Hey everyone!

New chapter ready.. Not much action in this one, I'm thinking where I want to take the story from here. I'll figure it out ;)
Thank you all for reading my story and taking the time to say what you think about it :)

On with the story now... I hope you'll like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own House MD...

Chapter 21: A day at the hospital

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When House opened his eyes the next morning he saw that Cameron was still asleep. He rubbed his hand across his face and yawned.

He turned his head towards her and watched her sleeping form. She was lying on her stomach, her left arm under the pillow while her right one was outstretched and was resting on his stomach.

Her head was turned so that she was facing him and he couldn't help the smile from reaching his lips. Even in her sleep she used to move in order to face him, no matter which side she was sleeping on.

Their daughter's small cry caught his attention and he sighed. He got out of bed, grabbed his cane that was hanging from the doorknob and he made his way to the nursery.

"Good morning my offspring!" he said making Beth smile and wave her hands upon seeing her father.

"Isn't it a little early for you to be up?" he asked and rested his cane against the crib in order to pick her up.

Beth gurgled happily once she was in her father's embrace. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and grabbed his cane in order to go to the kitchen.

He pulled a bottle out of the fridge and reheated it and then walked to the living room with Beth in his arms.

He switched on the TV on some cartoon's channel and started feeding Beth. She drank her milk quietly, all the time her eyes connected with his.

"After you finish with your milk we will go together and make breakfast for mommy!" he said to Beth who was still drinking her milk and looking at him intently.

Once she finished with her milk House laid her in her carrier and placed it on the table in the kitchen while he prepared breakfast for him and Cameron.

"Ok, we made coffee, we have juice and now you are going to watch daddy doing his magic!" he said excitedly as he tried to sprinkle the pancakes with some flour but instead he sprinkled the kitchen counter and some flour found its way on his face.

He heard Beth gurgle happily and he turned with the spatula in his hand to look at her only to find Cameron by the carrier and Beth looking at her with a wide smile on her baby features.

"Damn… there goes our plan to surprise you." He said with a pout and she smiled at him.

She moved close to him and rubbed his cheek with her thumb before capturing his lips with hers in a slow kiss.

"You had some flour on your cheek." She said and he shrugged.

"If the pancakes want war they will have it!" he said and turned to flip the pancakes making her laugh because he almost dropped them out of the pan.

"Why don't you go in the living room with Beth? I have it covered here. I think…" he told her.

"I can help." She offered but he slapped her hand away.

"Nope! You take a cup of coffee and Beth and go to the living room; I'll finish here and come with the pancakes. If I don't blow up the kitchen…" he said with a smirk.

She laughed and went to pour a cup of coffee. Then she picked Beth up from her carrier and headed to the living room after dropping a small kiss on House's cheek.

He followed them some minutes later with a big plate of pancakes in his left hand.

He placed it on the coffee table and sat down on the couch next to Cameron.

"I think I left my coffee on the kitchen table…" he said with a frown and she handed Beth to him.

"I'll get it." She replied and went to the kitchen returning a short while later with his coffee and some juice.

"Apparently I left that too." He commented when he saw what she was holding. "But, one free hand at a time you see." He said, waving his hand in the air.

"You could have taken the mobile kitchen cart." She said matter-of-factly.

"It' not manly enough." He said and she snorted.

"Oh, you are so asking for a punishment!"

"Yeah, yeah, promises… So, are you going to carry Beth with you today again?" she asked in amusement, changing the subject, as she watched him making funny faces to the baby in his arms.

"Of course I am!" he exclaimed and Beth giggled as he stuck his tongue out.

"She has to go back to the day care Greg; she is fine, no fever and no coughing. You can't carry her with you around all the time and you know that." She warned and he sighed.

"What if some of the other kids are sick and she catches the flu again?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrow.

"She is not… You can't protect her from everything Greg, you know that." She said softly, cupping his cheek with her hand.

"Fine…" he said with a frustrated sigh "One more day? Please, please, please!" he whined childishly.

"I really feel sorry for Cuddy…" said Cameron, shaking her head.

"She likes it really!" he replied with a smirk and she laughed.

"Riiight…" she dragged out.

He gave Beth to her while he lied on his stomach on the couch, perched on his elbows so that he was eye-level to Beth who was sitting in Cameron's lap.

"Today we are going to annoy Dr. Cuddy!" he said enthusiastically and Beth patted his cheek with her little hand.

"Yeah, I know, it's going to be hilarious! And then, after we annoy her a lot, we are going to hide in mommy's office!"

"You are teaching our daughter really useful things." She said with a smirk and he shrugged.

"Well, she'll need to know how to annoy the Dean of Medicine when she takes over after I retire." He said naturally and she laughed lightly.

"You have everything figured out I see."

