Disclaimer- Nothing related to the TV show House belongs to me. Wow, that seems unnecessary.
A/N- Instead of making this a long, multi-chapter fic, I decided to turn it into an extended oneshot. If I may say so arrogantly, I believe this chapter is one of the best I've ever written. I've never tried anything like it before though, so give me your honest opinions. Flashbacks are in italics, though I'm pretty sure you could've figured that out on your own. As always, enjoy, and please review!
Life Is Unpredictable
Chapter 2
A five month pregnant Cameron sat on the leather sofa of the apartment she shared with House. As she flipped through the television channels, he plopped down next to her and set a bowl of freshly popped popcorn between them. Finally, Cameron decided what she wanted to watch.
"No! Please, no. Not this again!" House whined upon seeing her choice.
"What? What's wrong with it?" Cameron asked.
"It's…what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, yeah. Stupid."
"It is not! It gives me good ideas for the nursery."
"The nursery's practically finished! How many more ideas do you need?"
"However many I can get." She answered with a smirk, happy at being reminded that not only was she about to have a baby with the man she loved, but that she was completely prepared for it… four months ahead of time. House simply shook his head and turned to the television, acknowledging the fact that they would be watching yet another episode of "Make Room for Baby."
"Don't leave." He told her. She turned around slowly, a question clearly written on her face.
"Why not?"
"Because…you don't need to. You've got a good thing going here." He answered weakly.
"A good thing? You yourself told me that I could do better!" She exclaimed, speaking of her position in the ER, but sounding rather like she was speaking of him.
"Well…I was wrong." Cameron was shocked; Gregory House actually admitting being mistaken? Impossible, there was something else going on.
"No, you weren't." She argued. "I'm a capable, talented doctor, and I want to be more than a senior attending in the ER of a teaching hospital." She said confidently. House sighed resolutely; she was right, she deserved more.
"What about Chase?" He asked stupidly. It was Cameron's turn to sigh, 'Why can't he ever stay out of my business?' She wondered angrily.
"What about Chase?" She shot back, her answer giving away nothing.
"Won't he miss his newly blond girlfriend?" House asked insensitively.
"I think you mean newly blond ex-girlfriend." She stated, her admittance of the break up mingling with her sarcastic response. House nodded knowingly, secretly happy that things had ended between his two former ducklings. Assuming that there was nothing more House wanted to say to her, Cameron began to turn for the door, again.
"Cameron! Wait." He ordered. She spun around, rolled her eyes, and shot him an impatient look.
After an uncomfortable few moments of silence, she asked shortly, "What?" House sighed again, looked down at his desk, and muttered, "What if I told you that I didn't want you to leave."
Cameron gave a small smile and answered quietly, "I wouldn't believe you." He looked up and read the mixture of sadness and hopefulness on her beautiful, youthful face.
"And if I promised I wasn't lying?"
"I would consider if I could trust one of your promises."
"What if I assured you, beyond reasonable doubt, that you could."
"And how would you do that?" She questioned, continuing with the hypothetical debate.
"Somehow." House answered obscurely.
"Okay then," Cameron said, "If I was completely convinced you were telling the truth, I would ask 'why?'"
"I would probably answer with something like, 'I'll be bored without you here.'" Cameron giggled, enjoying the childlike game.
"In that case, I would likely respond, 'Amuse yourself with your new minions.'"
"Hm…if you said that, maybe I'd laugh, and then I'd tell you the truth." He said, growing serious.
Cameron took in a short breath and asked, "And what would the truth be?"
"I still have a lot to say to you. I don't want you to leave because I can't imagine the hospital without you, and I don't know what'll happen to me if you're gone." He bore his soul in those two sentences, and stunned Cameron to her very soul.
"House…" Was all she could say.
"Don't leave." He repeated his earlier sentiment.
"I won't." She agreed, and smiled.
Their relationship began smoothly. A couple of evenings were spent at his town home, or her apartment, and they simply ate dinner, watched movies, and actually talked. Conversed about things other than work. Cameron even moved House to occasionally speak of his feelings…about her. House told Cameron of his painful childhood, but refrained from shedding tears as she had. He simply told the story, and she wrapped her arms around him when he was finished. Nothing needed to be said; they were both thinking the same thing; 'Thank God I ended up here.'
