Intuitive

by gorblimey2

Intuitive

Prologue

Psi (sigh) is defined as the active agent by which mind influences matter and is able to receive Extrasensory Perceptions (ESP) impressions.

1981 The Congressional Research Service concluded that "Recent experiments in remote viewing (clairvoyance) and other studies in parapsychology suggest that there exists an "interconnectiveness" of the human mind with other minds and with matter. This interconnectiveness would appear to be functional in nature and amplified by intent and emotion."

1985 A report prepared for the Army Research Institute regarding experiments in parapsychology and remote viewing concluded that "The bottom line is that the data reviewed in [this] report constitute genuine scientific anomalies for which no one has an adequate explanation or set of explanations.... If they are what they appear to be, their theoretical (and, eventually, their practical) implications are enormous."

1987 The National Research Council reviewed parapsychology (the scientific discipline that studies of psi) at the request of the US Army. The committee recommended that the Army monitor parapsychological research being conducted in the former Soviet Union and in the United States and they admitted that they could not propose plausible alternatives to the "psi hypothesis" for some classes of psi experiments. Dr. Ray Hyman, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon and long-term skeptic of psi phenomena, was chairman of the National Research Council's review committee on parapsychology. He stated in a 1988 interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, that "Parapsychologists should be rejoicing. This was the first government committee that said their work should be taken seriously."

1995 The American Institutes for Research reviewed formerly classified government-sponsored psi research for the CIA at the request of the U. S. Congress. Statistician Jessica Utts of the University of California, Davis, one of the two principal reviewers, concluded that "The statistical results of the studies examined are far beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted."

Skeptic Ray Hyman, agreed: "The statistical departures from chance appear to be too large and consistent to attribute to statistical flukes of any sort . I tend to agree with Professor Utts that real effects are occurring in these experiments. Something other than chance departures from the null hypothesis has occurred in these experiments."

***

House needed to find Wilson before he went home and so he called him. When he failed to answer his cell phone House got annoyed. He knew that Wilson was a stickler for not using his cell phone near hospital equipment so that meant he was probably somewhere in the chemo unit or a patient's room. House's leg was warning him that he had overextended himself today and that any more exercise would result in a rough night. But House needed Wilson to give him his Chamber of Commerce member number so that he could use it to get a discount on their tickets to the Princeton Animation Festival starting tonight.

House hit the chemo unit first and there was no sign of Wilson. He took the elevator up to the patient ward and when the doors opened he got off and went into the ward. He could see Wilson in a room with a patient talking to the older woman in the bed and to an older man and a pretty woman standing near the bed. Knowing Wilson, he was delivering the the usual news, you're going to die.' House thought to himself that Wilson should add the upside of that equation, "At least it will stop the meter on the hospital bill." House was always amazed at how well Wilson handled the fact that a good portion of his patients died. Wilson's death rate was higher than most oncologists because Wilson was so good at what he did that he was known as the oncologist of last resort. He received more than his share of Stage IV cancer patients who were referred to him by other desperate oncologists, making it difficult for him to have normal survival statistics. However, his statistics of survivors of Stage IV cancers was 33% higher than the average and that was the reason he was referred a lot of Stage IV cancer patients as their last, best chance.

House burst through the sliding door with the intent of making his presence known, getting the Chamber of Commerce number and disappearing down the hall. Just as House was going to make a witty comment to Wilson's patient, he looked across the bed at the woman who was standing. He caught her glance for just a second before she looked down at her shoes. In just that second, when their eyes met briefly, House felt a strange electrical feeling shoot through him from his head to his feet. It was gone now. He shook his head and raised his eyebrows as Wilson turned and watched him.

"Are you ok Dr. House?" Wilson saw House shake his head as if he was trying to shake something painfull off.

"Yeah...yeah." He paused as if he was making sure he was ok, "What's your CC number? I need it for the tickets."

Wilson was frustrated, he was trying to be serious with what would be life and death decisions for this woman and House was acting nonchalant and cavalier as usual. He knew that if he didn't give him the number House would make rude and irreverent remarks and make it impossible for him to continue with his conversation. "Here." He pulled his Chamber of Commerce card out of his wallet and handed it to House.

But rather than leave, House paused and glared at the woman standing across the room. He stared at her, trying to burn a hole in her so that she would be forced to look up and acknowledge him but she didn't. He finally left.

I could feel him before he entered the room. There are certain people who have an overpowering force and overwhelm everything else in their path and I could feel that he was one of them. I had to avert my eyes or he would have sensed something and made a scene, he was that type. I could still smell him even though he had been more than ten feet from me the whole time. I also knew that he was curious, curious about me and that brief connection we made. I must be careful, this is a curious man, no one's fool.

***

Wilson continued where he left off, "So Mrs. McCormick, we'll start the experimental treatment tomorrow and hopefully we'll see results by the end of the week." Wilson looked at the older woman in the bed and then at the two family members standing by her. "Any questions?" He intended the question to be for all of them.

"Doctor, what are the side effects of the treatment?" the woman standing up asked.

"Well, like I said, she will be nauseated, experience hair loss and the most significant is that we may seem a spike in your liver enzymes. If they get too high, we'll have to reconsider the treatment. Anything else?"

They all shook their head no but the woman followed him out the door. "Dr. Wilson, I can tell you're optimistic about the treatment but can you tell me what stage my cousin is in?"

"Stage III. We still have a fighting chance with her." He smiled.

She put her hand on his arm and looked deliberately into his eyes and said, "You know sometimes drug companies fudge on their protocols and so please excuse me I'm skeptical about the drug."

"Well...I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

"Teagan...Teagan Furey."

"Teagan, this is a well known drug company, I'm sure they followed protocol."

She pulled her hand off of his arm and smiled kindly at him. He was a good human being, but he cared too much sometimes. She nodded her head in acknowledgment of what he was saying.

"What is your relationship to Mrs.McCormick?" Wilson asked.

"Second cousin. We don't have many left in our family and so she's about all I have. Her husband has to go back to West Virginia to work so I am going to stay with her."

"Where are you staying while in Princeton?"

"I have a room at the downtown Washington Square Resident Inn."

"Oh, that's pretty crusty and the area isn't that great." Wilson looked at her and summed her up in one word, pixie. She had short reddish-blonde hair, a slightly turned up nose with freckles spattered across it. Her ears were cute, her lips pretty and her eyes a light blue with a little hint of green around the cornea. She had a nice, sweet voice.

"I know, but I had to take what I could afford. Hopefully, I'll be spending my time here and just crashing there at night." She smiled.

"Well, good night and good bye for now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you Dr. Wilson, for everything." She watched as he left. He had a kind voice, one that could make bad news go down smoothly. His eyes were such a liquid brown that she thought they reflected light like a pool. He was good looking in a polished preppy way. She liked Dr. Wilson, but he was still looking for something to fill that hole in his heart. She felt a little liquid coming from her nose and looked quickly around to see if anyone had noticed. No one was around. She ran and grabbed a kleenex and dabbed the blood. It wasn't bad, it had already stopped bleeding.

***

Wilson met up with House at his apartment. He had printed their tickets to the animation festival and packed a flask for their entertainment. "Let's roll." House told Wilson. They climbed into Wilson's car and took off for the campus theater. House had his handicap placard with him and they parked as close as you could to the theater. Wilson looked at him and said, "You're good for something."

As they waited in line for the doors to open House asked Wilson, "Who was the red head this evening?"

Wilson wasn't following, "House, I'm NOT dating anyone."

"No dufus, the redhead in your patient's room."

Wilson was suspicious, "Why do you want to know?"

"There's something odd about her. I couldn't get her to make eye contact."

"Wow, she made eye contact with me." Wilson looked at him, "She's my patient's cousin. She's going to stay when the husband goes home to go back to work."

"What's with the patient?" House asked.

"Colon cancer, she's getting an experimental treatment, a platinum-based drug combined with a taxane based drug delivered into the abdomen."

"What stage?"

"Stage III and I think she's got a good chance, not great, but good."

The line started to move and House, always impatient, broke out of the line and went up to the guard at the door, talked to him, waved his cane and then motioned for Wilson to join him. Wilson went up and the guard let them in the side door.

"Man, you milk it don't you?" Wilson quipped.

"Hey, gotta work it."

House and Wilson attended three animation features out of the five being offered: Astronauts; King Arthur's Disasters; Pingu 's Sledge Academy. They shared the flask of Grey Goose and both were feeling great. It was the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend and neither one had made plans to go out of town. They decided that they would make a run to Atlantic City on Friday and then hit the Animation festival on Saturday night again. Wilson dropped House off at his apartment and took off.

House had trouble getting to sleep because of his leg. He had weaned himself down to a respectable amount of Vicodin, but not without a few fights with Lisa Cuddy. Occasionally, a shot of steroids helped him deal with the pain. But tonight he was going to have to take the extra Vicodin so that he could sleep. House grabbed the container and a bottle of water and knocked them back. He finally got to sleep at 1:00 a.m. and was up at 8:00 a.m. and in to the hospital by 9:00 am. He walked up to the closing elevator and stuck his cane in the doorway. The doors bounce open.

I had no where to run, I could feel him and knew he was coming my way. When the cane appeared from out of nowhere, stopping the elevator doors from closing, it actually frightened me. The doors opened and our eyes met, I couldn't avoid him without seeming to be a social misfit. Blue. I was looking straight into blue on blue eyes. He was curious about me and he was about to start asking questions.

"You're the woman afraid to look me in the eye. What did I ever do to you? Or maybe it would be better if I asked, what are you afraid of?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about Dr. House."

He quickly remembered that Wilson had called him by his name yesterday. "You wouldn't make eye contact with me yesterday, was it something I said?"

"Oh, now I understand. No, I had something in my eye and I was trying to look down to get it out."

"That's bull, you avoided me on purpose." The door opened on his floor. He didn't get off.

"Aren't you going to get off?" Teagan was hopeful.

"What's your name?" he let the doors close and continued to her floor.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked.

"Because you want nothing to do with me and you haven't even met me." House was still curious. The elevator came to a stop at her floor and the door opened but House put his cane across the doorway to stop her egress.

"You're not going to let me out until I tell you, are you?" This time she looked him deep in the eyes, "Teagan Furey."

He stepped aside and let her leave the elevator.

Teagan felt odd, there was something about Dr. House that made her feel out of sync. She couldn't get a real read on him and she was afraid to touch him, he was incredibly dynamic, over the top. She could feel his personality but she wasn't picking up facts, at least not yet. Maybe she never would.

She had to be the oddest woman he had ever met and he didn't know why. When she did look at him in the elevator there was no shock, no static electricity, no lightening bolts and nothing out of the ordinary, but there was something in her eyes, a knowledge. He was intrigued. *** As soon as he arrived at his office he saw his team was already studying charts for the next patient. He walked in and started to put his backpack down when Cameron started to give him the stats on the patient.

