CHAPTER NINE:
David arrived back in Phillip's room to see Susan and Phillip thoroughly engrossed in a cookbook, "What is Orza?" Phillip was asking Susan.
"It's a type of pasta that looks a little bit like rice," Susan explained. "This one looks like it would taste good," she said pointing to the picture next to the recipe.
"It doesn't look like my mother ever made it though," Phillip observed.
"No, but that doesn't mean we can't try it." Susan looked up, "Oh hi David, would you hand me my purse?"
David picked up her purse off of the visitors chair and handed it over, "What are you guys doing?" he asked.
"We're looking through this old cookbook of Marie's to find some good vegetarian dishes. Phillip and I are going to learn to cook vegetarian together," Susan said as she opened her purse and fished for a pen and some scrap paper. She wrote down the ingredients, "I'm going to have to stop by the grocery store tonight and pick up these ingredients."
"You're not going to stay with me tonight?" Phillip asked.
Susan smiled, "If you'd like me to, I will. We'll send your dad to the store instead and he could use a night in a real bed."
The look of relief on David's face over what he was seeing between his wife and his son was palpable, but he didn't say anything. Instead he looked over Susan's shoulder at the recipe book as she finished writing down the ingredients. Phillip turned the page to the next recipe. "I remember this one," he said pointing to the photo of a dish on a well spattered page. "It's really good."
Susan picked up her pen and wrote down the ingredients for that dish as well. When she was done, she wrote down a few other items and handed the list to David, "This is your task for this evening, and then you go home and get some decent sleep. I'm staying here tonight. For now though, I promised Dr. Foreman that I would visit him."
Susan worked herself off the hospital bed and started out the door when David stopped her, "I'll walk you to the elevator; I'll be right back Phillip." Phillip nodded his head and turned his attention back to the cookbook. "Not that I'm not tickled pink, but what happened between you two?" David asked when they were far enough away from the room that Phillip wouldn't hear them.
"I honestly don't know, I think that he just finally realized the truth that I really do care about him," Susan said. "I think we probably need to talk to Jerrod's parents."
"I spoke with Craig last night and told him what was going on. He said they've had issues with Jerrod's mother recently and this is bringing out a lot of animosity in Jerrod. They've set up some counseling sessions for him that will hopefully help him work through his issues."
"I still think it would be a good idea for Phillip to talk to somebody too," Susan said. "I can't tell you how happy I am to have this breakthrough, but it probably wouldn't hurt for him to talk things out with somebody outside of the family." Susan yawned, "Oh, I'm Sorry; I guess I'm still a little sleepy."
"Maybe you should go home tonight instead of me," David said gently caressing her face as they waited for the elevator.
"No, he's asked me to stay and it won't hurt me to sleep in the recliner for one night. You need to stretch out and get some real rest yourself." The elevator door opened and Susan stepped inside. "I'll be back in a little while."
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Foreman lifted his eyes from the paperwork in front of him when he heard the knock on the door, "Come in."
"You asked me to drop by after I saw my family," Susan reminded him.
"Yes, please come in." Susan sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "You mentioned that you've had some supplies stolen when we talked this morning."
"Gloves, first the larges and then the mediums; I had two cases of larges Tuesday morning and by the afternoon, they were gone. Yesterday, I went into the supply closet to grab a box of medium latex gloves and there wasn't any left. I know I had a full case that morning. I've asked the techs to keep an eye on who is going in and out of the closet."
"Cardiology is missing syringes, Obstetrics is missing absorbent pads, Oncology is missing normal saline IV bags, Orthopedics is missing gauze: I haven't heard from pediatrics, neurology, or urology yet." Foreman said.
"Any ideas on who could be behind it?" Susan asked.
"Do you really have to ask?" Foreman asked.
"No," Susan said knowing what he was thinking. "Greg wouldn't steal supplies."
"He would if it served him to do it," Foreman said.
"And that is exactly why he wouldn't steal them. It would serve him no purpose. Greg has no desire to go back to prison, he wouldn't do anything as blatantly obvious as stealing," Susan said. "I think you need to look outside the hospital."
"I've seen him steal, lie, cheat…"
"And think about what he was doing at the time," Susan said. "Greg has no problem stealing, lying, and cheating when it benefits his patient. He'll do whatever it takes for a diagnosis, including putting his own life at risk, but he doesn't do anything without purpose," Susan said. "You should know that. Any other time, he's specifically messing with Wilson or someone on his team."
