Chapter seven
House was sitting on the floor of his office, his back against the glass wall. A few feet in front of him was his whiteboard with a list of symptoms and potential diagnoses. This new case had him really stumped. His team was currently looking through the patient's home to check if there was any information there that could help them solve this mystery.
He was playing the symptoms over and over in his head as he bounced his big ball on the floor. It was then that he heard footsteps coming towards him. He looked up briefly to see Max standing beside him.
"Hey, House." She said softly.
"Hey." He replied.
"Any breakthrough?" Max asked, tilting her head in the direction of the whiteboard.
House shook his head and stopped bouncing the ball. "Don't suppose you have any opinions?"
Max turned to read the information on the whiteboard. Then she sighed and shook her head. "Nothing that you haven't already thought of."
House nodded once more. He continued to look at the whiteboard as he felt Max slide down the wall to sit next to him. Her shoulder bumped against his as she stretched her legs out in front of her.
"Where're the others?" Max asked after a short pause.
"Doesn't your boy toy keep in touch with you about his daily movements?"
She raised one eyebrow, "You do know that Chase is older than me right? If anything he'd be a sugar daddy."
House made a sound of disgust. Max and Chase had been "seeing" each other for a few weeks now. House didn't really know the full details of their relationship, and he didn't want to know either. Ignorance is bliss in this situation.
"Besides," Max continued. "Chase and I don't need to tell each other every little detail of our lives."
"Right," House said with a small nod. "They're at the patient's house."
"That makes sense."
Once again House nodded and turned back to the whiteboard. After a short pause, he asked, "So what brings you here? Shouldn't you be answering emails or something?"
Max smiled slightly. "Just passing on a message. Mum wanted you to know that her scans been moved to 1:15 this afternoon."
House turned his head to look at her slightly. A small smile barely gracing his features.
He wasn't sure when it had happened, or why it had happened. All he knew was that one day Max went from calling her mother Cuddy, to calling her Mum. He, of course, was still House. He didn't know exactly how he felt about that. Perhaps maybe there was just a stronger bond between Max and Cuddy as they were both women. Or maybe she didn't trust him enough to call him Dad yet. He didn't want to push the subject and he didn't know if he really wanted to know the answers.
"If you want to go that is." Max continued. "And if you're not busy with your patient."
"I'll be there." He replied. His voice soft but firm.
Even if the patient got worse, he would still find a way to be at that appointment to support Cuddy.
Max smiled and nodded. She placed a hand on his shoulder before she pushed herself up off the floor.
"Good luck with the case." She said as she straightened herself up.
"Yeah…"
**House MD**
It was 1:13 when House limped into the exam room where Cuddy was already laying on the table waiting for her obstetrician. Cuddy looked over when she saw him. A slightly surprised look on her face.
"What?" He asked as he reached behind him and closed the door.
"I – I didn't think you would come." She replied. "I thought, your case—"
"Patient's stable for now." He replied with a short shrug. "He's not going anywhere."
"If you need to leave-" She began to say.
"-I have my pager," House said interrupting her. She opened her mouth to say something but before she could make a sound he continued, "And yes it's on." He rolled his eyes.
"Ok." Cuddy nodded.
She watched as he moved to sit in a chair beside her bed. He slouched down slightly and stretched his legs out in front of him. He placed his cane across his lap and looked at the screen mounted on the wall in front of Cuddy's bed. The screen was blank.
"Shouldn't Coke be here by now?" He asked impatiently.
"Cooke." Cuddy corrected with a sigh. It must have been the hundredth time she had corrected him on Dr. Cooke's name. She had no doubt he was doing in on purpose.
"Whatev-" House began but stopped as the door opened.
A woman in her early fifties with dark red hair entered the room. She was carrying a file in her arms. She smiled broadly at Cuddy and frowned slightly at House. Not that House cared of course. Cooke's reaction was to be expected. She had been seeing Cuddy ever since the pregnancy had become public knowledge and every chance he got, House would say something to undermined her or insult her abilities as a doctor. Truth be told, she probably was the best obstetrician PPTH had, but she wasn't him and therefore wasn't good enough to be looking after his child.
House had gotten better at holding his tongue though. After the last interaction between him and Cooke, Cuddy had warned him to pull it back a bit and even threatened to ban him from any further appointments.
"Hello, Dr Cuddy." Cooke greeted her patient warmly. "Dr House." She added with an off-handed tone.
House rolled his eyes and then saw Cuddy shoot him a warning glare.
"How are you feeling today?" Cooke asked Cuddy.
"Fine," Cuddy replied.
"No worries or concerns?" Cooke asked.
Cuddy shook her head.
"Ok then. Are you ready to see how your little girl is going today?"
"Yes," Cuddy said with a smile.
House turned his face back to screen on the wall but couldn't help looking at Cuddy out of the corner of his eyes. She was smiling as she pulled her top up to just under her breasts in order to give Cooke the best access to her stomach. Her stomach that was now displaying the perfect round little pregnancy bump.
House wasn't sure why, but he felt oddly proud knowing that it was his baby that had transformed her like this. Cuddy did look beautiful pregnant. Not that he would admit that to anyone.
"So this will be your twenty-week scan," Cooke said. It was a statement, not a question.
"Twenty-one weeks actually," Cuddy admitted. "We had to reschedule last week because—"
"—Because of the emergency in ER." Cooke finished. "Of course, I remember."
