Disclaimer: I do not own House MD or any of the characters, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind owning Hugh Laurie!

A/N: Again, a MAJOR sorry for the wait … but really, these exams are killing me … and then I've spent the past three days in total and complete shock at the finale … so my writing has been pretty non existent until today. And the reason why you get a chapter today, again, is huddyislove (Aka Silkyway) who, once again, messaged me to get a move on. So, to her, a major thanks :)

Also, thank you so much for the reviews (and to those who are also following 'Stand', a double thanks), those comments have really been the highlights of these past weeks of study … :DA fetus (or foetus or fœtus) is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate, after the embryonic stage and before birth."

Oh, and I got another review with someone telling me that 'foetus' is actually spelt 'fetus' … just to clear that up, again, the word can be spelt 'fetus' or 'foetus' as stated by my dictionary (which I couldn't be bothered to quote) and Wikipedia: "

Sorry, but it just gets to me that people tell me I'm wrong without checking things … ANYWAY, that aside, I'm absolutely loving this fic and the positive response its getting, and I hope you continue to like it …

Anyways, Enjoy!

Standing by House's bed, Chase checked through his patient file again. Heart rate, normal. Blood pressure, normal. O2 sats, normal. Yet he still hadn't awoken. He should have been up three hours earlier, but he still hadn't stirred. And without him waking up, they couldn't take him off the ventilator, they didn't know if he'd breath on his own.

The latest MRI still showed substantial swelling in his brain and, no matter what they gave him, the swelling seemed intent on not going down.

"How is he?" asked Thirteen as she and Taub walked into the room; with House injured, they had no patients to see.

"Vitals all check out but he's still not waking up" Chase shook his head flipping another page on the chart and double checking everything.

"Any ideas why he hasn't?" asked Taub looking at all the monitors.

Again, Chase shook his head "he's just in a coma. It's perfectly plausible, with everything that has happened to him over the years, that the head trauma he sustained would put him into a coma …" he sighed "I've ordered another series of tests, if everything checks out, then I'm afraid that's why he's out of it …"

Thirteen nodded "and if that's why he's out of it, there isn't really anything we can do …"

Looking up at her, Taub looked back down at his feet.

"Chase?" came a voice from the ICU doors

As all three doctors turned to face the voice, they found themselves face to face with Wilson and, much to their surprise, a very pregnant Cuddy.

"Dr. Cuddy!" exclaimed Chase "what are you doing here, you're …"

But, having spotted House, Lisa merely nodded at the Australian surgeon.

The ride over to the hospital had been very silent. Wilson had tried to start a conversation several times, but she was tuned out. Her thoughts focused only on what awaited her at the hospital.

Normally, she loved going to the hospital. It was her's, in a manner of speaking. She felt safe there, in control. But now, as Wilson drove down the familiar streets, she dreaded arriving there.

And still, having thought it all out in the car, and knowing what awaited her, she felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw him lying there, motionless, his eyes closed, the only sign of life coming from the many monitors he was attached to.

Walking to his bedside, Lisa felt Wilson's arm on hers as he walked next to her.

She knew it was meant to be a comforting gesture, but nothing could comfort her as she stood by his bed with her hand on the mattress next to where he lay.

"He's going to be ok, Cuddy" whispered Wilson squeezing her arm a little "he'll pull through this"

Cuddy wanted to agree, she wanted to nod and smile and just agree, but she couldn't. She saw him lying there, his face a mess of cuts and stitches, his arm in a cast, tubes sticking out of him, and god knows what else, and all she could think was that she was going to loose him.

Looking around the ICU, she saw all its other inhabitants, two old men, both well into their 80's, maybe even 90's, probably post ops, one young girl who was talking to an older woman, presumably her mother, and one old lady sitting up against her pillows, coughing endlessly.

And even though she knew he needed the help, he just didn't fit in to that scenario. She couldn't see him like that. No matter what he looked like, how hurt he was, she still expected him to just get up and yell at them all for standing around doing nothing. But he wouldn't.

And as that realisation hit her, she felt the tears start to fall. Maybe it was the hormones making her overly pessimistic, but the truth was that, in that moment, she didn't believe he'd ever wake up, she felt she'd lost him, for good. And the guilt of never telling him, of … it ate at her insides as his child's kicks joined into the discomfort.

"Lisa?" asked Wilson moving his hand to her back "do you want to go outside, sit down for a bit?" he asked.

