Wow... thank you so much for all the reviews :D Each of them put a huge smile on my face :D

Here is the promised epilogue :D IDK who told the last guest reviewer that I wouldn't write it because I never said anything like that. Whatever... I wrote it so I didn't break any promises.

Thanks to Jane (LEfan77) for beat reading :D

Enjoy reading and I hope you (and especially geesnarky ) will like it :)

Epilogue

He wasn't lying next to her anymore when she woke up. She switched on the light and checked the time: 3:18am.

Cuddy got rid of the cover, got out of their bed and sleepily lopped into the living room.

The light was off there and so was the TV.

No sign of him.

She checked the kitchen next but he wasn't there either.

For a moment she thought that he might have left but then she noticed that the door to Rachel's room was closed.

She knew that she had left it open in case Rachel needed anything.

Carefully, so as not to wake her daughter up she pressed down on the doorknob and entered the room.

Rachel's night-light was switched on so she immediately spotted House sitting on the birch rocking chair.

"Hi?" She whispered. "You ok?"

He nodded. "Just checking on her."

A smile crept on Cuddy's face. Every time he showed how much he actually cared about Rachel she fell in love with him a little bit more.

Cuddy approached him and House caught her hand to pull her into his lap. She carefully dropped down on his left thigh, put her arm around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder.

"She's fine." He said quietly in order not to wake up the girl.

"I know." Cuddy looked at her sleeping little angel. She was so incredibly relieved and thankful that she was okay.

"I visited the Batten's girl." House whispered after a short moment of silence.

"You did?" She was a little surprised.

He nodded. "She's a smart kid... Rachel would like her. She loves "Pirates of the Caribbean" and she is totally into this hello cat thing "

"Hello Kitty." Cuddy corrected with a giggle.

"Whatever."

"What's her name?" She wanted to know.

"Vivian..."

"That's a beautiful name." Cuddy then said in more serious voice with her eyes still fixed on Rachel. "I'm so sorry for her and her parents… I don't even wanna imagine how it must feel to be in their situation... I think I wouldn't be able to deal with it… Just the thought of losing Rachel killed me… If it had actually happened I don't know what I would have done…"

"There is no point in thinking about what ifs, Cuddy… Our kid is fine, that's all that matters."

Cuddy's heart skipped a beat when he said "our kid". It was the very first time he had referred to Rachel as hers AND his…. Our kid… Those two words were the most beautiful words for her anyone has ever said.

"What are you grinning about?" He didn't even seem to notice what he had said earlier.

"Nothing."

"Come on! Tell me."

Cuddy removed her gaze from her daughter and looked up at the handsome guy who's lap she was sitting on. "You referred to Rachel as our kid."

He looked away from her stare… He felt busted.

Did he really say that? … Oh shit… he obviously did.

"Hey." Cuddy laid her hand on his cheek and turned his head a bit to the left so she could look into his eyes again. "It's ok…It's fine..." Her lips formed to a genuine smile. She whispered: "It actually is wonderful."

"Can we please not make a big deal out of this?" He looked kinda cute when he felt uncomfortable.

"I'm not planning on doing that, all I wanted is to let you know that I'm more than fine with it."

"Ok"

"Let's go back to bed."

He nodded.

Cuddy pressed a kiss to Rachel's temple and followed House out of the room.

A few days later

It was Sunday.

House and Wilson were at a baseball game while Cuddy and Rachel were at home watching "Up".

Ever since Rachel had been sick Cuddy tried to spend even more time with her than she had before.

The hours she had sat next to her daughter's bed waiting for someone to find out what was wrong with her had opened her eyes. Life could be over every second so you should enjoy each moment and you should spend as much time as possible with the people you love most.

Cuddy was torn away from her thoughts when the doorbell went off.

She told Rachel to stay here and keep watching while she made her way over to the front door to open it.

She found a blond, pale woman she had never seen before standing on her porch.

"Hello?"

"Hey… Dr. Cuddy?" The woman asked.

"Yes, and who are you?"

"I'm Tara Berkins… I'm looking for Dr. House. Dr Foreman said I'd find him here."

"House is not here at the moment but I can pass on a message to him."

"… That would be great." Tara emerged something that was wrapped in gift paper from the paper bag she was holding and handed it to Cuddy. "Please give that to him… and tell him that Vivian picked it."

"Vivian?"

"That's my daughter."

"You… You are the mother of the girl that has Batten's?" Cuddy asked.

"Yes." The woman said in a sad voice. "That's me…"

Cuddy looked at her sympathetically. "I can't even find the right words to tell you how sorry I am."

"It's okay… There is nothing like "the right thing to say" anyway… Nothing anyone is gonna say will make my daughter better so I don't really care what people talk about."

She was right. She absolutely was right! In her situation she definitely would react similarly to such a statement.

"Life is an unfair pile of crap." This easily could have been a statement made by House and in a weird way she was even proud of it. "I wish I could help you somehow."

"That's very considerate but Dr. House really has done enough for us."

"He has?" Cuddy asked surprised.

Tara nodded. "He got us into this program so we don't have to pay for Vivian's treatments."

Cuddy immediately wanted to tell her that there was no such program but then she realized what was going on here, played along and smiled. "That's really great!"

Cuddy and Tara had talked for a few more minutes before Tara had to head back to the hospital.

When House got home a few hours later and dropped down on the couch, Cuddy sat down next to him, pressed a kiss to his cheek and handed him the gift.

"What's that?" He wanted to know.

"I don't know… Ms Perkins dropped it off here. She said I should tell you that Vivian picked it out."

House took the present and inspected it.

Cuddy continued: "… And she said that you got Vivian into a program so they don't have to pay for her treatments…. Funny that the dean of medicine doesn't know anything about such a program."

"It's new." He just said and started unwrapping the gift.

"Sure." Cuddy smiled. They both knew that she knew that he had paid for the girl's treatments himself. There was no program that would bare the expenses.

House ripped off the last layer of gift paper and finally had it unwrapped.

It was a phonograph record. "Ray Charles - The complete swing time and down beat recordings 1949 – 1952". The first edition.

His lips formed to a little, hardly notable smile. "Having thankful patients with their own record shop rocks."

Cuddy smiled as well, looked up at him and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I love you." She whispered, scarcely audible, and meant it with each cell of her body.

He looked at her intensely for a few more moments before he bent down to kiss her once more but before his lips touched hers he murmured a quiet "I love you too".

- end-