CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

A/N:

For those of you who may be reading this little ditty for the first time, welcome, and I hope you've enjoyed my story so far. For those who have been following from the beginning, please go back and reread Chapter 9. I decided to discuss Lucy's medical issues a little more in this chapter and as I was writing it, I realized that discussing her medical issue with a little more detail now doesn't make sense since I didn't give a definitive diagnosis in Chapter 9. So please read or reread and enjoy and review!

PS: I don't own House, damn it! I'm just borrowing him and his partners in crime for my story! (And royally screwing with the show's time line!) Oh, and thanks for playing along!

As Greg cleaned up the kitchen, he had to laugh at the hard time Lucy always seemed to be determined to give him. Why was everything such a fight with her? She knew damn well the fastest way for her to get back 100 percent was to rest as much as she could, but she just wasn't wired that way. That little Energizer Bunny just kept going until her batteries wore out.

Greg remembered all too well what being a resident was like, and if Lucy wasn't 100 percent healthy when she started, any cat nap she would be able to catch wouldn't be enough. He and Frank were going to have to keep an eye on her.

Knowing Lucy, they should probably buy stock in a coffee importing company. Lucy would prop herself up with enough caffeine to make that a worthwhile investment! She drank quite a bit of coffee now, along with other caffeinated drinks with no ill effects. Except for occasional bouts of bronchitis and the random migraine, she was still one of the healthiest people he knew.

The kitchen was cleaned and straightened up enough to satisfy Lucy's sense of neatness. He quietly went back upstairs to put his swim trunks on. He looked in Lucy's room. She was still sound asleep, curled up in a ball on her couch. He smiled. Nah, she wasn't tired at all! Yeah, right! But then again, two rounds of love making might have something to do with her current state of unconsciousness! He couldn't be sure!

Greg couldn't find his trunks in his room or his bathroom. Damn it! They were hanging in Lucy's bathroom. The last time he had used them, he and Lucy had come up here and made love in the shower. She rinsed the chlorine out of them when she rinsed her suit and they both forgot about it. He very quietly went back to Lucy's room and slowly walked past her sleeping form on the couch and into the bathroom. His trunks were hanging on one of the towel bars. He slipped out out his pajamas and pulled on the trunks. He tossed his pajamas into the hamper with the rest of his and Lucy's dirty clothes.

Damn, did she have him trained! Although he was basically a neat person, he did have a habit of leaving his clothes on the floor wherever he was standing when he took them off. Once he got involved with Lucy, that slowly came to a halt. Greg could honestly say that she had never nagged him once about that or any of his habits that might have annoyed her. She just rolled with it, gave him his space when he needed it and took care of him, and told him off regularly. Not that he needed any reason to love her, but those were yet more reasons to add to the list. He still couldn't get over her being in love with him unconditionally.

Greg's father would blow an artery if he saw his son do half the things he did for Lucy. He would never let Greg help his mother out around the house. "That's not a job for a man! That's woman's work!" he would scream loudly at Greg. Growing up, the only time Greg could do anything for his mother was when his father was stationed someplace families weren't able to go to. Even though Greg had a lot of chauvinistic tendencies, he realized that helping Lucy or her mother didn't make him less of a man. It made him more of one.

He quietly walked past Lucy again; she hadn't moved an inch. He went back to his room to get a T-shirt and his flip flops and went back downstairs. All he had to do was wait for Tony and his family to get here. He had no clue if Jim would show up, and if he did, hopefully, Lucy would behave herself in front of her little cousins. He was going to let Lucy sleep until Tony got there, even though he wanted to kiss her awake and maybe make love one more time before everyone got here!

Tony and his family arrived around 11:30, a little later than planned, but with four kids, sometimes it was hard to be on time for anything! The boys immediately looked around for Lucy and you could see the disappointment on their little faces when they didn't see her. They ran outside to look for her.

"Where is she, Greg?" Liza asked with a smile. "Oh, I got her to go back to bed after we had breakfast." Greg replied with a shrug. "How did you manage that?" Tony wondered. "You didn't dose her again, did you?" Greg just looked at Tony, and Liza started laughing. "Tony, how do you think he got her to go to sleep?"

Greg figured Tony would have told his wife everything when he went home last night and he wasn't surprised at Liza's comment. It didn't matter. Greg normally kept his own counsel, but he needed someone to confide in about Lucy. Best friend or not, Jim was not the right person for that. He would be on the phone to Frank & Lina in half a heart beat, insisting that they come home now! Tony and Liza would not let on to Lucy that they knew anything.

The light bulb over Tony's head went on when he realized what they must have done for Lucy to fall asleep! "Greg, you didn't!" Tony's voice trailed off in a wicked chuckle. "Twice, and I still had to throw her over my shoulder to get her upstairs to her room after breakfast. How can someone so small be so stubborn, Tony? Won't listen to her doctor." Greg answered. There wasn't much of anything that embarrassed Greg and he certainly wasn't embarrassed now. He just had a very satisfied look on his face.

Liza started laughing again because she was trying to imagine where and how they did it! And before breakfast yet! She couldn't remember the last time she and Tony did that! Oh, wait. Now she remembered. Before they had kids! She needed to plan a get away for her and Tony. Her mother-in-law would be more than happy to take care of her grandsons for a week or ten days! The boys came running back into the house just as Liza started laughing so hard she had to sit down or drop the baby.

"What's so funny, Mommy?" little Tony wanted to know. "Yeah, Mommy." twins Joey and Jimmy chimed in. "What's so funny?" "Nothing, kids, Greg just told us a very funny grown up joke." Liza answered her boys. "Can we hear it? Tell us, Greg!" all three demanded at once, dying to know something the grown ups did. "You three Indians aren't grown up enough yet." their father replied quickly.

All three boys turned to Greg again. In unison again, they asked, "Where's Lucy?" Greg smiled. "I made her take a nap." "Why?" they asked. "Grown ups don't have to take naps if they don't want to." "Well, she was sick a few days ago and she's still a little tired. I had to threaten to spank her to get her to go to her room. Should we go wake her up now?" "Yeah!" all three boys replied in unison. They liked Greg nearly as much as they liked Lucy.