'I can't believe I'm doing this.' House thought, as he sat behind Cameron in the Lamaze class she had forced him into taking with her. His leg was throbbing from spending an extended period of time on the floor, so he popped a couple of Vicodin as the instructor taught the several pregnant women "calming breathing exercises."
Cameron heard the 'pop' of the Vicodin bottle opening, so she turned her head and asked, "Are you okay? We can leave if you need to." House shook his head.
"I can handle this; you're going to experience a lot more pain than I am now in two short months." Cameron rolled her eyes, deciding not to get angry. At seven months, it was a miracle she could maintain any semblance of control over her emotions.
"And you're going to be right there with me." She reminded him.
"Of course." He reassured her, before adding, "Remind me to bring the portable television."
"Move in." House said shortly, not bothering to look up from his newspaper at Cameron, who was sitting across the table, eating her breakfast. She looked up slowly, not sure that she had heard him correctly. "Half your stuff's here already." He continued. "Plus, it's economical; you can stop paying rent on your two-bit apartment."
Cameron sighed and asked, "Are you sure about this. Moving in together…that's a pretty serious step." She cautioned.
"Wait! Living together is a serious step?! Forget I ever said anything!" He said sarcastically.
"House, please. I'm just saying…are you ready for that kind of…commitment?" She asked, nervous to use that word around him.
"Cameron, we've been…" He paused to search for the right label, "together, for what? Four months? If I was going to bail, I would've already." Surprised at both his complete willingness to advance in their relationship, and the fact that he remembered how long they had been in said relationship, Cameron's jaw dropped slightly, and she said nothing.
"So…" House said, anxious that he was about be rejected, forgetting for a moment how completely in love with him Cameron was.
When she recovered, her face lit up, and she answered, "Let's get some boxes."
"House." Cameron said worriedly, turning in bed to face the man she had just named. He groaned. "House!"
"What?" He mumbled sleepily.
"I'm in labor." She informed him nervously.
Instantly alert, House shot up, causing pain to shoot through his leg; he dry swallowed a couple Vicodin and asked rapidly, "How close together are the contractions? How long are they lasting? Did your water break?"
Cameron laughed shortly at his anxiousness and answered, "About five minutes. Almost two minutes each, and yes, I'm surprised you didn't notice."
"Why the hell did you wait so long to wake me?!" House exclaimed, more curious than angry.
"I knew you'd need enough rest and-" She was cut off as a contraction struck her. House gently rubbed her lower back until it passed, asked if she was okay, and waited for her to finish what she had been saying. "And I decided to wait to wake you until it was time to go to the hospital. I don't want you being cranky in the delivery room." House laughed and shook his head, even while Cameron was in labor, she thought of others. "So…" she trailed off, hoping he would understand her meaning.
"Oh!" He picked up, "Yeah, hospital, yeah, let's go."
"House." Cameron said his name seriously.
Picking up on her tone, House responded, "Ohhh crap." Cameron sighed, which unnerved him even more; she had gotten used to his 'delicate' replies, and often laughed them off. Now she was distressed by one, which spelled b-a-d n-e-w-s. "Alright," he relented, "what's wrong?"
"I…I don't really know how to tell you this…" She started, and he grew more nervous. "So, I'm just going to…tell you. I'm pregnant." Her eyes were watery, and only then did he notice how afraid she was. He decided to attempt deflecting the situation with humor.
"So, I guess I should marry you now, huh?" Cameron, believing he was serious, clenched noticeably.
"Not…not if you don't want to." She said uneasily. Her view on the situation made him reconsider what he had just said.
"Well…you just seem like the type that would want to get married before having a kid."
"I am. I just don't want you to think I'm forcing you into something. Right now, I'm just happy you're still here." She revealed. His eyebrows furrowed; she honestly thought he'd leave?
"You thought I'd leave?" He voiced his thoughts.
"I know you don't like surprises, and this is a big one. Plus, even though we've never really talking about having kids, I just assumed you didn't want any. Going in, I just couldn't stop thinking of how awfully it might end."
