Trying Again.

It had taken her days to walk back into the nursery. Office. She had taken to calling it an office. The golden walls hurt her eyes, as the empty crib hurt her heart. Not meant to be. It was the kind of platitude that didn't really say anything, but managed to make her feel about ten times worse. Now sitting at her desk, she morosely deleted her profile on the adoption agency website. Three weeks had passed. Joy and her mother had left the hospital, both in good health. She didn't go see them. She had already said her goodbyes.

House had been keeping his distance; she wasn't surprised. Though on this day, he barged into her office without a word and sat down across from her desk. He looked at the floor and tapped his cane for a few moments.

"House?"

He didn't look up. "I've got this idiot patient. She's a married Saudi here on a student visa." He tapped his cane again. "She messed around with some grad student and got pregnant. Tried to self-abort and got an infection…all kinds of weird stuff going wrong with her."

"She aborted her baby herself?"

"No," he said, eyes still on the ground. "She tried to self-abort. If her husband found out she had an affair the family would kill her anyways."

"You don't know that."

He shrugged. "She thinks that. I think she's gonna be okay now though. She's agreed to wait and deliver the baby before she goes back to her husband in March. Kid's due in December."

Cuddy shifted uncomfortably. "That's good."

House was silent for a full three minutes before, "Want her?"

"House!"

"Come on Cuddy. You won't lose this one. It's a life or death situation, she's not going to go back to Saudi Arabia with a kid that's half white. "

"Please don't do this to me." He did look up at her now.

"Don't do what? Give you that piece of yourself you claim to have been missing? Was I right? Do you really not want a kid?"

"You really are an ass. You know that's not it."

House stood, and winced. He limped over to the side of her desk and knelt down beside her. He put his hands over hers resting in her lap. "Then just take her Cuddy. It's your chance. I promise, I won't let this fall apart." Tears had sprung to the corner of her eyes. "Say yes."

Slowly she nodded. Yes, I'll take her.