Greg answered the phone with his usual abrupt growl. With the generic ringtone, she had no idea who it was.

He never answered that way to her calls, but every other call she had seen him answer received that greeting - except for Wilson on occasion.

It usually turned out that he wanted something from Wilson in those cases.

"Mom?" He sounded alarmed.

Claudia instantly perked up. She had never heard Greg talk about his parents and they certainly hadn't come around to see him during.

"Oh. Well, I've been really busy these days and I'm not really sure I can find the time."

Claudia listened with rapt attention to one side of the conversation.

"Uuummm, hard to say."

...

"I'm just a very busy person."

She could tell Greg was actually trying to be polite.

"Yeah. You do that."

...

"Bye, Mom."

Greg sighed loudly.

Claudia thought about asking what was up, but she decided to wait him out instead of asking.

"That was my mom."

She thought about making a sarcastic comment about how the conversation gave that away, but he looked too serious for teasing right now.

Claudia had no idea how to react. Greg had never mentioned his mom, so she had absolutely no idea what their relationship was like. She could now safely assume that his mom was alive, but other than that...

"She wants to come see me."

"Well, she's probably concerned about your health."

That seemed rational to Claudia.

"She doesn't know I'm sick."

Greg looked down at his leg, which was still angled way out to the side and propped up on pillows. She knew his leg was going to be repositioned later today, but she had no idea how that would turn out except that Greg hoped to be able to get out of bed.

She figured he might be able to use a wheelchair, but seriously doubted they'd be getting him up on crutches or a walker.

Greg hadn't mentioned anything along those lines.

She was so busy looking at Greg that she was slow processing what he just said.

"She doesn't know?"

Greg flinched.

She had just yelled...probably a bit of an overreaction.

Even though she wasn't close to her parents and they were totally freaked out by illness, they still got updates on Casey's condition and called to talk to him. They all exchanged emails.

He was just staring at the ceiling now and resting his right hand on the brace. He had his hand there ever since he was turned.

She knew he hadn't had any injections since the second chemo session over a week ago.

She had sat with him during his third chemo treatment as well. He actually seemed sicker, but didn't appear to have as much pain in his hip or leg. Despite the anti-emetic, he vomited several times during the third session and had to have several doses of anti-emetic later.

Claudia could understand why he wanted out of bed so desperately, but she almost wandered if it would be so painful that he might not even be able to enjoy it.

"I didn't want to listen to her cry and then come flying here freaking out over me and trying to coddle me. I'm having enough trouble dealing with this without having to deal with her trying to deal with this. I can't even keep up with my own emotional health right now – let alone try to take care of her when she goes off the deep end."

Greg was highly sarcastic on the words 'emotional health' but she could tell he was honestly concerned.

Claudia just reached for his hand and gave him what she hoped would be a comforting squeeze.

Greg had moved his right hand from his thigh and was now rubbing it along his torso feeling the hard brace across his abdomen.

"I don't think I can deal with her right now. She hasn't always been particularly emotional, but ever since her husband died, she turns into a basket case at the slightest provocation. Every once in a while she gets this abrupt and passionate desire to see me. She becomes obsessed! I should have known it was about time for her to get the urge to see me. Usually I can satisfy her by spending an evening with her or even just having lunch with her in the cafeteria. Once she lays eyes on me like this, I'll never get rid of her."

He reached up to touch his lips, but stopped about an inch away and put his hand down again. He never touched his lips. The doctors and nurses didn't touch him in any way without gloves on. She always scrubbed her own hands before so much as touching his hand, per nurse's orders. Claudia wasn't able to touch or kiss his mouth or even anywhere near it.

She felt sure Greg was processing how his mother would react to every aspect of his body - including his ulcerous mouth.

He had his ointment treatments scheduled out to times of the day that nurses and occasionally Wilson or Claudia were the only people who ever heard him when he could only mumble fairly incoherently. He obviously didn't want his employees to see and hear him like that. Claudia had seen the nurses spray his mouth repeatedly, but it seemed that the ointment was the only thing that totally numbed his tongue. He usually talked slower now and sounded somewhat mumbled, but Claudia didn't notice anymore. A mother surely would notice right away, though. The only reason she didn't notice anymore was because she saw him every day - sometimes she saw him twice a day.

"By the time she gets here, my brace will be adjusted...I could hide the cancer from her. I still have most of my hair - if I convince her to come right away she won't know I'm losing it. Only problem there is my mouth. I could tell her it's a side effect of some pain med I'm taking. She knows I can't have narcotics anymore - except I can never seem to lie to her. Maybe I could convince Wilson to lie to her...or I could just tell her I'm gone to a conference..."

Claudia didn't even know how to respond to any of this, so she just sat there as he proceeded to run a verbal differential with himself.

"Then she'd want to know where the conference was and when I'd be back…or if she could visit me at the conference. I could tell her I'm on sabbatical in Europe or something...except she loves Europe and would want to see me even more.

Sabbatical in a third world country...that might work. Problem is I can't lie to the woman...she's like a freakin' lie detector! Maybe I could send her a telegram or something! I don't know what to do...ow."

He was talking quickly now and was getting animated. It was probably too much.

She knew from his expression that this was mouth pain. He reached for the call button and a nurse arrived in no time.

The nurse could apparently read him pretty well by now, too. This was the daytime nurse that treated him most of the time.

"Do you need some spray in your mouth?"

He just nodded.

She washed and gloved up before getting the spray off of his bedside table.

After she finished spraying the inside of his mouth and dabbed the extra that was running out of his mouth away, she used a cotton swab to spread an ointment over his lips.

Claudia had learned that this wasn't the same as the numbing ointment. This stuff prevented dryness and cracking, thus helping with pain.

"Is that better, Dr. House?"

"Yes. Thanks."

Claudia had noticed that Greg had gotten nicer to the nurses as time went on. They still always called him 'Dr. House' and never 'Greg.'

She figured the whole title thing was because they knew him and worked with him before he was hospitalized.

Little did she know that he had been notoriously abrupt, grouchy, or even downright mean to nurses, but was now developing a new respect for them.

Initially, the nurses seemed to tiptoe around him like they were walking on eggshells, but now they didn't seem nervous or hesitant around him.

He had been in the hospital for about 5 weeks after all.

"Maybe when they adjust the brace I can go outside."

He had abruptly changed gears.

It seemed like Greg was also thinking about how long he'd been here. He was looking out the window and sounded almost wistful.

She really didn't know what to say to that - she had no idea what restrictions he would have. She didn't want to discourage him if he would indeed be able to go outside. She also didn't want to tell him that sounded great and then find out they wouldn't allow him to go outside.

After Casey's treatment he had to stay away from large groups of people or situations where he might be exposed to excessive germs. For all she knew, Greg might not be allowed off the floor.

She figured she would keep quiet and let his monologue of running thoughts continue.