Author's notes: To sapphire rose gem stone: Of course there is more! This story has a point. I might acutally get to it in a chapter or two! Seriously... we are getting close to the moment when poor Allison and Greg will have to face their worst fears. Don't worry, I promise not to hurt them too much!

Jackie W.

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Despite their earlier teasing, dinner that night was a quiet affair. Eventually Allison decided to break the silence.

"You know I was just kidding about having a second baby, don't you? I'm not sure how well I'm going to cope with one," she told Greg. "You should have seen your face, though. It was priceless," she teased.

"Glad to know I entertain you," House gripped.

Allison could tell there was still something bothering him. "You're not going to make me play twenty questions are you? What's wrong?"

"You know I don't want to get married, right? This baby hasn't changed my mind," he assured her.

Allison sighed. She wished people would learn to stay out of her business. "I know. And I told you I wasn't looking for a wedding ring. I'd be lying if I told you that the baby didn't make me feel a bit more insecure, but I'm certainly not looking to jump into marriage."

"Insecure how?" he questioned quickly picking up on the part of her statement that he thought proved his point.

"Well, for example, say tomorrow you were to go to the store and some maniac runs a red light, and god forbid kills you because we both know that car of yours would offer no protection. Who would get this townhouse?" Allison asked.

"The bank," House frowned, not liking where this was going.

"Right, and they would probably give me a month or two to get out. Who would get whatever equity you have? Your life insurance, and your retirement fund? I'm assuming they would go to your mother or sister, right?" she pointed out.

House was silent. How could he tell her it was even worse than she imagined.

"Unless you have a will," Allison said with narrowed eyes. "Do you?"

House nodded unable to meet her eyes.

"Who's in your will?" she asked her suspicion growing. When he didn't say anything she had her answer. Stacy.

He watched as the emotions flew across her features. He waited for the anger to sink-in. What happened instead made him feel like a real bastard. Allison paled, sank down onto the couch and literally withdrew into herself. Finally she took a deep unsteady breath.

"I guess I had a reason to feel insecure after all," she whispered. Then as if shaking herself from a trance she rose and turned towards the bedroom. "I'm going to call it an early night."

House watched her enter the bedroom and close the door. He wasn't at all surprised when he heard the lock engage.

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The next morning there was a note on the bedroom door telling him she was calling in sick. Since he had spent an uncomfortable night on the couch barely closing his eyes he had to wonder how she had gotten it there without him seeing or hearing her. A part of him wanted to knock the door down and beg forgiveness. A larger part knew that he needed to take the time to fix the problem and let her have some space.

Later that day after everyone he'd ever met had stopped in to see if Allison was all right after hearing she'd not been feeling well, he knocked on Cuddy's door to tell her he was leaving for an appointment.

"I was just about to call Allison to see how she was feeling," Cuddy commented.

"I just talked to her," House lied. "She was about to head back to bed for a nap. But the good news is she hasn't thrown up since I left this morning. Hopefully this bout of morning sickness won't linger," he said.

After dissuading Cuddy from calling home (It was the least he could do for Allison) he headed off to the lawyers. He'd known he was going to be a father for two months. It was about time he grew up and accepted the fact, especially since it was his fault in the first place.

He had no clue what to expect when he got home, he was just relieved to see that Allison hadn't packed up and moved out. There was note on the counter requesting that he wake her up when he arrived. With a sigh he entered the bedroom and got ready to grovel if necessary. He allowed himself a moment to just study her as she peacefully slept. Pregnancy really did agree with her. Even the morning sickness, which they had conveniently blamed for her day off today, had been mild overall. And she had filled out just enough that she no longer appeared like a good strong wind would blow her away. She was curvy and sexy as hell.

Finally he gently woke her. When her eyes opened she blinked several times to focus before speaking.

"Chinese," she stated softly.

"What?" he asked in amusement thinking she was still in the midst of a dream.

"I want Chinese for dinner," she told him.

"I'll go order," he said shaking his head at her odd way of waking up.

As he closed the door behind him a now alert Allison added loudly, "Don't forget the Barbequed Pork Fried Rice!"

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He was just getting off the phone when she emerged. Hair tumbling down, with no makeup on she looked about sixteen, and made him feel old and lecherous. To cover the desire that was rising quickly he blurted out the first thing that came to his head.

"I wasn't sure you would still be here," he confessed.

"Neither was I," she admitted with a sigh.

"Why are you?" he asked in confusion. He couldn't really believe she was letting what happened yesterday go.

"Three reasons really," she explained. "The first is that running away wouldn't have resolved anything."

"And the other two?" he encouraged her.

"Well, I know it's entirely possible that I might have over-reacted a bit. It's not as if you cheated on me. I blame the hormones," she acknowledged.

"Actually once I thought about it I came to the conclusion that you were very restrained. It is totally unforgivable that I would put you in a position like that with no financial support. I spent the afternoon at my lawyer's rectifying the situation," he told her. "He mentioned that after the baby is born you should come in too. We will need to stipulate guardians for junior in case you are with me when the maniac blows through the red light.

Allison nodded. "Good point. And thank you."

"So are we ok?" House asked.

"We will be. There was another reason why I stayed, and it's something we need to work on together. After I thought about it for a while I couldn't really blame you for not thinking about our child's future when I haven't really been either. I think I was afraid of freaking you out if I started in on long-term plans, and that is just not acceptable," she concluded.

"No it's not. I'm not going to freak out," he promised. "I did when you first told me, but I got over it. That's not to say that I'm ready to be dragged through aisle after aisle of baby things," he warned.

The visual made Allison hide a grin just like he knew it would.

"However sitting in the lawyer's office today a thought did occur to me," House continued. "We should start looking for a new place to live. Maybe a nice three or four bedroom ranch with a back yard," he suggested.

Allison's eyes grew wide. "You want to buy a house?" she asked in surprise.

"Well this place is barely big enough for the two of us," he pointed out. "And the nearest decent park is almost a mile away."

"You want to buy a house," she repeated again in wonder. Before she could stop herself she'd burst into tears.

House looked at her in total confusion. What had he done wrong now? He thought she would like the idea. Then it finally dawned on him.

"Hormones?" he asked handing her a Kleenex.

She nodded and took a deep breath trying to control her outburst.

"Good tears?" he verified.

She nodded again and reached for more tissue as she gave a final sniffle. Just then the doorbell rang, and for the next several minutes Greg was occupied with paying for their dinner. By the time he had shut the door Allison had carried the food into the kitchen and was busy getting out plates, already nibbling on an egg roll. Other that a bit of red lingering you would never know that she'd been in tears moments before.

House couldn't help but think that although he'd come to accept the fact that they were having a baby without freaking out, it was really the pregnancy and one pregnant woman in particular that he should be afraid of.

Very afraid.

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TBC