Chapter 30

Judgment Day

I had my first grilling by the officials eight weeks into my 'captivity'. I was taken downtown to what I assume was their version of the FBI and interrogated for just an hour before everyone smiled at me and let me go back to my hotel. I felt more like I had been asked to tea than interrogated. It was absolutely bizarre.

A day later, the Ambassador looked glum as he approached me. I sat next to the pool nursing my third margarita of the day, a task I had managed to perfect over the last two months. He took off his sun glasses and sat down next to my lounge chair. Rodrigo Chavez was in his late forties although he looked younger. At some point you could tell he was a handsome man, but too many burritos and cervezas and he was now a pudgy guy whose pants didn't fit.

"I have bad news for you Dr. Doyle."

My heart skipped and I felt a bead of sweat break out on my forehead. "They're going to charge me?"

"Oh, no. Didn't you get my message?"

"What message?" I looked around.

"I left you a message that they have cleared you, but we can't get you a flight to California until tomorrow."

"But just three weeks ago they found that he died under suspicious circumstances. What were the suspicious circumstances? Did they tell you?"

"They didn't want to come clean. But after Jack Friday suspended all deliveries of steel to Asuncion, they told me in secret that something the President was given or ate contained nightshade and triggered the initial heart attack. They also told me that you could leave, but they wanted you out as quickly and quietly as possible."

"Oh, wow. That is scary. Can you get me on a flight to Philadelphia or New York today?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, it's late, but let me make a call." He stepped away from the table and walked over to a chair under a large fern that shaded him from the late afternoon heat.

Fifteen minutes later he was rushing back to the table.

"Get your things! There's a plane leaving in an hour, we've got you on it. You'll be flying into Newark, New Jersey. Is that close enough to Princeton? I assume you're going after your son."

"You assume right and Newark will do. I'll rent a car."

I hustled up to my room, packed, peed and grabbed my bag. When we reached the airport, everyone was already on the flight ready to go and the plane was waiting for me. The embassy had managed to sneak me out of the hotel and onto the plane without the press getting wind of it. I had only kept the other passengers waiting five minutes, so no one was really upset. In Latin America, a five minute delay means you're early. We took off and landed in Dallas before the next leg took us to Atlanta and the last leg to Newark. After renting a Prius I took off in a south-west direction, arriving in Princeton fourteen hours after leaving Paraguay. I hadn't slept on the plane; I was too excited about seeing Brennon.

I still didn't have a cell phone. Some bureaucrat in Paraguay probably had it and was enjoying a new 3S iPhone. It put me at a disadvantage. I didn't know who had Brennon-- Susan or Greg. I suspected it would be Susan since Greg was a kidophobe. It was eight in the morning and I thought I might be able to catch Susan at home before she went to work. When I parked, I looked up to the penthouse and butterflies filled my stomach. I prayed that my little boy was upstairs.

I knocked on her door and yelled, "Susan, let me in!"

But there was no sound from inside. She'd obviously already gone into work. I decided that it would be easier to run by PPTH than to check Greg's apartment across town. I arrived at PPTH and ran inside to the daycare, but Brennon wasn't there. I took the elevator to Susan's office and discovered that she was out of the office for a couple of hours at a free seminar on new developments in oncology. There were a lot of hugs from the staff and whoops of joy when my former surgical nurse saw me. We both started crying.

"Have you seen Brennon?" Nancy asked.

"I'm trying to find him."

"Oh, I know I saw him this morning. Susan brought him in so he's either in daycare or with his Dad. And what's up with that? You slept with Greg House? Ewwww."

I laughed. "You wouldn't be saying that if you'd been the one who slept with him."

"That good?"

"Oh, yeah. Is Greg's office still on the fourth floor?"

"Yes."

"I've got to go…I'll check back with you later."

"It's so good to have you home."

