A/N: After this chapter, we only have one more to go. This chapter is down right emotional (at least it was for me), you guys may be made of sterner stuff. I have already begun the last chapter and I am pretty sure on how I am going to end it (that could still change).
I have always thanked you for your reviews. They have been a source of inspiration, knowledge that this story was being enjoyed. THANK YOU a million times over for your continued dedication and kind words!
Chapter 29: When It Rains
House snatched the pager off his belt as it gave a shrill ping and began an annoying buzz on his hip. The message was simple, but the short sentence set his heart to hammering.
NICU 911. Come ASAP!!!
He felt his stomach drop as he grabbed up his cane and made the mad dash cripple run for the elevator. Everything around him seemed to slow to a crawl, and he felt impatience nipping at his heels. If people didn't get out of his way some one was liable to get hurt. The elevator arrived and he squeezed his way on, ignoring the pointed looks from some of the other passengers.
Thoughts of what could have gone wrong raced through his mind. Dylan didn't have a good night and his day wasn't going too well either. He had several apnea spells and one scary moment when his blood pressure had plummeted. But when House had left the NICU, the little guy was holding his own.
Maybe something had changed with Bryan. He had come through the catheterization with flying colors and had been making steady progress. There had been talk about him joining Ashton and Caitlin in SPOD, and that he might be strong enough to have surgery in a couple of weeks.
"Is this your floor?" The only other person on the floor asked him when the doors slid open and he hadn't moved.
Greg barely looked up to confirm that it was indeed his floor as he barreled off and made the turn that would take him to the NICU. He didn't hesitate at the double doors, swiping his badge frantically and rushing through as the doors swung slowly open. He quickly scrubbed his hands and threw on a yellow gown, neglecting to tie it, when he saw Lisa in the central hub, tears streaming freely down her face.
"Is it Bryan or Dylan?" He asked pulling her into his arms.
Sobs racked her body as he pulled her into his embrace. She clung to him; some time in the past few months he had become her rock; she had began to trust him, love him and now he was the one she turned to. He wanted to bask in that feeling, in this place where some one loved him despite himself, but the raw feelings of panic wouldn't leave him. So he eased her out of his embrace, and made her focus on his eyes.
"Lisa?" The question was gentle as a caress against her skin. It made the tears rush back into her eyes, and her throat begin to close. She didn't want to tell him.
"Neither," she replied forcing that single word out.
Fear gripped him. He could honestly say he was a man who had never wanted children, yet when the nurse had placed Braeden is his arms; his heart changed leaving his brain to catch up. Now he felt the panic that a parent who just lost a child faced. He didn't pray normally, but he prayed now. He would pray to whatever God that would listen.
"It's Ashton," Lisa said on another broken sob.
Greg felt his world tilt, then slowly settle to right. It couldn't be all bad; he had held Ashton that morning, fed him, caught him up on world politics and watched him drift off to sleep. AJ had been steadily gaining weight, had learned to feed from a bottle and like his sister was ready to be moved DPOD.
"Lisa, what happened?" He asked with just a little frustration in his voice.
"Dr. House, Dr. Cuddy," a voice interrupted them. Greg looked up to see Ashton's primary nurse looking at them solemnly. "Dr Gilchrist needs to speak with you both."
Greg nodded to Anita, and placing his arms around his wife headed to SPOD. He stumbled slightly when Lisa turned towards CPOD, and his heart began it's frantic pounding in his chest. Ashton had been moved to the area where the most critical babies struggled for survival; what had happened in the few hours he had been gone. When Lisa moved into bay one, Greg's world once again tumbled into darkness. Bay one was were the most critical baby in the whole NICU was placed, a baby whose chances at survival were dismal; less than ten percent.
"What's wrong with him?" Greg demanded of Gilchrist when the neonatologist turned to meet them.
Greg felt like sobbing when he saw his son. There was more machinery and tubing surrounding his infant child it was hard to distinguish that there was actually a baby in the open air warmer. Ashton was on a ventilator, the gentle rise and fall of his chest belying the trouble he was in. The monitor above the bed told a horrific story in his low blood pressure, rapid heart rate and abysmal pulse ox. He had several iv lines leading to bags of fluid, antibiotics and the chilling sight of a unit of blood. The open air warmer was surrounded by plastic to increase the humidity inside and to keep the area as completely sterile as possible. All of those things combined to reveal how desperate his son's fight for life was.
"Ashton has a serious strep infection," Gilchrist said cutting right to the chase. "It has led to the development of pneumonia and I'm afraid meningitis."
House felt a light feathery touch on his shoulder and he turned expecting to see his wife's hand there; but instead he found that Anita was there offering him comfort, compassion. He shouldn't have been surprised by the fact that many of the nurses where there, many of them with tears in their eyes, pain etched on their faces.
"We are treating this aggressively," Gilchrist continued drawing House's attention back to him. "But he has a lot going against him. There is damage to his lungs from the stress of the infection and pneumonia. God only knows what havoc the meningitis will have, but I'm already on the lookout for seizures or brain bleeds. We're guarding against sepsis, and we've had to heavily sedate him."
At that point Greg had stopped listening; there wasn't anything Gilchrist could tell him that he didn't already know. His three week old son was in the fight of his life and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to help him. He felt Lisa lean into him offering her silent support, even in the face of her own pain.
"I promise you we will do everything to help him pull through this," he said to her in a fervent whisper. "We will not loose a child Lisa. I'll move heaven and earth, and beat a path to hell itself if need be."
"I know you will," she said utterly confident in the man standing next to her.
Lisa knew that Greg would take this hard. He was already stripped bare dealing with his emotions concerning Braeden, although no one would know what turmoil he was in. But she knew him, and she knew that his fear for Braeden shadowed everything he did. Now he had to deal with one more crisis concerning one of his children. You wouldn't expect it of Gregory House, but when it came to those things that he considered his, he was beyond ferocious and down right possessive.
