![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
Title: Sight and Sound
Pairing: House/Cuddy
Author: alanwolfmoon
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mild AU (plot-wise). F-words. Violence. Genetic (though non-fatal) disease in someone other than 13.
Summary: When Cuddy asks House to look at her sperm donors, House has to look at her genetic history. He finds out she has Usher III syndrome, that just hasn't presented yet, which she doesn't know about. Oh, and Wilson's missing brother killed some people.
Disclaimer: MINE! ALL MINE!....uh, no. Not mine.
Feedback: Reviews and flames are welcome. (They make it look like I'm writing fast)
Notes and previous chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Final chapter
T
Greg was cranky, when it was time to go back to work.
Lisa gripped him around the waist, and smiled into his chest.
It was adorable, how he just didn’t want to leave her.
And, no, she couldn’t believe she was applying that adjective to House. Hawkins, whatever. Greg.
He seemed to get over his bad mood around noon the day before he went back to work, and went out shopping, coming home with more food than he had probably bought since she move in with him, total.
By midnight, he had twenty seven sets of what he called osechi-ryōri, whatever that meant, packed in some weird sectioned boxes he had bought at the same Asian food store he got the ingredients from.
He also had two extra sets, and he and Lisa ate them, sitting on the couch.
“I never knew you could cook.”
‘I suck at it. Except for Japanese food. I got stuck taking a cooking class at a school in Japan when I was fourteen.’
“Oh. I thought only girls were supposed to take those,” she said, smirking.
‘Meaning you never took one?’ he signed, flicking her lightly.
She laughed.
Greg stuck his head into the classroom, “hey, all you lot.”
The class looked at him.
“Special New Years treat. But I need help carrying it all in here.”
About half the class got up, and followed him out to the parking lot, where he opened the trunk of his car.
“What /is/ all that?”
“Osechi-ryōri. Japanese New Years food.”
Greg was limping out of the school around five, when one of the girls from his morning class came running after him.
He turned around, just in time to see big, perky, teenage boobs shoved in his face, as he slipped.
“Sensei!”
He groaned, sitting up.
“What?”
“I just… um… I…”
She was blushing.
Oh, god no. No, he did /not/ need this.
“Um,” she said, “uh, thanks for the food.”
He sighed.
She flushed, even farther.
“Hint,” he said, getting to his feet with a grunt, “most fifty-year-olds are already attached, or aren’t going to be. In this case, it’s the first.”
She left in a great hurry, looking like she was about to cry.
Greg groaned, shaking his head.
He did /not/ need this.
Especially with the trial coming up, in a few months.
“Greg…” said Lisa, quietly, coming into the living room, and feeling for where he was on the couch, “I need your help…”
He touched her hands, ‘did you hurt something?’
She shook her head, “I haven’t had my period.”
A pause.
‘How long?’
“It’s three weeks late.”
‘Lisa, that is—’
“It’s probably menopause, Greg. I got the stick test with the last grocery delivery, but I can’t… well, see what it says.”
She held it out to him.
He looked at it.
A little pink plus met his eyes.
He took her hands.
‘You are pregnant, Lisa.’
For some reason, her green, half-closed eyes filled with tears, and she hurried away from him, into the bedroom.
He followed her, and knelt on the bed, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, spelling against her cheek.
‘What is wrong? I know I am not positive for ushers, so your baby will not have it.’
“I can’t have a baby, Greg. Not now… I can’t… I can barely take care of myself. How am I supposed to raise a child?”
He buried his face in her shoulder, squeezing her firmly.
“Oh, god, Cuddy…” he murmured, although he knew she couldn’t hear him. Seeing her this upset hurt, made his chest physically ache. Made him want to be there for her. Made him want to hold her close and protect her.
‘You are going to keep that baby, Lisa. And you are going to raise it, and be an awesome mother.’
“How?!” she yelled.
‘The same way you would have if this had not happened to you. Except they will talk to you with their hands, and I will be the one that drives them to school. By being Lisa Cuddy, the youngest female dean of medicine ever, who is not going to let a disability get in the way of the thing she has wanted for years.’
“I’m not Cuddy anymore, Greg.”
Greg sighed.
What was he supposed to say to that?
It was true, literally.
But… no, he didn’t think she meant it literally. She meant… she meant she wasn’t the same person as she had been. Of course she was!