"Thanks." I gave her a goodbye hug and ran down the stairs. Inside Greg's office looked like a nursery. There were baby toys everywhere and a portable playpen. I was flabbergasted. There was no doubt from his office that he was an active Dad. But neither Dad nor baby were in the room, but a diaper bag fresh with a banana was. Brennon was in the building.

I laughed and took off, searching floor by floor for Brennon until I reached the third floor and saw Greg, his back to me, with Brennon by the hand. My baby was walking!

"Brennon!" I screamed and everyone within earshot stopped and looked.

Greg whirled around as Brennon turned at the sound of my voice. I started running just as Bren began his Charlie Chaplin run towards me, giggling and squealing. I was already sobbing by the time his little body made impact with my arms. Up he went and the kisses began. I alternated between hugging and kissing and hugging and kissing. It must have been too much; I must have frightened him because his face wrinkled up and he began to whimper.

House crossed the floor so quickly I thought he no longer had a limp. He stood in front of me, just staring as if I were a ghost…no, more like a zombie. I thought he was going to start yelling at me about Brennon. He was so confused, he didn't know what to do. First he made a move towards me, then to Brennon and then he just threw his arms around both of us.

He whispered in my ear. "This baby isn't going back to California."

My whole body tensed. Eyes wide, I looked into his. "What do you mean?"

"I've already petitioned for custody."

"You won't get it. I'm a good mother." I said defensively, now feeling frightened.

His face relaxed. "I know you're a good mother. That's why you're moving back to Princeton and we're going to raise the little bastard together."

I looked at him and saw that it was Greg being Greg. Manipulation at its finest. Go for the jugular right off the bat to throw you off. Well he did throw me off, but I could also see something behind his eyes, his fear that I'd say no-- his fear that his tactics weren't going to work. Sometimes Greg's approach was horrid. This was the one time that he should have used honey instead of vinegar.

I gripped Brennon tightly in my arms. "You don't scare me. No judge will take my baby away from me. You may get partial custody, but he'll live in California if that's where I live." Looking up into his eyes, I could see how tired he was, the exhaustion that comes with living with a baby and trying to work. "You look tired."

All pretense collapsed. "I need help. He's a handful."

"Where's Susan?"

"Playing house with Paul." He frowned. "She helps, but I figure he's mine and the lion's share of the work should be mine too. "

I kissed Bren's head again. "What do you think of him?"

"Well if you were thinking of getting me something for my birthday, this wasn't exactly what I was imagining. I'd rather have a Kindle."

"Gregggg." My voice warned him not to kid about a thing like this.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to tell you that this isn't what I expected, but he's here, he's mine and I want to see where this goes."

"This?"

"My relationship with my son, he…he amuses me."

I eyed him over, looking for some weakness, a false move, but there wasn't one. The look on his face told me that he wasn't doing this to be devious; he was serious about wanting his son.

"I'm a little shocked. I didn't think you'd want anything to do with Bren and me once you knew about him."

"I have to admit, after a few nights of poop, vomit and lack of sleep, I had some real doubts about this. I thought about giving him back, I knew I could walk away; Susan was willing to take him. But, he and I share something…maybe it's just DNA, but it feels like we know each other. Hell, I don't understand it." He paused, taking a deep breath he looked down at the floor. "Don't take him back to California, stay here, with me."

I ignored the issue. I just wasn't ready to think about it. "Susan must hate me now."

"She's not happy, but she still loves you. Hell, I'm not happy with you. But Susan really loves Brennon."

I wrinkled my forehead and shook my head in disbelief. "I know, how weird is that? So will she be glad to see me?"

He was still standing with his arms around Bren and me. I could see the staff staring in awe at the sight of Gregory House showing affection to a woman. "It's going to be like the mother whose child runs out into traffic. First she'll hug and kiss you and then she'll beat the shit out of you."

"Oh, great."

"Well what do you expect? We screwed around on her and had a kid—a constant reminder that we did the deed."

"He's beautiful isn't he?"

