#avenue-cherry

“How’s the husband? Still too busy for a vacation?” Mrs. Johnson was trying to make friendly conversation with you – like she did every time you saw her – by asking about House. Or ‘the husband’ as she knew him. Anyone else who knew him wouldn’t be so fond of him, but you were lucky enough to tell her about all of the good things he does and how good he was to you. The last time you saw her, you were stressed from how heavy a workload you had and were in desperate need of a vacation. You told her that House (‘the husband’) wouldn’t be able to go and you refused to leave without him; apparently, she remembered that.

“Yes, unfortunately. But work is so much better now, I’m no longer in dire need of way too much sunlight and sand in unwanted places.” You gave her your warmest smile and she let out a soft laugh, hanging her purse over her shoulder. You lead her to the door and followed her out of the room.

“Tell him that he needs to take you anyway, you look like you could use some sun.” You shook your head slightly and set her chart in the file holder beside the door.

“I thought my vampirish glow was working for me.” You walked to the nurses station and waved her off with a goodbye, grabbing another patient file. You might as well try to fulfill your clinic hours while you were here. The doors to the clinic opened and you could see a small group of people walking in, one of them with a distinct walk. Something you could recognize anywhere. You set the file back and walked around the opposite side of the clinic, avoiding him like the plague.

You two made a pact to ignore each other at work and to pretend like you didn’t know the other existed. It was easier for you two that way, no arguments to have over a patient or annoying things to dispute about your relationship with talkative nurses. You could hear the collection of footsteps following you at a somewhat faster pace and House say something to them, your eyes searching the clinic to see who was paying attention. You turned your head to look over your shoulder at them, seeing House looking back at you.

“Need a consult.” You stopped and turned your body to face him, seeing his fellows standing behind him and watching with curious faces.

“Come to my office, I’m not doing this here.” You walked out of the clinic and to the elevators, knowing that House would be following you. You pressed the button and tucked your hands into your lab coat pockets, feeling the presence of someone standing right next to you. You spoke so only House could hear you, your eyes staying on the elevator doors. “There’s no one else you could get a consult from? Or are you still mad about last night?” You stepped into the elevator as it opened, turning to face the doors and seeing his fellows looking at you two with their eyebrows scrunched together. He stepped in beside you and pressed the button for your floor.

“Sorry, no more room.” He spoke to them and you watched as the doors slid shut before turning your head to face him. He looked down at you and raised his eyebrows slightly. “No, I’m not mad because I know I was right and so do you.” Your mouth hung open a bit as you scoffed.

“There is no way in hell you were right. Admit it, you just want to tell everyone that you love me and you’re tired of hiding it anymore.” The doors opened as you were finished talking and you smirked at him, walking out of the elevator backwards and watching as he rolled his eyes. You turned around and lead him to your office, finding his team already sitting and waiting. You smiled at them before sitting at your desk, clasping your hands together on the top of your desk.

“Fever, joint pain, rash, seizures, kidney function declining.” House was the first to speak in the room, his eyes focused on the window and his hands tapping his cane up and down.

“And you needed my expertise? It sounds like autoimmune.” You watched his face for a moment before resting your head on your hand, raising an eyebrow. “Do you need me to tell you it’s lupus? Because I can. Gladly.” He turned to look at you and narrowed his eyes.

“It’s not lupus.” You raised your hand to get him to stop his tangent before he even started, his fellows surprised that he listened.

“Is the ANA positive?” He sighed and nodded, a smirk spreading on your lips. “It’s lupus.” You watched as he grumbled to himself, the only female fellow speaking up; you think he called her Thirteen, but you can’t remember.

“Do you two know each other?” You looked between her and House, wondering if you should tell them the truth, before sighing.

“Yes. He’s my husband and currently being an idiot.” You watched as he crossed the room to stand beside you at your desk, some stupid remark about to come out of his mouth. “It’s lupus and you need to start treatment.” You could see his fellows watching you two carefully, trying to figure out if you were lying or not. House looked at them and picked your left hand up, showing them the ring on your finger.

“It’s real, you can stop looking at us like that. Is it so hard to believe someone would want to marry me?” You rolled your eyes and took your hand back, looking at the four doctors in front of you.

“You can ask Wilson if you still don’t believe us.” You stood from your chair and walked to the door, opening it and gesturing outside. “Now that you have what you needed, I have to get back to my job. Go treat your patient.” House walked to you, his bottom lip pushed out in a pout. You shook your head and shoved him out of the door, nodding towards him to get the other four to follow him. “No, don’t look at me like that. It’s lupus.” You shut the door behind them and went back to your desk, looking down at your calendar and seeing that you had a patient to see in ten minutes.

--

You opened the door to Wilson’s office, seeing House sitting on the couch and quickly entering the room. You shut the door behind yourself and sat in the chair in front of his desk, sticking your tongue out at House before turning your attention to Wilson.

“He told his team our secret.” You watched as Wilson looked between you and House, his eyebrows scrunching for a minute before realization dawned on him.

“So, they know you’re married. It’s not a big deal, it’s about time you told people.” Your mouth hung open slightly and you looked back at House, his face mirroring yours.

“Can you believe this guy? He thinks we can just tell the hospital about our personal lives and be fine with it.” You turned your attention back to Wilson – who was shaking his head in annoyance at you two – and heard House speak behind you.

“She thinks I can’t behave myself if people at work know we’re married.” You nodded and looked back at him, his fingers playing with a loose thread on the couch.

“I know you can’t behave yourself, House. When we had to tell Cuddy, you were bursting with the need to tell her about our sex life in as many innuendos as possible.” You raised your eyebrow at him, his argument deflating as you stared him down. You turned back to Wilson and saw that he was ignoring you both, his eyes focused on his paperwork. You reached forward and grabbed a pen off of his desk, leaning forward and scribbling a stick man onto his calendar. You gave the stick man a cane and drew a speech bubble, writing ‘Wilson Sux’ in it. Wilson reached out and grabbed the pen from you, putting it in his drawer along with the rest of his stationary.

“Wilson…” You looked over to the door and saw Thirteen standing in the doorway, Chase behind her. You smiled at them and they seemed a bit taken aback. “I was just wondering if you’d seen House.” You looked over at House and watched as he stood up, walking to the door. He stopped beside you and leaned down, pressing his lips to yours. When he pulled away you smiled at him, missing his touch already.

“Forgot to ask, do you want takeout tonight? I can stop on my way home.” You stood from your chair and walked to the door, stepping around Thirteen and Chase.

“Don’t get the one with the bald guy, he forgets half of our order every time.” You gave him a thumbs up before stepping into the elevator, needing to get some paperwork done. Thirteen and Chase stared at him in disbelief, Chase the first to speak up.

“You’re actually married? Not just going insane and thinking a hooker is your wife?” House narrowed his eyes at him, leaving Wilson’s office and heading to his own with Chase and Thirteen in tow.

“Believe it or not, she’s the one that pursued me.” He sat down in his desk chair, Chase and Thirteen standing in front of his desk and looking at him like he had two heads.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Thirteen thought she was catching onto a clue that it was made up, trying to get him to admit it.

“We made an agreement to keep it under wraps. It made things easier; no one to distract me during a case and no one to scare her patients away.” Chase looked over at Thirteen, his eyebrows raised. Foreman came into the room, holding lab results.

“His kidneys are improving.” House groaned and tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling tiles.

“Don’t tell (Y/N) she was right.”

--

“How’s your patient?” You sat with your legs crossed, facing House with the remnants of your dinner sitting on the coffee table. You had your head resting on your hand, your elbow propped up on the back of the couch. House was staring intently at some guy showing off a sponsored power tool, his feet propped up on the coffee table and his hand rubbing at his thigh.

