A/N: This chapter was written today, the day after Resignation, and there is some material I used for this chapter. Just a warning – there will be spoilers in this for those that haven't seen it yet.

CHAPTER TEN

"Howzzz…" Cameron muttered in her sleep, her head jerking slightly and her eyelids moving in REM sleep as if she were looking around the room for him. Her arms were waving out in front of her as if she were completely blinded by smoke and waving her hands in front of her face to keep the smoke at bay.

House was yanked awake when she suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled at him, crying out for him repeatedly, her eyes still closed.

"Cameron, stop…girl…" House said, softly at first but then grew concerned. He sat up, held onto her shoulders as she lay in bed, and gently rocked her to wake her up from her nightmare.

"Whaaare…fire…aaar you?" she implored, a tear fell from left eye.

"Cam…Allison, wake UP!" he shouted.

Cameron's entire body unexpectedly jerked as she came awake and bolted in a sitting position. House was right in her face and as she came up her forehead hit his chin, sending his head back briefly; she fell back down on the pillow from the mild impact.

As he brought his head back, the look of shock on his face startled Cameron. "Oh…Gr…what happ…?"

House reached up and touched his chin. "Uh, I think you won the boxing match."

Cameron was fully awake now and sat up again with much effort, reached out for him and cupped his chin in her palm, bringing her face closer and giving his chin a soft kiss. She glanced at the clock and grunted when it was only 7:30 am; she felt like it was more like 7:30 pm.

"Sorry 'bout that. God, I wish you would shave…" Cameron hesitated when the dream came back to her and her face fell, her shoulders slumped and she threw herself back down on the bed.

"Everything's gone, isn't it?" she asked him as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"'Fraid so. But Wilson offered to do whatever you need, okay? There might be some things left but the Chief will call us…you, when it's safe to go back in. You don't have to worry..."

She slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah…that's swee' ovvv Willl…"

Cameron had fallen back to sleep, thankfully, and House lay back down on his side, his head in his hand and stared at her for what seemed like forever. She never had dreams or nightmares so he was a little freaked out, but he completely understood her fear. He reached out his hand and rubbed it against her stomach, wondering what kind of little monster was going to pop out of there in two months' time.

Months earlier, after they made the announcement of her pregnancy to staff, Brenda had asked him if he wanted a boy or a girl, saying she assumed he'd want a boy.

"Ye-hah" he had exclaimed, his nose crinkled, his mouth open and his head tilted. "Girls are complicated. I mean, the instruction manual that comes with the female stork is 800 pages long, no pictures, with chapters 14, 19, 26 and 32 missing. Plus it's badly translated and I don't have time to…" His words faded from her as Brenda scurried off to assist a patient.

But for now, he was content knowing that soon he'd be a dad, and she was now living with him as he wanted, although it scared the crap out of him. When he asked Stacy to move in with him after a week of just meeting, it was not even a question or point of worry of what the future held for them – it was one day at a time. But now, this was completely different with Cameron. There was a baby on the way, Cameron had just lost everything she'd ever owned – more than likely, except for her photo album – and he was concerned about the future.

House hated change, absolutely hated it. Change simply scared the crap out of him, and he had a lot of crap to deal with. He preferred his life to be the same, plain and simple, especially after the infarction: wake up the same time, pee the same time, go to work the same time, avoid clinic duty at the same time, stare at Cuddy's cleavage at the same time.

But maybe this was a test for him; a test to see if the hell he'd been through all his life was worth all the treasure and gifts he had now. And without Wilson, he never would have chosen that as a possibility.

It had taken two weeks for the effects of the Wellbutrin to begin to show any type of difference in his demeanor. It had done its job of messing with his memory on the negative side, and that should have been his first clue right there. The second clue should have been the fact that he was smiling more, even though he hadn't realized he was; that was the positive side. It wasn't like he was happy, oh no. He chugged it off as being 'hazy', which he hated. But others' noticed he was 'different.'

After retribution was served to Wilson, he had gone to a counselor for a 'scrip, but nothing else. He'd sit across from the counselor and just stare at the wall, desk, anything but the inquiring eyes. But, he still got them. And, he still took them, although he only took 15mg a day instead of 30mg.

Cameron stirred in her sleep and he rested his head on the pillow, keeping his eyes on her, though. He had fallen for her, grown attached to her, loved being in her company, loved making love to her, loved waking up in the mornings with her head resting on his chest with her hair tickling his chest hair, possibly even loved her but he just couldn't admit to himself he was in love with her.

