Wilson has his cat and so I thought that maybe House needed a friend as well. The story stands alone and a one-shot, but if there is interest, I'll add more chapters.
The Dog
Days were long and lonely with Cuddy gone. Every day seemed rainy, even if the sun shown. House missed her companionship more than anything else. Even bad companionship with Cuddy was better than the best with anyone else. He thought that she got him and maybe she had at one time, but then she got scared and doubted the possibility that they could work as a family. His reaction proved her point, he supposed. The past was the past and time marched on. During his short, but miserable incarceration, Cuddy had taken Rachel on a tour of Europe and they had yet to return. Cuddy's sabbatical was for a year so House didn't expect to hear from her any time soon. It was just as well, really. He hadn't seen her since he "made way for a bay window" in her dining room and wasn't anxious to see the anger, disappointment and hurt in her eyes whenever it was that he would see her next. He had paid for the repairs when he was once again in his right mind and from what he could see the new window and seat looked nice. House liked taking charge of Cuddy's redecorating, but Cuddy's reactions always tended to confuse him. She never did thank him for unearthing her college desk. He wondered what she would think of his latest idea. He wasn't good at all with "I'm sorry" and it didn't work anyway, but the repairs and the small, lovely addition, hopefully would go a little way towards making amends.
Suddenly, as House was thinking these thoughts, something tangled up in his legs, yipped and sent him sprawling against the steps that led to his apartment. Once House caught his breath and retrieved his cane he turned to discover the source of his headlong fall into the steps. It was ugly. It wasn't a rock but it should have been. Nothing living had done anything so bad in its infancy to deserve an appearance like that. Its coat was mottled red, and brown and black with some white and gold thrown in as an afterthought. It didn't help. On second glance, maybe some of the color was dirt. It's "smile" reminded House vaguely of a cartoon character that Rachel liked to see. It was a movie. What was the name? Stench? Snitch? Stitch! House supposed that this thing was a dog - a god-awful, bad smelling, filthy dog. There it sat smiling up at House as if it were smart. It wasn't. If it was, it would have known that House had no intention of paying any sort of attention to it at all, except to swing his cane at it, which he did with little effect. The dog leapt out of the way and continued to smile in House's direction. The dog looked strong and extremely dense. Not stupid, well that, but extremely well packed. Muscular. Without the ridiculous smile, it would have been threatening. With that intimidating thought, House decided to stand. His jugular was currently within reach of the creature, and House wasn't interested in tempting fate. As House reached his cane toward the ground, the dog grabbed the tip and tugged, pulling House to a stand. After the initial shock, House sat down to see if the dog would do it again. Most likely he was determining the threat, but House needed to see for himself. Again, as House tried to set the tip of his cane on the ground, the dog pulled House up. Although he had no intention of encouraging it to stay around, House said "Good dog" and hobbled his way up the steps. House turned to shoo the dog away, but found that he had already vanished.