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Okay, as a warning this chapter is a bit heavy with heartfelt talks and thinking. Normally, we would see all these emotions, explanations, etc in the awesome facial expressions of our wonderful cast, but in writing I have to put it all in words. I also was watching past seasons and have seen how well the writers built up their relationship to the final moment of season six. I hope to explain some of these observations in the conversations in this chapter. I promise to return to fun and more humor in the next chapter! I’ll post the next one soon. I wanted to get something up for everyone!

As always I don’t own House, but I have a great set of steak knives I’d trade David Shore and Fox for the privilege of ownership….


Chapter Five
“It’s About Time”

    House shut the door and stood there quietly, trying to pick up any of his team’s conversation. He heard them mumble some things he couldn’t make out before they all left the apartment hallway. He knew they thought he had gone back on drugs. He could see it in their eyes that they all thought he was high. He sensed a small lack of denial in Chase, but Foreman and Taub were convinced House had slid backwards. House didn’t know why what they thought even bothered him now. Maybe he was hoping for a bit more faith, but then again, he hadn’t done anything to build that faith up in the past six years.
    Shaking his head he stepped back from the door. He’d deal with that later. In the meantime, he had Cuddy in the back bedroom. Yeah, he’d deal with that much later.
    “It’s safe!” House called out. He began to walk towards the bedroom. “They’re gone. I don’t think…” His voice trailed off as walked into the bedroom, stopping cold. Cuddy was standing on the far side of the bed, wrapped in his bedsheet. Her hair was messy and even without an ounce of makeup she was just about the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And she was standing naked in his bedroom. He made a mental note to send Dr. Nolan an apology and a thank you note. And here he had decided all that effort was for nothing. He smiled at her. “Hmmmmm. What was I saying?”
    “They didn’t see me,” she said, smiling shyly back. “I grabbed the sheet and rolled onto the floor and under the bed when I heard you call out Foreman’s name. Thanks.”
    “No problem,” he replied.
    “Well, I know how badly you probably wanted to shout this from the balcony. So thank you,” she ducked her head.
    House crossed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her head. “That was different. I was different,” he whispered. “I’m sorry for that one. Definitely out of line.” He felt her relax. “You decide when we go public.”
    Cuddy laid her head on his chest. “Thank you.”
    “Okay, then, unless you want me to ravish you again you’d better get some clothes on and come eat.” He stepped back. “I’m okay with the ravishing, however….”
    Cuddy laughed. “I’m starving and I need to actually get into the hospital this afternoon for a board meeting at 3.”
    “Damn,” House laughed. “Oh well, let’s eat.” He grabbed a tshirt from the same chair where he had found his pants earlier and walked out, leaving Cuddy to dress in private.
    A few minutes later she padded into the kitchen in her bare feet. She had found a pair of sweat pants she had rolled up to capris and had put the Journey tshirt back on, although it was now knotted at her waist. She looked adorable and House couldn’t help but reaching for her and placing soft kisses along her lips. It was amazing that even though this all felt so new and exciting to House and Cuddy, it still didn’t feel awkward or weird. They knew each other so well and it was as though they had finally just slipped into step together instead of one always being ahead or behind the other.
    “Okay, food,” House suddenly said and pushed Cuddy away from him. “Stop trying to take advantage of me again, Dr. Cuddy.”
    Cuddy rolled her eyes and they heaped their plates with food.



    Wilson had just walked his patient to the elevator when his phone rang. He looked at caller ID and smiled as he answered. “Still blissfully happy or have you ruined it already?” he asked.
    “Still blissfully happy,” House responded. “Amazingly. Of course, all of this is rather amazing, but I’m rolling with it.”
    Wilson had nothing to say. This was the House he had tried for many years to create and Cuddy had been able to do it five short hours. “That’s great, House. Really.”
    “Yeah,” House said quietly. “Hey, listen. We want to keep it quiet so if you could…”
    “Not shout the news from the balcony in the lobby?”
    House winced at the memory. “Yeah, pretty much.”
    “I won’t even whisper about it in the cafeteria.”
    “Thanks.”
    “What are your plans?”
    “Well, we thought we’d plan a fall wedding, buy a big house and start having kids right away,” House responded.
    “Wha—what?” Wilson sputtered.
    “Gotcha,” House snarked. “It’s almost too easy, Wilson.”
    “Your welcome.”
    “Cuddy’s going to the hospital this afternoon. Some board meeting. I don’t have any cases so I’m just going to stay here then I don’t know.” House paused. “I guess I’ll call…Lisa…and see what’s she’s doing after work.”
    Both men paused at how domestic that sentence had sounded. Wilson didn’t even know how to respond. House helped him out, “But then again I’ll probably just break into her house and wait for her naked in bed.” He laughed.
    Wilson laughed too. “Don’t scare her nanny. Good luck!”
    “See ya,” House said then he hung up.
    Wilson smiled again. He went back to his office and grabbed his coat and keys. He was heading home too. The hospital was quiet. Most of the staff who could had gone home once the emergency was over. The next shift had come in and things were almost still. Wilson looked at his watch. It was 2:45p. Maybe he’d take the time to go see how Cuddy was.


