Maggie's Story

Chapter 27 Part I

Just When I Thought I Was Out

"House, you need to bring the baby inside. It's too cold out here."

House smiled at Wilson, "I just thought he'd like to see the stars on the night he was born. Full moon too. It's beautiful out, isn't it?"

Wilson smiled, "Yeah, actually it's a nice spring night. But your wife would still like to hold her son for the first time."

"Maggie's pretty good at this, isn't she?"

"Maggie's pretty good at a lot of things. But she seems to handle pregnancy and labor well."

House smiled down at his son, "I don't think we'll do this again."

Wilson took a step towards him, "You mean, you don't want any more children?"

House shook his head, "I'm almost too old now. This isn't going to be easy at our age. I'll be almost 68 when he's 18 years old. Christ, I'll be retiring, maybe dead."

Wilson could actually see the logic, but worried about Maggie. He knew that she didn't buy a five bedroom house to stop at one child. Still, she had gotten one more out of House than Wilson thought she would. Wilson put out his arms to hold the baby. House handed him over. Looking at the little face and body, bundled tightly and fast asleep, Wilson felt pangs of longing for a child of his own.

House shook his head, "Sorry dude, you have to go out and make your own. I'd sell him to ya, but I don't think Maggie would go along with it."

Wilson snorted and shook his head, "You're a lucky man, House. I just hope you know how lucky you are."

House nodded, "It scares me to know how lucky I am." They looked at each other and smiled, "Hey, thanks for everything."

"Ah, it was nothing. I wasn't asleep anyway."

"No…I mean thanks for being who you are and …crap. Let's go back in."

Wilson followed House back inside, smiling to himself. Greg House was getting emotional. Truly the End of Days was here. They arrived back in the delivery room to find that Maggie had been moved to her own room. When they arrived, Maggie had dropped off to sleep and a bassinette waited for Mathuin. House sat in a rocker and held his son, saying goodnight to Wilson who went home to get some sleep.

Around 4:00 am while House was sleeping in the rocker, Mathuin, now tucked into his plexiglass bassinette, started crying, waking Maggie from the sleep of the dead. She knew her milk hadn't come in, but there would be plenty of colostrum, high in protein, carbohydrates and antibiotics, to give to him. Maggie reached over and loving lifted her son to her. His blue eyes tried to focus on the blob holding him, but he soon decided that he was too hungry to worry about who was picking him up. Maggie rubbed her nipple over his lips and he latched on, sucking like there was no tomorrow. Maggie chuckled. He was perfect.

Around noon, Jack, Theresa and Mary showed up; Luke was still in school. After a few minutes of fawning over the baby, Theresa and Mary went down to the cafeteria while Jack had a conversation with Maggie.

"Hey, we're having some problems lately with the Wops. They think we hijacked one of the trucks full of Italian suit. I'm not sure that they're wrong. I might have someone in my business doing his own thing, without my permission."

"Well, you better figure it out. Italian suits are not cheap. A truck full of them must be a small fortune."

Jack told her a few more details and moaned that he wished he could retire.

"Well, find someone to take over."

"I would, but there's no one out there with enough brains to do it right and Luke isn't old enough."

Maggie frowned, "You don't really want Luke to take over, do you?"

"I know this sounds like the Godfather, Part III, but I expect most of our business to be legit but the time he's out of college. I'd say 75 percent of it is now."

"I'm impressed. Mostly contracting?"

"Yep, I've switched from residential to commercial buildings, less law suits." Jack told Maggie about his plans, in more detail.

Maggie was happy, she looked forward to the day when the Malones could honestly employ the men and women of Fishtown without having to resort to unsavory business. It was what her father had been aiming for and something Jack and Maggie had wanted too.

Theresa and Mary came back into the room. Theresa smiled, "I have my bags in the car. Can we just swing by the house? Do you have a key?"

Maggie called down to House, "Greg, Theresa's going to stay and help for the next week. You need to give her a key to the house."

"Theresa is coming to stay with us?"

