Thanks for posting this link. Here is what I wrote in: I am happy to take up the banner for the House/Cuddy relationship. As indicated in numerous canon references over the past four seasons, House and Cuddy have a multi-faceted interaction that spans at least twenty years, all of Cuddy’s adult life. We learned as early as season one that Wilson was impressed with the wall that appeared to rise between them and he correctly deduced that this much tension was an indication of attraction rather than enmity. By the end of season one the fundamental elements of the liaison between House and Cuddy had been established: he was the source of considerable professional angst and personal consternation for her, she regularly saved his career and his life. Each major dramatic arc of this exceptional show has concluded with Cuddy saving House: she saved his career with her vote against Vogler and again with her perjury to end the Tritter persecution. She saved his life by restarting his heart after the infarction, by explaining the “middle ground” surgery to Stacy who chose to not let him die, and by administering the ketamine he requested after he was shot. Most recently, we have seen Cuddy once again save House’s life with the sensual and resuscitating CPR during the two-part finale of season four. We know definitively that House is propelled by irrational jealousy whenever he suspects that another man is interested in Cuddy. His wildly possessive streak was on display in several episodes in season three including “Insensitive,” “Top Secret,” and “Act Your Age.” Wilson in particular enjoyed playing on his friend’s weakness for Cuddy in the latter episode leading to hilarious exchanges worthy of any teen drama. As professional colleagues, House has a strange way of showing his respect for his boss, but display it he does. He uses her as his human white board to bounce off his most daring ideas, to test out his outlandish diagnoses, and as a curb to his vaunting imagination. In memorable scenes in Cuddy’s home, House bounds up to her bedroom window in the middle of the night, or seeks her out for a comforting hug, or demands to know what she is wearing to bed in yet another late night phone conversation. These scenes suggest a strong element of comfortable domesticity and camaraderie that shapes all of House’s interactions with Cuddy: she is the place he goes home to when he is in trouble or unsure. The sexual side of their relationship is electric, unmistakable, and utterly convincing. House declared to Wilson in “Forever” that Cuddy was smart, funny, and “has a zesty body.” In other words she is his ideal woman. The parts of her anatomy that he admires are well documented and she does everything to make sure that these lush elements are on display for his enjoyment. When Cuddy covers up you know that a furious rampage is in the offing! Cuddy clearly finds House attractive; she preens and arches like a lioness when he invades her personal space. She is stimulated by the challenge of managing his unruly impulses and thrilled to live vicariously through his rebellious antics. The two get a visceral charge from each other’s company and their mutual attraction lights up every one of their scenes together. The deep bonds of friendship between House and Cuddy were best elaborated in their extended interaction over her quest for a baby. When she needed help with hormone injections, she turned to him, despite her fears that he would gossip about her predicament. However, House proved himself a good man and a good friend when he maintained his silence and preserved her trust. That she has considered asking House to become the father of her child is strongly implied. That he might very well say yes to her request is a tantalizingly open question. This made his later withdrawal induced accusation that Cuddy would never be a good mother all the more cruel. In sum, Cuddy is all things to House: she is his boss, his defender and champion, his life-saver, his doctor, his friend and his lover, his refuge and his relentless challenger. This is the portrait of a most curious and unconventional marriage.

Yours is so good, blacktop! Here's mine: “Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.” Benedick and Beatrice from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing may be my most favorite literary couple. They are intelligent, quick-witted, passionate, and perhaps most importantly, they carry quite the healthy respect for one another. Little about them is sappy. They know where they stand in the world and aren’t afraid to speak their minds. The only thing I hate about their story is that it was only able to last 200 pages. Therefore, one must turn to modern couples on television to fill the void that Benedick and Beatrice have left behind. As it happens, I’ve only found one such couple to sate my need for snappy snark: Gregory House and Lisa Cuddy. While I respect and understand the other House ‘ships, it’s very hard for me to imagine House with anyone but Cuddy. It’s like how the late, great Amber Volakis described her relationship with Wilson – there’s love and respect. When House was with Stacy, it was obvious that they loved each other very much. However, when Stacy defied House’s wishes during his infarction, it was obvious that she didn’t respect his opinion the way that he desired. If House was to ever actively pursue Cameron, there would be no doubt that she would respect him. But love him? It’s hard to imagine that she could, given her history of relationships with damaged people. With Cuddy, House could also have that love and respect. No one has come closer to understanding how House’s mind works than Cuddy – not even Wilson, as was evident after House’s ketamine treatment and during the Tritter drama. She gets that he’s never going to fit the mold, no matter how hard anyone tries to get him to, and she respects that. And how could anyone doubt the love Cuddy has for House after that smile at the end of the episode “Ugly”? Or how she was holding his hand at the end of “Wilson’s Heart”? And House loves Cuddy. He keeps her secrets, as we saw during her baby arc. He protects her, as seen in “The Right Stuff” when he wouldn’t tell her what he was doing with his patient so that she wouldn’t be liable. And he respects her. No man would stand up to Cuddy like he does if he didn’t realize that he could lose every argument. House and Cuddy are not the perfect couple, but what couple is? I think, especially after the events of “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart,” House is going to need someone in his life who accepts him for who he is and understands how he thinks. That person is Lisa Cuddy.

