Part Six
For the next week or so the makeshift family dynamic works well. House splits his time playing and bonding with Izzy and assisting with cases over the phone when he was needed. As for Cameron, aside from dipping back to pick up some clothes and essentials for herself and Goose, she had yet to spend any time back home. Instead, she was in a routine of going to work, picking up groceries for dinner on the way back to House's apartment and curling up beside him at bedtime.
Considering how difficult House could be at work, he was surprisingly easygoing at home with her and Izzy. She loved seeing this uncharted side to him, the gentle father figure who was a big kid at heart and doted on his daughter. She hadn't said it aloud yet but she had fallen in love with him, it was impossible not to.
As Thursday homed into view, House's mood darkened and a weariness settled as a permanent furrow on his brow. Friday was the day of Nicole's funeral, the day he had been dreading. He wanted to shield his daughter from any and all pain, he never wanted her to hurt or suffer, but this was something they had to face.
Cameron could feel the tension radiating from him as she woke up. He was already awake and staring up at the ceiling, his expression cold and stoic. She slowly turned over to face him, gently placing her hand on his chest.
"How long have you been awake?"
Much like her touch, her voice was soft and gentle, not wanting to encroach on his brooding.
"Don't know. Hours." He sighed and finally turned his head and met her sympathetic gaze, "I tried thinking of ways out of it, a loophole so Izzy didn't have to go through this and I couldn't find one. I'm not ready."
"No one ever is, Greg."
He rolled onto his side and reached for Cameron, seeking out the comfort she so readily provided, wishing he could stay in the sanctuary of the warm bed with her until this bad dream passed by.
"Come with us," he whispered.
As soon as he said the words, Cameron tensed up in his arms but before she could reason and tell him otherwise, he pleaded his case.
"Please. I need you there, Izzy needs you too. I can't do this without you."
"I want to, I do. But what's it going to look like when you turn up with me? People will talk."
"Who's going to talk? You're not the scarlet woman in this, Allie. It's not as though I'm widowed and moved on with a rebound." He realised he was bordering on the defensive, argumentative but taking it out on the wrong person. He paused and gathered his thoughts before continuing. "Look, I had one night with Nicole, one drunken wild night in a hotel."
Cameron held up her hand, "you don't need to explain yourself, Greg."
"I do. I was in a bad way, self-destructive recovering from my infarction. Stacy and I were constantly on again, off again. I'd get distant and push her away, or she would get frustrated and push me away. Kids had never been on the agenda, even if the subject was brought up about other people, Stacy would always put her foot down that her career was first and foremost. So then Nicole comes along a few months after our night in New Orleans, pregnant and posing the question 'Do you want to be a dad?' I expected Stacy to curse me out and bolt, but she didn't. She understood that it was a one-night thing and that she would stay with me. It was a lie of course. The moment Izzy was born, Stacy resented her and didn't even try to hide it."
He sighed and stroked his hand over his brow as the memories came flooding back.
"When Izzy was nearly two weeks old, Nicole and I arranged for me to have her for the night by myself. Breastfeeding hadn't worked so I didn't need boobs to feed her and she was beginning to sleep for longer periods so it was ideal. I remember I had gotten her to sleep and laid her down in her travel crib when Stacy came home and I don't know what sparked it, but she just flew into a tirade. She laid into me about how much she hated Izzy and what she represented. I didn't say a word, I just let her vent and use me like a verbal punchbag. Izzy somehow slept through the majority of it but then she woke up and started to cry and that's when Stacy started pleading with me to listen to her, to remember how happy we were before Izzy and that we could be that way again if I gave up my parental rights."
Cameron felt a cold grip around her heart, "She said that?"
"Repeatedly. Being a lawyer she had friends and connections that could have the paperwork drawn up that night and I could be 'free' of the problem by the following day. She was relentless until I reminded her we hadn't been happy for a long time, even before Izzy. That was the final nail in the coffin and I watched her angrily pack up her things and storm out of my life."
"Good riddance."
The words were said with such venom, such hatred that it caught both Cameron herself and House off guard.
"I get that it must have been difficult for her, I'm not sure how I would've been if I was in her position. But to take it out on a baby instead of talking is pathetic and to ask you to give up being a dad to appease her is the lowest of the low."
Her hand came up cradling his stubbled cheek, "I'll come with you and Izzy to the memorial."
"Thank you."
He kissed her lips, savouring their sweetness before they had to face the day and all it threw at them.
.o0O0o.
