AN:
This story follows "Snowed In" and is the 9th story in the Susan Chronicals series. I started writing during the summer between season six and seven because while I loved the series, I always felt that there was a missing character. Susan is House's half sister from his biological father. Because I created her before we actually met the guy he thought was his father, this series pretends that character never really made an appearance. In the Susan Chronicals universe, House's biological father passed away several years before.
Anyway, I've followed cannon throughout my writing, allowing Susan's life to be on the fringes of what was happening in the series. She's the character you never saw on the show, but operating in the background or between episodes. Rarely have broken into the show itself, but have found it necessary from time to time to show how Susan has dealt with certain issues that occurred in the show.
This story is one of those times because as the series ends, for Susan's life to continue she needs to deal with what happened in the finale.
Susan is 47 years old at this point and is hugely pregnant with her and David's son. I hope you enjoy how I worked her life into the finale and I would love to hear your opinion, good or bad.
As usual, I do not own House or any of the characters on the show. I do own Susan, David, Laura, Phillip - and well, you'll figure out who else. :-)
Chapter One:
Susan sat on the edge of her bed touching her hand to her expanded belly as she felt the baby move. It was still dark in the room. She swallowed the bile that had crept its way up to the back of her throat while she was laying down and got up to go to the kitchen, "You OK?" David's sleepy voice came from the darkness.
"Yes," Susan answered. "Just a little indigestion; I'm fine." She continued out the door and headed down the hall through the living room to the kitchen. She pulled out a glass from the cabinet and turned toward the refrigerator to get some ice water to cool the burning sensation in her throat and sat down at the table as she sipped the water. She sighed to herself and tears welled up in her eyes as her thoughts wandered to Dr. Wilson and Greg. Dr. Wilson had been diagnosed with stage 2 Thymoma, but was now terminal. When Greg first told her that Wilson had cancer, Susan had mentioned that at stage 2, it should be curable and Greg had readily agreed. But the problem with doctors when they get sick is that they know too much and Wilson had had a number of patients who should have been cured, who ended up dying so he went for a much more radical and dangerous dose of chemotherapy that he had opted to try alone. It was a good thing that Greg had discovered what he was doing as he would have treated himself at his own condo and been completely alone. At the same time, Greg should have put his foot down and forced Wilson to do the treatment at the hospital. What they had done was stupid and irresponsible and Wilson could have died right there in Greg's apartment. For all they went through though, the treatment didn't work and now Wilson was terminal. Susan couldn't help but wonder if the treatment itself was the culprit for accelerating the disease. He had five months to live without treatment or a couple of years if he went on a chemotherapy regimen. Wilson opted to not treat which sent Greg into a downward spiral. For all the outward show of strength Greg normally presented, he was incapable of handling loss. Unable to express his emotions he acted out as usual, his antics led to the flooding the basement of the hospital and damaging the MRI. He finally came to his senses and accepted Wilson's decision, but the damage had been done. He was headed back to jail. Susan's silent tears trailed down her face as she lay her head down on the table alone with her own quiet grief. She didn't even notice David's arrival as he sat in the chair next to her and put his arm around her.
"Hey," he said as he drew her closer and put her head on his shoulder. Susan wrapped her arms around him as the tears continued to stream quietly down her face. "Sweetheart, come back to bed. You need to rest," he said softly after several minutes.
"Would you get me some antacids please?" Susan asked as she wiped her eyes. David got up and went over to the cabinet and pulled out one of the many bottles of antacids that Susan had strategically placed all over the house as her pregnancy progressed. She was only a few weeks away from delivery and indigestion was a common visitor at this stage. The news of Wilson's illness coupled and Greg's reaction to it increased her stress level and as usual she'd nearly quit eating which only exacerbated the indigestion and acid reflux issues.
David handed her the medicine and gently pulled her to her feet. He put his arm around her waist and led her back to the bedroom. Once in the bedroom, he fluffed their pillows and propped them against the headboard knowing she wouldn't be able to lay back down flat for a while. She got into bed and he walked around the other side and got in. He moved over to her, also in an inclined position and pulled her to him so that she was resting with her head on his shoulder, "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly.
"I'm fine," she said as she shook her head and just lay in his arms. David held her that way while her breathing eventually evened out as she fell asleep. Staring into the darkness of the room, David silently cursed at House for putting his wife through emotional turmoil yet again. He was so selfish in his behavior - it was always all about him and his needs. He never put anybody else first. He kissed his wife on her forehead as he saw movement under her nightgown. Their son, they still hadn't fully named him yet, was very active tonight. He laid his hand over the movement and quietly whispered, "Go to sleep baby, your mama needs to rest." Eventually David drifted off to sleep with his head leaned against Susan's.
