Ok, I'm back and I'll try to get at least a couple of updates in before the next "hiatus" due to the coming out of the last Harry Potter novel. :)
--------------------------
The House-hold was almost completely present early Sunday afternoon; the only one missing was Wilson, who had called to tell them to start without him as his patient needed him a little longer still. It didn't take House long to sense some kind of an atmosphere from his team. Cameron was avoiding him, and when she couldn't her friendliness was somewhat forced. She was also giving overly concerned looks to Cuddy. The boys were just a little awkward, like they didn't quite know how to behave: they gave him sort of "guy" looks when Cameron wasn't around and when she was they tried hard to frown and look sombre. House put up with it for half an hour and then he cornered his boys.
"Out with it," House demanded simply.
"With what?" Chase tried to stall and Foreman, too, did his best to look innocent and clueless. (The latter feat wasn't that difficult for him in House's opinion).
"Don't even try that," House warned. "You know perfectly well what I'm talking about and you really should remember that I can make your lives truly miserable."
"And what exactly would be new in that?" Chase muttered.
"New?" House gave them an evil smile. "In addition to my usual repertoire of tortures I would also make it impossible for you to see Aiko."
Both men turned pale and this time it was Foreman who beat Chase to the telling.
"Cameron saw you go into a hotel room with some woman," Foreman couldn't get the words out fast enough. "We were just wondering how you managed it. You left with Cuddy and Dr Higa, and then, not that much later you have already escaped them and picked up a real stunner – or so we understood from Cameron. She was really struggling between rage at you and envy at her; apparently she was wearing something really amazing."
"Yeah, Cameron was both trying to describe something she called a nude Vera Wang to Miss Tanaka – and none of it made any sense to me," Chase explained. "And at the same time express her outrage and try to convince us to I don't know, do something to show our disapproval to you."
"And what was her opinion of the woman inside that dress?" House asked neutrally.
"She didn't get a good look at her," Foreman said. "She only got a glimpse at first and by the time she realised it was you with her, all she could see was the back of you both."
"Besides, she was torn about that, too," Chase acknowledged. "As she didn't know what you had told her or anything about her, she found it hard to know whether to pity her or label her as a man-eater."
"Ok, so she saw what happened last night," House nodded. "Now why isn't she yelling at me? That is what she usually does."
"She doesn't want to hurt Cuddy," Foreman shrugged.
"She made us swear we wouldn't say anything," Chase agreed. "But I'm fairly sure she is composing a lengthy tirade in her mind for Monday."
"Well, first of all none of it is any of her business," House stated. "And secondly, though I'm all for you three not talking about it, Cuddy knows already. I told her this morning."
Both Chase and Foreman blinked and then stared at House amazed. They didn't know what to think, they looked at Cuddy, who was talking with Blythe at the other end of the yard. She looked just fine, a little less radiant than normally, but she was also rubbing her back, so the Trips could be the reason for that. They looked at each other, trying to assess each other's reaction to this announcement, but didn't learn anything. Chase's lip twisted a little, like he wanted to leer a little and ask House how he had managed it and how he had conned Cuddy into accepting it. But the leer died, because this was Cuddy and he did respect her and though House had always managed to talk her into accepting most of his ideas – and some of them had been truly insane like that autopsy he had performed on the living girl, or giving magic mushrooms to a teenager – this was something else. This felt somehow dishonourable, even slightly slimy. And for all House's outrageous and unacceptable behaviour (including his relations with professional girls) Chase had never associated slimy with him.
Foreman was having a similar problem. He felt like he ought to punch House lightly on the arm and say you dog! - but something about House's demeanour forbid such action. He didn't know what Cuddy and House were to each other. He didn't quite buy the official version where Cuddy had merely asked House for a sample and got pregnant that way and then, when she ended up with triplets, they had decided to just co-parent the kids. Sure, they were friends, but just friends? with someone as hot as Cuddy – no way! Or then House really was gay as some at the hospital suspected. And Foreman didn't quite believe that. From what he had seen of John House, he had the impression that nothing would have pleased House more than being able to – truthfully – announce to his Dad that he was gay! If House hadn't already come out of the closet, he wasn't in one. So, why, if he had someone like Lisa Cuddy waiting for him at home, was he going fishing elsewhere? Eric actually opened his mouth to ask that question, but House silenced him with a frown. It seemed the man really was a mind reader.
"What the relationship between me and Cuddy is is none of your business," House warned them. "We are still working on getting this living arrangement to work, we are still feeling our way to being parents. The last thing we need is busybodies sticking their noses into our business. So you two, stay out of it – or suffer the consequences – and tell Cameron to save it." With that House left the stunned duo standing and limped his way to Cuddy.