"Okay." Greg said very seriously. "But we have to be very quiet until we get upstairs. She's really grouchy when she wakes up!" The boys giggled and followed Greg upstairs. Tony and Liza could hear lots of giggling as they went. As they went along with Greg, he was encouraging them to make noise.

Lucy woke up with a start. She heard the sound of little boys giggling in the hallway outside of her bedroom door, then she heard a bigger boy egging them on by telling them they had to remember to be very quiet because Lucy was very grouchy when she woke up! They sounded like mice out there, led by a rather large rat by the name of Greg House! Lucy smiled and decided to play a little game of her own.

"Oh, no!" she said in a very dramatic voice. "That sounds like there's mice in the house. What am I going to do? Maybe I'd I better call an exterminator. I don't think my father would be too happy to find mice in his house when he comes home. He'd never trust me again if that happened!" The giggling started again, and the boys burst into her room, followed by a grinning Greg. "It's us, Lucy! Uncle Frank doesn't have mice in his house!" they exclaimed as they all jumped on her. She just smiled at them and hugged them all.

"Lucy, are you really grouchy when you wake up?" Joey demanded. Lucy looked at Greg. He was grinning from ear to ear. "No, Joey, I'm not grouchy. Who told you I was, as if I didn't know?" Lucy answered. "Greg." Jimmy answered. "Oh, I see." Lucy said seriously. "Well, I'm awake. Do you think I'm grouchy?" she asked them. "No!" they exclaimed. "Did he really say he was going to spank you if you didn't take a nap?" Jimmy demanded. "Yes, he did, Jimmy. That was kind of mean, don't you think?" Lucy said wickedly, looking directly at Greg, who did nothing but shrug his shoulders. Little Tony decided they had had enough of the chit chat. "Hurry up, Lucy! Put your bathing suit on! We want to swim now!"

Greg tried to round the boys up and take them back downstairs. "Okay guys, let's go wait for Lucy in the kitchen, give her a little privacy while she puts her bathing suit on." Joey said, "Why can't we wait here for her when she goes into the bathroom to change?" "Joey!" Tony said to his brother. "Lucy's a girl like Mommy! They like to get dressed with no one watching them!" "She's not a girl! Joey exclaimed. "She's Lucy!"

"Lucy's a girl, you big dope!" Tony yelled. "Wait until I tell Daddy you don't know the difference between a girl and a boy!" He ran out of the room laughing with his brothers in hot pursuit. Lucy was laughing so hard she couldn't sit up straight. Greg had a confused look on his face. "Does he really think you're not a girl?" he asked Lucy. "I don't know!" Lucy said between giggles. "But you better go down there and explain things to Tony before he starts to worry about his son!"

Greg helped Lucy up off the couch and leaned down to kiss her. "Need some help getting into that bathing suit?" he whispered against her neck. "No, thank you, Greg. Girls like to get dressed in private with no one watching them!" Lucy replied with a mischievous grin. Greg had his hands on her butt again, squeezing gently. "Will you please leave my butt alone and go downstairs?" Lucy asked as she teasingly pushed her hips against Greg. "You do know you're a mean little girl, don't you? Never let me have any fun at all!" Greg pouted. "You had fun twice already this morning!" Lucy said with a loving smile. "Get out of here!" And with one last kiss, she pushed him out of her room.

As soon as Greg got to the kitchen, he saw Tony with all three boys telling him what had happened in Lucy's room and that Joey thought it was okay to stay there with her while she changed into her bathing suit because she wasn't a girl like Mommy. Tony was having a hard time keeping a straight face, and Liza was hiding her face behind baby Frank's head so her son wouldn't see her laughing at him. If a baby could look confused, Frankie did. "Greg, does my son really think Lucy's not a girl?" Tony asked with a laugh. Greg put his hand on Tony's shoulder and hung his head down.

In a very sad voice, he said, "Yes, Tony, I'm afraid that's so. I've never seen a case like this before. I really don't know what to tell you! I don't think there's any medical precedent for it! I'd have to do some research on this." Tony couldn't stop laughing.

"Okay, guys. Go outside and wait for Lucy. The grown ups have to talk now. "Aww, Daddy! Please let us stay! We promise we'll be quiet!" they said. Liza managed to compose herself enough to tell her sons to go out to the pool, and they finally cooperated. She would have a clear line of sight and could keep an eye on them.

No sooner had the boys gone outside than Lucy walked into the kitchen. She had "borrowed" one of Greg's T-shirts and was using it as a cover up. It was the Harley T-shirt he had been wearing the day they met. Baby Frank saw her, recognized her, and squealed with delight. Greg smiled at that. Lucy came over to him and he reached up to her with his chubby little arms waiting for her to pick him up. Lucy picked him up & tossed him in the air, making him giggle. "Oh, look at you Frankie!" she cooed at him. "You're getting so big and handsome!" she said as she smothered him with kisses and raspberries, making him giggle more. Lucy and Jim were his godparents.

"Lucy, why are you wearing one of my shirts again?" Greg asked nonchalantly. Lucy just looked at him with her usual poker face. "Well, I figure since I have to wash your nasty clothes, I'd borrow some of them as payment for services rendered. You have a few other pretty cool T-shirts I plan on borrowing too. I hope you aren't emotionally attached to any of them. I think they would look good on me, don't you?" she replied as nonchalantly as he had been while tickling the baby.

Tony and Liza just looked at each other and smiled. "Lucy, if you wanted to be paid for doing my laundry, we should have talked about it. How about a kiss for each load of my laundry you have to do instead of you borrowing my shirts?" Greg had that shit-eating grin on his face again, the one that made Lucy weak in the knees.

Lucy just stared at him, still no expression on her face. "What the hell is he trying to do now?" she said to herself. "Saying he'll give me a kiss for each load of laundry I do for him! I'm going to strangle him!" Without missing a beat, Lucy replied, "I'd have to be drunk to kiss you, and don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen! I can just about match you drink for drink!"

She turned on her heel and went outside with the baby. No sooner had the door closed behind her than the three left in the kitchen cracked up laughing. "She's determined not to give anything away, isn't she, Greg?" Liza asked. "That she is, Liza, that she is, and she really can just about drink me under the table!" Greg said with a smile as put the potatoes in the oven for Lucy and followed her outside. Tony and Liza followed.

