Chapter 7: Parenting

Gabrielle and Elisabeth sat up in House and Cuddy's room as she allowed her to look through the photo album.

Gabrielle sat there the whole time and just watched as Elisabeth flipped through the pages. She could tell that there were certain pages that interested her more than others.

"That right there is Andy and I when I was six and he was nine," Gabrielle pointed out to her.

Elisabeth looked up to her and laughed. It surprised her that Gabrielle and Andy went back that far. Then again, Gabrielle never did tell her much about her life.

Elisabeth stopped once again when she got to a picture of Gabrielle and Maria together. She didn't have to ask who it was, it had mommy and me written down under the picture. They looked happy together. They were sitting outside, Gabrielle was on the swing while Maria stood behind her, holding on to the ropes. Looking up, she could see Gabrielle blankly staring down at the picture and got her attention to ask if she missed her.

Gabrielle softly laughed. "Yeah," she answered.

Elisabeth nodded and then continued through the pictures. Once she got to the part where she was staying in Maine, she furrowed her brow. The sudden change perplexed her.

"I was staying with my aunt. If I wanted to have any fun, I would have to sneak out after she went to bed. She was sort of strict," Gabrielle explained.

Elisabeth kept her head down and continued to look at the pictures before her. Once she got back to Toledo, she could see the difference. She recognized Marcy, Doug, and Bucky from the pictures. They were the ones that had come out to see Jason when he was born and were also at the wedding.

She continued to go through the rest of the pages and then closed the book and stared to her. Gabrielle could tell that she wanted to ask her a few things, but didn't know where to start.

"Those pictures where we're drunk and in a cabin or in front of lake, the ones with Marcy and them, that's up at Put in Bay. That's a place back in Ohio. An awesome place really. Went back there the summer after sophomore year and then the summer after junior year. The last time was the summer after senior year," she explained, trying to keep away from the pictures that she had taken with Dave in Maine.

Elisabeth just looked to her again, studying her almost. She knew that there was something wrong. There had to be. She was about to ask, but Gabrielle went ahead and spoke up.

"You want to know about the time that I spent with my aunt don't you?" she questioned.

Elisabeth also mentioned the fact that she didn't notice Jake in any of the pictures.

"Nice one, first person here to point that out," Gabrielle told her. She looked down to the book for a moment and then looked back up to Elisabeth. "After daddy, my mom married this man, Charlie and then while they were married, she had Jake. He left her shortly afterwords. That's actually why I was staying with my aunt, my mom had started drinking a lot. It started out just a few drinks and then gradually built up. Anyways, my aunt Eloise had her own opinion of how I should be and started raising me to be this perfect little ballerina thing. Anyways, everything I did in those pictures, those were all things that she hated. She hated the black clothes, the heavy make up, me hanging around with boys," she explained.

Elisabeth just looked up to her with pity. Now, she was starting to wonder if that was what truly killed her mom. She decided to just go ahead and ask her.

Gabrielle shook her head. "No, there was actually a car wreck around here. That was the only reason that I even knew my actual father. Originally, Eloise was supposed to get me," she answered. She then smiled to her. "Did you know that mom was the one to gain custody of me in court?" she questioned.

Elisabeth shook her head. Now, she was curious. Instead of asking her anymore questions, she contently waited for her to go on and explain.

"Daddy has a bit of a past with getting in trouble, so he asked mom to step in and take care of the trial. That way, I had a better chance of ending up here, rather than with Eloise. See, my mom had signed something when I was younger, stating that if anything happened to her, I would go to Eloise," she explained.

Elisabeth just nodded. It was a lot to hear about someone in one night, but it helped her to understand things a bit more clearly. Gabrielle had always been extremely close with both parents, and anytime there was anything wrong, she knew that Gabrielle was running back and forth between the two. House would always show up a little late, and usually with Gabrielle right there watching him. She was loyal to both of them, and now she knew that she did feel that there was probably some loyalty that they deserved.

Looking up to Gabrielle, she could tel that she was starting to feel uncomfortable with this. She asked her if she wanted to go ahead and go downstairs.

"Sounds good to me," Gabrielle answered.

Ooooooo

Gabrielle sat down on the couch next to House while Jason slept on the empty cushion next to her. Cuddy sat in the chair while Elisabeth and Tommy sat in the other chair and Rachel sat on the floor.

"Gerald and I had a great time today," Rachel stated.

Gabrielle looked over and smirked. "Hopefully not too great of a time," she remarked.

House glared to her hit her leg, indicating for her to shut up.

"Ow," Gabrielle responded, looking to House with confusion. "Was that necessary?"

"She's twelve," he warned her.

Gabrielle just took the hint and nodded. She could remember times where he was very protective of her too. Now that she thought about it, she already felt bad for Rachel, knowing how things were about to get if she stayed with Gerald long enough.

"I'm glad I didn't go to that stupid picnic today. Unlike you three, I actually did something today," Tommy announced.

"Yeah? What's that?" Cuddy asked.

"Charlie and I found these roman candles in his basement. We're gonna light em off next weekend," he explained.

Cuddy's eyes widened as she looked from Tommy over to House. "Did you tell him that he could do that?" she nearly shrieked.

"I'm going to be there, and so will Charlie's dad, whatever his name is," House replied.

