Thank you for the reviews, and I'm sure you will be happy to hear that John is leaving this story – he will probably be mentioned a few times, but you won't be "seeing" him.
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Next morning Blythe and John left the house early. They had an 8 o'clock appointment with Cecil. The session actually lasted so long that House, who had expected to see Blythe waiting for him in his office when he got to work, actually had to wait for Blythe. When she got to House's office she stood at the door for a moment and then she shook her head sadly. House was standing in the middle of the floor holding Aiko and he just opened one arm for his mother who walked to him and accepted his hug.
"Kasumii? Would you take Aiko to the other room?" House asked quietly. Kasumii nodded in agreement, took Aiko and went into the other room – giving Blythe first a sympathetic squeeze on the arm.
"He just won't understand anyone's point of view but his own," Blythe sighed.
"Are you ok, Mom?" House asked.
"I have just relegated forty years of my life into the garbage bin," Blythe mused. "No, I don't think I'm ok. But I'm pretty sure that I will be."
"Well, that's good," House agreed. "So what went on in the meeting?"
"Nothing constructive as far as my marriage is concerned," Blythe stated. "But I did get the answers I needed. Not as completely as I would have liked, but enough. I feel that I have done all I can. Or maybe I should say that I've done all I'm willing to do. According to John I ought to just leave it all into the past where it belongs and go home with him." Blythe suddenly laughed. "He blames Dr Higa for the present problems we have."
"Really?" House didn't understand. "By what leap of logic has he come to that conclusion?"
"According to him all our problems started when you adopted Aiko," Blythe shrugged. "If Dr Higa hadn't asked for your help, John and I would still be happily married and all this nonsense would never have happened."
"Well, I suppose he has a point," House had to admit. "Aiko was a catalyst for all this. But had there been nothing wrong, you would also still be married."
"Cecil believes that John is suffering from a borderline personality disorder," Blythe gave her son a small kiss on the cheek as she stood away from his embrace and sat down on the recliner while House went to his desk.
"Yes, I think I know," House pondered. "I believe it's called the Self-righteous Bastard syndrome."
"Gregory!" Blythe admonished with a small smile. "I'm being serious. Cecil thinks that John's ability to feel empathy is not fully developed. He thinks that John is truly not capable of seeing things from any other person's point of view; that is: if the other's point of view differs from his."
"As I said self-righteous bastard syndrome," House observed. "What you are saying is that to him there is only one truth and anything that does not fit into that truth must be misinformation. And since you are in possession of that one truth, you don't need to question yourself or those you believe share that same truth. Must be a convenient quality for a soldier!"
"Gregory," Blythe frowned. "That sounds like you think all our military is formed of brainwashed robots or sociopaths."
"I didn't say it was a good quality, or even one the recruiters look for," House reassured his mother. "But you cannot say it didn't serve Dad well enough in his career. Don't worry, though, I met enough of his sane pals to know he wasn't the rule."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Blythe accepted.
"So am I to assume that Dad didn't stay with you till the end of your session?" House asked. "But that you and Cecil had an opportunity to analyze him after he left? That must be convenient, too by the way. If you are a shrink or a psychotherapist and your patient or someone else you need to deal with, doesn't do what you want them to do, you just diagnose them with borderline something or another – and lets face it, we all are borderline something – and just shrug it off, since the axiom is, I believe, that you cannot help those who don't want to be helped. None of it is your fault."
"Doesn't necessarily make your inability to help them any less painful," Blythe smiled gently earning a suspicious look from her son. And well she deserved it; John had not been the only man she had discussed with Cecil – and indeed Cecil had pondered if some of House's qualities weren't due to borderline something.
"I did consider that Dr House might have same problems as his father," Cecil had said. "But having found out more about him I concluded that he simply doesn't like talking about feelings since with feelings you don't really have any right or wrong. You don't have any real answers or solutions. He likes puzzles but the puzzles need to have answers. It's not a question of him not being able to empathise; he just doesn't see the point of it, especially if it interferes with his ability to solve the puzzle. He prefers to keep his distance, but it really is a choice. I think he functions as well as any of us: could be better, could be worse. I wish he would let me help him with some of his issues, because I think I could if he really wanted to, but I don't think that will ever happen."
"What?" House propped his mother. "What is it? Where did you go suddenly?"
"It's nothing, Greg," Blythe shook his head smiling. "I'm just glad you let me close to you."
"Mom, you are my Mother," House was puzzled. "Of course I let you close. Like you would accept anything else!"
"I might not accept it, but you might also not give me any choice," Blythe pointed out. "Anyway, John left the session to get his things. He will spend the rest of the day with a pal of his till it's time for his flight. He won't be around once we get home today."
"Can't say I'm sorry to hear that," House nodded. "So you will start the divorce proceedings again?"
"Yes, I'll call my lawyer today and we'll go from there," Blythe sighed. "It will not be pleasant."
"No, I don't imagine it will be," House concurred. "Though I don't think Dad will fight it too much. He will just go the righteous martyr routine he does and drag his feet all the way. But then, divorce is not supposed to be pleasant, I imagine. However we will get through that, too."
"I know," Blythe smiled. "I think I better get to work. At least it should take my mind away from the dissolution of my marriage for a while. It's not easy to realise that you have thrown away forty years of your life. And some of your life, too."
