Amazing Grace- A House/NCIS story

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything House related except DVDs. Ryan is mine, though.

Chapter twenty-four

As New Jersey entered July, Cameron became more uncomfortable by the day, with being so heavily pregnant and with the heat, so it was somewhat of a relief she and House had decided not to get married until after the baby was born. Cuddy and House had insisted on her starting her maternity leave already, but when she went into false labor three times in a week, she would spend her days in the cooler hospital anyway, watching House's television in a corner of the conference room. It was late July, and she was eating cookies and cream ice cream and watching Bewitched re-runs, when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

She answered cheerfully, for once mildly comfortable.

"Allison?"

"Hey, Mattie. What's up?" she asked brightly.

Her brother sighed. "Allie… Dad had a heart attack."

Cameron sat straight up, her face pale. "What? When? What happened?"

"He was working in the fields with Regan and Tom, and he just collapsed apparently. It happened this morning… it's pretty bad squirt."

Cameron tried to remain calm. "Ok, where is he? We'll catch the next flight out. Who's his doctor?"

"Squirt, you don't have to," Matt began, and his sister angrily interrupted him.

"I don't' have to? Matt, he's my Dad! I'm not going to sit here and knit booties!"

"Good, because you can't knit. Allison, listen. He's coming to New Jersey."

Cameron was startled. "What?"

"He asked to be transferred to PPTH. He said he wants to be there when you have the baby, and Dr. Harmon said it was okay. He'll be there in a few hours. We're all on our way out."

"Oh, okay," she said shakily.

"Allie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Mattie?"

"Yeah, squirt?"

Cameron's voice was tiny as she asked her brother the hardest question. "He's not going to make it, is he?"

Matt hesitated. "No, hon. But he's not gone yet, he's still strong."

"Ok. See you soon," she said hoarsely and hung up.

Cameron pushed away her half-eaten ice cream, and stared at the phone. She suddenly realized, this was the same phone that her mother had called with the news about her friends in Iraq, and that Jacqui had called her on when Henry first left her, and that Andrew had called and said he was shipping out again.

House caught up with Chase and Foreman outside the patient's room, and they walked together into the conference room. They came to a sudden stop, as they saw Cameron unplugging the phone fiercely.

"Uh, Allison? What are you doing?" House asked her cautiously.

"Unplugging the phone," she mumbled, not looking up.

"Why?"

"Because. The only phone calls I ever get on this phone are bad news. So, I'm getting rid of it."

House frowned, and Chase and Foreman exchanged worried looks. "Al, what are you talking about?"

She sighed impatiently, and turned to face her fiancée. "When Jacqui found out Henry was cheating on her, every time Andrew gets shipped out, when Ryan and the others went missing, every bad phone call has come from this phone. And now, Matt calls…"

Here, she stifled a sob and a worried House stepped forward to grab her arms. "Whoa, whoa. Why did Matt call? What happened?"

"My- my Dad had a heart attack," she whispered as she began to cry in his arms, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Well, he'll be okay," he said soothingly, but she shook her head in protest.

"No, no he won't. It's bad, and he's had heart problems before, that's why he left the Navy. He's… he's not gonna make it, but he's coming here because he wants to be there when I have the baby… he's hanging on for this baby, and I've only got two weeks left, and he's hanging on so he can see her…" she was rambling through her tears, and House sighed heavily and led her to a chair.

"Foreman, get her some water. Chase, call Cuddy, find out when Ted's getting here."

The boys ran off to do his bidding, and Cameron wiped her eyes. "My Dad's dying," she whispered to House hoarsely and his heart broke.

"I know. But not yet," he told her firmly, as Foreman returned with the water.

"No, he's got two weeks," Cameron replied bitterly.

Chase arrived then, with the news Nina and Ted would be there within the hour. Cameron's face had some color by then, and had calmed somewhat but was still shaking and House was worried she would send herself into labor.

"Allison, you have to calm down, okay?"

"What do you know, you hate your dad!" she snapped at him, brushing away his arms and standing up.

