So we're finally at the end of the road folks! Many, many thanks to everybody who's followed this story and taken the time to review over the past few months. I wouldn't have got here if it wasn't for you lovely people.

I know some of you requested an epilogue, but I kind of like where I'm leaving things here. I think it's final enough to be a proper ending, but it's also open enough in case I do think of a way to continue and therefore won't close any doors for me. (No guarantees! The house is a tip and I need to make a Christmas cake before I even consider taking this any further. ;))

Some adult content because, well, it's their wedding night.

Yep. Still renting House and Cuddy.

Frowning when they pulled into a long row of garages, House turned and eyed Cuddy suspiciously as she looked for a space to park. This definitely wasn't the place he'd expected to be a little before midnight on the day he got married.

"So why exactly are we here?"

"If I tell you it's not a surprise, is it?" she responded, slowly backing into a spot.

"I hate surprises."

"You'll like this one. Trust me." Turning the car engine off, she pulled the key from the ignition and smiled at him. "Come on."

After getting out, House waited on the grass verge and took her hand, allowing himself to be lead as they walked along the path.

"I still can't believe you let Danny crash on our sofa," he moaned grumpily, drawing a weary sigh from her.

"Why is it such a big deal?" She honestly had no idea why he'd been in such a mood since she'd offered to let Wilson's brother sleep there. It seemed like the practical solution seen as he was both tired and more than a little drunk.

"It's our wedding night!... We should be having noisy sex in every room."

"And there was me hoping for rose petals, champagne, maybe a massage," Cuddy mumbled under her breath, then looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What was I supposed to do? He could barely stand up and we couldn't even get him in the guest room."

Returning her gaze he pouted like a petulant child: she had a point. Danny may have resembled his brother in many ways, but he was much taller and stockier. Physically moving him anywhere, including bundling him into a taxi, would have been difficult. In spite of that, selfishly he'd wanted her and the house to himself after all the other guests had gone home.

"Your Mom browbeat Julia into taking the kids so we could be on our own."

"Well maybe if you hadn't opened that bottle of scotch…" She let the rest of the sentence hang in the air testily. If he was going to blame her for this, he had another thing coming.

"It's not my fault he can't handle his drink… And besides we were celebrating me finally making an honest woman out of you." To emphasise his words he squeezed her hand, watching as she unsuccessfully stifled a grin, and began to search through her bag when they stopped in front of one of the many corrugated iron doors. "So now that we're married you've finally decided to show me where you keep your bondage gear?" Getting a dirty look in response, he decided to tease her even more just as she found the key and bent down to contend with the lock. "Like you've never tied me up and had your wicked way with me."

"I don't remember you ever complaining," Cuddy retorted snappily, releasing the lock from its catch and letting the shutter zip up to the top to reveal a pitch black space.

"I couldn't. You gagged me." Squinting into the darkness, he could just about make out something fairly large that was covered over with something and immediately his interest was piqued.

"If only… I'd enjoy the peace." Stepping inside she found the light pull and tugged, throwing the whole space into a dim relief, and made her way over to the tarpaulin. Turning around she regarded him a little hesitantly. "I was going to wait until tomorrow, but seen as we ended up having company tonight…"

Curious as to what it was, House hung his cane on the bench at the side and limped into the middle of the concrete floor until he was stood next to her.

"What is it?"

"You better look," she replied with a weak smile. Truth be told her heart was pounding with a mix of excitement and fear that he wouldn't like it. Awkwardly her husband bent down and pushed the blue cover to one side, his mouth hanging open in shock when he discovered what was underneath. "Do you like it?... The guy in the shop said it was a classic, but if you don't we could always take it back. I mean it's no…"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he interrupted, running his hand along the soft leather of the seat and eyeing the metallic blue paintwork like a child with a brand new toy. "It's a Triumph Thunderbird. She's perfect… It must have cost you a fortune."

Slinging her arm around his waist happily, Cuddy kissed him on the cheek.

"I happen to think you're worth it… Anyway I got sick of you looking out of the window longingly every time we passed a bike. I guess I'll just have to get used to there being another woman in your life."

