Cuddy was in the midst of a working dinner. The Director of the Administrative Fellows Program had called a meeting to discuss proposed changes in curriculum, entry requirements and teaching loads and they'd ordered dinner from a local restaurant. They'd already been at it three hours and for her that was two hours longer than she thought was necessary. Cuddy hated working late because she enjoyed her time with Rachel in the evenings. She'd worked so much back in Princeton that she made a promise to Rachel when they moved to Boston that unless there was an emergency, they would always have dinner and the evening together and she'd been successful at keeping that promise most of the time. Also, Rachel seemed down since House left and Cuddy wanted to keep her mind off missing him by spending as much time with her as possible.

Just as Cuddy was ready to chime in on something her colleagues were discussing, her cell phone vibrated. She took it out of her jacket pocket and placed it below the conference table to read so as not to draw attention. She read the display.

House.

"What are you wearing?"

She rolled her eyes and texted back. "Later. In a meeting."

"Now!"

"Later!"

"Pleeeeeease!"

Cuddy barely managed to stifle her laugh but gave in to his request.

"Black skirt, silk top, cropped black jacket."

He responded almost immediately.

"Bra, camisole, panties? Details woman!"

Cuddy grinned and texted him back.

"White lace, no, and matching."

"Hmm...nice. No shoes?"

"Of course I'm wearing shoes."

"Manolo, Louboutins?

"Michael Kors."

"Hmm...don't know him. Stockings?"

"Duh, it's cold."

"Lisa?" Cuddy looked up and realized they were talking to her.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Since we're done here some of us are heading over to Jackson's for a few drinks. You want to join us?"

"No thanks," she said, thankful the meeting was finally over. "Rachel's waiting for me."

The group disbursed and Cuddy gathered her things and headed back to her office to dump them so she could head home. No sooner had she entered her office than her phone rang. The screen displayed House's name and she smiled.

"Hi," she answered in a sexy, husky voice. "I've been thinking of you." It was true. It had been a long and hectic day and hearing his voice seemed to make all of the stress go away.

"Nice use of the sexy voice there, what if I was your mother?"

"Then this conversation would suddenly be very weird. Besides, I'd be very worried if my mother were calling me from your phone. Now what are you doing?"

"Working. You?"

"Just finished a working dinner with colleagues."

"Bor-ing."

"Part of my job."

"Quit your job and run away with me. We'll travel the world," he said. Then he added, "Oh wait, I can't run. Fine, quit your job and limp away with me."

Cuddy snorted. "We're going to limp around the world?"

"Yeah we'll have matching canes and everything. We'll even get a mini-cane for Rachel too. And a monkey."

"A monkey?"

"Yeah, doesn't every freakshow have a monkey?"

Cuddy couldn't contain her laughter. "House, we're not a freakshow."

"You sure about that?" He asked. "I mean...there's your mother and-"

"House!"

"Fine. Listen, you're loaded, I'm loaded and in a few years Rachel will be loaded and then we can live off her. We can eat ramen noodles and travel the world for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah," she chuckled. "Till you got bored."

"I could never get bored with you around."

"Give it about thirty more years and we'll see how you feel," she mused. She could almost feel House grinning. She knew he liked it when she gave as good as she got.

"Oh...I'll be able to feel you in thirty years trust me because that ass-"

"House!" She was laughing out loud now.

"Okay fine. So...how's the kid?" He asked.

"Rach is fine, she's actually over at Bernie's for a few hours. You remember Bernie, our musician neighbor? His daughter Melissa and her family are in town and staying with him for a week. Her kids are around Rachel's age and they get along great. Rachel found out they were going to be here and wanted to play with them."

"So you know them pretty well?"

"Of course. e adore Bernie and his family, they're good people."

"So what's the plan for you tonight?"

"Well...I was getting ready to leave when you called," Cuddy said as she locked her office and headed to the elevator.

"I'll let you go so you can go home."

"I'm getting in the elevator. Talk to me till I get in the car."