“Stable. Apparently, lupus is a real thing.” You laughed and climbed carefully onto his lap, not putting any weight down on his bad leg. You placed both hands on the sides of his face, leaning down to press your lips to his. You pulled back and smirked down at him, his eyes closed now.

“Tell me I was right and I’ll make tonight fun for you.” You placed kisses along his jaw, moving down until your lips were at the collar of his shirt. He placed his hands on your hips, sighing in frustration before mumbling something to himself. You looked up at him and moved your hands to his belt, unbuckling it while raising your eyebrow. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” You unbuttoned his jeans and paused, waiting for him to say it louder.

“You were right. Happy now?” You smiled and kissed his neck, unzipping his jeans slowly.

“Very happy.”

---

Everyone in the hospital was staring at you as you came in, your bump stretching your shirt just a little and your hair lazily thrown up into a ponytail. You made your way up to House’s floor, now in desperate need of a distraction from your maternity leave. Cuddy had decided to let you start maternity leave a week early – technically it was right on time with your due date, but you were now overdue – and it felt like you were dying of boredom at home. House was taking on a case or two before he was allowed to join you on his paternity leave, and it was hell being confined to the house with no entertainment.

You were just happy that you two had moved two months ago rather than moving after the baby came, you don’t know if you’d be able to do that. Your house was perfect; it had three bedrooms and so much room for all of your antiques and House’s collection of books and vinyl’s and instruments. As soon as you two moved in, you decided to paint the nursery and set everything up. Most of it was your project as you had started working less hours and had more free time than House did. You both picked a light purple for the walls and you snuck in white paint to paint clouds on the ceiling. House had come up with the idea to paint flowers along the baseboards and every time he came home from the hospital, you two would spend a few hours trying to paint the perfect flowers. It had taken all of the willpower you had to not have sex on the floor of the nursery; you didn’t think that was a room to break in like that.

You knocked gently on the door of his outer office, finding the whole team in there and having a differential. House came to the door and opened it for you, his eyebrow raised at you in question.

“Do I need to lock the door from the outside to get you to stay at home?” You rolled your eyes at him and stood up on your tip toes, kissing his cheek before sitting down in the chair near the door.

“No. No locking me inside. I’m dying from how bored I am, just let me spend the day with you. Maybe it’ll be what she needs to exit my womb.” You relaxed back into the chair and gestured to the whiteboard and the rest of the room. “Continue your process.” He watched you for a moment before stepping back over to the whiteboard, looking over his team. You zoned out as they began talking about their patient, your eyes wandering over the room before looking out into the hallway. You saw Cuddy coming in the direction of his office and cursed under your breath, sitting up a bit straighter and pretending like you didn’t see her. She stepped into his outer office and looked at you with her eyebrows raised.

“I thought you started maternity leave.” She placed her hands on her hips and made it feel like you were being scolded by your mother.

“You did. I was bored so I came here to entertain myself. Besides, if I go into labor, I’m in a hospital already.” You smiled obnoxiously at her and pushed yourself out of the chair to stand, heading to the minifridge to grab a water. After taking a few sips, you looked over at her again, her eyes focused on House now.

“Can’t you keep her contained until the baby gets here?” He placed his hand on his chest and feigned hurt, his other hand pointing his cane to gesture at you.

“Are you doubting my abilities now? She does have free will, you know. Maternity leave isn’t bed rest, so technically she’s not breaking any rules.” You rested your hand on your lower back and smirked at her, smugness written all over your face. Cuddy sighed and rolled her eyes before giving you a pointed look.

“Fine, just be careful please. I don’t need to worry about you while trying to run the hospital.” She left his outer office and you started to feel a slight ache in your lower back, your hand massaging the muscles gently as you sat down at the table with the rest of House’s team. You passed it off as just your back hurting from the weight you were carrying around – not unusual at this point. You looked at Foreman and rested the hand that wasn’t holding your water on your stomach.

“So, what’s the deal with this patient? Need any ideas?” He laughed softly and shook his head, the rest of the team caught up in a debate about whether or not it was cancer.

“If I let you help out, how do I know House won’t kill me?” You poked your bottom lip out in a pout and rubbed your stomach slowly, feeling a kick right under your ribs. She was already positioned correctly, everything seemingly ready for you to go into labor. Except for the fact that she wouldn’t come out on her own.

“He’s not gonna kill you, just show me the file.” You reached over and grabbed the file sitting in front of him, looking over the patient’s information. Before you could even finish the first page, House took it from you and tossed it back to Foreman. You looked up at him and raised your eyebrow, placing your water on the table. “Am I not allowed to help?”

“No, I’ve already decided it’s cancer.” He pointed at Foreman and Thirteen, already handing out jobs for everyone. “Go get me an MRI and find where it is.” He then pointed at Chase. “Talk to Wilson and see which type he thinks it is.” He paused when he got to Taub, sighing a bit and faltering. “Do something useful.” He sat down beside you when everyone got up from the table, resting his cane against the table and looking at you with some sort of fondness in his eyes. You felt another kick and reached out for his hand, placing it on your bump where the kick was coming from. She kicked again and he felt it, a smile forming on his lips and your own.

“She says hi, I think.” You both sat there for a moment, enjoying the comfort in each other’s presence and the feeling of your baby moving. Before too long, you started to feel a sharp pain in your lower abdomen and lower back, the pain making you scrunch your face up a bit. He looked at you with concern, his hand moving up to your shoulder to steady you.

“What’s wrong?” You shook your head and grabbed his hand with your own, lacing your fingers together and giving his hand a gentle squeeze to calm him and yourself. You took a bit of a deep breath and adjusted in your seat, the pain subsiding and the baby calming down now, her feet no longer pressing against your ribs.

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine. She’s just getting acquainted with my ribs.” You sighed and tilted your head slightly, a little grumble sounding throughout the room and breaking the seriousness. You raised your eyebrows and smiled a bit at him. “Will you escort me to the cafeteria and get me something to eat? I know you would much rather get some food than work.” He rolled his eyes and stood, grabbing his cane before helping you to stand, and you let yourself smile brightly in victory.

--

“Okay, will you just admit that you’re in pain?” You stopped walking – well, attempting to walk through the pain – and looked at House, your hand on your lower stomach and your eyes narrowed. He had his eyebrows raised and Wilson was looking between you two as though he didn’t know if he should be there. You huffed and shook your head, running your other hand through your hair.

“I’m fine, leave it alone.” You continued walking through the hall to his office and sat yourself down in his desk chair, wincing as another pang shot through your abdomen. You avoided eye contact and reached out, grabbing the grey and red ball from the top of his desk and squeezing it, hearing the tap of a cane in front of you. You decided to look in front of you and make eye contact, finding House already staring you down and Wilson standing behind him. You sighed and rolled your eyes.

“Maybe it’s time.” You looked back at Wilson and he was looking at you with that stupid puppy dog face, his eyes hopeful. You turned your attention over to House and threw the ball at him, annoyed that he caught it so easily. You threw your hands up in mock surrender, wincing again as what felt like a tiny aftershock flowed through your body.

“I surrender. Take me to the maternity ward if you must.” You pushed yourself up to stand and walked past the two men, their heads turning towards each other before they both followed you. You stopped just outside of the door, turning quickly to look back at both of them and raising your eyebrows and attempting to look as threatening as possible. “If anyone besides you two or the nurses needed bother me, I will make sure to have someone’s head.” You made sure they nodded before continuing to the elevator, nerves finally spreading throughout your body and making you a little uneasy.

--

“Do you have to eat right beside me?” You were on your side facing House as he ate a Reuben, his eyes drifting to you from the tv. He set the sandwich down and brushed some crumbs from his shirt.