Liza and Lucy put the little swimmies on Frankie's arms and got him used to the water. Liza sat on the steps with him while Lucy went to play with her other three little monsters. Little Tony looked at Lucy and told his brother Joey, "See, I told you Lucy was a girl like Mommy! She has boobies too!" All the adults laughed. Greg just watched Lucy in amazement like he had last summer when he accidentally dropped her in the pool. Each one of those boys got equal attention from her. Greg didn't know how she did it. She was tossing them around and they were dunking her, and they really sounded like a bunch of dolphins playing in the pool!

More and more often, Greg kept picturing Lucy pregnant, her belly big with his baby growing inside her, ready to pop any minute, standing by her side as she delivered his son or daughter. Since she would be having a C-section, Lucy wouldn't have the opportunity to cuss him out like she might during a normal delivery, but she cussed him out all the time anyway, so it didn't really matter! He still had major, major doubts as to what kind of parent he would be and it actually scared the bejesus out of him that he wanted a baby at all. He wondered how long it would take for Lucy to get pregnant, and how many times she would miscarry. Endometriosis certainly had not affected their love life. Lucy never experienced any pain when they made love.

Greg knew Lucy's complete medical history from A to Z. He even had a complete copy of her file locked in his desk at the hospital. What Lucy didn't know was that Dr. Burke and her father had requested a consult with Greg to make sure she was being properly treated and nothing overlooked. Lucy wasn't in the hospital that day, so there was no way she would find out about the consult. Dr. Burke respected Greg's diagnostic expertise.

Greg agreed with Dr. Burke that while Lucy's Fallopian tubes had a lot of scar tissue on them, they weren't completely blocked. As long as they could be kept open, she had a chance of getting pregnant, slim though it was. If Lucy was able to carry a baby to term, she would have to have a C-section in case undetected adhesions had formed during her pregnancy. She could hemorrhage if she tried to deliver naturally.

Greg always chuckled when he read Dr. Burke's notes about Lucy making her own diagnosis. "Patient says she has endometriosis and I concur with her. Her research and subsequent notes she made regarding her case are very thorough, clear and concise. They appear to have been written by someone who is at least in their last year of medical school if not farther along. She is a highly intelligent teenager and plans on attending medical school. She will be a valuable addition to the medical community."

When Greg had initially learned about Lucy's condition early last summer, he wanted to suggest a younger doctor for her, and he actually had someone in mind. However, before he made that suggestion to Frank, he researched Dr. Burke and found that he couldn't argue with the man's skills or reputation. He actually was one of the top five doctors in his field in New Jersey and a big feather in PPTH's hat. His treatment of Lucy had been nothing but top notch, and not just because she was the boss's daughter. Greg was satisfied that Lucy was getting the best treatment available.

Over the years since Lucy had been his patient, she had had several D&C's and laparoscopies done, but there wasn't much Dr. Burke could do about the scar tissue on her Fallopian tubes and ovaries. Dr. Burke could only remove so much tissue without destroying what little chance Lucy had of conceiving a baby. The only "bright" spot in all of this was that all biopsies continued to come back benign. Right after Lucy's birthday last October, while she was still in medical school, Dr. Burke did another laparoscopy on her. Even with a laser, he could only do so much.

This last procedure had been the most painful one Lucy had gone through so far, and of course, she refused to take anything stronger than prescription strength ibuprofen. Naturally, she had gotten another peek at her file, and coupling that with the pain she was in, she went into a mild depression after she saw it. Although her body functioned somewhat normally, she had always known the odds of getting pregnant were against her, but now she knew how much.

Even IVF wouldn't significantly increase her chances of getting pregnant. Taking the hormones necessary to stimulate egg production was too risky for her, and Lucy never considered that anyway, even though she desperately wanted at least one child. Her thinking was that if she was intended to have a child, she would get pregnant the old-fashioned way. With or without IVF, she was still at a higher risk to miscarry. A C-section would still be necessary if she could carry a baby to term. The risk of hemorrhaging during a normal delivery was high.

Once she was discharged, all Lucy did was go to her classes, work when and where she was scheduled and went to her room after dinner if she hadn't found something to distract her from the situation. Frank and Lina were at their wit's end seeing their normally gregarious daughter suddenly subdued and just going through the motions of her life. The house was unnaturally quiet and they didn't know how to handle it.

It was all Lina could do not to cry every time Lucy excused herself from the table and went to her room. Greg was the only one who had any success keeping her depression from getting worse. They still had a few gigs left with his old band, and although he was annoyed at the attention his buddies gave her, it temporarily lifted her spirits. As long as their general idiocy made Lucy smiled or giggle, Greg kept his annoyances to himself.

Greg made sure they had lunch either in his office or someplace out of the hospital almost daily, and she found herself opening up to him even more than she had already been doing. He even got into her car with her behind the wheel, although she would always offer him the keys. Most nights, he would just barge into her room without waiting for her to invite him in and watch TV with her or help her with any class work she had. He basically would go out of his way to pick an argument with her about anything and everything.

Lucy immediately caught on to what Greg was doing for her, and she was grateful for it. She knew offering comfort was not one of his strong points, but he was proving that at least with her, he wasn't as big an ass as he made himself out to be!

Many times, Frank and Lina would quietly come up and look in Lucy's room to see both her and Greg sound asleep on the couch. Greg had an arm protectively around her and Lucy looked calm and relaxed in her sleep. They both would breath a sigh of relief that Greg was able to help her a bit and quietly went back downstairs and to bed themselves.

Frankie was born right after Thanksgiving, and Liza asked Lucy and Jim to be his godparents. With all the help Greg had been giving her and being asked to be Frankie's godmother, by the time they baptized Frankie, Lucy had snapped out of the funk she was in. She and Greg got involved, and now they were planning on getting married.

