I know I said things I shouldn't say
Baby, I hope you're ok
But I also heard things I didn't wanna hear
And, baby, I'm still ok
I know that living with me was sometimes hard
Baby, I know that's true
But it's not so simple as you think
I'm feeling the same way too

I know sometimes I might seem so ugly
And maybe I really am
I know that I'm not that easy to ignore
When I'm really mad...
'Cause I just wanna say: I love you
More than I ever could
And I just wanna hear you love me too
Then I'll be fine

~ Fingertips: Melancholic Ballad

Chapter 60: Changes (Part 3) Final

Gabrielle sat in her new room as the morning sun shone through the window. It was the morning that they were going to go to Hawaii. She had everything that she needed packed and sitting on her bed. Everything had been rapidly changing for everyone, and today was House and Cuddy's turn, for they would now be House and House.

Sighing, she left the room and went downstairs where everyone else had been gathered around the kitchen table. Cuddy sat at the table eating as Rachel was in her highchair playing with toys while across from her sat House, who would occasionally glare up at Andy, who was conveniently seated next to him, of course, this was House's doing. Doug just sat on the other side of House and would question the situation every time Andy would jump. Marcy sat across from Andy as she watched all of this. "Do you think that you would like to switch places with me?" she asked.

Andy started to nod, but House hit Andy with his cane under the table causing him to change his answer to no. Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Here's an open seat for you Andy," she said as she pulled out the seat next to her. As Andy gladly made his way around the table, Cuddy glared over at House. "You're traumatizing the poor boy."

House just shrugged. "Again, he knows he could take me down if it came to a physical fight." His eyes slowly went from Cuddy to Andy. "Which means something else is bothering you." In a somewhat deep thought, he stared to him for a brief moment. "Guilty much?" he asked with his eyebrows raised in suspicion.

"The only thing his is guilty of is being a concupiscent boy," Gabrielle said as she walked into the room and took the open seat next to her father. She looked up to House and sighed. "But that's nothing as long as one can control himself."

And sighed. "Do you really have to do that in front of him?"

"Do what?" Gabrielle asked. "State something that's true?" She softly laughed. "I just said that there's nothing bad about you as long as you control yourself, which I think you did a pretty good job considering what you could have done."

Andy just shook his head and went back to eating.

"I do like that though," Gabrielle said with a smile on her face.

Andy just looked up with surprise and then looked over at House who was raising his eyebrow to him. "That's nice," he said as he lowered his head back down to his plate.

"Andy, really, acting like that just makes things seem worse," Doug said.

"Have you seen how this man treats me?" Andy asked.

House just looked over to Andy. "I think you should listen to the boy there."

Gabrielle just rolled her eyes at them and then looked over at the clock. "You guys," she said getting a little excited. "We'd better get going if we want to make it to the airport in time."

Everyone started to get up and clean up after themselves. "I don't see why we're rushing, our plane doesn't leave until five," Marcy said.

"Right," House said carrying his plate to the sink. "But we don't trust you in our house by yourselves."

"Hey, I don't blame him," Doug said as he left the room. Gabrielle just sighed and followed everyone out of the room as they all went to gather their things.

Once everyone gathered outside of the house, Cuddy locked the door behind her and got Rachel into her car seat. Gabrielle stood with her friends. She hugged both Doug and Marcy. "Bye you two. I'll text you or something when I get to Hawaii, and I want you to do the same when you reach Toledo."

"Will do, and good luck," Marcy said. She smiled, "just make sure to try and visit for my sweet sixteen."

Gabrielle just laughed. "Will do," she said.

"Hey, the sis I never had is moving on. Hope it all works outs," he said with a genuine sincerity.

Gabrielle smiled. "Thanks, and I hope everything works out for you back home."

He smiled at her and then headed to the car.

Gabrielle sighed and turned towards the house where Andy was standing and staring off into space. The look of uncertainty in his eyes. Realizing that Gabrielle had said goodbye to the others, he casually walked over to her and stood before her. "Well, I guess this is our goodbye."

Gabrielle folded her arms and slightly shrugged. "I don't know. I will be back in Toledo sometime. I mean, you look as if I'm never going to see you again." The last thing she wanted to do was permanently say goodbye to anyone, especially the three that she had to say bye to today.

"Actually," Andy sighed. He reached down and pulled out a plane ticket to New York. "My cousin has a place there and he said that I could bring Missy there if I wanted. I think I might go there and see what happens between us." He hesitated a moment before putting the ticket back into his pocket as if he were looking for approval from Gabrielle.

