CHAPTER THREE

Phillip lay sprawled out on the floor working on his homework when Susan walked in from work. "Hey Phillip, how was school?"

"It was school," he said shrugging his shoulders.

Susan put down her purse and sat down on the edge of the couch near Phillip's head, "Phillip?" He turned his head to look at her, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said and turned his attention back to his homework.

Susan stared at the back of his head for a moment and then got up and took her things into the bedroom. David was changing out of his suit when she walked in. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took off her shoes. "You know the bad thing about being the lab director now instead of just a tech?" she asked.

"What's that?"

"Having to wear business clothes," she said rubbing her feet. "I miss my walking shoes." David sat down on the end of the bed and pulled her feet up on his lap and started massaging. Susan laid back and closed her eyes, "That feels awesome," she said relaxing deeper into the mattress.

"Did you see House?" David asked.

"Ummhmm," Susan said with her eyes still closed.

"How is he?"

"He seems fine. He has an ankle monitor," she said. "I guess they don't trust him."

"Would you if you were in their shoes?" David asked.

"Probably not," Susan said. David shifted his attention to Susan's other foot.

Phillip finished his homework and put his books in his back pack. He heard his parents' voices as he passed by their door on the way up to his room. His parents, he thought to himself. She's not really my mom, so she's not my parent. He went to his room and shut the door.

Susan and David heard Phillip shut his door, "I guess he's finished with his homework," David said.

"Has he always been this way and I just didn't see it because I didn't live with you?" Susan asked.

"What way?" David asked.

"Aloof, quiet, curt – something along those lines; I can't really put a word to it," Susan answered.

"He's never been particularly loud," David said, "but does seem a little standoffish these days."

"Do you suppose it's something I've done or said?" Susan asked.

"Well, I can't imagine what," he answered. "I don't think you've ever said a cross word to him since we married."

"No, but somehow I feel like we had a better relationship before," Susan said. "I think as long as we were just dating, he was OK, but now that we're married I think he thinks I'm an intruder."

"Why would you say that?" David asked.

"I just feel like his whole attitude toward me has changed. Before we were married, he couldn't wait to tell me about what happened at school or on the baseball field. Now, he barely even says hi and answers my questions with one word answers." Susan said.

"I'll talk to him," David said. "He's not allowed to be disrespectful to you."

"Oh, no he's not being disrespectful, David, just aloof. I'm not trying to get him in trouble. Don't talk to him yet if you don't mind; maybe he just needs his space or more time to get used to me," Susan said.

"Okay, I'll follow your lead on this for now, but if he ever starts being disrespectful, I expect to be told. I won't have that behavior in my house," David said.

"Spoken like the 'man in charge'," Susan teased.

With that David tightened his grip on her ankles and began tickling her feet. Susan yelped while she squirmed and twisted to get out of his grip to escape and nearly succeeded when he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back toward him. He quit tickling her and dropped on the bed next to her pulled her close and kissed her. He pulled his head back and ran his hand along her face, "I love you Susan."

"I know," she answered. "I love you too." Susan sat up, I better get dinner going. I'm sure your bottomless pit upstairs is beginning to wonder if he's going to get fed."

Phillip's room was right on top of his dad's. He heard Susan's yelp followed by their laughter and wondered what was so funny. He had to admit that since they got married, Dad seemed a lot happier. He wondered if he was that happy when his mom was alive. He wished he could remember his mom. Suddenly it was much quieter downstairs. He shook his head, they were probably kissing again. Gross, he thought to himself and turned his attention back to his video game.

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Phillip was loading the dishwasher while David put away the left-over's after Susan dished a few servings in plastic containers and put them in a paper bag. "Are you headed over to see House?" David asked.

"Yes, he is only allowed to be at work and home, so I thought I would take him some food." David nodded his agreement. "Phillip? Would you like to go with me to Greg's apartment?"

"No," Phillip answered. He put soap in the dishwasher and closed the door, then left the kitchen and went up to his room.

Susan didn't say anything as she watched him go upstairs. David started after him, but Susan grabbed his arm, "Please David, let him be. He needs time to deal with this."

"It's been nearly three months," David argued.

"Which isn't very long; don't worry, he'll come around," Susan said. She grabbed her purse, keys and the bag of food. "I'll be back in an hour or two," she said.

David watched her walk out the door and went into the living room. Now that it had been brought to his attention he realized Phillip's attitude toward Susan had progressively declined since the day they got married. He wasn't happy with Phillip's behavior and he wanted to get to the bottom of it, but because Susan asked, he decided to hold off a little longer. He couldn't understand Phillip's attitude at all. They got along so well before the wedding and even on the wedding day he seemed happy, but since then he had been growing more recluse. David switched on the television and settled in to watch a baseball game.

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House recognized the knock at the door, "Come in."

"Hey," Susan said as she walked inside. She came around the couch and sat on the opposite end and handed House the bag of food. House opened the bag and looked at the contents. He opened one of the containers and smelled the aroma; his mouth was starting to water. He looked at Susan and nodded and then put the bag on the coffee table in front of him. "Thought you might be hungry," Susan said.

"Always," he answered.

"And yet, you're not eating," Susan said.

"No fork."

Susan rolled her eyes and got up to go to the kitchen to get him a fork, "Anything else while I'm in here?" she asked.

