So this is a little sequel to 'You Only Live Twice'. I wasn't planning on pursuing the story but it just wouldn't leave my brain alone. Lol. This won't be as long, but i really wanted to explore more of their life as a family unit. BTW this story will not make any sense if you haven't read 'You Only Live Twice'. This takes place directly after House quits his job in Minnesota, and goes back to live in Princeton.

Previously…

"House…. House?"

He blinked his eyes open slowly, and Cuddy watched as he tried to focus them on her.

House licked his lips and swallowed, "What?"

"We're here", she whispered, semi-patting his hair.

Cuddy watched as he opened his eyes wide, attempting wake up completely, and yawned, while she made her way out into the isle, and he got out too.

House lazily picked up his blazer from his seat, and in the process of it, an orange round bottle fell out, spilling his pills all over the airplanes' floor.

She wasn't surprised in the least- after all, he'd been delightful after he'd come back from the bathroom stall. But House who'd looked down as the script fell, looked up at her with a terrified expression, as if he'd gotten caught.

Cuddy merely smiled sadly at him, and sighed….

xxxoxxxo

The Happiest Place On Earth

Prologue

Neither of them said anything as they made their way out of the baggage claim area to catch a taxi.

Cuddy wasn't sure what the right thing to say to him was. She didn't want sound condescending and getting angry wasn't right either, because after all, she'd been the kickstart to his addiction again.

But after watching him drop the entire hidden bottle of Oxycodone, that he'd secretly brought with him, she knew that he clearly needed to go back to rehab. The only thing she was struggling with, was how to bring it up.

Luckily she didn't need to say anything, because House spoke first.

He'd opened the door to the cab, and moved over to let her in, and then paused at the frame of the door, looking down at her, "I'm…staying at my place tonight."

"What? No. Get in", she scooted over to make space for him.

House shook his head, "I'll call you tomorrow."

He attempted to close the door, but she held it open and frowned at him because he was being completely ridiculous, "No. You need to come with me."

He let out a big sigh, "But I want to go home."

"Why? Why can't you just sleep over at my house? You don't have all of your furniture back yet anyway", Cuddy stressed, feeling a chill run through her, just at the thought of having him far away.

He shook his head, "I- need…some time alone."

Her nose flared a little, "What do you mean? You just quit the Mayo clinic and came back. I thought it meant that we-"

"That meant that I want to be here and I want to be with you, it just doesn't mean I want to live with you."

She blinked her eyes repeatedly, because she was struck by the nonchalant less of his words, "House-"

"I never promised anything", he explained.

"You OD'd yesterday… twice and died. Not to mention that stint earlier with a bottle full of narcotics. You shouldn't be alone. You can't be alone."

He swallowed and Cuddy watched as he eyed the cab driver who was waiting for him to either get into the cab or close the door so they could leave.

House looked back at her and swallowed, "I can't be what you want."

She knew what he meant. He was still a mess. He was sleep deprived, malnourished, and could potentially just pass out at anytime from a lack of taking care of himself. And in a way it was sweet that he wanted to shield her from the mess that he was. But he was her responsibility, and she was struck that he didn't get that.

In a swift and surprising moment, she pulled him into the cab and moved her arms over him to shut the door, then immediately gave the driver directions to her house.

He turned and looked at her strangely, "What are you doing?"

"Kidnapping you", Cuddy paused and looked at him, "and I'm not letting you go."

xxxoxxxo

Later

"Don't you think you should be at the hospital too? You know- for Madeline", he asked out loud, while playing with a random paperclip he'd found on the side table by the couch. Cuddy was busy in the kitchen doing something. They'd been dancing around the big elephant in the room and he'd cleverly been able to dodge the inevitable conversation that was coming, up until that point.

She'd given him more specifics about Madeline's health, and he'd gone on to ask just about everything that she'd learned to do in his absence. It would have been sweet, was it not because he was only doing it to avoid talking about his problem.

"She's fine. Wilson is at the hospital and he said he'd call if anything happened", she said walking back into the living room and placing a ruben sandwich in front of him.

He looked at it for a second and then up at her, "I'm not hungry."

"You look like you could be a holocaust survivor", she said flatly, sitting down next to him.

House raised his eyebrows, "Whoa there. That's offensive, I'm jewish."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, "Did you not eat, all those months you were in Minnesota?"

"Actually, I went vegan", he stopped and fumbled with the clip in his hands, frowning a bit, "So what's the plan? You going to nurture me back to health? And everything in the world will be ok?"

She inhaled deeply and shrugged, "I don't know House? But it seems like a good start. I guess the alternative would be driving you to the hospital to sign you into rehab, and the third option would be for you to start seeing Nolan again."

