Chapter 21

"So do you want to tell her you're pregnant?" House asked as he popped a piece of carrot Cameron had just sliced for the salad into his mouth.

She swatted his hand away from the cutting board. "Micah's your daughter," she chided. "You should tell her."

House gave her an "I'm still eight" look. "You're the one with a person in your belly," he whined.

Cameron smiled slyly. "And who put it there?" she asked.

"Okay, okay," he agreed, grabbing one last carrot before leaving the kitchen to set the table. Cameron had talked, or in his estimation—forced, him into buying a dining room table once she had moved in to the apartment. She had reasoned that since they and Cuddy and Wilson were now couples, there would be more opportunities to socialize. House did not see that as a good thing, but he caved in and let her buy it.

House could barely set the plates down without dropping them. In forty-five years of life, he had never had a child. Now he had two! He was worried that Micah would not like him. Since he had not ever been a father to her, House could understand if she hated him when she was growing up. He could bear that. His real fear, the one that ate at his heart, was that she would hate him once she got to know him. For once in his life, House desperately did not want that to happen.

Cameron walked into the room with a glass of Scotch. House put his hand around her waist as he looked down into the glass. "Oh," he said knowingly, "you're going to be one of those mothers."

Cameron bumped him with her hip playfully. "It's not for me, dolt. I thought you probably needed it."

House's lips turned up gratefully. "You know me almost better than Wilson," he teased.

She chuckled. "I don't want to know you that well," Cameron joked. "I might realize that I've lost my mind."

He set the Scotch on the table and pulled her close to him. "Too late," he whispered as he nuzzled her neck. "You can't quit me now."

Cameron became engulfed in his scent. It so was warm and sweetly masculine, she couldn't get enough. She rubbed her hands up the back of his neck and into his hair, delighting in the groan it produced from him. Cameron brushed her cheek against his stubbled one, passionately sighing at the seductive sting it left on her body.

Neither heard the knock at the door at first. House pulled away, taking a big gulp of the Scotch. He raised his eyebrows, saying, "I think I hear my offspring calling." Cameron grabbed his hand and followed him to the door. House felt comforted by the support and warmth of her hand. Taking in a deep breath, he opened the door. Cameron and House gripped each other's hand tightly as their faces dropped at the sight of Chase and Micah standing in front of them holding hands as well.

Cameron took the initiative, smiling as she ushered them both into the apartment. Micah looked up at House with nervous blue eyes. All of her bluster and cleverness that was so much like her father's was vacant from her demeanor. She paused on her tiptoes for just a second, and then shyly hugged him. A surprised House hesitated, his arms to the side, and then squeezed her tightly. Cameron and Chase stood there watching them embrace, both content with the fact that their significant others were each getting what they seemed to need.

Once Micah and House stepped back from each other, Cameron beamed at the younger woman. "I could use some help in the kitchen," she offered. "Would you…?"

Micah glanced at Chase who consented with a wink. "Sure," she replied. "I can't actually do anything, but I can help you eat the food, though."

They all laughed, relieving the tension in the room. Chase and House watched their women exit into the other room. "So," House said with a mock-serious face, "you date my girlfriend and now you're with my daughter, who oddly enough seems to be a lot like me." He crooked his brow. "Is there an issue you have that we should discuss?"

Chase dropped his head to the side with a laugh. "If I marry her, I get to call you Dad," he said with a devilish grin.

House dropped the joking as his eyes trained on the other doctor. "You're already thinking about marriage?" he asked.

Chase's eyes went wide as he finally realized what he had just said to House. He blanched under House's stare, until he answered, "Yes, I have. It's difficult not to fall in love with Micah."

House nodded. For once, he completely agreed with Robert Chase.

……

"You're dating Greg," Micah stated. She was pouring wine into glasses as she waited for a response.

"And you're dating Chase," Cameron said with a smile. "How did that happen?"

Micah tipped the bottle back up, wincing. "I sought him out. To see if he could tell me anything about my father." Her eyes glanced down in guilt. "He was pretty messed up when I met him."

Cameron knew she meant that she was the one that had torn him apart. "Oh." They prepared the meal in silence for several moments. Then Cameron said, "You've meant a lot to Chase. I know I hurt him. Thank you for being there for him."