MDMDMDMDMD
Phillip quietly walked downstairs to his parent's room. Their door was open, so he knew it was OK to enter. Dad had installed a new vent cover in his floor that made it where he couldn't hear or look to see if they were awake anymore so he had to go downstairs to check. He walked in their room. Dad was still asleep, but mom was missing. He heard the toilet flush and then the water turn on in the shower. "Dad?" Phillip said.
David turned over and opened his eyes, squinting against the light coming through the window, "Yes son"
"I think you forgot to set your alarm," Phillip said. "You didn't come wake me up."
"No, I turned it off," David said. "We're taking the day off today. Susan didn't sleep well last night so we decided to call in. She has an appointment with her obstetrician today anyway."
"What about school?" Phillip asked.
"You're taking the day off too," David explained. "We're going to have a family day today. I'll call the school and get your homework assignments so you'll be caught up when you go back tomorrow."
"Sweet," Phillip said and rushed out the door and bounded upstairs to get dressed for the day. He wondered what all they were going to do, but decided it didn't matter. Any excuse to miss school was fine with him. He hadn't missed any school except for when he was in the hospital and it was getting close to the end of the school year, so the teachers weren't assigning so much homework right now anyway. He doubted he would miss much. Suddenly he thought of Jerrod and ran back downstairs to the phone. He dialed Jerrod's number and asked for him when his stepmom answered the phone.
"What do you mean you won't be at school today?" Jerrod asked. "You don't sound sick."
"I'm playing hooky," Phillip explained.
"Your parents won't let you do that," Jerrod argued.
"My parents are playing hooky too," Phillip said.
"Really? Your parents are so awesome," Jerrod said. "I wish my parents would let me skip school."
"I bet if you worked harder and got your grades up, your parents would let you. You have to earn rewards you know," Phillip explained.
Susan walked in the front room as she was headed to the kitchen to make breakfast and heard the last statement Phillip made to Jerrod as she passed through. She smiled to herself. He was such a good kid and growing up so fast. She knew he would make a good big brother. Her face quickly sobered as she thought of her own big brother and wondered how he was doing today. He was his own worst enemy always pushing the people that care about him away and acting out when he didn't know how to deal with emotions. The Colonel had done a number on him growing up. All that military toughness drilled into him from the time he was little did nothing to teach him how to deal with the day to day issues of normal life. People lived and people died and yes it was especially painful when those closest to you died - Susan had dealt with plenty of that in her life; first her mother's suicide, then her father's death followed shortly by Jeff's. She'd even lost her best friend to a drunk driver when she was a teenager. Everybody dies; it's part of life. How you deal with it says what kind of person you are and for all his intelligence, Susan wished that her brother had even half of the maturity that her twelve year old had.
Phillip walked in the kitchen having finished his conversation with Jerrod, "What's for breakfast?""Oatmeal," Susan answered.
Phillip turned his face up, "I don't want oatmeal," he said.
"Too bad," David said as he entered the kitchen. "How can I help?" he asked Susan. Susan asked him to pull out the bacon and prepare one slice for Phillip and however many he wanted. David glanced at her, but didn't say anything as he went to the refrigerator to do what she asked. Susan continued preparing the oatmeal in silence as David placed the bacon on the microwave plate.
It wasn't long before breakfast was ready and the family sat down together to eat. David asked the blessing and Susan dished out the oatmeal for everybody. Phillip stared at the concoction in his bowl and grimaced. Sighing heavily he picked up his spoon and took a bite. His eyes opened wide with surprise and suddenly he was much more interested in his breakfast. Susan smirked to herself when she saw his reaction and dished out a couple tablespoons of oatmeal in her bowl. "You're eating more than that," David said.
"I'm not really hungry," Susan said.
"Don't care," David said as he put two slices of bacon on her plate.
"I didn't want any bacon," Susan said.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told Phillip; 'too bad'," David replied.
Susan glared at him, "You're not my father."
"No, but I am your husband and the baby's father and I love you; you're stressed and not eating and you need to eat. You're going to make yourself sick and you know it," David said.
"I haven't stopped eating; I'm just not very hungry right now" Susan argued but picked up a slice of bacon anyway and started chewing having decided it wasn't worth arguing about. David watched her with a little more satisfaction as she finished the slice and started eating her oatmeal.
Phillip had stopped eating during his parents' discourse and put his spoon down, "Are you guys going to get a divorce?"
"No," Susan and David said in unison. "Why would you think that?" David continued.
"Because you're fighting again," Phillip said. "Jerrod said that when his parents started arguing a lot, that was when they got a divorce."
"I thought you learned your lesson about listening to Jerrod," Susan said.
"He was just talking about what happened, he wasn't trying to give me advice," Phillip explained.
"Son, two people cannot live together without there being a few disagreements along the way. It's part of getting to know each other and where they stand on certain issues. Besides, we're not fighting I'm just…."
"Being over-protective again," Susan interrupted.
