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House finds a distraught and exhausted E.R. doctor sitting in the cafeteria toiling with what looks like it's supposed to be pudding. This is the first time he can remember her looking unhappy since he noticed she was pregnant. He slips into the chair next to her. "Isn't the postpartum supposed to come after the kid comes along?" he asks, stealing a cold fry off her plate.
"Typically," she answers dully and drops the spoon onto the plate.
No banter? That wasn't like her. He gets a sharp stab in his gut – a memory of years before that ended with tragedy. He shakes out of his reverie and asks, "Are you in pain?"
That seems to surprise her and make her frown at him. "No. Nothing like that. The baby's fine."
He scoops up the spoon and dips it into the pudding cup. "Then what's eating you? Since you're not eating." He slides the spoon into his mouth and pulls a face at the taste. "Well, that I can understand."
She shakes her head, then rests it in her palm, elbow on the table. "Nothing. I'm fine."
"You," he wags the spoon at her, "are not fine." He puts the spoon back in his mouth, considering the taste of the pudding-from-a-can. "Chase too horny for you?" he asks with a wicked smirk.
The tightness in her shoulders and the quick aversion of her eyes tells him that's not the case at all. In fact, he's sure it's exactly the opposite.
"Cameron?"
Reddened eyes look up at him. "He doesn't want anything to do with me." She sighs tiredly. "I tried to engage him last night, he grunted and rolled away. Told me he was tired."
House frowns. "He know about us?"
"I don't think so, no. Even if he did, this wasn't him angry at me over something. This was... different. Like he just wasn't interested." Another heavy sigh. "It's not just sex. It's anything. We don't talk. We don't kiss. He hardly looks at me and when he does, I don't think he likes what he sees."
"A beautiful woman, full of life, carrying his child?"
She blushes and smiles at him. "Thank you, but no, I don't think he sees that."
House snorts. "He's an idiot." Stacy had been absolutely radiant after she found out she was pregnant. And he'd thought she couldn't have been more beautiful – or happy. He remembers wanting to spread her out on the bed and just look at her to see if he could notice the changes in her body. Could he see her breasts getting firmer, her belly starting to swell. He was disappointed that his observations had to stop so abruptly. Medically, he wasn't interested, but empirically, he was fascinated.
"Foreman says it's because Chase hates fat people."
House laughs. He can't help it. "Sounds like Chase."
"You think I'm fat?" she asks, her voice cracking a little.
There is no good way to answer that question. "Of course you're fat. You're carrying a person around in there." He points to her swelling middle. "But you're not unattractive carrying it around." He leans in close to her ear. "Still sexy. I'd hit that."
Cameron laughs at him and slaps his arm. "You'd hit that no matter what, just to piss off Robert."
House shrugs, feigning innocence. "If there's no challenge in it, it's not any fun." He nods to her. "Who's your OB?"
"Tanner."
House looks surprised. "Good choice. She got you on the good neo-natal vitamins or that crap everyone else prescribes?"
Cameron frowns at his sudden concern. "The good stuff. The newer stuff. Why?"
"Making sure you're getting your money's worth out of your health insurance. Drink some orange juice and take the rest of the day off. You look beat. Chair in my office is comfy."
"Thanks, House. I'm fine."
"And sexy. Don't forget sexy," he calls as he walks away.