"Baby?" Elijah blinked as he kissed Talia's bump over and over again one evening.
"Aww my bubba, are you giving your baby sister kisses?" Talia giggled tiredly as she ran her fingers through his soft curls. She and Elijah were chilling with each other in the living room as Chase was out getting them a takeaway for dinner. Talia was becoming much more accustomed to being back home again - although the one thing she'd noticed was that Elijah was still quite jumpy around certain things. He didn't like loud or sudden noises, neither did he like bright lights, and he certainly didn't like cars or the sound of the highway. That only made taking him out on walks and to the park so he could run about became rather tedious and somewhat difficult. "Ahhh Lij, you're such a good little man, aren't you baby? You're gonna be such a good big brother," Talia cooed down at him, running her fingers through his soft blonde curls. "You had a big brother once, too, you know. He's in heaven now, though. Your brother is an angel," she mumbled a little sadly as she thought of Ezra.
It still hurt that she lost one son. The thought of coming so close to losing another to a man she loved was-
"T, guess who I ran into outside?" called Chase suddenly as he whacked open the front door. Elijah blinked over at the sound of his father's voice and hopped from Talia's lap to toddle over, intrigued to see what he'd come home with.
But within a few seconds he had toddled back to his mother and clambered onto her lap again, which just told her that he didn't recognise whoever Chase had brought home.
"Who?" Talia frowned loudly as she hoisted Elijah into her lap and held him close. As if God Himself answered her question, in walked Chase with none other than Cameron and Thirteen on either side of him, causing Talia to gasp happily as her eyes welled up with the happiest of tears. Cameron squealed and rushed over to her with a gasp of her own, bending over her carefully so that she didn't crush Elijah, who was still cowering into Talia's chest.
"Here, let me take kiddo so you two can embrace properly," Chase chuckled, shaking his head. He walked up to Elijah and gently eased him into his own arms, despite him whinging a little. "Come on, let's get you into your pyjamas mate," he yawned as he carried him out of the living room, giving Talia the chance to leap up and hug her friends properly.
"Oh my god Talia, I've missed you so much!" Cameron sniffed, already sobbing away into her best friend's shoulder.
"I missed you too, Al," Talia wept as they let each other go with matching giggles of surprise. Cameron scrubbed her tears away with her sleeves, trying to calm herself down. "Look at you! You look amazing!"
"So do you!" Cameron gasped back. She felt Talia's swollen stomach and let out a breath of surprise. "Look at Baby Chase Number Two! They're growing so much!"
"I know," Talia smiled back, wiping her own tears this time. "And it's a girl-"
"Wait, ITS A GIRL?" Thirteen shouted from where she was politely on the other side of the living room, giving them space.
But now it was her time to run over and smother her old friend in a hug.
"Oh Talia, I'm so freakin' happy for you!"
"Thank you," Talia laughed, unable to stop her eyes from tearing up again. "I've missed you guysss!"
"I missed you too! As soon as I found out what had happened with House and Elijah being so close to the accident…it absolutely f*cked me up for weeks," Thirteen mumbled in admission, awkwardly lowering her gaze to the floor. Cameron grimaced from where she was still cooing over Talia's swelling baby bump as Thirteen carried on. "I'm happy that you're all doing better now, though. You look so much healthier than you've literally ever looked before!"
"That's cos baby girl is spreading to my face and forcing me to look all plump and rosy," Talia smirked. The two women laughed knowingly and settled themselves down on the sofa comfortably, so that they could all start catching up properly.
"So, how's Elijah doing?" Cameron was the first to ask with a slightly worried look on her face. "When we walked in earlier he looked a little…well, pretty jumpy."
"That's cos he is a little jumpy," Talia answered, nibbling on her bottom lip in thought. "He never used to be, but now he cries quite a bit. He flinches at loud noises or any sudden change of lighting. He's…"
"He's got PTSD," Thirteen finished off for her with a sigh. "Elijah is literally a toddler, and he has PTSD. That shouldn't…ever…be the case."
Cameron twisted her mouth to the side and nodded alongside her, looking even more miserable than before.
"He could even repress the trau-"
"Guys, could we please talk about something else?" Talia winced quietly, drawing patterns on her stomach without looking up at either one of them. "At least for now - then we can at least ease our way into the dire and never-ending misery of this household instead of opening with it?"
"Sure, of course," Thirteen nodded briskly with wide eyes.
"Sorry, Talia," Cameron winced. But Talia sent them both forgiving thankful smiles before taking a deep breath out again.