‘Yes you are. Your name is different, but not who you are. Just because I can not run does not mean I am not still the same person who played lacrosse in college. Just because you can not see or hear does not mean you are not the same person who became dean of medicine at one of the biggest hospitals on the east cost before she turned thirty. Because you are.’
Lisa reached up, and gripped his wrist, squeezing it tightly.
“You aren’t the same person you were, back then.”
She felt Greg stiffen slightly.
“You aren’t even the same person you were when we worked at Princeton Plainsboro.”
She felt Greg frown, against her neck.
“Because neither of those men would have been able to say those things.”
The frown turned into a smile.
She turned around on the bed, and kissed him until he nearly suffocated from lack of air.
The trial was four months later.
The two of them had to show up fairly early, and Greg was leaning against the wall, his arm around her shoulders as she hung on to him, nervous, when the door at the end of the hallway opened, and a very haggard looking Wilson walked in, accompanied by a policewoman.
He looked like he hadn’t slept for days.
He caught sight of them, and his brown eyes widened.
“House?”
“Greg,” said Greg, “it’s not House anymore.”
Wilson swallowed, and walked in, “Cuddy?”
“Again, not Cuddy anymore, either.”
“Greg, what’s going on? You’re talking.”
Greg spelled against her cheek, ‘Wilson.’
She sighed, and signed, ‘why the hell is he here?’
‘I do not know.’
Greg looked at Wilson.
“Why are you here?”
“I… I said I’d testify. I… they needed me to. And I felt like a coward.”
Greg tilted his head.
“Seriously?”
Wilson nodded, “yeah.”
“Are you going into Witsec?”
“What?”
“Witness protection.”
“I… yes. After the trial.”
“Greg?”
Greg let go of Lisa’s shoulder, and touched her hands, telling her what Wilson had said.
She smiled, and turned towards the direction Greg had been facing.
“I’m glad,” she said, smiling nervously, “though surprised.”
Wilson came over, and touched her hand, spelling clumsily, ‘I am surprised as well.’
Lisa snorted.
Wilson looked at Greg.
“Is she… /pregnant/?”
Greg nodded, and his eyes were suddenly cold.
“Yes.”
Wilson held up his hands.
“I’m just surprised.”
Greg glared.
Wilson sighed.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I didn’t come with you.”
“Sorry?! Wilson, it’s your fucking brother that caused all this!”
“Greg,” said Lisa, gripping his hand, “stop yelling.”
He growled, and signed, ‘why the hell should I?’
“Because you’re going to yell at him for things you don’t even mean.”
She let go of his hand, so she could sign, herself.
‘You missed him terribly. That is why you are angry. If you are going to yell, yell about that. Do not blame him for anything that happened other than you missing him.’
Greg looked at her.
Then he sighed, and rested his forehead down against hers, spelling against her cheek.
‘You know me irritatingly well.’
She smiled.
“Yes, yes I do. Now tell him what the truth is, or I will.”
‘I cannot tell him.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because… I…’
‘Because he hurt you, and you are scared he will do it again if he knows you can be hurt. But here is a newsflash, Greg. Everyone can be hurt by their best and only friend basically abandoning him. The only question is if you were hurt. So tell him that you were. Tell him why you are angry at him.’
‘When did you get so sappy?’
‘Blame it on the hormones,’ she spelled, and flicked his chest.
Greg snorted, and looked at Wilson, who had a nervous and confused expression on his face.
He couldn’t say it. The words would not come out.
“You can’t just waltz back in, say you’re sorry and expect everything to be okay,” said Lisa, still facing Greg, “you hurt him, and he’s angry at you. And too much of a misanthrope to say it himself.”
Greg couldn’t help smiling, as she spoke.
He brushed his hand through her hair, gently, and she sighed, turning to face Wilson.
“The trial itself starts next week. Real preparations start tomorrow,” she said, “but right now all we have to do is wait for them to tell us how it’ll go. Plenty of time to catch up, right?”
Wilson looked at House.
“Don’t look at me. She’s the one who’s talking to you.”
“I…”
“God, how can you /still/ be uncomfortable?”
“Um…”
Greg reached forward, grabbed Wilson’s hand, and pressing it to Lisa’s.
Wilson swallowed, and clumsily asked if it was a boy or a girl.
Greg limped over to a bench, painfully lowering himself down on it, and watched the two talk for a while.
Then he leaned back, and closed his eyes.
Dammit, it had been a long drive. And the back of that SUV had been really uncomfortable.
