Chapter 2

Wilson and House discussed possibilities on how to get both Chase and Cuddy's DNA for half an hour before they agreed that they would leave Cuddy to Wilson and Chase to House and would meet up in the lab at 22:00 hours.

House headed back to his office to await his team, they were out running tests on their latest patient. Eventually Cameron and Chase walked in debating as to whether or not the boy actually did have autoimmune or something else. "Enough" House called when he was tired of the argument. The two fellows stopped the discussion and Cameron went to the table and Chase started making a cup of coffee, perfect. Foreman entered a few minutes later and they all sat down to try and diagnose the kid.

Once the team had come up with their latest decision House sent them out to get more tests. They all walked out, Chase conveniently putting his cup in the sink but not rinsing it out. House went over to the sink and bagged the cup then stashed it in his desk for later. Now all he had to do was hope that Wilson did his part.

Wilson wasn't quite sure what he would do but he needed to get Cuddy's DNA somehow. There were many ways to get a persons DNA but Wilson decided to go with the first idea that came to mind. He would steal one of Cuddy's used coffee cups out of her trashcan after she left for the night.

Wilson waited patiently for Cuddy to leave for the evening and eventually around 21:00 he got his wish. As soon as Cuddy was out of the hospital doors he snuck into her office and started digging through the trashcans looking for a used cup.

Cuddy walked into her office a few minutes after having left only to find Wilson on his hands and knees sifting through her trashcan. "What are you doing?" she asked. Really she should have been more surprised by this but Wilson was House's friend and she had ceased to be surprised by House a long time ago.

"Uh… I'm…" Wilson stuttered. How could he explain this?

"You're what?" Cuddy asked. She towered over him while crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. "And there better be a good explanation for this or else you're looking at a lot of clinic hours."

Wilson paused. What should he do? He didn't have a decent lie to give Cuddy and clinic hours were not really desired. He had wanted to tell Cuddy from the beginning it was House who had refused. There was no real reason not to tell Cuddy in fact she would know better than anyone if she and House had conceived a kid twenty years ago. Maybe it would be best to tell her.

"I'm waiting" Cuddy said impatiently.

"Rowan told House that you and he are Chase's parents" Wilson blurted out.

"What?"

"Rowan told House that you and he were Chase's biological parents"

"Why would he say that?" Cuddy asked. She was wondering. She had never asked what had happened to the baby but she never imagined that it could be Chase.

"He had DNA from all three of you and paternity and maternity tests that say it's true. However House says that Chase is too old to be your child since you and he would have had a kid about 21 years ago meaning that the kid would be 19-20 now."

"Why would he say that Chase is too old?" Cuddy asked. As far as she knew Chase was going to be 20 in two weeks. Now that she thought about it Chase was exactly the right age to be her kid and his birthday was on her son's birthday. But it couldn't be possible Chase was Australian not American.

"Because Chase is going on 27 and House said that the kid would need to be 20" Wilson explained. Cuddy still had the confused look on her face "Unless you know something that we don't" Wilson guessed. The guilty look on Cuddy's face confirmed his guess. "What is it?"

"Chase's age" she said, "It's not 27. He's nowhere near 27 his 20th birthday is in two weeks."

"He's not even 20" Wilson exclaimed, "How is that even possible?"

"He's extremely intelligent. He sped through school and then he tested out of most of med school and finished it about a year ago. Typically it's not allowed but because of who his father is and when I agreed to hire him I made him agree to keep his mouth shut about his age because it would cause too many questions with patients and other doctors to have a teenager employed as a doctor here," Cuddy explained. "It doesn't matter though because he can't be mine he's Australian"

"You don't know he's Australian. He was raised in Australia by Australian parents his accent was bound to occur given that he was surrounded by it his entire life." Wilson explained.

"So then he could be…" Cuddy trailed off. Could Chase really be her kid? How did Rowan know? Did Chase know?

"Did you have a kid with House twenty years ago?"

"I never told him" was the only explanation Cuddy gave.

"Well he knows now. So can I get some of your DNA or do I need to continue digging through your trash. I'm supposed to meet House down in the lab in twenty minutes" Wilson said.

Cuddy looked at him "I thought you already had the test results" she said.

"Rowan provided some however House is doubtful of their validity and wanted to test them himself. We decided to split and conquer, he took Chase and I took you. So about that DNA"

"You can have it" Cuddy said. Before Wilson could get too relaxed she added "Once we get down to the lab" and with that Cuddy turned and started walking to the lab.

"No. I wasn't supposed to tell you about this and I'm really not supposed to bring you along to the test"

"You want my DNA don't you?"

"Yes"

"Then I'm going to see the test and make sure that it's not tainted in any way" if Chase really was her kid she wanted to know and she didn't trust House to tell him the truth.

They arrived at the lab and House looked up at the two that entered. "I told you to get a sample of her DNA not to bring her along" House said agitated.

"She caught me going through her garbage and threatened me with clinic hours. Plus I told you that we should tell her. Oh and she says that Chase will be 20 in two weeks" Wilson defended himself.

"I am not going to be kept out of something as important as this" Cuddy said

"You I don't want here" House said to Cuddy. To Wilson he said "What do you mean he'll be 20 in two weeks you have to be at least 26 to graduate med school we've been over this"

"He practically tested out of med school and we had an agreement not to tell when I agreed to hire him." Cuddy said and then she swabbed herself "Here now run the tests"

The three of them waited nervously for the results. As they waited House browbeat the truth out of Cuddy. The basic story is that after Cuddy and House had spent the night together they went their separate ways. A few weeks later Cuddy realized that she had missed her period and she took a pregnancy test. When the test came back positive she didn't know what to do. She wanted a child but no then and not when she was single. She didn't think that House would want the burden of a child either. Not knowing what else to do she decided to have the child and then put it up for adoption, her religious beliefs deterring the idea of an abortion. She never told anyone, not even her family and she looked hard to find a good adoption agency that would find a suitable home for her unborn child. When she gave birth it was to a little boy. She was about a month early (maybe a little less) and the baby had to be rushed to the NICU immediately so she never even got to see him. She was told that a doctor and his wife adopted the baby and that they were a good couple. She hadn't heard anything since.

The story ended just as the test results came in. Both House and Cuddy were to nervous or scared to pick up the test results so Wilson reached over and checked it himself.

"Well?" House asked

"Well?" Cuddy asked at the same time as House.

"Apparently Rowan wasn't lying to you guys" Wilson said. "Congratulations you have a healthy 20 year old son now you've just got to figure out how to tell him" he started heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" House asked Wilson when he saw him leaving.

"You two need time to figure this out and it's something that you need to do together. I'm giving you the privacy that you need" Wilson said and he left leaving the new parents alone to contemplate what to do next.