Looking at him coyly, she laughed loudly when House physically picked her up and plonked her down on the seat side-saddle, opening her legs wider as he stepped in between them and gripped her waist under her jacket. She may not be wearing the dress and the make-up anymore, but she still managed to look breathtakingly gorgeous, even after such a hectic day.

"She's beautiful and all, but she's no Lisa Cuddy." Leaning down he kissed her briefly but with intent on the lips, drawing a disappointed murmur from her throat when he pulled away and regarded her mischievously. "She handles like a dream, and boy does she purr like a kitten when you turn her on…" Seeing her roll her eyes at the remark he kissed her again, and then pressed his forehead against hers. "Thank you."

"You're welcome… But there are rules."

"Aren't there always?" he groaned, slipping his fingertips under her jumper and frowning as she shivered at the sensation of his cold digits on her back. "I promise to always wear a helmet, and never to let a drop alcohol pass my lips before I hop on her."

"Are you referring to me or the bike?"

"How am I supposed to answer that without you beating me to within an inch of my life?"

"Tactfully," she offered, cupping his cheek and feeling his beard start to return. Clean-shaven House was handsome, but she'd grown to love the feel of his beard on her skin. Aside from that, it was part of who he was; her scruffy, obnoxious, funny, sexy genius. "No riding in the rain, or going off after we've had an argument either."

"Yes, Mom."

"Do you know how many patients we treat at the hospital who've come off their bikes?" she inquired angrily. She'd nearly decided against getting him it for fear of him winding up injured or worse still, and it was an image that still haunted her.

"Statistically I'm more likely to have an accident in a car than a bike."

"I know but…" She faltered and looked away. The mere thought of losing him all over again made her feel ill. "I care about you."

Tipping her face back so she was looking in his direction once more, he gazed at her intently.

"I know you do, which is why I'm not about to start being reckless." Seeing her somewhat placated by his words, he pulled her into a hug and closed his eyes when he felt her arms wrap around him. Knowing that another person's happiness depended on him looking after himself was equally reassuring and unnerving. "I feel like a complete asshole for not getting you a wedding present now."

"It doesn't matter," she whispered into his ear.

"Yeah it does… Is there something you need?"

Unclasping her hands from around him, she pulled back and narrowed her eyes as if she was thinking.

"There might be something…"

"Shoot!"

Pursing her lips, she paused for a minute and then finally spoke.

"Jacob's yours. He's always going to be yours."

"That's good to know," House interjected jovially, puzzled as to where she was going with this.

"If anything happens to me, he's automatically your responsibility." She stopped for a second and watched the lines on his forehead deepen as he tried to fathom what she was getting at. "With Rachel it's different. I've still got Julia named in my will as her legal guardian if I die. Now that we're married I want to change that… My kids come as a pair, and I want you to be the one who takes care of them if something happens to me."

Brushing his hand through his hair, he let the air expel from his lungs noisily. This wasn't perfume or shoes. This was her entrusting her daughter to him.

"This is a big deal."

"It is which is why I'm not expecting you to make a decision right now… Just think about it."

"But I'm older than you," he responded, trying desperately to banish scenarios where he'd be the one left behind from his mind. "I've abused my body for years. The chances of you dying first are slim to none."

"You and I both know anything could happen at any time… I could get sick. I could step out in front of a car…" His eyes shut tightly at the horrific picture she painted, and she felt his fingers dig almost painfully into her thigh. "I thought Wilson would outlive us both, but he didn't."

At the mention of his best friend his eyes opened, and stared mournfully into hers. He hated the fact that the randomness of life prevented him from contradicting her. So many factors determined the length of time a person spent on the planet, and so many of them were out of his hands.

"You trust me with them?"

"After the cancer scare back in Jersey, I knew I couldn't trust you with Rachel because you'd always have put yourself first back then. It was part of the reason I broke up with you… There was always going to come a time when I'd have to choose between you and her welfare." She watched his shoulders sag guiltily, before going on. "Now I don't have to. You're good for the kids, and they're good for you. If anything happened to me, and I'm not saying it will, I want them to be with the person who loves them as much as I do. That's you… Like I said, take your time and think about it."

