Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing this here story. I really enjoy telling these crazy stories. Please keep reading as what I have planned is going to take us all on a long, long adventure.

Chapter 4

It was the start of a new week. House had been clean for two days as he walked into the hospital's front doors hand in hand with Cuddy. "I'll see you later." She tugged him back for a quick kiss before letting him go.

House limped towards the elevator ignoring the stares of onlookers and, pushed the button with the end of his cane and waited. The lift opened, he entered alone and went to the fourth floor. Before going to his office, House made a sharp left heading straight to Wilson's office. He walked in unannounced as usual. "Well…" He started talking but stopped instantly as he noticed Wilson was not alone.

Wilson stopped laughing and glanced at his friend. House looked towards the far chair in front of the desk and saw Emily sitting. "House, you remember Doctor Grant."

He just nodded at her. "Yup."

"House." Wilson prodded.

"Oh, and thanks for the bitchin' trip." He limped in and sat in the remaining chair.

"Good to see you're doing well. You look good, keep it up." She stood and approached Wilson. "I've got a meeting with Doctor Cuddy this morning. See you at lunch?" Wilson nodded his answer.

House waited for her to leave. The door clicked closed and he turned to his friend. "Did you hit that?"

"House."

"I'm serious, cause if you did…" House held out his closed fist waiting for Wilson to bump him.

Wilson sat unmoved. "No. I didn't, but we've got a date lined up for Wednesday."

"You've got other plans on Wednesday."

"I know. I was going to talk to you about that."

House sat shocked. "I'm working at changing my life, and in the wee beginnings of it you're skipping out of our weekly ritual? Do you want me to relapse again?"

Wilson glanced down at his desk. "No, I don't. Maybe she could…"

"No, no, no! This is a guy thing only. You don't bring the girlfriend to guy's night."

"Thirteen comes!"

"Well…" House stood and walked over to the door that leads to their connecting balcony. "She's not exactly anyone's girlfriend. She's more like one of the guys since she sleeps with girls."

"Foreman's sleeping with her." Wilson countered.

House smiled and opened the door. "Later Wilson."

"Bye House."

House sat down behind his desk and turned on the computer. It alerted him that he had several emails and when he noticed they were all from Cuddy with real estate attachments, he ignored them and walked into the conference room where his fellows were waiting.

They didn't have a patient and Wilson went to lunch with his new girlfriend leaving House to sit in his office and think. He decided to call it a day around one and went down to find his bike he had left behind Saturday. He started the engine and sped out of the parking lot.

Cuddy saw him walk by her office door and she continued to watch him as he limped towards the red motorcycle. She knew he didn't have a patient but also didn't want him to leave since he'd only been off the Vicodin for two days. The thought of him relapsing once again made her shudder.

When her work day was finished, she headed home to see her daughter and could only hope that he was there. As the garage door opened she only saw his most recent impulse purchase sitting there. Sighing Cuddy went inside to make dinner. While she ate with Rachel, she kept staring at the ring on her finger. She was surprised no one had seen it, but with the stack of paperwork mounded on her desk, she didn't see much of anyone outside of her office.

While trying not to worry about him, Cuddy didn't stray from her routine. She bathed Rachel before putting her to bed, cleaned up the dishes from dinner and put away the leftovers. Once the kitchen was clean she went to go and take a shower herself. The hot spray cascaded down her body as she tried to relax. Her thoughts kept drifting to House as she worried about him.

After thirty minutes of standing in the shower, Cuddy turned off the water and pulled back the shower curtain. "Ahh!" She jumped back. "House!" He sat unmoved at her nudity but just looked into her eyes. "Where have you been?"

He sighed before letting his eyes wander down to her breasts and lower. Without looking he reached out with his cane and hooked the nearby towel and handed it to her. Cuddy wrapped herself up and just watched him as he watched her. "I thought if we were going to start from scratch we'd need some dough."

"Please tell me you didn't rob a bank." She said sarcastically hoping to lighten the mood.

House couldn't help but grin. "Funny, but no, it's a little hard to 'run' away."