"Or former team," Foreman said.
"Or former team," Susan acknowledged. "But I still don't think it's him. There's no doubt he's going to mess with you, but its not going to be by stealing hospital supplies. In the meantime, I'd like to make a suggestion."
"What's that?"
"Install card readers on the supply closets. Everybody has to wear their badges anyway to get in and out of certain areas of the hospital, so everybody that belongs here can get into the closets, and you can code them by department, so that folks that need to borrow from another department will have to have someone in that department help them. I know it seems a bit harsh as we've always had an open system around here, but until we solve this particular mystery, it might not be a bad idea."
Foreman nodded, "I agree, I'll get that in place."
"Is there anything else?" Susan asked.
"Go back to your family. Do you think you'll be back to work fulltime on Monday?"
"If Dr. House releases Phillip over the weekend, then yes," Susan said. "I'll work from home otherwise and I'll be ready for the department head meeting next week."
"Good," Foreman said ending the conversation.
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Susan made her way downstairs to the lab. Afternoon shift had arrived and Jason was prepping specimens for analysis, "Jason, do you know if the lab reports have arrived for Dr. House's patient?"
"Yes, they're over there," he said indicating the basket by the fax machine. "They came in about an hour ago."
"Have you entered the results into the system?"
"No," Jason said.
"Why not?" Susan asked.
"It's House's patient."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Susan asked. "Have you entered all other reference results that have come in?" Susan asked.
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you enter House's patient?" Susan asked.
"I don't work for Dr. House," Jason said.
"This lab services all the doctors in the hospital," Susan said, "that includes Dr. House."
"Well, I don't," Jason said. "I don't want to have anything to do with him."
Susan knew she needed to take care of this issue right away. She couldn't have her lab techs choosing who and who not to work with and Jason was a bright young man. He could go far, but he had to get past his fear of conflict, "Jason, go to my office and have a seat. I'll be there in just a minute." Susan went over to the basket next to the fax machine and pulled out Phillip's report. As Greg had diagnosed, Phillip had partial OTC syndrome. She took the report into her office and sat at her desk across from Jason. "Jason, I don't know what run-ins you've had with Dr. House in the past, but whatever it was, it's irrelevant. He's a doctor in this hospital and we have to provide results for his patients when they arrive."
"The man makes me nervous," Jason said. "I've seen the way he treats people and I don't want to deal with him. Nobody does."
"Let me tell you something about Dr. House. First of all, he just barks which means he may yell, insult or generally be demeaning to you, but it's all verbal. Secondly, he respects strength of character. If you are right and you know you are right, stand your ground. You'll find he'll be more accepting of your opinions and will turn to you more often to help him get through a diagnosis. Now, I want you to take these reports, put the results in the system and then physically take them to Dr. House." Jason swallowed with nervousness, but took the reports from Susan. He walked out the door with the reports.
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"Dr. House?" Jason said when he opened the door to House's office.
House looked up over his glasses from the journal he was reading. Jason stood in the door not moving. "Are you waiting for an invitation?" House asked the obviously terrified kid.
Jason walked in and took the report to him holding it out at arms length. House reached out to take the reports and glanced at them, "Why did you bring me these? We have a computer system to enter results."
"Susan told me to bring them to you personally," Jason answered.
House gave Jason an appraising look, "Where'd you go to school?"
"Here," Jason said.
"MT?"
"Yes and Chemistry; double major," Jason said.
"Med School?" House asked. Jason shrugged.
"Hmmph," House uttered. "Only morons don't know what they want. Figure it out." Jason continued to stand there, "Do I have to tell you when to leave? Maybe you're more of a moron than I thought."
Jason walked out the door and went back to the lab wondering what the point of that was, but Susan was right, it was just barking or maybe in this case just a growl. He could handle that if he needed to.
House watched Jason leave and head down the hall. Interesting, he thought to himself and went back to his reading.
Ten minutes later Susan walked in his office and sat down in front of his desk, "Did Jason bring by the reports?"
House picked them up for her to see, "Rather pointless exercise since the results were already posted in the computer system."
"Not pointless," Susan said. "Jason's bright and he has a lot of potential. He's going to be the one to do most of the testing for your patients. I wanted you to meet him."