"Ok," he eventually nodded.

Simultaneously they both sighed deeply and then laughed.

"It's been an interesting day," Cuddy exclaimed, jumping off the bike and onto her feet.

"Sure has!"

"I've been to worse weddings…"

"Well I don't really have that many to compare it with so…" Before he could finish his sentence, his wife slapped him hard on the ass. "Jeez woman, it was a joke!... I've had a great day."

"So have I," she said with genuine warmth. Sure there'd been the odd hiccup along the way, such as Jacob spilling juice on one of the members of the board, but all in all things had gone really well.

"You fancy going somewhere?" House asked.

"Now?... It's kind of late to be going to a bar."

"Not a bar."

Seeing the suspicious glint in his eye, she was more than a little intrigued. She probably should feel tired by now, but in actuality she was wide awake.

"Alright, but if we end up at a strip club you're in serious trouble."

Kicking her legs out in front of her as she sat on the sea wall, Cuddy shivered as the breeze tickled over her face and blew through her hair. Feeling a hand on her shoulder she knew House had returned from the car, and gratefully accepted the blanket he was tucking around her shoulders before he climbed next to her.

"Thanks."

"Anything for my lady," he chirped back with mock bombast.

Hearing a bunch of young adults shouting and laughing around a bonfire a few hundred yards away from them on the beach itself, they both watched as a girl from the group jumped on the back of a young guy and cackled raucously when he threatened to dump her in the ocean.

"We used to be that young once."

"I'm so old I can't even remember."

The truth was he could remember being that age and how far from their apparent happiness he'd been back then. At eighteen he was pretty much a loner, and had already worked numerous jobs just so he had enough money to strike out alone and get away from his Father's oppressive regime at home. College, Cuddy and then Wilson had come years later.

"At least they got the right idea and lit a fire," Cuddy said with a shudder, jealously regarding the flames.

"You are such a girl!"

"What gave me away?"

"Your huge… sense of superiority," he cracked, yelping when she elbowed him in the ribs, and then proceeded to snuggle into his shoulder.

For a while they just sat in silence and watched the Pacific Ocean roll away from them, the Moon reflected in the water on the clear, crisp night.

"I do like it here."

"I used to come here after leaving yours sometimes." House pulled the blanket further over her and then continued. "To clear my head. To plot how I was going to get you back."

"I guess it worked."

"Sure did! Now you're stuck with me." Cuddy seemed to heave a loud sigh in response. "Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"No it's not that," she reassured him, taking his hand and tucking it under the blanket with hers. "It's just we've wasted so much time."

"It wasn't a complete waste of time. I mean I got to ogle your ass and piss you off, whilst doing my Superdoc thing." He paused for a second and leant his chin on her forehead. "Maybe we had to lose each other for a while… I don't mean that that had to involve me going off the rails and driving into your dining room, but you know… You always expected me to screw up, and I always expected you to pick up the pieces no matter what I did wrong. We took each other for granted."

Realising how right he was, she buried herself deeper into him.

"Do you ever wonder what would've happened if you hadn't come here with Wilson?" It was something she'd mulled over herself on numerous occasions.

"I know what would've happened," he shrugged with certainty. "My best friend would've died and then I'd have found some hole to crawl into so I could drink and take drugs until I didn't wake up again."

Hearing him talk so matter-of-factly about effectively killing himself chilled Cuddy to the bone. For years she'd feared him not turning up to work one day, and either her or Wilson finding him dead in his apartment.

"Maybe it would have been a wake-up call."

"I was legally dead, an addict and I had nothing and no-one. There wasn't going to be a happy ending," House said contradicting her. Try as he may to see things another way, he couldn't. His initial optimism when he and Wilson left Princeton was entirely short-sighted. "What about you? Maybe your sister would have hooked you up with someone altogether more respectable."

His new wife groaned into his chest.

"And I'd have died of boredom…" Craning her neck backwards, she looked up at him. "Eventually I'd have stopped being angry with you, and then I'd have spent the rest of my life regretting not seeing you again. There'd have been this great big reminder every time I looked at Jacob that things might have been different."