He looked at his watch, and sighed, fingering the pillbottle in his pocket, but not pulling it out.
He had promised to cut back.
At least he didn’t have to stand in the classroom all day, today.
Later, Chris, the marshal they were assigned to showed up.
He explained how the trial was going to go, at least schedule-wise.
Then turned around, as two voices arguing met their—with the exception of Lisa—‘s ears.
Tritter and Ramsey came through the doors, glaring daggers at each other. Trenton was following in their wake, along with a young guy, maybe Kutner’s age.
“You can’t change the plans at the last minute!” bellowed Tritter.
“Oh, so bringing in another witness for our side is a bad thing?!”
“I don’t know, I’m not a lawyer!”
“So why the hell are you mad at me!?”
“Because you’re an asshole!”
Greg snorted, and looked at Wilson.
They shared an amused look, before Greg realized he was still pissed, and looked away.
It was a week later, when Greg sat on the bed in their hotel room, behind Lisa, attempting to braid her hair. It was not going well.
Finally, he let go, and rested his head against her shoulder, reaching forward to spell against her cheek, ‘I give up.’
She laughed, “they didn’t cover that in that womens’ class you took in Japan?”
‘It was a cooking class, and lots of guys took it,’ he protested.
She smiled, “suuure it was.”
He snorted. She felt the brief puff of air pass her face, as he ran a brush through her hair again, smoothing it out after his attempts to braid it.
‘What should I do with it?’
“I’ve got an idea… go get Wilson. He should at least have hairspray, right?”
House laughed, against her neck.
‘Yep. I will get him. Or at least his hairspray.’
Lisa smirked, as she felt the bed rise, as Greg got up.
Twenty minutes later, they all piled into another black SUV, and pulled up in front of the courthouse twenty minutes after that.
Lisa was lucky. She didn’t notice the flashes going off in her face.
She held on to Greg’s arm, white cane extended in front of her, as they headed towards the front steps.
House growled to himself, as he worked his way up the steps.
Wilson gripped his arm, as he stumbled.
He glared.
Lisa squeezed her hand on his arm, having felt the tug of him slipping, and he sighed, focusing back on trying to get up the steps.
Eventually, they made it to the top, and limped through the large double doors, the police escort flanking them on either side.
They entered the courtroom, and headed towards Trenton and Chris, who were waving them towards a bench.
They sat down, and Lisa folded up her cane. She rested her hand on her slightly expanded belly, and Greg couldn’t help grinning a little at the sight.
A man Greg recognized vaguely as the ASL interpreter from the Princeton police station edged in from the other end of the bench, wedging himself down between Lisa and Trenton.
He touched Lisa’s hands, and she laid them over his, as he spelled who he was.
Greg heard a call from somewhere high up, and turned around in his seat, looking up at the balcony seats.
His old team was there, along with the kids, and some other people he recognized from the hospital.
God… it had been a long time since he saw those faces.
He nodded to them, weakly.
They waved, then looked forward, as the door slammed open.
Two uniformed officers half-dragged a man into the courtroom.
The room went completely silent.
They set him down at the defense desk, and attached his handcuffs to the steel table.
He bore a striking resemblance to Wilson… but with a much, much less pleasant demeanor.
Wilson, sitting on the side of Greg opposite Lisa, swallowed, and looked down, muttering, “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Mom’s gonna hate me. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Greg looked across the aisle.
He could see Wilson’s parents there, but although they were watching Wilson, they didn’t look like they hated him for doing this. They just looked upset. Upset, and sad.
Wilson’s younger brother, Matt, was on the other side of Wilson’s parents, and he was watching David, sadly.
The judge came in and sat down.
Greg closed his eyes, and tuned everything out, as the prosecution attorney got up to make their opening statements.
This was only the first of four trials.
And he could already not wait for all this to be over.
Six years later….
James Watson got out of his car, and walked around to scan the flood of children issuing from the school.
Spotting the one he was looking for, he called out, “Evan!”
The boy looked around, spotted uncle James, and ran towards him, practically knocking him over with a hug.
“Guess what, guess what!”
“What?” asked James, taking the boy’s hand and leading him around to the door of the car.
“There’s a girl that’s like Mom!”
James raised his eyebrows, lifting the boy into the car, and buckling the seat belt, “is there, now?”