"Yeah, I mean, if she wants it." He explained and she smiled softly.

She dropped a kiss on his lips but his pager went off and made him groan against her lips.

"What now?" he asked incredulously and looked at his pager to see who it was.

"Apparently we didn't cure our patient yesterday…" he said with a sigh. "But it's way too early to go to the hospital…"

He dropped his head on Cameron's thigh and Beth patted his head making him turn to her.

"No, I'm not going! Even your mother hasn't gone yet, imagine that!" he exclaimed and Beth stared intently at him.

"Come on, go get dressed. We're already up, might as well go to the hospital…" she said and she got up from the couch leaving House behind.

"But I don't wanna!" he whined again.

"I don't care, we are going to go!" shouted Cameron from down the hall.

He groaned and finally got up as well and grabbed his cane in order to go to the bedroom and change.

When he entered the room he found Beth lying on the center of the bed while Cameron changed into her work clothes.

He saw that she had already picked out his clothes and he sat down on the bed looking from his clothes to Beth.

"Mommy is mean…" he whispered to Beth who was occupied with one of her baby rattles and didn't pay attention to him.

"She is making us go to the hospital…" he said again but he didn't get a reaction from Beth or Cameron.

"Is anyone of you going to look at me?" he asked incredulously throwing his hands in the air for affect. Cameron turned to look at him while Beth continued shaking her rattle.

"Go change." She said seriously and he huffed.

"You are no fun!" he complained and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's not what you said last night when you woke up in the middle of the night." She said with a sultry smirk and leaned down to place a kiss on his lips.

"Change!" she said again as she walked out of the room and House turned to look at Beth.

"Ok… she has a point there." He said seriously and started changing.

Cameron returned a few minutes later with a change of clothes for Beth and found House lying on his side, fully dressed, with Beth sitting on the bed next to him, her back resting on his stomach.

"We are supposed to go to the hospital, what are you two doing?" she asked with the smile when she saw them.

"We are trying to change your mind?" he guessed and she sighed.

"Your patient is dying, remember?" she asked him and moved in the room to change Beth.

"Oops… Maybe I can call him and tell him to wait a little." He suggested and just looked at him with a look that told him that he wouldn't get what he wanted.

"When I change Beth we will leave." She stated and he closed his eyes.

"I give up…" he announced making her smile victoriously.

"Oh, by the way, did you find what's wrong with my neurologist?" he asked curiously.

"I already knew what's wrong with Eric. But I'm not going to tell you." She said seriously, taking Beth in her arms and heading for the living room.

"Trouble in paradise? Me likey!" he said with a glint in his eyes.

"Stay away from this please… It's already a mess without you interfering." she said looking into his eyes.

"I can't promise you anything." He said taking the bag she handed him and she sighed.

"Just don't give him a hard time…" she pleaded and he nodded.

With that they exited the house and headed for her car.

Twenty minutes later they were at the hospital. House had taken Beth with him again at the Diagnostics Department. Cameron had warned him that it was going to be the last time and that from the next day Beth would return to the day care.

He could do nothing else but agree upon seeing the look in her eyes.

So now he was in the conference room with his team, Beth in her carrier on the table, trying to figure out what was wrong with their patient. Again…

He had sent his team to run some tests again while he remained in the conference room, Beth's rattle in his hand, when Wilson appeared at the door.

"You do know that it's only nine o' clock in the morning, right?" he asked, eyeing his friend suspiciously.

"Hey Beth!" he said with a wide smile to the baby and she smiled up at him.

"And what is Beth doing here? I thought she was ok."

"She is ok… And yes, wonder boy, I know what time it is but my patient decided to have a stroke again this morning so I was paged to clean up the mess." He explained and Wilson moved into the room in order to sit on a chair next to him.

"I heard that your parents came here yesterday. How did it go?" he asked in concern.

"It went… good I guess." He replied, looking at Beth and handing her the rattle he was holding.

"They came to our place. After I had an argument with my father of course… But she has a way with people. I think they are both crazy about her." He replied, pointing at Beth.

"Even your dad?" asked Wilson in surprise.

"Believe it or not yes." He replied with a smirk. "The fact that it's Allison I'm with helped a lot though too. My mom liked her a lot." He said and leaned back in his chair.

They remained silent for some minutes 'til Wilson spoke again.

"Wanna go grab some breakfast?" he asked looking at his friend.

"Sorry to disappoint you Jimmy boy but I had breakfast with Allison. Plus, I have to find out what's wrong with our patient before he kicks the bucket…" he stated and Wilson nodded his head.

"Ok, I'd better go and check on my patients then." He said and moved for the door but House's voice stopped him.

"Hey! You are buying lunch by the way!" he announced making Wilson shake his head and smile.

"I'll see you later then." He said and walked out of the conference room.

