Ok, this is a cute chapter that ends harshly…but I must forewarn you awesome readers...because it seems the LITTLEST things tend to set people off and I don't want to do that.

House 'pushes—more like kinda 'hits' Gregory; but more like just 'pushes' BUT HE ISN'T HURT!!! OK!

lol sorry, I just had to say that. Another site is HARSH with their offendedness-ness!!!

CHAPTER FIVE

House turned to face Wilson and waited for him to tell him what was going on with him and Debra. After a few moments of silence, Wilson sighed heavily and turned to look at House.

"Has she…do you know if she...gets high?"

House furled his eyebrows because he assumed Debra had quit smoking pot during her pregnancy and even after she'd given birth; he definitely knew she had quit smoking cigarettes. House told him she had gotten high before, when he was in Michigan then relayed his thoughts to his best friend, asking why he wanted to know.

Wilson hesitated a second before he said, "Because she's doing it again."

"How do you know? Are you sure it's pot and not…"

"Oh, no. It's pot. I picked up on it about a month ago. She'd gone to the grocery store and when she came back I smelled it in her hair and clothes…I've smelled it twice since then."

"Was the baby with her?!" he asked, very alarmed.

"No, no. Gregory was with me; I never smelled it on her before then and I don't think she'd ever get high when he was around her. I didn't say anything but I know I should have. But you're right; we have been a little distant with each other lately. We haven't made love since the baby came." Wilson turned and stared out over the balcony at the grounds of PPTH.

"First of all, it's having sex – there's no such thing as making love…" House started to say.

"No, House. For you it's having sex…oh, I don't want to get into this right now."

House looked at him very concerned and asked, "Do you want me to talk to her? Is that why you said I should talk to her?"

Wilson was torn: he didn't want House to talk to her because he didn't want to know why she felt the need to escape by smoking pot. He was afraid it was him; after all, Debra was his fourth wife. Two more wives and he'd be the American version of King Henry the Eighth, except he didn't have anyone beheaded.

"Could you? I mean, would you? And be a little tactful at it?"

"Oh, please! Tact is my middle name!" House said jokingly, which actually got a little smile from Wilson. "Hey, not a problem."

HOUSE MD HOUSE MD HOUSE MD

"Honey, can you get that?" Debra hollered out from Gregory's bedroom. She was in the middle of changing his diaper and getting his pj's on for the night.

Wilson walked to the door and let House in.

"Hey, what's for dinner?" he asked as he limped into the living room and stood beside the couch, leaning against the arm and twirling his cane.

"I don't know, House. It depends on what you order on the menu," Wilson answered as he closed the door and walked towards House and said quietly, "Okay, you know what to say, what not to say, and how to say it, right?"

Before House invited just Debra to dinner that Sunday night, he and Wilson discussed what House had planned on saying, which did little to comfort Wilson with his concerns.

"Yes, sir, Master James. I am your humble servant for the evening and you can do with me what you…"

"Hey, Greg!" Debra stopped suddenly and frowned as she walked into the room with Gregory in her arms and caught the last few words of the conversation. "Uh, honey? If you and Greg want to be alone, I can take the baby out…" she said seriously but a corner of her lip rose slightly in a smile.

"No…no…no…" Wilson stuttered as House said, "Wilson, we're busted!"

She laughed with Wilson and House smiled as Debra handed Gregory to his daddy and told House she was ready to leave. As Wilson was just shutting the door behind the cousins, he mouthed to House, 'tact!'

Debra talked about looking for a nanny on the drive to the restaurant. House told her they had a day care center at the hospital and she should check it out. She said she might inquire about it because she really needed to get out of the house as soon as she could; being cooped up at home after six months raising a child had finally started to take its toll on her and she needed a change.

Debra turned her body to lean against the door, faced House and asked, "So, what did I do to bestow the honor of your presence two days in a row?"

House looked at her and grinned; he loved her sense of humor. She was a lot like him in that department – she had a very quick, dry wit but on the flip side could cut down the strongest of men with just one word and a glance.

"Nothing, really. Wilson just gave me $80 to take you out and I didn't argue with him."

She tilted her head up then looked back out the window. "I don't believe you," she said softly.

"Well, it's true," House answered.

"No, it's not. What's the real reason you're taking me out?"

"I ain't tellin' til I get a couple of bites of food in me."

"Fine, whatever."

"You know, I hate that word," House complained.

