A/N: Hello my lovely readers. There's only one more chapter after this one and then I'll be working on NaNoWriMo. So I'm wrapping this story up.

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as the bedroom door closed, House backed Nicola against it and kissed her, making his intentions known. He felt better than he had in a long time. The very thought of leaving PPTH was like a huge weight off his shoulders that he didn't even realize he'd been carrying. Of course, the hard part was yet to come when he had to confront Cuddy, but he was anticipating that.

"Earth to Greg," Nicola whispered as she gently stroked his cheek.

He came out of his thoughts and looked down at her. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

He merely shrugged. "Just waiting for my cell phone to ring so Cuddy can screech at me."

"Well, forget about her for now. We have some celebrating to do," she said as she took his hand and led him to the bed.

They emerged a few hours later and went to the kitchen where Lucy was cooking up a storm. "Dinner will be ready in ten minutes," she told them. "Go wash up."

"Yes ma'am," House grinned and went off to do just that. He left his cell phone on the table and was already out of the room when it started ringing. Nicola glanced over and saw Cuddy's name on the call display but left it alone. When House returned, it rang again. "Persistent, isn't she?"

"Huh?" House asked as he grabbed his phone.

"She called just as you went to wash up."

House shrugged and tossed the phone aside. "I'll call her back later. It's dinner time now. Food comes first."

"Rightly so," Nicola nodded and they sat down to eat.

Cuddy called a couple more times that night but House ignored her. "Aren't you going to talk to her?" Nicola asked.

"Eventually. I need to be strategic. I can only imagine what she told Parkins. I'm hoping he has the brains not to believe whatever bullshit she'd tell him. But I did warn him so that's all I can do."

Later that night, Wilson called while House and Nicola were shooting pool so he put him on speakerphone.

"Cuddy is beyond pissed, House. She wants me to come over there to get you."

Nicola's mouth dropped open when she heard that. "What the hell?"

"Nicola…" House sighed.

"No, this is absolutely ridiculous! Who does she think she is? She's not your mother. She can't order you to "come home right now." You're a grown man and you have the right to leave your job. You don't need to ask anyone's permission."

"I never said that," Wilson said. "What I was about to say was that she claims she has a counter-offer."

"It's bullshit," House laughed. "She's desperate and grasping at straws. If she loses me, she'll lose donors and the board will have her head. There's no way in hell she'd pay me what Parkins is offering or give me anything else."

"She said she'll get rid of your clinic duty."

"More bullshit. Wilson, you and I know that none of that is true. She uses clinic duty as a means to control me. Look, I realize you're just doing her bidding, but you shouldn't. Hell, maybe you should come out here and see for yourself. Then maybe you'll understand why I want to leave. And why maybe you should, too. PPTH is toxic."

"You're more than welcome to come stay with us," Nicola told Wilson. "We have plenty of room and any friend of Greg's is a friend of mine."

Wilson seemed speechless. He didn't know Nicola well at all, but he could see why House liked her. She was no shrinking violet. "Maybe I will."

"You're welcome anytime." And with that, she got up and left the room, leaving House and Wilson to talk further.

Half an hour later, he found her in the music room, playing her double bass.

"So what else did Wilson have to say?"

"Not much. It's apparently all over the hospital already that I quit. I need to return to Princeton, so I can sell my place, put out some potential fires and tie up loose ends."

"But you are coming back, right?"

"Of course. I already accepted the job. I have plenty of time, since I don't start until next month. I don't plan on spending any more time in Princeton than I have to."

"Good. Do you think Wilson's going to come out here?" Nicola asked.

"Not right away. Maybe I'll bring him back with me once I have everything tied up there."

"I can't believe he was going to come out here to try to bring you back. Has he always been Cuddy's whipping boy?"

House chuckled and nodded. "Yep. I wonder what she'd do if he came out here and Parkins offered him a job."

Nicola's eyes widened. "I'd wanna be a fly on the wall for that conversation."

"You and me both."

She stepped away from her bass and went over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'll miss you. You've only been here about a week but it feels like much longer."

"It's been busy. Lots going on. I won't be gone long, I promise. One, two weeks at the most. I want to get back so I can get stuff set up at the hospital."

Just then, his phone rang and he checked to see who it was. "It's Cuddy."

"Oooo put her on speakerphone. I wanna hear."

"Okay, but you have to stay quiet."

"I will, I promise."

House smirked as he answered the call.

"House!" Cuddy screeched. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You're still under contract and you have tenure. Do you really want to throw all that away to go work at a place where they're probably going to fire you within a month?"

"Wow, my vacation is going quite well, thanks for asking. And your faith in me is staggering."

