Thank you to all you awesome people who took the time to read and leave a comment last time. It's much appreciated as ever.

I'm skimming over House's time in Mayfield mostly. It will be mentioned in conversation, but in reality it would have been less of a homage to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and more of a secure retreat where he could detox and talk to someone. Let's face it, 'Broken' would have made a great TV movie, but in terms of its relationship with the treatment of addiction and mental illness in real life, it plays to several clichés and consequently blows hard. Subsequently, writing a whole season around ways to keep two characters apart is just a bad idea.

These guys aren't mine sadly.


Rubbing her neck tiredly, Cuddy stepped into her office feeling pleased that she finally had a few minutes to herself. It was only midday, yet already her feet hurt and she'd had just about enough of the incompetence of some of her staff. The possibility of dismissals was on the table which was never something she relished, but if she had to be the bad guy for the sake of the hospital she would. The smooth running of the place often relied on her dolling out various reprimands.

Still thinking her situation over she happened to look up and saw her chair facing away towards the window, the back of someone's head visible over the back. Momentarily she thought her PA had let someone in until the said person span around and faced her whilst musing over a gossip magazine.

"I knew you secretly read this crap."

Disguising a smile, Cuddy pursed her lips.

"House, just because we're together doesn't give you the right to go through my stuff."

"Well it didn't stop me before we were together, so…"

Shrugging his shoulders he put the magazine down and looked at her expectantly.

"I was supposed to pick you up from Mayfield later."

"I kind of lied about when they were letting me out. I thought I'd surprise you."

Unable to hold back a grin any longer, she looked him over for the first time in six weeks. When they'd spoken on the phone every few days she'd offered to come and see him each time, but he'd point blank refused on every occasion. He hadn't given reasons why, in fact he'd said very little at all other than to ask how and she and Rachel were, nevertheless she knew it was because he thought seeing her would make being away even harder. For both of them even hanging up the phone, despite the long, charged pauses, was painful.

"What's with the buzz cut?" she inquired with a frown.

Amusedly he drummed his fingers on her desk.

"I thought I'd go for all the usual clichés. Come a little closer and you'll notice I'm wearing Eau de Institutionalisation…" Seeing the corners of her mouth twitch upwards even further he smiled back and let his gaze hover over the baby bump that was now clearly visible under her blouse. There really was no mistaking the fact she was pregnant now, and he felt an unmistakeable rush of pride. She was one hell of a sight for sore eyes, and furthermore she was his. "So are you going to say hello properly, or do I have to kidnap you and leave a ransom note for the Board.?"

Taking the hint Cuddy rounded the desk and stepped into his open arms after he stood up to greet her, the pair of them relishing their first contact in weeks. With her head against his chest and his arms wrapped around her, he seemed so much more solid than the last time she'd seen him. Sure that was perhaps down to the physical therapy he'd been encouraged to undertake at Mayfield, but it was more than that. The night she'd found him in the nursery he'd seemed so fragile that she'd almost been frightened to touch him in case he splintered into a thousand pieces. Now he seemed so much stronger, mentally and physically.

"You look good," she whispered, holding onto him even more tightly.

"I feel good… You feel better." Gently he pecked the top of her head and then dropped his chin there.

"You've been in a confined space for six weeks. Right now if you saw Nurse Jeffrey in a dress, you'd probably think he looked hot."

"He does have a nice ass," House retorted with mock seriousness. "Crappy kisser though."

In response Cuddy craned her neck back to look at him, amusement sparkling in her eyes.

"Really?"

"Really!... It's a good job I hooked up with someone with superior skills."

Before she could answer he claimed her mouth, almost shyly at first as if he was reacquainting himself with her by nibbling on her lip and moving his fingers slowly through her hair. Emboldened by an appreciative moan he intensified the kiss, searching out her tongue with his own and sliding his hand further down her back. Abruptly Cuddy pulled away making him growl in frustration and look down at her questioningly.

Grabbing his wrist from behind her she pulled it back around, and delicately placed his hand on her abdomen.

"Looks like I'm not the only one to be excited about having you back home."

From the other side he felt a gentle, intermittent pressure against his palm and smirked.

"This is actually Morse code… He says he wants pizza, a hooker and subscription to HBO when he pops out."

Jovially Cuddy smacked his arm in a playful rebuke.

"We don't know if it's a boy yet." On purpose she'd waited to book her next scan. She wanted him there with her, and he had a right to share the experience.

Suddenly he grabbed her hand and began dragging her behind him out of the room, until she dug her heels into the carpet and forced him to stop.