"I saw him in your office the other day when he was complaining about the gloves," House replied.
"Seeing and meeting are two different things."
"Don't need anybody else doing my testing while you're around," House said.
"Well, I'm not always going to be able to stop what I'm doing and test your samples and Jason needs the experience. Don't worry, I'll be looking over his shoulder and I'm always there to help," Susan said.
House couldn't argue knowing that it was a losing battle. He'd settle for her close supervision of the tech. Switching gears, he looked closely at Susan noting her face was a little redder than normal which he knew was a side effect of her medication. She hadn't put on her make-up this morning to cover the rosacea in her face, "What do you take for your hypertension?"
Susan was a bit surprised by the change in topic, "Lisinopril and HCTZ; why?"
House pulled out his prescription pad, "I'm taking you off the Lisinopril," he said as he wrote out a prescription.
"Why? I'm very well controlled. I check my blood pressure on a regular basis to make sure," Susan said. "Besides, it's cheap."
House finished writing the script and handed it over to Susan, "Switch to this one," he said. "It's safer." Susan looked puzzled as she took the prescription from him. "Monitor your blood pressure every day and give me the readings at the end of next week. If we need to make any adjustments, we will. How are you feeling in general?"
"How am I feeling?" Susan was thoroughly confused by this line of conversation, "I'm fine."
"You're not nauseous or tired?" House asked.
"Well, I am tired, but it's been a crazy…." Susan trailed off as the wheels started turning in her head. "Lisinopril is a category D pharmaceutical….You think I'm pregnant!"
"I don't think; I know," he replied. "The real question is why you don't?"
"No reason to," Susan said still stunned by the revelation. "My cycle has been very irregular for the last six months and hot flashes are increasing in number and intensity; I've started menopause."
"No morning sickness?" House asked.
"No, but I wouldn't expect it. I never had morning sickness with Laura." Susan leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. She opened her eyes and House saw fear behind the intense blue, "I'm too old Greg," she nearly whispered. "What if something goes wrong?"
"You can always terminate," House said.
Susan's eyes flared, "Not an option," she said.
House smiled, "I figured you say as much. Well then that being the case, you'll deal."
"Who do you want me to see?" Susan asked.
"Anderson is the least idiotic," House said which really meant that he had a lot of respect for her. "And, she specializes in high risk pregnancies. I'll refer you and in the meantime go ahead and run the blood tests you need. You know what they are."
Susan nodded and got up to leave. As she opened the door she said, "Thanks for letting me know now and not letting me figure it out on my own. It might have been several more weeks and then the medication would have…." Her voice caught and she didn't finish the sentence and walked out the door.
Back in the lab Susan went to phlebotomy and pulled three vacutainers for the different tests she would have to run. Heather was sitting at the receiving station, "Heather, would you pull my blood for me? These don't have to be fasting tests."
"Sure," she said. Heather pulled Susan's blood and gave the tubes to Susan.
Susan decided to run these tests herself as she didn't want to advertise to the entire lab what was going on. One look at the test menu and it would be all over the entire lab in an instant. Susan took the tubes with her to her old lab when she was on House's team and started up the analyzer. She set it up to run QC for the tests she needed and then put her blood on the instrument and watched the results as they came off. There it was as big as day, she was pregnant. David would be happy, he was asking her about that a year before when he had proposed. She worried about how Phillip would handle it. He was so sensitive right now and he'd finally come to terms with her role in his life only that morning. How would he deal with someone else to take some of the attention away from him? The analyzer sounded completion and she went over to the computer system to finalize the results and sent them off to House. All of her blood work looked normal, she'd do a fasting glucose test in the morning, but it was clear with even a non-fasting sample that she wasn't diabetic.
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House walked in the room and went over to Phillip to examine him again. Phillip was remarkably improved and his ammonia levels had stabilized, "I'm releasing you tomorrow," he said.
Phillip smiled, "Good, I'm ready to get out of this bed."
"Figured as much," House said reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a box and handed it to Phillip.
"What's this?" Phillip asked.
"Exactly what it says it is; you can read can't you?"
Phillip gave him a look, "Yes I can read. Why are you giving me this?"
House shrugged, "I can always take it back if you don't want it," he said. "Well, have Wilson take it back anyway."