Greg and Tony were standing on the patio watching Lucy and the boys. Tony was a lot like his Uncle Frank. He either photographed or taped everything. He was taping Lucy playing with his sons now. Liza was still sitting on the pool steps, holding Frankie on her lap, and he was giggling loudly at what

Lucy and his brothers were doing, doing his own splashing in the water. Every so often, Lucy and the boys would swim over to him and splash him and he did his best to splash them back, giggling all the while. His favorite thing seemed to be when Lucy would swim up to him under water and come up and spray him with a mouthful of water.

While all this was going on, Jim actually showed up. Lucy had her back to the house and didn't see him come out on the patio. Liza saw him and motioned to Lucy that her brother came to her cookout. Lucy just turned her head, barely acknowledged him with a shrug of her shoulders and went back to playing with the boys. Greg hoped she would hold on to her temper.

It was a really hot, sunny day. Greg took his T-shirt off and tossed it on a chair. "House, what are you doing?" Jim asked. He was dressed in a perfectly pressed pair of khaki shorts and a fresh, white polo shirt and expensive leather deck shoes. His hair was blown dry perfectly. He looked like a damn yuppy!

"It's hot. There's a pool over there. I'm going to have some fun!" Greg said over his shoulder as he dove in the deep end of the pool and swam under water to where Lucy and the boys were splashing and playing. Lucy had heard him jump in, but wasn't paying attention to where he was. He swam up behind her, grabbed her and threw her half way across the pool. Lucy yelped in surprise when Greg tossed her across the pool, making everyone laughed, even Jim.

Lucy came up and looked at Greg. He was standing there like he was daring her to do something about it. Little Tony kept asking Lucy if she was all right because she was just treading water and glaring at Greg. She realized she was scaring the boys a little bit and swam over to them. They all swarmed around her to see if she was all right. Lucy decided to raise a little hell.

"It's okay, guys. I'm all right. I just got a little scared because Greg snuck up on me." Joey had climbed up into Lucy's arms practically in tears. "Shh, Joey, it's okay. I didn't get hurt. " Joey took his head out of Lucy's neck and looked at her. "You sure you didn't get hurt Lucy?" he asked in a tearful voice. "Yes, little man, I'm sure." Lucy gave him a big kiss.

"Did you get hurt, Lucy?" Little Tony demanded, still not satisfied with Lucy's answer. Even though the boys liked him, Greg suddenly realized that his safety depended on Lucy's response. All of a sudden, he was nervous. "Yeah, did you get hurt?" Jimmy asked. Lucy looked at Greg and could see he was as nervous as a cat. A look of total mischief took over her face. She put Joey down, lined all three boys up, and told them, "Get him!" as she pointed at Greg. Greg was so stunned that she did that, he couldn't move.

All three boys climbed on Greg and tried to take him down. There was more giggling now than when just Lucy was playing with them. Unfortunately, the boys couldn't take him down, although they tried their best. They had only managed to drag him a few feet to the middle of the pool. Lucy decided they needed a little help. She jumped on Greg's back and with that, the boys were able to make him lose his balance. Lucy's weight was enough to take him under. Tony had it all on tape.

As soon as Greg was under Lucy gave him a gentle shove in the back and he got the message that she wanted him to go down deeper in the water and make it look like the boys got him down that deep. The boys and Lucy let him go and swam a few feet away. Tony, Liza and Jim were laughing.

The boys circled Lucy to protect her as Greg came up. Lucy was laughing. "That'll teach you to mess with me, you sea serpent!" she said. "Oh, you think I can't take your muscle out? Greg said as he caught all three boys off guard and tossed them one by one in the air. They shrieked with laughter because Greg could toss them higher in the air than Lucy could, and they made a bigger splash when they came down. Then he went after Lucy again.

As soon as the boys saw that, they swarmed on Greg again, but he still tried to toss Lucy across the pool. Three little boys hanging on to him was a bit of a hindrance and Lucy was able to get away. Greg managed to get the boys off of him, but in all the splashing and shrieking, he lost track of Lucy. She dove under water and came up quietly behind Greg and jumped on his back again. Since that part of Greg's anatomy was under water and out of plain sight, Lucy gave Junior a little nudge with her foot, startling him. He looked over his shoulder at Lucy hanging on his back. She had a complete look of innocence on her face.

"Give up, sea serpent?" Lucy then said with a smirk. "Never!" Greg said with an evil laugh. "Let's get him boys!" Lucy yelled as they jumped on him again. Greg knew when he was beaten. "Okay! You win! I give up!" The boys backed off, raising their little fists in the air and Lucy dropped off Greg's back. "Geez, Greg. You gave up so fast! What a wuss!" Lucy said. Greg made a move toward her when a very loud rumble of thunder disturbed their fun.

Lucy turned quickly in the direction of the thunder. Another storm was blowing in. She saw a bolt of lightning and visibly flinched, frozen where she was in the pool. "Oh, please, not again!" she cried to herself. "I can't let the boys see I'm afraid!" With the memory of her reaction to the huge storm last Saturday still fresh in his mind, Greg quickly took charge so the boys wouldn't notice she was afraid.

"Okay, guys, everybody out of the pool until the storm passes. It's dangerous to stay in the water during a thunderstorm. You could get electrocuted." Lucy snapped out of her trance. "Yeah, come on guys. Out of the pool until the storm passes. Let's go!"

With Greg's help, everyone got out of the pool and quickly went over glass enclosed part of the patio. Lucy was starting to shake, but not because she was cold. She put Greg's T-shirt back on as if she were cold, hoping no one would notice she was still shaking slightly, but all of the adults noticed her fear. Greg went over to her and Lucy looked up at him, eyes wide with fear, silently pleading for his help. The last thing she wanted was for the boys to see that she was afraid.

Very quietly, Greg whispered in her ear, "Go up to your bathroom. There's a 10-mg Valium tablet there. Take it now. You'll be fine in ten minutes." Lucy quickly went into the house. Greg had paid attention to the weather forecast and came to Lucy's rescue again. The boys were playing in a corner and not paying one bit of attention to the storm blowing in or what the grown ups were doing. Jim almost went postal on Greg. "House, what did you tell her to do?"

