When in your life did you know you were not alone?
3:06 AM, December 21st, 1959 -- A child is brought into the world in the middle of a snowstorm, eight pounds, three ounces and screaming his lungs out at anyone who will listen to him. A young mother touches her son's cheek and holds him to her chest, and he stops wailing long enough to blink his eyes open and look at her with a pair of unfocused blue ones, blue that matches his mother's own.
7:50 AM, August 28th, 1965 -- A son watches as his father hugs his mother and promises her that he'll keep himself alive, and then looks up expectantly as his father kneels down and tells him that he's the man of the house and is to protect his mother. He's only six and a half years old but he feels like he's old enough to do so, and answers with a simple 'Yes, sir.' When he walks away, the boy takes his mother's hand and watches him go.
4:21 PM, July 11th, 1966 -- That child feels hands on his back and the next thing he sees is grass and dirt through the bars of his slightly-too-large football helmet, and his knee hurts and he thinks he bit his tongue when he hit the ground. There's cheering from somewhere but he just picks himself up and slinks to the bench, not listening when his coach tells him to take a break. His eyes are focused on the ground, until he sees his mother's face, feels her hand lifting his chin, and when she smiles, he can't help but smile back.
3:16 PM, January 29th, 1967 -- The boy, now eight, is sitting in his room with a stack of books -- math, he hates math -- when a car pulls up outside their one story home in northwest New Jersey. He looks out the window and drops his pen when he sees a man in uniform step out with a bag, shouting to his mother about how his father was home, before running for the door with reckless abandon. His eyes are bright with tears, as are his mother's, and when they meet on the porch the boy is certain this won't happen again.
7:45 AM, April 2nd, 1967 -- He's begging his father not to go back. Pleading, practically, and the man just ignores his son and picks up his bag, giving his wife a kiss and his son a glare that the boy reads as disappointment and maybe even a hint of disgust. The boy just stands there and mutters goodbye, then turns around and walks back to the car, his mother's hand on his shoulder.
3:30 PM, July 15th, 1967 -- The boy, at this point a little more cold and a little more serious, is walking home from school. A car passes him as he's turning onto his street and he slows his walk when it stops in front of his house, then freezes when a man in Marine dress blues steps out of the driver's side, and a man he can recognize as a chaplain steps out of the other. He watches them make the walk up to his front door, and when he watches them go inside, he bolts the rest of the distance to the house to find his mother in tears and the man explaining that his father wasn't confirmed dead, just missing. He runs upstairs to his room and sobs into his pillow long after the men are gone, and only stops when he feels a familiar hand on his shoulder and hears his mother's voice in his ear.
9:19 AM, November 20th, 1967 -- His mother arrives at his elementary school to take him home early, and he cries again when she tells him that his father is home, broken and bruised, but he's alive and in one relative piece. He bolts up the front steps and immediately starts apologizing, and his father hugs him and tells him it's alright.
6:45 PM, January 5th, 1974 -- There's screaming and yelling, and the fifteen year old ducks a thrown vase as he throws himself into the middle of the kitchen and screams himself about how the man he calls 'sir' is a selfish ass. It's the first time he's ever sworn at his father and the first time in his life he feels the sting of a strong slap across the face. His mother wastes no time in hauling them away from each other, and when his father grabs her arm, the boy -- who can be considered a young man at this point -- merely shoves the older man back and leads his mother out of the room. He'll take her out to dinner and then they'll spend the night at his aunt's house, because if the man who helped create him has the balls to abuse him, then he's not leaving his mother in the same house with a monster.
8:00 AM, December 1st, 1974 -- The same fifteen year old looks up at the sky as a plane takes off from the airport they're driving away from. It only took a little under a year after that slap for the man he called 'sir' to realize he wasn't wanted, pack his things, and get on a flight to who knew where, not to be heard from for years other than the monthly check for child support. He holds his mother's hand the taxi ride home and smiles when he can't see the plane anymore.
4:05 PM, November 30th, 1977 -- He's been staring at the envelope for almost an hour when his mother knocks on his bedroom door and pokes her head in, making a face at the loud strains of Led Zeppelin that greet her, and he just reaches and slides the volume down for her. There's a moment of silence, before he sighs and picks up the envelope, bites his lip, and tears it open. All he reads is 'we are pleased to inform you of your acceptance' before he yells and jumps to show her the letter. Princeton University. Close to home.
7:30 PM, February 14th, 1981 -- The man, now twenty-two, takes his mother to dinner on Valentine's Day and tells her the news, that he's applied for medical school at the University of Michigan in Lansing. He knows it's a bit of a trip from New Jersey, but when she smiles and gives him a hug, tells him that she's proud of him, he knows it'll be okay. He's accepted two months later and she helps him pack his things and load them into the back of his slightly beat up Corvette. She waves as he leaves home and he can't help but choke back tears.
10:15 AM, June 18th, 1986 -- He can't stop grinning as he shows her the certificate with 'M.D.' at the end of his name, and he knows years of studying and cramming for tests have paid off. He's a doctor now and sure, residency will suck, but this is what he wants with his life. No military. Helping people, not killing them. He smiles wider as he tells her that he's been accepted to do his residency at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, and that her son is coming home.
2:46 PM, March 9th, 1992 -- The man introduces his mother to a woman by the name of Stacy, and leaves out the part about meeting her in a strip club two nights before. One bad date later they move in together, and the man figures his mother ought to meet the woman he's living with. It's just common sense.
11:39 PM, September 13th, 1995 -- The man feels like a child as he lies in bed and glares, his mother trying to talk some since into him. It's just a leg, and he knows this, but he's rather die than do that. He tells her to go to hell and she grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him, hard, and tells him to shut the fuck up and get over himself. When he cries, she just holds him and tells him it'll be alright and that she loves him.
4:15 PM, October 21st, 2000 -- She can tell he has a drug problem and she finally confronts him about it one afternoon when he's over to visit. He just stares at her for a long moment before he shudders and turns away, tears stinging his eyes. When she says it, it hurts more than anyone else makes it. He knows he has a problem, but she doesn't care, just hugs him and kisses the back of his neck, and tells him if he wants the help, she'll get it for him.
6:55 PM, July 1st, 2005 -- The man, now older, now wiser, but changed in the past few months to a different, less cold and calloused man. He introduces a woman to his mother named Brittany, and there's a knowing smile shared between mother and son. This time won't turn out like the time before.
7:30 PM, January 8th, 2006 -- The man hands his mother an envelope containing the ultrasound of his unborn child, and he can't stop smiling at her because he's given her what she's always wanted. His happiness, and a grandchild to spoil absolutely rotten.
House doesn't have a certain time in his life that stands out in his mind when he thinks about this week's question, because it wasn't a question at all. He's never been alone, in anything, no matter how low he's sunk or how alone he's felt. She's been there, at his side, at his back, in his heart, the entire time.
Dr. Greg House
House
Word Count: 1604