Chapter 8: Realization

House was sitting at his piano playing some blues when Cuddy walked in the door. "Hello Sunshine," he said as she leaned over to kiss him. As she leaned over, he stole a look at his two most favorite subjects, Patty and Selma. Seeing what he was looking at, she hit him playfully. She flopped down on the couch and listened to him play. She loved watching him while he played his music, it was as if the music spoke through him. He relaxed completely and enjoyed himself. It was nice to see him relaxed. Finally Cuddy spoke, "How is Susan working out?" House didn't answer for a moment while he finished the piece. "She's got a good head on her shoulders, and she's remarkably good at keeping the fellows in line. She may be a just lab tech in their eyes, but she doesn't take any crap off of any of them" he said. He paused and then said, "It's a pity she didn't go to medical school, she would have made a good doctor."

"I actually asked her that question during her interview," Cuddy offered, "She said that she is not a good people person. She said she can handle them in small doses, but then she gets impatient. She wanted to be in the medical field, so she opted for research and clinical laboratory work so that she wouldn't have to deal with people. She said she operates better alone." House looked toward Cuddy as she told him about the interview, but he wasn't really looking at her. He was lost in thought.

Later that night as they slept together, House dreamed of a little girl bounding in his room carrying a couple of cookies. He awoke and realized what had been nagging at him. He smiled with the realization, brought Cuddy closer to him and gently kissed her. She responded and as they made love, he felt that life was finally coming together for him.