CHAPTER 11

Within five minutes they were across campus and in his tiny assistant's office of the medical department. Since it was the late afternoon on the Friday before the break, the place was almost completely deserted, and whoever was there didn't notice their entrance. Greg and Leah had their hands all over each other as they stood against the door and he turned the lock. She could've said no; she had time during their frantic trip to his office. But she didn't want to. She'd felt so much from his looks, his words, his mere presence, that she wanted this physical manifestation of that. In short, she wanted HIM, no matter how much she really disliked him. If only just this once. "Ssshhh…" she moaned as his groans at her actions with her hands intensified. She pulled down his lightweight leather jacket then removed her soft denim one, dumping both jackets on top of a nearby chair. "…we'll get in trouble if we're caught."

His smooth face was in her neck when his hazy blue eyes looked at her seriously. "Do you want to me to stop? I will if you want."

She shook her head before her brain could finally break through and tell her to say yes. "I just don't want to get into trouble." Leah shuddered as his hands moved under her shirt, teasing her skin. When they moved up to cup her breasts he froze and she asked, "What?"

"I had no…idea…" He looked into her eyes, removed his hands and quickly worked the buttons from their slips. When her denim shirt was completely open and she'd removed it, House almost gasped aloud. He had to restrain himself; he didn't want to sound too eager after all. "My God those puppies are enormous."

She looked down at her breasts then back up to him, where he was drooling all over her. She chuckled. "You've got quite the way with words there Greg," she whispered.

"I always knew they were big but I had no idea…" his hands slipped behind her where he unhooked the undergarment. She threw it off to the side and watched his reaction.

"Good? Bad?"

"Sh!t, those have got to be, what, Ds?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" Leah muttered as they backed to the nearby desk. The office was very tiny, only big enough for a wood desk on one side, a credenza six feet away and a tiny window. When she landed on top of the desk, she leaned back and pulled her legs apart so he could stand between them. His low groan vibrated against her soft skin as he buried his face between her breasts, breathing in her essence and wondering how she could smell so much better than he'd ever dreamt. Leah threw her head back and gasped, shivering through her sweat as his hands cupped her breasts and squeezed.

"Yep, definitely Ds…"

*****

"It wasn't even that structured, or formal, I guess you could say. It happened several times on that desk and we were never caught. When we were done he walked me to my car and promised to call me the next day. It instantly became my 'mistake'. I knew I had no future with him and I wanted something more than what I thought he could give me. But the funny thing was that, when it happened, I wasn't surprised. It was like it was supposed to happen. I guess when the boiler's pressure is too high it has to burst."

"Did he call you?" Leah nodded at Jaymie's question. "And…so? What happened next?"

"I told him I'd see him after break. I went back to Chicago."

"Did you?"

"Did I what Lisa?"

"Did you see him after break?"

Leah shook her head. "No, I didn't. He called but I'd decided, over the break, not to have anything further to do with him. I screened my calls and never did talk to him again. I'd thought I'd have to dodge him around campus but that didn't happen. I'd later heard through the med school grapevine that he'd gotten his residency away from the campus so I never saw him again. Until now obviously."

"Why not?"

"Well, Jaymie, I met Jake a week into that next semester. I was completely taken with Jake…"

"Liar!" Cuddy said, shaking her head. "I know you were very taken with Jake but you hadn't met him until after the semester began. You intentionally avoided House. Why? Did you regret what you did?"

"Yes but, like I said, I figured it would've just happened anyway. It was a mistake and I didn't want him thinking I had any real feelings for him because I didn't. Looking back now I know it wasn't the right thing…" her words drifted off, carried away with her thoughts.

"Of course it wasn't the right thing!" Cuddy looked upset. While she was forever annoyed with her less-than-stellar employee, she was also protective of him to a certain extent. Besides, this behavior was completely uncharacteristic of her best friend and mentor. In all her memory, Cuddy could never recall Leah acting in such a manner to anyone. Of course, this is House she's talking about but House didn't drive her away. Something else did. What? "Wait a minute. There's something else going on here. What?"

Leah look hesitant but realized she'd get into even more trouble if she held back so she just came right out with it. "Lisa, remember when I lost that first baby?"

Jaymie's eyes were wide and she looked confused. "B…bu…but…you lost a baby and I didn't know about it?!?!?!" Leah nodded. "When? And why didn't you ever tell me?" Leah looked away. "What do you mean, 'that first baby'?"

