THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! I DON'T OWN HOUSE. IF I DID, WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO WAIT THREE WEEKS FOR A NEW EPISODE.
The next morning, Cuddy was rudely awoken by her alarm clock. She rolled over, expecting to touch a sleeping House, but to her utter dismay, he had left during the night. Again. Disappointed, she showered and got dressed for work, choosing a top that was particularly low cut just to torture him. Why was he so contradictory towards her? They had not even addressed the issue of her pregnancy yet.
Once Lisa Cuddy arrived to her office at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, House was nowhere in sight. Around ten am, he came limping in, and her heart fluttered when she saw that disheveled man walk through the hospital entrance. Quickly she grabbed some files to give the illusion that she had things to do at the nurses' station; that she was not coming after him. She made a run in his direction and intercepted him just as he was passing by the clinic doors.
"House. My office," she stated with as much authority as she could muster. The truth was that she was dying to speak with him. She wanted to see how he would respond regarding his actions last night. Would he continue to be an ass, or would he admit that he had feelings for her?
"I don't have a case, so I'm assuming this is about the fact that you have the hots for me," House was smirking once the two of them were in her office.
Cuddy's face was unreadable for a few seconds. It took all her strength to give back a retort. "Quit playing games, House. For once in your life, can't you say what you really feel? I'm pregnant. With your child."
"I feel…" He took a long pause and a deep breath, looking deep into Cuddy's eyes. "I feel like touching your breasts again."
"You're a bastard, House." Cuddy turned around to sit at her desk and heard House leave the room. "You owe me four clinic hours today!" She shouted after him.
The two doctors avoided each other for several days. Both House and Cuddy were in denial and continued to act like nothing was wrong. But Cuddy was suffering, tormented by fear about miscarrying the child in her womb, frightened by the fact that the one man she truly trusted, the baby's father, would not speak two words about the baby with her. House's actions were in such conflict to his words that Cuddy was beyond confused.
House watched Cuddy closely, and noticed how she feigned indifference to the situation. To everyone else, she was able wear a mask and act like nothing at all was bothering her. But he knew her too well. He knew her better than anyone else did, and he could tell she was in agony. He caught slight cracks in her smile, or saw her pick at her nails when she thought that no one was watching. He knew that he should step up and talk to her about the baby. Tell her that he was thrilled that she was having his child. Put her out of her misery. But House was not that man.
House remembered back when Cuddy was having those In-Vitro Fertilization injections and treatments. How Cuddy had trusted him, and only him, to give the injections to her. How she had valued his opinion on potential donors. How she wanted to ask him to be the father, but she was afraid. Afraid he would have said no, since he takes people's feelings and holds them over their heads like a weapon.
But House was itching for her to ask him. If she had said one more word that night, if she just would have given him one concrete indication that she wanted him to be the father of her child, he would have kissed her feet. The thought of her using someone's DNA besides his own sickened him. He lost a lot of sleep those months that Cuddy was trying to get pregnant via IVF. As selfish as it was, every time she miscarried or the treatments did not take, he was relieved. Relieved that she would not raise a child that was not his.
