On Monday morning, House checked on the patient they'd diagnosed over the weekend, who was now out of intensive care and in a private room. This was an extremely rare thing for him to do. He was in the habit of moving on as soon as a diagnosis was confirmed, taking no interest in actual treatment or patient follow-up, which he'd always considered boring. But he'd been doing a lot of things in the last few days that he thought he'd never do, and following up on a patient seemed no stranger than any of the others. Besides, the guy hadn't lied about anything in his background or been obnoxious in any way, and House was genuinely interested in how he was doing.

Without a case to occupy the team, the guys were in the clinic for most of the morning. They returned around noon and were all sitting around the conference table in the outer office when House entered with copies of a file.

"New patient," he said, sliding the files across the table to each of Chase, Foreman and Taub.

They were just starting to review the new case when they heard the door open again and looked up to see Thirteen standing there. They were all stunned into silence, as this was completely unexpected. She took a couple of steps into the room, and stopped again.

"Remy," Foreman finally said. "You're here."

"Brilliant observation," she said, smiling. "I'm gonna say this quickly, to all of you at once, and then we won't have to discuss it again, okay?"

Silent stares and a couple of nods were the only replies.

"I called my father on Friday, and wound up spending the whole weekend with him. He was of course upset by the news, but he also told me a lot about the first years of my mother's illness – stuff I was too young to really remember. Long story short, both of them got a lot of joy out of those years, before her symptoms worsened, and there were many things she could still do, a lot that they both did together. So he convinced me to do everything I can, with every day, and try not to obsess about the future. He didn't tell me to come back to work, just asked what makes me happy, and told me to do that. Well, I can't say it always makes me happy to be here, but, more often than not, it does, even when you guys get into one of your ridiculously juvenile arguments. I may need to take days off now and then, and most hands-on patient care may not be possible, but if you still want me, I wanna be here."

She waited for an answer, but they all seemed muted by a collective lump in their throats. House looked around the table and saw the emotion on each of their faces and a little suspicious telltale moisture in their eyes. He knew she'd want them to be cool about this, though, so he finally got up and walked over to her, handing her his copy of the file.

"Welcome back," he said simply.

She nodded and sat down at the table, opening the file and starting to read it.

"Let's get to work," he said.

As they started discussing the case, he looked at her animated, beautiful face and remembered his father's words, which had once made him so angry - "You just don't know how lucky you are." John House had been wrong about a lot of things, throughout Greg's life, but House suddenly realized that maybe he'd been right about that, after all. He'd been consumed by his problems for so long that he'd often failed to appreciate the good things in his life. And there were a lot of them, especially now. A best friend who'd stood by him through numerous tough times, when he could've easily given up and walked away. A woman who loved him, just as he was and aware of his faults, but who also inspired him to become a better man. An adoring child who brought joy and laughter into his life. And his team – people who kept him engaged at work and who challenged his mind, and, truth be told, people he considered friends. Maybe, as he'd told Cuddy that fateful night, he was "the most screwed-up person in the world," but if Thirteen had the strength and the guts to still be here, still trying, he knew he could never give up. Not just for Cuddy, or Rachel, or Wilson, but for himself, most of all.

That's all, folks! This is now complete at 20 chapters. I'm sure new eps in September will inspire me to write more stories, but, until then, hope you all enjoyed my take on the first days of the House/Cuddy relationship. Have a great summer!