“Would you rather I starve?” You rolled your eyes and looked up at the monitor, noticing a contraction. You could feel it, but not a lot of the pain that came with it. It was strange. Especially since it was one of the larger ones. You tapped his leg and pointed at the monitor and he looked over as well, his eyebrows raised before he looked back at you. “You don’t feel that?”

“I feel it, just not… I don’t feel the pain. Well, okay, I feel the pain, but it’s not as bad.” You were close to meeting your baby for the first time and it felt weird. They had checked how far you were dilated not too long ago and told you that you were 8 centimeters dilated. Which meant that you would have to start the not too fun part soon. Not like any of this was fun. You placed your hand on your stomach and sighed, in desperate need of a nap. It had been 13 hours since you had been admitted and you hadn’t been able to fall asleep. The excitement had been too much for you and prevented you from sleeping. “I’m not going to be pregnant anymore. That’s so fucking weird.” You looked over at House and saw him looking at your stomach, his eyes holding some expression you were too tired to analyze.

It was then that you felt something… weird. You reached over and pressed the button for the nurse and tried to keep a neutral expression, your legs firmly pressed together. He sat up straight, his legs no longer propped up on the edge of the bed.

“What? What’s wrong?” He tried looking you up and down to figure out what was wrong, and the nurse came in with a bright smile, putting her gloves on and coming over to the bed.

“Do you think it’s time?” You could only nod and you looked over at House and his own expression was one filled with fear and excitement and shock. The nurse lifted the blanket and gently pried your legs apart and pressed the button on the side of the bed, calling for a few other nurses and the doctor. You were really fucking having a baby.

--

You cradled her close to you, your finger stroking her cheek softly. You were so exhausted, but you couldn’t bring yourself to go to sleep; not yet, at least. House had convinced you to let the team come in after a few hours and you didn’t think it was the worse idea in the world. You were more surprised that he was willing to let them in on this moment. You figured he was going all caveman and wanted to show off what he made. Thirteen was the first to speak up, her eyes trailing from the baby to you and then to House sitting close to your bedside.

“What’s her name? Or does she just get a nickname?” You forced yourself to look away from her, looking up at Thirteen and the rest of the team instead and smiling softly. You felt a little flutter in your chest and pushed down the anxiety immediately. This would be the first time you had told anyone besides the nurse and suddenly you were very aware of that.

“Jade.” You looked over at House and saw his eyes trained on the sleeping bundle in your arms. She had his bright blue eyes and you couldn’t be happier; although you had become used to the moodiness and – what others would call – mystery behind his eyes. It was different to see them with nothing but innocence and wonder. You sat up, wincing just a bit, and passed her over to him. He took her from you and stared down at her as he held her in one arm, his brows furrowing slightly. You forced yourself to look back at his fellows and cleared your throat slightly. “The middle name is still unknown so…” You bit down on your bottom lip and looked over their faces; each of them had varying looks of awe and teary-eyed happiness.

It was then that Wilson came in with a teddy bear, a balloon, and a burger. You reached your hands out and he immediately offered the burger up to you. You mouthed a thank you to him and he nodded to you, his hands now awkwardly holding the teddy bear and balloon. House mumbled something from beside you and you didn’t have to hear exactly what he said to know he was talking to your daughter.

“Thank you for the gifts, Wilson.” You gave him a warm closed mouth smile after speaking with a mouth full of burger, your free hand reaching out for the teddy bear. He handed it off to you and looked over at Jade, his smile growing soft and his eyes getting that little fond shimmer.

“She looks like a mini House.” You heard Foreman let out a laugh and you narrowed your eyes at him, his hands raising and him taking that as his que to leave. Taub followed when he saw Cameron, Chase and Cuddy enter the room.

“She is my mini House.” You looked over at them both and saw that House was still staring at her. He seemed to snap out of it after a moment, looking up at the three that entered the room, Cameron’s smile stretching from ear to ear and her hands on her hips. Cuddy’s smile was softer, and her hands were clasped together as she stood beside Wilson and his balloon. You held the teddy bear close to your chest, feeling like you might cry and trying to hold it in.

“She’s beautiful.” House raised his eyebrows and glanced at you.

“What else would you expect from my outstanding genes?” You rolled your eyes, yet you couldn’t wipe the smile off of your face. Everything was perfect.

“What’s her name?” You looked over at Cuddy and felt everyone’s eyes on you once more, the anxiety not returning for once.

“Jade. The middle name still isn’t figured out.” You looked back over at House and then back down at Jade, the swelling in your chest making you feel warm all over.

“Just leave it blank.” You turned your head slowly to look at Chase and raised your eyebrow, his shoulders shrugging and his eyes widening. “I’m just saying, it’s not like it’d be the first time someone didn’t give their kid a middle name.”

“No. You can do that to your kid.” You sighed and tilted your head back to look at the ceiling before groaning. You should have planned ahead.

--

“You like Thirteen. Steal her name.” You were laying on your side in the hospital bed, facing House. He was also laying in the hospital bed, laying on his side beside you. Jade was in the little bassinet next to your bed and sleeping; you had just fed her and she seemed to be content for now. You and House had been debating her middle name for the past two hours and had gotten nowhere.

“Remy? Jade Remy? Does that even sound normal?” You groaned and shoved at his shoulder slightly. Your eyes drifted shut and you shoved your face into the pillow, his hand resting on your waist.

“I don’t even care anymore. Just call her Mini House.” He let out a little huff of a laugh and pulled you closer to him, pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head.

“I like Remy. JR. Junior. Like Mini House. Just don’t tell the others. Thirteen can know, but it’ll get to her head and it’ll be a whole thing. We’ll have to make her babysit so she loses her mind.” You look up at him and smile brightly, raising your eyebrows.

“Really?” He nods and you can’t help but to kiss him, your arm wrapping around his shoulders. Jade Remy House. Okay, so you figured it out.

----

“I’ll see you next week, Jane.” You smiled at the older teen as she left your office before sighing and leaning back in the armchair. You didn’t have the energy to get up and walk over to your desk, a wave of nausea coming over you yet again. You swallowed hard and closed your eyes, putting your hands on your stomach and trying to will the nausea away.

It was only 11 am and usually any morning sickness would have been gone by now. You were thankful for the fact that you had no other patients to see until 1 this afternoon because you didn’t really think you could sit through an hour-long session without vomiting. That wasn’t really a good look for a psychiatrist. You heard your door open and you opened your eyes, seeing House come in with what looked like two cups of coffee. But you knew better, one of them was tea for you.

You had already complained to him this morning that you felt like you were going to leave a trail of vomit behind you all day, but you didn’t think he would actually come to your office to take care of you. You figured Wilson told him to come check on you as opposed to him taking time out of yelling at the team to run more tests and stop being morons. Or maybe that was why he came down; he was avoiding something.

“Did Wilson bribe you to come here? Or is your patient in need of a psych consult?” You took the tea from him and hesitantly took a sip, fighting the urge to gag. He watched your face closely as he sat down across from you on the couch, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“I can’t come and take care of you without it being about something else?” He leaned back on the couch and took a sip of his coffee before placing his feet on the coffee table between you two. You rolled your eyes and sat the tea down on the table, not wanting to upset your stomach even more. Your action seemed to catch his attention – as every little thing did – and his eyebrows scrunched together a bit.

“Are you still nauseous?” You nodded and groaned, leaning your head back and closing your eyes. You just wanted to get past the worst of everything to get to the good things. But there were no good things, you just kept eating and vomiting and getting a terrible headache every day.

“Yes, and I feel like shit. But I have patients today, so I can’t just go home.” You opened your eyes and looked at him, biting down on your bottom lip before speaking again. “Unless, someone wanted to tell Cuddy they were concerned about my wellbeing for today and suggested that I go home. Or insist, if they want to.”

