A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter and thanks for the reviews and putting the story on your alerts... anyway here is the next chapter, hope you like it. And have a nice day;-)

"So," He had Rachel's attention immediately "what do you wanna do?"

She looked up at him curiously and pointed to the door "Mama?" she asked.

"She had to go to work, remember?" He told her and the little girl seemed to understand. Come to think of it, it was actually a bit sad that Rachel was okay with her mum not being here.

"Doll" She pointed to the doll on the floor. House let her down and she walked over to the doll. He took a seat next to her on the floor. It amazed him that she was okay with him being here, she didn't know him and yet she hadn't run away screaming.

He was startled by a small hand on his left thigh, House looked down and there was Rachel holding the doll out to him.

"Sorry kid, I'm a little old to play with dolls."

Rachel smiled and pushed the doll even closer. "Please?" She pouted her lips and her eyes lit up.

"Oh boy," He took the doll "who taught you that?"

She just smiled and he could swear there was a little mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Rachel turned to the next toy which turned out to be a pink unicorn. If his team could see him right now, he would never hear the end of it.

For the next two hours House played with Rachel, they played with every toy in the pink toy mountain. He even taught her some new words. Yes, he was enjoying himself. Rachel was a very clever little girl, if House didn't already know that she was adopted he would've been sure that she was Cuddy biological daughter. She was just as stubborn as Cuddy and with enough manipulation she could get House to do everything.

At lunch time his cell rang.

"Phone" Rachel said which made House laugh, because it sounded very much like E.T.

"House?" He answered the cell.

"Hey, how's it going?" It was Cuddy just like he expected.

"Good… we're both still alive."

"Great, that's exactly what a mother wants to hear." He could hear she was relieved though.

"Actually it's going better than I thought it would." House said and kept a close eye on Rachel, who was currently 'reading' a book.

"Good… Listen I just found out I've to attend another conference. So I was thinking you two could come down here and have lunch with me?"

"Yeah sure, see you in the lobby." He hung up not waiting for a reply.

"Rachel" He waited for her to look up "Are you hungry?"

When they stepped into the elevator everybody smiled at them. He was a little uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting. Usually people ignored him and that's the way he liked it.

Cuddy was also smiling when she saw them enter the hotel lobby together. Rachel had her head on his shoulder while running her fingers through the short hair on the back of his neck.

"Wipe that grin off your face." House grumbled.

Cuddy did as she was told but the smile was still in her eyes. She reached out for Rachel, but she just snuggled closer to House. "Seems you've got a new best friend House." She teased and he couldn't help it he smiled down at Rachel.

Together they walked to the hotel restaurant. They looked like a regular family and House actually liked that feeling. But he would never admit that to anyone out loud.

They were seated at a lovely table by the window with a great view of the lake. House still had Rachel in his arms as the waiter was looking for a high-chair. There was a comfortable silence between them. All three of them enjoying the view of the lake.

"It's beautiful here, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" He whispered in return. There really was nothing else to say about the view.

Finally the waiter had found a high-chair and House could place Rachel in it. He was grateful for it, because just the thought of Wilson coming by at any moment made him a little uncomfortable. His reputation as the grumpy old bastard would've been smashed to pieces if Wilson saw him having lunch with Cuddy and the cute little munchkin. Yes, he thought of Rachel as cute, he couldn't find one bad word to describe her, he really was in deep trouble already.

The lunch was spend mostly in comfortable silence, with Rachel occasionally babbling and talking to no one in particular.

"Are you sure you can handle Rachel for three more hours?" Cuddy was right back to the doubtful side of their conversation from earlier.

"Yeah, I'm actually having fun…" House leaned forward waiting for her to do the same "But don't tell anyone." Cuddy smiled a dazzling smile which House stored in his mind for his dreams later.

"Your secret is save with me." He nodded and smirked glad that she was playing along "And as I said, it should only take three hours, if you're lucky she'll nap right through them."

"Great… I could use a nap myself. How do I get her to sleep?"

"Just lie down with her and it shouldn't take long. She looks pretty tired already." House looked at Rachel and sure enough the happy little twinkle in her eyes had gone.

And then he realized something else "She's going to need a diaper change soon, isn't she?"

"Unless you've potty trained her," House shook his head with a bit of panic in his eyes "then there will be a brownish gift waiting for you in the near future." Cuddy chuckled.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Only a little bit." She chuckled again.