Season 7 Episode 1 - Full Recap

After House and Cuddy kiss, Cuddy checks on House's injury and removes his shirt to clean the wound. She then removes his pants and strokes his leg. When he asks her not to, she says she loves him and kisses the old injury. House then undresses Cuddy as they kiss, and then carries her to the bed.

The next morning, they wake up and House wonders what happens next. Cuddy prepares to go to work, and assures him that this is just the beginning. Cuddy's assistant Alex calls and House takes the calls. When the assistant says that Dr. Richardson threw up in the OR, House tells him to deal with it on his own.

Foreman, Taub, Chase, and Thirteen meet and wonder where House is. Chase notes that he read Thirteen's resignation letter to House, and then Foreman found it as well and tore it up. They want to know why she's resigning. She refuses.



House and Chase are cleaning up the broken mirror from the previous night, and Cuddy notices House's bottle of Vicodin. The phone rings and House suggests that they ignore it. Cuddy agrees, but House soon realizes that she can't just ignore it. She admits that they're having numerous problems, and Richardson the neurosurgeon has claimed he's a prisoner. Cuddy explains that he is the only neurosurgeon they have, and that he can't leave without the hospital losing its Level 1 Trauma Center status. House offers to make her a bath and ushers her out of the bathroom. Once he's alone, he runs the water and then calls Chase to ask why they don't have more neurosurgeons. He then tells Chaser he's the new neurosurgeon, or to at least pretend so they can keep the ER open. Chase wonders where House is, and House ignores his question and hangs up.

Foreman finds Thirteen's tickets to Rome and asks her why she's leaving. He figures she's going there because they're having trials for Huntington's treatment, but Thirteen resents him going through her correspondence and angrily walks out.

As they take a bath together, House suggests that she's overreacting because of the recent emergency, and points out that she dumped her fiancé. Cuddy tells him not to overanalyze it and House agrees. They soon realize House hasn't done the secret bath correctly.

Chase and Foreman discover that Alex is trying to reach her without success. When Chase claims he's a neurosurgeon Alex knows better because Cuddy has told him not to believe anything House or anyone says.

House serves Cuddy breakfast , but quickly realizes that she wants to leave and insists that he can tell when she's lying. She wants to know something about him that's a secret, and he says he used to have an intimate relationship with a photograph of her and a sock. He tries to then claim he's lying, but Cuddy knows better. House goes to the bathroom and takes Chase's call that Alex felt he had to legally notify DPH that there is no neurosurgeon on site. House tells Chase to deal with it.

The team gets back together and realizes there's no neurosurgeon they can get. Chase wonders if House is testing them, and Foreman wonders whether to make the report or cover it up. Thirteen suggests they get Richardson better, and Chase ends up having to go with her.

House opens a bottle of champagne with a sword in honor of their relationship and shatters it. Wilson arrives and starts pounding on the door. They ignore him but he calls and hears the cell phone ring. House finally answers and pretends to be his own answering machine. It doesn't work at all, and House claims that Cuddy gave him the day off and he's fine. Wilson finally leaves, but warns that he'll be back if House doesn't show up for work the next day.

Thirteen and Chase go to see the vomiting Richardson, who insists he ate bad sushi and is sick. They suspect it isn't food poisoning and figure they need to treat the damage to his stomach lining. Thirteen asks if Richardson would take a risky drug to get rid of the symptoms.

After sex, Cuddy asks why House didn't let Wilson in. House figures she didn't want their relationship to be public, and she points out she wouldn't do it if she wanted it to be private. Then Cuddy wonders if he's not ready.

After giving Richardson the medicine, Thirteen and Chase play chess and wait to see if he's stable. She then tells Chase to give her his opinion on the Huntington's trial. Chase isn't interested, but asks if she'll have sex with him. He figures he has to do it now before she leaves for Rome. Richardson seemingly recovers and is ready to go back to the hospital. However, he then starts going on about how shiny a lamp is. They figure it's a side effect of the drug, but get him to the hospital anyway.