"I take it back, you're a crappy mother…he's handsome, not beautiful."

"If we don't move to your office, I think all of PPTH is going to be up here gawking at us."

He looked around and saw a crowd forming. "You have a point."

As we walked through the corridors, people had their cell phones out and were taking pictures, several which showed up on the evening news. Those who knew me stopped me to hug or welcome me home.

Wilson pushed through and gave me a great big hug, whispering in my ear, "You'd be proud of House. He's really stepped up to the plate. Brennon and House really get along."

"I can tell. Bren seems very happy.

They entered the office where I finally put Bren down and watched as he waddled around, picking up things and bringing them to her. "I can't believe he learned to walk while I was gone."

"Sorry. He walked for both Susan and me at the same time."

The phone rang.

"House." There was a pause. "She's up here. Yeah…yeah." He looked at the receiver as if they had hung up. He put the phone down and looked at me. "Susan…better prepare."

My heart started fluttering. I wanted desperately to see her, but not to confront her over the infidelity. I had very little time to prepare because she burst through the office door in less than two minutes. I stood and she grabbed me, crying her eyes out.

"Oh, God. I've been so worried, so worried!" She stepped back to look at me, smiled and then the smile dropped and she slapped me hard across my face. "You bitch!"

My hand flew up to my stinging cheek. "Owww! That hurt."

"Yeah, well try finding out your best friend slept with your boyfriend."

"Okay, that hurt even more. Susan, I tried so hard to get away before—"

"Oh, just shut up. There's no excuse for what you did. You two should have come to me like adults and told me that you had feelings for each other."

House and Finley looked each other and burst out laughing. "Susan, up until the day we slept together, I thought Greg hated me. That's the truth."

Susan looked at the two of them. "That makes you even more pathetic. Have you gotten your act together?"

"I've only been here ten minutes and most of that was saying hello to everyone."

"So you don't know if you're going to move back to Princeton?"

I flinched. "Me? Move to Princeton again?"

Narrowing her eyes, Susan set her jaw. "Yeah, back to whether Brennon's godmother and father are. Now that he's been in our custody, we're not giving him up without a fight."

House stood behind Susan and gleefully nodded.

"I have a contract in California!" I moaned.

"After this? They'll be lucky that you don't sue them back to the stone-age." Susan said.

"You think they'll let me out of my contract?"

"Explain to them that they can let you out of your contract or talk to your attorney about their negligence in sending you down there. They'll get the drift."

"But cold weather?" I moaned as Brennon stuck out his arms for Susan.

Picking him up, she grinned. "You owe me this. Suck it up and move back to your loft."

I hadn't been able to dump my loft. It had been on the market for four months with only a few nibbles. My realtor wanted me to sell it for fifty thousand below what I bought it. But, it didn't make sense; my renters paid more than the mortgage and property taxes. So the rent bought the loft in my absence,. And things were looking up the real estate market had started to rebound.

"Susan, are you sure? Are you really able to forgive what I did?"

She rolled her eyes. "Uh, let's not forget you didn't do it alone. The guy with the quick zipper had a role in this. I know you tried and I have to admit that if you'd come home a month ago, I wouldn't have been so forgiving. But the longer you were gone and the more I thought of you spending the rest of your life in a Paraguayan prison, the less important this seemed to be. Besides, I'm getting married. Paul asked me to marry him and I said yes."

I grabbed my chest. "Oh, oh! You're getting married again?"

"Yeah, once I realized that Greg loves you and not me, it made me come to my senses. Paul has been very patient with me and I have to admit, I think I was just holding onto Greg to keep myself from committing to Paul. I was scared to commit. After all, I was committed to my last husband and look where that got me."

I didn't dare remind her that she occasionally committed adultery which didn't help. But I kept my mouth shut. I was grateful that, not only was she going to forgive me, but she was going to marry Paul.

"So, you don't mind Greg and I being together?"

"I'm praying that you let Brennon live with his father although the idea of Greg raising a child makes me pray too."

