"Greg, we have presents for you," Wilson whispered to the boy to see him look at him with wide eyes, "usually this would be the time to open them, but if you don't want to yet then you can wait," he finished putting a gentle hand on the boys back.

Greg just blinked in shock, he'd never been allowed gifts. "You... you got something... for me?"

Wilson gave the boy a warm smile, "Yeah, we all did," he said softly.

Greg looked to Cuddy who smiled at him and ran her fingers softly though his hair in a soothing gesture. "I don't know what to do," he whispered to her.

"Greg, do you trust me," she asked to see him nod. "You deserve this, you deserve to feel happy and you deserve to open your gifts without guilt or fear. You," she said kissing his forehead, "have done more for everyone at this table then we could ever repay you for." Cuddy smiled as his eyes became confused and skeptical at her words, "You have given me hope and a friend I desperately needed, you saved Foreman's life in which none of us will ever be able to repay you for, and as a doctor you have saved countless lives and taught all of us more than anyone we've ever met. Please, let us do something nice in return for all you've done."

Greg thought about that some and slow shy smile grace him, "Well, when you put it like that who could refuse. Thank you, Lisa," he said and gave her a hug and with that everyone put their gifts on the table.

"Here," Wilson said with a smile as he handed over the box wrapped in paper with clowns on it that said happy birthday.

Greg carefully unwrapped the present, making sure not to tear the paper. It had a picture of truck that had been painted like a shark on it and a child to the side with a black thing with sticks on it. It read Great White Monster Truck with wireless remote control * batteries not included * for ages 4 +. "I've never heard of a 'Monster' truck, but it looks fun. I'm sure it will be fun to play with, thanks Jimmy."

"Well don't worry, I plan on teaching you a lot about them tonight when we go to the Monster Truck Extravaganza," Wilson said with a smile, he'd bought the ticket two months ago and had planned on surprising House with them.

"Thank you so much, Jimmy, I don't know what I've done for you to deserve all your generosity but I appreciate," Greg said warmly, yet deep down he hoped that the Monster Truck Extravaganza wouldn't be anything like this place.

Wilson was beaming, "Your welcome," he said and passed another present to Greg while Cuddy put the open box on the other end of the table.

Greg looked at the box that was from Thirteen and opened it to find the game Operation. He smiled at the game and then at her, "Helping me to prepare for the OR?"

Thirteen grinned back, "You always like to be prepared, so I thought you might enjoy it."

"Thank you, Thirteen," Greg said and another colorful present was put in front of him that was from Foreman. It was smaller than the rest and he took his time unwrapping it to find a devise like nothing he'd ever seen and he had no idea of what it was. He tilted his head as he up at Foreman.

"Thanks for making the rest of us look like cheapskates, Eric," Chase said with a playful grin as he saw the present.

Taub, who was ready to go home already rolled his eyes at Chases comment and looked to Greg, "It's an MP3 player."

Greg looked at him with only more confusion.

Foreman looked uncomfortable as most of the table was looking at him with happy surprise. "It's for listening to music on. I already downloaded a good bit of songs that I've heard you listen too or seen in your office and some albums from some of the bands that you wear shirts of. You just put the plug of the headphones in it, put the headphone speakers in your ears and press the play button."

Greg figured it out after a couple of minutes and then smiled brightly as he heard music like nothing he'd ever heard before and yet it felt right and familiar like it his heart knew it even if the rest of him didn't. He closed his eyes and a lump formed in his throat again. He'd always love music, but because of his father's distaste for him playing the piano he wasn't ever allowed to listen to it, except at church. He stood up and opened his eyes to run at Foreman and throw his arms around the man. "Thank you," he said looking up at him, "I love it and will treasure it."

Foreman swallowed hard as he looked into the kids eyes. He remembered the Christmas that House had 'tricked' them into all buying him gifts and suddenly it hit him that for all the man had done for them, all the times he'd covered for them or put his ass on the line, he'd never bought him a real present and shame filled him. "As I do you," Foreman said softly in a deep voice while hugging Greg back.

When Greg returned to his seat Kutner was starting to push his gift to Greg when Taub tossed his to Greg with too much force almost hitting the boy in the face with it. He gave Kutner a half smile, "Sorry, I've got to cut this short on the count of having a life outside of the hospital and the people in it, one that includes my wife who I hardly get to see." He looked back to Greg to see the boy unwrapping the present slowly. He wanted to tell the boy to hurry the hell up but didn't since he could already feel Cuddy and Wilson's eyes boring into him.