"I am not going to rehab", he scoffed, "Or seeing Nolan- that's ridiculous."

"You have to do something."

"I'm fine." He let out easily.

"You are anything but fine."

House took a deep breath, waiting a few seconds and looked at the sandwich, then suddenly stood up, "I'm going home."

Cuddy got up to and stood in front of him, blocking him from going towards the door, "You can't just leave every time something uncomfortable comes up. You need to talk to me."

"What's this we're doing right now?" he asked, grabbing his coat.

"You have to know on some level that you aren't ok."

He shrugged, "I would be better if you'd just let me leave."

"Can you stop it with all the sarcasm? You need to be admitted or else-", she pressed, placing her hands on his arms.

He scoffed, "Or what? I either agree to go to rehab or you'll dump me again?"

Cuddy's expression softened as it often did when he was hurt, "No. I won't dump you, I just hope you'd do this for me- for us…I love you House, and I don't want to have to worry, that at any second I'll get a call letting me know you're dead", he watched as she paused to swallow and her eyes teared up, "Do you know what I felt when Wilson told me that they barely brought you back? Knowing it was my fault-"

"What I did, had nothing to do with you", he interrupted her.

"It had everything to do with me! I know exactly how you operate. I know that you only did everything you did because I pushed you away, because I hurt you, and-"

"My actions are my actions."

He watched as inevitable tears began falling down her face, "Please don't make me go through that again."

She looked terrified and it was something new.

"I'm not going- doesn't mean that I won't get clean. It just means… that I'll do it on my own", he finally relented.

xxxoxxxo

"So now what?" House asked sitting down on her bed, and eyeing her, as Cuddy took off her earrings in front of her vanity.

She looked back at him through her mirror with only a small frown, "What do you mean?"

He yawned and grabbed a pillow to put it over his lap, "There's a bucket load of things we haven't talked about. For instance, Madeline being my spawn, you being pregnant with my spawn- my current state of unemployment-"

"None of that matters right now. All we have to worry about is you and everything else we'll deal with it as it comes."

"Things aren't that simple-"

She let out a sigh, "House. Things are only as complicated as we make them- and you are the world-record holder for analyzing things. So how about for once, you just let that big brain of yours rest?"

However, when she finished what she'd been saying and turned around to look over at his body- she realized that he'd already fallen asleep.

Cuddy smiled, it felt right having him pass out on her bed. It felt right having him there.

Actually she wasn't too surprised that he'd fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. She knew House had been putting on an act for her, by appearing to be ok, but knew that his body was overworked. And as she got into bed and snuggled up close to him, feeling his breath on her made her feel at peace, something she hadn't felt in a long time.

xxxoxxxo

Early the next day when she'd woken up, seeing him still slumbering away and only snoring lightly, she'd taken the opportunity to go through his suitcase and jacket to find all his prescriptions. It hadn't surprised her to find five completely full prescription bottles hidden cleverly through out his things.

She'd flushed nearly all of them down the toilet and walked back into the bedroom to see him still sleeping away comfortably and looked at the last bottle in her hand. For a while she contemplated whether to keep it or not, because if anything she was no enabler. However, she also knew that he couldn't simply go cold turkey.

Many times before, Cuddy had seen House go through withdrawal and in his current mangled state- she wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it. He was so weak, so frail, and she didn't want to run the risk of having him drift away from her by forcing him to go through it that way.

Instead, she safely hid the prescription bottle somewhere she knew he'd never think to look, and took just one pill with her, for when he woke up.

xxxoxxxo

It was in the middle of making toast, that a groggy House walked into the kitchen, with an adorable set of bed hair and a single flop on to the barstool in front of her.

Cuddy watched as he sat down on the bar stool, and was a bit hunched over, probably because he was attempting to hide how his stomach was cramping, by the fact that his hands were in fists.

"You ok?" she asked openly, setting a plate with toast in front of him.

House nodded, and only sipped from a coffee she'd handed him, "Fine."

Cuddy sighed and placed a hand on her belly, "You don't have to lie to me."

He looked at the plate of toast with a frown, and then up at her, "Ok. You suck at cooking."

She cracked a sad smile, "I meant about how you're feeling, I can tell you're starting to go through withdrawals."

She could see a thin layer of sweat on him as he trembled, "Did you go through my stuff?"

"Yes. Its all gone. I had to go through your things- because you never would have told me about everything you were carrying…I just want you to get better House."

"Well, I would be a lot better if you hadn't flushed my stash", he commented, and after a moment added, "So what's your brilliant plan?"

