Chapter 9 - Pride - Part 2
House walked into Cuddy's office. He knew she wasn't in her office. He had cracked her online agenda again. He sat in her chair stretching his legs on her desk.
And Cuddy arrived half an hour later. Just a little later than expected.
She opened the door, but she was so deep in thought that she didn't notice him as she hung her coat on the coat rack.
He noticed the expression on her face and his heart skipped a beat. He removed his legs from the desk.
"Cuddy ... what happened?"
She looked up, and only then she became aware of his presence in the room. She hesitated and bit her lip ...
"House ... please ... not now ..." her voice cracked and she was pleading "... please ..."
"What happened?" He tried again
She didn't answer ... she looked like she would burst into tears at any moment. She put a hand on her forehead.
"Cuddy ...?" He tried again ... and touched her arm
She didn't look at him and again she covered her eyes with her hand ...
He noticed her shaking hand and her faster breathing as she tried not to let herself go ... and he couldn't help himself ... He pulled her close and held her in his arms while she hid her face against his chest incapable to hold back tears. He stroked her back.
"Okay" he said after a few minutes "Come on..." he led her to the sofa and sat her down.
He handed her a glass of water.
"Cuddy ... what happened?" he asked again
She looked at him but said nothing.
"I cracked your online agenda..."
She looked at him without saying anything, but she lightly bit her lip.
"... I know you had an appointment at Mercy's with Dr. Williams..."
She nodded and looked away.
"A month ago ..." he said looking at her"... you didn't have an abortion."
It wasn't a question. It was a statement. He knew it.
She looked at him and... slowly shook her head ...
He should have been furious with her for having hidden it, again. She had deliberately let that he believed that she had an abortion. To keep him away from her. To punish him. He should have been furious ... he should have to get up and leave, slamming the door ... He should have to treat her in the same way she had treated him in the last weeks ...
"Don't let that your pride keep you away from the love of your life" his mother had told him ...
"You can't love someone without making yourself open to their problems, their fears..." Cuddy had told him the night of their break-up ...
He had to choose between his own pride and her.
"Cuddy... tell me what happened to reduce you in this way?"
She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself.
"T-the measurement of nuchal translucency is altered and... by the ultrasound Dr. Williams suspect a cardiac malformation ..." she whispered, not looking at him.
"What kind of malformation?"
" Isthmic aortic coarctation "
"In absence of other visible defects?"
She gave a nod of her head
"Cuddy ... an ultrasound diagnosis of isthmic coarctation is practically impossible at this pregnancy stage ... And it's certainly not detectable by a routine ultrasound! And... Mercy Hospital is not a specialized center!" he said looking at her "What's the NT value?"
She stood up and took her test results from her pursue giving them to House.
He looked at that ultrasound image and at the NT data. The profile of a fetus as he had seen so many in his medical career. The first image of his own baby.
"Its NT is at the 95th percentile. But it's a operator-dependent measurement..."
"Dr. Williams is the new Head of OBG at Mercy Hospital, House" she whispered meeting his gaze briefly
"Don't make me say my theory on how she got that place!" he said dryly "That idiot is influenced by a dubious NT and she suggest an unlikely heart malformation in a 12-weeks fetus? Almost like I wanted to auscultate a patient's heart with Rachel's Doc MsStuffins stethoscope!"
"PAPP-A and free beta-hCG are altered too..."
"Slightly, Cuddy"
"House ... they indicate an increased risk of Down syndrome or Trisomy 18 or other genetic defects and cardiac defects ... and almost 50% of the babies with Trisomy 21 have congenital heart malformations..."
"Cuddy ... that's just a statistical test ... false positives are at least 10 percent. Only a genetic test can give a reliable result."
"I know ..." she said in a whisper "... it's just that ..."
He touched her arm.
"Don't let your irrational prevail ... Don't collapse for a couple of slightly altered tests and for an ultrasound made by a trained monkey. Mercy Hospital is not a specialized center!"
She looked at him and bit her lip again.
"... I'm 41 years old and ... I know from day one that my risk of having a baby with Down syndrome is 1:85 only because of my age..."
"And once again ... we're talking about statistics ... 1:85. That means that considering eighty-five 41-years-old women, 1 will have a baby with Down syndrome and 84 will have a healthy baby. I know it would be better for you to be 21 years old and have a risk of 1:1500. But tell that to that 1 woman of 1500 that will have a Down baby despite her young age!"
Cuddy let out a smile. And he smiled.
After the way she had behaved... was he trying to cheer her up and make her laugh?
"I'm not saying that there is not a risk that it have a genetic or congenital malformation, Cuddy ... I'm saying that your tests are not sufficient to make a diagnosis. You have to do a villocentesis and a early fetal echocardiography" he said looking at her with a serious look
She nodded. She trusted his judgment. And that was undeniable.
"But obviously not at Mercy's, Cuddy" he said, standing up and taking his phone from his jacket pocket.
She gave him a quizzical look.
"I have an old friend at John Hopkins Hospital ... it's the best specialized center of the Country ... we will have an answer in a few days ..." he said entering the number without waiting for a response
"House, you don't have to ..." she hesitated, looking him in the eye ...I can't..." she whispered. That "we" had surprised her and had made her feel vulnerable again.
"I'm not asking to get back together, Cuddy. You were quite clear about it! But you can't go alone! Stop being proud and stubborn! Look at you! You're not lucid! I'm not offering you to change diapers ... I'm offering you my medical advice."
[Author's note: the fear of a mother facing the specter of a child with a malformation or genetic disease is a serious theme but this is a completely different context so I want to clarify that it's not my intention to offend anyone's sensitivity especially of those who have a child with disabilities. Beyond those that can be subsequent personal choices of each one (based on ethical and moral principles) in front of a diagnosis of pathology, I think every pregnant woman wishes first of all to have a healthy child.]
[Author's note 2: Actually Cuddy is 43, not 41, in season 7...but I decided to take off a pair of years...]
Thank you for reading...and for your reviews!
