Disclaimer…I don't own anything.

Author's Note…This chapter is my little holiday gift to everyone! I hope you enjoy it and HINT HINT reviews make excellent thank-you notes! I don't know when I'll be updating because I will be in sunny Atlantis this week yay! so I hope this will keep you happy. By the way, good news…I figured out how I'm going to end the story! And how I'm going to write it! It's not for a while though…a few years…but it totally includes an epilogue! Sweeeeet…

Prinnie…thank you so much for pimping out my story! That made me so excited and thank you thank you thank you!

Flamesofthemo0n…Awww…I thought you would like that chapter! Glad you enjoyed it and hope you like this one as well!

TNIIT…Awww…I'm so glad I found out I found someone who shares my corny level of loving the "my father's joy" thing! And thank you SO much for that compliment…your whole review made my day.

Kat…This chapter should answer your question…and I plan on continuing this story for a while but I've got an endpoint in sight (but if anybody starts to get tired of it PLEASE let me know!) which I guess is good news. And I'm thrilled that you are so wrapped up in it…squee!

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Six Months Later (i.e. Late November)

Cuddy barged into the Diagnostics Lounge at 10:30 one lonesome night and sighed. Apparently, dating someone does not make them bend to your every will, professional or personal. Especially if that someone was Greg House. Especially if that something was anything that had to do with working.

Turns out her barging was in vain anyway. The room was empty; the lights were off. Nothing was stirring (not even a mouse). Except for a small, muffled sound of quiet breathing. Inwardly, Cuddy panicked, though she did not know why. Who or what would break in, and why? Cuddy shook her head; her worry made no sense. She scolded herself and cautiously walked towards the origin of the sound.

It was Libby. House, knowing he would be working late that night, had insisted that she come to the hospital after school rather than be home alone for so long at a time. It looked like she had fallen asleep while doing the endless mounds of homework she had been assigned. Actually, it wasn't that there was such a heavy load (although Cuddy physically could not lift up the tote bag Libby carried around) but that Libby was on the school track team and they had practice that lasted until 5:00 every day leaving very little time for homework. But still, Libby's grades were excellent and the only thing Cuddy and House (and Wilson) worried about was whether her body would be able to handle all the pressure she put on it. Oftentimes, House would find himself walking into Libby's room at night while she was sleeping just to check her pulse. Usually he woke her up and was greeted with shrieks.

Cuddy walked over to the hooks where the lab coats were hung and not for the first time, relished in the fact that House was different and distinguishable and always had her on her tip-toes. She took the lab coat marked "Gregory House, MD" and bring the harsh material to her face, letting the stray white strands scratch her skin. She breathed in its non-scent…it hadn't been worn enough to become weathered enough to be soft or have a familiar fragrance. She gingerly placed the coat over Libby's body, a makeshift blanket. Cuddy brushed a stray curl off Libby's face and started to retreat towards the door.

But, like all her plans, it was totally interrupted when House entered the picture. "Hey."

Cuddy screamed in surprise, thereby waking up Libby. "Whatsugoingon?"

Cuddy glanced at Libby in apology then at House in embarrassment. "Sorry Libs. It was your dad's fault."

"True that. Everything's my fault."

Libby sat up and rubbed her eyes. She examined her textbook pillow and groaned. She leaned over the couch and pulled out a notebook and began writing stuff in it. House raised his eyebrows. "You're not done with your homework yet?"

"I have an essay."

"Due tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

House looked at his watch. "It's 10:30. I'm cutting you off at 10:49."

"11:30."

"No way."

"Way."

"You've got school tomorrow. 11:30 is too late."

"Too late for the sake of my education?"

"Oh, my heartstrings. Please, stop with the tugging. I don't know if I can take much more of this."

Cuddy smirked. "He's right. You've been working way too late recently. You need a break."

"It's November. Thanksgiving's soon. I get a vacation."

"That's at the end of the week, right?"

"Yeah Dad, way to forget when Thanksgiving is. It's always so hard to remember."

House rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we're going home in a couple minutes. I'll meet you outside, ok?"

Now Libby rolled her eyes. "Dad, if you want to come up with an excuse to have Cuddy spend the night, just say so. I take Health. Even without it, Wilson's kept me out of the dark with that particular subject for a while now. So you can relax."

House gaped. "For your information, I was much happier being in the dark about you being out of the dark so for further reference, make my future a very dark place."

Libby snickered as she picked up the huge mass of books and left the room, content to sit outside while waiting for her father.

Cuddy looked at Libby's small form in amazement. That girl is something else. She turned to House and smiled as seductively as one can after being awake for eighteen hours. "So, do you really want me to come over tonight?"

