A/N: Sorry for the delay. Here's a very short update to go on, and it hopefully won't be too long until the next as the evening continues. I'm expecting low work this weekend and Monday due to the holiday.

(H/C)

House's shoulders sagged beneath the tiredness just for a moment, and then the anger surged through him, bringing a rush of new energy with it. They were early, and they had to know that. Since they couldn't have expected him or Cuddy home quite yet, the target must be the girls, a private conversation with them to mine more details about what had been happening in the family lately.

He totally forgot about the ally who was present, who would have been present anyway, until Marina spoke. "Come on in," she said, still holding the door. "You're early, but Dr. Cuddy should be home soon. She called a little while ago and said she just had one more fire to put out before she left. And Dr. House is already here. Thomas will arrive before long, too."

Robert and Susan entered and looked at House buried beneath the girls and the cat. Susan seemed startled as she took in his appearance

"Weren't expecting me yet?" he asked. "So you thought you'd get some quality time with the girls before we got here?"

Abby gave him an odd look, puzzled by his tone and sensing the anger, but Rachel typically lost the subtleties of the situation in excitement. "Hi, Grandma! Hi, Grandpa!" She didn't get up, though.

"Hi, Rachel. Hi, Abby." Robert faced his son-in-law. "We know we're early, Greg, but we weren't trying to . . . we wanted to talk to you and Lisa some tonight." He looked at the girls and carefully edited. "We haven't had much time together on this visit to catch up on things. We even thought maybe, while the nanny was still here . . . anyway, we wanted any chance that came up in the evening, so we didn't want to miss any of it."

Susan walked over to House, looking at him with concern. "Maybe some other time would be better, Robert. Are you all right, Greg? You look worn out."

"I was working all night," he replied. Which they knew and apparently just hadn't plugged in, and in spite of their stated intentions, he still didn't quite trust them alone with the girls at the moment. The temptation to switch into interrogation would have been strong.

Marina popped back out of the kitchen after an absence of under a minute. "Dr. House, would you be sure to tell Dr. Cuddy that you're almost out of garlic powder?"

House almost snapped why didn't Marina tell Cuddy herself or just add it to the note pad efficiently provided in the kitchen, but as he turned to the nanny, he got it. "I will. Thank you, Marina."

She nodded, her eyes full of intelligent sympathy, and disappeared into the kitchen again. A bustling clatter of silverware and pans resumed a moment later, just loud enough to be pointed. House mentally framed music to the beat, giving it the obvious lyrics. I'm still here. I'm still here.

The Cuddys heard the message, too, even if without the music. Susan sat down on the end of the couch, still looking somewhat worried, and Robert took one of the chairs. "It doesn't have to be tonight," Susan repeated.

House wondered if they would accept ten years from now as an alternative. Rachel, tired of the grownups talking over her, gave an impish grin and spoke to Susan. "Grandma, Daddy said I can have a pony!"

Susan's reaction was predictable. "Greg, are you sure that's a good idea just yet? They're so big, you know, and people do get hurt."

House groaned. "Rachel, does the word secret mean anything to you?"

Rachel was watching her grandmother eagerly, and he realized belatedly that she was actually enjoying winding her up. She had seen enough by now on this visit to predict Susan's reaction to that statement. He was impressed.

"Greg, she needs to grow a little more first."

"Ponies are little," Rachel countered.

Marina came back out of the kitchen. "You also need more tomatoes next trip. I just sliced the last one."

"And we all know it would be a world crisis to run out of tomatoes." In fact, it was unlike Cuddy to let them get that low, a testimony to her own distraction the last several days.

"Thank you, Marina," Robert said, with that gleam of hidden humor in his eyes that once in a rare while popped up to surprise House. It never quite found its way into words, but the quality was buried in there deep down. "Greg, we don't have to talk tonight."

Abby piped up. "Why?"

"Your father is tired, Abby."

She shook her head, locked into the point. "No. Why?"