"A drink," he said.

Susan looked in his refrigerator. The only drink in his refrigerator was beer. "Do you want water or one of these things?" she asked.

"One of those things is fine," he answered.

Susan pulled the bottle out of the refrigerator and brought it to him with the fork and sat back down. House opened the beer and grabbed one of the containers. "So how have you been?" she asked.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked.

"Of course I do," she said.

"Prison sucks," he answered as he took his first bite.

"I think that's the point," Susan retorted. "Anything else?"

"Not really. How long have you been married?"

"Almost three months."

"Big wedding?"

"No, just the minister, us and our children," Susan said.

"But you had a nice honeymoon," it was a question as much as a statement.

"Nope, we went home afterwards and to work the following Monday," Susan said. "We felt like we had waited long enough and finally just went through with it."

"What were you waiting on?" House asked.

"You," Susan said. House stopped chewing and looked straight at her waiting for her to explain. "I wanted you there. But then I heard through the grapevine that you caused a prison riot and your sentence was extended. David convinced me that we should go ahead because there was no way of knowing when you were getting out."

"I didn't know," House said after he swallowed.

"You would have…." Susan said and left the rest of the sentence hanging.

House was silent for a moment, then sighed having made his decision. "When you are in prison, you have to make alliances in order to survive, even more so if you are handicapped."

"So who did you ally yourself with?" Susan asked.

"Well, I wasn't as much an ally as put in a position of servitude."

"Servitude; you?"

"Sorta; I traded my knowledge of medicine and half of my daily allotment of vicodin to the leader of one of the gangs and in return they kept everybody else off my back," House explained.

"What kind of gang were they?"

"White racial extremists," he answered.

Susan's eyes opened wide, "You're not a racist, why did you choose them?"

"They ran the prison."

"So, are you one of their gang now?" Susan asked not sure what to think.

"No, it was purely a business arrangement, but not one without potential consequences if things didn't go well or I fell out of favor."

"Wouldn't the guards have protected you if they tried to attack?"

"Susan, a lot goes on that the guards don't know about and this was just a medium security prison. It's much worse in high security prisons. In any case the guards can't protect those outside the prison walls," House explained. "You should know me well enough to know that I never stay out of trouble for very long."

Susan stared at House for a moment while she absorbed what he just said. "Are you telling me that if you fell out of line, they would have come after me and Laura?"

"They couldn't know that I had anybody on the outside," he said.

"So by having my mail returned to me, you prevented them from knowing about us."

"The mailroom is run by prison staff and not prisoners because the mail is screened before it makes it inside. So, when I received the first letter, I talked to the guard and made sure that I wouldn't receive any personal mail."

"Doesn't change the fact that it hurt, but at least now I understand," Susan said.

"I had no contact from the outside; not even Wilson came to visit. Knowing that you cared enough to write had meaning," he said as he started rubbing his leg. He reached in his pocket, pulled out his vicodin and took two.

"So, they gave you vicodin in prison?" Susan asked. "I figured they'd take it away since you're an addict."

"No, they didn't take it away. I have legitimate pain and I was allowed medication for that pain. But they lowered my dosage to four per day and I had to give two of those to the gang leader."

"So basically, you were getting just enough to keep you from going through severe withdrawal, but not enough to deaden the pain to any great extent," Susan said. House nodded.

"Greg, I'd like to stay longer, but I need to get back," Susan said as she stood up.

"Yeah, gotta go be mommy to the kid," House said.

"Actually, I think he'd be fine if I dropped off the face of the earth."

"You mean not everything's perfect in marriage land?"

"Marriage land is fine, step-motherhood is lacking. He's just not dealing well with my continual presence. He'll come around eventually," Susan said. "Maybe it's a stage. I don't know anything about raising adolescent boys."

"How old is he?" House asked.

"Twelve."

"Well, when I was twelve I announced to my dad that I knew he wasn't my dad and then spent all summer locked in my room with notes passed under my door. My childhood isn't exactly a good example to draw from," House said. "What does lover boy say?"

"He wants to confront Phillip, but I've asked him to wait. I figure Phillip will come around on his own. I remember when Laura was twelve she spent most of her time alone in her room; though I don't remember her being so standoffish," Susan said.

"Maybe you need to take David's lead on this one," House said actually using David's name. "Like you said, you don't know anything about raising boys." House watched her as she moved around the couch and toward the door noticing a slight change since he'd last seen her a year before.

"See you tomorrow," Susan said as she opened the door and walked out.

House allowed himself a smirk and then turned his attention back to his dinner. He'd getter a better look tomorrow and then he'd be certain.

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"How was House?" David asked when Susan returned home.

"Subdued," Susan answered.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine. It's awkward right now, but it'll be ok."

"What do you mean by awkward?"

"It doesn't feel right. I don't feel like we're as close as we were, but I think it will resolve. By the way, he says that I should follow your lead with Phillip and let you talk to him," Susan said. "I was really thinking that Phillip would come around by himself, but maybe he needs that man to man interaction."

"Good," David said. "Sometimes Phillip can get a little touchy, but I can usually get whatever's bothering him out in the open."

I'm sorry, I should know better. You know your son much better than I do," Susan conceded.

David walked up to her and put his arms around her, "Don't worry, you're his mom now. It won't be long before you know him as well as any mother knows her son."