**Disclaimer: I should have done this on the 1st chapter, but I forgot! All characters belong to David Shore, Fox, etc. I'm just borrowing for my creative outlet :-)
* Thanks for all the reviews!! I love getting feedback :-) I'll try to update every 2 or 3 days. You may get 2 updates on weekends ;-)
A blur of sounds surrounded Cuddy as she awoke in a haze. Buzzers and beepers, loud voices, and the rushes of fast movements brought her back to consciousness, but confusion set in immediately. Cuddy realized she was laying in a bed, and judging from the cream-colored curtain encircling it and the accompanying noise, she knew that she must be in the ER. No sooner had she raised her head to orient herself then Cameron quickly came through the opening in the curtain.
"Hey, you're up. Good thing, too, House was giving you 5 more minutes to come to or he was going to personally wheel you upstairs for a head CT," Cameron said with an amused smirk as she checked the drip in Cuddy's I.V.
"House was here?" Cuddy asked, still a little hazy as she woke up.
"Yeah, he walked out of here literally about a minute ago when you started waking up. Do you remember what happened?"
"The last thing I can remember is being in my office, yelling at House, and then…" Cuddy thought hard, "… that's it. I must have fainted or something."
"You did. As soon as House got down here and finished barking orders at everyone about what should be done for you, he called Wilson, and Wilson said you'd been sick for the last couple of days. I ran a blood panel, I hope that's ok," Cameron added tentatively.
"Yeah, that's fine," Cuddy said passively. "I think it's just this stupid flu bug, though… it's a wonder Rachel hasn't come down with it yet… oh my God, Rachel! What time is it? How long have I been down here?!" Cuddy demanded, suddenly panicking.
"Relax, you've only been down here for about an hour," Cameron said soothingly while patting Cuddy's arm. "It's only a little after 2, the nanny won't expect you home for at least another couple of hours, anyway. Just try to take it easy for a little while."
"Well, that's a relief, anyway," Cuddy said, starting to calm down a little. "So, did the lab actually show anything or am I just dehydrated from all the vomiting?" A flash of uncertainty crossed Cameron's face as she pulled Cuddy's labs out of the manila folder before she answered.
"Most likely, the dehydration did contribute to the fainting, but it turns out you also have a mild case of anemia," Cameron said slowly, but the look of hesitation on Cameron's face told Cuddy that she wasn't finished. "And… um, Dr. Cuddy, I don't exactly know how to say this, but… did you know you're pregnant?" The look of awkwardness on Cameron's face was no competition for the look of utter shock on Cuddy's. It took her a second before speech was again a possibility.
"Pregnant?" Cuddy parroted in a very small voice. Her thoughts raced faster than her brain could process, until the only possible conclusion smacked her in the face with the force of a rude slap. She leaned back on the bed, closed her eyes, and tried to take a deep breath.
"I take it that you didn't know," Cameron said just as quietly, but she continued. "Judging from your HCG levels, I'd say you're probably anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks along. You should probably follow up in OBGYN soon to pinpoint it."
"Please tell me you didn't share this information with anyone else before you came in here…" Cuddy started, sounding absolutely terrified.
"Absolutely not!" Cameron shot back, somewhat hurt. "I would never break confidentiality, especially not concerning someone I view as a friend."
"I'm sorry," Cuddy said, taking her turn to pat Cameron on the arm. "I think I just had some momentary panic thinking about what House would do with the information."
"I hadn't even looked at the labs yet when he left… to tell you the truth, I don't think House wanted you to know that he sat down here with you that whole time you were out."
"He did?" Cuddy was pretty surprised. It had been awhile since House had done anything to show that he cared about her that didn't involve the "adult" equivalent of pulling on her pigtails.
"But of course, you didn't hear anything about that for me," Cameron smirked. Cuddy smiled too, in spite of herself. Although she wasn't entirely sure why.
"Knock, knock," came Wilson's familiar voice from outside of the curtained enclave. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, come join the party, James," Cuddy answered wearily as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"So what's the verdict? Did the dehydration get the better of you?" he asked her.
"It did," Cameron answered for her, "But I think there's something else she needs to tell you about."
"Cameron, what ever happened to confidentiality?" Cuddy asked, clearly annoyed.
"Confidentiality doesn't count when it's Wilson," Cameron stated obviously. "But I'm going to leave you two to chat while I see if they can work you in upstairs in a little bit."
"Wait," Cuddy caught Cameron before she walked out. "See if Dr. Myron can come down here, I don't want the whole hospital swapping theories about how and why the Dean of Medicine fainted and went right up to OBGYN."
"No problem. I'll be back in a little bit," Cameron said with a smile as she left to make her phone call.
"OBGYN? And why do you need Dr. Myron to come down here to see you?" Wilson asked concernedly.
Cuddy took a deep breath. In her dreams, she always imagined that when she uttered her next words, they would be to a husband or boyfriend who was adoringly returning her starry-eyed gaze. Instead, she was going to say them to her male best friend, who she knew was probably going to be her best support for the time being.
"I'm pregnant," Cuddy said, just as quietly as the first time she had carefully repeated after Cameron. Wilson just stared. He couldn't believe it.
"How?" was the first thing he managed to say, followed by "When? And more importantly, who?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure you know the answer to the first question, and as for the second and third, I'm just not ready to talk about that part yet," Cuddy said matter-of-factly.
"Ok…" Wilson started, and while he had no intention of letting Cuddy off the hook so easily about the "who," he decided that now was not the best time to press her. "So, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to let Dr. Myron do an exam so I can find out how far along I am, and then I'm going to drive to a Walgreens on the other side of town where I can't possibly be recognized and get some pre-natal vitamins." Wilson couldn't believe how calm, cool, and collected she seemed.
"I take it that you're going through with the pregnancy, then?" Wilson asked cautiously.
"Well, obviously, James," Cuddy shot back. "I didn't spend almost a year going through I.V.F. just to end up getting pregnant the old-fashioned way and then terminate it, planned or not."
"Sorry, Lisa, that was insensitive of me," Wilson conceded. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Just keep your mouth closed. As far as I'm concerned, you, Cameron, and Myron are the only ones who are going to know until I absolutely have to start telling people."
"And what do you want me to do about House? You know he's going to be all over me and Cameron to find out exactly what's wrong with you, right?"
"Well then, you and Cameron just find a way to make my chart disappear, ok?" Cuddy said clandestinely.
"Dr. Cuddy, are you asking me and one of my esteemed colleagues to falsify hospital records?" Wilson asked, with overdramatic disdain.
"Like you haven't done things twice as illegal to cover House's ass," Cuddy countered.
"Good point!" conceded Wilson.