Cramps and Cuddy
To say you felt bad was an understatement. Somewhere between the stress and busyness of your life as a doctor you had managed to only notice the absence of your period by the time it had been missing for four going on five months.
This happened to you sometimes. When you were stressed or overworked your period would take a vacation, but it would always be back with vengeance. The longer it was away the worse the force in which it came back with.
You honestly were considering calling out of work. Your mid section was rolling with cramps, and you felt vaguely nauseous, not to mention how heavy it was.
You cursed any god that would listen as you heard your phone ring, knowing it would be exactly the opposite of what you wanted, a day off.
Sucking in a breath, you snatched your phone off the bedside table and answered the call. Half expecting the voice to belong to your asshat of a boss, you were pleasantly surprised to hear from your boss's boss. Who was much sweeter and more palatable when you felt this terrible. However, that wouldn’t change the content of the call.
“Hello?” You answered still feeling exhausted which was reflected in your voice which was deeper and slightly more gravelly than normal despite the abundance of oestrogen in your body right now.
“Hey y/n.” Dr Cuddy’s voice sounded down the phone. “I saw your text asking to stay home today but I’m afraid house is out today probably causing misery elsewhere. I need you and the ducklings to come in to cover his caseload and clinic hours for today and possibly the rest of the week.” She said with a sigh of someone who was used to dealing with houses unexplained absences and unpredictable yet highly mapped schedule. It wasn’t a matter of organising it that was the issue, Cuddy mapped houses day down to bathroom breaks but it was more a matter of if he followed it, which was almost never to be precise.
“Alright.” You sighed steeling yourself to deal with getting ready. “When do you need me and what am I doing?” You asked.
“If it’s alright with you I wanted the ducklings to cover the tricky cases and you and I can split houses clinic hours so we should be done early.” She said sounding slightly apologetic for making you come in.
“Ok, when do you need me in?” You asked rubbing your palm to your eye as a headache began to press itself against your skull behind your eye socket.
“As soon as possible if you can.” Cuddy said sounding more guilty than apologetic now.
“Ok. See you in roughly twenty minutes Dr Cuddy.” You said before she bid her farewells and ended the call.
You spent around two of your twenty minutes staring at the wall opposite your bed and struggling to plan how you were going to survive clinic duty while feeling so awful yourself. But Cuddy needed you and you prided yourself on your work ethic and to blatantly refuse to help would only end with you laying in bed all day feeling guilty. Which, when mixed with hormones was never going to end any other way than with tears and self loathing.
Drawing a deep breath, you held it for a second and exhaled through your mouth. Steeling your nerves you stood up and the room spun for a second, but it steadied before you went crashing to the floor. Gritting your teeth you slowly begun to painstaking process of getting ready for work. You had to sit to brush your hair as standing too long made your head feel floaty and the room would start spinning.
After detangling your bedhead and applying some product you scrunched some mousse to keep the curls and threw on some scrubs. Looking slightly more presentable but still feeling atrocious, you grabbed your bus card opting not to drive to work today due to the pain you were in. Those two Panadol you had taken earlier doing nothing to help with the pain in your midsection.
One very rough bus trip later you stepped into the foyer and crossed the reception area to the lift. As you pressed the button and the doors closed, the lift lurched upwards. You reached blindly for the rail as it threw you off balance feeling slightly dizzy still and using your other hand to protect your midsection with tossed with nausea at the unexpected and sudden movements of the life.
When you stepped off onto the clinic floor you took a moment to slip on your doctor's face despite still looking a few shades to pale to be considered your normal pallor.
Approaching the nurse behind the desk she looked you up and down, raising an eyebrow before simply handing you a stack of files. You nodded at her thankfully, not feeling like you could open your mouth without spewing on the desk at this point and headed to an empty exam room.
You thumbed through the files and fought down another wave of nausea before feeling ready to take on your first patient of the day. Swollowing back the thick feeling in your throat you took a deep breath and called in your first for the day.
You hadn’t seen Cuddy yet, so she was most likely already busy with patients like you.
