A/N: Big thanks to MystryGAB, Dr Diagnostic and Cherokee Jedi for discussing something with me that I had planned to include in this chapter but decided at the last minute not to. It could've been one hell of an amazing scene but...it might have added much more to this story than I had planned and would require a heck of a lot of deep digging into the psyche than is necessary.

Kudos to MystryGAB, GratefulInsomniac, Harper Penn, GiveMeKevinBacon, Dr. Diagnostic, Ms Orton, PartyPantsCuddy, AnonymousBrit, Allthingsdecent and everyone else doing updates and writing new stories.

One more special shout out. The author Raffinit wrote a story a few years ago titled "Reach for Me and I'll Save You From The Darkness". She was fifteen years old when she wrote it and it really was a good story. Now, years later she is doing a complete rewrite. She's just posted the first chapter. Go ahead...take a look!

Disclaimer: I don't own House, if I did, the show would've had a kickass 7th and 8th season resulting in its inclusion on the recently released Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 Television Shows. It would not have in fact, been left out and bested by the likes of...dear God...dare I say...Beavis and Butthead.

Speaking of Beavis & Butthead...anyone heard from Shore & Yaitanes lately? :D

While Cuddy showered, House continued his cleanup of the kitchen. He hated shutting her out but he didn't want to talk to her while he was angry because he was afraid he'd say something hurtful. His father's words came back to him. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything. A hell of a time to listen to him, he thought to himself. Still, he was trying to change some things about himself and one of them was not to lash out in anger towards the people he cared about if he could help it. That was a very short list as it was and he couldn't afford to lose them.

As he washed the last pan, he looked out the window over the sink into the backyard. The grass had long since turned brown and the trees had lost their leaves. Fall was his favorite time of year, though he didn't think anyone actually knew that. As he looked at the piles of leaves in the backyard, he felt the corners of his mouth turn upwards. His mind flashed back to a moment when he was around six years old.

"Gregory House, go put your jacket on."

"Aww mom."

"Greg listen to your mother."

"Yes, sir." Greg retrieved his jacket from the chair on the patio and put it on. He picked up his smaller, plastic rake and ran over to his dad.

"Can I help?"

"I've got it."

"Please?"

"Oh, John let him help you," Blythe said from her place in the garden.

John House sighed. "Okay. Let's rake them over to that pile over there." He pointed to a big pile in the middle of the backyard.

Greg was happy. He liked helping his dad. He took his little rake and though he could move only a handful or two of leaves at a time, he was successful in clearing a tiny area.

"Look dad, I did it." Greg stood proudly next to a leafless circle.

John smiled at him. "I guess you did son. Hey, you know what we used to do when I was a kid?"

"What?"

"We'd find the biggest pile of leaves and then jump in it."

"Oh can we do that dad?"

"I'm too old for that now son."

"No you're not!" He yelled excitedly.

"Son, I worked all morning to clean up this yard."

"Oh come on dad, pleeeeease?" Greg begged and then looked over at his mother hoping she would convince his father to say yes.

His mother chuckled. "Oh John, have a little fun every now and then."

Finally, John gave in and nodded his head toward the pile of leaves. A very happy Greg let his rake fall to the ground and ran toward the pile of leaves. He took a flying leap and fell into it, laughing as he spit leaves out of his mouth and removed them from his face.

"Howse?"

House was brought back to the present when he looked down and saw Rachel standing next to him holding her empty glass up to him.

"Can I have some more milk please?"

House looked down at her innocent eyes and for a moment he saw himself in them. It hit him that when he was that young, the world was big and fascinating, and fun. His parents were fun too. At that age, he depended on everyone around him for his every need. He had to admit, he was a happy boy at that time in his life. Looking at Rachel, he realized how much he wanted to impart on her some of the good things he'd experienced in his own childhood, long before everything changed.

"Sure, kid," he said as he took the glass from her.

