Jayla728, I couldn't find you're story. I'm more than willing to read your stuff but I need to know how to find it. Please let me know. Thank you, - Nicole
Abby, thanks for the review, - Nicole
HuddyGirl, You'll just have to wait and see, but probably not. It would kill his ego to know she saw him that vulnerable. Thanks for the sweet review, - Nicole
Alex, Don't we all?! There will be some more hugs in the new chapter, just for you! Thanks for the review, - Nicole
littlemoonbeam, well, I guess being addicted to my story is better than Vicodin :) Thanks for the review, - Nicole
JM, There will be at least 100 chapters probably more. These chapters are a good bit smaller than my normal chapters for other stories. This is only his forth day and I'm on chapter 20. I don't know how to write small stories, I like depth and real conversations, so I'm sorry if my chapters can seem a bit drawn out. Hope you like the new chapter. Thanks for the supportive review, - Nicole
JC, but then we wouldn't get to see how everyone else intreracts with little Greg and his team wouldn't get to learn more about him. ;) Thanks for the review, hope you enjoy the new chapter. - Nicole
Cuddy woke up to find Greg still asleep curled up to her and smiled. He'd been scared and in need of comfort last night, but she doubted he would be so clingy in the light of day, not that she'd minded in the least. She looked at her clock to see it was almost eight and sighed as she turned off the later alarm she'd set last night. She'd already called and left messages last night that she wouldn't be in until ten this morning. Suddenly she felt Greg jerk and heard some whimpering, she frowned as she realized he was a having a bad dream. She'd wanted to let him sleep longer, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen. "Hey, Greg, it's just a dream. I've still got you," She said softly running her fingertips through his hair.
Greg opened his eyes taking in a deep breath to see Lisa. He smiled some, and then frowned, "It wasn't all a dream was it?"
She gave him a sad smile at the question, "No," she said softly pulling him closer and then kissed his forehead.
"Is Foreman okay?" He asked as he just realized he was naked and pulled back from her some.
"He's fine. Are you okay?" Cuddy asked as she watched him move back from her some.
"What happened to my clothes... I don't really remember..." Greg said trying to remember how he got naked.
"It's fine, your clothes were soaked because it had been raining. So we took them off and wrapped you up in a blanket to dry you off and warm you up." She said rubbing his cheek, "What all do you remember?"
"I remember walking up on your porch and … you picked me up," Greg said thinking about it.
Cuddy smiled at him, "You want to take a bath?" she asked and he nodded. "Okay, wrap up in this and I'll put your bag in the bathroom and, Greg, you can put that shower at whatever temperature is comfortable for you," she said getting up and leaving to give him some privacy. She walked out to see Wilson putting on coffee in the kitchen.
"Is he up?" Wilson asked giving her a curious look.
"Yeah, he's seems a lot better. He's going to take a bath," she said putting his luggage in the bathroom.
Wilson watched as the small boy crept out of Cuddy's room with the same blanket as last night wrapped around him. "Hey buddy, how you feeling?" He said with warm eyes.
"Alright, Jimmy," Greg said looking at him with confusion.
Cuddy put a hand on Greg's shoulder, "Jimmy came over because we were going to go looking for you at Foreman's but then I found you on my doorstep as Jimmy pulled up and he stayed the night."
Greg was a little worried he didn't remember any of this, "Oh... thanks, Jimmy," he said as he made his way the bathroom.
Wilson waited until he was gone, "He doesn't remember?"
"Not after me picking him up, as upset and tired as he was, I can't say I'm too surprised," She said walking past him to pull out the creamer from the refrigerator.
The morning passed at a slow pace. Wilson made oatmeal for them, since Greg could have a small amount of it. The three sat in silence while sipping coffee and milk, reading bits of the morning paper. Wilson stayed a bit longer so Cuddy could take a bath, then he left for his place to do the same. They all were at the hospital by ten but it felt odd to be getting in so late, only House showed up this late in the morning to work. Foreman was waiting in front of Cuddy's office when she came in with Greg beside her. She gave him an unreadable expression; the only thing he knew for sure from it was that she wasn't happy. Greg on the other hand, ran up to him, "You're okay, sir."
Foreman smiled warmly down at the boy, "I was scared out of my mind about you," he said as his smile faded to a frown as he looked at the dark bruise.
"Greg, I need you to go with Jimmy, Foreman and I need to talk," Cuddy said unlocking her office.
Greg swallowed, "About me? Lisa, I'm sorry I didn't mean to do anything wrong."
Cuddy bent down next to him, "Honey, no one's mad at you, but you can't keep running off. Something really bad could have happened to you. I understand why you did it and that everything worked out okay, but it could have just as easily went very badly. We'll talk more about this later, but right now, I need to have a talk with Dr. Foreman."
