Here I am again, this time with a Huddy story. It feels so good to write this after not touching the fandom for four years.
Disclaimer: I don't own House. I also don't own Beautiful Loser by Bob Seger, which is one of my favorites.
Author's note: I'm not sure what season I would set this in. I'm putting Cuddy in her late 30s and House in his mid 40s. Cuddy has been through the Joy ordeal, but hasn't adopted Rachel at this point. Anyway…
On with the story!
Of all the things Lisa Cuddy expected to hold in her hand at almost thirty-nine, a pregnancy ultrasound image was not one of them.
Especially when the pregnancy was conceived with the last person on earth she wanted to see right now.
They weren't even trying to conceive. It was obviously the last thing House wanted and the last thing Cuddy expected, no matter how much she wanted it. Hell, she was even on the pill. But the tests and ultrasound didn't lie.
She had given up on having kids years ago. Several failed attempts, a miscarriage, and the adoption that fell through finally told her that maybe she wasn't meant for motherhood.
Sighing, she rubbed her temples as she looked away from the chart on her computer. She looked down at her barely swollen stomach. Her office door slammed open and she scowled when she saw House standing there.
"Hey, sugar tits, still pissed?"
Of course she was still pissed. House had not reacted well to her pregnancy. Not that she expected him to. He eventually came around, but took every opportunity to show his reluctance until she'd had enough.
"Go away, House." She picked up a pen and began signing forms on a clipboard.
"But I just got here. Obviously going away would defeat the purpose of making the long, dangerous voyage out of my office." He sat down on the couch.
She glared at him. "I am not in the mood to talk to you right now. Get out of my office."
"Hey, you can't talk to your baby daddy this way."
She angrily slammed her pen down. "Would you just shut up for two seconds?" she snapped irritably. "I told you that I didn't want anybody to know about this yet! Do you know how many people have come to me to congratulate me?"
House stared at her. "That's a tragedy. It's so rude of people to congratulate you."
Cuddy scowled deeper. "I didn't want them to know! You know as well as I do that there's a huge chance I'll miscarry. Then what? People will know about it, which is exactly why I told you to keep your mouth shut. But did you listen? No, because you have no respect for boundaries! All you care about is screwing with me."
"You told Wilson."
"Because Wilson respects privacy. He already knew about my infertility."
"So did I. Why does it matter if people know you can't keep a bun in the oven long enough?"
"Because it's my business, not theirs. The point is that you violated my privacy, not that I ever thought you would have any respect for my wishes. I asked you to keep this between us and Wilson until I'm at least in my second trimester."
"People would figure it out on their own, you know. How would you have hidden the bigger boobs, the bigger ass, and bigger stomach?"
She sighed in frustration. "Just... just go. Go do whatever you do in your office. I'm tired of trying to get through to you. You'll never care about anybody but yourself. All you care about is making everyone miserable just so you can have some entertainment in your life."
"Hey, I told you I'd stick around for you and this spawn. Doesn't that give me a point for giving a shit?"
"I don't want you to stay because you want to make yourself look better. I want you to stay because you want to, House. I need to know that you actually care about me and this baby. And so far, you haven't done much to demonstrate that. So please. Go work."
"Fine. I have to go play with a patient's colon, anyway." House grabbed his cane and stood up. "Let me know when you're ready to stop acting like an idiot."
Cuddy glared at his retreating form as he left her office. Once he was gone, she picked up the ultrasound image again. She was nine weeks along- not enough for her pregnancy to show, and plenty of time for a miscarriage. She didn't even know why she was so pissed at House. He never considered her privacy or respected her desire for it.
Maybe it was the hormones. Either way, she was dating an asshole. She just hoped House had enough sense to stick around.
He did have enough sense, apparently.
He never apologized for telling people before she was ready, but she never expected him to do that. But he did stick around. She still wasn't sure if he was doing it because he actually wanted to, or if he was doing it because he felt forced to.
She went to an OB/GYN outside of PPTH, deciding that it was best to keep as much of her pregnancy as secret as possible. House didn't accompany her to the first appointment, but he reluctantly joined her for her 14-week appointment, because she was scheduled for prenatal testing to make sure everything was okay.
Her doctor, Dr. Thompson, rubbed the wand against her abdomen and watched the monitor. When the image became clear, she turned the monitor so that they could see it as well. "There's your baby. Right now, he or she is probably three inches long."
"I still think it looks like a bigass comma," House noted as he watched the screen. Everything looked fine. He knew that an ultrasound wouldn't show problems, especially not this early. He was more worried about what the prenatal testing might reveal.
"Shut up, House. And please, don't call our child an it."
"Well, what am I supposed to call it until we know what it is? Until then, its name is It, unless you'd prefer Demon, Brat, Spawn, Mini-Greg-"
She ignored him and smiled softly at the image on the screen. Until now, she had refused to get too attached to this baby. But now she was fairly sure the pregnancy could go smoothly and she could let herself give in. "When will we have the results from the testing?"
"We should have them in a few days." Dr. Thompson printed two copies of the ultrasound and put them in a manila envelope. She handed it to Cuddy. "We'll call you when we have them. Now, considering your past infertility and the fact that both of you are over thirty-five-"
House cut her off. "You do realize we're both doctors, right? Or at least I am. She just runs the ship and plays doctor once every forty blue moons."
"House." Cuddy accepted the paper towel Dr. Thompson handed her and wiped the gel off of her abdomen. "We're familiar with the risks. That's why we opted for more extensive testing. Thank you."
"You're very welcome."
They left after Cuddy scheduled her next appointment.
"Thank you for actually coming," she said softly as she and House walked to her car. "It's nice to know that you actually do have an interest in this."
"Oh, I'm not interested. I'm just hiding from Wilson."
Cuddy nodded as she fished her car keys out of her purse. "Uh huh." She started the car. "Do you want to get lunch before we go back to the hospital?"
"Yeah. Followed by wild backseat sex?"
"In your dreams."
The results were in three days later.
Even though the other clinic had run them twice, Cuddy had another doctor run them two more times to make sure. When they came back positive again, she was at a loss. She had known this was a possibility.
So why was she so shocked?
She wiped at her eyes as she put the results back in the envelope and slid it under a stack of folders on her desk. "Oh, God," she murmured, tiredly running a hand over her face.
How was she going to tell House?
Hmm... review?
