Chippers is getting the love from E!online fans for making the case for House & Cuddy Laura Thu, Aug 14, 2008, 5:29 AM Heidi W. YOU ROCKKKKKKKK ** Go House I just wanted to add that I've always loved the Much Ado About Nothing analogy for House and Cuddy, Heidi, and I'm so glad that you used it in your essay. Wilson even described last season's "thong challenge" as a "woo." The House writers are too smart for that to have been a coincidence. BewiXed1 Thu, Aug 14, 2008, 7:50 AM ... I just want to congratulate all three writers of the selected entrys for composing well-written defenses of their preferences. ... My personal preference is House/Cuddy, and I believe Heidi did an excellent job of explaining why. They are fun and funny together, but they also have a very deep level of trust, understanding, and caring. As for a non-romantic pairing I believe Wilson will always be the closest person to House, no matter what. :urock: Congrats, Chippers!

I can only agree with that. Great little essay, Chippers! I loved the analogy as well.

Congratulations Chipmunk_love. Well done. And a very gracious post to the other writers of the selected essays. Do you think their first go-round ended badly as Beatrice and Benedick's did? Don Pedro: Come, lady, come. You have lost the heart of Signior Benedick. Beatrice: Indeed my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one; marry, once before he won it of me with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it. However, if she were to get accidentally get pregnant, I don't think that he would be necessarily unhappy as he knows what she's been through. I think he would be happy for her because she's getting what she wants. But if he were the father? Not so much, I think. He's still got a lot of baggage about his relationship with his own father and as far as I can see, no desire to be one himself, unlike Wilson who seems to genuinely regret not having children. (And since Anne Dudek is pregnant, how much fun it would have been watching House trying to cope with Wilson's impending fatherhood.) There was poor Chase, yearning for a father figure for three years and House turned him down all the time. The other problem is that I don't think House is ready for fatherhood. There was a moment when he will put someone else's welfare ahead of himself in WH but mostly it's about getting what he wants when he wants it. Cuddy puts up with it because she admires him and cares for him but she's an adult and that's her decision to make. A child, especially a baby, needs a parent who will put his/her needs ahead of his own for the next 18+ years. I have doubts whether House is ready for a serious relationship with an equal adult; he would have to go through some major changes before he would be ready for fatherhood. Cuddy wants a family and a partner who will share the parenting, not to have to deal with two kids or a partner who is probably going to sabotage her efforts to discipline her child for the fun of getting a rise out of her or getting his own way no matter how funny or brilliant House is. Not to mention that in Lines in the Sand, when Cuddy said she was ovulating "the frisky went away". That doesn't suggest House is eager to be a father, no matter what his feelings for Cuddy. 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. It's true, they are different people and as you say maybe they didn't keep in touch those 10 years. But House picking Cuddy because now he sees himself as damaged and she is someone knew him when he was whle, and Cuddy picking House because she's afraid she's going to live her life alone makes them the default for each other, not the 'A' relationship. I think if they were meant to be, they would have wondered about each other and what would have happened if they had made a different choice rather than leaving it at one night. At off moments they would have fondly thought about the one who might have got away and maybe trying to re-connect. I never got that vibe in seasons 1 and 2, more that they are both living okay to live separate lives. But maybe I'm asking for too much.

The other problem is that I don't think House is ready for fatherhood. I would agree with that. He is not ready to be a father, at least in the traditional sense. I think that there are a number of scenarios possible (normally in fanfic) in which he could fall into being a father figure, but I also don't see him sitting in lamaze class as a coach. Or at least not as a coach who could keep his mouth shut. :lol: However, in "Who's Your Daddy," one could definitely infer that he wouldn't have minded being asked to be a donor for Cuddy. Perhaps it hurt his feelings a bit that he never did get his "dinner" like Wilson did. So, if there was an encounter between House and Cuddy, and Cuddy did end up pregnant from it, I think they would mutually agree that she would raise the child on her own -- she would be the parent. (At least at first. The man's curious, you know.) But he would support, from afar.

Hello everyone, newbie here, I'm Cat and I'm from the UK. I just had to stop in here and show my support for this ship. I've been reading everyone's thoughtful and insightful posts and bow down to all of you who put in to words exactly what I feel myself. I hope to post more later, but just wanted to make myself known here as soon as possible!

Welcome to the party, cat, glad to have you on board for what should be an exciting season five!