“You want me to go tell mommy that you’re sick and you need to stay home from school today?” His voice was a bit mocking and you poked your bottom lip out in a pout, forcing yourself to get up and sit next to him on the couch. You leaned closer and placed a soft trail of kisses to his neck, the nausea having passed. You couldn’t help but to put your hands on him, he was too close for you not to.

“Please? And maybe you can come home too, leave the minions to do everything for you. I’ll repay you for your kindness.” You looked up towards his face and made eye contact, licking over your lips as you raised your eyebrows slightly. House turned a bit to face you, setting his coffee on the table as his lips began to pull into a smirk.

“Are you suggesting we ditch work to go home and have sex? Because, believe me, I’m all for it. But I have a feeling you’re going to go back to wanting to vomit any minute now.” He reached forward and cupped your cheek, pressing his lips to yours for a short moment. You sighed a bit as he pulled his face away, your face scrunching up in annoyance.

“Fine. I’ll just tell Cuddy myself and deal with her million questions.” You sat up and gave him a serious yet concerned look, your hands grabbing both of his as you began to imitate her; very spot on you might add.

“Oh, (Y/N), are you sure you’re not taking on too much work? It can’t be good for the baby to be so stressed out! And what about House? Is he taking care of you?” You gasped slightly and placed one of your hands on your chest, feigning worry. “Is it only nausea or are there other symptoms? Let me run some tests! Oh, you poor thing, I can’t imagine how much you’re suffering what with House andthe pregnancy!” You couldn’t help the smile that came on to your lips as he let out a laugh, his smile mirroring your own.

“You think she’ll be any nicer to me? She thinks I’m making you birth the spawn of Satan.” He took in a slightly deep breath before biting down on his bottom lip a bit. You felt sadness when his smile faded, remembering how everyone reacted when you told them you were keeping the baby. It took a week for you both to figure out what you were going to do and still it felt like it wasn’t happening.

-

You both sat on the couch in silence, the events of just a few days ago playing over and over in your head. You were pregnant and you didn’t know what to do. On one hand, you wanted to terminate and keep living your regular lives. You didn’t think you were ready to be a mom and you didn’t want to pressure House into staying with you because of a child. On the other hand, you were happy with this accident. You could see it playing out in your head and you could see him with your child, and you could see you two being wonderful parents. You wanted that.

You looked over to him and saw that he was already looking at you, his face full of confusion over what was going on and some sort of… happiness. It wasn’t strange for you to see him happy; it was strange that this happiness was a different kind. You took in a deep breath and prepared yourself for The Conversation.

“I… What do you want to do? And be honest with me, don’t just-“ You bit down on your bottom lip and shook your head, you knew he’d be honest with you. You didn’t want him to make you make the decision, you didn’t know if you could. You needed to know how he felt.

“When am I not brutally honest?” The usual bite to his voice wasn’t there, he was being softer with you. You didn’t know what that meant. He leaned forward to rest his forehead on his cane, closing his eyes as he seemed to think. All you two have been doing is thinking and not talking. “I don’t know what I want to do. I really didn’t think this would ever be a problem for me.”

You nodded slightly and your shoulders felt more relaxed. You didn’t expect this to be a problem either, but it is and now you have to deal with it. You brought your legs up and sat with your knees to your chest, your arms wrapped around your legs as you rested your chin on your knees.

“I don’t know if it’s hormones or what I actually want – and it’s okay if you don’t want this – but I want to keep it. I think… I think we can do this and that we’ll be good parents. Fuck what anyone else has to say, that’s how we’ve always thought, right? I don’t want what anyone else says to influence my decision now because then I won’t know if I’m making the right one.” You kept your eyes on the letters on his t-shirt.

More silence followed but you didn’t mind it, you took comfort in it this time. He sat up and looked over at you, his hands a little tight around his cane. You couldn’t make eye contact, not just yet. You didn’t know if he would want it, too; and that made you nervous.

“But, what if I’m not what you expect? I can’t make any mistakes with a kid involved. That’s… (Y/N), I can’t do that.” You saw how distressed he looked and you let go of your legs, reaching out to hold his face and make him focus only on you. Your thumbs brushed softly over the scruff on his cheeks as you shook your head a bit.

“You are the most incredible man I’ve ever known and you will be an incredible father. I don’t have any expectations from you because I don’t even know what to expect from myself, but I do know that we can do this and we won’t fuck up.” You leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, searching his eyes for any sign that he believes you when you pulled back. You weren’t lying to him; you had a hard time doing that as it was. But you knew how his mind worked and you knew he had a hard time believing things you say when they’re words that praise him.

“You really want this?” He reached up and held onto one of your hands, his eyebrows raised in question.

“Yes, I really do. Do you?”

“Yes.” You felt your eyes begin to water and you blamed it on hormones. You immediately crawled forward and pressed your lips to his, straddling his lap as your lips moved together in a careful rhythm.

After a minute or so, his hands had wandered to your waist and his fingers had slipped under your shirt. Your breathing had gotten a bit heavier and you pulled back, his lips immediately going to your neck. You ran your fingers through his hair and bit down on your bottom lip, dreading ruining the moment with what you were about to say.

“You know this means telling everyone, right? Having them involved in our – ah – personal life?” You couldn’t help but let out a surprised noise when he bit down slightly where your neck and shoulder met. He mumbled a response against your skin and you gently pulled his head back, kissing him because you couldn’t help yourself. You forced yourself to pull back once again, his hands now wandering down to the waistband of your pants. “Speak. I need to know you’re okay with people being more nosey than usual.”

He huffed a sigh and slipped his fingers into the top of your pants, trying to move things along a bit. You could already feel how hard he was and you didn’t want to spend more time than needed talking about unnecessary things.

“Yes, they’re already asking me when you’re due. I trained them to be nosey and it’ll be annoying but, if I recall, we’re grownups who can tell them to fuck off.” You smiled and nodded, his mouth already reconnecting with yours as butterflies filled your stomach.

-

“Our baby won’t be the spawn of Satan. They’ll be a genius with your eyes and my charming personality.” You smirked a bit and pressed your lips to his cheek before getting up from the couch, stretching your arms above your head. You could feel your shirt rise up a bit over your stomach and a smile came to your lips, remembering how you checked this morning to see if your small bump had gotten any bigger. You were now in your second trimester and you were sporting a very small but very proud bump.

“It’s okay, I don’t really wanna go home anyway. I’ve got a new patient today that seems interesting.” You walked over to your desk and grabbed their file, sitting back in the armchair and looking at House over the top of the file. He was giving you a warm smile, his eyebrows raised slightly. You lowered the file and raised your own in question. “Is there something you’d like to share with the class, Gregory?”

“You’re starting to show. A lot more than before.” He held his hands out to you and you got up, moving to stand in front of him. He grabbed you by the waist, pulling you close to him. You watched with a wide smile as he carefully placed his hands on your bump, a small smirk forming on his face. You watched as he spoke directly to your stomach, his eyes focused on yours. “You know, you give a lot of trouble for being so small.”

This was something he was starting to do as of the last two weeks and you still felt butterflies fill your stomach whenever he did. He first claimed that he was just practicing for when the baby would be able to hear in just a few short weeks, but you think he was trying to make things more real for himself. You also think he enjoyed hearing his own voice too much.

You talked to your bump in private, feeling a bit weird for talking to your own stomach. But he had caught you one day – that he wouldn’t admit, but it was obvious – and started talking to your stomach as well. It now was routine that before bed you would each say something to The Bump, whether it was telling the baby that everyone else was a moron or that you needed a few days of rest from the nausea and headaches.

“It’s a cute little bump, I like it. And don’t make it sound like they’re redecorating my womb and it’s not to my liking, they’re just giving me normal symptoms.” You leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, the moment interrupted by a knock on your door. You groaned slightly and pulled back from House, turning to the door expectantly. Cuddy walked in and you groaned even louder in your head. A perfect moment gone because of an interruption longer than two seconds.

