A/N: Sorry about the delay getting this up here! With school in session, finding time to write has been a challenge. I hope this makes it worth it!

Chapter 10-Cameron

"Dr. Cameron?" Cameron looked up from the papers in front of her, blinking to clear the tired haze from her eyes. She'd been up half the night worrying about what House was telling-or not telling-his mother. Wilson had tried to talk to her about it, but she'd cut him off and he'd finally given up.

She didn't want to think about it. Mostly because she didn't know what, exactly, she was hoping he would do. It wasn't exactly like he'd been walking around the hospital telling everyone she was having his baby.

But then, neither was she. And while her parents and her brother knew she was pregnant, she hadn't told them who the father was, other than it wasn't Chase. She'd never forget the look on her dad's face when she told him she'd gotten pregnant from a one night stand with someone she was never going to see again. (Or so she'd thought.) She could only imagine what he was going to say when she told him she'd gotten knocked up by her boss.

'EX boss' she corrected herself, forcing herself to smile at the intern standing in the doorway instead of biting his head off. She was done seeing patients, and just wanted to finish up this pile of paperwork so she could decide if she was going to hunt down House or head for home.

"What is it, Dr. Scott?"

The young man with blonde hair and stringy limbs blushed all the way up to his hairline. "Someone here to see you." He'd no sooner finished talking than Mrs. House came breezing into the room. "She's, ah, right here."

"Allison!" Mrs. House-Blythe, she reminded herself-breezed around the corner of the desk to buss her cheek. "I'm glad I finally found you. My son gives terrible directions. I'm pretty sure he intended for me to end up in the men's bathroom," she said with a quick frown, then a shrug. "No matter. This young man was very helpful." Turning around, she beamed at the young intern. "Thank you for your help. We won't keep you."

The intern lingered in the door for a second longer, then wandered away when Cameron smiled at him encouragingly. Good lord. She was pretty sure he had a crush on her, which was unbelievable considering how hugely pregnant she was at the moment, but it seemed like she couldn't take two steps without tripping over him.

She was starting to have a whole new sympathy for House. Looking back on her first years on his team, she winced. With the benefit of hindsight, she was beginning to realize just how pathetic she'd been. Panting after him for scraps of affection, working night and day in the hope that he'd pat her on the head and tell her she'd done a good job. Like a damn dog looking for a bone.

Well, she wasn't that girl anymore. No way. Even if she did get all squishy inside every time he showed up at the front door with a carton of mint chip. Which just happened to be her favorite. But that didn't mean anything, she reminded herself, other than he was trying to stay on her good side so she didn't cut him out of the picture. She was sure the minute the baby was born and they'd worked out some kind of visitation schedule, the intimacy they shared the last few weeks would be a thing of the past.

She just had to convince herself she was okay with that.

Turning to Blythe, she dragged her mind back into the present. "How are you?"

"I'm fine dear." Beaming, she sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs across from her desk. "Oh, this is nice. So much better than those orange plastic monstrosities my physician uses. I swear he's still back in the stone age. Anyway, I wanted to see if you were free to have dinner and do a little shopping with me." Her eyes teared up a little. "Greg told me about the baby. I know he said things were a little complicated between the two of you, but I'd really like the chance to get to know you a little better. And to get a jump start spoiling my granddaughter."

"Oh." Cameron floundered for a moment. She wasn't sure what to say. On one hand, Blythe was right. Things WERE complicated between her and House, and she wasn't sure what was going to happen after the baby came. On the other hand, this was her daughter's grandmother. She was going to be part of her life, regardless of what happened between her and House. At least, she hoped she would. Knowing House…

Right.

"That sounds great," she said with more confidence than she felt. "I still have some things to finish up here though. Were you in a hurry?"

"No no, not at all." Blythe waved her hand in the air. "I'm really just puttering around today. Greg gave me his keys, said he had a new patient and didn't think he'd be home tonight. So I'd be thankful for the company."

"Downside to working in diagnostics. One of the perks to this job is I'm out of here by 6 every day." Cameron laughed, remembering the all-nighters she'd pulled when she was on House's team. She was definitely getting spoiled to keeping regular office hours-even as a ED doc, the days were long.

"Fantastic. Why I don't I meet you back here at 6?"

"Sounds good." Cameron smiled until Blythe walked out the door, then sat back in her chair with a sigh.

