House was sitting in the first row of the small church, waiting for the service to begin. Not that he was interested in any kind of religious rites and even less in the funeral of his father, but out of respect for his mother he finally had agreed to come.

Glancing over to her he noticed an old family friend sitting very close to her, supporting her more than he could ever do. He was glad that she did not expect him to be her rock. As much as he loved her, being emotionally supportive was not his thing, but obviously showing up really might have been enough. Chase and Wilson had tried to convince him of that since he had gotten the news. Right now they were sitting next to him, shielding him from the other members of his family, he had not seen in years and had no interest in speaking to now as well as all of his parents friends. To be honest he was astonished to see how many people had come, maybe the old man was not as much of a bastard in his recent years, at least not to people outside of his direct family? But then he realized that most of them were more likely his mother's friends from book circles and other clubs she had taken to while her husband was working in different places all around the world.

He had been surprised to see Cameron and Foreman sitting in the back of the church as well, obviously they had taken the day off to be there, but he could not fathom why they would do so.

Finally the service started and House was once more reminded why he did not like catholic masses at all: The frequent change between sitting on hard benches and standing was not the easiest thing on his thigh, which was already not too amused after the nearly three hour car drive they had absolved that morning. Thankfully it was not a full mass, so he was not expected to kneel down. All this movement distracted him most efficiently from the question that had occupied his mind on the way there: Should he feel bad that he was not mourning his father? To be exact, he was not sure what he felt and did not really like examining his own feelings either way, so he was nearly welcome for the distraction.

When the service was over, the coffin bearers started their way out of the church and dutifully his mother followed directly behind. Since her friend was still holding onto her elbow, House did not feel obligated to walk next to her, instead he took his place directly behind her, flanked by Chase on the left and Wilson on the right. While his usual pace was pretty fast, especially for a man with a cane, currently he had to struggle to be able to keep up with the coffin bearers. When he noticed his mother slowing down as well, House did no longer try to match their speed. They would not start the rites without all the mourners and mostly everybody walking behind him was at least twenty years older than him, they might even appreciate the slower pace.

At the corner the coffin bearers finally became aware that nobody was behind them anymore and they slowed down as well. Just when House started wondering how much further he would have to make it without taking a break, they stepped off the paved road to reach the grave site. The slightly uneven ground and gravel was a completely new reason for misery, but he had known to expect that and was appropriately careful. While concentrating on every single step, he felt Chase stepping even closer to him. Instead of getting angry at that behavior as he was wont to do whenever he felt pitied or patronized, he managed to relax a little bit, knowing there was a shoulder available to hold on to should he need it. House still sometimes wondered how the young intensivist had managed to break through all his carefully erected barriers and wormed his way that firmly into his life, but somehow he had.

Of course there were no chairs available at the grave site and while House was definitely not amused by that, he knew that he was to blame for not helping with the preparations at all. Unfortunately they had caught a big case in the last week which meant all of them had spend most of their waking hours and several nights as well at the hospital and had simply not been able to consider the organization of a funeral or they would have had another dead body by now. Thankfully they had managed to save their patient just in time to go home, sleep a few hours and drive here.

Mentally preparing himself to be really stiff after the procedure, he took his place next to his mother. He was fine standing mostly on his left leg for quite some time, only balanced out by the cane, while the priest started praying again and then asked all attendees to say their last goodbyes. Stepping forward to the grave and finally be moving again was nearly a relief, even though it was only a few steps, and he realized for the first time that he would never have to face his father again. Grabbing the shovel with his left hand felt kind of awkward, but switching the cane over would have given too much attention to his disability, so he made due using his non-dominant hand as so often during the last years.

Stepping back to his place he would have loved to just leave the service now and flee all the other people to be able to relish in the fact that his father would have no other opportunity to make his disappointment known, but seeing the grieve on his mother's face kept him in place. Since they had taken up their positions outside, Chase had been standing right behind him, offering him something to lean against if necessary. He was determined not to let on, that standing for another 20 minutes would be hard, but he had not taken into account that people might want to offer their condolences to him. Not especially liking to be touched and definitely not fond of shaking hands, he considered again to just leave everybody behind and head back to their car when the first person approached first his mother and then him, but dutifully he switched over the cane to his left hand and accepted his task. He had to bite his cheek several times when people made comments about how sad he surely was and how wonderful his father had been, but managed to keep himself in check. He could feel Chase's hand on the small of his back grounding him and over time leaned into the comforting touch more and more.

