Hello everyone!!! i apoligize for the GREAT BIG delay in updating this. I've been crazily busy. Thanks to all of you who left me some feedback!! I'll try reply to you all this time around :)

And thanks to everyone that is silently reading!! I'm glad that people so far, are enjoying this story.

So, on with the show!!! (disclaimers etc - same as usual. Don't own anyone or anything to do with Fox or House. Just borrowing...all O/C characters are mine - so no stealing the babies...OK!!)

Chapter 5

House hobbled into the foyer of the clinic, two interns trailing behind him fearfully. One was pushing the twin stroller, with gurgling babies, and the other was shouldering the baby bag, and their playpen and toys.

The delivery boy had been the person at the door earlier that day, with the items that House had purchased over the phone with an online catalogue, and for the first time in about 2 months, with his very own credit card. He had harassed the company into delivering whatever what was in stock, on his list within the hour. That included the twin stroller, playpen, and two carriers for his car.

The image of House walking into the hospital, with a pair of interns and twin babies, making it known that he wanted to get to his destination as quickly as possible, using his cane to step on the backs of the interns' heels, muttering for them to move faster – was highly improbable, yet it would still make people stare. However, this image, teamed with his shouldering a backpack which had the ear of a stuffed animal sticking out of it, and two pacifiers still in its packaging in the side compartments - proving that they were with him, hobbling as fast as he could, was in itself a workplace hazard.

And a Workplace hazard it was. Orderlies wheeling patients back to their rooms, or taking them to get tests done, almost wheeled the chairs and the patient into the door as they walked and stared. Doctors stopped mid-speech as their eyes followed House through the foyer, their hands faltering as they flipped through patient files. Nurses missed numbers that they were meant to dial, Nurse Dina almost split scalding coffee on herself, and Nurse Maria nearly stapled her hand.

Everybody stopped and stared, completely aghast as House headed for Cuddy's office…twins and interns in tow.

House wanted to yell out something, but nothing good came to mind, so he continued to grumble, grabbing a handful of lollypops, stuffing them into his pockets, before throwing open the doors of Cuddy's office, and ushering the interns in with his eyes.

"Cuddles!! I found you some puppies!"

Cuddy blinked as she took in the scene in her doorway. Interns and students were always nervous in her presence, especially in the Dean's office – no, not because of her 'domineering ways' as House had once so 'kindly' put it to a fresh batch of students, but because well, it was pretty much like the Principals office, a place you never wanted to be. Everybody knew that Cuddy ran a tight ship – and that House was always the one to try to rock it, usually, always succeeding. Stories about the (loud) arguments between the two preceded her reputation as a down to business, but good boss. Everybody knew that the hospital was her baby, and to tamper with her baby, was like…prodding a bear protecting its cubs with a sharp stick. Cuddy would protect her employees, but do wrong by her and the hospital, and you would be out on your butt before you could even say 'second chance'.

The fact that the interns were in the Dean's office with not only the Dean, but with the hospital's best Doctor, the cause of most of the lawsuits, the Nurses wariness, the other Doctor's disdain, The Board's exasperation, a Med student/intern/fellow's worst nightmare, a very sick patient's hero and the Dean's problem child – they had every right to be feeling the way they felt. They would take cleaning bedpans for a week over being in the same room with the two of them.

"Uh, I'm sorry Mr. Hargrave, I'm going to have to call you back – there's a bit of a situation, ok sure, thanks, bye." Cuddy hung up the phone, the look on her face was not dissimilar to that of the various employees who first witnesses the picture before her.

"What's going on?" She looked expectantly at the interns, and the both spoke at once.

"Dr. House cornered us on the way in-"

"He needed help with-"

"I did no such thing!"

"Oh my God, House, what did you DO?"

"Waaaahhhhhh" came the two cries from the stroller, they all stopped at the cries.

Cuddy was the first to look away from the twins, and said in a soft, yet stern voice,

"I'm sure you two have rounds to be finishing, Go." The interns scampered away from the office, one dropping the baby bag like a hot potato, and the other pulling back from the stroller as if he'd been zapped by an electric fence.