After seeing two or three people, you had already lost count due to the pounding in your head only exacerbated by the flickering fluorescent lights overhead, you stepped back into the waiting room. Your eyes locked with Dr Cuddy who had been handing a file to the nurse behind the desk. A whirlwind of emotions crossed her face upon see your state. Ranging from shock to worry to neutral. She said her thanks to the nurse and began to head over to you. Panicking you called for your next patient. And before Cuddy could pull you aside, she was waylaid by a panicked patient begging to be seen next. Something about a ringing noise that just wouldn’t stop.
By the time Cuddy looked back to where you had been you were gone along with your patient. The door to exam room one shut behind the both of you. Cuddy frowned but took the man into a room to deal with.
It was another half an hour before you saw her again. You had moved onto a new patient’s file when the door cracked open, and Cuddy poked her head in. She scanned the room before finding it empty bar yourself as she slipped inside and sat on the exam bed.
“Y/n.” She said her voice slightly stern.
“Yes Dr?” You said feigning ignorance to her disapproval.
“You shouldn’t be working; you look dead on your feet. How much sleep did you get last night? You should have told me you were sick, and I would have had Wilson cover for house while you got some rest.” She said crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m not sick. I’m fine. Just tired.” You said deflecting.
“You're squinting.” She said matter of factly.
“And?” You asked.
“You only do that when you have a headache or a migraine. The fact you’ve reread that file three times since I came in here leads me to believe it’s not a particularly gently one either. You have dark smudges under your eyes and wether you realise it or not your left hand is protecting your stomach. And since I know your note pregnant, your either nauseous or hungry and I saw you wrinkle your nose at the smell of a patients' granola bar, so I know it’s the former. You're fighting with your pen which you only do when your anxious and your tight posture tells me you're in pain. How far off am I?” She asked softly.
“And the call house the genius.” You scoffed and sunk your head into your hands. A second later you felt a gently hand rubbing up and down your back as you leant into it.
“You can’t be feeling well.” Cuddy said sympathetically before pausing her movements.
Gently she spun the chair around and pried your hands from your face, shielding them from the light with her left hand as she used the back of her right to gauge the temprature of your forehead.
“Darling, your warm.” She said.
“No, I’m tired.” You said feeling worse for making her worry.
“Who says you can’t be both.” She said softly. “You need to rest. I’m giving your clinic hours to Wilson.” She decided as she gently stroked your hair from your face with her manicured nails.
“Now, how about we start with how your feeling? What are your symptoms and how long have you been feeling this way?” She asked softly.
“Well, it all begun when I was fourteen and ever since I’ve been cursed to suffer each month for roughly three to six days.” You said and Cuddy frowned sympathetically.
“What are you feeling?” She asked keeping her voice low.
“Headache, light sensitivity, nausea, loss of appetite, cramps, lightheaded when I stand up and dizzy. Sometimes the rooms spinning when it shouldn’t be, and the smell of food makes me want to throw up. And it’s too warm.” You said and Cuddy looked worried.
“How about you rest in my office, and I’ll come check on you when I can. I’ll drive you home after my shift as your sure as hell in no state to get yourself home.” She said. “We can turn the lights out and turn the AC on to lower your temperature. Ok?” She asked.
You swallowed and nodded.
“Nauseous?” She asked and you nodded.
“Like you're going to be sick?” She asked and you paused for a second before shaking your head no. “Alright.” She said grabbing a sick bag from the cupboard anyway.
“‘M n’t gonna be sick.” You mumbled still clutching your mid section.
“Better safe than sorry love.” Cuddy said softly as she tucked the sickbag into her coat pocket. “You feel ready to move to my office yet?” She asked hovering nearby.
“No.” You deadpanned.
“Well, its either that or a stretcher and I’m pretty sure you don’t want that.” She joked, offering you her hand to take.
“I feel terrible.” You said shaking your head and accidentally making the room spin and tip. You groaned holding your head with one hand.
“Oh honey, come on you’ll feel better.” She said softly.
“Alright.” You said tentatively taking her hand as she gently pulled you to your feet. She tucked you into her side as you began to sway dangerously from side to side.
“Don’t pass out on me now.” She joked and you smiled slightly.
