A/N: This is my first House fic, I hope you all really like it! This is something that has been brewing in my mind for a while and I just needed to get it out on paper! There is also a bit of a crossover between House and Joan of Arcadia, but it's really minor and barely exists. R and R

Oh and this story doesn't follow the time line in the show I kid of tweaked it a bit to fit my ideas a little better!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything House related, or Joan of Arcadia related either.

Pivotal moments really do change the course of ones life in an instant. Gregory House had so far experienced two pivotal moments in his life; his marriage to Stacy Brodie and the infarction. He however never expected to experience another pivotal moment of this magnitude.

July 7th 2002

Dr. Gregory House had just endured a long and very boring day at PPTH, the clinic was almost completely empty since it was July and no one was ever sick in the summer, and he currently had no cases to work on. So he had spent the majority of his day watching his soaps and playing with his game boy. He was extremely happy to be at home in his townhouse with his scotch watching T.V, even if there was nothing but stupid cop shows on. He flipped through the channels again as if that would change what was on three minutes ago. As he was flipping the phone rang.

"To get up or not to get up? That is the question." He said aloud to himself as he heard the phone ring for a second time.

He finally decided it must be important because no one ever called him at night unless it was important. So he got up as quickly as his leg would let him and hobbled over to the phone. He picked it up just before the answering machine turned on.

"House" he said praying it wasn't one of those annoying telemarketers.

"Is this Dr. Gregory House?" the man on the other line asked.

"Yes" he answered preparing to hang up if the next words out of this guy's mouth had anything to do with "an amazing once in a lifetime offer".

"This is Mr. Robert Cambridge, Stacy Warner's attorney" The man explained.

"Whatever it is I didn't have anything to do with it." Greg immediately defended himself.

"Oh, no that's not why I'm calling. I hate to be the one to tell you this but Stacy was killed last night in a fatal car accident." Mr. Cambridge replied very quietly.

Greg almost dropped the phone when he heard these words. He stepped back a little until he hit the wall. This wasn't possible.

"Oh god, no" Greg gasped into the phone softly on the verge of tears, as he slid down the wall into a seated position.

"I am very sorry sir,….." he paused, then continued " in Mrs. Warner's will it states that if anything were to happen to her you would become the legal guardian of the four children the two of you conceived. She decided it would be better for them to be with their biological father rather than Mr. Warner." Mr. Cambridge explained very nonchalantly.

Greg had to shake his head a little to process what this man was telling him.

"Right" he answered shakily.

He knew this, Stacy had told him, but it never occurred to him that he actually might out live her and have to become a father all over again.

"Where are they now?" Greg asked, still unable to think straight, which was a bad sign in his case.

"They are staying with her sister Helen and her husband Will. Helen wanted to bring the kids to you at your office tomorrow." Mr. Cambridge answered.

"Oh, yeah that should be fine. Just have her call before she gets there." Greg asked surprised that this was all being dumped on him so fast.

"I will sir, again I am very sorry. Have a nice night. Good bye." Mr. Cambridge replied and then hung up.

Greg turned the phone off but remained sitting on the floor for a while. His mind began to spin and he was drawn into his memory.

Flashback 3 years ago.

August 7th 1999

Greg lay in the hospital bed; it had been three days since the surgery that Stacy had consented to, and he was still overwhelmingly angry at her for it, not to mention in extreme pain.

"How could she have done this? I am a doctor; I knew what I was talking about. This is all her fault." He thought angrily to himself as he lay there.

He wasn't sure if he could stand to see her face every morning and be reminded of who caused him all this pain. He began to drift off as the pain medication began to kick in.

The next day when Stacy had come back to be with him, he couldn't hold his feelings back any longer, so he exploded.

"We need to talk." He started. "I'm not sure I want to be with you anymore, how can I trust you after you completely ignored what I said and let them do the surgery anyway! I knew what I was doing Stacy!" he was yelling at this point.

"I was only doing what the doctors thought was best for you! I didn't want to see you suffer anymore!" Stacy answered loudly holding his hand.

"I am a doctor! I don't want to remain in this relationship; I don't want my kids to see me like this either! They don't deserve to have a cripple as a father!" Greg shouted at her.

"Greg, don't do this I love you, and the kids will love you no matter what" Stacy begged desperately.

"I want a divorce." He stated quietly "You can have total custody of the kids, tell them I love them but I just can't let them see me like this." He said turning his head to face in the other direction.

Stacy stared at him for a while, surprised by what just happened. Then she stood up, kissed him gently on the cheek and left the room.

End Flashback

Greg was still sitting on the floor with the phone in his hands, how could he have done that to her. He had left her with three kids and a fourth one on the way, she had never even asked for any child support. She was such a wonderful woman, at least that's what he thought before she took away the use of his leg. He knew that what he had said then sounded childish, but he was angry and in pain. He still believed that what she had done was wrong, but he couldn't imagine what it must have been like to live with all that guilt. He couldn't imagine what she had gone through and what the kids had gone through.

After he had been sitting on the floor for a while his leg began to ache again. He pulled himself up using the edge of the coffee table as support. He returned to phone to its hook and then went over to his desk which was hidden under mounds of papers and books. He opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out an old shoe box. He took the box over to the couch and sat down. He sat there a while with the box on his lap and then finally decided to open it. He took the lid off and picked up the envelope lying on the top. He took a deep breath and then opened it pulling a letter out. He unfolded the letter and began to read:

October 30th 1999

Dear Greg,

I know you said you didn't want me to be a part of your life anymore and that you didn't want to see the kids anymore but I know only the first part of that was really true. I decided that you might want to hear about what your kids are up to even if you don't want to be around them. So I am going to be sending you a letter once or twice a month with pictures of the kids just to keep you updated.

So why don't we start now. Well the biggest thing to happen since you left is I gave birth to our fourth child, a beautiful girl. She definitely has your eyes; her name is Abigail Lynn House (yes they are all going to keep your name).I picked Lynn because that was the name you had chosen and Abigail was the name I had chosen. She was born on September 12th at 7:09 pm, and weighed 7lbs. 6oz. Zach still hasn't gotten used to another girl in the house but he'll warm up to her soon enough. Dani won her soccer camp championships in the end of August, she was thrilled. Maddie is just being herself right now, still doing ballet. Zach just turned four and just started pre-school, he is very excited. He also just joined the pee-wee soccer team and Dani taught him how to skateboard too. Oh and for Halloween Dani will be Mia Hamm, Maddie is going to be a princess and Zach is going as a skateboarder.

We all miss you around here. The kids aren't mad at you, don't worry. Dani understands, Maddie is a little confused and Zach really has no idea what's going on. Well if you ever feel inclined to call you have our number.

Love,

Stacy

He refolded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. He laid the envelope next to him on the couch and looked at the shoe box, which was filled to the top with pictures. Stacy had really done a good job of keeping him updated. He had never really looked at the pictures, he usually glanced at them and read the letter they cam with. It hurt too much to look at them, but he decided tonight was a better time than any to really look at them.