Title: Baby Makes Five

Author: JB(Still)LovesSharks

Fandom: House, M.D.

Rating: T

Pairings: House, Cuddy and Cameron in various pairings between the three (don't want to spoil)

Warnings:

Summary: Cameron agrees to carry House and Cuddy's baby. Need I say more? Huddy, Hameron, etc

Disclaimer: I do not own House, nor any of the characters that appear in the television show. Don't sue k?

Authors Note: Yes, this is me reposting a story I wrote a while ago. I deleted all my stuff after being bombarded by flames. Wish I hadn't, but nothing to do about it now but start re-uploading stuff. I'm combining the first seven chapters into one long chapter. The next chapter will be everything else I've written and then the third will start with new stuff.

Chapter 1

House sucked on his lower lip as he spotted his former female duckling walking down the hall towards him. Well, not towards him specifically, but he knew if he got in front of her...

"Ugh, House!" The girl caught her footing before she could stumble to the floor; his cane having done a good job tripping up her legs. "What was that for?" She glared at him as she fixed her blonde hair unconsciously.

He shrugged nonchalantly, swinging his cane between his hands now. "Haven't bugged you in a while; didn't want you to feel like I stopped caring."

"You never cared in the first place." She eyed him with annoyance and attempted to skirt past him towards her original destination. His cane stopped her once more, though less violently this time. "House." She turned on him and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Do you want something? Because if you don't, I'd like to get out of these scrubs. They are covered in my car accident victim's blood, if you hadn't noticed."

He actually hadn't noticed. "Speckled, not covered." He corrected, ignoring the roll of her eyes. Her pink scrub top did have traces of red on it, but not nearly enough to prioritize her needing to change right away. No, first he had to ask her something. "Do you want to have a baby?"

Cameron balked, her glare turning into a frown. "You're seriously asking me that?" She narrowed her eyes and turned to walk back the way she'd come. Only this time he stopped her with a tight grip to her upper arm. When she looked up at him she could see he wasn't making a joke; he actually looked dead serious. "You want me to have a baby with you?" The annoyance was still there, though now she couldn't help but be curious what he was up to.

"No, I want you to have a baby with Cuddy." He corrected her once more, watching as her eyes grew wide in confusion. "You wouldn't have to sleep with her or anything. Unless you wanted to of course, but-"

"House, I don't have time for this." Cameron tried to yank her arm from his grip but he held on tight. With his other hand firmly on his cane, he walked the girl across the hallway towards an empty snack machine alcove. She kept quiet as he moved her, knowing at this point arguing wasn't going to make him leave her alone.

Once he got them out of earshot of those still passing in the hall, he let her go and focused his intense gaze back on her. "Cuddy wants a baby." He lifted his cane and pointed at her lower abdomen. "You've got a vacant internal incubator."

Cameron crossed her arms over her chest once more. "Yeah, I've also got breasts, but you don't see me renting those out to the fellows in Pedes."

"You wouldn't get much for them anyway." He took a small step back as she scowled at him.

"One, what makes you think I would want to have a baby? And two, what makes you think I would want to have a baby for someone else?" She narrowed her gaze, her hands now pressed into her hips in a familiar authoritative fashion.

"I've seen the way you look at babies. You start lactating the moment one of them cries."

Cameron tilted her head as she still glared at him. "Yeah, other people's babies. And I don't lactate."

"Good, cause if you ask me, it's not very attractive." House raised a brow at her, hoping to get some response other than her current one. It didn't work. "And it would be another person's baby. You could have it, then give it to Cuddles."

Cameron was growing less irritated and more intrigued by his insistence. "Why do you care so much if she has a baby or not?" She watched him carefully as he thought up a response.

He shrugged nonchalantly once more. "I figure if she has a brat to take care of, she'll finally leave me alone." His response wasn't quite what she was expecting, but it was along the same lines; selfish and inconsiderate.

"So why are you coming to me about this?" She loosened up her stance.