House took a deep breath and stood up also. "Yes, but that's not what I mean. Stress isn't good for the baby, and your Dad isn't going to be happy if he gets here and finds you upset."

"He's my Dad. Aren't I supposed to be upset?" she asked him.

"Of course. I'm reminding you that stress is bad for Mommy and Baby."

Cameron sighed, realizing he was right, and nodded slightly. "Yeah, ok."

House deemed it safe to approach her and massaged her shoulder comfortingly. "I know you and your dad are close, but at least you'll get to say goodbye. And he gets to see the baby."

"I don't want to have to say goodbye," she whispered, leaning back into his embrace.

"I know."

"Is this where you quote Jagger again, with 'you can't always get what you want'?" Cameron asked him warily.

"Normally yes," House agreed. "But that won't help me."

"No," she smiled.

The two stood by the office window in silence until Chase appeared in the doorway to tell them Ted had arrived in the ER.

"Thanks, Chase," she said faintly, and he smiled encouragingly at her and left.

"Do you want me to come?" House asked her as she pulled away.

Cameron paused and shook her head. "Not just yet." She waved a hand towards the desk. "Maybe you should plug the phone back in."

House grinned. "Yeah, okay."

Cameron hesitated again in the doorway and turned to face him. "You're right, Greg. You can't always get what you want."

"No," House answered softly, meeting her gaze. "But sometimes, you can get what you need."

The couple exchanged a private smile before Cameron took a deep breath and went to meet her parents. Seeing her father, pale and weak in a hospital bed was somehow easier than Cameron had expected, but she later reflected that was only because she had built up an image in her head that was so much worse. Ted was still in great spirits, and as the rest of his children arrived, save Andrew who was still on his way, after getting emergency leave, his morale improved.

However, it was perfectly clear he was clinging on to see his new granddaughter, and Cameron had never dreaded giving birth more as the days slowly passed. There was an old wives tale that first babies always arrived late, and Cameron was putting all her hope into that myth, as though it might save her father. Andrew arrived three days later after Ted's admission, and there was nothing for the family to do but wait. Nina seemed to have accepted her husband's fate, and was a tower of strength for her children.

"Part of me doesn't want her to come out," Cameron confessed to her mother and Sophie as they took a lunch break from sitting by Ted's side.

"Are you nervous about giving birth? Because it's honestly not that bad," Sophie smiled at her younger sister.

"I'm not worried about the birth," Cameron shook her head. "But once she's here…"

"You have to say goodbye to your dad," Nina finished softly.

"Yeah."

Nina leaned forward and grasped her daughter's hand. "Honey, you can't keep him here. Not as a doctor, or a daughter. You know that."

"Inside I do. But right now, I'm a very emotional pregnant woman who doesn't want her dad to die."

Cameron sighed heavily. "On the other hand, I am so uncomfortable! I am very much looking forward to not having to pee every ten minutes!"

Nina and Sophie grinned knowingly as she stood up and headed for the bathroom.

Cameron's due date came and went. The day she was due, she seemed to be back to her chipper old self and even left the hospital for the afternoon to go shopping with her sisters and sisters in law. One day after her due date, she was slightly less cheerful and had a series of Braxton-Hicks contractions for two hours. Two days after, she didn't talk to House for the entire day after he made fun of her for crying during a Kleenex commercial which featured two adorable golden Labrador puppies, and then House found her in the living room at two in the morning rearranging the furniture. Three days after her due date, she sent House out five times within the space of an hour and a half for different cravings, snapped at House, Chase and Foreman, spent all afternoon being violently sick and then watched all three Lord of the Rings films in a row in House's office, the TV up full volume.

"Please, please, please tell me this baby has to come soon!" House begged Nina and she and Cuddy entered the conference room that evening.

Nina shot a glance into the other room, and smiled to see her exhausted daughter asleep in House's armchair, The Return of the King still blaring, and in a very uncomfortable position.

"The fact she was cleaning yesterday is a good sign, is means she's resting. It won't be long now."

"And the fact she spent all afternoon vomiting? Not to mention the fact that what she was vomiting was all the assortments of food I was forced to get between five-thirty and seven this morning."

