Chapter Text
House tilted his head curiously at the child leaping around his living room. He had been told to guess what animal the boy was imitating. That feat was turning out to be harder than he'd expected. Gregory's imitations were brilliant, but House's guesses were well out of range.
Admittedly, many of his guesses were wrong on purpose, but that was to make the game last longer. And to make the kid laugh. He had recently discovered a love for the boy's laughter. It was infectious. That was good for him. He needed to laugh. It was, however, confusing to him that a child had that much power over him.
He found his thoughts drifting back to Stacy browsing through wallpaper samples - animal prints, circus themes, carousels, everything had animals in it - trying to decide how to decorate a room for the baby - despite there not actually being a room to decorate. He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his thoughts. A small set of fingers were curled around his sleeve, tugging insistently.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"What am I?" the boy asked, stalking around on all fours, growling and snarling.
At the same time, House heard his stomach rumble. "A hungry lion," he answered. He was hoping the hint had gotten through.
The 'hungry lion' turned on him, then pounced onto the couch. "Can we get pizza?!" he crowed excitedly.
House let out a hearty laugh. He'd not seen anyone that enthusiastic about anything in a long time. "Do lions eat pizza?" he asked.
Gregory gave him a look that made him think he was looking into a mirror. "Hungry ones do."
House laughed again. "You have a point." With a mighty grunt and a hearty push, House got his creaking, old body to its feet and a portion of his weight balanced on the cane beneath his right palm. "Come on, kid. I know a great place to go for pizza."
"Can Mommy come too?" Gregory asked him with wide imploring eyes.
Had it been anyone else, that look would have meant nothing, but from his son, how could he resist? He nodded to the phone. "Yeah, kid, call your mom. Have her meet us at Mike's," he said, assuming the nine-year-old knew both his mother's number and how to use the phone.