"In an Instant"
Chapter Seven
Cameron looked around the church as they greeted friends and family of Gilbert & Ashleigh Benson and Ryan &Isabella Morgan for the funeral. It felt so strange, here she was surrounded by many that she had grown up with yet the sweet voices of these four were missing. Looking around she could see the children playing in the corner, unaware of the significance of this event was; at the age of 2 Alyssa had yet to grasp the full meaning of death, that her parents and grandparents had not just gone on holiday without her to return in a few days.
Lying in bed that morning Cameron had reflected on the night before. It had been great to be able to see all of her family again. The majority of the conversation of the night had been about Aunt Ashleigh, Uncle Gilbert, Ella and Ryan – remembering the moments in life together that brought a smile to their faces rather than weep at loss of their loved ones – it had been good to be able to talk about her family with those that had also know them.
With 5 minutes before the funeral was scheduled to begin Allison went and sat down beside Greg. He had been observing her since he had woken up that morning, a little worried that she seemed to be handling this loss too well, that she was keeping it all inside as she sometimes did at the hospital. Tuning his head once more to Allison a small smile escaped and appeared on his face as he recalled the events of that morning; one he would remember for a long time to come…
~ Flashback ~
Where House had woken up to something he thought he might never get the chance to just yesterday morning… Allison's voice…
"House… House… House… Greg, wake up… Greg…"
"Mmmm… where's the fire Allison?"
"No fire, it is just time to get up…" Allison smiled. "Breakfast is on the table and if you hurry you may just get a cup of coffee. Remember that everyone else out there loves my coffee too. I also have 4 young children out there who think it would be a wonderful idea to come and wake you up this morning if you decide to stay in bed. They seem to miss playing with you; whatever did you do to them last night? Oh, and Chris is in the downstairs bathroom at the moment so you can come have breakfast first."
House slowly got out of bed. As Allison turned to wake out of the room he grabbed her arm gently, "Allison, I think you forgot something, come here please."
Allison turned around and raised one eyebrow, "and what might that be?"
"This…" House replied as he pulled her towards himself and gave her a hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek.
~ End flashback ~
…the smile on his face had grown bigger. It had felt great to be able to wake up beside this beautiful woman. This was an unspoken dream come true. He leaned over and picked up Allison's hand giving it a slight squeeze.
Looking up at Greg Allison gave his a small smile, and quietly whispered her thanks to him. As she looked once more around the church she saw Alyssa and called her over, slowly explaining that she needed to sit down now, as they were going to begin soon.
Alyssa smiled and climbed up on the bench between her Aunty Allie and Uncle 'Geg.' Allison smiled at this, placing her arm around the little girl and onto Greg's good leg she glanced at his and shrugged her shoulder and smiled while Greg rested his arm along the back of the bench and across Allison's back.
Unknown by these two was that at that time her mother was walking up to the front bench and had seen this sweet moment. Emily had taken the time to talk to Isabella and Ryan's best friend and neighbor who would be video taping the events of the day for when Alyssa and the twins Caitlyn and Maddison grew up and would be old enough to understand. Emily gained strength in the knowledge that Allison was not in this along – that she would have a support system in Princeton. It would seem that even if Allison and Greg broke up in the future that he would still have the time for Alyssa and the girls. Taking her place in the front seat beside her husband she picked up a fussing Arabella from her pram and settled in as the pastor started his opening remarks…
Almost one hour later Allison stood along side her mother; Megan; Greg and the children as their loved ones were each taken out of the chapel to be buried in the local cemetery. The pastor had known the Benson family since they had been newly weds many years earlier - with Ryan and Bella having been married inside the church – and the ceremony had been beautiful. Many people had spoken about past experiences and memories, in some part for Alyssa and her siblings. Allison had spoken about visiting her Aunt and Uncle, growing up with Bella and her wedding to Ryan. The funeral had ended with a video montage that left everyone in tears. The closing segment brought a smile to Allison's face. The two captions had read:
'As we mourn the loss of
Gilbert, Emily, Ryan and Isabella
we welcome new life…
Introducing:
Caitlyn Isabella Morgan
and
Maddison Ashleigh Morgan
Born September 29 2005.
As these captions faded a video clip of the twins still in hospital were shown to all bring a smile to many a face. The moment was perfect, Allison knew that neither her aunt and uncle or Bella and Ryan would have wanted anyone to be overly sad at their death but would want everyone to rejoice in their lives before their deaths, the difference they made to those around them and this moment in the video helped to accomplish this.
As they got out of the car at the cemetery Allison had Alyssa in one hand and little Jonathan in the other as she started the walk down to the gravesite. Minutes later she spotted Greg and her Grandmother walking towards them as she waited with Michael and Megan.
"Greg, I see you have meet Grandma Isabel." Allison said as she leaned over and gave her grandmother a kiss on the cheek. "Grandma, this is Dr. Greg House."