"Wilson, given what your sister went through last week, I paid attention to the weather forecast for today. I got her some Valium, that's all." Greg snapped. "I knew it!" Jim cried, jumping to the wrong conclusion. "You are giving her drugs!" "Jim, shut the hell up!" Liza snapped. "One Valium is not giving Lucy drugs. The whole family knows she's afraid of thunderstorms, but this is the first time I've seen her visibly afraid. She doesn't want the boys to see that. Would you just drop it for Christ's sake?" Jim was quietly fuming. He knew his feelings were completely irrational, but one more time, he felt like he failed his little sister.

Lucy heard a little of the argument as she hurried into the house, but she didn't stop to add her two cents to it. The quicker she swallowed that Valium, the quicker she would calm down and be able to enjoy herself. She could argue with Jim then. The boys wouldn't know she was afraid. That was the important thing to her, appearing relaxed in front of them. Greg had already seen her scared out of her wits last week and it didn't faze him at all. He understood, but the boys wouldn't.

As Lucy walked into her bathroom, she saw the pill on the sink. She got herself a glass of water, swallowed the pill and waited a few minutes. Valium would have the same effect on her as prescription pain meds did. It was almost immediate. The storm was getting closer, but she could feel herself relaxing. "Good!" she said to herself.

Lucy went back downstairs and out to the patio. Jim immediately went over to her, put his hands on her shoulders and examining her eyes closely. Lucy pushed his hands away from her. "Lucy, what did he give you?" Jim said angrily. Lucy glared at her brother. "He gave me Valium, you moron! What's wrong with that? Your wife swallows Xanax like candy and I can't take one lousy Valium to keep me from having a panic attack? You didn't seem to mind when he dosed me last week!" she hissed at her brother.

Fortunately, the boys weren't paying attention, but Lucy kept her voice as low as she could anyway. Jim didn't have an immediate response to Lucy's comment about Julie. He sometimes forgot that she was the female equivalent of House, and just as observant as he was, maybe more so. Of course she figured out Julie took Xanax. A lot of it.

"Jim, let it go!" Liza exclaimed. "Lucy's fine. Greg's not giving her any drugs! She's not in any danger!" Lucy was still glaring at her brother, wishing that Greg had let her hit him yesterday! Jim put up his hands in defeat. "All right, all right! I give up!"

"Lucy, why don't we eat now while it's raining? This looks like it will last for a while." Tony asked, trying to keep the peace. Lucy looked at her cousin with a big smile on her face. "You're a man after my own heart, Tony! Fire the grill up and I'll get the steaks!" Lucy took Frankie from Liza and handed him to her brother. "Here, hold your godson." Lucy said with a satisfied smirk on her face. Frankie giggled when he recognized Jim and reached out to him.

Lucy did that on purpose. Frankie was teething and drooling like the Johnstown Flood! Jim had a look of panic on his face, but took the baby anyway. He wasn't looking forward to having drool all over his clothes. Greg controlled his laughter. Liza saw the look and took pity on him even though he was behaving like a first class asshole. She threw a cloth diaper over Jim's shoulder and went inside to help Lucy.

Greg had started the baked potatoes before Lucy came downstairs, and they were ready. Lucy would just leave them in the aluminum foil and put them on the grill to keep them warm. As she opened the refrigerator, she realized that she had forgotten to defrost hamburgers for the boys. "Shit!" Lucy exclaimed. "Liza, will the boys eat steak? I forgot to defrost hamburgers for them." Liza stopped her rant.

"Lucy, forget about the hamburgers. They'll be fine with steak. Are you really all right?" Liza questioned gently as she and Lucy got the food out of the refrigerator and paper plates ready to take out on the patio. The Valium was working full force on Lucy now, but that didn't stop her from getting a little irritated with Liza. Lucy didn't realize Liza and Tony were on her side; she thought they thought the same as Jim, that Greg was giving her drugs.

"Liza, you just defended Greg out there when Jim accused him of giving me drugs. Why are you changing your tune now? The only thing Greg's ever done to me was dose me behind my back last week with Jim's knowledge, I might add, and give me Ativan during that storm last Saturday. Greg told him about that, too. He stopped my panic attack. I haven't had a panic attack since I was little. I didn't pay attention to the weather forecast for today. Greg did, and he got me one lousy Valium. He knows I don't want the kids to see me scared. I don't know why I'm out of control with this now. I've just been so exhausted all week, I can't stand it anymore." Lucy was getting worked up in spite of the Valium.

Liza put her arm around Lucy to hug her. "Lucy, Tony and I believe you and Greg. I just want to make sure you're all right. I know what happened here yesterday morning and I can't even begin to imagine how much it hurt you. I think that's what the problem is now, not this storm."

"I'm not all right! I wish Greg hadn't held me back yesterday and kept me from hitting him! I don't think anything will ever be the same between Jim and I ever again." Lucy cried and put her head on Liza's shoulder.

Then Lucy looked out on the patio. Jim was still holding Frankie, who had decided to take a nap on Jim's shoulder, but he still looked extremely uncomfortable. Frankie was drooling like a champ, even in his sleep! She got a disgusted look on her face.

"Look at him, Liza. He's so fussy about his appearance he can't even stand to have his own godson drool on him! What a Prissy Pants! Maybe it's a good thing he doesn't have kids. He'd never hold them! He'd cover himself in a plastic sheet first."

Liza looked out at Jim. "You're right, Lucy, except I don't think he's uncomfortable about being drooled on, at least not completely." Lucy looked puzzled. "What do you mean, Liza?"

"He has to go home with drool on him and explain to his darling wife what happened to his clothes. Jim was always fussy about his appearance anyway, but she's turned him into a fanatic. Everything has to be just so. She'll never give Uncle Frank and Aunt Lina grandchildren. It would upset her neat little routine!" Lucy couldn't help but double over with laughter.

"Oh, my God, Liza! You're right!" Lucy said with a giggle. "She does everything according to a schedule. I bet they have sex on a schedule that has absolutely nothing to do with getting pregnant and she only gives him five minutes! She could never handle being pregnant, starting with the weight gain, not to mention morning sickness! It wouldn't fit into her routine, not to mention 2 am. feedings and diaper changes! She'd have a nervous breakdown! The poor kid would be just as anal as her, doing everything according to schedule, not knowing how to have fun! They might raise an ax murderer or something!"