Cuddy glared at him. "You're such a drama queen! What did she make you get?"

House cleared his throat, and pulled a crumpled old envelope out of his pocket. "She made me write them down so I would get it right," he explained.

"Ok, at 5.33, I was sent for 'rocky road ice-cream and nuts.' At 5.57, when I had bought and prepared said dish, and she had taken four mouthfuls already, she suddenly remembered that she doesn't like rocky road, or nuts; and decided she would rather have some 'lasagna- not the cheap brand'. She actually ate half the lasagna, until 6.19 when she became aware that pasta contains carbs and swells her ankles until they look like, and I quote "giant packets of raw cookie dough." At 6.21, she decided she would like some of that aforementioned cookie dough, with chocolate chips. Shoprite didn't have that cookie dough, so I was forced to go to a little general store in Trenton, wake up the guy who owns the place, and pay twice what I would have paid at Shoprite. Finally, at 6.49, she felt like a fortune cookie. Not Chinese food, not a packet of fortune cookies, but one fortune cookie. Of course, at 6.50 in the morning, there are no Chinese restaurants open that give away complimentary cookies that I could have taken. So, I was sent back to Shoprite and now have an open pack of fortune cookies in the cupboard under the sink."

Nina and Cuddy stifled a laugh, but failed. "Sorry, House," Cuddy chuckled.

House wasn't finished now that he had an audience. "It gets worse. She then spent approximately seventeen minutes in hysterical tears, because her fortune read 'Sometimes the hardest things to see are what's right under our nose' and she interpreted that as 'ha ha ha… you can't see your feet because you're so fat.'"

"Awww, poor baby," Nina murmured, gazing again to look at her daughter.

House made a doubtful grumbling noise in his throat, and got up to get more coffee. "At least Wilson's making the coffee, now that Allison… I was going to say can't , but it's more like she won't…" he trailed off thoughtfully as he poured.

"Yes, that's the important thing, who's making the better quality coffee while your fiancée is on maternity leave," Cuddy said sarcastically.

House made a face at her, then the office door opened and the three turned to see Cameron entering the room.

"Hey, Mom, Lisa. Hi, honey," she said brightly, addressing them and making her way over.

House looked surprised at her sudden mood swing and decided to approach cautiously. "Hi. Did you sleep okay?"

"I slept, that's enough," she replied. She put an arm around his waist and leaned into him. "Can you take me home? I'm not feeling well again."

"Sure," he agreed quickly, draining his coffee mug.

"Wait, you have clinic duty!" Cuddy called after him as he began steering her towards the door.

House turned with an indignant look upon his face. "Excuse me, Dr. Cuddy, I think the health of my pregnant fiancée and my unborn daughter comes before clinic duty. See you tomorrow!"

Cuddy sighed as they left, not seeing the point in arguing with her diagnostician. Cameron felt better once they arrived home and she was back in her pajamas, watching cartoons on TV.

"Do you want something to eat?" House asked her warily after awhile, and she smiled sweetly at him.

"No thanks, hon. Maybe later."

As the sky darkened, Cameron felt twinges in her back and stomach again, and recognized them as more Braxton-Hicks contractions. Wincing, she stood up slowly and took a deep breath.

"Are you okay, Allie?" he asked her, glancing up from the TV.

She nodded faintly. "Yeah, I'm gonna go lie down for awhile."

She did so, and lay on the bed concentrating on breathing deeply. However, she soon felt restless and began to pace the room edgily, rubbing her lower back repeatedly. Suddenly, Cameron froze as the doctor in her kicked in, triumphing over the mother. Nervously, and mentally kicking herself for not noticing earlier, she made her way slowly back to the living room and found House asleep on the couch, the clock on the TV reading 1.03 am.

"Greg?" she said faintly, and her voice came out croakily.

"Greg?" she called again, stronger this time, and House stirred.

"Greg!"

House sat up immediately, his eyes bleary. "Hmm… I'm up!"

Cameron's eyes were wide as she gripped the back of the couch, as a shooting pain grabbed her.

"Greg, I don't think this is Braxton-Hicks," she gasped.

