Chapter 19

House and Wilson conversed over breakfast, Ulysses had removed his hearing aids upon entering the dining area and mentioned he was done 'hearing' for the day, but earned high fives from his father and surrogate uncle for his bravery. Ulysses wasn't too keen on the idea of entering the hearing world, his father had had a long discussion with him about becoming ableist and what that would mean.

The doctor, Dr. Brennan had informed him that his hearing would improve with the use of the hearing aids because as it turned out the surrogate mother who had carried Ulysses to term was not vaccinated as a child which led to him fighting infection upon birth. The staff responsible for his delivery missed the marker's since the surrogate mother had no idea the baby she carried belonged to someone else entirely. House wasn't surprised by the revelation when Dr. Brennan informed him in private, she'd run a panel on him and Cuddy, which resulted in neither having a gene for congenital deafness.

Since Ulysses' condition had gone undetected for so long, it completely eradicated his inner ear's ability to hear sound and the damage would have been almost irreversible if not for House's insistence in regular check-ups with an Audiologist. His hearing wouldn't be restored overnight, but would take several years to become completely restored with the help of Cochlear implants. House had suggested they work with the hearing aids for now before graduating to invasive surgery such as that, considering Ulysses was still so young.

The hearing aids that had been fitted for Ulysses were a low level frequency, so he was able to hear his surroundings, but they sounded far away or muffled even if they were right in front of him. His father would snap his fingers on both sides, to check if they were working and Ulysses would flinch at the harsh sound when it would register late, unsure of it before he smiled upon hearing his father's voice follow after.

"She ate a lot." Ulysses signed, patting Wilson on the arm before pointing to Rachel with a flick of his head towards where she sat in the high chair, drinking orange juice through a straw, his father holding the small glass for her while she held his hand with her small ones.

"She sure did. You too. When was the last time you ate?" Wilson chuckled before setting his fork down, signing with his hands and furrowed his brows in a mocking displeased expression.

"Dad said we were running late, so he gave me a smoothie pouch." Ulysses replied, quirking his rosy lips to the right side, looking upward in thought before looking to his left, up at Wilson who huffed in reply.

"Did you want some more food?" Wilson asked, waiting expectantly for the boy to eagerly jump at the opportunity of seconds but he blew a raspberry and rubbed his stomach.

"No, I'm full." He shook his head slowly, grimacing with a drunk smile while rubbing his abdomen and Wilson eyed the wiped clean plate.

"He just ate 3 stacks of pancakes that were bigger than his head. He's going to go upstairs and pass out. Just like the lesser Cuddy here." House broke Wilson's line of sight by his voice, turning to look at his friend who set the child size cup down that was now empty, he spotted the baby in the highchair who was beginning to slowly blink and sway with drowsiness.

"I can't believe you just put two kids into food comas. I hope they don't get sick later." Wilson put a concerned hand to his lips, looking between the two kids who were beginning to nod off and House clicked his tongue.

"They won't. They had a hearty breakfast, it's about nap time. Let's walk it off." House suggested, sliding out of the booth, taking his cane from where he had hooked it on the booth's side and he slid his arms into the diaper bag, it settled on his back and he reached into the highchair to pull Rachel up gently who immediately rested her head against his shoulder.

"Let's go back to the room." Wilson signed to Ulysses who had rested his forehead against the table, having missed his father getting up and retrieving the baby to leave the dining area.

"Good." Ulysses replied, following Wilson out of the booth seat, rubbing his eyes tiredly with a balled up fist, he watched Wilson pick up the highchair, carrying it to the back area of the room to stack it on top of several others identical to it. Pouting his lips, he turned up to look at his father who was watching Wilson apologize to an older woman, having hit her with the wooden chair by accident.

Ulysses stared at the baby, she was resting against his father's left shoulder area, her face squished against it with her cheeks rosy from drowsiness and her eyelashes were a blonde color, flushed against the skin of her cheek.

His father had informed him that the baby was Cuddy's, he had no idea that Cuddy had a baby, but his father had explained that she was adopted. Her real birth parents didn't want her, they abandoned her and Cuddy was the only one who searched for her in the dead of winter before finding her. Ulysses wasn't sure how to feel about not having a mother, he knew about her from what Ms. Annie had told him and what his father tried to tell him, but it didn't help the feeling in his chest that told him that maybe she was a bad person.

'At least she has a mommy who loves her…' Ulysses thought, a smile spreading across his tired features, reaching out a hand to touch her shoe affectionately while she slept across his father's chest.

From a distance, on the other side of the Dining hall, stood Lisa Cuddy who had been watching the entire interaction with the men and children. She was conversing with the Deans about details pertaining to the weekend, she would chime in every now and then before searching for the men once more. Listening for them, she rested a palm against her chin and smiled warmly. It reached her eyes as she found the sight of her two closest friends trying to look after two kids while also trying to eat their own respective breakfast, humorous.

"Those two men have beautiful children." The woman beside her, who was another doctor, but came in place of the Dean who couldn't attend due to personal matters, had spoken to her. Cuddy turned to look at Wilson and House who were gathering their belongings, ready to leave the Dining Hall with two tired kids, Rachel was definitely out for the count while Ulysses wasn't too far behind.