I hugged her. We stood clinging to each other, grateful to have each other in our lives.

"So, Greg, the ball is in your court." Susan said, turning to give him the evil eye. "You took advantage of a vulnerable woman and she's been raising your bastard child for a year now…okay, a year next week…are you going to step up and make this a family?"

House started backing up. "I want them to live with me."

"That isn't going to cut it. This boy needs a father who's willing to put it all on the line. Will you marry them?"

House recoiled. "Can we try living together first?"

I nodded in support of Greg. "I think we should try being a family first before we start walking down aisles."

Susan shrugged. "I would have thought you'd both want more for your son. Look at those big blue eyes."

We all looked down at Brennon who stopped and stared back, obviously uncomfortable that the adults were quiet and fixated on him. He looked from adult to adult, wondering what he was doing wrong. But, Susan was right. I loved Greg and if I was going to move Brennon across country to be with his father, then his father had to be in it 100%.

I looked over at Greg. "Will you marry me?"

He rolled his eyes and fell back into his chair. "So, you're going to bust my chops?"

"You want me to dismantle our lives for you, now you man up and commit to us or forget it."

"That's unfair!"

"No, Greg, that's life. If you want fair, go to Coney Island."

Greg looked down at Brennon and then back to me. "If that's what it takes to keep you both with me. I'll marry you."

I put my fists on my hips and frowned at him. "Wow, that was romantic. Forget it, it was a bad idea."

Greg's face went from resignation to alarm. "But, if we don't get married you're not going to move back here, are you?"

His obvious reticence hit me and made me realize that bribing him to marry me wasn't a great way to start a marriage. I shrugged. "I think you and I can work out a visitation schedule. I promise that you can see him as often as possible and when he's older he can spend weeks with you during summer and school breaks."

It was dawning on him that I was going to take Brennon home with me to California. Not only was he becoming antsy, but he had a look of apprehension. "Just move here." His voice was controlled, monotone so that he didn't give away what he was feeling. I felt sorry for him. He was quite perplexed.

"Greg, I'm not trying to punish you, but you're right, bribing you to marry me is a lousy thing to do. I'm going home. You come and see us and we'll go from there. I promise that you'll have as much access to Brennon as possible. You need to be a part of his life;I can see that now. I'm absolutely beat. Susan, I have no furniture in the loft, can I stay with you?"

Jumping up, Greg put up his hand. "Whoa, he's staying with me…so that means you're staying with me."

I smiled. "I just wasn't sure if you'd want us."

His face collapsed. "I do want you. I want you here in Princeton."

"Again, I'm tired. I want to table this discussion until I've slept. If I'm going to sleep at your place, I need to turn my rental car in and take a cab to your place. I'll need your key. I'll leave Brennon with you--I need sleep."

With no hesitation, I had the key and after running my errands, I managed to crawl into the unmade bed around noon. The smell on the pillow was all Greg. It triggered some primal response in me, a need I hadn't let myself feel for a long time. For some reason, I felt safe in that bed. I slept until four, getting up and going out to the living room to wait for Greg and Brennon to get home. Around four-thirty, I heard a fumbling at the door as it opened. He had a couple of bags in his left hand as he carried a diaper bag over one shoulder, Brennon under the other arm and his cane in his right hand. It was quite a feat for a disabled man.

"I come bearing Thai…Brennon's favorite." He said, holding up the bags after putting Brennon down.

Brennon came over to me and crawled up to say something which for a minute sounded like gibberish, but then I realized there were some real words, like 'dog' as he held up a stuff animal for me. I smiled to him as I asked, "Thai is his favorite?"

"He loves coconut. Loves it."

I sat and listened to my son talk. He knew Daddy, eat, drink, dog, cat, bed, bath, etc. In just two months his vocabulary had exploded and I wasn't there to hear it. It was killing me. After dinner we played with Brennon while I told Greg about my captivity. Around eight, Brennon went to sleep and House sat in the corner of the sofa, about two feet from me. His long arm reached over, scooped me up and brought me to that sturdy chest of his. The smell of him was enough to make every ounce of me ache for him.