“Is there something I can help you with?” You walked over to your desk, picking up your tea as you went. You started to sort through some files that you had laid out, putting away whatever you didn’t need to have a clearer space and deciding to sit down to get comfortable.

“Your patient said you looked like you were going to vomit all over your office. I came to see if I had something to worry about.” She looked between you and House, her eyebrow raising. “I also figured I’d find him here. He owes me clinic hours.” You looked over at House – his face giving away his annoyance and dread – and decided you needed a break from your office, so you spoke before he had the chance.

“I’ll cover his hours.” You took a sip of your tea and gave her a smile, walking towards the door to head down to the clinic. She scrunched her eyebrows together and opened her mouth like she was about to argue your decision. “I’m fine, morning sickness is gone now. Besides, if I throw up, there’s plenty of nurses to get me a trash can.” You moved past her and headed to the elevators, finding a strange sense of comfort in getting to work the clinic today. You needed it to cure your boredom and drive your focus away from anything pregnancy related.

--

You bit down on your lip, the cold of the room making you shiver a bit as you waited for your doctor to come in. House was looking through the equipment set up beside you and making sure everything was good enough, something to calm his nerves. But he would never say that out loud, you just happened to know him well enough to see when he was nervous.

“House, everything is gonna be fine. It’s not a big deal if you lose a bet. You did bet on the baby being a girl, though, didn’t you?” You gave him a serious look, his eyes looking up to find yours as he stopped fiddling with the ultrasound wand. He got that look, like he had figured something out, but not the same one he got when he solved a case. It was more… devious.

“Are you in on the bet, (Y/N)?” You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms over your chest, just above your bump.

“You’re a bad influence, what can I say? Yes, I’m in on the bet, if you must know. I know I’m right so I figured why not make money off of it?” He walked over and sat in the chair beside you, leaning forward onto his cane as he stared you down.

“Well, you’re gonna be losing money, sorry to break it to you this way. It’s a boy.” His eyes narrowed just a bit, a smirk forming on his lips. You narrowed your own eyes back at him and as you opened your mouth, the door opened and your doctor walked in. Followed by Wilson.

You looked up at them and raised your eyebrows, confused as to why Wilson was here. But House was not confused. He just greeted him like he told him to be there. Which means he did.

“Wilson, what are you doing here?” You watched as he pulled a chair up next to House and smiled warmly at you, gesturing to House as he spoke.

“I’m here to see if I’m right about the gender. My bet is on a girl.” You smirked at House and gave him a slight eyebrow raise as if to say, “See? I’m right.” You turned your attention back to Wilson and shook your head at him.

“No, you’re not going to be here. You can find out when everyone else finds out. And just so you know, he’s definitely going to lose. He just can’t admit it.” He held his hands up in surrender and walked out without a fight, knowing he’d lose against you anyway. You turned your attention to your doctor and smiled brightly. “I’m ready to see if I’m gonna win fifty bucks or lose them.”

--

You and House had everyone joined in his outer office and he was scribbling something on the whiteboard, having it turned around so no one else could see. You watched their faces fill with anticipation, part of you wondering how much of it was just them wanting to know if they were right and how much was genuine curiosity.

“House, would you please inform them how much money they either owe or have won?” You glanced at him and felt butterflies in your stomach, he gave a small nod before turning the whiteboard around. You could see Chase’s face drop into slight anger and mostly awe. Cuddy’s lips pursed for just a second before everything dawned on her and she started beaming. Thirteen, Foreman, and Wilson had their own individual victory dances and you couldn’t help but to look at House with a bright smile of your own.

“Pay the woman, she was right.” He held eye contact with you for a few moments, his eyes shining with pride and pure happiness. You could faintly hear Taub telling the others that he was glad he didn’t get in on the bet because he would’ve lost.

You were having a girl and it wasn’t like it mattered at all to you, but now everything felt so much more real. You were halfway through your pregnancy and now you could spend as much time as you wanted nagging House for which baby names he liked. You could see him holding her and teaching her the concept of sarcasm and him being protective over her. You could see nights spent with the three of you on the couch at every stage of her life and you could see him trying to calm you down when you got overly worried about her.

Everything was very real now, much more than before.

Cuddy was the first to pull you into a hug and break your concentration, your arms automatically wrapping around her shoulders. You remembered her first concerns about this pregnancy and now she was one of the people defending your choice to the hospital staff. She had seen you glow and had seen how much closer it brought you and House together. She had seen how it seemed to change him in ways she never expected, and she was happy for you two, no longer worried that you were making the wrong call.

“I’m happy for you, I’m sorry for having my doubts.” She had spoken low enough that only you could hear and you shook your head slightly, pulling back to look at her.

“It’s okay, it’s natural for everyone to doubt anything human coming from House. But I hope you know, he’s already the best father. We’ve got this.” You could see Thirteen stepping over to you to hug you, the embrace welcomed now because – apparently – hormones made you a much more affectionate person. Or the whole change of having a baby made you see the world differently, there was really no way to tell.

“Just so you know, Remy is a really good name for a girl.” You laughed and bit down on your lip for a moment. She had been the one to help House on days where everything felt too much for him, but he didn’t want to turn to you or Wilson. She had been the one to assure him that he’d be a good father; that it wasn’t just you saying it out of love. She had been the one – besides you or Wilson – that has been closest to him throughout your whole pregnancy and for that you were thankful. You didn’t know what things would be like if he didn’t listen to her at times of self-doubt and whenever he needed someone he respected to be blunt with him.

Chase and Cuddy were handing cash to House and you saw him put his own money into the mix, tucking it in his shirt pocket. You knew you’d get the money later, but it wasn’t important to you. What was interesting was how everyone who had won gave him money as well; it was more so confusing. This whole bet was confusing you now because you didn’t know who was supposed to end up with the money.

“Why are you guys paying him? You won. And the loser’s money doesn’t go to him, either, it goes to the winners.” Your eyebrows were scrunched up in confusion, your hand absentmindedly coming to rest on your bump.

“House said we’re not allowed to have a baby shower, so this is the next best thing. All the money from the bet goes to you guys for the baby.” Wilson was the one to explain it and you felt your heart clench a bit, suddenly feeling way too emotional over a bet. You didn’t know they were doing this and being blindsided only made your extreme happiness and gratitude overwhelming you as tears filled your eyes.

“Fuck.” You raised your free hand to your face, wiping a stray tear. You then glared at House with no real annoyance or malice behind it. “You couldn’t have warned me so I didn’t cry in front of everyone?” Your breath hitched slightly and you shook your head, tilting your head back to look up at the ceiling. You never cried in front of people. You barely cried in front of House until these past few months. You suddenly felt his hand on your lower back, concern lacing his voice as he spoke low near your ear. Only for you to hear his kindness and concern.

“It’s okay, they’re aware of what pregnancy does to women.” That was his way of telling you that you shouldn’t be frustrated or embarrassed about crying in front of them, so you nodded slightly. You sniffled and wiped your cheeks, looking to everyone in the room.

You were searching around the bathroom shelf for ibuprofen, frustrated that it wasn’t where you left it. That’s when you came across your box of tampons and you froze.

You were late.

You were supposed to have your period two weeks ago and lately things at the hospital had been busy and you were too distracted to notice. Your head started to ache even more and you stepped into the adjacent bedroom, sighing internally at the upcoming conversation. House was asleep, his last case was solved in the middle of the night and it was already 9 am.

