I promised you drama, not sure it's the kind you were expecting but I think you'll enjoy it :D Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 53

Monday House and Cuddy were back to work, the girls were at home with the nanny and things were starting to fall into a sort of a rhythm. They had spent the weekend relaxing, unpacking and familiarizing the girls to their new home. Their new bedrooms were a big hit, as was the new play room.

House sat in the conference room across from Chase. They had a new case and he had sent the rest of the ducklings on their own respective missions asking Chase to stay behind.

"Since when are you so caring?"

"Who says I'm caring"

"Why else would you ask me to stay behind, you want dirt on Allison and I"

"Well since you brought it up, I'm up for a little gossip, so tell me my little wallaby what's 'the dirt on you and Allison'?"

"I assume she told you she was giving me another try"

House nodded.

"I missed her"

House rolled his eyes "Well duh"

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"Is her return going to give me my surgeon back?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh for crying out loud, ever since she left you've been a mess, sulky, short-tempered, cut off all your hair…"

"So… what's your excuse?"

"We are not talking about me"

"Can I go now?"

"What's she really doing back?"

"She's taking some time off, I called a few times, left a bunch of messages, I'd practically given up when I got the wedding invite, I just decided to call her one more time, left a message, told her you
two were getting married, she called back the day before asking if I had my plus one… we're just trying to patch things up."

"Is she trying to get her old job back?"

"Are you offering her old job back?"

"No"

"She hasn't said anything yet"

"You're free to go"

"That's it? Spill my guts and leave?"

"You can put them back in first but the leaving part sounds good"

Chase made his exit just to be replaced by Wilson. "How are things
going at the new House homestead?"

House rolled his eyes "Fine, Lily's been driving me nuts though"

"Doing what?"

"I think spending a week with you two and a day out with my parents
have ruined her"

"House!"

"She's been flitting around the house wearing her new dresses and
carrying around this dumb princess bear she got. And when she's not
trying to get me to have a tea party with her she's shoving that damn bear in my face saying "you may now kiss the bride"…" House let out a low grunt. "What the hell happened to my kid? You know the one that would just chill with me on the couch and dress you up in drag…"

Wilson bit the inside of his cheek to suppress the laugh he was trying desperately to hold in "She's a four year old girl, she just witnessed her parent's marriage, she's going to be a little nuts for a while.

Just give it time, 'this too shall pass'. Just wait, if you think this is bad wait until she is introduced to ballet, I hear those ones are really fun to deal with"

"Gee thanks for giving my life meaning"

"I can do you one better, she's got a little sister"

House groaned and pulled a hand down over his face, "Suddenly I hope the Spawn ARE boys"

Wilson just chuckled faintly, "I just can't wait to see you with four kids, I thought one was pushing it, but you're just full of surprises"

"I think I'd like you to leave now"

"You really think that's going to work twice in a row, you should know better than that"

"Must be losing my touch"

"No, I'm just immune to it"

***

The week passed quickly. On Friday Cuddy had her doctor's appointment. She was now at thirteen weeks and the twins were growing nicely. The new ultrasound photo clearly showed both of the tinny fetuses curled up facing each other. Cuddy had planned on taking advantage of the weekend to start making out and sending "Thank You" cards for all of the cards and gifts they had received from the wedding. She would definitely be including a copy of the photo in the ones going to their close family.

Cuddy sat at her desk finishing up her paperwork when House walked in
"Hey, when did they finally get that fixed?"

Cuddy looked at him puzzled for a second, but it was long enough for House to interject, "When did they finally decide to acknowledge your conversion to the dark side?"

She followed his cane to her door that now read "Dr. Lisa Cuddy-House Dean of Medicine", she shook her head, "the dark side…" wow. "Today after lunch…"

"Where were you at lunch anyway?"

"Had some errands to run, name change stuff, got my new license, and took care of some other things too."

"You do have time to do that you know"

"I had a free afternoon; I thought I would take advantage of it"

"Right… free because you skipped lunch Monday and Tuesday and have stayed late everyday this week catching up on your paperwork"

"I did not skip lunch"

"Asking your assistant to grab a salad out of the cafeteria for you is not lunch, especially when you ditch your husband for it"

"I told you I wouldn't be eating with you, besides that you had a patient"

"Two, but still gotta eat"

"Fine, you want to cook me dinner and make up for it tonight?"

"Me make up for it? I didn't do anything"

"How about telling your patent's girlfriend it was her fault her boyfriend was dying"

"If she hadn't wanted to get some strange he wouldn't have gotten sick"

"They were going to partner swapping parties, they were both getting strange"

"Her idea, still her fault, besides that's old news; I got a more
interesting one now, the mom's nuts"

Cuddy rolled her eyes and stood up "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I got the kids running tests and a tox screen, and Thirteen is
staying overnight, they know who to call in the chain of command if
anything happens"

"I take it you're not worried"

"Need more information; I'm at a standstill for now"

***

That night after dinner House put on one of his old records and sat
back to relax on the couch in the living room as the family room was
still practically void of furniture; that would have to be their next
project.

