Thank you for your reviews! And here is the next chapter. It seems that I'm back to my usual schedule, where I do most of my updating during the week-end. I'll probably update three or four times between Friday night and Sunday evening (my local time). Again, I'm past my 40 chapter mark, which means I'll start winding this story down gradually. It will probably take some ten to fifteen chapters, so no need to panic yet. :)
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That night at home House was in the nursery feeding his son from a bottle. Cuddy had Greer and Blythe had taken charge of Priya. Aiko was next room being bathed by her grandfather and Kasumii.
"He's a greedy little bastard isn't he," House laughed looking at Ben eagerly drinking his milk.
"House!" Cuddy admonished him.
"What?" House gave her an innocent stare. "He is, unless you hit me on the head and married me without my knowledge." Cuddy didn't deign to answer him, just gave him a look.
"You know, Greg," Blythe smiled at her son. "Not everything you say has to be designed to get a reaction from your audience."
"I know," House shrugged. "But it's fun!"
"It may be now," Cuddy said sternly. "But once the kids start copying you, it won't. You really have to start thinking about what you say in front of them!"
"They're just babies," House insisted. "They won't start repeating me for years yet."
"And it will take you years to clean up your speech!" Cuddy huffed. "You've been saying the first thing that comes to your mind for – what -, thirty odd years. You will not be able to just stop it one night when you decide the kids are old enough to start copying you."
"Lisa does have a point," Blythe gently supported Cuddy. "I know that you try but you know that we have to remind you to keep trying."
"If you know that it will take time for me to learn to curb my tongue," House sighed in exasperation. "Why are you expecting instant results?"
"We're not," Cuddy stated. "But as your Mother said, you won't learn unless we keep reminding you. You told me to treat this house as my home though you own it. Well I'm saying that I don't want that kind of language in my home. I know I keep telling you to be more polite at work, too, and I sure wish you would be, since it would make my life easier. But I accept that at work I can only demand so much from you and clinic duty is a priority. However, at home it's different because here we have to think of the children. I know you cannot change overnight, but I just want you to accept that when you say something we think is bad for the children we will say so."
"Ok, fine, I suppose you have a point. Spoilsports," House agreed grudgingly. "But you still are..." He then whispered to his son earning a long suffering look from both Cuddy and Blythe.
House was just burping his son when Higa walked in carrying Aiko. Kasumii was following them ready to put the trips – one by one – in their cribs. Higa brought Aiko to House who gave her a small kiss on the cheek, but didn't take her yet as his hands were full.
"Hello Little Love," House murmured to his daughter. "Did you have a good bath with your Ojii-san? Did you behave yourself for him?"
"She always behaves," Higa smiled as Aiko explained something to House.
"So she tells me," House agreed. "Kasumii, I think Ben is ready, come and take him. He seems to be asleep already."
"I think you ought to have named him Speedy and not Ben," Kasumii smiled as she took the boy. "He eats quickly, he falls asleep almost instantaneously, he wakes up right the moment he opens his eyes and I have a feeling he will be like that with everything in his life." She took Ben carefully from House and carried him to his crib. House took Aiko from Higa, who sat down near them.
"Hmm, you smell good my little apricot," House nuzzled his nose in Aiko's hair when he hugged her – earning an indulgent (and almost a little envious) looks from the ladies in the room. The kids were the only ones who got House to show his tender side. "So, how was your day?" House asked Aiko. And Aiko explained with a string of words, some of which made sense, like Dada, others didn't, but House nodded and agreed and seemed to understand.
"Yes, I know it was more fun to be with me at work, but now that Kasumii needs to be here for the Trips, I cannot have you at work all the time," House mourned with Aiko. "No, we cannot send your siblings back where they came from. A new visit there and we could end up with even more kids in the house."
"HOUSE!" this time Cuddy really did yell at him, kids or no kids present. Fortunately Ben was sound asleep and Greer and Priya were still intent on their bottles, and Aiko had heard Cuddy yell at her Daddy at work (plenty of times) so as long as it was just yelling she didn't mind.
"What?" House was all innocence. "I didn't use any bad words."
"It's not just HOW you say something," Cuddy gave a long suffering sigh. "It's also WHAT you say."
"Really Greg," Blythe was biting her lip to stop a laugh from escaping. "Don't you think Lisa has enough on her plate without you acting up, too?"
"It's good for her to be able to let out some steam," House shrugged. "She can't yell at the kids, after all."
"Oh, so this if for my good that you're behaving like a jerk?" Cuddy asked.
"Isn't jerk a bad word?" House frowned.
"Not when it's your middle name," Cuddy muttered.
"Are you sure you didn't hit Greg on the head and marry him secretly?" Higa asked having watched the argument. "Because you sound very much like an old married couple."
"I'm sure," Cuddy stated. "Because I'm also sure that if I ever ended up hitting him on the head, he would not recover from it, no matter how hard his head is."
"Aren't death threats unsuitable material for the kiddies to hear, too?" House wondered. "Why am I the only one who has to curb his tongue?"
