Chapter 4

House limped into Cuddy's suite and stopped, bemused. It did look like an office, albeit with medical paraphernalia around the periphery. She held court in the middle, regal in a violet bed jacket. A cup of tea sat on the bedside table next to her phones. The mobile table in front of her held a pile of file folders and her laptop. She saw him and burst into a smile. "Doctor Cuddy, I presume," he said.

Cuddy pushed the table away from the bed and held out her arms. House walked forward and let her wrap her arms around his neck. He held her gently, afraid to hold her too hard, unwilling to let go. "We made it," she said.

"We made it," he confirmed. "Scoot over." Cuddy slid as far as the hospital bed rail would allow her.

"I feel like a beached whale," she mourned.

"I see our little pirate has even you using nautical metaphors. Lisa, you are beautiful. You'll always be beautiful." He paused. "Even as a whale, or a small tugboat." That got him a giggle and a swat on the arm. House kicked off his running shoes and lay down next to her, relishing the feeling of her body in his arms at last. He leaned over her and kissed her with all the loneliness of the last months. "So where were we?" he asked, finally.

"I think we're getting married tomorrow."

House rolled onto his back and looked bewildered. "Married? When did all this happen?" Cuddy punched his arm. "Ow. We must be getting married. You're abusing me."

Another giggle. He loved it when his ever so competent Doctor Cuddy turned into the beautiful girl he remembered from so long ago in Michigan. House turned on his side and propped himself up on one elbow. He looked down his nose at her. "It's going to be a strange honeymoon, a hospital bed, no sex, and eventually a baby."

"But just think of the belated wedding trip we'll take in a few months."

"Believe me, I can't think of much else." He bent down and kissed her belly through her very conservative nightgown and jacket. "Bobby, we're thinking of you, too." Through his lips he felt a kick from inside Cuddy's womb. He looked up. "Bobby agrees with me."

Cuddy shook her head. "I'm alone in a room with my fiancé and an unborn baby and I feel outnumbered. Well, we have things to do. Do you want to go home and get some clean clothes?"

"And a shower without anyone around. I'll use your car to take Rachel to school and so forth. It will be strange to be there with her but not you."

"Are you sure you want to take care of her?" Cuddy said.

"Lisa," he said gently, "I promised her that she is my daughter. I'll stay with you here tomorrow night. We may not be able to consummate our marriage, although that would be sort of redundant now, but it's our wedding night and I don't want to be anywhere else. After that, until the baby is born, well, Rachel needs her parents, not her aunt, not her grandmothers."

"I lobe you," Cuddy said, incredible smile wide and happy.

"I lobe you, too," he said. "But we really ought to get a Scrabble set with all the letters." Her giggle turned into an full-on laugh and followed House out the door. He knew she had returned to hospital administrator mode behind him, and thought to himself, who knew how sexy she could make that.

House phoned Wilson at his office. "Take me home, Wilson. I want to wash prison off, before Arlene and my mother swoop in for the attack."

"I was waiting for your call. But Chase would like it if you would stop by the office, today."

"The women expect us to be fussing about tomorrow."

"They're all doing it. We don't have to. We'll just check in. I'll be there to pick you up in a half hour. Meet me down at the lobby entrance?"

"You got it."

-tbc-