Looking up at the stars, House couldn't help but wonder how things would have turned out if he hadn't spent most of his time avoiding her after they broke up. Maybe he'd have noticed the symptoms of her pregnancy, and the whole mess they'd spent the last few years clearing up could have been avoided. Either way, he knew he should be grateful that he was back next to the love of his life; there was no question in his mind that was exactly what she was now.

"I guess the fact that Wilson was such a meddling, old woman finally paid off, eh?" His upbeat tone belied how he really felt about the absence of his friend. His best friend not being there still seemed like a part of him was missing.

"He should have been there today," Cuddy said quietly, contemplating just how much she missed him too. She would never have been able to thank him enough for managing to get her and House under the same roof so they could begin to sort through their problems.

"Hell no!... He'd have taken one look at you in that dress, pushed me out of the way and married you himself."

They both laughed.

"He would never of believed that you proposed to me, let alone the fact that you actually turned up to our wedding."

"People change," he mumbled, almost under his breath.

Sitting upright, Cuddy looked at him with a confused frown and placed the back of her hand against his forehead as if to feel his temperature.

"Are you feeling ok? Because I could've sworn that you just said people change."

"Oh shut up!" he whined, screwing his eyes up and grasping her hand as she giggled at him. "I was wrong. I admit it… Happy now?"

Smiling at him she leaned in, kissed him and then pulled away.

"I'd be much happier if you took me back to your apartment."

"Why?"

"Well aside from the fact I'm freezing my ass off here, I'd really like to have noisy sex with my husband."

In response House raised an eyebrow and licked his lips slowly. She was unnervingly good at going from nought to smoking hot in a few seconds.

"What about Danny?"

"He's definitely not part of the deal," she retorted coyly, giving him a look that could melt stone as she readjusted the collar on his jacket. "We can spend some quality time at the apartment, and then take his stuff back with us when we go home… I doubt he's going to be fully conscious until around mid-day anyway."

"I knew there was a reason I married you." Scooting around, he jumped off the wall and came up behind her, circling his arms around her waist. "Practical and sexy."

Without warning he pulled her backwards, forcing a happy squeal from her lips.

"Nope," Cuddy said in hushed tones as House flung the door to the apartment open. "You've been drinking all day, and your leg was bad yesterday. No way!"

Ignoring her protestations, he hooked his cane on the bookcase just the other side of the door, turned on the light and then swept her legs out from underneath her, grinning from ear to ear as she scowled at him.

"Shut up and do as you're told, wench!"

"If you drop me on my head…"

"It'll make no difference whatsoever."

Slapping him on his chest, she pretended to look insensed.

"You're going to pay for that."

"I sincerely hope so," he retorted, carefully navigating his way over the threshold with her in his arms and awkwardly kicking the door shut, before finally setting her down behind the sofa. "There we go, wife."

"Is your manly pride still intact then? Or am I going to have to massage your ego a little more?"

Deviously she stuck her tongue in her cheek and removed her jacket, tossing it on the furniture behind her without letting her eyes leave his. It was his move next. Stepping forward he leaned to the side so his breath was tickling the back of her neck, and whispered in her ear.

"You babe, can massage whatever you like…" Pulling back, he eyed her mischievously and saw the raw mix of love and lust there. "But first I need the bathroom."

"Sooner you go, sooner you come back."

Heeding her advice House turned on his heel and opened the door to the bedroom, walking through and leaving Cuddy alone in the silent room. Looking around her she couldn't help but realise how sparse the place was. Yes, he'd brought a lot of his things with him when he moved in, but even so it was still clear that he'd existed rather than really lived in this place before they'd gotten back together. The walls were more or less bare, and looking through into the kitchen it looked pretty much untouched, which was hardly surprising seen as he'd spent most evenings at the house since he'd left prison. The only thing he really cherished was in the corner of the room. Walking over to it she leant against the piano and flipped the lid up, tracing her fingers over a few keys when she heard the floorboard creak behind her.

"I don't let just anybody get their hands on my instrument."

