Chapter 24

"I'm putting the baby to bed." Kate started to leave, Emily in her arms. "Don't think about escaping, we're talking about this when I come back."

"Great." House muttered under his breath as she went. "Can't wait."

When she returned, he was sitting at the piano, but not really playing, just picking out a few notes. She sat beside him and sighed heavily.

"From your sigh, I take it, you're not thrilled with me tonight."

"No, Greg, I am not."

He turned to look at her. "Not telling them was not about you. It wasn't that I was ashamed of you or Emily. It was about them and their response."

She was confused. "Your mother was hurt, naturally, but she was also thrilled. She didn't want to let Emily go."

"She's not the one I was worried about."

"Exactly. And why is it that I don't know this?"

He looked confused.

"Greg, I've known you almost two years. We share a house, a child, our lives! But you obviously have a problem with your father and I had no idea!"

"You wouldn't understand it."

"I realize that I don't have parents, hell, I've never had a father, but I think I could empathize with you a little." She hesitated. "I love you. I should be able to share your trouble, your pain. But you don't let me in."

He rose from the piano bench to limp across the room. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to be a part of your life!"

"You are."

"No, I'm not. Greg, I told you something about myself that no one knows. I'd never spoken the words aloud before I told you. But I know next to nothing about your childhood, your fears, your pain."

"You can see my pain everyday." He shot back.

"Right, I see it –on your face, in your eyes. But when I ask you, you say it's nothing. Then you pop your pills and that's it."

"I pop a hell of lot less pills since I met you."

"No, since Emily was on the way. And that was your decision, I never forced you. But don't you understand that your pain is my pain? When I told you about my childhood, I could see on your face how it affected you. Don't you think I would feel the same way?"

House didn't know what to say, he was uncomfortable with this entire conversation. "I don't talk about my feelings or even my past very often."

"Yes, I know, that's part of the problem." She looked down at the piano keys while she continued. "Before I met you, I never had a successful romantic relationship in my life. Even friends were few and far between, I can count them on one hand. Part and parcel of my upbringing.

"But when we got together, suddenly everything changed for me. For the first time, I wasn't afraid to open myself up to another person. I wasn't afraid to have a baby with him…okay, I was afraid. But I was more afraid to not have his baby, because I knew that would be the bigger mistake."

She stood up and walked over to where he stood. "I let you in. But you haven't let me in. And until you do, I can't see a future for us."

Her words hit him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Until you make me a part of your life, in every way, then I think we need to be apart. It's all or nothing with me. And if you can't give yourself to me, how can you give yourself to your daughter? She deserves more from a father."

She was right about that, he thought. He also suspected that he would be a lousy father, now Kate was showing him how true that was.

"Emily and I will be okay. If you don't want to be a part of our lives, then, fine, you go your way, we'll go ours. You can see Emily when you want. We can work it out."

A cold chill was seeping through his blood at her words. House knew that happiness was fleeting and he had been surprised at how long it had lasted with Kate and the baby.

"If that's what you want." He told her.

"It's not what I want, but it's what I have to do to survive."

"Fine. I'll move out in the morning. I can sleep in the guest room tonight, if that's alright with you."

Kate nodded, unable to speak.

"Okay, I'll go and pack." With that, he hobbled out and towards the bedroom.

Kate sat down on the sofa, buried her head in her hands and sobbed.