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: So new update! Which, of course, means I'm happy, which means I passed my test and that means: I'm going to medical school in September :D :D :D

So, because I'm happy, I figured you all deserved to be happy too for being such great reviewers, so here's a new chapter for you :D I think you'll like this one, I feel it's going back to the 'old' style of the story (if that makes sense to you guys) and is setting the pace for what's to come …

Oh, BTW, if any of you guys out there are from the Czech Republic, then I just thought I'd let you know that I'll be moving to your beautiful country in September since that's where I'm going to be studying :D

Thank you all SOO much for your reviews and for your 'good luck' wishes for my exam! Really, you guys are amazing :D *hugs*

Anyways, Enjoy!

"Hey" said Wilson upon re-entering Cuddy's room

"What happened?" she asked, still scared of whatever it was that had made Wilson leave so abruptly

Smiling, Wilson took a seat beside her bed "he woke up"

The smile that erupted on Cuddy's face was incredible. Wilson hadn't seen her smile like that in three weeks. It was remarkable how the news that House was alive and would be fine could make her look like none of the past three weeks had happened.

"They're taking him up for an MRI now to check how he's doing, and then they're going to extubate him. If all goes well, he should be breathing on his own and insulting people again in about half an hour"

Tilting her head back onto her pillows and placing a hand on her stomach, Cuddy sighed of relief. It wasn't over. She could still tell him, still turn this around. Well, she could as soon as she was allowed out of bed.

20 minutes later, Foreman poked his head into Cuddy's room.

"Oh, Wilson we were looking for you. Things are looking good, we're going to try to extubate him …"

Wilson smiled at Cuddy as he stood from his chair "I'll be back"

Nodding and smiling back, Cuddy watched as the oncologist and neurologist walked out, hopefully, to keep the father of her child alive.

Now that she was alone, she placed her hand on her stomach. Dr. Bates had told her that Wilson knew the sex. She still didn't want to know because, as the past three weeks had shown her, things still weren't certain and she still couldn't count, 100% on everything going well. But the truth was she was dying to know what it was. She'd had a lot of time to think over the past three weeks. She'd thought up several names, and then changed her mind and thought up whole other sets of names. Thought of all the things she could do with a daughter, and all those she could do with a son. But, deep down, she wanted House to have a say in it, she wanted him to at least have a say in their child's name, to be a part of at least that much of their son or daughter's life, but she knew the odds of that were slim.

But, damn it, she was going to try. She didn't know how, or when, but she knew she had to tell him about the baby, she had to tell him he was going to be a father. House had always been prone to rash moves and dangerous thinking, he'd almost died three weeks ago, who was to say next time he wouldn't? She couldn't let anything happen without him knowing the truth.

So, as she waited for news, she sat there thinking of all the possible ways in which she could tell him, when, where and how. And in all the possible scenarios, everything ran smoothly until she got to the part where she had to think of his reaction, the part where she was confronted with the fact that she had lied to him for seven and a half months, she'd proven him right, everybody does lie and, most importantly, she had done something that, whether he admitted it or not, would probably hurt him.

"Ok, you know the drill, blow out as I pull out the tube, ok?" asked Chase as he took hold of the top of House's ventilator tube and began to pull.

When the tube was out, everyone fell silent and all eyes fell on House. His eyes were wide, his mouth open and his body squirming as best he could with all his injuries. But no air was going in or out.

"House?" asked Wilson taking a step closer "come on, breath"

Again, nothing happened.

"Foreman!" cried Cameron "he's not breathing!"

"Give him a few more seconds" said Foreman stopping Chase by the arm as he moved to bag his ex-boss

"He's going to suffocate!" Chase protested

Foreman shook his head "if he were you, he'd push it to the limit …"

"Chase!" yelled Wilson moving closer to House, his eyes glued to his monitors.

"Come on, House" said Foreman as Chase looked at the ambu bag he was holding.

"That's it!" yelled Chase breaking free from Foreman and taking the necessary steps towards House. Air flowing into his lungs again, House allowed his body to recuperate before pushed Chase's hand away.

"Wha …" Chase looked at Wilson surprised

Just as he was about to cover House's mouth with the bag again, a sound of coughing escaped House's lips. Then another and soon he was coughing heavily and, in between coughs, breathing.

