Chapter 26

Early Morning August 20th

Around one in the morning, Daniel, Steve and Ann burst into the room. House, dozing, woke at the sound and looked up, shocked to see all of them at such a late hour.

"Greg, how's Kate?" Steve asked. House was surprised to see the genuine concern in his face.

"Oh my God! Is that the baby?" Ann squealed as she went straight to the bassinet and fiddled with the blanket on the baby.

House looked at Daniel who rolled his eyes and plopped down in the other chair. House responded, "I think Kate's still in surgery, at least she was half an hour ago. It's taking longer than expected. They're having trouble controlling the bleeding. And yes, that's the baby. I delivered him at the bottom of the canyon."

"Really?" Daniel asked, eyes bugged. Now interested, he leaned forward to check out the baby, to see if he was okay.

"Your aunt was hanging upside down in her SUV. After I cut her loose she went into labor. The munchkin popped out a few minutes later."

"Wow!" Daniel stood to look in the bassinet. "Is he normal?"

"He's a House, he'll never be normal."

Daniel laughed.

"Yeah, he's doing very well. Reminds you of a Ferengi with those wrinkles on his forehead, don't you think?" House asked with a wink.

Daniel nodded. "He's tiny."

Ann shook her head, "He's not really tiny for a newborn. How big is he?"

"Uh…I think they said 6 pounds 2 ounces and 19.5 inches long." House said.

"That's long for a baby! He's going to be tall. What's his name?" Ann asked, dying to pick the sleeping child up.

"Not sure. I know that Kate said something at one point about naming the baby Keith."

Steve's mouth dropped open. "You aren't really going to call him that, are you?"

"Why not?"

"You're his half-brother! You had a child with his wife!"

"He's dead Steve. She hasn't been his wife for over three years."

"Still—how could you?"

"Have you seen her? She's pretty hot." House responded.

Ann blushed.

Steve glared and then went over to the basinet and looked down. "Boy, huh?"

"Huge package." House nodded, "But you knew that it was a boy."

"Are you going to marry Kate?"

"Steve!" Ann screamed.

Everyone stopped and looked at House. He shrugged. "One step at a time. Let's just see how she does in surgery."

Everyone nodded in unison.

"What are all these bags?" Daniel asked.

"Your aunt and I went shopping for baby things in Portland."

Daniel looked around. "Do you want me to take them to the house?"

"That would be great. Could you drive my rental down tomorrow? They're going to release the baby and I'll need some way to get him home."

"I'll stay over and drive you both home." Daniel offered.

"Who's going to take care of him?" Ann asked.

"I guess I'll have to." House said.

"You can't do it on your own! Newborns are very time consuming. I'll take a few days off and come up to help you."

"Thank you, Ann. I'd appreciate the help."

A doctor, dressed in bloody scrubs walked into the room. "Which one of you is Daniel Huntington?"

All eyes turned to Daniel.

"I am."

"I'm Dr. Tolkin, the surgeon; I need to ask you to make a decision."

"Me?" Daniel shrieked.

The doctor fiddled with the chart in his hands. "Yes, it says here that you have her Medical Directive…the power of attorney over medical decisions."

"My son? Are you sure?" Steve asked, walking over and putting a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"Daniel Huntington, it says it right here."

There were dropped jaws around the room.

"What decision needs to be made?" House asked.

"Her uterus is damaged. It's possible it could heal, but it's more likely that it will become infected and she might become septic."

"Septic?" Daniel looked over at House for an explanation.

"The infection spreads to the blood and the chance of her dying skyrockets." House said.

"Dying?" Daniel was now shaking in his boots.

House nodded.

Daniel turned back to the surgeon, wide eyed. "What do you want to do?"

"We can give her a hysterectomy." The surgeon explained.

Ann gasped and held onto her husband's arm.

"Remove her uterus?" Daniel asked.

The doctor nodded.

"Uncle Greg? But, that means she won't be able to have any more babies."

The surgeon spoke up. "She's almost forty; her childbearing years are coming to an end. Did she want more children?"

Everyone looked to House for an answer.

"Hell, I don't know. I just know I don't want her dying."

"You really think she might die, Uncle Greg?"

House thought for a minute. "I want to see her records."

"You're not on her Hippa list of people who can see her records." The surgeon said after scouring the file.

"Fine, Daniel wants a copy of them." House demanded.

Daniel spoke up, "Yeah, I want a copy of her records."

The surgeon nodded. "I need to know what you want me to do in the next couple of hours. If we're going to do the hysterectomy, we can't feed her tonight so that we can operate tomorrow."