Greg smiled sadly at the Sea Monkey Kit that Taub had gotten him. "My first pet," he said softly with disbelief. He'd wanted a pet all of his life but his father said it wasn't allowed, that a pet would just be another mouth to feed. "Thank you, Sir," he said looking up at Taub.

Taub could see the cheap quick gift had meant a good deal to the boy who bore a large bruise on his face, and bloody knuckles, and his bosses bright blue eyes. He looked away quickly as the boy unsettled him, if he took any time to explore why then he'd probably find answers he didn't want to think about quickly, so he didn't. "You're welcome," he said getting up, "have a good birthday," he add and left. Wilson's eyes followed the man and when he made a step to follow, probably to have a talk with him Cuddy grabbed his arm and gave him a short shake of her head then looked down to Greg. Wilson nodded and stayed watching as Greg opened his remaining gifts.

Kutner had gotten him Optimist Prime Transformer which Greg got more excited about as he realized it was a puzzle that turned from robot to truck. Chase got Greg a dart board and not one of those safe ones, to which Wilson deemed only to be played with outside and Cameron got him a Captain America costume. Of course it was Cuddy's gift that had earned a fearce hug from the boy, it was a journal with a picture of his parents and one of him in college.

"Alright, now, you get to play! So what do you want to do first?" Wilson asked.

Greg looked around as loud rambunctious kids filled buildings. "What are my choices?" he asked.

"Skating," Wilson said waiting for a response.

"I don't know how to skate," Greg answered.

"There's an arcade," Wilson said.

"Like pinball?" Greg asked, "I've never played one but I hear boys talk about them sometimes."

Wilson frowned slightly, "And there is the jungle room, it's a big jungle gym," he explained.

"I'm good at the jungle gym," Greg said glad to hear of a choice that he actually had some experience in.

"Then the jungle room it is," Wilson said standing and so did the rest of the table. A man who worked for center gathered the presents in a large box and let Cuddy know that they would have them in the back so that whenever they were ready to leave they could get them. The group walked over to the large room it was three stories tall and had clear floors so you could always see your kids and adult access stairs to go to different floors that were connected by tubes and rope ladders and slides for the kids. On each floor there were brightly colored bleachers that lined the walls. "We'll be on the blue bleachers," Wilson said with a smile, "have fun."

Greg blinked rapidly as he saw them sit down and then saw a sign No Adults Allowed on jungle gym equipment. Greg tried to keep the disappointment off his face.

"Geg, come on!" squeeked a boy that was crawling on a rope net six foot up.

Greg looked up to see Joseph from the bathroom, the boy was considerably younger, but at the moment beggars couldn't be choosers. "Hold up for me," he said and stopped at the entrance which had instructions to take of his shoes and put them in a cubie and he did so then rushed up to try and find Joseph. It was pretty confusing at first, there were a lot of kids and noise but finally he made it to the rope web, but Joseph wasn't there. Greg sat there for a moment looking at the spot that Joseph had been with a frown. It had felt good to hear another kid call his name without it sounding menacing or mocking. Greg was starting to feel sorry for himself when he heard the boys voice in a scream and looked up to see him holding on to a rope bridge with tight fists as two girls on either side of the bridge rocked it hard. Greg's jaw clenched as a determined look spread across his face and he began his climb to him. The boy was still screaming when he got there looking at the girls with distaste, both of them looked older than him and he didn't have hardly any experience with them, girls and boys were kept separate in military schools. "Ladies ought not act that way," Greg said loudly to the blond girl who looked up at him in surprise.

The blond girl stood up and was a couple of inches taller than the boney boy. Her eyes scanned the boy with interest and the corner of her mouth curved upward, "Why do you care?"

Greg stood straight, "He's my friend," he said, though it didn't sound as confident as he looked.

Mary's smiled, "Well he's my brother. So, you can't tell me how to play with him."

"If he's your brother then why would you scare him?" Greg asked with some confusion but in his peripheral vision he noticed the boy crawling towards them.

The girl laughed some as she looked at the boy, "Because he's my brother," she said with a grin. The boy's face looked blankly at her and she looked more at the bruise on his face and then at his wrapped hand. "You're the boy from the bathroom aren't you? The one that my dad was talking too?"

"Thanks Geg," Joseph said with a beaming smile, "We should go down the big red slide," he said with delight while ignoring his sister.

"That sounds great, Joseph," Greg said.

Mary rolled her eyes at her annoying little brother, "You can't, Mom and Dad put me in charge of watching you, Joey, you know that." She said firmly.

