Chapter 52: Something It's Not (part 2)
Gabrielle sat there with Cuddy on the ground as House just stared. He couldn't believe what might have been happening. "I'll go get the car," he blankly stated.
Gabrielle just watched him as he left and then looked down as she kept her arm around Cuddy. There was nothing that she could say or do to help, or at least that she could think of at the moment.
"What's wrong? Baby dieing on you?" Eloise asked as she came up and stood behind the two.
Gabrielle cringed as she slightly turned her head towards Eloise. "Damn it, not now Eloise," she fiercely snapped.
Eloise just rolled her eyes. "Well the tramp doesn't deserve the kid she already has, why should she have this one? If anything I would have felt bad for that baby, thank God it doesn't have to grow up with some dumb floozy as their mother."
Cuddy sat there in shock. The words had hit her like a semi driving into a wall. Gabrielle changed her position so that she was sitting in front of Cuddy. She grabbed Cuddy's shoulders as she began to stand up. "You know that's not true," Gabrielle said and then stood up. Taking a deep breath, she smirked. "You bitch, you realize that if everyone actually got what they deserved that you would have been one of the victims of the Charles Manson cult. Of course, knowing you, they'd ask you to join them."
"How witty," Eloise sarcastically remarked. "Too bad it doesn't mean anything." She only received an eye roll from Gabrielle. "Now why don't you go and stay with you're new family? And what kind of family is it? Oh yeah, this whore over here will probably walk out in a few weeks and then bring home some dead beat boyfriend, because we all know that that is all she can get. Then your father will get strung out on his drugs and alcohol and forget that you ever existed. Then you'll be stuck caring for that bastard child of hers because you're parents are too screwed up to give a damn."
As Gabrielle stood there listening to her, she had started gripping tightly onto the sides of her skirt to keep her nails from digging into her palms. She was gripping so tightly that it got to the point where her hands were starting to shake. Her eyes were filling with tears of frustration. As soon as she heard Eloise stop talking, she quickly and without warning punched her in the face and knocked her down on her back. It had felt good to finally hit back after all this time.
Eloise sat up and wiped the blood that had started leaking from her nose. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Gabrielle stood there and coldly looked down to her. "I thought I would show you what it feels like. Szuka." With that she turned and walked back over to Cuddy and knelt down before her. "You think you could stand up and walk to the car?" she gently asked. Cuddy nodded. Gabrielle stood up and held her hands out to her. She grabbed them and slowly pulled herself up. It was hard for her to really stand since she was still in pain, but she was able to manage.
Gabrielle put her arm around Cuddy and guided her as they slowly walked. "I'm sorry if I rushed you at all, I just couldn't stand to see her anymore."
"It's okay," Cuddy breathily answered as they turned the corner into the hall.
Gabrielle looked over to Cuddy with sympathy. "Only a little bit longer and you can sit down."
Cuddy closed her eyes and then stared straight forward. "I don't want to alarm you, but I think I'm about to pass out."
Gabrielle stopped and opened the door. "I have to admit, you're scaring me."
"Doesn't matter," Cuddy said. She weakly looked up. "I'm starting to think that I was meant to end up alone anyways," she said starting to cry.
"Where is this coming from?" Gabrielle asked with concern as she looked over to her. "You have me, and daddy, and Wilson and even Rachel, she listens better than you think." She tried to slightly smile, but only sighed as she helped down the steps. "We're not going to abandon you if something does go wrong."
Cuddy just looked up and shook her head. It was hard for her to believe what she was hearing. It was as if all of all House's reasons for staying with her were all disappearing one by one.
House went to watch the two, but could barely even glance. From the moment he saw Cuddy down on the ground, clutching her stomach, he went numb. He was able to be there the other times when she had miscarried, but this time was certainly different. This time, it was his own babies. This time the loss would be equally his.
Gabrielle opened the back door and Cuddy slid into the seat and Gabrielle took the one next to her. There was a silence as Cuddy just stared. It looked as if her entire life had collapsed around her, which was truly how she felt.
Gabrielle saw the look in Cuddy's eyes and put her hand on her shoulder and started to gently rub in little circles before she turned any of her attention to her father. "Daddy," she called as she slightly leaned forward.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I now know what it feels like to beat the devil himself. I punched Eloise in the face and most likely broke her nose," Gabrielle explained.
House nodded in approval. "Cuddy usually wouldn't approve of this, but how did it feel?" He knew it had to feel good, he himself had been stuck with that witch and wanted to punch her, well strangle her, but the punching sufficed.
Gabrielle smirked. "I think when I lose my virginity, I'll put it up above sex."
"Yet part of what she says is true," Cuddy weakly stated. She had heard the mention of Eloise, but at the moment was oblivious to what they were actually talking about.
Gabrielle slightly laughed. "Let me get this straight. You won't believe anything that I or Daddy says, but you're going to believe something that came from a stupid old bitch who's probably screaming that her already screwed up face is wrecked?"
"Which do you think would stick with you?" Cuddy snapped.
Gabrielle jumped a little. She took her back away from Cuddy's shoulder and sat back. "I'm sorry."
