A/N: I am just in AWE over the new House-Cuddy fics showing up on this site. Not only that but folks are returning to finish old fics. Yay! Come on folks; check them out, leave reviews. I've been in touch with folks who finished stories up to five or six years ago, trust me, they still care that people read their old stuff!

House and Cuddy remained in their embrace for a few minutes until Cuddy felt him shift slightly. Moving away from him without letting go, she noticed a look on his face that she immediately recognized as pain.

"Oh House…your leg…I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's fine."

"No, you're in pain."

"I'm fine."

Cuddy stepped away from House but left both of her hands holding onto his biceps. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"When we were together and you were in pain, you shut me out and now you're doing it again."

"I don't want you to worry about me."

"House, it's only natural for people to worry when they care."

"Yeah, yeah."

Cuddy rubbed her arms up and down, feeling the chill of the night air. "Come on let's go back in. It's chilly out here," she said grabbing his arm and leading him back into the house.

"Where's the little boys room?" He asked as they stepped back into the house.

"The little girls room is down the hall on the right." As an afterthought she added, "And don't go anywhere near my room!"

"Yes, mom," he replied, rolling his eyes as he limped down the hall.

House entered the bathroom which was clearly inhabited by a little girl. As he relieved himself in the toilet he noted the shower curtain with cute little pink, blue and purple fish on it. There were matching bathroom accessories too. He chuckled to himself as he washed his hands and dried them on a bright pink hand towel decorated with two fish seated at a table playing cards. As he left the bathroom he nearly turned left to go back into the living room but instead his curious side got the best of him. He turned right and wandered down the hallway to what he recognized as Rachel's room which consisted of off-white colored walls with pale yellow furniture, some of which he recognized from the old house. The bed was covered in a bright yellow, pink and blue comforter. He took notice of the large number of children's books as well as puzzles and games. He smiled for a moment as he remembered the times he'd read to Rachel and told her it was a secret just between them.

As he continued his journey, he stopped at the end of the hallway. The door was open as he entered Cuddy's bedroom. He immediately recognized all her old furniture. He wanted to go through her drawers just for old times' sake but he refrained. As his eyes gazed around the room he noticed something familiar among the bottles of perfume and pictures of Rachel on her dresser. He got up and walked over to the dresser and upon closer inspection of the object; he smiled, picked it up and held it. He took a seat on her bed with the object in hand, recalling the moment he had given it to her.

House was bothered by the case of writer Alice Tanner and made his way to a coma patient's room to peruse the many gifts at her bedside, trying to decide which one he wanted to steal for his girlfriend. After choosing one, he made his way into Cuddy's office. Immediately he noticed the new low-cut purple blouse she was wearing, it was one he hadn't seen before and he liked it. It showed off her assets and that made him very happy indeed.

As he barged in, she looked up from her paperwork. "What's behind your back?" She asked.

"Peace penguin," he replied, holding it up to show her before handing over the gift.

"What room should I return it to?"

"234. I need some help with Alice Tanner. She wants a vagina."

"I'm pretty attached to mine. I told you to hire a temporary replacement for Thirteen two weeks ago."

"I've been busy."

"Doing what?"

"You."

"House!"

"House!"

House was immediately roused from his thoughts and looked up at a rather annoyed Cuddy standing in the doorway of her bedroom with her hands on her hips. He had missed the way she looked at him like that.

Feigning innocence, he said, "Oops, I think I took a wrong turn."

"I thought I told you not to snoop around in here."

"I'm not snooping, I just got lost."

Cuddy sat down on the bed next to him and sighed. She took the penguin out of his hand and looked at it, a slight smirk on her face remembering the moment he gave it to her. "You're a shitty liar, you know that right? How did I not know you would do this?"

"You knew," he said looking over at her knowingly. She just nodded in agreement.

"Really House, what are you doing in here?"

"I wanted to see the munchkin's room and I guess I just wanted to make sure you didn't have anyone hiding in here."

Cuddy laughed. "Trust me House, nobody's hiding here or anywhere else in the house."

"You kept it," he said nodding his head towards the small stuffed animal she held.

"Yeah."

"I stole that from a coma patient."

"I knew that, in fact I knew the origins of all of your gifts. One day Rachel was in my office and commented about all the stuffed animals on my shelves and it was then I realized I was the accomplice in a stolen stuffed animal ring," Cuddy said trying not to burst into laughter.

"Oh...the things I did for love," he said moving his fists to his chest as if clutching at his heart.

"You could have served hard time," she said joking with him.

"It would have been worth it," he said with a smirk. "Did you keep them all?"

