Chapter 38: Gabrielle's Past (part 2)
"What happened?" Cuddy asked.
Gabrielle sighed. Her ice blue eyes were focused on the picture before her as every image went through her head. "When I was about four, my mother met this one guy, his name was Charlie Kaufman. They dated for a while," Gabrielle said and then shrugged. Her eyes were still focused on the picture as she seemed to be deciding how she felt. "I mean, he was nice in all, but he was taking my mommy away from me, and that was just not good."
Cuddy slightly cracked a smile. "are you going to have hard feelings towards me to?" she asked.
Gabrielle brought her eyes up from the picture and laughed. "Would you like that?" she asked and then sat back and sighed. Taking the book in her hands, she turned the page and saw the wedding photo. "Anyways, they got married," she said. There was a tone to her voice, a bitterness that started showing through. "That, that was when little Jake came along." Gabrielle stopped for a minute and then sighed. "He was like a baby doll to me," she said and then looked up. "I might have traumatized him, I kept trying to put my bows on him. I wanted a baby sister, so I made him my baby sister and called him Jane."
Cuddy couldn't help but laugh as she heard the story. "Now if I have a boy, you're not going to try and change that to are you?" Cuddy asked.
Gabrielle looked up and straightened her face. "Maybe…" she said. "It all depends on what mood I'm in at the time. "I'm bipolar, it could go either way," Gabrielle said.
"Nice to know," Cuddy said.
"Anyways, I grew out of that, but he was only with us for a couple of years," Gabrielle said and then went back to looking down at the book.
Cuddy leaned in closer. She felt a sudden chill down her back. There were many thoughts of what could have happened going through her mind. "Did he…?" she started, but did not want to finish.
Gabrielle looked up, her fist was clenched over the side of the couch. "No, he's still alive today, but he and his dad just aren't with us. My aunt Eloise also liked him, and also had it stuck in the back of her head that I should be staying with her so that I could learn how to be a true lady. " Gabrielle looked up into Cuddy's eyes. She slightly cringed as she thought about what had happened. "She started coming onto Charlie. I remember one Thanksgiving, I walked into the kitchen where Aunt Eloise was supposedly getting the food, and I saw Charlie go in there to get something to drink. Well, instead I found Charlie trying to push Eloise back as she had him pinned to the cabinet while she tried her hardest to kiss him."
There was a moment of silence as Cuddy stared at her. She could tell how bitter Gabrielle was towards what had happened. "Did you know what was going on at the time?" Cuddy asked. It was evident that a little kid would be confused, but then again, who couldn't tell that there was something wrong with the picture before them? "I know you probably didn't know exactly, but what did you do?" she asked.
"I stood there, Eloise turned around and threatened me to not tell my mom, and Charlie got mad and hit her for threatening a little girl. Of course, being Eloise, she had to cause her little scene," Gabrielle shook her head. "She yelled, and she screamed, and my mom caught on to what had happened." There was a big gap in her memory after that night. The most that she could remember was that she knew that Charlie and Jake were still with them for Christmas and New Years, it was after that she wasn't sure about.
"But anyways, my mother knew what Eloise was trying to do, well, she knew that Eloise wanted Charlie. The only problem was that Charlie couldn't put up with what was going on, so he took Jake and left one night. All he did was leave a letter that I found my mom reading the next day," Gabrielle said. Trying to keep herself from crying, she got up and walked over to the desk. She kept her back to Cuddy, who she knew was watching and waiting for her to go on, and took a few drinks from her water bottle. As soon as she knew she was ready, she slowly turned to her and leaned back against the desk. "Next to her on the table was a bottle of Gin, and I saw that stupid bottle there every time I saw her after that, until finally my grandparents stepped in. They took in Maria and Eloise was told to take me in, and that's when I was staying with her." Gabrielle looked down for a minute and wiped her nose on the back of her hand when she finally looked up. Her face was red, but there were no tears, yet.
"I'm sorry," Cuddy said. She herself was actually a little surprised that Gabrielle had told her all of that.
"Just remember, you're the only one who knows this. I don't know how dad would react if he knew that Maria had gotten married after she left him," Gabrielle said.
Cuddy agreed with that, but she also had the feeling that he was going to find out sooner or later, whether he wanted to or not. "I will," she said and then got up and walked over to the door. She was about to open the door, but stopped. "You worried?" Cuddy asked. She slowly turned to Gabrielle as her hand dropped from the doorknob. There was a sympathetic look that was truly sincere.
Gabrielle looked over. "Not really, I'm stubborn, my dad's stubborn, you're stubborn. Eloise is stubborn, but she's stupid. Her stupidity gives me relief," Gabrielle said. "But, there is a possibility that either I or my dad will mess things up, but I don't think that you'll let that happen." Gabrielle shrugged and then stood up and walked over to the couch and sat back down.
"I think I should tell you, your father wants to punish Eloise now," she said.
"Really?" Gabrielle asked. For a minute she felt extremely happy and loved, but quickly passed. "You better go watch him," she said as her smile faded.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night," she said.
"Night Cuddy, and thank you," Gabrielle said.
Cuddy smiled back at her and then left the room closing the door behind her. She could see that House was already in bed and went to join him. "Hey," she said as she walked in and sat down next to him on the bed.
House was already laying in bed getting ready to sleep. He turned over and sat up. "You sound turned on. It's either something I did, or you just love that tired look."
Cuddy gave him a small smile. "What do you want? A little boy or a little girl?" she asked. She positioned herself so that she could lay down and prop her head up on her hand.
"Ah," he said as he pointed at her. "You saw the video, felt protective over Gabrielle. You went and talked to her, had some sort of touching moment and now you're feeling maternal," he said.
"Do you have to analyze everything I do?" she asked as she leaned over him.
"Now someone's horny," he said. "But I don't want to ruin that," he said. House sat up and kissed her.
Cuddy returned the kiss and then slowly backed away. Her eyes fluttered, and her smile was still there. "You never answered my question," she said. Watching him, she decided to tell him what she wanted. "It really doesn't matter to me whether it's a little boy or a little girl, but we do already have two girls here. I think I would like to a little boy," she said and then kissed him. "It might be cute to see a miniature you walking around."
House had thought about that, and he had also thought about what it would be like to have a little her running around. "Why should it matter?" he asked.
Cuddy started to look offended. "You don't care?" she asked.
House shrugged. "It's your's isn't it?" he asked.
Cuddy sat back and stared. His blue eyes were completely sincere, something that she was not expecting. Normally, she would have thought she was going to get some sort of joke, but, there was none. "Really?" she asked. Her small smile came back.
"Sure, even if it's a puppy," he said.
"A puppy?" she asked. There was certainly something interesting with that response.
"Yeah, why not? It doesn't cry as much and they're not always that hard to train," he looked over and saw her watching him. "Of course, the baby would be better."
Cuddy smiled and went to kiss him again, except this time was very brief.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Cuddy's eyes just widened. As quickly as she could, she shot up from the bed and ran over to the bathroom.
"Baby's jealous huh?" he asked. He could hear her puke and cringed a little, "I'll take that as a yes."
"Not now Greg!" she called from the bathroom.
House sighed and laid back. "At least she did this before she started something she couldn't finish," he said and then closed his eyes.