Disclaimer: All rights belong to Fox and David Shore.
Author's Note: A big thanks to my beta Ceciilee who is simply awesome!
This is the third and final part of the Minor Setback series. I hope you like it and don't forget to click the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page.
***
April 2007
Cuddy is attending a conference in Boston and House has been pouting like a little boy ever since he heard that she'll be gone for a few days.
"What am I suppose to do for three days?"
"Go to work, take care of the boys, and try to stay out of trouble."
"How about at night? You know…"
"Greg, I think you can survive with no sex for three nights."
"I don't think Mr. Happy can."
Cuddy simply rolls her eyes and replies "I think it's about time that Mr. Happy gets re-acquainted with Mr. Right Hand again."
House points at Cuddy's belly and asks "how about the baby? She's going to miss Daddy reading her stories and playing her the piano."
Cuddy, who's now eight months pregnant smiles and answers "Well, we'll have to make sure I call in at night so she can hear you read and play the piano."
"I can't take care of the boys by myself."
"Greg, your mom and Lina will be here to help you."
"I know, but what if the boys miss you?"
"I'm only a phone call away. I'll bring my laptop and I'll set the webcam so they can see me at night."
"How about me? Can I see more of you at night too?"
"Greg! I'm eight months pregnant."
House points at Cuddy's breast and asks "even a little peek of the girls?"
"We'll see."
***
Shortly after Jake's first semester, he was accepted into the accelerated program which allows him to graduate medical school in three years (instead of the usual four). Jake was allowed to forego almost 30 credit hours of classroom-base courses after acing all the assessment tests. But instead of going directly to clinical rotations (3rd and 4th year), he participated in HMS' New Pathway curriculum which is base on Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum that integrates clinical experience, basic sciences in small work group format. All of his professors are so impressed by his talent that they've allowed him latitude in integrating his MD (from Harvard) and PhD (from MIT) courses to his independent curriculum. Jake spent the second half of his freshmen and sophomore year working on two things: improving his dissection skills by spending at least 30 hours a week in the anatomy lab. He also took advantage of his relatively light schedule by working on his PhD dissertation.
Since fall semester, he's been serving his 'clinical rotation' at different hospitals throughout the academic year. A task that he's very familiar with since he's been doing internship at PPTH for the last three summers.
After the family's first and only vacation last summer, Cuddy has only seen Jake a total of five days (during Christmas week). With the conference's rigid agenda and Jake's busy schedule, mother and son have plan a quick get together before she flies back home. However after one of the guest speaker cancelled at the last minute, Cuddy immediately devices a surprise visit to her eldest son's apartment. She knocks at Jake's apartment, and is surprise to see a beautiful blond girl opening the door.
Marie recognizes Cuddy from Jake's family photos so she opens the door and excitedly says "hi Mrs. House!"
Cuddy hesitantly says hi back and asks "is Jake in?"
Marie nods and when Cuddy gives her a blank stare, Marie immediately realizes that her boyfriend hasn't informed his mother about their living arrangement. Marie politely asks Cuddy to come in while she gets Jake.
A quick look around the apartment informs Cuddy that the blond girl is Jake's girlfriend, Marie.
Cuddy thinks to herself "she must be visiting him since it's his first day off in two weeks."
A groggy Jake comes out and greets his mom. He asks "hey Mom! I thought you wouldn't be free until later this afternoon."
"Yeah, I thought so too but one of this morning's speaker got food poisoning and so it freed up a few hours. Will you be interested in making our coffee break to a lunch date?"
"Oh, ok. Sound good Mom."
Cuddy looks over to the kitchen where Marie is milling around and then to her son and asks "is there something you want to tell me Jacob Gregory House?"
Jake knows that he's in deep trouble the moment his mother starts calling him by his full name. He stammers "ah…ok. I suppose you've met my roommate?"
Cuddy raises her brows and plays along "yes, I have. I thought I raised you better than that! Shouldn't you properly introduce her to your mother?"
"Of course." Jake goes over the kitchen and brings Marie back to the living room with him. "Hmmm…Mom this is Marie. Marie this is my mom."
Cuddy gives Marie a warm hug and says "nice to meet you Marie. I've heard so much about you."
Marie replies "oh, it's so nice to finally meet you too Mrs. House. Jake has met my parents but I've only met his Dad."
"Yes, Greg and Dr. Wilson mentioned meeting you last summer."
Jake interrupts both women to announce that he's going to take a quick shower so they can head out for lunch.
Cuddy nods at her son and immediately focuses on Marie. Cuddy tries to be polite but she wants to know more about Marie and what are her intentions with her son.
"Jake mentioned that you're from Switzerland. How do you like living here?"
"I love Boston! It's big but not overwhelming like New York. Love the variety of restaurants and Cape Cod is not far away."