Cuddy answered for Leah. "Leah miscarried. She got pregnant in college, then twice more after they married but miscarried all of them. It turned out she has a subseptate uterus."

"What's that?" Jaymie looked incredulous.

"It's where the top, or superior, portion of my uterus is divided by a partition-like growth. It happens during embryonic development so it's something I've had my entire life. Have you ever heard of a deviated septum?" Jaymie nodded. "It's the same sort of thing, but it's only the top portion. It causes miscarriages because there's not enough room for the baby to develop. I never knew I had it until Jake and I lost the third baby, just like the others, at the beginning of the second trimester." Leah sighed and her voice went quiet as she tried to hold back her tears. Even now, all these years later she'd had such difficulty talking about it. That's why she never did. "I always lost them at the beginning of the second trimester." She paused. "Surgery is an option and they said it would in no way effect my menstrual cycles or endanger my life. I didn't really need it, unless it we desperately wanted children. By that time we'd just gotten you Jaymes…" she smiled at her adopted daughter. "…and I just couldn't go through the surgery. I didn't want to chance anything. Besides, you became our pride and joy Jaymie. Now I look back and wonder if I should've tried harder, if I should've had the surgery so I could have just a little piece of Jake around. But…" Leah looked at everyone who was listening intently. "…that's the past. What's done is done."

Jaymie was livid and asked her question again. "Why didn't you ever tell me? I would've understood."

"Because it was something your father and I never discussed. When the first one happened, we dealt with it the best we could and moved on. But we were so young, way too young to deal with something like that. I mean, we had both started medical school and had so much ahead of us. It then became the 'thing you didn't talk about'. By the third miscarriage, we were in so much emotional pain that we actually came to an understanding. We'd agreed that if we were to speak about the subject at all, it would be very rare and it only between the two of us. It helped to make the marriage stronger but I know Jake went to the grave with it and I'm still dealing with it. Besides, we didn't want it to be something that everyone took pity on us about. All of the pregnancies happened before we got you. But you and your mother were like family to us and, when she died, you became our daughter. You filled that place in our hearts that we needed filled."

"You just said you'd started medical school. How long had you known Daddy before the first one? You must've been very young. I mean, you were pretty young when you adopted me." Jaymie asked, hurt still evident on her face.

"A couple months after I started dating Jake." Leah looked at Cuddy and hesitated. Just spit it out, before you lose your nerve. You should tell them; it's been long enough. "Jake always assumed that first baby was his; he was ready to take his 'responsibility', as he always thought, to be a father. Of course, he never actually counted the days to see if it was him…"

Cuddy's eyes widened and she pointed to the door. "You mean…" Leah nodded. "House was the father?!?!"

Leah nodded again. "Yes. Jake assumed it was his because he never knew about that day with Greg. No one ever knew, not even my parents. They all assumed it was Jake's."

"Why didn't you tell House? He had every right to know!"

"Lisa, by the time I'd gone to the doctor and we did the math, I was in love with Jake and not about to destroy that relationship. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me and I couldn't take the chance I'd lose him. Of course, the longer I was with Jake the more I understood that if I'd just Jake he would've understood; the baby wasn't the result of an unfaithful tryst. It happened before I ever met Jake. But I wasn't thinking properly." Leah rubbed her eyes and combed her hands through her now dry, if not a bit bedraggled, hair. She brought her hands together in front of her with a loud CLAP. "By the time I truly realized what an idiotic thing it was to not tell Jake that he wasn't the father, it was many years later. How could I go back, after so much time, and say, 'Oh yeah, by the way: you know that baby we lost in college? Yeah, about that: it was really some jerk's I had a one-night-stand with a month before I met you.'? Not hardly. So I kept my mouth quiet."

"You didn't have to tell me you were coming. You could've come into town and I would've been none the wiser." It was obvious how hurt Cuddy was that she'd kept everything from her.

"You know I couldn't do that to you."

"But you knew I'd bring you here if I knew you were in town." Leah nodded.

"I think that means you wanted to see Dr. House. Am I right?" Jaymie asked, watching her adopted mother. Her eyes widened. "You still feel something for him, don't you?"

Leah stood up quickly and walked to the opposite side of the room, keeping her back to them. "Don't be ridiculous."

Jaymie gasped. "You DO still care for him! Have you thought of him?"

"Oh come on! That is stupid. Of course not. He can't have feelings for me; I can't have feelings for him. I mean, the guy is probably physically incapable of having feelings. I'm sure he was born without them or something. Besides, I never loved him."

