"Rules of Engagement"

Chapter Ten: Trust

Author Note:I am glad you guys thought the laugh chapter was funny. this chapter is a little different though. I have a really funny chapter in the works as well as a really dramatic one, so stay tunned.

"I think I'm pregnant," muttered Cuddy to her friend in the privacy of her office. "I've been feeling like crap for the last few days, plus I'm late."

Cameron could tell by the tone in her voice that she was scared. She just put a hand on Cuddy's shoulder.

"I don't know what I'm going to do."

"It'll be fine. If you're pregnant, then who's the father? Luke?"

Cuddy nodded softly in response.

"Aren't you on birth control?"

"I was. For a while. I had some nasty side effects so I switched to that morning after pill. The funny thing about the morning-after pill, though, is you have to remember to take it in the morning."

"You forgot?"

She closed her eyes. She wanted to cry--needed to cry—so she could let all the emotions bundled up inside of her out. But she just couldn't bring herself to it.

"Lisa, listen. If Luke really loves you, he'll understand."

"He isn't the problem. Luke wants children. I don't. I have no time on my hands, running this hospital. How good of a mother would I be? Who would take care of him or her? I don't want to shove my kid with some nanny its whole life. But I don't want to give up the baby either."

"Don't underestimate yourself. You'd be a wonderful mother. You're smart, understanding, confident, and a lot more. You will get everything figured out in time. First, though, you should take a pregnancy test. Don't get ahead of yourself. It could be nothing."

"I can't just go up to the pharmacist and ask for a pregnancy test. The other doctors will think—"

"They'll find out sooner or later. But if you're that worried, just say it's for a patient."

"Unless you forgot, we usually run tests in the lab for patients. We don't hand out pregnancy tests like candy."

"Well, I can draw some blood and-"

"-I'd rather not. I'm not the biggest fan of needles."

"Then being a doctor wasn't the best career choice."

Cuddy gave her a blank stare. Now wasn't the best time to joke around.

Cameron took a deep breath, "I'll get it for you."

"You really don't have to. That would start an enormous amount of gossip if anyone saw you. Since you and House are so publicly dating."

"What is this, high school? You're my friend, and friends do things for each other. I'll meet you in the ladies room in twenty minutes."

House was on his way to the pharmacy for a much-needed Vicodin refill when he spotted Cameron. He watched from across the hall in confusion as his fiancé took two boxes from the pharmacist. Not just any two boxes, either. They were pregnancy tests.

His blood pressure began to rise and he started to perspire. He felt like he was going to faint. Was she? What about the pills? Did she get off of them? What are we going to do? Looking over both shoulders he was lucky to find that no other doctors were in the hallway to see what he was seeing. He couldn't believe it. Fear suddenly turned into rage. He walked up to her and grabbed her by the arm.

"Are you...? How could you? " He asked in a stressed out tone of voice.

Her face turned bright red as she met him eye to eye. "No, no. Greg, they're not for me."

"Who are they for then? A patient?"

"No. I can't tell you who."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, I'm not lying. I wouldn't lie to you."

"You've been known to tell a few lies in your day. I know you really want a family and everything but I clearly told you that I want to wait."

"And I am waiting! These aren't for me. You have to trust me, Greg."

He stared into her eyes. The eyes never lie. They tell the truth. And he could always find it. He looked into her green eyes. She glared right back at him.

"Listen. I am not pregnant. I am actually menstruating right now. You're a doctor, you should know that means I can't possibly be pregnant."

Her eyes were full of fear. Fear that he would be mad at her. Fear that he wouldn't trust her. House wasn't big on trusting another human being. His heart hadn't been broken many times, but when it had happened, it shattered. He didn't want this to be one of those times, so he figured the best thing to do would be to walk away, which he did. He just turned around and limped off to his office to think.

Cameron felt a sharp stab in her heart. Did he still not trust her? After all that they had been through? She just wished that he could forget about what Stacy did to him. Not all women were like her. Cameron definitely wasn't; she was convinced she could never leave him. The only thing that came out of his mouth on their first date that was the least bit true was that she did need him. But he reasons for that were completely opposite from those that he had given. He couldn't be fixed. He was himself. And she liked that. She wanted more than anything to chase after him, but she remembered that Cuddy was waiting for her in the bathroom. Cameron took a deep breath and walked the other direction.

He had spent the last two hours sitting in his office, staring out the window. House knew that she was telling the truth; that wasn't what bothered him. When he looked into her eyes, he saw fear. And that bothered him. Was she afraid of him? After all that they had been through? He would never intend to hurt her, so why was she afraid? Granted, most people were afraid of him. He was a tall, extremely intelligent man with a very sharp tongue, armed with a cane. Wouldn't you be a little tense around him? But Cameron was different…

"Greg?" He heard a familiar voice say from the doorway of his office. He slowly spun his chair around and stared at her without the slightest hint of emotion on his face.

"I'm not lying," she said.

"Well, I'm not ready to be a father. I thought I could trust you to stay on the pills."

"I'm still on the pills, and I will be until we are both ready. You can trust me. You have to."

"I do trust you."

"You seem mad."

"Well, you scared the shit out of me."

"I'm sorry."

He sighed. "Are you afraid of me?"

"Afraid of you? I was more embarrassed than anything else."

"I would never do anything to hurt you."

"I know," she said with a smile.

"Out of curiosity, who were the tests for?" He asked, changing the subject before things could get mushy.

"I can't tell you that. I promised her that I wouldn't tell until she got things sorted out."

"Tell me," he demanded.

"No," she snapped right back.

"Can you give me a hint?"

"No."

"Interesting. She isn't a patient. Does she work in the hospital?"

"Drop it!"

House jut had to know. He was after all, the most curious man on the planet. A female staff member who has probably been suffering from morning sickness. Cuddy! After catching them in the closet, she asked Cameron for help. Knowing his boss the way he did, he knew she was probably on the verge of a breakdown and needed a friend to talk to.

"What did you do in Cuddy's office today? Flip through Babies-R-Us Magazines looking for cute baby clothes?"

Nothing could get past him, could it? "None of your business. Come on, our shift is over. Let's go home."

"You're changing the subject."

"That's your department, if I'm not mistaken."

"Nice comeback. So tell me, were the tests positive? Is my buddy Cuddy going to have a little bundle of joy?"

Cameron walked into the diagnostics office to grab her things without saying a word. Cuddy trusted her not to say anything, so she wasn't. House had guessed it all by himself, without any help from her. That was the downside to being involved with a genius; sometimes they figure things out without you wanting them to.