Author's Notes:I haven't actually seen an episode of House in a long time. So when I planned this chapter I had only planned for House's mother to be in it and not his father. I forgot when House's father died. I realized that during this timeline his father would have been alive, but because I don't want him in the story…I have decided that he has already died. I'm also not sure if I've captured House's mother right either….Oh well.

Chapter Eight

It had been a few days since Cuddy had her last ultrasound. She had made a picture of the baby's profile her background on her computer, just so she could look at the image as often as she wanted. Even though if it was slightly distracting.

Today had been a relatively easy day in terms of her work schedule. She didn't have any meetings planned and she had just finished finalizing the last of the daily emails that she needed to respond to. Now with nothing to do, she thought about giving Max a call to see if she wanted to grab some coffee later. Because there wasn't much to do, Cuddy had told Max that she didn't have to stay at her desk. Cuddy wasn't sure, but she assumed that she was spending time with Chase.

Cuddy had to admit to herself that it was weird knowing that her daughter was dating one of her doctors, but she knew that Max was an adult and would make her own decisions. As far as she knew, Max and Chase weren't serious…yet. Max seemed happy when she was with Chase and that's really all that mattered to Cuddy.

Suddenly there was a soft knocking on her office door which pulled Cuddy from her thoughts.

"Come in," Cuddy called out.

Cuddy looked back at her computer screen with a smile. She heard her office door open and the footsteps of someone walking in.

"How can I help – " Cuddy began but then stopped abruptly when she saw who was standing in front of her. "Mrs- Mrs. House? What, um, how can I help you?" Cuddy asked, stuttering over her own words. "Are you looking for House?"

Cuddy quickly looked down at her stomach. She hadn't spoken to House about his mother or anyone in his family and she didn't know how much House had told his mother about everything. Or if he had told her anything at all. Cuddy didn't want her daughter's existence to be a secret, but she also didn't want to tell his mother what was going on instead of him being able to tell her himself.

"No, I actually came to see you." Blythe House answered.

Cuddy suddenly felt very nervous. She watched as Blythe's expression softened even more and her eyes misted with tears.

"Greg called me," Blythe said. She moved to sit down in one of the chairs in front of Cuddy's desk. "He told me about Max and about the baby you're expecting."

Cuddy's eyes grew wide for a brief moment. "Oh," She said softly, not really knowing what else to say.

Cuddy didn't know what she was supposed to say. Was House's mother looking for an explanation? Or some details? She didn't know how much House had told her. Cuddy chewed on her bottom lip nervously.

"I—" She began but Blythe spoke at the same time.

"Oh, Lisa, I'm so sorry," Blythe said with a sigh.

"What?" Cuddy asked, confused.

"Greg told me everything," Blythe admitted. Her tone a little sad. Almost as if she were guilty of something. "He told me about what your mother did. I'm sorry. That must have been awful."

Cuddy swallowed a sudden lump in her throat and nodded. Even though so much time had passed it was still emotional to think about what her mother had done.

"I wish I had known about the baby." Blythe continued. "The first baby. I know Greg would have done the right thing."

"I know he would have," Cuddy said suddenly. "I never – "

"-Oh, no dear. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything." Blythe said quickly. "I just… I wanted to you know that if things had been different, that I would have been there." Her eyes started to fill with tears again. "I would have loved that baby – I know I'll love her. Just like I will with this one when she's born. And I wanted you to know that whatever happens between you and my son, that I promise to be here for you and my granddaughters."

Cuddy watched as the older woman in front of her looked like she was about to cry. She felt her own tears forming and knew that it wouldn't be long before she herself started to cry as well. If she did she would blame her hormones.

"Blythe, I… Thank you."

Blythe smiled softly and Cuddy couldn't help but smile back. The two women looked at each other. An unspoken understanding settling between them.

Suddenly the office door opened again and Max strode into the room.

"Hey mum did you want—" Max began but stopped when she looked at Cuddy and saw the tears in her eyes. "What's going on?" She asked slowly.

Before Cuddy could say anything, Blythe turned around in her chair and then slowly stood up. Without a word she moved took a few steps towards Max and suddenly flung her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

Max was startled and keeps her arms by her sides. She looked over at Cuddy in confusion. One eyebrow raised.