"No," she noticed the sad look on House's face and continued, "But it wasn't because of you. When we moved, I wanted to downsize and get rid of extra stuff and Rachel wanted to help. I suggested she donate some of her old toys to the kids cancer ward and she was ecstatic about it. She donated many of her stuffed animals and I decided to do the same. I knew those kids would enjoy them."

"But you kept this one. Why?"

She looked at him and then cast her eyes downward to her lap where she toyed with the penguin. "It was the first one you gave me. It reminded me of better times, the fun we had before...it all fell apart."

"You really thought we had fun?"

"Sure, we had fun times, you don't think so?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't sure you felt the same way."

"Looking back I realize I did. You made me laugh, a lot. Why didn't I see that then?"

"You know why. Spending so much time waiting for the inevitable sort of made us lose sight of some things."

"That it did."

"Cuddy, there's something we haven't discussed."

"What's that?"

"Rachel."

"What about her?"

"How are you going to tell her about me?"

"I hadn't thought about it. She talks about you a lot and she misses you."

"Thanks for not telling her...about what I did."

"How would I have explained it to her?"

"You could have told her that the crazy tall guy her mom was sleeping with decided to run his car into her house in a fit of…oh hell I don't know what it was."

"Anger? Jealousy? Hurt? Any of those things ring a bell?" She asked.

"How about all of it?"

"You were in a pretty bad state of mind."

"You tried to talk to me and I just couldn't...I'm sorry. Things would have been different."

Not having the right words to respond, Cuddy nodded in understanding then placed her hand on his knee in a gesture of comfort. After a few moments, House spoke again.

"Wilson said you told the cops that you had expected me do to something like that every moment you spent with me, that you were just waiting for something to happen. Did I…really make you feel that way?"

She thought for a moment before responding. She wanted to be honest with him. "When the police questioned me, I was angry and in shock. They asked me if you had threatened me and of course I told them no and they asked if there were any signs hinting at what you might do and that's when it just came out. You know I've always expected the unexpected from you but I never imagined you could get so out of control that you could do something like what you did. So, what I told the police was somewhat true, from the moment we got together, I worried about the big thing that would tear us apart but at the same time, I never expected you would lash out the way you did."

House leaned forward on the couch, with this elbows resting on his knees and his chin in his hands, it was apparent he was deep in thought over what Cuddy had said.

Cuddy continued, "For a long time after that night I replayed everything in an effort to pinpoint the moment you lost it, trying to convince myself I could have done something to stop it. It wasn't until later that I finally admitted to myself that I didn't miss the signs, I ignored them."

"What do you mean?" House looked at her, his curiosity piqued.

"I was so pissed off at your behavior after we broke up...your hooker, drug and drinking binges and then marrying that...that woman and inviting me to that sham wedding. I knew I still loved you and that I would always love you, but that if I got involved even a little bit, if I allowed you to get close to me again, even as a friend, it would end very badly again…for us. So, I ignored the signs and tried to focus on getting my own life together. It didn't mean I didn't love you, but you were hell bent on destroying your life and I couldn't get dragged down into it." Cuddy finished and took a deep breath, feeling a great weight lifted from her shoulders.

House appreciated Cuddy's honesty. "Thanks for telling me the truth. I wish we'd talked like this back then. I've done a lot of shitty things over the years to a lot of people especially you and Wilson and I'm really sorry for that. One thing is for sure, I want to do everything in my power never to hurt you like that again and I don't want you or Rachel to ever be afraid of me. Ever."

"House, I'm sure there are people who would say I should be afraid of you but I'm not. Our situation is unique, we share a long and complicated history. I was never afraid of you hurting me, I was always afraid of what you would do to yourself."

"If you weren't afraid of me, why the restraining order?"

"The police kept hammering it into me that I was a victim of domestic violence but I refused to believe it because you would never hurt me like that. You never abused me verbally or physically. I know that back when you were on Vicodin and in pain all the time, you had a tendency to say some pretty nasty things but you didn't do it to hurt me intentionally, you were doing it to push me away. I told them you would never lay a hand on me but they said I was making excuses. Sure I was pissed off at you and wanted you to pay for what you did but I never thought for a moment you would come back and hurt me. Never."

"I understand why you had to do it Cuddy and I don't blame you," he told her with complete sincerity.

"Actually I did it so that you wouldn't try and contact me. "She took a deep breath before she continued on. "I wasn't afraid that you would hurt me; I knew you wouldn't, but if you knew there was a restraining order, you wouldn't try to contact me when you got out of jail. It was my way of avoiding having to deal with you. I thought there might be a slim chance you would risk contacting me but I also figured the idea of going back to jail for violating the order might keep you away. It was only valid for a year and when it expired I was long past the bulk of my anger and I just didn't feel the need to extend it."