You didn’t want to wake him up yet, so you decided to make yourself something to eat to distract your mind. It was probably stress; you had a lot of things going on with patients and Cuddy had been on your ass about clinic hours and Wilson wouldn’t stop trying to get you involved in the prank war between him and House. Usually House knew when you were getting your period – something that initially weirded you out because you hadn’t lived together at that point, but you had gotten used to it – but he had been so distracted with his case and with the prank war.

As you were finishing up cooking your French toast, you heard House coming down the hallway and kept your focus on the food in front of you. Suddenly your stomach felt tight and you didn’t know if you’d be able to eat because of your nerves; something he would definitely question you about.

You turned to face him as he entered the kitchen and gave him a warm smile, his hair mussed from sleep and his eyes half open. You knew he only woke up from the smell of food and was hoping for you to make something for him.

“Morning, sunshine. I’m making French toast and I’m going to assume you want some?” He gave you a nod in response and came over to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and leaning into you, resting his head on top of yours. You placed the two pieces of toast that were already done on the plate you had taken out and moved the syrup closer to the plate for him. Your body naturally relaxed into his and the tightness in your stomach eased, the fear from just a moment ago fading into thin air.

“What’s got you up so early? It’s your day off, you usually sleep until noon and it’s not even 9:30 yet.” His thumbs found their way under your shirt – his shirt, really – and rubbed back and forth over the bare skin just above your hips. You started preparing two more slices of bread for yourself and nudged your hips back a bit, tilting your head slightly in the direction of his plate. You couldn’t lie to him while he was so close to you, that was impossible. Lying to him was difficult enough.

“Eat your food, it’ll get cold. I had a headache and I was hungry, so I just figured I’d make something to eat instead of going back to sleep.” You hoped he would believe that; it’s not like part of it isn’t true. You were woken up from a headache and you were somewhat hungry. But that wasn’t what forced you to stay awake. It was the nerves tightening your stomach and running through your veins. The thought that you could be pregnant.

You were thankful when he stepped back and grabbed his plate, a fork, and the syrup, going into the living room to eat. At the same time, you didn’t like his silence. You knew he was thinking over what you said and trying to read your body language.

“You took the nonexistent ibuprofen then? ‘Cause we ran out of that last month when your Aunt Flo came to visit.” You stayed silent and kept cooking, biting down on your bottom lip. You hoped that by staying silent he would get the message that you just didn’t want to talk about it, you also hadn’t realized he knew it ran out. Something he could have mentioned, you thought to yourself.

Even with your back turned to him, he picked up on something you weren’t saying. You heard his plate being set down on the coffee table and you tried to stay focused on the French toast in the pan so it didn’t burn.

“Are… We don’t have anything to worry about, right? No small clump of cells in the room to be addressed?” You turned the burner off and set the pan aside, your stomach feeling tight and now nausea overcoming you from the fear of talking about. You turned around to face him and took a deep breath, trying to compose yourself.

“It’s fine, I’ve been stressed so that’s a valid reason for why it’s late. I’m not pregnant. And if I am then we’ll deal with it, okay?” You could sense the tension in the room and decided you couldn’t be trapped in this apartment all day with nothing to do. “I’m gonna go into work today and get my mind off of things so I don’t stress out even more. Not a word of this to anyone, okay? We can just give it another week and see what happens or… Or I’ll just have to take a test.” You quickly walked back to the bedroom, hoping that would end the discussion. But he was surprisingly quick to follow you.

“Why won’t you just take a test? It’ll tell us everything we need to know in a few minutes. Look, I know we haven’t talked about any of this, but you can’t seriously think we could have a kid right now?” He watched as you stripped your t-shirt off and quickly put a black button up on and some dress pants. You stopped to look over at him and put your hands on your hips, sighing softly.

“I don’t think anything because I’m not pregnant, House. I’m not taking the test because I know what it’ll say so you can forget it.” You walked past him and into the bathroom, shutting the door as a sign that the conversation was over.

--

You decided to work in the clinic for the majority of the morning – unlike House, you welcomed clinic duty. It was an easy distraction and you had a revolving door of people and never got bored. Well, you got bored, but the people were interesting.

You were finishing up some notes on a patient’s chart at the nurse’s desk when you notice House’s team come into the clinic. You roll your eyes and set the file in the proper tray and grab a new one, ready to get away from them as soon as possible because you were sure he sent them. You knew he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He either told Wilson and Wilson sent them or he somehow found a way to get them to do his dirty work for him.

“(Y/N), can we talk?” You looked over at Foreman and pretended to think about it for a moment, glancing up at the ceiling almost as if in thought. You looked back at him and raised your eyebrow, setting the file you just grabbed back down because the clinic was no longer a distraction.

“No. Go back to whatever case you have.” You gave them a tight smile and walked past the group of four, heading out of the clinic and towards the elevators. You heard footsteps behind you and sighed in annoyance, stopping and turning towards them. You made eye contact with Thirteen, who looked like she was about to say something. You tried to give your best resting bitch face as you spoke, making it clear you didn’t want to be followed or questioned or talked to.

“This doesn’t concern any of you. I don’t care what any one of you has to say. If you keep following me, it won’t be pretty.” You started to turn back towards the elevators before glancing back at them. “And before any of you goes back to House and tries to say that I’m acting angry because of hormones – I’m not pregnant.” You walked to the elevators and thankfully one was already opening up. Unfortunately, the people on the elevator were Wilson and Cuddy.

You decided to take your chances and stand your ground, stepping into the elevator and pressing the button for House’s floor. Wilson cleared his throat and you closed your eyes.

“Just say whatever it is that you’re dying to tell me so I can get on with my day.” You refused to face either one of them.

“You do realize what this means? Potential House spawn? Do you really think he could be a father? And why aren’t you taking a test? I mean it’s just… It’s crazy not to!” You knew he was trying to look out for you and House, but his words stung a bit. You stayed silent, deciding that whatever you said would only be used against you. It was Cuddy that spoke up next.

“(Y/N), are you okay with any of this? I mean, from what it seems-“ You were glad that the elevator doors opened at that moment and decided to cut her off, still keeping your back to them both.

“Stay out of it. I’m fine, I’m not pregnant.” You walked out of the elevator and towards House’s office, taking a deep breath and biting down on your bottom lip. Your anger was slowly disappearing and hurt was building up in the empty spaces.

It hurt you to know that they thought he wouldn’t be able to be a father; that they didn’t know the real him. You knew he was scared at the possibility, but you knew he would step up and that he would be an amazing father one day. The fact that they called any chance of your baby a spawn was only adding to your anger. It didn’t bother you when House had called it a clump of cells – the it might not even be there for all you know – because it’s best to stay detached until you know for sure. And after all, that’s all it would be at this point.

You didn’t know if you wanted to be pregnant, your mind had been everywhere at this point and you kept saying that you weren’t pregnant that you didn’t think about the possibility of you actually being pregnant and what you would do. You opened the door to his office and he looked up from his papers, taking his reading glasses off and leaning back in his chair.

“I take it you talked to a few people?” You questioned him. You sat down in the chair in front of his desk, crossing one leg over the other and resting your arms on the arm rests, holding eye contact.

“Was I not supposed to?” He fired off with sarcasm and you waited for his actual response, trying to be patient for this conversation. “Yes, I did. I figured they could get you to take the test and that’s why you’re here. To tell me that you are in fact not pregnant because you took the test.” You shook your head and you saw some of the color drain from his face.

“I’m not saying I’m pregnant, House, calm down. I’m saying I didn’t take the test.” You saw him take a deep breath and nod a bit, his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.

“So, if you didn’t take the test, then why are you here? Got bored of wiping snotty noses and checking for strep?” You smiled a bit and shook your head, uncrossing your legs and bouncing your foot up and down for a moment.

“No. I want you to do the test. I’m not peeing on a stick; I don’t trust it. So, I want you to draw my blood and test it. I’m not accepting a compromise.” You watched his face for any sign of resistance, glad that he nodded and stood up. He grabbed his cane and started for the door, leaving you still sitting in the chair.

