Title: Parasitic

A/N- ShipperCrazed-FanficCrazy, I just wanna say that I'm sorry to hear about your father, and I want to extend my best wishes to him and a quick recovery. Good Health-Andi

Chapter Six: Your Flight Has Been Cancelled

Striding down the corridor, Lisa Cuddy entered the diagnostics department, a decision made.

"I talked to Allison yesterday," she began, but didn't get a chance to finish her statement.

"Imagine that, I talked to her yesterday too. I even got to talk to her today!" Greg looked at his boss, "Sorry, I thought we were competing over popularity with my wife."

With an annoyed tone, Lisa continued, "She offered to go to Florida with us so that you would go."

"Allison can't fly." Greg's eyes narrowed.

Rolling her eyes with exasperation, Lisa fumed, "She's perfectly capable-"

"Ally hates flying. She freaks out every time, even with her brother-in-law flying. I had to drug her to get her on the plane back to New York when we were coming back from her parents' last summer!"

"But-"

"No, she's not flying. She was throwing up both too and from Japan, and she's not getting on a plane when the very survival of our kids depends on her keeping food in her stomach." He snarled with finality.

"You had to play that card didn't you?" Lisa sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Please, Greg? It's just a week. Can't one of your in-laws come over and stay with her while you're gone?"

"Can't you just take Wilson instead? He'd die to spend a week away with you." Greg moaned.

"He's not as renowned as you." Lisa tried to compliment him.

"Flattery is cheap." His eyes narrowed. "You can't win me over with things I'm already well aware of."

"Please?" She begged.

"I'll talk to Ally about it. Maybe we can do her ultrasound the day before I'm suppose to leave." Greg thought for a moment, "Her brother may be able to stay with her." He was at a loss, and had to consult with his wife. He knew that Lisa was more than capable of making him go whether he wanted to or not, and despite their constant fighting, he really did respect his boss. Hell, maybe he could use this as leverage later... He'd have to look into that...

Lisa left, and Greg went to his wife's office to talk to her. "How are you." He came in and kissed her forehead.

"Fine, ready for lunch?" She asked, grabbing her purse.

"Yeah... So, Cuddy says you two came to an ultimatum about the conference?" He began carefully, not wanting to flare her moodswings into overdrive.

"Yeah, did she go for it?" Allison asked hopefully.

Nodding, Greg thought about how he should phrase his next statement, "Yeah, she agreed to let you come but..."

"But?" Allison looked at him curiously.

"I... Don't think it would be the best idea for you to go." He waited for her to explode, and she didn't disappoint.

"What do you mean I shouldn't go? Why? 'Cause it was my idea and you're pissed that you didn't think about it? Well, fuck you!" She shoved him and flung her purse down on her desk with a large THUD.

"No," he kept his patience, which was really quite impressive for him, "you and I both know that you do not fly well."

Allison crossed her arms over her chest but didn't deny the truth of that observation.

Inching closer to her, Greg did something many wouldn't consider a big deal, but with his wife's current hormone cocktail in full effect, it was probably deserving of an award reserved for displays of extreme courage. "You can hardly keep enough food down to run your own body right now, and you know that flying stresses you out, so why would you want to subject your body to it?"

"B-because, I don't want you to leave me." She whimpered. "I don't want to be all alone."

"Kane will be with you, and can't you see if your one of your siblings will stay with you for the week?" He asked, reaching out to place warm hands on her vibrating shoulders. "I'll call every day, and it's only a week."

Allison shrugged his hands off of her, "I don't care." She turned her back to him, not ready to stop fighting. "And no. No one can come stay with me. Morgan has this month booked for flights, and Ste is already a wreck without him there. And Ste can't stay with me, 'cause he's got the animal clinic to run. Lolie's got a new batch of interns and Bryce has a huge caseload right now, plus they're already taking care of their own kid!"

Greg looked at her for a moment. He knew full well that Allison didn't keep that close of a tab on her family. He knew this, because she'd told him a while ago that they didn't talk much on the phone because then they had plenty to talk about when they finally all got together. "You haven't told them you're pregnant yet." He concluded, and by the stiffness he saw in her shoulders, Greg knew that he'd guessed correctly.