Beautiful, Blacktop & Chipmunk. I have nothing to add but this is definitely my yacht.

Yes, very beautiful thank you both

chipmunk, I loved your wise essay! The Beatrice/Benedick parallel is excellent. (I would throw in contemporary couples such as Walter and Hildy in the classic madcap comedy "His Gal Friday" or any film with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.) House and Cuddy for the win!

While I sail other seas, I wanted to say that I enjoyed both your essays and I'm so glad you chose to share them with us! I think the House fandom has some wonderfully eloquent people in the ranks. I think Ms. Kristin will be surprised what sort of responses she gets.

From the House/Cam thread: Cuddy will probably be next but whether it's the next step back to life or the relationship that will stick is yet to be seen. I think it's neither. I have no illusions of House/Cuddy ever sticking for good, but neither do I see it being a step back. I think it's a natural step forward in their decade(s) long friendship. Of course, it is also a step that they've already taken, so it's not really new ground. However, what prompts it will be fun to watch... :D

Not a step back, a step "back to life". House hasn't had a relationship since Stacy left and apparently didn't have a date till Love Hurts (other than a hooker date). And from what we can see, other than Paula and his hand (Safe), he's had no action in the past 4 seasons. I think Cuddy is the logical next step in any case. Honey was unsuitable as a relationship although she was willing to be unfaithful to her boyfriend and found House attractive. Terzi was both beautiful and a doctor but House seemed rather freaked out when it appeared she had taken him up on his fliritng in WIT. He still wants to lust from afar but at least he's now accepting to the lusting. House, for all his arrogance about his medical abilities, seems to be self-deprecating when it comes to his relationship ones, at least what we've seen of him post-debridement. He knows Cuddy, he trusts her and is fond of her, she's known him from before the debridement and she's seen his leg and accepted it. If House is going to try a relationship with anyone at this point, it would be Cuddy. However, what prompts it will be fun to watch.. I hope it's because this is what they both want to explore or the next step in their friendship and not because House is lonely because Wilson is pulling back.

From the Q&A thread: It makes the inevitability of it now less understandable. Inevitability is such a tricky concept. It always depends on certain factors being in place. I think a House/Cuddy explosion can be expected this season because it feels like there is about to be a perfect storm of these certain factors in place -- the trickiness of the House/Wilson friendship, perhaps both House and Cuddy are affected by what they saw between Wilson and Amber, a lot of things. There are also a few spoilers that point to something happening between them, but I don't want to jump into that in a spoiler-free zone. :) But as to their ONS, DS has said that the way he sees it, both House and Cuddy recognize it as a mistake, but not one that they necessarily regret. They don't talk about it for obvious reasons, but as we saw in Humpty Dumpty and Top Secret, they (okay, House) see nothing wrong in alluding to it and smiling about it. And whether or not it took place 20 years ago or 10 years ago, there's still that tension between them and that mutual affection between them. I think there's been a lot of evidence of couples who go decades between encounters. Doesn't make those encounters any less special or any less logical, if sex ever is logical.

Just to add to what Chippers said, I think the timing makes it more valid. If it had happened after Stacy, it could be argued that it was due to Cuddy's guilt and House's self pity/loss of Stacy. If it happened pre-infarction during college, it seems to me that there was something there to spark that interest, and not born out of a catstrophic event.

I am not sure that the House/Cuddy hook up is inevitable, but it certainly has been foreshadowed by the delicious dance they have executed over the past four seasons. I think that what has kept them apart has been the imbalance in power between the two. For those viewers engaged at only a superficial level, all indications are that House enjoys the upper hand in the relationship. He makes the rude jokes about her anatomy, he mocks her clothing choices and her supposed sex life in front of others. Most importantly, by using a combination of guilt and brute logic, he gets her to bend to his will in most medical decisions. But I would argue that from House's point of view the opposite is true: Cuddy is the one holding the power over him. Cuddy hired him, signs his paychecks, doles out the financial and personnel resources for his department, and writes his job evaluations. She installed Foreman in his department in season four as a sort of spy/babysitter over House's sharp objections. Most importantly, Cuddy has repeatedly come to his rescue, literally saving both his professional and physical life on numerous ocassions. The Vogler, Tritter, and ketamine arcs all ended with Cuddy vanquishing a foe on behalf of House. She restarted his heart after the infarction. At the end of "House's Head" Cuddy once again brought House back from the brink of death and in the final scene of "Wilson's Heart" she sits vigil by House's bedside. On top of all this, she exercises the primitive and devastating power that an enticing but unavailable woman holds over an enthralled man. In House's world, Cuddy is powerful, competent, controlling, and sexually allluring. I think that all of the crude comments, the demeaning gestures, and the public challenges to her authority are House's attempt to realign the balance of power back in his favor. The arc of the House/Cuddy relationship is long, spanning more than 20 years. The question for season five will be how the two adjust the scales of power to set up a new act in their long-running liaison.

