A/N: Thanks to everyone for continuing to read this story. Your comments do my heart good! I can't believe the number of new folks reading this and commenting!

Thank you for enjoying the pace of this story too. This is a House-Cuddy love story and will include romance, drama, humor, and angst. I'm trying to bring our favorite couple together in a most believable and interesting manner. I appreciate the time you all have taken to read this.

There will be much more House, Cuddy, Rachel, Wilson, Nolan, Sharon, Hannah & Co. So stay tuned!

In the wee hours of the morning, House woke to the feeling of something soft on his neck. He opened his eyes to a mass of dark curly hair strewn over his neck and face. Cuddy was curled up between him and the back of the couch, he had his arm around her and she was holding on to him tightly. He wasn't sure how long they'd been like this but vaguely remembered sometime during the night he had moved them to a more comfortable position and pulled the sheet over them.

House listened to Cuddy's quiet snoring and remembered the many mornings he woke up with her just like this, although it was usually in her bed. At the moment, his leg throbbed and he needed to get up and move around but he didn't want to disturb Cuddy. Slowly and painfully he maneuvered his way out from under her and she sighed in her sleep as he covered her with the blanket. He watched her for a moment, tracing the line of her jaw and moving a lock of hair away from her face. He always thought she was beautiful when she was asleep. He loved the way she'd smile and curl up to him in the middle of the night. One of the things he missed most about being with her was the cuddling but of course he would never tell anyone that. He rubbed his thigh for a minute and decided it would help his thigh immensely if he could immerse himself in hot water. He knew Cuddy had a rather large bathtub that he'd seen from the bedroom the night before and he figured she wouldn't mind if he took a hot bath. Leaving her sleeping soundly, he grabbed his cane and his phone so it wouldn't wake her if it rang, and limped towards her bathroom.

House closed the door of Cuddy's bathroom and began to run the water as hot as he could stand it. He looked around for soap and found nothing but body wash. He pondered between the sandalwood and the Eucalyptus/Chamomile. He thought the latter would be soothing and poured a generous amount into the water along with some Epsom salt for his muscle aches. He removed his clothes and laid them over the bathroom sink, grabbed a towel to keep nearby and gently lowered himself into the tub. As he lay back in the hot water he let out an incredibly loud groan in pleasure as the heat immediately began soothing his very sore thigh as well as his shoulders. Once the tub filled he turned off the water and lay there, water up to his neck, eyes closed, enjoying himself. He picked up his watch from the shelf next to the garden tub, it was only five o'clock. He felt like he'd slept well and was sorry he had to leave Cuddy all by herself on the couch. He rested his head against the back of the tub with a smile on his face. He thought to himself, goddamnit, you lucky bastard, you got another chance to make things right, don't fuck it up.

While House relieved his aches and pains in Cuddy's bathtub, Cuddy woke from her slumber on the couch. She was disoriented a moment, not used to sleeping on the couch and then remembered she wasn't alone. She noticed the sheet over her and wondered what happened to House. His cane and phone were missing. Suddenly, she realized he'd left. She felt a sadness wash over her, wondering when he'd taken off and why he'd left her alone. She thought they were moving forward and trying to repair the damage they had done to one another. She wasn't angry, just disappointed that he would leave so soon, with so much to discuss. Maybe he just needed some time alone, she thought. Since she was all alone and Rachel wasn't due home for a couple of hours, she decided to get in some yoga. She got up and folded the sheet and walked to her bedroom when she heard a noise coming from her bathroom. She set the sheet down on her bed and walked over to the bathroom door and opened the door.

"Cuddy, I'm naked!" House shouted to her.

"House, what are you doing here?" While she was surprised to see him in her bathtub she was actually more relieved he hadn't left.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Your leg…is it okay?"

"It's better now." House watched Cuddy and had the feeling she was a little uncomfortable seeing him nearly naked. "Cuddy" he said with a smirk, "You've seen me bathe a hundred times before, don't get all weird on me."

"It's been a while."

"Want to join me?"

"House."

"There's more than enough room for two. I'll let you in here with me if you promise to keep your hands to yourself."

"Yeah, as if it would be me with the roaming hands," she said trying not to laugh.

