I agree with previous posters that the pressure felt by the insurance company was from Cuddy's well-orchestrated media assault. They underestimated her resolve in this negotiation and were feeling the heat of unfavorable publicity that highlighted both the company's policies and the extravagant personal habits of the CEO. Cuddy's boldness and gumption are what combined to give her the victory. I think that it was interesting that while Cuddy's sky-blue top was quite revealing when worn alone, her cleavage was entirely covered when she wore the somber jacket to her suit. She took off the jacket to don her white lab coat for unplanned clinic duty or when she was sitting by herself in her office. When she went into the board meeting, or to face outside visitors, or to address the staff assembly, she wore the jacket and looked put together and polished. She is sexy and feminine underneath, powerful and refined on the outside. I also was fascinated to consider Cuddy's reaction to the two references by disgruntled employees to her personal relationship with House. Both the chief of surgery and the pharma-tech thief tried to use what they implied were her inappropriate interactions with House to undermine Cuddy's tough stances with them. But in neither instance did Cuddy seem at all discomfitted or thrown by the accusations. I was surprised by this at first because I had always assumed that Cuddy tried to keep her personal ties to House hidden in order to prevent them from interfering with her work environment. Instead, these charges rolled off her and in fact encouraged her to redouble her efforts to correct the wayward employees. It seems that Cuddy understands and has already accepted that her intense relationship with House is a matter of public record and conversation in the hospital. She clearly rejects the judgments of the staff about something intensely private and personal which they do not fully understand. Rather, they have to get that she and House are a package deal and that she cannot be embarrassed or intimidated by references to House or his behavior towards her. Perhaps House's startling balcony declaration in "Both Sides Now" served to innoculate Cuddy against the hospital gossip machine.