House nodded back to let him know that he understood.

Within twenty minutes, Daniel was handed a copy of the file which he in turn handed to House.

House read through and looked up, addressing Daniel directly. "Her uterus is banged up but essentially intact after all the stitching. The problem is that she's lost a lot of blood and in her weakened state she probably doesn't have much left to fight infections if she gets one."

"So what should I do?" Daniel asked.

House clenched his jaw and looked down, knowing that what he wanted to do and what Daniel should do were two different things. "Tell them to do nothing."

"What?" Steve jumped to his feet, having sat down in a pink recliner. "But the doctor said—"

"Her uterus is banged up, but it's possible she might be able to have more children if she wants. I don't think Daniel wants to make a decision about whether or not his aunt can have more children. None of us know what Kate wants and since her uterus is still intact, I think it's worth taking a chance to see what she wants."

Steve narrowed his eyes and glared at House. "Is this something to do with a desire to produce a sister or brother for your son?"

House roared with laughter. "I can assure you that I never wanted to be a father but I've decided to give it a go. Believe me, I don't want more kids. But I can't say the same for Kate and she deserves a say in it."

Daniel thought for a second and asked, "How do I tell the doctor?"

"He'll be back as soon as they bring Kate in from recovery."

A nurse stuck her head in and looked around, her eyes settling on Ann. "We have a bottle ready, I think you should try and give it to him."

House stood up. "He's still sleeping."

"Fine, I'll leave the bottle. If he doesn't wake up in a few minutes, ask the nurses to prepare you a fresh one."

The nurse left and after a few minutes Ann and Steve said their goodbyes and left. The baby woke and Daniel started laughing when the baby screamed bloody murder. "Wow, that's a pair of lungs!"

"He knows how to make a fuss, doesn't he?"

House picked up the bottle and waved to Daniel to pick up the baby.

"Me? You want me to pick up the baby?"

"Just bring him over to me."

Daniel tried to pick the baby up, but he was awkward doing it. House shook his head and walked over.

"Like this…hand under head, other hand under the back."

Daniel watched and then sat down. House went to the rocker and sat down, grabbing the bottle he offered it to the baby who greedily latched on and sucked.

"Obviously he takes after me…we both like a good bottle."

Daniel laughed. "He's fierce looking, like nobody better mess with him."

The baby's forehead was rivlets of wrinkles and his eyes were narrowed into menacing slits as he sucked on the bottle. He did look fierce, as if he didn't trust a soul. House knew this boy would be self-sufficient like his mother and smart like both of them. He wondered what, if anything he would get solely from his father. He hoped it was his height, his long fingers, his musical abilities or his blue eyes. More than anything, he hoped that his son wouldn't have his cynical outlook or his deep distrust of happiness.

Half way through the bottle, they brought Kate into the room, tubes running into both arms. Daniel face turned white at the sight of her. She was cut on her face and black and blue across her jaw.

"Oh, wow. I didn't know…" His voice trailed off.

House had to admit that seeing her was disconcerting. Her little body had taken quite a beating. House continued to feed the baby while the nurses hooked up the monitors and adjusted Kate's bed and medication.

"When will she wake up?" Daniel asked the nurses.

"Oh, probably sometime within the hour."

Daniel hovered around Kate, shaking his head in disbelief. "I thought lightening never struck twice?"

"There's a guy in the Guinness Book of World Records that has been hit by lightening three times." House replied.

"Don't say that! I can't go through another auto accident."

"It's that damn mountain. Why she lives up there, I don't know. That's going to change."

"You're going to have to blast her off that mountain because she won't move any other way."

"It doesn't make sense. She's up there all alone."

"Yeah, but it's so beautiful."

"So she can keep it as a vacation house. She has lots of money; she can afford something less isolated."

"Does she still have money?" Daniel asked.

"What kind of question is that?"

"My parents don't know, but I do…I heard the nurses talking about it, but she pays my deductible."

"That can't be that much; your parents have insurance, don't they?"

"Yeah, but our co-pay on my hospital stays is 20%."

House didn't have to do the calculations to know that Daniel's care must have been well over a million dollars so far. Kate was probably out of pocket $100,000 by now. "Your parents don't know?"

"No, Aunt Kate has convinced them that the procedures I'm getting are being funded under a new study."

"And they bought it?"

"Aunt Kate's a great liar when she wants to be. Even I was convinced. I finally went down to accounting and they set me straight."