“Uh-huh! But she can see, so I guess she’s not all the way like Mom. But she uses sign language. We got to talk all during recess, and we talked about lunch, and Mom, and Dad, and her mom and dad, and the other kids, and….”
James smiled, listening to Evan’s excited babbling in the back of the car.
Eventually, he pulled up in front of their home, and got out, waiting until Evan got out of the car to press the lock button on the remote.
Evan ran up to the front door, and pulled it open, no doubt off to tell Lisa about the girl he had met.
Lisa smiled, as she felt a pair of small arms wrap around her leg.
She turned, and knelt, touching Evan’s face.
He gripped her hands, and started signing and spelling rapidly, telling her all about the deaf girl he had met at recess.
She smiled, and nodded, and asked him questions, and told him he should get her mother’s phone number, so they could set up a play-date, at some point.
James smiled, leaning against the fridge, as Lisa talked with her son.
Eventually, Lisa gave Evan a big hug, and sent him off to do his homework.
James touched her on the shoulder, as she stood, and she placed her hands over his.
“I take it Evan is excited about his new friend?” she asked, wryly.
‘No kidding,’ signed James, ‘by the way, Greg should be home early today.’
Lisa nodded, “I know, he sent me an email from work when he got in.”
‘Oh.’
Lisa smiled, “Evan wants you to help him with his math homework.”
‘Not Greg?’
“Greg gets bored too easily. Last time they ended up setting off bottle rockets in the back-yard, rather than discovering the wonders of subtraction.”
‘Ah. No problem.’
“By the way, how was the clinic, today?”
‘Fine. Nothing remarkable. Runny noses, STDs.’
“That’s good.”
James smiled.
“You’re making dinner,” she said, and he was unable to protest because she had let go of his hands.
He smiled a little, shaking his head, then turned, as the door opened, and Greg came in, limping over to kiss Lisa on the cheek.
“How was work?”
‘Teenagers are evil.’
“I think you’ve said that a few times before now.”
‘And I will most likely say it again.’
“Evan made a new friend at school. She’s deaf. He had a lot of fun talking to her. I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it if you ask. Oh, and the publisher emailed me. They want someone to interview me, so either you or James might need to take a day off work.”
Greg pulled her into a hug, and she could feel him chuckling.
‘I can not believe this happened to us.’
“You’ve said that a few times, too.”
‘And I am going to keep saying it.’
“Not if you don’t want me to get pissed at you. Greg, you had an out. It was called six years ago, when you told me you wanted me to keep the baby.”
‘I never said I was not happy it happened. Just surprised.’
She smiled, “that’s better.”
“Daaaad,” called Evan’s voice from the living room, and Greg kissed Lisa, not very chastely, before limping out to answer the call.
“Yeah?” he asked, plopping down on the couch next to the green-eyed, brown-haired boy. Then Greg frowned, looking at the TV, “why are you watching the weather channel?”
“’cause Sara’s class has inside recess when it rains.”
Greg smiled, “I take it Sara is the girl you made friends with today?”
Evan nodded, excitedly, “uh-huh. She’s deaf like Mom, except she can see. But she still talks the same way, except you don’t have to touch her to talk.”
And with that, Evan started off on a long monologue about his new friend.
Greg smiled, and listened until Evan looked at him, brightly.
“What’s for dinner?”
“I don’t know, I think Mom was going to get Uncle James to cook.”
Evan nodded, and hopped off the couch, to track down James.
Lisa came out, smiling, and sat down on the couch next to him.
“Do you have any regrets?”
He blinked, ‘why would I?’
“You always say you can’t believe this happened to you.”
‘I can not believe it, that is true. It is better than anything I ever thought would happen. I never thought I would be happy in this kind of life. But I am. And so are you. And that makes me even happier. So no, I can not believe it is true. But in a very, very good way.’
Lisa smiled.
“Good. Then you won’t mind taking out the trash.”
Greg groaned.
‘You are evil, woman.’
“And you better not forget it.”
He grinned, and leaned in to kiss her, closing his eyes.
Yeah.
He was happy.
Pairing: House/Cuddy
Author: alanwolfmoon
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mild AU (plot-wise). F-words. Violence. Genetic (though non-fatal) disease in someone other than 13.
Summary: When Cuddy asks House to look at her sperm donors, House has to look at her genetic history. He finds out she has Usher III syndrome, that just hasn't presented yet, which she doesn't know about. Oh, and Wilson's missing brother killed some people.
