A/N: Thank you for the awesome reviews, I never expected such positive feedback... Again thank you! Here's the next chapter…

House knocked on her door at exactly 7 o'clock, it took a while before Cuddy opened it. When she did House was so surprised his eyes nearly popped out of his head. She stood in front of him wearing nothing but a towel sticking to her body the water still dripping from her curly hair. House swallowed audibly.

"Ah… um," House couldn't look away "I'm not too early, am I?" That sounded strange and stupid even to his ears.

"No, Rachel has kept me on my toes the whole time, I think she's teething."

"Do you want me to take a look?" He limped past her and was at Rachel's side in a matter of seconds. He knew that Cuddy already had taken a look, but he was worried as well. What if Rachel wasn't just teething?

Rachel's cheeks were red and her hair was all sticky and sweaty. "She's really just teething House. Don't worry."

He felt Rachel's forehead just to be sure and she felt a little warm. But Cuddy knew what she was doing, she is a great mum. House winced, he thought back to the little girl with the light-allergy. How could he have told her then that she was going to be a terrible mother? He still felt really bad about that.

While House was thinking Cuddy had changed into a sweater and jeans, she found him still deep in his own thoughts.

"Something wrong?"

House turned to her "You didn't have to change you know." He said with a wide smile stretching across his face.

"Yeah I did. Are you sure you're okay, you had me worried there for a moment."

He stared at Cuddy for a long time, like he needed to think about what he was going to say, he even opened his mouth a couple of times, but no words came out. "I'm fine…" He decided on in the end. She knew there was something else he wanted to say, but she nodded and didn't push him for the right answer, which he was grateful for.

"Do you wanna just stay here and order from room service?" He then said.

"Yeah" She was glad that he understood that right now she couldn't leave her baby behind.

"Let's order dinner then."

30 minutes later House was halfway through his steak when Cuddy said: "I ran because I panicked." He nodded and told her to continue "The things you said were just so surprising and honest and I think at the time I couldn't handle that. My mind just told me to run…" She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and looked up from her food only to find his ocean blue eyes fixed on her. "I'm sorry." She finished in a whisper.

"I don't know why I even brought it up. It happened in the past and we can't change that. It was the wrong thing to say, I was only trying to tell you that I had always been interested in something more than just friendship." He finished in a whisper too and they both had a bit of a smile on their faces. It was a huge moment for them, they had both admitted what people around them had seen for a very long time.

Then he frowned "Do you think we wasted 20 years?"

"I don't know, but let's not get ahead of our self, we haven't even been on a date yet." She smiled. His eyes always changed when she smiled. Cuddy could always see how he felt just by looking him in the eye.

"A dance isn't gonna be enough for me to score this time around, hm… interesting."

"Yeah, I have higher standards these days." House smiled.

Suddenly they could hear Rachel crying. Cuddy was out of her chair and at Rachel's side in a matter of seconds. It took him a little longer, but even for a man with a limp he was also there pretty fast. Cuddy was already trying to calm Rachel down, by softly humming a lullaby.

It didn't take long for the cries to pipe down to silent hiccupping sobs with big tears streaming down the little girls cheek. When House stepped closer to them and Rachel saw him she reached out to him.

"She really likes you House, usually she shies away from new people and my mother." Cuddy said and let him take Rachel.

"I seem to have that effect on the Cuddy women."

They calmed Rachel down together. It wasn't too hard actually, Rachel just snuggled into House. And eventually she fell asleep with her head on his shoulder and her hand was running through the hairs on the back of his neck again.

"Why does she keep doing that?" He whispered.

"She does that with my hair too. I think it comforts her."

They sat in silence for a while, neither of them knowing what to say. There was still a lot to talk about, but he didn't want to ruin the perfect moment between the three of them.

"Do you wanna watch a movie?" She seemed surprised that he didn't want to talk some more. He surprised himself by his suggestion, because usually he wanted to know every single detail, but he wanted to take it slow.

"Yeah sure."

House made himself comfortable on the bed, resting his back against the headboard. Cuddy did the same, neither of them noticed how close they sat next to each other.

Halfway through the movie he felt Cuddy's hand brush against his thigh. When he looked down he saw that she had fallen asleep. House smirked and slowly brought his arm around her and without hesitation she snuggled into his side her head landing on his free shoulder. After a while he closed his eyes as well and fell asleep with a little grin on his face.