10 weeks later —

Cuddy stands in front of the mirror in the bathroom, half-dressed and breastfeeding Olivia while trying to brush her own hair at the same time. It's the morning of her first day back to work and she's already failing at multitasking.

"Need some help?" House, still in his pajamas, asks from behind her.

"Yes please," she says, relieved to see him up. "Which do you want to do?"

"Well obviously I'll breastfeed her."

"Sorry," Cuddy laughs as she realizes her stupid mistake and then hands him the hairbrush. "First day jitters."

"First day? At a job you've been kicking ass at for over a decade?"

House runs the brush through her tangled hair, knowing exactly what to do. Cuddy loves this kind of intimacy with him. It's one of the many benefits of being with someone who studied for her so long— he knows how she does her hair, her makeup, how she makes breakfast, how she takes her coffee. He could replicate her entire morning routine if he had to.

"First day after ten weeks off," Cuddy amends. "You know what I mean."

She's going back to a familiar job and office, but it feels different now, because everything about the last year has changed her perspective. It's made her softer in some ways, and harder in others.

"Why do Ihave to be the one to go back to work first?" She whines, dread creeping in. "Iwas the one who got cut open."

"Because I can work on cases from here. Because the hospital needs you, whereas I actively disrupt it. Because you make more money than I do, which makes you the sugar mama in this relationship. Should I keep going?"

It's the right decision. They've been over it a hundred times and ended up exactly here. That doesn't mean she has to like it. "This isn't fair."

"That's what you get for being boss."

"Is it too late to run away together?"

"We'll always have Scotland," he quips.

"Keep your kilt on standby."

House stops brushing, takes a step back to look at his handiwork. "That good?"

"Yeah," she agrees, because there's nothing more he can do with it. "But I still look like a hot mess."

"Emphasis on the hot. If Olivia wasn't on your boob right now, I would be."

She turns around to face him. "Don't lie to make me feel better."

"I'm not. Your milf status has increased exponentially since the arrival of rugrat number two."

She craves the validation, especially from him, because her old clothes don't fit yet. It's only in the last two weeks that she's felt ready to slowly restart her yoga routine.

"If you don't want to go back yet, call and tell them," House offers. "I'm sure they won't give you shit about needing another week or two."

It's tempting, but she knows it's a dangerous game, especially because she feels physically fine to work. "Another week isn't going to make it easier to leave. It might even make it harder. I don't think I'll ever feel ready."

"Probably not. You weren't exactly ready to leave Rachel."

"When I left her for the first time, I wanted to throw up. The only saving grace was getting to see the other half of my heart at work, even though I was taking it out on him."

"Ah, yes," House recalls. "The classic laxatives in the Vicodin bottle trick. Good times."

Olivia finishes nursing and Cuddy buttons up her shirt. "It just sucks that all three of you will be here while I'm at work."

"Rach has school."

"Only until 2. Then everyone will be together, except me."

For six glorious weeks the four of them were all home at the same time— Rachel on summer break and both of them on leave. Cuddy was so excited when House agreed to take time off too. She didn't think he would want more than a few days away from his puzzles, and suspects his decision might have had to do with her needing to heal from surgery. Whatever the reason, they've had time to really be together as a family, and with far less stress than they expected. Olivia is such an easy-going baby, who sleeps through the night more often than not. House always jokes that it's her way of making up for the rough pregnancy and surprise C-section.

"I want to quit."

"No you don't," House says. "That's the hormones talking. When you get to the hospital, you'll be excited to do something other than clean up baby puke and the day will go by fast."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay here on your own?"

"I've got a fridge full of pumped breast milk. I've got TV, take out menus, and my team calling every hour with patient updates. What more could I need?"

"Marina's number in case you get too invested in the case and need help."

"I've had that number memorized for years."

"Make sure Rachel sees the note I left for her."

"You taped it to her backpack. Don't see how she could miss it. Hand Olivia over, Cuddy."

Instead of following the instruction, she holds Oliva closer and pouts.

House laughs at the childish behavior. "That face isn't going to work on me when I know you better than you know you."

"Will you send me pictures?"

"Yes."

"And videos?"

"Sure."

"And you'll answer whenever I call?"

"Unless we're out for a cruise on the bike."

She shoots him a threatening look.

"I will answer whenever you call," he corrects.

Finally, after one last snuggle and kiss, Cuddy gives Olivia to House. "Goodbye, my sweet angel," she says.

"Aren't you gonna say goodbye to Olivia, too?"

She kisses him on the check. "Goodbye, wise ass."

House follows her into the living room and watches her get her stuff together. "Cuddy," he says right as he reaches for the doorknob to leave. "I shouldn't even have to say this, because it's a no-brainer, but you've got this."