"No, don't take it back." Phillip said opening the box, "This is awesome." Phillip pulled out a new gaming system and smiled at House, "Thanks!"
House handed him some batteries and a used game. "I've already beat this one, but I doubt that you can."
"Wanna bet?" Phillip asked. "I bet I finish it in a week."
"OK, you're on. Finish it in a week and I'll teach to you play guitar," House said.
"And if I lose?" Phillip asked while he inserted the batteries in the game system.
House went silent while he thought about it, "Grunt work for a week," he finally said. "Need someone to clean my toilet and other nasty chores."
"You're on," Phillip said.
"Clock starts now," House walked out the door and Phillip started his game.
David watched the entire interchange in silence, his eyes going wide when House pulled out the game system. He was still staring out the door in disbelief when Susan walked in the door, "What's wrong?" she asked.
"House just walked in here, gave Phillip a new 3DS, offered to teach him to play guitar and then walked out," David said.
"If I beat this game in a week," Phillip added working himself through the first level of the game.
"Do you want to learn to play the guitar?" Susan asked.
"Yeah!" Phillip said enthusiastically.
"Is there any other instrument you'd like to learn?" Susan asked.
"Drums," Phillip said.
"So, why didn't you enroll in band at school?"
"Jerrod says band is for sissies," he answered still engrossed in his game.
"And where does Jerrod get this vast knowledge of music and musicians?" Susan asked. "Seems to me you rely on an awful lot of what Jerrod says, and not enough on your own."
Phillip paused his game and looked up at Susan, "I like Jerrod," he said.
"And that's fine; I'm just saying that you need to form your own opinions and not rely on Jerrod or anybody else to tell you what to think," Susan said. "If you want to learn to play drums, the best place to do that is at school in band. Take the class and then decide for yourself if you want to stay in it. It's your choice, not Jerrod's."
Phillip looked at Susan and then his dad, "OK," then turned back to his game.
David scooted over in the recliner and motioned for Susan to join him, "House said he's releasing Phillip tomorrow."
"Great," Susan said as she sat down.
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Foreman walked in to find House's feet sticking out from under his desk, "Ouch!"
"House, what are you doing?"
"Stabbing my finger," House said as he maneuvered out from under his desk with his finger in his mouth.
Foreman glared at him, "House."
"Fine," he said with exasperation, "don't get your panties in a wad; I'm connecting a security camera."
"Why?"
House turned on the monitor to his computer and punched a few buttons. The screen changed to an image of the supply closet in the lab, "We don't have a security camera there," Foreman said.
"We do now," House said.
"Where did you get it?"
"Nowhere special," House said.
"House!" Foreman said.
"OK! I took it from the security closet. It was in a box labeled 'broken'. I fixed it and now I'm watching the lab supply closet," House said.
"The lab isn't the only department that's missing supplies," Foreman said.
"Don't care," House said as he settled in to watch.
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"Are you getting hungry?" Susan asked David as Phillip was brought his tray.
"Yeah, I skipped lunch," David said.
"Me too," Susan said.
Phillip took the cover off of his food and turned up his face, "You can have mine," he said.
Susan looked at his tray. Making a face she said, "I'll be back." Susan left the room and headed down to the cafeteria where she picked up three 'to go' dinner plates and headed back to Phillip's room.
Half way through the lobby on her way to the elevator Susan nearly collided with the former director of the laboratory, "Oh, hi," she said. "Are you here visiting somebody?"
"Mind your own business," he said as he passed her and turned down the hallway.
Susan shrugged and made her way to the elevator, "Still a jerk," she said to herself as the door opened and she stepped inside.
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House was leaned back in his chair with his feet propped up on his desk tossing his ball on the wall above his computer monitor. Suddenly he stopped and leaned forward, "Hello," he said to the monitor. He got up and headed down to the laboratory.
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Susan walked in Phillip's room with the three dinner plates, "This ought to be better," she said handing one of the containers over to Phillip and then one to David.
Phillip opened his tray, "Oh yeah, much better," he said as he eyed the chocolate cake on the tray and took a bite.
Susan laughed, "Just make sure you eat the rest of your tray too."
She opened her tray and David eyed her meal, "So, we're all eating vegetarian."
