A/N: Here's a short update written down yesterday morning and not really proofed yet, so cut me some slack. It might be a while on more, as this week is getting very complicated. Veteran's Day turned out to be Taps for the oldest Veteran in my extended family, who served in WW2 and Korea. Will be traveling toward the end of this week to go to and sing at his funeral. This is probably it on updates until into next week.

As for this story, the next two chapters when they do come are Christmas Day from two different perspectives (Princeton and St. Louis), and then we will get down to Blythe and House.

(H/C)

Late that night, Cuddy entered their bedroom with Thornton's awkwardly large box in her hands, pushing the door shut with her hip. House was sitting on the bed massaging his thigh and jumped at being caught, pulling his hand away. Cuddy tried to keep the worry out of her eyes. "I can give you a massage if you want," she suggested as casually as she could. He had obviously been favoring his leg since he got home, and she had decided he must have strained it at the airport while being stubborn about not wanting help with the luggage.

House gave an ambiguous grunt that might convey either yes, no, or drop it, and Cuddy let him dodge temporarily. She would insist on the massage before they went to sleep, though. She set the box down on the bed.

Sudden scratching on the door changed her from concerned wife into household administrator in a flash. "STOP that!" she scolded, opening the bedroom door. Belle, looking far from repentant, sauntered in and jumped up onto the bed, starting a sniff-survey of the box.

Cuddy stooped to inspect the outside of the door. "You did shut the door in her face," House pointed out. "Should have known she was coming in pretty soon." Belle always slept with them, but she had been hiding for most of tonight after the arrival of the guest. Too many guests had been around lately for feline tastes.

"That's not an excuse for scratching the door. A polite meow would work." Cuddy sighed and stood again, closing the door. "Bad cat." Belle ignored her, not even an ear flick. Cuddy locked the bedroom door, a step that was now routine since the girls were able to escape from their beds without assistance, then came over to join her husband. "Okay, what are these mystery presents?"

House was watching Belle, suddenly wondering what she would make of Thornton. Did he have a cat? A dog? House knew he had a horse, but that wouldn't be around his household, presumably. He wondered what Belle could detect long distance from the scents on the box. She was quite interested but wasn't reacting as she had to Cathy's kitten, no flattening of the ears. No other cat, apparently. "Greg," Cuddy repeated, trying to be patient.

"Go ahead and open it," he invited, trying to avoid twisting over to it himself. She immediately dug in as if these were her presents. Belle reared up and put her front paws on the edge, considering the contents herself. Cuddy pushed her back.

The first thing to emerge was the envelope addressed to her husband. "Two train show tickets," he explained. "That plus the mug were mine. Did you see the mug in the conference room?"

"Yes. That's perfect. I wonder where he found it." She dug on through crumpled newspaper packing, pushing Belle aside again, and extracted the gift for Abby. She had to smile at the open flaps at one end. Thornton was anticipating his son with impressive accuracy. "He figured you'd inspect them."

"Damn right. That's what parents are supposed to do, look out for their kids." Like Thornton hadn't done.

Cuddy heard the silent postscript and hoped he had added Blythe to it. "Do you mind if I open it?"

He shrugged. "You're their parent, too." In spite of the nonchalant tone, he was alert, watching closely for her reaction.

She sat down next to him and opened the little music computer, then started reading the box description. He soon got impatient with her survey of the fine print and turned on the device himself with a comment about her lack of electronic education. Together, they watched the songs unspool across the bottom of the screen. "Abby will love this," she said.

He stiffened up again, no longer lost in the game. "She would, yes."

"Greg, sooner or later, you're going to have to introduce him to them."

"And why should it be sooner when later works?" He turned off the music. "We're parents, Lisa. We have a right to screen people before just rolling out the red carpet that leads to our kids. In fact, we have a responsibility to."

"Yes, we do. But there's a difference in simple parental screening and putting somebody through an entire boot camp first."

He looked away. "I figured you'd be on his side."

