What if?
"Was that nice?" Nyx asked almost accusingly as she sat down to lean against a tree trunk next to House, who also found himself down on the ground with a tree to his back.
House looked around and noticed the clearing looked a lot like the one where Wilson had had his "stag party" – if you could call it that. He decided not to pretend that he didn't understand the question. "Nope, but then it wasn't meant to be."
"Then why did you do it?" Nyx demanded. "Why humiliate him like that? It wasn't even him! Well, not for the 'important' parts."
"Maybe I was jealous of the mad skills he learned from the wood nymphs," House shrugged.
"If that was all, wouldn't it have been better to ask me first?" Nyx huffed.
"And what would you have done?" House was puzzled.
"I could have gotten you some nymphs of your own," Nyx replied. "There was no need for jealousy."
"You would have pimped your own daughters?" House wondered.
"I'm an Ancient Goddess!" Nyx pointed out. "This wouldn't have been the first time. Just ask Aphrodite."
"I would love to!" House was more than willing.
"Well, you're not going to," Nyx squashed all hope. "But seriously, why did you it?"
"Wilson takes himself and especially his mistakes too seriously," House sighed. "The tape was out there; someone would have seen it and made something of it. Better just flaunt it."
"So you were doing him a favour?" Nyx checked.
"Kinda," House shrugged.
"He doesn't see it that way," Nyx asserted.
"Well, he got some of his own back," House stated.
"Finding out that your sire is a Unitarian minister," Nyx said. "Is not what I would call 'getting his own back'. Especially as he kept your secret."
"Had it been just my secret he wouldn't have," House was sure. "But he likes my Mom."
"I don't believe that," Nyx responded quietly. "The porn was out there – personal and embarrassing, but as you said, anyone could have stumbled on it and it was just waiting to explode. To expect you to keep quiet about it would have been pointless. It wasn't really a secret. The man who fathered you, however, is a secret. Not necessarily an embarrassing one, as nobody can choose their parentage. It's just one of those things. But it is deeply personal. He would have – he will keep your secret no matter what. He is your best friend, after all."
"He is my only friend," House pointed out. "But he is a good friend."
"He may be the only friend you accept," Nyx sighed. "But he is not your only friend. There are others. It's up to you to accept them."
"They have lives of their own," House muttered.
"I wasn't talking about Cuddy alone," Nyx stated. "There's also your team."
"Yeah," House scorned. "Foreman especially is totally enamoured with me."
"Ok, maybe Foreman has some issues," Nyx smiled. "But there is Chase and Taub."
"Not Thirteen?" House demanded. "I mean, she could bring a friend and…"
"She has her own issues about accepting friends," Nyx dismissed. "So, down boy!"
"Awww," House pouted. "Don't be a kill joy."
"You're really not that into her," Nyx shrugged. "Firstly she is too young for you…"
"No she isn't!" House insisted. "She is more than half my age. Just."
"As I said, she is too young for you," Nyx repeated. "And then she is in your team, which automatically puts her out or your bounds. For a guy who wants everyone to think you have no morals or ethics, you moral code is pretty strict."
"She just doesn't have any boobs," House tried to dismiss Nyx' analysis.
"Of course, that would be a problem for you," Nyx pretended to agree.
"Don't be so bloody patronizing!" House huffed. "It doesn't suit my subconscious. Not when aimed at me."
"But when aimed at someone else," Nyx raised a questioning eyebrow. "It's just fine?"
"Sure," House affirmed. "Most people are idiots."
"Yeah, you made your opinion rather clear at the speed dating event," Nyx agreed.
"What can I say?" House shrugged in turn. "They were idiots. But then the whole event was idiotic."
"Depends what they were looking for," Nyx reminded him. "You wanted to get laid. Who is to say most of them didn't want the same?"
"I doubt the gal who was 'on fire for the lord' was looking for meaningless sex," House pointed out.
"Possibly not," Nyx admitted. "But the lying cop probably was. Why else would she have given you her number?"
"Masochistic tendencies?" House ventured.
"But you don't have enough of those to call her?" Nyx asked.
"The ideal partner for a masochist is a sadist," House mused. "And I get those tendencies out of my system at work. So no, I'm not calling her."
"Wilson is right, you know," Nyx sighed.
"About what?" House demanded.
"You have mentally moved on from Cuddy," Nyx explained. "But you need to move on physically too. You need to try and connect with other people!"
"I did," House muttered.
"Mayfield was not your natural habitat," Nyx stated. "Everything there was heightened, more intense and even a little unreal. Though your connection with Lydia was real enough, it was still time out of reality. More for her than you, but even you know – now – that it had very slim chances of surviving normal life. Even had she been unmarried and childless, it would have been unlikely that your relationship would have survived life outside Mayfield. It was an important connection but you can't let that deter you from finding someone else. Anymore than you can let losing Cuddy do that."
"I'm not an easy person to have a relationship with," House reminded Nyx. "As Wilson pointed out, even he doesn't understand me half the time and with us there is no sexual tension or such feelings getting in the way."
"You don't need to always understand those you love," Nyx asserted. "You just need to accept them as they are."
"But what if you don't accept yourself as you are with them?" House wanted to know.
"That could be a bit of a problem" Nyx admitted. "That could be a problem."