“Don’t tempt me. And I make no promises.” You said feeling worse with each step you took.
You were still tucked under Cuddy’s arm as she supported most of your weight as you passed the nurses station, drawing a few pairs of eyes as you went. Cuddy’s attentive gaze switched to her ‘Dean of medicine’ look as she challenged any of the onlookers to say something. They all went back to work as Cuddy let you into her office.
You felt awful, the short trip somehow taking what little energy you had left away from you.
You saw a small pile of files on the couch and Cuddy swore softly knowing she’d have to move them for you too lay down.
“Can you stand on your own for a second while I sort this out?” She asked sounding hesitant to leave you based on how much you were leaning on her for support.
“Mmhmm.” You said with a weak nod.
Cuddy hesitated but slipped out from your side. She watched as you swayed for a second and gave her a weak thumbs up. She chuckled with worry before quickly moving to sort out the couch.
While Cuddy fussed with the files you felt the colour draining from your face. Your head spun and began to float away as your vision went patchy. You felt your body began to drop before you fell into nothingness. The impact never reaching your unconscious mind.
While Cuddy cleared away the files she kept glancing back at you. Stopping when she saw the colour draining from your face as you swayed. She swore softly and quickly crossed the room as your body dropped.
Cuddy half leapt the last few steps towards you, getting to you just in time to wrap an arm around your torso and another under your head. She gently lowered you to the ground with your head resting in her lap as her legs were folded under her. Your face was extremely pale as she gently tapped your cheek to try and rouse you.
“Y/n? Y/n.” She repeated her concern growing by the second. She glanced at the clock taking note of the time, her doctor skills kicking in to time your episode.
After almost half a minute your eyes began to flutter. Cuddy gently stroked your cheek with one finger as she repeated your name.
Your eyes finally opened, and you groaned.
“Y/n? Are you with me?” She asked softly. You smacked your lips making Cuddy smile slightly despite her worry for you.
“Yeah, I think so.” You said with a frown.
“You think.” She teased softly.
“Mmm.” You hummed shutting your eyes again.
“Nope. Keep those eyes open for me love.” She said tapping your cheek. Your skin was still ghostly pale.
“What happened?” You groaned, ignoring Cuddy's request and keeping your eyes shut.
“You passed out.” She said softly. “Do you feel ready to move to the couch?” She asked. And you shook your head.
“Rooms spinni’g.” You said.
“Alright.” Cuddy frowned. “Can I pick you up?” She asked softly.
“You can try.” You said with a half chuckle.
Cuddy, with more ease than you were expecting, gently lifted you off the floor and set you down on her couch. You gave her a questioning look.
“Im stronger than I look.” She said brushing a curl from your face and frowning. “You’re warm still.” She noted. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
“Not going anywhere.” You groaned and she smiled despite her mounting worry for you.
Your eyes began to drift shut from the exhaustion.
Next thing you knew you felt someone’s thumb on your lip. Opening your eyes slightly, you saw Cuddy standing over you ask she pulled your lip down with her thumb and you opened your mouth as she stuck the thermometer under your tongue. With a gentle finger under your chin, she shut your mouth.
“Keep that there for a second alright?” She asked and you nodded. Eyes drifting shut again.
Cuddy pulled her chair over to sit next to the couch as she pulled out her laptop and balanced it on her knees.
“How are you feeling now?” She asked as she gently rubbed your bicep.
You looked at her with sad eyes and gave her a thumbs down with a shrug. Cuddy frowned and nodded.
“Let me know if you need anything, I’ll be right here, ok?” She said and you nodded before letting your eyes drift shut again.
Barely a second later you heard the thermometer beep, and you opened an eye to see Cuddy typing on her laptop with one hand while using the other to keep the thermometer in your mouth. You must have fallen asleep.
Cuddy looked up from her concentration on the third beep and gave you a soft smile seeing you awake. She gently took the device from between your lips and turned the small screen over. Her brows pinched as she read the number. 102.4 a high fever.
“Alright.” She said taking note of your flushed cheeks and pale face. “I’ll be right back.” She said and you nodded.