They went about their usual morning routine but with a veil of weariness over them. Cameron reached out to her neighbour asking if she could look after Goose for the next couple of days which she readily agreed to. She relayed it over to House before reluctantly leaving for work.
The plan for the day was simple on House's part; to keep Izzy occupied and distracted. But as soon as he opened the bedroom door, he found his little girl already awake with sadness heavy in her blue eyes.
"Morning Princess, you sleep okay?"
Izzy could only nod in response, tears now dancing on her lashes.
"Need a hug?"
She didn't need asking twice. Practically bolting into her father's arms, smushing her face into his chest as she quietly sobbed. House held her tightly, his own tears carving a path through his beard and onto Izzy's mousey brown locks.
"It's alright Princess, we'll be alright."
.o0O0o.
Even with Goose by her side, Izzy's mood remains low and the fractious tension hangs heavily in the air, threatening to shatter at any moment. It killed House to see her this way, he's trying his best but his best seems futile.
He quietly packed their bags for the trip to upstate New York and as soon as the clock hit 5pm, he sat beside Izzy on the couch and gently gained her attention.
"Izzy Bee, it's time to go."
"Where are we going?"
"Allie's apartment." Izzy had a questioning look in her eyes that held doubt, House quickly tempered them by telling her, "It's your turn to pick where we go for dinner."
That earned him a smile and allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. He helped Izzy collect up her plushies and get the leash on Goose for the short drive over to Cameron's who was waiting for them on the doorstep.
Izzy climbed out of her dad's sedan and ran into Cameron's embrace with Goose hot on her heels. Cameron discreetly passed House the keys to her sedan so he could retrieve her bags from the trunk and into his car while she told Izzy about the patients she dealt with in the clinic.
Being a bright child and having grown up with her bedtime stories consisting of medical journals and textbooks instead of fairy tales, House and Cameron liked to describe symptoms and gently prompt Izzy to figure out the diagnosis. The look of pure delight on her face when she got it right was something they savoured. She was a quick study and hugely intelligent, although they joked that she would be joining his team at 10, at the rate she was learning they weren't far off.
"So my first patient had nasal congestion, a slightly wheezy cough and a sore throat."
"Did he have a URI?"
"Yes! Great job Iz!" Cameron high-fived the youngster, "Maybe we should ask Cuddy to take you on, you'd ace Clinic duty."
"Hell no, my daughter isn't getting lumbered with Clinic duty."
"But Daddy, I'm so good! I knows all the diagnosis!"
"Yeah you do, but Clinic sucks. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't have to do Clinic. So where are we going for dinner Iz?"
.o0O0o.
Blissfully distracted with talks of patients and diagnosing, Izzy didn't question Cameron taking Goose around to the neighbour's apartment. They head to the burger joint of Izzy's choosing and quickly find themselves a prime booth seat for people-watching.
Cameron left the father and daughter duo to it while going up to order and collect their meals. Upon her return, House instantly pulls a face seeing that Cameron ordered pickles on her burger. His frown became a grimace as she fished out a pickle and chewed on it heartily.
"You are so not kissing me after eating that thing."
"Seriously? They're delicious. Here, try one."
Cameron held out her hand with the innocent slice of pickle, House caught a whiff of the tangy green menace and instantly recoiled into his seat like a disgruntled toddler.
"Ew, go away."
Cameron rolled her eyes and instead turned to Izzy, "Izzy, will you try one? I promise you they're delicious, Daddy is just being silly."
Izzy was understandably sceptical, her Daddy had just thrown a fit at just the scent. But she trusted Allie, maybe the pickle wasn't so bad.
Cameron handed Izzy a small sliver of pickle and watched her face as she cautiously sniffed and then ate it.
"Yum. Not as yummy as my burger, Daddy try one?"
"Nope."
"Greg, I'll give you ten bucks to try one."
"50."
"Twenty. Final offer."
House furrowed his brow, staring down Cameron and the crisp $20 bill she was now holding.
"Fine."
He reached over and snatched the offending garnish from Cameron's meal as well as the $20 in one fell swoop. He threw the pickle into his mouth, chewed three times and swallowed without trying to dwell on the vibrant vinegary taste on his palate.
"You two are gross. Now leave me alone."
Once dinner was finished and Izzy had shared some of her ice cream sundae as a peace offering to her Dad, the trio climbed back into the car and started the drive up to Hudson. Fortunately, after just a short time on the road, aided by a full stomach and the soothing motion of the car, Izzy fell asleep whilst Cameron drove until they reached New York and being that he knew where they were heading, they swapped over at a gas station.
