as long as you need" she declared, rolling her eyes exasperated, surely tired of listening to the doctor, "of course it's no problem" she added a moment later.
Teddy, clearly understanding the subtext of mom's conversation, increased the pace of her bouncing.
Frowning. "Sounds good" mom said, with a bit of exasperation escaping her incredible effort to hide it. "All right, goodbye" she added, hanging up the phone a moment later.
Teddy and I waited silently for a few seconds, as mom closed her eyes, seeming exhausted from just a few seconds of conversation.
Finally, exhaling, she opened her eyes. "I can't stand that woman" she confessed, pressing the bridge of her nose.
Snorting amused, I nodded. It was quite obvious.
Apparently remembering that Teddy was still there, she planted a smile back on her face. "We're going to pick up Meredith at the Houston airport in a couple of days" she said cheerfully, seeing my sister's happiness.
"Thanks mommy" Teddy exclaimed excitedly, hugging mom. A hug that lasted only two seconds before Teddy snatched the phone from mom's hand and ran back to her room, closing the door behind her.
Smiling until Teddy closed her door, mom slowly turned toward me. "She's just going to send her daughter on a plane by herself, she didn't even seem worried about her daughter's well-being in a stranger's house, how long have we known each other, a couple of days?" mom declared in a low voice, speaking to no one, clearly furious with Dr. Grey.
Nodding, not really knowing what to say, I let mom vent.
"I mean, you're going to send your daughter hundreds of miles away from you, with a family you barely know, at least have the decency to go with her and see where you're leaving her" mom murmured, taking small steps, as if trying to calm her anger. "What kind of mother does that?" she asked, stopping abruptly.
"A bad mother?" I responded, not entirely sure, trying to validate mom's feelings.
Nodding, with her jaw tightly clenched. "Yes, a bad mother" she said, pointing at me. "I don't care how important or smart she is, her daughter is her first responsibility" mom declared, shaking her head.
Nodding again in silence, I rocked Charlie in my arms, who, like me, just watched mom completely captivated by her actions.
Breathing deeply, mom forced herself to calm down. "Fortunately, we're good people... I don't even want to imagine what would happen to Meredith if we weren't" she said a moment later, approaching where I was, "I would never allow myself to be that careless with you, my beautiful baby" she said, speaking in her baby voice, taking Charlie from my arms.
Making strange noises to make my baby sister laugh, mom turned on her heels, walking back toward her room. She had only taken a few steps when the bathroom door, just a few feet from Teddy's room, opened. "What's going on?" Gabe asked, sticking his wet head out the door.
"You're taking a bath, great" mom exclaimed, pleasantly surprised.
Offended. "I don't smell that bad" Gabe defended himself.
"Oh honey" mom murmured with pity in her voice.
Exhaling exasperated, Gabe slammed the bathroom door shut.
Later, Bob came back from work still wearing his 'uniform' the same color as his horrible truck, which also served as advertising, with the phone number to call and the name of his company.
During dinner, smiling broadly, Bob tapped his water glass with a fork. "I have an exciting announcement" he said, standing up.
We all looked at him, confused, falling silent.
"As you know, these last few months are great for an exterminator's work" he declared with false humility.
Amused. "Yeah Dad" I shouted, clapping and following with sounds of encouragement that Gabe smilingly imitated.
Putting his hands together, shaking them next to his head. "Thank you, thank you" Bob declared proudly.
Laughing softly, mom shook her head. "We know honey, we're all very proud."
"Yes" said Bob, nodding happily, "all right, so one of those jobs was for a really rich man who had a horrible rat infestation on his ranch, they were really something out of a book, about this size" he continued, spreading his hands almost as wide as his chest, quickly losing the point of his story as he always did when talking about his job, "they were extremely fearless, I found the nest and I just have to say they defended it with their lives" he added, snorting, apparently remembering something funny to him, surely a nightmare for others. "I'd never seen rats that aggressive, there was one that-"
"Dad, you're doing it again" Teddy interrupted him, seriously.