"So, what have you guys been up to whilst I was away?" she beamed in their direction instead.
But then…it got a little strange.
Cameron sucked her cheeks in slightly and Thirteen tucked both strands of falling hair behind her ears - with nothing but a silence coating over them like a thick blanket.
Awkward wasn't even the word.
"Well…I, uh, left the hospital," Thirteen piped up before Talia started to get overly suspicious. "I didn't really wanna work for anyone but House and until the board review my case…well, I couldn't."
"The board…?" Talia blinked at her in confusion. Thirteen ran her tongue over her lip and nodded.
"The…the board."
"What…do you mean…I mean, why would the board be reviewing anything?"
"Pffft right, so now we wanna get into the misery of my life?" Thirteen smirked cheekily, making Talia roll her eyes at her and fling her head back.
"Remyyyy," she groaned tiredly. "What did you DO?"
"I HAVE A NEW PARTNER!" Cameron suddenly blurted out, causing a brief shock of silence to fall onto the room.
Thirteen's eyes widened even more and Talia swiftly moved on to her instead.
"What?!" she gasped, leaning in intriguingly. "What…since when? Have I been gone for that long?"
"You'd certainly think, huh?" Thirteen scoffed under her breath, as Cameron bit her lip and squeezed an eye shut in a wincing fashion.
"Oh Al, I'm so happy for you! So who are they? Can I see a…like, a picture or something?" Talia egged her friend on excitedly as her eyes twinkled away. She always thought Cameron deserved to be happy and now that she had finally found someone - well, she was over the moon for her.
But to her surprise, Cameron was a little more cagey about it.
"Um…I don't think a picture would be quite necessary," she mumbled uncomfortably, beginning to shuffle awkwardly in her seat.
That's when Talia began to get a little anxious, sensing something was up.
"Why? Do I know them?" she guessed lightly.
"Oh, very well in fact," Cameron sighed almost guiltily, burying her face in the palms of her hands. Thirteen could literally see Talia gulp and immediately, her mind flew to wherever she'd already landed.
"It's not House," she groaned tiredly, knocking her head back with an added shudder. "Unclench your damne jaw, Talia."
"It's not unreasonable to suggest! She had a weird fascination with him at one point…oh, I don't know anymore!" Talia blinked helplessly. "Do…I…do I not like them or something? Oh god, is it Foreman?"
"Is what Foreman?" came Chase's voice from the doorway.
The ladies turned their heads to see him enter the living room with Elijah in his little duckling pyjamas instead, his small arms hooked lazily around his father's neck, clearly ready to sleep.
"Allison's got a new man and she won't say who the hell it is," Talia grumbled miserably as Chase went to perch himself on the edge of the sofa beside her.
"Huh? Why won't she say?" he blinked in innocent confusion. "Do we know hi-"
"It's not…it's not a guy," Cameron mumbled awkwardly, unable to look at either one of them now. Talia's mouth hung open and she leaned in slightly whilst Chase tried to bite back his immediate laugh of surprise.
"You are JOKING! Al! Didn't we once have this conversation-"
"Yeah, but even then I said I didn't know for sure," Cameron hissed back as her cheeks flushed red. "Oh god, my face is all hot. Do I look like a tomato? I look like a tomato don't I-"
"Wait…so wait," Talia giggled, waving her quiet again. "So you have a girlfriend, and I know her?"
"Oh?" Chase suddenly raised an amused brow as he raised a brow in interest, rubbing Elijah's back so that he slowly fell asleep. "Do I know her too?"
"But even if I did know her, I don't know enough…" Talia suddenly tailed off as her eyes shifted themselves away from Cameron, and slowly onto the one woman that had stayed quiet for majority of that conversation.
Thirteen grimaced and dangled her fingers in her direction.
"Ta daaaa," she smirked slightly, as Chase and Talia's mouthes dropped open in sheer and utter shock.
"Wait, you and…you two? You two are together?!" Chase spluttered out with genuine surprise on his face. Cameron just couldn't stop blushing as she hid her face behind her hands, and Thirteen rolled her eyes.
"We are allowed to do that, Chase," she drawled slowly. "It's not illegal now anymore you know."
"Ohhhh Thirteen please, I've met one of your girlfriends before - but ALLISON?" Chase continued to gawk.
"I just…when did this even happen? You two didn't even like each other at first!" Talia finally found her voice to croak out. She was so stunned that she didn't know whether to laugh or reach over to slap them both for keeping it secret from her.
"Uhhh…remember that time that I had no place to live and I went to Allison's to stay over and find my feet?" Thirteen winced awkwardly.
