House - Recession Proof

House still has the capacity to surprise me, even half way through their seventh season.  It still has the weekly story of a patient that they can't come up with the cure for until the very end of the episode, but there were two differences to this story.
##SPOILER## The first is that they were just too late to get the cure to the patient and he died.  That doesn't happen very often on this show.  The second, is the impact this death has on House.
You see, the B story is that Cutty is getting an award and everyone is concerned House either doesn't want to go, or is going to go out of his way to sabotage the event.  He even tries to order a Mariachi Band.  It is revealed that this is for Cutty because she tried to get a Mariachi Band for the previous year's award but the Board said no.  So House knows what Cutty wants!  So he really does love her.
But then, he doesn't end up going to the awards, he goes to a pub and gets drunk. He then goes to Cutty's house and wakes her up and tells her that he is now a bad doctor because of their relationship.  She tells him he can't break up their relationship this way.  But then he surprises everyone by saying if he has to choose between being a better doctor or loving her, he chooses her!  He does love her!  A brilliantly written scene that surprised the hell out of me.  My only fear is that Cutty might do something now to make sure he stays a good doctor, like break up with him?  Mmm, that would just suck.