He stared at her unmoving for a moment then realized what she was saying. "What? Are you sure?"

"Nearly. It feels right," she replied.

Still half asleep, House jumped up and ran to the front closet to grab the bag Cameron had packed two weeks ago, never more thankful that his limp was now no longer slowing him down.

"Ok then, let's go. I'll call Dr. Martin on the way," he rambled, grabbing her hand and leading her to outside, his grip like an iron first around her wrist.

House drove as fast as he dared to PPTH, although Cameron wouldn't let him use any of his 'shortcuts' as he liked to call them, mainly because they were actually nearly twice as long by using all the back streets to avoid stop lights. Only when Cameron was settled in her room, in bed and in between contractions would she allow House to call Nina at the hotel her family was staying at.

By the time her mother arrived, Cameron estimated she had already been in labor for about eight hours, and she was already exhausted.

"Mom, how long is it going to take?" she panted, as Nina smoothed her hair back comfortingly, as House went to get ice chips.

Nina pondered the question thoughtfully. "Well, eight hours in… three centimeters dilated… it could be anywhere from two to twelve hours honey."

"I am so glad I'm getting an epidural," Cameron moaned, collapsing onto her pillow.

Nina chuckled lightly. "I was in labor with you for only seven hours, you know."

"Mom, that was your sixth kid!"

"That has nothing to do with it, and you know that Allie."

Cameron nodded grudgingly. "Yeah. Who was the longest?"

"Oh, definitely Matt. I was in labor for thirty-six hours with him, and near the end I thought I was going to die, and I swore to myself and your father that we were never having any more after him."

"And then you had four more," Cameron laughed.

Nina shrugged. "I wanted a girl."

"Then you would have stopped after Sophie," she replied pointedly.

Her mother nodded and smiled fondly. "Yeah. Your Dad always said we were waiting for you before we stopped."

"That he'd pre-ordered me when you got married and were waiting for the angels to deliver," Cameron finished, her throat suddenly choked with tears as she remembered the story her father had so often told her in her childhood.

"Even from the start, you were such a daddy's girl," Nina continued softly.

Luckily for Cameron, before she could break down in tears, House returned. He handed Cameron the ice chips and switched on the TV, flicked through the channels and switched it off again.

"There's nothing on TV at two in the morning!" he complained.

Cameron grimaced as another contraction hit. "In- in my bag… the second compartment…"

Bewildered, House looked where she instructed him too, and he grinned suddenly.

"Allison Cameron, I love you!" he cried, pulling out the portable DVD player she had packed for him.

"I kinda guessed," she replied sarcastically, wincing in pain.

House graciously allowed Cameron to pick the movie, and she picked one of their favorites, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, but she couldn't concentrate on the film; which was why she had only packed films she had seen a million times before.

By the end of the movie, Cameron was seven centimeters dilated, and it was now just after five am.

"Hey, at this rate we could have the kid before everyone turns up for work!" House said brightly, checking his watch.

"Yeah, we can get the early bird special on the best crib in the nursery," Cameron retorted through gritted teeth.

"Atta girl!" he cheered her on, but was silenced by her glare. "Ok, Allison, I've told you before… you do know you can't really pierce me with your glares, right?"

She ignored him and closed her eyes. As the sun rose and the hospital began to come to life, Cameron was rushed to delivery, House by her side. And at 9.26 am, their daughter was brought into the world. As she was swaddled in a blanket and placed in her mother's arms, she let out her first cry; and Cameron burst into happy tears.

"She's so tiny!" she choked to House, who appeared a little teary himself.

"She's perfect," he whispered, reaching out to stroke her and she grabbed out with a tiny, perfectly formed fist and grabbed his index finger.

"Has she got a name?" the nurse asked the couple, smiling at the new family.

"No, not yet," House replied shortly.

"I didn't have a name for three days," Cameron told him, picking up on his expression. "We'll find one, relax."

"I'm not worried," he replied, kissing the top of her head softly. "I love you, Allie."

She smiled up at him softly. "I love you too."

Then they both turned in silence to gaze at their daughter.