House looked down at his son and the idea that this small creature might one day get cancer or run out in the road after a ball or stick his finger in a socket made House hug the baby closer to his chest. Now he knew what parents felt, the overwhelming desire to protect his blood.

"Uncle Greg, your son needs you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"No, I don't know where I'd be without my Dad and Uncle Keith when they were alive. Most of my memories of growing up are of doing things with my Dad and Uncle Keith. You have to be a real Dad."

"It's not that easy. Your aunt and I …well, we hardly know each other. We may have a kid together, but we've only spent a few weeks getting to know each other."

"Still, there was something between you two—like you understood each other."

House had to agree, he understood pain and being damaged, two things that they shared. They also shared a love of medicine, books, and movies. He liked being with her—he liked her, a lot. Was it love? A shiver went down his spine. Even the idea of admitting he might be in love was enough to make him anxious. "She's alright."

They both laughed at the understatement.

"I wish he had a name. It would be nice to call him something other than 'baby.'"

"Soon. His mom will wake up and tell us what she wants to name him."

They settled back to watch television, House holding the baby as he fell back asleep. He thought about putting the baby back in the basinet, but he was enjoying holding him, feeling the warmth of the little body next to him. Occasionally, House would look down and check the baby who was fast asleep, a tiny fist protruding next to his cheek.

"Greg?"

Daniel and House both looked towards the bed where the voice had come from.

"Can I see him?"

House pushed himself up as he held the baby In the crook of his arm. "How do you feel?"

"Groggy, achy. I have a little pain in my groin."

"Aunt Kate, do you want your uterus?"

Kate tried to raise her head to look at Daniel. "What?"

House started laughing. "Here's your son, now name him." He put the baby in the arms of his mother and stepped back.

She grinned. "Don't go too far, I feel too tired to hold him for long. Why does Daniel want my uterus?"

"The doctors want to yank it. It's pretty banged up and they're afraid you could get an infection."

"I have a banged up uterus. Love the medical terminology. Well, until I get the infection, let's not yank it."

"Yeah!" Daniel did a fist pump in the air. "I told the doctor no."

She grinned. "Good for you."

"It was Uncle Greg, he said no."

She turned to look at House. "Thanks. Boy, I feel really woozy."

"Name the baby." House growled.

"I want to name him Michael, after your father and grandfather." She said to House and Daniel.

"Not Keith?" House asked.

Surprised, she thought for a second. "You want to name him after my dead husband?"

"My dead brother."

"That would be cool, Aunt Kate."

"Then why not Michael Keith Monaghan?"

"Oh no, Michael Keith House."

She cracked a grin. "No way. Michael Keith House-Monaghan."

"Michael Keith Monaghan-House sounds better."

"It does." She admitted.

"Actually it sounds like an insane asylum. They're sending me to Monaghan-House." Daniel quipped with a crazed look on his face..

Both parents raised and eyebrow and frowned in unison at Daniel who shrugged and sat down.

"Oh! I have something for you. Actually I have two things for you—"

"Can it wait? I'm having trouble concentrating." Kate's eyes were closing on her and she could feel her body retreat back into sleep as the morphine pump hummed and delivered another dose.

"I'll be fast. It's here in my pocket." He produced the ring box, opening it to show her the beautiful diamond ring. "Now, it's not—"

"Oh my God!" Her voice went up three octaves, but her eyelids still kept sliding close. "Yes, yes I'll marry you." Her eyelids closed and didn't open.

"But…Kate?" He looked at the monitor which showed that her vitals were fine, but the morphine had been administered and she would be out for hours. "Kate! Kate! It's not an engagement ring! Kate!" House looked over at Daniel. "I knew I should have gotten the earrings."

"It looks like an engagement ring."

"It's represents the baby in the middle and us on the side, see?"

"It looks like an engagement ring."

House winced. "You don't think she'll remember when she wakes up, do you?"

Daniel was wise enough not to answer.

"Crap."

"What's the worst thing that can happen?"

"That she remember and think I asked her to marry her!"

"But she said, yes."

The fact that she had said yes hadn't really sunk in yet. If she said yes so quickly, then she's thought about this before. All that crap about us waiting and not making any moves, what was that about? Christ, maybe she's worried that if she dies the baby won't have anyone.