"And what about me?" she inquired, smirking to herself but still not turning around to face him.

"Oh I think we can come to some sort of an arrangement."

"We should find space for this at home. Jacob's always nagging you to bring him here so he can play…" She smoothed her palm over the shiny wood and saw her own reflection. The woman staring back at her looked happy. "You should teach Rachel too."

Cuddy span round and watched as House closed the gap between them, his hands finding the edge of her jumper and pulling it over her head, before making equally short work of her bra which he also dropped to the floor. Leisurely he trailed his fingertips along her clavicle and then lower until his thumb swept delicately over her nipple, marvelling at how her body reacted to his touch.

"This is hardly fair," she objected.

"It's looking pretty good from where I'm standing." His attention still hadn't drifted from her chest.

"Are you going to take me bed, or just stand there gawping at me all night?"

Wordlessly answering her question, he dragged her into the bedroom, straight away taking his t-shirt off as she undid his belt and then pushed his jeans over his hips so they pooled at his feet, and he was forced to kick them away. Pushing him to sit down on the edge of the bed, Cuddy dropped to her knees and peeled his shorts down his legs, looking at him reassuringly and gesturing for him to lie back when his eyes silently asked if this was ok. Twisting her wrist as her palm snaked down his cock, she heard him groan appreciatively and then slid the tip of her tongue along the length of him, noticing his hand clutch the sheet tightly out of the corner of her eye. She was about to take him in her mouth when he practically growled at her.

"Get your ass up here!"

His words sent a shiver down the length of her body and intensified the dull ache between her legs.

"What's wrong with please?" she teased, dropping her jeans and then removing her panties torturously slowly for his benefit, as he watched with interest and swivelled around on the bed.

"You're mistaking me for someone who's nice?" Grabbing her waist as she swung her leg over him, House propelled her onto her back next to him and kissed her hungrily, moving so he was hovering over her. "I don't do nice." His head dropped so he could catch her nipple between his teeth, pulling gently until she keened underneath him. "Mind-blowing maybe, but not nice."

"Prove it," she challenged, wrapping her legs around his back and urging him to make love to her.

Gladly responding to her request House entered her, revelling in the feeling of being inside her once more, before instigating a steady rhythm that made her toes curl and her nails dig into his back each time his hips pushed forward. The sensation of sharing this kind of intimacy again was exquisite for both of them; stray thoughts questioning why they'd denied themselves this pleasure for the past few days, until they were drummed out by the more pressing need to concentrate on the matter in hand. Moans turned to colourful language and whimpers to full-blown screams, as the newly married couple raced towards the precipice, House taking her with him as his hips shot forward one last time, before he collapsed on top of her and whispered an exhausted "love you" into the nape of her neck.

Running her fingertips through his damp, tousled hair, Cuddy enjoyed the feeling of him on top of her. Maybe his dead weight should have made her feel claustrophobic or suffocated. Sometimes it used to, but now it didn't: she felt loved, wanted and above all safe.

"I love you too."

For several minutes they stayed entangled, their heart rates returning to normal, before House reluctantly rolled over and manoeuvred them both under the covers. Turning onto his side, he looked pleadingly at his wife.

"Please tell me we're not going to have to wait that long again… We're way too good at that not to do it at least once a day."

"I'll see what I can do," she replied with a smirk, reaching out and cupping his cheek tenderly.

"I was thinking…."

"Dangerous proposition right there."

He pulled a face at her and went on.

"Danny's struggling to find work in New York… I mean he's coping with the money Wilson left him, but nobody's that keen to take on someone who's spent the bulk of their adult life either homeless or in a mental institution, surprisingly…. I was thinking of asking him to come out here for a while. Maybe getting him to take care of this place for me, and helping him to look for something here… What do you think?"

His eyes looked into hers searchingly as she considered her answer.

"I think it's a great idea," she said honestly. She'd only met the guy a couple of times and spoken to him on the phone on the odd occasion, but she liked him and what's more she knew House did too. Not only did they have their shared love of his brother and similar experiences in common, but despite the younger man's comparative shyness, they both had the same biting sense of humour and similar outlooks in life. Now it seemed obvious why Wilson had stuck by House all those years; he reminded him of the brother he'd lost. "Especially now that he and Masters seem to be getting along."

