Chapter 12 - Picture Perfect
"Greg, you almost ready?" Cameron fussed through her bag, double checking she had everything she needed. "Cob's jeep just pulled up." Satisfied she hadn't missed anything, she headed to the bedroom to find her boyfriend.
*****
Cameron was glad she'd brought her camera as she snapped a few dozen photos of the individuals spread out around Ryan's room. Jacob was trying to re-stack an intricate block fortress he'd accidently knocked over while wrestling with his brother earlier. As amazing as he was at graphics and other 2-D art, his skills at architecture were severely limited; it was a wonder his structure even stood at all. House was currently having a matchbox race with Ryan, using wind up cars that seemed to be having a hard time zooming across the carpet. It was more like matchbox crashes than a race really; but they both seemed entertained just the same.
She smiled widely as she happened to catch a shot of Ryan sticking his tongue out at House; having just beat him in their pseudo-race. She'd have to thank him later on teaching her brother that particularly amusing gesture. "That's right Ryan, you tell Greg who's better at playing cars." She laughed when the young man pointed upwards towards the ceiling and then leaned forward so his forehead was pressing into his finger tip. It was absolutely amazing how animated Ryan had become during their weekly visits. It was like he was five years old again; running from her with his pants around his ankles and a towel over his head. It had been a pre-bath time tradition for a while, until CPS had come and put them into the Burns' household. They hadn't been too keen on nude relay races.
Cameron had a stash of memories of all her brothers when they were little. When she thought really hard about it, it was almost like there hadn't been much difference between the triplets and the youngest boy. He'd learned to crawl and walk and use the 'big boy bathroom' pretty much on schedule. He'd never been much for eye contact, even when an infant, but he did nine times out of ten respond when someone was speaking to him; mostly through gestures and facial expressions. He'd had a good size vocabulary for individual objects and could call everyone by their name, or nickname. It was putting words together into complex sentences that seemed to elude him. At the time she had no idea what the 'milestones of development' were so had no reason to think anything was actually wrong. Not until they had been put into foster care did the truth become clearly evident.
"Earth to Allison." House had put his hand in front of his mouth as he spoke in an attempt to imitate speaking through a microphone. She didn't respond, seemingly too caught up in thought. He frowned and placed his hand in front of Ryan's mouth. "You try and get your sisters attention." The younger man gripped his hand and pulled it to his face.
"Mom!" He shouted, his voice slightly muffled by the hand but still clearly audible. House was about to correct him when Cameron suddenly snapped out of her head and turned her gaze at the two of them.
"Hey, Ryan! Good job speaking." She set the camera down and crawled over to them. "Come here you." Ryan squealed as Cameron pulled him into her arms and began tickling him. After a minute or so the boy wriggled out of her grasp completely and got to his feet to go help Jacob with his failing block tower.
House placed his arm around Cameron's shoulders as she caught her breath. "Mom?" He inquired. He hadn't heard that nickname yet. "Or do I not want to know-"
Cameron blew a raspberry at him and rolled her eyes. "They all do it sometimes - call me 'Mom'" She shrugged as if that was perfectly normal. "I mean, I kind of was a mom to them."
Jacob had been more or less pushed aside from the building blocks; Ryan had destroyed his structure and was now creating a new one from scratch. "Stuey started it Al" He picked up the camera and sat down on his brothers bed. Before either House or Cameron could react, he'd snapped a picture of them. She rolled her eyes while he just stuck his tongue out giving Jacob material for his next photo snapshot. "I think he had an assignment to write about his favorite parent or something. I remember him telling me he wrote about you, but told the teacher you were his mother." He had set the camera down into his lap as he tried to recall the details correctly. "Geeze, we must have been four or five because Ryan was still in diapers. But anyway, after that we began calling her 'Mom' just to piss off our actual mother."
"Wait, you had writing assignments when you were five?" House raised his eyebrows at this; he didn't think he even read at five let alone was writing papers." Cameron understood what he was getting at and decided to explain for her brother, as he was currently taking photos of the complex block bridge Ryan had just constructed.
"I think it was probably more of a verbal assignment than a written one. Although I wouldn't be surprised knowing them, especially Stuart." She paused for a second, wondering whether she should continue, but the interested expression on House's face kept her going. "One of our nicer next door neighbors used to take us in and feed us on days or nights when our parents were absent, or so drunk they may as well have been. She had a girl around my age who absolutely adored the boys and would read to them every chance she got." Cameron didn't mention that this girl was later gunned down in a drive-by shooting a few years later; she didn't think her brother knew this. "Anyway, she got Stuey reading on his own in just a few months."
Jacob had given up being the photographer and was now sprawled out lazily on his brothers "speed racer" bedspread. "She tried teaching me and Nic but we were usually more interested in watching their tv." He decided to continue for his sister. "Anyway, they moved away not long after that, but Janie had given Stu some of her books before they left. He used them to teach us to read shortly after. So yeah, we were pretty far ahead in Kindergarten. Too bad that's the only grade we got to attend fully." He shook his head at this.
House frowned, wondering what he meant by that. He made a mental note to ask Cameron later. Right now he had another curiosity on his mind, "Why didn't you teach them?" He shook his girl's shoulders and glanced down at the side of her face.
Cameron winced, feeling her cheeks turn red at the question. She gave House a 'you better not repeat this' look before answering, "Can't teach someone to read when you can't do it yourself." House opened his mouth to challenge her, but she placed two fingers to his lips to stop him. "Don't. I'm already aware how sad and pathetic it is to be almost 12 and not yet know how to read." House pulled her hand away.
