Disclaimer – I do not own House M.D. It all belongs to David Shore and Fox.
~Chapter 9~
"How are you feeling?" Wilson asked as he walked into her hospital room. House had ordered a CT scan and she was scheduled to have it done in a few minutes.
Cuddy just shook her head as she closed her eyes trying to hide the tears. She couldn't trust her voice.
It had been twenty minutes since House had given her the news, and she was devastated.
"House told me everything," Wilson told her softly as he walked up to her bed.
"If you need anything-" he started with a smile.
Cuddy just nodded frantically. "Thanks," She whispered.
A group of nurses walked into the room and Wilson walked out to give them space. He stood in the hall and watched the nurses pull her hospital bed out of the room and down the hall.
"House, what happened to Cuddy?" Wilson asked as he stormed into his friend's office. He told Cuddy that House had already told him what happened, but he lied.
Cuddy was too upset to tell him anything, and he would rather pester his one friend than upset his other friend anymore than she already was.
"She fell," He said simply. He was sitting behind his desk with his legs up on top of a pile of papers. The super-sized tennis ball was being tossed high above his head at a steady rhythm.
"There is more to that story, and I know it. What really, happened House? She is very upset – that can't be from a simple fall," Wilson argued as he walked closer to his friend.
"She was holding Jen," House told him as he let his feet fall to the floor, pushing the papers off his desk in the process.
"Foreman can clean that up," He added with a well-known smirk.
Wilson shook his head, "What makes you think he will clean up your mess? Is Jen ok?"
"Of course he would – I am his boss. She was in shock because she was sleeping when they fell. Broke her left arm, open fracture, she is in surgery now," He said as he popped a few pills carelessly.
"Ok and what about Cuddy. She would be upset about hurting Jen, but not this bad – she is acting like she did the last time she had a-" Wilson froze.
"When she fell her head hit the tile floor, and suffered minor blunt head trauma. She twisted her ankle, which is what caused the fall…and she is going to have a CT scan to make sure nothing else is wrong since she went unconscious after the fall," House informed as he looked down at the floor and played with the amber vial containing his little white pills.
"That's not all, House – what else happened?" Wilson persisted as he slammed his hand on his friend's desk, effectively making House look at him in the eye.
"She had a miscarriage," House mumbled.
"How far along was she?" Wilson asked as concern washed over his face.
"Test said three weeks, apparently she didn't know, she told me the home pregnancy test came back negative."
"She must be devastated!" Wilson exclaimed, as his eyes grew wide.
House looked at the floor, not feeling like he wanted to meet Wilson's eyes.
"Yeah," the Diagnostician muttered, "she is devastated."
With that, he stood up, leaving the room and a still shell-shocked Wilson in his wake.
Cuddy lay still on the skinny platform as she waited for Foreman, Kutner and Taub to start the CT scan. House had made sure he was in charge of everything that was going on with her and Jen. She didn't really know why, but she didn't really care. She didn't have some random unknown disease that he had to diagnose within 72 hours. She just fell and hit her head. Any doctor would be able to run these tests.
She shook her head and rubbed her temples as she tried not to think of the accident anymore. She hurt herself, she hurt Jen, and more importantly, she lost her baby. Her life was a never-ending cycle of mockery and crushed dreams.
"Ok, Dr. Cuddy…you know the drill," Foreman said through the intercom as Cuddy just nodded in response.
The platform then moved deep inside the tunnel and Cuddy closed her eyes as she waited for the process to be over.
"So…Cuddy fell and hit her head?" Taub asked curiously, as he looked up from the computer screen showing up-to-date pictures of their boss' brain.
"Yup, and did you hear about the little girl who came into the ER? She is in surgery for an open fracture?" Kutner asked before continuing.
Taub nodded, "What about her?" He looked up at Kutner suddenly, "…wait, didn't she break her arm from a fall?" He added as he arched his eyebrow in suspicion.
"Yeah, and the ER nurses claim Cuddy was carrying her when she fell."
"Why was Cuddy-" Taub started, but Kutner interrupted him.
"House is overseeing all of their medical procedures, and is the medical proxy for both of them," Kutner informed with a small smile.
"You don't think…" Taub mumbled, as his eyes grew wide.
"Guys, calm down – you two do realize it isn't their kid, right?" Foreman asked them as he shook his head in disbelief.
