He's My Howse – Part 2

House sat on the couch deep in thought. They had returned from the park to find Cuddy home and he had thought for sure that Rachel would ask 'the question' as soon as she saw her. But to his relief she hadn't. Cuddy was now putting her to bed so he had dodged that bullet all together.

He looked around the room, he liked their arrangement. They had been together a couple of years now, he spent a few nights a week at her place and a few at his. It worked out well for both of them. If you started throwing the word 'Daddy' in the mix things would change and he didn't like change. He liked things just the way they were. None of the responsibility of being a Dad, he had no influence on her right now, he could just read her a bedtime story or take her to the park once in a while and that was all.

"House?" Called Cuddy gently. "House, you ok? Rachel has been calling you"

"hmm. What?" He said coming out of his daydream "Yeah I'm fine. What does she want?" He said a little too roughly.

"Just a bedtime story, she likes how you change up the character voices, apparently I am redundant!" She said smiling at him.

He looked at his watch "Isn't it a bit late, it's a school night?" He questioned.

"No she's fine. She's waiting for you, you don't think she'll go to sleep until you've read to her do you" She said laughing.

She watched as he got up and groaned all the way down the hall, smiling to herself. He really didn't know how good he was with her or how good he made her little girl feel. She wished she could make him understand. She sat back on the couch for a minute thinking about their relationship. They had been dating for a couple of years now. He stayed at his place a few nights a week and with her the rest. She knew he liked it like that. He still had the space he needed, but she did wish sometimes that he would just move in with them or that they could even find their own home together. Rachel would love it if House was there every night and so would she. But she also knew that he needed to do things in his own time, they were in no rush, they had forever. And if this was how it stayed then that was ok with her too.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

House reached Rachel's bedroom and went straight to the window seat instead of clambering up onto her low cabin bed like he did sometimes. He perched is cane against the wall and silently groaned as he sat down and absentmindedly rubbed his thigh. Today had been a long day. He looked up at Rachel who was watching him closely "Your leg hurt?" She asked sadly.

"Everyday" He stated looking straight at her. "You going to bring your book down here then?" He questioned.

She just looked at him again, her eyes down cast. "It my fault your leg hurts" She stated with a tear rolling down her cheek. "From going to the park"

"What? No. Course it's not" He said gently "Come here kiddo" He gestured with his hands. She didn't respond to him. So he lowered his head slightly and put on his best pirate voice "Come here ye bloody scallywag!" They still watched the reruns of that show together when Cuddy wasn't around. She smiled, grabbed her book and joined him. He took a side glance at her and took the book from her.

"Rach, my leg always hurts you know that." He said quietly. He hated talking about this with her. But he had to try and get her to understand it wasn't her fault.

She looked at him as if she wanted to say something, but kept quiet. "What is it? You know you can ask me anything" He stated.

"It hurts more today, because I made you take me to the park?" She responded

"No. It just hurts more today." He flicked through the book without looking at it and looked back at her. "There are days when I can move around the house with little use of the cane and there are other days when I can't move without it. Pretty sure you've seen both days by now haven't you?"

She nodded her head at him. "Today is just one of those days. It's not your fault I promise"

She nodded at him again and shuffled closer to him. "Shall we read the book now" He asked.

"Yeah" She said putting her head against his arm.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

House rejoined Cuddy on the couch looking a little apprehensive. "You Ok?" she asked.

"Fine" He deadpanned looking at the TV

"House, come on what happened" She questioned again.

"Nothing happened. She just thinks that my leg hurting is her fault! And that's just wrong! He said with remorse "I think I should go" He said getting up again.

"Wait!" Said Cuddy reaching up for him "It's not your fault either, House. She cares about you. She cares when you're in pain"

"Yeah well, she shouldn't, she's 5yrs old!" He said moving off to get his coat.

"Howse, where you going?" Came a tiny voice from the hallway.

"Home" He said gruffly

"Not yet I forgot to ask Mommy that question" She said quietly.

House stopped in his tracks and put his head down. "Not a good time kiddo"

"What question Rach?" Questioned Cuddy

Rachel looked from House to Cuddy. House was looking scared and Cuddy was looking worried. "Is Howse my Daddy?" Cuddy immediately looked at House, who flipped his head up quickly "No, Rachel I'm not" He said abruptly and picked up his coat and keys.

Rachel smiled at both of them "Good, I don't want Howse to be my Daddy" Then walked off again.

House turned and walked out the front door while Cuddy sat and wandered what had just happened. She got up and went to see Rachel who was quietly laying on her bed. "Rach, what was all that about, what happened in here" She asked whilst stroking the hair off of her forehead.

"Nothing happened" She said innocently

"So why don't you want House to be your Daddy?"

"Cause, if he is my Daddy then he might go away and I don't want him to go away ever. So I just want Howse to be my Howse not my Daddy" Said Rachel with sincerity.

Cuddy was by now very confused she had no idea what this conversation was about, but she knew for sure that there was nothing bad about it. She called House on his cell a few minutes later.

"What?" was the answer she received.

"I just had a really confusing conversation with Rachel. I have no idea what she was talking about."

"What did she say?" He questioned.

"I asked her why she didn't want you to be her Daddy. And she said and I quote "Cause if he is my Daddy he might go away and I don't want him to go away ever. I just want Howse to be my Howse not my Daddy" unquote. You got any idea what that was about?" She questioned.

She heard a very faint laugh come from the other end of the phone, realising he knew exactly what it meant. "So?" She asked impatiently.

"Nothing" He said quietly.

"Right! Come on House don't leave me like that. I want to know what it meant" She said getting frustrated.

"Didn't mean anything accept she likes things just the way they are" He said putting the phone down. Just like he did.

Cuddy looked at her phone in disbelief. Those two were like 2 conniving pirates, just like me and my Dad were. Just like father and daughter…..They both may think that he's not her Daddy but she knew he was. They would get there eventually. She looked at her phone again and smiled. She texted him quickly "We love you xx….. and then went off to pour herself a glass of wine, what a lovely weekend they had had.