"No." She admitted. "I want to, but-"

"Ally, I don't get it, honey. You were so happy to-"

"I know." She leaned heavily against her desk. "I just..." Allison trailed off, uncertain of how to phrase her fears.

"Do you want to have kids?" He asked carefully.

"Yeah..."

"That didn't sound very certain." It hurt him to say it, and it hurt her to hear it. The statement sounded so accusing.

"I wasn't ready for this." She cried, tears falling from her eyes, "I wasn't ready. I'm not ready." Her voice broke with sobs. "One maybe... I think I could have handled one." She swiped at the falling trails of water. "But not three, Greg, I never could have prepared myself for three."

Nothing in him knew what to say. For the first time, he was entirely speechless. He couldn't say anything snide. He couldn't say anything comforting. Nothing in him was prepared to comment.

"God, I'm such a monster." She cried, and he said nothing.

"I... I..." His mouth opened, and all that could exit it was a broken garble of pointless vowels. All Greg wanted to do was turn around and walk out of the room, but he at least had the common sense not to follow that natural instinct. It was rare that he felt this uncomfortable. Everything he would have told a patient went flying out the window, because this wasn't a stranger who he'd never see again. This was the woman he shared his home, his bed, and his life with.

"Maybe..." Allison turned somber. "Maybe we weren't ready for this."

"You want to-"

"No! But I'm just so unsure." She said in dismay. "I want them. I really really do." She was crying even harder now, "I want them so badly!" She was shaking and sobbing and still Greg couldn't grasp the strength to embrace her. "I'm just so fucking scared."

As soon as those words left her mouth, a spark ignited in Greg's brain and he suddenly felt his insecurities leave him, "Afraid?"

"Yeah." She said weakly.

"Ally, baby, you're the most nurturing woman I've ever met. You have more patience and honesty in you than a saint, and you're afraid? You're a hard worker, you're strong, and you know what?" She shook her head, not knowing, "You're still at the same spot everyone is in when they start having kids. Everyone's scared. I'm ready to collapse I'm so scared right now." His legs unfroze, and he was finally able to close their distance and hug her. "There is nothing you should think you can't handle, because women not nearly as strong as you have survived raising kids."

Allison cried against his shoulder as she clung to him, "I love you." She sobbed into his shoulder.

"Love you too." He whispered into her hair. "We can do this, Ally... And if it's any consolation, there's a ninety-five percent chance you're gonna get a cesarean, so you don't even have to go through labor." She gave a watery laugh, "Better?" She nodded against his chest, "Do you want me to tell Cuddy to fuck off and I'll just skip the conference?"

Though it sounded very tempting, Allison had a better idea in mind, "How about..." Allison smiled at her idea, "How about we bargain with her. You go, and in return you're pardoned from future lectures for the next year and a half, and we get to bring the kids with us here?"

"Ooh, and I was just thinking about what types of perks I could get by doing this!" He laughed, giving her a tight hug.

Laughing, Allison snuggled against him, drying stray tears against his t-shirt. "Are we okay?" She asked carefully.

"We're fine." He placed a kiss on her forehead, so softly that had it not been for the moist imprint it left, she may not have realized he'd done it.

"Lunch?"

"Lunch." He agreed.

--------------------------

"Yes?" Wilson quirked an eyebrow at his friend when he actually knocked before barging into his office. "What have you done with my best friend?" He joked.

"I'm having second thoughts." Greg didn't even flop down on the couch, instead he paced anxiously.

"About?"

"Kids."

Wilson sat up straighter in his chair, completely shocked. "Greg, it's a bit too late to start having second thoughts." He pointed out nervously, "I thought you were happy! I mean..." At his friend's lost look, "Shouldn't you be talking to Allison about this?" He asked weakly.

"I can't." Greg rubbed his hands over his face briskly, as if the action would disperse his mind's current torments. "I just spent the better part of a half hour reassuring Allison about it."

"It sounds like you two weren't ready for this step." Wilson clasped his hands in front of his chest, taking on the role of Greg's psychiatrist.

"No one really ever is quite ready."

"That's rather evasive." Wilson pointed out.

"So sue me." Greg glared, still walking the short length of the office and back again.

"What's the problem?" Wilson began to chip away at Greg's wall of scathing remarks.