While she'd never admit it to House, she was giving more thought to staying on at Princeton Plainsboro every day. It felt a little wishy-washy, considering the number of times she'd left and come back already, but it would definitely be a better fit for her new life as a single mom. As a consultant, unless something popped up she wasn't expected to work weekends or take call.

If she took a staff position (the opening lined up with the end of her maternity leave so nicely, she swore it was like it had been made that way) she'd still have regular office hours. She'd have to rotate taking call evenings and weekends, which meant she'd probably have to hire a nanny, but unless she wanted to put the baby into the daycare downstairs-which she really didn't-she was going to have to do that anyway.

She winced a little at the thought of what that was going to do to her paycheck, then shrugged philosophically. Not like she had a choice.

She took a moment to think about Dr. McNamara, and the job and people she'd be leaving behind, and realized she was okay with walking away. It was a good job for someone without kids, but she needed to think about her life now. And now, what she needed was a schedule that let her be there for her baby. There were other doctors, and while she'd like to have believed otherwise, she wouldn't be missed for long. There were always other jobs. She was only going to get one chance at being her daughter's mother.

If she was serious about this, she needed to do some house hunting. Which meant talking to Wilson and Cuddy first, to make sure the offer was still on the table. She hustled through the remaining charts she had to sign off on, then went downstairs to Cuddy's office before she could change her mind.

"Dr. Cameron." Dr. Cuddy looked up in surprise from where she was packing up her briefcase. "Please, come in."

"I'm sorry, you were going home. It can wait."

"No, that's okay." Cuddy smiled, sinking down into her chair and waving her hand for Cameron to do the same. "What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to ask…" Cameron paused, thinking about the question she'd come to ask, then took the plunge and went with another one. "How do you do it? Juggle being a doctor with being a single mother?"

"I have a really good nanny." Cuddy laughed. "I'm very fortunate that I have a certain amount of flexibility and a taste for chaos. You're worried about what's going to happen after the baby comes?"

"I…yes," Cameron admitted. "I'm having dinner with House's mom tonight, and it got me thinking about what was going to happen…after. Out there, it's just me. And when I'm in the ED, I work 16 hours a day, and I'm more or less on call 24/7. That was fine when I only had to worry about myself, but now…"

"Now your priorities have shifted. You're thinking about staying here?" Cuddy's eyes lit up.

"I am," Cameron admitted. "If you're still willing to bring me on. The schedule's better, and I'm not nearly as exhausted when I get home at night."

"As we told you, the job is yours if you want it. I'll get the paperwork put together." Cuddy hesitated, then smiled. "I have some recommendations for nannies too, if you're interested. I interviewed several of them for Rachel. Unless you're putting her in daycare," she said quickly. "The daycare here is very good, they've kept Rachel for me on days when the nanny wasn't able to be there."

"I'd prefer to hire someone to come to the house," Cameron said. "Daycares are a hotbed of germs, especially for a winter baby. I'd be grateful for that list."

"I'll bring it in tomorrow." Cuddy hesitated, then casually asked, "How are things going with House?"

"Surprisingly good." The words were out before Cameron could stop them. Then, because it was Cuddy and she knew House better than Cameron did, she added, "I keep waiting for him to screw up, but he hasn't. He really seems to be serious about this."

"I think he is. In fact, I don't think I've seen him this serious about having a relationship with anyone since…" Cuddy cut off, flushing.

"Since Stacy?" Cameron said dryly, the name still poking her in the heart after all these years. "It's okay, you can say it. I know there's nothing between House and me, and that's okay. But I know he's got it in him to be a good father. As long as he does that…"

Cameron trailed off, not ready to follow that thought to its conclusion-that as long as House had a good relationship with his daughter, she was okay with the fact that he didn't feel anything for her. It was too much of a lie to even be part of the truth.

Cuddy looked like she wanted to say something else, and Cameron cut her off before she could. She was sure the older woman was going to say something about not throwing in the towel on House just yet, and Cameron just couldn't deal with that. She didn't need any more false hope. She could generate enough of that on her own.

"Thank you, for everything." Awkwardly pushing herself out of the chair, she smiled at Cuddy. "I don't know if I said it before, but I can't even begin to imagine what I would have done if you hadn't brought me back here. I'm very grateful."

