Sorry about how long it has been between chapters; I've been dealing
with extreme depression on top of some other health issues as well as
personal issues that have damaged my mental health that will be touched on
next chapter. I don't know when I'll be uploading more often, but I'm working on it.
To anyone still reading, thank you for continuing on this journey.
HilsonForever96 xxx

Greg walked inside the following afternoon from taking Charlie to the park to find Lisa curled up on the couch; "hey, what's going on?" Greg asked softly, noticing that Lisa was crying, who promptly wiped away her tears.

"You don't need to worry," she whispered, cuddled up under the blanket, curling up into the foetal position as more tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Lisa, despite everything, I still consider you to be a close friend of mine," Greg whispered quietly, "you've helped us through a lot; and even though you've overstepped some boundaries in the past, I still love you as a friend. Please tell me what's happened,"

"I'm bleeding, Greg, I've lost the baby; I'm sure of it," she whispered back; her voice nasally and congested from her crying.

"Why haven't you been to see a doctor?" Greg asked shocked, "how long has this been going on for? How long have you been bleeding?"

"Only about ten minutes. Rob's drunk and passed out upstairs; he'd kill me if I drove his truck to the hospital, so I'm just lying here," Lisa whimpered.

"Okay, well that means we should still have time, hop on up, do you need some fresh sweats and underwear?" Greg asked seriously.

"Charlie burned everyone's underwear in her fire the other day," Lisa whispered, "don't worry, I'm lying on a towel, so I don't get any blood on your couch,"

"I couldn't give two shits about the couch now. I know it's not the most convenient; but I'll grab some of mine or James' boxers that are clean from our trip; do you have any pads?" Greg offered. Lisa shook her head, "okay, you wait here, I'm going to organise for Ryan to come pick up Charlie, he just works around the corner, and then I'm taking you straight to the hospital, okay?" as Greg pulled out his phone, dialled Ryan's number and hustled downstairs.

Within five minutes Ryan was at the front door in his Burger King uniform; "this better be important, Greg. I'm in big trouble for leaving work,"

"It is important. I have to rush Lisa to the hospital, she's very unwell, just take Charlie until James gets home; I would've rung him, but it's a much longer drive and I know that he had a surgery today. Charlie! Come downstairs!" Greg called out, "thank you so much, we owe you one," as he herded Ryan in the door. Greg walked over to Lisa and handed her some underwear and a long sock, "I'm sorry, it's all I could find," he apologised, "here's some sweat pants, let's put them on and go,"

"I bet you're happy that this is happening," Lisa mumbled from the hospital bed, not looking over at Greg.

"No, of course not. You'd make a great mother, and we don't know anything yet, Lis, so please don't stress, okay?" Greg promised, giving her hand a squeeze.

"You didn't seem to think so when I told you," Lisa whispered.

"I know, and I'm so sorry about that, I was in shock, but that's no excuse for how I treated you. We don't know anything yet, Lisa, and parenting… it's something that you figure out along the way. Would you have honestly thought that I, the great Gregory House, would've made a halfway decent parent before James and I got the kids?" Greg pointed out, to which Lisa just chuckled and shook her head; "well, there you go. Kids don't come with an instruction manual, Lis, you just kind of figure it out on the way and hope to do a better job than your own parents did,"

A nurse came in and took Lisa away for an ultrasound before Greg silently stood up and went to wait in the waiting room. Upstairs in his office, finally being able to stop for the first time that entire day; James pulled out his phone and lunch as he settled down to eat as his desk. He felt his eyes widen as he saw a litany of texts and missed calls from Greg, growing more and more desperate and pleading that he absolutely needed James right now. He grabbed his phone and continually attempted to call Greg to no avail while he rushed to head downstairs.

Walking into the emergency room and waiting area, he rushed around, begging nurses and doctors to figure out what had happened until one finally showed him the way. Sitting there, looking completely defeated and worried, was Greg, barely looking up when James walked over; only mumbling that it was Lisa that he was here for, not the kids. "I think she lost the baby, James. God, I feel like shit, maybe if we hadn't put her through so much stress by attempting to go away,"

"You aren't the one to blame here, Greg," James mumbled, messaging on his work phone, "let's go home,"

"Lisa has the car keys," Greg muttered, to which James shrugged. "Good, that means that she has a way to get back too, you're coming home with me; let's go home,"

Greg shook his head, "no, I want to wait and see that she's okay. God, James, I feel like shit,"

James sighed, flopping down in the next chair, "you know that sometimes these things happen. Greg… sometimes there's something wrong and we don't know, and we can't fix it or stop it. Plus, maybe she hasn't lost the baby, maybe she's just bleeding and spotting a little bit, that can happen innocently sometimes,"

"I suppose so… you know as crazy as it is James, I was kind of coming around to the idea of Lisa having a baby, of there being another baby in the house; you and I love the first two more than anything, third's a charm, right?" glancing across with a weak smile before lowering his gaze to his hands and the floor again as James wrapped his arm around Greg's shoulders, leaning him close and giving him a gentle kiss on his crown, James' own eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Within half an hour, Lisa returned; "everything is alright," although her voice sounded dulled and dimmed; "but it is now deemed a high-risk pregnancy I've been told, I need to be essentially on one step down from bed rest. I certainly can't safely fly home,"

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to stay at the zoo with the rest of the menagerie. I'm glad that it's all okay, Lisa," James responded, his tone softer with Lisa than it had been in a long time.