Greg looked at Foreman with concern, "He didn't do anything wrong, I promise," he said with some desperation in his voice.
"Hey, I'll be fine, it's just about work," Foreman said smoothly as he ran a hand through Greg's hair with a smile. "Don't worry about me, Greg."
"Yes, Sir," Greg said, not really believing him, as they both disappeared into her office.
"He'll be fine," Wilson said putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.
Greg nodded and got on the elevator with Jimmy. "He's in trouble because of me, isn't he?" He asked watching the metal doors of the elevator.
Wilson sighed, "Not because of you, Cuddy didn't like how he handled the situation. Nothing that happened was your fault."
"It wasn't his fault either, Jimmy," Greg said as he followed Jimmy.
Wilson walked him into House's office. "Everything is going to be fine. Now you need to try and get some sleep, if you need anything you can go through that door and one of them will help you." He said as he made a place for Greg to sleep with the pillows from earlier and two blankets he'd brought with him.
"I'm not some little kid who needs a nap, I feel fine, Jimmy," Greg said with slightly pleading eyes.
Wilson hated how much of an effect those pleading blue eyes had on him and sighed, "Fine, but after lunch you have to take a nap. You didn't get nearly enough sleep last night, deal?"
"Deal," Greg said with a surprised smile that he'd somehow convinced Jimmy to let him stay up.
"Alright, follow me," Wilson said with a smile of his own at how happy Greg was while he walked in the DDX room.
At the sight of Greg, Thirteen gasped. "What happened to him?" Kutner asked with concern, while Taub stared at the boy with a deepened frown.
Wilson sighed, "Foreman didn't tell you?"
"Foreman called and said he was going to be late. We still haven't seen him," Taub said unable to look away from the harsh bruise on Greg's face. The old bruises and scars had been a little upsetting, but there was nothing any of them could have done to stop them, they were there from before the boy had been in their care, and the bump on the head was an accident, even the refeeding syndrome was an innocent mistake... but a bruise like that wasn't. He swallowed, remembering the ones his mother bared too often, for comfort.
"It's not that big of a deal, it's just a bruise," Greg said as they all stared at him.
"Foreman had two men break into his place last night and Greg got hit by one of them. Foreman is fine, the two men have been arrested, and Greg didn't get a lot of sleep. So don't make this into an interrogation, it was a long upsetting night." Wilson said giving them all warning looks.
"Okay," Kutner said seriously and looked to Greg. "We don't have a case right now; we were actually just trying to decide if we should play dominoes or some poker, you in?" He said putting a deck of card and container of dominoes on the table.
Greg smiled some, "Sure!" he said and then looked up to Jimmy, "Can I?" he asked with a beaming smile.
"Yeah, just play fair," he said to the boy and looked up at the team, "and no playing for money, he'll empty you're wallets. I can vouch for that, it's happened to me enough times." Wilson said with a fond smile. "Greg, Lisa's going to want to talk to around 12:30 and I'll pick you up for lunch in her office around one, alright?"
"Okay, Jimmy," Greg said as he started towards the DDX table and suddenly stopped, "but Lisa's coming to lunch with us too, right?"
Wilson felt a little disheartened by how close Greg and Cuddy's bond had become, but he wouldn't let his jealously make Greg uncomfortable. "I kind of wanted us to just have a guy's lunch, but she can come if you want her too."
Greg's expression stayed the same, "Oh, that's okay."
"I'm sure she would be more than happy to come with us, if you wanted her to," Wilson said not wanting to put any more stress on the boy.
"No, its fine, I'm sure it'll be great," Greg said and gave a half smile.
Wilson swallowed, not sure if Greg was just saying yes for his benefit or if he was really okay with it. "Really, she can come; it's not a big deal."
Greg smiled more, he didn't quite understand Jimmy but there was something about him that was very likeable. "It's fine Jimmy, unless you've heard a rumor about the place we're eating getting robbed. I'm not sure how much of last night was luck and how much was skill." He said with a full smile.
Wilson chuckled, it reminded him of House's smart ass comments, but dialed down some. "Alright, we'll have lunch as men do, be good," he said and left as Greg sat down at the DDX table. It was almost an hour later when Foreman joined but everyone kept their mouth shut about what happened last night. Greg won three out of six games of dominoes before the team decided they wanted to play poker, hoping Greg wouldn't be quite as good at it. Unfortunately for them, Greg was better at poker than he was at dominoes. He'd won eight out of the twelve games, with the last four being consecutive before Cuddy showed up.
Cuddy smiled as she saw Greg lay down his cards as the entire table gave him false smiles. She knew all too well how annoying it could be to be beaten by House time and time again. "What a pity, I'm going to have to ruin you streak," She said with a smile as Greg saw her and ran up to her.
