Work Text:
Sometimes I call her up at home knowing she's busy
And ask her if she can get away and meet me
And maybe we can grab a bite to eat
It hadn't been easy to slip out of responsibilities, but Chase found himself breaking free early on Thursday for an extended, three-day weekend away from the hospital. He'd wanted to do this for a few weeks now — surprise Cameron with a little extra help around the house.
Cameron was very pregnant — past the point of morning sickness and aches and into full-blown third trimester time. She was about 36 weeks along — or eight months. They had been planning their futures around having a kid, but Chase would be the first to admit that the timing was not ideal. They'd planned to wait until they found work elsewhere — outside of New Jersey — somewhere a little more idyllic to raise a child together in.
They'd both gotten a little too excited during valentine's day. Chase eventually took the blame for not taking precautions, but Cameron had decided that if their baby plan was happening — she'd be fine with it happening now.
So they did just that. They'd announced it to the hospital with a mixed bag of reactions — House immediately putting the pieces together that they'd conceived during valentine's day when Cameron said how far along she was when she was still coming into the hospital. Foreman prodded Chase about whether or not that was true after the ordeal. Chase admitted it was.
Soon thereafter, Cameron stopped coming into the hospital. Her pain level had taken a drastic skyrocket, and Chase started to worry. He would call her once every two hours between tasks from the hospital just to make sure she was okay. He would find ways to weasel out of work to come home early to help her.
Leaving work wasn't anything new for Chase — and everyone who worked with him seemed to acknowledge that — but being able to have allotted time off was new to him. He wanted to show Cameron that he was committed and ready for a kid. He didn't want to seem immature.
When he unlocked the door and walked into their living room, he saw an empty couch that was riddled with blankets and a heating pad. Obviously Cameron had been laying there previously — she seemed to leave a trail of blankets wherever she went. And heating pads. Sometimes ice packs. Chase walked over to it to make sure the heating pad wasn't still turned on.
Sometimes she would forget things — leave the TV or the oven on. Obviously, one of those things is more dangerous than the other, but nevertheless — Chase would be behind her ready to pick up the pieces. He wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. He never mentioned her forgetfulness to her — he knew it'd only make her more upset that she wasn't able to be at her "best" for him.
Regardless of his efforts, they'd always end up having this conversation anyways. Cameron sitting on their bed, sniffling with a fistful of tissues. She'd look over at Chase with watery eyes, shaking her head.
"I'm just not good enough for this."
"Allison," Chase would say. "You know that's not true. You are so strong."
Cameron would blow her nose into the tissue wad she'd collected. It was always louder than she anticipated, which made her more upset. She'd continue to sob.
Chase usually reached over to embrace her to the best of his ability from an awkward side-hug motion — consoling her.
Chase was really hoping she'd be more keen to normal conversation today. He loved helping Cameron, but he'd be the first to admit that he hated walking on eggshells when it came to her emotions during her pregnancy.
"Allison?" Chase called out, shuffling his coat off and laying it across the couch. He knew she could only be in a couple of places if she wasn't on the couch. He crept to their bedroom door and — yep — there she was, half-covered up by blankets with the TV on. She'd muted the volume.
"Hey," Chase smiled, leaning in the doorway as Cameron turned to look at him from her place on the bed.
"What happened?" Cameron asked.
"What do you mean, 'what happened'?"
"Why are you here?"
Chase was hoping for more excitement, but calmly reminded himself that he was not pregnant. Cameron was.
"Why am I —" Chase stalled. "Nothing happened. I took time off to spend the weekend with you."
Chase finally let himself into the room, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his dress shirt. Cameron looked tired, her hair was pulled back into a half-hearted low ponytail and she was still in her pajamas. She was allowed. Chase pulled on a shirt and sweatpants to match. He sat on the bed next to Cameron, looking over at her with a smile. Cameron was shaking her head no.
"What?" Chase asked, hardening his gaze at her and furrowing his brow. "Why are you — can you stop giving me the silent treatment and just tell me what's bothering you?"
Cameron let out an exasperated sigh. Chase held back all desires to roll his eyes.
"You didn't have to take time off — why did you do that?" Cameron asked, taking his hand. "I'm fine here, I swear. I don't need help. I've been fine this far."
"Yeah right," Chase scoffed. "You ever notice that the oven magically turns itself off? Or — maybe — how your cups keep magically disappearing from the nightstand? Must've been the wind."
"Don't do that, now you're just going to make me feel bad for not being able to remember to turn the damn stove off. It happened one time," Cameron frowned.
Three times, Chase corrected silently.
"Sorry," Chase moved closer to her, smiling warmly as he placed a hand on her stomach. "How are you doing?"
Cameron let her head fall back into the pillows below, groaning.
"Do you want all of it or do you want the Sparksnotes?"
"I took an extended weekend for a reason."
"Well first, the pasta last night… I shouldn't have eaten it," Cameron shuddered thinking about it. "I had heartburn all night. I was too tired to do anything about it so I just sort of laid there and hoped it would go away. I was almost fully asleep when the kicking started. Then, when that finally stopped and I was almost fully asleep again — your alarm went off."
