Thank you for reading and reviewing my work. I will consider all your suggestions, but maybe not all of them will appear in the story. In this chapter I put some really House-like U-turns. I really hope that you will like it.

Every suggestions are welcome as always. And I promise I will publish the next chapter asap.

Now, read and enjoy.

Dreams and Nightmares

After leaving Wilson's office Gregory House went to his own office to think. But every thought in his mind was about Cuddy and that kiss.
'Why must I make myself even more miserable?', he thought, 'Cuddy technically lives with Lucas for about a year now. She clearly told me, that I have no chance. But maybe I should try again. No! Stop humiliating yourself, House.'
After an hour or two of thinking about technically nothing he opened Stacy's e-mail again.
'Maybe I should think of Stacy's offer', he thought.
He started to write a reply.

Dear Stacy,

the Board finally decided to get rid of me. I will leave PPTH in a month from now and I am thinking about meeting you in New York, if you still think so.

House

He read the mail twice. It was not much, but Stacy will understand how he felt at that moment. Confused. After sending the e-mail, he decided to go home.

'There is one more thing to do before I leave Princeton', he thought. 'It's time to show her my true feelings and desires. Even if it's useless...'
He walked in front of Cuddy's office and looked in. Her head lay on her desk. She was sleeping.

The moment was so peaceful that he had to smile. And he was still smiling when he started his car.

Lisa Cuddy suddenly woke up from the very same nightmare she had for two weeks. It held all her emotions, mainly her fears. It always started with some argument with Rachel. She never felt in the dream so, but to think about it, it was a very odd argument. 'How on earth could a 18 month old argue about marriage and fatherhood?'

It seemed really frustrating that her subconscious chose her daughter to argue with herself about something that disturbed her so much, the fact that the girl refused to call Lucas 'Daddy'. Actually they never argued about this stuff neither with Rachel nor with Lucas. But the situation was somehow frustrating to Cuddy. She thought that Rachel must feel something about his mother's doubts about her relationship with Lucas. And this made her doubt.

On the other hand there was the argument with Lucas and the proposal. The proposal started to appear in her dreams four days ago, when she accidentally found the ring in Lucas' bag. She was looking for a piece of paper and the velvet box just shocked her. The nightmare truly described all her feelings about the proposal. She didn't know if she wanted to make their relationship that official. She loved Lucas and loved living with him. She really wanted him to be the part of her life. But marriage... 'if only Rachel could call him Daddy', she thought. It was not an easy decision and she knew that it had not much to do with Rachel's speaking abilities.

And, of course, there were Wilson and House. Actually it was only House though he appeared in her dreams as both. She wasn't sure why she felt so and she didn't want to admit it even to herself, but she felt something 'No, not at all love!' about House.

It was a complete mess and she new that Lucas won't wait too much if he bought the ring. He will ask that frightful question in a few days time. But why was that question so frightful? Why did she feel that it was sudden? Was it really so unexpected? She had make her decision.

House was driving home on the same route as always, but before he reached the house in which his apartment was, he stopped at a small shop. He walked to the windows and just stared at them. He only saw the owner lady of the shop inside. 'I must make my decision', he thought. 'I wanted to do this for ages.' He opened the shop's door.

"Good afternoon, Sir", the lady said, "What can I do for you?"
"I was here last week", he said. "I had an order. The name is House, Gregory."

The lady went backward and came back with a little box in a while. She gave it to House.

The small velvet box was so comfortable to hold.
"Do you like it?", the lady asked. House opened the box. It was beautiful.
"Yes, I'll have it", he said. "And I need a card too."
"All right, Sir. What can I write on it?"

It took a while for House to answer. He knew that this was maybe one of the most important decisions in his life. He didn't want any mistakes.
"To the most precious girl in the world", he finally said. The lady started to smile.

Lucas was sitting on the couch in Lisa's 'no, in their' living room. He watched Rachel playing on the carpet and played with a small velvet box himself. He was thinking about the perfect situation for a proposal. Lisa was acting strange for four days. 'She surely found the ring', he thought, 'Maybe it was not a good idea to think of marriage.' But he wanted to marry Lisa. And they lived together for a while after all. It was his only desire, to have Lisa and Rachel to be his family. He knew that there was only one problem with this fine illusion. But the problem was now about to leave PPTH maybe Princeton too, he hoped. It was all he wanted now, to get rid of the only person who was standing between him and his dream of happiness, Gregory House. It was only four more weeks to wait. It seemed so long.

'I'll do it today', Lucas decided. 'I won't waste any more time. Four weeks are enough for anything.' And he knew that House will definitely try anything possible, and impossible too, to get his job and Lisa back. He had nothing to loose. House seemed to stop chasing Lisa for a while, but he couldn't be sure if he really gave it up. And Lisa seemed so sad about the discharge. Lucas didn't want to let him any chance to disturb his dreams. 'If he goes away form PPTH, Lisa will finally let herself being happy', he thought.

He initially wanted to propose at Thanksgiving dinner when all the family is together, but now, a romantic night and only the two of them seemed to be a better idea. 'I'll just go into her office and ask her', he thought. 'And after it we can go to some nice place to celebrate. Or just come home to Rachel. And finally we will be a real family.'
"Annie, I have to go somewhere", he told the nanny. "Can you stay here till nine?"
"Of course", the nanny said. And Lucas left with his heart full of hope.

House was intentionally going home, but after leaving the little shop he decided to go back to the hospital. 'She should be there', he thought. 'Maybe she is still sleeping in her office.' He began to smile again. He needed to see her. He looked at the small velvet box in his hand and stared the car.

When arriving at the hospital, House parked his car at his usual parking place, next to her Lexus. He wondered what he could tell her while walking into the building. He had his cane in one hand and the small box in the other. He can't put it in his pocket. He wanted to feel the touch of the velvet on his fingers.

Lucas stopped his car and got out of it. He looked up and saw light in Lisa's office. 'She is there', he thought. He walked into the building.

Lisa Cuddy heard somebody knocking on her door.
"Come in", she said.

House put his hand on the door handle. He waited for one more minute and opened the door with a sigh.

She looked at him, surprised. He looked exited. She decided to walk to him. After a minute of silence she looked in his eyes waiting. She really wanted to kiss him now. It was a so passionate moment. But she also knew that he wanted to say something. She didn't want to ruin the play.

House looked down to the small box in his hand. He let his cane fall down and land on the floor with a great bang. He didn't mind. Not now. He opened the box and stared at it. That small velvet box held all his dreams and desires. 'She also should feel this', he told himself. 'She must understand.'

She looked down at his hand at the very moment he opened the small box. She stared at the ring in it. It was so perfect. An unstoppable feeling started to rise in her chest. All his doubts vanished from her heart.

House looked up with an other sigh. Anybody could have read all his feeling form his deep blue eyes now.

She looked up from his hand to his eyes, waiting. She never thought that her office could hold such a romantic atmosphere. Maybe it was not romantic just so deep that she couldn't resist it.

And finally, he made up his mind, got a deep breath and asked her.
"Lisa Cuddy, will you marry me?"