Foreman started in, "A 46-year-old man was brought into the emergency room by his wife at around 11 p.m. At the time of presentation he had a melancholy look on his face and was heaving and hyperventilating at irregular intervals. History revealed that he had been receiving treatment for severe depression as a consequence of business losses a few months back. His wife says he has mood swings and fluctuates between states of depression and anxiety. Since his business loss, he had been taking amitriptyline. The patient's appetite and food intake had decreased, but were adequate. He had no history of any other significant medical conditions. He was admitted last night for observation and given alprazolam, 0.25 mg, with a provisional diagnosis of anxiety. He's not getting any better so, because he is the mayor's brother Cuddy wants you in on this."

"Cameron, get a history, Chase check out the house and Foreman get a psychiatric consultation arranged. a CBC, blood glucose, and electrolytes for now."

House twirled his cane and then took off for Wilson's office. He crashed through the door but Wilson wasn't there. House looked around for Wilson and found him in the chemo unit.

"What do you know about Teagan Furey?"

"Nothing." When House gave him a look of disbelief Wilson said, "She's the second cousin of my patient. That's it. House, what is this obsession with her. You don't even know her?"

"She's strange...she's, "People are Strange" strange."

"I thought she was nice, calm, sweet." Wilson offered.

"Yeah and you're such a good judge of character that you've managed to pay for three breast augmentations, AFTER they divorced you." House took off and Wilson sighed.

House had clinic duty which he found boring and mind numbing as usual. He was happy when he received a page instructing him to meet the team in the patient's room. When he got there he noticed that the patient was hyperventilating.

Foreman told him , "The wife called us to see him a few minutes ago. His hyperventilation has increased and he appears to be restless and irritated. His laboratory test results were within normal range. The hyperventilation is probably caused by the anxiety."

House did a quick check and said, "Start an intravenous line and give him 2 mg of lorazepam. Cameron, what's the history? " As he listened to her, House checked the patient for bites but there was no evidence of any.

"No allergies, went to Canada two months ago. He hasn't eaten out in awhile. He has GERD but no other chronic diseases. Only doctor visits in the lasty year were for the depression and anxiety. There are no pets or allergies. The only one who lives with him is his wife and she seems genuinely concerned."

'Give him the lorzapam and let me know how he responds, I'm going to lunch." House went to the cafeteria.

House smiled when he saw Teagan in line. He saddled up next to her. Teagan already knew he was in the room and that he was approaching her. The cook handed her the cheeseburger and fries that she ordered. House grabbed a tuna salad.

"Hello Teagan."

"Hello Dr. House."

House grabbed a couple of french fries off of Teagan's plate." Teagan smiled to herself. He accidently knocked the napkin off Teagan's tray and onto the floor. They both went down for it and House became off balance as he tried to get up. Teagan grabbed his arm to steady him. She immediately had images, uncontrollable images raging through her mind. They stood up and House looked straight into her eyes but she didn't see him, she was far away. The images stopped almost as quickly as they had begun.

She was going to say something but kept it inside, if anyone was a skeptic, it was Dr. Gregory House. They continued down the line and got their drinks. She paid for her lunch and then started to go to a table by the wall that was empty. She stopped and turned around as House was getting his money out of his wallet.

"Dr. House, does this make sense to you? A dog. I just keep seeing a dog. A medium sized dog."

"I don't understand. I don't have a dog."

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'm sorry to have bothered you."

House hurried as fast as he could to catch up to her. "Well, you have bothered me, so I think we better discuss what you mean by dog." He followed her to the table and sat down with her. Teagan knew this was just an excuse to harass her. He reached across and grabbed more fries. Teagan handed him the plate of french fries. He didn't say thank you he just said, "The ketchup is behind you." She turned around and grabbed the ketchup for him. He poured it on the fries. She ate her cheeseburger while he ate and looked her over with the eyes of a clinician.

"I'm wondering if you're just going to stare at me or do you plan on saying something?" she looked at him curiously.

He rolled his tongue behind his teeth to dislodge a piece of french fry and continued to look at her. But although he was looking at her, he was somewhere else in his head. He was thinking about the patient. Foreman, Chase and Cameron had rushed into the cafeteria and were looking for him. Cameron spotted him and they hurried over to the table. Chase and Cameron looked at Teagan, wondering what House was doing having lunch with her.

"His hyperventilation continued unabated so we transferred him to the intensive care unit." Chase told House but kept looking at the woman with him. Chase thought there was somethng unusual about the way she looked at you.

House looked at Chase and then he looked into Teagan' eyes. "Cameron, what about his dog?"

Teagan looked at him and smiled briefly.

"I told you he has no pets." Cameron was adamant.

Chase looked at her, "What do you mean? I saw a dog bowl and leash at the house."

House practically knocked over his chair getting up. "Come on."

The whole team followed him. When they got to ICU House found the patient's wife. "Your dog, did it die recently?"

"What?" She was confused.

"Damn it, listen up...DID YOUR DOG DIE RECENTLY?"

"We don't have a dog but my sister's dog died. We were watching it while she went on vacation."

House practically screamed orders at the team. "Get a lumbar puncture and skin biopsy and check for rabies. And start him on human cell diploid vaccine. Start by giving him 1 ml in the deltoid. Start the family on prophylactic immunization."

"Rabies? But he doesn't have hydrophobia or opisthotonus." Foreman said.

"And there's no bite marks anywhere on the body." Cameron added.

"Occasionally rabies transmission may occur when infectious material, usually saliva, comes into contact with the victim's mucosa or fresh skin lesions or on very rare occasions through inhalation of virus-containing aerosol. Rabies can present without classical symptoms of hydrophobia. Start the treatment."

They started the treatment and the lab tests for rabies antigen were positive. They guy lived, barely. If he hadn't been treated as soon as he was, he would have died a painful death.

After treatment was started, House went looking for Teagan. He couldn't find her. Her cousin was being bathed and so apparently Teagan had gone for a walk.

When he got back to the presentation room Cameron asked him, "How did you know there was a dog involved?"

"A little, no a big red birdie told me."

***

House went home a few minutes later and got ready for the Atlantic City run by packing a small overnight bag. Wilson was going to pick him up in an hour. House took got a shower, clipped his beard and the stray hairs, put on jeans, a fresh t- shirt and a denim shirt. He looked at his bed when he came out of the bedroom and decided it needed to be changed when he got back, it had been several weeks.

Wilson knocked on the door and they left for the two hour drive. They were headed for the Tropicana which was on the boardwalk. It had everything they needed, beds, a bar and a casino.

"That red head..." House started but was interrupted by Wilson.

"You mean Teagan?"

Right. That red head did something strange at lunch today."

"You had lunch with her?" Wilson was surprised.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you? She loves cripples so we're dating. I asked her where she wanted to go and she picked the cafeteria. I'm already in love, she picks the cheapest place to eat, she paid for her lunch AND gave me her fries. She's perfect." He gave him a wicked smile, "Anyway, out of the blue she says , "dog" to me. I don't know what it means but later it turns out that my patient had been taking care of a rabid dog and had rabies. You said something to her about my patient didn't you?"

"I saw her cousin this morning when we began the experimental treatment, I didn't have time to talk to her about you and since I didn't know anything about your patient it makes it difficult for me to discuss him with her."

House looked out the window at the lines on the I-295 and thought that it had to be a strange coincidence. It was an anomaly and he didn't like anomalies.

"Are you going to play Black Jack?" House asked.

"Probably, you?"

"I'm gong to try and find a Master's poker game."

Wilson shook his head, "The guys who play poker in Atlantic City are for real House, you should play Black Jack with me."

"You're going to have to get over this separation anxiety. We CAN be apart for a few hours you know."

"How much money did you bring with you?" Wilson asked.

"What, you need me to spot you a Benjamin for a hooker?"

"I just wondered what you were going to be like on the drive home when you lose X amount of money. If it's a few hundred then I'll be able to tolerate you, if it's a few thousand I figure I should put on my headphones and listen to my IPOD."

"$5,000."

"For one night?" Then it dawned on him, "Hey, you owe me $2000 and you promised to pay me last week, so pay up. And why would you bring that much?" Wilson was perturbed.

House scowled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money from the front of his pants. He pealed off $2,000 and handed it to Wilson. "You are a spoil sport. Why go all the way to Atlantic City if you aren't going to play with the big boys? Now you've taken away all my fun. With $3,000 I'll have to play in the minors."

"As you are so fond of saying, boo hoo.' Come and play Black Jack, we'll have fun."

But House was sulking. The table he wanted to play was a $5,000 minimum buy in and he had actually brought $6,000 but now he didn't have enough to buy in. He cheered up when he realized that he had plans to come down to Atlantic City in a couple of months to watch the poker tournament, so he could buy in on that trip.

He finally told Wilson in response to his request to play Black Jack with him, "We'll see."

When they arrived in Atlantic City they were both in a good mood. House sat in a chair while Wilson waited in line to check them in. The woman at the desk was giving Wilson a hard time over something. Wilson pointed to House but the discussion continued. Wilson finally waved House over.

"Yes, Master?"

"House, I can't check in, you have to do it because the reservation is in your name."

House looked at the clerk. "You must be joking...can't you see it hurts for me to stand?"

"Sorry sir, but we have strict rules about the reservations on a holiday weekend."

"Christ, now we know why some mammals eat their young." House pulled out his wallet and driver's license. He was annoyed by this because now it would be his credit card the hotel would use for all the room charges. He wouldn't be able to stick Wilson with the bill.

Wilson was smiling as House gave up the credit card reluctantly. The Gods were smiling on him this weekend. He had gotten back his $2,000 and House was going to get stuck with the bill.

House turned on Wilson, "You got a problem?"

"No, I'm basking in the fact that for once you're going to have to pay for me."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking. Someday you might say something intelligent."

They got their room keys and went up to the room. House immediately took the bed near the window and in front of the television. Wilson took the other bed. They both laid down and watched television for a few minutes.

"Let's go eat." House got up, grabbed his cane and Wilson followed. When they got into the elevator two women in their early thirties got on. They were both pleasant looking, nice figures and they had no rings on. House gave Wilson a quizzical look. Wilson gave him a nod of approval.

"So, ladies, the one arm bandits or the tables?" House said to the women.

They turned around, smiled and said, "Dinner. We're starved."

"Well we just happen to be going to dinner too. Is there any place you like around here?"

"There's a brasserie a block down that we ate at the last time we were here and surprisingly they have good sea food." The brunette said.

"Why don't you ladies join us for dinner?" House asked

They looked at each other, giggled a little and then the one with sandy brown hairs said, "OK. This is Lydia and I'm Mary."

"Lydia, Mary, this is James Wilson and I'm Greg House."

"Call me Jim." Wilson smiled. He could see that House had already targeted the brunette with the prettier face but slightly smaller breasts. That was fine with him. He liked the way Mary had smiled at him.

They went to the Brasserie and Wilson was always amazed as to how normal and even charming House could be when he wanted something. House hated the usual social dance but since House just wanted a quick tumble in the hay, he had to charm his date quickly and that meant not letting the real Greg House out to play.

They had been talking about Atlantic City, Donald Trump and gambling. Finally Lydia asked the question that House always enjoyed in these encounters. "What do you guys do for a living?"