“Are you coming? I can’t draw your blood without you.” You nodded and bit your lip a bit, standing and following him out of the door.

--

As you two sat and waited for the results, you rested your head on his shoulder, not caring that you were at work. Normally you didn’t do any kind of PDA except for kissing, the rest made you feel like others were seeing too much into your private life.

“For the record, I do think you’ll be a great father one day. I don’t care what anyone says, they don’t know you like I do.” You felt his lips press a soft kiss to the top of your head, his arm tightening around your waist.

“You can’t predict the future.” The sound of paper printing made your blood run cold and you sat up, waiting as he walked to get the paper.

Your results and something that you didn’t know if you even cared about.

You heard him stop a few feet away from you and you turned to look at him, shock written all over his face. You didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing yet.

“House? Can you just tell me what it says?” You stood up and walked over to him, taking the paper from his hand and looking down at your results. You felt a pit in your stomach and like you were on fire.

Positive.

“It has to be wrong, I’m sure it’s wrong.” You looked up at him and he just stared down at you, swallowing hard. His eyes seemed a bit glossy and you could feel a small lump in your throat. You set the paper down on the tabletop beside you and placed both of your hands on his cheeks, holding his face. You placed a soft kiss to his lips and felt thankful that his arms immediately wrapped around you, pulling you closer to him.

“No.” He turned his back to Cuddy and faced the team again, an expectant look on his face as he waited for ideas to come from their opened mouths.

“This isn’t up for debate, House. I need new eyes on you, and she could be useful to this hospital. She’s not going anywhere.” With that, Cuddy left his outer office, leaving you to stand awkwardly in the doorway and stare at the board of symptoms. You were trying to avoid eye contact until the tension in the room died down, and you figured you should make yourself useful so you didn’t get fired.

“Do you have a name or am I gonna have to ask Cuddy?” You took that as a sign to look over at House and instead of telling him your name – which Cuddy had already told him, but you figured he wasn’t paying attention – you blurted out the diagnosis you had been thinking of.

“Leukemia.” You didn’t realize you hadn’t given him your name until he began to make a joke at your expense.

“That’s funny you say that, because I have an uncle with the same name. It’s such a small world.” He took a step forward and stared down at you, sensing your nerves. You looked back at him and raised your eyebrow, squaring your shoulders a bit.

“No, leukemia. Your patient.” You took a step around him and walked towards the board, looking over the symptoms once again. A voice from one of the people at the table spoke up.

“Doesn’t fit, we already tested her.” You turned to look at them and found a shorter man looking at you with annoyance written all over his face. “I’m sorry, but if she’s gonna come in and start walking around like she has all the answers can she at least be right?”

“I am right. It’s leukemia. You tested the wrong places.” You glanced at House and he seemed to be thinking. He nodded for a moment before looking at the four sitting around the table.

“Look in her brain. You come with me.” He pointed at you with his cane before walking into his office. You looked at the four other doctors in the room but found them walking out already. Sighing, you followed him into his office, expecting to be fired for stepping on someone’s toes already. He was reclining back in his chair and looking up at you, smirking slightly and tilting his head to the side.

“Did someone tell you to say that? Or did you come up with that on your own?” You scrunched your eyebrows together in confusion and came forward, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk.

“I came up with it. It was easy, I’m sorry if that was a problem? Look, I know sometimes it’s hard to have someone around that does shit like that but either accept it and keep me or tell me why you’re so offended and fire me.” You clasped your hands together on your lap and sat back, watching him for what was going to be the next firing of your career.

“Good. Keep doing it and I think we’ll get along just fine. I don’t fire people for coming up with good ideas, I fire them for not having any at all. Are you ever going to tell me your name, or am I going to have to call you leukemia?” You let out a small breath you didn’t know you were holding and laughed a little, shaking your head.

“It’s (Y/N). I have a feeling leukemia is already taken by somebody on the oncology ward.” You stood and bit down on your bottom lip, glancing down at him. “I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do. Five people to test someone for leukemia seems… excessive.”

“You can cover my clinic hours.” He turned towards his computer and started typing away, not paying you any attention anymore. You nodded and turned to leave his office, a cough stopping you in your tracks. You rolled your eyes before turning back around and raising your eyebrow in a silent, “what?”

“You’d go do what I say, just like that? Interesting. Why would you give me that little speech about accept it or fire you if you’re just gonna let me walk all over you anyway?” You opened your mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. Finally, you found your voice.

“I thought I was getting fired and that I’d never have to see you again. Do you frequently play games with people or am I special? Don’t answer that. I’m going to find something fun to occupy my time with, you can ask one of your other minions to cover your clinic hours.” You turned and exited his office, nearly bumping into someone about to go into House’s office.

Wilson watched you walk down the hall and turned his head back towards House, who had a look of awe on his face and Wilson couldn’t help the confusion that overcame him.

“What did you do to her? Is she one of the new residents? I thought they weren’t coming until fall.” Wilson took a seat in the recliner and propped his feet up on the ottoman.

“She’s the newest member of the team. Cuddy’s newest prodigy. She’s feisty and she has ideas. I don’t think she’s bad.” House avoided eye contact by turning to his computer and pretending to get back to work, typing randomly and clicking at the same things over and over. Wilson sat up a bit straighter and his eyebrows pulled together as he processed what House said.

“You don’t think she’s bad means that she doesn’t just have ideas. She has good ideas.” Wilson was starting to get that look on his face and House took a glance at him. He didn’t like what he was seeing. He took that as an opportunity to get up and make an exit, leaving Wilson to sit and make his own conclusions.

House had just met you and he didn’t know what to think about you besides the fact that he liked the way you stood your ground and he liked that you gave him an answer when no one else did. He didn’t take much time to take in how you looked, but from what he remembers from your brief encounter, he knows you’re attractive to him.

He needed to go bother the rest of the team and avoid you. He needed to ignore any and all chances that he might want to sleep with you.

The outer office felt too quiet. The symptoms written on the board stared back at you and you felt like you were in a fog. You had worked for days on this case, trying to figure out what was wrong with the patient. You had lost sleep and felt like you were losing your intellect, running into roadblocks every step of the way.

It didn’t help that House wanted to find the answer just as badly as everyone else did and that he kept berating every idea that you or anyone else on the team threw out. He was working in the morgue now to run final tests. Anything to solve the puzzle, you thought bitterly.

It wasn’t that you couldn’t handle not solving the case, you knew you put your all into it and the rest of the team had told you not to be so hard on yourself. They told you that House was just frustrated that he didn’t figure out what was wrong and that he didn’t get to solve his puzzle on time. None of that bothered you, you had dealt with his frustrations and insults and pushing for months now. What bothered you was that this was the first patient you lost and you had been the one forced to do most of the procedures and administer medication.

For some reason, House was being harder on you than usual. But you can’t pretend you didn’t know why. It was because this case scared you and he could sense that. You let your guard down for two seconds during the differential and had a slip of the tongue, mentioning that you felt bad for the woman you were treating. He had looked at you questioningly, pressing you to explain why; but you had given a lame excuse. You told him that you just felt bad that she had so much to deal with and that you were trying to get in touch with your emotions like a normal human.

He had left it alone, but you knew he was trying to figure out what you were really feeling and why you felt that way. That’s why he was so hard on you whenever you gave any input – he was trying to make you crack. You held yourself together until now.

Now, you just felt empty and like the rest of the world was a blur. You didn’t save that woman and, in some odd way, you felt like you didn’t save yourself. You felt like everything was dull and like nothing mattered. You heard someone come into the empty room, flicking the lights on and breaking your train of thought. You looked over to the door to find House standing near the doorway, staring at you with his face pinched in confusion.