Disclaimer: MINE! ALL MINE!....uh, no. Not mine.
Feedback: Reviews and flames are welcome. (They make it look like I'm writing fast)
Notes and previous chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Final chapter
T
Greg was cranky, when it was time to go back to work.
Lisa gripped him around the waist, and smiled into his chest.
It was adorable, how he just didn’t want to leave her.
And, no, she couldn’t believe she was applying that adjective to House. Hawkins, whatever. Greg.
He seemed to get over his bad mood around noon the day before he went back to work, and went out shopping, coming home with more food than he had probably bought since she move in with him, total.
By midnight, he had twenty seven sets of what he called osechi-ryōri, whatever that meant, packed in some weird sectioned boxes he had bought at the same Asian food store he got the ingredients from.
He also had two extra sets, and he and Lisa ate them, sitting on the couch.
“I never knew you could cook.”
‘I suck at it. Except for Japanese food. I got stuck taking a cooking class at a school in Japan when I was fourteen.’
“Oh. I thought only girls were supposed to take those,” she said, smirking.
‘Meaning you never took one?’ he signed, flicking her lightly.
She laughed.
Greg stuck his head into the classroom, “hey, all you lot.”
The class looked at him.
“Special New Years treat. But I need help carrying it all in here.”
About half the class got up, and followed him out to the parking lot, where he opened the trunk of his car.
“What /is/ all that?”
“Osechi-ryōri. Japanese New Years food.”
Greg was limping out of the school around five, when one of the girls from his morning class came running after him.
He turned around, just in time to see big, perky, teenage boobs shoved in his face, as he slipped.
“Sensei!”
He groaned, sitting up.
“What?”
“I just… um… I…”
She was blushing.
Oh, god no. No, he did /not/ need this.
“Um,” she said, “uh, thanks for the food.”
He sighed.
She flushed, even farther.
“Hint,” he said, getting to his feet with a grunt, “most fifty-year-olds are already attached, or aren’t going to be. In this case, it’s the first.”
She left in a great hurry, looking like she was about to cry.
Greg groaned, shaking his head.
He did /not/ need this.
Especially with the trial coming up, in a few months.
“Greg…” said Lisa, quietly, coming into the living room, and feeling for where he was on the couch, “I need your help…”
He touched her hands, ‘did you hurt something?’
She shook her head, “I haven’t had my period.”
A pause.
‘How long?’
“It’s three weeks late.”
‘Lisa, that is—’
“It’s probably menopause, Greg. I got the stick test with the last grocery delivery, but I can’t… well, see what it says.”
She held it out to him.
He looked at it.
A little pink plus met his eyes.
He took her hands.
‘You are pregnant, Lisa.’
For some reason, her green, half-closed eyes filled with tears, and she hurried away from him, into the bedroom.
He followed her, and knelt on the bed, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, spelling against her cheek.
‘What is wrong? I know I am not positive for ushers, so your baby will not have it.’
“I can’t have a baby, Greg. Not now… I can’t… I can barely take care of myself. How am I supposed to raise a child?”
He buried his face in her shoulder, squeezing her firmly.
“Oh, god, Cuddy…” he murmured, although he knew she couldn’t hear him. Seeing her this upset hurt, made his chest physically ache. Made him want to be there for her. Made him want to hold her close and protect her.
‘You are going to keep that baby, Lisa. And you are going to raise it, and be an awesome mother.’
“How?!” she yelled.
‘The same way you would have if this had not happened to you. Except they will talk to you with their hands, and I will be the one that drives them to school. By being Lisa Cuddy, the youngest female dean of medicine ever, who is not going to let a disability get in the way of the thing she has wanted for years.’
“I’m not Cuddy anymore, Greg.”
Greg sighed.
What was he supposed to say to that?
It was true, literally.
But… no, he didn’t think she meant it literally. She meant… she meant she wasn’t the same person as she had been. Of course she was!
‘Yes you are. Your name is different, but not who you are. Just because I can not run does not mean I am not still the same person who played lacrosse in college. Just because you can not see or hear does not mean you are not the same person who became dean of medicine at one of the biggest hospitals on the east cost before she turned thirty. Because you are.’
Lisa reached up, and gripped his wrist, squeezing it tightly.
“You aren’t the same person you were, back then.”
She felt Greg stiffen slightly.
“You aren’t even the same person you were when we worked at Princeton Plainsboro.”