He wasn't mad, and that was progress all in itself. It meant that he really wanted to be clean, because that involved a life with her, with Madeline and with the baby she was carrying. Of course, Cuddy knew that he would never come out and say that himself- but the beauty of it was that she didn't need him to.

She shook her head and placed a white oval pill on the counter, "Well, one thing we both know for sure is that you can't go cold turkey, not after how much you were taking. But on the other hand, you can't keep taking pills forever, so…we'll have to figure something out. I thought first we could go see Madeline, she should be ready to come home today."

House licked his lips and looked down at the pill, almost enamored with it, "I need…I need to go see Wilson."

"Don't you want to see Madeline?"

He looked up at her blankly, then back down at the counter with a tiny frown, "I'm not sure."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to see you."

"I know." He nodded.

She sighed and took one of his trembling hands, "House- talk to me. You said you needed me, you said you wanted to be with us and now- I can't get you to talk."

After a moment, and heavy breathing he stood up without looking at her and walked out of the kitchen.

xxxoxxxo

"What did you expect he was going to be like when you brought him home?" Wilson asked jokingly as he sipped from the coffee that Cuddy brought to him.

"Well I thought he'd at least want to see his daughter", she murmured a little hurt by House's indifference to being back.

Ever since that morning that he'd woken up, House had stayed inside her bedroom preferring to sleep than talking to her or going to go visit Madeline in the hospital.

Wilson looked over at Cuddy and placed his coffee mug down with a huge sigh, "House is…not himself. He's coming off months of abusing painkillers again and who knows what else. He's a zombie Cuddy, and he doesn't want to see Madeline because it won't mean anything to him…yet."

"Well as romantic as that sounds- I don't know. Its always so hard to tell with him. I didn't even ask him if he was ready to be her dad, I just assumed."

"Of course he does. He loves her, maybe even more than he loves you", he shrugged with both hands inside his pockets.

Cuddy stopped then and listened as she heard the noise of a car outside take off- she stood up and walked to the window watching as a yellow cab had left the curbside. A terror ran through her chest then and she looked back at Wilson, who looked just as scared, "You check down here, I'll check upstairs."

As she made her way upstairs and into her room and saw an open window, Cuddy sighed because she knew that he was gone.

xxxoxxxo

He'd wanted to take the pill she put on the counter badly. But there was something about letting her see how bad his addiction had gotten, that he couldn't bear to let her see. It was strange, but he didn't want her to realize just how weak he really was.

He sat on his one piece of furniture that they hadn't taken away to storage- his couch, with his green emergency box that he'd safely hidden in the apartment, and swallowed.

House really did have every intention of stopping and knew that he needed to, if he truly wanted to be with Cuddy and Madeline. But his body was more in control of him than his rationality, and he couldn't help it. He opened it and looked at the various different forms of relief that he had, faintly thinking about the morphine- but knowing it was too extreme.

Before he had anymore time to really think about it, he popped the cap off the oxy pills he'd stolen from his parents house and downed a couple then put everything back and closed the box again.

xxxoxxxo

Later that day

Wilson felt helpless as he got back to his office. He'd hoped when he'd gone over to Cuddy's home, that it would be to take House to rehab- something he clearly needed. But instead he'd slipped through their fingers again.

But when he opened his office door, and there waiting for him was his best friend laying comfortably on his couch, "I've been waiting forever, you know?"

Just one glance at his carefree expression and Wilson knew- House had relapsed.

"You relapsed."

House shrugged, "Can it really be considered a relapse if I didn't really say i'd stop?"

"Cuddy knows you left to get high."

He grabbed a throw pillow from Wilson's couch and placed it underneath his head, "I had a good reason to."

"Oh, please enlighten me." Wilson placed his keys on his desk and went to grab his bottle of water from his desk, throwing one to House in the process.

"I decided I want to be induced into a coma, so that I don't have to go through those pesky detoxing stages", he said evenly with a hint of a smile.

Wilson's mouth was slightly open. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You want to be put into a coma? You know you're insane, right?"

"I've done it to one of my patients in the past", House added, biting into an apple that had been on his coffee table.

Wilson scoffed, "Yeah, that teenage heroin addict, and it was only so that you could diagnose what was really the underline cause of her condition. You on the other hand just want to skip the uncomfortable outcome of what your actions have caused you."

House rolled his eyes and massaged his face with his thin arms, "Oh great, here we go. I should've brought ear plugs."

"You haven't changed at all. You're a coward House, you think you can con your way out of every uncomfortable situation, because if you do then you don't have to face the fact that your scared, that you're terrified that everything that's happening isn't going to last. You think that Cuddy wanting you back is temporary, or that maybe all the change in your life is so foreign and good, that you want to deliberately mess it up, so at least its in your terms. Because the only way you know how to live is in pain, whether its physical or emotional."