House decides to prove he's willing to go public by filming a sex tape and sending it to Wilson. They hear glass break and House takes the sword and goes to investigate. He finds Wilson stuck partway through the window, and offers him tea. Wilson figures that House is upset after losing his patient, but House insists he's just there to have sex with his girlfriend. House finally lets Wilson in and says his girlfriend is Cuddy. Wilson doesn't believe it and figures House is having a relapse. House takes Wilson to the bedroom only to discover that she's not there.

Wilson checks to see if House is on drugs, and House insists he was just trying to make a point. When Wilson offers to stay, House says he doesn't have to but Wilson figures that he needs someone after losing a patient. Wilson finally leaves and House finds Cuddy hiding in the closet.

Taub and Thirteen check on Richardson, who is getting worse. Alex points out that Richardson can't function as a neurosurgeon, and Taub claims Richardson has high blood sugar. Thirteen figures he has either peptic ulcer disease or hepatitis. Taub then asks how long she'll be gone, and Thirteen admits that she doesn't know. He says that he approves of her undergoing the trial, surprising her.

Cuddy claims that she pressured House into going public, and figures if she forces him, their relationship won't work. In response, he challenges her to a game of Boggle.

Chase tells Alex that Richardson is doing better and brings in the DPH inspector, Malkin, but then stalls and says Richardson is in surgery. Malkin then wonders why Alex said that Richardson wasn't there, and Alex lies. Once Malkin starts to go, Richardson staggers out and complains of a fever, and starts removing his clothing. Malkin tells them to start evacuating patients because he's shutting down their departments.

House and Cuddy play Boggle, and Cuddy wonders why House didn't tell her he loves her in response to her declaration. He insists it's perfectly natural behavior... and spells out "ILOBEYOU."

As Malkin oversees the removal of patients to other hospitals, Chase reports that the lab results show nothing wrong with Richardson. Foreman suggests that his symptoms might have nothing to do with their drug treatment. Richardson explains he snuck out and went to a seafood convention. Thirteen wonders if he had roe, and remembers that roe causes nausea and a high. She prepares to give him a fast-acting antidote so they can get him back to work.

Cuddy and House are back in bed, discussing places to go in France. He orders tickets and suggests they leave right away, but Cuddy says she has to take care of her daughter. House wonders why she won't adjust her schedule for him, and Cuddy agrees to go in two weekends, once she has some prep time to make arrangements for Rachel to stay with her grandmother. House agrees.

Thirteen gives Richardson the antidote, and Foreman apologizes to Thirteen. He then hopes she has someone going with her so she won't be alone, and offers to fly over with her as a friend. Thirteen thanks him, but says she'll be okay on her own. They hold each other's hands, and Richardson joins in.

As Cuddy prepares to leave, she thanks House for everything. However, as she starts to go, House says that it won't work. Cuddy wants to discuss it, and House figures that she'll remember all of the horrible things he's done in the past, and figure that he'll eventually revert.

Chase and Thirteen bring in a seemingly normal Richardson, and explain that he was suffering from temporary food poisoning. Malkin insists on testing Richardson, who passes with flying colors. The DPH inspector orders the patients back, and Chase invites Thirteen to join them for celebratory cake. He then brings up his question about sex and wants to confirm. She makes very sure he knows that she doesn't want to have sex with him, and gives him a hug.

Cuddy sits down to talk to House, and he warns that he'll do horrible things to her again. He doesn't believe he can change, and asks Cuddy if he's wrong. She insists that she doesn't want him to change, and that he'll always be screwed up. But he's the most incredible man she knows, and always will be. Cuddy says he either has to break up with her or she's going home, and kisses him. House admits he loves her

Taub and Chase find Foreman sitting alone with the celebration cake. He tells them that Thirteen never signed up for the Huntington's trials in Rome, and that she's disconnected her phone lines. There's no trace of hers.

Cuddy assures House that everything will be fine, and then leaves. Once each of them is alone, they both look worried.