Hi guys! This chapter is short, but I'll post the next chapter soon. Unless you want to be generous with reviews, and get them up to 170, and then I'll post it today. ;) The next chapter also happens to be 6,222 words soooo, when it gets posted is on you. In the mean time, enjoy this one, and don't forget to review!
"House! Come here!" Cuddy shouted excitedly from the living room. A month had passed since their reconciliation and they were currently spending the weekend at his apartment. House finished up washing his hands and limped into the room. He found her on the couch, her blouse unbuttoned and pushed up to the bottom of her breasts. Her hand was on her on growing stomach, which the common eye would think she was simply gaining weight and not pregnant.
"What?" He asked when he reached her.
"Give me your hand."
He didn't even have time to respond before she grabbed his hand and placed it on the lower left side of her stomach. He waited a few seconds, wondering what the whole point of this was.
"Why is my hand on your stomach? What am I supposed to be doing?"
"Sh and wait you'll see!"
He waited a few more minutes. When he was tired of it, he went to pull his hand away when he felt it. There was movement beneath his palm. A smallest hint of a flutter. He could feel his lips pull upward into a smile as he felt her hand cover his.
"You felt it right? I know you did, you wouldn't be smiling if you didn't."
He remained silent, not willing to give her the pleasure of knowing she was right. He moved his hand farther to the left and tapped his finger against her stomach, surprised when there was another, much stronger movement beneath his hand. He looked at her and saw her beaming up at him. She had been so happy for the past month and he was glad that he could see her like this.
She was smiling up at him so widely that her face hurt, but she didn't care. She was exuberant to be able to share this moment with him when a month ago she had not known that they would be experiencing these first moments together. He had not been there for the first ultrasound, but he had been there for the first feeling of movement. He would be there when they found out the sex in a few days. That was all that mattered to her. She couldn't spend her time dwelling on the past, on the missed moments that they could have had in between their two month break. She only wanted to think about the future. Their future.
She felt him pull his hand away and he dropped down beside her. She turned to face him and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"Have you thought of any names yet?" She asked curiously, She had a list of female names set aside and she was curious to what names he had in mind. They had agreed early on into their newly restored relationship that she would pick first name if it was a girl, and he would pick the middle name. If it was a boy, he would pick the first name and she would pick the middle name.
"Well, if we have a girl, her middle name is going to be Arizona. Just because you said I can choose the name and no one is named Arizona. Plus this is her middle name, it's supposed to be ridiculous."
"Isabella Arizona Cuddy – House. Hm, doesn't sound so bad. And what name have you chosen in case we're having a boy?"
"Thomas."
She let out a small gasp, surprised at his choice. Thomas had been her father's name. House knew this. She had told him at some point that she had always been close to her father. He had been the parent who had shown his affection for her whenever possible. He spoiled her. He supported her in everything she did. He was the best father she could have asked for. He had stood up for her when her mother made her feel awful about herself and frequently pointed out her faults. She had always been a daddy's girl.
"After... my dad?"
"Yeah."
She was touched by this simple gesture. Her father had died of a heart attack a few years before she had hired House. She had been devastated. She had needed to take a week and a half off from work in order to mourn properly. She had even gone home to her mother's even though the only thing that had kept her going back to her parent's dwelling was now gone. She felt the need to mend things with her mother now that her father had passed on. She wouldn't have felt right holding a grudge against her only living parent. No matter what had happened between them she had needed to reestablish a relationship with her mother. She wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she hadn't.
She looked away for a moment before quickly wiping at her eyes.
"Thomas Gregory Cuddy – House. Again, not too shabby."
"Gregory? Really?"
"Yes really. I'm surprised you didn't decide to name him after yourself if it's a boy. Besides, if he's going to be named after one of the most important men in my life, why can't he be named after both?"
She leaned into him as he wrapped his arm around her. He was one of the most important men in her life. She had never thought that she would ever put everything on the line for a man until she had met him. She had risked her job and her well being so many times for him she had almost lost count. Yet she would never go back and undo it. She would always be thankful that she did do those things because they had all lead up to this. They were together and happy. They were expecting a child together and she wouldn't want to have it any other way.
"Thank you." She said softly as she nestled into his side.
"Don't thank me."
"Why shouldn't I thank you? You've managed to give me everything I've ever wanted in such a short amount of time."
"I don't deserve to be thanked."
"I don't care if you think you deserve it or not, I'm thanking you. This is the part where you shut up and accept my thank you."
She watched him smirk as he shook his head.
"We should go out and find something to eat." She said suddenly.
"Oh god, not another one of your freaky cravings again... Those fried pickles covered in chocolate where gag worthy."
"They were delicious, and no it's not one of my freaky cravings again. Let's go out to dinner, we've never done that before. We've always just hung around each other's houses and ordered take out."
"You don't have anything nice to wear here."
"Who cares? It doesn't have to be fancy, it can be casual. Come on, it'll be nice."
She stood and pulled on his arms, attempting to pull him up but failing.
"Come on House. Just do it for me."
Half an hour later House resisted the urge to grab Cuddy's ass as she leaned her forehead against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her waist. They were waiting to be seated at T.G.I.F., and he was tired of waiting. It had only been fifteen minutes but his leg was already beginning to act up from standing for so long. He leaned against the wall behind him, taking some of the weight off of his right leg.
He heard his name called and they were led to the table by a man no taller than five foot one and who could pass off as Clay Aiken if he wanted to. The table they were seated at was a booth in the darker more secluded area of the restaurant and he found it a little funny seeing as the last time they had gone out together they had sat at the back of the bar, alone and secluded and have ended up sleeping together for the first time in years. It was almost like they were reliving the start of their romantic relationship.
When they had placed their orders they had begun to discuss the recent amount chaos at the hospital. It seemed that someone, a head of department, had commenced a prank war with the nurses. Said prank war was now a hospital wide event. He would never tell her that he had been the one to initiate it because it would land him in the dog house, which was not somewhere he wanted to be.
"What I don't understand is why suddenly I've been pulled into it."
"Because you're secretly just as bad as the rest of your employees and they're just trying to get you to show that side? Why else would one of them do it?
"But stapling all of those cups of water together in front of the outer entrance to my office? Come on, that was just stupid. I'm pretty sure they could have thought of something better, like having my office door renamed."
"That was you?" He asked incredulously as she set out a soft laugh.
"Yeah, that was me. Who else has the power to change have the doors changed and send out a memo saying that you all had new offices? I don't know how no one noticed it was me, seeing as the select few who didn't get "new" offices are the doctors that have always been the ass kissers, which does indeed get you on the dean's list. I mean I might have not signed the memo with my name, and had pretended to be annoyed at the whole thing, but it was pretty obvious that it was me. "
"I didn't get a new office."
"That's because you wouldn't have let whoever had gotten your office have it."
"True."
Their meals came and small talk continued, the subjects ranging from the news to general gossip around the hospital.
"You do know that Chase is going to propose to Cameron right?" House asked as Cuddy reached over and started picking food off of his plate.
"Of course I know, I helped Chase pick out the ring."
"Did you? When was this?"
"Two weeks ago. You know when I told you I couldn't make lunch because I had a meeting?"
"Oh you have a sneaky side Cuddles, I didn't know this."
"There are a lot of things you've yet to learn about me House." She winked and he smirked.
There were a lot of things that he had to learn about her indeed.