"Where are we going?" the Dean of Medicine demanded, refusing to take another step towards the door.

"To find out the sex of the baby." His look of irritation turned to one of dismay. "Please tell me you're not one of those people who doesn't want to know until it's born."

"Of course I do, but I'm already booked in next week…. We can't do this now!"

"Why not?" he shrugged. "It's lunchtime. There's bound to be a free room and ultrasound somewhere."

Cuddy sighed. Things were always so straight forward with House.

"You're not insured to use any of the equipment anymore."

"I'm hardly going to break it!" he quipped back, rolling his eyes. He wanted to do this now, and he couldn't understand why she was standing in their way.

"That's not the point!"

Unwilling to start a full scale argument a matter of minutes after he'd got back, but determined he wasn't going to back down completely, he realised he'd have to compromise.

"Fine!... We'll grab Auntie Wilson on the way."


Ten minutes later they'd found an empty exam room. Cuddy was laid down on the couch with her blouse and skirt adjusted so her belly was exposed enough for the scan to take place, as Wilson switched on the machine and House fumbled around looking for the gel. Finding the bottle he shook it and turned to his girlfriend, holding it aloft.

"Ketchup?"

"Wilson is supposed to be doing this," she responded curtly, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

Ignoring her he turned the bottle upside down from a height, smirking gleefully at the squelching sound the gel made as it left the bottle and dropped onto her abdomen. He was genuinely happy that they were about to see their baby again. He'd thought about little else other than his expanding family during the endlessly long days he'd spent in rehab. Now this felt a little like finally being able to open your Christmas presents after months of knowing you were getting a bike. Thoughtfully he glanced down at the blobs of gel on her stomach and stuck his tongue firmly in his cheek.

"You know this looks a lot like the lube we…"

At once Cuddy sat up partially and scowled at him.

"Either behave yourself or you can wait outside!"

"Yes Mom!" House shot back sarcastically, making the man opposite him on the other side of the couch gulp back a chuckle. It really was as if his best friend had never been away.

"Have you two finished?" the oncologist inquired with feigned indignation, drawing an apology from Cuddy. Placing the transducer on her stomach he spread the gel over her bump, as all three of them looked to the monitor. Almost straight away they all heard the loud, even thumping. "Hearbeat's strong."

Without glancing back 'the patient' grabbed her boyfriend's hand and squeezed tightly, staring at the screen in amazement as her baby's legs wriggled around giving her a fluttering sensation. If Wilson hadn't been in the room she'd probably have cried, instead she bit her lip and tightened her grip on House's fingers.

Above her he leant forward and squinted.

"Unless the kid's learnt to tuck it under already I'm pretty sure that's a girl."

"Yeah," Wilson agreed, turning and smiling at them both.

Suddenly Cuddy panicked.

"Is that ok?"

"I'm not sure they do exchanges."

Her brow furrowed a little deeper as she looked at him.

"I'm serious."

"It's great… I mean I may have traded my man cave in for a house full of women, but at least I can sleep in on weekends when you take them to ballet or shoe shopping, or whatever it is girls do." Seeing she still wasn't convinced, he sighed. "I'm happy! She's healthy and by the looks sucking her thumb. Everything else is irrelevant."

"You're sure?" she asked again, sitting up and rubbing away the gel with the paper towels Wilson had handed her.

"Yes!"

Finally she smiled.

"Good."

"Congratulations!" the oncologist chirped up. "A girl is great… Really great!"

As if on cue House begrudgingly pulled his wallet from his pocket and placed a ten dollar bill on the palm of his friend's upturned hand, muttering something under his breath as Wilson grinned triumphantly.

"You two made a bet on the gender of the baby?" Cuddy asked incredulously, the annoyance seeping through in her tone as she looked from one man to the other.

House nodded.

"Yup!... In our defence so has the rest of the hospital… I hear Taub has a hundred dollars on you giving birth to the Anti-Christ."

Tucking her blouse back into her skirt the Dean of Medicine jumped off the couch with half a mind just to leave them to it. It was bad enough she felt like she'd lost control of her body without the thought of everybody who worked for her scrutinizing her too. Worse still, the father of her child was in on it as well, but this was classic House. Always an ulterior motive.

"I'm glad our baby is the source of so much interest and amusement… I need to go back to work."

As she pushed passed him to make her exit, House grabbed her arm and leisurely pulled her back.

"You've still got another half hour left."

She shrugged indifferently.

"You've settled your bet now so I don't see the point in me being here."

"You're pissed?"

"You've noticed?" she spat back sardonically, more eager than ever to leave the room. Arguing in front of their mutual friend was hardly way up her list of priorities right now.