"Um… why is this woman hugging me?" Max whispered loudly.

Cuddy quickly wiped her eyes with the palm of her right hand and said, "Oh, Max this is Blythe House. House's mother."

Max's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Oh," She said with a sigh. "Awe." Then her entire body softened and she quickly brought her arms up to hug the woman back.

It felt extremely weird for Max to be standing and hugging her paternal grandmother, but also oddly comforting. Especially since she could tell from the hug that this woman was accepting her. Even before she really knew her.

After several long moments, Blythe pulled back and took a step back. She brought one hand up and quickly wiped away a few tears that had spilled down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry dear," Blythe told Max softly. "I didn't me to just spring on you like that."

"That ok," Max said with a small smile.

"It's just… You are so beautiful." Blythe said. Her eyes filled with pride and awe. "You look just like Lisa, but you have Greg's eyes."

Max grinned at the comment. "That's what everyone says."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you were growing up…"

"Oh, no that…" Max began and shook her head slightly. "Don't worry about it. It's not like it was your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault…" She paused and frowned. "Ok, it was someone's fault…" She snapped angrily.

"Oh, Max," Cuddy sighed sadly.

Even though they had all known about each other for a while now, and Max and been getting to know her parents and they her, the subject of Cuddy's mother and what she had done was still a very sore topic for them all. They had not really spoken about her or what she had done.

Max turned to Cuddy and saw the guilt in her eyes and that upset her. She was starting to get a good idea of what type of person her mother was. How she thinks, how she feels and she knew that she was the type of person to feel great pains of guilt for things that other people did. She didn't want her mother to start getting upset, especially when she was pregnant.

"Hey!" Max exclaimed suddenly. She tried to sound as cheery as she could. "This is probably way too much emotion for the office, so… Oh, I know, how about we all do dinner? My place."

Blythe smiled warmly. "I would love that. Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Max said with a grin. "I'd really like to get to know you, and maybe hear some embarrassing stories about House when he was a kid." She added the last bit with a bit of a laugh.

Cuddy couldn't help but chuckle slightly as she'd actually like to hear those stories too.

"What time would you like us there?" Blythe asked Max.

"Oh, say about 8.00," Max replied.

Max looked at her grandmother and her mother and grinned broadly.

**House MD**

Max had decided to find House and tell him about dinner herself. She'd left Cuddy's office after Blythe had said that she was leaving to do a few things before dinner.

When Max found House on the roof of the hospital. One of his favorite hiding spots, though it wasn't a good hiding spot as nearly everyone knew he came up here. He was leaning over the rails looking out at the view.

"Guess what you're doing tonight?" Max sang out loudly as she walked up behind him.

House turned and couldn't help his lips twitching slightly when he saw her.

"Well, judging by your tone," He began. "I'm guessing it's not drinking and watching the L word like I planned."

Max looked at him with a hint of curiosity as she arched one eyebrow.

"That seems like a weird thing to do with your mother while she's in town." She stated and then smiled when the realization of her words had sunk in.

House's own eyes widen for the briefest of moments. Then his face returned to its casual self.

"And how do you know that my mother is in town?" He asked.

Max smiled and folded her arms casually over her chest.

"I just saw her." She replied. "Down in mum's office. It looked like they were having a pretty intense heart-to-heart."

"Crap," House muttered under his breath.

After his phone call to his mother, she had come down straight away. Why wouldn't she? She had just found out that she had an adult granddaughter with another granddaughter on the way. She had been excited, curious, nervous and a million other things while she sat and listened to House's very long story.

There had been a lot of tears from his mother, which had made him very uncomfortable but House had managed to get through them. Once the information had sunk in and Blythe had gotten her head around everything she had asked to meet Max and to talk to Cuddy. House had promised that he would arrange for them all to meet but he wanted to talk to Max first to see what her thoughts were on the matter.

From what House knew about Max, she didn't always take kindly to having potentially high stressful and emotional situations thrown at her unexpectantly. So he had wanted to talk to her first. He just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Clearly, his mother had other ideas and couldn't wait.

"Yeah," Max sighed, bringing House out of his own thoughts.

"So?" He asked, waiting to see what her reaction to meeting his mother would be.

Max slowly began to smile which relaxed House's mind.

"She's nice," Max said. "Not like you at all." She joked.

