Disclaimer: House, MD is the property of Fox.
A/N: The story now continues in the "present". Many thanks to those who stuck with this multi-chapter fic from the beginning, and apologies for the HUGE delays in-between the last few chapters. Despite the revelation of Cameron's true hair color in Season 4, I'm going to stick with the hair color I've associated with her in Seasons past (and to keep to the storyline).
When she was done dressing up Christopher, Cameron gently disentangled his little fingers from her long hair and gave him a bottle and a quick kiss on the forehead. She placed him in the stroller and secured him before tidying up the baby changing station in the ladies' room. Once she was done, she tucked the diaper bag under the stroller, washed and dried her hands, and pushed on out of there.
She headed for the elevators and punched the "up" button. When the doors opened, she and Christopher entered. It was only when she reached out to press the floor number that she realized that Cuddy was inside it; Cameron didn't see the Dean leaning in the left corner of the elevator car.
"Morning, Dr. Cuddy," said Cameron. She leaned in a little closer to Cuddy; the older woman looked a little wan.
"Morning, Dr. Cameron," Cuddy replied, and nothing in her voice suggested fatigue or anything wrong; still strong and decisive. Cuddy looked down, beamed, and added, "And how's my little guy?"
Christopher replied by taking the bottle out of his mouth and belching. Cameron was mortified, but Cuddy just chuckled and shook her head. "Nice one," she said.
There was a "ping!" and the elevator doors opened. Cuddy pressed the "open" button for Cameron and Christopher before getting off herself. The women walked down the length of the hall, making some quick small talk about Christopher.
"Well, I've got to, uh, consult with Wilson about something," Cuddy said as they reached the end of the hallway. She walked in front of Christopher's stroller and bent over to give him a quick peck on a round, pink cheek. Then, to Cameron, "See you around!"
Cameron smiled in response, and when she turned the stroller around to head towards Diagnostics, the smile turned into a smirk.
"Good news?"
Cameron looked up; Chase was approaching her from the other end of the hallway. Christopher reacted by letting out a loud "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Chase chuckled and grinned at the baby when both he and Cameron reached the door to the Conference room.
"Oh, yeah," Cameron replied, chuckling as well. As Chase moved to open the Conference Room door for her, she continued, "He's gaining weight, as he should be; his wound is healing nicely and his leg is finally catching up with the rest of him."
Chase grinned as Cameron passed him. "That's great!" He closed the door and knelt down to look at Christopher in the eye. "Next thing we'll know, he'll be tearing around the Conference room and driving us crazy. Won't you, big guy?"
Christopher replied with a "Heeah!" and pointed his bottle at Chase.
Cameron sighed. "He hasn't started crawling yet."
Chase started crossing his eyes as the baby aimed the bottle at his nose. "Don't sweat it, Cameron," he muttered, without breaking cross-eyed eye contact. "He's not the first baby to start crawling after seven months."
"I know," Cameron murmured, raising a hand to move a strand of hair from her forehead. "The most he does is rock side-to-side when he's on his back. When he's on all fours, he just rolls until he's on his back. Then he starts crying until I come to roll him back."
"Sounds just like his dad," Chase said in a falsely cheerful voice. He puckered up and pretended to accept Christopher's offer of his bottle.
"And so the truth comes out!" boomed a deep voice behind Chase.
Shocked, Chase paused, and Christopher took the opportunity to push the nipple end of the bottle into the stupefied man's mouth. Chase flushed as he removed the bottle from his mouth while Cameron snickered and Christopher guffawed.
House sauntered (best as he could on his cane) over to his son and said, "Good job!"
"Heeyaah," Christopher replied, grinning broadly up at his father.
"House!" Cameron chided, still trying to tone down her giggles. She took the empty bottle from the still-flushed Chase and placed it the diaper bag. House turned to Chase and waved a brown manila envelope in the air, "My baby mommy and I have some serious stuff to discuss. Take care of Nemo for a while."
It wasn't a request. Chase was about to complain, but House cut him off with a, "Or you could take my Clinic hours for two weeks."
Chase just smirked. "Not going to happen; Cuddy will know you made me take your Clinic hours."
House pretended to pause to absorb that. "Okay—I'll take my Clinic hours and page you for a consult whenever a prostrate exam is required…"
The younger man snorted. "Right. Like every Clinic patient is a bloke with STD…"
"Please, Chase," Cameron interjected, eyeing the manila envelope in House's hand. "You can just keep Chris occupied: I just changed his diaper…"
Chase looked at Christopher, absorbed in yanking on the strap that kept him in place in the stroller. "Fine," he grumbled, bending over to free Christopher from his restraint.
"That's sweet of you," House gushed. Then to Cameron, "In my office, pronto! And try to keep it down this time, okay? We're in a hospital!"
Cameron snorted, then handed the diaper bag to Chase. "There's a blanket in there; unroll it on the floor and put Chris on it, please. The PT told me that…"
"Yeah, yeah," Chase replied, rummaging in the bag for the article. Christopher looked up at his parents' retreating backs.
--
In Wilson's office, Cuddy was leaning over the couch, fanning Wilson's ashen face with a patient's folder. Wilson was looking at the ceiling of his office, not really focusing on it. In his left hand was a slip of white paper, tightly rolled in the middle.
Cuddy looked down at him in concern; she stopped fanning him so that she could pick up his wrist and check his pulse. Wilson's mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out.
--
Back in House's office, House motioned for Cameron to draw the blinds while he made his way to his chair and sat down. He placed the manila envelope on top of his glass desk as Cameron turned and walked towards him, eyeing the envelope. House noted that Cameron's face was slightly flushed and expressionless.
"Well, guess what the FedEx man from Samoa brought today," House said lightly. "Good thing I'm the last man to leave the house, or no one would be around to accept it."
