Title: Making His Own Life

Part: 3

Author: Mlizhobie

Fandom: House, M.D.

Pairing: Wilson/OFC(Lorelai) & House/?

Disclaimer: Don't own House or any of the other characters except for the OC characters.

AN: This is a sequel to the story 'It's My Life'. Be an awesome person, read and review. A very special thanks to my Beta reader, she helps me thru my dreaded bouts of writer's block.

AN2: Greg shows up to work with a hang-over, what will James say?

The next morning Greg rolled over and felt someone next to him in bed. Cracking open his eyes he instantly groaned at how bright the sun was and tightly clamped his eyes back closed. He shielded his eyes and slowly reopened his eyes and looked around the room. Searching his mind Greg tried to remember where he was exactly and could only remember sitting in the bar getting loaded. Greg sat up slightly and looked down to the woman sleeping next to him. She looked vaguely familiar and for some reason the name Layla seemed right for her. On some level she looked like Lorelai, but a cheap version of his children's mother. As he watched the woman sleep he tried to remember how he had ended up in her bed, but couldn't.

Greg shifted slightly and realized that he was naked. He again groaned, but this time it was because he knew he must have slept with the woman lying beside him. Greg sat up a bit further and glanced at his watch; seeing that it was 8:30 he gently slipped out of the bed. As he quickly redressed himself Greg decided that he would make a quick stop at his house and grab some clean clothes and then hurry to the hospital. After he got the team working on whatever case they had, he could get a shower. Once he was dressed he looked around the room to make sure he had everything that belonged to him and quietly left the apartment.

James was standing at the nurse's desk in the clinic and felt someone watching him. Glancing up he saw Allison Chase standing about 15 feet from him just watching him. He quickly finished the notation in his patient's chart and closed the folder before looking back up and saying, "You need something Ally?" Allison looked around nervously and said, "Have you seen House? It's almost 9:30 and he hasn't been into his office yet." James sighed, glanced at his watch and said, "No I haven't seen him today. He didn't come home last night." James then started to walk away, but Allison rushed over to him and grabbed his arm saying, "He didn't come home? What if something happened to him?" James looked down to where Ally was holding his arm, pulled free of her grasp and said, "You can call him if you want to, but I am not going to. I need to go now Allison."

Allison stood with her mouth hanging wide open as she watched James walk away. She hadn't heard James talk like this in quite a while; he & Greg had been on good terms for awhile. Heading back up to the diagnostics conference room Allison ran into Eric Foreman who was also waiting for the elevator. She pressed the button to their floor as Eric said, "There you are, I finally found House in the locker room a bit ago. I told him we didn't have a case yet, so he was going to grab a shower and then he'll be up." Allison let out a relieved sigh and said, "Good, I was scared something had happened to him. I ran into Wilson and he said that House didn't come home last night." Eric raised his eyebrows as he turned back to Allison and said, "Didn't come home huh? Bet Wilson was pretty pissed…"

Allison was about to respond when the elevator door opened and in walked Greg. Sensing the instant silence was because of him; Greg looked between Allison & Eric and said, "What?" Allison started to speak up, but Foreman nudged her and shook his head quickly to quiet her. House rolled his eyes and pressed the already marked button for their floor. They all 3 rode the elevator up the remaining floor in an uncomfortable silence. Then as soon as the doors opened House started off the elevator and half turned to see if his ducklings were following, when he saw that they were he said, "Which one of you ran into Wilson?"

After a few silent steps Greg stopped walking and turned to face Foreman & Allison. He eyed them both for a moment before turning fully towards Allison and saying, "What did you tell him and what did he say?" Ally sighed and lowered her eyes to the floor. She knew she had been found out yet again. She then looked back up to her boss and said, "I was just concerned that you weren't here yet and he said you didn't come home last night. I was going to call you when I ran into Foreman and he said he'd found you." House again rolled his eyes and said, "Damn-it, I'm not a child and against all popular belief I can take care of myself now Mom."

House spun around and took off towards Wilson's office. Seeing that the door was closed and the room appeared dark, Greg fumbled in his pockets looking for his keys, but came up empty handed. Cursing loudly Greg turned and went to his own office. Plopping down behind his desk Greg grabbed his thinking ball and threw it hard at the wall.

It was now 10 o'clock and James was signing out of his clinic duty. He had only been down there for an hour and a half, but had to go check in on a patient before surgery. He headed back out to the elevator and back upstairs.

After stopping in and talking to his patient for a few minutes James headed for his office, but saw Robert Chase leaning against the wall outside the door. Walking up to the younger man James half grinned at him and said, "Hey Robert." Chase smiled nervously and said, "Hey James, can I talk to you?" As James pulled his keys out of his pocket and started to unlock his door he said, "Yeah sure, come on in." James then went over to his desk and sat down waiting for Robert to speak. Robert hadn't sat down; he was pacing back and forth across the room nervously. James watched the other doctor walk back and forth in front of his desk for almost a full minute before saying, "Robert… what did you want to talk about?"

Chase paused mid-step, looked over at James and then started pacing again. He took a few more steps before saying, "James, I think Ally wants to have another baby." James didn't know where this was leading, so he said, "Um ok Robert, but I'm not sure what this has to do with me." Robert stopped pacing and leaned against James's desk, sighed and said, "But I don't want anymore kids. I like it being just the 4 of us. Besides Marcus & Kenzie are happy, they don't need anymore siblings. How did you tell Lore that you didn't want anymore kids after Nina?"

James thought for a few seconds, he & Lore hadn't ever had a problem with how many children they wanted. They had had the conversation when Jay was a toddler that they only wanted 2 or 3 children total. Sure, plans had changed to include Immy & Isaac, but they were Greg's kids. Looking back up to meet Robert's inquiring eyes, James said, "You just have to talk to her. Lore & I talked about this when Jay was still little and things did change from our original plan, but we talk about things. Robert, I know how hard it is to talk to your wife… God only knows how well I know that. Wives can be really difficult and complicated sometimes, but since I'm well into my 4th marriage, I think I finally have some experience."

