Thank you again for the reviews! And, yes, this story will end soon after the trips are born, but I'm not yet sure about the next sequel. I am definitely thinking of it, but I'm not yet sure "they" want to play with me that long! ;)
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Wilson and House were winding down in House's office at the end of their working day. House's patient had been diagnosed with Reye's syndrome and since no new patient had presented themselves that day, House had sent his team home. Kasumii had just got all of Aiko's things put in place and organized for the next day and had gone to have a word with Grey about their date and House was entertaining Aiko with Mr. Panda while they waited. Wilson had strolled in – as usual – and was waiting with them.
"I hear you got Cuddy to see her doctor today," Wilson opened the conversation.
"Yeah," House admitted. "She was stressing again, so somebody needed to do something."
"You have been awfully nice to her lately," Wilson mused. "Not that I complain, she needs that now that she is pregnant, but it's not quite you."
"Worried?" House smiled.
"A little," Wilson said. "I'm worried about what is going on in your head, what spectacular prank you are hatching. It's not that you cannot be nice when you really want to, but usually there is a twist, or at least a price. You haven't even been particularly obnoxious in the clinic."
"Can't be," House told him. "Cuddy doesn't need any more stress. No matter how much it goes against my nature, I have to think of her. It wouldn't matter so much if she was pregnant by anybody else or if she wasn't pregnant with triplets, but however much I might like to deny it, I am partly responsible for this situation and I have to behave accordingly."
"But surely that does not mean you need to be nice at the clinic?" Wilson wondered – though he wished he could bite his tongue and not give House any ideas, but he needed to know.
"I haven't been completely nice, since that would stress Cuddy more," House smiled ruefully. "But I have been careful about who I send to Cuddy and who not. A couple of complaints a week will keep her from wondering if I'm up to something big but is not stressing her too much. Also I do still leave a few annoying patients for her to finish up – though I haven't topped that MP3 player guy yet."
"What MP3 player guy?" Wilson was immediately interested.
"Didn't I tell you about him?" House was surprised. "A young guy had an MP3 player stuck up his ass and he couldn't get it out. I made him wait till my shift was over and then told Brenda to tell Cuddy that there was a patient waiting for her. She yelled at me for half an hour the next day."
"Why would anyone stick an MP3 player up his...?" Wilson was mystified.
"I suppose it was the shape or the pounding base-line," House mused. "Not really my area of expertise."
"Strange," Wilson shook his head at the thought. "But back to the original subject. You are telling me that you are really being genuinely nice to Cuddy?"
"Well, I don't know about genuine," House drawled. "But yeah, I'm minding my manners till she gives birth. At least around her. Once she stays home and we have Gay Sheridan in charge, things will change."
"So you are saving up your bad behaviour for the new man?" Wilson asked.
"Do you object?" House queried.
"No, not really," Wilson admitted. "If the new guy really is after Cuddy's job then we need to do everything we can to shift him, but he might be innocent."
"Then it will be good training for him," House shrugged. "If he survives my treatment, he will be up to dealing with just about anybody. If he isn't innocent – and I'm pretty sure he cannot be – then he will get the full treatment, no holds barred, and he will be toast before his contract is even up for renewal."
"You are really gathering up steam for him, aren't you?" Wilson was beginning to feel extremely sorry for Sheridan – guilty or not.
"Yeah," House gloated. "It's going to be fun."
"You do realise that Sheridan won't give you any slack?" Wilson reminded House. "He is not Cuddy and you will be in deep trouble a lot sooner than you would be with her."
"If he can find a way to blame me for them," House smirked. "He doesn't know me like Cuddy does, so he won't just blame me on principle. It will probably take him quite some time to even suspect such a distinguished doctor as me."
"You are not distinguished anything!" Wilson scoffed. "You wouldn't know distinguished if it got up and bit you."
"True, true," House admitted. "But Sheridan doesn't know that. All he knows is that I'm a world-renowned diagnostician. And I don't plan on letting him know any different, at least not for quite some time."
"You know, I almost feel sorry for him," Wilson shook his head. "And I don't even know the guy!"
"He'll survive," House scoffed. "And if he doesn't he has no business trying to be a hospital administrator anyway!"
"So you are going to be nice to everyone till Sheridan gets here?" Wilson still wondered.
"To Cuddy," House clarified. "I'm being nice to Cuddy."
"So all others are still free game?" Wilson queried.
"Of course," House gave him an innocent stare.
"But you haven't..." Wilson started to feel a little uncomfortable. "Surely I would have ..." Wilson stared at House who was giving him his best it wasn't me look. "You have done something to me! Haven't you? I just haven't realised it yet. It's like those flowers again? What did you do? If it's something like that again, so help me... I'll ... I'll."
"Relax Jimmy," House said most unconvincingly. "I haven't done anything at all."
"Yeah, right," Wilson stood up. "What is it? Is it something in my office? Or, no you wouldn't have sent flowers to Cuddy in my name, or anything. You are being nice to Cuddy, so it cannot involve her in any way. I need to find out what you have done!" Wilson stormed out of House's office barely avoiding collision with Kasumii and Blythe who were on their way in.
"What did you do to James?" Blythe asked her smirking son.
"Nothing," House revealed. "Nothing at all. And that's the beauty of it."
