A/N: I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it. You guys have been awesome and I can't thank you enough for all your support.

Special shout-out to The Usual Suspects for always making me laugh and for keeping me sane during Season Eight. Oy vey!

Also, thank you Gr8fulInsomniac for loving this idea and encouraging me to go for it.

House awoke around eight-thirty Friday morning feeling more rested than he had in a long time. The phone call from the night before suddenly came back to him and to be sure it wasn't a dream he checked his cell phone and breathed a sigh of relief with the Boston area code and the name L. Cuddy on the caller ID. It wasn't a dream, he thought smiling to himself. He still could not believe Cuddy had called him then he remembered why she had, the dreaded death dream. On one hand he was disappointed that the only reason she contacted him was because she thought he'd died but on the other hand, she had called him and they talked and that was all that mattered at the moment. There was so much he wanted to say to her but last night was not the time. Still, it was a start.

As he lay in bed pondering what to do next, his cell phone rang.

"House," he grumbled.

"House, where the hell are you?" It was Wilson.

"I'm in bed and by the way, your mother says hello and that you should call me big daddy from now on," he said sarcastically.

"Funny, House. Get in here, you've got a visitor," said Wilson.

"Who?"

"Do I look like your secretary?" Wilson asked frustrated.

"Well Jimmy, you do have a great pair of legs, a little pasty but nice nonetheless."

Wilson put his hand to his head, clearly annoyed. "House, I'm busy, you have a visitor, if you don't come in to work soon, Foreman's going to have your ass."

"His Royal Blackness doesn't scare me; I'll get in when I get in. Just tell whoever it is to wait," he said.

Before Wilson could reply, House had hung up. Wilson sighed and went to House's office to tell his visitor he would be there as soon as possible, hoping that he was indeed right about that.

Thirty minutes later after a hot shower and shave and placing a new fentanyl patch on his leg, House strolled into the hospital under the watchful eye of Nurse Brenda who gave him a sneer that he happily returned. As he headed towards the elevator, he spotted Foreman coming towards him. He pressed the button multiple times quickly with his cane and looking up towards the ceiling he shouted,

"Do you have radar that tells you anytime I come into this place?" He asked, annoyed.

"No, I told Wilson to call you because you have a visitor. You're late."

"Do you not know me by now? I'm always late, now if you don't mind I'm a very busy man!" He yelled back to Foreman over his shoulder as he stepped into the elevator and the doors closed.

As House approached his office he noticed a blonde haired woman sat in the chair in front of his desk. He passed his door and entered the Diagnostics conference room. Taub was busy reading a medical journal and taking notes.

"Where are the others?" He asked.

"Chase and Park are in clinic, Adams has the day off," Taub replied.

"Who's the chick?" House asked nodding towards the woman sitting in his office.

"I have no idea. Foreman escorted her up here. You don't know her?"

"I haven't seen her up close and personal so I have no idea. What are you doing?" House asked motioning to the journal.

"Just catching up on some reading."

"Interesting. Aiming for my job?"

"Hardly."

House watched as the woman in his office attempted to get comfortable in her chair. From the side, he could tell she was very pregnant. He swallowed nervously, wondering what a pregnant woman, who was not part of a case, since he actually had no case, would be doing in his office. He entered, threw his backpack into a chair and hobbled over to his desk. "Listen" he said, "I'm not the father, no matter what you say," and as he looked directly at her for the first time, he realized who it was.

Eve.

She stood up and held out her hand to him and smiled. "Dr. House, it's good to see you again."

Before he realized what he was doing, he extended his hand out and shook hers and motioned for her to sit down. "You know I'm still worn out from our last conversation," he said sarcastically.

She smiled at him. "I'm sure. Actually, I'm here to thank you."

House looked puzzled. "For what?" He asked.

Eve took a deep breath and continued, "Six years ago I was raped. I had a terrible life changing thing happen to me and I felt like I'd lost control of everything. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't trust anyone, and I felt like I had no one to talk to about it. I was so messed up I wanted to kill myself. You were there, you helped me."

"You forget I was there only because my boss told me to be there and then when she let me out of it, you manipulated me into talking to you."

"I know that but what matters is you did talk to me," she smiled warmly at him. "Remember? Out by the lake?"

House remembered but did not want to rehash that conversation. He chose to hide his discomfort with sarcasm. "As you might recall I'm not exactly a conversationalist."

"No, you were not but you opened up to me and I appreciate it, I know it had to be...difficult. Just by talking to me, you helped me make some tough decisions that changed my life."

"I didn't do anything, you did. You made those decisions on your own."

"Yes, I did and I struggled with it for a while afterwards but I eventually came to terms with it. I realized I made the right choice. My life is good now. I'm married and well—as you can tell I'm expecting a baby anytime now."

"Does your husband know?"