A smile slowly came across her face. "I think that's great. Best of luck to both of you." With that, she hugged him. "Bye Andy," she said before pulling away from him.

"Bye Gabrielle," he said. Sighing, he slowly turned and got over to the car that was already packed up with Doug and Marcy ready to go. He figured he would take them for a drive around, maybe stop at a beach or something and then tell them his plan at the airport and give Doug the ticket to take to Missy. He got in, and watched Gabrielle as she helped Cuddy go through the luggage to make sure that they had everything.

***************

Gabrielle and Wilson had agreed to share a room so that House and Cuddy could have on to themselves. They were getting married the first day there and then using what ever time wasn't used with conferences as they're honeymoon. "We're going to have Rachel in here with us tonight," Gabrielle said as she pulled a journal out of her bag and set it on the table beside her bed.

Wilson, without turning around raised his eyebrows. "Do you really think so? By the way House was talking Cuddy hasn't been able to be out of the same room with her after that whole thing with Mike."

"Well," Gabrielle started as she sat down and faced him. "She's gotten better, a lot better. The time that I was there she slept through the night, well, as far as I know and I didn't hear about her freaking out or anything."

Wilson turned and looked to her. "How was your father this morning?" It was random in it's placement in the conversation, but really it had been something on his mind all morning. He didn't want this to all suddenly become the day that ruined both House's and Cuddy's lives.

Gabrielle looked up and sighed. "Honestly? Cuddy seemed more nervous than he did." Gabrielle looked off to the side and shrugged. "But you know how he tries to cover everything."

"You think I should go watch him?" Wilson asked.

"Yeah, and I should probably go talk to Cuddy," Gabrielle said. With that, they both headed for the door and walked across the hall to the room that House and Cuddy were staying in. Gabrielle knocked on the door. "May I come in please?"

Cuddy opened the door. "Hey," she casually greeted. Her eyes were filled with an undertone of nervousness. She stepped out into the hall and slightly closed the door behind her. "Greg is trying to get Rachel to take her nap."

Wilson and Gabrielle both laughed at the idea of House with a baby. They had both seen him with Rachel a couple of times, but it was still weird for them.

House sat on the side of the bed while he leaned on the small cradle before him. Rachel had calmed down as she had his finger in her mouth. "I don't see why you h ad to cry so much. It's not like you actually have problems yet." He sighed as he sat up. "I'd hate to see you if something bad actually happened to you, like a minor paper cut or something like that, which in your case would be a national emergency." Rachel started to cry again. "Really kid? You're not the one taking in miss emotional and mini me out there, I am." He turned and looked towards the door. "It's not like I haven't planned on doing so yet." It was obvious to him who was there, and that they both wanted to know how he was handing the wedding idea. Quickly, he pulled a pacifier out of Rachel's bag and held it up over the cradle. "I'm going to try some new and out there invention." He stood up and slowly removed his finger and replaced it with the pacifier. He went to walk away, but the little baby grabbed onto his finger. He stopped and looked back to see the big blue eyes watching him. He just sighed and sat back down. "That's how you want to play huh?"

Wilson walked through the doorway and sat down next to House. "How's it going?" he asked.

House looked over. It was hard for him to really sum up any of his feelings at the moment. "I feel fine if that's what you mean." There was the usual sarcasm that lined his voice.

Wilson sighed. "You're not nervous?"

House shrugged. "Why should I be?"

"House!" Wilson said. "You're taking a big step today! You're getting married!" He furrowed his brow. "Wait, you are getting married aren't you?"

House just looked up to him with a hidden doubtfulness in his eyes.

Cuddy stepped out into the hall with Gabrielle as she closed the door behind her. She knew that Wilson had wanted to talk to House and thought that they should be able to talk alone. Gabrielle motioned for her to follow her into her room, so she walked in and sat down on the bed.

"How do you feel about today?" Gabrielle asked as she sat down on the bed opposite from Wilson's.

Cuddy sighed. "Well." There was something wrong and she had sensed it earlier when they had just gotten onto the plane. She looked up to Gabrielle. "I don't think we're going to go through with it. I know your father is hard to understand, and that he covers things up, but he didn't seem any different this morning than he did a month ago or two months ago."

Gabrielle casually nodded. "Okay," she simply replied.

Cuddy's eyes widened as she furrowed her brow. "Okay!? He doesn't want to marry me! I think that's saying a lot."

Gabrielle just looked over. "What is marriage anyways?"