"You're very welcome." Standing up and picking up the briefcase she'd set aside, Cuddy led Cameron to the door and flicked off the lights. "We've missed your smiling face around here. It's been good to have you back."

They weren't two steps out of Cuddy's office when she was called over by one of the nurses at the clinic desk. With a rueful smile, Cameron waved and kept walking. Being the boss meant never having three seconds to yourself. She didn't envy her that.

Deciding to take the stairs back up to her office rather than the elevator, she ducked into the hallway behind the ED-and immediately bumped into House.

"Shhhhh," he whispered, putting a finger to her lips before she could say anything. "I'm hiding from the she-dragon."

"Which one?" she asked, unable to resist the playful look in his eyes. It was so rare that she saw him look anything other than tense and crabby.

"Dear lord, she's spawned?" House shuddered, then frowned, looking at his watch. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be out of here an hour ago."

"I had a meeting with Cuddy." She didn't offer any details on what the meeting was for. He'd find out soon enough.

"Trying to win you over to her legions of darkness? No wonder you're sneaking out the back." He frowned, catching her chin with his hand and tipping her face up. "You didn't sleep last night, did you?"

"Not well." There was no point in lying about it. The question was, did she play it off as pregnancy hormones or did she admit that she'd been three seconds away from a nervous breakdown all night wondering what he'd told his mother?

"I told my mom," he said abruptly, saving her from having to make the decision. "About the baby, that is. I figured you were wondering."

"Yeah, she, ah, found me in my office," Cameron admitted, feeling like an awkward high schooler all over again. "We're going to dinner."

"She found you? Damn, she's quick," he grumbled grudgingly. "I figured that detour past the men's bathroom would hold her off a little longer."

"Why did you try to send her to the men's bathroom?"

He looked at her like she was an idiot. "Because I figured it would be smarter to track you down and warn you instead of letting her ambush you."

"You couldn't send a text?" she asked dryly. Then the rest of what he'd said caught up with her. "Wait, you were looking for me? How'd you know I'd be down here?"

"I have little birdies everywhere. Mwah ha ha ha…"

"Seriously? You have people spying on me?" She didn't know if that was infuriating or adorable. Then another reason for him tracking her down before his mother did hit her like a ton of bricks. "Wait. Do you not want me to go out with your mother? Is that why you took the time to track me down?"

"What? No," he said, looking at her with hurt disbelief. "Why would you think that?"

"It's just, last time…" She trailed off, knowing he'd remember thanking her for not joining him when his parents came to town. She could tell from the look on his face that he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"That was different," House grumbled, looking painfully uncomfortable. "My dad was here. I didn't…" He sighed, slumping against the wall, the armor of sarcasm he usually wrapped himself up in dropping away in a rare moment of vulnerability. "I didn't want him to hurt you," he admitted softly. "And I didn't want him to say something that would ruin everything. He was good at that.

"Besides, things are different now. You're my daughter's mother. And you're less squishy than you used to be." That startled a laugh out of her, which made him smile. "If you two hang out together, that means you can do that thing that women do where you talk about presents and parties and whatever the hell it is you talk about without making me the middleman."

"Oh, I see now," Cameron said knowingly, fighting off the warmth that wanted to flow up from her insides. "You just don't want to be inconvenienced."

"Damn right."

The two of them stood there smiling at each other for long moments. The mood slowly started to shift. Cameron was suddenly, painfully aware that they were alone, the sounds of the hospital a familiar but distant backdrop. Almost involuntarily she took a step forward, so she was close enough that her pregnant belly pressed lightly against his shirt and she could feel his breath on her cheeks.

She'd done this before, she remembered. The day she kissed him in his office. And just like then, his eyes had darkened with wary arousal, the arm that wasn't holding his cane reaching up to lightly brush against her waist. Unlike then, however, this time he was the one to pull her in, the one who dropped his head down so his lips could brush gently against hers.

They stood there for a moment after the kiss that was barely a kiss, hearts pounding, faces so close she could still feel the warmth radiating off his skin. Eyes wide open. He was the one to pull back, dropping his arm from her waist and stepping back.

"Well. Have fun," he said gruffly, looking at her for one more long moment before turning around and walking away. As usual, she was the one left staring after him, fingers pressed to her lips, breathing shakily and wondering what the hell just happened.