They pretty much stayed silent the rest of the way to the hospital. Gabrielle was afraid to say anything to Cuddy since she knew that all she would do at this point would be to upset her more, and House didn't want to say anything because he knew that all that would happen would be that Cuddy would snap at him and Gabrielle would question what he had done. The only time that Gabrielle opened her mouth again was when they were almost at the hospital.
Gabrielle turned and looked at Cuddy as she nervously stared down towards the floor. "How are you doing? You think you can make it through the lobby or do you want to say screw it and let the secret out when I help you in?"
Cuddy just sighed and thought for a minute. With the weakness clearly showing in her face, she looked over at Gabrielle. "The pain eased up a little, so I think I can try and act like everything is normal."
They pulled up into the parking lot and House drove around until he got to the front door. "I'll go park the car in the garage." He paused for a minute and then looked back at Gabrielle. "You keep an eye on her." His tone had been the most serious she had ever heard from him.
"I will," she said as she studied his facial features. She could easily see that he was about as worried and upset as Cuddy was, but was trying to hide it.
House waited for the two to get out and make their way to the door. He could see Cuddy trying to straighten herself out on the way to the entrance as Gabrielle stayed by her side. House then drove away to the garage, where he park the car and blankly stared. Leaning his head back, he reached into his pocket and grabbed his vicodin. He really didn't care how many he took, so he just poured some into his hand without looking and threw them into his mouth. A moment after swallowing, he grabbed his cane and left the car, slamming the door behind him.
House walked into the entrance and kept his head down. There was no way he wanted to talk to anyone at the moment. If anything, he just wanted to get to his office and hide for the rest of the day. He almost made it to the elevator, but Wilson caught up to him as he waited for the doors to open.
"How did it go today?" Wilson asked. He had known that today was the day that the Judge gave his decision.
"How did what go today?" House asked with annoyance rimming his voice.
Wilson scrunched his eyebrows in confusion as he thought for a moment. "Court? Didn't you win?" he asked, hoping that House was currently more irritated than usual by something else that had gone wrong.
House looked up as he impatiently waited for the doors to open before him. "Kids all ours."
Wilson rolled his eyes. "It was hard to miss with all this joy you're putting out."
The doors finally opened. "Well, sorry you have to be cut off from all the joy," he said as he stepped onto the elevator.
Wilson followed right behind him and went to stand by his side. "Don't worry, I'm only going to my office," he said upon seeing House glare at him. "But, if you do have something to say…"
"Hmm," House responded as he pretended to actually give it some thought. "Nope, I think I would have said it by now."
Wilson shook his head as he laughed. "I don't get it House," he said as he looked to him. "How could you possibly be mad at anything? You have a fiancée, you just won the daughter you didn't know you had, you have twins on the way."
When Wilson mentioned the twins, it struck a nerve and he internally cringed. "Trust me, it's not that hard with you here!" he nearly yelled.
Wilson was taken aback by the reaction, but it didn't stop him. This only showed him that there was something truly wrong.
The doors opened to their floor and they walked out together. "House? What happened?" He was going to be persistent as he walked beside him.
"Will you leave me alone if I tell you?" House asked as he stopped and turned to him.
"Sure," Wilson agreed.
They both entered Wilson's office. House went directly to the couch as Wilson closed the door behind him and stood there before his friend. House just sat there and stared off to the side. "Well?" Wilson asked.
House just looked up to him. "We think she lost the twins," he bluntly announced.
Wilson's face dropped. There was nothing but pure concern in his eyes. "Oh God," he softly said.
"Both Gabi and I noticed that she wasn't herself and then as we were getting ready to leave she doubled over in pain. I had to go get the car and Gabi had to help her out." It was hard for House to see Cuddy like this, and talking about it, wasn't really what he wanted to do, but it was the only thing on his mind.
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Cuddy was laying in her bed as Gabrielle sat beside her. They both kept looking to the door to see if House was going to show up. The young girl sighed. "I texted him telling where."
"I don't think he wants to be here." This was where her worst fears were starting to set in. He wasn't coming because he didn't care anymore. Gabrielle was his, the babies were most likely gone, so why stay together?
Gabrielle looked over as she tried to find the best wording for what she had to say. "You know, I don't want to kick you when you're down, but it probably has something to do with the way you have been treating him today. He most likely just thinks that you don't want him here, and quite honestly, I wouldn't blame him for taking it that way."
The words stung Cuddy as she stared forward. "You didn't hear what I heard." Her voice began to crack as she held back tears.
"Yeah?" Gabrielle asked. She leaned towards her in the chair and rested her folded arms on the railing of the bed. "What did you hear?"
"I was going to Wilson's office this morning and I heard…." she trailed off. Cuddy stopped as soon as she heard Gabrielle start to laugh. "What?"
Gabrielle just smiled. "I'm guessing that out of all of that, you heard that he was going to leave you or that he would have left you."
"Yeah," Cuddy answered with confusion.
Gabrielle laughed again. "You wanna know who he was leaving you for?"