"I certainly wouldn't mind the activities we would engage in, but that's not what I was talking about."

Cuddy frowned. "Oh."

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?"

"The family's coming over."

"Family?"

"Lots of 'em. My parents, four aunts, five uncles, two grandparents, eleven cousins, two nephews, one niece. Let's see, that's…27 people."

"Think there's room for two more?"

"Depends…" Cuddy said, still not catching on. "Who would they be?"

"Me and Libby!" House replied in a duh voice.

"Oh! I thought you spent Thanksgiving with Wilson…and you would have to meet my parents…"

"Yeah, about that. Wilson's going over to his new girlfriend's house in…some other state."

"Which one?"

"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention long enough to hear…but I thought that Libby could maybe benefit from a normal, loud, obnoxious, headache-inducing, good ole American Thanksgiving."

"I agree with you 100. But it would still lead to you meeting my parents…"

"We don't have to tell them I'm your boyfriend."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Oh really?"

"For the night I can be some random homeless person you took in."

"And who would Libby be?"

"A child in the foster system that you adopted for the holidays."

"I bet the people at the Humanitarian Awards will love this new development."

"That was my plan all along."

"But seriously? Are you coming? Because if you are…I don't even want to think about it."

"Well, start thinking then, because we're coming. By the way, will there be alcohol?"

"My Uncle Jack will be there. He's a recovering alcoholic."

"So yes. And score, I get to screw up his recovery!" House finished gathering his stuff and walked out, leaving Cuddy fighting the uncontrollable urge to bang her head hard against the wall.

Bang.

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Thanksgiving Morning

House slapped his hand down on his alarm clock and rubbed his eyes. 5:15. This was the time he normally got up for work, but he was off today. Must have forgotten to unset it. He looked around and saw that there was a light coming in from under the door. And there were lots of sounds coming from the kitchen. House groaned, rolled over, and got out of bed.

Gingerly stepping into the kitchen, he saw (what he considered) a most curious sight. There was Libby, still in her pajamas, stirring something, amidst a whole load of ingredients that House didn't even know existed, much less in his apartment. House rubbed his eyes again. Libby's cooking…at frickin 5:15 in the morning. Damn her and her sometimes-domestic ways. "Have you staged a campaign against sleep?"

Libby looked up. "Good morning to you too."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm having a rendezvous with those incredibly scandalous boys from Nantucket."

"Woah! Did not need to hear that. Do you realize what time it is?"

"Nope. All I know is that I heard a rooster at dawn and I decided something needed cookin'."

"Very funny. Are you making something for Aunt Lisa's Thanksgiving…thing?"

"You got it, Sherlock."

"Why?"

"Bringing food to someone's house for Thanksgiving is the right thing to do. Especially if you invited us last minute."

"We never brought food to Wilson's."

"We brought the lo mein."

"Riiiight."

"Yeah."

"So what are we bringing now? I.e. what are you making?"

"It's called 'Death by Chocolate.'"

"Sounds lethal."

"It totally is. It's layers of brownie, coconut, chocolate pudding, nuts, more brownie, more chocolate pudding, and finally some whipped cream."

"Note that it won't satisfy anyone unless it's got a cherry on top."

"Darn. I knew I forgot something."

"It's a shame you're going through all this trouble for something you won't even be able to eat."

Libby shrugged. "I don't like chocolate anyway. And I'm sure they'll have a fruit platter."

"It's Aunt Lisa. You can count on it." House dipped his finger in what he now reasoned was the brownie mix and tasted it. It was and my, was it good. Libby playfully swatted it away and House gave her a mock-innocent look. "So, were you planning on eating breakfast?"

"I figured we could have Chinese."

"Awesome." House yawned. "I'm going back to bed."

"Whatever. Hey, do you know of a Chinese place that's open at like, 8:30 in the morning?"

"Nope."

"We'll have to find one then."

House rolled his eyes. "I'm sure we will. Happy Thanksgiving."

"Yeah."

House went back into bed but found he couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned but nothing came. Finally, he switched on the TV to find Donald Trump walking around the set-up of the Macy's Day Parade. My eyes! My eyes!

Little did he know it would be one of the prettier sights of the day.

Author's Note…Ok, first of all, I had to stop writing in the middle of this chapter because I went to Atlantis and didn't bring my computer. Second of all, next chapter will be Cuddy's Thanksgiving Dinner. Third of all, after that, I'm going to do some time-jumping. Ok. A lot of time-jumping. Fourth of all, sorry I didn't include Josh in this chapter…I think he will be around later, though. Fifth of all, please review! Thank you and once again, Happy Holidays!