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Once they got to House's flat Kasumii went into his bathroom to change for her date and House and Blythe settled in to their evening routine. When Kasumii got out of the bathroom she found House on the couch with Aiko playing fish. It was currently Aiko's favourite game – and it actually provided a lot of entertainment for casual observes, too. House made a creditable imitation of a goldfish with his face crossing his eyes, hollowing his cheeks and opening and closing his mouth. He did that a couple of times and then Aiko did her best to imitate him. She was actually getting good at it for a 28 week old baby. And then they laughed together – or whatever it was that passed for laughter for each of them. Aiko, actually got closer to real laugh with her squeals of delight, House more barked, though sometimes – and Blythe really loved those times – when they had played long enough, House did laugh for real hugging Aiko and telling her she was a clever girl. Kasumii observed them for a minute and then she stepped further into the living room.
"So, how do I look," she asked with slight edge of sarcasm in her voice.
"You are asking me?" House played surprised and innocent to the nth degree. "Surely I have no right to tell you what to wear."
"You got that right," Kasumii agreed with a small glare, though there was a smile in there somewhere as well. "But that has never before stopped you from sending me to change my clothes to whatever it is you think I should wear."
"Well, you look delectable," House told her. "It's a good thing you are going out with a reserved and passionless Englishman. Any red-blooded American would skip the meal and go for you."
"Well isn't it a good thing, then, that you are not red-blooded," Kasumii countered having got used to House slighting her boyfriend.
"Oh, I'm red-blooded all right," House insisted. "You're just not my type, Infant."
"And I sure am glad about that," Kasumii agreed. "You would be the pits as a boyfriend."
"That's because I'm not a boy," House stated just as there was a knock on the door.
Blythe who had been watching the bickering between those two with amusement went to let Grey in: "Come in David and rescue my son, will you. He is heading for a beating by his Nanny."
"Richly deserved I presume," Grey said as he stepped in. "Wow!" He took in Kasumii's appearance. She did indeed look delectable in slim black pants and a sleeveless tunic in her favourite light pink.
"She's not on the menu until after dinner," House threw from the couch earning a glare from Grey.
"I see what you mean Blythe," Grey observed. "You really should be more careful, House. If you alienate both your Nanny and your Physical Therapist, where will you be then?"
"In position to hire new ones," House replied glibly.
"Sure, you being so fond of interviews and all," Grey scoffed. "Besides, you know perfectly well that there is no replacement for Kasumii."
"That I do," House replied with surprising seriousness. "And as long as you remember that, too, we have no problems."
"With you, there are always problems," Grey replied dryly. "But have no fears, I may love Kasumii to distraction, but I'm awfully fond of your little fish, too." House looked down at Aiko, who, now that her father's attention was distracted, amused herself by practising her fish-face.
"I just hate it when Alfa-males start marking their territory, even when they are mostly in agreement about it," Blythe said to Kasumii. "You look lovely, so take your man and have a lovely evening."
"I will, thank you Blythe," Kasumii smiled. "Come on David, you can finish your – what is it called? Pissing competition? – with Dr. House later." She dragged her date out of the flat saying good night to House and Blythe.
Blythe closed the door after them and then she walked slowly to her son.
"Your... John called me today," Blythe said as he sat down.
"Oh," House paused for a moment to try and gather his thoughts. He didn't want to say the wrong thing, just in case his father hadn't mentioned his call. "What about?"
"He wants to come here and talk," Blythe explained.
"Talk? I rather thought that is what you two have been trying to do for quite some time," House observed.
"True," Blythe acknowledged. "We have tried, but he hasn't been willing. I don't know why, but now he at least wants to understand why I want help with that. He said that the main reason he has been unwilling to work in the counselling is that he has not been able to understand why we need outsiders to talk. He said that if he can understand my reasons for needing the therapist there, he will try again. And he is even willing to come here to do it."
"Do you think he is moving here? Now that you have stated that no matter what happens with your marriage you want to be closer to your grandchildren?" House wondered.
"I think that he is considering it," Blythe mused. "That is if there seems to be any hope for our marriage."
"He has been part of your life for fifty years," House pointed out. "Do you really think that even if you end up divorcing him, you will be able to leave him behind completely?"
"What do you mean?" Blythe was a little confused.
"It's a big chunk of your life," House said. "If you just throw him out, it makes your marriage almost like garbage. And it wasn't, not all of it. Yes, there was a huge lie there, but that does not invalidate everything. I cannot see how you could not have him in your life in some capacity no matter what happens."
"But what about you?" Blythe wanted to know. "If I keep seeing him, or even if I stay married to him, how will that affect you?"
"I already told you once; the abuse was not a defining moment in my life," House reminded her. "Sure, it was a defining moment in my relationship with my father and that did affect things later on, too, but I would not have been much different from what I am even if the abuse hadn't happened. I know that sounds strange and I'm sure had it gone on for longer the outcome would have been very different, but it didn't and other things were more important in shaping me to what I am than that. If you need him in your life, I can live with it. Even if it means that I have to meet him from time to time."
"And your children?" Blythe asked. "Surely you don't want him to be their grandfather?"
"I would never leave him alone with them for sure, but other than that, it depends on him," House stated. "Provided that he accepts that Aiko is no different from the Trips, I have no problem with him being a grandfather to my kids. Though, of course we would need to agree on rules and boundaries."
"You are very generous," Blythe said.
"No, this is not generosity," House denied. "This is indifference. But I do want you to be happy, so I'm ok with everything that helps with that."
"Thank you," Blythe had tears in her eyes as she gave him a kiss. "I don't want to hurt you, you know."
"I know," House nodded. "You never have."