"And now that we are alone again we can watch TV!" he exclaimed and took Beth in his arms and moved to his office.

He switched the TV on and sat down with Beth in his arms.

He didn't see Cuddy coming in he just heard her voice.

"What is Beth doing here again House?" she asked and he turned in order to look at her, both sets of blue eyes looking intently at her.

"But she was sick. Do you want her to get sick again?" House asked putting on his best puppy dog eyes, matching Beth's innocent stare.

Cuddy sighed and he smirked.

"She will return to the day care tomorrow… Allison threatened me this morning and told me that it was the last day." He admitted making Cuddy sigh in relief this time.

"Thank God someone is sensible in this family!" she exclaimed.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked her, narrowing his eyes and ignoring her comment.

"To remind you about the meeting we have at 12. Don't be late. Although I believe that Cameron isn't going to let you miss it." She replied

"Yes mistress. Whatever you say mistress." he mocked and turned to look at Beth who was observing Cuddy.

"Seriously, I don't know how Cameron can handle you 24/7…" she muttered and exited the office leaving behind a smug looking House.

"See? That's what we do. We get on her nerves so that she will get frustrated. Then it's a matter of minutes for her to leave us alone." He explained to Beth who watched him intently.

"Yeah, it's a great a plan!" he exclaimed making Beth giggle.

"Sooo, what do we do now? We could watch TV all day long but I don't think that mommy is going to like that… But we could go and annoy Uncle Jimmy! How does that sound?" he asked and watched as Beth smiled at him and shook her rattle.

"Ok then, let's go! He is probably with a patient but we are just going to barge in!" he explained as he walked with Beth towards Wilson's office.

When he reached his destination he just flung the door open making a patient that was in jump out of his sit because of the sudden noise.

Beth apparently liked that reaction since she started giggling and Wilson just shook his head at his friend's antics.

"Allison is so going to kill you when she finds out that you are teaching your daughter how to barge in people's offices like that." He commented and House just raised his eyebrow.

"She is not going to do that, she loves me!" he exclaimed and he moved with Beth in order to sit on the couch.

He placed Beth to sit in his lap, his cane lying on the couch next to him.

"I kind of have a patient House…" said Wilson, trying to be as discreet as possible.

"Really? How are you doing? Sorry, but, I didn't see you there." He said, feigning concern. "Didn't you need a consult?" he asked turning to look at his friend.

"You are a doctor?" asked the patient who seemed a little scared by the man that had just entered the room.

"No, he just escaped the Psych Ward again." Said Wilson, glaring at his friend.

"Now, now… Why do you lie to your patient?" he asked with a smirk.

"House, please take Beth and go somewhere else to play, I need to discuss some things with Mr. Jacobs. Don't you have a patient or something?"

"I do, but he is in a coma. He is no fun. Actually, you are no fun either. Something is wrong with everyone today!" he exclaimed.

"Just go and I'll see you later." He said pleadingly wishing that House would understand.

"Fine…" he mumbled "Come on, angel, we are going to see what mommy is doing until those morons I call my employees return with the test results." He said and got up from the couch.

"You are still buying lunch!" he shouted as he exited the office and Wilson sighed.

House made his way to the Immunology department this time. He entered Cameron's office only to find it empty so he just sat down on the couch and switched the TV on.

"Mommy will be here in a while so we will just wait for her." He said to Beth who was already distracted by the TV.

It was thirty minutes later that the door opened and Cameron entered the room carrying some patient charts with her.

"Hey, what are two doing here?" she asked House when she spotted them on the couch, a wide smile on her lips.

"Beth missed you." He said nonchalantly and looked at Beth who was waving her small hands in the air in order for Cameron to pick her up.

"You missed me or daddy missed me?" she asked Beth when she took her in her arms and the baby smiled widely at her.

"She is not going to answer, we took a blood oath." House said resting his palm against his heart.

"Right… James kicked you out?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"How did you…?" he started but she cut him off.

"He called me, warned me that you would come for a visit." She replied with a smirk.

"I need to have a word with my ex best friend later…" he mumbled making Cameron smile.

"I take it that you haven't found what's wrong with your patient yet." She said and moved to sit on the couch next to him.

"No…" he breathed out "My team is in the lab, running tests and cultures. I hope that something will come out of this."

"Now that I remembered, we have to take Beth to the day care before going to the meeting."

"Come on! You said that I could keep her at Diagnostics for one more day!" he whined childishly.

"We can't take her in the meeting Greg." She stated seriously and he scoffed.

"I'll call Foreman to babysit. Beth likes him!" he exclaimed trying to convince her.

"Greg…" she sighed but he had already pulled his mobile out of his pocket.

"Dr. Foreman."

"I need you in the Immunology Department." House stated in a serious tone.

"Consult?" Foreman asked.

