House clumped his way into Wilson's office and plopped himself down on the couch. "So, did you hear the news?"

Wilson looked up from the paperwork he filing and answered with a sigh, "What news?"

"Cameron hasn't been up here to give you the latest juicy tidbits of gossip winding their way through the hospital halls?"

"Cameron doesn't gossip, and no, I haven't seen her today."

"Cuddy's finally got herself the parasite she's always dreamed of."

Wilson paused a moment to decipher that statement. House watched in delight as the realization colored his face. "Cuddy's . . . pregnant?"

"That's the word around the hospital this fine day."

"House, what did you do? Break into the medical records at her OB's office?"

"Cameron gossips with me, if not with you."

"Cuddy's pregnant." He paused again, as if it was as unexpected the second time he'd said it as the first. "Well, I hope she's happy. You know that I now have to wait until she tells me to say anything, right? Damn you."

"Just sharing the happy news. Another life being brought into our overcrowded and resource-limited world."

"House, shut up. And don't you dare say anything like that to her. You know, she told me that you said you thought she'd be a wonderful mother."

"Only after I said that I thought she'd be an terrible mother."

"Make up your mind, will you? And get out of here. I have to finish this up before my next appointment . . ." he glanced at his watch "in seven minutes. Get out of here."

House exited, humming the tune to Rock-a-by-baby.

About two hours later, Wilson knocked on the door to Cuddy's office. She looked up from the same paperwork that had been in front of her for most of the afternoon and sighed. She knew that this was going to come. In everything else she'd done baby-related, he'd been the first to know, the first to help. Not this time.

"Lisa . . . " he started, and paused. She could tell that he was trying to get her to say it. House hadn't been able to keep his mouth shut.

"House told you?" she asked, leaving her face an expressionless mask.

"It's true?"

"I'm pregnant." It was the first time she'd actually said the words out loud--and she realized that she'd said them like she barely believed them herself. Her face softened into a involuntary smile, and she repeated more strongly. "I'm pregnant."

"How did he find out?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"He was going on about something related to Cameron . . ."

Ah damn. She'd forgotten. Cameron, the hospital lab, any nurse on that floor that decided to take a peek into her file. This wasn't going to be secret for too long.

"Cameron and House were there when I found out."

He gave her a puzzled look. "Exactly how were Cameron and House there when you found out?"

"I fainted this morning due to low blood sugar, and per recommendations, Cameron ran the pregnancy test along with the other blood work."

"You just found out this morning, here? Then it wasn't another IVF attempt?"

"No." So, apparently House had told Wilson . . . close to nothing. She didn't know whether to be pleased or disturbed. She had half-expected over the past several months that House was soon going to spill the beans to Wilson about their on-and-off . . . sessions . . . if only to give him something to be annoying about.

He raised his hands and looked at her in confusion. Up until recently, he'd been her first and best confidant. Up until just after Joy. When she decided that what she needed wasn't a confidant. She turned away from him and looked out the window.

"About 4 months ago, I had a one-night stand . . . " she began.

"You had unprotected sex with a one-night stand?"

She shrugged. "We're all stupid sometimes."

"Not generally that stupid."

"It's over and done with. I don't even know the man's name."

She could almost feel him studying her back. She turned her head back to look at him, and could see the mixture of worry and disgust in his eyes. Well, if House didn't want to claim responsibility, that was just fine with her. All of her plans up until this point had involved her going it alone.

"I know you've not quite been yourself recently . . . " Wilson began, but then he stopped himself. "I guess I should just say Congratulations?"

"I'll take that, " she smiled at him, and he smiled back. She ignored whatever confusion still colored that smile.

"You want to tell me anything more?"

Later that evening, Cameron dropped by Wilson's office before she headed home. She had been stopping in every couple of evenings since his return, checking in on him, offering him the opportunity to talk if he needed it.

She couldn't imagine how hard it must be for him to return to a place so associated with his relationship with Amber. She'd not been able to do it: she'd fled from all the places associated with her marriage. But she did know that even in fleeing, she hadn't escaped from those memories, from the overwhelming darkness they could bring suddenly and unexpectedly. And she also remembered how difficult it had been to reach out to anyone when those moods descended. She couldn't be there all the time, but she could check in on him.

And especially today. Nobody in the hospital could miss that Wilson had some sort of crush on Cuddy. An unreciprocated crush, almost definitely. She wondered what he had heard, how he had reacted.

Wilson smiled when she appeared at his door, and swung his feet down off his desk. As far as she could tell, he'd been leaning back, staring off into space.

"How was your day?" she asked brightly.

"Pretty boring, until the news of the day."

"Ah, so you know."

"Yeah." He shook his head. "Do you think she's okay?"

"Dr. Cuddy? Well, I think she was more shocked than even I was when the results came back. But she's wanted this, hasn't she?"

"She'd given up, as far as she'd let on to me."

"Sometimes, life surprises you after you've given up all hope."

Wilson frowned, and said "That's what worries me. How much hope did she give up?"

"Well, apparently she's been sleeping with someone."

"Or someones."

Cameron let out a short laugh. "Someones? Cuddy doesn't seem to be the type to go around tumbling into the beds of random strangers."

"She told me the pregnancy was the result of a one-night stand. Unprotected sex and a one-night stand."

Damn it. There were things she didn't want to know about Cuddy's life, and now she had just too much information.

Wilson had obviously seen her react to his statement. "What do you know?"

"When I asked her if she had a guess as to when conception might have occurred, she told me she didn't because there were multiple possibilities."

"She's at 17 weeks."

"17 weeks? Seriously?"

"17 weeks and she didn't know. Didn't know when, doesn't know who. That sound like the Lisa Cuddy you know?"

"Maybe we don't know her as well as we thought."

"Or maybe we've been ignoring it as she's started to spin out of control. She's a little more subtle about it than House. But she hasn't been herself, really, since what happened with Joy."

"Well, she's got the perfect reason to get herself back into control."

"I certainly hope so."

"Wilson, it's Cuddy. She will."

He shrugged, and Cameron could understand the guilt that was driving his worry. He wasn't going to stop, now that he realized she had broken, he was going to try to fix her. Even if she didn't need fixing now.

Well, at least it would give him something to think about besides Amber.

Author's note: okay, now we've gotten to the end of what I've previously written and recently edited. And now that it is all out there, I am hoping that my guilt will drive me forward, continuing to write more.