“Why aren’t you at home? Case is over.” He walked over to the small kitchenette and poured himself a cup of coffee, avoiding eye contact with you.

“I lost track of time. I guess my brain isn’t working normally after overworking it like that.” You threw out another lame excuse; a lie. You were punishing yourself for your lack of ability. You were too caught up in your head to do much of anything and you knew your brain was working. However, you didn’t know if it was normal. You took in a deep breath and kept your eyes on the whiteboard, your muscles aching and your posture tense.

You could see him turn to look at you out of the corner of your eye and soon enough he was blocking your vision, sitting across from you at the table. He took a sip from his coffee, your eyes following the movement of the mug. You were done with the defenses, if he wanted to question every little reason for your behavior throughout and after this case then you would answer them all. You were tired enough, lying would only exhaust you even more.

“Why did this case bother you so badly? Was it because I was pushing you more than the others? Because if you can’t handle that, then I don’t know how you’ve made it this far.” He set his mug down and started fiddling with his cane, bouncing it up and down a bit. You didn’t have the energy to figure out why he needed so badly to know why this bothered you. “Or was it because you haven’t lost a patient before? Did they not teach you in medical school that people die? Sometimes faster than others and sometimes in worse ways than others, but everybody dies.”

You tilted your head down, looking at your feet through the glass of the table. You knew people died and yet it wasn’t that aspect of this case that bothered you. You just didn’t know how to articulate what the real issue was. You figured it would be best to spit out whatever explanation came to your brain first; maybe that was the most honest one.

“I saw parts of my life in her. I listened to her talk about how shitty her life has been already and that things were just starting to turn around. She was planning a career for herself and she was hopeful and she-“ You shook your head, cutting your rambling off. You couldn’t let yourself delve into your past so easily, so you bit down on your bottom lip hard, the pinching feeling releasing you from the numbness you felt around you for just that moment. Until you got used to the pain and let go; deciding it was better to feel everything in this moment.

“You got personally invested. It happens, I get it. But – the thing that’s interesting me the most right now is – what parts of your life are you hiding? Some secret life-threatening illness that takes a genius and his fellows to figure out that, unlike her, you survived? Do you think because you’re similar to her in any way that you’ll end up like her? Dead with no reason?” He leaned forward, his cane leaning against the chair beside him and his eyes searching every inch of your body that he could. He was looking for a clue; another puzzle to solve. Which reminded him.

“I’m also curious as to why you haven’t asked what I found out in the morgue? I mean, I’m being abnormally nice to you by indulging in your sadness and not just ignoring it. I figured I could at least get some sort of interest from you out of everyone else.” You knew he didn’t have to explain why. He figured you’d be more interested in the answer – like him – because of how hard he had pushed you. Of how many times he rejected your theories and mocked you and made you feel less than.

He was purposeful in his actions, that you knew of. He purposefully talked to you, figuring you’d ask why he had let go of the case so easily. He knew you were more like him than you’d like to admit. You were more like him than Foreman in some ways, and that was something you didn’t know if you were proud of. You did know that you were happy to have some value on the team, someone that the others looked at like House 3.0 (you couldn’t take Foreman’s place of House 2.0).

“I don’t care anymore. She’s dead, you got to solve the puzzle, our lives will go on with the next case and then the next. She’ll be forgotten in a few days and we will be fine.” You got the courage to look up at him and make eye contact, your face pulled into a look of hurt that you were trying so desperately to conceal. You didn’t cry; no, that part came for when you got home and you were completely alone and felt the crushing weight of how heavy this all felt. Of how deeply this affected you over things you thought you had gotten past.

You shifted in your seat, the tension in your body becoming more and more noticeable – so much so that you thought you would never relax again. You decided to take a chance and spill the beans, tell House the truth instead of dancing around it like it would go away with nonexistent magic.

“I didn’t have a life-threatening illness that took an arrogant ass and his more than slightly corrupted fellows to solve just in the nick of time. I’m not spiraling because I think I’ll die within the next week or month or even year for no reason and have no one but one of the miserable doctors on my case feel any sadness over my death. I did however go through the vicious cycle of wanting to off yourself until the only option was a mental institution. I went through the ups of things getting better and thinking that things were finally going my way only for everything to be smashed to pieces.” You took a deep breath, holding it for a few moments because you felt like your lungs were collapsing in on themselves.

You felt too exposed and you knew there was no turning back, the words had already left your mouth and they sat heavy in the air. But you couldn’t leave it at that, you couldn’t let the little bit of information end there, because there was more to it than that. There was more than just this woman’s mental health that you felt connected to. You brought your hand up to your head and ran your fingers through your hair, hoping that you didn’t look as wrecked as you felt.

“I’ve been down those roads more times than I’d like to admit. But I can listen to anyone’s sob story and feel fine; I can keep those memories out of my head. She… She had no one. Everyone left her and she got hit in the fucking face with all of this. I realized I don’t want to be completely alone for the rest of my life, not with how overwhelming it is to be the only one to push yourself to get better. I want someone there with me through the good and the bad and I don’t care what form they come in.” You let out a small, bitter laugh. “I hate how you just… You say things that could be completely in outer space about someone and yet every single time you hit the nail on the head. You’re right, House. I don’t want to end up like her.” You had been watching his face for any kind of reaction, your eyes drifting to the symptoms every now and then as you spoke.

He sat patiently through every word, his eyes never leaving yours and his mouth pulled into a tight line. You knew he was uncomfortable, and you immediately felt guilty for pushing all of that out there to someone who didn’t care or have the capacity to comfort you. His body had now tensed up a bit, his right hand rubbing his thigh and his left hand gripping the handle of the coffee mug just tightly enough for you to notice. He took a minute to think before speaking, something you were grateful for.

“You won’t end up alone. Everyone likes you and they’ll all care whenever you die. I can tell you for a fact that you wouldn’t be in the morgue right now if you were in her place.” He let go of his mug and pushed it to the side a bit, bringing both of his arms up to rest on the tabletop. “I wondered why there were gaps in your medical history. Cuddy didn’t know why there was so much missing either, but now it makes sense.” He held on to that thought and question for another time, right now he was trying to do the right thing. He was trying to be comfort for you because he saw how broken you looked.

“If you ever have some mystery illness in the future, I’ll oversee everything. Obviously, because it’ll no doubt be interesting.” He shrugged as if that was an acceptable reason. But you took it and you gave him a small smile, the world around you slowly losing its fog. You still felt empty and broken, not sure if you could even remember how to get home at this point. Your brain was so exhausted and you just wanted out of this conversation.

It was at that moment that a perfectly timed yawn escaped your lips, your body aching for you to stretch and lay down. To finally get the rest you needed. You watched him glance around the office before standing, grabbing his cane. You assumed he was heading home, so you allowed yourself to stand to do the same, your muscles aching but singing in relief at the same time. You leaned against one of the chairs at the table, your eyes unable to look away from the symptoms again. House cleared his throat a bit and you broke your stare, looking over to where he was standing in the doorway to his office.

“I can drive you home. You shouldn’t be driving so sleep deprived.” His words shocked you a bit but brought a warmth to your body that you didn’t realize you were missing. You nodded slightly and watched as he grabbed his bookbag and keys, your eyelids becoming heavier by the second.

As you two walked to his car in the parking garage, you could feel the chill of winter around you and it was refreshing. In the car, you both were silent after you gave him your address. Although, you thought he would have looked into all of your personal information by now to know it. You could feel your eyes getting heavier and you leaned your head against the window, the cold bringing you into reality and away from what you left behind in the office.

You drifted off to sleep with the thought that maybe House could be your friend. If you two were so much alike then it wouldn’t be so hard and you could even hang out with Wilson, someone you enjoyed being around.