"Well, well see't. Come, madam wife, sit by my side,
and let the world slip, we shall ne'er be younger."
-Shakespeare
The sun shone unto her face, warming her dark brown hair, giving it highlights. The afternoon train ride had made her sleepy. Everything was warm and the seats were plush.
Cuddy had always liked riding on trains. Not the undistinguishable commuter trains, but the trains from the locomotive's glory days. The trains with steam and wood and dining cars with lace napkins and ceramic plates. She loved their ability to be functional and yet beautiful at the same time.
Her dad use to take her on train rides when she was a child. It was their special day out. They didn't necessarily go anywhere. But it wasn't about the destination; it was about the trip. They would have tea in the dining car at noon and watch the trees and birds from the passenger car. Once he even took her on an overnight train with cookies and milk for the kids before bedtime. When he died she took a train ride after his funeral, but never came back. She's never been back on a non-commuter train. Until now.
Until House had asked her. She was taken a back by the simple request, but she couldn't resist. It was sad though, bringing back the memories of her father. But it was a different lifetime now.
And House really wanted to go on this trip. He said that it would be there little vacation from hiding their relationship, to go to a place where no one knew them. She couldn't resist. It was a Saturday and they were traveling from Princeton to Baltimore on a train that reminder her of the Topeka. It was part of a historical restoration and protection project. House had taken the tickets from Wilson, who had bought them for his ex-wife's birthday that they wouldn't, now at least, be spending together. Apparently she was a closet train enthusiast.
Click, click, click--the train sped along toward its destination. Cuddy wasn't fully asleep more like dozing and she could hear House tap his fingers in time to a song on his seat, as he hummed it quietly. Cuddy recognized it as "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe.'
He kissed her to wake her. 'Lisa, we're here."
And everything was right in the world.