Sean: I have nothing to say to you. Come upstairs and PREPARE YOURSELF for PK THUNDER if you think you can defeat me. Otherwise, just sulk down there with your Ganondorf and McCall spawn and listen to Marth's epic fighter stance get repeated over and over as you fail to beat MY record of EIGHT SECONDS. (I wish). But you still can't beat my record. So there. BENOVAK

...also, from now on, all uses of incessantly will be bolded to further assure your doom. Also, any uses of the name 'Fin' (three minutes, no more, no less) will be bolded for the same reasons.

Well, graduation is over- and it was the most horrifying experience ever- so now I can focus on this fic here. So no more long waits for updates!

Sean: Don't you dare mention those accursed triplets again, because you know what, you were wrong about that Hyrule Field rhythym anyway. And musescore can't handle dotted eight notes and sixteenths jammed together anyway, that's what the problem is. So THERE. WUHA And yes, I just realized I gave you two author's notes by mistake. Unfortunately, I don't care enough to join them together. So you get to feel special again with your girlfriend AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

(GAH why is my cut and paste not working?) Warning: from here on out, this story will contain themes of alcoholism and self-harming- specifically, the sections about Thirteen. May trigger. These sections will be set off as '13 13 13' instead of 'HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE' as a warning.

Chapter 13

"So, tell me, Cuddy... why is it, exactly, that you don't want to testify?" House asked as his girlfriend continued to pace incessantly around his living room. She hadn't been able to go back to her own, yet- not that he blamed her. She had been staying with him ever since that night two weeks ago, when he came back to find Cuddy, just seconds after Eric had escaped. Cuddy had neither brought up the idea of going back to her apartment or finding some other place to stay, and neither had House.

"House, you know why," Cuddy said coldly as she stopped walking around the room and leaned back against the wall, tapping her foot anxiously.

With a sigh, House just shook his head and tried to think about how to proceed from here. The trial date had been looming on them for days, but, finally, the wait was over- tomorrow, Casey Novak was finally taking their case to court. However, she needed all the victims to testify- and that included Chase, Thirteen, and Cuddy. And House's girlfriend, though she had already agreed to testify, was extremely nervous about it and was close to just not showing up tomorrow at all.

Now, he just had to get through to her and convince her that the positives of testifying were worth the negatives. However, this was not proving to be a very easy task- not that he had expected it to be.

"Well, I do know why," he said softly. "I was just wondering if you did."

Cuddy whipped her head up to glare at him coldly, her eyes wide with shock and anger. "What?" she demanded.

He shrugged and said simply, "Well, I wasn't sure if you knew yourself, or if you just don't want to say it out loud. My vote is for the second option."

Cuddy glared at him a moment longer, then just sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

"It's part of my charm."

With another sigh, Cuddy crossed her arms and looked away as she resumed tapping her foot. Finally, she stopped and asked, "Well, why the hell would I want you to testify? What exactly do I get out of it? He's stalking Chase, so he gets something out of sending Eric... um, this bastard to jail, but I don't! And this lawyer, she has plenty of witnesses, why does she need me?"

House was about to answer when Cuddy continued with her speech, so he remained silent, deciding to let her just go on with her rant until she stopped. "And you know I find really annoying? I'm practically being forced to testify but you know what's worse? While I'm up there all you people, every single damn person I know is going to be in there just listening to it! Why can't I just leave what happened in the past where it belongs and why can't the lawyer just go on with the trial without me? I mean, really! Would that be so bad? No! But no, god damn it, instead just fuckin everything has to go wrong and I have to tell a roomful of people what happened- and the majority of those people happen to be people I know!"

House watched as Cuddy continued to pace back and forth, clearly agitated, until he was sure she was done. Finally, he said, "Look, Cuddy, I-"

"No!" she shouted, shaking her head vehemently. Okay, maybe her rant hadn't been finished. "House, I don't want answers right now! There are no answers right now! The only answer is just to go on like nothing ever happened, but I can't do that when there's this huge trial going on about what I'm trying to forget!"

When she looked at him and House saw her eyes shining with unshed tears, he sat up straighter and beckoned her. "Come here," he said softly. After a moment, she did, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight and never wanting to let go.

HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE

Cameron looked around the unfamiliar room in distaste, then sighed and turned back to Chase. "You know, this place really sucks."

"Wow, aren't you observant," Chase said as he walked forward, tossing his jacket on the plain bed, pretty much the only furniture in the 'safe house', which was really just a two star motel room. "And I really don't need to add 'toxic housing' to the other things on my list to deal with."

"I'm sorry," she said, wrapping her arm around him and winking at him. "Really, all this place needs is some new, clean furniture... a good paint job... an interior decorator... bug spray..."