He held out an envelope. "What's this?" Cuddy carefully took the offering and opened it. Her mouth fell open at what she was looking at. "House."

"That's what's in an account that my 'dad' started for me as a challenge to save. It hasn't been touched in over thirty years. Just sitting there collecting interest." He gauged her reaction carefully. Cuddy took an uneasy step back and House was on his feet. He reached out and grabbed her arm. "Get out of there before you fall down and crack open your skull."

She allowed him to help her from the shower. "I can't believe this. There's over two hundred grand here." He nodded. "I…"

"I was thinking we could use part of it for a down payment on a new place."

"What about the rest?"

He shrugged. "I have several other accounts. This can be a college fund for Rachel."

Tears formed in her eyes and she wrapped her arms around him. He took a deep breath knowing that he was slowly proving to her that he wanted to be the man she needed him to be. She tugged on his leather jacket and pulled him to the bedroom. There she slowly stripped him and that night he poured all of his love he had for her into their lovemaking.

The following morning Cuddy woke and dressed for her day. As usual, House was still sleeping as she went about her morning. She dressed Rachel and made her breakfast. Over the past year having breakfast without House was something she had become accustomed to.

This morning Rachel ate quickly before demanding release from her high chair. Cuddy grinned as she set the girl on the floor. She knew what her plans were and never stopped her daughter as she cleaned up the dishes.

Rachel walked down the short hall to her mother's bedroom and pushed open the door. She was able to use the small chest at the foot of the bed to climb up into the bed. With a wild grin on her face, Rachel crawled across the bed and sat down next to House's face and didn't say a word.

He was somewhat awake when Cuddy got out of bed and never really returned to sleep. House just wanted to rest. Until he felt a movement at the foot of the bed, he knew his slumber was about to be disrupted. Once Rachel stopped next to him he remained still for a while knowing the little girl was just waiting for him to wake up. With the feel of her eyes on him House snapped his open and he quickly focused on her. Rachel laughed and lowered herself to lie next to him.

"Up." Was all she said.

"Don't want to." It was then he noticed that she was fully dressed. "Where are you going?"

"She's coming with me today." Cuddy said as she entered hearing his question. "I finally got her in the Princeton day care. That and she has a checkup today."

Rachel scooted closer to House. "No doctors."

"I understand. Pompous asses."

"House." Cuddy scolded him. "I've got a meeting at eleven, and her appointment is at one, then we are going to go look at a house."

"Wow that was fast." He watched her as she touched up her makeup.

"Well, I've got several picked out, but with your donation last night…"

"Which donation are you talking about, the money or my se…"

"Stop. Don't finish that sentence." Cuddy plucked Rachel from the bed. "I may need you to take her to the appointment depending on my meeting." She looked at him as his eyes spoke to her that he really wasn't interested. "Please House."

He grumbled and turned away from her. "Fine."

"Thanks." She leaned down and kissed the scruff on his cheek. "Give House a kiss goodbye." Cuddy held Rachel over him and the little girl also left a peck on his face.

"Bye Daddy."

Cuddy smiled and left him lying in bed. House's eyes snapped open at the girl's statement. She really was looking at him like he was her father. It was something that he never really wanted in his life, but in this case he'd make an acceptation.

House walked into his department conference room. Chase and Thirteen were combing through stacks of files. "Desperate for a case are we?"

"We're bored." Chase replied without looking up.

He glanced around. "Where's the short one and dark one?"

"Taub is going to be here this afternoon, and Foreman's been called for a consult." Thirteen told him while glancing through a file. "Wilson's patient died."

"Which one? All of his patients are dying." House smarted back at her.

"The little boy we originally diagnosed." She said.

House then felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. It was only two days ago they had found the cause of the boys illness and he became Wilson's patient. He didn't respond and went to his office and sat behind his desk. Deciding to kill some time he actually started entering patient information into the hospital database. He was only months of patients behind so he figured it would kill the morning quickly until something more interesting showed up.

Thankfully for House, Wilson popped his head in and asked him to lunch. He jumped at the offer and the two of them went down to the cafeteria. "Still going on your date tomorrow?"