And she does. She gets out of the house, into her car, and manages to pull out of the driveway without crying. But then she turns off their street.

All of the anxiety that relented when Olivia was born comes rushing back because she's apart from them for the first time. She's gotten better at recognizing her anxious thoughts and talking back to them, but right now it's like all the most important parts of her are missing. As pathetic as she feels, she calls House through the Bluetooth. He picks up on the second ring.

"House's house of daycare for Cuddy children," he says in a sing-song voice.

"Is that what you're calling it?"

"It's a working title, but I'm digging the alliteration. Did you forget something?"

"I'm just sad," Cuddy confesses. "Can you tell me what Oliva's doing?"

"I wish I had something exciting to report from the last two and half minutes, but she's drooling."

"Is it cute?"

"Oh, yeah," he says, not judging what she needs even now. "Bubbles and everything."

—/—


That afternoon there's a loud knock on the front door. House assumes his team has brought over scans for him to look at, but when he answers, he finds Wilson holding two brown grocery bags instead. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Bringing you food," Wilson says. "You're welcome."

"I specifically told you to watch Cuddy."

"I tried, but she knew why I was hovering and kicked me out."

Cuddy kicking out Wilson is probably a good sign for how she's coping. "So she's good?"

"She seemed great and everyone was excited to have her back. Where's my goddaughter?"

As they walk into the living room, House gestures toward the bassinet next to the couch. "Napping, so keep your voice down. What'd you bring me?"

"Chips, soda, stuff to make sandwiches."

House pulls out a bag of chips, starts stuffing his face as he sits back down. Wilson takes in the sight of bottles and diapers surrounding the Princeton Plainsboro laptop.

"Oddly enough, this stay-at-home dad gig suits you," he observes. "You get to stay in your pajamas, work on cases with soap operas on in the background, and still have a piece of Cuddy with you all day."

"It's only for two more weeks and then Marina takes over."

"I'm sure it means a lot to Cuddy to get to leave Olivia with you first though."

The truth is, the hospital offered them both twelve weeks parental leave. House wasn't originally planning on taking all of it, but after the c-section, he wanted to monitor Cuddy's recovery. By the time she started to feel better, he figured he might as well take advantage of the entire offer. Plus, Wilson is on to something. Why would he want to be at the hospital when he can get paid to hang out with his kid and still solve cases by working them from home? Cuddy doesn't have the luxury of not being needed by hundreds of people, but he does.

"Yeah, but now that you're here, you can watch her while I take a shower."

House gets up and starts limping down the hallway.

"Wait, no," Wilson protests. "I have to get back to the hospital."

"You can't say no! It's in the Godfather contract. Always read the fine print!"

—/—


When Wilson is gone, and House is waiting to hear from his team, he finds that he does miss Cuddy a little more than he expected to. He's spent the last ten weeks by her side— watching her care for a newborn with such natural instincts. He hates that there was a time she doubted her own abilities as a mother, and that he was ever a part of making her feel that way, because she does everything so perfectly. She's also provided him with the exact right balance of help when he's unsure what to do and space to find his own footing as a parent.

Fatherhood comes much easier to him than he would've imagined. When he first got with Cuddy, the love was simply there, and despite his fear of commitment and getting hurt, being with her was easy. He knew how to hold her, how to support her. It's the same with the girls now. He looks at them and feels so protective and somehow figures out what they need.

In a few weeks time, they'll start wedding planning, and then they'll start the adoption process to make Rachel officially his. He doesn't need a piece of paper to know that Rachel is his oldest, but he never wants anyone to question who she belongs to.

As he thinks about Cuddy, curiosity gets the best of him. He unlocks his laptop and pulls up her schedule.

He notices her four o'clock meeting and has a brilliant idea.

—/—


Cuddy's been nervous about this meeting all day. She would've preferred not to have a big potential pediatric donor on her first day back, but Joyce Harper called three times over the last ten weeks and insisted on coming in as soon as possible. Considering how much the Harper family is worth, Cuddy would be an idiot to turn her away.

They're about twenty minutes into the meeting, and Cuddy has just finished her well-rehearsed pitch, when House walks into the office unannounced, pushing Olivia in her stroller. Rachel, still in her school uniform, trails right behind him.

"House?" Cuddy's first thought is that something is wrong, because there's no reason for them to be here. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm so sorry," House says, elongating every syllable. "I didn't realize you were in a meeting. We wanted to stop by and say hi."

Cuddy is suspicious because House doesn't do anything on accident and his exaggerated tone is a dead giveaway. She just doesn't know what his game plan is.

"Joyce— this is my family," she says, hoping he's not going to embarrass her. "Dr. House also happens to be one of the best doctors in the country and the head of diagnostic medicine here at the hospital."

Despite the attempt to show off her star doctor, Joyce's gaze goes straight to Olivia. "What a beautiful baby. How old is she?"