Freezing in place. "Oh sorry" Bob said, embarrassed. "So, where was I? Oh yeah, a really rich client" he added, snapping his fingers, "well, this client owns several properties around the country and one of them is a beautiful house on Lake Livingston" he continued, raising his eyebrows significantly, as if expecting a reaction from everyone.
I highly doubted any of us knew where 'Lake Livingston' was. Obviously, it was a lake, but beyond that, nothing.
What we all probably did know was where Bob was going with his explanation, it was something quite usual, I was pretty sure Bob had a list of restaurants that would offer him a table immediately for a job well done, he even once caught Chase doing his job.
Nodding slowly, Bob noticed the expected reaction didn't come. "Since there are no more rats on his ranch, my client offered us to spend as much time as we want during the summer at his lake house" he explained, smiling, "the Duncans are going to a lake!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Yup.
Once again Bob's reveal wasn't received as he expected. In silence, we watched him for a few seconds, each processing at their own pace.
Being the first to process the information. "Great" mom said, dragging out the word, smiling broadly, the same fake smile she had when talking to Dr. Grey.
"Not again, I went to a camp for a week during my vacation, I don't want to go again where there are mosquitoes" Gabe complained a moment later.
"Not just mosquitoes, probably also bears and spiders" Teddy added a moment later.
"I assure you we're not going to see any black bears" Bob quickly said, raising his hands, his still-present smile becoming less cheerful, much more empty, "at least not in the area northwest of Houston."
"You know what" mom said standing up, "I now realize this is a great idea, and you all should be grateful to your father, we can experience the lake during summer, when you go back to school ask your classmates and I assure you not everyone gets to enjoy this with their family."
"Yeah" declared Bob, nodding, "wait, 'now'?" he asked a moment later to mom.
Placing a hand on one of his arms. "It was a slip of the tongue honey" mom assured him.
"I say it's great to go spend a few days at a lake" I said, shrugging.
Honestly, there couldn't have been a better time than when I decided to take a vacation from the hospital.
"You see?" Bob asked, pointing at me excitedly. "Even PJ thinks going to a lake is cool" he declared, regaining his genuine cheerful smile. "There's a private dock where we can fish, plus there are boats and kayaks, a fire pit area, basketball court, volleyball, tennis" he began listing, with an increasingly wide smile, stopping as he clearly remembered something, drumming his fingers on his arm. "You'll have your own rooms, in fact, we have extra rooms" he exclaimed and for the first time got an immediate reaction.
"We should go" said Gabe excitedly, making Bob point at him smiling.
I wasn't sure if I should feel hurt by how quickly my brother jumped at the opportunity of not sharing a room with me.
Unable to do anything, I snorted and shook my head.
Seeing she was now completely outnumbered, Teddy lowered her head in defeat. "I'll have to call Meredith to tell her to bring more swimsuits" she said, tilting her head, apparently realizing the idea might not be so bad.
"Yes, call her" said Bob, excited, stopping just a second later, "Meredith?" he asked, confused.
"Oh" mom murmured, realizing she had forgotten to tell Bob about Meredith's situation.
Since we were already bringing a guest, I took the opportunity to ask if Diane could come too, something mom agreed to only on the condition that she share a room with the other two girls or, in that case, I with Gabe. Gabe immediately rejected the idea.
The next day, after a quiet morning watching a movie with Gabe, I headed to the hospital. Even though I had decided to take a vacation, I needed to be one hundred percent sure that my diagnosis was correct. Also, even if I really didn't owe House anything, it would be pretty rude to just disappear.
After greeting the nurses at the hospital's front desk, without receiving any update, which didn't surprise me at all, I continued my way to the lounge, where I found the three doctors working on paperwork, which only appeared once a case was over.
Relieved, since that was enough confirmation of my diagnosis, I entered the room and greeted them.
Like the previous days, I only got two greetings in return, this time Chase ignored me completely instead of Dr. Foreman.