"I don't have a mother to help, so yeah, she's going to stay for a week and then next week your Mom is flying in. I talked to her this morning."

"Oh, whoppeee. This isn't my idea of a threesome you know."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Do all babies come with this much equipment? It's ridiculous." House complained as he took Bear out of his car seat." Maggie got out of the car and took the baby from House. Theresa came running down the sidewalk to the drive.

"Ohhhh, let me take him!"

Maggie handed Bear to Theresa and then grabbed the baby stuff out of the back. House took the carrier inside. Maggie could smell dinner cooking and smiled, Theresa was making corned beef and soda bread.

After settling down, Maggie took a long bath, only getting out when Bear made a fuss over wanting some food. Her milk still hadn't come in, but Maggie was pretty sure it would by tomorrow. She still had plenty of Colostrum to feed the howling child. Maggie sat in the family room, rocking Bear and feeding him. House watched as if he was studying the mating habits of the tsetse fly. "Greg, it's a baby and a breast. What's the big deal?"

"I'm amazed at how hard he sucks. Doesn't it hurt?"

"My nipples are getting chapped so I suspect they'll be bleeding soon, but it only hurts when he first latches on. He has to suck hard because the colostrum is pretty thin and running out. Which reminds me, go get some formula in case my milk doesn't come in fast enough."

"I already bought some Maggie." Theresa piped up.

But the formula wasn't necessary. By the next day, Bear was happily nursing on his mother's milk. Theresa was a trooper, running around doing the wash, cooking the meals and taking care of the baby so Maggie could nap. Maggie was sad to see her go when she left five days later.

The next day, House picked up his mother from the airport. Blythe, dressed in a pant suit and colorful scarf around her neck, was excited. She kept grinning at her son, "Greg, you're first child! Are you nervous?"

"Actually, Mom, he's not my first. Maggie's daughter, Bridget, the one who died, was mine too."

His mother stared, unable to comprehend what he had just said, "Wait, you had a daughter and didn't tell me?"

"It's kind of difficult to explain. I let Maggie's first husband raise her. I wasn't ready to be a father." He saw the disappointment in his mother's eyes, "Mom, I was still doing my residency. I asked Maggie to come live with me, but she wouldn't, not unless I married her. I wasn't exactly enamored with marriage since the only one I knew wasn't exactly a bed of roses. I said no to marriage and so she married the other guy."

Blythe's face dropped, her eyelids closed as she slowly shook her head in dismay, "Oh Greg, you abandoned your child? Your child? Didn't you ever go see her, tell her who you were?"

"Mom, she was two when she died. No, I never met her." He looked at his mother again and saw the disappointment deepening, "Mom, I was a lot younger. I made a huge mistake. I know that now."

She wasn't convinced, "Greg, you were, what? Thirty? Not seventeen. You were a full grown adult and should have taken responsibility for your child. I don't know how you did it."

"Look, can we concentrate on the positive things I've done. I married her and I'm raising my son. Don't I get kudos for that?"

Blythe looked at him sideways, "You want to be given a pat on the back for marrying the only woman who can live with you and not run screaming into the night? And kudos for raising your child? Greg, grow up, you're fifty next month."

House sulked all the way home, pissed that his mother didn't appreciate the sacrifice he made in his lifestyle to adopt domesticity.

Blythe was a tremendous help to Maggie. Bear was waking every three hours to be fed, making it difficult for Maggie to get any rest. Blythe took the early morning shift, Greg the late one. Maggie would feed the baby and hand him off to Greg or Blythe, allowing her to get a couple extra hours of sleep. Blythe adored her grandson, grateful that she had a grandchild to spoil while she was still alive. She thought he was perfect with his big blue House eyes, shocking red peach fuzz for hair, pert nose and inquisitive look. Bear desperately wanted to focus on her face, but couldn't. It was so cute, his furred browed, serious little face, the desperate attempts to keep his eyes fixed on her. He liked singing and went to sleep whenever Maggie or Blythe sang to him. House tried the piano, which made him curious, not sleepy. He didn't cry when his father played, but he didn't go to sleep. It was if he wanted to know where that sound was coming from because he heard it through amniotic fluid and now it sounded different!