Robert was starting to speak again when James's door opened and in walked Lisa Cuddy. Chase could tell that Lisa needed to talk to James privately, so he quickly said, "Thanks James, I will talk to Ally about it." James nodded slightly and said, "Sure Robert, anytime." After Chase had left the office and closed the door Lisa said, "What the hell is going on with House today? He looks even worse than normal and he is acting very odd." James took a deep breath and sighed loudly before saying, "I don't know what is going on with him. I haven't seen him since 8 last night and like he told me then, he's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

Lisa leaned across James's desk and got right in his face before saying, "James, you are one of the few people who he will listen to. You have to talk to him before something gets out of hand. He hasn't come to work with a hang over in years and as oddly as he is acting right now, I know something is going on!" Before James could say a word his cell began to ring, looking to see who was calling he saw that it was Lorelai. He looked up at his boss and said, "Ok, I'll talk to him after awhile, but I need to take this." Lisa nodded and said, "Alright, thank you," and was gone.

Flipping open his phone James sighed and said, "Hey baby." Lore could hear the frustration in James's voice and said, "Has he shown up yet?" James scrubbed his forehead and said, "Yeah, Lisa & Ally are both freaking out because he has a hang over and he's acting funny, so they want me to go fix him. What the hell am I supposed to say to him?" Lore sighed and said, "I don't know James, I really don't. Why don't we go in and talk to him together when I come to the hospital this afternoon?" James nodded slightly and said, "Yeah that will give us both time to try and come up with something to say. I have to think this out so I don't just yell at him like I want to now."

It was about 1:30 that afternoon when Lore stepped off the elevator and started for James's office. His door was slightly closed, but when she looked through the window Lore could tell he was alone. She stopped and gently knocked before pushing it open, James glanced up from the medical journal he was skimming and smiled widely when he saw Lorelai. He closed the journal and said, "Hey kid, come on in." Lore pushed open the door and went over to James. She kissed him and then leaned against his desk. James studied her face for a minute before Lore said, "I have an angle I'm going to work with Greg, so when we go in just follow my lead." James nodded and they headed for Greg's office.

The team was still without a patient, so James & Lore found Greg hiding out on his balcony. James held the door open for his wife and tried to read his best friend's face while Lorelai walked between them. Greg looked up from studying the concrete and knew instantly that he was in trouble. It was rare when James & Lore ganged up on him like this and he wasn't in trouble. Being unable to stop himself from doing it, Greg threw up his defensive wall and prepared himself for an argument before one word had even been said.

When Lorelai sat up on the wall separating Greg's side from James's she met Greg's eyes and immediately saw he was already guarding himself. She changed her tactic a bit and said, "Greg, I need to talk to you. I don't know exactly what is going on with you, but there is definitely something and it's not good for you acting the way you have around Immy & Isaac. So as their mother I have to find out what it is." James was standing quietly leaning against the wall over by the door leading back inside. He hadn't wanted to use the kids as a way of scaring House clean again, but if it worked then he would keep his mouth shut.

Greg quietly watched Lore speak and when she finished he lowered his eyes back to the floor. He silently cursed himself for not hiding his emotion better from Lorelai. Somehow the woman could read him and could tell when something was bothering him, but thankfully she couldn't read his mind and didn't know what that something was. Without planning it Greg heard himself say, "Don't you dare use my children against me! I'm just as much their parent as you are Lorelai."

James could hear anger filling Greg's voice and quickly got between the other man and his wife. Glaring into Greg's piercing blue eyes James said, "I won't let you speak to her that way, so just settle down. We are concerned about you and want to help you Greg." Greg took a deep breath to try and control this anger he was feeling, he hadn't meant to get so upset and lash out like that. Lorelai had jumped down off the wall, gently pushed James out of the way and sat down beside Greg.

She looked deep into his eyes and calmly said, "I'm not using them against you. I am using them to get through to you. They are one of the few things that shake you to the core, so let us help you. What is going on Greg?" Greg looked up at James quickly and then back to Lore before quietly sighing and saying, "I feel out of place and in the way when I am around you guys now. I've watched you both transform each other into strong, confident spouses and parents. I went from the 3rd wheel, to the 4th and 5th with Jay and then Nina, but now I'm the 7th and I'm just in the way. I don't feel as awkward as it was before the twins, but I don't want to be goofy Uncle Greg or poor lonely Daddy anymore."

When Greg stopped speaking Lore kept watching him and knew that he wasn't telling her everything. There was still something else buried deep in his heart that he wasn't ready to talk about. She was just looking up to ask James to leave them alone when James's pager went off and he said, "I need to go downstairs for awhile, you guys be alright?" Lorelai nodded silently and watched her husband leave. Lore then focused her attention back to Greg and said, "Now tell me what you couldn't say in front of him."

Greg quickly met Lore emerald green eyes and stared at her speechlessly. She somehow knew he was still hiding something. Greg blushed when Lorelai smiled and again said, "Tell me, you know I won't tell Jimmy if you don't want me to." He shut his eyes tightly and swallowed thickly before saying, "Yeah it is more than just feeling awkward. I'm jealous of Jimmy, I know how happy you make him and I can see how miserable he gets when you two fight. I want that Lore." Lorelai blushed slightly and then said, "We need to find you someone don't we? I've never said this before, but I kinda wish I had a sister now." Greg's face lit up into a smile when he said, "I think just one Lorelai is plenty. Besides, I wouldn't want the sister, it's you I want."

Next chapter: With Greg's admission – what happens next?