House Fan Fiction ❯ A Christmas Story ❯ Mr. Bell ( Chapter 8 )

Mr. Bell

 

House was limping back to his office still holding the notepad. His pager had gone off meaning Chase had finally checked her heart. He limped into his office seeing the team from the corner of his eye staring at him. He tossed the notepad on the desk and limped into the other room.

 

“What did you find?”

 

“A heart mummer that caused lack of blood to the brain,” answered Chase.

 

“Which caused fluids in the lungs that looked like what Cameron?” said House now looking at Cameron.

 

“An allergic reaction,” she muttered.

 

“And the lack blood to the brain looked like what Foreman?”

 

“Neurological system,” said Foreman.

 

“And what are we going to do to fix her?” asked House glancing between his team.

 

“Remove the fluid from her lungs and fix her heart,” said Foreman.

 

“But there's another problem,” said Chase.

 

House frowned. “What? Did she run away from your girly looks again?”

 

“There's some dead tissue from the lack of blood. It needs to be removed.”

 

House stayed still for a moment. “That's it?”

 

“It's in her heart and a small section of her lungs,” said Chase. “And doing the surgeries is risky right now because of her crash.”

 

“Have you talked to her about it?” asked House.

 

“Not yet.”

 

“And why not?”

 

Cameron spoke up, “Because we wanted to know what you thought about it. Do you think it's safe to do it now?”

 

House thought for a moment. “Nope.” His pager went off and he checked it once the others' pagers didn't go off. “Gotta go.”

 

“What do you want us to do?” asked Cameron.

 

“Go cover my clinic duty. I'm busy,” he answered and limped out of the office.

 

House went down to the first floor and the first nurses' station. He limped out of the elevator and saw why he was paged. Chris Bell stood at the station looking around for House. Chris was about sixty or older with a head full of gray hair. His brown coat was swung over his arm along with a scarf and an old man's cap. He saw House limping towards him.

 

“Greg! How are you?” he asked walking towards him.

 

“Good. You should've called before you came up.”

 

Chris shrugged. “I needed to do some shopping anyway.” He looked down at House's leg. “How's the leg doing?”

 

“Still the same,” he muttered.

 

“Now what was so important that you wanted me to come up for?”

 

“It's better just to show you,” he said. “By the way if three to five people swarm towards me don't be alarm. They think I'm God.”

 

Chris chuckled. “After you.”

 

House limped to the elevator while Chris slowly walked next to him. House pushed the up button with his cane. They went up to the second floor, walked out and towards Lilly's room.

 

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I did get your gift. Thanks,” muttered House as he limped and Chris walked.

 

“You're welcomed. I'll be sure to tell Jamie. Oh yes, I almost forgot.” Chris stopped and reached inside his coat pocket. He then pulled out a small tin case and handed it to House. “Jamie made you cookies. I hope you still like peanut butter.”

 

“Always do,” muttered House and took the tin can. “You told Jamie you were coming here, didn't you?”

 

Chris nodded. “She suspected it once you called.”

 

“Good old Jamie,” he muttered. They were almost to Lilly's room and no sign of Cameron, Chase or Foreman, which was good. “Is it really that noticeable when I call?”

 

“Yes,” muttered Chris. “It only took five days this year. Usually it takes about a good week to get you to call back.”

 

“I haven't been as busy this year,” muttered House.

 

Cameron then came out of Lilly's room and closed the door. She walked up to House and said, “House, Mrs. Bell called and asked if Mr. Bell had made it up here yet.”

 

“Oh, you must be Dr. Cameron,” said Chris and held out his hand. Cameron shook it and glanced between House and Chris. “You have such a lovely voice. You're even more lovely in person.”

 

“Thank you. You must be Mr. Bell, correct?”

 

“Yes, my dear.”

 

House handed Cameron the cookies. “Put these on my desk and tell Foreman to keep his black magic away from them.” Cameron took the cookies and nodded. “Is Katie asleep?”

 

“Yes, Lilly is asleep.”

 

“Good. Now run along.”

 

Cameron left seeing how Mr. Bell reacted to Katie's name. She glanced back over her shoulder to see House and Chris talking.

 

“I'm still horrible with names,” muttered House. “Chris when you see this girl don't make a big scene. I don't know how you'll take it.”

 

Chris raised an eyebrow. “This is about Katie isn't it?”

 

House nodded. “Yeah. C'mon.” He limped and Chris walked down to Lilly's door. “Right in there.”

 

Lilly was asleep again hooked up to a heart monitor. She slept peacefully as House and Chris simply looked at her. Chris grew pale, blinked away some tears, and looked up at House.

 

“Who is she?” Chris almost whispered.

 

“Lilly Napper. LN. That's what Katie would sign her name sometimes.”

 

Chris shook his head. “That's impossible. She looks…”

 

“That's what I said. I need to know if Katie didn't come home a whole lot one year or something.”

 

Chris shook his head. “No. She was either with you, with us, or at school. And I'm pretty sure you would've noticed if she gained weight.”

 

House slowly nodded. “Katie said that she had a diary do you guys still have it?”

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“Maybe there's something in it about Lilly.”

 

Chris shook his head again. “How old is she?”

 

“Twenty,” he muttered. “Had a car accident by hitting a patch of ice.”

 

Chris sighed. “When I go back home I'll check and bring it back up for you. Greg…about Katie's death-”

 

“It's fine,” he said. “I'd rather not talk about it right now.”

 

Chris nodded. “Thanks Greg. Anything else I should know about?”

 

House knew that Chris would have a heart attack if he showed him the drawings so he lied. “No. Not right now anyway. Thanks for coming up.”

 

“Anytime Greg.” He paused for a moment, but said nothing except, “Goodbye Greg. I'll probably be up here tomorrow.”

 

“Alright. Do you want me to walk you down or anything?” He saw Cameron and Chase walk out of the elevator and looked at him.

 

“I'm okay. Do you want any of Katie's drawings when I come back up? She left a notebook and had a few pictures of her and you together.”

 

House saw Cameron and Chase exchange looks. Why not say yes? “Sure,” he muttered. “Merry Christmas Chris.”

 

Chris patted House on the shoulder. “Merry Christmas Greg. I'll see you tomorrow.” He turned and left House standing by Lilly's doorway, said goodbye to Dr. Cameron and got into the elevator.

 

Cameron and Chase walked up to House. “Yes kids?” asked House.

 

“Was that Lilly's father?” asked Chase.

 

“Nope. Dad's friend that hates Australians.”

 

Chase frowned. “We're going to tell Lilly to get the surgery done.”

 

“Why? She's fine.”

 

“Because if we leave it there it'll do more damage in the long run. I don't think she wants to spend Christmas in a hospital.”

 

House rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. Who doesn't want to spend Christmas in a hospital? Katie probably loves hospitals.”

 

“Lilly,” corrected Cameron.

 

“You say Lilly, I say Vicodin.” House popped one into his mouth. “You're not doing the surgery.”

 

“Why not?” countered Cameron.

 

“Because Daddy said so. If you have a problem with it go talk to Mommy.” He limped passed Cameron and Chase. “And don't you dare go behind Daddy's back or else you'll be fired. Comprende? Good.”

 

Chase and Cameron exchanged looks once again. House limped into the elevator and went down back to the first floor then into the clinic.