"You're going to allow our ten year old son to play with explosives?" she asked as calmly as she could.

"Again, I'm going to be there. Besides, there's only five. They each get one. I've shot a few off before, they're not that bad. The people who get in accidents with those things are either drunk, morons, or both. Besides, now that he knows it's not like you can just tell him to not do it. He just won't tell us when he does," House explained.

"Actually," Gabrielle started, looking over towards Cuddy. "I used those things when I was fourteen and I was fine."

"Not helping," Cuddy responded. Sighing, she stood up. "We need to talk," she told him and then turned and started towards the kitchen.

Gabrielle looked over to House as he rolled his eyes and started to laugh. "Good luck," she said.

"How can you just sit there and allow him to play with something that can kill him?" she sternly implored as soon as he got to the kitchen.

House looked up to her and saw her, standing there with her hands on her hips. She was pissed, but instead of caving in, he sighed and sat down at the table. "I already told you, the kids found them and no matter what we say or anyone says, they're going to use them. At least this way there can be people there to show them the right way to set them off without killing themselves," he tried to reason with her.

Cuddy dropped her hands from her hips, one going to the counter for her to lean on, and the other momentarily covering her face as she let out a heavy sigh. "That's not the point Greg," she steadily informed him as she removed her hand from her face and glared up to him. "You went ahead and gave him permission to do something that could either seriously injure him or kill him."

House leaned back in his chair. "And you can't get killed or injured doing anything else? People die from tripping and falling down the stairs everyday, but that doesn't mean that we all only use elevators or live in single story homes. All you have to do is breathe in the wrong place at the wrong time and you can catch a life threatening disease," he explained and then looked up to her. "I'm not sending him out to a firing squad to get shot at, I'm allowing him to set off a single firework and then come back home. You can't keep coddling him forever," he added.

"I'm not coddling him!" Cuddy argued. "I'm trying to protect him!"

"The same way you try and protect Elisabeth?" he questioned, knowing that he would stick her with that one.

Cuddy just stopped and looked to him for a minute, narrowing her eyes on him. "All right," she responded in defeat. "I'll stay here with Elisabeth while you take one of our kids that actually has a chance of living to a normal age and allow him to risk his life over something completely stupid," she stated and then left the room.

House sighed as he leaned his head back and looked up towards the ceiling. She was not about to let this go.

ooooooo

Jessica sat up in her room as she painted her nails. She really didn't like doing that, every time she painted her nails she would just sit there and chip the paint off. It was just something to do to pass the time.

She just did not want to be downstairs. She knew exactly what was going on right now. Rachel would be telling everyone how wonderful her day with Gerald went and how they are planning on hanging out together more often. Everyone would be asking Elisabeth about Donnie and how that went today. Tommy would be back there laughing at both of them, probably the only thing that she could tolerate hearing.

It wasn't that she was upset with either Rachel or Elisabeth, or that she didn't like them. She was just tired of how Rachel somehow always got what she wanted, the boy that she likes also likes her, she gets to be in the class with all of her friends, everything constantly goes perfectly for her. Then there was Elisabeth, everyone always wanted to know how her day went. They always wanted to know how she was feeling, what happened, did she enjoy this, what does she want now. Again, she understood why Elisabeth got so much attention, and she also knew that there were a lot of times that it annoyed Elisabeth.

"Hey kid," Gabrielle said, standing in the doorway.

Jessica looked up to her and forced a small smile. "Hi," she responded and then looked back down.

"Well aren't you the little miss sunshine?" she questioned as she walked in and sat down in the chair at the desk. "So, I got a few movies. The Exorcist, The Omen, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Shining. You wanna come over tonight and watch them?" she offered.

Jessica turned to her with confusion. "Elisabeth already asked if she could watch The Shining, and mom said no," she explained.

"So?" Gabrielle asked.

"So," Jessica started. She had always been the goody two shoes. "I don't think that we should watch it," she stated.

Gabrielle shrugged. "All right then," she replied and then stood up.

"That's it?" Jessica implored. "You're not watching them anymore?"

Gabrielle shook her head. "I already pulled the other three aside and asked them and they wanted to. I'm not gonna force you to though," she explained and then started to leave.

"Wait," Jessica called out to her.

Gabrielle smirked as she stopped. She knew that she had changed her mind. "What?" she questioned, turning back to her.

"If everyone else is," Jessica responded. She knew that she was always the one to do the right thing, why not try something different tonight? Besides it would look weird to her parents if everyone went but her. She liked to do the right thing, but she was never one to tattle tale.

"Okay, just be downstairs in twenty minutes," she instructed.

"Can I ask one question first?" Jessica asked.

"I think you just did," Gabrielle replied.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Why?"

Gabrielle looked to her for a second. "Why... ?" she asked, trying to get her to finish her question.

"Why are you having us over tonight? It's kind of random," Jessica said.

Gabrielle shrugged. "I was just thinking, after I got married to Andy I started spending less time with you guys, and then Jason was born and I started spending even less time with you, and now I'm pregnant again, so that will be even less time than before," she answered. It was true, she used to spend a lot of time with the four of them while she was still living there, and then even when she moved out before she got married.

Jessica smiled to her. "I hope it's a girl this time," she informed her.

Gabrielle just laughed. "Secretly, so do I," she responded before turning and leaving.