With a straight face and great sincerity, House said, "We're at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. We're both physicists and mathematicians. You've heard of String Theory? Well, Wilson there is Mr. String himself."

"Wow!" Mary was very impressed.

Wilson shook his head at House. "If I'm Mr. String, you're looking at the Black Hole himself."

House gave Wilson a look of mild amusement. But the women were equally pleased with the Black Hole theory too. It turned out that they were in Atlantic City for a school administrator's convention and would be flying back to Ohio the next day. Unfortunately, they were sharing their room with another, married administrator, which meant that only their room was available for a conjugal visit.

House and Wilson excused themselves and went to the restroom.

"String Theory? I don't know anything about String Theory." Wilson lamented.

"Well at least you aren't all the gravity in the Universe sucking the life force out of everything around you into a BLACK HOLE."

"Actually, come to think of it, it's a pretty accurate description of you." Wilson pointed out.

"Shall we toss?" House asked as he took a coin out of his pocket.

"Heads." Wilson called.

The coin turned up heads and House frowned. "Alright, what do you want? Sex first and then gambling or gambling and then sex?"

"Sex first."

"Damn. Alright. Do you have an extra condom?" House washed his hands after taking a pee.

"In my toiletry bag in the bathroom in the room. There's several in there."

"Ok, when will it be safe? It's 7:00 p.m. now."

"Say 9:30 pm.?"

House nodded. He had wanted to win the toss. As it was, Wilson would get the room first to nail his date and then go down to the floor and start gambling. Unfortunately, it meant that House had to wait for the room. So House would have to make a date with Lydia to meet up later after doing some gambling. It meant that there was a good chance his prey, Lydia, might get away without delivering the goods.

Wilson and Mary were laughing and flirting all the way back to the hotel. House was pretty sure Wilson was going to score a home run. Mary was already putting her hands on Wilson's arm. A few minutes later House heard Wilson ask, "Would you like to see the view from our room?"

"I'd love that."

House smiled to himself, Wilson and those brown eyes. Every woman in the universe trusted him and his "warm eyes." House knew that women loved his blue eyes but sometimes they'd tell him that his eyes were so cold, just like he was.

When they got back to the casino, House bought Lydia the obligatory drink and then they decided to meet up at the same place for another drink around 10:00 p.m. House was praying that she'd be there. The last time he had sex was with Paula, his favorite call girl. That was two months ago and his fantasy sex action was getting old.

House went to play Black Jack. He decided that it made no sense playing poker unless you could play at the big table. You didn't get better by playing people who weren't as good as you. He started betting and ordered a single malt whiskey. To his delight the waitress told him that they had Dahlwhinne 1986 for $30 a glass. He ordered one neat and planned to nurse it for awhile. When it arrived, he admired the gorgeous clarity of the amber brown in his glass. Damn it was good.

The night was going his way. He was doing well at Black Jack when Wilson walked up to the table. House looked at the smiling Wilson and told him, "I felt so miserable without you, it was almost like having you here."

Wilson kept smiling. Wilson bought some chips and took the seat next to House.

Wilson leaned over to House, "I think you may not have chosen wisely. I just played that slot machine three times before I ran out of change. She's very talented."

"Hopefully I will have a similar tale. We're meeting up in an hour."

House and Wilson enjoyed playing Black Jack together. They teased each other unmercifully. One of the women playing at the table was having difficulty deciding on how much to bet and how many cards to take. House was losing patience. Finally when she took over a minute to decide whether to be hit with a deuce and a six face up, he blew his stack, "Lady, you're sitting there looking like an envelope without any address on it. For God's sake, you're a shiver looking for a spine to run up...get on with it!" The woman played out her hand and left. The other players actually gave House a smile of thanks.

It was getting close to ten and so House cashed in his chips. He showed up at the bar and at first he didn't see her so he ordered another whiskey. As he was taking his first drink he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and could see that it was Lydia but she was very tipsy. He wasn't sure he liked that. Drunk women were easier to seduce but they were typically lousy and sloppy in bed.

"Hi Greg." she said, weaving slightly.

"Hi Lydia."

She stepped closer to him and then came in for a kiss...her aim was slightly off and her lips landed a little to the side. House corrected the angle and gave her a very deep lustful kiss. She grabbed his package a little too hard and he pulled her hand away.

"Whoa...uh, let's get a room." House smiled.

House hated the thought of tossing a $30 glass of whisky down like cheap tequila but Lydia was going to be a helluva lot cheaper than Paula."

They got up to the room and House went in to the bathroom to get a condom. There was only one left. House shook his head. Oh well, one would have to do. He laid it by the bedside. Lydia was half way undressed and her head was bobbing a little from drink. House wondered if she would let him take her from behind. He decided the worst she could do was say no. He got undressed and was happy to see that he was more than ready. He laid down on Wilson's bed since it was already messed up. She seemed happy to see his excitement and wanted to give him head. He decided against it, because even though it would mean their second time around would be more controlled and longer, he was afraid if he waited much longer she would pass out. So he pulled her head up to his lips and kissed her. Then he put the condom on while getting out from under her body. She ended up flat on her stomach. He straddled her from behind and she was game. She raised herself up on her knees and House was home.

It was satisfying but not exceptional. He rolled off and looked at the ceiling. "Would you like me to bring you to climax?" he asked.

She tried to lift her head, "What? Oh...you mean...ah no, don't bother, I wouldn't remember it in the morning." And those were her last words. She passed out. House took a quick shower and made his way down to the Casino. He and Wilson played Black Jack until 2:00 a.m. and then went upstairs to the room. House had expected Lydia to wake up and leave but she was still sleeping in Wilson's bed when they got in.

Wilson took a look at the naked woman on top of his bed and yelled, "What is this?"

"A present?" House suggested. House tried to wake her but she was dead to the world.

"It's your bed now House...I'm taking that one." Wilson was frustrated.

"Oh no, no, no." House jumped under the covers fully clothed to claim the clean bed. Wilson shook his head and got undressed. He crawled in on the other side of the bed from Lydia.

Around 7:00 a.m. there was a knock on the door. House got up to answer it because he was already awake and was just debating on whether to make the effort to take a leak or not. He was in his boxers, having gotten undressed when Wilson admitted defeat. Mary was at the door.

"Is Lydia here?" she asked hopefully.

House opened the door and Mary walked in. House went over and slapped Lydia on the butt waking her. She turned over, rubbed her eyes and started looking around. Mary was staring at her horrified. Wilson was now sitting up in bed and House was smiling and leaning on the television cupboard. She immediately tried to cover up and House threw her blouse and panties at her. She quickly put them on, stood up and grabbed her skirt. As she practically ran out the door, House yelled at her, "Yeah, don't forget to get it checked out when you get home, it's only been seeping for a few days."

He went in, took a leak and then went back to bed. Around noon they were on their way home laughing about the look on Lydia's face when she discovered that she was naked in bed with two men.

"I don't think Mary was happy with you. After all, Lydia was in your bed." House was laughing.

"Oh well, that's probably good. It means I don't have to call her and tell her what a lovely time I had." Wilson mused.

"No I think it would be more fun if you called Lydia and told her what a good time you had." House smiled wickedly.

"Ooooo, now that would be cold!" They both started roaring.

***

The rest of the weekend wasn't as much fun as their night in Atlantic City but they still enjoyed the Animation Festival.

On Tuesday Wilson was making his rounds as usual when a bored and mischievous House came looking for him. He saw him outside of the McCormick room. When he saw Teagan he realized he had forgotten about the dog incident. It didn't seem to be important, just a fluke. He poked his head into the room while Wilson was telling the McCormicks the good news, "The experimental treatment appears to be doing its job, we're getting good blood tests back..."

"Dr. Wilson..." House said enthusiastically.

"I wanted to return what I borrowed." House threw a condom at Wilson, making sure it would fall short and be visible to everyone in the room. As it fell to the floor, Wilson knew what it was and gave House a dirty look.

"Next time could you get the French ones?" And House was out the door.

Wilson looked feebly at the McCormicks who were not amused, but he did see a slight smile on Teagan Furey's face.

I could feel him before he even reached the ward. He was in a good mood. His body was relaxed and the pain isn't so bad. Ohio? Ohio?

Teagan decided to sit at the outside hospital diner and eat her lunch. It didn't surprise her to see Drs. Wilson and House take the table next to her.

"Hello Teagan." Wilson smiled in her direction but he was peeved at House for picking a table near a patient's family member. It made it difficult to talk with her sitting so close. He wondered why House was so intrigued by her. She wasn't his type. She wasn't tall, she wasn't a brunette and she wasn't in her teens.

"Hello Dr. Wilson, Dr. House." Teagan greeted them.

House said nothing but started talking to Wilson about hospital gossip. He stopped, looked at Teagan, who was reading a book, and said, "Where are you from?"

"That's a tricky question. Where was I originally from; where do I live; or, where is my cousin from, assuming the universal "you?"

"Ok, President Clinton. Where do you live now?" he asked.

"Aspen Valley, California."

House had never heard of it. "Where is that?"

"It's just outside of Hetch Hetchy. You know, Yosemite National Park? It's on the same road as Groveland."

House knew Groveland and it was a tiny little town. It didn't even have a Walmart. "Aspen Valley is smaller than Groveland?"

"Aspen Valley is a restaurant and camp ground for tourists on their way to Hetch Hetchy. It houses a single gas pump, a post office and a little sundries store. I live a mile from it."

House looked at her intently. "What are you running from?"

"HOUSE! That's enough." Wilson admonished him.

"Wilson, anyone who lives in the high Sierras and has a house that is as remote as hers has to be running from something."

"I'm not running Dr. House, I'm trying to keep the world from coming to me."

"What do you mean?"

She got up, grabbed her tray, stopped and looked at him and Dr. Wilson and said one word, "Ohio." She left and bussed her table.

"Ohio?" Wilson asked. But House knew and he was quiet, "House, what did she mean by Ohio?"

"Those women this weekend were from Ohio." House said with a sober face.

"Ahhh, yeah, so?" Wilson still didn't get it and House could tell from his expression.

He said very seriously, "I didn't tell her anything about the women or that they were from Ohio. She might have gotten the fact that we had women from my condom joke, but I don't know how she got Ohio."

"Well maybe you're reading too much into it. Maybe she's telling us that she's from Ohio originally or her cousin is from Ohio."

"I don't know Wilson. But now do you see why she intrigues me?"

Wilson shook his head yes as they both watched Teagan disappear into the hospital. *** House had no patient and had completed his clinic duty. He was bored and Teagan Furey was anything but boring. He went up to her cousin's room but once again her cousin was being bathed and Teagan was nowhere to be found. He hunted around for her and found her out on the terrace off of the waiting room sitting in a chaise lounge reading her book and eating an apple.

She could feel him behind her. "Dr. House, you don't have to lurk behind me. What do you want?"

He came around and looked around her to see if there was a mirror or glass or shiny surface that would have reflected him standing behind her. There was none. Maybe it had been his cane or sound of the way he walked. It was different from others because of the limp.