He knew Cuddy'd have his head if she knew he'd divulged one of her most personal secrets, but Cameron did ask... "Cause Mommy's not a very good Mommy. At least her body isn't. She's been trying in-vitro, but has had three miscarriages."

Cameron once again wasn't expecting this. Sure, she liked Dr. Cuddy well enough, respected her mostly as her boss and the dean of the hospital. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that." All the tension in her body had dissipated, her expression no longer irritated, but empathetic.

"No one knows. And it needs to stay that way. I mean it." House was once more making her nervous with how serious he was being. Actually, serious didn't cover it; he looked downright threatening. It wasn't as if she'd intended to take the woman's secret and post it up all over the locker rooms, but she nodded quickly anyway, reassuring him she understood fully there would be consequences if she let it slip.

"Did she tell you she was looking for a surrogate?" She found herself unable to stop the idle thoughts of carrying the woman's baby for her. "And did she choose me specifically?" It made her feel incredibly honored that the woman would even consider trusting her with something as personal and involved as this.

He shook his head, unfortunately wiping the small, pleased look from Cameron's face. "No, she doesn't know I'm asking you. You know Funbags; she's too proud to ask for help."

"So... You thought you would come to me, insert this idea into my head, and then hope I would, what? Go to Dr. Cuddy myself and proposition her?" She raised a brow at this.

House shrugged again. "Did I succeed?"

"What? No!" Cameron placed her hands back on her hips and glared at him. "How dare you mess in her private life like this." She tried to portray anger, but inside she was still feeling for the older woman. "And in my life, as well."

"Oh come on, it would only effect you for nine months." He was back on the offensive, his stare overpowering hers.

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Show's how little you know about woman, House." Having had enough of the conversation, she started towards the hallway.

House didn't chase after her. "Yeah, well, at least think about it!" He called at her retreating form, and then watched as she vanished around the corner.

***

Cameron couldn't shake the conversation she'd just had with House from her mind. I mean, was he really that arrogant he thought he could manipulate her for his own selfish gains? Unless he really did care about his boss, and wanted her to be happy getting what she apparently really desired. "This is ridiculous." She mumbled under her breath as she pushed her way into the first floor ladies locker room. "Only nine months? Is he fucking kidding me?" She continued to rant under her breath as she began pulling off her soiled scrubs.

Tossing them into the nearest biohazard bin, she began rummaging through the pile of clean uniforms, frowning when all she could find were sizes XL and up. "Great, just great." She struggled to tie the oversized scrub bottoms in a way that didn't make her look like she was wearing a skirt, but gave up in frustration and hoped no one would laugh too hard at her. At least the top covered the bunched waistline. "I look like a kid in her mothers clothing." She mused as she stared at herself in a full length mirror.

"Oh christ, Dr. Cuddy!" She nearly jumped out of the scrubs as she noticed a figure reflected behind her. Cameron turned around quickly, spotting her boss sitting in the corner of two rows of lockers; she appeared to be crying. "Dr. Cuddy, is everything alright?" Immediately tuning to her caregiver channel, she approached the huddled woman slowly and then knelt down on the floor before her.

Cuddy had been holding her breath as she heard a figure rummaging around the locker room out of sight. She hadn't wanted anyone to see her like this, so kept perfectly still, hoping whoever it was wouldn't notice her. Unfortunately for her, this was just another wish she wouldn't have granted. At least it was Dr. Cameron, she thought. Not that she knew the woman that well, but for some reason she felt comforted as the woman approached her in concern. "I'm fine Dr. Cameron." She tried meekly, unable to muster even a fake smile.

"Yeah, and these scrubs don't make me look like Ally McBeal." Cameron countered, getting the other woman to at least turn the corners of her lips upward. "Though if you see any dancing babies, be sure to let me know." The words were out of her lips before she could catch herself, and the beginnings of a smile she'd brought to the older woman's face quickly vanished. "Shit, sorry."