Debra knew he hated the word 'whatever,' and that's why she used it so much with him. But she was worried about what he wanted from her. She thought it might be about Gregory, though she couldn't think of one good reason as to why it would involve him; he was as healthy as a horse.

Then she worried maybe it was Wilson, which she was sure it was. She, too, knew they'd been less active in bed, and she missed him, dearly. At first she was angry at Wilson for getting House to talk to her about it, but then she knew he was right. She never really thought about why she hadn't given herself to him since Gregory, but she decided she'd put an end to that later that night.

But, then she thought maybe it might have been House. Since Debra had Gregory, House and Cameron had been by the apartment more often than in the past and saw the baby every couple of weeks, whether he'd come over or she brought him to the hospital. She knew he wasn't intentionally being an absent Godfather or distant to the baby, but maybe he wanted become elusive again. All she knew was that he definitely liked the little tyke. But that still didn't hold a grain of salt as to what he wanted.

But still, he'd rarely pay attention to Gregory when they were at the hospital, he'd say a few words or noises or make funny faces to get his attention when they were at their apartment, but when he was alone with Gregory, that was a completely different story.

In Scene…

One day when Gregory was just four months old, Debra and Wilson needed to run errands so (for the very first time) they asked House to babysit Gregory. They mocked and ignored his cries of twenty million excuses why he just couldn't do it, but then he relented. Hours later, they came home earlier than expected and when Wilson opened the apartment door, shocked at what he was seeing, stopped Debra from entering. They listened to musical notes for a brief second then he slowly continued to open it, being careful not to make any noise to warn House they were there and they crept into the room.

There on the living room rug, sitting on a light blue blanket (the blanket House had chosen to give to Debra and Wilson as a baby shower gift – but actually Cameron picked it out), were House and Gregory. House set a couch cushion vertically against the front of the couch and another cushion to the baby's right, horizontally, and pressed against him to prevent him from falling over on his side; this allowed Gregory to be in a sitting position. House was on the baby's left, leaning against the same cushion, his back to the door.

Nothing unusual about that, but on Gregory's lap was a small child's piano. House had taken Gregory's hand, positioned his fist for just the forefinger to a point, and would hit a key here then hit a key there, all the while saying the key of the note they'd just heard. Gregory just cackled at hearing the notes, and House would cackle right back, imitating him then laugh himself.

Out of Scene

"We're here, come on," House said but Debra was so wrapped up in her thoughts she was oblivious to where she was and who she was with.

"Debra!" House said, louder and sharper. He'd already opened his door, got out and stood, bent over, peering into the car. "DEB…" he repeated and that snapped her out of her daydream.

She got out and met him on the other side of the car.

"Where in the hell were you? You zoned out."

"Oh, sorry," she answered as they walked to the restaurant entrance. "I was thinking of when you watched Gregory and we snuck up on you."

In Scene, cont'd…

"Do you take special requests?" Wilson had asked; his voice soft and low but loud enough for House to hear.

That was enough to scare the 'livin' bajeezus' out of House. He literally jumped about six inches off the floor, his shoulders shot up around his neck and his right arm jerked outward, accidentally pushing Gregory against the pillow to his right, which made him softly bounce off and ended up on his back, looking up frightened to death at his parents, his lower lip quivering. It happened in a split second that by the time House could react and reach out for Gregory he was already balling his head off.

Out of Scene

"This way, please," said the hostess at the Cha'teau LaReif, a French restaurant he'd wanted to try. Ok, it wasn't him, it was Debra, but luckily House was smart enough to grab a Big Mac meal before he picked her up. After they sat at the table by the window looking over Lake Cherokee, they ordered drinks and the hostess walked away.

"I thought I damaged the kid for life," House said then laughed, but when the implications of what he actually said sunk in, he quickly dropped the smile on his face and looked down at his plate then pulled the napkin onto his lap.

Debra didn't miss his reaction, not one bit. She reached across the table and tapped his hand twice before she pulled it away. "Greg, do you remember the only one that could get him to fall asleep that night?"

House uncomfortably shifted in his chair and avoided eye contact with her.

"You were," she said with a warm smile on her face.

The waiter then came by with their drinks, talked of the specials and said he'd return shortly to take their order. House grabbed his drink, downed it all in one swift movement and set it back down on the table. His face contorted with the warmth of the liquor moving down his throat and esophagus, he smacked his lips then sat back, his right eye narrowed.

"When did you start getting high again?" House blurted out.

Of course, just as Wilson made him swear not to do, he'd said it with as much 'tact' as he could.