Disclaimer: If I haven't owned them for the first twenty chapters...
Chapter Twenty One
The rest of December passed by in a flurry of activity, and January soon sent snow falling on the ground in New Jersey. Stacy was still working at the hospital, and House would make a face every time she walked by the diagnostics department. Cameron would scold him for it, and Chase and Foreman would laugh about the whole thing.
Rumors soon started circulating that there was something going on between Wilson and Cuddy. No one knew quite what… All they knew was that Wilson had stopped flirting with all of the nurses and was now spending most of his lunches in Cuddy's office. Cameron was betting that they were in a serious relationship. House jumped on the bandwagon with her. Foreman was wary about it, but he put in on House and Cameron's side. Chase bet against them, saying that Wilson and Cuddy were in an open relationship and that the two of them were both too obsessed with each other to treat it as such.
And patients came in, were treated, and were sent out within five days. There were the occasional tough cases, but nothing as overwhelming as what they'd had around Christmas. House and Cameron had settled into their soon-to-be-married life, and Chase and Foreman had finally become comfortable around the two of them, letting small touches and banter go over their heads.
Toward the end of January, Cuddy brought a case into the team and slapped it down on the table. "Fifteen year old girl with multiple sites of lipoma."
"Shouldn't this be going to Wilson?" Chase asked, chewing on a pencil.
"Not lymphoma, lipoma," House said, rolling his eyes and smacking Chase upside the head. "Growth of fat cells to cause a harmless lump." He looked to Cuddy. "What else?"
"Supraventricular tachycardia and increased appetite with increased weight loss."
"At fifteen?" House asked. "How much does she weigh?"
Foreman checked the file. "She weighed one hundred forty pounds at her last doctor's appointment, which was two weeks ago. She now weighs… Damn."
"She now weighs?" House pressed.
"Fifteen pounds less."
"So she's anorexic. This case is boring."
"Explain the supraventricular tachycardia," Cuddy challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Since she's anorexic, her heart rate is going to go crazy trying to keep her metabolism running. Cuddy, this case is a breeze," he complained, tapping his cane on the ground. "Can I go get lunch now?"
"She's stopped having her periods," Cameron said as she read through the file. "Started them when she was nine."
"Again. Anorexia. I really am starving here… Heh. Ironic."
"There's more," Cameron snapped authoritatively. "She claims to be too hot."
House frowned. "It's the middle of January."
"She says it's too hot. Her family's been complaining," Cuddy supplied. "She keeps the air on in her room. Her family keeps the heating at seventy degrees and she says it's just too hot for her."
House snatched up the file. "You see, you take so long to get to the interesting things that I still have to take lunch before I get to it," he told Cuddy, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "You really should know better." He looked to Chase. "Write the symptoms on the board. I can read your handwriting and you don't have loopy, girly G's. We'll go for the differential when I get back."
As he left the room, Cuddy stormed after him. "You are a doctor, right? I didn't misread that 'MD' after your name when I hired you?"
"I recall getting a degree in medicine about twenty years ago," he responded with a roll of his eyes.
"Then get back in there and do your job. I hired you to save patients' lives, not make them wait until you grab lunch."
House stopped and turned to face Cuddy. "Is she currently at risk of dying? Like, right now, is she going to croak?"
"No, but that isn't-"
"That is the point," he cut her off. "There is absolutely nothing I can do for her until we get a diagnosis on her. That includes a patient history, a differential session, and at least three discussions with her parents, where I'll be lied to. I'm sure that either Foreman or Cameron is already getting the history, and the parents can lie to them once. That leaves only three things for me to do. Can I go get lunch now?"
Cuddy frowned and stormed off.
"I'll take that as a yes!" he called after her.
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The end of the day came much slower than House would have liked. Cameron kept giving him sexy looks, and it was driving him nuts. He couldn't tell if she was doing it because she wanted some, or if she was doing it to piss him off. Either way, he was pretty sure they'd be having sex when they got home, so he wasn't too worried about it.
They'd begun treating the patient for hyperthyroidism, though he had the sneaking suspicion that she didn't actually have it. She wasn't anorexic, either. They had to be missing something.
Cameron stuck her head into his office and leaned in slightly. "Lynn's responding to the treatment," she informed him. "I'm off to get dinner. Do you want anything?"
"Come in here real quick," he said, nodding for her to come to his desk. She did so, thinking he had something he wanted to share about the case. She'd been fooled. He kicked his left foot out to trip her so that she fell forward, catching herself on the arms of his chair.
"House, are you out of your-"
He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers to shut her up. By this point, he didn't give a damn who saw. His hand traveled to the back of her neck to hold her to him as he kissed her slowly. "If you … continue … to give me the 'I want sex' looks…" He nipped at her bottom lip and was rewarded with a whimper. "I'm going to have to either force you to leave early or find a convenient broom closet." He sat back and admired his handiwork. Cameron was struggling to control her breathing, still holding onto the arms of his chair. "Capiche?"
"Got it," she murmured, moving away from his chair. She cleared her throat and looked away from him to gather her thoughts, which made him smirk. "So…" Another clearing of her throat. "Did you want anything for dinner?"