"I missed you." I told him.

"You had me worried. I thought I was going to have hire the 'A Team' to come get you. How much do you think one of those Mr. T necklaces would have put me back?"

"It was always a given that they would let me go. At least that's what the Ambassador kept telling me on a weekly basis."

"Why didn't you tell me about Bren?"

"Because you made it clear how you felt about kids."

He grimaced. "Christ, there's kids and then there's your own kid. Yeah, I'm not that enthusiastic about being a Dad. I have doubts about how good I'll be. But, I am his Dad. Someone has to teach him how to surf for porn and judge a good single malt. You're lousy at it."

I chuckled. "Oh, Greg. We're screwed, aren't we? You can't even tell me you love me; you don't really want to be a father but are doing it by default, and I'm lonely. I want someone in my life that I can share it with. Not only are we emotionally challenged, we're geographically challenged."

"Bull. All of this could be solved by you moving back here."

"Why me? Why not you?"

He rolled his eyes. "You know why. My reputation in California is even worse than on the east coast. I'd never work."

"Not true. You could work as a consultant…people would fly you to your patients…you'd make more money."

"I need a team. I have to have people to bounce my theories off of."

I was silent. Wilson had told me this before and Greg was just confirming it. Not wanting to admit it, I realized that Princeton had to be where we lived if we all wanted to be together. But, I didn't want to give up California and my position as head of cardiology without know if Greg was going to tire of being a father and dump us.

Greg slid down a little so that we were almost level with each other. His leg slid over my thigh as his hand went up the back of my shirt. He undid my bra and started to fondle my breast, pinching my nipple and then rubbing it. "They're bigger than before."

"They've been rode hard and put away for six months. Bren was really big on breast milk." I could feel his erection nudging my thigh causing every nerve ending in my groin to ache for him. "Your friend wants to play."

"Yeah, he does. Want to take this back to the bedroom?"

"But Bren is back there!"

"He's one year old, he's not going to remember Mom and Dad playing hide the sausage."

"Let's just stay here."

"Birth control?"

"Not unless a daily dose of margaritas count."

House sighed and got up off the couch, making his way back to his bedroom. I heard a drawer open and shut and heard him making his way out to the living room. In the meantime, I had stripped everything off my body except my bikini panties. I struck a pose and waited.

"Holy moley! Damn, you look good. More curves, but in a good way. I don't know if I'm just really horny or you're just really hot, but I'm glad I brought three rubbers with me."

"Three?"

"And say hello to my little friend." He held up a little blue pill.

"Viagra? Greg, judging from the bulge, you don't need Viagra."

"Not yet, but I don't think we'll get through three rubbers without it."

"And we're trying for three?"

"I am. I don't about you."

"Get your pants off now." I said.

He dropped his pants and a glistening pink penis peeked out from the slit in his boxers. I pulled the boxers off and since my mouth was the perfect height, I slipped it as far over the erection as I could without gagging.

"Ahhh…" He closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly back while putting his hands gently on my head. He tasted salty and the semen on the head of his penis felt slippery on my tongue. I put my hand at the base of his penis and as I started to bob up and down, I pumped with my hand until I could feel his whole body tense. I knew if I didn't stop he was going to come in my mouth. I think he would have enjoyed it, but I wanted his thick throbbing organ between my thighs. I backed off a little and stroked his balls before reclining back on the leather sofa.

Greg grabbed his shirt and motioned for me to put it under my butt. Laughing at his act of domesticity, I pulled off my panties and sat my butt on the shirt. He grabbed a condom and ripped it open, stepping over to my end of the couch he handed me the rubber.

"You want me to do the favors?" I grinned as I began to unroll the condom along the deep blue vein that throbbed along his staff.