"What are you talking about? Of course it is their kid!" Kutner told Foreman with a frown before turning back to Taub, "There is a new hospital pool going on, you gonna bid?"
Taub nodded and was about to say something when they heard a muffled voice shout out, "Isn't this supposed to be done by now? What is going on over there?!"
Kutner quickly pushed the button that slowly moved the skinny platform out of the confined tunnel and stood up nervously.
As soon as the platform was fully ejected, Cuddy sat up straight and glared at the three doctors.
"If you're going to gossip, go to the nurse's station – don't do it here. Please," She told them before getting off the bed and walking out of the room.
Kutner ran out of the booth and tried to stop her, "You shouldn't go by yourself – you could be lightheaded or-"
"I am fine," Cuddy snapped as she turned around and walked down the hall.
"Could she hear us?" Kutner asked as he walked back into the booth.
"No," Taub answered as he shook his head for extra emphasis.
"Doctors gossip once and a while, and she probably thought when we didn't communicate with her or anything that we were gossiping…" Foreman tried to reason as he shrugged and
walked out of the room, followed by Taub and Kutner.
Cuddy walked briskly down the hall to the elevators. She didn't need to have a chaperone on the way to her hospital room, she was fine.
She waited for a few moments before the elevator opened, and a couple nurses walked out, smiling at their boss as they walked past.
Cuddy walked in, and suddenly felt lightheaded. She tried to lean forward and push the button to her floor, but found all the luminous numbers seemed to blur together, resembling a
Christmas tree of lights.
She quickly pushed a button she thought was the right floor and leaned back against the far wall. When the elevator suddenly moved up towards the unknown floor, she felt nauseas
and had an intense headache.
You have got to be kidding, she thought as she supported herself with her hands, which had suddenly become sweaty.
House limped out of his office and made his way to the elevators. He was going to check up on his team and see how Cuddy and Jen were doing. His niece should be almost out of
surgery, and then she would be in recovery for a couple of hours.
He pushed the down button and waited for the elevator doors to open and allow him access to the small confined space.
The elevator doors opened and he was shocked to find Cuddy lying down on the floor in her hospital gown.
She heard the elevator doors open, and lifted her upper body slightly and looked up to see who was standing there. Her face was pale, and slightly damp, causing a few stay curls to
stick to her flushed cheeks.
"Cuddy?" He asked as he took a hesitant step forward.
She nodded, and the elevators started to close. House stuck his cane in-between the elevator doors, causing them to open once again and then he walked to her side.
"Why are you by yourself?" He asked her as he felt her forehead, she was normal.
"I was fine," She mumbled as she looked up at him innocently. Her vision wasn't blurry anymore, and she was slightly grateful that House found her in this state and no one else.
"Cuddy, you are not fine. You went to med school – you know the effects of head trauma. Stop acting like this," House told her sternly as the elevator doors closed.
He pushed the button to take them to her floor, and extended his hand.
"Stand up, it's going to be hard crawling to your room…walking is much less embarrassing," He told her sarcastically.
She reached for his hand and pulled her self up, using the elevator wall for support.
"Thanks," She whispered.
He ignored her and concentrated on the elevator doors in front of him as he waited for them to arrive at her floor.
"How is Jen doing?" Cuddy asked nervously. She was lying in her bed, safely inside her patient room. The nurse left a few minutes ago, and she was trying to cut the silence between the
two of them. House was standing in the corner of the room, occasionally glancing at the various steady-peeping monitors positioned beside her.
"She just got out of surgery," He told her with a shrug.
"She is all alone?" Cuddy asked slightly concerned.
"Well, we are both here…so, yes – the term would be alone."
"I'm going to go see her," Cuddy announced as she started getting out of bed.
House rolled his eyes and limped over to her. He held his cane out in front of his boss and smirked when she looked at him angrily.
"You're not going anywhere – don't you remember what happened to you a mere five minutes ago?"
"So, when Jen wakes up she is going to be confused and scared – I want to be there!"
"She is in your hospital, surrounded by doctors and nurses you hired; calm down," House told her as he brought down his cane and limped out of the room, not giving her a chance to
respond.
A/N - hope you liked it! Please review...when you do it gets me encouraged to write more...plus, I really want to know what you think! :)