Wilson nodded. "As of right now, but I guess she's still getting settled into her new place."

"I'm appalled that she's not living with you?"

"House, I've only know the woman four days!"

"Never stopped you before." Wilson rolled his eyes at the comment. Suddenly House's phone started ringing. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the caller ID before setting it on the table.

"It's Cuddy." Wilson pointed out. "Aren't you going to answer it?"

"Nope. I know exactly what she wants and I'm not interested." The phone quit ringing and he smiled. "See, now she knows I'm not interested." He took a bite of his sandwich as Wilson's phone started ringing. House looked at his friend horrified as he pulled out his own phone.

"Huh, Cuddy's calling me. Hello." He answered. "Why yes, he's right here blatantly ignoring you." Wilson handed over the phone. "It's your girlfriend."

"You're such a pal." House snatched the phone from Wilson's hands. "What? I'm still tired from last night." He watched his friend's reaction not getting much of one. "Fine, fine. I'll do it." He tossed the phone back at Wilson. "Gotta go."

House limped over to the large daycare on campus and stood in the door as he saw a mass of children under five playing with multiple adult chaperones. One approached him. "Can I help you sir?"

"Yeah, that one's mine." He pointed out his cane towards Rachel and whistled loudly bringing all the screams to a dead silence. "Rachel, let's go."

"Daddy!" She ran over to him and grabbed his free hand.

"I'm sorry I thought Doctor Cuddy wasn't married." The woman said.

"You don't have to be married to make babies. Come on squirt." He winked at the woman before walking off with Rachel. House walked with her back to the hospital's pediatrics department. He checked her in and they waited in the small waiting room. Rachel played with several toys on the floor while House watched the television.

House had lost track of time until a nurse appeared. "Rachel Cuddy."

She instantly ran to House and into his side. "Come on, it's not that bad." House stood and took Rachel's hand. They followed the nurse as she weighed Rachel and documented her height. He watched on intently as the nurse took basic vitals.

The nurse stepped out and within minutes the doctor entered. He was reading the file. "Hello Rachel, Lis…" He stopped when he noticed that it wasn't the usual parent with his patient. "Doctor House. I see you've accompanied Rachel today."

"Yeah, 'cause I've got nothing else better to do, like save lives."

"Yes, well I'm Doctor Miller, Rachel's pediatrician. And it looks like that Rachel here is due for her influenza booster." He explained and House sat unmoved next to Rachel.

The nurse entered again with the injection. "Okay Rachel, let's put you up on the table."

Rachel pushed herself as close to House as she could. She let out a brief scream when the nurse touched her. "You're fine, I get shots all the time." House tried to reassure her. It was soon evident that Rachel wasn't going to let the nurse pick her up. "Here." He pulled her over onto his lap and she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

House nodded to the doctor and he expertly administered the injection. Rachel began crying immediately and didn't stop even after the nurse put a Band-Aid on her arm. With Rachel still crying softly, House limped from the pediatric department. Rachel was clinging to him as he carried her to his office.

He went unnoticed by his fellows until he knocked on the door with his cane. Thirteen was quick to stand and open the door for him. During the short walk Rachel had fallen asleep and so House put her down on the small couch in the conference room. They all looked at their boss confused by this sudden display of affection with a child. "Keep an eye on her; I've got to talk to Wilson." They looked confused as House turned and left as quickly as he had entered.

Wilson was doing paperwork when House entered and sat down. He watched as his friend remained speechless which was his first indication that House needed to talk. After a moment of silence Wilson announced, "I'll be free Wednesday night."

"I asked Cuddy to marry me." House didn't look at his friend but gazed out the window from his seat.

"Really? Wow…uh, good for you." House's head snapped back to look at Wilson. "I'm being honest. You two have made it work for over a year, you voluntarily gave up Vicodin; I must admit I'm pleasantly surprised."

House then dropped the next bomb. "We're going to buy a house together."

Wilson sat back in his chair. "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

House and Wilson became silent for a moment before Wilson asked, "Scared?"

"Terrified." Was House's quick response.

So, what's House going to do to screw this up now?

TDCSI