"Could be because you're the only one who has no control over it at all," Kasumii pointed out as she took Priya from Blythe.
"Right, gang up on me you all, will you," House huffed indignantly.
"Not me," Higa laughed. "I'm staying out of this one entirely."
"Some help that is," House grumbled. "But at least I have Aiko on my side. Always!"
House smiled at his daughter who was experimenting with fish-faces again. Then she indicated that she wanted down. House set her on the floor and she remained standing leaning on House's legs. House kept a hold of her hand and she walked herself a few steps to the side and then showed that she wanted her grandfather. Higa extended his arms and took a secure hold of Aiko's hands and helped her make her way to him. Kasumii had just put Greer too in bed and now she took the digital camera they had ready at all times and started filming Aiko. She and Cuddy had agreed that they wanted as much film as possible of House and Aiko – and the trips - together, because without the visual evidence nobody would believe them when they told people what House was like with his kids. In fact they were pretty sure they, too, would think memory was tricking them without some proof.
Once Aiko got to her grandfather she gave him a big smile after which she wanted to turn back to her Daddy. Higa helped her but then she let got of his hands and stood unaided – which she had been doing for a couple of weeks already. Then she called "Dada!" and took a step towards House. The room held its breath – even House, though he had the presence of mind to extend his arms towards Aiko, though not to take hold of her. Aiko gave him a big smile, too, and then she practically run into his arms. He caught her and lifted her up laughing.
"That's my clever little girl!" House exclaimed. "Well done Aiko." And then he shocked the room by hugging Aiko and kissing her all over her face. Aiko took it in her stride and even kissed him back. It was obvious they had done something like this before – even if for some other reason.
Blythe recovered from her shock soonest but she waited till Cuddy got herself together well enough to go to House and demand that others wanted to celebrate too. Cuddy took Aiko from House to hug and praise and then she passed the little girl to Blythe.
Aiko demonstrated her new skill a couple of more times and then House announced that it was time for her to go to bed. She could do more walking the next day – she would have more audience then, with Foreman and his parents (and probably the rest of the House-hold as well).
Once the kids were all in bed and asleep the adults converged in the living room and Cuddy just had to ask a question.
"House, tell me why you were so exited about Aiko's first step when you totally shrugged off her first word?"
"I told you," House replied. "Learning to talk is a process; you really cannot say when the words really start meaning something for the child and when she is just experimenting with sounds. The first word is always an arbitrary decision on the part of the parents. However, when it comes to walking, there is nothing arbitrary about the first step: you either walk or you don't. And Aiko did."
"You ... " Cuddy hesitated. She wanted to say that it had looked like House hugged and kissed Aiko like that on regular basis, but she decided against it. There was a chance that if she made too much of a fuss over it, he would stop – even though he had been doing it in the private even now. But she wasn't taking any risks, not with the kids. "You just have to be the most exasperating parent I know!" Cuddy decided to say instead.
"You say that like it was a bad thing," House complained. "Aiko hasn't minded."
"And she is an expert on this subject," Higa inserted. "So something about your method must be working."
"All of it is working," Blythe defended her son. "Aiko is happy and I'm sure the Trips will be, too."
"Hear, hear," House crowed. "It works, let's not fix it."
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Some time later Blythe was making tea for herself in the kitchen when Dr Higa came to get a drink for himself.
"I don't think I have thanked you," Blythe wondered. "Or have I?"
"For what?" Higa asked, though he had his suspicions.
"For making my son happy," Blythe said. "For giving him Aiko."
"Actually, I didn't," Higa smiled. "I didn't give Aiko to him; I gave him to Aiko."
"I think that is splitting hairs, but I don't really care who got who," Blythe responded. "They have each other and I have what I always hoped for my son: a family that will give him happiness."
"Happiness is not a permanent state," Higa warned.
"I know," Blythe agreed. "But it can be a reoccurring state, and it seems to be so with Aiko. I have never seen Greg laugh so often, even as a child. And I don't believe anyone, but an innocent child could make him feel that happy that often. You gave him that and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm forever in your debt."
"No, Blythe, you're not," Higa declined. "I love him, too. And if there was any debt at all, it has been repaid. Aiko is happy, too. She is loved, secure and accepted. She has a larger family than I ever could imagine before. So many people who have no blood ties to her at all, have accepted her into their hearts and lives. If there is any debt, it's mine. I hoped, I prayed that giving Aiko, the last of my family, to Gregory was the right thing to do, but I never even dreamed that it would work this well. She has siblings now; she has a mother and a grandmother. There are aunts and uncles who are willing to look after her and the world is open for her. No, there is no need to thank me. I think I'm the winner here."
"I suppose we both got more than we ever expected out of this gift," Blythe accepted. "But I still thank you, since you started this all, even if it turned out to be more than you expected. Thank you."
"And I thank you," Higa said. "For your son. I could not have asked for a better father for my granddaughter had I spent a thousand years looking for one."
"So we both have what we hoped for," Blythe concluded. "Funny how things sometimes work out. But I'm so glad they do."