"Are you planning to stay here for good?"
"I originally came for my undergrad but I just got a two-year research fellowship last summer and I've decided to pursue my PhD too so I'm staying on for at least another three years."
"What's your field of studies?"
"My research fellowship is in evolutionary biology and I'm pursuing my doctorate in Biology."
"Are you planning to teach or research?"
"I would love to do both. My Dad is a professor at the University back home."
"What does he teach?"
"Dad teaches Biology."
"And your mom?"
"Mom's a journalist."
The two women chitchat for awhile until Jake rejoins then.
Jake asks "are you ready Mom?"
Cuddy replies "yes of course." She looks over to Marie and asks "you're not joining us?"
Marie shakes her head "I'm sorry Mrs. House. I have a class in half hour. However, it's really nice meeting you and good luck with the baby."
***
It was a very quite walk to the restaurant as Cuddy refuses to say a word to her son.
"Mom, you'll have to talk to me at some point."
Cuddy gives her son a penetrating look and asks "when were you planning to tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"That you and your girlfriend are living together. Jacob you're only eighteen."
"I'll be nineteen in three months. As I told Dad, it's just financially advantageous for Marie and me to room together."
"Your Dad knows about this living arrangement?" Cuddy is visibly hurt that both her husband and her son have kept this a secret from her.
Jake shrugs his shoulder and replies "I didn't tell him. He found out about it when he was snooping around last summer."
"You've been living with your girlfriend since last year and it never occurred to you inform your mother?" Now, Cuddy is really fuming mad.
"Don't worry Mom. It's not like we're planning to get married, have kids or anything like that."
"So, what are you planning Jacob?"
Jake rolls his eyes since his mom is still calling him Jacob "Mom, come on. Marie and I enjoy each other's company but we're much too pre-occupied with our career goals to get into a serious relationship."
"Do you love her?"
"Huh?"
"It's a very simple question Jacob. Do you love her?"
"She's smart, beautiful and funny. I like her. Why are you asking me this Mom?"
"I don't like the idea of my eighteen year old son getting into a serious relationship. However, I don't want you to go through what your Dad and I went through. If you love her, you tell her now. Not twenty-years from now."
"Mom, I am not Dad. I don't have any hang-ups saying that I love you. Unfortunately, I'm just not ready nor do I even know what I want. The only thing I'm certain that I love is… you, Dad, the twins..." he points at Cuddy's belly "and my baby sister." And the only thing I really want right now is to be a doctor."
Cuddy nods at her son's honesty and says "I just want you to be happy."
Jake nods and replies "I am happy, Mom."
"Your Dad mentioned that you're almost finished with your PhD."
Jake nods and replies "I'll just have to defend my dissertation to the panel then I'm done."
"When's your graduation?"
"Graduation will be on June 8th and there will also be a dinner ceremony the night before. Do you think you'll be able to make it? The baby will only be 3 weeks old, I mean if she arrives on time."
"Jake, I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Wouldn't it be funny if the baby arrives on your birthday? That would mean your youngest & eldest kids have yours and Dad's birthdays."
Cuddy laughs and replies "that may actually happened since I'm due that week."
"How's this pregnancy so far?"
"It has been very smooth, reminded me so much when I had you. Which is good since the twins are a bit of handful right now."
"Yeah, Dad mentioned that they're living up to their terrible twos stage."
"They're not that bad. Ethan is very sweet but a picky eater. If he doesn't like his food, dinner is like 2-3 hours affair. Charlie is like a mini-Greg. Quite a bit of a contrarian, you should see the stare-down between him and your dad."
Jake laughs and replies "Dad sent me a video of Charlie going through his tantrums. Complete with stripping down to his undies and rolling around the floor. Dad walks away but left the camera on, Charlie stops crying and starts playing. Dad walks back in the room; Charlie continues with his tantrum."
"Yup! There is never a dull moment with those twins. Your Oma was just telling your dad this morning she caught Ethan jumping out of his crib because he needs to go potty. Anyway, their custom big-boy bed just got delivered the other day and hopefully your Dad can assemble it quickly before those boys gets hurt jumping offs their cribs."
"What kind did you get?"
"We got Ethan a speedboat bed and Charlie a sports car bed."
"Are the twins moving to the upstairs rooms when the baby arrives?"
Cuddy gives a big sigh and replies "we added a connecting French door in between the two rooms. Your Dad and Wilson painted the rooms. We decorated one room in car workshop theme while the other one has a nautical theme but that's as far as we get. I'm just not ready for the boys to be upstairs by themselves yet."
Jake laughs and asks "So the boys will be sharing their room with the baby?"
Cuddy smiles and replies "It will do for now until I can convince your Dad to move the crib in our bedroom."
"Good luck with that!"
TBC