She returned a second later having grabbed an ice pack and cloth from the nurse's station. Gently she lifted your head with one hand and placed the ice pack wrapped in its cloth under your neck before lowering your head back down onto the pillow.
She paused looking you up and down and mentally cataloging your visible symptoms. “How are you feeling?” She asked.
“Terrible.” You responded bluntly.
“Are they usually this bad?” She asked.
“No. I’ve just been stressed, and I missed a month or five because of … I don’t even know … probably stress?” You said phrasing it almost like a question.
“You sure you're not pregnant?” She asked gently. You scrunched your nose at the question.
“Um… no way?” You said. Cuddy raised a brow at your tone.
“Are you sure?”
“Unless you can suddenly get pregnant without sex or a man, then yes I am.” You said and she nodded. “Im ace … and a lesbian. I doubt my equally ace girlfriend would be impressed if I was pregnant.” You said with a grin and Cuddy laughed.
“Yeah, that’ll be a definite no on the pregnancy question then.” She grinned.
At that moment a particularly sharp cramp hit, and you curled up slightly. Cuddy frowned as you screwed your eyes shut against the pain.
“I’m going to go find you some pain killers. I know I have some around here somewhere due to how much of a headache seems to follow ever visit from house.” She said and you nodded.
“I need to …” you said trailing off and cheeks flushing. “I need to change my pad.” You said with a burning blush.
“Alight. Do you have what you need?” She asked and when you stayed quiet, she added, “There are spare pads and tampons under the sink in my bathroom, help yourself.” She said and you nodded. “Do you need any help?” She asked and you shook your head.
“Maybe just to get there and back.” You added after a second, chewing on your lip.
Cuddy gently removed your bottom lip from between your teeth with her thumb and a tender almost motherly look as she helped you sit upright.
She took most of your weight as the two of you slowly walked to the bathroom. Once you made it there you thanked her and after she checked you were ok, shut the door.
You changed your pad and took mental stock of your body while looking yourself up and down in the mirror. You looked rough to put it nicely.
After taking a breath to gather yourself you opened the door. Cuddy walked back over from her desk and helped you back to the couch. You still felt dizzy, and Cuddy passed you an unscrewed bottle of water. You took it mumbling a thank you.
Cuddy studied you closely as you swayed slightly sitting up.
“If you pass out again, I’m admitting you, got it?” She said with a firmness in her voice that left no room for arguments.
You nodded and sipped the water. After barely any you tried to put it back but Cuddy stopped you.
“You need to stay hydrated.” She said guiding your hand with the bottle back to your lips. “Blood loss makes that especially important on your period.” She added and you sipped the water some more.
Feeling slightly less lightheaded you laid back down.
“Tired?” Cuddy asked. And you nodded.
“Yeah.” You whispered. “Tired and sore.” You agreed and Cuddy smiled down at you brushing the hair from your face.
“You’ll be alright. Take a nap. I’m going to do some work; I’ll be just over there.” She said pointing at her desk and you nodded, already drifting off.
Cuddy worked quietly, praying nobody would disturb her as you slept.
An hour passed, then two and Cuddy knew she had to wake you up soon to change your pad and have some more pain medicine.
Checking the time, she paged Wilson to bring a sandwhich and a wrap to her office. It was past lunch and you hadn’t eaten. She was hoping you’d be able to stomach some food despite your nausea.
Cuddy prepared some pain meds and cracked open another bottle of water before gently kneeling down beside you and rubbing your back.
“Y/n.” She whispered softly as your eyes fluttered open.
“Mmm.” You groaned stretching out like a cat in the sun and making Cuddy smile slightly.
“Time for meds and a bathroom break.” Cuddy said and you nodded. Taking the meds you stood, swaying before Cuddy stabilised you with an arm around your shoulders before helping you to the bathroom.
Whilst you changed your pad Wilson came and left the food with Cuddy, having been paged himself to tend to a patient.
After you and Cuddy had eaten with minimal issues you returned to resting on the couch feeling safe and well looked after you were able to drift off to sleep again. Knowing you’d be ok with Cuddy watching over you.