"No, it's fine." Cuddy shook her head, reformatting her face so that it was neutral; almost unreadable. "I'm fine." She reiterated, wiping any residual tears from her eyes. Unfortunately her mascara hadn't been water proof and her actions only made this all the more evident. She remained blissfully unaware of her appearance though, at least until Cameron laughed and stood up, turning towards the rooms row of sinks. "What?" She asked as the woman returned with a wet ball of paper towels in her hand.

Cameron offered the bundle to her, and she took it curiously. "You're a raccoon. Personally, I think it's cute, but I'm not sure how professional it is." The woman explained, kneeling back down in front of her boss. Cuddy let out a small laugh and began dabbing at her eyes and cheeks. It wasn't helping very much; black smudges still remained on her reddened skin. "Here, let me." Cameron took the soggy towels and began wiping the other woman's face carefully, one hand on the back of her head to hold her still.

"Thanks." Cuddy gave the woman a sincere half smile this time. "Why did you apologize?" This question threw the blonde, who simply gaped at her, the soggy towel clenched in her slowly forming fist. Cuddy could see that the girl knew what she was talking about and waited patiently for her to answer. Cameron didn't have an answer, just a guilty expression, which she tried to hide behind her bangs.

Finally, after nearly a minute of hiding, she knew she had to say something. "I- I've seen you around babies." She explained, glancing up tentatively at her boss. "You practically lactate when one cries." This got them both to laugh, the awkwardness of the previous two minutes dissipating around them. When they both collected themselves, Cameron dialed her expression back towards her 'concerned face'. "I don't know. I just- You seem to like babies a lot."

Cuddy sighed and rested her head against the locker behind her to look up over Cameron's head towards the mirror. She couldn't see either of them from her angle, which was probably for the best; she was sure she still looked like a raccoon. "Am I that obvious?" She let out a breathy laugh and brought her gaze back to her employee. Cameron was nodding, her eyebrows raised, confirming to Cuddy her suspicion. "Yes, I like babies. Love them, actually. Can't have one though."

Cameron bit down on her lip, glancing away momentarily as her heart began to beat faster. If there was one thing she did not want to be doing right now, after that conversation with House, it was to be talking to Cuddy about her not being able to have a baby. Only she wasn't supposed to know, so she had to bite, and just pray her bleeding heart didn't climb into her mouth and make her say something rash. "Can't have one? I don't mean to sound presumptuous, but you don't need to be in a relationship-"

"I know that." Cuddy cut her off, waving her hand at her. "And I tried it, three times. My body just... well..." She couldn't find the words to continue her public self loathing so settled for resting her head back against the locker. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like she could talk to this woman; open up to her. Perhaps it was the stress getting to her; not having someone to talk about these problems with really sucked sometimes. Cameron seemed concerned enough... Or at least she hadn't run away yet.

"I tried looking into adoption, but apparently I'm not a very good candidate. Single, long hours, hectic schedule and all that." She frowned and rolled her head to the side, still doing all she could to keep her gaze off the woman in front of her. If she couldn't see Cameron's empathetic face, she could pretend she was just talking to herself, in the mirror, in her bathroom at home. Sadly, she realized how pathetic that made her seem; that talking to herself was how she handled most of her problems these days.

Cameron kept silent as she listened to the woman open up to her. Part of her wanted to pull her boss into her arms and rock her, the other wanted to stop her before she opened up too much. She had already soaked up one person's literally bleeding heart that day, and she didn't think changing her scrubs would rid her of Cuddy's metaphorical maroon stains. "There still are other options, Dr. Cuddy." She found herself saying, one of her hands reaching out to touch the woman's damp cheek.

Cuddy couldn't avert her eyes any longer and rested her head against the woman's soft hand. "I know." She reached for the forgotten paper towels and began dabbing at her tears again. The irony of her situation was beginning to dawn on her; she'd escaped to the locker room to avoid confronting a neglectful mother of a newborn infant. At least she was neglectful in her eyes. The painful reality that some people who should never be allowed to have children, still managed to have them, and that she, someone who wanted a child to love more than anything, couldn't, had caused her to hole herself up where she currently sat.