"Cut the crap House. Is this why you went out there? Forget your little chippy, you really went out to find another job, didn't you?"

House placed his finger to his lips when Nicola looked ready to explode.

"And see, this is exactly the kind of bullshit that makes me want to leave. And I am. I'll be emailing you my official resignation in the morning."

"You're still under contract."

"So? Gonna take me to court? Go ahead. You know as well as I do that the board would be too happy to see me gone."

"Why would they? You bring in a lot of money to the hospital."

"I know. And now I'm going to benefit another hospital. It's time for me to move on, Cuddy.

"You can't go, House. I'll match your salary, cut clinic…"

"You lie like a cheap rug, Cuddy. We both know you're not willing or able to do either of those things.

"What about your team? Cameron...she'll be crushed."

House chuckled. "Cameron is banging Chase. She'll be just fine. I gotta go," he said and suddenly ended the call.

"I don't know how you worked for her as long as you did. If it were me, I'd be in prison for her murder."

House smirked and wrapped his arms around her. "Now, where were we...before we were so rudely interrupted?"

"I was about to tell you that I'm going back to Princeton with you."

"Oh, you are?"

"Yep. I have some loose ends to tie up as well. Although I don't plan to be there long. I don't have as many things to take care of."

"So," he growls as he starts kissing and nibbling her ear. "Your place or mine?"

XXX

Three days later, House and Nicola were back in Princeton. House made a plan to gather his things from his office late at night after Cuddy had gone home. She didn't know he was in town, and he wanted to keep it that way.

At the end of the day, Nicola showed up on his doorstep carrying a large pizza and House grinned at her. "The delivery girls are getting prettier and prettier these days," he said as he stepped aside to let her in.

Nicola laughed as she set the pizza down on the coffee table and took the beer he offered her.

She then looked around to see all the boxes. "Wow, you've been busy."

"Yep. I'm leaving the furniture behind. I've got a guy coming to look at the piano so that'll be one less thing. You already have a nice piano at your place anyway."

"Yes. Not that yours isn't gorgeous," she said as she grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite.

"Any luck selling your place?"

"They already found someone interested in it, and like you, I'm leaving the furniture and just packing up my other stuff. I'll be going home in a couple of days. I just need to sort stuff out at work."

"That's good then."

"What about your car?"

"I'm selling the car. I'll get something once I move out there," he told her as he sipped his beer.

"You don't need to. Joseph can drive you."

"Well that's one obstacle out of the way."

"It's great when it snows. He has a Hummer for that very thing."

"Nice. And it doesn't hurt that the police station is near the hospital."

"Gonna give me a ride to work on your crotch rocket?" Nicola grinned.

"Oh, I'll give you a ride alright, little girl," he growled as he leaned over and kissed her. She forgot about her pizza and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her as they exchanged a few hot kisses.

"I'd love a ride on your bike," she murmured against his lips.

"That can be arranged. Just need to get you a helmet."

"Awesome," she said and then went back to eating.

"So are you going to stay over?" he asked her once they were done eating.

"Do you want me to?"

"Mmmm I've always wanted to get you into my bed," he leered at her.

"And this will be your last chance, since you're not taking your bed with you."

He got up and offered her his hand, which she took, and let him lead her to his bedroom.

XXX

"I feel like I'm committing a burglary," Nicola said as she, House and Wilson drove to PPTH late at night. They even drove past Cuddy's to make sure she was at home. She was, and that made House feel better. So far he'd been in Princeton undetected by her. He let his team know that he was leaving and starting up a new department, and while they were surprised and disappointed, they wished him the best.

They were almost finished packing up all his stuff when they heard the click of Cuddy's heels coming down the hall.

"I thought she was at home," House grumbled as he quickly taped up the last box.

"What's going on here?" Cuddy demanded.

"Packing up my office, what does it look like?" House sniped back.

"House, can I talk to you? Privately?" she asked as she glared at Nicola.

"No. Anything you have to say, you can say in front of her."

"I'd rather not."

"Too bad, then. We're just finishing up anyway," he said as he put the last box on the dolly he brought and Wilson wheeled it out.

"If any hospital property is missing, I'll send you the bill."

House laughed out loud as he grabbed the last few things. "Cuddy…"

"Yes?"

"Go fuck yourself."

If Cuddy had pearls, she'd be clutching them as House and Nicola beat a hasty retreat to the elevators. Once the doors closed, Nicola was in his arms, placing fervent kisses all over his face.

"That was probably the hottest thing I've ever seen you do," she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Mhm," she murmured as she continued to kiss and nibble his throat.

"Well, you can show me just how hot when we get back to my place. We only have one more night before you're flying home."

"Oh, I will," she grinned