"The movers are coming tomorrow."

"Are you ready?"

"No but I will be. They're doing all the work. Wilson's coming over too." As an afterthought he added, "I think I might've sold my apartment."

"Really? That was fast."

"Yep they're coming over to look at it tomorrow. Newlyweds both got jobs teaching at Princeton. Fresh from their PhD too. They saw the few pics my realtor posted and it's the perfect size and distance from work."

"That's great news. It'd be nice if you could get an offer right away. By the way, do you need help with anything? We can come down there if you need me," she said as she made her way through the parking garage, waving at the security guard as she passed him.

"Don't you have to work?" He asked.

"I can take off."

"No, don't. We've got it. Besides we'll be there Friday."

Cuddy got in her car and tossed her things in the passenger seat. She locked the door and leaned back in the seat.

"That's right, Wilson's coming with you." She leaned back against the headrest and sighed loudly. "Oh God I've got so much to do. I've need to clean up and move things around and...shit...I've got to get a storage unit so I can store the stuff I'm giving to Julia."

"Relax. It's covered."

"What?"

"The moving van will be there Friday morning early so you might want to skip your yoga."

"I kind of expected that. I took the day off, remember?"

"But you don't need to get the storage unit."

"Why?" She asked, puzzled.

"When they're done with us they're going to load up that stuff and take it to Julia's."

"How did you get them to do that?"

"Paid them a little extra. So you'll just need to tag all the stuff you want to go because they don't want to wait around."

"Thank you." He'd just saved her a lot of time. She grinned broadly at his gesture. It was just like House to do something completely unexpected like that.

"It's the least I can do."

She was still beaming at his thoughtfulness. "So is work all wrapped up yet?"

"For the most part. Chase has a few more weeks till he moves. He's going to take care of any loose ends. Told him I'd come back here if he needed me but I think it'll be fine because...and you'll love this...this is the first time since you hired me years back that I've got all my paperwork done."

"That's a shock."

He laughed. "That's what Stevens said."

They talked a while longer, in fact Cuddy put House on speakerphone and talked to him all the way home and then sat in the car another thirty minutes before she had to end it and walk down the street to the neighbor's house to get Rachel.

It was cold but invigorating and she enjoyed the walk to Bernie's house. As she wrapped her arms around herself trying to stay warm, her thoughts drifted to the one thing that seemed to occupy her mind so much of the time.

House.

She missed him so much. He made her feel safe. She knew that no one, except perhaps Wilson, would ever understand. Despite his propensity over the years to be gruff, brash and rude, lashing out at others for whatever reason, she had never not felt safe or protected around him. In their previous relationship she'd told him one night that she felt that way and he'd scoffed at the idea because of his leg but she explained his leg had nothing to do with it. She knew that if she or Rachel were ever in any kind of danger he would do everything to protect and save them. It was just something she knew in her heart. She always had.

She supposed that others would think she was crazy for feeling that way. After all, on the night of the crash, she'd sat on the cold concrete in front of her house and told the officer that she had expected something big would happen. But she really never expected that. She'd understandably spoken out of shock and anger but then one morning, just after having relocated to Boston, she woke up in her bed, cold and lonely, and reached her hand out to the other side and caressed the sheets where he would normally have been. She remembered how safe she'd felt with him in her bed and then it hit her that House had spent years protecting her...shielding her from her own mistakes and of course shielding her from him. He'd always been there to prop her up when she needed it but when they'd gotten too close he'd put the wall between them. He'd done that for her as much as himself.

House was no knight in shining armor but his protectiveness of her ran deep. She knew there were only four people he would go to such lengths to protect-even sacrifice his life for-and that was her, Wilson, Blythe, and of course-Rachel. The moment Cuddy realized that was when her anger and shock had begun to subside and the full reality of how much she had contributed to his actions, hit her. It was then that she began to have feelings of remorse and forgiveness.