"I know I'm not as young as I used to be," She gave the girl a half smile before continuing, "but they say my eggs are fine. It's just my body that..." Again she found she couldn't finish her sentence and so simply let it hang. "Anyway, I thought about surrogacy for maybe ten minutes, but then threw that idea right out the window."

Cameron frowned unexpectedly at this. She knew there was a reason House had come to her about this situation, but she didn't realize it was because Cuddy had already dismissed the idea herself. He wanted her to suggest it, which meant he knew she wasn't asking anyone, or even considering anyone anymore. She couldn't help herself, she had to know why. "I don't understand, why wouldn't you try surrogacy?"

This got Cuddy to laugh, though it was more out of self pity than amusement. "Are you kidding? Who's going to subject their body to having my child? I have no friends; everyone in this hospital hates me, or is at least afraid of me." The woman was shaking her head now, unable to stem the tears as she confronted herself with this painful realization again. "No one in their right mind would do that; not for me anyway."

Cameron should have heeded her internal warning signal and had stopped the conversation minutes ago; her heart was not only taking control of her voice, but her emotions as well. "Don't say that Dr. Cuddy. There's a lot of people out there who would do this for you. I mean, did you actually ask anyone?"

Cuddy shook her head and dabbed at her fresh tears with the back of her hand. Cameron sighed and pulled herself towards the lockers to take a seat next to her boss. "You know, I'm here if you ever want to talk." She leant her head forward to try and catch Cuddy's eyes, so the woman could see she wasn't really alone. "I mean, you are my boss, and we don't know each other all that well, but I do respect you and would like to maybe get to know you more." She shrugged, feeling self conscious now and averted her gaze to the floor between her feet.

Cuddy sighed and kept her gaze on her own feet. Everything seemed to be happening so fast; coming out of right field at her. She'd escaped the clinic to get away from thinking about babies, and now here she was talking about them with a woman she had once considered nothing more than a pretty face in a lab coat. She shook her head at this, feeling guilty about her drastically incorrect first impression. Though, if she ever got up the nerve to ask, she would bet that Cameron's first impression of her wasn't very nice either. "Thanks, I guess."

Cameron frowned at this and worried that perhaps she'd overstepped. It was one thing to bring your crying boss a paper towel, it was another to pry into their personal life. "Sorry, I guess I'm overstepping." She started to pull herself to her feet but halted when she felt a hand grasp her elbow. Looking down at Cuddy, she could see the woman was fighting some major internal battle. "Alright." She said reassuringly and took a seat back next to the woman. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, both remaining still as a handful of people came in and out of the locker room; none of them stumbling upon their hiding place thankfully. When they were alone again, Cameron turned to her boss. "How come you never asked anyone? To carry your baby for you?"

The dark haired woman sighed and rested her cheek on the arms crossed over her knees. "It's stupid really." She caught Cameron's gaze momentarily but then looked away, not wanting to clam up again. She'd been carrying around this weight all by herself, ever since she realized she couldn't have a child the natural way. "I suppose it's a control thing. I don't know." She turned her head and buried her eyes into her arm.

"How so?" Cameron found herself reaching over and placing a tentative hand on Cuddy's back. When the woman didn't jerk away, she began to rub across her shoulders.

Cuddy took in a deep breath, the stiffness in her back and neck loosening ever so slightly under the younger woman's touch. It felt nice. "I'm the youngest woman to become Dean of this hospital. Do you think I got there by asking other people for help?" The hand on her back stopped moving for a moment, before continuing with it's motions like before.

Cameron thought about her response, wondering what to say, or even if there was anything to say. She wasn't a therapist, and she wasn't a mother herself; was she really qualified to give advice? Taking the chance that her boss would misunderstand her, she decided on answering, "Maybe not, but did you ever turn someone down when they offered to help?"