"You never complained before."

Cuddy turned a light shade of pink and asked, "Would you like some breakfast?"

"What about your morning routine?"

"You mean yoga?"

"Yeah."

"I can skip it."

"No, you can't. It's part of your morning routine, you enjoy it, why skip it?" He waved his hands at her. "Go on and do your thing. After last night it'll be good for you. I'll be fine here; my leg's feeling a little better. We'll eat later."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, I think I'll do that," she said, then turned around and left. House couldn't be sure but he would have sworn Cuddy swayed her hips just a little for his benefit.

As Cuddy left the bathroom she couldn't help but be amazed at the change that had come over House since she'd last seen him. He was still the same sarcastic ass but he seemed different. He actually cared about what was important to her, like her yoga. In the past, he knew she indulged in yoga in the early morning hours but many times he would try and talk her out of it in favor of spending time with him in the mornings. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with him, but her yoga was important to her, it helped her unwind and relax and prepare for the hectic day ahead.

Cuddy knew House was really trying but she wanted to be sure he wasn't just doing it for her; she wanted it to be for him. She wanted him to change only if he wanted to, otherwise it wouldn't last. As she changed into spandex shorts and a tank top she thought, this is certainly turning out to be a very interesting weekend. As she grabbed her yoga mat and walked down the hallway, she passed Rachel's room and thought about her daughter who was coming home in a few hours. She wondered how Rachel would react to seeing House. She knew House cared about Rachel and Rachel adored him. It was only fair that they have a chance to spend some time together while he was in town. Four days, she thought. How do you make up so much time lost in just four days? Cuddy wasn't sure what would come next but for the first time in a long time she felt some peace and her heart felt a bit lighter. Whatever was happening, she liked it and wanted to do her part to make things right between them.

An hour later, Cuddy was sweating from her yoga workout but she felt more energized and clearheaded than she had in some time. She thought perhaps House might want a change of clothes after his bath and so she made her way to her bedroom and dug through the bottom drawer of a bureau in her closet where she kept clothes she didn't wear very often. She reappeared with a pair of worn but clean gray sweatpants, a pair of dark blue boxers, and a tee shirt, all of which belonged to House. While he returned most of the things she'd left at his apartment, she'd never had the chance to return the things he'd left at her house and she never had the heart to get rid of them. Now she was thankful she didn't. She grabbed the items and walked towards the bathroom, hearing the shower and knowing House was rinsing off after his bath. She snuck in quietly and traded the clean clothes for the dirty ones. She also opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed a spare toothbrush and laid it on the clothes for him. Then she threw his dirty clothes in the hamper and took it with her as she headed to her utility room to do a load of laundry. It was just after six o'clock but she was feeling awake, alert and ready to start her day.

House finished his shower and as he toweled dried himself and noticed a toothbrush on top of a set of clean clothes. He shook his head thinking about the fact that she had kept some of his things after all this time. All the shit i put her through and she still has this stuff. It made him smile. He looked in the mirror and ran his fingers through his thinning hair. Don't fuck this up old man, not this time. He finished dressing, hung up his towel and left the bathroom in bare feet.

When he found Cuddy, she was in the kitchen making breakfast. The morning paper lay on the table in the breakfast nook, still in its wrapper. He heard the sound of the washer going in the utility room. "You're a busy little beaver this morning aren't you?" He asked as he entered the room, leaning on the counter behind her.

She turned around and smiled. "Yeah I guess you could say that. How was your bath?"

He took a seat at the bar in the kitchen. "It was good. Thanks for the clothes."

"You're welcome," she said not turning around. "How's your leg?"

"Not bad actually. Hurts a little but the fentanyl patch works really well."

"That's good to hear. I know how hard it is to deal with the pain when you first wake up."

They were both quiet a few minutes as she continued preparing breakfast and he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"House...about last night," she said.

House was worried about what would come next. "Cuddy, please, don't say it was a mistake."

She turned to face him, spatula in hand. "I wasn't going to say that. I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"Well, last night was the first time we've seen each other in so long and it was just not what I expected."

"What did you expect?"

