Curiously, I could see House as more of a godparent than an actual dad. I don't think I'd be *afraid* to have him around kids. Sure, he'd teach them Japanese curse words and sugar them up and possibly start a water balloon fight in the living room, but he probably wouldn't accidentally poison them or anything. Of course, this could be because my godmother is a party animal who always told me to call her if I got arrested, because there was no way my mother would ever bail me out. And when I was little, she firmly believed that a combination of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks was a balanced meal, and took me to every Disney movie because she liked cartoons, too. (Astonishingly, she went on to have two more or less normal children. But she still hits Atlantic City on a regular basis.) Could Cuddy be a good mother? I don't see why not. Most mothers I know are tough, hardworking women. She can afford to hire good help, her kid's place at the Lawrenceville school would be reserved when he was four years old, and LE tends to infuse Cuddy with some degree of warmth. Where Cuddy could have problems, IMO, is in the "helicopter parent" area. She's intense about running the hospital, so it makes sense that she'd be intense about managing her child's life, and maybe too much so. What I don't see as often in fic are the stories where Cuddy's efforts to get pregnant never succeeded - some of the most "maternal" people I know never got the chance to be mothers. I don't want to talk about sex. I spent the whole weekend pondering whether the words I was writing were sexy or intriguing or just kind of gross. Ack. It is ever so hard to make Tab A into Slot B seem new again.

So here's a question: Do you think Cuddy could be a good mother? Why or why not? Under what circumstances? I can picture Cuddy as working overtime trying to make everything perfect, of thinking she can accomplish it all on her own -- and finally coming to the conclusion that there are things she can control, things she cannot and she'd better off knowing that. In other words, like the way she handles House. Can she make him do clinic hours? Yes. Can she make him do them politely? No. I also think she'd be the mother other mothers would be very frustrated with for her unorthodox ways. "Yes, I know little Steven Cuddy is bribed with candy to do his chores. No, I'm not giving you any just because he gets it."

I think Cuddy would make a very loving mother. Considering the number of times I've written the scenario, that's stating the obvious. :) Would she be a "good" mother? I don't know. Raising a family would not be as straightforward as her single-minded rise to the top of her profession, and every mother, I think, has wound up making a few bad decisions while trying to reach a compromise. Man, you people are fast! So here's the Cliff Notes version of my take on topics upstream: I do not like gratuitous violence, rape or child abuse, and incest in particular sends me diving for the back button. (Since I also write in the "Supernatural" fandom, my aversion to reading incest certainly cuts down on the number of stories I'll read.) That said, the reputation of the author can persuade me to read what I usually wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. I read extrabitter's "Knots" in progress and was amazed at how much she could make me feel for Wilson after he'd done such a horrendous thing to House. I also read most of nightdog's "Bad Company," although I sometimes had to squint because it was quite disturbing.

Backtracking a bit, will catch up (too fast a thread!): "friend to tea" analogy Don't like this. Information superhighway, folks - if you write that means you're out there like Mad Max & his ilk & while folks may slow down to take a gander at the billboards, you're also at risk for bust windows, car theft & being hit by a bus. Genres I like vary by fandom - I'm not happy with torture fic in House-verse, but in Blake's 7? Bring it on! Ditto re slash, generally good in House (except when the extreme emo-ness throws me; they are grown men, people, not 14 year old girls!), adorable in SGA (John & Rodney are so doing each other :lol:) & makes me squick with Dr Who. Its got a lot to do with the characters, where they are coming from & partly my history with them (I watched Dr Who as a small kid & I just can't make the leap to Who-slash. Blake's 7, more than half the characters are professional torturers to start with). Kidfic - depends on the kid most of the time. I adore some of the Churchverse (the naming story, for example), but some of its overly schmaltzy with a little too much Wilson-as-Mom for my taste. I classify Chase & the PLOT Device as kidfic & its one of best things out there IMO because "Chase as 6 year old" works as a concept (points to Air!Chase :lol:) & there's enough in canon that you can make the leap that House would connect with that six year old in a meaningful way. I don't get why there isn't more believable (as opposed to crack) mpreg in House fic - its a medically-based 'verse, so why not? Cuddy, good mom in terms of professional. Would she connect with her kids the way we see House connect with kids (& even Chase to a degree, though that's more because its like he's still a kid himself) - not so sure.