Cuddy walked out of the kitchen drying her hands on a towel after
finishing the dishes and sat down on the couch at House's feet. "Any
epiphanies yet?"

"I think I just figured out how they got that sound in this track"

"About your case"

"Kids haven't called"

They both sat there in a comfortable silence. It had been a long week
for both of them. The only sounds were the ones coming from House's
speakers and the ones coming over the baby monitor of the girls
playing quietly in the playroom. The two of them sat like that for
almost an hour before House's phone went off.

House groaned, "And it was just getting to the good part" he dug out
his phone and flipped it open "Better be good"

Thirteen's voice came over the line "Patient started convulsing and
vomiting blood, I already called the rest of the team, Forman's on his
way."

"Hmm, that is good. Okay, you got my attention, fever?"

"No, no fever. You better get in here though the mom's freaking out, and you need to deal with this kid"

"On my way" House said before hanging up the phone.

"I take it your case just got interesting"

"Ten year old kid just started convulsing and puking up blood, I'd call that at least a little interesting"

"Is that the kid that collapsed during his basketball practice?"

"So they tell me"

"Well have fun, keep me posted, and for heaven's sake behave"

"You take all the fun out of everything"

"Call me if you need authorization on anything"

"Well I was thinking about giving him a fifth of rum and running a scope on him and then… "

"Go… get out of my hair… I'll see you in the morning"

"Yes ma'am"

***

The next morning Cuddy walked into House's darkened office. He didn't call and he didn't come home at all the previous night. She stood in the door way watching him as he slept stretched out in his lounge chair with his jacket draped over him and his mouth hanging open slightly. His ball lay a few feet from his chair. She figured he had fallen asleep thinking and one of his team had shown him enough kindness to throw his jacket over him.

"Greg…"

House didn't budge.

"Greg…" a little louder.

A slight twitch.

"House!"

House twitched again and opened a wary eye, "What?" he growled.

"Nice of you to let me know you were having a sleep over"

"Patient crashed, got him stable, but he's still out"

"Any ideas?"

"Nothing good. What time is it anyway?" House stretched.

"8:30"

"Where are the girls?" he asked stretching and sitting up straighter in his chair.

"With Marla out in her van with her crew; we're going shopping I want to start looking for some furniture for the family room and I need some new clothes for this growing bump you gave me. I just wanted to check on you, make sure you and your patient were still alive."

"Thanks for the concern. You do realize that you wouldn't need any new cloths if you didn't always buy them so tight" House grunted as he used his cane to pull his ball toward him.

"I like my clothes to be fitted"

"Fitted? I've seen girdles that were looser. What do you need anyway? Don't you have anything stretchy, how bad can it be?"

Cuddy glared at him "I just want to get a few things; I'm not buying maternity clothes just yet. Maybe just a few things that will be a little more accommodating until I really start to show"

"Whatever, I'll never understand women and clothes…"

Cuddy sighed "I'm going to head out unless you need anything"

"I'll call if I need something from the boss lady"

***

The weekend came and went and House still hadn't solved his case, it
was one of those ones he felt had to be obvious, he just had to put
all the pieces together. His patent still hadn't woken up and Cuddy
was standing in House's office yet again, this time in one of her new work suits. She walked over to where he was sitting at his computer.

"Any luck?"

House pulled both hands down his face scratching at his uncharacteristically long stubble. "Just sent the kids off to start
treatment; I guess we'll know if I'm right soon enough … this mom's a freak"

"Go home, take a shower, trim that monster growing on your face and
get some sleep"

"If I'm right, you need to call CYS"

"You suspect abuse?"

"I suspect Munchausen's by Proxy, but something's still bothering me..."

"The mother?"

House stood up but stumbled slightly catching himself on his desk. "That's it I'm calling you a cab to take you home"

"I'm fine" he growled.

"Yeah, your fine and I'm a porn star"

"You could be"

"Ok so the mother…"

"Yes the mother, the father offed himself last year; it all fits. I
just haven't figured out what she's using. His symptoms point to three poisons I'm familiar with, but this bitch… she's probably putting it in his milk or vitamins or his IV or something…"

"Get your stuff, you were here all weekend, your boss says to take the
day off, sleep and spend some time with your girls make up for the
weekend, I'll… "

"You didn't bring them in?"

"No… I had planned on bringing them in Tuesday and Thursday, but if you had come home at all you would have known that"

"You going to call a cab or what?"