Joseph looked at his sister with a discouraged pout, "So, Geg can watch me, he's old enough."

Mary turned to Greg and looked him up and down, "I doubt that and it doesn't matter how old he is, Mom and Dad put me in charge of watching you," she said matter of factly.

"Then come with us, I wanna go down the slide," Joseph pleaded with a whiny voice.

"Well I don't, so too bad," Mary said not sounding sorry at all.

Greg narrowed his eyes slightly on Mary then looked to her brother, "Don't get upset about it Joseph, she'd afraid of being embarrassed."

Mary looked to Greg with surprise, he got it. She was nine years old and the last thing she wanted to do was be seen watching her little brother.

"I mean she's a GIRL, obviously she'd lose in the race to the slide," Greg said looking at her to see the fire in her eyes. "It's okay to be scared, you're a girl."

"I'm NOT scared!" Mary said as her face flushed.

Greg smiled softly at her, "That's good, everyone can't always win. It's nice that you can accept your weaknesses."

"I'm NOT WEAK!" the girl screeched. "I'll show you what a loser you are when I beat you up the slide! And being a GIRL is a lot better than being you, at least people don't hate me so much they hit me and starve me!"

Greg felt his face flush red in anger and embarrassment of his own, "My father doesn't hate me and I got the black eye saving a friend of mine's life. You're lucky you aren't a boy or I'd slug you for saying that."

Mary eyes widened on the boy. She couldn't imagine her father hitting her at all, especially so bad it left scares. "What did you do that would make your father hate you so much?"

Greg's chin started shaking some as she voiced the same question that had haunted him for years and Joseph saw the shine in Greg eyes and narrowed his eyes on his sister. He pushed her hard making her lose her balance, "Quit being mean or I'm telling!"

"I was just..." she began but as she looked back at Greg to see the boy was hurt by it her voice faded. She hadn't meant to hurt him with the question, it was just a question. "I'm sorry, I didn't meant to hurt you," she said reaching out a hand to put on his shoulder.

"Don't," Greg said backing away from her touch, "and you didn't HURT me. I'm fine. I don't care what you or anyone else thinks." He said and took in a couple of deep breaths, "Now, you ready to lose in this race?"

Mary pursed her lips, "If I win then Joseph and you have to play where I want to play and no more whining for the rest of the day," she said with a smile glancing at Joseph.

"But that's not fair! You'll just be mean to me ALL day!" Joseph protested.

Greg put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Don't worry, because we're going to win and then she'll have to play where ever we do," he said with a confident smirk.

"But Geg, I'm not that fast," Joseph said softly with a little shame.

"Don't worry little buddy, I am," Greg said seriously as he looked up to meet Mary's eyes.

Mary had a funny feeling in her stomach that maybe the boy wasn't just boasting but backing out would make her look like a fraidy cat. "On the count of three," she said as she got into position and looked up at the top platform where the slide was. "One... two... three!" she yelled and ran across the bridge with her brother behind her. She smiled as she was in the lead and when she got to the ladder to the next floor, it was when she was climbing up that she decided to look for how far Greg was behind her but only saw her brother huffing to catch up and her eyes darted around for Greg to see him getting to his feet on the second floor from where he'd evidently pulled himself up through the monkey bars. She scowled as she climbed faster. By the time she reached where he'd been he was already pulling himself up on the big slides platform through another rope web that was a good eight feet above her. "That's not fair," she yelled as she ran for the foam stair to get up to the third floor.

Greg was sitting on the platform with his legs hanging over the side when Mary crawled over the web towards him, "You cheated!" she exclaimed with a red face both from running and frustration.

"No I didn't," Greg said cooly.

"Yes you did! You're suppose to go the way we went, across the rope bridge then up the ladder then crawl through the big blue submarine across the ball pit swing on the monkey bars then up the foam stairs across the bouncy room and crawl over the big spiders web." Mary said as she stepped onto the platform and glared down at him.

Greg frowned at her as he stood up, "No, I didn't," he repeated more firmly. "You never said any rules about how I had to go, if you had I would have gone that way and still beat you. Sounds like you're acting like a sore loser." He said to see the girl blink at him rapidly as she thought about what he was saying, "I won fair and square, it's not my fault you didn't think to go the way I did, and how was I suppose to know to go the way you said, this is my first time here."