Cameron still didn't make a peep or cracked an expression. She kept staring at the envelope as she groped around for a chair and sat down on it.
House made a big show of opening the envelope and extracting the documents within. He gave the papers a cursory glance before looking at Cameron. Cameron shifted her gaze from the papers to House's eyes. Her eyes widened when she took in his surprised expression.
"When?" he asked softly.
Cameron swallowed.
"After—after Chris had his operation, after we talked about the possibility that he might need distraction osteogenesis," she whispered. She started pinching her fingers on her lap. "Wilson's lawyer made a recommendation and—she helped me out."
House glanced at the papers again and stared back at Cameron.
She continued, quickening the pace. "I should have told you about him sooner, but I still remembered what you said that night, and I really didn't know how you'd take it, becoming a father. And I was trying to make it out on my own, trying to prove that I can do it on my own. But then Wilson—he and I met during the christening (and we're not even Catholic)! And I just found out about the amniotic banding on Chris's leg, and Wilson told me about your relapse…"
House set the papers down on the table.
"…and then Christopher was born, and he looked like you, he has your eyes…"
He stood up and walked awkwardly around the table without his cane. Cameron still stared at the spot where she had been looking at House's eyes moments before.
"…and I couldn't, I couldn't keep him from you…I'm sorry!"
Tears slipped down her cheeks. A large, warm, callused hand slipped under her chin and a thumb passed over the apple of her cheek, wiping away the wetness that was trailing a downward path. Cameron looked up and into House's eyes; their faces so close now, the tips of their noses were touching.
House leaned closer to kiss both her cheeks, then her lips. When they finished, he wrapped an arm around Cameron and reached out to take the papers.
He swallowed a few times.
"You need to sign these," he said. "Before 'dash House' can be attached to Nemo's name."
Cameron smiled and wiped away the tears. She was about to reach for a pen when they heard Chase's cry of surprise from the Conference room.
"He's mobile!" he yelled.
Cameron and House looked at each other with identical incredulity on their faces before they jumped (House for his cane). By the time House reached the door, Cameron had entered the Conference room and filled it with her laughter.
He looked at the Conference room floor, where Christopher's blanket was. Chase was on one end of the blanket, and Cameron was kneeling somewhere in the middle of it. Christopher was sitting on his mother's lap, grinning up at his father.
"I heard 'mobile'," House said. "Where's the mobility?"
In response, Cameron picked up Christopher and set him, prostrate, on the blanket. Christopher was still for a moment, and then he pushed himself off the floor and started to roll sideways. Cameron stopped him before he left the protection of the blanket and looked up at House.
"Mobile!"
--
Back in Wilson's office, the phone on his desk started to ring. Cuddy answered it.
"Dr. Wilson's office," she chimed.
"Hey, you sound just like Cuddy!" House cried in mock astonishment from the other end of the line.
"Your powers of observation are mind-boggling, Dr. House," Cuddy said dryly. "Thanks for reminding me why I hired you."
"Always happy to oblige. Now, can I talk to Wilson? Got something monumental to share with him."
"He's indisposed."
There was a pause.
"My GOD, what have you done?" House asked in horror. "Asphyxiated him with your happy cushions?"
"Leave a message, House, and I'll relay it to him later."
"Can't wait. I'll do that voodoo you pay me to do and tell him myself."
"That's not nece—hello? HELLO?"
House had hung up on her.
"James!" she hissed, dropping the phone back on its cradle. She ran to the door and locked it, then rushed to Wilson's side. "James, snap out of it! If House sees you like this, he'll never let you live it down!"
That made Wilson stir just as the door leading to the balcony opened. Cuddy looked up when she felt a draft and groaned.
"I love this connection between doctors!" House gushed, raising his cane to indicate the balcony that connected his office and Wilson's. Then he took in Wilson's state of shock. "So, Cuddy's assets finally overwhelmed you, huh?"
"Least I'm man enough to handle them," Wilson said faintly, now attempting to sit up. "Touching, how you decide to come to my side at this moment."
"Actually, I came to brag about my little rolling stone," said House. He ambled towards Wilson's desk and sat on its edge. "You made a successful deposit in Cuddy's sperm bank, didn't you?"
Wilson started to say something, but he looked at Cuddy and shrugged. Cuddy looked up and down and placed a perfectly manicured hand on her flat stomach.
House nodded in Cuddy's direction. "You're wearing a slightly looser top than usual. And I've seen Wilson like this before, but that resulted in Mrs. Wilson version 2.0 and a benign mass that had to be removed from her hoo-haa."
Wilson and Cuddy glared at him. House ignored them in his fashion and asked, "So—is it legal in this hospital to hand out cigars?"
--
That night, Cameron and House had the house to themselves; Wilson decided to spend the night at Cuddy's place. Cameron and House were in her bedroom, sitting on opposite sides of the queen-sized bed and watching Christopher roll his way back and forth between them.
"You make me want to hurl, kid," House grumbled as Christopher rolled towards him for the third time. He held out his hands to stop Christopher's progress; he caught the baby's back and was rewarded with a wide smile and deep dimples on soft ruddy cheeks.
"I'm amazed all that rolling didn't make him want to hurl," Cameron said in awe. She tilted her head to the side as House attempted to position Christopher in a crawling position, facing her. "He'sstill not sleepy?!"
"Nope," House muttered. He moved sideways to catch Christopher before the baby rolled sideways off the end of the bed. Christopher laughed when his father raised him up in the air and scowled into his cherub face. When the scowling failed to silence the baby's laughter, House stuck his tongue out at Christopher, which made the baby laugh even louder.
Cameron smiled.
Who wants an epilogue?