"At least when we're together," Susan said. "It doesn't mean you can't go get a steak at lunch if you want, but when we eat at home as a family, we'll all eat the same thing."
"Sounds good to me," David said as he took a bite of his pasta salad.
Susan's pager went off. She pulled it off of her belt and looked at the message, "I guess I need to go to the lab."
"What's up?" David asked.
"I'm not sure, I'll be back." Susan put her tray down and walked out the door.
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Susan walked into her lab and found Jason at the analyzer and the rest of her evening crew busily working on their specimens, "Jason, do you know why I was paged to the lab?" Jason didn't say anything, but motioned to her office. Susan turned and went in her office where she found Abby sitting in the chair with Dr. Foreman and House standing to the side, "What's going on?" she asked.
"We found out how the supplies were missing," Foreman said gesturing over to Abby. "Turns out a card reader wouldn't have made any difference, but we're going to install them anyway."
Abby didn't say anything, but kept her eyes to the floor.
"Abby?" Susan said. "I don't understand; why would you take our supplies?" Abby remained silent.
"Black market," House said.
"There's a black market on latex gloves?" Susan asked incredulously.
"It wasn't a black market," Abby said. "It was for a clinic that couldn't get the supplies it needed."
"And so you decided to give them ours," Foreman said.
"I asked first, you said no," Abby said. "You said we couldn't afford it, but you seemed to have enough to afford to bring him back," she said as she pointed to House.
"That's no excuse," Susan said. "You didn't come to me; we probably could have worked something out. I understand your wanting to help the other clinic, but you don't solve their problems by stealing from others. I'm sorry Abby, but I have to let you go."
"You can't fire me, I need this job! What about my baby? How am I going to take care of her?" Abby cried.
"Someone from security will be here shortly to watch you gather your things and escort you out of the hospital," Susan said. She picked up the phone and called security.
Security arrived and escorted Abby out of the building. Foreman left House and Susan alone and House sat down, "You handled that well," he said.
"Sucks," Susan said.
"It gets easier," he said.
"For you maybe, never for me," Susan answered.
"Are you going to press charges?" House asked.
"That's up to Foreman, but I won't encourage him to. She's young, she made a mistake and chances are she'll never make that mistake again," Susan said.
"Have you told David yet?" House asked switching gears.
"Not yet. We haven't had any time alone," Susan answered.
"You have an appointment with Anderson on Monday at 8:00," House said. Susan nodded and House got up.
"Greg?" House turned around, "I won't replace her." House nodded in understanding and went on his way.
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When Susan arrived back in Phillip's room, David was watching a baseball game and Phillip was still focused on his game. Susan moved one of the visitor's chairs over next to the recliner where David was sitting and sat down. David reached his hand out and Susan took it, "So what was going on at the lab?" he asked.
"Greg caught the person pilfering the supplies. It was one of my own employees, so I had to fire her," Susan said.
"You fired somebody? That is so cool," Phillip said.
"No Phillip, it isn't cool. She's a single mom of a preschool age little girl and now she doesn't have a job to support her," Susan explained. "It broke my heart to let her go, but she stole from the hospital and she has to face the consequences."
"Are you OK?" David asked.
"I'm fine."
"You don't seem fine."
"I have a lot on my mind, but really I'm OK," Susan said. "It's probably time for you to get moving if you're going to make it to the grocery store before they close."
"Kicking me out?" David teased.
"Absolutely," Susan teased back.
"Alright," David said as he got up out of the chair. He went over to Phillip, "I'll be back in the morning." He ruffled his son's hair. "I love you, sleep well."
"I'll walk with you to the elevator," Susan said.
David held her hand as they walked down the hall, "Are you sure you're OK?" David asked.
"We do need to talk, but not here," Susan said. "Really, I promise I'm fine," she added when she saw the look on his face.
They stopped in front of the elevator and David turned to Susan, "Susan, we don't keep secrets from each other. If something is wrong I want to know and the sooner the better."
"Nothing is wrong David; please trust me," Susan said.
David looked long into her eyes, "OK," he said. He leaned down to kiss her, "Tomorrow then."
Susan nodded, "Tomorrow." The elevator door opened and David stepped inside. "I love you," Susan said as the door closed.