"To be honest, I don't know, but I do know I never thought it would be like that. Instead of anger, I felt peace. I don't understand it and frankly I'm not going to question it. I've questioned enough things in my life, especially things related to us. I don't want to do that anymore. For whatever reason, we were drawn back together and frankly, I'm tired of fighting it."

Before she turned back to the stove, House nodded his head but didn't say a word. He knew she could see by his motions that he agreed with her. All of the honesty and openness felt weird but it was the only way things could work.

"House, can you grab a couple of plates and glasses? I think you know where they are."

"Sure." House limped over to the cabinet and pulled out the necessary things, placing them at the breakfast table.

"Can I help you with what you're doing?" He asked.

"No I'm fine. Have a seat and relax, it'll be ready in a minute."

As he took a seat, House's phone rang and the caller ID showed it was Wilson. He picked up and said, "Before you ask me mom, I'm fine. Cuddy hasn't cut my balls off yet."

"House? Everything okay there? You didn't come back last night and I was going to call Cuddy's house but I wanted to give you guys a chance to talk. So uh...did you talk?"

"Yep."

"And?"

"Do you have to know everything?"

"House, this is huge."

"That's what she said." At that moment Cuddy turned around with a look of disgust on her face. House just stuck his tongue out at her.

"House, be serious," said Wilson.

"Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Are you getting along? Is everything okay?"

"We're getting along and everything's fine. Can I go now?"

"Yeah but I want the scoop later okay?"

"We'll see. I'll give you the G-rated version. Bye, mom." He turned off his phone and set it on the table.

As she served the omelets at the table Cuddy noticed he'd turned off his phone. "I should have known Wilson would want to check up on you."

"Some things never change," he said as his eyes got wide looking at the huge omelets she had prepared for them.

"You turned your phone off, what if your team tries to call you?"

"Chase has the helm."

"You put Chase in charge?"

"Yeah, he's now my second in command." He said, as Cuddy stopped what she was doing and stared at him.

"What? I figured it was time that someone else take charge every now and then. Besides, Nolan thought it would be a good idea if I didn't spend every waking hour at the hospital."

Cuddy nodded as she poured almond milk into both their glasses.

"Woah! Are you making me drink that almond crap?" House asked with a disgusted face.

"Oh come on, you're in my house, you eat and drink what I eat and drink. Besides it's vanilla flavored, try it before you bitch about it."

House cringed but took a sip anyway.

"Well?"

"Okay it's not terrible."

Cuddy smiled because she knew that was House's way of saying it was good. They ate in relative silence, the sound of the silver clattering against their dishes. Cuddy set her fork down and watched House as he ate.

"What?" He asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No. I'm just…I'm really proud of you."

House stopped attacking his omelet and looked at her. "Don't be, I haven't done anything extraordinary."

"You may not think so, but you've come a long way. I can tell."

"I haven't been here that long."

"I know we haven't seen each other in a couple of years but it was pretty evident from your letters you had changed and it's pretty evident now. House, I know you're trying."

House put down his fork a moment and looked at her. "I didn't have much of a choice."

"But you had a choice and you made the one you thought was right."

"Eventually it came down to life or death. Did I want to live or die? My survival instinct kicked in."

"It was more than that," she replied in almost a whisper, but House heard what she said.

They continued eating in silence until Cuddy spoke up again.

"House?"

"Yeah."

"Is it me or does all this feel really weird and yet sort of comfortable all at the same time?" She asked him.

"You feel that too eh?"

"Yeah."

"It's no wonder Wilson says we deserve each other. We're both so totally fucked up," he said through a mouthful of toast.

"That we are, I mean look how many years we've circled one another. There has to be a reason, right?"

"I suppose. A woman like you though, you should have found a decent guy by now. That's what I don't get about you Cuddy. You're beautiful, smart, and you're a halfway decent doctor." He noted she raised an eyebrow at that last comment, then he continued. "You could have any guy you want and yet here you are single. I don't get it. Did you even try?"

Cuddy got up and went over to the coffee pot to refill their mugs as she pondered his question. House recognized that move as a need to have some space in order to figure out her response.

As she placed their mugs back on the table and took her seat, she fiddled with the spoon in her mug. Finally she said, "I've gone out with a few guys since I've been here. They were nice looking, smart, they seemed right, but there was one problem."

