Chapter 24: Preparing

Andy walked quietly up the stairs. It was close to Jason's bedtime, so he knew that Gabrielle would be getting him ready for bed. As he got to the hallway, he could hear Jason laughing in his room.

With a guilt filled smile, he stopped in the doorway and watched as Gabrielle read to Jason. They were snuggled up together in the chair. She was was going all out for him, doing the different voices for the characters. Reaching the end of the book, she tickled Jason causing him to laugh and then kissed him on the cheek.

Gabrielle looked up and smiled to Andy. "You think you're ready for bed yet?" she questioned and then looked back down to the toddler on her lap.

"No!" Jason replied, right before yawning.

Gabrielle laughed. "You know, that yawning thing tends to ruin your argument," she stated as she stood up, holding him in her arms. "You can try it again though tomorrow night."

As she carried the little boy over to his crib, she noticed that he had already started dozing off to sleep. With a smile, she gently laid him down in the crib and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Good night Jason. Mommy loves you," she whispered before standing back up and heading towards the doorway.

"You're late," Gabrielle said as she turned the light off and closed the door behind her.

"I was getting out of trip. With everything going on, I thought it would be better to stick back here," he replied.

Gabrielle smirked as she folded her arms. "I see," she responded, nodding to him before taking off to the staircase.

Andy watched her walk away and caught up to her halfway down the stairs. "What was that?" he implored.

Gabrielle stopped and turned to the side, leaning back against the railing. "You, are a bad lair," she announced.

"What do you mean?" Andy inquired, carefully taking a couple steps closer to her.

Gabrielle softly laughed. "Listen, before you go out and buy a plane ticket and book a hotel room, you should check to make sure that I don't have to use the credit card the same day," she told him before turning and continuing down the stairs.

Andy looked to her and and sighed. Now, he knew that she knew. "You called the bank?" he asked, heading down to the living room.

"You betcha," Gabrielle answered as she went and sat on the couch. Turning, she smiled to him. "I bet you talked to her today too, didn't ya?" she questioned.

Andy stopped for a moment and studied her. He was scared and confused at the same time. "You're smiling because you're about to throw me out aren't you?" he asked.

Gabrielle shrugged. "I don't know," she sighed. "I mean, you did chicken out, and all you've done so far is just talk to her. I can't seriously be mad over a couple of phone calls and an attempt that you backed out of. You haven't actually done anything. Yet," she explained, her smile disappearing instantly with her last word.

Andy listened to what she was saying and took the little warning. "I'm sorry," he said.

Gabrielle looked him straight in the eyes. "Listen. You're fine now, but you are getting me nervous. I want to trust you, and I want to think that you are completely over her. Again, I understand wanting to see your son. That's fine with me. What I don't like is the sneaking around. You do it again and you are out of here," she sternly warned.

"I understand," Andy flatly replied.

Gabrielle nodded and then sat back in the cushion. "Any added stress is the last thing I need right now," she stated.

"I know," Andy breathed out as he patted her leg.

"I think if you honestly did know, you wouldn't have pulled that little stunt you pulled today," she argued.

Andy just looked to her. Nothing to say to that.

ooo

House sat in his office. He had called Gabrielle and told her to come by and see him after she was done at school.

On his desk before him, he had a couple of notes and plastic bags with medicine in them. Cuddy's breakdown had gotten him thinking about how hard this was really going to be on everyone. He knew before hand that no one was just going to take this easily, but it showed him just how bad it was going hit.

"Daddy?" Gabrielle softly called out as she peeked her head into the door. She could see that there was something on his mind, and didn't want to interrupt anything.

House looked over to her and leaned forward onto his desk. "Come here," he instructed.

Gabrielle eyed the contents on his desk and closed the door behind her. "What is this?" she implored as she approached him. She sat down and carefully looked at each item.

House sighed. "A couple nights ago, Lisa had a bit of a breakdown," he informed her. "This is for when Ellie dies."

Gabrielle solemnly looked up from the desk to him. Now, she knew what was going on with him. "You want me to take care of them," she whispered.

House looked up to her. "I can't," he informed her.

Gabrielle nodded. She understood. Part of her though resented the fact that he left her with the responsibility of making sure that everyone made it through the first couple of days. It was instinct for her to step in and take care of them, but it felt like he was starting to take it for granted.

"I know," she flatly responded.

House sighed and grabbed the bags to hold them out for her. "Both these bags contain the same exact thing. It's a sedative. You have the medicine and the syringes," he explained.

Gabrielle nodded as she took them and placed them into her purse.

"Now," he started as he picked up the folded pieces of paper. "These are your instructions. I have the amount that you can give everyone and how often they can have them, depending on how bad of a night they're having. I have everyone listed on here, but this is mainly for Lisa and Jessica. I also have on here reminding you to leave Tommy alone. I already went through his room and did the same thing that I used to do with your things when you would start getting depressed. Also, Rachel is handling this the best out of everyone, but I would still check up on her just to make sure," he instructed and then handed the papers to her.

Gabrielle accepted the set of instructions and placed them in her purse. "Anything else that I should know?" she questioned, almost bitterly.

House ignored the undertone and shook his head.

Gabrielle nodded and then stood. "If you need anything, let me know," she told him before she turned and left. As she got to the door, she saw that Morgan was about to enter the room.

Gabrielle stopped before the door and shoved Morgan back as soon as she opened the door. "Get out!" Gabrielle ordered. "We've got enough problems. We don't need a stupid slut coming in here causing any trouble," she hissed before leaving.

Morgan stood there, disbelieving what had just happened and then stormed into his office. "Did you just see that?" she questioned. "She pushed me!"

House sat back and nodded. "What about it?' he asked. "She doesn't work for me. I actually like her a lot better than I like you," he explained.

Morgan huffed as she turned and left the room. There was no use in trying anything right now, she was too worked up to even think about what to say to him.

House smiled as he watched her leave. It was getting to the point where he would just get irritated when he would see her.

ooo

Rachel sat out in the backyard with Jessica. They were both sitting on the steps as they wearily stared out before them.

"You're starting to worry me," Jessica admitted.

"Yeah? How?" Rachel implored.

Jessica looked over to her. "You didn't spend eternity in the bathroom this morning. You only spent ten minutes in there. You also didn't make yourself more noticeable whenever Gerald was visible. I know that you two are like dating or something, but I thought that you still wanted his attention," she explained.

Rachel shrugged. "Didn't feel like being noticed today," she answered.

Jessica nodded and went back to staring forward. "I didn't even wanna go to school," she admitted. "It's weird going without Ellie. I don't like it," she stated.

"I know," Rachel flatly responded.

"How much longer do you think she's got?" Jessica questioned.

Rachel looked over and saw her looking down to the ground. "I don't know," she replied, wishing that she could say it was longer than soon.

Jessica just got up and headed back inside, leaving Rachel out there by herself. She heavily sighed and waited a moment before she slowly got up and headed back inside.