Author's Note: Well here it is, I hope you guys enjoy It. As always, feedback is much appreciated.


You Only Live Once

Part 12

Don't Panic

She was taken aback for a moment at the note of hurt, and amusement in his voice- and swallowed, "No, not at all. What are you doing? I thought maybe you could come over?"

Cuddy took her time pouring a glass of wine for Atticus, who waited idly in her living room.

There was a feeling of dread that ran down her stomach, and for some reason she couldn't explain it.

She liked him, Cuddy repeated to herself- they had a good history, didn't they? If there was anyone to have a child with- he was the right person.

Which was why, for the life of her, she couldn't understand why she was so sad. Just the fact that she was pregnant, made an uncomfortable knot grow in her throat.

She swallowed once more, before walking back to Atticus with his glass of wine, and handed it to him with a tight smile.

He eyed her, curiously, "No wine for yourself?"

She shook her head, as she sat down in her couch, folding her legs under her.

Cuddy swallowed, deciding just to throw it out there, "I'm pregnant."

Atticus, who had been taking a sip of his wine, nearly chocked, "What?-really?"

She nodded, exhaling a bit, "I've been trying to get pregnant for a while with IVF, and had three separate inseminations- but none of them took. Then one night with you, and-" she sighed gesturing to him with her hand.

"Me? Are you sure?" He asked slowly, as a tiny frown grew on his face.

Cuddy swallowed, "Completely. I haven't been with anyone else."

"Wow." Is all he could manage.

"Look, I want to be candid. I'm not asking for anything- I've been prepared to have a child on my own for quite sometime. I want to be a mother, so I'm not expecting you to do anything. I just thought, I owed it to you to tell you the truth."

Atticus sat there, and put his hands together in prayer mode, bringing them to his lips, in thought. After a few moments he scoffed, and turned to her, "One time, huh?"

Cuddy nodded, "Like I said, I don't want you to feel pressured at all. This child doesn't even have to know who his-"

"Are you kidding me? Of course I want to be there for you. When have I given you the impression that this was just a fling for me?"

She paused, at a loss for words, "Well- dating is a little different than having a kid together- how could I know how serious you were about us?"

He smiled, "I lost you once nearly twenty years ago, and I regretted it more than I can tell you. Fate brought us back together for a reason, and this just- cements all of it. I have been in love with you since we first met, Lisa. Marry me."

xxxoxxxo

Wilson looked at the caller ID on his phone of all the five missed calls he'd had, they were all from Blythe House.

He had been a fool to ever answer her call the first time she'd rang him about a month ago.

And the thing was, that she was so insistent- constantly berating him for the most up-to-date news on House, and asking if he'd managed to convince him to go home for Christmas.

The trouble was, Wilson couldn't stand to be in his presence anymore, not when he was holding such a massive secret from his best friend. She'd promise to tell him already, it wasn't fair for House to be clueless.

Cameron was snuggled next to him, sleeping peacefully after a long Sunday at the mall- doing last minute shopping for Christmas.

Wilson had never waited until the very last minute to do his own shopping, however with all the commotion they'd had lately, holiday presents had taken a backseat in regards to his priorities.

He looked at the time- it was two am. Wilson sighed, setting his phone on his nightstand and stood up to go to the bathroom.

His legs felt heavy, and his entire back was tense, in all he'd felt as though he hadn't had a good nights sleep in weeks. After all, being House's best friend came with a toll.

It meant nights like these, with restless worry, it meant constant patrol and apologizing, and cleaning up his messes.

Usually it was fine, he could take the beating, and all the side effects that came with the exclusivity of being his friend. However, with the fact that he was now an impending bomb about to explode- things had changed.

And as he flushed the toilet to return to bed, he was caught off guard by Cameron- who was wide-awake, and looking through his phone.

"You're awake." He stated rather nervously that he was thumbing through his phone, with no regard to his privacy.

Cameron looked up with a slight frown etched on her features, "Why has House's mom been texting you?"

"I'm pretty close to her", he stated honestly.

"But why did she say- change of plans, we'll be there Christmas morning to tell him, it can't wait any longer."

Cameron looked at him expectantly, "What can't wait any longer?"