"James, it's been five minutes. Aren't you through yet?" Lucy managed to say before she started laughing so hard she had to hold on to the kitchen counter to keep from landing on the floor. Liza joined her laughter, and the men heard them outside. All three looked at them and were wondering what could be so funny. Of course the puzzled looks on their faces made the girls laugh harder, and soon Liza was holding on to the counter with Lucy so she wouldn't end up on the floor, too!

Eventually, they calmed down enough to bring the steaks out for Tony to put on the grill, but they were still laughing when they went outside because they had been coming up with different scenarios Julie would put a baby through. Jim couldn't take it. "What was so funny in there? Care to share it with us?" he said as nonchalantly as he could while handing Frankie back to his mother. Jim had a paranoid streak in him a mile wide and it kicked in full force when he noticed Lucy and Liza laughing.

Lucy just stared at her brother and started laughing again. Greg had a pretty good hunch that they had been laughing at Jim because he was so obviously uncomfortable holding a drooling baby, but he kept quiet, not wanting Lucy to start a fight. She would have handed the drooling Frankie to Jim anyway and found it funny, but the Valium was just making her act sillier than she would have otherwise. Lucy was riding the Valium high quiet nicely. It had mellowed her out a little. Greg knew she wouldn't do any drugs, so he decided would try to get her to drink an extra glass of wine occasionally at dinner. That mellowed her out, too, and made her silly, which he enjoyed immensely.

Not knowing what Lucy might say to her brother while she was on a Valium buzz, Liza told Jim they were talking about someone she knew at PPTH. Lucy found her voice. "Why do you want to know, Jim? Paranoia kicking in? Don't worry, you as a topic of conversation couldn't make me laugh today, Valium or not."

Jim had a pained look on his face because he had come here expressly to try and apologize to his sister, but he couldn't make the words come out of his mouth. He knew Lucy would not forgive him for a very long time, if ever, for what he said to her yesterday, and he was beating himself up over it. Lucy saw the look, but still couldn't forgive him. That forgiveness would not come for a while longer, and even then, their relationship would be slightly off kilter.

Again, Tony tried to play peace maker. "How does everyone want their steaks cooked? Rare? Medium?" "Make mine well done please, Tony." Lucy replied. Greg made a face. "Lucy, how can you ruin a steak like that?" he asked.

Lucy whirled on him. They had conversations about this before. Lucy saw the grin on his face and her anger melted away. "Greg, I told you before, when I stick a fork in my food, I don't want it to talk back to me. If my steak is well done, it won't talk back." she said with her own version of Greg's shit-eating grin. Valium was a wonderful thing.

Tony had the steaks done to everyone's liking and they finally sat down to a late lunch. The thunder and lightning had stopped, but the rain was still coming down pretty heavily, and it had gotten more humid. It was cool under the sheltered patio.

Frankie woke up from his little cat nap and he was hungry. Lucy warmed up his food and took him from Liza so she could feed him. Liza protested, but Lucy firmly told her to sit down and enjoy her meal without having to worry about feeding the baby. Greg sat next to Lucy and made faces at him.

Although Liza was taller than Lucy, they had similar body types. They were both voluptuous, but Liza had lost a little too much weight after Frankie was born. Lucy knew she had her hands more than full with four kids, one of them still in diapers and no help other than a cleaning lady that came three times a week. Lucy was worried she would run herself down. Lucy was feeding Frankie and eating her own lunch, but she was eating slowly and not enough to suit Greg. He kept his mouth shut for the time being.

For some reason, Little Tony, Joey and Jimmy, seated between their parents, seemed to have forgotten how to feed themselves and kept asking their mother to help them. Tony seemed to be oblivious to his sons, deep in conversation with Jim. After the second interruption, Lucy had had enough. "Liza, sit down and finish your lunch, please. You've lost way too much weight and you're going to get sick if you don't start taking better care of yourself!" Lucy said as forcefully as she could without raising her voice. Then she looked at Tony, Greg, and Jim. "Do you think one of you bozos could give these boys a hand with their lunch?" She saved the boys for last.

"And what's wrong with the three of you? Since when don't you know how to cut your food and eat it? If you don't let your mother finish a meal before it gets stone cold, she's going to get sick. You know what happens if she gets sick? Nonnie will have to move in with you and take care of all of you until Mommy gets better. If Nonnie has to move in with you until your mother gets better, who will take care of Pap Pap?" The boys just stared at Lucy with their mouths open. She never yelled at them. She always got into trouble with them!

Liza started laughing at how Lucy was standing up for her, and that broke the ice. "Mommy, we're sorry. Please eat your food so you don't get sick. We don't want to Nonnie to move in and leave Pap Pap alone if you get sick. I think that would make him very sad." Jimmy said.

"Lucy, do you have to be so grouchy?" Greg said without thinking. He couldn't help it. Lucy turned to face him stared him down. "I was never grouchy until you moved in here, damn it!" The little boys starting giggling when Lucy swore, and Frankie was clapping his hands together and laughing. He had no clue what was going on, but his brothers were laughing, so he joined in.

Lucy was on a roll. She turned to Tony. "You made those boys, now help take care of them!" Tony never said a word. He just got up with a smile on his face, and he and Greg cut the boys steaks and sat back down. Jim never said a word or made a move. He just watched Lucy in stunned silence. Lucy quieted down a little bit and kept feeding the baby, but still wasn't eating much of her own meal.

"Lucy." Liza said gently to her. "You're not eating yourself. You were the one who was sick. You should eat some more." Greg breathed a sigh of relief. Lucy wouldn't snap at Liza like she would at him. "I'm fine, Liza. I still really can't taste much of anything, and I'm not all that hungry anyway." Lucy replied while she was giving Frankie his blueberries.

"Lucy, you barely ate breakfast this morning. How could you not be hungry?" Greg asked. Lucy didn't answer. Greg gently took Frankie from Lucy's lap. Lucy started to protest. "Lucy, eat your steak. Now." Greg said forcefully. "I'll finish feeding Frankie." He knew he would be in for it after everyone left, but he didn't care too much. Lucy not getting sick was his priority. He could deal with her anger.

