Chapter Ten

David walked out to his car for his morning commute and saw the package sitting on the passenger seat, along with the three physics proposals he wanted to House to review. Yesterday had been a long day and he'd been late home the evening before. When he pulled into the drive way, his only thought was to get inside, eat and then go to bed. He picked up the package and the physics proposals and walked back inside, "Susan?" he announced when he came back in.

Susan walked out of the bedroom carrying his briefcase, "You forget something?"

David rolled his eyes at himself, "Apparently several things; I left these in the car last night," he said trading the package and papers for the briefcase. "Those are the proposals I asked House to read over this weekend."

"And what is this?" Susan asked having set the papers on the table and holding the package.

"I don't know," David said. "It came to my office yesterday, but it's addressed to you. I forgot all about it by the time I made it home last night." He turned around to head back out, "I need to go or I'm going to be late."

….

House lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. It had been another long and lonely night with his brain going in circles keeping him from getting any sleep. It was still dark outside, but he could hear stirrings in the house next door. He sat up and rubbed his leg to get the circulation moving before he tried to stand. Slowly he lifted himself out of bed and stood for a moment to make sure his leg would hold him before he headed off to the bathroom. He heard the front door of the main house bang shut and then two minutes later bang shut again. Curious, he glanced out the kitchen window and saw David walk out to his car to leave for work. He must have forgotten something the first time and went back in to get it.

….

Susan looked at the return address on the package; it was a New Jersey address, but there wasn't a name associated with it. She went to her miscellaneous junk drawer and pulled out a letter opener and opened the package. Inside was a thick folder full of paperwork. She started to open the folder when Billy woke up fussing. She turned around and walked to the back room putting the folder on the bed as she passed by on her way to the crib, "Hey little man, why are you crying?" She picked him and held him on her shoulder and immediately realized why he was crying. He was feverish to the touch. She carried him in her bathroom and rummaged through the medicine drawer for a thermometer. She put the sensor in his ear and he tried to squirm away, "Hey now," she said. "This is easy; when I was your age you wouldn't believe where they were putting the thermometers." The thermometer beeped and Susan looked at the result, 101°F [A/N: 38°C for my non-American readers]. "You must be reacting to your immunizations," she said. She rummaged around the medicine drawer again and found the infant acetaminophen. She dosed him with the medication and then took him back into the bedroom to change him and feed him. She decided to hold off on feeding him any cereal this morning until his fever subsided. Susan climbed back in the bed, propped herself against the headboard and started nursing. She'd just switched sides when she heard a soft knock on her door. She reached behind her on the post of the bed and draped a baby blanket over her and Billy and then told Phillip he could come in. Phillip walked in the room and sat on the end of the bed, "What's up?" Susan asked.

"I was wondering if I could have $5," Phillip asked.

"Why?" Susan asked.

"Today is our last morning practice before school starts and the coach was going to take us all to the pizzeria afterwards. He said we all needed to bring five dollars," Phillip explained. At that moment Billy coughed and Susan pulled him away. As she did so, he threw up all over her, her nightshirt and his blanket.

"Gross," Phillip said. "That's a lot more than normal."

Billy gagged again soaking more of the bed clothes, "This isn't spit up, he's not feeling well," Susan said. As if to emphasize the point Billy started crying, "Phillip would you go get me a towel and a wet wash cloth please?" Susan laid Billy on the bed and got up to remove her t-shirt, "Shhh; it's okay sweetie," she said to Billy. We'll get to you all fixed up."

Phillip walked back in the bedroom to see the back of his mom's naked torso and stopped in his tracks not knowing what to do next. Susan heard him walk in and stop, "Just set it on the bed," she said without turning around "I'll be out in a little while." Phillip sat the requested items on the end of the bed and turned to leave.

MDMDMDMDMDDM

The water was hot as House grabbed the thoughtfully installed handicapped bar and lowered into the oversized Jacuzzi bath. He wondered if Susan had adapted the bathroom for him or if the guest house was originally prepared for handicapped usage. Everything looked original, so he concluded that this house must have been originally built with the occupants in mind. Not much of a puzzle there. He settled back and closed his eyes as the warmth soaked through his skin to the damaged muscle underneath.

House walked in from the guest room to the living room where the hospital bed had been set up so that Wilson wouldn't feel isolated from the rest. The IV was running and a secondary bag of morphine was piggy-backed onto the IV. Wilson had access to the dosage button which would allow him to give himself a dose whenever the pain became unbearable. He was doing his best not to use it too much as he wanted to stay cognizant as long as possible. "You know, it's ok to allow yourself to sleep," House said as he checked Wilson's vitals.

"I don't want to miss anything," he said. "Besides, I did sleep some last night."

"You've been awake since three this morning," House said.

"As apparently have you," said Wilson with a smirk.

"Touché," House said.

"Has your mom had any success getting your assets out of probate?" Wilson asked.

"No," House said.

"You need more money," Wilson said.

"I can take care of myself," House said. He moved over to the couch and turned on the television.

"I can't believe you didn't have a will," Wilson said.

"Why do something today when you can put it off to tomorrow?" House said. "You're getting boring Wilson."

"Excuse me for boring you with important things like your continued survival after I'm gone," Wilson replied. "Turn the TV up so I can hear."

House was quiet while they watched 'Ellen', but after a few moments he said, "Don't worry about me Wilson; I'll be okay."

MDMDMDMDMDDM

Thirty minutes later Susan emerged from the bedroom freshly showered and dressed with Billy also cleaned up and laying with his head on her shoulder and his thumb in his mouth. She picked up her keys and walked out the side door over to Greg's place.

A still wet and only partially dressed Greg opened the door to see Susan with Billy and stepped aside so she could come inside, "I need a favor," she said.

House eyed her warily, "What?"

"Billy is sick," she started. "It's okay," she emphasized quickly when she saw the instant concern in his eyes as he shifted his gaze to the baby. "I'm sure it's just a reaction to his immunizations." She saw him relax and continued, "Anyway, I was wondering if you would take Phillip to practice this morning? I don't want to drag the baby around in a car when he's not feeling well." House nodded and she handed the keys over. "I really appreciate it," she said.

Susan started to leave, "Wait," House said. He put the keys in his pocket, stepped closer to her, took Billy from her arms and carried him one handed to his sofa and laid him down. "You know where my bag is," he said.

Susan smiled and went to his closet and pulled out his medical bag and brought it over to him, "It just a reaction to the shots," she said.

"I'm the only doctor in this room," he said pulling his stethoscope out of his bag and slipping the earpieces in place.

He finished listening and then pulled out his otoscope and looked in Billy's ears, "Has he been pulling at his ears?" he asked.

"No, but he wasn't too happy with me when I stuck the thermometer in his ear to take his temperature this morning," Susan said.

"It's no wonder," House said. "He has an ear infection." He looked up at Susan, "See; only one of us can play doctor around here."

Susan smiled, "I concede," she said then looked at her son. "That came on quickly," Susan said with her forehead screwed up. "He just had his well-baby exam yesterday and the doctor didn't say anything."

"Probably missed the early signs," House said. "Not everybody is as good as I am."

Susan shook her head in humor as she picked up the baby to go back to the main house, "I'll go see if I can get an appointment."

"Don't bother, I'll take care of it," House said. Susan turned back to look at him with some confusion.

"How…?" she started.

"Trust me," House said. Susan nodded and continued back to the house.