The plus sign on the white stick the next morning reassured her, because most home pregnancy tests won't show a positive result until well into the third week. If her pregnancy had the result of the night she'd spent with House two-and-a-half weeks earlier, the home test would have probably given her a false negative.
As long as it was Chase's, she'd go through with the pregnancy.
She had a decent-sized apartment for the first time in her life; after Monday she'd be back with the diagnostics team, and she was the best candidate for the immunology attending position that would open up after Dr. Lawrence retired next year. And her ex-fiancé was responsible, if not nearly as loyal as she'd once believed. It was, perhaps coincidentally, a good time for her to have a baby.
But not if it was House's.
If it was House's, she'd terminate the pregnancy and maybe try in-vitro a few years down the line.
She thought of Wilson in Chicago, explaining his presence to Amber's extended family.
House, responsible in a way for Amber's death, could not be allowed to be responsible for a life.
Cuddy found Cameron as she was starting her last ER shift before her return to diagnostics. "Dr. Cameron," she said, "House was asking for you this morning."
If she didn't know better, Cameron would have sworn that the dean of medicine was upset.
"He can say about three words at a time now. You should go see him."
"After my shift, I will."
At two in the afternoon, she went upstairs to see Dr. Sarah Kishore, the ob/gyn she'd befriended while interning at the Mayo Clinic some years earlier. Sarah had been working as an attending at PPTH for a little over a year.
"Check it out," Cameron said, tossing Sarah the white stick.
Sarah cringed.
"I cleaned off the pee," Cameron said, chuckling a bit. "Are you on lunch?"
"As long as nobody goes into labor."
"Good. I'm either three weeks or seven weeks pregnant, and you need to tell me which."
"Hm." Sarah always pretended not to be judgemental but couldn't hide her judgements very well at all. "Which is more likely?"
"Two months ago, I missed eight or nine birth control pills."
Sarah reached into the fridge and handed her friend/colleague a 32-ounce bottle of water. "Start drinking. We'll do a pelvic sonogram before my three o'clock appointment."
"Thanks." Cameron started to sip the water.
"Chug it. We need a full bladder if we're going to get a clear picture." Sarah squeezed her short black hair into a makeshift ponytail. "So once we go into the other room, I'm your doctor. Can I ask you a friend question now?"
"Later," Cameron said.
"Does it make a big difference whether it's three weeks or seven?"
"Later," she repeated.
"You didn't do what I think you did." Cameron continued to swallow water as Sarah continued. "What you've been talking about for three of the last four years?"
Cameron still said nothing.
"If that's the case," Sarah said, "in friend mode, not doctor mode, I completely agree that there's a huge difference between three weeks and seven."
Once Cameron's bladder was full – and practically bouncing up and down in her pelvis – Sarah had her lie down on the table in the next room. Cameron kept her eyes focused on the wall.
"Allison?" she asked. "You want to see?"
"Just tell me."
"I see nothing but an extra-thick uterine wall. You're at three weeks or a little less."
"No," was all Cameron could whisper.
"Go pee," Sarah said. "Then we'll talk."
Cameron felt her heart thump out an extra beat as she emptied her bladder.
"You know, it could go away on it's own," Sarah said, talking now much more as a friend than as a doctor. "I usually won't even see my patients for obstetrics visits until week six."
"I should terminate," Cameron said, thinking again of Amber Volakis, who died because House left his cane in a bar.
"You want me as your doctor?"
"If you think there'd be an ethical problem, no … otherwise, I'd be more comfortable with you."
"Okay," she said. "How about you come in on Friday so you have the rest of the weekend to rest?"
She nodded, now thinking of how ready she'd been to have a baby, if it were Chase's.
"Sarah?" she asked.
"Anything you need."
"Can we wait until a week from this Tuesday? I know it's almost two weeks off, but I'd still be under six weeks, so …"
"It's ok. I'll put you down for next Tuesday." She scribbled a few words on her prescription pad, signed her name, and passed a page to Cameron. "You'll take two of these Monday night to dilate your cervix."
She wanted to wait because Wilson would be back a week from Monday. She needed him to remind her why having House's baby would be the worst possible decision she could ever make.