He sat down on a chair and put his feet up on the little table in front of him. "How did you know about Ohio?" He said it calmly.

She put down her book. "So Ohio meant something to you? Well, it means nothing to me. It's just that this morning when I saw you I kept thinking, Ohio.'

He tried to size her up. He thought she might be playing him, but how? "How long is your cousins treatment?

"It's suppose to be six weeks."

"What do you mean, "suppose to be?"

"Nothing, it's just that I'll be headed home in a little less than a month."

"Who's going to stay with your cousin?"

She didn't answer him. She just asked him, "Don't you have any patients to bug?"

"Nope."

"Wow, that must be nice." She was surprised.

"No, I'm actually bored. I have a very specialized practice so I only get in the really desperate. When I'm not playing God, I keep myself busy reading journals, studying cases, keeping up on current events, clinic and talking to strange women."

"I see. And because you're bored, you've decided to harass me?"

"This isn't harassment. I know how to harass and this isn't harassment. This is curiosity."

"I'm really boring." She said.

Now that was a lie and he could tell that she knew it was a lie. He looked at her with his head turned to the side as if he was catching her in a lie. She got up and grabbed her water bottle off the table. "My cousin is probably done with her bath." She turned and went inside. *** House went home and pulled out some old piano pieces he hadn't played in years and hammered them out. He thought about Teagan. She was so odd. She was pretty but odd. There was a knock on the door. House was curious, he hadn't expected anyone. He went to the door and opened it.

"Hi, can I come in?" It was Cameron.

He didn't say anything but he opened the door for her. She went straight for the couch and sat down.

"Well?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll have whatever you're drinking."

House gave her a funny look but poured Cameron a whiskey and was surprised to see that she drank it straight down. Now he was hooked, what was going on?

She looked straight into his eyes,"I need to know if you have any feelings for me whatsoever."

House collapsed. Frankly, he didn't know how he felt about her. She reminded him too much of his Dad. She wanted things to always be perfect, to be just, to be fair and life wasn't like that. It meant that she was always butting up against reality and sometimes it was painful to watch. She had gotten stronger in speaking up for herself, but she hadn't changed fundamentally, she was still a crusader. She was no match for his brand of cynicism. On the other hand, she was very good looking. She had small breasts but a lovely face. Maybe as she got older she would flesh out a little but for now she had the stick figure of a girl. The reality was that although Cameron was attractive, smart and capable, he knew that in a matter of months being with her would become tedious and boring because Cameron liked, no, insisted on playing by the rules most of the time and House played by the rules when it suited him.

"Cameron... Allison, I admit that I am attracted to you but we'd last maybe two weeks together and you'd get on my nerves and I would definitely get on yours. You want so much to make me a better person and that isn't going to happen. I'm too old for major make-overs. And frankly, I don't want to be made over. What is this all about?"

"Chase has asked me to move in with him and I wanted to give him a real chance, not keep thinking in the back of my mind that there was something between you and I."

House knew that they had been slipping off to the side for some nookie but hadn't realized that it had developed into a real relationship. He'd never admit it, but Chase had turned out to be a very good doctor. He had made the most improvement of the team since being with House. Chase was out-diagnosing the other two hands down. He was impressed with Foreman but was surprised that Foreman still wanted to assume that everything had to be a neurological problem. Cameron was occasionally brilliant but not as often as Chase.

"I think you would do well to give him the chance that he deserves." House was serious for a nanosecond and then said, "And if you guys ever have kids, they'll have really great hair."

"I deserve a chance at finding someone who does want to build a real relationship and at first I didn't think Chase could be that person, but when we're together he's kind, generous and funny...not sarcastic or cynical, but funny. We have a good time together and it's been a long time since I've had a good time with someone." She looked at him, "I'm going to go. Thanks House for being frank with me. I think I knew this all the time but was just afraid to admit it to myself."

She got up, gave him a quick hug and was out the door. House fell back into his easy chair and wondered if he had done the right thing. Had he just let the best thing in his life go, again? ***

On the following Monday House wanted permission from Cuddy to run a very expensive experimental assay test on a new patient that was experiencing hiccups, lethargy and headaches. But he needed Cuddy to ok the test. He looked around and finally found her in the conference room huddled with two men in suits and Teagan Furey. They were all looking at something on the table and talking. He burst in and looked at what was on the table. He could see photos of a pretty college-aged student and then a file with photos of various maps of the Princeton area. There was also a necklace. Teagan was adamant, "No, no...you don't understand, I just can't."

House wanted to know what she couldn't do but Lisa Cuddy had seen him enter and wanted him out.

"House get out of here."

"But I need your approval on this...aren't those photos of the girl that's missing?" He could tell that Teagan was upset and angry. Cuddy was nervous and wanted him out of there.

"House." Lisa nodded for House to follow her out to the corridor. He did. "What do you want?" She wasn't happy with him and hadn't been for awhile.

"Permission to run this test on my patient." He handed her the written protocol and then looked back into the room while Cuddy looked the protocol over. Teagan was shaking her head no while one of the men was on the phone.

"No, you may not run this it would cost a fortune and it's not even approved by the FDA. Figure something else out."

"What's going on?" House asked. As they were standing there another man and a woman in her fifties walked up to the door and then inside.

"None of your business. Now go take care of your patient." Cuddy left him and went back into the room. There were obvious introductions between the woman, Teagan and Cuddy. They talked for maybe a minute and the older woman started to sob. Teagan was looking down, unable to look at the woman. Cuddy saw House still lurking out in the corridor and pointed for him to leave. He did.

I was hoping they wouldn't do this to me. All my life I've spent it dealing with grieving parents, sad spouses, hopeless siblings. All of them looking to me to bring their loved ones home safe and sound. I sometimes don't know where they stop and I start. I feel like I've been grieving all my life. I've found some peace, some glimmer of optimism in the last few years. My life in the mountains, in my little insular community has let me heal, let me deal with years of the pain of others. And now I'm facing the pain of a mother who still believes her child is alive. One look at the photos of her and one touch of her necklace and I knew, this mother was going to be grieving the rest of her life.

The hiccups and the disease had nothing in common, which bored House. He knew that 18% of all Ebola Zaire cases present with hiccups so he thought maybe he had a variant or a new disease. It turned out to be plain old Mononucleosis with a side of meningitis. House was bored again so he went back up to the McCormick room to see if Teagan was there. She was and she was obviously upset and crying and talking to her cousin. The three men and the teary woman were down the corridor waiting for Teagan. She walked out and when she looked up and saw him she said, "Oh crap."

House shook his head like he hadn't heard correctly, "What?"

"You're going to want to follow me and you're going to make a nuisance of yourself. I can't stop you but let me give you some advice, if you meddle in this you're going to end up in jail for interfering with a police investigation."

"You're not making sense. Where are you going?"

"I'm off to try and help out the investigation of the missing girl. I seriously suggest that you stay here."

"Huh?" But House didn't put up a fight, he simply followed her.

One of the men asked her, "Who is he?"

"Just a doctor here at the hospital. Dr. House meet Detectives Simmons and Bozidar. This is Mrs. Temple. Detective Simmons, could you grab me a towel before we leave the hospital? I'll also need a wet washcloth. And Detectives, I'll need several bottles of water. I don't see her west of here...I think east."

They went downstairs and Simmons talked to a nurse who ducked into a supply room, grabbed the towel and washcloth and then wet the washcloth. They were all waiting outside for him. He handed them to her and she thanked him.

They climbed into the back of a plain blue sedan and the detectives got into the front. House looked inside and saw that she was feeling the necklace in her fingers almost as if she were studying it. Her eyes were closed.

I thought it might have been easier if I could have brought Dr. House along, but he is such a presence I knew I would have a hard time focusing. Even though we left him at the hospital I could feel him thinking about me and I suspected he was going to follow anyways. I was finally able to focus by fondling the necklace. I hated this. I hated these men and I hated that they forced the mother to come up and beg me. They don't know what it does to me inside. How painful it is.

Simmons didn't say anything yet, he knew she was concentrating and he knew that if he wanted to keep his job he better be quiet. Bozidar really believed in her. But she looked almost like an actress in a bad movie. He started to laugh but she looked at him in the rear view mirror with understanding and sadness. He stopped laughing when he saw her pain.

"I know this is hard for you to believe, but you're making my job harder. Please try to reserve judgment for now, ok?" She told him.

Simmons looked at Bozidar who was giving him the evil eye and then back to her. He nodded in the affirmative. She had been so genuinely sweet about it all that he felt he needed to give her a chance to at least try to do what she came out to do.

"We need to be near water and near trees...like a park. A park near a small lake. Take a left here. "

They started heading east.

House went back into the hospital and grabbed his helmet and keys. He got on his motorcycle and zipped out of the building. He knew they were going east so he took a stab at their possible route. He raced through Princeton and got lucky, he spotted the sedan.

"We're going east. What's east of here? There's Village Park? Ah, but it isn't near water. Thompson County Park is near water... a small lake. Let's go there." Bozidar was talking to Simmons.

"Yes, this is the right direction." Teagan sat back, put her head back and closed her eyes. They drove awhile and all of a sudden Teagan shot up and grabbed Detective Simmons. "Stop, stop, stop!!! Did we just pass a driveway or layby?"

"Yeah about fifty feet back." He started to turn around to go back. He turned into the little drive and parking area which was hidden from the main road by some overgrown bushes and small trees. To the right were two baseball field.

Teagan jumped out and walked around. Simmons was very amused and thought to himself that this was all a big joke. Teagan started to talk to herself. She walked to the other side of the layby and started flailing her arms and acting as if someone was pushing her. She fell back onto the ground.

House didn't want to get too close, considering the warning she had given him. He was several hundred feet away and he could see that she was acting rather bizarre, falling on the ground and flailing her arms about.

The detectives started to go over to her. She was on her back staring straight into the air. She had blood coming out of her nose and ears. They went over to help her but at this point she was starting to sit up. She took the towel and held it up to her nose and then her ears. She was looking up at Simmons as she did this, rather sheepishly. She could feel House somewhere near by. He was confused and curious.

"Don't come near me." She told them calmly. Then she looked at the detectives with tears coming down her face. "He's smiling, he knows me, we see each other every day. He's nice, he's tall, he's white. We see each other every day. He wants me to go with him to help him pick out something. We're laughing. He takes a turn down the road. Where is he going?" Teagan started to cry harder. She started to breath hard and look around in a circle. "Where is he going? Where is he going? He won't say. She starts to worry, it's late. No one is going to be able to hear her down this road. He slows down and stops in the parking lot. She gets out of the car and runs. If I can make it to the road. I tripped, he got my hand and is pulling me back, I feel something...oh God, he's stabbed me in my side...no!" Teagan put her hand up defensively." He's stabbed me in my chest...I fall to my knees. He pushes me on my back, I'm bleeding. It hurts, he's pulling my pants and panties off. There's no pain anymore. I'm numb." Teagan looked down, caught her breath and then looked up at the detectives, "She can't believe that this is happening. She's losing consciousness." Teagan pointed about ten feet away, "She was killed there." Teagan started to get up but was disoriented and upset. She looked at Bozidar he came over and helped her up. She was still bleeding.

