A/N: Hey, sorry about leaving that little cliffie! It honestly wasn't my intention, but I came down with a little bug and haven't been able to post new chaps. So anyway, I'd really like it if people would review. It makes me so happy, especially when I'm not feeling well. (Pathetically begging for sympathy reviews)

Chapter 27

"Stop squirming," Cameron scolded, as she tried to numb the area above House's right eyebrow for the stitches he would need. With one hand occupied with the syringe and the other holding a compress over his wound she was unable to also hold his head still.

House was agitated, to say the least. He hadn't lost consciousness when he'd hit his head on Wilson's desk, but things had been fuzzy for a minute or so. Luckily for Wilson, it was long enough for Cameron to usher him out of the office while Cuddy tended to House. Cameron had gotten Wilson to the diagnostics office and commanded Foreman not to let the oncologist out of his sight. Foreman and Jasper had overheard the scuffle, and despite the fact that Foreman couldn't really fault Wilson for taking a swing at House, he had no desire to deal with House's mood if an all-out brawl between them ensued.

"House," Cameron reprimanded him again. "If you don't sit still I'm going to start without any anesthetic and I intend to stitch my initials into your forehead. Now stop squirming!"

"I don't need any stitches," House grumbled, but he sat still enough for Cameron to give him the shot he needed.

"Yes, you do," Cameron insisted. She began stitching the wound above his eyebrow. It wasn't overly large, but required five stitches just the same. "I could have gotten a plastic surgeon down here for this."

"Right, because I'm far too handsome to let just any doctor work on this gorgeous face," House quipped. "Besides, chicks dig scars."

"So true," Cameron answered. "Between this and the cane I can barely stop myself from jumping you right now." She finished the last stitch, and took off her gloves. She cleaned the area and covered it with a small bandage. She then leaned forward and kissed House's eyebrow ever so gently.

"Told you," House gloated. "Chicks can't resist the scars." He heaved himself off the table in Exam Room 2, where Cuddy had taken him once he was able to walk without tipping over. Grabbing his cane, he made for the door before Cameron put a restraining hand on his arm.

"Where are you going? Looking to start round 2 already?" Cameron asked.

"I thought you hated sports metaphors?" House asked her. She held firmly onto his arm. House made an exasperated face. "I'm not going to hurt him."

"Sure. I know you just intended to start a pillow fight when you pinned him to the wall with your cane," Cameron chided. "House, I don't know exactly what's going on, but what I do know is it's between Jimmy and Lisa. They're in her office right now. Besides, if you're right, and I don't think you are, Lisa should have the first crack at him."

House looked at her thoughtfully, and then nodded. He sat down on the rolling chair and began tapping his cane on the floor. He'd wait.

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Wilson and Cuddy sat opposite each other in Cuddy's office. The door was locked and the blinds drawn to ensure their privacy. Wilson stared at the floor between his feet while Cuddy stared intently at the top of his head. Neither was willing to speak first, and the tension was palpable. Finally, exasperated and near tears again, Cuddy dislodged the pillow from behind her back and threw it at him.

Struck by a foreign object for the second time in less than an hour, the pillow albeit much softer than House's cane, Wilson snapped. He half expected this sort of behavior from House, but Cuddy?

"How could you do it, Lisa?" Wilson asked, his voice thick with emotion.

"How could I?" Cuddy gasped. "You're angry with me? That's unbelievable. You really have been friends with House for too long."

"Oh give me a break," Wilson retorted, standing up and gesturing wildly. "You deliberately went behind my back and had that amnio test after I told you I didn't care. Do you really think so little of me? Did you think I wasn't serious?"

"That had nothing to do with it, and you know it!" Cuddy shouted, also standing. "It may have escaped your attention, James, but I am the one who is pregnant here. And if I decide that I want to know who the biological father of my child is, then I have every right to find out!"

Wilson opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped. He took a deep breath, and released it while running his hand through his hair and then across the back of his neck. He paced in a small circle and visibly composed himself before replying.

"Fine. You're right. You have every right to know who the father of your baby is. But I didn't want to know. We discussed it, and I made my decision quite clear. To have you come to me just days later and announce that you have the amnio results and we need to talk is just throwing it in my face that you don't trust me." Wilson paused in his speech, used to having such ridiculous conversations about overstepping boundaries with House. He fully expected to be able to continue.