Greg didn't speak for a good five minutes, merely pacing back and forth. When he did speak, Wilson was surprised at how forthcoming it was. True, Greg normally was forthcoming, but not about his feelings, therefore Wilson was left shellshocked.

"I don't know if I can be a father." He confessed. "I've spent my entire life doing the only thing I knew would prevent me from becoming my father. I didn't have kids so I wouldn't have to worry about making them the same socially dysfunctional individuals that I am, and now, I've managed to spawn three children, completely sealing my fate. Do you think if I commit suicide they'll have a greater chance of coming out normal?" Greg asked weakly.

Stunned, Wilson could hardly speak. If marrying Allison had done anything to change Greg, it was definitely this. On a normal day, Wilson would have had to spend a good day and a half chiselling this much information out of his friend. Now, Greg was offering it all out on a silver platter? Shaking his head, the oncologist realized something very important.

Greg took this very seriously.

The man had to be entirely serious. If he wasn't genuinely worried, he wouldn't be so honest about being afraid. However, the difficult part was reassuring his best friend that he'd make a good father. But how do you do such a thing? Greg was more than capable of tearing apart any superficial reassurances. He needed something deep. He needed something that was fundamentally reassuring, not a boost in morale.

"There's nothing I can say, Greg." Wilson shook his head, a look of regret shining in his eyes. "What can I say that you wouldn't shrug off?"

"Nothing I suppose." Greg finally flopped down in the chair opposite Wilson's desk.

"I'm sorry, but we both know that I can't reassure you." Wilson was at a loss, he felt horrible that there was nothing he could say to his friend.

"You're a lot of help, Jimmy." Greg grunted, but not with his usual cynicism.

"You should talk to your wife, Greg."

"Not right now."

"Then when?"

"Later."

-----------------------

Allison hadn't felt this good in a long time. Not to say that she hadn't felt wonderful when she found out she was pregnant, but the happiness had been marred by her uncertainties and other underlying fears. Now, reassured and confident, Allison was strolling around the hospital with a new wave of energy that belied her previous days of constant fatigue. She had even managed to eat her entire lunch, an overly large one at that, and not even feel the need to throw up afterwards!

Life was good.

However, seeing that life likes to throw us a curve ball when we're on cloud nine, Allison received a rude awakening.

"Hi, Wilson!" Allison bounced into the oncologist's office, making him jump at her unexpected arrival.

"Ally!" He yelped, still recovering from his earlier conversation with Greg, and unprepared to see Allison and face her without leaking possible information. Then again... Maybe if he spoke to Allison and made her understand Greg's insecurities, then perhaps, she would be able to instill some comfort in him.

"How's it going?" She was still bouncing, "Guess what!"

"Uh, what?"

"I kept down lunch!" She said excitedly, like it was her greatest achievement.

"Congratulations." Wilson couldn't help smiling, knowing that Allison had been struggling with morning sickness.

"Yup."

"Ally," Wilson thought for a moment, "can you sit down a minute? I need to talk to you."

Plopping into the same chair Greg had sat in earlier, Allison looked at Wilson attentively.

"I think there needs to be a bit of reassurance about your growing family." He began carefully.

"Oh, don't worry, Greg and I talked, and every thing's okay now." She assured.

"Wow!" Wilson looked relieved, "I'm glad to hear that, 'cause when I talked to Greg, he was kind of nervous about talking to you. I was afraid he'd keep putting it off."

Allison laughed, "No, we talked." She assured. "The things he said made me realize a lot that I'd been neglecting to take into account." Wilson nodded, "I'm just glad he didn't run away, I could tell he wanted to turn around and run out the door." She laughed and Wilson smiled, "But he let me cry and reassured me that I could handle it-"

"Wait." Wilson held up a hand. "He reassured you?"

"Of course... Who else would he be reassuring?" She laughed.

"But... Wait... Are we talking about the same conversation?" Wilson was confused, "Was your conversation before or after lunch?" He asked for clarification.

"... Before..." Allison looked at James curiously.

"Ally, I'm talking about... Well... You reassuring him." Wilson bit his lip, "Greg's really... Uh... Conflicted right now."

"About?" Allison's tilted her head at a downward angle, giving her a dark look, one that clearly said her husband might lose the ability to reproduce depending on what Wilson replied with.