"Teagan, you're bleeding." Bozidar said.

"I'll be bleeding for the rest of the day, at least until this is over." She took the wash cloth and washed around her ears and then took the towel and dried them

House couldn't figure out what she was wiping and finally realized that she had blood coming from her ears and nose. What was going on?

The detectives went over to where she said that Melissa Temple had been killed. Melissa was a beautiful student at Princeton who had gone missing eight days. They had hoped that she was still alive and even now they were hoping that Teagan was wrong.

They looked down and saw a dark patch of earth under the gravel. They were hoping the dark streak was not blood but the detectives both had lumps in their throats. Teagan was standing up and looking around.

"Her body is not here. She's in the woods, in the park, the park that's by the water, by the lake."

House was watching Teagan, watching the blood trickle slowly from her ears and nose. He was worried. Her blood pressure must be extremely high. He decided that he ought to make his presence known. He drove his motorcycle over.

"Dr. House, what are you doing here, this is a police investigation? Please leave." Simmons blocked his view of Teagan.

"You moron, that woman is bleeding from every orifice and needs medical attention. And Guess what?" He looked around with a silly look, "I just happen to be a doctor. Now I'm going to look her over and you can arrest me if you have to." He walked over to Teagan.

"Dr. House, please, the sooner I get this over with, the sooner the bleeding will stop." She gave him a look, a kind look that begged him to keep away. He gave her a look of pure frustration. She reassured him, "It's ok, let me do this and you can check me out."

I knew he wanted to do something. I'm not sure if he wanted to actually help me or if he was using it as an excuse to find out what we were doing. He still didn't believe or understand what he was seeing, but that didn't bother me. Most people have a hard time wrapping their minds around it. Sometimes I do. But I just wanted to get it over with and if he interfered, tried to examine me, his touch would cause me to lose my focus.

The detectives were calling their forensic department to send a team out to find evidence, if there was evidence here. Teagan gave House another look, one that told him she would be alright, but to leave her be.

"Detectives. I need to get this over with, my head is exploding. Please, can we go to the woods near the lake?

"Sure, but it's a pretty large area." Simmons told her.

"Once I get there, I'll point the area out, but then I want to go back to the hospital."

"Yes maam." Simmons nodded.

The three of them got into the sedan, leaving House with his motorcycle. They drove over to Thompson County Park. "We're nearby but this isn't it...we need to go south, a little further, away from the lake. We need to park and walk it."

They parked the sedan in a shady area and got out. House followed and parked close to the sedan. He watched her as she climbed into the woods.

"Dr. House, this may be a crime scene so please stay back." Simmons warned.

She looked around and kept going deeper into the woods and when she stopped, the detectives stopped too. House could no longer see them.

"He put the body in his trunk and drove to this area. He didn't park where we parked, but he did bury her body over in that section of the woods. It's a fairly shallow grave because he wants the animals to destroy the body. Now I'm going back to the hospital with Dr. House, you can stay here and do what you have to do."

She walked out of the woods and back to the car. "Dr House, can you take me back to the hospital, I just want to get out of here?" He nodded and handed her his helmet. "My head hurts so much that I don't dare put that on, you go ahead and wear it. I'm just going to trust you and your driving skills."

He straddled the motorcycle and she got on behind him and leaned into his back. She rested the side of her head on the cool leather jacket. It felt good against her head. The detectives stayed behind to show CSI where to look.

*** When they got back to the hospital he helped her off the motorcycle and could tell that the bleeding had stopped. He held her wrist and took her pulse, it was elevated, around 104. He wondered what her bp was.

"Let's get your blood pressure." He said as they went into the hospital together.

"I need a shower." she could feel caked blood in her hair.

"You can take one here at the hospital." House said soberly.

He wasn't sure what had just happened. He didn't hear what she was saying when they were at the different scenes. Was she a behavioral psychologist? Was she giving them a theory about the case ? What was causing her bleeding? He was more confused than ever.

On the way up to his office he grabbed a blood pressure cuff and made her sit down. Her b.p. was 189/130. He told her that she needed to lay down for awhile and then he would take it again.

"I will but I want a shower." She seemed out of it.

"You idiot, you need to stay off your feet for a few minutes. Sit here in my office and put your feet up. I'll get you some water."

He took his cane and went into the presentation room, got a bottle of water and took it back to her. She sat quietly and drank the water. He sat down behind his desk.

"What happened out there?"

"I just gave them some pointers." She put her head back, it was splitting. "Do you have any Excedrin?"

"Are you a profiler?"

"In a way. I sometimes help out. Aspirin?"

"Hell, no. The aspirin will thin your blood and the caffeine will increase your blood pressure. Rest and I'll give you Tylenol."

"Tylenol doesn't work."

"Tough, until you're back to normal for an hour, no Excedrin or aspirin."

He let her rest for a half an hour in the dark office and then took her blood pressure again. It was 140/90. It was returning to normal so House grabbed his extra t-shirt and shirt and handed it to her. Then he showed her where the doctor's shower room was.

An hour later House was sitting in his office listening to music when Wilson came in. "Where did you go this afternoon?"

"I'm not sure."

Wilson waited for a wise crack but got none. He waited another minute. "Want to catch something to eat?"

"Sounds good, you're driving." House said.

"You're buying." Wilson retorted. House got up to get his cane and keys.

They arrived at the Triumph and had to wait half an hour for a table so they went to the bar. House started to tell Wilson about the afternoon.

Wilson added, "She looked pretty worn out when she left today to go back to her room. She said she was going back to sleep."

"It was quite a show but I didn't see anything like clothing or knives or anything that looked remotely like it was a crime scene. But her bleeding was real."

House went home and took off his shoes, sat down and turned on the television. The ten o'clock news was about to start.

"We lead with this breaking story, Melissa Temple, the Princeton Student missing for seven days was found tonight in a shallow grave in Thompson County Park. Detective Simmons gave us this update:

We have determined that Ms. Temple was murdered in a turnoff near the park baseball diamonds and then buried in the woods behind me. We have a lead on the killer tonight and are following it up. We will keep you posted."

House had been leaning forward in his chair mesmerized by the news. He went to bed and realized that Teagan Furey was the most original and oddest woman he had met in years, maybe ever.

***

After the nurse left Mrs. McCormick, House stood against the wall and just stared at Teagan while she put her head back and closed her eyes. After a minute of peace she opened her eyes and looked at House. "I'm starting to get use to your presence. I'm able to tune you out now if I want to."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I need something to drink, let's leave my cousin alone and go down and get a drink."

House followed her and after they each got a drink she sat down in a booth as far from everyone else in the cafeteria that she could get. "You have questions and I didn't want to bother my cousin, she's heard them a million times and it always upsets her. I have a degree in behavioral psychology from Berkeley. I trained at Quantico too. I wasn't FBI but they invited me to be a guest in their program. I spent a year training and then I worked with the FBI as a civilian for three years. Now I only work with them on rare occasions."

"Why would they let a civilian in the program?" he asked her suspiciously.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you. So you see Dr. House, I reviewed her file and maps and gave them ideas on where to look and how it happened. It's that simple." She took a drink and then smiled at him, got up and went back to her cousin's room.

*** House had been in trouble with Lisa Cuddy for the last few months. He had dragged her, Wilson, his team and the hospital through several agonizing months of a criminal investigation into his addiction to Vicodin. He had entered rehabilitation but had managed to bribe an orderly into giving him Vicodin while he was in the unit. Another patient had also been paying the same orderly for his particular vice, Oxycontin, and the orderly was eventually caught red handed. House had to finish his rehabilitation without Vicodin and it had been a living hell. Unfortunately, there was no pain reliever that had allowed House to work efficiently but Vicodin. With the assistance of several pain doctors, the rehabilitation had resulted in weaning him down to a respectable amount of Vicodin each day. His days of indiscriminate dosing were over. The AMA had come down hard on him, demanding random drug tests which measured his intake.

The criminal investigation had resulted in Cuddy placing her reputation and freedom on the line for House and she was holding his feet to the fire because of it. He had just finished teaching a short course in the diagnostics of zoonotic diseases and had she granted him the luxury of taking the summer off from teaching.

Just when he thought he was home free, Cuddy informed him that he was scheduled to give a three hours of presentations at a medical seminar in San Francisco on July 31st , ruining his planned trip to the Poker tournament. It sucked. House wondered when he would be able to go back to making Lisa's life miserable as usual. But, despite his desire to run roughsod over Lisa, House had to admit that she had been a great supporter of him in rehab. To make matters more complicated, Cuddy had learned from Wilson that on Christmas Eve House had doused down a ton of Oxycontin with a bucket of Whiskey. House had asked himself a million times if he had wanted it to all be over. Maybe? Maybe? Ah, who cares, he was still here.

House saw Cuddy walking to Pediatrics and stopped her. "You never told me what my topic is for this seminar in San Francisco."

"They want you to do 1.5 hours on changes in diagnostic tools and 1.5 hours on emerging diseases and how to recognize them."

"You really like to test me, don't you? Could they pick anything more boring?"

"Something tells me you'll spice it up." Lisa smile and walked away.

House watched Cuddy walk off and he thought to himself, "Man I don't know how I let that slip through my fingers. What planet was I on?"

The discussion with Cameron had House in a retrospective mood. His leg, losing Stacy, the addiction, the criminal investigation, his relationship with Cameron and Cuddy had all added up to a lot of negatives in his life. There had not been a lot of positives in the last six years. But House was no fool, he knew that this emotional pain was his own Frankenstein's monster. In some ways he was punishing himself. For what, he didn't know, but he had never felt that he deserved to be happy. The only shining light in his life was his work and his ability to solve problems and save lives. Frankly, solving the puzzle was what gave him the high, the saving lives was just a fringe benefit.

House went back to his office and was surprised to see Maggie Malone from the CDC in his office. "Maggie Malone, I see you're back for more. You're insatiable. I know the sex was good, but you've got to let me go."

"Are you done Greg?" She looked mildly amused.

"That's what you always ask."

"Greg, I need your help. We need to find out what's causing the deaths in this cluster just outside of Philadelphia. I've brought you the lab tests and the MRIs of three of the patients. Don't worry, we're willing to pay PPTH well for your services."

"Maggie, I'd service you for free."

"And if we had time, I might let you. Now come on Greg, we're losing a lot of people rather quickly. We don't want word to get out."

"Why?"

"It might be a biological weapon. The cluster is taking place in a government facility, a post office that sorts mail for Washington D.C."

House became serious. "Let me see the files." He started looking through them. There were17 files, "Pneumonia, hepatitis. Petechial rash, normal white blood cells, mild thrombocytopenia, elevated transaminases, elevated alkaline phosphatase. Have you checked for Osteomyelitis?"

"No."

"Well, while you're at it, I'd also check this guy, this Wilfred Mason, for chronic Q fever. You could use the microimmunofluorescence test, the presence of antiphase I antibodies would indicate chronic Q fever, and IgG antiphase I antibody titers greater than or equal to 800 are highly predictive of endocarditis, another indication of chronic Q fever."