Cuddy, however, was not House. While House might have patiently, or impatiently, waited for Wilson to finish his tirade before answering with some cryptic and only have decipherable remark, Cuddy jumped in with both feet.

"How does this show that I don't trust you? That doesn't even make sense," Cuddy demanded.

"You don't trust me to stand by you. You thought as soon as I found out the baby wasn't mine, that I'd run," Wilson exclaimed, now pacing between Cuddy's desk and the door.

"The baby is yours, you stupid jerk!" Cuddy screamed.

Wilson stopped, stunned. He looked at Cuddy, and Cuddy looked back. They stared at each other for the longest moment of Cuddy's life before Wilson charged across the room and grabbed her. He pulled her into arms and kissed her frantically. She kissed him back, unable to remember the last time she felt so relieved and happy and almost out control. They slid to the floor and made love with an abandon that neither had ever experienced. It was as though the rest of the world simply ceased to exist, and only they were left to completely fill the universe with their pleasure.

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Patience is a virtue, or so the saying goes. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of House's. After waiting a mere 15 minutes in the clinic exam room, he could sit no longer. He artfully gave Cameron the slip, claiming a fierce need to use the Men's room once they'd entered the hallway, and doubled back to check on Cuddy and Wilson.

House stood as quietly as possible in the area just outside Cuddy's office. The blinds were drawn, and he suspected the door was locked as well. That wasn't a problem, of course, it would just make his entrance less dramatic. He'd long ago stolen Cuddy's keys to make himself a copy, but unlocking the door would make some noise and they'd know he was coming too soon. House decided a little reconnaissance was in order. He edged closer to the door, nearly pressing his ear against the glass to try to hear what was going on.

For two people who were theoretically breaking up, they were certainly quiet enough. Frustrated, House moved the other side of the door, hoping the minuscule gap between the door and the frame would permit some yet unheard sound to leak out.

After another minute or two of intense concentration with no pay off, House reached into his wallet and removed his key to Cuddy's office. He had almost placed it in the lock when he heard something. Tilting his head to one side, he listened harder. It could have been crying. Were they both still in there? Was Cuddy alone?

Finally deciding he could wait no longer, House slid the key into the lock and was about to turn it when he heard the noise again, slightly louder. It could be crying, but that wasn't quite right. Was it, moaning? Confused, House squinted in concentration when the noise came for a third time, decidedly louder and now accompanied by another, lower sound.

As the noises became louder and more frequent, House suddenly cringed in disgust and jerked himself away from the door. He recognized those voices. Well, one of them anyway. And his all too eager imagination easily conjured up some mental images to supply him with the owner of the second voice.

Shuddering in horror at what he'd almost walked in on, he glided his key out of the lock and escaped from Cuddy's office area into the clinic, glad that he was able to keep down his breakfast.

It wasn't until he was stretched out in the big yellow chair in his office and was listening to Cameron's Gregorian chanting, the most non-sexual music he could find on short notice, that he realized what he'd just heard meant one of two things. Either the baby was Wilson's, or it wasn't but Wilson was staying with Cuddy anyway. In either case, it looked like House had just assaulted his best friend of nearly ten years for no good reason other than he couldn't imagine him being trustworthy.

"What's wrong?" Cameron asked, entering from the conference room upon hearing the chanting. "You hate this stuff. And, you look a little sick. Are you nauseous? Maybe you have a concussion." Now concerned, she placed the files she had been carrying on his desk and dropped to her knees in order to check his eyes.

"I screwed up," House said, placing a hand on her wrist to stop her examination.

"What do you mean?"

"Wilson. I screwed up. He's down there with Cuddy doing some screwing of his own," House snarked.

"Ew," Cameron supplied.

"Yeah. Good thing I heard them first, I almost got the live show. It doesn't matter. If they're doing that, it means he's staying, whether the baby's his or not. I was wrong. I didn't think she should trust him and she obviously should have. Damn, Quig was right, I really don't trust anybody," House sighed, leaning back in the chair and staring to the ceiling.

"So fix it," Cameron offered.

"Trying to fix me again?"