Cuddy moved from behind her desk, gasping as she peered into the stroller and found that the two babies lying there, crying from the sudden increase in volume and lack of attention, were indeed real, and not dolls. Unable to help herself, she reached down and tickled their stomaches cooing at them. The twins immediately stopped crying and started gurgling, enjoying the sensation of Cuddy's fingers tickling their bellies. Looking up at her office door, she could see everybody craning their necks, trying to get a good look of House with the babies, and maybe even catching a bit of the conversation going on inside the office. Sighing, she stood up, and yanked open the door, with a glare in place.

"Don't you people have work to be doing?"

There was a collective mumble throughout the clinic,

"Then get to it!"

With that, she snapped her door back shut, and on a second thought, pulled on the strings of the blinds, effectively shutting prying eyes out.

"You know, you've just fuelled their insinuations about this whole thing, which in effect are going to further fuel the insinuations about the past insinuations about us."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, "Well there wouldn't be any insinuations in the first place, had it not been for you, your big mouth, and that perverse complex you have for making me miserable,"

"Well, see if I ever bring you puppies again," House looked down at the twins and pulled a face. Cuddy exhaled noisily, and sat down on the sofa.

"Explain."

House sighed, and pushed the stroller over in front of the sofa so that he could sit down, and put down his backpack.

"I told you, I found you some puppies."

"What did you do, I mean. You have – Who's babies did you steal?"

"What make s you think I stole them? And before you ask, No, I did not knock anybody up. But it does please me that you think that my little sailers are such strong swimmers."

Cuddy tore herself away from the babies, whom were smiling up at her as they cooed, watching her intently with their blue-green eyes,

"House."

"They were on my doorstep, seriously! I'm not kidding. I was having a nice night in with the 'L-Word' girls, praying for a bit of Carmen Electra or Angelina Jolie action, and the next thing I knew some irresponsible teenager decided that I was responsible and foisted the parasites on me. Here, kid even left a letter."

He rummaged around in his backpack, finding the crumpled letter and tossed it into her lap, along with all the boring stuff such as the medical files and the legal stuffs. With the babies preoccupied with playing with her fingers on one hand, she used the other to flip through the pages, murmuring to herself. Astonished she looked up at him, finding him watching her with his chin resting on the handle of his cane.

"I – You've had them since last night?"

"Well, early, early this morning, but y'know, semantics." He shrugged, and at her exasperated and tired look, he nodded,

"Yeah. They stayed the night and we're all still alive. Now we've just got to wait for the apocalypse."

Ignoring his theatrics, she went on, "So where are they sleeping?"

"In the car seats,"

That earned him 'The Look', "What! They're not sleeping with me!"

"Where did they sleep last night?"

"On my bed. I took the couch. But there's no way I'm doing that again. I've already got a bum leg, there's no way I'm putting out my back just for those." motioning over to the twins with a nudge of his head.

"You left them alone on your bed! House, what if they fell off, they could have suffocated, you know how dangerous it is for babies to sleep in a bed!"

"Sheese Cuddy, relax will ya! It's a big bed! Besides, they made it through the night didn't they! Besides, I'm a Doctor too you know. I put pillows around them, to they wouldn't roll...or you know…. die from a lack of oxygen."

"And what about food?"

"Silly Dr. Cuddy," he began speaking slowly, and in a tone of voice that one would use when explaining something to a very small child,

"Babies their age can't eat food – that's what formula is for." He nodded very slowly, and Cuddy fought down the urge to smack him.

"Toys? Clothes, bibs, baby wipes? Baby necessities – do you even have diapers?"

House eyes bulged with indignation, "Hey it's not like I planned this! They were dumped, literally on my doorstep! If you care so much, why don't you take them! Be my guest, they're all yours…for a price of course. I'm thinking…dinner at a restaurant of my choice, and a full body massage at the end of the night, with a bit of happy time – if you know what I mean," he waggled his eyebrows at her, and this time she smacked his arm,

"You're disgusting,"

"Ow! See Little Monsters, this is what I get for trying to be nice to her. Beat-up on. I should report her to the Union."

"House! Can you be serious for a moment? I know that it is going to be difficult, but you need to stop playing around! These children need a home and if you're not going to keep them, you need to alert children's services so that they can find them a home."