Running to his side, Foreman pulled out his stethoscope and Cameron began to help him sit up to help him breathe better.

"Don't try to move" she said "just sit, you can't move your neck because of the brace and your arm is in a cast, just sit and breathe"

"Breath sounds sound good" said Foreman moving the stethoscope around the diagnostician's back

"Welcome back!" smiled Wilson placing a hand on House's good shoulder as he struggled to steady his breathing.

"I …" House tried to talk but the only sound that came out was somewhere between a wheeze and a cough.

"Don't try to talk" said Wilson just as Cameron was about to "focus on breathing first"

"I'm fine" House managed to cough out as he pushed Foreman's stethoscope away and made to lie back down.

As soon as his body was at a 45º angle from the bed, the coughing became so that he immediately shot back up into a sitting position.

"No, you're not" said Wilson as Chase moved House's pillows so he could rest his back on them in a sitting position.

"Here" Chase offered him a glass of water with a straw in it

A few gulps later, House's breathing calmed a little and he pushed the glass away.

"As I said" he managed to get the words out completely now, though they were still hoarse "I'm fine"

"Yea!" said Foreman "you're absolutely fine! I had to drill a hole in your skull and operate your vertebral column, Chase had to cut your back open to reset your shoulder like a puzzle and the nurses had to stick up something like 7 cuts along your right side, but you're fine"

Smiling at Foreman's sarcasm, Cameron nodded "we'll come see you later"

With that, the three ducklings left Wilson and House alone.

"How you feeling?" Wilson asked

"Great!" said House

Having missed his sarcasm for three weeks, Wilson smiled "good to hear. How are you, really?"

Sighing, House looked around "Back hurts, shoulder hurts, leg, oddly enough, doesn't hurt as much, but I'm guessing that'll change as soon as the other pains go and it comes back, so, all in all, great" he repeated.

"That's great" Wilson replied emphasising the word as much as he had.

After that, there was a silence. Both of them, obviously, thinking the same thing, neither knowing which should bring it up.

"How's …"

"She's fine …" they spoke at the same time.

Smiling, Wilson continued "like I told you, she had a problem a few weeks ago, but she's been on strict bed rest for three weeks and is doing well. The baby is doing great, it's the right size, according to the ultrasounds, it has five toes and five fingers, so everything is looking good" he joked

"Why'd you bring her here?" House asked him, his voice no longer filled with the same joking sarcasm.

Hanging his head for a few seconds, Wilson sighed "she had to come, House. Staying there, while you were here hanging between life and death, you didn't see her, she was terrified, I think … I think it would have been worse if she'd stayed home …"

"When she was here, did she, say anything?" House, in a thoroughly uncharacteristic move, asked

Frowning, Wilson nodded "wait, are you saying you heard her?!"

House shook his head "no, you idiot! I didn't hear her, I've told you, people in comas don't hear things …"

"Ok" replied Wilson, not completely convinced "Well, I have to go tell her your awake before she personally comes over here and complicates things. You should rest, I'll be back in a couple of hours, ok?"

House nodded "fine"

Once Wilson was gone, House sighed and looked around. He hated being proven wrong, he hated that he'd spent all these years saying that people in comas can't hear and that now, from personal experience, he'd been proven wrong.

He didn't know what she'd said to him, but he'd been aware that she was there, just like he'd known whenever Wilson checked in on him, or Chase or Foreman took him for another scan. It wasn't exactly consciousness, but it wasn't oblivion either. And what's more, he knew that she'd said something, he knew that something important had happened, he had a feeling he knew what it was, rather, he did know what it was, because there was only one thing Cuddy could say to him that would cause such an impression when he was closer to unconsciousness than consciousness. But he wasn't sure if he was ready to accept that she had said it, that she had admitted it. Because if he did, then it'd be his move, it'd be his time to choose between being there and loving them both, or walking away and watching them both from afar. And he wasn't ready to make that choice, not when he knew the right choice was the once that'd be hardest for everyone.

TBC

I'm not sure whether that counts as a cliffy or not, but I'd say not so I think I'm not being too evil (of course you could have completely different opinions :P). I hope you enjoyed that and I promise to try and update this on a more regular basis after I return from my holiday since I no longer have studying to stop me from doing so.

Thank you for reading!

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