Wilson swallowed- hoping he could count on her to keep a secret.

xxxoxxxo

There had been so many distractions since the Infectious Disease Summit in Vegas, that Cuddy had completely forgotten about the follow-up meeting that would be taking place at PPTH, a week after New Years with prospective foundations members.

She'd only rembered, when a board member had sent her an email, confirming he would be in attendance. At that moment, Cuddy had realized that she'd forgotten to tell one very important person- House. And, after reading the email she made her way straight to his office.

Only, as she reached the DDx room, she froze, because there next to his whiteboard stood House, holding a cup of coffee and laughing hysterically at something Foreman had said.

They were all laughing.

She frowned and knocked on the glass wall to get his attention, only they all looked up at her.

House said something then, and all three of them got up, nodded at him and picked up their files to leave the room.

He walked over to his office, and Cuddy followed, "What was that about?"

"What do you mean?" He asked taking a sip of his coffee, genuinely dumbfounded about what she meant.

She blinked and sat against his desk, as he sat in his chair, "It looked like you guys were laughing at something funny."

"We were."

"But you don't do funny."

House rolled his eyes, "I am human, sometimes I do find things amusing."

Cuddy exhaled, "I came to talk to you about the sub-department of neonatal diagnostics you so eloquently pitched on my behalf. We have some foundation members arriving in a week and a half, that are interesting in hearing your plans."

House blinked, "And you waited until now to tell me? See the thing is, I already made plans...for what ever day that falls on."

"Well cancel them. House- this was your doing. You're going to be there, and you are going to be pleasant with them, or I'll double your clinic duty-tomorrow."

He frowned, "But tomorrow is Christmas."

"You don't even like Christmas! You cannot let me down - the board will have both our heads."

He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes, "Fine- I'll be Wilson for the day, I might even wear a lab coat."

"Also, you have to think about who you'd appoint to run it." She said crossing her arms.

House's eyes instinctively went to her chest, but after a second looked back up at her, "Sorry, what?"

She rolled her eyes, "I said, think about which one of your lackeys would make a good sub-department head."

"Isn't it obvious? Chase."

"I was thinking Foreman, to be honest."

House scoffed, "Foreman would be a horrible choice, you're only suggesting that because he has the balls to stand up to me."

"Foreman is a good doctor." Cuddy argued.

"Obviously, else I wouldn't have hired him. But Chase is the most intuitive, and if we're picking based on who will make the right call versus who will remember the baby names, I'd go with Chase."

She let out a breath, "Fine. It's your department."

"I like it when we have these heated discussions, makes me all frisky", House joked wiggling his eyebrows.

Cuddy laughed and turned to leave, only he spoke up, "Have you told Atticus yet?"

His voice had gone from playful to completely serious in a matter of seconds.

She stood rooted to her spot, and played with her fingers a little before turning back go him, "Yes. He's...excited."

House nodded and she noticed his eyes flicker away, as he sipped more of his coffee, "Good. I'm happy for you- not him, he called me a creep, but I'm happy for you."

Cuddy scoffed, wondering for a second if she should tell him about Atticus proposing to her, but ultimately decided against it. Instead she sighed and forced out, "Thank you."

They both stared at each other then, for a few moments and it made her feel like there was something else he wanted to say- like maybe he knew. Only, he scratched his head and looked at his watch, "I have to go, I have a lunch date."

She frowned, "A date? Who?"

House stood up and gave her a smile, "Jealous much?"

"No- I just-" Cuddy stammered trying to find her words.

"I'm joking, it's Wilson. You can join us if you want", he said shrugging his shoulders.

She smiled sadly, "I also have a lunch date."

House gave her a singular nod, looking away, "Right, Well have fun eating off your silver platters, while I enjoy my five-dollar sandwich."

Cuddy laughed, and watched as House left in front of her, making sure to hold the door for her as he walked out.

xxxoxxxo

Wilson sat across from House as they ate lunch- conflicted. House looked so carefree, content, but- he worried about how much of it would disappear once he found out.

He'd grown to know House possibly even better than his own mother. And struggled with telling him what he'd been keeping from him, or keeping his promise to Blythe House.