"Huh?" Cuddy lifted her head and turned to face the woman questioningly. "If people offered, then depending on what it was, sure, I'd accept the assistance. But if you're suggesting that out of the blue someone's going to come up to me and offer to be a surrogate mother, then-"

"I would." The words were out of her mouth before she could comprehend the weight they carried; the implications that she may not be able to take back. She could see the confusion spreading into shock on her bosses face, and suddenly felt overheated; like it was too hot, and there wasn't enough air for the both of them. "I'm sorry, I- uh... That was inappropriate of me." She stammered as she climbed to her feet. "I'm really sorry, Dr. Cuddy. I'm sure if you did decide to do this, you already have a list of potential mothers." She knew her face was beat red, but continued to ramble. "I don't know why I said that, why I thought you would-" She couldn't take the woman's wide, unblinking eyes staring at her any longer and turned and headed towards the door. "I'm sorry. Just- I'm sorry." And she was out.

***

House strode into his bosses office, his cane thumping across the floor as he limped to stand in front of her desk. "Mommy! Can you please talk to this idiot in geriatrics and let him know that performing an MRI on a 98 year old terminally ill patient is like buying an analog television set. Sure, they once served a purpose, but in a month they're gonna be obsolete. My patient on the other hand..." He stopped, realizing that Cuddy wasn't listening to him. In fact, she didn't seem to have recognized his presence at all. "Earth to Cuddles." He tapped his cane on her desk, causing her to immediately jump out of her thoughts, and almost her chair.

"House!" She caught her breath and eased herself into what she hoped was a relaxed, tensionless position. "What do you want?" Her usual annoyance and irritation wasn't accompanying her words. No, she almost sounded like she was defeated already, and just wanted to give him what he wanted, so he'd leave her alone. She should have known better.

"I don't like that tone you're taking with me." He acted authoritative and sat down in one of the chairs before her desk, his hands crossed on top of his cane. "Either you just killed a patient, or someone here is getting sued. Judging by you're lack of raccoon eyes, I'd say it was the latter." He leant back in his chair now and studied her curiously. "Is it me?"

Cuddy was momentarily distracted by his description; raccoon eyes? He must have said it to Cameron at one point; there was no way they both housed that phrase independent of the other. Shit. Now she was thinking about Cameron again. "No, no one is being sued. And I've been working in the clinic... Unlike some people." She narrowed her eyes at him, hoping her sudden switch in personality was fooling him. Only, it was House; of course it wasn't.

"You're hiding something." He watched her shoulders slump ever so slightly, confirming his suspicion, despite the adamant shaking of her head. "As a concerned employee of this hospital, I feel it's my duty to point out that you're full of shit." He sat forward again and stared at her knowingly.

She sighed and looked away, chewing on her lip, her mind once more drifting off to the incident with Cameron. House knew about her attempts to get pregnant; hell, he was the one who had shot her in the ass everyday, trying to boost the likely hood of success. He also knew that she had miscarried the three times in-vitro had been successful. "I talked to Cameron earlier." She told him, still looking at the undecorated wall and not at him.

"She agreed to the lesbian porn photo shoot? Excellent." She didn't turn to glower at him, something that actually caught him off guard. Truthfully the fact that she and Cameron even had a conversation earlier surprised him. He knew his former duckling was selfless and caring, but had she actually approached Cuddy with his suggestion? And after only an hour of thinking about it?

"No, we decided to go with video. Pay's better." Cuddy turned to look back at him, a faint smirk across her face. He relaxed, and countered her smirk with a naughty grin.

"Oh, stop teasing me Cuddles. You know I like to keep it out of the workplace." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"When have you ever kept anything out of the workplace?" She countered, crossing her arms over her chest now, her confidence flowing back into her. This thing with House- this was normal. She liked normal. Cameron offering to have her baby was definitely not normal.

House leant back in the chair and lifted his bad leg onto the edge of her desk, following it with his good one. "So what did you and blonde Cameron talk about?" He rolled his cane up and down his thighs as he watched her stumbling for a suitable response. "And you may as well tell me the truth upfront, unless you want to sit here all day." He smirked at her. "It's not like I have anything else to do."

Cuddy frowned at him, considering momentarily using her status to throw him out of her office. Only that would cause him to become even more interested, and then he definitely wouldn't leave her alone. "We talked about babies, okay?" She lifted her hands up and shook her head at him, wordlessly asking if his curiosity had been satiated.

