When you try…

"And sometimes, when you try, you get what you need…" Nyx concluded as he sat down next to House in the gazebo.

"But I wasn't trying!" House protested. "I mean, sure I was trying to let her go and live her life without interference. I was trying to be mature about it – and she didn't even really believe it. So how did I get here from there?"

"First of all she was wrong about you taking the patient's side against her," Nyx stated. "You really were just taking Hannah's side, nothing else. You bonded with her, for several reasons, so you weren't completely objective but it wasn't because of Lucas. But in the end you did everything you could. You were being mature and eventually Cuddy saw it."

"And still I didn't save Hannah," House sighed.

"True, but you do know that sometimes that happens," Nyx agreed. "Even when you do everything right, people still die. That is why you don't want to see patients. I am surprised that so few have figured it out."

"You don't expect a jerk to care," House pointed out.

"So when he does, it's all the more powerful," Nyx said. "That is why Cuddy couldn't go on without you. She has known it for some time, actually, but she convinced herself that she could make it work with Lucas if you were still her friend. Once she realized that you weren't going to play that game and that you were even letting her go on with her life with Lucas without interference she freaked out a little. That is why she yelled at you the things she did."

"But they were things that needed to be yelled," House defended Cuddy.

"I agree with the things she said, because you needed to do what gave Hannah the best chance to survive," Nyx accepted. "But Cuddy's reasons for yelling at you were wrong. It wasn't about you and her, it was about you and Hannah and your past."

"And I lived but she didn't," House observed. "Somehow it doesn't feel right."

"It never does," Nyx agreed. "But you did everything. That does matter. It did matter to her and her husband. You did everything. You even prayed. Like Esteban, you did everything."

"But this time god screwed up twice," House said dryly. "First He screwed up the man who was handling the crane and then He screwed up Hannah. How is that working for all those religious people hiding in their holes?"

"Since you don't know," Nyx stated. "I don't know either. Or at least, I can't tell."

"You can't tell me what happened to Hannah either," House assumed. "Can you?"

"No," Nyx answered. "I can't tell you anything you don't already believe."

"Some goddess you are," House sighed. "I suppose you can't even tell me what to do now."

"About what?" Nyx asked.

"Me and Cuddy," House stated the obvious. "And Rachel since the infant comes with Cuddy."

"You have a problem with Rachel?" Nyx asked.

"It's more a case of thinking that Rachel might have a problem with me," House asserted. "She is used to Lucas. Sure she is young but not so young as to confuse one male with another. Also, I don't know anything about parenting."

"Cuddy will do the parenting, since Rachel is her child," Nyx reminded him. "But yes, somehow you need to figure a way to be a significant male presence for Rachel. And I rather think you will. You do get along just fine with kids."

"For short periods of time," House insisted. "In the clinic; where I don't really need to respect the idiot parents. But Cuddy isn't an idiot. And Rachel will be there for a much longer time – and more often - than an ear or nose examination needs. And she won't be a kid forever. If we make it, that is. Cuddy and I could well be over in a week."

"No way will you be through that soon," Nyx laughed. "You have been working towards this for some twenty years – one way or another. You will definitely give this every chance you can and you're both very stubborn people. It will take at least a year before you will even think of giving up on each other."

"Maybe," House acknowledged. "But it won't be a smooth ride."

"Not with you two," Nyx completely agreed. "And you will also break up Wilson and Sam while you're at it."

"What?" House was puzzled. "I know Wilson and Sam have no chance of surviving as both of them are trying to revisit a time that actually never was, but how will Cuddy and me being together break them up?"

"Sam doesn't know yet what a Gossip Girl Wilson is," Nyx pointed out. "He will want to talk about you and Cuddy incessantly. And his interest will be more focused on you two than on Sam. She won't like it."

"You're telling me that I'm going to have the two most important people in my life, IN my life, because I basically let go?" House wondered.

"When you set people free," Nyx told him. "They may indeed choose to stay. It's when you try to take their freedom to choose away from them that they try to create a distance."

"Sometimes they don't know what to choose," House insisted. "Somebody has to give them a push."

"And you did do that," Nyx agreed. "Only that push tended to be away from you. I'm not saying that Cuddy isn't responsible for her own choices but had you not pushed she might have ended things with Lucas sooner."

"They should have ended it after Thanksgiving," House grumbled.

"That would have been better for Lucas," Nyx agreed. "But it would not have been good for you. Or Cuddy. She needed to get to this point on her own. And you needed to get the courage to really say what you want. And directly to her not through Lucas. Now you are both pretty much in the same place together and you have a lot better chance of making it that what you would have had had they broken up after your shenanigans."

"I don't know if we have much of a chance even now," House sighed.

"But before you would have had almost none," Nyx pointed out. "You are both difficult people in your own ways. But you are also pretty amazing in your own ways and this is definitely something that you need to give a chance. Cuddy tried to want Lucas. She wanted an uncomplicated relationship but that didn't work because she needed you. You tried not to care, you tried to drown your feelings with Vicodin, you wanted to be totally self-sufficient and in the end you had to accept that you need Cuddy. Both of you have tried to fight it, but in the end you had to accept that you need each other and you have to see this through. It will be a bumpy ride, make no mistake about that, but nobody can see how it will end."

"So you don't see any 'happily ever after' scenarios?" House asked.

"With you two?" Nyx laughed out loud. "Something like that would bore you both to distraction. No way. I believe that you will eventually find a way to deal with each other, but what happiness you will get, will be in between the fights and arguments. Mind you, one of her dates did once point out that that is when she is at her most compelling."

"When?" House wanted to know.

"When she is arguing with you," Nyx responded. "That is when she comes to her own. She is compelling, passionate, focused and intense. Completely fascinating."

"She is that," House agreed. "One of the reasons why I argue with her so often."

"I'm sure everyone has noticed," Nyx observed. "I have no doubt that the arguments will go on as before since you are both very opinionated. Just don't take them home with you, ok?"

"I suppose that is good advice," House agreed. "How to follow it is a different matter entirely. I don't know how this can ever work. I don't even know how to give her what she wants!"

"Why not then give her what she needs?" Nyx suggested.

"And what might that be?" House huffed.

"Same thing Amber needed from Wilson," Nyx answered.

"Amber needed Wilson to take care of himself," House pointed out. "And she needed him to just love her."

"Exactly," Nyx nodded. "And that is a good place for you to start with Cuddy as well. Take care of yourself and love her."

"Sounds simple when you say it," House doubted.

"With you two, nothing will be simple," Nyx declared.