Grandma Isabel laughed replying, "I thought so… those blue eyes, the witty sense of humor and a 5 o'clock beard… exactly how Allison described you Dr. Greg.
"Grandma…" Allison replied looking quickly between her and Greg.
"So, when can we expect the wedding invite in the mail? It needs to be soon, your Grandfather is starting to get old"
"Wedding invite?"
"Yes, yes… the wedding, the one that your mother called me about last night. It is about time too, you deserve to be happy again Allison and I can see that he does that for you. Congratulations my girl."
"Grandma, I am sorry; I didn't know that Mom had called you. Michael had been teasing Greg and I, saying that because he came here to be with me that we must be engaged. So I told them we were. I am sorry Grandma, we only just started dating."
"That's all right my Allison." Grandma replied smiling at the two of them. With the letters she had been receiving for the past 2 years and seeing them together this morning she could tell it would only be a matter of time before they got married.
"Grandma, where is Grandpa? Allison asked looking around.
"He will be coming soon Allie, when Greg here offered to walk down with me from the car they were setting up the wheelchair for him. Allison, your mother told me that you have been appointed the guardian to my three great-granddaughters."
"Yes Grandma, we will be traveling back to Princeton together on Wednesday after the twins come out of the hospital tomorrow."
"Will you bring them back to visit soon?"
"Yes Grandma, I will have to ask my boss first though," Allison replied looking over at Greg.
"I am sure that your boss will let you go, but you might need to bribe him Allison." Greg replied smiling down at her.
Allison laughed, "what kind of bribe were you thinking of?"
"To bring him with you, if I remember correctly you promised this boss of yours coffee daily. You can't very well do that if you are in a different state now can you?"
"Okay, just promise me you will never replace me with a coffee maker will you."
During the gravesite ceremony Greg held Allison in his arms as she held Alyssa tightly in hers as they listened to the words spoken by the pastor.
As their bodies were lowered into the ground she turned around in Greg's arms hugging him tighter ever careful of swashing the little girl in her arms. Greg held her tighter as he could feel her silent tears soak into his shirt, feeling relieved that she was no longer holding all the hurt inside.
Allison would not let go of Greg as she followed her grandparents, parents and Ryan's parents past the graves as they placed a flower in each of their graves. Tears were rolling down Allison's face as she silently said her final good byes to her loved ones and made a promise to Isabella to love her 3 babies and look after them as if they were her own.
As Greg stood there beside Allison he also made a promise to both Allison and Isabella that he would be there for Allison. That she would not have to do this alone and he would be there for the children. He had grown to love Alyssa during the last 24 hours. She was splitting image of Allison, he could see this little girl as a part of her and found that some how she too had managed to weave her little fingers around his heart and he didn't want her to let go.
Hours later they stood outside the NICU department of Chicago Hospital. Looking down at Caitlyn and Maddison Allison, Greg, and Alyssa smiled as they walked into the room. Greg observed Allison as she watched the two sleeping girls. She was beautiful, loving and kind. He knew that she would make a wonderful mother to these 3 children… Isabella and Ryan had chosen well.
Allison could feel Greg watching her as she turned around and smiled at him. She had been watching the 2 girls breathing as they slept in their cribs and Allison was so thankful that they both were healthy. Sure they were both a little on the small side but looked fine. She could not believe that in 2 days she would be able to bring them home with her. She was both excited and nervous of this idea, glad that she would have her mother with her to help for a little while and Greg would be there too. Allison turned back around to the twins and started to tell them about their parents.
As Greg watched on he thought about Allison and her little family, finding himself wanting to be a permanent part in this family. Deep in thought he pondered what their children look like.
As the thought of at least 3 daughters that looked like his Cameron he smirked…. he was going to have fun scaring away many many boyfriends in the future…
Firstly I want to say sorry that this chapter has taken so long…
I had a bad case of writers block; I have started writing this chapter about 20 times before but didn't like what I had…
As I have been really blessed in my live and have not lost anyone in my life
I know I have skipped over large parts of the funeral and by the gravesite
If you did what that included I am sorry ~ I have only been to 2 funerals in the last 10 years both of which were in the Philippines and therefore have no idea what would really be said…
I hope you enjoy this chapter and I am sorry it is a little on the short side…
I will not be able to update for probably about 3 weeks. I am going down to spend some time with a friend. She needs a little help for a while… with a 2 year old, a currently 10 day old, they are currently preparing to move into a bigger house in 2 weeks and to top it all off she got out of hospital 2 days ago for gallstones, and has been told that she will need surgery in the coming week…meaning she will not be able to lift anything including her children for a little while – and her husband is meant to be back at work next week… I will be writing but they don't have the internet in their home…
Thank you again for reading… let me know what you think…
Thankyou VisualIDentificationZeta for being the only person to review the last chapter
Please don't make me beg for reviews :D
~Astig