After the Fourth Wedding, 3/4

[deelaundry]

Posted to housefic

Title: After the Fourth Wedding, part 3 of 4
Author: Dee Laundry
Pairing: House/Cameron
Rating: PG
Summary: Five linked drabbles (500 words exactly)

Part One - Part Two

Wilson finds them the house.

It’s bigger than House’s apartment but not too big, and reasonably near the hospital. Through the kitchen’s large window, Cameron can see the entire backyard with its lush low-maintenance landscaping and sturdy playset. The only room not on the main level is a small finished studio over the garage. “For when you want to escape,” Wilson laughs.

“I thought this,” he says, opening the door to a sweet yellow room filled with indirect sunshine, “could be the nursery.”

Safe sidewalks, friendly-looking neighbors, good school system. Cameron wants to scratch the smile out of Wilson’s eyes.

---

At every prenatal visit, House is there. (She wonders when the baby comes if he’ll turn into Greg, or skip straight to Dad.) Sometimes this lifts her heart, and she floats for the next day or two, her head filled with the helium of a happy ending.

Sometimes this strains her lungs, the overwhelming weight of his attention cutting off oxygen. His fights with the OB – because of course House knows all, in every area of medicine – amplify the feeling but are not the cause.

He rubs her abdomen and whispers words she can’t hear to the baby every night.

---

One night they have dinner at Wilson's house. The Mrs.’s name is Allison, too, which Mrs. finds cute and Cameron finds revolting.

House kicks Cameron under the table and makes faces at the food when the others aren’t looking. It’s a moment just for them, and it makes her smile all evening, even through a third cup of decaf in the kitchen with Mrs.

Time to leave, but House and Wilson have fallen asleep, stretched out right next to each other on the pull-out couch. “Our boys,” Mrs. coos, and Cameron is suddenly tucked in alone in a guest room.

---

Their wedding day is House’s birthday. At least he'll remember it, she thinks. Acknowledgment: maybe, maybe not. Sometimes he still bothers to woo.

He’s surprisingly supportive during the planning - listening, involved, but letting her have the final say. He only asks that they get married in the morning.

It’s a lovely ceremony, a lovely day. Her mother cries, and his mother hugs her sweetly. House looks handsome, and happy.

She never admits that she selected the opening date of the largest oncology conference of the year; he never mentions the time was set so Wilson could make his flight.

---

To Cameron’s astonishment and delight, during their four-day honeymoon, there are only two people present. (“And a half,” supplies some part of her brain, but really she believes life begins at birth.)

House attempts to teach her about wine without letting her drink any, which is uproariously funny all-around. Cameron attempts to teach him about antiques, annoyed that he only half-listens, until he perfectly identifies her favorite type of cut glass.

They make love at least once a day – he doesn’t call it that, never will, but his fingers, lips, and clean-shaven cheeks whisper it to her over and over.

Part Four

Comments

[dangomango.livejournal.com]

*sits and tries to puzzle out where you're going with this*
I'm probably more interested in this story than is healthy.
:)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

If you figure it out, will you let me know? :)

Thanks!

[warmdarkwoman.livejournal.com]

It's all an hallucination, right?

Please?

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Nope! Much as we might like it to be...

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

I like this series a lot, which surprises me ;P

It no longer feels "Pilloryish", which is intriguing.

Hmm. (in a good way XD)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Surprises me too! You'll be shipping Hameron before you know it. XD

I have no clue what will happen next, or how this will end. *shrugs*

[jdr1184.livejournal.com]

I DON'T WANT H/C HAPPY! Sheesh, I feel so mean. Soon you'll be having me hope the baby is ugly and has baby!acne. I'm fascinated in that watching the replay of an accident sort of way. I have no idea where you’re going but I can’t help but watch. XD

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Baby!acne - hee. And a squished cone head and a touch of jaundice. There is more H/C happiness ahead, but I don't know where it will all end. ??? Thanks.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

This...is awesome. I keep thinking there's some twist somewhere, something that House and Wilson know but Cameron really doesn't, and I'm very nervous because I'm wondering just how dark a twist it is. And I love that. :)

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

Can I just say ditto? Interesting fic.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I normally don't do WIPs, but this only comes in dribs and drabs. (There may be a pun on 'drabble' in there somewhere but I don't know what it is.)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Can I confess that I don't know where this is going? what are your dark twist ideas? Email me!

Thanks!

[roga.livejournal.com]

Veeery interesting. I like the idea, and the things left unsaid between them, and I really like your Cameron. I hope this won't end badly for her, or at least not too badly.

House's motives in this relationship are... intriguing. It feels like there's a distance between them, like there's not enough chemistry - I keep hoping he'll tease her or she'll tease him or they'll let some kind of humor into this, some form of intimacy. Which is why I liked the dinner at the Wilsons' scene, awkward as it was.

Like others, am curious as to where this will continue :-)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. More will be revealed about House's motivations in the next section or two, but I'm still puzzling through Cameron's motivations... and where this might head.

(Your coffee icon is yjmmy!)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

That should be "yummy." Oy.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

Glad to see more of this, and also trying to guess where you're going. Suspect it won't turn out well for Cameron, which should make my H/W shipper happy, but you're also doing such a good job of creating a believable, multi-faceted Cameron that I suspect it's going to hurt like hell. Awesome job with the drabble format.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I'm still guessing too... Sigh. Thanks especially for the compliment on the drabble format - the challenge of 100 words exactly is an interesting one.

[petrichor-fizz.livejournal.com]

Ditto [what? I'm not feeling bright today].

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. (I'm not feeling that bright either.)

[oceanic-flight.livejournal.com]

Well, as a H/C shipper myself I really hope it ends well into my likings.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

We'll see... but I think it will end up happy. Thanks!

[chmaresh.livejournal.com]

Enjoying this a lot, even though I have this awful sense of doom...Maybe Cameron's paranoia is getting to me too ;)

And I'm not sure what to make of the fact that Wilson found them a house or that both House and Cam took him into consideration when scheduling their wedding - but never mentioned it to each other. Its unnerving that they never mention his presence in their lives...And I kind of wish he'd back off - blasphemy to an H/W shipper, I imagine :)

Looking forward to whatever you have in mind. And I'm so impressed with how each drabble flows so well, both within itself and into the next one.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sticking with this. The trouble with snapshots is you only get glimpses, not the whole picture.

They don't ever talk about Wilson, do they? I think House doesn't talk about it because he simply takes Wilson for granted (now that time has passed from Wilson's wedding); Cameron doesn't talk about it because she doesn't want House to think she's paranoid.

More next time!