Cuddy rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone calling the cab company "They'll be here in 10 minutes, grab your stuff and you're out of here. I
don't want to see your face again until I get home." She stepped toward the door and waited for him to walk out with her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going, I'm going. It's not like I didn't call ya know"

The two of them walked down the hall and into the elevator.

"Yeah, to tell me you wouldn't be home and that the kid's mother was a

psycho bitch. You failed to mention anything about child abuse though!"

"That's because I didn't have conformation, but if that kid starts
getting better in the next thirty minutes to two hours you can bet mommy did it"

"And how do we make sure 'mommy dearest' doesn't strike again; we can't just leave her in there with him!"

"I'm not, I got the kids taking turns sitting in the room; I don't want that wack-a-do even holding his hand. We told her he needed close observation for any sudden developments."

"And she believed you?"

"I had Forman do it, she gave him a hard time at first, but he got her under control. Work smarter not harder…"

They stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby.

"I'm flushing his system now and if that doesn't work we're moving on to the kidneys"

"I'll check on him in a bit, you get in that cab, and for crying out loud get a shower BEFORE you get in bed, you smell like Reubins and BO"

"Yes mother" House lent down giving her a brief peck on the lips before climbing into the cab.

"And brush your damn teeth!"

***

By the time Cuddy completed her rounds and made her way back upstairs she could see House's patent sitting up in bed. He looked pale, but Cuddy was sure he probably looked better than he had a few hours ago.
He was eating Jell-o and watching a cartoon with Chase sitting next to him.

Cuddy pulled a passing nurse "Ginny, would you please ask Dr. Chase to come out here?"

"No problem Dr. Cuddy… I mean… Dr…"

"Cuddy-House or Cuddy is fine Ginny, I'm not sure if I could ever get used to answering to "Dr. House". The less confusion the better."

Ginny started towards the door when Cuddy called her back "You are by no means to leave that boy unattended until either Dr. Chase or I come back in, is that clear?"

Ginny gulped, "Yes ma'am"

"I'll watch him"

"Thank you"

Ginny knocked on the door and walked into the room. A moment later, Chase excited the room and entered the hall where Cuddy waited for him. "So I take it that I need to call Child Services?"

"Looks like it, I just don't get it, she seems so normal, I mean maybe a little over protective, but I just don't get it, why would you want to poison your own kid?"

Cuddy shook her head, she didn't get it either but her thoughts were swept aside when she looked up and saw the boy's mother standing next to his bed on the same side as Ginny. Chase was right; she looked so normal, just a normal mother concerned for her sick child, what if House was wrong? He wasn't infallible, he had been wrong in the past, just not that often…

Just then in the middle of her musings the boy's mother suddenly pushed Ginny to the side knocking her into the IV stand and down to the ground. She pulled out a syringe, apparently out of thin air,screaming "These Doctors don't know what they're doing, he needs his medicine!!!"

Chase pushed past Cuddy running into the room and began wrestling the woman for the syringe. Cuddy yelled down to the nurse's station "Get me security down here! I need security! Call the police and Child Services! NOW!"

Seconds later heavy boots could be heard running down the hall "Dr. Chase needs your assistance" she pointed towards the room where Chase was still trying to get the syringe off of the frantic woman. The two men barged into the room. One of them pried the syringe out of the woman's hand while the other one pushed Chase aside and put the woman into a crossed arm assist restraint, holding both of her arms securely against her back as she flailed around still screaming.

Cuddy pulled out her phone as she watched in amazement as Chase yelled at Ginny for a sedative. She scrambled off the floor and dug into one of the medical carts and pulled out a syringe of her own. She handed it to Chase who stabbed it into the woman's arm; almost immediately she started to go limp.

Cuddy turned her attention to the boy lying in the bed and entered the room. He was pale, and in shock from the scene that had just unfolded in front of him. His eyes were wide open as he stared at his mother being supported by the two large men as they practically dragged her out of the room.

"It's going to be ok"

"Wait, I… where are they taking her? I don't get it, I'm not on any medicine, I mean other than what the doctor's gave me"

"Does your mom give you anything like vitamins, or candy on a daily bases?"

"My gummy vitamins, but…"

"Has she given them to you in the hospital?"

"Yeah, she always has them…"

"You just try to stay calm. Ginny are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I've gotten worse sparing with my brother, I shouldn't have let her take me by surprise like that"

"You did fine…" She turned to Chase "Dr. Chase?"

"I'm fine, I'm taking this to the lab to see what she was trying to poison him with, I bet she was injecting the vitamins and probably his IV before we started watching her."

"That would be my guess, could you send one of House's other fellows in here? I want someone to stay with him until a social worker gets here."

"Yeah, Taub should already be on his way, I had just paged him before you got here; it's his turn."

"Thank you and I want the results when you get them"

"But House…"

"Is at home, I'll fill him in later when you tell me what that stuff is"

"Sure thing boss"