Comment on The Kelpie: Rachel's role

[readingrat]

As I wrote the story it struck me how much of the S7 chaos centred around Rachel, even though Rachel was hardly ever shown. IMO the whole break-up arc was not so much about House deserting Cuddy in her hour of need and relapsing, but about House having an addictive relationship (using Cuddy as a drug replacement) and thus representing a danger to Rachel. House himself says as much right at the start: in 'Now What?' he says that he's an insane choice for a mother. Note that he doesn't say that he's an insane choice for an employer because he's her most troublesome employee and screwing him will undermine her authority at the hospital while their work relationship will stress their private one, which is the first thing to come to mind when considering their relationship. That's because House knows what's going to be the breaking point in this.

I know that there are a lot of Huddy fans who thought House bonded beautifully with Rachel, but frankly, I didn't see that. What I saw was a guy who had less of a connection with his girlfriend's kid than with his young patients, a guy who only did things for/with his girlfriend's kid when not doing so threatened the stability of that relationship.

It wasn't that House didn't recognise the necessity of making a connection with Rachel. He's not an idiot and it's one of the first things he realised he had to do, which is why he immediately called Cuddy on it when she tried to keep them apart. But realisation of a fact and acting on it are two different things. There were people who said that Cuddy shouldn't have made him babysit. Goddamn right she shouldn't! - He should have been around and ready to help without being asked for it, because the fact of the matter is that when a single parent gets into a new relationship, it's a 100%-lose situation for the kids unless the new partner is prepared to square up and help out. Because, the single parent now has to divide his/her time between the new partner and the children, so if the new partner isn't prepared to take over some parenting tasks to make up for the mummy/daddy time the kids are losing, then the kids have pulled a very short straw indeed. And House knew all that; he never had any problems making sure that other parents did the right thing by their kids, even if it meant sending Mormon guy home early.

So why didn't House try to connect with Rachel? Because right from her birth he saw her as competition, not as a child like any other. I'm not only talking about sibling rivalry here, but as competition for his drug of choice. House knew that Rachel was the biggest obstruction to a continuing relationship with Cuddy, so he couldn't see her in the neutral-objective light with which he viewed his patients. And by not doing so, he basically ensured that the relationship wouldn't last ...

In the Mayfield arrival chapter I have Cuddy explain that it was worry for Rachel that ultimately made her dump House. I came to that conclusion after analysing her Bombshells dreams and the rest of the episode. She spends a lot of time in the episode making provisions for Rachel and explaining to her sister why House wouldn't be a suitable choice as guardian. Interestingly, we don't see her make any provisions for her other baby, the hospital ... As for her dreams, only one, the 'Butch Cassidy' one, is about her overt reason for dumping House, namely being deserted by him. Two of the four dreams are about Rachel and how House's addiction will influence her - in both dreams he offers Rachel 'candy'. (The last one, 'Get Happy' is where her subconscious tells her that he's already relapsed.) So between what House says in 'Now What?' about being an unsuitable choice and what Cuddy does and dreams in 'Bombshells', I think my assumption isn't all that far-fetched.

So, what has changed? Pete, unlike House, can't remember a time when Rachel didn't exist in Cuddy's life. For him, Rachel always has been part and parcel of Cuddy's life, and he's the intruder. Besides, he isn't addicted to Cuddy, so he doesn't regard Rachel as competition in a wild scramble for his drug. I tried to show the difference between House and Pete in the scene where he decides to stay and look after her while Cuddy takes Wilson to Mayfield. He needn't do so; in fact, given that Cuddy is mad at him and probably won't thank him for spending time with the child she has never introduced him to, it's unlikely to be a good move with regard to his relationship with her. Nevertheless, he stays and looks after Rachel, because he's aware that he just ruined her evening and has been depriving her of her mother regularly over the past few weeks (months, if one counts the time Cuddy spent in England). I wouldn't exactly say that he's trying to make it up to her, but there is a subconscious realisation that if his presence in Cuddy's life is a major disadvantage to Rachel, then he and Cuddy won't go anywhere in the long run.

When Pete breaks up with Cuddy the second time, it's because he says he doesn't want to date a woman who is merely staying with him because she's afraid to leave. It's the truth - but only partly. It's the truth as he sees it at the moment because he's sliding into a depression and can only see the downside of having known Cuddy before. (Fact is that Cuddy would happily date and then dump him again, because she honestly can't see the worst-case scenario happening, even if it has happened before, because she's really optimistic that way. [Feel free to substitute 'dumb' for 'optimistic'.] She doesn't object to his logic, however, because she isn't much of a fighter in personal relationships.) The real problem for him, the one he doesn't voice, because Pete (like House) isn't going to admit his true fears, is his inability to cope emotionally with what happened to Rachel. At that moment he sees himself as a violent bastard whose actions ended up crippling an innocent child.

The final chapter has Pete accepting that although he may not be entirely innocent of Rachel's injury, he isn't necessarily guilty either. Blaming himself is as logical as blaming Cuddy (especially the way Arlene does). One could, at a stretch, even blame Wilson for stepping in front of that tree. Hearing of Arlene's rather ridiculous accusation that Cuddy is to blame because she refused to flee from Princeton helps him to get a perspective on his own culpability. And with that perspective he can, in the long run, try for some sort of normalcy between himself, Rachel and Cuddy.