"No, this isn't about sides. I'm not suggesting leaving him with the girls for a month unsupervised, Greg. We don't know him that well yet. But he isn't asking for that, either. He's willing to go through all the checkpoints. I just think that passing along a gift, a gift that they will love, a gift he obviously put a lot of thought into, isn't unreasonable at this stage."

He stared at the silent screen. "I guess they don't have to know who sent it. Not this year, at least." He felt her reaction and looked at her, his eyes a direct challenge. "So what do you think we should tell them? Here, kids, this is from your grandfather, whom you don't know because he's actually never once visited. He never knew about you until recently, and he never was part of my life, either. But have at it. Merry Christmas."

She didn't point out that Thornton had been part of his life to the best of his ability. "Of course, we don't have to explain things. They're too young for that. But lying just doesn't seem fair somehow."

"Kids have been lied to on this subject for centuries, Lisa. They realize as they get older that the whole Santa Claus thing was a myth. They get over it."

There was a sudden crinkle behind them as Belle jumped into the box, promptly starting to dig in the newspaper. Cuddy extracted her, glad of the change of subject just then. She knew that pushing House too much on this would backfire, but the idea of taking such carefully, lovingly selected gifts and divorcing them completely from the giver didn't seem right. Thornton had earned this much, even if no relationship was attached to the name and he was just Thomas. The girls wouldn't question it. Still, she could understand House's point of view, too, all those years of misunderstanding, plus the undeniable fact that Thornton had failed to protect his son.

She dug out the big present from the box, Rachel's gift at the bottom. Belle promptly jumped back into the box, and Cuddy pulled out the cat and refolded the top flaps. "Party pooper," House protested.

"She doesn't need to shred newspaper. Besides, she'll get ink on herself."

"She's self-washable, Lisa. That's at least one thing in this household you don't have to deal with. So get rid of the newspaper and give her the box, at least. Cats love boxes."

"Maybe later. Right now, I want to see this present." Her own patience was running short. She had been wondering about these gifts all day, and Abby's was so perfect that she had even more anticipation now for Rachel's.

The stuffed horse was pulled out and examined. Belle forgot her offense at the box and came over to sniff it when the sound effects started. Deciding that it wasn't alive after all, she retreated to the foot of the bed, still watching. Cuddy smiled, squeezing the "canter" hoof again. "Rachel will really love this."

"The question is, will we love it next week? How long until that thing wears old?"

"They're kids, Greg. Kids make noise. That just goes with the territory." Unknowingly, she echoed Thornton.

For House, childhood noise had been defiance, not simply play. At least, it had from age three on. He sighed, his hand going back to his leg. "Greg?" He jumped and focused, seeing the worry in her eyes. Damn.

"I'm fine." He looked at the two presents again. To give or not to give?

"You could call Jensen and talk to him about it. Maybe it would help."

"No, Jensen's off this weekend, and he deserves his break." He had certainly bothered Jensen enough in the past and would again before long. The man had more than earned a Houseless weekend with his own family. House drummed his fingers for a minute, then looked up at her. "Do you really think we should give them to the girls?"

"Yes. I can just see them now enjoying these. Can't you?"

The trouble was, he could. How could Thornton, off only a few phone calls and limited details, have chosen so well? "I guess we can make them from Santa Claus, then. I still want more data on him before letting him know the girls."

Cuddy heard the finality in his voice and left the subject for the moment. Giving the gifts anonymously was better than not giving them at all. "Your mother wasn't too bad tonight. Not so far, anyway."

"Yeah." House suddenly felt exhausted and even more aware of the pain in his leg. He was tired of talking. "You mentioned a massage."

Cuddy tucked the presents into the closet, got rid of the newspaper, and presented Belle with the big box. Finally, she came over to his right side. He had stretched out full length on the bed now that the box was cleared away and had changed into his loose sleep pants. She reached for his leg, feeling the tension not just in this half muscle but in all of him. Very slowly, he yielded to her touch, beginning to relax. "It's going to be okay, Greg," she said after a few minutes.

He gave her a skeptical glare, but secretly, he was reassured.