"Not good in the sack eh?"

She gave him the evil eye and continued. "No, I didn't sleep with any of them, not that it's any of your business."

House looked at her wide-eyed; his heart fluttered a moment when she said she hadn't slept with anyone since she'd been in Boston.

"When I went out with them, they were pleasant, kind, even romantic, said all the right things but in the end, there was nothing…oh what's the word…unique…different about them that made them stand out. I don't know how I want to say it but they were all the same and that didn't interest me."

"You weren't afraid to trust someone again, were you?" He suddenly felt guilty that he may have been the cause of that.

"No, no, House it wasn't that. It was...," she stopped and took a deep breath before being completely honest with him. "They weren't you."

She looked at him and he swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why?"

"These last couple of years I spent some time thinking about the past and I wondered how many times my interference in your personal life kept you from meeting the right guy."

"Oh House, it doesn't bother me anymore. Listen, everything happens for a reason. Think about it, if things hadn't turned out the way they did back then, so much might be different today. I might not have Rachel and I love Rachel so much. She has made me a better person and I cannot imagine my life without her. So much may never have happened. You might not have gotten off Vicodin and you might be dead now. I might have married to someone who was awful to me. There's really just know way to know what might have been and we have to stop wondering what if."

"Everything happens for a reason is just too simple."

"Maybe, but it works for me. Shit happens, right? The only way we can move forward in our lives is to accept the past, deal with it and move on. We both have our own share of shit we haven't come to terms with. Well, it's time to deal with it once and for all so it quits getting in the way of us living our lives."

"When did you become such a philosopher?"

She took another sip of coffee and laughed at him. It was a real laugh, the one he had missed hearing for so long. Her eyes were bright and smiling. "When I met you. House, you analyze everything, how, over the last twenty-something years could some of that not rub off on me?"

His lips turned up into a slight smile and then a thought hit him. He had to know something but he wasn't sure how to express it. He twirled his fork and stared at it in deep thought. As he did this, Cuddy noticed the intense look on his face and recognized it immediately as House deep in the thought process. She sensed something important was on his mind and that he was working his way through it. She wanted to give him all the time he needed to put his thoughts into words and while she waited, she sipped her coffee and watched him. She'd missed the way he'd go into a trance-like state when he was thinking through a problem. She watched his long nimble fingers twirl the fork. She thought about how those fingers used to run through her long hair at night when they were in bed. She moved her eyes up to his arms and noticed how developed his biceps were, all that swimming and working out paying off. As she was drawn once again to his face, she was still amazed at how clear his eyes were and how healthy he seemed with fewer deep lines in his face than he had the last time she'd seen him after the breakup. She felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach watching him and she was beginning to have feelings she hadn't had in a long time. As she watched him and thought about him, his voice pulled her out of her trance.

"Cuddy, what is this?" He asked softly as he looked up at her.

"What do you mean?" Cuddy noticed his tone was gentle and his clear blue eyes were focused on hers, they seemed to be searching her soul. She shivered at the thought.

He motioned between them. "This...us. I need to know if you and I want the same things? I want to know how you feel."

She opened her mouth to respond when the front door opened and closed loudly and the pitter patter of five year old feet could be heard running through the house.

"Mommy?"

Cuddy looked over at House, silently apologizing for the interruption but he didn't seem annoyed at all, in fact he smiled at the sound of Rachel's voice.

Cuddy, still seated at the table, leaned to her left and shouted, "I'm in here Rach."

"Mommy, guess what?" she shouted excitedly from the other room. As she entered the kitchen, she stopped, taking in the sight of the man she hadn't seen in two years, her friend who used to read her stories, take her for ice cream and teach her how to hang upside down on the monkey bars.

"Hows!" she yelled. For the moment Rachel forgot what she wanted to tell her mother as she ran over to the tall man who was sitting at the table smiling. As he reached out for her and pulled her onto his lap, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Hiya munchkin," he said as he looked over at Cuddy who was watching the interaction with tears in her eyes.

I just love writing Rachel and House! I also love your reviews. If you log in as "Guest" please leave your name so I know who you are!