Hey, Cat!! So amazing to have another sailor on the good ship Huddy. :D And you live in Scotland? That's so cool. I heard that The Fringe is encouraging former performers to "Come Home" this year. Maybe Hugh will be there. :wishes:

Replying to myself... lovely. Anyway, from the Spoiler Discussion thread -- no spoilers, I promise. If someone could please tell me how House shows that he is fiercely protective of Cuddy, I would appreciate it. (This is not meant in sarcasm, just curiosity.) Cuddy is certainly fiercely protective of House, but I can't see it returned. The reply probably should be taken to the Cuddy or House/Cuddy thread. Thanks! I can find quite a few examples of House protecting Cuddy. The shining example is, of course, the baby arc. House cared enough to keep her secret from Wilson, to give her advice on a donor, and to help her with her injections. He was under no obligation to help her -- it wasn't like she could fire him for not helping her find a baby!daddy, and yet he did it. He wasn't about to let her go through all that alone, at least until TPTB decided to drop the story line :). A second, more professional example is during "The Right Stuff." Here's the exact exchange: CUDDY: You bumped a splenectomy for a boob job? HOUSE: Would you condemn this woman to a life where people look at her face when they talk to her? CUDDY: You don't explain this, I'll cancel the surgery. HOUSE: Can I explain why you're here? CUDDY: Think I just told you why I... HOUSE: I scheduled a diagnostic patient for a boob job, which is ridiculous. So obviously you had to confront me. CUDDY: With you so far. HOUSE: But I'm going to give you a reason. CUDDY: Not a good one. HOUSE: No. Not even close to a good one. But here's the drag from your point of view. My explanation will make sense. Not to the board, not to a judge, but to you. So you'll let me do it. Then you're going to have to sit next to me at the administrative hearing. Don't you have better things to do? Aside from showing how well they know each other, this scene showed how much he cares about her job. He cares about her professional responsibility. It's like in "Control," where House couldn't tell Wilson how he knew the patient needed a heart transplant. House doesn't give a crap about ethics, but he gives a crap about his friends. Thirdly, I direct you to NMMNG. He put together a review just for her and told her where she was going wrong in life. That sounds downright jerky when a lot of other people do it, but it showed that he cared whether or not she was happy. To me, that's the very essence of being protective.

And to add a bit...there was also "Living the Dream" where House tells Cuddy to give him five minutes to treat Evan (aka Brock Sterling) before she called security so Cuddy wouldn't lose her job. The baby arc was what immediately came to my mind too.

travlncarrie: And to add a bit...there was also "Living the Dream" where House tells Cuddy to give him five minutes to treat Evan (aka Brock Sterling) before she called security so Cuddy wouldn't lose her job. So, okay, I wanted to raise an issue from this same episode that highlights something that makes me a bit uncomfortable with a possible H/Cuddy romance. The main thrust of this episode is House endangering the inspection and thus Cuddy's job to get her to give him a new TV. In previous arcs and even stand-alones, when he endangers something important there's generally a reason behind it - principle, usually, or his ability to lead his life on his own terms. Even what I think is his most knowingly reckless move, drugging Wilson in "Resignation," can be explained as a concern for Wilson's health, albeit expressed in the most twisted manner possible. I genuinely can't think of any principle or hidden concern in House's behavior in this episode - only pure selfishness. He does the right thing in the end, of course, but I don't know that that excuses him for the earlier parts of the episode. And that's not to say he's not *ever* protective of Cuddy - the baby arc is a good example of him showing that side. It's just not a caring that's shown consistently, and it makes me a little leery that this episode's disregard of Cuddy by House was inserted when the creators knew they were planning further development of the House/Cuddy relationship. So, I guess I was curious if there's another way to view the events of that episode that I'm not currently seeing.

And that's not to say he's not *ever* protective of Cuddy - the baby arc is a good example of him showing that side. It's just not a caring that's shown consistently, and it makes me a little leery that this episode's disregard of Cuddy by House was inserted when the creators knew they were planning further development of the House/Cuddy relationship. So, I guess I was curious if there's another way to view the events of that episode that I'm not currently seeing. I'll have a go :D . First, I think that anyone involved with House will always have to face that his caring is not shown in a standard fashion and you have to understand House language to see it. I don't think that he chose to use the inspection as a tool in his fight to get the TV shows that he doesn't respect her, any more than his constant interruptions of Wilson's time with patients shows that he doesn't respect Wilson. House is quite willing to flout regulations to gain his own agenda. However, I don't take it for granted that he would really have blown the inspection if Cuddy hadn't blinked. When he was getting his team to get him cable, he actually wanted them to call him on the methods he was using, though they didn't see it. Sometimes his methods are convoluted. He and Cuddy were playing chicken and she lost. If she'd won, I'm not so certain House would think it was a bad thing. That same episode showed House acknowledging that Cuddy needs to be able to say no to him. I think that strand is going to be part of the exploration of their deepening relationship and I'm glad it will be--it's relevant. And I expect that it will form part of the reason the relationship doesn't just charge straightforwardly ahead. However, I don't see it as a bar to the exploration, because any relationship House enters into will be just as complicated in its own way. He's not an easy relationship bet for anyone and him putting people through the wringer while playing games is not an indication of him not respecting them. His willingness to play actually indicates the opposite. I also think that House needs his distractions--it may look frivolous but he has to have his bouncy balls, his cable TV, his game boy. That doesn't mean Cuddy has to approve his every demand, but I think House is a very poor fit into any beaurocracy and he needs to find ways to calm his restless mind when trying to shove his square self into a round hole. So I view his demands as coming from a need inside himself, rather than simply a desire to annoy, though he certainly also enjoys annoying people.