Leaning back slowly in his chair. "We found the tumor" said Dr. Foreman, with a barely visible glimmer of astonishment in his eyes.
"Has her surgery been scheduled?" I asked, secretly relieved to have been right. Secretly, because being right about a brain tumor in a little girl was not exactly a good thing.
"First thing in the morning" Cameron replied, smiling gently, "she's okay, still sleeping" she added.
"Great" I said, relieved.
Ignoring Chase, who was working as if nothing had happened in the room, I rolled my eyes incredulously and moved into House's office.
"Oh look who's here" House said, falsely surprised, "going home early kid."
Something was up with House. Aside from the fact that the joke was incredibly bad, much worse than usual, his body language and a vacant look he had when I entered the room, one he immediately hid, told me everything.
"I don't have a schedule" I said, hanging my backpack to take out the books I had borrowed from his bookshelf a few days ago.
Ignoring my response. "I was wondering where those were" House said, frowning, falsely annoyed.
"Well, you don't have to wonder anymore" I replied sarcastically, putting each book back in its place according to House's strange organization system.
Making sure I shelved the books correctly, House remained silent, watching me closely. "Did you finish those?" he asked, seriously.
Knowing where he was headed. "Yeah" I replied, nodding as I dragged one of the chairs in front of his desk.
As I had imagined, House started asking me questions about the books. It was quite impressive that he could, from memory, recall the content of each book so well that he could quiz me without even seeming to try to remember.
Several minutes later, possibly an hour of question after question, House finally nodded, leaning back in his chair, interlacing his fingers over his cane with a mocking smile. "If you're going to steal my books like a scholarship student at a secondhand bookstore, at least make sure you understand that 'Principles of Neural Science' by Kandel is not just for decorating your coffee table."
Exasperated, I rolled my eyes without saying anything. Out of all the questions, there were a couple I had more trouble answering. In the end I did answer them, but it was obvious House knew exactly which book they came from.
Keeping a mischievous smile on his face. "Now, if you insist on playing doctor" he murmured slowly, "here, 'Localization in Clinical Neurology' by Bassis, so you don't confuse a glioma with a stroke again."
"It was a slip of the tongue, I corrected it a second later" I said, exasperated.
Snorting amused. "I wouldn't say that out loud, 'slip of the tongue'" House said, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh grow up" I said with disgust.
Fortunately, before House could make another dirty joke, his pager interrupted him. "Oh your patient is here" he said after checking the device.
Pausing to think if I had called someone back to the clinic. "My patient?" I asked, not remembering anyone.
"Thirty-pound ovarian tumor" House explained.
"Mrs. Hernandez?" I asked, confused, "why did she come back?"
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot" House said, falsely annoyed for having 'forgotten', "your patient's husband came begging for us to force his wife to change her mind" he added, digging into his pants pocket, "he even used his six beautiful children to twist my arm." He finally pulled out a red wallet and handed it to me, his eyes shining with amusement.
Not knowing the reason behind all of House's building up, I opened the wallet. "Oh" I said immediately, upon seeing the pictures of the children.
I didn't want to rely purely on a last name to profile someone, but I seriously doubted that Mr. Hernandez was a blond, blue-eyed man, like four of the six kids in the photos.
Drumming his fingers on the armrests of his chair. "Isn't this fun?" House asked, standing up a second later.
Standing up too. "Oh yeah, so funny" I said sarcastically, already exhausted just imagining how the conversation with the woman would go.
It really wasn't our place to accuse someone of cheating to manipulate a decision, especially not when that was exactly what the woman had accused us of the day before, we were going to try to force her into agreeing to the surgery.
"Let's go" House said, smiling with strange excitement on his face.
But it was House.
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Author Thoughts:
As always, I'm not American, not a doctor, not a fighter, not Magnus Carlsen, not Michael Phelps, not Arsene Lupin, not McLovin, not Elliot, not Capone.
Another chapter has passed, so new thanks are in order. I would like to especially thank:
11332223
RandomPasserby96
Victor_Venegas
I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Thank you for reading! :D
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