"Hey," House said softly, delicately tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Stubbornly she refused to look at him and glared at the floor, until his fingers cupped under her chin and lifted her head allowing his steely blue eyes to burn into hers. "We're having a baby girl."

The corners of his mouth ticked upwards as he seemed to light up from the inside out. Her boyfriend was a great liar, but this wasn't fake. His expression was one of pure joy.

"A little sister for Rachel," she whispered back, her own features beginning to reflect his genuine excitement. There was so much still to do before the baby came, but now they were better informed it would make things easier. In that instant their child, their daughter, seemed to become a whole lot more real.

"I know. Cool huh?"

Cheekily he wiggled his eyebrows at her and she kissed him in a long, lingering embrace that made Wilson shift his feet uncomfortably on the spot and wish he could evaporate into thin air. Eventually he coughed, making them break apart.

"I'll leave you guys to it…. You've got a lot of catching up to do."

"No, wait!" Cuddy responded just as he went to move, glancing up at her boyfriend mischievously. "House is going to buy us both lunch, and I'm going to figure out the most painful way to disembowel Taub."


Letting his book fall onto his lap as he sat up in bed, House removed his readers and watched Cuddy leave the bathroom in her shorts and vest top, her hand flying up to her mouth as she stifled a yawn and padded over to the bed, climbing in next to him. More or less all night he'd waited to get her on her own. She'd invited Wilson over for dinner and after several subtle attempts to try and get rid of him after they'd finished the meal, he'd resorted to a much more blunt request for his friend to go when his girlfriend was out of earshot. With a knowing smile the oncologist had made his excuses and left, Rachel had been put to bed and here they were: alone at last.

Smiling to himself, he set his book down on the nightstand and swiftly snuck under the covers, shuffling closer to her and then straddling her legs. Just as his fingers tucked into the hem of her shorts he felt the sheets above him lift and saw a pair of inquisitive eyes staring down at him.

"What are you doing?" She didn't look particularly annoyed, perhaps more bemused than anything else.

"I believe in most cultures they call this foreplay… Now that we've cleared that up…" Again his head dipped and he planted a kiss on her bump, before refocusing his attention slowly inching down her shorts.

"House we need to talk."

"My mouth's gonna be kind of busy for the foreseeable future."

To emphasise his point he gently nuzzled her newly exposed hip, smirking into her skin as he felt her involuntarily shiver against him.

"Please," Cuddy insisted, her hand reaching between them and tilting his head up to look at her again. "This is important. We haven't really had a chance to have a proper conversation since you got back, and you barely spoke to me when you were in Mayfield… There's things that need saying, discussing."

With a reluctant sigh House rolled onto his side of the bed and laid on his back glowering at the ceiling, his curled up fist rubbing backwards and forwards against his forehead. He hadn't wanted to do this now. In fact he'd wanted to put 'the talk' off for as long as possible, and lose himself in her for a while.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Turning onto her side, she saw how tense he was and placed a placatory hand on his chest, her index finger making comforting circles on the flesh underneath his t-shirt.

"Do you like the house?... I bought some new furniture, but if you don't like any of it we can change it."

Whilst he'd been gone her house had sold surprisingly quickly and there seemed to be little point to holding fire on the move. He'd told her as much over the phone. Nevertheless it still made her nervous. Them officially moving in together was a big deal, especially in light of who they were. Neither of them liked change, and yet it had seemed necessary. Surely getting away from the place where he'd hallucinated Amber had been the right thing to do? Her old place held bad memories for them both now, and this was a chance for a fresh start.

"The house is great." He turned his head slightly and smiled at her. "It's all great."

For a little while there was a comfortable silence as he dropped his hand onto hers.

"You don't have to make any decisions now, but what do you want to do about work?... If you want to get your license back I'll happily support you. Initially you'd have to come back as a consultant and work under Foreman, but it'd be a temporary formality."

House shrugged.

"The way I see it I've got two options. Either I go into research, or I go back to PPTH and continue to stare at my boss' ass and terrorize my team. It's kind of a no-brainer."

"It's risky," Cuddy said cautiously. She had no intention of putting him off if that was what he wished to do, she wanted him back working for her, but they had to weigh the pros and cons. "You'll be surrounded by drugs all day long."

Her boyfriend took a deep breath and appeared to be pondering what she'd said, before finally answering.