He held it in his hand and admired it before crawling between my legs. Just the feel of his warm skin brushing against the inside of my thighs made me wet for him. He pushed himself up with his arms to adjust himself to our position on the sofa. Staring up, I was struck by how handsome he was, even at fifty-two. The hair was thinning on top, the lines were deeper, but any woman would be proud to show him off.

"Admiring my physique?"

I chuckled. "As a matter of fact, I was. I was just thinking how much I want that erection you're holding inside of me."

"Oh, I think I can accommodate you."

He placed his penis at the sensitive mouth of my opening and pushed slowly inside until only the head was inside. He leaned in and kissed me, his tongue mimicking his dick. His hands tickled their way up from my hips to my breasts where he pushed them and cuddled them and then sucked them both, his tongue encircling my nipple until I thought I would squeal.

"Oh, God, Greg, fuck me. Fuck me hard."

It must have been my words because he moaned and then pushed up deep inside of me until I felt him at the top. Slowly pulling back , he did it again and again. Slow and then fast, slow and then hard.

"Yes, yes, yes. Faster, harder, faster."

He pulled a pillow from under my head and put it under the shirt, pushing my butt up to give him leverage. Then he repositioned himself and started to slide in and out, the wetness making a sucking sound. The sound of his balls and groin hitting against me as he pounded inside of me was so hot, I started thrusting up to take all of him inside of me. There was a sheen of sweat forming between us. I'm not sure who was grunting or moaning louder but I'm sure we must have sounded like animals fucking.

"You're tight and wet, my two favorite things. I'm going to fuck you back to Sunday." He whispered.

I hadn't expected it, but when he said that, I started coming like a fast approaching train. I screamed out so loud that I think I surprised him. "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me. I'm coming. Oh, God, faster, faster."

He obliged by speeding up, his face scrunched up as he expended all the energy he had in keeping my orgasm rolling. I thought I was dying it was so intense. It was radiating not just from my clitoris, but my vagina too. I'd never had a vaginal orgasm, but I could feel rolling waves of pleasure with every contraction around his hard organ.

He stopped; his mouth opening but no sound coming out. Eyes clenched together, Greg let go with three or four short strokes and then he let out the sound of a wounded lion, roaring as he picked up speed. He stopped, thrust twice and then collapsed.

He swallowed hard. "My heart was racing and I missed a few beats."

"Angina? I asked, worried that I may have caused stress induced arrhythmia . "Are you okay?"

"I'm fucking marvelous." He pushed off and slid down to the end of my feet, sitting but leaning towards me. Taking his index finger he gently ran it down my cleft. "You don't shave?"

"Au natural."

"Susan—"

I held up a hand. "No, Greg, no discussion about Susan's sexual prowess or genitals."

He stopped and nodded. "Sorry, you're right. I was just going to say that I like it au natural, especially right now." He put his hand on my pubis and his fingers through my hair.

I looked down at his wilted willy and the rubber that hung off it like a tired balloon. "Jesus, you shot your wad."

He looked down, there was a good inch of semen in the tip. Grinning like he just won the lotto he wiggled his eyebrows. "Sorry, I know you wanted this inside you. I know how much you like my babies."

"Believe me, one is enough. Seriously, that's a lot of little men."

"Yeah, it's been awhile since they've tangoed." He got up and walked towards the bathroom to dispose of the rubber. I stood up, grabbed the slightly damp shirt and followed him.

Throwing the shirt in the hamper, I put my arms around him and leaned my head on his back. He turned in my arms and hugged me back, stroking my hair and kissing the crown of my head.

Then he stopped and waited until I was completely still, he said quietly, "I'll quit. I'll move to San Diego and we'll get married."

I felt the blood leave my head. Sitting down on the toilet lid, I soon discovered my mouth was open.

"I don't want to live without you." He continued.

"Greg, are you sure? What about your job?"

He nodded. "I'll figure something out."