When House limped into Cuddy's office she was asleep at the table. Her head was resting on her folded arms on top of the table. House shook his head at her stupidity: she had a perfectly good couch in her office, why invite cramps and a stiff neck by sleeping at her desk. There was no way that she had fallen asleep working as the desk was clean of any papers, files or ledgers. House contemplated his best course of action for a moment. Sure he could wake Cuddy up gently and have a civilised conversation about her unnecessary guilt. But chances were that if he did that he wouldn't get Cuddy tell him everything. Besides it would be no fun and House felt like celebrating; a good all out fight with Cuddy was just what he needed. And it would probably do Cuddy some good, too. Besides she looked amazing when her temper got the better of her. So without any preamble or warning of his presence House slammed his cane on Cuddy's desk startling her nearly out of her chair.

"House!" Cuddy yelled at him at first, then it really registered with her that it was House in her office. She turned a little pale – not that she needed to, she was already pale and had dark circles under her eyes – and avoided looking at House. "What ... hmm..." She stuttered.

It looked like it wasn't going to be quite as easy as House had thought; this looked like a major guilt trip Cuddy was on. Ok, they had been there before. "You know, you may be the boss here but I still don't appreciate that you force me to come here to talk to you when I really should be with my daughter."

"How is Aiko?" Cuddy asked not even hearing his sentence.

"Like you care?" House huffed.

"I care!" Cuddy finally looked at him with anguished eyes.

"Is that why you don't come, you don't call; you don't even write?" House flipped at her.

"Chase promised to keep me informed," Cuddy said in a small voice. She still didn't catch on to House's game.

"Oh, that makes it ok, I'm sure," House scorned. "Why bother yourself when you have minions who can do the unimportant work for you."

"Aiko is not unimportant!" Finally some temper was showing through even if only a little. "You know she is important to me. I love her."

"Really!" House doubted. "I suppose I ought to be grateful then that you don't love me. God knows what you would do to me if you loved me the way you love Aiko."

"How is she," Cuddy was nearly in tears.

"She will be fine," House told her. "No thanks to you."

"I know," Cuddy hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry. I know you don't want me to be her alternative guardian anymore. I'll have the lawyers draw the new papers, just give them a name. I'm not fit to be anybody's mother."

Ok, now they were getting somewhere, House thought. "Well regardless of your fitness you are going to be one, aren't you?" He poked some more.

Cuddy flinched. "I don't think you want me to have your child anymore."

"A bit late for me to change my mind, don't you think?" House observed. "The bun is in the oven already."

"I'm reserving a time from Dr. Peters later today," Cuddy informed him in a choked voice.

Oh, boy, no ordinary fight was going to serve this time; this was major, major guilt trip with self-devised punishment to boot. "So what is it? You made some kind of new year's resolution, or something, that you were going to kill a child this year?" House asked.

"That is a horrible thing to say!" Cuddy was outraged.

"Really? Are you telling me that it's ok for you to do it, but not ok for me to talk about it?" House frowned. "Somehow that doesn't sound quite right."

"You make it sound like I planned this all," Cuddy was nearly in tears; though was it outrage, exasperation or remorseful grief, House wasn't quite sure. What he did know was that he was getting somewhere.

"Well didn't you?" House asked. "Not Aiko, of course, you couldn't plan that, but you planned to get pregnant and now you plan to terminate it. Sure your plans have been somewhat impulsive, which sort of makes me wonder if those pro-life activists don't have a point after all. I used to think that no woman would just wake up one day and decide hey, I've had it with this pregnancy, I think I'll have an abortion today, but apparently I was wrong."

"How dare you!" Cuddy yelled at him. "How dare you trivialize this? I love Aiko, I love this baby I'm carrying. I'm not doing any of this on a whim. I'm doing this for you. I already cost you your health when I talked Stacy into the operation. I nearly cost you your daughter, even if it wasn't deliberate, just my stupidity in not listening to you. You cannot want me to have your child! You cannot want me to have any child! What kind of a mother would I be? I'm not fit to be a mother."

"You know that saying: when you assume you become a pain in the ass to me?" House queried. "I have no reason to want you to terminate your pregnancy. Once I took aim and shot, the matter was out of my hands. If I hadn't thought it through then, now is too late. And I did think it through. You will be a great mother. Neurotic, sure. Guilt-ridden, even if you have no reason, but I'm sure you will find something to feel guilty about. Over-anxious. And you will probably drive your child insane. But you will love your kid. Whatever else you will do, you will love your kid. And you will not raise him slash her alone. You will have the same people helping you that I have with Aiko. And we will both do just fine. You will see."

"You don't regret this child?" Cuddy hardly dared to breathe. "You are not sorry that I'm pregnant? Wishing that it had never happened?"

"Cuddy!" House sighed in exasperation. "I don't want you to terminate your pregnancy! Do you want it in writing?"

"You are sure?" Cuddy asked in a small, tear filled voice.

"Yes. Yes. Yes," House said. "I'm sure. Happy now?"

Apparently Cuddy was not happy, as she burst into tears and buried her head on House's shoulder – and pretty much howled her heart out; ok not really howled but still proper crying, not the shedding-tears-from-the-left-eye-kind you sometimes see on soaps.

