Chapter 9

What Dr. Foreman saw had actually begun about twenty minutes prior to his interruption.

Cuddy had knocked on Wilson's office door late that Friday morning. The oncologist told her to come in. He was studying the papers on his desk so he did not immediately notice Cuddy's puffy eyes and saddened face. She walked into the room. Wringing her hands, she asked, "Do you want to get some lunch?"

His head rose in surprise. Cuddy has always been a bit of a mystery. In all these years at PPTH, he wasn't even sure she ate lunch. It was a date, he thought with excitement, but then he saw how pale she was. "Dr. Cuddy, is something wrong?" he asked.

She fell into the chair in front of him, lifting her hands to cover her face. Wilson could see that she was crying. "Dr. Cuddy?"

"He loves her, doesn't he?"

Cuddy had been so still that the question startled Wilson. Her stunning blue eyes looked desperately at him, waiting for an answer. Her peach lips turned into that frown of hers that always broke his heart. Wilson was pretty sure who she was talking about, but he was afraid that he was right. He did not want to be right. "Who?" he asked.

She looked as if she had lost a game that he was completely unaware of. "House," she murmured. "He loves Cameron."

His heart dropped. He was right, but he still played it as he would with his patients. Wilson was the master communicator. That was probably how he got three women to marry him, but he couldn't think about that now. "What makes you think so?" Wilson prodded.

Cuddy looked down at her designer shoes. In thirty-eight years she had collected a lot of shoes, but no people—at least none she could count as hers. "I went to check on him this morning," she answered solemnly. "I asked him how he was."

Wilson was failing to see the point. "So what happened?"

Cuddy replied, "House didn't even answer me. He just asked me if I had ever seen Foreman hitting on Cameron. When I told him I hadn't, he asked me if I had hit on Cameron." She looked mystified.

Wilson shrugged, saying, "He's always trying to get under your skin. I'm sure that…"

Cuddy shook her head vigorously. "No," she said. "He was dead serious this time. He loves her."

It wasn't a question, but Wilson answered her as he sighed. "Yes he does."

She broke out crying again. In between sobs, she squeaked, "I wanted him to be the father of my baby."

"What!" he cried. Thoughts zoomed through his mind. Did House know? Why hadn't he told him? What hurt the most was Wilson's lack of importance in this situation. It wasn't a date, he thought dejectedly. When he calmed down, he said quietly, "You love House."

Her tears cut off like someone had come and shut the tap off a water hose. "You think I love House?" she choked. "Hell, no. I just needed a donor."

Wilson could not hide his smile. She didn't love House. He put his hands to his mouth as he leaned towards her. "Why House?"

She stared at him for a few moments, debating whether she should be honest. Laying it all on the table, she said, "Because House is brilliant, formerly athletic, and not emotionally involved." She took a breath, then continued, "And I didn't think you would want to be the father."

His eyebrows rose as he shifted back in his chair. Vainly trying to pretend he was still calm, he asked, "Why? I love kids."

She nodded in agreement. "Exactly. You're the 2.4 kids with a dog sort of guy. You're a Commitment Man—until you cheat of course."

He flinched at her bluntness. "Is there a point or did you come to completely crucify me?" he asked.

Cuddy put her head back down and closed her eyes. "No," she answered quietly, "I just meant that I didn't think you would want to commit to me."

Wilson nearly stifled a laugh. "Are you serious?" he exclaimed. "You're beautiful, talented, hard-working. And if any woman can put up with House as long as you have, then I know you can certainly handle my baggage. I'm surprised House didn't tell you how disappointed I was that dinner wasn't a date."

Cuddy shook her head as if to clear it. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Wilson let out a gust of air. "Because I thought you wanted House," he sighed.

"Let Cameron have him. No one else will," she said jokingly.

They smiled at each other until they realized the implications of what just happened. At the same time, they stood up from their chairs and kissed over the desk. Wilson guided Cuddy around it, backing her towards the wall. As soon as her back touched it, his body came up next to hers as he caressed her neck with his hand.

Foreman opened the door wide, pausing in the doorway when he saw Dr. Cuddy and Dr. Wilson kissing. He noticed that they had begun to shuffle and remove clothing. His bottom lip dropped to say something but appropriate words could not be found. Cuddy's jaw had dropped considerably as well. She quickly turned her back to Foreman and straightened her outfit. When she was finished, she let her head fall onto the file cabinet next to her as she tried not to have a panic attack. Wilson shuffled from Cuddy to Foreman and back to Cuddy.

Foreman finally broke uncomfortable silence. Unfortunately, nothing he could do would make it any less uncomfortable. He smirked as he set his patient's file on Wilson's desk. "I'm just gonna leave that there." Foreman's tone was mockingly bright. "You can read that later."

Wilson waved a hand of acknowledgement at the other doctor. As Foreman turned to leave, House busted through. He had just been at Cameron's apartment and he needed some relief. He needed to talk to Wilson. House stopped so suddenly when he realized what was going on, he had swayed forward. "Well, this is just wrong," he said with a frown. "Seems every woman that wanted me last week has turned to another shoulder." Looking at Foreman for some camaraderie, he said, "No one can get shot around here. You wake up like Rip Van freakin' Winkle with no damn idea what's going on." He hmphed, but everything had been a dramatic show. He, too, turned to leave, but turned back to address Cuddy. "When you're not playing 'Seven Minutes of Heaven in an Office' with my best friend, I'd thought you'd like to know I'm coming back to work. Like now."

Cuddy finally came back to life. She protested, "House, you can't go back to work yet. It's too soon."

House clucked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "No, it's too soon to start clinic duty." He put one hand to his heart and used the other to wipe a fake tear. "That would just be much too stressful," he feigned and then became serious as he stared at Cuddy and Wilson. "I need to work."

Foreman departed and House followed, declaring, "You two can go back to fondling each other now. This is only a hospital. No lives need be saved here." He shut the door and headed for his office to forget his life at present.

TBC