Comments

[readingrat.livejournal.com]

What I did think was that he had a point when Cuddy was dead set into enrolling Rachel in that school and he thought otherwise, even if he ended up training Rachel because that was what Cuddy wanted.
Which is kind of my point. The real House, the non-addictive one, would have stood up for Rachel even if that had caused Cuddy to get mad at him. He'd never have done something that he'd consider harmful to a child, because he always protected children's interests. Addictive!House cared more for his addiction than for Rachel's well-being, so he tried to get her into that school against his own convictions.

if they had worked out and she hadn't been the drug replacement, he could have eventually toned down her unrealistic expectations about her child
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm assuming you read Sharkverse. I love the way House treats Rachel there, as part and parcel of his life with Cuddy, an extension of their relationship that he doesn't even bother to question. He just does what needs to be done without being sentimental.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting your thoughts on this, I've found reading other people's comments and your responses very interesting through this fic, it's good to get a different perspective on the House/Cuddy trainwreck of season 7.

Like you I didn't see any great bonding between Rachel & House, more that House decided to tolerate her for the greater good (his relationship with Cuddy). As an aside, Wilson was also incredibly awkward around Rachel, and I liked his unhappy look in your story when it was suggested he might go alone with Rachel to London :)

When Cuddy and Wilson are in the baby shop and House comes in and learns that she is trying to adopt you can see the dismay on his face, and then when she loses that child he makes a move on her, and they are inching towards a possible relationship when Rachel arrives on the scene, and again you can see what he feels about that in the last scene of that episode - he has always clearly seen a child as an obstacle in his way. He doesn't want to/or thinks he can't share Cuddy.

I do think House's relationship (or lack therof) with his own parents plays some role in his reluctance to have a child involved in his relationship with Cuddy.

I like your reasoning as to why Pete is more open to the idea, less jealous. And that he partly broke up with Cuddy over his blaming himself for what happened to Rachel - that would indeed be a difficult burden to bear while interacting with the child on a daily basis.

I love the way you portrayed Rachel in this story and her perspective on events in the last chapter was very interesting.

[readingrat.livejournal.com]

Wilson was also incredibly awkward around Rachel,
Yes, he was. Which was kind of odd, because he spends a lot of time with 'bald kids'. I can explain House's dislike for Rachel, but Wilson's awkwardness doesn't really fadge. In The Kelpie he puts in quite an effort because he's a polite guy and he feels obliged to Cuddy. Rachel couldn't care less why he keeps her fed and occupied - she's quite the opportunist, and in my experience, kids are nowhere near as discerning as they are made out to be in fanfic. They'll cotton on if a grown up is openly hostile or really untalented in communicating with them, but apart from that they are pretty easy to fool. (If that weren't the case, paedophiles would stand no chance.)

He doesn't want to/or thinks he can't share Cuddy.
Agree with your S5 analysis. Or, he thinks that Cuddy isn't capable of fitting two people into her life. Now that could hark back to the fact that his mother couldn't do justice to his father and to him at the same time.

And that he partly broke up with Cuddy over his blaming himself for what happened to Rachel
I consider that the likeliest motive. Even before he injured Rachel he said he was an insane choice for a mother. Injuring the child in question won't improve his opinion of his suitability, even if he doesn't remember any of the earlier events.

Glad you liked Rachel. Her 'half-empty glass' attitude to life and her obsessions were fun to write. Oh, and thanks for the rec.

[jwhite2199.livejournal.com]

Interesting analysis. I'll admit to a couple "aww, cute" reactions to House and Rachel's interactions in s7, but overall, I think you're spot on: House saw his spending time with Rachel as an inevitability because of his relationship with Cuddy, so any effort he made was to stay in her good graces, not to actually foster any sort of bond with Rachel. He tried, but for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way.

I do think that stems from a fear of losing Cuddy/his addiction, either because she would wise up and boot him out, or because she'd be incapable of balancing her attentions between the two. Rachel was a roadblock, in House's eyes, from minute one; the look on his face in that shop, when he finds out Cuddy is adopting, says it all and his quietly backing out of the hospital room, when she tells him about the adoption plans a few episodes later, reinforces it. Cue the misery, pranks and overall madness that followed as House acted out his nuclear-level feelings of sibling rivalry and abandonment, and Cuddy's less than mature responses in kind.

Contrasting that with House's support- or at the very least acceptance- and involvement Cuddy's attempts to get pregnant in s2, when she wasn't labeled as this addictive romantic force in his life, makes it even clearer, IMO. At that point, he didn't see himself as part of the equation in her personal life, so her choice was one he could be involved in on the periphery without any fear or without anything to lose. Once those personal feelings started cropping up (yay season 4!) it was a much different ballgame.

But, as you said, Pete has none of that baggage. Rachel has always been a part of Cuddy's life, as he knows it. Coupled with being less jaded and less destructive than House, Pete knows that Rachel isn't something standing in the way, she's a part of the equation of whatever relationship he and Cuddy will choose to have.

[readingrat.livejournal.com]

You make a good point for the contrast in House's attitude towards Cuddy's baby dreams between S2 and S5. I hated the baby arc in S5 for reasons I couldn't pinpoint at the time, but certainly both parties' behaviour was way below high school maturity level.

I'll admit to a couple "aww, cute" reactions to House and Rachel's interactions in s7
Possibly the end of 'Carrot and Stick', although I'll qualify far that insofar as that all incentive came from Rachel. Their interaction in Cuddy's car in 'After Hours' qualifies, but at that point Rachel wasn't competition anymore because House knew he'd lost Cuddy.

Pete knows that Rachel isn't something standing in the way, she's a part of the equation of whatever relationship he and Cuddy will choose to have.
Yes, exactly. It may always be hard for him to accept his role in Rachel's disability, but I think there is no easy resolution to that kind of a moral dilemna.