"Besides you?" he asked innocently. "No, I'm good. I'll eat when we get home." He winked at her as she left the office and, once she was gone, put his legs up, his arms behind his head, and sighed contentedly. He could definitely get used to this. His attention was drawn to the door, where Wilson soon came in.
"Got a minute?" he asked.
"I've got lots of minutes. My phone company tells me that I have over two thousand," he responded, putting his arms down. "What's up?"
"I need your advice… And if you give me sarcasm, I'm telling your fiancé."
"Ouch. That's blackmail, Jimmy."
"Well, I need an insightful House instead of a bitchy House, so deal with it," Wilson replied with a smile. "I think I might be hopping on your horse."
House raised an eyebrow and looked at Wilson oddly. "I don't own a horse. They don't really go well with cripples. We tend to fall off a lot." Wilson rolled his eyes and readjusted himself by fidgeting and moving his lab coat. Something big was up, and House could tell. His eyes narrowed. "The rumors are true, aren't they?" he asked slowly. "You've been dating Cuddy."
"Yes…"
"If you're thinking about marrying her-"
"No," Wilson said sincerely. "No way."
House sat back and waited patiently for an actual response. It had to do with Wilson and with Cuddy, and that was all he knew. Well this was going to be fun.
"You know she's been trying to get pregnant."
"And…?"
"I … was going to be a donor…"
House gave Wilson a look that said he obviously thought his best friend was beyond stupid. "Aren't you sleeping with her?"
"House-"
"All you have to do is get rid of the condom, Jimmy. I swear to God… How the hell did you graduate med school? That's basic stuff."
"House, shut up for a minute, okay?" Wilson huffed, looking nervous and tense. "We did sack the condoms. She's…"
"Oh, man… You knocked up Cuddy!" House exclaimed with a laugh. "That's awesome."
"Shut up!" Wilson exclaimed with an awkward grin. "I don't know what to do. She's really happy about it. She doesn't want marriage, either, and that's fine. But I mean… It's a kid, House."
"It's your kid, Jimmy." He studied his friend with a smirk. "Ha! I get married and you have a kid. It's so perfect."
Wilson laughed and scratched the back of his neck. "It's … weird. Knowing that I'm going to be a father."
"It is weird to know that you're going to be a daddy. Thank God it's not me," he joked, tossing a ball into the air.
"I thought Allison wanted kids?"
"She does. We're not actively trying," he said with a shrug. "We're not even married yet, Jim. Duh."
Wilson rolled his eyes. "You're so mature…"
"Everyone loves my maturity level." Chase walked into the office after that statement, and House nodded to him. "Chase thinks my maturity level is beyond compare. Don't you, Chase?"
"It's beyond something," he replied. "Lynn's condition has stabilized and Foreman pulled the short straw to stay for the night. I'm heading out."
"See you tomorrow," House replied with a nod. "Be sure to tell Foreman that if something goes wrong and he calls me, I will not hesitate to kill him."
Chase smirked. "I'll relay the message."
House turned to Wilson and sighed. "I love my ducklings," he said happily. "They're like dogs… Only better listeners."
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House had kept to his promise and grabbed something for dinner when he and Cameron got home. Cameron went to the couch and pulled a few magazines out of her bag. House sat next to her and saw that she was looking at bridal magazines. "Looking for a dress?" he asked before taking a bite of the leftover Partan Bree that Cameron had made a few nights ago.
"Mmhmm," she replied. "I have no idea what I want… I just know that I want it to look nice. Something … flowy."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Flowy?" he asked. "What the hell is 'flowy,' anyway?"
Cameron laughed and nudged him lightly. "It just has to sit right. I don't know how to describe it."
"Obviously," House responded with a small laugh. He took one of the magazines and flipped through it as he ate. "I like this one." He tossed the magazine down on the table, opened to the page that he'd been looking at, and finished his dinner.
The dress that he'd set in front of Cameron was made of satin and lace. It was sleeveless and had a two foot train in the back. There was a pattern of flowers at the bust that worked its way around the dress, with thorns sticking out of the vines. There was no denying that it was a gorgeous dress. But something about it didn't sit right with her. Probably that huge train.
"It's pretty," she said honestly. "But I don't think it's right."
"It's a dress, Allison."
"How many times are we going to get married, Greg?"
"Once," House mumbled, setting his bowl on the table.
"Then it has to be perfect the first time, doesn't it?" She curled her legs under her and flipped through the magazine in her hand. "We need to talk about invitations and flowers and the caterer, still," she informed him. "And the band." She looked at him and cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "Do we want a band or a DJ?"
"Allison," he said with a small laugh. "It's January. The wedding isn't for another five months."
"If we get things locked in now, we won't have to worry about them later," she pointed out, flipping through the magazine again. "We do have to pick where we're going to have it, though. And we need to reserve it before March, just to be safe. I want to get our first choice."
He smirked and kissed her on the cheek before taking his bowl to the kitchen and rinsing it. "We'll talk about a place to have it on Sunday, when neither of us has work on the brain. Sound good?"
"Sounds great," she told him with a smile. Things were shaping up quite nicely for the two of them, and neither of them could be happier. Cameron would show it, and everyone would know that she was ecstatic about the whole thing. House would keep it inside; something just for himself. But no one would mistake the fact that they were, indeed, elated.