"She's ten weeks."

"You had a baby ten weeks ago?! You look amazing."

"I appreciate that."

"My dad and I named her Olivia," Rachel announces.

"And what's your name?"

"Rachel. Are my parents gonna help you get better?"

Cuddy is positive they're up to something now, because Rachel is talking like she's reading the script of a Hallmark movie.

"I came here to talk to your mom about how I can help her help people— especially kids like you."

"My daddy helps kids get better when no one else can help them."

Joyce looks back to Cuddy. "You know, sometimes, with these donations, you worry that your money won't quite go where you'd like it to. But you— you won't waste my money because you understand the importance of family. I feel like you'd look at every kid like they're one of yours."

"She does do that," House says truthfully.

"Where do I drop off the check? I'd like to give the maximum we discussed."

Cuddy tries to temper her excitement, because it's a huge deal for the hospital. "If you're sure, our finance department is on the second floor. I can walk you there."

"No, don't. Stay here. You should enjoy your visitors."

"Thank you so much," Cuddy says. "I promise to make good use of it."

As soon as she leaves, House dramatically bows. "And the academy award for best actor in a drama goes to Greg House."

"What about me?" Rachel asks. "I helped!"

"You did. That's why you're the best supporting actress."

"You hacked into my schedule," Cuddy surmises.

"Forget chick magnets, these girls are check magnets."

"Or maybe you missed me and invented a reason to come visit, helpful as it was."

"No way."

"You simply couldn't take another hour without me."

"You wish."

She's relieved to be back in the swing of things, and House in her office makes it feel completely normal. It's inevitable that some days work might not get her best because of the kids and some days work will drain her before she gets home. She thinks she can figure it out though.

"I can do this," she says out loud.

"Duh," House sits down across from her, takes two lollipops out of his pocket, and starts eating one of them. "I already told you that."

"We can do this."

Because without him, none of it would work. Home wouldn't work and work wouldn't work. She needs him for all of it.

He starts looking on her desk and notices one specific item. "Is that a bridal magazine?"

"Brianna left it in my mailbox. She's very invested in us, especially now that she knows you're a big softy."

"Blasphemy." House flips through a few pages until he finds a dress he likes. "Patty and Selma would rock this one."

Of course he's picked a low-cut one with a sheer bodice. "That's practically see through."

"Exactly."

"I just had a baby."

"You heard the rich lady, Cuddy. You could pull it off."

She glances at the time on her laptop. "You know, it's already four thirty. I think I could probably leave since I got here so early."

"Anddddd my devious plan is complete."

"So you admit you had a plan!"

"That's not what I said."

"He did," Rachel says, grabbing the second lollipop for herself.

"Traitor," House scowls.

Cuddy's heart is so full. "I missed you, too."

—/—


Cuddy stops at the front desk on their way out, just to make sure she hasn't missed any mail or messages. As she's going through some memos, Chase and Taub come running over to House.

"Damn," he mutters when he sees them. "I was hoping you wouldn't find out I was here."

"And we were hoping you'd stay," Taub says.

"I told you to check for tumors. Call me when you have the results."

"But…"

"Don't be so dramatic. Daddy will be back in two short weeks."

Thirteen comes over then, waving the results of the MRI. "It's not a tumor."

Chase looks at House expectantly. "Now what?"

"Now... I have to think. I'll call you when I come up with something. Until then, I want an EKG."

Out of the corner of her eye, Cuddy sees one of Olivia's shoes fall off. Before she can do anything about it, Rachel reaches down to get it for her. Cuddy is thinking about how proud she is of Rachel for wanting to make sure Olivia doesn't lose her shoe. Then, instead of putting it back on her foot, Rachel slips the shoe on Olivia's hand and starts laughing.

It's such a small, weird moment to hit her as hard as it does, but it reminds her that Rachel is the perfect combination of her parents. Caring enough to watch out for her sister, goofy and creative enough to laugh at a stupid joke.

There will always be more patients for House to cure. There will always be more meetings for Cuddy to attend. He'll solve his cases and she'll keep the hospital running. And in between the curing and the meetings, they will teach these girls to take care of the people they love without losing their sense of joy. Rachel and Olivia will know that even the most painful days are worth pushing through, and that the four of them can do anything together. They will feel loved enough to be themselves, and safe enough to chase whatever makes them happy.

"House," Foreman catches up with the team, frustrated as the rest of them. "Where are you going?"

Cuddy remembers a day, once upon a time, when she mocked House for being so eager to leave work even though he had no one waiting on him. Now she marvels at the family they found all on their own.

She looks back at his team, armed with their unanswered questions. Thankfully the answer to Foreman's question is simple and forever.

Cuddy grabs House's hand. "Home," she says. "He's going home."