"Really?" Cuddy was not in the mood for any annoyance from anyone.

"No, really," Gabrielle stood up and went to go sit beside Cuddy. "Besides a legal document stating that you two are husband and wife what is a marriage?"

Cuddy looked up at her and deeply thought for a moment. "Where are you going with this?"

Gabrielle slightly smiled to Cuddy, giving her some look as if the answer should be fairly obvious. "Its a promise. Its the other person telling you that you can count on them being there when you need them. Its the other person guaranteeing that they can be trusted with anything you tell them and that they'll love you no matter what." Gabrielle sighed as she shrugged. She could see the look of heightened interest and thought on Cuddy's face. "And by what I have heard about my father, everything he has done so far is a huge step for him."

"Are you telling me we're already married?" Cuddy asked. She raised her eyebrows in suspicion. It wasn't that she didn't understand what she was saying, she just didn't know exactly how to take it. From the very beginning this girl was convinced they would make the perfect married couple, and now, all the sudden she's telling her that what they have now is fine. This whole thing was starting to make her wonder if House had talked to her about this earlier.

Gabrielle just laughed. "What I'm saying is that you both are halfway through the process, and quite frankly it's the most important part. If he ends up not going through with this wedding today, just keep in mind, he did decide to propose, he did decide to be apart of his children's lives, he did take you in when you needed it. He might say some things or do some things that will really really hurt you, but I think he could come around and make it up to you some how." Gabrielle stopped and hesitated for a brief moment. "If he tries."

Cuddy just sighed. "The only thing we haven't actually done yet is document it." It was more of a statement to herself. It was a true statement, they were beginning to need each other and to help the other. She helped him to be able to keep Gabrielle and he helped her get through the nights she was either scared or in pain. He was going to be there for their children. He had taken steps that she wasn't quite sure he could.

Gabrielle slightly laughed. "The only thing you're missing is the new last name." The young girl stood up and looked over to Cuddy. "Besides, a marriage itself isn't some kind of guarantee. Saying I do doesn't make it impossible for someone to hurt you or leave you. You just have to be able to trust them." With that, she walked out of the room.

Cuddy sat there and looked down at her engagement ring. It was true, he had already proven to her that he was willing to step out of his comfort zone for her, and he was still there.

House sat at a table outside as he sipped at a drink. All he could do was blankly stare out as the sun began to set over the ocean. He was currently at an outside bar that was connected to the hotel, surrounded by random people, some that he would see tomorrow at what ever lecture he might get dragged to. All he could hear around him were the random conversations. Some were the meaningless chatter while some were talking about business and plans.

The random conversations and interactions were the distractions from the fears in the back of his head that he had kept hidden from everyone. He was afraid to get married to Cuddy, but he was afraid to lose her. Everything around him was changing so drastically and quickly it was almost too hard for him to grasp. He made himself buy the new house and he had forced himself into buying an engagement ring. The last thing he wanted to do right now was hurt Cuddy, but there was no other way.

Even though she had never came out and said it, he knew that she had some expectations that he couldn't live up to. She wants him to be a father to her children. Deep down, he wanted to, but he also highly doubted himself. It was common knowledge that history repeats itself, and with his history, he hated to chance it.

Reflecting on himself, he thought over all the trouble he had caused and how it had hurt others. One time that stood out over the rest was all the trouble with Tritter. He was a drug addict, a selfish bastard, an ass, and a coward, and right now he didn't know if he should really put his own children through some of the stuff that he had put Cuddy through in the past.

"Hey, its gimpy the boy wonder."

House looked up and saw Gabrielle taking the seat next to him. "Keep it up and you'll be needing to borrow one of my canes."

Gabrielle gave him her best puppy dog look. "You'd ruin the life of your own flesh and blood?" Even though she was kidding, she could tell by the way he staring that she had hit a sore spot. Her expression softened. "Hey, if I went too far I'm sorry." House turned forward and looked down towards his drink. "You're worried about the kids aren't you?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yep," he said and then took a drank before turning to her. "I'm afraid I might become Mr. Hyde."

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "As if I'm really that dumb." She sighed and leaned on the table towards him. "You know, I did talk to Cuddy earlier, and if you're afraid to get married, or even just don't feel like it, she's okay with that."

"Why did she say that?" he asked.

Gabrielle shrugged. "She doesn't want to find out that you've just left her." She awaited for a reaction or something from House, but there was nothing. All he did was look back down at the table. "Look, I'm not quite sure of the things that happened between you two before I got here, but you obviously couldn't have hurt her that badly if she is here right now waiting to be your wife."

