Thank you for your opinions again, I appreciate them. And Mikesh – what sharp eyes you have :). I hope y'all don't get too angry with me when some best intentions go the way they normally do... Just remember, the course of true love never did run smoothly ... well, with House nothing ever runs smoothly.

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House walked over to the lonely woman at the other end of the bar. He considered his options and decided to go for shock tactics – partly because it rather was his natural mode of operations anyway.

"Voulez-vouz coucher avec moi ce soir?" House asked as he parked himself on the stool next to her.

She blinked at him in surprise, then she seemed to check him out and then he surprised House by responding: "Sure, your place or mine?"

House didn't let his surprise throw him: "It has to be your place. My daughter's grandfather is currently staying with me at my place," House explained earnestly. "Besides, I promised the woman who is expecting my children that I would not bring any of my casual dates home."

She blinked some more processing House's explanation, and then House saw how fumes were starting to come out of her ears: "You are married!"

"No, not married, not living together with anyone – the said grandfather is just visiting, not in any marriage-like relationship with anyone currently," House denied.

"But you have made your girlfriend pregnant," She pointed out.

"Well, she is a girl, or actually she is a woman but that's beside the point here, she is a friend and she is pregnant and I'm the biological father, so I suppose I have to say yes to that," House mused. "But having children with someone is surely no reason not to have sex with someone else, is it? After all, you have children too."

"How..." She was surprised out of her indignation at House's marital – or whatever it was – status.

"I've seen the picture of you and your two kids on your husband's desk," House decided to stop playing games.

"Prominently displayed no doubt," Ruth Rawls responded with some bitterness. "Nice to know we are prominent at least somewhere in his life." She looked House over with more attention. "Aren't you supposed to have flames on your cane?"

"I do, on my everyday cane," House nodded. "But I was having dinner with friends and my mother thought I ought to have something less bitching than flames so I opted for this one. It's an antique vintner's cane."

"Beautiful," Ruth observed. "Now do we need to introduce each other more formally, Dr House, or ...?"

"I hate formal introductions," House told her. "I know who you are and you know who I am."

"Yes, I do indeed know who you are: the bane of my husband's existence," Ruth clarified. "You have no idea how happy I am to meet you."

"No, I can't say that I have," House raised his eyebrows at her. "This looks like Sherry Darling has seriously let you down."

"He has," Ruth twirled her empty wine glass contemplating it. "We were supposed to have a mini-honeymoon this weekend. The kids are with my parents and we were supposed to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary."

"So what happened?" House asked cautiously.

"He cancelled," Ruth stated. "He said he had to work today and possibly even tomorrow that there was some deadline or another at something at the hospital; obviously I wasn't listening too well at the time. However, once I calmed down I thought he has to eat, he has to sleep, so why don't I get us a room and a dinner somewhere close to the hospital and we can still have some kind of celebration."

"You planned this as a surprise?" House asked seeing where the story was going.

"You got it," Ruth smiled bitterly. "And a surprise it was; only I was the one who was surprised when I went to his office to get him. They didn't see me; I was too shocked to even make a sound so I just backed out quietly and walked back here. And here I've been since then trying to make up my mind if I want to get drunk or what."

"Well, considering how easily you agreed to my suggestion it seems you have opted for that what," House observed dryly.

"My husband is celebrating our wedding anniversary by having sex," Ruth stated ruthlessly. "In any kind of just world if my husband has sex so have I."

"There is that," House admitted. "And as such I'm not against extra-marital relationships. I've never been married but being faithful even in a less formal relationship has never been my long suit. But if you want to have sex with a total stranger you need to be aware of the possible consequences. STDs, HIV, possible pregnancy, possible rape. Getting drunk and saying yes to a suggestion from a man you have never met before is not the smart way to go about it."

"I do have condoms with me," Ruth tried to defend herself though somewhat lamely.

"When you are drunk and alone in a room with a man you don't know, you really aren't in a position to call the shots," House pointed out.

"Did you ask me that question to try to shock me into going home?" Ruth challenged House.

"Not really. I didn't think you would say yes, but I wanted to know how much trouble you were looking for," House pondered. "Obviously more than I had expected. Mind you, there was a small chance that you would say yes, and I have always wanted to ask that question from a woman and have her say yes without me needing to flash my credit card first."

"Well, my husband was right about one thing: you can be pretty disgusting," but Ruth smiled when she said it.

"I do try," House smiled in return. "But how disgusting I can be is of no consequence right now. Why don't you let me escort you home? I know you are angry and shocked at your husband, but getting back at him this way is not the smart thing to do."

"I'm staying here for the night," Ruth asserted. "I paid for the room I might as well use it. Besides, I don't want to sleep in his bed tonight."

"Ok, so why don't I see you safely to your room then," House suggested.