Her daughter shook her head. "Yes but you lusted after him. That can be just as powerful. I don't buy that, not for a million years. You can't fool me. I'm sure you've thought of him, especially after Daddy died. But I say you're even: you had your secret, Daddy had his." Billy sighed and covered his face in response to his wife's words.

Leah quickly turned, clearly surprised she knew about that. She looked from wife to husband and back to wife. "Which secret?"

The younger woman looked panicked. "Oh...um…uh-oh." She turned to her husband. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to say anything."

"You and your big mouth," Her husband sighed and shook his head. He turned to Leah. "I don't know if we're the ones to tell you but Jake was having an affair."

Her face didn't change as she asked, "How did you two find out?"

"Billy and I took one night to get away from the ranch." Jaymie pointed to Leah. "It was that weekend you were in Seattle for that Infectious Disease seminar about two weeks before Daddy died. We'd decided to go to Casper for a romantic getaway and, as we pulled into the hotel parking lot we saw Daddy and Lauren O'Neill going in, hand in hand. Billy tried to stop me from confronting them but I couldn't let Daddy get away without him knowing I knew. At least he acted ashamed; he swore he'd tell you. Did he?" Leah shook her head. "But you don't look surprised."

"I found out six months ago. The idiot kept a datebook hidden in the storage garage. I loved my husband dearly but he was a clueless jerk sometimes."

"Which explains why you have feelings for House." Cuddy said smiling just a slight smile as Leah shook her head no. "If I remember correctly, you were always attracted to jerks of varying degree. Remember Brian, the boy you broke up with just before that infamous semester? He was a bigger jerk than House…and I didn't realize that was possible. And Jake? He was a very good guy but a real numbnut sometimes. I can't even picture how House would be if you two ended up together…how exactly would a happy House look? I shutter to think. But I think that, maybe, you were the one that got away."

Leah didn't want to think about that. Shaking her head, she went over to Jaymie and kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, Jaymie, that I didn't tell you. I'm sorry if this is affecting your care. I will go talk to him and see if I can spare you from his silver tongue."

"Are you going to tell him about the baby?" Leah shook her head. "Why not?"

"It was ancient history. It needs to stay buried." Leah ignored her daughter's violent head shake. "I'll let you go. I need to get some fresh air."

"But…" Leah held her hand up and turned from Jaymie.

"Please. Just leave it." With that, Leah looked away from everyone and left the room, dejection written everywhere on that woman.

Jaymie turned to Cuddy with an imploring glance. Cuddy shrugged. "I'll see what I can do but your mother is as stubborn as House is mean. There may not be anything I can do." With that, Cuddy gave her a hug then left. Jaymie had an idea. Looking at Billy she said, "Honey, I guess I'm going to be here awhile. Can you get me some real food, not this so-called hospital fare? I'm starving."

He shrugged. "Sure. What do you want?"

"Oh, just get my favorite." With a kiss and a promise of promptness, Billy was out of there. When he had turned the corner, Jaymie picked up the hospital phone on the table beside her bed.

"Operator."

"Dr. House's office."

"One moment please."

*****

House leaned across the desk when the phone rang and rolled his eyes at the caller ID. That Jaymie girl was probably calling to complain about something. Curiosity overtook him, though, and he snatched up the phone on the fourth ring. "Yes Rash Girl. What did you want?"

PAUSE. "Mom was pregnant with your child."

At first House didn't know what to say or do. It was as if his brain couldn't process the words. "If you think that's going to make me any treat you any better, you've got another thing coming."

"No, I mean it. I know about you and her." House groaned. "She got pregnant but miscarried, something about her uterus being deviated in the superior? I don't really understand."

House was quiet. He didn't know whether to believe her; more specifically he had no idea why she called him with this information. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I never knew anything until today. I knew nothing about you and nothing about what happened between you two. I never knew why she could never have children. But now it's important that you know because she was never going to tell you. You have a right to know. According to Mom, Daddy always assumed he was the father and she never told anyone it was yours. Look," Jaymie sighed. "I love my adopted mother. She gave me more than I can possibly express. But she's lonely, and I always wondered why she's never dated after Daddy died. I thought at first it was because of his death but now I wonder if it's because of you."

House was speechless. He didn't know why because he always had SOMETHING to say about everything so he hung up on her, abruptly and without any warning. Dr. Gregory House had a lot to sort out but one thing was for sure: he wasn't going to let Leah just slip away, at least without an explanation. He was going to make her explain why she put him through so much; why she never told him about the baby (if it were true) and why she's back now. For real this time.

*****