"I'm going to transfer Wilfed Mason to your care, you run the tests and let us know."

"Why don't you come over to my place for a drink tonight?" House suggested.

"Very, very tempting but I don't think my boyfriend would like it."

"Damn, he keeps getting in the way."

"I know...I'll have to do something about that." She smiled.

House enjoyed the banter, but he wasn't really kidding. He'd love to screw Maggie, she was hot in a feisty way. But no matter how many times their paths had crossed, she had resisted him, except once. One night at his apartment they had most of their clothes off when he received a phone call from Cuddy with an emergency. He begged her to wait for him to get back. By the time he got back the bed was cold and she was gone. He knew that their chance to hook up had passed him by. The only way he had managed to talk her into sex was to take her to a great french restaurant and then buy her a bottle of Dom Perignon 1996. She drank most of it and was feeling frisky and he was more than willing to frisk the frisky Maggie. Unfortunately, it came to no fruition.

House thought back to Maggie and wondered why he hadn't hooked up with her? There was an obvious attraction between the two of them. He thought that she could have handled the hurricane known as Greg House. She had backbone but she also had patience. House was starting to see a pattern to his life and it wasn't pretty.

Wilfred was moved to PPTH and within twenty-four hours Cameron had run the tests that confirmed chronic Q fever.

Maggie and House were flirting over the salad bar. Finally Maggie got serious as they sat down. "What are we looking at Greg?"

"Maggie, it had to have been purposefully induced and unless you have a genius post office worker who's gone postal, this had to have come from someone with an excellent knowledge of zoonotic diseases.

Look back at the attendance records. There were probably a lot of absences about four months ago due to what they probably thought was the flu. Many of the people recovered, maybe 25% went on to develop chronic Q fever resulting in a cascade of organ involvement and then death. Whoever did this, did it 3-6 months ago."

She shook her head acknowledging what he said was probably true. House looked around and saw Teagan reading and eating her lunch. House started to think that she was looking tired and haggard. Wilson had told House that the protocol wasn't working for her cousin and she had gone from Stage III to Stage IV. Wilson couldn't understand how the treatment had failed, but it had.

I knew he was watching me and thinking about how tired I looked. I didn't actually feel that, I just knew he was observant and anyone with half a brain would notice I was exhausted. I was watching my only living relative die in front of my eyes, it was hard work. I could feel that he was very attracted to the woman he was with but she was ambivalent. She was preoccupied with Q. Who or what was Q? House was also worried about Q. He turned his attention to me. He's not satisfied with my explanation and wants to know exactly what I do and what I did the other day. He can't have her and so thinking about me is safe.

Maggie turned around to follow House's gaze. "House, she's very pretty. Do you know her?"

"Don't worry Maggie, we haven't had sex, I'm still a virgin. I'm saving myself for you."

"I've got to get going. I'll do the write up, just send me the results and your file." She said to him while putting her trash on the tray.

"Maggie?"

"Yes, Greg?"

"It was good seeing you."

"It's always great seeing you." She reached over and gave him a peck on his cheek and then took off. Maggie was a reminder to him that he had screwed up one more time. He knew that if he had made a move when he first met her, they would be together, but their opportunity to hook up was gone now.

"Bye Maggie."

I could feel his sadness, his desperation and his anger. He was angry at himself. I felt sorry for him, there was a lot bitterness inside him. Strangely, there was also some hopefulness buried deep inside. Inside the part of him that was still a little boy hoping that everything would eventually work out. *** Teagan went back to her cousin's room, took one smell and wanted to puke. No one else claimed to be able to smell it but her. It was a bitter smell, it smelled like the illness was winning and it was. She had to leave and get out of there for awhile. She told her cousin that she would be back the following day.

Teagan hadn't brought her car to the hospital that day. It was in the shop being serviced. She began the four mile walk to her hotel. She was deep in thought when he pulled up next to her on the street. He took off his helmet.

"Do you walk every day?" House asked.

"No, my car is in the shop."

"Get on, I'll give you a ride." She climbed on and he asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm hungry, can you drop me off near my hotel. There's a little coffee shop near the Washington Square Resident Hotel, do you know it?"

"That place is crap. I'll buy you dinner but you have to have a pleasant conversation with me." He said.

"I'm really not up to being interrogated and I can tell your curiosity is overwhelming. Are you always this curious?" She asked but knew the answer. House was curious all the time. He was never satiated with what he knew. He gathered information like a farmer harvests corn. It was his job and his life. He was filled with information and opinions.

"Ok, you can ask me questions too." He promised.

"Where are you taking me? It can't be anywhere nice, I look pretty tacky."

"There's a pub at the Alchemist and Barrister downtown. We could get drinks and a bar meal."

He took her to the rather cozy and intimate pub so that she would feel more like talking. House didn't know that Teagan was used to those who were curious about her. She had her answers ready for just about any question. She had heard them all.

They walked in and took a seat at the bar. House thought that if they were at the bar she might feel less like she was being interrogated and more like they were just having drinks and talking. They both ordered the Shepherd's Pie and drinks from the bartender.

"Ok Dr. House, start asking."

"Has anyone told you that you're odd?" He asked.

"No one has told me different. I've been a freak all my life."

"As a behavioral psychologist trained at Quantico, what are you doing living n Aspen Valley, California, a backwater spot on the map?"

"I like living there. I don't have to deal with death and pain all the time. I know you and Dr. Wilson do it on a daily basis, but in my case I constantly deal with the most despicable acts that one human can inflict on another. It starts to get to you." She took a drink and looked at him, "My turn. Dr. House, tell me about the decision over your leg."

He was taken aback, normally people asked, "What happened?" They didn't ask about decision surrounding the surgery. "I don't follow, what do you mean, the decision?"

"You do know what I mean. If you're going to be coy, then we'll have our dinner and leave, no more personal questions."

He looked at her and wondered what the nurses and Wilson had been telling her. "I told the doctors not to operate but my partner told them to do the surgery."

"You felt betrayed, unable to trust her anymore. It upset you that she wouldn't trust your decision on this matter, a medical issue. In essence, she didn't believe in you in the one area that you excel at?"

House was almost angry with her for having pried so deep into his feelings. Who was giving her this information? Then he realized she was a behavioral psychologist and this probably fit a profile. After all, he was no longer with Stacy so something happened between them. She probably deduced from what he said that the leg was the largest catalyst in their demise. She was right, It had felt like a huge betrayal to him. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, it was that she'didn't respect his decision in the one area of his life that he was confident. She didn't trust that he knew what was best for him. He made medical decisions every day that were edgy and he knew the risks. He took the risks for the patients all the time...he had expected her to trust him, trust what he knew about his body, about medicine. But instead she chose the conventional method, she trusted the other doctors over him.

Teagan was feeling and hearing all of this. His emotions were so strong over this issue he was like a huge broadcasting tower beaming it straight at her. Of course he had no way of knowing this but the pain she was feeling from him touched her. She looked at his face, hardened and fixed and she realized that it was just a cover. Underneath was a man full of fear, sadness and anger but also hope. He spent most of his energy keeping the hope buried, but it was there. She wanted to touch him and take the pain away, but she didn't dare. The strength of House's personality would be difficult for her to handle, hard for her to control inside of her. She would just have to settle for being a sounding board.

"My girlfriend believed that she was saving my life. She let Cuddy and the surgeons talk her into operating on me. She had hoped I would be pain free afterwards, but I wasn't. On top of it, I had lost so much muscle that my life, my very active life, was over. I could no longer ski, golf, rock climb or any of the activities that I enjoyed doing. I was depressed and I blamed her. It was too much for our relationship, she left."

"She didn't leave the relationship, you did. You left it a long time before she actually walked out the door."

He was pissed, she had hit a nerve. Now he wanted answers from her. "Alright, my turn. What were you telling them at the crime scene the other day?"

"I simply told them my theory of the case based on my intuition, experience and training. I told them that he killed her in the layby and then buried her in the woods, in a shallow grave so that the animals would find her and destroy the evidence."

"Why did they call you?"

"The FBI keeps tabs on my whereabouts. It was one of the trade offs for going through the program at Quantico. They would train me if I made myself available for consults. I did that for three years and finally said enough was enough. They agreed to use other profilers unless the event or consult could be given within 100 miles of wherever I was. Unfortunately, I was here so they referred the police to me."

"But Quantico is fairly close, they could have sent someone up from there. Why you?"

"They love to save money and they don't have to take an agent out of the field if I do the consult."

House thought this was a plausible answer. Their meals arrived and they started to eat. The Shepherd's Pie was delicious.

"Wow, it sure is nice to have food that isn't from the cafeteria. It's getting old. If I have to eat one more rubber cheeseburger I think I'll scream."

House realized this was a good time to say something, "I heard about your cousin. It looks like she'll probably die, and soon." As he said it he waited for an emotional reaction, but her reaction was one of resignation. It was as if she had known this for quite awhile. He was a little surprised, "You never thought she had a chance to start with, did you?"

"It doesn't matter what I thought. I'll be leaving soon, driving back to California."

"By yourself?" He asked.

"I was going to drive back with a friend who was going to move to California but she met a guy and her plans changed. So I'll be making the trip by myself."

House didn't know why he said it, but it just came out, "I'll help you drive. I have to be in San Francisco at the end of the month anyway."

"Oh, I don't think so Dr. House. I hardly know you." She was nervous.

"You know me well enough. It's settled. When are we leaving?"

"I'm leaving after my cousin dies." she emphasized.

"Look, I'll share the cost of gas and do half the driving. It will be fine, besides you could use a man to protect you."

"I didn't have a man on my way out here."

"Well, going west is always trickier. I thought you said you would be leaving in less than a month about a month ago?"

"I did and I will, she's not going to last much longer."

"You don't know that! She could last weeks."

But she did know that. Her cousin died two days later. House was shocked at how fast her cousin went downhill. When she died Wilson was there and he was somewhat distraught. Just a few weeks ago he was sure that she was going to make it. This one was hard to lose.

Teagan went over to Dr. Wilson and put her hand on his. She tried to read his feelings and realized he was getting tired of death. He had wanted a positive outcome, he had needed it so that he could continue to do what he does.

"Dr. Wilson, I think if you hold on, you'll find that this wasn't your fault." She wanted to tell him that the drug he used was water downed. It worked in the beginning because he had received a full dose from the pharmacy. But the drug company was in financial trouble and started to water the drug down. She continued, "Next week a little girl with Stage IV leukemia is going to walk through these doors and you're going to save her. She's going to grow up to be the Ambassador to Italy. You do great work and you are a wonderful doctor. I know you are dedicated and you will save many lives so please don't beat yourself up over my cousin. She was tired and ready to go."

He knew she was speaking metaphorically about a little girl, but it was still a kind thing to say. In fact, he felt much better. Her words, her comforting gesture, it had all been helpful.

The day before her cousin died, House walked into Cuddy's office while she was on the phone. He managed to get her to hang up when he began singing at the top of his lungs,, "....she never lost her head, even when she was giving head, she said, Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side, hey baby take a walk on the wild side. And the colored girls go..do,do.do.do...."