"No, I'm telling you to do it yourself. Apologize to Wilson and then show somebody that you trust them. It's not as hard as you think. Hey, if you can be trustworthy, there has to be somebody else on earth who can be trustworthy," Cameron said lightly, but her point was made.

House just nodded at her. That was easy for her to say. As he watched her gather up her files and go back to the conference room, a thought occurred to him. Maybe it wasn't so easy for her either. He thought about all she had been through in her past. Her parents, the drugs, the abortion, a dead husband. And she still managed to open herself up to him and trust him. Him. If she could do that, maybe he could too.

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"I can't believe this. My first day in NICU, and Wilson punches House out. I've been waiting three years for him to snap, and he had to wait until my first day out of the department?" Chase whined to Foreman and Cameron at lunch. "I mean, no offense Cameron, but I don't know how Wilson hasn't done it before."

"Well, there's got to be more than a little something wrong with Wilson for him to be friends with House for so long," Foreman said. "Sorry, Cameron, no offense."

"Would this be easier if I just left? Then you wouldn't have to pretend that you care if you hurt my feelings," Cameron snarled, roughly grabbing her tray of food and storming out of the cafeteria. Chase and Foreman exchanged a glance, but decided to leave her alone.

"She must have known she'd be hearing that sort of stuff when she started going out with House," Foreman said. "Chase?"

Chase wasn't listening. He was busy watching as Jasper made her way through the cafeteria line. Foreman just shook his head. This was so unlike Chase. He wasn't exactly suave, but he didn't normally have trouble just plain talking to a woman. Foreman liked Chase, he really did, but sometimes it was just too easy to screw with him. It was one of the few things that Foreman really couldn't fault House for.

"Jasper!" Foreman called to her. "Come and join us." Chase shot Foreman a murderous glare before grabbing his napkin and wiping his face frantically to make sure none of his lunch was still on it.

"Hey, thanks guys. God, I hate walking through the cafeteria line alone, it's just like high school," Jasper said as she sat down and opened her orange juice container.

"Don't worry, working for House means you always get a seat at the cool kids table," Chase said, and then grimaced as he realized how incredibly corny that was. What the blazes was wrong with him anyway? He was never like this around women, not even Cameron. Jasper smiled at him, but he was convinced she was just being nice. He decided it would better to get out of there before he did anything else embarrassing.

"I've got to get back," Chase said, standing. He leaned his hand on the table as he pushed back his chair, and in doing so flipped his cafeteria tray over, spilling the last inch of his split pea soup into his stomach and down the front of his pants. So much for not embarrassing myself, he thought. Foreman tried not to laugh as Chase scrambled away from the table without a word.

"Is he always so accident prone?" Jasper asked Foreman.

"Only when he's the presence of a certain cardiologist I know," Foreman remarked. Jasper smiled down at her tuna salad and blushed.

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"I'm ready to go," Cameron announced as she flopped herself into House's yellow chair. House checked his watch. 6pm. He stood from his desk and limped to the balcony door. He looked outside for a minute and then turned back to Cameron.

"Sorry, can't go yet," he said and sat back down.

"What are you up to?" Cameron asked cautiously.

"Me? Up to something?" House replied. Cameron gave him one of her looks, and he rolled his eyes. "If I tell you, you'll only try to talk me out of it. Then you'll get mad when I tell you to leave me alone, and yell at me about how its unethical and a little bit illegal, and then we'll fight. Then I'll have to do something romantic to make up for it. Couldn't we skip all that stuff?" While speaking, House had taken out his keys and removed one from the ring. "Go to my place, pretend all that stuff happened, and then when I get home, we'll have make-up sex. Okay?"

Cameron looked at him with a mixture of surprise and annoyance. The annoyance was obvious, but House wasn't sure he followed the surprised.

"You're giving me the key to your apartment?" Cameron asked.

"Lending you the key," House corrected.

"Aren't you afraid I'll go through all your stuff? Find your little black book and call all your old girlfriends and hookers?"

"Nope," House answered.

"And why not?"

"You've already met all my old girlfriends. And if you talk to Rosalinda, ask her for instructions on this thing she used to do with a set of jumper cables…"

"Enough," Cameron interrupted, now just annoyed again. She wondered if he would ever take this seriously.

"I trust you," House said.

"To borrow your house key for an hour?" Cameron asked.

"It's a start."