You're lucky to be alive

Chapter 1

Gregory House sat in his office. It was late, and he was thinking about Cameron. Not romantically or with lust, but about what she had done today. She brought up his birthday, thinking that he had forgotten. How could he have forgotten this day, the day he was born? The day Sarah was born…

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It was June 11th 1959, and Blythe House sat in the hospital with not one, but two babies nestled in her arms. Little Gregory, was sleeping soundly, and his twin sister Sarah was looking around with her little blue eyes. John House stood beside his wife staring at his new family. He was so thankful for his two healthy babies. Little did he know the happiness was only going to be short lived.

The babies grew a little each day. Greg was the fussier one they all noticed, and was more curious about everything around him. Sarah was excited and much more social, and often was sick. Sarah got a lot of attention as a child and little Greg was always jealous. But all was well until a little after their fourth birthday.

Blythe and her husband, rushed to the hospital holding little Greg as Sarah was admitted after having passed out while the twins were playing in the backyard. After several tests the doctors diagnosed her with Wilms tumor, a kind of kidney cancer. Little Sarah was brought to the hospital everyday, for treatments. Her parents were sure she would get well, and always accompanied her bringing Greg along for support. Greg at first was in awe of the hospital. He looked around at all the doctors and patients. He was a very bright child, and once he was old enough he would often listened to the doctors and nurses discuss a case and he would play a little game with himself debating on if a patient was going to die there, or walk out ok. Everyone became so used to Greg around the hospital, that often his parents, who refused to let him in the room when his sister was getting her treatments, would send him off with a nurse who would take him into the clinic with her while the doctors made their diagnosis. Greg hated the clinic. He found it boring and often went to the hospital miserable thinking of a day in the clinic. This was surely one of the reasons the present day Greg House hated the clinic so much. But what Greg hated most, was what he missed out on at the hospital. Friends would invite him to go play, or movies would be playing on TV, but Greg's parents always insisted he accompany his sister to the hospital. "You must be there to support her" They would say. "You are so lucky to be healthy!!" They would scold when he complained of something or other. Greg hated how his parents always fawned over Sarah, and he was always cast aside. He was so jealous of his sister, perhaps that's what shocked him most when she died at the age of 7. Sarah had a fatal intraoperative pulmonary embolization of Wilms tumor. Her parents were devastated, but no one, was as shocked, as her twin brother Greg.

Nobody ever explained to Greg about what happened to his twin. Nobody told him what she had, what had happened. His parents came out of the room one day, and told him she had died. Greg, seven years old, understood that he was never going to see her again. He had been around the hospital enough to figure that much. But his parents were so traumatized by Sarah's death that they refused to talk about it, and little Greg was forced to deal with it on his own.

Greg grew up an angry kid. Often he wanted to go out and do things, but his mother and father kept him on a close watch. They moved a lot, since John House was in the marines, and Greg didn't make many friends. There was no point making any friends, he realized after a while, because he either couldn't go out, or he'd be moving soon anyway. In the beginning, he tried, he pleaded with his parents to let him go to a birthday party or to the movies with some classmates, but it was always no. At the age of nine, Greg got his first girlfriend.

He had been crazy about that girl. At school they were inseparable. Everyone knew they had crushes on each other. Everyone but Blythe and John House. It was Greg's tenth birthday that started the big mess. Mrs. Hale, the girl's mother, called Blythe one evening to talk about Greg's birthday. Blythe of course, knew nothing about Greg's new little friend, or that they had been going to the park or to her house on weekends. Greg had told his parents he was on the track team at school and was attending practices. Mrs. Hale wanted to have a birthday party for Greg, inviting all the kids in their class. So when Mrs. Hale called Blythe that one night, the conversation went a little like this;

"Hello, is this Mrs. House?"

"Hello, yes may I ask who is calling?"

"Hi, this is Carol Hale, Anna's mother. I'm sure you've heard a lot about her. I'm so glad Greg and Anna have become such good friends. Anyway, I know Greg's birthday is coming up, and Anna was talking about having a party and I thought if it was ok with you, we would take all the kids out to the big fair coming soon. Anna kind of wanted to make a surprise for Greg."

"Umm, I don't mean to be rude, but Greg has never spoken of any girl named Anna, and I'm afraid I can't let him go to a stranger's house for a party"

"What? Greg's been here many times Mrs. House. He never told you they've been playing together?

"My son wouldn't lie to me. I find it extremely rude that you would accuse… well no matter. He is not going to your house for a party, and you and your daughter better stay away from my son!" Click.

Blythe and John both confronted Greg that evening, and he was forbidden to ever speak or see Anna again. A week later, the House's moved. It was after this that Greg House began alienating people. After this, his friends were scarce, and he spent a lot of his time either on his own, or fighting with his father. John House was always disappointed with his son. No matter how Greg did in school, what he accomplished in sports, what awards he won, he was disappointed. He always told his son how he could do better. Greg always felt as if his father hated him no matter what he did, and this led him in turn to hate his father himself. In his teens, Greg began to think of Sarah. Every birthday, they had to go to church, and say a prayer for Sarah. It was always a day of mourning, Greg's birthday was never celebrated. He began to miss his sister, and he blamed his parents for never including him in her treatment, for separating him from his twin, and then, for her death.

Greg decided at fourteen, that he wanted to be a doctor. He wanted his twin back, and he felt that if he somehow helped cure people, it would in some way, bring Sarah back. So, much to his parent's displeasure, Greg House went to medical school. He got himself a double specialty of nephrology and infectious diseases, and began his career as a doctor.