Chapter 26

Trifle Matters

After a month, they had more or less settled in with each other. Always observant, House noticed that Teagan had started having frequent headaches while she was in Princeton. Sometimes they were so painful that she would start throwing up and her face would go numb on her right side. House thought that they were classic migraines, but he wanted her to come in for an MRI. She told him she didn't have time, but if they got worse she'd get one the next time she was in Princeton.

"So, you're going to run back to the mountains and I'm going to be the one stuck moving?" Sitting in his chair, he pressed his lips together. He sounded miffed.

She was holding her head in her hand as the baby nursed, "I agreed to one month per quarter. I'm already starting to stress out, please don't get angry with me. If you want me here longer then you have to let me stick my big toe in first and then my foot and then my leg and then my butt..."

"Ok, I got the analogy back at foot. Alright. I'll get us moved into the apartment, but you have to decorate it the next time you're back in Princeton."

"Deal."

Teagan needed to get back to the mountains. Her anxiety levels were increasing on a daily basis as she tried to filter out the feelings of thousands of people in Princeton. She had forgotten how tiring it was to be constantly bombarded with the minutiae of their daily lives. The gate was down, but it still had cracks and she couldn't hold everything back. She could feel her health deteriorate on a daily basis as her headaches grew more frequent and worse and the exhaustion took over.

A few days later, Gregory and his Mom flew back to Aspen Valley,California and the sanctuary of the Camp Mather community. When she arrived home she discovered that the girls had left some food outside on the porch and the bears had knocked down the railing going up to the porch trying to get to it. They were very apologetic but it wasn't a big deal, Fred promised to repair it in a few days.

It was the middle of September and the air was getting nippy. House had armed her with a cell phone, a credit card and a down comforter that had been ordered in Princeton and was on its way to the lodge post office. She was beginning to feel like a kept woman. Nonetheless, House had made it clear that she was to use the credit card to buy food for her and the baby, take Gregory to the doctors, get gas and anything else they needed. It was a good thing she had the credit card because when she got home she discovered that the girls had gone through half of the propane and that the water heater was dying a slow, painful death.

She went up to the lodge to call House because the cell phone didn't get reception in the area. She called the hospital because she figured he would most likely be there.

"Greg House." He answered.

"Greg?"

"Hi! Are you guys ok?" He was obviously relieved and happy to hear from her.

She perked up when she felt how happy he was that she had called. "I wish this was just a social call, but I need to ask you a favor."

"What?"

"I need a new hot water heater and frankly I don't have the $300 for a propane one. I was..." She would have continued but she could feel his happiness change to anger. "...why are you mad at me?"

"Good. I'm glad you picked up on that. Damn it Teagan, do you think I'm going to let you and Gregory go without hot water because of a lousy $300? You know, this is ridiculous. I can't keep telling you that I can...no, that we can afford it. You know most couples have problems over one of them spending too much..." He paused, frustrated with her, "I'm coming out there. I'll be out in a couple of days. I'm going to make sure you two are ok for the winter."

Now she was angry. "I'm not a child. Gregory and I will do just fine through the winter. There's no need for you to come out. I don't need you to take care of the poor little girl. I'll buy the fucking hot water heater...ok? Happy?" She felt his anger turn to amusement and that made her even angrier. "Why do you always find it funny when I get mad?"

"I don't know, it just cracks me up." He was still chuckling and so she hung up.

She felt his amusement turn to worry and anger. She opened the gate and heard him, "Teagan, call me back...Teagan, call back and let's finish the conversation."

Closing the gate, she put Gregory on her back. She started walking back to the cabin,opening the gate as she did, "Greg?"

"Teagan?"

"Fuck you!" bam the gate came down.

House was furious; her issues with money were driving him nuts. He was extremely pissed off at her for hanging up because she knew he had no way of reaching her. He wanted to pull his out hair, what little there was left of it.

The next day Teagan bought the hot water heater and Fred went with her to pick it up. She paid Fred $75 to install it. It was nice to have hot, and not just warmish, water again. Another few weeks went by without having any contact with House. Gregory was growing like a weed. In the last month his eyes had gone from dull blue to a sparkling blue with a blue rim around the corona, just like his Dad's eyes. He seemed to respond well to everyone in the community and had developed an infectious laugh which was more like a rolling squeal.

Teagan went up to the lodge and called House again.

"Greg House."

"Are you still laughing at me?" She asked.

"I'm not talking to you." He said it without any inflection. She could feel some hesitation. He wanted to talk to her but was ready to make a point by hanging up.