Nope. "Blonde Cameron's pregnant? I told her the hair made her look like a slut." His mind was working in overdrive now; did this mean she really did offer her services to the woman? Was there nothing he couldn't get his former employee to do? Of course, he hadn't spoken to her solely on the basis of screwing with her; the majority of it did have to do with helping Cuddles on her endless search for spawn.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" She narrowed her eyes at him and leant back in her own chair; clutching a pen between her fingers. "Something to gossip about. Something you could use to make that poor woman even more miserable."

"You're words, not mine." House watched as Cuddy began to tap the pen against her knuckles in mild agitation. "And I doubt there exists anything that could make that woman miserable. Except maybe the Wombat. Or worse, carrying the Wombat's child!" He faked a rather impressive shudder. "Wait, is she carrying original blonde doctors kid?" He pulled his legs off her desk and sat up, suddenly fearing that perhaps his entire scheme could be halted then and there with this information.

Cuddy noticed House's immediate reaction to the thought that Cameron could be pregnant with Dr. Chase's kid. It struck her as odd, because he hadn't seemed concerned when he thought she was simply pregnant. No, he was reacting specifically to Chase being the father. This is ridiculous. She shook her head quickly, ridding the irrelevant thoughts from her mind. "She's not pregnant, House." She hoped her voice was stern enough that he'd accept the answer and leave it be.

Of course, House never let anything be. "How do you know? She could be." He replied as he began tossed the cane between his hands.

Cuddy sighed and leant forward, placing her elbows on her desk. "I know." She chewed on the inside of her cheek, part of her wondering what the hell she was thinking, about to blurt this to House. The other part desperately needed to share this with someone, so when she woke up tomorrow she could confirm whether it had been a dream or not. "I know she's not pregnant, House, because she offered to give birth to my child."

***

Cameron nearly jumped out of her skin when Chase stepped up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Woah, easy there." The Australian took a step back, withdrawing his offending appendage. "You alright?" Cameron placed a hand on her chest as she tried to regain her normal heart rate. She'd been standing outside the NICU, watching as a half dozen doctors tended to premature and otherwise sickly newborns.

"Yeah, sorry." She breathed, turning to face her ex fiancee. He was looking at her with the same expression he used to give her when he felt a specific case was getting to her. Back when they used to work for Dr. House, that is. So why was she looking so teary eyed, standing around in Pedes?

"You... have a patient up here?" He asked, trying to wriggle out what was bother her. Even though they weren't together anymore, he still cared for the woman.

The woman shook her head quickly and started walking down the hallway towards the elevators. Naturally, the intensivist turned surgeon followed. "Chase, what do you want?" She sounded tired, like she hadn't slept in days. Which she hadn't; the conversation she'd had with Cuddy wouldn't let her. It was nearing a week since she'd spoken to her boss in the locker room; it seemed like each of them were trying to avoid the other at all costs.

"I was checking on a patient." Chase was on her heels and followed her into the elevator just as she started to turn red in the face. He knew that expression and went to place a hand on her shoulder as the first few tears started to leak down her cheeks. This time she didn't even give him a chance to startle her; she swatted his hand away vehemently and turned around, wiping at her eyes furiously.

"If you have a patient, why are you following me?" She asked, still facing the elevator wall. Chase sighed and reached over to pull the emergency stop on the control panel. The lift jerked to a halt as an alarm began to blare. This got the woman to turn around and face the blonde doctor, her face still red but no longer damp.

"Look, I know we're not together anymore, but we've had enough on again, off again experiences to grant me permission to worry about you." He gave her a sincere expression and once more took a step towards her; this time she didn't back away. "You look like crap lately Allison." The woman rolled her eyes and brought her gaze to his, almost challenging him to insult her again. "You know what I mean." He covered up, running a hand through his hair. "When's the last time you've slept?"