David smiled at her and after the door closed in front of him, his face sobered. He was worried about her, but she said she was fine. Something was clearly bothering her, but she asked him to trust her. She was his wife, he had to trust her. If she said she was OK, then she was OK. He pulled the list of grocery items out of his pocket and read them over. He wasn't sure what some of the items were, but he would head over to that health food store if he couldn't find what he needed at their regular grocery store.
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"Beat the game yet?" House asked when he walked in Phillip's room.
"I'm on level five," Phillip answered never taking his eyes off of the game.
House lifted his eyebrow in surprise. It'd taken him two days to get up to level five, but he wasn't about to let Phillip know. "Get's a lot harder from here, you'll never make it. Next week you'll be cleaning my toilets."
"Fat chance, next week you'll be teaching me guitar," Phillip replied.
Susan had looked up from her laptop when House walked in the door and watched the exchange. She smiled to herself when she saw Greg's reaction. She guessed she'd better start looking for a beginner's guitar. She saved and closed the document she was working on for Dr. Foreman and pulled up the internet. Fortunately as a director, she was exempt from the web filtering software the hospital had in place to keep employees from browsing the internet for un-work-related topics and she was able to search anywhere she wanted. She motioned to House and he walked over to where she was and sat in the chair next to her to see what she was doing. She did a Google search for acoustic guitars when resulted in a long list of retailers. House pointed to the third retailer on the list and she clicked the link. Once at the site she browsed to the guitars appropriate for beginners. There were several brands and she put the pointer over to Yamaha and looked over at Greg. He nodded and she clicked to open the page of Yamaha beginner guitars. She was surprised at the range of sizes for the instrument. Greg looked over at Phillip and then back down at the webpage and pointed to one of the guitars. Susan clicked on that instrument and pulled up the information. It wasn't as expensive as she thought it would be, though she supposed she'd have to upgrade to a better guitar if he stuck with it. She hoped he would as music was both a source of enjoyment for her and a method of relaxation. She could play piano, though she wasn't nearly as good as Greg and Laura, and she had played the trumpet in band. She also enjoyed singing in the choir at church and when the piece the choir was working on called for an alto ranged solo, she was often asked to do that. Music had always been a part of her life and she hoped that it would be something she and Phillip could share as their relationship grew. Susan selected the guitar and then Greg took the laptop from her. He filled out her order with the accessories they would need: strings, picks, a beginner's book, a chord chart and a tuning pitch pipe. He handed the laptop back to her as Susan pulled her credit card out of her purse, "Not electronic?" she asked as she pointed to the tuner.
"Needs to learn to hear," House replied shaking his head.
"Learn to hear what?" Phillip asked, his eyes still fully focused on the game.
"The swooshing sound of my toilet," House replied.
"No way," Phillip said. "I just hit level six."
"I think it's time to put it away for the night," Susan said as she put away her credit card. "You've been playing that thing nonstop since you got it."
"I stopped when we ate," Phillip said.
"And then you picked it right back up again. Put it away," Susan said.
Phillip rolled his eyes, "Fine," and he turned it off. He lowered his bed and pulled the covers up higher. "Dr. House?"
"What?"
"When can we take out this thing?" Phillip said pointing down.
"We can do that now," he said. "I'll call your nurse."
Phillip's eyes grew wide, "But she's a girl!"
"Most of them are around here," he answered and then got an exasperated look on his face, "Fine, I'll do it."
Susan was doing her best not to laugh, "I'll step outside for a moment."
Several moments passed and then House walked out of Phillip's room, "The dietician will be here in the morning to go over his new diet, then you can take him home."
Susan reached out and touched his hand, "Thank you Greg." House nodded and walked away.
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David walked in the house and took the bags to the kitchen. He put the items away and then went back out on the porch to get the mail. He started sorting through: bill, bill, junk mail, he stopped at a letter addressed to Gregory House, department of corrections with 'return to sender' stamped on it. He took it to Susan's desk in the room they used for their office and set it on her desk and put the remainder of the bills on his desk. He started to leave the room and then thought of something and went back to her desk. He opened the top drawer. In the drawer were all the letters she had written to House over the last year. They were bound together with a rubber band. David took them out and thought for a minute. He took off the rubber band and added the most recent letter to the back of the stack and put the rubber band back around it. He took the stack with him, grabbed his keys and went back out to his car.