After a few days, House decided he couldn't handle being in a house with two women and a baby, so he went to work to escape. Blythe sat down on the couch while Maggie fed Bear.

"Maggie, may I see some photos of my granddaughter? Would you tell me about her?"

Maggie's mouth dropped and her eyes softened, "Oh Blythe, he told you?"

She nodded.

Maggie swallowed, "Let me get the baby down and I'll get some out."

"Her name was Bridget?"

"Bridget Magdalena O'Leary, but since she wasn't really an O'Leary and they had disowned her, I put Malone on her gravestone. She was a sweet baby, rarely cried, always smiling. Even when she had a fever, she'd laugh and play. But she had a temper too. If you took away her favorite toy or refused to give her a bottle, she'd turn red in the face and start yelling. Those big blue eyes of her would get bright and she'd pout. We tried not to laugh at her, but Jack said she was Maggie Jr." Maggie had to take a deep breath. Blythe reached out, tears welling in her own eyes.

"How did she die?"

Maggie told Blythe as much as possible. She showed her photos and even let Blythe have one of the photos Maggie prized most. Maggie promised that, before Blythe left, she would take her to see Bridget's grave.

Saturday morning, a reluctant House, buckled his son into the car seat and took off to Philadelphia. He found himself holding his son in his carrier while two women cried on each other's shoulders next to an upright stone, carved with an angel holding a little girl, which read,

Bridget Magdalena Malone

Beloved Daughter

Mischievous Angel

1992-1994

House looked at Bear and thought about his sister. He had grown rather fond of the drooling, sleeping, shitting, peeing, crying creature. Now he knew just what he had missed seventeen years ago. The women placed flowers. His mom took a photo and then wanted them to all stand in front of it. House was reluctant; there was something maudlin about posing as a family when one of you was dead and in the ground. But Maggie and his mother didn't seem to see anything odd about it. So House picked the baby up out of the carrier and held him while his Mom took the photo.

After Blythe went back to California, House and Maggie struggled to find a routine. Maggie couldn't count on House to get home every night, so most of the childcare fell on her shoulders, making Maggie tired and crabby most of the time. After a week of colic, Bear was looking frazzled, almost as frazzled as his mother. Maggie threw herself onto the sofa and sighed as soon as she managed to get Bear down in his crib for the evening. House was tired and hungry.

"Dinner?" He asked.

Maggie looked at House, "I'm sorry honey, he's been inconsolable, colicky. Can we order in? I need to eat and get some sleep before he wakes up again."

House cleared his throat. "I was hoping to get a little action."

She opened one eye and looked at him, "Excuse me? It's not even a month yet…they recommend waiting six weeks."

"Well, I don't necessarily mean intercourse. There are other ways you can make me happy."

"One of them is to get enough rest so that I don't fall apart."

He frowned, "Usually people do nice things for me on my birthday."

"Oh crap! I completely forgot! And it's your fiftieth!"Maggie sighed and grimaced, "Oh Greg, it's just that it's been a rough night and day with him. Honey, can I make it up to you? Can we celebrate your birthday on July 11th instead?"

House contemplated it, "Mags, I could really use a little, well, a little release if you know what I mean?"

"Honey, that's why God gave you a hand."

"And you a mouth."

"I'm not going to win today am I? Unzip your pants."

"Here,? Now?"

"As Elvis said, 'It's now or never.'"

He unzipped his pants and Maggie reached inside. House stopped her, "Wait, let me take the belt and button off, I don't want him getting hung up on the zipper." He undid his pants and slid them down. Maggie, about ready to fall asleep, dipped her head down and took the partially erect penis in her mouth. It didn't take long for House to respond. She kept sucking and licking, pumping his shaft as fast as she could as they both sat on the sofa.

House started thrusting up, "Ohhh, ohhh, ooohhhh. Yeah, yeah…oooohhh."