Is there really such a thing as believable mpreg? I mean, seriously. That's exactly what I'm writing at the moment. Medically-based mpreg - and YES, it's possible, if extremely unlikely. As far as I'm aware (and I've consulted with two doctors), the details in my mpreg are medically sound. In fact, the main issue isn't the actual medicine, but the ethics surrounding surgically implanting fertilized ova in the peritoneal lining of men, when in all likelihood, they will die. Or, in fact, you plan to extract them some time later after you've won your bet. I hate the idea of mpreg so much - all the stupid plug-and-play cliches about happy families. So I decided to see if it were possible to write a readable, realistic mpreg in the House-verse.

How do people feel about slash? I totally love it! And the way is the important thing. Sex is actually quite unromantic (except in fan fiction) and more Hugh Grant and Colin Firth sloshing around in a fountain rather than running at your partner in a golden meadow. Well, I guess it depends, some people are romantic and perhaps to them, sex is a romantic act. Whether House and Wilson fall into this category, I dunno. But erotic slash is a fantasy so I write them to be sorta romantic and even downright sentimental sometimes - it is my fantasy, after all. If I were aiming to write serious, true-to-canon, IC fics, I wouldn't be too successful, but writing mostly plotless smut allows for certain liberties, including liberal doses of fluff. And much as I love the HoYAY I just have this suspicion House is heterosexual. Though I love to slash House/Wilson, I'm respectful of other people's opinions. It is not canon that they are lovers, howeversomuch I'd like it to be. I also see them as bisexual but of course, others are free to disagree. I'm so not into the kid!Fics nor any original character fics. I like reading about House and Wilson and kids are high-maintenance creatures who needs lots of care and attention. Maybe I'm just not interested enough in parenting to enjoy a fic about raising kids. I ought to add that I have no kids myself!

Pardon my asking, but just where the hell is the fetus supposed to gestate? The zygote gestates on the peritoneal lining of House's abdomen, after being surgically implanted. I'm not dealing with fetuses.

MPreg again! It's always just a matter of time before it comes to the conversation, and I always think of that episode of The Cosby Show where he has a dream that the men get pregnant. As for where it's implanted, asynca has the best description.

For me, the thing about mpreg is that it squicks me - not in an ew ew ew backpedaling NOW Snape/Harry way, but in a... I think it has to do with the attractiveness of the characters, actually, which plays an undeniable part in why I like them and what I choose to read about them, especially in pairing fics, where they're also attracted to each other. And the thought of a pregnant male, in any fandom, is just very unattractive to me, so I don't even try reading it any more (I tried, once or twice, with authors I liked; didn't work). It's also one of those subjects that I'd never take on myself to see if I can do a better job at it. Thee are plenty of subjects with bad reputations that I love seeing authors challenge themselves with - certain pairings, kidfic, girl kidfic, rape, various cliches, etc. I'm always curious at the results, and many times they produce excellent fics. But I'd never try writing, and probably never try reading, those takes on the subjects that squick me - ie mpreg, incest, teacher/student, and... hmm. I'm sure there's something more. (I should point out that I don't think squicks are so deeply ingrained that one can't overcome them - for instance, slash fic, or even just reading explicit smut about innocent TV characters, once squicked me, as in squicked. Clearly, I got over it, mainly by reading more and more by authors I loved. But in the case of my current squicks, I see no reason to overcome them, and don't think it's worth the effort.) (And an OT sidenote: I'm continuously amused by the fact that some of the ads I have displayed at the top of this forum link to the "Black Sheep Inn" in Ecuador and, even better, "Original Sheep Placenta" :-) )

Blackmare said I feel exactly the same way about another author, whose stuff I find basically unreadable because I see it as so out of character and sappy. Yet someone else -- a writer I totally respect -- loves that person's work, and also seems to enjoy mine, and I ... scratch my head, sigh, and carry on. I’m late to this discussion, sorry. You guys go quickly. I have two authors that break my cardinal H/W rules and I still love them. 1. No first names 2. No girly or really any nicknames 3. No sappy House and/or Wilson 4. No using lover, older, younger, or boyfriend (unless joking) I wouldn’t accept these flaws from any other author. I think it’s because both of the authors write many fics in the same universe and I got hooked on the first one. The storyline was so interesting and so unique that I keep going back. I am proud to say that in the mist of praising the fics, I did mention that I thought the nicknames were a little OOC. :wink:

About the no first names thing, there's a discussion going on in the Q&A thread about "Jimmy" & it turns out House uses it (or Wilson uses it to refer to himself) more than I thought. I'm starting to wonder about the Greg usage frequency now, but ITA, it feels weird in fic when first names are used - though the whole last names only thing on the show is terribly British schoolboy-ish. And I'm not sure which is worse - boyfriend or lover, it just sounds odd coming out of the mouths of two middle aged men, particularly House - but any guys here, what would be the right term to use?