House sighed. "Why do they want to talk, you mean?" She nodded. "Sometimes grownups have grownup things they need to talk about alone."

"What things?"

"Grownup things. You wouldn't be interested." Which was a lie; she was definitely interested. House gritted his teeth, trying to work around the situation without using the phrase that he knew would set her off.

Susan said it anyway. "You'll understand when you're older, Abby."

"NO!" Abby jumped off her father's lap and moved down the couch to face her grandmother. She gave her an annoyed poke on the leg. "I wanna know now."

Marina, still in the living room, moved over to pick her up. "Why don't you come help me out in the kitchen, Abby?"

"No!"

"When can I have a pony?" Rachel said.

House looked at Belle, still on his bad thigh. The cat blinked back at him, her ears flattened, her expression eloquent. He grinned in spite of himself and wished he had ears to pin back. Such an expressive ability. "Rachel, you can have a pony soon but not yet. I did say you needed to grow a little more. Abby, come here, okay?" He moved Belle aside and heaved himself up, and by the time he got balanced on the cane, they were all looking at him with concern again.

Abby wiggled until Marina released her and then walked back over. "You okay, Daddy?"

"Is it hell leg day?" Rachel asked.

He sighed. "I'm just tired. Come here, girls. Let's go to the bathroom." Even if they didn't need to at the moment, it was at least private.

"I apologize, Greg," Susan said as he headed down the hall. He didn't reply. The girls followed him willingly enough, and two seconds after he closed the door, the scratching started. He reopened it to let Belle in, and she jumped up on the sink and sat tall, the self-appointed monitor of the situation.

House propped against the sink himself. "They want to talk about Thomas, Abby. They want to tell us how much they didn't like being surprised like that. So that's what all the grownups will talk about later. But I don't want to get into it tonight, okay? Please. I'm . . . too tired tonight. Can you leave it alone and not argue about it, just for me?" He sagged a little bit against the sink. Belle bent her head to rub her ears against his arm.

Abby considered all of this, weighing it with that analytical look. But his appeal to her concern had an effect. "Okay." She gave his good leg a hug, and Rachel pitched in on the other side, though gently.

"Thank you."

"Grandma doesn't like ponies," Rachel said

"No, she doesn't."

"I like ponies anyway." Her chin came up with determination.

"Grandma isn't going to keep you from having a pony, Rachel. But you do need to grow a little more first."

"Grow how much?"

He laughed, and Abby tugged at his arm. "I need to go potty."

"Well, as long as we're in here." Rachel decided that she needed to, too, and he got them both carefully situated, Abby on the potty chair and Rachel on the big toilet, which made her feel grown up and a little closer to ponies. House sat down wearily on the side of the hot tub to wait, and he looked at his watch. Cuddy probably wouldn't be much longer, unless her "one more fire" to put out had spread to more. Of course, she didn't know her parents were early.

He was suddenly annoyed at the old man, even while knowing that was unreasonable. Thomas was supposed to have been here before the Cuddys, damn it. He shouldn't have left his son here to deal with them alone. House pulled out his cell phone and shot off a quick text. Where the hell are you?

"Who's that?" Abby asked.

"I'm just finding out where everybody is. Mama and Grandpa Thomas. They should be here soon, and then we'll all be here."

"Yay!" That was Rachel, of course.

The cell phone chirped, and House looked down at it. Home Depot. Do you need me?

Do you need me? The words seemed to shimmer and expand on the screen, reverberating through the bathroom and echoing off the tile. His initial impulse was a reflex denial, but instead, House froze up. He sat there on the edge of the tub, just looking at the phone in silence.

After a minute, the phone chirped again. I'll be right there.

"Daddy?" He looked up. Rachel was wiggling down from the toilet. "All done."

"You okay, Daddy?" Abby asked.

He stood up. "I'm fine." So hard to lie to those eyes, though. "I'm just tired, Abby."

"And hell leg day," Rachel added, but at least there wasn't any disappointment in her tone. He put his cell phone away and started to help his girls.