"Well, about kids." Wilson said weakly, a tiny squeak in his voice, evident fear that his own testicles may be on the chopping block next.

"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" Allison shrieked, standing up so abruptly that she toppled over the chair that she'd been sitting in.

Before Wilson could say anything, she was out the balcony door and stomping towards her husband's office.

"YOU FUCKING HYPOCRITE!" Allison flung the door open in the diagnostics department, stunning Greg, Foreman, and Chase into silence. "YOU TWO OUT!" She pointed at Foreman and Chase. The two men shielded their nether regions as they scurried out of the department.

"Ally-"

"DON'T "ALLY" ME!" She poked him hard in the ribs with her index finger. "YOU SAID WE WERE GOOD! YOU LIED TO ME!"

"Allison."

"SHUT UP!" She poked him again. "YOU FUCKING STOOD THERE AND TOLD ME WHAT A WONDERFUL MOM I'D MAKE WHILE YOU'RE DOUBTING YOURSELF!?" The level of how furious she was could not be gaged in standard forms of measurement. "YOU FUCKING LIED TO ME!"

"DAMN IT, CAMERON!" Greg grabbed her shoulders, "I can't! I can't talk to you, 'cause everything I say makes you cry! Everything I do makes you mad! And you want me to stand here and confess to you that I'm scared as hell?"

Allison was stunned to say the least. "C-Cameron?" Her eyes widened, shoulders slumping, however, she chose not to dwell. She knew that using her maiden name was the only way he was going to be able to stun her into silence long enough to get a word in. "You really can't talk to me anymore?" She wrapped her arms around her chest, hugging herself. She knew that she was being unfair to him. There were too many excuses she could use, and use them she did. However, she couldn't say that they were all excuses. Every emotion she felt was real, and powerful, and ripping her apart. Her family had always said that she felt things too strongly, and now, amplified by hormones and her own dismay, Allison was a timebomb that exploded in spastic increments, leaving all around her unable to predict the next catastrophe.

"I'm saying," Greg's hold on her shoulder's loosened, "that, it's hard."

"No shit."

"I mean," he sighed, "I'm just as confused and nervous and frightened as you are."

"I know." She couldn't stop a new wave of tears from pouring from her eyes, "I'm sorry that I'm being so selfish." She couldn't stop herself from crying.

Wrapping his arms around his wife, Greg let out an internal sigh. "I'd do anything to make you stop crying." He whispered in her ear, "That's what I can't stand about all of this. It feels like I'm constantly making you cry. I feel like everything that's hurting you is all my fault, and I've hurt you so much in the past that..."

"You're not your father." Allison said softly.

Taken aback, Greg pulled away and looked at her.

"You're not, you know." She said firmly, "I've met him, and I know that you are not him." She swiped away tears, "I know it sounds cliche, but it doesn't make it any less true." Taking on a strong appearance, Allison put her hands to her husband's face, "So why can't you let him go? Why can't you finally cast him aside and realize that you're yourself and no one else. Baby, being a bad father isn't genetic."

With a weak smile, Greg pressed his forehead against Allison's, "I think I believe you." It was baffling how well she knew him, and part of him wondered if Wilson had told her exactly what he was afraid of. How else could she have figured it out? Or did she really know him that well?

"You should. I'm always right." Allison smirked, her eyes closing.

"I'll humor you and agree, but only because you're pregnant." She gave a harsh laugh at that. "Glad I can still make you laugh."

"You always make me laugh." She assured, "Even when I'm crying, you still amuse me. The way you get that helpless look on your face makes me forget why I'm sad, even if it's only for a second."

"I'm sorry I make you cry so much."

"I'm sorry I cry so much and make you think it's your fault." Allison embraced him tightly.

"You know what we really, really need?" Greg asked carefully.

"Make-up sex?" Allison ventured.

"And lots of it." He agreed.

She smirked, "Where?"

"Our bed."

"You're going to make me wait five hours to have make-up sex?" Allison looked skeptical.

"No, we're going to play hooky for a couple hours, and Wilson's going to cover for us, 'cause I know it was that busybody that told you I was feeling anxious." Greg took Allison's hand and lead her towards the door.

"Wait." Allison stopped him.

"What?" Greg asked gently.

"..." She looked at him beseechingly.