Okay, so it always ended up being Chase's fault. He pursed his lips together, sighing.
"I do have to go to work," Chase reminded her. "You know, on account of you being pregnant, and all."
Cameron bulldozed his attempt at a two-way conversation by continuing her story.
"And then I tried to sleep through you getting ready. Obviously you finally left. But then I decided I should probably get up and clean our room, or at least my side. It's looked pretty abysmal recently."
Cameron had gotten out of hospital work for the last month and a half leading up to her anticipated delivery — on account of the fact that everyone had agreed that maybe it wasn't a good idea to have a pregnant person working in a hospital full of sick people in her third trimester. Especially working in diagnostics. Cuddy had arranged a very generous leave window for Cameron — Chase was convinced that Cameron was the only person that Cuddy would do that for.
Chase had worked out the details with Cuddy on Cameron's plan for maternity leave. Cameron had other feelings about when and how she'd be going on leave. Naturally, they butted heads about it, spent time alone in separate rooms stewing about what they'd say to the other about it when they eventually did talk about it, and then never fully addressed it. The argument transitioned into a stalemate by the third hour, and Cameron finally agreed to her leave arrangements. So Chase gave her space — since he'd been so 'terrible' about organizing her maternity leave and trying to convince Cuddy to make some of it paid time off. But whatever.
"I tried to clean but then it was like — my hips started to really hurt. I decided to go lay down on the couch with a heating pad on for a few hours. I also ate some saltines with peanut butter because I was feeling absolutely awful but also like I might get sick if I try and eat anything," Cameron continued, pausing and looking over at Chase. "Are you sure you're still listening to me?"
Chase was looking up at the ceiling, head also buried in their mound of pillows that Cameron had collected for their bed. He turned to look at her.
"Continue, please. This is really intriguing stuff," Chase stilled to lay on his side, moving his hand back over her stomach. "Me and the baby are enjoying your story."
"The baby is the reason I'm even telling this fucking story," Cameron groaned.
"Allison! Jesus christ, language — you don't want our kid's first word to be fuck, do you?" Chase teased, running his hand over her stomach.
"You just — whatever," Cameron took a beat to yawn, rubbing her eyes. "Then I decided to watch two episodes of The Sopranos and decided it wasn't for me. HBO plays reruns early in the day, I found out. I settled for reruns of Seinfeld. I fell asleep pretty much instantaneously on the couch." Cameron pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes still closed.
"So… how'd you end up here?" Chase was doing his darndest to continue to engage Cameron while he attempted to give her some relief from the soreness in her hips, running his knuckles into her skin.
"I finally got up. They were playing the Kenny Rogers Roasters episode, do you remember that one?"
Chase furrowed his brow. "Unfair. You know I've seen maybe two episodes at most," he reminded her.
"Right," Cameron sighed dejectedly.
"...so the story?"
"I was just about to get back to it. You sidetracked me."
"Oh my god."
"Anyways — I decided to get up and get a drink of water. Baby decided it would be a good time to kick again. I'm actually kind of pissed that we're not getting more kicking right now. The one time you're here during the day," Cameron said. "I got a drink of water and went to the bathroom. That was a whole ordeal. I finally made my way in here and just sort of crashed. Didn't clean or anything which was the whole point for me getting up in the first place. I was even going to try to go to the store today."
Chase slowed his massaging on her hips, tilting his head.
"The store? Why?" He asked. "I usually go after work anyway so you don't have to go anywhere."
Cameron looked at him, eyes getting hazy. "I don't know," she said, catching herself in a gasp.
"Okay, okay, don't cry," Chase begged, moving his other hand to cup the side of her face. "Hey, it's okay."
By some strike of luck, Cameron pulled herself together.
"Sorry," Cameron said. "I just really wanted to help."
"Seriously. You're helping by carrying the baby inside of you. You're excused from any other duties," Chase reminded her, rubbing his hand across her stomach again — finally feeling a kick. He looked up at her quickly, almost melting into a smile.
"There you go," Cameron replied, her stress replaced with calm after seeing Chase's adoration. "Now you've gotten the whole experience."
Chase stilled his hand on her stomach, moving his head down to join his hand on her stomach, pressing his ear up to her.
"This is all so… surreal," Chase admitted, listening against her stomach. He pulled away, resting his body on one elbow on his side. "It's really great."
"I guess you could say that," Cameron joked.
Chase grinned, looking at Cameron from his place on the bed. She looked beautiful — it didn't matter what state she was in. Chase would follow her to the ends of the earth if it meant he'd be able to spend time with her. Let alone the rest of his life.
For now, he'd clean up their room for her. He'd do the dishes. He'd order carry-out from a restaurant that Cameron hadn't been to in at least five years but suddenly decided that she needed in order to make it to the next day. He'd keep turning off the stove and her heating pads and serve her breakfast on a tray. He'd remind her that he loved her, and that he was grateful for being strong. She was stronger than him.