I agree that season 5 will probably explore the House/Cuddy relationship, because the show seems to be building up to it during seasond 3 and 4 and it seems to have been delayed because of the shortened season due t the strike. And whether or not it took place 20 years ago or 10 years ago, there's still that tension between them and that mutual affection between them. There is the mutual affection and the tension between them. (Why HL described it as a mistake but one they don't regret I don't understand because that suggests that it is something that should remain in the past and not be repeated.) Where I don't get the timeline is that to revisit it except as a FWB (and I've had enough of that, thank you, DS and KJ) or reminiscing about a memory suggests that there is unfinished business between them. This makes sense to me if there was a reason why it was unfinished, such as it occurred after Stacy left and House felt he was damaged and still had all the unfinished business Stacy with so he wasn't emotionally available to see what developed with Cuddy. He's settled his affairs with Stacy and he's more emotionally available now. I can understand why his first attempt at a relationship post-Stacy would be with Cuddy. But if it happened back 20 years ago at Michigan, I don't see why it would be unfinished. Both House and Cuddy were single and House didn't see himself as damaged. If they were that attracted to each other, there's nothing stopping them from starting a relationship and seeing where it will go, whether they are each other's basherts or best to remain as friends. Yes, Cuddy and House were both ambitious and driven in their work but so were House and Stacy and they managed to get together. Mutual affection can last forever. But if that sexual tension has been there since they slept together at Michigan 20 years ago, why didn't they do something about it in the 10 years before House met Stacy? It's the timeline that doesn't make sense to me. (Although I admit I've been influenced by cincoflex's Don Corleone fanfic.)

But if it happened back 20 years ago at Michigan, I don't see why it would be unfinished. Both House and Cuddy were single and House didn't see himself as damaged. If they were that attracted to each other, there's nothing stopping them from starting a relationship and seeing where it will go, whether they are each other's basherts or best to remain as friends. Yes, Cuddy and House were both ambitious and driven in their work but so were House and Stacy and they managed to get together. Mutual affection can last forever. But if that sexual tension has been there since they slept together at Michigan 20 years ago, why didn't they do something about it in the 10 years before House met Stacy? They may well have been completely different people back when they slept together once before. At that time, it may have been obvious that they weren't meant to be, or -- just as likely -- they both had their lives ahead of them and ambitions that they knew would lead them in different directions. House was ambitious and knew that his life led in one direction. Cuddy was ambitious and knew that her goals lay in a different directions. And as you said, House didn't see himself as damaged back then. Cuddy wasn't fearing that she would live her life alone. Today they're different people. They may be wondering now if the different situations in their lives may mean lead them to a different conclusion. And as to why they wouldn't have done something between Michigan and Stacy ... who's to say that they ever saw each other in those years? If they were indeed headed in different directions, it may well be that they never had the chance to wonder during all those years if they'd been wrong after that one night. I'm not a shipper, but I can clearly see why it is that they would both be wondering about their future -- both singly and potentially collectively.

But if it happened back 20 years ago at Michigan, I don't see why it would be unfinished. Both House and Cuddy were single and House didn't see himself as damaged. If they were that attracted to each other, there's nothing stopping them from starting a relationship and seeing where it will go, whether they are each other's basherts or best to remain as friends. I am quite intrigued by this whole line of inquiry although I realize that it is perfectly possible that we will never get canon answers to these questions. I wonder if it is true that House did not see himself as damaged back when he and Cuddy first knew each other at Michigan? The details of "One Day/One Room" suggest that his childhood encounters with a cold, demanding, even brutal father might have left him feeling deeply unsure about his capacity for forming successful relationships based on trust and mutual support. Maybe House did not feel ready (or worthy) for a serious relationship with Cuddy twenty-some years ago. As to why now for a renewal of their relationship, I think that we shouldn't discount the impact on House of Cuddy's baby quest. We know how seriously he took her request for help in screening the donor candidates and how he guarded her secret. I think it is possible to imagine that the intensification of his interest in her stems in part from knowing that she is at a new stage in her life, one in which she is actively seeking a baby and perhaps a life partner. Just as some men find pregnant women irresistibly attractive, perhaps House simply finds Cuddy on a baby-making mission that much more sexy.