"Yeah, he does. I couldn't keep it from him. I didn't want to start our relationship off with lies. What happened to me is in the past. It doesn't define me but everything I went through helped make me who I am now."

"So you're justifying it with that 'out of everything bad comes something good crap?'"

"I know you think it's stupid but I don't believe I went through all that for nothing. Before the rape I held a lot inside but afterwards when I started talking about what happened to me, I also began talking about other things I'd been keeping inside for years. Opening up about everything made me feel better and even helped me forge a better relationship with my own family."

House sat quietly, not offering up the usual sarcasm and snarky wit. He had to admit, she piqued his curiosity. He motioned with his hands for her to continue.

"You may not think you did much of anything but the fact is my interaction with you helped me heal, it helped me take the first step towards the rest of my life. Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied sincerely.

"Since the moment I met you I was fascinated by you. You're a very famous doctor and people in the medical profession admire your talent though they do chastise you for taking risks. "

He raised an eyebrow at her. "They're cowards. I'm taking the risks they're afraid to take."

"There's much talk about all the insane things you've done," she looked down and hesitated a moment before raising her eyes to meet his, "and not just professionally either. Look, I'm not going to pass judgment on you, we all make mistakes and do things we wish we could take back but we can't. The best we can do is take what we learned and move on, hopefully making better choices down the road."

House looked at her sternly and said, "I don't need your pity."

Eve laughed. "I don't pity you. I respect you. I am sorry for what you've been through, but I know you want neither sympathy nor pity, so you're not going to get it."

"Glad to know that we're both on the same page," he said.

Just then the door opened and a tall, handsome, well-dressed man in khakis, a leather bomber jacket and dress shoes walked in.

"Sorry, we're closed," said House sarcastically.

Eve turned at that moment and smiled, "Come on in Dan and meet Dr. House." Turning back to House she said, "Dr. House, meet my husband, Dr. Dan Hodges."

"Doctor?"

"I'm in pediatrics at New York-Presbyterian. It's an honor to meet you sir," Dan said as he held out his hand for House, who accepted it. The young man sounded sincere in his greeting and had a solid, confident handshake which impressed House.

House looked at Eve, "Very nice. So tell me how you two kids met."

Eve smiled and put her hand on her belly. "When I met you in the clinic, I was finishing up my senior year at Princeton and had already been accepted to the Masters Program in Social work at NYU. In the months that followed the rape, I deferred my admission and seriously considered not going. One day I just realized I had to move on with what I'd started. A career helping people was important to me and that was even more apparent after what I'd been through. I enrolled in the masters program and was in the middle of my first year when I met Dan through mutual friends. The rest is history."

"So it is," said House. "I've got to ask you something. You're an intelligent woman, you could do anything. Why would you want to spend your time listening to other people whine about their problems?"

Eve smiled, not at all bothered by House's sarcasm. "Well, when I'm ready to pass judgment on someone for their actions or behavior I just remind myself that everybody has a story. There's a lot of crap going on in the world and I just want to do whatever good I can for as long as I can. I know you probably think that's a waste of time, but trust me, it's just something I feel I need to do."

House nodded. He understood having a calling though he would never express that to anyone.

Dan smiled at House and said, "We really have to get going but Dr. House I just want to thank you. I know, Eve told me I shouldn't because you're not that kind of guy but listen, if she hadn't met you in the clinic that day, she might never have talked about what happened to her and if she hadn't done that, she and I probably never would have met. You changed her life, she changed mine. I'm grateful."

House felt uncomfortable but nodded his acknowledgement.

Before they parted, Eve walked over to House and kissed him on the cheek. She whispered something in his ear that only he could hear and then she turned around and walked out the door, her husband's hand resting protectively on the small of her back.

House leaned on his cane and watched the couple walk down the hallway. Once they were out of his line of sight, he sat down in his Eames chair with his feet up as he mulled over the events of the last hour. Of all the people to find sitting in his office, he just never expected it would be her. He recalled the day he'd met her in the clinic and how he'd tried to pawn her off on the mental health counselor only to be sucked back in by her desperate need to talk only to him. He never told anyone but he had been fascinated by her. He had tried to act as if she was just another puzzle but he found himself actually concerned about her well-being. He was pleased on the inside when she began talking about the rape because he knew it was the first stage to healing. She was young and had her whole life ahead of her and he knew all too well from personal experience that one wrong decision made in a moment of pain could potentially destroy her life. He had not wanted her to go down that road.

As he lay back in the chair with his eyes closed, he thought about those last words she whispered in his ear.

"Like me, you've got a second chance. Make it count."

Hope you enjoyed that chapter!

I thought it was important for House to see that he made a difference outside the realm of Diagnostics. His ability to open to Eve all those years ago about his father's abuse encouraged her to talk about her rape, which in turn helped her move forward. Just imagine though how different her life might have been if that hadn't happened. Imagine too how her coming back to thank him could impact his life.