"I wasn't going to say you were sad or pathetic. I assume your parent's didn't care to teach you or your sister and if the school systems are overloaded it's fairly easy for kids to fall through the cracks." He truly hadn't been about to make fun of her when she'd stopped him. He thought back to his own childhood and how he very quickly learned to read and write. His father didn't want any of his friends to think his son was retarded. When his father made this very clear to him, the motivation to pay attention in class increased dramatically. He'd learned to write in print and cursive by the end of second grade.
"Don't know how much my sister's told you about this aspect of our lives, but from what I remember she didn't start going to school on a regular basis until the Burns', our foster parents, made her. You were what, fourteen?" He addressed the even redder woman on the floor.
She had no idea why she was so embarrassed by all this; she didn't actually believe that House would start thinking she wasn't as smart or as qualified as he hitherto must have believed. "Fifteen. My education, or lack thereof, isn't something we'd discussed actually."
This was throwing House's mental schematic of his duckling completely off whack. "Well, you must have learned to read at some point. I don't think Princeton has too many classes who's assigned readings include picture books." He deserved the slap he received from Cameron at this statement. "I'm going to take a guess here, but I'm thinking that one of your brothers ended up teaching you at some point." Cameron nodded and buried her head in her hands.
"Oh, guys, it's nearly eight." Jacob suddenly cut in, having just checked his watch. He looked to House, who looked back and gave a slight nod. "I'm going to go help Ryan get changed and washed up for bed." The Cameron brother rolled himself off the mattress and went to get his younger brothers attention. "Hey buddy, let's go get changed." He held his hand out and was actually surprised when Ryan dropped the block he was holding and gripped it. It usually took a lot of coaxing to get him to give up his current activity or train of thought.
House watched the brothers exit the room, his mind going over and over the spiel he had come up with the past few days. He let Cameron help him to his feet, groaning as the numbness began to fade and the slow ache started to set in. "Hey Duck, hold on a second." He had kept a grip on her arm when she had turned to the doorway and now twirled her back to face him.
"House?" She had nearly lost her balance when he had swung her around. She soon relaxed into his embrace, wrapping her arms up around his neck. "What's up?" She questioned softly, tilting her head to the side curiously. They'd been visiting Ryan for nearly two months now, and whenever eight o'clock rolled around it was time to let Ryan get ready for bed and go.
"I wanted to ask you something." When Cameron's eyes flew open in shock he quickly added, "No, I'm not proposing to you. I mean, not yet, not - uh-" He shook his head to get back to what he had wanted to say. Cameron looked a mix between relieved and disappointed. Of course she ultimately wanted to get married, she just knew that it was way too soon for House to even begin to consider the type of commitment it would involve. Or rather, the finality of that commitment; if one were to ignore the prevalence of divorces and annulments. House waited for Cameron's focus to return before he continued, "I was wondering how you'd feel if we- well, if we brought Ryan home with us."
It wasn't the reaction he had been hoping for. Cameron actually appeared completely bewildered by this question. "You mean like an overnight visit? It's way too late to get the approval for that tonight, but maybe-" This time House put his fingers to her lips to quiet her.
"I don't mean an overnight visit. I'm talking about him coming to stay with us permanently. I mean, we've got the space, the extra bedroom-"
"House!" Cameron cried, her voice not full of joy but rather of anger. "Don't say things like that; you know it's not possible." She had not expected him to ask her something like that. In fact, she would have put money on it being the last thing he would have asked.
House shook his head and pulled Cameron closer so his chin bumped her forehead. She craned her neck to look up at him, a hurt expression on her face. "It is possible; it's definitely possible. I already talked with the head of Princeton Heights and she said that there were certain conditions that had to be met but that she'd help in any way she could. Jacob and I already went through the paperwork, he was able to sign it because he's listed with you as next of kin. The other day when you were working my hours in the clinic, I had the social worker come by to view the house and to talk with us: Jacob, Stu and I. Nic was needed on the base or he would have come as well. We explained to her the situation, how we intended to get around our hectic schedules, what types of programs the hospital ran that would be stimulating for him."
Cameron felt faint, House's words were practically a blur as she concentrated on the idea that he wanted to take Ryan home with them. Her brother. Her autistic brother. A young man who needed almost constant supervision, that he'd only known for two months. It was almost too much. "Wait, wait a minute, wait!" She stopped House before he got to the part about allowing him to be a 'duckling in training' on the days they both worked identical, long shifts. She placed her hands on his shoulders and stared at him. Really, truly stared at him. "House, are you actually saying you want Ryan to live with us? This isn't something we can try out and if it doesn't work, send him back here."
He knew this. He also knew that ever since that first day he'd met Ryan, he knew that the boy belonged with them. "He needs his family, Allison. I'm not saying it won't be hard, or maybe even overwhelming sometimes, but he's got nothing going for him here, other than his truck collection." He paused to place a kiss on her forehead when he noticed her eyes growing red and puffy. "I know it sounds so crazy, so fast, so not something you'd ever imagine me wanting to do, but-"
"I love you." She cut him off as she pressed her lips passionately against his; everything else that had gone on or been brought up the past few weeks had completely fled her mind. All she knew was that the man standing in front of her was the piece of the puzzle she had been missing all her life. But she had him now. She had him, and was never going to let him go.