She watched House hand the baby over to Wilson since he couldn't balance her and walk at the same time. Thankfully, she remained in a deep sleep when entering Wilson's embrace and she watched Ulysses reach out his right hand to grab his father's left.

His expression changed from self-pity to quick relief when his son smiled up at him tiredly, she watched him mouth something to Ulysses who nuzzled into his left pant leg and House chuckled in reply before following after Wilson.

"Yes, they do." Cuddy huffed, she looked away. Looking down at her lap, a surge of guilt rose in her chest as she thought of Lucas and all the horrible things she had said to him over the past few months.

'God, I've been such an idiot,' Cuddy cursed internally, she excused herself from the table, walking away towards the hallway outside of the Dining Area and she opened her phone. Dialing the familiar number, she rested it against her ear and hoped he would answer.

—-

Later in the evening, Cuddy had informed Wilson through text message she still had her hands tied with preparations for the speaker's for tomorrow and if he could continue to look after Rachel for the time being. At first when his phone had vibrated, holding it out in front of him and reading her name, his heart raced fearing the worst behind whatever message she had sent him.

He responded back informing her, he would continue to look after her and that she was in good hands with House. She didn't respond to that comment or at all, Wilson clicked his phone shut looking over at House who was changing Rachel's diaper. He used a clean baby wipe, to clean her face from the syrup and juice she smeared across it during breakfast. Ulysses plugged his nose from the smell, watching his father change her soiled diaper before replacing it with a clean one and he brought her up to stand.

"There, all done." House announced, holding her out to balance herself since Wilson had informed him she was delayed in the walking department which of course he chalked off the blame on Lucas.

"Are you sure about this?" Wilson asked, watching House remove his wrinkled dress shirt after sleeping in it with the kids when they returned from breakfast. He stood in a red shirt that hugged his body, there was a band's logo on the front in white font and House shrugged in response.

"They had nap time, nap time is usually followed by fun. That's what I do after nap time." House replied, throwing the diaper bag to Wilson who clumsily tried to grab it in the air before it fell onto the floor.

"Alright. Bring her here." Wilson threw the bag across his shoulders, holding out his arms for House to hand over Rachel to him, feeling confident in looking after her after being amended for his past mistake.

"I'm going to try to get her to walk." House quirked his head to the right, holding her to his body and she bit her finger softly, looking at him curiously, removing it and slapping a wet hand on his cheek in greeting.

"Da Da." She called out, Wilson saw his friend spread his thin lips into a devilish smile and he cooed at her before lowering her to the floor. Balancing her, he signaled for Ulysses to grab her right hand while he held her left, so they could allow her to walk on her own with assistance.

"The more we achieve with her in a short amount of time, the more Cuddy will let us off the hook." House called out to Wilson, taking a few cautious steps forward with Ulysses following him in return, eyeing Rachel with concern as she rocked back and forth unsteady.

"Right and we're going to take an hour just to get to the elevator." Wilson rolled his eyes, nodding his head in annoyance, walking past the three of them and opening the door to the room.

"Fine." House clicked his tongue and brought her into his arms once more, she rested on his left arm while Ulysses brought his cane over to him. Wilson walked over to him and grabbed the baby from his arms, who obediently joined him and the four of them made their way downstairs.

"Rugrat, can you say House?" House enunciated the word for Rachel to pronounce while she blinked curiously at him from where she rested on Wilson's right hip.

"Now you're pushing it." Wilson suggested but to his dismay, Rachel began to enunciate the word in a childish manner and replied with 'ouse'.

"Good job, make your fake daddy proud." House chuckled victoriously holding out a large hand for her to slap and she grinned with delight, slapping it in return and the elevator doors opened.

"He's going to be pissed at Cuddy, you know that right?" Wilson sighed, knowing the more House spent bonding with Rachel, the more he was rubbing off on her and she would begin to reveal just how much when back in the comfort of her actual father.

"Now, why in the world would that happen? House is a noun. She's repeating what she sees and lives in on a daily basis." House quipped, limping forward with his cane before holding out a hand for Ulysses to take which he happily did.

"Right." Wilson replied flatly. He turned to Rachel who looked back at him with bright green eyes, he shrugged his shoulders to her and she repeated the action.

They entered the play area on the first floor which was a large room painted white with styrofoam flooring and in front stood several benches for parents to sit. In the center were multicolored tubes, slides, monkey bars, and a rock climbing wall. There were several mother's littered about with several children running around the large jungle gym.

House limped his way over to an empty bench, sitting down while Ulysses began to remove his shoes and handed them over to his father.

"Remember, don't talk." House signed, Ulysses pouted knowing he had removed his hearing aids earlier and hadn't put them back on upon awakening.

"What do I do when they find it strange I'm not talking?" Ulysses signed to House, he bit his lip in thought, furrowing his brow when Wilson sat down beside him with Rachel.