Jim hadn't said a word to his sister since she had made her comment about Julie and Xanax. Now he was pissed because he still wouldn't or couldn't "step up to the plate" and try to take care of Lucy. He should have been the one telling her to eat, not House. He was behaving like a jackass, and he knew it, but he just couldn't seem to stop himself!

Now you might recall that Lucy had been kissing, blowing raspberries and spraying water on Frankie until it started storming. He had been trying to imitate her without much success until Greg took him from her. Greg had managed to give Frankie one spoon of blueberries before the fun started. With his little mouth still half full of blueberries, he looked up at Greg and finally succeeded in blowing his first raspberry. On Greg's chin and all over the front of his white T-shirt.

Greg didn't know how to react at first and everyone was silent for a few seconds. Lucy looked at Greg and giggled. She couldn't help it. Liza quickly took her son from Greg and cleaned him up. She was having a hard time trying to keep a straight face herself. She had lost count on how many times her kids had done the same thing to her! Greg still hadn't said a word.

"I'm sorry, Greg. I didn't think he'd do that to you!" Lucy was laughing so hard, tears were pouring out of her eyes. Greg finally found his voice. "He's a pretty quick study, isn't he Lucy?" His lips were twitching with the effort not to laugh.

Lucy reached over to wipe Greg's chin off, laughing all the while. "I said I was sorry! Give me that shirt so I can get that stain out of it and I'll go get you a clean one! Spit happens!" she said as she caught her breath from laughing so hard. Greg finally smiled, considering he wasn't really mad in the first place. Frankie just gave him a little taste of what it would be like to be a parent. He took his shirt off and handed it to her.

"Lucy, it really wasn't nice for you to teach Frankie to do that. I thought you had more sense." Jim said in a preachy tone. He was getting more annoyed by the minute at House's behavior towards Lucy in general. He was still acting like he cared about her. "Wilson, you idiot!" Greg said to himself. "Are you trying to get into a fight with her on purpose now? Just apologize to her!" Lucy surprised Greg and everyone else, including herself with her answer.

Although she glared at her brother, all she said was, "Hey, big brother, spit really does happen, and I was really hoping he would do that to you instead of Greg!" Lucy snapped. Lucy's answer wasn't any different than the others expected from her, but they were still worried about a blow up. She went into the laundry room to pre-treat the stain and then upstairs to get Greg a clean shirt.

"Honestly, Jim, that kind of thing happens all the time with babies. You don't see Greg having a fit, do you?" Liza admonished. "Wilson, unclench." Greg said. "House, do you mean you aren't mad that Lucy taught Frankie how to blow a raspberry and he happened to do it to you with a mouthful of blueberries?" Jim was astonished at House's non-reaction to having blueberries sprayed all over him.

"No Wilson, I'm not mad at all. I will admit I was stunned at first, but like Lucy says, spit happens! He's a baby." Greg said with a smile. Jim couldn't understand what was happening to his best friend. The House he knew would never have held a baby voluntarily, much less put up with being covered with blueberries sprayed from said baby's mouth. Next thing you know, House would be volunteering for diaper duty!

Lucy came back out on the patio with a clean T-shirt for Greg. She tossed it at him and said, "Get dressed. No one wants to see you half-naked at the table!" She was grinning from ear to ear. She couldn't help herself. She had seen him naked at the table before, but of course she presumed no one knew about their relationship. "Lucy, how do you know where House's clothes are?" Jim said. This day was getting weirder by the second for him. Lucy rolled her eyes, just like Greg did.

"Jim, I've been doing his laundry since Mom and Dad left. Sometimes he puts his clothes away, sometimes I do. That's how I know where everything is in his room. I even know where his little black book is and how many numbers are in it! Unlike you and your tidy widies, he wears boxer shorts. Do you have any other questions? Any problems with that?" Lucy said. Jim didn't answer.

"Good. Now can we all sit down and finish eating?" Lucy asked sweetly. Greg, Tony and Liza were having a hard time not laughing at Lucy's answer. It had stopped raining and the sun was back out and it was hotter than before the storm started. The boys were finished and asked to be excused so they could go back in the pool again. They swam like fish and didn't need an adult in the pool with them. They could be clearly seen from the patio. With more noise than three small boys should be able to make, they all took off like a shot and jumped in the pool shrieking with laughter at the coolness of the water.

Lucy took the baby back from Liza and sat down and at least tried to eat her food. Her stomach was starting to cramp up again, so she took it slow. Good think she decided to drink ginger ale. Everyone followed suit and finished eating. Greg watched Lucy out of the corner of his eye, keeping an eye out for any telltale sign that she might be getting sick like she did this morning.

"Lucy, when is your playoff game?" Tony asked. "Monday at five thirty. Why, are you showing up for it?" Lucy said through a mouth full of baked potato. "I might be able to." Tony said. "Good." Lucy said. "We appreciate the support." Jim was sulking. "Lucy, do you mind if I come to your game?" he asked his sister. Lucy stared at him. Of all the knuckle-headed things to ask her! Whether she was mad at him or not, she wanted him there if he could make it. "If you're free, why not?" said Lucy. "I'm not going to have you barred from the field.

"Lucy, that's a little out of line, even for you" Jim said. He wanted to apologize to his sister in the worst way, but he was still smarting from their argument yesterday morning and her knack of getting straight to the point of the matter, just like House. He never should have burdened her with what his wife had done because he knew what her reaction would be. He just didn't think he was capable of hurting her the way he did.

Greg groaned to himself gain. "Wilson, you really are an idiot! Why are you trying to light Lucy's fuse?" he said to himself. Lucy looked at her brother, eyes narrowed. "I don't think I was out of line at all. That was a pretty stupid question to ask me, Jim. Why would I have any objection to you coming to my game? What's the correct etiquette for this? Do you need an engraved invitation? You never did before. Maybe you should have brought Julie with you. She would know the proper etiquette, wouldn't she? You've always just shown up if you were free, and I've never asked you for more. Why start asking now?" There was a bitter edge to her voice now that the boys were out of earshot.

