Chapter 3: Rumors

A/N: Sorry this took so long; I'm having a devil of a time writing House and the other characters from that show. Even had to go and watch the first season again to get some clues.

A/N2: Meant to post the update Saturday night, but having trouble with Document Manager.

Challenge: #3064 by shelli.

Thanks to my betas: zigpal and AshDawnSoulmates.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. House, MD characters belong to David Shore and Fox. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Previously…

"Alright. Hmmm…like I said before, good heartbeat. No signs of trauma." He smiled at the image on the screen. "We seem to be in luck today; baby is cooperating. Congratulations, you're having a…"

Examine room #4

"…little girl!" Dr. Mitchell finished. He pointed out the features for Buffy and Giles, knowing House and Wilson didn't need the assistance. "Would you like some pictures to show others? Your mother perhaps?"

Not taking her eyes off the screen, Buffy nodded, "Thank you, that would be wonderful! Giles, I'm having a girl!" she announced unnecessarily with a smile. Then she suddenly paled when a thought crossed her mind. "I'm having a girl! You don't think--"

Giles quickly cut her off, worried that her secret identity wouldn't be a secret much longer if she kept talking, "We'll talk about it later, but there's no reason to think so."

"What's the problem?" House demanded, worried that there was some family history that put his daughter – oh, he liked the sound of that – in jeopardy somehow.

"Nothing," Buffy said, wincing at how rash she had been to almost announce that she was worried her daughter might be a Slayer with those not in the know standing there. Okay, best way to handle this is deflection. "By the way, somebody was listening in at the door, they just left," she told the others, hoping they'd take the bait.

Which Wilson did, thankfully. "How did you know?"

"Saw the shadow under the door since Dr. Mitchell came back in. Wasn't worried as long as we weren't talking about anything real private," she explained with a shrug. It wasn't like they'd be able to hide her pregnancy for long.

Still, Wilson seemed worried. "I'm gonna go check to see if anyone can tell us who it was."

Dr. Mitchell felt like he should leave these people to themselves; he did his job in making sure his patient and her unborn child were alright. Besides, it was kind of disturbing to picture such a sweet young lady with House, and he needed to get away from the mental images. "Well, my work here is done. Make sure that you let your doctor – or Dr. House – know if you experience any problems in the next few days. He can explain what those would be. Congratulations to both of you."

After the doctor left, Buffy turned to the father of her child and asked, "Is this gonna be all over the hospital by the end of the day now? If so, will that be a problem for you?"

But House didn't appear bothered. "Ehh, they'd find out eventually. Mitchell won't say anything though; he's too professional. But I can't speak for the snoop at the door. It'll probably be worse for you. Everyone will want to know how we got together. My reputation isn't the nicest around here," he admitted almost apologetically. He didn't really care what people thought of him, but now that might come back to hurt Buffy and their daughter, and he didn't like that. She might decide it wasn't worth the trouble of sticking around if it was too bad.

"You forget, I met you before. Your rep isn't really a surprise to me," she teased, recalling her thoughts of House when they told the two men about the experiment.

Upset that people might bother his Slayer, Giles growled, "How about you tell them it's none of their bloody business how you got together?"

Buffy giggled at the sight of Ripper making an appearance. Then she laid a calming hand on his arm – much to the irritation of House. Who was this guy to Buffy? "Sorry. He gets in his overprotective mode, and it gets dangerous for anyone who might upset me," she explained.

Before House could respond, Wilson popped back in the room. "The nurse at the desk said she saw Cuddy come in just after us and then she left a few minutes ago, looking sorta stunned. Doesn't take a genius to figure out what she overheard."

"That was the hospital administrator, right?" Buffy inquired, trying to remember the woman. They met far too many people over the summer, and other than the dads, very few people stuck out.

House sighed resignedly, "And she doesn't have any concerns about talking about me. Of course, we could always threaten her with a lawsuit for violating patient privilege," he remarked, perking up at the thought. Tormenting Cuddy was a great pick-me-up for him.

"I thought you were okay with others finding out?" Buffy replied, somewhat hurt by his attitude. Was he ashamed of her and the baby?

He must have caught the tone of her voice. Either that, or Giles' glare clued him in that he screwed up. "I don't care if the whole world knows. Like I said, they'll be harder on you than me," House reassured her, surprising Wilson with his tender attitude. The man really was changing for this woman and their child.

Deciding to change the subject before he dug himself any deeper, House offered, "So, do you want to meet the Ducklings right away, or wait until they do whatever it is they'll do when they find out about you and the baby?"

Buffy realized – or at least hoped – that House was okay with them being there. "Well, I have to admit, I'm really curious about them. See if your descriptions are that far off."

Wilson rubbed his hand over his face, much like Giles did with his glasses. Maybe it was his way of dealing with things that bothered him. "Do I want to know how you described them?" he asked, wincing as he did so.

"You already know; I've said the same thing to you. Hell, I've said the same thing to them," House retorted. There was no need to feel bad about it.

Smiling slightly, Buffy thought back to her phone conversations the past month. "Let me see if I remember this correctly. Foreman is the ex-criminal; Cameron was hired 'cause she's pretty; and Chase has a daddy who got him the job – gee, Giles, think he's related to Cordy?" she asked her Watcher with a smirk. Then she sobered up, remembering that there was somebody else in the hospital. "Before we worry about them, I'd like to check up on my mom first."