With a soft smile, Greg knew what she needed, "To bed, Mrs. House?"

With a grin, Allison gave a hop and jumped into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist. Her lips fused with his as her ankles hooked together behind his back, securing herself. "One more time?" She asked slyly.

"Mrs. House."

"One more?"

"Mrs. House."

"Okay." She peppered his face with kisses as they staggered into the hallway and towards the elevator.

"Are you going to make me carry you like this out of the hospital?" Greg teased.

"Maybe." She cooed, kissing him over and over.

"Might make hooky seem a bit obvious."

"Hooky? More like "nookie"." Allison teased, finally dropping her legs from around his waist when the elevator finally arrived.

--------------------

It had been a while since Kane had heard the front door open with such urgency that the mutt felt compelled to take refuge beneath the piano. However, as her owners burst through the threshold of the apartment, dashing down the hallway to the bedroom, the dog let out a long, groaning sigh from her safe nest beneath the large space beneath the instrument.

Allison tugged at her husband's clothes as he made quick work of removing her own. Soon they fell in a tangled heap of half naked limbs onto the bed. Articles of clothing clung to them, trying to maintain their proper positions on the needful bodies, but soon they were tossed away to the shunning corners of the bedroom, as entirely naked flesh met at last.

"Love you." Allison said breathlessly as Greg kissed down the length of her body, worshipping the increasingly sensitive peaks of her breasts. "Ah, love you so much." She mewled as he took one budded nipple between his lips and suckled it until she was panting in bliss.

"Make room, little guys." He said to her belly, "Daddy's coming in to visit."

"That's disturbing on so many levels." Allison shook her head, though she still laughed despite her slight disgust.

Greg shrugged, "Thought I'd give them a fair warning."

"Still disturbing." She murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck as his hands glided up her thighs, massaging them with his firm grip. "Mmm, I think I'll get a massage while you're gone." She sighed, knowing that the hands of a massage therapist would never get the physical response that her husband's did. Which was probably a good thing.

"I'll massage you." He leaned forward and nibbled her ear, earning a lovely moan from her lips, "Can't keep my hands off you half the time anyway." He teased, his body pressing its full length against hers as one hand dipped between their bodies to twirl in the neat nest of curls.

Whimpering, Allison rolled her hips, feeling his fingers find her clit and cause another sharp gasp to issue from her lips, "Love your hands." She keened as she rocked against said hand.

"Love all of you." He gave her earlobe another tug between his teeth, "Love your hands, and arms, and torso, feet, legs, face, scalp-"

"Are you going to give me an entire anatomical breakdown, or are you going to fuck me?" Allison asked playfully, "Two can play at that game, you know. I love your phalangis, and your metacarpals, and carpals... Your radius, ulna-

"Okay, stop." Greg pressed against her teasingly, letting the tip of his cock graze the outer lips of her already wet entrance.

"Humer-UH!" Allison arched like a bow as he slid inside her. Recovering from his abrupt entrance, Allison quickly began rolling her hips as his own thrust back and forth, both of their hands wandering in the form of soft, needful caresses.

"Humer-UH?" He teased, wandering from her ear to her throat.

"Sssssss." Allison hissed, her legs wrapping around his hips as she met his thrusts.

"Glenoid Fossa."

"AH! Fuck!" Allison groaned, eyes squeezing shut tightly as she tumbled over the edge.

Amazed at her quick release, Greg wondered what her easily stimulated body was capable of. Her fresh wave of juices encouraged him to glide more freely, and he managed to bring her over the edge two more times before her clenching walls dragged him into oblivion with her third crescendo.

In a sweating jumble of bodies, Allison and Greg managed to disentangle their respective body parts and curl together on their sides.

"I love make-up sex." Allison said tiredly.

"I'm sure we'll be having plenty of it." He assured.

"What's that suppose to mean?" She asked defensively.

"See?"

"Fuck you."

"Just did."

"Grrr."

"Do we need to have more make-up sex?" He grinned cheekily.

"Bastard."

"Actually my parents were married before I was born."

"Metaphorical bastard."

"There you go."

"You're impossible."

"That's why you love me."

Allison smiled, "Yeah... The sex helps too."

"True."

"Love you."

"Love you too, Mrs. House."

TBC

A/N- Yay rollercoasters!-Andi