"Ok, you have my attention. What do you want House?"

"I'm taking ten days of vacation and then you're giving me ten days to get to the seminar, give it and get back."

"You don't need ten days, the flight to San Francisco is only one day. You have three days at the seminar and two days travel."

"Not flying...recently developed a fear of flying. I'm going to drive. Road trip. I need three days to get there and three days to get back and one to recover."

"No."

"Then I'm not going. I'm willing to honor my contract, I'll give the seminar, I just need time to get there.:"

"What is this House, what's going on in that head of yours? Why do you need three weeks off all of a sudden." Lisa's tone went from accusatory to concerned.

House allowed himself to relax and be honest, "I haven't had the best of years. You know it's been hard. I need this Lisa. I have a chance to take a road trip with someone and then I figure when I get to California I'll rent a car and travel the west coast for awhile. It will give me time to think and visit my folks."

"Who will take over for you?"

"The team can survive for a month without me. I'll have my cell phone, they'll have you and Wilson. They have to start functioning on their own sometime. I won't always be there to babysit them."

"Ok, but you better be willing to fly from now on."

"Deal."

"When will you be leaving?"

"When Mrs. McCormick dies." He knew that would confuse her and House always liked to leave Cuddy a little bit off kilter. So he turned around and left.

House went up to the McCormick room and saw that Mrs. McCormick's husband was back but Teagan was no where to be seen. "Where's Teagan?"

"She had to pick up her car. She'll be back soon. Are you Dr. House?"

"Yes."

"You're really going to drive with that witch across the USA?"

He was amused at the sincerity in Mr. McCormack's voice when he called Teagan a witch. "Yes. As soon as your wife dies we're out of here."

The man was stunned by House's frankness. "You're asking for trouble. The men who sleep with her end up changed...I'd think twice before climbing into that witch's bed, or car, if I were you."

"Excuse me? What do you mean, "Changed?'"

"Just that, they're never the same. She does something wicked to them. They all end up leaving her and when they do, they're different...weird."

"That's all pretty interesting in an X-file sort of way. But I have no plans of sleeping with Teagan, I just need a ride to the west coast. Don't worry, Teagan's interesting, but she's not my type. I won't be sleeping with the witch."

"Yeah, that's what you think, but she'll entice you, she'll get in your head. You'll be sorry."

"Whoa, so much for gratitude that she just spent a month out of her life taking care of your dying wife."

"Oh, I appreciate that, but a spade's a spade. And she's a witch, always has been."

House chuckled outloud as Teagan walked into the room.

"I was just sharing thoughts about you with Cotton Mather here and we were going to erect a stake in the parking lot to fry you. Care to utter any last words?"

Teagan rolled her eyes. She was very aware of what Bob McCormack's views were about her. He had made it plain to her that she wouldn't be welcomed at her cousin's funeral, but then she already knew this. *** "Teagan, what kind of car do you have? I need to know what to pack and how much. If you've got a Miata I won't pack much."

"I have a 1965 Mustang and it's a clutch. I haven't said yes to you coming along." But she knew it was fruitless. It wasn't as if she could see anything about them or a road trip, she tended to have a hard time "seeing" things about herself, but she knew he wouldn't take no for an answer."

"I can drive a clutch. Here's my cell phone number. Let me know when she..." House looked at her cousin, gave them a silly face and then made the "slicing the throat" sign with his thumb. Bob almost lost it but Teagan found it amusing. Her cousin would have laughed if she was well.

House received a phone call the following night just after her cousin died. "We're leaving in the morning at 6:30 so be ready."

"6:30? Are you a masochist?" House lamented.

"I need to get out of here, I wake up early and I'm not going to wait around for your sorry @ss. If you want a ride, be ready and give me your address so I can pick you up."

"Gee, you don't have to be so testy. I promise to bring chocolate."

The next morning House was barely ready at 6:30. "We're stopping for coffee or I promise to make your life a living hell." He told her.

"Grab a pillow and bring it along, you can sleep the first leg. Then we'll stop and get coffee." He went into the bedroom to get one and while he was in there she went over to the piano and touched the keys. There was so much residue energy in the piano that she could have told you House's entire history if she had been given the time to absorb it. But House came out from the bedroom.

"Do you play?" he asked.

She pulled her hands away, "No, not the piano. But no one has a grand piano without playing and playing well at that. I'd like to hear you sometime, BUT WE HAVE TO GET ON THE ROAD."

"What is your hurry?"

"I just want out of here."

House grabbed his backpack, duffle bag and suit bag. Teagan thought about helping him but decided against it. She didn't want him to think she had anything close to pity for him. He was used to pity and he was used to milking it for all it was worth. In reality, other people had made him more handicapped than he was.

When they got on the street House saw every California boys' dream, a mint 1965 Mustang convertible. She was used to the adulation of males when they saw her car.

"It's a late 1965 four speed manual. Engines in the late '65s are more powerful; the 200 ci six-cylinder picked up nineteen horsepower giving this baby a cool120 hp. It s a 4-barrel version of the 289 cubic inch V8 and in late 1965 it was boosted to 225 horsepower. It has the Special Handling Package, rocker panel stripes, manual front disc brakes, grille-mounted fog lamps, chrome exhaust trumpets and GT emblems. The color is the original Burgundy color. I had it stripped, primed and painted. I don't drive her around the mountains much. I have a truck for that. But I love to take her on road trips."

"Sweet." House was drooling.

The top was up and House threw his bags in the trunk and got in on the passenger side. He looked around, the interior was clean and in the back seat sat an old style metal Coleman Cooler. They took off.

"I'll get us to Greensburg and then you drive us to somewhere close to Dayton, Ohio. Ok?" She popped her IPOD into the device that plays it over the FM radio and turned it onto some classical music. Music that would make it easier for House to get to sleep. About an hour out of town she pulled in and got gas and ice for the cooler. She grabbed a diet coke and went out to the car, put the coke between her legs and took off. She was daydreaming about getting home when she started hearing noises coming from House. His head was leaning up against the blue stripped pillow case covering his old pillow. The pillow itself was pinned up against the window by his head. His arms had fallen into his lap and his body was twisted to the side of the door. His mouth was slightly open and he was snoring lightly. When he slept he looked like anyone else asleep, at peace with the world and themselves.

Teagan wanted to know more about him and this cynicism that he wore like a badge. She tried to resist temptation but couldn't. She checked to see where the traffic was. It was fairly light and very little was around her. She looked at his face to see if he was still asleep and then reached out to touch him. She put her fingertips on his left hand and immediately saw the dream he was having. It was somewhere in a hotel, no a casino...two women were naked in his bedroom. Lydia and, she couldn't make out the second one's name, they were all having sex, hot sex.

Teagan pulled her hand away and giggled to herself. Men. The dream had been rather explicit but there had been something else she had discovered, he was an addict. He wrestled with Vicodin all of the time and even now wanted to take more of it despite the fact that the pain was at a tolerable level. Interesting.

Harrisburg and Wheeling are your typical industrial towns, not the type you stop in to take in the view. In Greensburg she was ready for lunch and was surprised that House was still asleep. She nudged him awake and he came up from his pillow with a snort. She chuckled.

"Hey sleepy head, time for lunch." She started to get out of the car and noticed how hot it was outside. She got into the trunk and grabbed her shorts out of the duffle bag. House already had a pair of shorts and a t-shirt on. He was getting his sunglasses on and slowly getting out of the car in an effort to give him time to wake up. He looked up and saw that they were in a Denny's parking lot. He followed her into the restaurant where they were seated in a window booth.

"I didn't get to bed until late, actually I didn't get to bed...I wish they'd get that water over here. My throat feels like cotton."

As if she heard him, the waitress showed up with two waters and the offer of coffee. "Yes Nurse, the coffee please."

"I'd like the chicken salad." Teagan gave the waitress back the menu.

"I'll have the same." House didn't want to take the time or effort to peruse the menu.

"I'll be back, I want to put my shorts on, it's getting hot." Teagan got out and went to the bathroom.

House was starting to wake up with the coffee. He watched as she walked out of the bathroom. He had only seen her in levis and a cotton shirt or t-shirt. She came out in a tank top and jean shorts and although her legs were white, they were long for her body and very shapely. House sat up a little and smiled to himself. She plopped back into the booth.

"House started singing, "She's got legs...she knows how to use them...she's got legs.."

"Dr. House, you're no ZZTop...I'd give it a rest."

"You know I love that you call me Dr. House, it makes me feel so superior, but maybe for the purpose of this trip you could call me Sir Greg, Greg the Delicious, My Liege Greg or just plain Greg."

The waitress sat the salad down on the table and politely asked if they needed anything else. After she left, Greg and Teagan tucked into the salads and drank their sodas.

"I assume we're going up by Chicago and then shoot down." House said with his mouth full.

"No, we'll be going to Springfield, Missouri, Denver and then home."

"Did you say Springfield, Missouri? What in the hell is in Springfield, Missouri?"

"A friend that will put us up."

"I can afford a motel or even a hotel room."

"I want to see my friend and the extra gas to get there will be saved by the fact I won't have to get a motel room. It only adds six hours to the trip and I haven't seen her in awhile. Relax, you'll like her, she's your type."

"How would you know what my type is?"

"She's taller than me, brunette, thin with big breasts and she loves to screw."

House stopped in the middle of chewing his salad and stared at her and after a few seconds started chewing again. He started to smile, "Springfield, Missouri sounds like a nice place to visit."

"I thought so!" She laughed at him and he joined her.

*** When they got out to the car, they put down the top. It was House's turn to drive, he tried to get in but the seat was pulled up too close to the steering wheel. "Damn you're short. " He moved the seat back and then got in, adjusted the mirrors, turned on the car and revved the motor. It purred like a V8 purrs. "Do you want to sell this baby?"

"I've had her for sixteen years. She's gotten me through college, two bad relationships, several one night stands and a lot of road trips. Can't sell her to you. You wouldn't know how to treat a lady."

"We are speaking metaphorically, right?"

She laughed and so did he. She plugged her IPOD back in.

The sound was incredible. House looked at her,"This isn't the original crappy stereo system, you kicked it up a notch or two."

"Harmon Kardon stereo. I couldn't stand not having a great stereo system."

"Yeah, when you kicked it up a notch, you kicked it up." House played around with the tones.

"Complaining?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just hate listening to a good system. What have you got on your IPOD?"

"My car, my music. That's MY rule." Teagan insisted.

"No, no, the rule is the driver gets to pick the music." House argued.

"Only when the owner falls asleep or agrees."

"Then grab my IPOD out of my backpack in back. I can wear the earphones while I drive."

"No." She relented, "I'll get you your IPOD and you can plug it in, but if it gets bad, I'm putting on my music."

She plugged his IPOD in and most of the music that played was jazz. "Greg, if I hear one more jazz pianist or saxophone player, I'm going to ring your neck and put me out of my misery."

He gave her a look of frustration. "Hand me the IPOD." He kept looking from the road to the IPOD and back. "Ok, since you're from California, I know the playlist that will make you happy."