"It's a good thing Aiko has given me plenty of practise at this," House muttered as he folded Cuddy into his arms and let her just cry it all out. It took good ten minutes before Cuddy calmed down enough to stop, though she ended up having the hick-ups. House pushed her to sit on the couch and got her a glass of water - along with the tissues.

"Right, are you ready now to stop being an idiot?" House admonished Cuddy, who didn't reply, just lifted her tear-smudged eyes to him. "Nobody blames you for what happened to Aiko. Well, nobody but you, but then you have always been a guilt-hog."

"But I am to blame," Cuddy insisted. "You warned me. You told me several times that I would regret the jungle. When it was being potted you told me that you could smell mould! You specifically warned me about harmful microbes and fungi. And I ignored you. I thought you were just being your normal confrontational self. I am to blame."

"First of all I was being my normal confrontational self," House spelled to Cuddy. "Secondly, do you really think that had I been serious I would have brought Aiko inside? Yes, I thought the jungle was a bad idea but I was concerned for people who are allergic to chlorophyll or plants in general. Or the possible things that organic matter attracts over time. I did not think there was any immediate danger. For crying out loud, Cuddy: nobody could possibly have seen this outcome, even had we known the man was cutting corners. Blastomyces dermatitidis isn't exactly a common fungus. You cannot blame yourself. This was not supposed to happen; this is exactly why there are laws, rules and regulations about soil and plants. You just trusted people."

" You never do," Cuddy chewed on her lip. "And most of the time it seems to serve you well."

" Look, I'm saying this just this once," House took hold of Cuddy's hand. "And I will deny having said it to my dying day, so listen carefully. It is not a bad thing to be able to trust people. Yeah, everybody lies but not about everything and not all the time. Just have a plan B in reserve for when they are not worthy of your trust."

" I have a plan B," Cuddy shrugged studying the floor with great interest.

" Really? And what might that be," House doubted.

" You," Cuddy stated simply.

" What?" House was not at all sure he had heard her correctly.

" You are my plan B," Cuddy said. "That is the main reason I keep you around. When things go really wrong you somehow manage to make them right. The end result is not always happy or even good, but it is right. Somehow you make things right. You solve the puzzle, you find the truth, you can always be trusted, in a weird sort of way. You're my plan B."

" Oh," House wasn't quite sure how to react to that. "Ok then. Fine."

They sat in silence for a moment; Cuddy was drinkng her water and House was thumping his cane to the floor. Somehow the silence wasn't uncomfortable, though. It was just silence between friends – or possibly, concidering the people in question, the calm in the eye of a tornado.

" So, you think you're ready to come and see Aiko?" House asked after a moment.

" Yeah, I'd like to come and see her, if it's ok with you," Cuddy swallowed the last of her water.

" How many times do I have to tell you that nobody blames you?" House shook his head at Cuddy. "Or strike that, knowing you I will probably have to repeat it at least once a day for the rest of the year. And probably a few times even after that."

" Well Aiko would not have been in any danger had I done what I should have done," Cuddy reminded House.

" She would not have been in any danger either had Landis done what the law required of him," House pointed out. "Let go. You were not at fault."

" I suppose," Cuddy finally relented a little. "But this is my hospital!"

" Then sue Landis," House told her. "His actions damaged the reputation of this hospital and put our patients in mortal danger. Lead the lawsuit against him. I'm sure the families will be happy to let you handle it."

" I could do that," Cuddy agreed and House saw how the wheels already started to turn in her head.

" So come on then, let's go see Aiko and you can then talk with the families of the other children," House got up from the couch and offered his hand to Cuddy to help her up too.

" Ok," Cuddy smiled. "I really want to see for myself that Aiko is getting better."

They got as far as the door before Cuddy suddenly halted.

" Dr. Higa," She said. "He is there with Aiko, isn't he?"

" Yes," House gave a deep sigh. He knew what was going to happen next.

" He won't want to see me," Cuddy doubted.

" He does not blame you for Aiko's illness!" House pronounced. "I will not have this conversation with you again, not two minutes after we already had it."

" But ..." Cuddy tried to have it anyway. House decided to take the big guns into play.

" No buts. He does not blame you," House turned Cuddy to face him. "He likes your ass too much to want to kick it."

" House!" Cuddy admonished him. "I'm glad you think Dr. Higa doesn't blame me, but could you leave my ass out of it. I'm sure he hasn't even noticed I have one."

" Oh yes he has," House revealed to her gleefully. "He thinks its attractive."

" You discussed my ass with Dr. Higa!" Cuddy was appalled.

" Why the surprise?" House asked. "You know I discuss your ass with anyone who is willing to stand still long enough for me to introduce the subject."

"You are impossible!" Cuddy huffed.

"Yeah." House agreed. "And so are you. Just differently. Now are you going to get your attractive ass in gear and get it to Aiko's room or do I have to do something drastic?"

"I don't think I could handle anything you would call drastic, so yes, I'm ready to see Aiko," Cuddy nodded in resignation.

"Good," House hustled her out of her office.