Cuddy had been slightly avoiding House all morning – not going out of her way to avoid him, but trying to time things so that she didn't have to deal with him too often. Blythe was happy to help her, as she understood Lisa's need for some breathing space. It was apparently something House understood, too, as he had helped along with the avoiding. He had also made sure that Lisa had time alone with Aiko, so that avoiding House didn't interfere with their relationship. (Privately Blythe thought her son was actually being quite sneaky making sure that Lisa would remember what was at stake here: if House went, so did Aiko.) So when House came over to them, both Lisa and Blythe were sure he had a reason.
"They know," House sighed. "Some of it that is. Cameron saw us, but fortunately only from the behind."
"And she told everybody," Cuddy said in disgust. "But why didn't Kasumii say anything?"
"She is Japanese," House shrugged. "And Grey is English. For both the first reaction would be to stay out of it or wait a little longer to see how the land lies. Besides, they both live here – or as good as in Grey's case – so they have a better idea of our deal."
"Good for them," Cuddy huffed. "Because it seems they know more about it than I do."
"I'm sorry Cuddy," House grimaced. "I didn't mean to cause you any trouble. But we cannot talk about it now. I just thought you ought to know. But you are right, there are still many things about this being parents together that we need to sort out. And apparently we need to reconsider that sex-deal, too."
"Yes, we will," Cuddy confirmed with conviction.
"Oh, and have a word with Grey about your back," House threw over his shoulder as he left the ladies. "He might be able to do something about the ache."
"Have I ever told you that your son is impossible!" Cuddy sulked.
"Frequently," Blythe responded putting a sympathetic hand on Lisa's shoulder.
---------------------
Chase and Foreman had shut up as instructed but they hadn't told Cameron about their conversation with House, as she had already decided not to talk about it. They could tell her later to save the lecture she was going to give House. The atmosphere was not quite as easy as it usually was, but as everybody concentrated either on Aiko or Cuddy and the Trips, it wasn't too bad. At least Wilson failed to see anything wrong as he joined the others about an hour and a half later.
"Oh, I heard in the hospital that Sheridan and Janelle got busted yesterday," Wilson suddenly remembered once he had satisfied the worst of his hunger with Blythe's cooking – others had just finished eating, but Blythe had made sure there would be enough left over for Jimmy, too. "Though it's possible that they don't know it yet."
"What happened," Foreman wanted to know.
"Infant," House sensed that things were about to go south, so he decided to do what damage control he could. No matter what was going to be said he didn't want Aiko distressed. "I think it's time for Aiko's nap." Kasumii came over to take Aiko, who was reluctant to leave her Daddy – whether it was because she just wanted to be with him, or because she sensed something House wasn't sure, but fortunately she agreed to go without too much of a fuss. Once Aiko was gone, Wilson – who assumed that House just wanted to protect Aiko from too adult subjects, as the ladies of the house kept telling him to do – went on with his story.
"His wife decided to surprise him," Wilson shrugged. "He had obviously told her that he was working late or something. Anyway, she came over and the nurses saw her go into the office. She came back almost immediately, white as a sheet and she just walked out in shock. One of the nurses actually tried to talk to her, to ask if she was ok, but she didn't hear."
"She must have seen them!" Cameron cried. "How awful. Does anyone know what happened to her? They didn't let her drive in that condition?"
"No," Wilson shook his head. "She must have come in a taxi as the nurse who followed her saw her just walk away. They couldn't follow her any further as they had their hands full in the hospital at that time."
"But she didn't walk in and confront those two?" Chase wanted to know.
"Seemingly not," Wilson nodded. "There was no time and when Sheridan and Janelle came out later, they gave no sign that they knew anything had happened. Of course, you can never tell with those two. It's possible that they don't care one way or the other."
"I wonder what made her go there yesterday?" Foreman mused. "She has never come to the hospital before. The only reason we know what she looks like at all is that picture Sheridan has of her on his desk. Why now?"
"Apparently she thought they had something to celebrate," Wilson informed them. "She was dressed up to the nines according to the nurses. Those who had seen her were raving about a creamy beige Vera Wang cocktail dress and Jimmy Choo shoes."
Three heads snapped towards House and three pairs of eyes stared at him. Grey did turn to look at him, too, but more slowly and his gaze was more questioning than stunned, - or accusing as Cameron's was. Cameron marched over to House and let go with her hand: "You lecherous pig!"
However, the hand was stopped before it connected with House's cheek. Cuddy had moved with surprising speed and she seized Cameron's hand: "NOT your prerogative," she announced.
