Thank you for any reviews you feel like posting! It's nice to know what people think. As the hiatus is now here, I will probably be dealing with my withdrawal symptoms by posting a couple of chapters. And I will go on commenting on the episodes in this form once they start again in January.

Who knew!

"So you folded," Nyx observed as a greeting when House walked into the gazebo.

"As expected," House shrugged.

"Actually not so much," Nyx disagreed. "Folding is not something you usually do. You're much more likely to even cut off your nose to spite your face when you don't feel that you've done something wrong."

"You're thinking of Vogler and Tritter?" House assumed.

"As the biggest examples, yes," Nyx nodded. "Though there are plenty of minor ones as well."

"I never wanted to see any of those naked," House reminded her.

"But even so," Nyx concluded. "You usually prefer being right to being… well… not-alone."

"Maybe I have changed," House remarked snidely.

"Or maybe you just want to," Nyx suggested. "For real."

"Sure," House scorned. "It's so unlike me to lie to Cuddy."

"So what if it was a lie," Nyx shrugged. "You still apologized. And promised not to lie again."

"While I lied," House emphasised.

"And spoke truly as well," Nyx countered.

"And what part of my speech did you believe?" House wondered.

"The part where you said it's about time to take a leap of faith and never lie to her again," Nyx stated.

"First of all, you left something out. And second of all, even Cuddy didn't believe that I would never lie to her again," House laughed.

"I know," Nyx agreed. "But she believed your apology."

"Well, it was half-meant," House sighed. "I had hurt her, after all."

"But you didn't believe she ought to be hurt?" Nyx questioned.

"I don't mean that I hurt her with my lie," House explained. "I hurt her when I tried to catch her in a lie. I should not have thrown her marriage at her like that. Nor should I have tried to trick her into my way of thinking. Just because I disagreed with her about the issue… I was trying to change her. If I don't want her to change me, then I can't try to trick her into changing either."

"Surprisingly mature of you," Nyx wondered. "Especially as you spent most of your time with this last patient trying to change him."

"He was being an idiot," House claimed. "His belief in a fictional entity was killing him when I could have helped!"

"So you would have been ok with his God had he claimed that this God had sent you to heal him any which way you can?" Nyx queried.

"I would still have called him an idiot, but only behind his back," House shrugged. "I don't really care what they believe in as long as it doesn't interfere with my work. Though I will definitely point out their idiocy if possible."

"But if you're so against the idea of a god, then why are you dreaming of me?" Nyx asked.

"You're a delusion in a dream," House huffed. "A convenient figment of my imagination."

"Ouch," Nyx pretended to be hurt. "You could have left out the 'delusion' part. Words do hurt you know."

"Everything hurts," House snorted. "You believe in god, you get hurt. You don't believe in god, and you still get hurt. Lies hurt, the truth hurts. Everything hurts."

"So what can you do?" Nyx frowned.

"You figure out what it is that you can live with," House concluded. "The right ratio of lies and truths and faith."

"Faith?" Nyx couldn't believe her ears.

"Not in god," House scorned. "Unless you're an idiot. But faith in something. Yourself, your partner, your work, science, whatever. Something that you need to be true to."

"And you need to be true to Cuddy?" Nyx asked.

"I need to be true to myself," House corrected. "And as much to Cuddy as I can without losing myself."

"And therefore you won't lie to her again?" Nyx didn't sound quite as sure as she had been originally when she first stated that she believed House would not lie to Cuddy again.

"I will have to work around her," House affirmed. "She was ok with me forging her signature as long as I didn't deny it. I will just have to deal with her much the way I deal with Masters: do first, tell the truth after."

"But you do lie to Masters," Nyx pointed out.

"Yeah, that is a problem," House agreed. "But Masters is there all the time. Hiding things from her without lies is more difficult. With Cuddy, I just need to make sure that she won't be there to question my actions at the wrong time."

"But what about when you need her permission for a procedure?" Nyx wanted to know.

"I have to figure that one out when I get to that," House sighed. "I hope I'll figure out in time, but if it not, then my patient will take precedence."

"And you'll be screwed with Cuddy," Nyx concluded.

"More than likely," House accepted. "Which is why I will try to avoid that."

"You think you'll end up like Wilson and Sam?" Nyx asked.

"We may split, but it won't be like Wilson and Sam," House decided. "Even when we were at odds over my lie, Cuddy wasn't quitting. She may give up on me eventually, but only when she has exhausted all other options. This won't be easy for either of us, but she isn't a quitter."

"Are you?" Nyx demanded.

"No," House said. "And yes. I don't trust relationships and I may end up quitting before I'm quitted on. But I will try not to."

"Thus the leap of faith?" Nyx assumed.

"Yeah," House nodded. "She's worth it."

"So far," Nyx amended. "If you need to modify only your behaviour, she is definitely worth it. But if you need to start changing yourself, then it's not going to work. You do know it."

"I can't be true to anyone if I can't be true to me," House mused. "Or words to that effect in one song or another, I'm sure. She is worth a lot, though. She is pretty amazing and she has always been there for me, even when I was pretty horrible to her."

"She has been pretty horrible to you, too, on occasion," Nyx pointed out. "Like when she told you that she was marrying Lucas and you two were over. Or in fact there had never been any two of you."

"She was trying to move on," House stated. "You do what you have to when you do that. But she came to me when I needed her."

"Wilson could have saved you just as well," Nyx suggested.

"I don't want to see him naked," House denied.

"I didn't mean that," Nyx asserted. "I just meant that he, too, could have come to you to show that you were not alone."

"Maybe," House accepted. "But he was with Sam."

"But he knew Sam was not going to last," Nyx reminded him.

"He was still refusing to see that," House defended his friend. "Sam was still fresh. And I know Wilson will always be there, as a friend. But friendship goes only so far. If I'm going to change my life, chance happiness and maybe risk my whole world view of life as a 'valley of tears' where you do your best to find the level of misery you can live with I need more than friendship. I need Cuddy."

"But what if she isn't enough?" Nyx wanted to know.

"She isn't," House affirmed. "But she is one hell of a motivation. And that goes a long way."

"As long as you know that any miracles you need, you need to perform yourself," Nyx smiled.

"I know," House nodded. "I do know."