Conference room

When Cuddy finally made her way back to the room she and House's 'Ducklings' met earlier, Chase pounced. "Well? What did you find out? Was it a regular patient who asked for them, or is it something we should add to the board?"

Taking pity on the administrator, Cameron intervened, leading the woman to a chair and getting her a glass of water. "I'm guessing by the stunned look on her face, it's probably the latter. Unless we have a new puzzle to worry about."

"Dr. Cuddy? Are you alright?" Foreman inquired, worried that she had barely blinked since coming in.

Cuddy spoke robotically, still shocked by the news, "House is going to be a father. She and her family were in an accident; that's why she was in the ER."

Now that she had started to talk, Foreman pressed, "You think it was the same woman who was here in June?"

"Possibly. I heard an English voice in the room with them, and the guy who came with her before was English," Cuddy answered, slowing coming out of the haze she was in.

Chase laughed ruefully. "Wow! Guess we shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss the threesome idea."

They all shuddered at the mental image, then sat quietly for a few minutes, trying to absorb the information.

Cameron was the first one to break the silence, "I just can't picture House being happy to find out he's going to be a dad. Whenever we have a pregnant patient, he refers to the baby as a parasite." She also recalled him poking his nose in her medical records; thankfully, he didn't find out everything because of the type of doctor she went to.

"But he sounded almost territorial of her and the baby. I don't think he was that bad about Stacy," Cuddy went on, still sounding slightly out of it.

Deciding that they had to make a choice, Foreman asked, "So how should we handle this now? Do we tell him we know or wait for him to tell us?"

"If we wait for him, the kid will probably be at college by that time," Chase answered. Their personal lives were fair game for House to invade, but he didn't appreciate when the roles were reversed.

"Maybe we should give him a baby shower," Cameron suggested. "Did you happen to hear if they're having a boy or girl?" she asked Cuddy.

Foreman looked stunned. "You want to give House a baby shower?" Cameron shrugged in response.

But Cuddy backed her up, "She has a point; it's the easiest way to let him know we know. Dr. Mitchell said it's a girl according to the ultrasound."

Unable to stop his chuckles, Chase gasped out, "Does anyone else want to laugh at the idea of House dealing with a teenage daughter starting to date?"

Joining the blonde doctor in laughing, Foreman added, "That, or pity the poor guys who are crazy enough to ask her out."

Cuddy couldn't keep from shaking her head; she was beginning to get a headache from doing it, though. "This is just too surreal to deal with. What should we do about the party?"

"Maybe it should be at his place. Especially if he doesn't want the whole hospital to know about it. You don't think Dr. Mitchell would blab, do you?" Cameron inquired, not remembering the ER doctor very well.

Relieved to think of something other than House as a father, Cuddy immediately answered, "Not him. He is Mr. Ethics. There's no way he'd breach patient confidentiality – even for the chance to spread gossip about House."

Joyce's room

Buffy and company got to her mother's room just before Joyce came back from getting her CAT scan. The doctor looked startled to see Wilson and House there, but recovered quickly. "Ahh, it's good that you're here, Dr. Wilson. You can double-check my diagnosis for Ms. Summers."

The doctors gathered around the computer screen at the desk in the room to study the scan of Joyce's brain. They conferred softly, then turned back to the worried trio at the bed. Wilson was elected to take point in this matter. "Ms. Summers, there's a small shadow in your temporal lobe. We'll have to do a biopsy to be sure of what it is, but it's better if we wait a few days until you've recovered from the accident. Probably late next week would be long enough."

Fighting the fear that was bubbling up – if only for Buffy's sake – Joyce nodded, "That would be fine. I don't have to start my job until September anyway."

"What happens if it's something bad? I mean, it can't be something good, right? It's her brain, and there shouldn't be any kind of shadows," Buffy babbled with very bright, wet eyes.

Wilson moved over and placed a reassuring one hand on Buffy's shoulder and the other on Joyce's hand. He smiled confidently and replied, "Even if it's something to worry about, we happened to find it very, very early. In a way, this accident could be considered a good thing."

Feeling somewhat better, Joyce inquired, "How long do I have to stay in the hospital? For the accident, I mean."

Dr. Felger spoke up this time, "Your vitals are good, but because of the head injury, I'd like to keep you overnight for observation. Just to be safe."

"Giles, why don't you take Buffy back to the house then? Maybe you two could get some of the unpacking done tonight," Joyce suggested, knowing that they wouldn't get any sleep until she came home. Buffy needed something physical to do, and since patrolling was out, unpacking was all they had for her.

The Watcher understood Joyce's motives and hastily agreed; Buffy needed a distraction. "We'll take care of it – except for your personal papers and your bedroom," he promised.

"Did you want some help?" House quickly offered, surprising Dr. Felger. "Wilson and I could come over with dinner. We were going to anyway, before we heard about the accident. We just weren't sure if you'd be at the house or still in the hotel tonight."

Buffy gave him a weak smile. "Thanks. That would be great." She and Giles would have to hide the boxes that had Slayer stuff in them before the doctors arrived. She wasn't quite ready to tell all her secrets just yet.

A/N: Next…House's history lesson.