Sorry for the cliffie, but I did warn that there would be angst. Thanks for reading.

Oh, and last time when I was recommending stories, my swiss cheese brain forgot to mention Almost Home by Anon004. Another great read! Check it out. And also Soem Enchanted Evening by hilandmum. Hey, if you can't plug your friends...

Chapter 4

They didn't panic until later that night when Marianne caught the tail end of a news story on CNN. She switched channels repeatedly until she heard it again. Then she paused the TV and ran into the other room where House was playing the piano.

"Greg, come here!"

"What's up?"

"Just come here."

He followed her into the bedroom and she rewound the TV – thank God for DVR – and played the news story for him.

"The small Central American country of Jacinta was the scene of an uprising by the revolutionary group, the People's Freedom Army." The pretty blonde reporter said. "Reports are sketchy at this time, but our news bureau in the area has said that the group ousted President Marino and is trying to remove all foreigners from the country. The American Embassy is scrambling to find all Americans and get them to safety. The American hospital was attacked, but there is no information on the number of casualties. We'll keep you updated as reports come in."

As the reporter moved on to the next story, House and Marianne just sat there, stunned, for several minutes.

"Do you think…?" Marianne began.

"I don't know. I don't want to think right now until I do know."

They spent the next few hours alternating between the TV and computer, searching for any snippets of news about Jacinta.

Finally, House had had enough. "Fuck this." He said as he pulled out his cell phone.

"Greg, it's almost three in the morning! Who are you calling?"

He didn't answer her, but he did speak into the phone. "Let me talk to your wife."

"What the hell…it's the middle of the night! Do you have a patient?" A sleepy Wilson asked him.

"No. Just give me your wife."

"I am not bothering her unless you tell me why."

House sighed. "Go to your computer, type in 'revolution' and 'Jacinta'. Then come back and talk to me."

"What are you…?"

"Just do it." House hung up and sat down, palming his face as he waited.

A few minutes later, his cell phone rang.

"What do you need, House?" Cuddy asked him.

"Some of those board members have connections to the state department. I know they own a few senators too. Get a hold of them. Get them to find out where my son is."

"House, it's three in the morning."

"I have a watch. I didn't call to find out the time!"

"There isn't much they can even do at this time of night."

"Don't you understand? The longer we wait, the harder it will be. And the more chances that …there isn't anything we can do."

She was silent, then sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

But it seemed there wasn't a lot that she could do. A few days later, they still had little or no information about Michael and Alison. House called the administrative offices for the program they were a part of, but they could only tell him that Michael was still listed as 'unknown status', meaning he wasn't definitely dead or alive. Which told House absolutely nothing.

So the only thing that he could do was nag Cuddy to get her connections to obtain information for him. He nagged her almost hourly.

For the first two days, Wilson tried, as was his way, to placate the both of him. To House he would say, "Lisa is doing her best. You have to have patience.'

To Cuddy, he would say, "You have to understand, he's really worried."

By the third day, he started telling House, "Leave her alone, she's trying everything she can!"

By the fourth day, after spending time with his best friend, he told his wife, "You have to do something. It's his son. I don't know how he'll survive if – well, you know."

Cuddy looked at him and said, "God, I know. I don't know how we'll survive watching him try. I'm pulling out all the stops, every favor I can possibly use."

Marianne, during this time, took it upon herself to keep Brianna happy. She refused to tell her granddaughter that something might have happened to her parents.

"We don't have anything concrete to tell her." She reasoned. "She'll only be confused. Once we know, we'll tell her."

Even though he believed in total honesty when it came to patients, House agreed with his wife on this. He wasn't in any hurry to tell the little girl that her parents were dead.

He could barely think about that himself. Being an atheist and not believing in an afterlife meant that if Michael was dead, that was it. He would never see him again. The thought of that life being wasted for someone's political ideals made him furious. He didn't know who he could take it out on, but in the meantime, his team, Cuddy, Wilson, hell, anyone in his path were fair game.

Except for Marianne. He could see the pain in his wife's eyes, even though she tried to hide it for Brianna's sake.

Marianne didn't know what to think, how to feel. A part of her was of course holding on to the hope that Michael was alive and just unable to contact them. But another part was preparing her for the other outcome: that Michael was dead.

And that outcome, she knew, would be the most devastating thing she could ever face. Her son. Her SON. Her baby, her little boy. Because a thirty-four year old man was still a little boy to his mother. She'd carried him in her body. She'd fed him from her breast. She'd wiped his runny nose and dried his tears. She'd watched him grow into the most amazing young man she had ever seen.

In her life, she had faced a variety of loss: Friends that she'd left behind when her father's military career moved them. Her mother's death from breast cancer. The death of her first husband, Harry Newman, whom she had loved. Not in the way she loved House, but she had loved that good, gentle man. Her separation from House, believing she would never see him again. Her own brush with breast cancer and fear of her own death.

Yes, there had been pain in her life. But she knew, with every fiber of her being that all of that would be a picnic in the park compared to what she would feel if her son was dead.

She loved her family and friends, she loved House. But her son? He was her heart.

The only thing that kept her going and would continue to keep her going was her granddaughter. Michael's child. The only piece of him that was left to her.

She knew he would want her to care for Brianna. To raise her to be the sort of woman he would have raised her to be. That was her duty. Her loving duty. It would keep her pushing on through all of this and through the rest, should the worst happen.