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Eleven: House Learns About the Baby

House had a visitor sitting on the front steps waiting for him when he arrived home. Isabella had been waiting and was about to leave when he finally arrived. She stood up when House walked up. She was feeling stronger after being with her friends for two weeks and much more in control.

"Hi"

"Hi"

They walked into the building. House stalled and stopped to get his mail and then he unlocked his door and let Isabella enter his apartment. She seemed tense but better than the last time he saw her. He was relieved that she looked OK, but he was nervous to hear what she had to say

"Do you want something to drink?"

"I'd like some water."

They each sat where they had sat two weeks ago. Isabella drank her water, delaying what she had to do.

House sat, drumming his fingers on his left thigh. "So…"

"Um. I don't think the annulment is going to work for us." Isabella said.

"Oh? Why not?"

Isabella breathed out a heavy sigh, saying nothing for a few moments. "I'm pregnant."

House let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Ah" He didn't know what to say. His head tilted back a little and he scrubbed his face with his hand.

They sat in silence both thinking their own thoughts. At last House said, "What do you want to do?"

Isabella thought for a few minutes. I want to wake up and discover that all this is just a bad dream. I want this to never have happened.

What she said was, "Well… I um well; this child was conceived after we were married. It would be better to get a divorce instead of an annulment."

"So you want to keep it?"

"I haven't gotten that far. Maybe adoption would be best for the baby, but I'm not ready to make that decision right now. I'm still trying to process all this right now. There's a lot to think about and process. There's plenty of time to decide before the baby is born."

House tried to talk her into an abortion. "You do have a choice, you know. You don't have to have this baby, it wasn't planned. You are just starting out in your career. You are young, you'll have other babies."

It took a very short time for Isabella to comprehend that they weren't both talking about the same thing. "Are you talking about killing this child? Do you want to kill your son or your daughter? "

House sighed, "It's really not a baby, not yet. It's just a group of cells, some tissue." Ooooh, big mistake!

"If it's not a baby then I guess we don't need to do anything about it do we Gregory House? There's nothing to worry about. Nothing will happen. We'll just go on our merry way and nothing will change. What are you if not cells and tissue, Gregory House? Huh? What is an elephant, Gregory House? Huh? You don't want to be a father so you just want to kill your child? I don't want to be a mother, either. I never planned to be a mother or a wife; especially when I'm 18. If we just get rid of you I won't have to worry about being a wife, Gregory House. Let's just kill you and that will take care of 50% of my problems, Gregory House."

Gregory House was impressed! And a little bit scared.

Isabella grabbed her things and left the apartment slamming the door hard on the way out. Without realizing it Isabella was healing and she was taking back her power, for herself and her child.

She went back to the motel where she was staying and tried to calm down. She no longer had her job in the lab, so she couldn't sleep there. Her apartment was filled to overflowing with Danny, Irene and their family, so she was staying here. She really didn't mind the motel, it was fine. It was a dump. She would like a better kitchen, though. It was just temporary. She tried to think about anything other than what just happened. It didn't work.

She was married to a horrid man who wanted to kill her child. She had to get that divorce. She didn't want her child anywhere near that man.

After Isabella left, Gregory House lay on his couch and stared at the ceiling, a couple of extra Vicodin kept a drink of scotch company in his stomach. He felt completely drained and exhausted. He couldn't sleep, thoughts kept circling in his brain. What the hell was he going to do? He was 53 years old. He never wanted kids. He didn't want a kid of his to grow up the way he did. John House wasn't his bio dad, but House had lived with him for 18 years. Some of John House must have rubbed off and infected him with John House's special brand of poison. He didn't want to screw up a kid of his. He didn't want to hurt a kid. Why were women the only ones with the right to choose? Why didn't men have a choice to not be dads? He'd ruined Isabella's life. He didn't want to ruin another kid's life too. He was such a fuck up. His dad was right about that. What the hell was he going to do with a kid? Two kids; his wife and his kid.

Fanfiction doesn't allow for page breaks, if they did I would put a page break here.

This is Gregory House' and Isabella's story; it is about them and the way they deal with what was done to them and the results of what was done to them. They have their own views about abortion and their views are told in this story.

This is not a story about abortion. It occupies only a very few, short paragraphs in a 33 chapter, nearly 54,000 word novel.

This is not a forum to debate abortion. If you enjoy that, please find an appropriate page on the internet. You may agree with House or you may agree with Isabella or you may have a different view of abortion. You are entitled to your opinion. We are not going to argue this unsolvable issue here.

You may want to focus on the last important paragraph; why doesn't Gregory House want to be a father?