The Valium was loosening Lucy's tongue, and Greg saw a fight brewing, so he put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Startled, Lucy turned quickly to face Greg. "Lucy, come on, try to finish your lunch. What's for desert?" Tony and Liza breathed a collective sigh of relief. An explosion had been temporarily avoided again.

"I'm finished. Fresh cantaloupe and ice cream." Lucy answered as she started clearing the table. She had left half of her steak, and Greg had been stealing bits of it while she was speaking to her brother. He knew Lucy saw what he was doing, and that didn't even get him her usual playful hand slap. Now Greg was starting to get worried as he played with Frankie. Liza helped Lucy finish clear the table. They went into the house to get the desert ready. Tony was glad the boys were out of earshot for the time being. He wanted to see if he or Greg could talk some sense into Jim before Lucy came back out on the patio.

In the kitchen, Liza looked closely at Lucy. She was shaking with anger. "Lucy, take it easy, please. You're going to make yourself sick." Liza said with concern. Lucy looked at her with tear-filled eyes. "He's not going to apologize, is he, Liza? Why didn't I keep my mouth shut yesterday?" "Lucy, calm down, please. I can see you're getting sick!" Liza said with concern as she took a step towards Lucy.

Lucy tried to say something and stopped as another cramp hit her, worse than this morning. Her face went pale. Oh, crap, the nausea too. She turned and ran upstairs to her room. She didn't want to take a chance on the boys seeing her like this. Liza went out on the patio and smacked Jim on the shoulder.

"Liza, what the hell are you doing?" Jim said, rubbing his shoulder. "What are you trying to do to your sister, Jim? Give her a nervous breakdown?" she snapped. "What are you talking about?" Jim whined, still rubbing his shoulder. "She just ran upstairs sick because you're being such a little prick!" Liza could be almost as salty as Lucy when the situation called for it. Her sons were still playing in the pool, out of earshot and blissfully unaware of the tension around them.

Extremely worried about Lucy now, Greg handed Frankie to his father and giving his best friend a dirty look, went to check on her. He stopped in the kitchen to get some ginger ale and went upstairs. He expected to find her in her bathroom, throwing up, but he found her on the couch, doubled over with pain trying not to cry out. The nausea was bad, but not enough to make her throw up.

Greg sat next to her and tried to help her sit straight. "Come on, baby, drink this nice and slow. It will help." Lucy was shaking so hard in an effort not to cry out in pain that she couldn't even hold the glass in her hand. Greg had put a straw in the glass and held it to her mouth for her, giving her little sips and rubbing her back with his free hand, trying to make her relax. After a few minutes, Lucy just leaned against Greg's side and put her arms around him. The cramp had finally passed and she stopped shaking so much. The pain was slowly easing off.

Greg kissed the top of her head and tried to get up, but Lucy wouldn't let him go. "Where are you going, Greg? Don't leave me." she said in a small voice. "I'm just going across to my room, baby. I'll be back in two minutes." he told her. "This is your room, Stretch." Lucy said with a small smile. Greg smiled back at her and went across the hall. He had told a little white lie about the Valium. He actually had a full bottle in his room.

He knew when Lucy had gotten sick the day she went to Philly, she was more upset about the situation with her brother than anything else, not food poisoning like he told her. It was true that Greg had paid attention to the weather for Lucy's sake and thought just one Valium would do. But he changed his mind and wrote a full prescription for her after he almost punched Jim out in his office. Knowing how she felt about prescription drugs, he didn't tell her. Jim had apologized for running a pregnancy test on Lucy without her knowledge, and that seemed to put an end to things, but then everything blew up yesterday morning.

If Wilson's wife hadn't acted like a tramp at the dinner for the Board, he wouldn't have come over here to unload on Lucy, and Lucy wouldn't have told him the truth about his marriage. But Wilson did and lashed out at Lucy for telling the truth, causing her emotional as well as physical pain. He got another pill and went back to Lucy. She was in the same spot he left her in.

"Lucy, take this now." he said very gently to her. Lucy just looked at him blankly. "Come on, it's another Valium. If you can't calm down, I'll take you to the hospital. I'd rather not do that, okay?" Greg said in the same gentle voice. Lucy gave him a look like she was daring him to try and take her to the hospital, took the pill from him and washed it down with the ginger ale.

Greg smiled at the look and put the glass on the table next to the couch. He put both arms around Lucy and they sat back on the couch. He kept nuzzling the top of her head, whispering to her to relax and let the pill work so she could calm down. Greg could feel her slowly relaxing as he rubbed her back.

Out on the patio, Jim realized that once again, he failed his sister when House hand Frankie off to Tony and went after Lucy. He had been the one who made Lucy sick, and he should have made the first move to go after her, not House. What the hell was wrong with him? There was no question that he needed to apologize to her and for some childish reason, he kept trying to pick a fight with her and hurt her more than he already had. Now, not only did he have to deal with his seeming inability to apologize to Lucy, he had to contend with Tony and Liza regarding his behavior too. Christ! What a mess he had created!

Liza was finished with Jim for the moment and went upstairs to see if Greg needed any help. As she walked into Lucy's room, Lucy jumped and tried to pull away from Greg. Right now, in Lucy's mind, they had been caught in a "compromising" situation that Greg had mentioned. Greg didn't let her go. He just whispered "Sshhh, it's all right." against the top of her head and gave her a quick kiss. Then he let her go.

Liza noticed Lucy's reaction and didn't say anything at all. She was not surprised that Greg was holding her and was glad that she was the one who came up here, not Jim. Greg walked past Liza and shook his head slightly as if to warn Liza not to say anything. Liza mouthed "Okay." at him and Greg went back outside.

Lucy picked up her ginger ale again as Liza sat next to her. She put her arm around Lucy and pulled her next to her like she held her sons when they were sick or upset. "Feeling better, Lucy?" she asked.

"Almost normal now, Liza. Still a little nauseous, but I think I'll live. I took another Valium." Lucy replied. Liza smothered her chuckle. Liza knew Lucy hated to take prescription meds unless there was no other option for her. Lucy needed help this time, and she was glad Greg got her to take another pill. Lucy finished the rest of the ginger ale Greg had brought her and leaned her head back. The nausea was slowly going away. She no longer felt like she wanted to throw up.