CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX – Life Goes On

In room 426 of the Balmoral Hotel and Spa in Sedona, Arizona, a woman steps into the bathroom and looks in the mirror. She touches her flushed face with her shaking hands and tries to get control of herself. And yet, although she thinks she looks like a dead goldfish (as her mother once teased her), her natural beauty shines through in the soft lighting of the nightlight.

She thinks of her parents and regrets that they couldn't make the flight out west due to their health, but she has every intention of making it up to tell for her decision to have the wedding here.

She steps out of the bathroom and heads for the bed to the man sleeping on it, softly snoring. As tired as she is, she is happy, excited, hopeful and confident of a life together with this man. She looks down at her left hand and admires the ring on her third finger.

The ring belonged to the man's grandmother who had given it to him on her death bed. After she passed away he'd kept it in a safe place until he could place it on the finger of the woman that he loved and would spend the rest of his life with. And that time was three hours ago, when they'd married on the hillside of the Sedona Hills.

And what made it even more spectacular was that her coworkers were able to join them for the wedding ceremony.

Dr. James Wilson walked her down the isle, and she couldn't have made a better choice. She thought he looked dashing in his tuxedo and felt very proud to be on his arm.

Dr. Eric Foreman was the best man and the whole afternoon he seemed rather tense. She thought at the time maybe it was because of what he'd told her so long ago – that they were not friends – but she honestly no longer held a grudge against him for saying that. What she found out later was that Foreman actually liked her Maid of Honor, Victoria, and made a special effort to introduce the two so neither would be so 'lonely' over the weekend.

"Hey?" A sleepy voice whispers from under the sheets. "What's wrong?"

A wider smile crossed her lips as she slips into bed beside her new husband and wraps her arm around his waist, snuggling up close to him.

"Nothing," she answers. "I love you, Chase."

"I love you, too, Allison."

HOUSE MD HOUSE MD HOUSE MD

A few rooms down the hall in the same hotel, Drs. House and Cuddy are sitting on the edge of a bed. House has a glass of Scotch in one hand while Cuddy has a glass of wine in the other. The sun has just set over the mountains alongside the resort and jazz is softly playing on the radio, a special request from House.

"Do you think it worked this time?" Cuddy asks hopefully.

"Well, if not now, then hopefully three weeks ago when we did the Gurney Shuffle." He hesitates a moment then says, "I hope so. You getting me drunk and then seducing me is SO getting old," House jokes.

"I thought you said you were going to give up drinking? I've told you alcohol makes the sperm sluggish and weak. I don't want my baby to be like that!"

"Hey, look at the source of the sperm…uh, father…uh, me…wait, never mind – that sounded better in my head. And I thought it was our baby," he stutters.

"Well, you are not sluggish and you are not weak, and yes, it will be our baby. But I hope it's a girl," she says as she stands and walks to the bathroom door then turns around. "She'll be just like me – perfect." Cuddy walks into the bathroom but doesn't close the door.

House replies, "Oh, no! Someone shoot me now!"

Cuddy walks out with a stick in her hand and sits down next to him. "Uh, in case you've forgotten, someone already did." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she shuttered at what she's said. "Greg, I'm sorry. That was horrible of me to say."

"Don't worry. That was three months ago. I am expecting to get shot again any day now," House answers.

"Greg, don't joke about that…"

"Well, what does it say?" he asks impatiently as he looks at the stick in her hand but isn't able to correctly read it for the final verdict.

Ignoring his question, she closes her eyes, places the stick in front of him for a better view then asks, "What does it say?"

"Well, it's green…no, wait, blue. It's a BOY! ALL RIGHT! No, uh, wait…it's pink. It's a GIRL! Oh, God help us all!"

Cuddy sighs heavily and opens her eyes, reluctantly looking at the stick for the result that she wants to see.

"Well? What does it say? I can't read that!" he shoots back.

Cuddy smiles broadly, takes a deep breath, looks into his eyes and says…