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David heard the piano as he walked up the steps to the apartment complex. He went inside and knocked on House's door. The playing stopped abruptly and soon David heard the step tap sound of House walking to his door. The door opened and House looked inquisitively at David and stepped away from the door allowing David to come inside. House sat down on the sofa, and looked over at David, "Well?"
"I brought you something," David said. "I didn't know if you wanted them, but I know Susan would rest easier if you had them."
"Okay," House said not understanding what David was talking about.
"You know, she worries about you," David said.
"Yeah," House repeated.
"She doesn't eat when she worries," David said.
House nodded.
"I just want to make sure you're not going to do anything crazy," David said.
"Like?" House asked.
"Like do something stupid that throws you back in jail or puts your life in danger," David said. "I can see the difference in her since you've come home. She's relieved."
"I think you're kid coming through to her did most of that," House said.
"That's only part of it, well a big part of it, but not all," David said. "You're home and you're communicating with her and that means a lot to her. It broke her heart every time one of her letters to you was returned. She never said anything, but each time she was obviously disappointed and it would take a couple of weeks before she was back to her normal self. I finally convinced her to quit waiting on you and to go ahead and marry me without you present and I asked her not to write you anymore. She obviously didn't listen to me on that because her last letter was returned to us today. It's not that I didn't want her to write you, I just didn't want to see her get hurt again."
"I've already explained to her why I didn't accept her letters," House said.
"I know and she told me and I appreciate that more than you know, but at the same time you didn't see what it did to her," David said. He put in hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out the bundle of letters and handed them over to House. "Just promise me you won't do anything crazy."
"I don't want to go back to jail and I am following the rules," House said. "But I can't promise that I'll stay out of trouble forever."
"I guess that's all I can ask," David said.
David started to leave, "No honeymoon?" House asked.
David turned back, "I plan on it, we just can't right now. Phillip is in school and when I started seeing Susan, my folks finally felt like they could start traveling since there was someone else to help watch Phillip on a moment's notice. When they come home and he has a place to stay for a few days, I'll take her someplace special." David explained.
House nodded, "Sooner's better than later."
David looked toward House waiting for more information and when none was forthcoming, he left. House set the letters down on the coffee table and returned to his piano.
A couple of hours later House got up from the piano bench and started toward his room. About half way there, he stopped, turned around and went to the table and grabbed the letters and took them with him.
MDMDMDMDMD
"Do you think it would be OK if I called Dr. House 'Uncle Greg' like Laura does or even Uncle House?" Phillip asked.
"You'd have to ask him, or better yet just try it out sometime when you're alone with him and see how he reacts," Susan said. "I think it'll probably be OK as long as you don't do it in front of people at work. He's kind of funny that way. You know, I never refer to him as Greg while we're at work unless we're alone. At work, he's always Dr. House."
"Why?" Phillip asked.
"Respect," Susan answered. "He worked for that title and he deserves to be acknowledged by it. Plus, it's just more professional."
"Do you think he really wants to teach me guitar?"
"I think he does, but you have to earn it first," Susan said. "The only thing I can't figure out is how he knew you wanted to play guitar. Not even your dad knew that."
Phillip turned a little red, "He saw me," he said sheepishly.
"What do you mean?"
"Last night after dad fell asleep, he came in while I was watching this band on the TV. There was this really cool guitar player and I was playing air guitar. I didn't see him standing there until the song was over," Phillip explained.
"Did he say anything after you realized he was there?"
"No, he just got this funny look on his face and left," Phillip said. "I was kinda embarrassed." Phillip said as he yawned.
"Must be time to go to sleep," Susan said with a smile.
"No, I can stay up longer," Phillip said obviously fighting sleep.
Susan laughed, "Lower your bed down Phillip. There's no reason to stay up any later." She got up and went over to the wall to turn off the lights, closed the blinds and then went back to the recliner. Phillip lowered the bed and turned over on his side facing Susan. Susan leaned back in the recliner and closed her eyes.
Lights dimmed in the hallway as the hospital prepared for the night. Phillip's monitoring equipment had been disconnected, so the only sounds were coming from outside the room. A few mumbles here and there as the staff walked the hallway checking on patients and a clatter down the hall when somebody dropped a chart. Susan had almost drifted off to sleep, "Mom?"
"Yes Phillip?"
"I love you."
Susan smiled to herself and a silent tear made its way down her face, "I love you too son."