When they were together before, others had openly questioned her choice for a partner and often commented that she was crazy to date a man who put himself first but Cuddy knew the truth. House put the people he cared about first when it really mattered. He just did it in ways that didn't make sense to others, but they made sense to him. House touted he didn't belief in self-sacrifice but for the people he loved, he did. Yes, House made her feel safe and protected and loved. She smiled at the thought. She knew he could not protect them from everything, bad things would happen, but she always felt she had a better chance of surviving the worst with him by her side. To her, House wasn't just House, he was her safe place-her home.

Before she realized it, she was standing at the front door of Bernie's house. She heard the sound of the violin playing and people laughing. She took a deep breath and put on a smile for everyone and knocked on the door.

About an hour later, Cuddy sat on the bed with Rachel reading her a story. She noticed her little girl seemed quiet which was odd because all the way home she'd gone on nonstop about how Bernie let her play his piano and let her try his violin and how her friends Gabriel and Megan shared their 5,000 piece Lego set with her.

"You're awfully quiet monkey, you okay?"

The little girl sighed and her brows furrowed in deep thought. Cuddy swore she learned that look from House.

"Yeah," she replied.

Cuddy closed the book and tossed it aside. "What's up?"

"I miss Howse," she said looking up at her mother with a pitiful expression.

She grabbed Rachel and held her close. "Me too."

"When's he gonna be here?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Can I call him?"

"Not tonight honey, it's late. But maybe tomorrow."

"But Howse said I could call him anytime," she whined.

Cuddy looked at her watch. It was just a little after ten. She wondered if House would still be up and then chastised herself. Of course he was up. Finally, she relented.

"Okay but you have to make it quick. You have school tomorrow."

"Yay!" Rachel yelled while Cuddy went into her bedroom to get her phone. She returned and sat down next to Rachel and dialed.

"I knew you couldn't resist me," came the sexy deep voice on the other line.

Cuddy chuckled. "I'm not the one calling...Rachel is...she wants to talk to you."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes, really. Remember you told her she could call anytime she wanted. I'm going to put her on, she's so excited I'm afraid she's going to explode." Cuddy handed Rachel the phone.

As her daughter held the phone to her ear, Cuddy could only hear one side of the conversation. Rachel suddenly perked up and talked excitedly. She heard Rachel tell House about her day and of course she left out no details. As they talked, Cuddy decided to go get her bath started. She returned a few minutes later, Rachel was all smiles and handed her the phone.

"Here mommy."

Cuddy took the phone while Rachel tucked herself under the covers.

"Kiss her goodnight," he said. "I wanna talk to you."

"Okay," Cuddy said, tentatively, wondering what he wanted. She pulled the phone away from her ear and kissed Rachel goodnight. She turned off the light, closed the door almost all the way and went into her bedroom.

"Okay what's up," she asked.

"I miss you," he said, simply.

Cuddy's heart melted. "I miss you too."

"So what are you doing now?"

"Getting ready to take a bath."

"Can I join you?"

"I wish. Soon?"

"Yeah."

"Hey I forgot to ask you earlier how your sessions went today."

"Brutal."

"That bad?"

"Some breakthrough pain. PT helped. Vince hugged me. I think he's gonna miss me."

She nearly laughed out loud at the mental picture of Vince hugging House. Vince was a very friendly, outgoing, hugging kind of guy and she wished she'd had a picture of that.

"How about Nolan? You saw him too?"

"Oh yeah. Wilson drove me."

"Wilson? Why would he go?"

"I needed to stretch my legs."

"Oh." She knew he must have been in some pain and was thankful he'd let Wilson help him.

"So it went well?"

"You fishing?"

"No, just curious."

"Not much to tell."

"Oh," she said, a bit disappointed. She liked when he opened up about his sessions.

"Oh geez woman, stop. I can hear you caring."

"Well, sue me for caring about you!" She joked. In a more serious tone, she added, "Listen, I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"It's not that...just a lot to go over on the phone."

"I understand."

There was a few moments of silence followed by, "We talked about you...and Rachel."

