I will take your advice
Good! I'd hate to think of you reading the remainder out of a sense of obligation when this fic has a perfectly acceptable ending right here. You're not missing much: the 'second ending' is no neater than this one, because I don't really do 'tidy' endings. In fact, I'd have ended the story here if I hadn't promised myself that this would be the last Kelpie fic and that I'd get House and Cuddy together, cost what it may.

Thank you for reading this far. I appreciate it very much.