His cellphone started ringing in between a story House was telling him, and he looked up at Wilson, frowning, "You gonna get that?"

Wilson swallowed and took his phone out of his pocket to look at the caller ID- Blythe House. He shook his head and put the phone back into his pocket, making sure to put it on silent, "No- what were you saying?"

"Oh I was done. Is Cuddy taking prenatal vitamins?" He asked randomly, biting into his Reuben sandwich.

Wilson shrugged his shoulders, breathing in deeply and picking at his fries, "I don't know? Why don't you ask her?"

"Because then she'll think I do have the hots for her, and I've done such a great job of convincing her I don't." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Wilson rolled his eyes, "House- tell her the truth. What you're doing doesn't make any sense."

"I said I have the hots for her, not that I'm in love with her. I just wanted to jump her, that's all."

"Right. Because someone who merely has sex on his mind would of course be concerned as to whether or not she's taking prenatal vitamins-"

His phone started vibrating in his pocket, and he pulled it out sending it to voicemail.

House frowned, "Who are you avoiding?"

"Cameron- turns out she's more controlling than all three of my ex-wives." He lied, hoping he wouldn't pick up on it.

"Well I could have told you that." House rolled his eyes and changed the subject to the latest monster truck convention that was happening.

Wilson swallowed, while absentmindedly biting the side of his lip- not knowing how much longer he'd be able to keep the secret at bay.

His phone started vibrating again, but to his dismay Cameron chose that moment to walk into the cafeteria as well. When she spotted him, she waved at him, and started walking in their direction.

He made a split-moment decision and got up, "Uh- gotta go. Patient is dying."

He left House in mid sentence, and hurriedly walked towards the back exit of the cafeteria.

xxxoxxxo

There was something about needing to make sure she was taking her prenatal pills, that House couldn't shake. So he'd gone to the pharmacy and done a prescription for her, getting a strange look from Marco in the process.

"They're for my stripper girlfriend, her name is also Lisa Cuddy", he explained sarcastically before walking away with the bottle in his hand.

Apparently he and Wilson were the only ones that cool enough to know about her bun in the oven.

As he passed the nurses station, he stopped and looked at a vase that had a red ribbon tied around it.

He looked down at the bottle and shrugged, taking the ribbon off the vase and tying it into a neat bow around the bottle.

House stood at her office door- peaking inside, where she sat going over some files with Wilson. He took a deep breath and figured it was now or never.

They both gave him a strange look as he walked in with the pink ribbon- wrapped bottle in his hand.

"Can I help you?" Cuddy asked slowly, with a frown, and one eyebrow raised as she noticed the bottle in his hand..

Wilson, who already had an idea of what he was doing, let out a chuckle- though he noted it was semi forced.

House held out his hand with the pills, and waited for her to take it. She did- slowly, wordlessly, and read what it said.

He gave her a tight smile, "Just doing my part in making sure our Dean of Medicine has a healthy pregnancy- Merry Christmas."

Cuddy blinked repeatedly with her mouth slightly open.

Only House didn't stick around to hear her 'thank you', because he was out the door only seconds later.

xxxoxxxo

"He's been delightful today..." She stared off to where House had just been, a little surprised at his pleasantness. Cuddy looked down at the prenatal vitamins that were wrapped in a messy bow, unable to suppress a smile.

"It's not going to last", Whispered Wilson standing up, as he began pacing back and forth in her office.

"I know, the Vicodin. You're not giving him a refill right?" She asked, setting the bottle on the coffee table.

"He's not on Vicodin- he gave me the bottle back, because he didn't want to get addicted again."

"That's wonderful!"

Wilson inhaled deeply and fell into a chair in front of her with a huge hump, "I know. But I'm really worried he's going to crash soon."

Cuddy turned her eyes to Him and rolled them, "You're starting to sound like a broken record Wilson...these past months all I've heard from you is that you're worried about him, that he's keeping stuff from us- which turned out to be NA, something good. Then you thought he couldn't do anything selfless to show he's changed, and instead he surprised you at the oncology benefit with a lovely piano performance.

"Even with me- he was willing to see where all our flirting could go-no it didn't work out, but there was no moping afterwards or him being resentful that I'm with Atticus. Why is it so hard for you to admit that maybe he has changed for the better?"

