A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, there will be much more to come!! Just thought this was a delicate way to start off their time together...lol. Hope you like it.


"Welcome to thy humble abode," announced House, limping through the door and into the living room of his house. "Ignore any porn stashes you may find, and don't touch my Vicodin."

Gwen smiled, and looked around. There was the average setting of a bachelor, though she could hardly call House a bachelor. A couch, a TV, a kitchen she could see at the other side of the room, and in the corner, she was pleased to see, sat a beautiful grand piano. She strolled over and sat her bag down next to the couch.

"You've got a nice place," she said.

"You can sleep in the other bedroom," he said, pointing vaguely to the other side of the room. "There's a bathroom across the hall from it." He reached into his pocket at pulled out forty dollars, tossing them into her hands.

"And here, go buy yourself something pretty," he said, sitting down on the couch. Gwen blinked, a little taken aback.

"Oh...thank you," she said finally. She looked over at the twins as she tucked the bills into her jean pocket. They barely stirred. She looked over at the clock. It read 12:13.

"God, I'm tired," she whispered, massaging her temples.

"Whose the father?" asked House. Gwen looked up, her eyes half-open.

"I'm sorry?" she whispered.

"You heard me," House said.

"So, by me saying 'I'm tired', to you that means 'Hey, I'm free if you want to ask me an extremely personal question that will start a large discussion that I would very much like to talk about considering I've had a very long day'?"

"If you'd like to interpret it that way..." said House.

"Try me tomorrow, when I don't feel like kicking the wall," growled Gwen, slumping down on the couch with a sigh.

"Will you tell me then?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" she snapped. "It's none of your business!"

"It is if I'm taking care of the tadpoles," House said with a smile.

"You are so ridiculous," she groaned, leaning back in the couch. "This is weird," she added. "It seems like I've been just sitting in other people's couches all night."

"Get used to it," he said.
Gwen looked up from the couch and looked around again, her eyes, again, resting on the grand piano. The temptation was too much, and finally, she stood up and walked over to the corner where it sat. Scattered piano books laid everywhere.

"What are you doing?" asked House, looking over at her from where he had sat down.

"Nothing," she said, opening the lid to the piano.

"Hey, hey!" cried House, jumping up. "No one touches my piano."

Gwen looked over at him, lips pursed, as she pressed the A key. House glared at her. Gwen did not remove her finger, and the beautiful note rang throughout the house. There was a minute's silence as the note slowly died away.

"Can you play?" asked House, finally.

"Does chopsticks count?" she asked innocently. "Yes," she answered hesitantly at the glare on his face.

"Can you play well?"

"Fairly," she answered. She rested her long-fingered hands on the keys, relishing in their smooth, polished feeling. "You keep it in good condition," she observed. "It's a compliment," she added at House's look. She looked at the piano again, and noticed that four pieces of sheet music laid there. There was no title, just notes.

"Uh, that's--" began House, reaching out for the music, but Gwen slapped his hand away. She sat there for about twenty seconds, studying the music before Gwen softly, but surely, began to play House's music. Gwen loved the song...it was mysteriously, hauntingly beautiful. And, apparently, House had written it all himself.

Mouth slightly open, House couldn't help but stare in awe at the amount of effortless concentration that Gwen was playing with. Her eyes flicked over the keys and the music, giving each note a generous amount of attention, and playing them with ease. For three minutes, Gwen played the piano with such passion and love, that House could barely believe it. When she finally played the last note, she pulled her fingers away and brought them to her throat.

"Sorry," she whispered, getting up and hurrying to get her bag.

"That's exactly how I wanted it to sound," he said, turning around. Gwen slowly turned around to look at him.

"What?" she whispered.

"I couldn't get it right...it wasn't sounding right," he explained. "You...what you did..."

Gwen blinked in surprise.

"...it was perfect," House finished, not knowing what else to say. Gwen smiled and nodded.

"Glad I could help," she said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."


A/N: I actually had Gwen playing "Love Story" by Beethoven in the first draft of this chapter, but I thought that a piece by House would be sweeter.