"Just do what you do when we go to the park. If any of the kids give you trouble, you tell me." House informed Ulysses who stared at him with worried cerulean blue eyes, he furrowed his brows before looking to Wilson who gave him a sorry smile and Ulysses walked away slowly towards the children in the play area.

"So, what does he do at the park?" Wilson asked, but House said nothing, instead watching how the children would react to Ulysses not being able to hear or speak. Surprisingly they adjusted quickly, tagged him on the shoulder before running away and he followed after them with a big dimpled smile.

"He waits to see if he becomes part of the pack or the prey." House replied, turning to look at Wilson, leaning back against the bench and he poked Rachel's chubby cheek.

"She's fat." House commented.

"Can I just say you two have such beautiful children?" A mother walked over to them, she put a hand to her chest and genuinely complimented them from the heart. Wilson was surprised by the comment, looking down at Rachel while House looked up at her with a fake smile.

"Why thank you. I made them myself." House joked, the woman chuckled in reply at the cheesy comment and Wilson stilled, knowing where this was going.

"Are they yours?" She pointed towards House before sliding her finger towards Wilson unsure of how the reproduction with gay couples worked and she didn't want to insult them but before Wilson could clear up the misunderstanding House spoke up once more.

"The little boy, running around out there. Is mine. The little butter ball here is his." House pointed to Wilson with a thumb and the woman just brightened at the explanation.

Soon enough, Wilson found himself surrounded by several mother's who were asking him many questions about his relationship, work, and raising children as a same-sex couple. House had of course stirred the pot before stalking off to 'use' the bathroom leaving him to somehow answer these questions from the mothers who assumed he was the feminine one in the relationship.

Rachel seemed to like the attention of all the women, she smiled at them with a toothy smile and played the part perfectly. So much so it reminded him of House, he wondered for a moment if House had spent time with her beforehand. After about 30 minutes, the women left him to attend to their children since one of the children bumped their head a little too hard coming down the slide and blamed another child for the injury.

"How did the chick talk go? Learn anything new about braiding hair?" House quipped, sitting down onto the bench once more, stretching out his legs slowly while Rachel bristled when he came into view.

"Speaking of hair, when was the last time you took Ulysses to get a haircut?" Wilson asked, ignoring House's insult and looked over at the kid who was hiding from the person who was now 'it'. His hair had grown since House had introduced him for the first time all those months ago, it rested on his shoulders in a wavy curly mess.

"You know, with his hair getting longer. He kinda looks like-." House paled at the conclusion Wilson was coming to and Wilson chuckled at the ridiculous thought, shaking his head before clearing it up with his hand.

"Nevermind, here. She wants you." Wilson handed Rachel over to House, she had been wriggling in his arms and reaching over to House.

"He started watching He-Man, although he's starting to look like Lord Farquad so I think he's going to cut it soon the more I remind him of that." House chuckled, recalling when Ulysses decided to grow out his hair officially and even his mom had tied it into a ponytail enhancing his androgynous features to match Cuddy even more.

"That's just mean." Wilson huffed, shaking his head with a small laugh.

"Listen, I'm sorry about getting upset with you earlier." Wilson hesitated, his tone growing low and serious while House bounced Rachel on his good leg, allowing her to be entertained while watching the larger kids run around.

"No, you were right to be upset. It wasn't my place to tell her." House turned to Wilson, not touching him, but Wilson could feel the comforting gaze from him and he turned to meet it.

"Well, at least she knows now…I just hope she's not too upset with me." Wilson smacked his lips with a sad sigh, wallowing in his own self loathing and House rolled his eyes.

"If she were really upset, she would have never left her daughter with us. I mean who in their right mind would trust two idiots like us with a one year old?" House tried to make light of the situation, waiting for Wilson's reaction, his face turning red with laughter and he shook his head at his friend's lack of tact.

"How did you know she was one?" Wilson asked, furrowing his brow in confusion and House looked upward in thought.

"I'm a doctor." House deflected and Wilson shook his head, catching onto the truth and pointed a finger.

"No, you knew she just turned a year old. How?" Wilson pressed.

"Look, let's just say I know these things and leave them at that." House deflected once more, using the baby's arms in an X shape to get Wilson to back off.

"Right. Doesn't have anything to do with being with Cuddy when she decided to adopt Rachel on Christmas." Wilson stated, recalling House being in the room with Cuddy when she brought Rachel to the maternity ward, stating that both sets of grandparents had chosen to relinquish rights not wanting anything to do with the baby.

"Nope. I looked at her tiny teeth and knew instantly." House replied smoothly, bringing her up in his arms and blowing a raspberry on her cheek.

"Right. Doesn't have anything to do with you giving her a gift for her birthday saying it was from me?" Wilson pressed flatly, watching House play with Rachel and she stared at him with admiration.

'Wow, I've never seen her get this close to someone in a short amount of time…' Wilson thought, watching the exchange between the two and recalled how reluctant Rachel was with strangers. Cuddy had warned him not to feel upset when Rachel cried in his arms the first couple of times and she had done the same with Lucas in the beginning when she first met him, but with House it was like…

She was home.