At some point people started talking about Chase supporting House, alternating between being astonished that the gruff doctor allowed the comfort and being affronted at the indecent display, which was a sin in their belief, but nobody was too vocal about it. Most of the guests were old enough and well familiar with pain to have their own trouble standing for so long. The ones that had known him longer wondered that it was not Wilson, whom they all were accustomed to as faithful friend and unwavering support since the infarction. They were equally astonished, that he seemed to have made more friends as there were more young people present, that were not members of the family and not from around town either.

Cameron and Foreman had been keeping to the back of the guests all the time, not sure whether their attendance would be welcome, but willing to offer whatever support they could. Even though Cameron had a small speech prepared in her head on how to condole House, both of them only extended their condolences to his mother after watching him needing more support the longer the ceremony was going on.

Directly after them a small girl struggled to make her way to the grave site, obviously unaccompanied, to throw down some flowers she had brought. She did not go to House's mother, but turned directly to House himself. His colleagues were surprised to see the gentle expression on his face. Cameron had started to step closer when the girl swayed a bit while changing directions at the grave, but Foreman had hold her back when he saw House's gesture to stop interfering.

The girl seemed very proud when she reached House and hugged his left leg fiercely. House leaned down and exchanged a few words with her, that nobody could catch, all the while caressing her back until her breathing had slowed down a bit. Then he introduced her to Chase, who was smiling at the scene in front of him. The girl seemed to look him over very critically before she smiled back, and obviously completely exhausted by now, lifted her arms and requested: "Up." Still grinning Chase picked her up and positioned her on his left hip, not relenting in his position as House's support beam at the same time.

It did not take long until Chase was completely taken in by the small girl on his arm. She wore a step counter on her wrist which she presented proudly to him, telling him, that is was already green for today! A few careful questions revealed that this meant she had already fulfilled her pensum of walking for the day, even though it was not evening yet. Noticing the number it was set to was only 200 and combining that with fact that she was clearly wearing a brace, he wondered about the reason, but did not have the time nor the energy to start a differential quite yet.

A short while later finally the last person had said their condolences and the groups dispersed. Well aware that House did not like it when others saw him weak or in pain, his colleagues stayed for a moment longer at the grave site. Obviously on Wilson's order Foreman had fetched a wheelchair from the car in the meanwhile and only now stepped closer. While House usually hated using anything other than his cane with passion, always fearing that it might lead to a set-back, he sat down in the chair without any protest now. Especially Cameron and Foreman threw him concerned glances at that, trying to gauge his pain level, but soon his motives were clear when he extended his arms to accept the small girl.

She seemed overjoyed to finally be where she had wanted to be all the while, but was clearly no longer able to keep upright. "There should be a blanket somewhere." commented House in Chase's direction, already trying to position her in a way that released some of the pressure on her spine and at the same time did not touch his right leg at all. By the time the fleece blanket was situated they had figured out how to compensate for her taller frame and soon the girl began to relax.

House proceeded to ask her some questions to figure out why she was on her own today. At the end they learned that the person who was supposed to bring her to the funeral and watch her left directly after the church service to prepare some coffee and cake at House's parents place, leaving her to go with one of the older ladies from the book club. Since all of them had left by now as well, they would of course take her along. In the car she got to sit on the middle seat, the only one with a lap belt and therefore safe for children without a car seat. Without a comment House scooted into the back with her, helping her to stay sitting upright even despite her exhaustion, leaving Wilson free to ride shotgun.

Chase and Wilson were trying to get the girl to talk to them, but all they were able to get out of her was that her name was Catherine. Seeing that Cathy was getting frustrated, House stepped in and succinctly guided Chase back to his parent's house.