10 (6 weeks later)
The past few weeks had gone by quickly, Maddy had settled well into her job with Stacy, House had given very little thought to the Wilson/Maddy situation, and Wilson remained happy with Amber. Maddy stumbled into her office to be greeted by Stacy.
"Sleep ok?" Stacy asked, "You look like hell."
"Look as bad as I feel. You'd think feeling like this I'd have had a great night last night."
"Let me guess, one glass of wine, then bed."
"Didn't even have the wine. Probably have a bug or something." Maddy explained, sitting down at her desk. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." She smiled at Stacy, trying to convince herself that she would be.
"Well, just go home if you feel any worse, ok?" Stacy said, obviously concerned. "Maybe you should go to clinic and get checked over."
"I'll see how I feel. Anyway, you had better go and get ready for Mr Johnson, he's due in 5 minutes."
"Thanks." Stacy took the file that Maddy offered her. "Take yourself down to the cafeteria for a coffee or something, see if you feel better. OK?" She shooed Maddy out of the office, and waited for her client to show up.
Maddy slowly wandered down toward the cafeteria, bumping into Kutner on the way.
"Hey." He greeted her. "How are you?" He tried to make polite conversation, he had seen Maddy around with Dr House and she seemed nice, always had a smile and hello for him.
"Hey. I'm OK." She tried to sound convincing, Kutner didn't fall for it. "Ok, I feel as if I've been hit by an 18 wheeler."
"You want me to check you over?" He offered, looking towards the exam room along from them.
"No, honestly I'll be fine." She assured him, smiling at him. "In fact, could you perhaps run a quick test for me? But keep it between us?" She asked hopefully.
"Sure, but why didn't you ask House to do it?" He asked, as they continued walking towards the exam room.
"Because," she looked around to make sure that no one that knew them was about. "It's a pregnancy test." She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
"Oh." He smiled at her, "so it could be congratulations. I didn't realise you were seeing someone."
"I'm not. It was a stupid one night thing and-"She had to stop as she let out a sob, Kutner put his arm around her and led her into the exam room. He drew blood into a tube and labelled it up with a fake name. "Thanks for this."
"No problem, I'll run it through and call you later with the result, ok?" She nodded and smiled at him. "You'll be fine." He smiled at her.
"I should get back to the office." And she left, walking slowly up to the office. She glanced at Wilson's office as she wandered by, he noticed and smiled at her, she sniffed and kept walking.
"Maddy?" he called down the corridor after her, when she didn't turn around, he jogged to catch up with her. "Maddy?" He touched her shoulder and she turned to face him, it was obvious that she had been crying. "Oh God, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
He frowned at her. They were friends and he considered himself someone good to talk to. Her reaction confused him. "Everything ok upstairs? Have you had a fight with Stacy?" She shook her head, "Argued with House?" She shook her head. "C'mon, you know you can talk to me, huh?"
"I don't want to talk about it, ok?"
"Is it me? Have I done something?" He replayed their encounters over the past few days, nothing out of the ordinary, though she had seemed distracted yesterday.
"You really want to know?" He nodded, "I took two home tests last night, all positive. And I'm waiting on a blood test here, which will probably be positive too." She blurted out quietly.
"Test?" He frowned at her, she just stared back at him. "Oh no." He put his hand to his forehead and turned away from her. He turned back, she swore that she could see dread in his eyes,
"Pregnancy test?" He asked, though she could tell it was the last thing he wanted to think about. She nodded, "Oh God." He sighed.
"Do that for another-ooh-2 days and you might be close to where I am." She whispered angrily, noting House walking toward them. "I gotta go." She gave a small wave in House's direction and walked away.
"She ok?" House asked catching up to Wilson.
"Umm, she-uh felt a bit off." Wilson explained, watching as she walked off.
"Stacy called, worried about her. Told her I'd talk to her." House explained, "You look a bit pale yourself, hope it's not contagious."
"I don't think she's contagious." Wilson assured House, "I gotta go."