Not that he never would, there was always that possibility. After all, he did love Stacy, but there was more at stake now. He closed his eyes for just a moment…

…and the next thing House heard was an echo of vomiting coming from the bathroom. His eyes flew open and he was facing the clock. It read 11:30am. He sat up, popped two pills from the bottle he kept by the bed, and went into the bathroom to check on Cameron.

"Cam…"

"Sorree Gr…." she mumbled, holding her stomach with one hand and keeping her hair back off of her face with the other. Her face was glued over the toilet bowl. "I dinn't mean to wake…" She let off another load in the toilet and then gargled and choked and coughed up what had erupted in her mouth before it hit the water in the toilet.

House took a few steps in and kneeled down beside her as best as he could without sending a wave of pain through his leg. He put his hand on her lower back and massaged it a bit, hoping it would ease some of the cramping that he was very familiar with from many times in the same position.

"Cam…are you having any pain or cramp…"

"No, no. I…just was lying in bed watching you sleep and thinking of my apartment…" she spoke into the toilet and it eerily echoed back.

He reached up above his head and pulled down the hand towel that was hanging from the rack. He gently raised her head and brought it to her mouth, wiping the vomit from her lips and chin, all the while looking into her eyes for some kind of clue as to why she was so ill.

Her vomiting eased up but she still hung over the toilet, just in case another wave of nausea hit her unexpectedly and she lost it again.

"Allison, I'm going to get you some orange juice to settle your stomach. You need the fluids. Stay here."

"'K," she mumbled.

House returned a moment later with a half-filled glass of juice and sat on the edge of the side of the tub, waiting for her to acknowledge him. She was sitting down now, her face pale, her strength gone. He remained silent and when she did look at him he handed her the glass, and she took it. She took a few sips and handed it back to him.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Hmm-hmm. I don't know what got into me," she lied.

"I'm going to call Dr. Crooks and get you in to see him today."

"No, no. I'm fi…n." She suddenly grabbed her stomach and moaned. "Can…can you help me up?"

It took a few minutes for House to pull Cameron up on her feet and she swayed a little, but he was right there and grabbed a hold of her, helping her out of the bathroom.

When they finally reached the bed she immediately sat down and crawled into her side of the bed; she always preferred the side that was the closest to the door – she'd done that ever since she was a kid. House pulled the covers up over her, sat down beside her and she looked up at him and smiled weakly. He pushed the hair out of her face and smiled back.

"I'm sorry to be a pa…"

"Stop it, you're not. That's why I'm here," he said reassuringly.

"I…I was watching you sleep and thought of the fire and my grandmother's blanket she knitted me and Mom's jewelry…everything…I've lost everything."

"No, no, you haven't. You've still got me, and the baby."

Cameron didn't answer him but simply closed her eyes and her body sunk into the mattress. House leaned into her, kissed her on her forehead and sat back up. After a moment, he walked into the kitchen, drank a full glass of orange juice and sat on the sofa in the living room. He reached over, picked up the phone, dialed Dr. Crook's office and got an appointment with him at 4:00 for Cameron.

He didn't hang the phone up but pressed the 'hang up' button then dialed another number.

"Dr. Wilson."

"Wilson…" House said; his voice soft and weak.

"Yes, Dr. Wil…House? Is that you? What's wrong?"

"Has Debra started back to work yet?"

"No, she's starting in two weeks. We got the last slot here at the daycare center and enrolled Greg…wait, why? Is Cameron okay?"

He didn't directly answer him but said, "You were right."

"Right? God, I hate it when you answer a question with a question. Right about what this time?

"I can't take care of Cameron on my own. I barely got her out of the bathroom without dropping her. And no, I'm not sure she's okay. She just got done filling the toilet bowl. Think Deb can stay with Cameron, or Cam stay with Debra and Gregory, until she starts work again?"

"Sure, let me give her a call."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The answer from House to Brenda is actually a real quote Hugh Laurie made. It was tweaked by me a little…but not much was changed. This is the original quote I found on raising his daughter: "Girls are complicated. The instruction manual that comes with girls is 800 pages, with chapters 14, 19, 26 and 32 missing, and it's badly translated, hard to figure out." Quoted by Hugh Laurie – and OH SO TRUE:o)