Greg sat on the school bus, riding home on a particularly freezing Tuesday afternoon; holding his backpack on his lap with his shoulders slumped over, watching the snowfall over the thinning out buildings as they headed out along the familiar road home; he let out a shaking sigh, huddling himself up even more. A scrunched-up piece of notebook paper hit him on the head again, he flinched at just the slightest touch from the ball. "Nobody touch that piece of paper now," Ben yelled out from a few rows back; "it's been touched by Gregory. You'll get a disease if you touch it! Hey Gregory, my dad says that you're so disgusting that you should be taken around the back of the house and shot!"

Doesn't stop your dad from paying to touch me, Greg thought bitterly, turning his head around to barely have the time to see an apple flying towards him, smacking him hard in the centre of his forehead; spinning around and huddling back over; waiting until the bus finally pulled up in front of his driveway. Greg stood up on shaky legs, pulled his backpack back over his shoulder and walked hesitantly off the bus; the bus driver giving the skinny, pathetic, dishevelled boy a gentle smile; "it'll get better one day, Greg," to which he just nodded unbelievingly and darted off the bus into the freezing air, and began slowly and unwillingly trudge his way up the long, winding driveway.

Trudging slowly through the snowy ground up towards the homestead; Greg felt the icy snow seep through the sides and soles of his old sneakers. He was nearing the house when he saw his mom walk out toward the car; "mom!" he shouted; rushing to her as quickly as he could, digging his face in below her ribs and wrapping his arms around her, "please don't go to work today, mom, stay home with me, please,"

"Greg, I have to go to work, your dad and uncle Henry will look after you tonight, and I'll see you in the morning," Blythe unwrapped his arms from around her.

"No, mom… you don't understand, please don't leave me here," he whimpered.

"Greg, you need to stop being so stupid and so clingy now, come on, you're nearly eight years old; I'm not leaving you here alone. Your dad and uncle are going to take good care of you. Now I need to go to work," she gently pushed Greg off herself and got into the car, starting up the engine; "I'll see you in the morning, Gregory,"

Greg watched the car as it started up and then once it began heading down the driveway, flung his backpack off and sprinted down the driveway after it to just watch the car place more and more distance between himself and safety. "Gregory!" John's voice pierced through the air, and Greg came to a halt; "come inside this minute!" as he watched the car turn onto the road, "Gregory!" turning sadly and trudging back up the driveway, picking up his backpack, and heading into the home.

"What was that charade all about, Gregory?" John growled, slamming the door right behind his son, "what? I don't take good enough care of you? Is that it? You ungrateful shit!" as Greg felt the first punch make contact with his stomach winding him onto the floor, and then a barrage of bruising punches and kicks pummelling his body until he'd seemingly exhausted himself, "go upstairs and do your homework before you've got your own work to do!"

Greg staggered up the stairs and into his bedroom, carrying his backpack in one hand, well aware of John's eyes boring into his back. Greg relaxed back onto his bed, with his homework in his hand and began studying. It felt as though next to no time had passed when his bedroom door opened and Henry strode in; "you've got an early caller, Greggy boy, now get up,"

Without uttering a word, Greg put his books to one side and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, solemnly following Henry down the hall and into the 'office' where he saw Ben's father, Kevin, sitting on the bed, his trousers tossed to the side, with a widening smile waiting for him, "hello, Gregory," he sneered, and Greg felt his breath hitch slightly in his throat.

"What did you pay for, sir?" Greg asked trying to hide the shaking in his voice as he began robotically undressing, trying to keep his eyes glued to the floor to ignore what Kevin was doing. Once he was completely undressed, Henry shoved Greg closer to the bed where Kevin snatched him by the arm and pulled him down onto the mattress. The next thing that Greg realised was the pressure and then searing, agonising pain tearing through him as Kevin roughly fucked Greg, who made the right noises and moves he was taught to while desperately attempting to completely disconnect himself from what was happening. Once he'd came inside, Kevin then stuck several fingers with sharp and long fingernails inside of Greg, who could feel himself being cut up.

"Aw fuck, he's fucking bleeding, you sick bitch!" Kevin screamed, punching Greg firmly in the backside of the head just behind the ear; immediately before everything went black.

"We lost a whole night's income because of you," Greg heard Henry sneer as he finally came to; feeling incredibly ill. "You just had to go and pass out for nearly an hour and then lapse in and out for another few hours. Your mother is spending the day tomorrow with her friend, and you're staying home from school and making up all that money you lost with everyone we've rescheduled and had to give them all an extra bonus for the inconvenience. Go to bed, Greg, get some rest. You're going to need it. Also, your father told me what you did; trying to run away like the pathetic little bitch that you are. Remember Greg, you can never get away from us. We own you,"