Given I promised no spoilers, I will stand by that, hence the ducklings.

Chapter 8

"You're here early."

"Wouldn't want to miss the show today."

"Hate to break it to you, but I haven't heard anything yet; not even from Cameron."

"Wilson, it's early; I've got all day."

Wilson paused, tapping the conference room table, "Cuddy's not in yet."

House raised an eyebrow at the news, "She doesn't want to face the marriage music. She'll be here."

Wilson shook his head, "She's never late, House."

Cameron, Foreman and Chase walked into the conference room before House could say anything more about Cuddy and much to his disappointment, they acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

House made a show of waving his left hand around, hoping one of them would note the ring on his finger, "I'm baaack," he announced, giving an odd sort of wave, followed by a comical little bow, "So team, anything interesting you'd care to chat about?"

"Uh, no?" Chase furrowed his brow and wondered if House had double dipped in the vicodin bottle.

"How was Vegas?" Cameron asked.

"Other than the hotel fire, just great."

"What?" Chase stopped pouring his coffee as he looked up in shock.

"No big deal. Mr. Oncologist here became a one man burn unit while the rest of us poor saps waited out the inconvenience."

Foreman shook his head, "Anything else happen in Vegas that you'd care to share?"

House looked at them, surprised most of all by Cameron's lack of congratulations and exclamations of disbelief. He opted to focus the conversation elsewhere, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Clinic patient?"

"Not yet."

"Well then, off to the clinic with you!"

The trio headed out the door and House turned to Wilson, "Nothing! Did you see that? Absolutely nothing. They have no clue we're married. Cameron wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut if she knew." Wilson just shook his head, all the while planning exactly how to put those two stolen wedding pictures to good use.


"Clinic duty. I hate clinic duty," Foreman mumbled, grabbing a patient file.

"We all do," Chase snatched the file from Foreman and gave him a comical little smirk. Foreman rolled his eyes.

Cameron tied her hair back, "What was up with House this morning?"

"I don't know, he almost seemed giddy," Foreman said, grabbing another patient file.

Chase reached for a couple of pens on the front desk, "Something's up, but…."

"Dr. Cuddy?" Cameron asked, rushing over to a doubled over Cuddy who barely made it in through the front doors. Chase and Foreman followed closely behind.

"Did you drive here like this?" Chase asked.

She shook her head, "Cab. Get House. Now."


He sighed, considering letting the phone ring. He answered it anyway, imagining Cuddy marching upstairs to yell at him if he didn't answer when she called, "Yeah?"

"We need you in the clinic, now."

"Not now Foreman."

"It's Cuddy."


"Hey, where are you off to?" Wilson called out, jogging to catch up to House.

"I don't know, something about Cuddy and the clinic. She's not here even five minutes before she starts ranting about her precious clinic."

"Do you think she told them about the two of you? You know, break the news herself before you had the chance?"

"She wouldn't."

Wilson chuckled, "Oh yes she would."

"Don't you have cancer kids to cure?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world."


"Where is she?" House stormed into the clinic, ready to announce their marriage if it meant beating Cuddy to the punch.

"House!" Cameron called out from across the clinic.

"Where's Cuddy?"

"House, we've called her sister, she's listed as the medical proxy but we can't reach her. Cuddy's hypotensive and…"

He didn't hear the rest of it, "Where?"

"Exam room one."

House and Wilson walked into the room and found Cuddy curled up on the exam table, in obvious pain.

"Dammit Cuddy," House said as he approached her.

"House, she…" Foreman began.

"Out. Everybody out." House demanded. The fellows looked at one another and chose not to argue, instead exiting silently.

Wilson looked at House, "Do you want me to stay?"

"No, but don't go far; tell my team to stay nearby." Wilson nodded.

House set his jaw and looked down at Cuddy, "Talk to me. How long?"

"Since about midnight."

He sighed and shook his head, "You're going to have to lay flat. I can't do an exam with you bunched up in a ball like that."

House walked over to the nearby cabinet and pulled out a patient gown and a sedative, "Come on, off with the clothes."

Cuddy looked up at him, "I can't."

"I'm not trying to cop a feel," he frowned, "I'll get Cameron."

"No. Don't go. I just can't move. It hurts."

"How bad?"

"Eight; nine if I take a deep breath."

"Can you sit up?"

Cuddy rolled onto her side and House helped her to up. Without asking, he helped her out of her clothing, carefully removing her tee shirt, shoes and sweat pants. He stood behind her as much as possible, attempting to be discreet by not blatantly staring.

"You know, if you wanted to strip for me, all you had to do was ask. I would have been more than happy to watch; we could have skipped this whole medical emergency nonsense," he smirked. She smiled.

Once the hospital gown was on, he helped her lie back down and he began palpating her abdomen, noting she was more painful on her upper left side. House then tied the gown shut and walked to the door.

"You can come back in."

He checked her vitals as his team and Wilson filed back into the room, "Get an OR ready, her spleen's ruptured."

Cuddy looked up at House, "Are you sure? I had back pain."

"And let me guess, it was your left shoulder that was bothering you yesterday and the day before?" She nodded and he continued, "Your back pain was back pain, but your shoulder pain…" he paused for dramatic affect, "Kehr's sign."

She thought for a moment and nodded, "My shoulder hurt when I was lying down, but I fell on my backside, I didn't have a blow to the stomach." Cuddy doubled over in pain, unable to keep from grunting.

"Shhh," House injected her with the sedative, "Leave it to you to rupture your spleen by falling on your ass. You're one of a kind, Cuddy."

Her eyes grew heavy, "I hate Vegas," she said sleepily. Soon, she relaxed into the embrace of sedation as House gently stroked the wisps of hair away from her forehead.

House turned his attention to his team, "Get an OR ready and get Jackson in, tell him I want her spleen repaired. The rupture can't be too large if it's taken this long to fully present. Emphasize repair is the primary objective, with a full splenectomy only if absolutely necessary and tell him I'll be assisting."

"House, we don't have consent," Cameron took a step closer, "We've tried calling her sister, but…"

"Do you plan to just sit here and wait for her to bleed out internally?" House angrily marched towards the door, "Fine, I'll call Jackson, just get someone to prep the damned OR."

Foreman stood between House and the exam room door, "She needs a full splenectomy; a repair is unorthodox in this case."

House pursed his lips, not noticing Wilson who had moved from the corner to his side, "She works in a hospital, Foreman. No spleen means no adequate protection against diseases she comes into contact with daily. A repair will save her a lifetime of preventative antibiotics and will greatly reduce her chances of death by infectious disease."

Foreman held his ground, "You can't do this, House. Her sister is her medical proxy."

He held up his left hand, fingers spread out, palm facing his chest, "Oh yes I can."

Foreman tilted his head, almost mocking him, "Right, and now I'm supposed to believe that you're married to Cuddy because you're wearing a ring? You can't just make up the rules as you go along House."

"She's my wife," he spat.

"You're unbelievable. I can't belie…"

Wilson quietly interjected, "Foreman. They got married in Vegas." This moment wasn't quite as rewarding as Wilson had envisioned it, but there he stood holding up the photo of House, Cuddy and the judge moments after getting married. They stood facing each other, hands entwined, she with her bridal veil and he with a huge smirk on his face.

Cameron stood near Cuddy, "Foreman," she called, holding up Cuddy's left hand, the new ring clearly evident.

Chase stood in the middle of the room, "Oh. My. God."

"I'll call Jackson," Foreman said, turning towards the clinic's front desk.


A/N: Well, this is winding down…about 2 chapters left, I think. Thanks for reading and reviewing!