She felt Greg frown, against her neck.
“Because neither of those men would have been able to say those things.”
The frown turned into a smile.
She turned around on the bed, and kissed him until he nearly suffocated from lack of air.
The trial was four months later.
The two of them had to show up fairly early, and Greg was leaning against the wall, his arm around her shoulders as she hung on to him, nervous, when the door at the end of the hallway opened, and a very haggard looking Wilson walked in, accompanied by a policewoman.
He looked like he hadn’t slept for days.
He caught sight of them, and his brown eyes widened.
“House?”
“Greg,” said Greg, “it’s not House anymore.”
Wilson swallowed, and walked in, “Cuddy?”
“Again, not Cuddy anymore, either.”
“Greg, what’s going on? You’re talking.”
Greg spelled against her cheek, ‘Wilson.’
She sighed, and signed, ‘why the hell is he here?’
‘I do not know.’
Greg looked at Wilson.
“Why are you here?”
“I… I said I’d testify. I… they needed me to. And I felt like a coward.”
Greg tilted his head.
“Seriously?”
Wilson nodded, “yeah.”
“Are you going into Witsec?”
“What?”
“Witness protection.”
“I… yes. After the trial.”
“Greg?”
Greg let go of Lisa’s shoulder, and touched her hands, telling her what Wilson had said.
She smiled, and turned towards the direction Greg had been facing.
“I’m glad,” she said, smiling nervously, “though surprised.”
Wilson came over, and touched her hand, spelling clumsily, ‘I am surprised as well.’
Lisa snorted.
Wilson looked at Greg.
“Is she… /pregnant/?”
Greg nodded, and his eyes were suddenly cold.
“Yes.”
Wilson held up his hands.
“I’m just surprised.”
Greg glared.
Wilson sighed.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I didn’t come with you.”
“Sorry?! Wilson, it’s your fucking brother that caused all this!”
“Greg,” said Lisa, gripping his hand, “stop yelling.”
He growled, and signed, ‘why the hell should I?’
“Because you’re going to yell at him for things you don’t even mean.”
She let go of his hand, so she could sign, herself.
‘You missed him terribly. That is why you are angry. If you are going to yell, yell about that. Do not blame him for anything that happened other than you missing him.’
Greg looked at her.
Then he sighed, and rested his forehead down against hers, spelling against her cheek.
‘You know me irritatingly well.’
She smiled.
“Yes, yes I do. Now tell him what the truth is, or I will.”
‘I cannot tell him.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because… I…’
‘Because he hurt you, and you are scared he will do it again if he knows you can be hurt. But here is a newsflash, Greg. Everyone can be hurt by their best and only friend basically abandoning him. The only question is if you were hurt. So tell him that you were. Tell him why you are angry at him.’
‘When did you get so sappy?’
‘Blame it on the hormones,’ she spelled, and flicked his chest.
Greg snorted, and looked at Wilson, who had a nervous and confused expression on his face.
He couldn’t say it. The words would not come out.
“You can’t just waltz back in, say you’re sorry and expect everything to be okay,” said Lisa, still facing Greg, “you hurt him, and he’s angry at you. And too much of a misanthrope to say it himself.”
Greg couldn’t help smiling, as she spoke.
He brushed his hand through her hair, gently, and she sighed, turning to face Wilson.
“The trial itself starts next week. Real preparations start tomorrow,” she said, “but right now all we have to do is wait for them to tell us how it’ll go. Plenty of time to catch up, right?”
Wilson looked at House.
“Don’t look at me. She’s the one who’s talking to you.”
“I…”
“God, how can you /still/ be uncomfortable?”
“Um…”
Greg reached forward, grabbed Wilson’s hand, and pressing it to Lisa’s.
Wilson swallowed, and clumsily asked if it was a boy or a girl.
Greg limped over to a bench, painfully lowering himself down on it, and watched the two talk for a while.
Then he leaned back, and closed his eyes.
Dammit, it had been a long drive. And the back of that SUV had been really uncomfortable.
He looked at his watch, and sighed, fingering the pillbottle in his pocket, but not pulling it out.
He had promised to cut back.
At least he didn’t have to stand in the classroom all day, today.
Later, Chris, the marshal they were assigned to showed up.
He explained how the trial was going to go, at least schedule-wise.
Then turned around, as two voices arguing met their—with the exception of Lisa—‘s ears.