"I need to make some phone calls," he said looking down at her. He felt his heart constrict at the sight of her tear stained face, and the fear that lurked in her storm blue eyes. He would erase all those things away, it was his silent promise to both of them.
"I can't leave him," she said glancing over at her son who looked so still. "I know we have the other..."
"One thing at a time Lisa," he replied turning her to face him fully. "The staff here will jump through hoops for you; if you need anything just ask them. Our family and friends will also be more than willing to jump in to help. Right now though one of us has to see to Braeden."
"Oh God, I forgot," she cried.
"Don't you dare," he said shaking her a little. "I'll help get him settled and ask Jimmy not to start the chemo for a few days."
"We shouldn't let him see Ashton this way. It would be too hard for him," Lisa said looking at her baby.
It was hard for her to see her child this way, she couldn't imagine how Braeden would feel looking at his little brother, knowing that he was so sick. She would shield him from this as much as she could; he had already dealt with so much and he had more yet to deal with.
"I'll bring you something to eat when I come back," he told her as he gently coaxed her into the rocker that had been set close to Ashton. "And don't even think about arguing with me about eating. You won't do either one of you any good if you collapse from exhaustion."
She smiled wanly at him, admitting defeat gracefully. Lisa knew he would be an absolute bully, forcing her to take care of herself while he took care of everything else. She touched her hand to her cheek where he had kissed her and watched as he limped out of the NICU.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
After three hours of being sequestered in his office, House hung up the phone and let the tension drain out of him. He had called Mike in Chicago to let him know that he wanted to push the stem cell project for his leg to the back burner. Lisa was under enough strain and pressure now for him to be even remotely worried about walking without a limp.
Mike reassured him that when he was ready then they would continue. He informed House that he and his team would be leaving for Princeton sometime next week, and he looked forward to meeting the quads, all of them. It had left House with a surreal feeling.
Then his parents had called and told him they were on their way back on the first available flight out of Chicago. He could hear the worry and strain in his father's voice, so he told them he would pull a couple of strings and get them back to New Jersey that night. He allowed himself a small smile; after all he had managed to have a private plane waiting for them within the hour.
"Greg," the soft voice from the door of his office snapped him out of his reverie.
He looked up to see Connie standing there with Braeden, who looked slightly sick. He wasn't sure if Lisa had talked to the boy about his younger brother, or if the idea of what he was about to experience was the reason he looked like he wanted to bolt.
"I'm going to run up and see James," she said to House before leaning down and whispering something into Braeden's ear. Greg relaxed a little as a large smile spread across his son's face.
"Don't distract Wilson too much," House called out to her. "He has work to do."
"She stopped paying attention to anything you had to say after you hired her," Braeden said settling into one of the visitor's chairs.
"Yeah, might be time to put her out to pasture," Greg replied thoughtfully.
"You're not nervous, are you?" Braeden asked him with a small smile.
"About you being pumped full of chemicals that will kill off all of your bone marrow, leave you sick, tired, weak and probably bald?" House asked him with one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, all that," Braeden responded.
"Are you?" Greg replied turning the tables back onto his son.
"Nervous? No," Braeden answered. "Scared out of my mind? Yeah."
"Same here, but we'll get through it," his father reassured him.
"I want to take a trip to the NICU before I get all checked in," Braeden said standing and slinging his bag onto his shoulder. "And you promised pictures and daily updates."
Greg heaved a heavy sigh knowing that he couldn't put this off any longer. He didn't want his son to have any more on his mind, to carry any more stress than he already did.
"We need to talk about your brother," he said coming to stand next to his oldest child.
"Is something wrong with Dylan?" He asked, concern lacing his voice. "Mom said he didn't have a good night."
"It's not Dylan, or Bryan," House said before Braeden could ask. "It's Ashton."
"But Ashton's fine," Braeden said, a confused frown on his face. "I saw him yesterday and he was doing great."
What a difference a day makes. House thought.
"Braeden, he has a serious infection; one that has caused him to become very sick. He's in CPOD, and things are not going very well."
He watched as the emotions played across his son's expressive face. Shock, denial, fear then grief. It was hard to watch and even harder to stand by and watch him try to cope with it.
"But he'll be alright." It wasn't as question; it was a statement born out of his desperation for his sibling.
"We don't know," Greg said touching his son's shoulder.
"I want to see him," Braeden said, determination firm in his voice.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Greg countered. He definitely didn't wish to put his son through any more pain than he already had to deal with.
"It doesn't matter if it's a good idea," Braden replied forcibly, his brows snapping together. "If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't be here."
"Braeden..."
"No dad," the boy said with such force that Greg took a small step back. "Maybe you don't understand how Isee it. If I hadn't gotten sick, there would have been no need for you to reconcile with my mother, no need for a sibling donor, no baby in the NICU fighting for his life. He's there because of me. I owe him a debt that can only be repaid through time and living a life that would make him proud. My lifebelongs to a baby who doesn't know me yet, to the possibility of the man he may never become."
"If he dies and I live, then he'll live on through me. I'll carry the gift of his simple existence inside of me. The least I can do is go to the NICU, no matter how much it hurts me, no matter how much it hurts you and let him know that I am beyond grateful for his existence. And no matter what happens I will spend everyday trying to make him proud to call me his brother."
Gregory House was reduced to utter silence in the face of how his son felt. That he had some how had a hand in the making of this fine individual was beyond insane, and truly God's way of saying So there. Braeden shouldn't worry about living a life his brother would be proud of; he had already accomplished that.
So one more chapter and our story will be over. If you have a moment hit the review button and let me know what you think.