David looked over at Susan, "Protective - not overprotective. There is nothing wrong with me wanting you to take care of yourself and you know that when you get stressed, you quit eating. It's not just you in that body, you have a baby to take care of in there too."
"My stomach hurts," Susan said. "I just don't want to eat."
David let the subject drop for the moment and finished his meal. Phillip started to lift his spoon up to his face, but stopped half way, "I…. never mind."
"Finish what you were going to say," Susan said.
"I love you," he deflected.
"I love you too, but that's not what you were going to say," Susan said.
Phillip sighed, "I just…..I don't want anything to happen. I like having a mom."
"Especially one that makes good oatmeal," Susan teased.
"Yeah," Phillip answered with a grin, "especially that."
Susan smiled, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." She reached over to David and squeezed his hand before she got up from the table. "I need to get ready to go to the doctor. You take care of the dishes Phillip."
"Yes ma'am," Phillip said.
MDMDMDMD
Susan was stripped down to her underclothes and was looking at herself in the mirror. She was covered in stretch marks despite all the lotions she had used throughout the pregnancy. Part of her really didn't understand as she had not really gotten too many when she carried Laura, but then again this little boy was already bigger than Laura was when she was born and Susan still had several weeks to go. David walked in the room and saw his wife examining her profile. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her and looked at her figure with her, "Hey beautiful," he said.
"You don't need to lie," Susan said.
"I'm not," David said.
"I look horrible," Susan countered.
"Not to me you don't," he said. He released her from his arms and started massaging her back just below the shoulder blades where her muscles always cramped from carrying the extra weight in front. Susan closed her eyes and leaned back into his hands to increase the pressure.
"I'm sorry," she said after a minute. "I know you're right. Wilson lectured me for the same thing back when Greg and Cuddy broke up and I was so worried about him. I know Greg put him up to it."
"Probably," David acknowledged but didn't go any further.
"That 'probably' was loaded," Susan said. "Say what's on your mind."
"It's not important," David answered.
"If it's on your mind, it's important."
"It amazes me how much your brother cares about you, but then does things that he knows will hurt you," David said after a moment's hesitation.
"He's not thinking about that when he does things," Susan defended.
"Of course he's not; because he is the most self-centered person I've ever seen," David said.
"I'm not going to argue that point, he is self-centered. He's been alone his entire life; even growing up as a kid he was alone. The only real friend he's ever had is Wilson and now Wilson is dying. Greg didn't grow up in a normal household, he has no concept how to process emotion and so he pushes away the people that care about him because he doesn't want to deal with the pain of losing them. Wilson is the only person he's let get close to him in the last twenty years and now he's getting ready to lose him. He just doesn't know how to react," Susan explained.
"What about you?" David asked.
"I'm important to him too, but even I'm not in the ranks with Wilson," Susan said, "I am family, but I haven't been with him all that long. All Greg can think about right now is losing his best friend. He can't process anything else - and that includes me."
"Doesn't that bother you?" David asked.
"I suppose it should, but no," Susan answered.
"And you are by far the least self-centered person I know," David observed. "It's amazing you two even came from the same gene pool."
"Shows you how much role environment plays," Susan answered. "Besides we only share half a gene pool. Different moms remember?" Susan walked in her closet to pick out an outfit and came back into the room. "If he'd been raised by Dad instead of the Colonel, he'd be handling this completely differently."
"You mean, stressing himself with worry to the point that he quit eating," David pointed out.
Susan looked at him through the top of her eyes as she was bent over to put on her pants, "Which is a heck of a lot better than stuffing season tickets down a toilet to prove a point to Foreman and ultimately resulting in clogging the entire plumbing system of the hospital, flooding the basement and damaging the MRI. At least my reaction only affects me."
"And the baby," David added.
"The baby will continue to get what it needs; taking it from my body if he has to, but it hasn't gotten that far. I'm OK David. I haven't stopped eating entirely and I'm still taking my vitamins and extra calcium every day."
Susan sat down on the edge of the bed and handed David her shoes. He knelt down to the floor and put her shoes on her feet. "All set," he said. He pulled Susan to her feet and walked with her out of the room.
"Phillip, are you ready to go?" Susan asked when they entered the living room.
"Yep," he said looking up from his video game. He saved his spot and turned it off before shoving it in his pocket.
The three of them headed to the front door, when Susan stopped suddenly. David turned around, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Susan said. She walked up to David and put her arms around his neck and gently drew him down to her. David grinned knowing what she was up to and proceeded to kiss her passionately.
Sure enough it wasn't many seconds before they both heard a big sigh followed by, "Kissing again? You guys are always kissing."
They broke apart and held each other for a moment, "The best part of a disagreement is making up," David said looking at his son.
"You say so," Phillip said with exasperation as he turned and walked out the door. "Gross," they heard him say as he made his way to the car.