Tritter and Ramsey came through the doors, glaring daggers at each other. Trenton was following in their wake, along with a young guy, maybe Kutner’s age.
“You can’t change the plans at the last minute!” bellowed Tritter.
“Oh, so bringing in another witness for our side is a bad thing?!”
“I don’t know, I’m not a lawyer!”
“So why the hell are you mad at me!?”
“Because you’re an asshole!”
Greg snorted, and looked at Wilson.
They shared an amused look, before Greg realized he was still pissed, and looked away.
It was a week later, when Greg sat on the bed in their hotel room, behind Lisa, attempting to braid her hair. It was not going well.
Finally, he let go, and rested his head against her shoulder, reaching forward to spell against her cheek, ‘I give up.’
She laughed, “they didn’t cover that in that womens’ class you took in Japan?”
‘It was a cooking class, and lots of guys took it,’ he protested.
She smiled, “suuure it was.”
He snorted. She felt the brief puff of air pass her face, as he ran a brush through her hair again, smoothing it out after his attempts to braid it.
‘What should I do with it?’
“I’ve got an idea… go get Wilson. He should at least have hairspray, right?”
House laughed, against her neck.
‘Yep. I will get him. Or at least his hairspray.’
Lisa smirked, as she felt the bed rise, as Greg got up.
Twenty minutes later, they all piled into another black SUV, and pulled up in front of the courthouse twenty minutes after that.
Lisa was lucky. She didn’t notice the flashes going off in her face.
She held on to Greg’s arm, white cane extended in front of her, as they headed towards the front steps.
House growled to himself, as he worked his way up the steps.
Wilson gripped his arm, as he stumbled.
He glared.
Lisa squeezed her hand on his arm, having felt the tug of him slipping, and he sighed, focusing back on trying to get up the steps.
Eventually, they made it to the top, and limped through the large double doors, the police escort flanking them on either side.
They entered the courtroom, and headed towards Trenton and Chris, who were waving them towards a bench.
They sat down, and Lisa folded up her cane. She rested her hand on her slightly expanded belly, and Greg couldn’t help grinning a little at the sight.
A man Greg recognized vaguely as the ASL interpreter from the Princeton police station edged in from the other end of the bench, wedging himself down between Lisa and Trenton.
He touched Lisa’s hands, and she laid them over his, as he spelled who he was.
Greg heard a call from somewhere high up, and turned around in his seat, looking up at the balcony seats.
His old team was there, along with the kids, and some other people he recognized from the hospital.
God… it had been a long time since he saw those faces.
He nodded to them, weakly.
They waved, then looked forward, as the door slammed open.
Two uniformed officers half-dragged a man into the courtroom.
The room went completely silent.
They set him down at the defense desk, and attached his handcuffs to the steel table.
He bore a striking resemblance to Wilson… but with a much, much less pleasant demeanor.
Wilson, sitting on the side of Greg opposite Lisa, swallowed, and looked down, muttering, “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Mom’s gonna hate me. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Greg looked across the aisle.
He could see Wilson’s parents there, but although they were watching Wilson, they didn’t look like they hated him for doing this. They just looked upset. Upset, and sad.
Wilson’s younger brother, Matt, was on the other side of Wilson’s parents, and he was watching David, sadly.
The judge came in and sat down.
Greg closed his eyes, and tuned everything out, as the prosecution attorney got up to make their opening statements.
This was only the first of four trials.
And he could already not wait for all this to be over.
Six years later….
James Watson got out of his car, and walked around to scan the flood of children issuing from the school.
Spotting the one he was looking for, he called out, “Evan!”
The boy looked around, spotted uncle James, and ran towards him, practically knocking him over with a hug.
“Guess what, guess what!”
“What?” asked James, taking the boy’s hand and leading him around to the door of the car.
“There’s a girl that’s like Mom!”
James raised his eyebrows, lifting the boy into the car, and buckling the seat belt, “is there, now?”
“Uh-huh! But she can see, so I guess she’s not all the way like Mom. But she uses sign language. We got to talk all during recess, and we talked about lunch, and Mom, and Dad, and her mom and dad, and the other kids, and….”
James smiled, listening to Evan’s excited babbling in the back of the car.
Eventually, he pulled up in front of their home, and got out, waiting until Evan got out of the car to press the lock button on the remote.
Evan ran up to the front door, and pulled it open, no doubt off to tell Lisa about the girl he had met.