I don't really have an issue with his wanting to play games being a sign of respect or at least interest - I guess my main sticking point is the stakes in this particular episodes. It strikes me as fine, or at least typical, when the worst possible result is embarrassment or annoyance - I thought "Lines in the Sand" was a good example of this type. But when it's something that could have lasting consequences, he generally doesn't mess with it unless there's something he feels is at least as important at stake. And no, I don't think he would've really thrown the inspection on purpose if she hadn't given in, but he'd started enough questionable things going (the patient delivery that made the inspector suspicious, food in the morgue) that he had to be aware that he couldn't necessarily control the outcome. I mean, possibly I'm overestimating the importance of the inspection and how risky House's actions really were? But, anyway, that's why it all struck me as outside his usual lines.

I don't think the food in the morgue would have meant Cuddy getting fired, though it would certainly have been brought up as an infraction of code. And I think House always thinks he's in control of his games, even if the potential is there for them to go wrong. House didn't start the POTW kidnapping with any knowledge of the inspection--he found that out when he brought the patient to the hospital. So that part was not part of his game with Cuddy. That was his following his diagnostic nose at all costs on a day that outside his knowledge had an inspection. And I think it's in character that he didn't care about the inspection and continued on his way. I think the big issue for the inspector--the treatment decision--falls in this category, too. It wasn't part of a game for the TV; it was House charging ahead and breaking regulations because he believed his theory. He knew the inspection was on, but his moves weren't motivated by it. I liked the fact that the end of the episode had House telling Cuddy she should have told him no. He's right--she should have on both counts. I think that bodes well for what's to come.

I think House not wanting Cuddy to know what he was doing in The Right Stuff was a manipulation. He didn't want her to know what he was doing because he didn't want her to stop him from doing it or to spill the beans on Greta's diagnosis and kill her dream. We've seen House keep a secret if it was of no benefit for him to expose it or he understood why the person wanted it to be a secret (e.g. Lucy in Socratic Method calling Children's Services about her son or Taub's infidelity). We've seen House keep a secret until it was of use to him to disclose it (e.g. Chase and Cameron in the janitor's closet which he revealed when he needed to discredit Cameron in Cuddy's eyes). There was no benefit to him telling everyone about Cuddy's attempts to get pregnant and a benefit in agreeing to give her the shots -- close-up contact with her ass. For House to be "fiercely protective" of Cuddy, I think he would have to put her welfare ahead of his own and I don't think I've seen that yet. I don't think I've really seen that at all about House except briefly for patients (e.g. Carly in Control). He was fiercely protective during the Amber arc but whether it was protective of Wilson (afraid Amber would hurt him) or protective of his own relationship with Wilson (afraid Amber would hurt their relationship) I don't know. I think House is fiercely possessive of Cuddy. He doesn't want her attention distracted from him (Insensitive, House Training) and he doesn't want her fired because then he would have to break in a new boss (Forever) i.e. possibly someone who wouldn't give in to him as Cuddy does. In Living the Dream, he wanted her to think that he would go as far as getting her fired but he really doesn't want her fired. To push it so far as to put her job at risk would put him at risk too. And that's not to say he's not *ever* protective of Cuddy - the baby arc is a good example of him showing that side. It's just not a caring that's shown consistently, and it makes me a little leery that this episode's disregard of Cuddy by House was inserted when the creators knew they were planning further development of the House/Cuddy relationship. That's how I feel too, that the House/Cuddy moments are inserted when they writers want to make a Huddy statement and the rest of the time he either dismisses her, encourages his fellows to disregard her authority, or uses their relationship to get something from her (e.g. the parking space in Needle in a Haystack).