"But you have no idea what he has done!" Cameron insisted. Foreman and Chase were wondering, too, how much House actually had told Cuddy.
"What is going on?" Wilson was staring at everybody totally bewildered; having been called to a patient the night before he hadn't been around for Cameron's report. He wondered how Sheridan getting caught could make Cameron attack House? Unless... "You didn't tell Sheridan's wife to go to his office, did you House?"
"No," House denied. "I had nothing to do with that. The man was just an idiot to think that his wife was going to meekly stay home on the night of their tenth wedding anniversary while he was working late."
"Have to say that is an unreasonable ... Hang on!" Wilson suddenly realised what House had said. "How do you know it was their tenth wedding anniversary?"
"She told him," Cuddy dropped on them. The ducklings stared at her, but Grey just nodded like he had expected something like this from his observations of the day.
"I met her in the bar after the incident," House clarified for Wilson, who still looked confused.
"Oh, ..oh... Ok," Wilson nodded. "She must have been glad to have someone to talk to."
"He did more than talking," Cameron snapped disgusted.
"Shut up Cameron," House told her curtly.
"What more ... You didn't!" Wilson made the necessary connections and stared at House in shock. "She is Sheridan's wife!"
"That might have been the attraction," Foreman suggested.
"Right," suddenly House turned to his team – and Wilson, too and told them firmly: "Listen carefully I will only say this once: what happened last night had nothing to do with Sheridan, his part in this is just an unfortunate coincidence. Ruth Rawls has been through enough already. You will not talk about this in the hospital not even amongst yourselves. If anyone else has seen something and comes to you for information you know nothing. This is not your business. The people who need to know what happened do. End of discussion."
"But..." Cameron tried to express some of her indignation – both at being told to shut up and at House's actions the night before.
"House said to shut up," Cuddy supported him. "I, personally, don't want to have a public post mortem on this subject."
"But you cannot be ok with him having had sex with Sheridan's wife," Wilson gasped.
"No, of course I'm not," Cuddy said. "How could I be? But it's not that Ruth is Sheridan's wife that is the point here. She made a bad decision last night, but she is a grown woman, and given the situation I can see how it could have happened. Anger is never a good counsellor. But that was her call; House didn't even seduce her let alone coerce her into anything she didn't want. But even before he went into the bar he told me why he was going there." At this point Cameron gasped. "But as a friend I couldn't stop him, though I did advise him against it. He, too, is an adult. I may not like his decisions and actions, but I really cannot do anything about it. We are working together to parent our children, but that's it."
"But something like this cannot be good for the children," Chase pointed out frowning. "I mean, what kind of moral compass are you giving them? And how are they going to learn about having a good marriage and raising a happy family and things like that?"
"From television," House inserted dryly. "Just like we did." Chase acknowledged the hit with a shrug.
"No they won't," Cuddy insisted. "We are still muddling through, but this happened early enough, we will work something out. But apparently we need to talk more than we originally thought – about other things than children, too."
"Yeah, but that is our business, not theirs," House pointed out.
"Yeah, I definitely remember how I hated when other people put their noses into my marriages," Wilson sighed remembering. Then he suddenly realised what he had said when both Cuddy and House gave him a glare: "Not that you're married in any sense, but I imagine it would be the same if I had children and somebody started to give me unsolicited advice about child raising... You know what I mean. All relationships no matter what they are need a period of adjustment..."
"Jimmy, shut up," House told him.
--------------------------
Late that night House was walking back and forth in his living room. He had the walkie-talkie in his hand, but it was silent. Cuddy usually called him sometime between ten and eleven, rarely any later - though they might talk a lot later than that - and it was nearly eleven thirty now. Higa was sitting on the couch reading a medical journal and smiling secretly to himself. Finally House broke and he called Cuddy.
"Lisa?" He asked quietly enough as not to wake her if she actually was sleeping. "Please answer. I need to know you're ok. I'm not expecting you to really talk with me, but just say that you're ok."
First there was no answer and House was already giving up when Cuddy's voice came over: "I'm ok enough." Her voice was quiet and House thought he heard tears in it.
"Are you crying?" He was concerned.
"No, of course not, just tired," Cuddy responded. "Sorry to worry you but I just don't feel like talking tonight."
"Yeah, ok," House agreed. "Good night then."
"Good night," Cuddy answered and closed the connection.
House walked the floor for a few minutes yet and then he said: "I'm going to check on Aiko." He left the flat with a worried look on his face.
"Yes, I'm sure you will check on her, too," Higa muttered and decided to go to bed. There was no telling when Greg would be back.