She perked up. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, it's all good."

"I'm very glad to hear that." And she was. It didn't bother her that House discussed his relationship with Nolan because it helped him learn to open up with her.

What he said next threw her for a loop.

"Are you scared?"

She entered the bathroom in her robe and sat on the edge of the tub running her hand through the water to check the temperature.

"Not so much scared as anxious. I just want you here. For good."

"I know."

"Are you?"

"A little. Still working with the whole fear of screwing up thing."

"Oh hell, me too. We can work on it together."

"Yeah," he said, simply. "So...you going to take that bath and do I get to help you enjoy it?" He asked mischievously.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and stepped into the tub. She put the phone on speaker and set it on the roll of towels next to her.

"Wherever do we begin?" She asked seductively.

It was late and House's office was dimly lit but enough for him to fill out the necessary reports. True to his word to Stevens, he'd returned to the hospital after his trip to Philadelphia. Hours earlier, Wilson and Chase had helped him pack up his office, which was now nearly bare save for the desk littered with papers and files and a few chairs and his computer. He wrote a few notes in a case file, signed it and tossed it on the floor with the rest for the team to collect in the morning.

"Goddamned paperwork," he groaned. he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

He thought about his conversation with Cuddy earlier. Hearing her voice made him feel less lonely. They'd talked for a few hours that night about anything and everything. The talk was pierced by occasional spurts of silence which conveyed their longing for one another.

Give it about thirty more years.

He recalled Cuddy's words. It was his nature to pick apart things and analyze them. Often times he did it without thinking. It was just second nature to him. He thought about what Cuddy had said to him and while it may not have seemed significant to her it meant everything to him. He wondered what it would be like to spend the next thirty years with her. He'd never pictured himself with anyone at that age or even that long. It was no longer just a possibility, it was reality. In two days he would be living with the woman of his dreams. For the rest of my life, he thought. He hoped to hell it was a lot longer than thirty years.

House looked around his nearly bare office. His entire life at Princeton-Plainsboro was packed up neatly in boxes along the wall of his office. Now it was bare, cold and without character. But in truth, it had been like that for some time. The objects were there, but the life, the vigor that had once flowed through the Department of Diagnostics and even the hospital, was long gone. Cuddy had given life and vigor to the hospital and to his life and without her it had never been the same.

You're already doing it.

Nolan's words ran through House's mind as he sat at his desk, papers sprawled out in front of him, in an attempt to get some work done. It was terribly late and he wasn't sure how much more he'd get done. He didn't want to spend any more time than necessary in the place that would soon be his former office. He didn't even want to go back to his apartment. He wanted to be in his new home with the two people he loved more than anything.

Those girls need you, you need them.

Those girls.

His girls.

Wow, he thought, as he processed it. Sometimes he really couldn't believe it was happening to him.

He leaned back and put his feet up on the desk, on top of the papers there. He twirled the pen in his hand as he thought about Nolan's words. They'd talked for over an hour and House had opened up much more about his feelings moving to Boston. He was thankful for Nolan who never judged him, just let him express himself and helped him work things out and make more sense of them.

House recalled a time he was not so fond of Nolan. It was months after leaving Mayfield and he'd done everything he thought was supposed to make his life better but instead he felt worse. Wilson had moved in with Sam and Cuddy was preparing to move in with Lucas. Everyone he counted on was gone and he felt as alone has he ever had. He'd blamed Nolan for that. Later though he realized it wasn't Nolan's fault, it was his because he'd never really moved on. Oh he'd made some changes in his life but in the back of his mind, he kept hoping his friends would come back to him and his life would be the way it once was. When they didn't, when it seemed they had moved on without him, House was lost.

Now, everything had changed. He'd moved on after his incarceration, picked up the pieces and taken sole responsibility for his own life and well-being and it seemed that when he did that, things started falling into place for him. He'd taken the first steps and offered the first gestures and they were reciprocated. He had been responsible for that. He had taken his life back under his control and it empowered him and brought him to the place he was at now. A good place. With that thought, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Tucked inside where the bills were stored was a photograph. He traced his fingers along the edges and smiled. He stared at the photograph and thought back to when it was taken in Boston just weeks earlier.