Cameron didn't want to be having this conversation; especially not with someone she'd been emotionally and physically involved with for almost three years. I mean, how do you tell someone you're considering having and giving away a baby; especially someone you'd almost had a baby with in the past. Not that Chase was aware of it; she'd made certain of that.

Shoving the intruding memory back into the abyss of her mind, she sighed and walked to the elevator panel and pushed in the emergency stop button, causing the elevator to jerk into motion again. "Chase, you have a patient." She gave him an emotionally exhausted look. Suddenly the doors opened and before he could get in another statement, she'd exited the elevator and was lost in the crowded lobby hallway.

***

Wilson looked around the room he'd found Cuddy in with curiosity. He remembered helping the woman pick paint samples and register for baby gifts at Babies 'R Us, but he hadn't known she'd gone ahead and actually set up a nursery. She had only been pregnant less than a month when the topic of redecorating her spare room had been broached. Wilson had gone along with it, even though his mind was screaming at him to stop her from getting too attached to this pregnancy. It was her third attempt at in-vitro; she'd miscarried her previous two.

"Do you think it's too cliche to use greens?" Cuddy asked, turning around when she heard her colleague step into the room. She'd invited him over for dinner with the hopes of having a serious conversation about the topic of surrogacy via Dr. Cameron. She knew it was incredibly premature to be spreading the idea around, especially after only one conversation with the woman about it. Hell, the way the blonde looked after she'd offered her services was enough for Cuddy to know she hadn't really meant it. So why was she so confident that the woman actually had?

Wilson rubbed the back of his neck as he stepped onto the plush light blue carpet and looked around the perviously undecorated storage room. In the center of the room were bunched together an entire maplewood baby furniture set. The crib looked to be one of those that easily converted into a toddler bed when the time came. If he wasn't mistaken, she had actually done up the mattress with yellow sheets and blankets. "Lisa?" He asked, walking closer to his boss now. "Are you alright?"

Cuddy set down the bucket of mint green paint atop the ladder, placing the sopping brush inside. "Why? I thought we both agreed on this color if we went with green." She wiped her nose, unknowingly smearing a bit of paint across her features. Wilson bit his lower lip and turned to look around the room again. "I know what you're going to say..."

"Are you out of your mind?" Wilson turned back, interrupting the woman. She gave him a startled and hurt expression and skirted past him out of the nursery and towards her kitchen. The oncologist followed. "Lisa, how long has it been? You- you know it's unhealthy to get attached too early." He didn't follow her around the kitchen's island, but leant on it and watched as she scrubbed the paint off her hands. "And you've got some on your nose."

The woman nodded and grabbed a paper towel, dampened it and wiped clean her face, then turned around and leant back against the marble countertop, standing now directly opposite her friend. "I'm not pregnant, James." The relieved look he didn't try to hide caused her to frown. "And the agency hasn't changed their minds about adoption, either." She threw in quickly as she turned and grabbed some more paper towels to dry her hands.

Wilson had been there through her three previous miscarriages; had sat with her in her hospital room while the different gynecologists each gave them the unfortunate news. He hadn't even thought about the adoption agency, but knew there was no way they'd reconsider her application short of her changing professions. He suddenly had a horrible thought. "You're not considering a black market baby are you?"

Cuddy stared at him for a moment and looked away. She had been hoping to save the baby conversation till after she'd loaded him up with pasta and wine. Thinking about it now, it was stupid to even let him see the nursery before she talked to him about Cameron's proposition. "You know me better than that Dr. Wilson."

He cringed as she used his office name and watched as she exited around the island and knelt down before her wine cooler. "Well I certainly hope you aren't pregnant..." She gave him another look as she shut the glass door with her knee and carried the bottle and two glasses over to him. Ignoring his insensitive statement, she uncorked the wine bottle and poured them each a tall glass. Wilson took his but eyed it suspiciously. "Why do I feel like you're about to tell me something very personal." He watched as she drank down nearly half her white wine in one go.

"I think I'm going to say yes." She explained, watching his features contort as he scrambled to guess what she was talking about. Saving him the trouble she continued, "I'm going to tell Dr. Cameron she can carry my child."