Ch 33: Jiggle, Wiggle, Slip and Slide

"So are you two going to get married or not?" Cuddy's sister was asking a few weeks later as they sat down for dinner surrounded by children and dogs and many, many noisemaking devices such as the television, cell phones, and pagers.

"Yes. We're getting married," Cuddy informed her with a smile that House saw didn't reach her eyes. He knew that her sister expected that Cuddy would stay single for the rest of her life, and if he didn't love her already, he would have asked Cuddy to marry him just to spite the younger woman. He sneered across the table at his soon to be brother-in-law and accepted the large helping of mashed potatoes that were offered by his fiancé.

"So you finally caught this bastard in your web, eh, Lisa?" he asked in not a very kind way. "How'd you do it?"

"Some people don't have to be talked into everything," Cuddy informed him in a semi-cold tone. House could tell it was going to be a long dinner experience with the three people around him arguing like they were supposed to be one-upping each other. He started chewing, partially enjoying the show, partially counting down the minutes until they could take Rachel and go back to Cuddy's place. He did have a fondness for dissention, but the annoying quality of Cuddy's family grated on his nerves.

Fortunately Cuddy claimed that they would have to get Rachel back so they were able to get away just after the mediocre pie was served. As Cuddy's sister waved them off from the front porch, he resisted the urge to throw a particularly smelly diaper out the window and into that immaculate yard. Cuddy sighed and he turned his attention back to her. "I don't know how you can stand those people, really…ten more minutes and I would have been ready to blow the garage up to get some real emotion out of them."

"They're…fuck it, they're ass holes. You'll just have to get used to putting up with them a few times per year unless you want to visit your family," she informed him.

"I don't know what's worse," he muttered. "Listening to mom go on about how she misses the great man that was my father or those idiots."

Cuddy chose not to acknowledge the pain she heard in his voice at the mention of his family and instead heaved another huge sigh. "Rachel is going to be surrounded by a bunch of rude people for the majority of her childhood."

"You're the one who decided that marrying me was a good idea," he replied. "I don't think it'll hurt her to experience some sarcasm anyway."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking about you…but now that I think of it I'll probably end up with two smart-asses in the family…"

House snickered. "You can always hope that Wilson will let her have play dates with the spawn that's soon to come shooting out of Thirteen."

"They're going to be good parents, House."

"Maybe…either that or we'll have to adopt another kid…"

She rolled her eyes once more. "Wilson has some parental feelings deep down…and I'm sure Thirteen has as well."

"You'd better hope so."

She decided to change the subject. "Rachel's almost potty trained…maybe it's time to start sending her to daycare…what do you think?"

"I think the sooner she's house trained the sooner we can get a dog…"

"Later. We should be focusing on what kinds of places we can consider taking her too, though. It's an important decision."

"I'll leave that stuff up to you…She probably won't care where it is as long as there are fudgecicles…"

"True. But we want to start her out on the right track. She's growing up pretty fast."

"Cuddy, she's a year and a half years old. I think we can postpone the talk about med school for a few years."

"I'm just saying that it's something we should consider."

House sighed now. "I hope our whole life isn't going to be filled with dealing with your family and where the kid wants to attend daycare…there are more important things to consider."

"Such as?"

"Sex," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Which I plan on having when we get back to Princeton." Cuddy couldn't help but smile at that notion.