    Cuddy straightened her dark pink blazer and smoothed out her matching skirt. She had only a few minutes to grab her notes and look at emails before she had to get to the board meeting. She had raced home from House’s apartment to shower, change and hold Rachel for a while. Marina had things well under control, but told her she needed to be gone by 6pm that evening. Cuddy promised her she’d be back sooner than that. The meeting would last an hour and then Cuddy would go straight home. She was exhausted. Excited and happy, but exhausted. She felt like she would collapse at any second. She leaned over and raced through the emails, reading only those of the 250 that would have something to do with the upcoming meeting. She was typing a quick response to the last one when her office doors opened. Looking up, she smiled, embarrassed, when she saw Wilson walk in. Wilson had seen a whole lot more of his boss that morning and would have seen even more if House hadn’t been so quick with the sheet. Cuddy looked back down and clicked the send button before straightening back up.
    “Hey,” she said to Wilson, grabbing the stack of notes she had prepared the morning before. It had been only 30 hours ago but it seemed as though a lifetime had passed.
    “Hey,” he responded, sitting down in the chair across from her desk.
    Cuddy said nothing as she looked through her notes. Wilson finally broke the silence. “What a night, eh?”
    Cuddy looked at him to gauge the meaning behind that phrase. She saw nothing but shared happiness. “Yeah, what a night.” Cuddy came around the desk and sat on the edge, facing Wilson. “I broke it off with Lucas before…” she said awkwardly.
    Wilson raised his eyebrows. This was even more serious than he thought. He had been under the initial impression that the two had ended up together out of mutual comfort for the trauma they had shared. He knew that wouldn’t have been the smartest thing, but he had been so happy to see them finally together he hadn’t cared how it had transpired. “Wow,” he said. “So it’s over with Lucas?”
    “Yeah,” Cuddy said quietly. “He moved out this morning. We are going to let the new house go.”
    More quiet filled the room. Wilson said nothing.
    “You should have seen him, Wilson. Heard him,” she said. She saw Wilson’s look of confusion. She sat down on the chair next to Wilson. “House. Greg. House. I had ripped him a new one. Seriously, ripped him one. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t even his fault entirely. But he just took it. He didn’t retaliate. He didn’t yell.” She caught her breath and looked away. “And then he spoke with Hannah. The girl who died. And he was so honest. Open.” The tears then pooled up. Wilson grabbed a Kleenex from a box on Cuddy’s desk and handed it to her. “He admitted to making a mistake when he didn’t cut his leg off.” She nodded when she saw Wilson’s surprise. “He…” she couldn’t continue and instead dabbed at her eyes. Wilson gave her the time she needed. She finally continued. “He performed the amputation. He talked her through it and then got in the ambulance with her. He….cared.”
    “You’ve always known he could,” Wilson stated.
    “Yeah, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen it.” She shook her head. “But the thing that got me was the look he gave me as he closed the ambulance doors. He looked so hopeless. So destroyed.” She paused before going on. “I’ve always loved him,” she looked at Wilson.
    “I know,” he replied softly.
    “And when I saw his face, his eyes, I knew, I had to stop trying to not love him. He’s been trying so hard, Wilson, but I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I kept waiting for him to fail. But that whole experience, everything, showed me how wrong I was. If I love him I should be waiting for him to succeed. I went home and told Lucas.”
    Wilson nodded silently. He gave Cuddy a moment to wipe her eyes.
    “He was ready to change everything in order to win you when he still didn’t know he had hallucinated everything,” Wilson finally said.
    Cuddy looked up at him. She clearly had not heard this part before. Wilson nodded.
    “He came to talk to me about what he should do. He had decided to just be with you and stop the games. He was willing to do what he needed to do.” Wilson cringed. He now had to confess. “I actually told him to go get you really angry so you’d have to talk to him.” Wilson held up his hands in defense. “I didn’t know he’d do that whole scene on the balcony. Sorry.”
    Cuddy was over it. She shook her head. “Well. I guess it was good he did that because it led to him realizing it was all a hallucination.” She then caught a glance at her wall clock in the corner of her eye. “Oh, dammit. It’s 3 o’clock. I’m late.” She took a last wipe of her eyes and hoped she didn’t look too exhausted. Oh, well, she thought. She had a good excuse to look this way, even without the fact that she had spent the morning making love to the Head of the Diagnostics Department. She stood up. “I need to go.”
    Wilson stood with her. “Well, for what it’s worth, I think it’s great you two are finally trying this.” He put his hand on her arm.
    Cuddy smiled an honest, full smile. She remembered the relief of finally being honest with House. She thought of his smile as he realized she truly loved him despite everything else. She looked at Wilson. “I am, too, Wilson. I am, too.”

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