"Ok, well just let me do the talking ok?" She waited but no response. "I went into Stockton last week and bought the hot water heater. I got a thirty gallon heater and paid Fred to install it and it's working great." She paused and waited, there was no response. "The baby flipped over by himself, yesterday." She paused and waited, still no response, "and he started singing the Star Spangled Banner." No response. "I paid Fred by having sex with him. I didn't realize he was into S&M. It got a little freaky with him, you know, whips, chains, fish net stockings and hooker shoes. But the sex was just so-so." No response, but she could feel his amusement, "So afterwards we lit up a couple of cigarettes, but then realized that the second hand smoke might be bad for Gregory so we grabbed some of his doobies and toked on them instead." No response, but he was having a hard time trying not to laugh. "Ok, that's the news of the week." Click, she hung up. She felt his anxiety level go up and he was annoyed and hurt that she had hung up.

Yolanda was listening and her face looked disturbed and worried for both Teag and Fred. "Teag, what was that all about? You're not sleeping with Fred are you?"

"Oh, God, no. Greg's giving me the silent treatment, so I'm giving him guff."

"Uh oh. You two having a long distance fight?"

"Nope, he is." She laughed. "Damn, I can feel his blood pressure going up, I better call him back before he has a heart attack."

She dialed his phone again and he picked up.

"Why don't you just yell and get it over with...or haven't you realized yet that I'm the one that controls the phone calls? I hang up this time, it's for good."

"Don't threaten me." He said with all sincerity.

"Don't be such an ass." she said. He hung up.

Teagan wanted to throw the phone at him but he wasn't there. "She threw her hands up in the air and looked at Yolanda. "Houston, we have a problem. He's crazy if he thinks I'm calling him back."

"Teag, you can't do that. You guys have to stop behaving like adolescents and talk to each other. You have to do it for Gregory's sake."

Teagan sometimes hated reasonable people, they could make you feel so foolish. She picked up the phone and called him back.

"Greg House."

She paused for a few seconds, then said in a sullen voice, "I'm sorry for escalating things. I don't want to do this. I actually miss you and don't want to fight." She could feel him softening.

"We have to set some ground rules."

"Ok."

"No more hanging up on each other."

"Deal." She agreed.

"No more asking permission to spend my money. You have my child, if what you need will benefit my child, then use the damn credit card. Ok?"

She had a hard time with this one but logically it made sense. "Ok."

"And if you see something you want, buy it."

She was quiet. "I don't need anything."

"Let's go over this again. If you see something you want, buy it."

"Maybe. That's the best you're going to get so accept it."

He realized he wasn't going to get any more out of her. "What would it take for you to feel comfortable spending the money on yourself?"

"Does it matter?" She asked.

"Yes, it does. I want you to open the gate and feel what I am going to say. I want you to know that it's true, that it's real."

"Lead on McDuff." She opened the gate.

"I make plenty of money, I have plenty of money. Before I met you I spent thousands of dollars a month on gambling, hookers and booze. I was bored. I'm not bored anymore. I can curb back the money I spend on gambling, hookers and booze. And I want you to use it for you and Gregory. That would make me feel better about myself."

You would have thought from the way he worded it that he was being glib, but he wasn't. He wanted us to have the money because we gave him something he hadn't had in a long time, self-respect. I was really touched by it, because the feelings for us were so raw and pure.

"Ok. But if you spend one cent on Paula, your ass is grass. Do you hear what I am saying?"

House felt nervous, she knew about Paula? "I think you're saying no hookers. Where's the fun in that? After all, you have Fred and the whips."

"If you're good, I'm going to let you use the whips."

"Are you coming to Princeton for Christmas?"

"Wow, Gregory's first Christmas. Are you sure you don't want to come this way? Christmas in the mountains is great."

"I have some obligations on this end. Pack up the kid and I'll see you in December...or you could come sooner."

"Christmas is pushing it...I'll purchase a ticket...with your money."

"Yeah, now that's the spirit."

The next few months were busy for both Greg and Teagan. House had non-stop patients back to back, including a congressman's daughter and an opera singer. They made an appointment to talk once a week by phone on Friday nights. He would call the lodge at 5:00 pm and they would talk. He always found it slightly ridiculous that he had to talk to the baby, but Teagan insisted that she put Gregory on the phone and he talk to him.

"Just let him hear your voice. Come on Greg. He loves hearing your voice. Ok, here, I've got the phone to his ear."

"Hey buddy, you know what, women are incredibly asinine and you'll find you have to put up with it or they won't put out. So remember the three things every man needs, a good whiskey, a good bookie and a good bed."

Teagan announced, "Ok that's enough. I'll see you in December...maybe."

"Oh, come on, you know you love me." He was laughing. There was silence and House was surprised by it. "Excuse me, but I'm looking for some reassurance here?"

'I uh, don't know what to say." There was more silence. They hadn't actually said that they loved each other before.

"You know I am the father of your child."

"Oh God, you moron, I can't take it. Of course I love you. I've loved you since you gave me a telepathic orgasm. Hell, I'd be an idiot if I didn't fall in love with the guy who could screw me from fifty feet away."