House almost smirked at that comment.

"Did she ask you a thousand questions?" He asked.

"No. No, she just hugged me." Max admitted. "It was…weird. Invading…but, it was also nice. Like she just accepted me straight away…." She said the last bit in a softer voice.

Despite how tough she seemed, one of Max's biggest fears was being rejected by her family. It might have had something to do with being adopted, or it could have just been a primal thing. Either way, it was nice that her paternal grandmother wanted to get to know her.

House could see that the conversation was getting serious and so he tried to make it lighter once again. "You sure she didn't ask you any questions? She had a lot last night."

Max smiled. She knew exactly what he was trying to do and she was grateful for it.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll ask all the questions she wants tonight." She told him.

"Why?" He asked, suddenly very curious and intrigued. "What's happening tonight?"

"Dinner," Max answered. "My place. Me, you, my mum and your mum."

"Really?" House almost groaned.

As awkward family dinners went, this would be the most awkward. Sitting down for a meal with his mother, his recently found adult daughter and his boss slash women carrying his baby… He could think of a dozen things he'd rather be doing. Hell, he could think of anything else that would be more fun.

He was about to protest but stopped when he noticed the hint of a smile in Max's eyes. He then realized that she wanted this. She was probably as nervous as hell but she was also happy and excited. Plus, House supposed that his mother had the right to get to know her grandchild.

"Fine," He said with a deep annoyed sigh. "What time?"

Max grinned.

**House MD**

Later that afternoon, Max carefully knocked on the door of Wilson's office. He was sitting at his desk, signing some patient forms when he stopped and looked up.

"Come in." He called.

He was very surprised to see Max as she walked in. Like her father, Max had the reputation of not knocking.

"Hi, Wilson." She greeted him cheerfully.

Her tone put his guard up. Again, just like her father.

"What can I do for you?" He asked.

"How would you like a free, delicious meal with great company?" She asked.

"Whose company?" He asked slowly.

"Just House and myself…" She replied as she took a seat in front of him.

"Ah huh." Wilson nodded his head. "And?"

"And mum…and Blythe…"

"House's mum is here?" He asked, shocked. Then he shook his head and focused again. "And the four of you are going to have dinner together?"

"Yes."

"Seriously? Wow. That's gonna be…interesting."

"Interesting enough to make you wanna come too?" Max asked with a smile.

"No. Not even a little." Wilson replied quickly.

While it would be nice to watch his best friend squirm in that situation, Wilson also didn't want to be wrapped up in the drama and awkwardness.

"Please," Max said suddenly. The genuineness of her tone actually startled Wilson.

"Why?"

"Because it would be nice to have a buffer. You know, in case things get-"

"Intense?"

"I was gonna say weird," Max agreed with a shrug. "But yeah."

"Why don't you ask Chase?"

"I can't just ask Chase. That would add more weirdness to the situation." She replied while rolling her eyes. Then she paused and bit her bottom lip. "Besides," She began as she slowly pouted. "I already asked Chase and he said no."

Wilson had to hold back a laugh. "So why do you think I'll say yes?"

"To help your best friend out?" Max replied slowly.

Wilson shook his head. "Nope."

Max sighed deeply and folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against her chair heavily.

"Ok, then how about as a favour to your niece?" She asked.

Wilson frowned at her and raised one brow. "Since when are you, my niece?"

"Oh," Max gasped and placed one hand over her heart in a gesture of hurt.

Wilson could tell that she wasn't really hurt. He's seen House pull the same move a number of times to know sarcasm when he saw it.

"I'm hurt." Max lied with a pout.

"No, you're not," Wilson said with a slight shake of his head.

"Okay," Max began slowly. "So you're telling me that you aren't going to refer to yourself as 'Uncle Wilson' when my little sister is born? And she's not going to be your niece?"

"I—" Wilson stuttered.

In truth, he hadn't actually thought about that. Of course, he figured that he would take the role as 'Uncle Wilson' when House and Cuddy's baby was born. That was a given as he was House's best friend (some would say the only friend) and he was close with Cuddy as well.

He looked back at Max and let out a sigh. She grinned. She had won. He knew she had one. She knew she had won.

"Great." She said, her grin growing wider. "My place. 8.00"

To Be Continued…