"The reason he's in a good mood lately- since the accident at least is because- I've been secretly dosing him with antidepressants. He thought he was taking vicodin, but really it was a low dose of Prozac." He had his face in his hands at this point.

"How could House not notice he wasn't taking Vicodin?"

Wilson took a deep breath, "Because he didn't really need it anymore, and it had a placebo effect on him."

"But why Prozac? House has always been miserable, and you've never dosed him before."

She could tell that he was struggling to tell her, "Because- he's going to need it soon. He's going to crash Cuddy, and when he does you're going to be the only one that can help him."

"Why are you so sure he's going to crash? What about you?"

Wilson looked up at her and there was a level of sadness to his face that she had never seen before, "House won't come to me because our friendship will be over."

Cuddy laughed, "Because you dosed him with happy pills? He won't hate you for that-"

"No, not that. What he will hate me for is not telling him that I've known his mother is dying, and that I've been keeping it from him."

She felt her face go white, and swallowed, "What?"

"She got diagnosed with a brainstorm glioma back in Virginia. She called me afterwards asking as a favor that I look over her file, and not tell House. So I did- I looked at her MRI, it was clearer than most of what I see. I confirmed it, she has three months left- if that", he said it with a lump in his throat.

Cuddy felt like she couldn't breath, "Why didn't she tell House? Why didn't you tell him? What if there's something he can do about it?"

Wilson shook his head sadly, his eyes getting glassy, "You and I both know there's no survival rate for a brainstem glioma. There's only treatments to give her time, and she doesn't want to do that. She was planning on telling him a few weeks back, but she said he kept avoiding them. Then they were planning on coming out anyway, and he had his accident, so she decided to wait until he was better."

Cuddy put her hands over her mouth, because Wilson was right, apart from herself, and Wilson, Blythe was likely the only person House truly cared about.

"How could you keep this from him Wilson?" She asked in a whisper, reveling in shock.

He had gotten up from the chair again and was pacing the room, completely unnerved and anxious, without a clue of what to do, "She begged me not to, and it's her news to tell. That and the doctor patient- confidentiality she made me promise to."

Cuddy shook her head, "House won't care about any doctor patient confidentiality. You're his best friend- you shouldn't have kept this from him."

"How could I tell him? How do you expect me to be the one to tell my best friend that his mother is dying? And that not even he, a genius diagnostician- can do anything about it?" He shrieked angrily- totally uncharacterisitcly of him.

After a few moments, he calmed down and put his hand to his mouth, and the other on his hip, before continuing, "They're arriving early tomorrow, I was going to take him to see them by myself- but it would be nice if you could come. I don't know how House will react."

Cuddy swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, "Of course."

xxxoxxxo

House thought over what had happened the previous day, had he really given Cuddy prenatal vitamins? Why? An now thinking back, Foreman's joke about an atrium heart valve wasn't that funny. It all seemed like a rather unrealistic dream.

In fact, ever since he'd left the hospital, after his accident- it had felt like he was in some sort of haze.

He opened his door, ready to head out to work on Christmas, only to be caught face to face with Wilson, who was holding two coffee cups. House frowned, and grudgingly took one as Wilson held it out.

Wilson had bags under his eyes, and he was nervous about something.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, as he took a sip of his espresso.

"Giving you a ride to work, it's Christmas and I'm Jewish. I heard Cuddy called you in to work," He swallowed.

"She's evil. I think I'm going to ask for those prenatal pills back. Think she's used them yet? Maybe I could still get my money back", he said thoughtfully as they walked out to his Volvo.

He waited for his friend to reply but Wilson merely shrugged, "I bought the tickets to the next Monster Truck convention."

House stopped in his tracks and blinked, "What? You never buy the tickets- I always have to buy them, because you hate it."

Only, as he was about to say something- House went to open the passenger door, only to realize Cuddy was sitting in the front seat.

She smiled nervously, lowering the window, "You get the backseat today."

House frowned, making a face at Wilson and got into the car, shutting the door after he was in, "What? Is carpooling a thing now? Is it the new black?"

"I had a flat tire", Cuddy stated.