He dropped his arms dramatically, "Are you going to do it or not? Because I'll go to someone else if you're not."

Wilson crossed his arms,"No one else would be reckless enough to do it….Fine, but first you need to speak to Cuddy."

"Are you kidding? Of course we can't tell her, she'll say no."

"Then that's also my answer."

House paused and sighed, "I'm not doing this for me- its for them."

"Right, how very selfless of you-"

He sat up straight, "I mean it. When Cuddy was pregnant with Madeline, I was in rehab- I don't want to do that to her again. She deserves to have someone with her- she needs someone with her, and I want to be there…Look I promise to go see Nolan again… Just do the rapid detox."

As much as he knew that it was insane, and knew he should say no- to see House doing something- that though childish- was selfless in its own way, made him unable to say no. So he begrudgingly nodded, and spoke up, "Ok. When?"

"Right now."

xxxoxxxo

He was running on steam. Every molecule in his body had been exerting the last drop of energy it could summon, and House wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep up his facade.

There was a large part of him that was excited about being placed in a coma, because of the mere fact that he wouldn't be able to feel anything. His body needed to be restarted, because he hardly felt like he'd able to go through rehab again.

House opened his eyes faintly as his friend walked into his hospital room, "Are we all set up?"

Wilson had his hands on his hips, looking at House as he lay in the hospital bed and frowned, "Are you sure about this? Wouldn't it just be easier to go to rehab?"

"Nope. This works, I told you I've tested it on patients", he said proudly handing the plunger to Wilson.

"House, I really think-"

House shook his head, "Last time Cuddy was pregnant and she had Madeline I was in rehab. This time there's a kid that needs someone to take care of it while she's off having the other kid. I can't go to rehab- she needs me."

"Pumping yourself full of naloxone and inducing a coma isn't dealing with your serious addiction- this is an easy way out."

"I'll be clean- its all that matters" he shrugged, then added, "I wont have a problem staying clean after its out of my system. I'm not stupid, I have a kid- I'm gonna have two kids", he said raising his eyebrows.

Wilson took a deep breath and sighed pushing the plunger and putting him into an induced coma, "Ok…We'll see you on the other side."

xxxoxxxo

Cuddy had been relieved when Wilson had called her the night before, to tell her that House was fine and at the hospital. And she'd felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of her chest.

However, what she hadn't been prepared for was the fact that he'd placed himself in a coma, to rid his body of all the toxins.

It was a very him thing to do, she admitted that. It was childish, selfish, and insanely dangerous- yet at the same time, she knew he had done it for her and Madeline.

And as she sat on an uncomfortable chair next to his hospital bed, waiting patiently for him to wake up. Wilson had been in only a little while earlier, and had given him medication to wake up.

Cuddy held his seemingly lifeless hand, wondering if their life would always be that spontaneous. Would he at all calm down now that they were going to make their relationship work?

She hated to think of how his actions could affect Madeline, and if this would always be a roller coaster that they would forever ride.

"Hi", she heard and popped her tired eyes wide open.

House had woken up, and was faintly smiling at her.

All at once, the anger she'd been holding back when Wilson had told what he'd done, came flooding back. And Cuddy felt hot tears filling her eyes.

"You idiot", she half whispered, half gasped out.

He moved and let out a whispery laugh, "Good morning to you too."

Then, in a surprising movement, House slowly raised a hand to her cheek and wiped away her tears, "Don't, please."

"Then don't scare me like this anymore. It's not exciting anymore House, every time I turn around I'm afraid I'm going to loose you", her voice was uneven and breathy.

Although he was weak, she felt him summon up all the strength he had left, and pulled her into the bed with him, letting her rest her head against his chest.

It was strangely relieving to feel his heart beating against her own chest, and welcomed his long arms around her, "Don't worry. You'll never be able to get rid of me now. I'm going to stick to you like a leech."

Cuddy laughed, feeling a little better- when someone cleared their throat at the entrance of the room. Both she and House looked up to see Wilson holding a tear stained Madeline.

She held out her arms excitedly and bounced up and down in Wilson's arms, "The nurses told me she's been crying all morning."

Cuddy carefully sat up and took her into her own arms, turning her to House, "I think she wants you."

He was frowning a little, and Cuddy knew only too well that it was because he was unsure of what to do. He'd held her a million times, had never had a problem with talking to her, or consoling her, but now he looked completely lost.

To Madeline there was no difference. Their little one-year old dropped herself easily on his chest and placed her small tiny fingers around one of his fingers, closing her eyes and breathing out, "Dada."