Micah smiled at the woman standing in front of her. Her only fault seemed to be that she had no faults. This woman was so kind that she was actually grateful that Micah was with her ex-boyfriend. Micah did not usually like to talk to other women. Women were petty and competitive and hard to talk to, but Allison Cameron was different. The younger woman wasn't aware that everyone around Cameron felt the same magnetism, but she felt the urge to tell her everything she knew, to release the weight on her shoulders. "He means a lot to me, too," Micah said quietly. "I've never met another man who cares so much about the people he loves, except…"

"Except for Greg," Cameron finished for the girl. Micah nodded, pushing back blonde strands away from her eyes.

"So, are you going to marry him?" she asked Cameron.

Cameron choked on a piece of celery she had just put in her mouth. Her green eyes watered as she tried to regain composure. "I don't know," she replied truthfully. "But he does have something to tell you."

……

The food was placed on the table and Chase, Cameron, and House started eating. The three of them froze when they saw Micah's head bent over and her hands together in prayer. She looked up afterwards to see them all staring in amazement at her. Smiling sheepishly, she answered, "My step-dad is a Catholic. My mom married him when I was five."

House's lip jutted out. "What a coincidence," he said. "Chase was almost a priest."

Micah's head whipped around towards the man sitting next to her. His long, blonde bangs brushed across his forehead. "I went to seminary."

Her eyes danced with a bright blue gleam. She squeezed his knee under the table. "Good thing you didn't finish," she teased. "The sex would have left me so much more guilt-ridden." Micah then realized she was sitting next to her newly-found father and his girlfriend. "Sorry," she apologized, ducking her head in embarrassment.

House wanted to erase the images popping into his mind. He responded, "Actually, that reminds me." They all looked at him as if he had just gone crazy. "Ally and I have to tell you something," he told Micah. House twirled his fork around in his hand. He swallowed, wishing he remembered where he had put his Vicodin bottle. "We're pregnant."

Micah looked stunned. "Congratulations," she said. She looked down for several minutes as everyone waited to see what she would say. When she picked her head back up, her lip turned up slightly, playfully. "I always wanted to be a big sister," she said with hope. She loved her mother and the man that had always raised her as his own, but she felt like a piece of the puzzle was missing. She didn't know why she had always felt the need to push people away or be sarcastic or why mysteries bugged the hell out of her. Micah grew up with the nagging feeling that her real father could answer those questions for her. She also had the feeling that she didn't have to tell House she felt that way. He would instinctively know.

And he did know. House and Cameron puffed a sigh of relief at her response. "We were hoping that you could get to know the baby," he said with a delight Cameron had never seen him have. She thought that she loved him even more in this moment than she ever had in the past two years.

Micah's face dropped a little. She didn't want to have to tell Chase in this way, but she said, "School starts up again next week. I have to go but, next break—I'll be here."

Chase was having a hard time breathing. Cameron was pregnant with House's kid and Micah was leaving. He knew that she would have to soon, but he didn't want to hear it.

House felt tears stinging his eyes, realizing he knew nothing about his daughter. "Where do you go?" he asked huskily.

Micah noticed her eyes were watery as well. Her father actually cared. She, and her mother, had been so afraid that he would brush her off and push her back. "I'm a junior at NYU. Pre-med," she answered.

Gregory House was proud. And then he felt a tinge of regret and anger for not being able to be like this her entire life. "Why didn't Monica tell me?"

She pleated her cotton napkin between her fingers. "She wanted to go back to New York. Your relationship was over and she didn't want to hold either of you down," she replied.

"I wouldn't have abandoned you," House said, his blue eyes piercing those that looked so much like his own. Cameron didn't think she could love him even more than she had a few minutes ago, but she now felt so safe to have his child. She could not have wanted anyone else to be the father of the life growing inside her.

"My mother knew that," she said quietly, a bit regretfully herself. "That's why she didn't tell you. You weren't even at a hospital yet. And truthfully, you're obsession with medicine and finding answers scared her a little." With a smile, she added, "Mom had no idea that I'd be the same way."

After dinner, Micah hugged her father again, this time less awkwardly. She left feeling like her family was now complete.

House shut the door with a silly grin plastered on his face. Cameron snuggled up to him, resting her head on his chest. "What's that look for?" she chirped.

"My girls make me happy," he replied, pulling her towards the bedroom.

TBC