"Now, don't take that on," House insisted. "I'm fine. Besides, you didn't throw away all that time. You were happy some of it."
"But that happiness was based on a lie," Blythe pointed out.
"Happiness is always based on some lie," House stated. "It's not possible to be happy if you see the truth too clearly. Don't blame yourself for having lived your life the best you can. That is all anyone can do. Now, go to work and try not to worry too much. See you here later and then we go home. I don't seem to have patients today either, so I'll just do my clinic hours and we'll get home at a reasonable hour."
"Ok, I'll try not to worry," Blythe promised as she left the office.
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Once Blythe was gone House went into the conference room. He needed to talk to his team. What he was going to say was difficult for him, because his usual sarcasm wasn't going to work. Nor could he just give orders or tell them to give him ideas that he could then mock and then give them his own. Now he actually had to talk to them. Be the father he sometimes – completely in jest – referred himself as. And unlike with Aiko, he didn't really know how the kids were going to react.
He walked into the room and took Aiko from Kasumii. He hoped that the familiar warmth of his daughter would help him do what he knew he had to. Kasumii went into his office to finish getting things ready for Aiko's day so House was alone with his team – except for his miniature bodyguard. He rubbed his forehead trying to find an un-embarrassing way to start his speech.
"Look, I don't quite know how to do this, since I never have needed to do this," House started.
"What is it? Is something wrong with Aiko or...?" Cameron was all concern immediately.
"Hey, let him speak before you get all scared," Foreman advised her.
"Besides, I have a feeling that once he is done we'll need to be concerned for ourselves, not him or Aiko," Chase mused watching House's face.
"I hope nobody needs to be concerned for anybody, just listen," House growled. "Look, you have all been with me for about three years; Chase has been longer than that, Cameron just about that long and Foreman a little under three years. I never expected any of you to survive that long. Nor did anybody else. Chase was the first one who stayed six months. After that time Cuddy came to the mistaken conclusion that I had mellowed enough for her to risk forcing me to take a second fellow. She failed to take into consideration the fact that Chase simply has a high tolerance for (at this point House covered Aiko's ears, which made his team smile) bastards. Anyway, Cameron came along and as I liked her ass she stayed. No point in huffing Cameron, it's a great ass, even better than Cuddy's though your cleavage doesn't hold a candle to hers. Then Foreman joined us and he was just determined that no white guy was going to force him out of a fellowship before he was ready. The thing is; I think you have lost your ability to decide when you are ready. All of you. You need to start thinking about your next move."
"Are you kicking us out?" Foreman stared at House – like both Chase and Cameron did, too.
"No. I'm not doing that," House clarified. "If I hadn't got Aiko; if you weren't part of her family – if this was before all that happened, then yes, I would probably kick you out once you were ready, no explanations given. But Aiko needs you. You are part of her family, so I cannot do that. I have to make sure that I don't screw things up for her."
"So what is it that you are telling us?" Cameron wondered.
"I'm telling you that you are ready to leave the nest – or at least you and Chase are. Chase has learned everything he can by now; you have learned everything you want. Foreman is the only one who can still learn something from me, but even he should be ready to go in six months or so," House told her.
"Why am I not ready now?" Foreman wanted to know.
"They have both been here longer than you have," House pointed out sharply. "Besides, you have some issues you need to deal with before you can learn everything I can teach you."
"Issues being what?" Foreman narrowed his eyes at House.
"Your fear of turning into him, I would imagine," Chase inserted.
"We can discuss those in private if you insist," House told Foreman. "But right now they don't matter. I'm not kicking you out right now anyway – any of you. I just want you to start thinking about what it is you want. Cuddy is starting her maternity leave next week, but she will be back in six months. Around that time there will also be couple of interesting openings in the hospital. There are also rumours about couple of interesting posts opening at Princeton General. That is if you want to stay close by. You don't need to; you will be part of Aiko's family no matter where you decide to go and you will be expected to keep in touch with her – and the triplets, too once they arrive."
"What if we want to stay with you?" Cameron ventured.
"Then I will kick you out," House stated. "You knew the fellowship wasn't going to last forever anyway. You came here to learn, you have done that. Time to move on; either use what you have learned or find someone who can teach you something I haven't."
"I thought you didn't think anyone else can teach us anything," Foreman huffed – feeling a little sore still about being the only one who wasn't ready to leave.
"Not when it comes to diagnostics," House agreed. "But there are other fields of medicine that you might want to learn about. It's up to you. As I said you need to start thinking about it. Anyway, that was all I wanted to say. Subject closed."
"But once we have made our decision, don't you want to know?" Cameron stuttered.
"Naturally," House shrugged. "I expect to get normal letters of resignation from you when you know what you are going to do next. Until then I don't really need to know – unless of course you need letters of recommendation. Until you resign, you are still my slaves, so go do my clinic hours."
"I thought you were doing them yourself until Cuddy goes on her maternity leave?" Chase frowned.
"Her last day at work is tomorrow," House explained. "Do you really think Sherry Darling will notice in one day that I'm not always doing my own hours? Especially as I'm sure that even Evil Nurse Brenda is not going to carry tales to HIM."