"No." House replied in the same tone.

"House is everything alright?" he asked, concern now evident in his voice and House smirked.

"Of course! I just need you to take care of Beth. We have a meeting with the big boss and I don't think that Cuddy is going to appreciate a crying baby in the office…" he replied in his usual tone.

"You are crazy, you know that?!" Foreman said, irritation replacing concern.

"I've been told in the past but I don't believe what others say." He said casually making Foreman sigh.

"Is Allison there?"

"Oh, yeah, hold on a minute." He replied and handed the phone to Cameron.

"Hey Eric…" she said with a smile.

"One day I'm going to punch him for acting like a jerk. He had me worried there for a while." Foreman's voice made her smile sympathetically.

"I wouldn't blame you." She replied and House pouted.

"So, can you watch Beth for me while we are at the meeting?" she asked pleadingly.

"Of course. You know I can't say no when it comes to Beth. Maybe she'll take my mind away from everything for a while." He replied.

"Thank you Eric! I'll be waiting for you in my office." She said with a smile.

"Ok, see you in five Allison." Came his reply and she hung up.

"Is he coming?" House asked looking at her.

"Yeah, he'll be here in a while."

They didn't have to wait long for Foreman to arrive. When he entered he glared at House and went to hug Cameron.

"Hey, no hugging the neurologist with my daughter in your arms! It's just plain nasty!" he yelled making them roll their eyes.

"Could you behave for a while?" Cameron asked and handed him the baby.

"I don't think so…" he replied and turned his gaze to the TV once more.

Foreman sighed and looked at Cameron who shrugged.

"Come on; let's go to the balcony to talk." She told him and House immediately turned to look at them.

"This is even nastier." He commented but they both ignored him and exited the office.

"How are things going?" she asked him once they were sited on the chairs at the balcony.

Foreman sighed heavily and leaned back.

"Your friend doesn't talk to you anymore?" he asked and she raised her eyebrows.

"You know how Clair is. She doesn't talk; she doesn't open up easily when it comes to revealing how she feels. I think that's one of the reasons why they go along with Greg…" she said the last sentence thoughtfully.

"Should I be worried about that?" he asked with a small smirk.

"No, you are not in danger." She replied reassuringly with a smile.

"Yes, but what do I do?" he asked and he couldn't hide the despair from his voice.

"Give her time… You had a big fight don't expect everything to go back to normal immediately." She tried to comfort him.

"We had a big fight because she doesn't want to live in with me. What am I supposed to do after that?" He asked bitterly and she rested her hand on his knee.

"But what made her say no? Did you think of that?" she asked and he frowned.

"Well…"

"I guess that's a 'no'." she said with a small smile and he nodded.

"Has she talked to you about her last relationship?"

At that he raised his eyebrows in question.

"I thought so… She is probably going to kill me about this but if it's going to make things better…" she trailed off and he waited for her to continue.

"You don't need the details. And even if you wanted me to give you the details I wouldn't. The only thing I can tell you is that they were pretty serious, they were talking about getting married but he did something and it ended up in a pretty bad way… That was almost two years ago and her next relationship was with you." She explained.

"Just give her some time. She is afraid that if she lets someone in again completely she is going to get hurt. That's why she is acting this way. Just give her time and talk to her…" she said with a small smile. He nodded and stood up and she followed him, giving him a hug.

The door sliding open caught their attention and they saw House with Beth in his arms.

"Just because you don't have my daughter in your arms doesn't mean that you can hug the neurologist!" he shouted again making them shake their heads.

"Come on, we have to go to that meeting." Cameron said and dragged him inside with Foreman following them.

Cameron took Beth from House's arms and handed her to Foreman.

"Hey Beth!" he said to the baby with a smile and she gurgled at him.

"Her bag and carrier are in the Diagnostics. I don't think that this meeting is going to take more than an hour. If you need anything just page us." Cameron told him and he nodded.

"Maybe you could call Clair to help you out, you know, chicks love babies!" House exclaimed and both Foreman and Cameron turned to look at him.

"Were you eavesdropping?" asked Cameron raising an eyebrow in question.

"Look at the time! Got to go, Cuddy is waiting for me!" he said and left the office as fast as he could leaving Foreman and Cameron behind.

"Don't worry, he isn't going to say or do anything stupid." She said trying to sound reassuring.

"I hope so… Go, you don't want House to get there before you." He said with a smirk and she smiled.

"Thanks again Eric for taking care of Beth." She said with a smile and exited the office, following House to Cuddy's office for the meeting.

"Just the two of us now, huh?" he asked Beth who observed him with her big blue eyes.

"Come on, let's go. I'm going to tell you a story about the first time that your daddy made Uncle Eric break into a house." He said to Beth and made his way to the Diagnostics department.