"Tell me, what is this situation you have with your girlfriend?" Ruth wanted to know.

"Ok, you're not ready to go yet. Well, I suppose I can tell you," House sighed. "Dr Cuddy is a friend, when she realised that her time to have a child was running out and she hadn't found a Mr Right I agreed to help her with her project. I had just adopted my daughter so I thought she could in return help me with all the girl stuff once Aiko gets to that age. However, once we found out that she was expecting triplets we agreed to co-parent all the kids. We live in the same house, but I have a separate flat in it. We are not married, nor are living together but we are friends and we are parents. It's like an amicable divorce without the marriage."

"So you really are free to go out and pick up women?" Ruth asked. "It's not just something you think is a man's prerogative? To be unfaithful."

"Yes, I'm free. And I don't think screwing around is a man's prerogative," House shrugged. "I just think that if you do it, you should go about it responsibly. I hate treating idiots who don't have enough brains to use a condom."

"And you always use a condom?" Ruth was curious.

"My specialty is infectious diseases. Yes, I always use a condom," House responded.

"So, ok, why don't you escort me to my room, and stay," Ruth invited.

"That would not be a smart idea," House shook his head. "You need a better reason for a one-night stand than getting back at your husband, for which I certainly am an ideal candidate."

"I have always done what I was told; what was expected of me," Ruth explained. "I married my high-school boyfriend at the age of eighteen, I had two kids, I'm a stay-at-home mother, and I've done everything by the book my mother handed me, so to speak. Just for once, I want to regret something that is all my own doing, my own decision, my own stupidity. I'm having sex tonight. If you don't want me, that's ok. I mean, I don't even know why you came in here: because you were looking for company or because you saw me here and decided to rescue me. But I'm not your responsibility, I'm a grown woman and I may be emotional right now, but I'm not stupid. I'm not even drunk, thanks to your intervention. And I do thank you for that."

"You are angry," House stated.

"Damn right I am," Ruth laughed bitterly. "And it has to go somewhere. This is what I choose to do with it. It's my wedding anniversary. He is celebrating it by having sex with his secretary, but I'll be damned if I let him decide that I can't have sex even when he is. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I will regret this, but that's what I choose to do. You can either take advantage of it and get one-up on Sheridan, or you can let someone else do the honours."

"Well, I did come to this bar to find someone to have a one-night-stand with," House on deliberated. "And I will certainly make sure you won't have any of the possible physical consequences. But have you thought what this might mean to you emotionally? Or possibly socially? You could be ruining your reputation."

"Are you telling me that you would tell people about this?" Ruth asked. "That I might find myself the object of hospital gossip tomorrow?"

"For all you know me, yes," House warned.

"I'll live," Ruth decided. "Besides, it might be a nice change for the gossips, to be able to talk about me instead of my husband."

"Well, they won't hear it from me," House admitted. "Mind you, something like this is bound to come out anyway. Somebody will surely see us or something else will happen to bring this to light. I won't be around to help you in any way when that happens, you need to understand that. I already have more responsibility than I'm quite comfortable with. I'm not taking on anyone else."

"I was rather under the impression that one-night-stand specifically meant that there was no later or after or even see you," Ruth pointed out.

"Ok then, if you are sure," House said standing up and helping Ruth from her seat. "Just remember that I need to be home in time to have breakfast with my daughter."

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When House got home on the early hours of the morning he met Dr Higa in the living room.

"Surely you haven't been waiting for me?" House asked the older man in Japanese.

"No, but I'm an old man. I sleep like a baby," Dr Higa explained.

"Ah, you sleep four hours and then wake up crying?" House smiled.

"Well, not crying, but yes, I don't sleep all through the night anymore," Higa smiled back. "You just timed your arrival right. So did you get what you wanted?"

"I'm not sure what you mean?" House thought he had heard something in the question that was not obvious.

"You were looking for escape from your responsibilities, weren't you?" Higa asked. "Temporary, granted, but still escape. Did it work? Are you any less scared now?"

"Not really," House had to admit. "But it was good. Only given what happened, I may have created more problems for myself."

"So what did happen?" Higa got a little worried.

"Do you need to go back to bed?" House enquired.

"No, I was going to read and possibly make some tea for myself, why?" Higa wanted to know.

"I need a shower and I want out of these clothes," House said. "Let's talk over tea. I think I need to talk to someone about this and you will definitely be discreet."

"You want tea?" Higa wondered.

"You know I hate tea," House shrugged. "But there is something about drinking tea that just helps you talk about things. Especially when they are things that don't really have answers but you still need to find one."

"It's a philosophical drink," Higa nodded. "And sometimes no answer is the right answer to have."

"Yeah, so you keep telling me," House sighed. "But you know that is another thing I hate: not having answers."

"I know, I know," Higa sighed, he knew, only too well.