"Yeah," Talia blinked.
"…pretty much since that night."
"OH?" both Chase and Talia gasped at the same time, making Thirteen and Cameron burst into peals of laughter.
"You two have been married for entirely too long," Cameron grinned as Thirteen giggled away. "You really said that at the exact same time? Like a damn sitcom?"
"So what, on that same day you two ended up sleeping together?" Talia smirked excitedly, now incredibly invested in their story. "Who initiated that?!"
"Oh to be a fly on THAT wall," Chase hummed under his breath.
"Funnily enough," Thirteen grinned as she leant her head on Cameron's shoulder. "That'll be your innocent lil Ally Pally here."
"ALLISON?" Chase gasped again, now almost floored at all the revelations. Talia clamped a hand over his mouth and shook her head.
"Ignore him - he wasn't ready for his ex to ever dare move on from the pure handsome and rugged awesomeness that was himself," she grimaced at her friends playfully as Thirteen just laughed harder. "Please - do continue."
"Well…I was telling Allison about my life and accidentally kinda admitted what I ended up in prison for…" Thirteen started off as she absentmindedly fiddled with the fabric of Cameron's top.
"Which was…?" Chase prompted her, suddenly aware that he still had no idea what the reason was for her departure.
"Not now," Thirteen snapped back. "Anyway, I was opening up to her and she opened up to me, then I opened the wine cos we were just getting all sad and in our feelings and…" Thirteen trailed off with a little smirk and a shrug. "Well. The rest is history. She pretty much leaned in out of nowhere-"
"So basically, it started off all lustful," Talia concluded smugly, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "Allison, if you wanted to make out all this time then ya could've just said!"
"Oh shut up. I didn't even know I had an attraction to girls until…well…it's just hard to explain," Cameron blushed as she dropped her gaze into her lap.
She couldn't get redder if she tried.
"I actually cannot believe what I am hearing right now," Chase winced in shock. "So are you two living together now?"
"Pretty much," Thirteen nodded, her eyes sparkling away. "Chase, your face is cracking me up - are lesbian relationships really that foreign to you?"
"Again, no - but a relationship between you two is cos you're so different. I mean you and Talia, sure!" Chase stressed with his hand outstretched. "But you and Allison?" Talia just frowned at him and cocked her head to the side.
"What the hell does that mean?!"
"It means that you and Thirteen are pretty similar and Allison and Thirteen…are not," Chase explained quickly.
"Yeah but Thirteen was with Foreman once - are they similar?" Talia challenged him with a wicked glint in her eyes.
"No, but that's cos Foreman isn't similar to anyone," Chase scoffed back. "Dude is in a league of his own. And you know that."
"Okay and Allison also loved House at one point," Thirteen added in, crossing her arms with a frown. "Are they similar too?"
"Thank you! Concluding that opposites attract," Talia finished simply.
"More to the point, you and your wife aren't the same either, Robert," Cameron frowned. "So where you got that theory from - I have absolutely no idea."
"What?!" Chase let out a short laugh as he repositioned the sleepily laying Elijah against his torso. "Yes we are!"
"In what way are you two the same, Chase?" Thirteen smirked with daring eyes. "Please, for my own amusement, expand that point."
"Well…uh…with our…like…humour and stuff," Chase spluttered as he attempted to reach for some examples. Talia nodded and squeezed his knee.
"He's right there, we do share a worryingly similar sense of humour," she agreed encouragingly.
"And…we're…both…" Chase trailed off.
"Blonde doctors with daddy issues - and that's as far as it goes," Cameron finished off for him. "Even then, Talia's considerably smarter than you and you are considerably blonder. So really-"
"And don't try and say that you're the same level of cleverness Chase, cos she literally finished school five years earlier than everyone else because she was just that good," Thirteen interrupted, seeing Chase open his mouth again.
He closed his mouth again and his eyebrows furrowed together as he turned to his wife.
"Girls are mean, babe," he grumbled, making Talia burst out laughing and press a sweet kiss to his jaw.
"Opposites do attract," she giggled onto his skin. "But I've never been happier that I was attracted to you." Chase grinned and kissed her softly, causing both Thirteen and Cameron to let out a content 'awwww'.
"Cute," Thirteen couldn't help but grin at them both. "I'm glad you guys are back together again. You two were clearly made for each other, as uncomfortable as that makes me."
"Yeah, you could say," Talia hummed contentedly. She leant her head on Chase's shoulder and smiled to herself. "You really could."