"Cameron, even though I'm an ass," he held up his hand as she opened her mouth, "and don't try denying it. I know it, you know it, everybody knows it. Anyway, even though I am…you know, I'm still not enough of a jerk to walk out on the woman I've lived with for months who's, apparently, pregnant with my child. You really thought I'd do that to you?" He asked, hurt.
"Yeah, but I shouldn't have. I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please, don't be angry." She apologized.
He sighed again, "I'm not angry. I'm sorry. Even after all this time you still don't feel…safe. Don't know what I've done…or not done, but…" He trailed off, unsure of how to finish his emotional thought.
"House, it's not your fault. I feel safe. It's not you. I just…after everything that's happened…I still can't believe it, I still can't believe how…lucky I am to be with you. Everybody in my life who I've ever felt safe with has left, except my mother, that's why I still feel relieved every morning when I wake up and you're still in bed next to me. You've been kinder to me than I ever imagined possible, and I cherish that everyday. You've done nothing wrong. I love you." She poured out her feelings for him, leaving herself exposed, and wondering what would happen next. She figured he would surprise her somehow. He didn't disappoint.
"I don't want you to be relieved. I want you to be happy. You should fall asleep at night knowing that I'll be there when you wake up. I love you too, and I know I don't say that enough. Let's get married, okay? It's actually sort of nice to think of you fingering your wedding ring at night, in bed, and feeling good before you sleep; not that I couldn't make you feel good other ways…" House finished suggestively, trying to recover some of his original self after such a blatant display of sappiness. Cameron was fully crying now, but not out of sadness. She was crying out of joy; the great joy she had ever known.
"Gregory House, was there a proposal hidden somewhere in there?" She joked happily.
"You know what? There might have been…"
"In that case, yes. Yes, let's get married." She threw her arms around him, and could have sworn her heart actually swelled when he wrapped her in his embrace.
"Just one more push Allison! One more!" The nurse encouraged. Cameron, who was strangely calm, simply closed her eyes, put her chin to her chest, and used all of her remaining strength to give birth to her baby. Suddenly, high pitched cries were heard in the room and Cameron collapsed back onto the bed.
"It's a boy!" The doctor joyfully announced. House dropped the cloth he had been using to dab her forehead, and kissed her fully on the mouth. She smiled back tiredly, and asked to hold her baby, whom the doctors had just finish cleaning and weighing. The doctor who delivered House and Cameron's (who was now House as well) son placed him gently in her arms.
"Wow." Cameron breathed.
"Yeah." House said. Neither could elaborate on their thoughts. They were both looking at the most beautiful creature either had ever seen. The newborn had his mother's naturally dark hair, and there were signs that he would develop his father's stunning eyes. His body itself was small; he was only six pounds and one ounce, and his little face, still pink from delivery, would certainly be adorable once he grew.
"What should we name him?" Cameron asked, addressing the only issue about the birth that hadn't been raised.
"Steven." House answered immediately, having planned out his response ahead of time.
"After my brother?" Cameron responded, shocked that he had remembered. She had only mentioned her oldest brother twice, and only once had his name been spoken. House only nodded. Cameron smiled her agreement. "Middle name?" She questioned. House shook his head, indicating that he hadn't thought past the first name. "How about Jacob?" Cameron suggested.
"Why?"
"Don't know, just like the name." Was her simple answer.
"Sure, sounds good."
"Steven Jacob House." Cameron spoke her child's name for the first time. House nodded again; he couldn't think of anything to say. "I like it." Cameron confirmed, and gestured to House, who then took his son in his arms.
"Steven Jacob. Hi…" he said awkwardly, "I'm your dad." Cameron smiled at the picturesque moment, and thought that, despite all of her hardship, she was quite possibly the happiest woman in the world.
A/N- So, who liked the fluff? Who liked the format? Who didn't? No way I'll know unless you tell me! If you did like it, please don't ask me to continue via epilogue and/or sequel. That may sound a bit snobby, but I don't want to feel pressured, and then let people down because I couldn't deliver. Quite honestly, I'm surprised I had time to finish this!