Maggie felt the warmth of the semen as House ejaculated in the back of her throat. She was just grateful that he came so fast. When she was done, semen dripping out of her mouth, she looked at him with circles under her eyes, hair out of place and no makeup. "Happy Birthday, honey."

He could see just how tired she really was and he felt a twinge of guilt, but it passed. He got what he wanted most that night and didn't really mind that Maggie looked a little bedraggled. He felt calm, relaxed and ready for a beer.

She got up, grabbed a glass of water, swigged half of it and smiled at him, "I don't even care if I eat. I'm going to bed. Goodnight, honey. Happy birthday again."

And then House got the next thing on his lists of desires, a night by himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

July was a muggy scorcher. Maggie stayed inside with Bear to take advantage of the air conditioning, but she was getting cabin fever. House finally agreed to give Maggie a day off, so he took Bear with him to work. As he strolled through the entry, pushing bear in his pram, staff members kept running over to take a look at the curious infant.

"Oh, he's getting so big!" was a common comment, along with, "Where'd he get the red hair?" House was still waiting for the prying fingers to be removed from the pram when Cuddy showed up.

"Ahhhh! Mathuin! He's so sweet!" She didn't just pry, she snatched him up, "What's Mathuin doing here? You want him to catch something?"

"I'm taking him up to my office. My day care pooped out on me."

"Day care?"

"Maggie. So, I had to bring Bear with me today. He'll be okay, that's why I have Thirteen. If she doesn't feel maternal, Cameron does. I wonder if they can breast feed?" He shook his head as if he was thinking too hard.

"I'll go up with you." She rode up in the elevator with House, "How's Mags?"

"She's draggin' her ass. Always tired. We were officially supposed to have sex yesterday, but I caught her snoring when I felt her up. If she doesn't put out soon, I'm hiring a nanny and doing the nanny."

Cuddy shook a finger at him, "Well, she's not a twenty year old. Having a baby is rough. Having one at forty is even rougher."

"Yeah, well physician, listen to thyself. You were hellbent to have one when you were thirty-nine."

"Ah, but at least I was in my thirties."

House laughed, "Good one."

House was amazed as to how much time he had to spend taking care of Bear. It seriously cut into his play time on the computer. But, House was surprised as to how fast he responded to Bear's noises, a sneeze, a mew, a cry, and House ran over to the pram. And then the colic kicked in. Five women and one exhausted father rocked, bounced, cooed, fed, sang to and changed a crying baby boy. After two hours straight, House went to the pharmacy and got some Benydryl, giving his son a teaspoon to calm him down.

Cuddy shook her head, "I don't believe you're drugging your son to keep him from crying."

"You have a better idea? I need to go over the differential on the new patient or would you prefer that I let the others handle the Congressman?"

Cuddy looked around and sighed, rushing out the door.

Cameron exhaled, exhausted from helping House, "You need to take Maggie roses. If she's doing this every day, it must be incredibly draining. Whew, I'm glad I'm not having kids."

House looked at her sideways, "But, doesn't the Mackeral want them?"

"Oh, well, we broke up last week over that very issue."

House cocked an eyebrow, "Being Catholic or having children?"

She shrugged, "Both, kinda. He's Catholic and he wants kids. I don't." She nodded at the sleeping Bear, "Now you know why."

House chortled, "I couldn't agree with you more." House paused and smiled down at Bear, who had managed to sooth himself by putting his thumb in his mouth. "Except I for some reason my inner gene pool is telling me to protect his red assed, red haired, blue eyed, DNA. I told Wilson I don't sacrifice self for anything. But, you're looking at the exception to the rule." He looked up at Cameron, "Do I want another kid? Hell, no. But, I've got to admit, I kinda like him. And it is different when he's carrying your genetic legacy. You tolerate a lot more crap."

She shook her head and stared in amazement, "I would never have expected you to sound so…domestic."

"Please don't insult me!" He gave a loud 'huff' as he walked back over to his computer to do some work.