"Oh please!" he groaned, shrivelling his nose up in disgust. "It's bad enough that I can't get the mental image of them sucking each other's faces off out of my head, without you going all doe-eyed over them like Rachel."

Cuddy laughed and shook her head in disbelief.

"I saw you smiling at them like a sappy old romantic when they were dancing."

"That was gas!"

"You can pretend you're not a nice guy deep down all you want, but I know different."

"Is that so Partypants?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "Wilson would've loved to have seen you guys get on so well."

House shrugged his shoulders and bit his lip.

"I owe him. For so much… I also seem to be genetically predisposed to only make friends with people whose last name is Wilson. Strange huh?"

"You're a strange guy."

"And yet you married me," he shot back jovially, tracing circles on her stomach with his index finger under the sheet. There was something incredibly soothing about having any sort of physical contact with her; touching Cuddy always felt like coming home.

"I'm fairly strange too. I gave up pretending to be normal years ago."

"I guess it's a good job I'm attracted to sexy lunatics then."

"Oh that is like the kettle calling the pot black," she chuckled, kissing him on the cheek.

For a few minutes they lay next to each other in a comfortable silence, the events of the day milling around their thoughts.

"About Rachel," House eventually ventured.

"You don't have to give me an answer about that yet." She frowned, worried that she'd forced him into making a decision either way prematurely.

"It's a no-brainer… I feed her, clothe her and put her to bed on a night, the same as I do with Jacob. In every way that matters I'm her Dad… Why shouldn't I be there for her if anything happened to you?"

"If you're sure I can ring my lawyer tomorrow and set the wheels in motion before we go away?"

House didn't answer for a second or two, appearing to be deep in thought.

"How would you feel about me looking into adopting her too?... I've got no idea if it's even going to be possible with my criminal record but…" He paused not really knowing what else to say.

"You'd seriously be prepared to do that?"

"Yeah, I would," he conceded. "On one condition."

"Which is?"

Again he wavered. What he was about to propose was a big deal.

"We tell the kids everything. About you adopting Rachel back in Princeton, about the crash, and then we include her in the decision about whether or not I should adopt her too."

Worriedly Cuddy's brow knitted together.

"But they're still so young."

"And they're also really smart. Isn't this better coming from us, rather than them hearing rumours from other people?"

She supposed he was right, but that didn't stop the niggling fear in the pit of her stomach that this could turn everything upside down.

"What if Rachel hates me after I've told her?"

House sighed at the question, and kissed her shoulder softly.

"Why would she hate you?... You were the one who saved her after she was born. You've given her a great life, and you don't treat her any differently to Jacob. Just because you didn't give birth to her, doesn't make her any less yours." Supportively he smiled down at her. "Trust me, it's better that we tell her now instead of waiting until she's already started to figure it out, because she will… That kid doesn't stop asking questions until she finds the answers."

He was entirely right. The little girl was tenacious when it came to getting to the bottom of things.

"What about you?" Cuddy asked. "Aren't you scared what they'll think when they know what happened in Jersey?"

"I'm fucking petrified, but it's better than having this hanging over us… I'm just going to have explain to them what an idiot I was, that I paid for what I did, and that somehow you forgave me for the biggest mistake I ever made in my life… They do know we love each other and them, right?"

"Yeah," she smiled. There was no question that they did. Despite all those years where they were reticent to show their emotions to one another, now they openly showed their affection, both to each other and to the children. "They really do."

The pair just laid there staring at one another, unable to comprehend how that one night stand back in Michigan had somehow burgeoned into the most important adult relationship either of them had ever had. So many things could have prevented them ending up here. So many things did get in their way, and yet here they were, husband and wife with two kids to boot. Somehow it seemed surreal and at the same time perfectly natural.

"I think we're going to be ok."

"Better than ok," Cuddy responded with some assurance, pulling him into her embrace.

Because they were.

THE END.