"Shouldn't that be something that you shouldn't forget?" House asked. "And shouldn't you know how far along your patient's pregnancy is?"
"House," Cuddy huffed as she shot him another warning look.
Cooke ignored him and instead she started to prepare Cuddy's stomach for the ultrasound. After a minute she was ready and she placed the small camera over Cuddy's stomach.
House turned his full attention back to the screen. He watched as the screen changed from black to a white and grey picture. Straight away the image of a baby filled the screen.
House mostly tuned out as Cooke went through all the measurements and information with Cuddy. He heard enough to know that everything was fine. Perfect even. He couldn't pay attention fully as he was too interested in the image on the screen.
House watched as the image of the baby on the screen kept moving her legs and arms around, making it hard for Cooke to get a proper image.
Cuddy laughed, "Stop showing off little girl."
House tried to suppress a smile at that comment. Trust his daughter to make things difficult where she could. He looked back over at Cuddy, who was grinning happily as she watched the screen in front of her. House started to wonder if her other pregnancy with Max had been like this. If she had been happy when she saw the ultrasound or if she had been too emotional due to the stress of the pregnancy and the situation with him. These were questions that he would never know the answers to because he would never ask. He was just glad that she was able to enjoy this pregnancy, even though their situation wasn't exactly 'normal'.
House was brought out of his thoughts when the screen suddenly went black once more. He blinked a few times, realizing that he had been so focused that he'd forgotten to blink. He then looked back over at Cuddy who was slowly sitting up and pulling her top back down.
"Well, everything looks perfect," Cooke said happily as she packed up her equipment. "Have you thought about your birth plan?" She asked Cuddy.
"Not really," Cuddy admitted. Other than giving birth in her hospital she hadn't had anything else planned. She wasn't one to care about smells, or sounds, or any of that. She knew that she'd just want her baby to be born happy and healthy.
"Will you have a support person with you?" Cooke asked. "Your mother?"
"No" Cuddy snapped forcefully.
She still hadn't spoken to her mother and she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be speaking to her anytime soon and there was no way she'd be in with her while she gave birth. Hell, she wasn't even about to let her mother anywhere near her baby at any time. Not after what she had done.
Before Cooke could say anything House interrupted her.
"I'll be there." He said.
Cuddy quickly turned to him. Her expression of surprise but only briefly. They hadn't discussed what would happen when she gave birth, though she should have known that he would want to be involved somehow.
"Only if that's what Dr Cuddy wants," Cooke told him.
"Pretty sure I have a right as it's my kid too." House snapped back.
"It's fine," Cuddy said with a soft smile. "I-I want him there."
House looked at Cuddy. He wanted to smile back. He wanted to say thank you because he knew that she could deny him being at the birth if she really wanted too. They weren't a couple and even though their relationship – whatever it was – was good, it didn't give him the right to demand to be at the birth. So he was extremely grateful that she wanted him there.
"Okay," Cooke said with a nod. "Well, unless you have any other questions for me, I will go and schedule your next appointment."
"Thank you so much, Cooke," Cuddy said gratefully.
House didn't say anything and just watched as Cooke left. When he turned back to Cuddy he saw her frowning at him.
"What?" He asked. He knew 'what' but he was trying to act innocent.
"Could you try to be a bit nicer next time?" She asked.
"I was being nice." He said defensively.
Cuddy looked at him and scoffed.
"Well, nicer than I usually am." He said smugly.
"Cooke is a great doctor. She's the best we have."
"I'm the best we have."
"How very modest of you," Cuddy said while rolling her eyes. "I'm happy for you to be with me during my appointments, but you won't be the one doing the exams."
"Fine." House huffed.
"House," Cuddy sighed.
Just then House's pager went off. He pulled it from his belt and looked down. It was Foreman. Their patient was crashing.
"Everything alright?" Cuddy asked as she watched him stand up.
"Patient." He replied. "Gotta go."
And with that, he limped out of the room.
After he left, Cuddy let out a long sigh. Then she looked down, placed a hand on her stomach and smiled.
**House MD**
House hadn't been able to get home until after eight o'clock that night. His patient had gone from bad to worse. The patient had been legally dead for thirty seconds. Thankfully, House had one of his famous last-minute realizations and they were able to treat him. Now, the patient was in a comer but he was stable and unless something else happened he would be fine.
House was now sitting on his couch with a glass of scotch in his hand. Now that he didn't have to focus on his case anymore, he could think more about Cuddy and their baby. He was so relieved that everything was progressing ok and that there were no issues.
He thought about Cuddy's reaction to Cooke's question about her mother. He knew that Cuddy was still angry at her mother and that she may always be angry. He was glad of this because if Cuddy did decide to forgive her mother, well, he didn't think he ever could and would do whatever he could to keep Arlene Cuddy away from his daughter. From both of his daughters.
He tipped his head back and finished off the last of his scotch and then looked at the empty glass.
Thinking about Cuddy's mother made him realise that he hadn't spoken to his own mother for quite some time. He sighed deeply and pulled out his cell phone.
After four long rings, someone finally answered.
"Hi, mum," House said softly. "It's me….Everything's fine…Can you come for a visit?" He paused and closed his eyes briefly before saying, "There's someone I want you to meet."
To Be Continued…