By the time they had reached their hotel, it was getting late and the enormity of what lay ahead the following day had them calling for their bed. House checked them in and came back to the car to carry their bags while Cameron handled the still-sleeping Izzy to their room.
The family room House had booked was huge and had they not been so exhausted, they would've taken it in properly but the downy soft covers were calling their names. Cameron carefully placed Izzy down on the single bed and efficiently got her ready and tucked into the bed along with her kidney plushie without her even batting an eye.
House and Cameron all but collapsed onto the Queen-sized bed, their fingers finding one another, lacing together.
"You okay?" Cameron whispered into the darkness.
"No." House whispered back, as honest and as blunt as ever.
"It'll be alright, a few more hours and it's over." She rolled onto her side to look at his handsome profile illuminated by moonlight, "want me to kiss it better?"
"You've had pickles though."
"So have you."
He rolled over to meet her, hearing her sassy tone, "ugh, fine then. Kiss me if you must."
Cameron lightly shakes her head as she leans in and brushes her lips against his, once, twice before pulling away. Still facing him she watched his blue eyes lose the battle against exhaustion and slowly close. She wasn't far behind him, the sound of his deep even breathing, a soothing and familiar lullaby and sleep soon claimed her.
.o0O0o.
Sleep was bliss, a stress-free cloud bobbing along carrying her through the night. The contentment was interrupted by someone tapping on her arm, it was no doubt House being mischievous. She did her best to ignore him and let the cloud sweep her away again, but the tapping got more insistent and urgent.
"I'm sleeping." She whispered, hoping that would bring an end to the disturbance.
But it doesn't.
After a beat, it continues with the same urgency and Cameron opens her eyes to find Izzy standing beside the bed clutching her kidney plushie, the moonlight illuminating her huge teary eyes.
"Iz, you okay?"
The little girl shook her head, too upset to speak. Cameron understood instantly and sat up, carefully lifting and helping the youngster up so she could climb onto the bed and settle between herself and House.
Izzy reached out with her good hand for Cameron's hair, twiddling it between her fingers in a self-soothing pattern as her eyes grew heavy and she drifted off.
.o0O0o.
The gentle jostling of his pillow rumpling and shifting awoke House. Opening one startling blue eye expecting to find Cameron, instead he found Izzy nestled in the small space between them. He glanced at his wristwatch, 8.09am, a little earlier than he would've liked but he didn't have much say in the matter. But he could hold off starting the day a little longer and not wanting to miss out on the snuggles, House placed his arm across Izzy to rest on Cameron's waist.
The soothing motion of his thumb tracing her hip woke Cameron up. He watched her stir, fighting through the last binds of sleep until her eyes opened and met his.
Her hand stroked his where it lay on her hip, "Mmm, morning you."
"Morning, what time did Iz join us?"
"Early, late, I don't really know. Think she had a bad dream and needed a cuddle."
House gave her hip a gentle squeeze. It never ceased to amaze him how quickly and effortless it was for her to take to Izzy and look after her. She didn't want or ask for anything in return, only that Izzy was and always remained the priority. It brought a lump to his throat from the surging wave of emotion whenever he thought about it.
"Princess Izzy Bee, it's time to wake up."
The youngster stirred a little only to burrow deeper into the covers, not quite ready to face the day.
"I'm tired Daddy." Her voice was like a snapshot of her upcoming teenage self, all whiny, grumpy and even more House-like.
"Okay, well maybe the tickle monster will be able to wake you up," House warned.
The melancholy tint in his eyes was now mischievous and playful, a familiar sight on his rugged features.
Fingers poised to strike with tickling vengeance, "three, two, one…"
Izzy's squeals for mercy were muffled by the pillows and bed covers as she squirmed from her daddy's tickling torture. The sound of her laughter was the icing on the cake, that was all he wanted to hear, especially on what would be such a solemn day.
Eventually he relented, smiling down at his daughter's flushed cheeks and beaming grin, the image one he hoped would never leave his subconscious.
.o0O0o.
Even though House had tried his best to get the day off to a jovial and lighthearted start, Izzy's mood quickly darkened as she spotted Cameron returning to the room with a large floral wreath, recognising the emotional symbolism they represented. The flowers were placed on the side table, very much the elephant in the room and Izzy couldn't tear her glassy eyes from them.
House gently touched Izzy's hand, not wanting to startle her, "Izzy, we need to get ready now, okay?"
The look in her eye was one of resounding heartache and reluctant acceptance, a look that would haunt House forever more.