"I don't see how this is at all funny!" Cuddy finally snapped. She had started getting a little annoyed when Gabrielle had started laughing, but now this was really getting to her. It was hard for her to believe that anyone could laugh about what had happened.
Gabrielle tried her hardest to straighten out her face. She looked Cuddy square in the eyes and kept as serious as possible. "He was leaving you so that he could elope with me." It was hard for her to even stop laughing after that point, let alone to keep a straight face. Gabrielle laid her forehead down on her arms as she tried to calm herself down.
Cuddy's eyes widened. She grabbed Gabrielle's arm and frantically pulled herself so that she could sit up more and face Gabrielle. "You mean that I was mad over some morbid inside joke?"
Gabrielle raised her head and nodded. She wanted to say something, but couldn't through the laughter. After her few seconds of laughter, she got herself to calm down. Her eyes suddenly went to sympathetic. "Someone's had a rough day."
Before Cuddy could say anything, the doctor walked in and announced that they were going to take her off for an ultrasound and to do some blood work. Gabrielle stood up and hugged Cuddy. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Cuddy said before she let go.
Gabrielle walked out into the hall and then sighed. "Now to go see how the other one is doing," she said as she headed towards House's office.
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House stepped out of Wilson's office and slowly closed the door behind him. All he wanted to do right now was just go home and try to forget about everything that had happened. The only problem with that was that he could not leave that hospital without knowing that Cuddy was alright. It wouldn't feel right to him to leave knowing that she could be lying there getting over another miscarriage.
With the thoughts of Cuddy fogging over everything else, House headed straight for his office. The door swung open and he carelessly dropped his cane. Nothing mattered to him at the moment as he made the way to his chair and sat there.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his desk chair turned to face the window, and his red and grey tennis ball being thrown up into the air repeatedly. "Gabi?" he asked.
The chair slowly turned around to reveal Gabrielle sitting there. She set the ball back down on the desk and sat back. "How are you doing?" she gently asked.
"I don't think we've ever resorted to small talk before," House stated.
Gabrielle could see that this wasn't going to be going anywhere soon. Even the simplest question was going to go unanswered. "Look," she started as she leaned forward. "Cuddy's not mad at you anymore, the whole thing was a misunderstanding. She thought you were actually going to leave her because of something that she heard while we joking around in Wilson's office. Long story short, she's sorry, and she needs you right now."
House just looked over. Guilt was starting to settle in, the feeling that he had left her alone when she wanted him there, which was what happened. "How long ago was this figured out?" he asked.
"Well, I'd say a little under an hour ago. I've been here for about a half hour just kind of wondering where you were," Gabrielle said.
They both sat there silently. House just stared straight forward as he wondered about what was going to happen now. Right now, nothing looked to good to him because he knew that Cuddy either lost the twins, or has some serious health problem.
Gabrielle just watched him for a second. "You know, you're gonna make a pretty awesome dad."
"I know. I'm easy access to drugs and you can outrun me when you get in caught taking them," House responded.
Gabrielle rolled her eyes at first, but the more thought she gave it, the more she realized that it was true. "That's not what I meant. Most parents lie and sugar coat the truth, and you have no idea how annoying that is at times. You on the other hand would just come out and tell you're children what they need to hear. Some one they know ends up in the hospital in critical condition, most parents would just say that 'oh don't worry, grandma's just sick and needs her rest. I'm sure that she'll be fine.' Not you, you would actually tell them that Grandma had a stroke which means that she might die soon and actually prepare them for what might happen." Gabrielle sat back in the chair and looked down at the desk. "When I was little, everyone lied to me about my mom's drinking problem. I was always told that she was on vacation." Her head shot up showing the irritation in her eyes. "You know how agitating that is? I knew what was going on. I could see those bottles she had, I could read, and most of all, I knew someone who was as sick as her at time would not be going on vacation."
House leaned his head back and looked up towards the ceiling. "You telling me that I would tell my kids all my problems?"
Gabrielle laughed. "I hadn't even known you for an hour and you flashed me your vicodin. I can't see you telling them that it's candy, even though that's not a complete lie when it comes to you is it?"
The door opened and a young nurse walked in and stood before House with a small envelope. "Doctor Cuddy told me to give this to you. She just got back to her room."
"What is it?" House asked as he snatched the note from the nurse's hand.
"I don't know," she admitted.
"Hard to believe that you didn't peek," he said as he began to open it. He started to pull the folded up note out, but looked up and saw the nurse still standing there. "Are you apart of his in some way that I don't know about?"
"No," she nervously answered and then cautiously left as he watched her.
House continued to pull the note out and read it over. His face softened as he reread a few times.
Gabrielle knew from the beginning that it was going to be about the babies and was anxious to know what it said. "So?"
House slowly looked over as he held the note open for her to see. "I'm still going to be a father."
Gabrielle smiled as she stood up and walked over to where he had dropped his cane at. She picked it up and carried it to him. "Congratulations. Let's go see her."
Without saying anything, he took his cane and stood up. They both walked out of the office and started towards Cuddy's room.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and since this is going to be the last one before Christmas, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