House refused to yield the recliner that made into a bed to Daniel, telling him to go get a hotel room. Daniel went out to the hall and reappeared pushing one of the pink recliner beds into the room, taking up residence on the other side of Kate's bed. House threw him an extra blanket and then turned out the uplight over Kate's bed. An hour later the baby started crying, House got up and called out to the nurses to come and take care of the baby. They brought him a bottle and showed him where the diapers were under the basinet. Then, without another word, they left. Looking over at Daniel, the kid was dead to world. It was up to House. Tired, he rolled the basinet out to the nurses station and then went back in and climbed under the sheet on the recliner. Five minutes later the crying baby was rolled back into the room, waking House again. Angry, he jumped up and rolled him back.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" the Hispanic nurse asked, hands on his hips.

"I'm rolling him out here so that you can do your job!"

"My job? You claim that you're the father; take care of your kid!"

"That woman in there has insurance that's paying you to take care of her and her newborn infant. Now earn it!" House turned around and went back into Kate's room.

A few minutes later, the screaming back was back in Kate's room with a note pinned on him. House turned on one of the side lights and read it.

My deadbeat dad won't feed and change me…please call social services.

Kate heard the baby crying and woke up. "Greg? Is Michael hungry?"

"Yeah, I'm giving him a bottle now."

"When can I breast feed him?"

"After you pass the drugs from your system. As long as you're on painkillers, it's not a good idea to breast feed."

She looked over and saw Daniel sleeping and said softly, "Oh, my head is swirling. Whew. I don't think I can feed him, can you do it?"

"Yeah, sure…hey there's something I needed to explain about that ring."

"My engagement ring? Is it Zirconium? I don't care, Greg. When I was hanging upside down and you were doing everything in your power to rescue me and the baby…well, it made me realize that I needed to take a leap in faith and trust my feelings. I didn't know you were that committed to us, but your actions and that ring, well, you're right, the baby needs us to be a family. I just hope you don't mind long engagements?"

Long engagements, I can live with that…all the benefits of marriage and none of the crap. Yeah! Then when we're about to get married, I can call it off or better yet, do something to get her to call it off.

"If you want a long engagement, then that's fine. And I was just going to say that maybe you might want to get it sized if it doesn't fit because those stones are real." House had already stuck a bottle in Michael's mouth instantly quieting the baby. He sat back and looked down at his son. "Boy does this kid suck."

"What?" Kate said, offended.

"Sucks…he really knows how to suck."

"Oh."

"Can I see the ring again?"

House balanced the bottle in the same arm that was holding Michael and took the ring out of his pocket. He opened it and showed it to her again.

"It's perfect, so beautiful. And three stones! It reminds me of the three of us…our little family."

He nodded; surprised that she got it too. "That's what I was thinking."

"Oh, there goes the machine again." The sound of the morphine being delivered was audible from her bed. "I don't have long before I'll be out. He probably needs changing."

"Yeah, I'm sure he does."

"He's lovely isn't he?"

"Gorgeous, absolutely beautiful." House exaggerated.

"Okay, he's handsome."

"He's ugly." House said matter of fact.

"Greg!"

"Look, his forehead is wrinkled, his eyes aren't focused, he has vernix on his head, he's almost bald and he's a pepper red."

"He's a newborn! You have to look past that."

"I know what you want. You really want me to admit that I'm madly in love with him. Sorry, not quite there yet, but I have to admit there's something. I feel protective…is that love?"

"Yeah, I think you're on your way." She said with a smile. "I'm feeling woozy again. I'll see you when I wake up again. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." House turned his attention to the baby and after he stopped sucking, he put him in the bassinet and began changing him, pee sprayed all over his shirt because he forgot to cover Michael when he pulled back the diaper. A golden stream hit him mid-chest. "Damn it, Michael! Haven't you heard that you don't pee on the guy who feeds you?"

House heard a little chuckle from the bed indicating that Kate wasn't quite asleep just yet. The baby stared up in the dim light looking confused at House's words. After the diaper was on and the onesie snapped, House stopped to take a good look at this little creature. Checking his fingers, he smiled at how small and perfect the fingernails were; how everything was in miniature. It hit him; this baby couldn't do jack on its own except breathe, eat, poop, pee and make sounds.

He can't roll over, pick up his head, sit up, crawl, walk, dress, eat without our assistance. Christ what have I done? I've created the perfect parasite! He takes and gives nothing back. I guess all babies are parasites.

House tried to swaddle Michael, but it didn't quite look the same as when the nurses did it. He called the nurse in, who gave him the evil eye.

"Just help me swaddle him…it doesn't look right."

She showed him how to wrap the baby tightly to mimic being in the womb and then left. House had to laugh the kid looked like a papoose. Climbing back on the recliner, House waited until Michael was obviously sleeping and then he closed his eyes.