House didn't say anything. He just hung his head, his eyes staring at the carpet in her bedroom.

"What are you thinking?" She asked.

"When I started seeing Nolan again he asked me if I could pinpoint the moment when my life started going downhill after Mayfield. I wanted to tell him it was when we broke up but...I think it happened way before that."

"I don't understand," Cuddy said, resting her hand on his arm.

"There's so much shit that happened to me during my life that made me the way I am but then I remember that grown men don't blame their mistakes on stupid bullshit that happened in their childhood...their past... it just doesn't work that way. I'm responsible for the choices I make, not my father or...anyone else." House put his head in his hands and began to feel uncomfortable. Sitting so close to Cuddy, talking about his feelings, things he had kept inside so long. He began to wonder if all of this was a good idea.

Cuddy felt House pulling back. No, no please don't do this, she thought to herself. You're making progress, don't hold back now.

House felt Cuddy's hand grip him tighter, in a wordless gesture urging him to keep talking. He suddenly got up from the bed and felt her hand let go of his arm. They looked at one another and he noticed the look in Cuddy's eyes, which begged him not to shut her out.

"It's late...I should go," he said as he limped down the hall into the living room.

"House? Are you okay?" She asked following him.

"Yeah. It's been a long day; I should call a cab now."

"Listen, you can stay if you want."

"You want me to stay?" He asked as he turned to face her.

"Do you want to stay?"

"I thought we said no more games."

"I want you to stay," she said quietly.

House adored the way she looked at that moment, so beautiful with her hair pulled back and no makeup, standing in front of him, biting her lower lip.

"I'd like to stay. But first I have to call and cancel the hookers I had scheduled for later tonight," he said with a slight smirk.

"You do that."

"After everything I did...you want me to stay...here?"

She moved towards him and placed her hands on his biceps to reassure him. "House aren't we trying to deal with the past and put it in its place once and for all? We can't do that if we keep dwelling on it."

"Don't you think it's too soon for us to...you know...?"

"I'm not going to sleep with you, you ass, I just said you could stay." Cuddy was glad House was returning to his normal sarcastic manner, it meant he was somewhat okay.

"You trust me? Here in your house, alone with you?"

"Actually yeah I do. Weird isn't it?"

"Yeah." House took a seat on the couch again, leaning back and rubbing his right thigh.

"How bad does it hurt?"

"Actually not that bad. I haven't worked out for a few days so that may have something to do with it. They've got a gym at the hotel; I'd planned to get in some swimming."

"Good for you House." Cuddy smiled. She really was proud of him for not giving in to the pain.

"The couch is really comfortable and big enough for you to stretch out, let me just get you some sheets," she said as she left the room.

House sat there and thought about the last several hours. He had never, in a million years, expected his first meeting with Cuddy to go so well. A part of him was happy about that but another part of him was worried he would do something to screw it all up. He needed to stretch his leg some more and got up and walked around the living room again waiting for Cuddy. He limped over to the stereo and took a look at her CD collection, much of which he recognized. There was one CD in her collection he recognized all too well. He heard Cuddy's footsteps come down the hall.

"Lisa Cuddy, you little thief..." he turned to her smiling, with the CD in his hand.

"What?"

"Blind Willie McTell, that's what," he said smirking.

"Oh gosh I'd forgotten I had that," she said placing the sheet and blanket on the back of the sofa. She watched House take the CD out of the cover and put it in the CD player.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"It's late, I'm tired, you're tired, but I really am not in the mood to sleep just yet. It's been a very long day for us both and I thought maybe instead of talking, we'd just relax," he said as he walked back to the couch, dimmed the lamp on the table next to it and made himself comfortable. "Come here," he said, as he patted the empty cushion beside him.

Cuddy hesitated a moment, wondering what he had in mind. He must have sensed her thoughts because he said in nearly a whisper, "Please, just sit with me awhile."

Cuddy walked over to the couch and took a seat next to House. He motioned for her to move closer, which she did. He raised his arm tentatively to put it around her shoulders, his eyes on hers as he silently requested permission, which she granted. She put her bare feet up on the table next to his and relaxed against him. As the soft sounds of the delta blues flowed throughout the dimly lit room, the worries and fears of the last several hours and the past two years receded somewhat and allowed House and Cuddy a sense of peace which had long eluded them. A few minutes later, the two tired and lonely souls closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Now I don't know about you but I'd say House and Cuddy had a pretty damn intense first day together after two years. Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment. Because FF has this new "Guest" thing, please be sure to leave your name somewhere in your comments so I know who you are!