"What's this?"
"You've already read it, and you expect me to explain it to you? That blonde hair of yours is really starting to make you stupid huh? At least you have an excuse."
"Yeah, of course it has--you're going to adopt her?"

><><><

"I'm certainly not leaving her with Nora. She may be her grandmother, but she can be a real bitch sometimes."
"Seriously. You. House. Are going to adopt a child."
"Well, I like this one."
"Why not until--later?"
"Well--she needs a father. She's Cuddy's kid. And she shouldn't--scratch that--no kid, should ever experience not having a father. Especially not her."
"That's sweet House."

She rested her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"Alright, alright. Don't change this into--"
"Yeah. I get it. But is--Cuddy okay with this?"
"Haven't asked her yet."
"Of course you haven't."
"She'll be fine with it."
"You never know."
"Don't spoil my mood."
"I mean, I'm sure she'd be perfectly fine with it but. I don't think she'd believe that--you would go step up and take that kind of responsibility. Let alone, allow you to."
"Well her ruling on that is fading."
"Technically, no. She has to do some signing on these right?"
"Damn."
"Exactly. So, ask her now. Go. Go!"

He rolled his eyes at her, snatched the papers back, and got up to walk out, heading for Cuddy's room. Cameron just smiled, folded her arms, and walked out after.

:::

Couple minutes and seconds later

House limped up to her door, and saw her and Wilson conversing inside. He threw on his curious face as he slid the door open, slowly, trying not to interrupt. When he walked in, both of their heads turned to face him, and he raised his eyebrows.

"What's up." He dared to ask.
"You asked her to marry you?"
"Oh my God." He looked up to the ceiling in aggravation.
"You asked her, to marry you?"
"I did not say that." She defended.
"You may as well have." Wilson replied.
"She's dying, that's like--the second best thing I could think of doing."
"What's the first?"
"That would be this."

He walked toward the side Wilson had been on, and he gave her all the adoption papers. Her eyes skimmed through the lines and her expressions shifted. She looked back up at him sincerely, and surprised.

"What the hell are these?"
"Okay--Cameron had an excuse..Do brunettes? Or do they have to be called stupid?"

Wilson took one of the papers from Cuddy's grasp and began to read. His eyes skimmed a little faster, and his expressions shifted even faster.

"You're going to adopt Rachel? You're legally making yourself her father?"
"Rachel Helena Cuddy House. Damn. That's a long name."
"Her middle name's Helena?" Like, Hel-eh-nuh, or Hel-ee-nuh?"
"Hel-eh-nuh." Cuddy spoke.

They all just looked at each other, from one person to the other. Then, Wilson kind of shifted his chair back a little and he sat back, and let the two discuss.

"You gonna sign them or what, I got to get them back to my lawyer."
"Are you sure about this House?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Several reasons."
"Care to venture one?"
"You--you feel like, you need to be taking--responsibility for certain things. And from my perspective, it seems more by force, than voluntary."
"Don't start with that crap. You know how much I love that kid."
"I know you love her House. But, is that really enough for you to take care of her? Do you know how much responsibility that is?"
"She needs me Cuddy. A father. Something, that I didn't have. Someone, to have you sat on their lap. Someone, who would sneak you five bucks as a bribe. Someone, who would give you advice about dating, and sex. Someone you could look up to as a hero. That kid, has no one once you're gone. I'm not gonna do that to her."

Cuddy kind of gazed at him for several seconds. Wilson just looked back and forth at them, trying to decipher this moment. He got tired of waiting for them to say something, so he stood up, took Cuddy's hand, put a pen in her hand, and tried making her sign the papers. After he did so, Cuddy just looked at him.

"So are you gonna sign?"

She slapped his hand, and bit her bottom lip and began to sign her signature and initials in all necessary places. After, she handed them to House. He gave a curt nod and grabbed his cane from her bed, where he had left it the night prior, and began to walk out.

"Thank you, House."

He stopped dead in his tracks for a couple seconds, before turning around and giving her at least, half a smile.

"Don't."

And he walked out, leaving the two behind.

"Okay. Now that that is taken care of, clarify this, "not proposal" thing."
"It's all in good intentions Wilson."
"Oh I'm sure. But WHERE DID IT COME FROM."
"He's concerned about my happiness. Thought maybe if we got married, things would be easier--as things went along."
"But House doesn't marry. He doesn't believe in marriage."
"No. Even though he didn't believe in it, he still would've sacrificed that factor if doing so would make me happy. But it wouldn't have anyway."
"But, you DO marry."
"No Wilson, YOU marry. I have three legit witnesses to prove that."
"Yes, yes, we all know, divorced three times. But, I thought you wanted to get married?"
"Wilson, you know just as well as I do about House's intentions with relationships. Do you honestly think, that I would get myself involved with him, if we both had different turn outs of our relationship?"
"Well. No."
"My point exactly."
"But like you said, his intentions would change for the person he truly loved. He would sacrifice his beliefs."
"Just because he would want to, or would try to, doesn't mean I would let him. We both know House. Inside and out. We anticipate things like this. I know that he would sacrifice. Which is exactly why, from the start, I knew that if we were serious, the farthest we would ever go would be--living together."
"Smart."
"No, just knowing House."
"So, knowing House, what do you think he's gonna do--later on?"
"Knowing him. He'll be angry and depressed for a while. The pain will really hit him. He'll--look for something. Something to turn to. Drugs. Alcohol. Smoking. Or maybe all three. But he will eventually move on."
"Do you think that's accurate?"
"I'm hoping that's relatively close."
"What else is there?"
"I don't know. I'm just praying that things won't get worse."
"But they always do."
"Al-ways."