Cuddy dried off and dressed in a warm fleece sweatshirt, yoga pants, and socks. She put moisturizer on her face and fixed her ponytail before she went into the living room and sat on the couch, tucking her sock-clad feet underneath her. At that moment, House walked out of the kitchen behind Rachel. The little girl immediately veered towards her mother and sat down next to her. House sat at the piano. Neither of them said a word though they glanced at each other occasionally.

"So, what did you do today?" She asked Rachel.

"Howse got me from school early today and took me to the museum."

Cuddy raised her eyebrows in surprise. "He did?" She asked, their eyes meeting. House had asked her to call the school to authorize him to pick her up but he'd said it was to take her to lunch. She wasn't upset, rather her heart warmed at the thought that he would do something like that.

"Yeah and I saw strobothingies and robots and all kinds of neat stuff."

"So you had a good time with House?"

"Uh huh." Rachel went on enthusiastically about the museum. House played his music softly as he listened to Rachel go on and on about all their excursion at the museum. Rachel was absolutely mesmerized by the holograph displays and so Cuddy leaned over and grabbed her laptop from the coffee table and she looked up holograms and explained them as best she could to Rachel. A few hours later, it was past Rachel's bedtime so Cuddy tucked her in and read her a story. When she returned to the living room about a half hour later, she found House still at the piano; his eyes closed, his fingers drifting lightly over the keys. She leaned against the wall of the living room watching him for a few minutes.

She hated to interrupt him but they really needed to talk. "Why didn't you tell me you were at the hospital today?"

House stopped playing and looked at her curiously.

"Rachel let it slip," she answered before he could even ask.

"Oh."

"Yeah." She walked over to the couch and sat down again. "Are you ready to tell me what's bothering you?"

He glanced at her then started playing again.

Cuddy leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her hands clasped together nervously.

He stopped playing abruptly and looked at her with a serious expression. "We stopped by your office this afternoon to see if we could talk you into leaving early." He added, "You know...spend some quality time together."

"Okay," she said hesitantly wondering where he was headed.

"And then I found out you were already spending quality time with someone."

"Quality time with someone?" She repeated. Cuddy looked confused and then it hit her. "You mean Phil?"

"Don't need to know his name."

"House, he's just a colleague. I'm supervising his rounds."

"You call all your subordinates by their first names?"

"It's not what you think."

"Really, what am I thinking?" He asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

Cuddy was flustered and becoming angry herself. "I don't know but...you are acting ridiculous."

"If the tables were turned and you saw me fawning all over some chick at the hospital, you'd be pissed."

"You think I fawned all over him?" She asked loudly.

"I know what I saw."

She stood and walked towards the piano. "House, that's not what you saw," she refuted.

He got up from the piano and faced her. "I guess I can't blame you. He's smart, good looking and probably hasn't crashed his car into anyone's home. I'd say there's a pretty good reason to fawn don't you?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She was yelling now. "You saw me talking to a colleague, that's it. A colleague."

"You were flirting with him!" He yelled back, pointing his cane at her.

"No, I-"

He interrupted. "You flipped your hair, bit your bottom lip, and tilted your head."

"Oh come on, don't you think you're overreacting?" She hadn't done that intentionally, had she?

"And then your knight in shining armor figured out you didn't have a ride home so he offered to drive you in his sportscar and walk you to the door."

"God, he was just being nice." He was really getting on her last nerve.

"Yeah, nice. He wants down your pants," he said, emphatically.

"Dammit House!" She got right up in his face. "Must you analyze everything to death? I don't understand this. I mean this morning everything was great. One minute we're fine and then next you're..." her hands were flailing wildly now, "acting like a crazy person."

"And there it is!" He exclaimed. "I wondered when you'd get around to that."

"What?"

"Calling me crazy."

"I didn't mean it literally."

"Really? Are you sure? Because I'm pretty goddamned sure I've given you plenty of justification."

Cuddy shook her head adamantly. She put her hands up defensively. "I am not getting into this with you because no one will win. I don't even know why we're arguing."

"Let me refresh your memory. I was pissed because I caught you throwing yourself at your underling."

She looked at him with fire in her eyes. "And I told you that I didn't," she said through gritted teeth.