"Whether I'm a doctor or not, if I was desperate to get hold of Vicodin I could do it anyway." Instantly he saw his girlfriend's face drop and felt the need to clarify. "I just meant that I'm never going to be in a completely safe situation. If I wanted to get high I could, but right now I've got no reason to… My leg hurts, but it always fucking hurts and I don't want to go back there. Under no fucking circumstances do I want to go back there." Pausing to calm himself down again, he wound his fingers tightly around hers. "It's not just about me anymore."

Hearing him say that, Cuddy felt a lump developing in her throat and gulped it back. She hated the thought of him going through rehab on his own. From a medical point of view she was well aware what detoxing put the body through; the aches, the sweats, the vomiting, but the reality of someone she loved going through that was a thousand times worse.

"I wish I could have been there for you."

"You couldn't," he replied simply. "It was something I had to do without you or Wilson holding my hand for once."

Extracting her hand from his, she reached up and ghosted her fingertips over his cheek.

"You have no idea how proud I am of you."

Avoiding eye contact House looked away. He'd never been able to take praise or a compliment particularly well, in truth he wasn't used to it. Either he pissed people off so regularly as a matter of course that they weren't always ready to share in his victories, or he'd actively avoid the plaudits he deserved because it made him uncomfortable.

"I shouldn't have let things get that bad," he mumbled, continuing to stare at the antique wardrobe across the room.

"Neither should I."

Confused he glanced up at her, and frowned.

"None of this was your fault."

"Whoever's fault it was I'm glad you're home. This place is kind of big for just me and Rachel." Shuffling down the bed, she scooted closer to him and leant her head on his shoulder. "I missed you."

"I missed you too… And the ankle biter."

"Really?" Cuddy inquired, genuinely surprised. She'd desperately wanted her boyfriend to bond with her adopted daughter, but she hadn't pushed the issue since the night he'd turned up on her doorstep to hand her his resignation.

"Yeah… Strange how you miss a baby crying when you're surrounded by grown men doing the same thing."

Not entirely surprised, his girlfriend smiled to herself. In spite of trying to cover it up with a joke, it was clear he was being sincere and not just trying to appease her.

"She missed you too… She kept on looking around to see if you were there."

"Oh bullshit!" he countered cordially. "She's five months old. She was probably looking for her next meal."

"Which doesn't explain why she started grinning the second she heard your voice tonight." Playfully she nudged his side. "Face it you miserable ass, Rachel likes you!"

Inwardly he couldn't help but feel pleased. The possibility of the little girl not taking to him had been something that had worried him since they'd gotten together. With one less strain on their relationship he was genuinely relieved.

"I guess I am irresistible to the Cuddy women after all, which reminds me…" Stealthily he reached under the covers and palmed her backside, instantly disappointed when the object of his groping moved his hand to more neutral ground on her side.

"Uh-uh! Not tonight, Romeo… I'm exhausted."

"Seriously?"

"Selfishly I'd like to be conscious when we do have sex."

In response House shook his head and tutted in faux indignation.

"You modern women are so demanding!... Next you'll be burning your bra and causing a fire hazard."

"Insulting me is not going to help your cause," she laughed, craning her head up and regarding the eyebrow that was travelling up his forehead.

"I'm not above begging."

"Believe me, I know," she responded salaciously, drawing a dejected groan from him. "I'll call Julia in the morning and see if she can take Rachel over the weekend… We should probably spend some time alone before things get crazy anyway. Is that ok?"

House snorted.

"You're offering me a dirty weekend, and then asking me if that's ok?"

"I thought maybe we could at least make it out of the house once or twice. You know go on a date, or maybe head to the park for a picnic."

"There are two main flaws in that plan," House retorted matter-of-factly. "Firstly, that would involve encountering other people, which is just pointless and completely unnecessary. And secondly you'd have to wear clothes, which is again pointless and unnecessary."

"So basically you want to stay in bed, eat pizza and have sex for two days?"

"Pretty much," he nodded in agreement. "Although we could try and mix things up a little by changing rooms every few hours."

For a long time Cuddy just stared at him, eventually shrugging her shoulders in acceptance. Being holed up for forty eight hours with the boyfriend who she hadn't seen for six weeks really didn't seem like such a bad idea at all.

"Ok."

"Cool!"

"Can I go to sleep now?" she inquired, her eyes starting to feel impossibly heavy and closing of their own accord.

"Sure."

Reaching behind her, Cuddy turned off her lamp and House followed suit, the pair of them then moulding their bodies around one another. Within a couple of minutes he felt her weigh heavier on his chest and he knew she'd dozed off, leaving him alone with his thoughts as he gazed at the ceiling, his eyes rapidly adjusting to the darkness.

As much as so many things still scared him, he knew for certain he wouldn't rather be anywhere else.