House, Cuddy and Rachel walked out of the restaurant and headed toward the soda fountain next door. House had insisted it was a sin not to have dessert after such a good dinner.

"House, if you give her ice cream she'll be up all night," Cuddy had said to him.

Rachel tugged on her mother's hand. "Mommy, please!"

Cuddy looked up at House and threw her hands up in the air. "See what you've done."

"I created a monster." He grinned.

"Fine. Then you take your little monster in there," she pointed to the ice cream shop. "And you get her whatever she wants but you..." She pointed her finger at him sternly. "Don't even think about getting lucky tonight," she whispered. "Because you will be the one dealing with her bouncing off the walls all night long."

House grinned. He loved getting what he wanted. "Fine," he said, knowing he'd be able to tame Rachel and still get lucky.

"Come on squirt, let's go get some chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup, whip cream and lots of sprinkles."

"Yay!" Rachel yelled as she let go of her mom's hand and reached for House.

He stuck his tongue out at Cuddy as they left her behind. She found a bench and took a seat and waited for them.

A few minutes later, the two returned with chocolate on their faces, their cones already half-eaten. Cuddy stared at them, shaking her head. Then she noticed Rachel had one hand behind her back.

"Whatcha got there honey?"

"I got you a cone too." Rachel pulled the small waffle cone with one scoop of plain vanilla ice cream from behind her back.

Cuddy leaned forward and took the cone from her daughter. Even though she hadn't planned to eat one, House knew she couldn't resist. Ice cream was her guilty pleasure.

"Aww thank you sweetie." Cuddy began licking the ice cream and looked up at House, who raised his eyebrows provocatively at her.

"Pervert," she whispered with a grin.

"Takes one to know one," he countered with a smirk. Then he turned to Rachel and leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Rachel laughed and then walked over to her mother.

"Mommy you have something on your nose."

Cuddy put her hand up to her face. "I do?"

Rachel stuck her finger in her ice cream and then smudged it on her mother's nose.

"You do now!" And she broke out in a fit of giggles.

Cuddy heard a click and looked up. House had captured the moment with his phone.

"I am so going to get you two," she said as used her napkin and wiped the ice cream from her nose.

"But mommy," Rachel said. "We got it on us too. Now we all match."

Cuddy looked at the two of them and burst into laughter. House thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful.

House had emailed that picture to himself and printed out a small version to put in his wallet. He took it out so often it was already worn. He loved how he'd captured the beauty that was their mother-daughter relationship. Though he felt he was certainly no good judge of happiness, Rachel was probably the happiest kid he'd ever seen. She was loved and cherished without being spoiled. He'd often mocked Cuddy's mothering abilities so many years ago but the truth was he was just doing it to push her to keep fighting for what she wanted. He wanted to push her so she'd finally decide once and for all what she wanted and then go for it, which she did. He was proud of her for defying the odds, for sticking with it because after she adopted Rachel she'd never been the same. No matter how lonely and left out he felt when she adopted that little girl, he knew that the day she found Rachel, Cuddy's life had forever changed for the better and for that he could not have been more happy for her.

He sighed and looked around. It was already close to eleven o'clock and there was nothing left to be done. He was too tired to drive and his leg hurt so he dialed a cab to pick him up. He'd get Wilson to drive him back to get his bike in the morning.

Twenty minutes later, he walked through the front door of his apartment, tossed his backpack aside and looked around. In just a few hours, the place would be a mess with movers packing things up and by tomorrow night it would be completely empty. He limped into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge and a paper towel, tossed his cane aside and sat down at the piano. He placed the beer on top of the paper towel and set his fingers on the ebony and ivory keys, closed his eyes and played whatever came to mind for the last time in the place he'd called home for so long.