"I won four times in a row," Greg said with excitement.
Cuddy smiled at the team who looked a little embarrassed, "Hope you guys weren't playing with your lunch money, and I'm pretty sure I heard your longtime mistress 'the Clinic' calling on the way up here," she said with a smirk.
The team got up slowly and filed out of the room, saying bye to Cuddy and Greg as they left. "Hey, Greg, maybe we should hit up Vegas sometime," Kutner said with a quirked smile to which Greg smiled back.
"In your dreams, you'll be working for me forever," Cuddy said evilly, to which Kutner sighed and kept moving. She put a hand on Greg's shoulder, "Alright, let's go to my office, we need to have a little talk."
Greg swallowed as his stomach twisted some; those words were usually followed by him getting a lesson by his father. "Yes, ma'am," he said somberly and followed her.
When they were in her office she noticed Greg's behavior had changed, his eyes watching her every movement, as he kept his head down some. "Please sit," she said warmly.
Greg walked over to the hardest chair in her office, "Is this okay, ma'am?" he asked cautiously.
Cuddy sighed, "You don't need to call me ma'am, just call me Lisa. Greg, everything is okay," she said softly.
Greg nodded, but didn't relax any, "Yes, Lisa," he said hanging his head more.
Cuddy hated how submissive he looked, "Greg, you can't just keep running off. If something happened to you... I couldn't handle it if something happened to you, do you understand?" She said tenderly as she walked up to him to see his body stiffen up more.
"Yes, Lisa," Greg said glancing up at her quickly and then looking back down at the carpet.
"Baby," she said softly touching his cheek to see him look up at her with intense eyes as his breath became shallow, "I'm not going to hurt you," Cuddy finished with sympathy.
"I know, it's not hurting, it's learning... learning a lesson. I.. I understand, it's my fault," Greg said looking up at her fearful eyes.
Cuddy felt her chin shake as she tried to keep herself calm and swallowed, "Here," she said handing him an odd device that looked a lot like the device he'd seen her use his first night there when she took a picture. "It's a phone that you can use to call me on or the rest of the team. If anything happens, all you need to do is press that green button, scroll down to the name you want to call and press the green button again, and it'll call one of us. You can use it if you just want to talk to one of us at night, or if something like last night happens. Anytime of the day or night, don't hesitate to call us if you need to, okay?" She said tenderly.
Greg looked at the device with some confusion, "Okay, Lisa," he said standing up slowly and putting it on the desk, then he took off his shirt and bent over the chair holding on to the arm rest with white knuckled hands.
Cuddy felt sick as she looked at the scars on his boney back and picked up his shirt. "No, Sweetie, I'm not going to do that," she said with watering eyes and one hand over her mouth.
Greg looked over his shoulder at her with confusion, "But I did something wrong," he said and swallowed, "I have to be punished." Cuddy held his shirt out to him with one hand while shaking her head a silent refusal to punish him. Greg stood up and turned to her, "I can handle it. I'm not some toddler that you have to be careful with. I'm old enough to understand and take the consequences of my actions," he said in a raised voice, looking at her through irritated eyes. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was to be treated like he was younger than he was; he was six years old and he wanted her to treat him like a six year old.
Cuddy couldn't believe Greg was acting like she was knocking his pride by not beating him, how much had John manipulated his young son's mind. "Put your shirt back on," She said standing firmly as she watched him put it on with aggravation. "I will NOT hit you, Greg, ever. That has nothing to do with your age and everything to do with who I am. And you didn't do anything WRONG, you did the best you could under the circumstances, you never had our numbers or a way to call us before, now you do." She said looking in his eyes for understanding.
Greg swallowed, "I could take an ice bath, then you don't have to hit me but sometimes my father has to hold me down because it's so cold I start to panic and try to get out before my times up, then the ice cuts me worse, but I'm getting better about it. Or I could sleep outside and miss some meals, or do some chores to make up for the trouble I've caused, like mowing your yard and washing the car."
"Please stop, your official punishment is to not talk about punishments," Cuddy said as she pulled him to her, hugging him tightly, "and to give me as many hugs as I want," she added biting her lip.
He hugged her tightly too, if this was his 'punishment' he was going to make sure he did it right. He felt guilty for being grateful that she was so lacks on punishments. He knew he didn't deserve her loving embrace and her soft heart, but it felt so good having her arms wrapped around him instead of the cutting lashes stinging down his back. "You'd make a really good mom," Greg said trying not to get choked up on his words as part of him wished she was his mother.
Cuddy looked down at the top of the boys head with her mouth hanging open some as a couple of silent tears fell, "Thank you, you have no idea how much it means to hear you say that."