But she merely shook her head. No. She did not want to leave House's side. She'd done that enough times and for very stupid reasons. She wasn't going to abandon him now, not when she might not get to see him alive again.

"Do you want us to leave?" he asked, trying to decide what to do.

Surprisingly, or, perhaps, not so, Cuddy nodded.

Smiling gently, Wilson pulled a chair up to House's bedside and gestured for Cuddy to sit.

"Are you sure?" he asked looking from her to his best friend's unconscious body, again Cuddy nodded "alright" Wilson agreed "I'll be outside, alright? Call me if you need anything"

With that and one last reassuring squeeze of the shoulder, he was gone. Motioning with his head for the other three doctors to accompany him, they left House and Cuddy together again.

And again, the irony wasn't lost on Wilson, whenever those two were together of their own accord, someone, usually him, interrupted, when they were alone and everyone agreed to leave them alone, something else stood in their way.

At first, Cuddy just sat there, her hands, as best she could, resting on her knees, silent tears dripping down her face onto her stomach. But then she looked up at his face and was surprised to feel a smile creep up on her.

She knew House didn't believe in it. He didn't believe patients in comas could hear or experience what other people were saying around them, he would claim that any who did were not in a coma, they were just 'locked in'. Even she didn't know if she believed it. But, even though House would call her an idiot for trying, she was going to. She had to.

"You idiot" were the first words that came to mind. She wasn't entirely sure why, I mean, there were many things she wanted to call him an idiot for, not the least of which was leaving her House the previous night. But this was bigger than that, this didn't refer to any one particular action or comment. He was just an idiot. It wasn't an insult or an accusation, he just was. She could have said 'you jerk' and meant the same thing. But the truth was that, no matter how much of an idiot he was, no matter how much of a jerk he was or how badly he acted, she loved him with all her heart, she even loved him with the two hearts residing in her body at that particular moment.

"Don't do this" she pleaded, still looking up at his expressionless face. There were a lot of things he could do that she could live with, but she couldn't live with this, leaving her now, not fighting to come back, that she couldn't live with. She needed him to fight.

Granted, there was the chance that he wasn't hearing a single word she was saying and, therefore didn't know that he had to fight, that she wanted him to fight. But on the off chance that he could hear her, that he could understand what she was asking, she had to try.

"You can't leave me here, House. You can't leave, us" she was sobbing now, quietly, but violently. Her hand reached out to grab his and she squeezed it.

"You have to wake up, Greg …" she stood up to look at him better "you have to!" she brought his hand to her mouth and cried against it.

"Please, just … I, I need your, your comments and your abrasiveness and your idiocy and … I need you, Greg …" She kissed his knuckles and lowered his hand back to the mattress, her's still in his.

"You have to, because …" she pondered. If he did hear her, then she'd be putting herself in a tough position, but then again, he might not and, even if he did, he needed to hear it, he needed to know "… you're going to be a dad, House …" she smiled through the tears which fell faster as his face remained unchanged "you're, you're going to be a father, and, and I can't do it alone …" she put his hand on her stomach, closing her eyes as the baby kicked his hand "he or she needs you, Greg …"

From his place standing outside the ICU doors, Wilson closed his eyes and dropped his head as he watched the scene in front of him.

Through the chequered glass, he could see Cuddy's body shaking with sobs, her hand holding House's to her stomach. It was heart wrenching, painful, even.

He had never been one to stick to those kinds of rules, but he was a man and he wasn't going to cry. That didn't mean he didn't want to, it didn't mean he didn't wish with all his being that House would wake up, that his best friend and that baby's father would wake up and grace them all with his irreverent, abrasive personality again … he would give anything to make that happen and, he knew, so would Cuddy …

"Cuddy!" in a fraction of a second, barely long enough for the reflex to travel through his body, he was running across the white tiled floor of the ICU towards where Cuddy was slowly, but surely, losing her balance, hoping to God she'd fall on the chair and not the floor.

TBC

I hope that helped with any lingering shock from Monday's episode (writing it helped me) …

***SPOILERS FOR SEASON 5 FINALE ***

Also, while I was angry at the finale, after further thought, I have decided that they actually went the right way with it … I love huddy and want it to happen, but this way, they opened a whole lot of other paths to explore between those two. (Ya know, how will House react to slowly understanding why he hallucinated that, how will Cuddy react to not having him around, what will it be like when he goes back to the hospital, how will he explain to her want he said to everyone in the lobby …) Yep, I'm staying positive :D

Thank you for reading!

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CJS-DEPPendent