Something was going on, "And you don't have AAA? Wait. Why are you working on Christmas?"

When neither of them were saying anything back, House realized something was going on. And when Wilson stopped at a red light, he tried opening his door, but the child lock was on.

"What's going on?" He asked, as his heart rate went up, "Is this an intervention? Because it's a little late, since I'm no longer on drugs."

Wilson shook his head, "No, we're just going to breakfast before heading into work."

"We can have breakfast at the hospital..." House said, tilting his head down- it was the face he made when he felt he was talking to idiots.

"But when was the last time the three of us went out for breakfast? Outside the hospital?" Wilson asked looking back at him through the rear view mirror, attempting a smile.

House wondered if that was a trick question, since they'd never actually gone out for breakfast, "I swear I'm clean. You can give me a blood test."

Cuddy turned, "House, we know you're not on drugs."

When they pulled into a diner, House became even more perplexed- because they weren't lying either, they were in fact going to have breakfast.

After they parked, and Wilson opened the door for House, he eyed them both suspiciously, "What's really going on?"

Neither of them said anything though, and House sighed following them into the diner and throwing his empty espresso cup away in the trash bin, right before they walked in.

He followed Wilson, who let the waitress know they were joining a table.

House strained his neck to see where Wilson was leading them, but slowed down when he realized that the table they were joining was his parents.

"Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?" He asked as his mom stood up from the booth and hugged him. She looked a little tired, and felt her frailness as he hugged her back.

His dad was the one that spoke up, "It's Christmas son, and we decided that if you wouldn't come to us, we'd come to you."

House slid into the booth, facing them and made room for Cuddy and Wilson. Only, when he looked up, they had already walked away, and were seated across the diner from them.

He turned back to his parents, and frowned at them, "What's going on?"

xxxoxxxo

"Is this such a good idea? Maybe we should have done this at the hospital?" Cuddy said, stealing a glance over at their table.

Wilson shook his head, and thanked the waitress as she set down their waters, "No, he'd just storm off if we were there, and go hide. Here he can't do that."

"I wish I could hear them", Cuddy admitted, still watching as House spoke to his parents. There was something funny about watching a grown man sit across from his parents, he looked almost- scared, from the way he kept fidgeting with his fingers- almost as if he were waiting to get in trouble for doing something bad.

She turned her eyes back to Wilson who looked as if he were attempting to break a world record of holding his breath. His body was tense, and his face was red, as he tapped his fingers on the table.

"You need to relax", she whispered.

He scoffed, "How can I? I'm about to loose my best friend."

"Right now this isn't about you. And, how can you be so sure? House has changed, and this isn't your fault, maybe he'll be mad at you for a while, but he'll get over it."

Wilson exhaled, looking past her, "Well we're about to find out- he's coming over here."

xxxoxxxo

House stared at his parents, expectantly, "I know what this is about."

His mom's eyes grew, "You do?"

"Yep. Wilson told me, so you don't have to tip-toe around me, I'm a big boy."

Blythe House extended her arm across the table and took his hand in hers, "Oh Greg, you're handling this much better than we both thought you would."

House shrugged, "Things like this happen to everyone- everyday. Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long."

At that moment something happened, that he had never witnessed, and couldn't be prepared for- his father started crying into his hands- hard.

Instantly, his mom let go of his hand, and instead held his father, attempting to console him, "Oh John, stop it. We promised not to do this to him."

The way she was holding him, and wiping away her own tears made it clear to House, that their being there had nothing to do with an impending divorce.

He looked for signs, his mother had lost weight, she wasn't wearing make-up- something she usually could not go without, there were bags under her eyes-

House felt like he was going to be sick, "You guys aren't getting divorced, are you?"

Blythe looked back at him, and shook her head.

House swallowed, "You're dying."


Part 13 Preview:

His eyes frantically searched all of her scans, "It's not a tumor- I can save her."

"House, stop this- don't treat her like one of your patients. Go be with her. She needs you by her", Cuddy said softly, placing a hand on his arm, soothingly.

He recoiled from her touch, and shut his eyes, laboring his breathing, "If you're not going to help me- leave."

It was useless to try and make him see reason, he was just like any other family member- in denial.