"Okay, not helping!" Chase said with a chuckle, then kissed her cheek before sitting down on the bed and pulling her down with him. "And, under normal circumstances, I would suggest us simply having sex to make the night go away... however, I'd rather not get bitten by one of these numerous bugs and end up with malaria or something, so let's not do that."

Cameron laughed, then cuddled up against his side as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "True, true. Well, we're only here until this trial is over. Then we can go over to my place, have a little fun. How does that sound?"

He smiled in excitement before kissing her again. "Oh, that sounds great. I can't wait." He allowed Cameron to distract him a moment longer, but, in truth, his mind was on an entirely different matter.

While Cameron had had a meeting down at the hospital with the board of directors- since Cuddy still wasn't back yet- Chase had gone out for drinks with a certain someone, and the conversation he had had with her was still weighing on his mind quite heavily.

Earlier that day

Chase looked over at Thirteen, who was sitting next to him and staring into her glass of water like it held the answer to life itself. He had originally gone over to her apartment, but she had asked if they could go out to a bar instead. He had acquiesced, though was a little confused- it wasn't like she could drink with her pregnancy.

Finally, he leaned forward and asked quietly, "Thirteen, why didn't you tell us when it happened?"

She glanced up at him out of the corner of her eye, then just shrugged. "What exactly was I supposed to say? I think the patient might have cancer, I was raped, wait, scratch that, make it an infection? It's not exactly a dinner conversation- plus I only found out I was... pregnant a couple days ago."

"How far along are you?" he asked after a moment, looking her over. It couldn't have been too long, since it didn't look like she'd gained any weight.

Thirteen hesitated, then said, "Two months," without looking at him. After another moment, she rubbed one hand over her stomach and admitted softly, "I'm a little scared... you know, for the baby."

Chase waited in confusion for her to continue, but when she didn't and continued to stare at her lap, he asked softly, "Why? Do you think you'll be a bad mother, or because you'll be raising him without a father, or...?"

Thirteen shrugged and bit her lip before replying, "Both, and... well, before I knew I was pregnant, I kind of... drank. Alot. It wasn't uncommon for me to have a couple of glasses of wine slash bottles of beer each night. Frankly, I'm surprised that no one ever noticed how often I came into work hungover."

Chase stared at her, then sighed. "Oh. You're afraid that all the drinking might have harmed the baby."

It was a statement, not a question, but she answered anyway. "Yes."

After another moment of hesitation, he asked quietly, "Have you considered an abortion, or-"

"Oh no," she said coldly, raising her eyes up to meet his. He leaned back, slightly shocked at her expression. "I'm keeping this baby, Chase. I am not going to kill my own child!"

He blinked in surprise, but when she looked away again and took another drink of water, he gave a slight smile and said lightly, "Not pro-abortion, I see."

Thirteen smiled without humor and shook her head. "You know, its weird. Before I found out I was pregnant, I wasn't really for either side. Now, though... I can't imagine getting an abortion. That's murder."

"Well, then, have you thought about maybe giving the baby away, an adoption?"

Once again, Thirteen shook her head. "No, no, I... I want this baby. I don't care that he won't have a father and it doesn't matter how painful it is for me. I want this baby." After a moment, she looked up at him, her eyes widening with surprise with what she saw in his expression. "Wait a minute... you asking because you're looking to adopt?"

Chase blinked in shock, then shook his head. "What? No! No, I'm... well, I... I've never really thought about it," he admitted after a second, biting his lip. "I mean, kids, I... I don't know, its a big step- and Cameron and I aren't even married."

Thirteen gave him a small smile and said, "Well, you've been dating for almost three years now. It's pretty close to official already. And one thing you should know if you've been dating her for so long is if she wants kids or not."

With a sigh, Chase swallowed down the rest of his drink, shaking his head. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she does want kids," he said sourly. Thirteen, sensing there was more to the subject, stayed silent and let him talk. "I know because she had froze several embryos before her husband died. She told me that, if she never found someone, that she wanted to at least have a way to remember him. As far as I know, she still has them."

Thirteen hesitated, then said, "Surely, if you tied the knot off with her... then she would get rid of them and-"

"No she won't! They're all she has left to remember the first man she ever really loved by! Just because she loves me doesn't mean she doesn't still love him! And I can't just ask her to get rid of them- hell, I don't even know if she wants kids with me!"

After a moment of silence, Thirteen put a hand on his arm and said, "Talk to her." With that, she got up and left, leaving some money behind to pay for her drink.

Present

Chase hesitated, then took Cameron's hand and said, "Listen, Allison, there's something I want to talk to you about..."

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