Chapter 23

House reluctantly limped to the door. He opened it to find John and Blythe House on the other side. His mother smiled and reached up to kiss and hug her son.

"Hi Mom," he said, adding "Dad."

He stepped away from the door and they walked into the room.

"Such a lovely house, Greg." Blythe said.

His father looked around derisively. "Kinda big for one person, wouldn't you say?"

That was his cue and he figured he better take it.

"I'm not living here alone."

Both parents studied his face, waiting for him to continue. When he did, his voice was almost a whisper. "I'm living here with my wife."

His mother stared at him in shock, unable to speak. His father, however, was not so reticent. "Goddamn it, boy! You got married and never told your mother?"

House noticed that he did not say 'never told us.' He didn't expect otherwise.

He looked at the floor and replied, "It was sort of fast."

"Why? Did you knock her up?" his father spat out.

"Why I got married is none of your business." House shot back.

"John, Greg, please!" his mother pleaded. She turned to her son. "Where is your wife? I'd like to meet her."

House looked away from his mother again. He knew this was going to hurt her. "It's not just my wife that you'll be meeting. It's my daughter as well."

His mother's look of shock faded into one of hurt. His father just shook his head and said, "See? I figured he knocked her up. She must be some kind of slut if you didn't want your mother to know about her."

House's head shot up. "You have no right to say anything about her. She's a better person than you'll ever be."

His father was stopped from responding by the sound of someone else coming into the room. They turned to find Kate standing there with Emily in her arms.

House hesitated, then moved up beside her. "Mom, Dad. This is my wife Kate. And this is our daughter, Emily. Kate, my parents."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. House."

His mother's eyes began to fill with tears. "How old is Emily?"

Kate answered, "Six months."

Blythe turned to her son. "Greg, are you seriously telling me that you've had a daughter for six months and presumably knew she was coming for some months before that and didn't care enough to tell me?"

"It wasn't that I didn't care…"

His father interrupted. "What's wrong with your wife that you didn't want us to know about her or the kid?"

"There's nothing wrong with her. She's a terrific person and a great mother. And my daughter is…wonderful."

Kate looked at him, hesitant to get involved in this discussion.

"Then why are you ashamed of them?"

"It's not them that I'm ashamed of."

Blythe looked at her husband, then her son. "So it's us you're ashamed of?"

"Not you, Mom."

His father snorted. "Right. That figures. I was a lousy father. Well, you were no bargain as a son. Don't expect you'll be much better as a father yourself."

"I can't be much worse than you, so that gives me plenty of room."

House and his father continued to yell at each other. Blythe had tears pouring down her face by now. Emily was crying. Kate knew she had to do something. She was still learning what she had to know about being a wife, she knew even less about families. But she was a cop and she had faced her share of domestic disputes. She hated them, as did most cops, but the one thing she knew was her job.

She went to House's mother and handed the baby to her. "Could you hold Emily? I've got to stop a couple of idiots."

Blythe nodded as she took the baby and cuddled her close.

"Alright," Kate said in a voice louder than the ones yelling at each other. "That's enough. Both of you, shut up or I will use my gun. And I mean it!"

House glared at her, but knew by the look on her face that she was in serious cop mode. His father looked confused, but her statement puzzled him enough to silence him for the moment.

She continued, "Mr. House, go and sit in that chair." She pointed to an armchair by the door. "Greg, you go sit on the sofa." Both men just stared at her. "Do it NOW!" she added, her voice getting louder and more insistent.

House and John, grumbling a bit, both began to move. However, John went to the door and leaned against it and House hobbled over to the piano and sat on the bench. Kate just shook her head. Stubborn men.

"Okay, I won't begin to pretend that I understand all of what's going on here, but I do know some of it. Greg, it was lousy of you not to tell your parents about me and Emily. They deserved to know."

House opened his mouth to answer her, but she cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. We'll discuss it later." She turned to John. "Mr. House, you and your wife have every reason to be upset with Greg. However, you are in my house and in the presence of my daughter. I won't have this anger in front of her or in front of me. So if you two can't control yourselves, and act like civilized human beings, then I have no problem hauling you off to jail. You can both cool your heels in a cell tonight and then you might be more willing to discuss your problems."

John still looked confused at her words. House piped in. "Did I mention my wife is a cop?"

His parents both stared at him for a moment, understanding of her words now dawning. Kate, not about to let House get the last word, added, "Yeah, and I am a severely pissed cop right now. So, everyone better do what I say, got it?"

Everyone watched her, waiting to see if she had anything else to say. Even the baby had stopped crying. With their acquiescence, Kate felt some relief.

Blythe looked at Kate, warily. "May I say something?"

"Absolutely, Mrs. House."

"First of all, my name is Blythe. Second, Greg, you have behaved abominably." When her husband opened his mouth, she cut him off. "And you're not much better, John. You are not helping anything here by attacking Greg." She turned back to Kate. "Can you tell me how long you've been…" she broke off, not really sure what she wanted to ask.

"We met about two years ago, started dating, then had a rough patch for a bit, were apart. Then we weren't and we started living together. Emily was not planned, but we managed. Decided we needed a house, so we bought this place. She was born in September. A couple of months later, we decided to make it legal. That's about it."

John shook his head. "Most people get married, buy a house, have a baby in that order. You did the whole thing backwards."

"I'm not most people." House answered.

"We did what felt right for us." Kate added. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use a glass of wine. Anyone else?"

Over the wine, Blythe had time to coo over Emily. John still glowered, but managed to sit down. House kept his eyes downcast, tapping his cane on the floor between his legs. Kate kept watching all of them, making sure no more fireworks were going to explode.

Conversation was stilted and after an hour, John stood and told his wife they had to leave, "We're taking off early in the morning. Picking up my friend in Wilmington and I want to get there before dark."

Blythe was reluctant to let go of the baby, but finally handed her over to Kate, then gave the younger woman a swift hug, saying, "I'm glad he married you. You're exactly what he needs. And thank you for my beautiful granddaughter."

House rose and kissed his mother, shook hands with his father and watched as they left. He felt, all in all, that he had dodged the bullet on this one. It would be okay.

Then he looked up and saw his wife's face.