"Mommy?"

Suddenly they both turned and looked towards the hallway to see Rachel standing there crying, her stuffed dog held tightly to her chest.

"Oh my God." She glanced at House briefly then ran over to Rachel, picked her up and tried to comfort her. A moment later she turned around and before she knew it, House had slammed the door behind him.

Back in Princeton, Wilson had just gone to bed after a long day at the hospital, when his cell phone rang.

"Nooooo!" He yelled. He covered his head and let it go to voice mail. The problem was it rang again...and again. Someone was calling him relentlessly and he knew there was only one person who would do that. He clicked on the lamp next to the bed and sat up and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. Looking at the caller ID he growled.

"House, this better be good. I was sleeping."

"And now you're not."

Wilson rubbed his tired face. "Okay what is it?"

"I had a fight with Cuddy."

"What in hell did you do?"

"Why do you think it was my fault?"

"Because it's always your fault."

"Not helping here."

"Okay, why were you fighting?"

"Something about me accusing her throwing herself at a subordinate."

"Huh?" Wilson was confused.

"In a nutshell, I caught her flirting with a colleague. She asked me what was wrong so I told her."

"You couldn't tell her in a way that wouldn't start a huge fight?"

"Have you met me?"

On the other end, Wilson sighed and rubbed his hand over his tired face. "Are you sure she was flirting?"

"I know every move that woman makes and why she makes it."

"Of course you do," he replied facetiously.

For a moment there was silence.

"So now what?" Wilson asked impatiently.

"There's more."

"What?"

"Rachel caught us arguing."

"Shit."

"Yeah. I guess we got too loud and woke her up."

"So, what happened?"

"I don't know. I left."

"You ran away?"

"Nooo. Need I remind you I can't run? I got in the car and drove to a park down the street from her house. That's where I am now."

"You gotta make this right."

"Why do I always have to make it right?"

"Look, nobody knows Cuddy better than you do. Cuddy is not the cheating type. I don't see her flirting with anyone intentionally either. You know how she feels about you."

"I didn't say she would cheat."

"So what's the problem?"

"She could do better."

"Than who? You?" Wilson groaned loudly and laid back on the bed. "I thought we were all resigned to the fact that you're what she wants...what she needs. Goddamnit House are we going down this road again?"

"I can't help it."

"You've got to get over your insecurities. Cuddy loves you. You love her."

"What if love isn't enough?"

"You have a past."

"Exactly."

"House, every time something happens with you guys, you always start worrying. You get insecure and you think the end is near."

"I can't help it. It's what usually happens."

"No, it's what happened." He stressed the past tense. "Past-tense, things change. Seriously. Just go back there and talk to her. You have to be honest with her about why it bothered you."

"If I tell her that, she'll think I don't trust her."

"Did you just hear yourself? You gave her a hard time about flirting with a guy. She probably already thinks you don't trust her."

"Oh yeah. God I hate it when you're right." House groaned.

"Wait, can I get that on tape?" Wilson asked, amused. "Okay in all seriousness House, learn from your mistakes. You guys need to talk this out. Keeping things in and letting them fester...you know where that leads you."

"I can apologize for yelling at her but I don't know if I can apologize for how I felt about what I saw."

"I'm not saying you should. You have every right to your feelings House. Besides, it's about time you stop shouldering all the blame when something goes wrong. But you have to not just tell her that it upset you but you have to tell her how it made you feel. She needs to know."

House sighed and absorbed the advice. Wilson was right. Seeing that guy with Cuddy made him feel insecure. He just didn't know how to tell her that without feeling like an idiot.

"You still with me House?" Wilson asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. So what about Rachel?"

"That's a tough one. You both just have to talk to her. Rachel's a bright kid. It'll be okay."

"Jesus, Wilson. I can't screw this up."

Wilson laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Stop worrying about screwing up. Of course you're going to screw it up. Cuddy's going to screw it up too. It happens to everyone. You're not that special House." He laughed again. "Look, it's not that you screw up, it's how you fix it that matters in the end."

Enough angst for ya? :)