Wilson walked back into his office and thought about his and Maddy's conversation. He felt so stupid, like a teenager caught out. This would be the end for him and Amber. God only knew how House would react to his best friend having a baby with his daughter. He walked out onto the balcony at his office, perhaps some fresh air would help his headache which was getting
worse the more he thought about the situation. 'Get a grip' he told himself, 'it was one night', 'test might still be negative.' His thoughts were interrupted by his friend's voice.
"Maddy was contagious then?"
"Huh? No." Wilson answered, "I have a headache."
"Go home."
"I have patients to see." Wilson sighed, he was not in the mood to see any patients. He had a weight hanging over him, and had a feeling the rest of the day wouldn't hold any good news. House simply shrugged and went back in to his own office, he figured he would find out what was bothering Wilson later on.
"Where's Kutner?" He asked no one in particular, walking into the room, adjoining his office. Foreman shrugged, Thirteen shook her head, and Taub spoke up.
"He had something to do."
"I was looking for a more detailed explanation. If he sets anyone on fire, then it's my ass on the line." House answered. "Ok, well, what does our new symptom tell us." He pointed to his white board, where stroke had joined the growing list of symptoms. He turned around as Kutner entered the room. "Glad you could join us. Not interrupting anything are we?" He asked sarcastically, as Kutner took a seat at the table. "Don't bother sitting down, patient needs a functional MRI. Taub, Kutner, get on it. Foreman, Thirteen chase up his records from his last admission." And all four of them disappeared.
"Taub, can you handle the MRI? Need to drop results off to someone."
"No, you know this takes two of us. House is already pissed at you for disappearing earlier." Taub explained. "Anyway since when do people get results hand delivered around here? You trying to impress someone?" He teased Kutner who shoved the envelope back in his pocket.
"No, I was just helping someone out." He sighed, "House's daughter needed some results and I promised that I'd bring them up."
"Why didn't House run them?" Taub was curious.
"Because it's not ethical to treat his daughter."
Taub laughed at this, "House and ethics? I'll meet you in the MRI room in five minutes."
"Thanks." And Kutner ran up to legal. He knocked on the office door, and went in. Maddy was just hanging up a phonecall. "You look better than this morning." He smiled, she looked up at him gratefully.
"Amazing what chocolate and a concealer stick under the eyes can do." She laughed, "Feel better, thanks. Is that the result?" She looked nervously at the envelope in his hand. "Can you just tell me?"
"If you're sure?" He opened up the envelope, "I ran it twice." He placed the result on her desk, "Congratulations."
She exhaled, letting out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding in. "OK, well, thank you Dr Kutner."
"Hey, you can drop the Dr, everyone else does. I listed the hospital's OB GYNs on the letter for you. You ok?"
"Yeah, I will be. No one else knows do they?" She asked hopefully, this whole situation had too many complications already. Kutner shook his head.
"I gotta go. If you need to talk." Kutner started, as he walked away.
"Thanks again." She smiled as he walked away. She looked down at the paper he had left on her desk. She would have to speak to Wilson sooner or later. She preferred later. She stuffed the report in the desk drawer when Stacy appeared from her office.
"Was someone just here?" Stacy asked, "I thought I heard voices."
"Just someone looking for a different office." Maddy lied.
"Oh ok." Maddy seemed nervous, Stacy couldn't help but notice this. "Are you ok?" Maddy nodded. "Sure?" Stacy was concerned, she had grown fond of her new recruit over the past few weeks and didn't like seeing something bother her. Maddy nodded again. "OK, well I'm going to quit for today I think."
"I've just got these files to put away then I'm finished. I'll lock up the office if you'd like." Maddy offered. Stacy nodded and grabbed her handbag.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Remember, if you still feel ill, don't force yourself to come in, ok?" She smiled at Maddy.
"I'm fine. I'll see you tomorrow." It was Maddy's turn to shoo Stacy from the office. She watched until Stacy had left the floor and quickly put her files away and headed down to Wilson's office.