Mary chewed on her lip some, "Fine, but next time I'm going to pick the way we have to go," she said and held onto the railing as she looked down to see her brother finally getting out of the ball pit. It would still be a few minutes before he'd get up to them. She glanced at Greg, "Listen, about earlier, I'm sorry."

Greg leaned against the railing next to her watching Joseph, "It's not a big deal," he said softly.

She felt relieved he didn't seem mad at her. "Did you really do that to your hand?" she asked touching the bandaged hand softly.

He looked at her with surprise at the concern in her voice and the gentle touch, "Um.. yeah," he said with confusion over why she'd care.

"Why?" Mary asked with a sad frown.

"It's stupid, it doesn't even make any sense," Greg said looking at his hand with a frown of his own.

She shrugged, "Try explaining it to me, maybe I'll understand it. It couldn't hurt, right?"

He licked his lips and looked back up at her, "My friends threw me a birthday party, they got this cake and everyone was there... and one of them said something mean about my father, then I ran in the bathroom and did this."

Mary gave him a half smile, "It's your birthday today?" she asked to see him nod. "How old are you?" she asked.

"Seven," Greg said, "Lisa was upset about me hurting my hand," he said looking at his group of friends.

She followed his gaze, "Is Lisa your mom?" she asked.

"No, she's a good friend though," he said with a small smile.

"So which ones are your parents?" Mary asked looking at the large group of adults.

Greg swallowed, "None of them," he said flatly.

She looked at him with a surprised expression, "Your parents didn't come to your birthday party? Where are they?"

He shrugged as he looked down at his group of adult friends, "I don't know," he said laced with emotion.

Mary felt so sorry for the boy she wanted to cry, "Maybe they'll show up," she said with hope.

Greg shook his head, "No, my dad wouldn't come here," he said with certainty. "He doesn't believe in celebrating birthdays. This is actually my first birthday party."

She swallowed, "What do you usually do on your birthday then?" she asked with some hesitation.

"Nothing, it's just another day. I do my exercises, eat my toast, go to school, do my homework during lunch, physical training after school, eat supper if I've been good, clean up and take a bath then go to bed." He said crisply.

"No presents or cake," she said to see him shake his head, "didn't they at least say happy birthday?"

"No, my dad doesn't believe in that stuff, he says that toys are a waste of money and spoil kids," Greg said looking at her.

"Happy birthday, Greg," Mary said trying to smile. "If you'd told me it was your birthday I'd have let you win."

He smirked as he looked at her true amusement in his eyes, "I won on my own."

"Still, I'd have let you win even if I had been in the lead," she said meaningfully as she watched her brother trying to get through the bouncy room. "So, if this is your birthday party where is all your friends?"

"There," Greg pointed to where the team, Cuddy and Wilson were sitting.

"Oh," Mary said realizing they were all adults. "So how do you know all of them?"

He looked to her trying to decide how to answer that and smiled some. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Yes, I would," she said reassuringly.

Greg gave her a serious look and nodded, "I'm suppose to be 49 years old, but that guy," he said pointing to Kutner, "shot me with a time gun and turned me back to a six year old. The guy sitting on the back row," he pointed to Wilson, "is my best friend and the lady beside him, Lisa, was my boss. The rest of them are a team of doctors that work or have worked for me."

Mary hadn't expected that and even though it sounded made-up she didn't think he was the kind of person to tell stories. "Who's the president now?"

He blinked, "Um... I don't know, but before I was hit with the time gun a few days ago it was President Johnson."

"What year was it?" she asked as she remembered the years that Johnson was in office from her social studies class.

"1965," Greg answered.

"Geg, I'm here," Joseph said as he finally made it to the platform. "Did you win Geg, did you?" he asked with a smile.

"Yep," Greg said with a smile at the small boy.

Joseph jumped up pumping his little fist in the air, "We won! We get to play where we want!"

Mary rolled her eyes but she was smiling as she did it, "Okay, okay, that's enough. We going to go down the slide or not?" she said sitting at the entrance of the slide as Joseph hopped over to her and in her lap.

"Geg, come with us," Joseph said excitedly, to which Greg looked to Mary.

Mary smiled, "There's enough room," she said scooting over to her left slightly and patting the room to her right. Greg gave her a small shy smile and sat down beside her with his legs out and Joseph wiggled so that he was sitting on both of them. Greg put his hand around the small boy and blinked with surprise as he felt a hand lace it's fingers between his and looked over to see Mary smiling, though she was looking at her brother, "Alright, remember to lay flat against us Joey when we start moving. One, two, three." She said and scooted off the edge as Greg did and they started moving.