Cuddy waited and watched for House's reaction, but the little boy started to cry again, as if he picked up on what was going on, protesting as House was about to reply.

Without thinking , House offered the knuckle of his pinkie for the baby to suckle on, while reaching for the pacifiers. Cuddy couldn't help but smile at him, as she looked up from soothing the little girl, who's face had scrunched up at her brothers cries, giving her the pacifier that House had handed her.

House looked away sheepishly, and said gruffly, "Unless you want squawking babies, Shut-up."

Cuddy grinned, "You know what I think?"

"No, but you're going to tell me anyway."

Cuddy smirked, "- I think that the fact that you haven't already called Children's Services, speaks for itself."

House groaned, "Don't start on me with that psychoanalytical bullshit, that's what Wilson is for – Ow! What's with all this abuse, I know I joke about it, but I didn't actually know you were into that kind of thing - that's actually kind of hot…"

"House," she cried, exasperatedly, "Stop cussing around them!"

"They don't even understand." he replied in his 'duh' voice,

Cuddy continued to let the babies grab at her fingers, "Babies are very attuned to their surroundings. They'll pick it up and commit it to memory."

He scoffed at her, "And of course, you would know-"

House fumbled as her face faltered and her hands went still.

"Sorry."

A moment of silence passed, the only sounds were coming from the stroller, Cuddy's attention completely focused on the babies, and House, at the spot on the floor.

"So..."

"Mmm?" she murmured, laughing as the little girl tried to reach up and tug on her hair.

Again, House said nothing. But the words of the letter that Lana had left him filled his mind, "Help you fill that void," he quickly shook it off.

"I'm going to uh, need that lawyer," Cuddy looked up at him questioningly as the babies gnawed on her fingers,

House smiled a small smile, "I need them to look over those papers. You know…make sure they're…legal."

Cuddy grinned, "So you are going to keep them," and then, to House's horror and amusement, she got that look on her face. That clucky…maternal…look. And he flushed.

"Yeah, well - Whatever. Chicks dig the whole single Dad thing. Imagine the story I could concoct. Skanky gold-digger comes after my money, I knock her up because I'm just SO virile, and she leaves with my money, leaving me with two," he did this in a phony cute voice "Adoraworable kiddies."

Cuddy snorted with laughter, "You're impossible. I'll have the lawyers meet with you, after you've done the clinic hours you owe me for this week. You've got kids to support now. Make sure you do them. Besides, they're a little busy dealing with your last mishap. And I think it's time that you fed your children, you still need to name them by the way."

"No I don't. The one in the blue is 'Left of Doorstep', and the one in pink, gnawing your knuckle off is 'Right of Doorstep."

"Feed your children."

"What you don't like the names? What about Linda and Damien Blair?"

"HOUSE!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he tossed the baby bag with the bottles in it, into Cuddy's lap. She winced at the sudden impact,

"What-"

"Bottles are in there. I'm sure you'll find more diapers and formula around this joint. Word has it that the extensions to the Ped's wards are huge, and Neo-Natal is just heaving with babies. I'm going to get lunch." He started his escape, moving around the stroller and for the door.

Cuddy jumped up, "You can't leave them here!"

"Why not? I'm giving you an opportunity to fulfill that nurturing disease. I'll be back later."

"House! I've got work to do!"

House grinned evilly,

"So do I! People to harass, soapies to catch up on, bossing to do. All you're going to do is sit on your hiney and scribble your name on stuff. I'm going to go and do real Doctorly things. Cosmetics is going to need someone to make sure the Fun-Bag implants are working, and who better to examine than yours truly." And with that he scaddadled out of her office, just as the twins let out huge, hungry wails.

Cuddy stood there, torn between chasing and yelling after him, and comforting the babies. All of a sudden, she was nervous. It wasn't like she hadn't taken care of babies before. She had young nieces and nephews, but this - this was different.

tbc...

I hope that you enjoyed that, because i really enjoyed writing it. And hopefully, House and Cuddy were still in character - for the most part.

Don't forget to leave some feedback on your way out!!

Prinnie