Lisa smiled, as she felt a pair of small arms wrap around her leg.
She turned, and knelt, touching Evan’s face.
He gripped her hands, and started signing and spelling rapidly, telling her all about the deaf girl he had met at recess.
She smiled, and nodded, and asked him questions, and told him he should get her mother’s phone number, so they could set up a play-date, at some point.
James smiled, leaning against the fridge, as Lisa talked with her son.
Eventually, Lisa gave Evan a big hug, and sent him off to do his homework.
James touched her on the shoulder, as she stood, and she placed her hands over his.
“I take it Evan is excited about his new friend?” she asked, wryly.
‘No kidding,’ signed James, ‘by the way, Greg should be home early today.’
Lisa nodded, “I know, he sent me an email from work when he got in.”
‘Oh.’
Lisa smiled, “Evan wants you to help him with his math homework.”
‘Not Greg?’
“Greg gets bored too easily. Last time they ended up setting off bottle rockets in the back-yard, rather than discovering the wonders of subtraction.”
‘Ah. No problem.’
“By the way, how was the clinic, today?”
‘Fine. Nothing remarkable. Runny noses, STDs.’
“That’s good.”
James smiled.
“You’re making dinner,” she said, and he was unable to protest because she had let go of his hands.
He smiled a little, shaking his head, then turned, as the door opened, and Greg came in, limping over to kiss Lisa on the cheek.
“How was work?”
‘Teenagers are evil.’
“I think you’ve said that a few times before now.”
‘And I will most likely say it again.’
“Evan made a new friend at school. She’s deaf. He had a lot of fun talking to her. I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it if you ask. Oh, and the publisher emailed me. They want someone to interview me, so either you or James might need to take a day off work.”
Greg pulled her into a hug, and she could feel him chuckling.
‘I can not believe this happened to us.’
“You’ve said that a few times, too.”
‘And I am going to keep saying it.’
“Not if you don’t want me to get pissed at you. Greg, you had an out. It was called six years ago, when you told me you wanted me to keep the baby.”
‘I never said I was not happy it happened. Just surprised.’
She smiled, “that’s better.”
“Daaaad,” called Evan’s voice from the living room, and Greg kissed Lisa, not very chastely, before limping out to answer the call.
“Yeah?” he asked, plopping down on the couch next to the green-eyed, brown-haired boy. Then Greg frowned, looking at the TV, “why are you watching the weather channel?”
“’cause Sara’s class has inside recess when it rains.”
Greg smiled, “I take it Sara is the girl you made friends with today?”
Evan nodded, excitedly, “uh-huh. She’s deaf like Mom, except she can see. But she still talks the same way, except you don’t have to touch her to talk.”
And with that, Evan started off on a long monologue about his new friend.
Greg smiled, and listened until Evan looked at him, brightly.
“What’s for dinner?”
“I don’t know, I think Mom was going to get Uncle James to cook.”
Evan nodded, and hopped off the couch, to track down James.
Lisa came out, smiling, and sat down on the couch next to him.
“Do you have any regrets?”
He blinked, ‘why would I?’
“You always say you can’t believe this happened to you.”
‘I can not believe it, that is true. It is better than anything I ever thought would happen. I never thought I would be happy in this kind of life. But I am. And so are you. And that makes me even happier. So no, I can not believe it is true. But in a very, very good way.’
Lisa smiled.
“Good. Then you won’t mind taking out the trash.”
Greg groaned.
‘You are evil, woman.’
“And you better not forget it.”
He grinned, and leaned in to kiss her, closing his eyes.
Yeah.
He was happy.
2009-01-12 05:49 pm (UTC)
2009-01-12 09:28 pm (UTC)
2009-01-12 09:28 pm (UTC)
2009-01-13 01:04 pm (UTC)
2009-01-14 03:30 am (UTC)
Thanks for creating such a wonderful story. :)
PS. I'm a fan of your fics. :) I hope you keep writing.
2010-08-31 01:54 pm (UTC)
I had some trouble with Trtter being practically 'nice', because I just read a 70 chapters story with him kidnapping and torturing and raping House, so I can't do less than hating him now...
Anyway, it's a really good story.
(Just a question : does LJ says when someone add your story to memories ? Because I think I added most of yours... And probably about 50 of them in the last 3 days =D)
2011-01-11 07:39 pm (UTC)
It was IC, interesting and fun. Thank you for another great story!