"Yeah," he sighed as he looked up. "But life's never that simple when you let emotions get involved."

"Well, then that just proves it more that she wants to be with you. I don't want to know what happened and I don't need to, but I know you have no problem saying anything so I could imagine." Gabrielle stood up. "Anyways, I do think that you should go talk to Cuddy before you do anything stupid and hurt her again."

House just sat there and blankly stared as he was in deep thought. He hadn't even noticed that Gabrielle had left him. In his mind, it really did make more sense for him to just find a way off the island and run away, but right now, there was just too much at stake. Without any second thoughts, he stood up and finished his drink and then headed back towards the hotel.

******************

Cuddy sat in the chair in the corner of the room as she flipped aimlessly through the channel on the TV. A dim orange light flooded over the room through the window. The dim lighting fit almost perfectly with her mood, melancholy. It wasn't so much that House might not want to marry her, it was that he wasn't telling her. This was leading her to expect him to just run away and leave her.

The door opened causing her to jump and look over. She saw House carefully step in and close the door behind him. "Hey," she said without any emotion.

"Lisa?" He went and sat down on the bed. He was about to do something that he had never imagined himself doing before. She was watching him and awaiting his answer. Her grey eyes were almost piercing through him as he fumbled to gather meaningful words. He had all the sarcastic jokes and remarks that he ever needed, but this was unnatural for him. Something like this took some thought. "I know that I proposed to you, and I know that we're going to become parents."

"Well, that's good," she said. She knew exactly where this was going. It did hurt her that he didn't want to get married right now, and she wished that they could, but he was still there and she did not want to ruin that by pushing him into something that he's not ready for yet.

"Yeah," he hesitated as looked towards the window. "I can't go through with the marriage. Not now."

Cuddy tightly closed her eyes as teas formed. Nodding, she opened her eyes. "Okay." And it simply was just okay. There was nothing that she could say beyond that.

House looked up in shock. "That's it? No arguing? No yelling?"

Cuddy wiped her eyes. "Greg, if you're not ready, your not ready. I have no right to force you into a lifelong commitment."

House knew better than to go further into anything when there was nothing there. "Okay," he simply responded.

"But I do have a question for you," she said as she tried to dry her eyes. House just looked up to her. "How do you feel about Rachel?"

House shrugged. It was something that he really hadn't given much thought about. "I'll watch her, but that kid'll put anything in her mouth. I'd keep her away from the boys when she gets older."

Cuddy just rolled her eyes and ignored the comment. "I want you to be a father to her. I mean, legally as in go down to the courthouse and sign the papers and all of that stuff."

House was taken aback by all of this. "You know, we will be in the same house all the time now, I don't think it's necessary."

"Greg," Cuddy started. "She's adopted, and it would just make me feel better if you would. It would be a way of showing me that you won't just ignore her existence. I want you to be a father to her. I love her and don't want to see her get hurt."

House sighed and looked down. It was hard for him to say no. She had acted as a mother to Gabrielle, and right now, she wanted a father for her daughter. The only thing was, she didn't want Rachel getting hurt while just a little bit ago he was worried about all four of them getting hurt by him. "Sure," he said without really thinking about it. "The three other's have me as a biological one, guess it can't hurt for the fourth one to have me legally." All in all, it was starting to seem to him that it really didn't matter. Like he had said earlier, he was going to be living with her and playing daddy anyways.

"Really?" Cuddy asked. "I mean, that's what I wanted you to say, but I didn't expect it so quickly."

"It's not like I'm only going to see her once in a while. I'll be a father to her no matter what. Signing papers won't really make a difference," House said.

Cuddy was staring to wonder why he wouldn't go through with the marriage then. They were living together, she was having his kids. The only thing that would be different would be that signed paper, but she didn't want to ruin the moment. Instead, she just smiled. "Thank you." She got up and went over and kissed him. "I'm going to go see how Wilson and Gabi are doing with Rachel," she said and then left.

House stood up and limped over to the window. He leaned against the wall and looked out at was now the night sky. "Yep," he said. This was how it was going to be from now on. He was going to be a father and eventually a husband.

THE END

There will be a sequel, I'm not sure when, but there will be one. I would like to thank everyone that has reviewed and I ask for people to please review this chapter and maybe give me some idea that I could use in the sequel.

Finally, I'd like to thank Simone, Nikki, Cora, Stacey and Danielle for helping me to write this.