Chapter 44: Discoveries

A few months later…

Kate was looking for a police sweatshirt that she knew she had, but hadn't seen in a while. She started rooting through their bedroom closet. House had a lot of junk in there. She figured she might as well organize it a little. She pulled out things and put them in piles on the floor.

At the top of the closet was a wooden box, about ten inches in diameter. She didn't remember ever seeing it before. She pulled it out and opened it. It was filled with dirt, or what looked like dirt. Perplexed, she left the bedroom to find her husband.

House was in the rec room, watching a hockey game. Maxi was next to him on the sofa.

"Greg," she said, ""Can I ask you something?"

"YES!" he shouted, as the Flyers made a goal. Maxi jumped up and started wagging her tail.

"Greg."

"No, that's not a penalty!" he yelled at the TV. Maxi looked back and forth from Kate to House.

"Greg!"

"What???"

"What's this?"

"What's what?" he asked, his eyes still on the TV.

"This!" She held up the box.

He glanced at what she was holding, then back at the game.

"Oh, that's your ashes."

"My-my what?"

"Your ashes. I had you cremated and those are your ashes. Come on, go after that puck! This is the NHL, not the Ice Capades."

Kate stared at the box for several seconds, then at her husband.

"Are you saying that you put my ashes in the back of the closet and forgot about them?"

"Well, technically, I put some homeless woman's ashes in the closet."

"But at the time you thought they were mine."

"Yeah, but you're not dead, so what's the difference?"

"The difference is that you had no respect or feeling for my remains."

"What did you expect me to do with them? Put them on the dining room table so that Emily could have Sunday dinner with mom?"

"Of course not, that would be creepy."

"Exactly."

"But I would think you'd have some feeling or want to do something with them."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, spread them somewhere."

"Where? You're not an outdoors person, the ocean or a field wouldn't work. Maybe I could have used the police firing range. Spread them there."

Kate was silent for a few minutes while House concentrated on the game. Then she looked at him solemnly.

"Didn't they mean anything to you?"

"They were the ashes of a dead body!"

"MY dead body!"

House sighed and muted the TV. He knew he wasn't going to be able to enjoy the game until he cleared this up. Maxi collapsed on the floor, her eyes following her master and mistress.

"Kate, when you 'died', so did a part of me. I barely made it through your memorial service. The undertaker handed me that box and all I wanted was to get it out of my sight as fast as I could. I didn't want to deal with the physical reminder of the fact that you were gone. Wilson put it in that closet for me. To tell the truth, I didn't even know where it was. I didn't want to know. I knew he'd tell me if I asked him.

"Your ashes weren't important to me. Your life and the lack of it mattered."

Kate had tears in her eyes when he was finished. She laid the box on the table, went to him and put her arms around him.

"I love you, Greg,"

"I love you too. Now can I watch the hockey game?"

She smiled and restored the sound on the TV. Picking up the box, she started to leave the room. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back to him.

"Greg?"

He gave her a look that said, 'what now, I'm watching the game?'

"What should we do with these ashes?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Get rid of them."

"How?"

"Throw them out."

"We can't do that!"

"Why the hell not?"

"They're someone's ashes."

"No one we know."

"That doesn't matter."

"Well, what do you think we should do with them?"

"I don't know. Spread them somewhere or something."

"She was homeless. You want to spread them along Nassau Street, be my guest. Or maybe we could leave them at St. Vincent's Shelter? She could be a warning to other homeless people. Don't get caught by a crazed killer."

"Not funny, Greg. Maybe we should bury the ashes."

"Yeah, bury them next to the other people he killed. Right now, they're probably still in graves marked Pearson."

"Oh, God, that's awful! There's a grave with Monica's name on it."

House hadn't thought about that before. It was kind of creepy. He hoped that kid never had to see it.

"We need to get that changed." Kate said, reading his thoughts. "A young girl shouldn't have to look at a headstone with her name on it. And it's next to her mom's grave."

"So get it changed." He didn't care if she had it done, as long as he didn't have to get involved.

"Greg, this is important. Those three people died in place of Monica and me. I have to do something for them." She was quiet for a moment. "Greg, what would you want me to do with your remains?"

"Since you said remains, we're assuming I'm dead?"

"Of course."

"In that case, I don't give a shit."

"Greg…"

"I'll be dead. It's not going to matter to me what you do with them."

"But…"

"Kate, do anything your heart desires with them. Put them in a golden urn and worship them, sprinkle them over the track at a monster truck rally – actually that'd be pretty cool – or hide the box in the back of the closet. I DON'T CARE. Now can I please watch the Flyers get trampled by the Penguins?"

Kate left him alone. She took the box to the garage and put it on a shelf there. It felt weird to leave it in their bedroom closet. She finished the closet, but as she worked, she thought about what they discussed and other things as well.

Later that day, she looked for House. The game was over and he had left the rec room to Monica who was watching an old episode of the X-Files while Emily played on the floor. She found him in the living room at the piano, playing softly. She sat down beside him on the bench,

He glanced at her, sensing she had something she wanted to say. He knew he'd get no peace until they'd talked.

"Greg, I've been thinking."

"That's never good."

"What?"

"Whenever you've been thinking, it's usually going to cost me money or cause me trouble. Or both."

She ignored him and went on. "I think we should adopt Monica." Sensing he was going to interrupt, she quickly added, "Now hear me out. We've set up James as Emily's guardian if we die, but what about Monica?"

"He'd take her too."

"No, he wouldn't be able. The state would reassign her. And there's no way they'd assign her to an unmarried man. But if we adopt her, we can designate whomever we want to take care of her. That way, she'd be protected and the girls would be together. Emily already adores her."

"Okay." He said.

Kate wasn't listening to him. "Plus, she's a part of this family, she should be a House. She hates being a Pearson."

"Okay." He said.

"And we can get her on you health insurance if we adopt her."

"Okay." He said.

"I know how you hate change, but I think this would be so good for her to know that we love her and want her."

"OKAY!" he said loudly.

"What did you say?"

"Did you lose your hearing? I said okay."

"Really? It's okay? It's really okay?"

"Yes, it's really okay." He played a few notes. "I've actually been thinking about it myself."

"You have? Oh, Greg, you are the best."

"Now tell me something I don't know."

She kissed his cheek and put her arm around his waist. "Play me something nice."

He smiled at her. Remembering her guilty pleasure in cheesy old movies, he said. "Did you ever see 'Young at Heart' with Frank Sinatra and Doris Day?"

"I think so. Sinatra was this loser who marries Doris Day and she saves him, right?"

"Right. Jerk loser saved by terrific woman."

He started playing the introduction to a lovely song. Then he softly sang:

My love is ever you, my love.

Now and forever, you, my love.

You came into my lonely world.

What peace of mind your smile unfurled.

Yes and because of you, my love

My wished for dream came true my love

In my uncertain heart, I am only certain of

How much I love you, my love.

"You know," he said, as he finished singing, "There was an earlier version of that movie, starring John Garfield and Priscilla Lane. Same story, except she didn't save him. John Garfield died and she married the handsome young guy."

He looked at her carefully. She smiled at him.

"Yeah, I saw that one too. But I like the Sinatra version better."