The music started out with Led Zepplin, "Stairway to Heaven" and she smiled approvingly at him. Half way into the song they were both singing their hearts out. Teagan started playing air guitar and House raised an eyebrow, "You don't know the first thing about playing guitar do you?"

"THIS isn't just a guitar, THIS is my AIR guitar. If you think you can play my air guitar, you're crazy. Now get your own air guitar." He shook his head in laughter and continued to sing lead to her air guitar.

The next song was Creedence Clearwater, "Bad Moon Rising." "Oh this is a great song." she told him. The two of them sang songs all the way down the road until they got to Dayton Ohio. When they got to Dayton, House decided he was still good to drive and he got no argument from Teagan.

They talked about the places they had lived and realized that for a couple of years they had both lived within ten miles of each other down in San Diego. He was surprised at the fact that her parents had dragged her up to the mountains when she was 14 to live. It was as if they were trying to protect her, but from what? She lived in small mountain communities off and on for the rest of their lives.

House drove until they got to Marshall and then he pulled into the parking lot of a roadside diner with about half a dozen cars in the lot. There were no booths, just tables, a counter and a juke box. They sat down and the waitress popped over to give them water. "Can I get you something to drink?'

"Diet Coke." Teagan said.

"Samuel Adams." House told her.

They looked at the menu and when the waitress came back they placed their orders. Teagan got up and went over to the juke box. House was sitting with his legs crossed and stretched out before him. He watch Teagan bend over to read the choices on the juke box. Her shorts framed a perfect bottom and her gorgeous legs and her perfect calves were stunning as she stood there. He thought about how nice she looked backlit by the light coming from the juke box. He took it all in and then let out a deep breath. She put money in the juke box and watched as the cd made it's way to the play position.

She waited at the juke box for the music to start. As the drums played and the guitar started he watched her bottom sway back and forth in a rhythm that was sensual without being sexually overt.

Everytime I think of you I always catch my breath. And I'm still standing here And you're miles away I wonder why you left?

Teagan was dancing now to the music, her knees bent, her hips swaying and her arms slightly above her head, the ribbed tank top showed off her beautifully shaped breasts and he caught a glimpse of her midriff as she raised her arms. Her eyes were closed as she just let the music take her to another place.

And There's a storm thats raging Through my frozen heart tonight

She opened her eyes and looked at him and smiled. She continued to dance around.

I hear your name In certain circles And it always makes me smile I spend my time Thinking about you And its almost driving me wild .

She was singing along with the music and dancing her heart out. She was graceful and sexy and he was looking at her for the first time as a woman and not as an anomaly.

And there's a heart that's breaking Down this long distance line tonight

I ain't missing you at all Since you've been gone ... Away I ain't missing you No matter what I might say

The waitress brought their meals and Teagan stopped dancing and sat down. She was still feeling the music. She swayed a little in her seat as the music continued and they ate their dinners.

There's a message in the wire And I'm sending you this signal tonight You don't know How desperate I've become And it looks like I'm losing this fight. In your world, I have no meaning, So I'm trying hard to understand

And its my heart that's breaking Down this long distance line tonight

He asked her, "Where shall we pull over and get some sleep?"

"I don't care, anywhere you want to pull over and find a motel."

"Ok." House looked around the restaurant.

I ain't missing you at all Since you've been gone Away I ain't missing you No matter what My friends say

And there's a message that I'm sending out Like a telegraph to your soul And if I can't bridge this distance, Stop this heartbreak overload...

I aint' missing you at all Since you've been gone I ain't missing you No matter what My friends say

I ain't missing you ...I ain't missing you...I ain't missing you I can lie to myself

The waitress came over to top up their drinks. "Did you guys come from the direction of that storm?"

"What storm?" House asked.

"There's a big storm is coming out of the southwest. They're worried about tornadoes."

"When is it expected to hit?" Teagan asked.

"Anytime now. My mother called and said they were getting pounded with hail and rain. If you're going west, you better think about getting a room, the motels are filling up fast. No one wants to be out in this weather."

They split the bill and tip and then got back out into the car. It was getting windy and wild outside. Teagan looked at House and raised her eyebrows and he returned the look of concern. They closed the doors to the car.

"Oooh it's wild and wooly out here. I think we better find a motel quick."

House wanted to make a wise crack about the motel but when he turned to deliver it she was looking at him with one eyebrow raised, ready for his comment. He swallowed his words and just nodded yes.

They went to the first motel, Holiday Express, but it was full. The next Radison was full too. They pulled into the parking lot of the Motel 8 and Teagan ducked into the office to find out if they had a couple of rooms. They had one room.

"Does it have two beds?" Teagan asked.

"Yes, two full beds."

It had started to rain. She jumped into the passenger side wet, "They have one room left but it has two beds. What do you think?"

He chuckled, "I've never turned down sharing a room with a pretty woman, but it's your call."

A car pulled into the parking lot. She gave House a frantic look and jumped out and ran inside to beat the other car to the punch. She paid for the room and they drove to the back where it was located. ***

When they got in she asked, "Which bed do you want?"

"Which one are you going to be sleeping in, I'll take it?"

"Cute. I'll take this one by the bathroom. I like to sleep on the left side of the bed."

She put her little suitcase on the top of the holder and opened it up. "Mind if I take a shower first?"

House already had the remote control in his hand and was changing channels. "Sure, go ahead. Can I join you?"

She didn't answer but started grabbing her underwear, her big overgrown T-shirt that she wore to bed and her toilet bag. On the way into the bathroom she dropped her panties on the floor. She went into the shower, put her stuff down on the toilet lid and started the shower.

House turned the tv off and went over to get some water when he saw her panties on the floor. He picked them up and felt the satin panels separated by the lace. They were pretty little things, blue satin hipsters. He laid down on the bed and thought about her dancing earlier. He was getting very turned on by holding her panties and thinking about her. He placed her panties on his chest and closed his eyes.

House started to imagine taking Teagan's clothes off of her. He would be sitting on the edge of the bed and she would be laying next to him on the top of the quilted motel bedspread. He would start by placing his hand at the lower edge of the tank top and then push the tank top slowly up revealing her white, soft skin. He helped her take the cotton top off revealing her round white breasts. He threw it on the floor and then kissed and licked her breasts. He unbuttoned her shorts and pulled them down to see the little blue satin panties with lace. He could see him bending down and kissing her just above the line of the panties and then licking her lightly up to her navel. The shorts were kicked off and he pulled then he slowly pulled the satin panties down.

House was very aroused by the daydream, he reached inside his pants with one hand and continued it.

Teagan was in the shower when House had picked up her panties. The physical connection between her personal things and his touch was like a hardwire to her brain. She didn't understand where the images were coming from or why, but she could see House taking off her shirt and then softly licking her breasts. He was kissing them. Teagan was still confused as she continued to see the images, as if she was there. House was pulling her shorts off and kissing her just above her panties. The feel of his tongue on her skin was sending waves of pleasure into her groin. He pulled the panties down and what he did with his tongue made her lose her balance in the shower. She slid down the tile of he shower moaning as he continued with his tongue.

House couldn't hear her, he was so wrapped up in the fantasy he had no idea that she was feeling each touch, brush, kiss, lick, suck and now him entering her.

"Oh my God, what is going on...?" She said it out loud but House couldn't hear her over his own heavy breathing and the shower. She could feel every one of his imagined thrusts, the touch of his hands over her breasts, he was picking up the speed and she was trying desperately to hold on to the sides of the shower. She came just as he did. She was still holding onto the sides of the shower moaning and riding the wave of the orgasm until the image stopped in midstream like the television being turned off. She fell back onto her bottom and gasped. She wasn't sure how he managed to send such vivid images and sensations. Did he even know what he had done?

House was cleaning himself up. He took her panties and laid them on the end of the bed. He laid back down and closed his eyes, feeling satiated, tired and relieved.

Teagan had a hard time getting her balance but eventually she climbed out of the tub and toweled off. She couldn't find her underwear, she must have dropped them on the way into the bathroom. She got dressed and opened the door and peaked her head out. She saw the panties laying on the edge of the bed. He was also laying on the bed, her bed, with his eyes closed. She walked quickly out to the bed and picked up the panties, they were warm. She walked back into the bathroom and put them on and then slipped back out to the bedroom. He opened one eye and looked up at her. She wanted to thank him. She hadn't had an orgasm like that in years, maybe never, but he wouldn't understand or believe her so she just smiled at him.

"The shower is all yours." She figured he probably needed one. She wasn't sure what to make out of it. She thought about the song, "Love the one you're with" and figured she was just a convenient sex object. She doubted it meant anything more to him because she wasn't picking up any emotional feelings attached to the sex. She was amused, she hoped that she had been everything in his fantasy that he wanted.

When he came out, he was toweling off his hair and wearing just a towel. She smiled to herself and wondered if he was up for another round. Naughty, naughty. He turned around caught her looking at him lustily. He gave her a look like, "What are you thinking?"

She gave him a wolf whistle..."That's a lovely towel you're wearing."

"It's yours if you want it."

In her mind she was saying, "Oh, yeah, I want it." But she laughed and said, "You might get cold. Wouldn't want you to catch anything." As she said that there was a huge gust of wind that rattled the window and door.

House looked at her surprised. He went over to the far side of his bed and dropped the towel and got in bed. She didn't actually see anything but just knowing he was naked was a turn on. She threw him the remote control again and then turned over to go to sleep.

House watched television and around ten he looked over at her. She was fast asleep. She looked so young and fresh, like a schoolgirl laying there sweet and gentle. He wondered what she would do if he just climbed into bed with her? The thought of making love to her for real was so tempting but obviously out of the question. She was dead to the world, lovely but dead.

She woke up in the morning and looked over at House. He was asleep on his back. She wondered what he would do if she went over and woke him up with a kiss and a friendly hand down the sheets? Ah..he'd probably make a snide remark. She decided to get dressed while he was still asleep. She took off the t-shirt with her back to him. He opened one eye and saw her bare back and the curve of her hips as they melted into the blue satin panties. He smiled to himself. He was especially happy because he had a perfect view of her breasts in the reflection off of the television . They were just what he thought they would be, sweet, high, round, pert and with the perfect nipples. She got the shirt over her head and slipped her shorts on. Between the view of her breasts and her bending over to put the shorts on, House was having a hard time getting control over his morning friend.

She turned around and saw that he was still asleep, or so she thought. She walked over and said, "Greg, Greg..." He pretended to wake up. "Sorry, but we need to get going. I want to make Springfield by tonight. It's a seven hour drive, with stopping to get gas and food it should take eight, maybe nine hours. We'll be there by five tonight. I'm going to call my friend, you get up and get dressed and meet me out in the car. She stepped outside and called Naomi. *** "Naomi, I should be there tonight. I hope you don't mind but I'm bringing a friend, a doctor, Greg House. He's helping me drive across country."

"That's fine, I'll have dinner cooking when you get here. I can't wait, it will be good to see you."

House let her plug in her IPOD and thought that about half of the tunes were tolerable. They talked about medicine and psychology. "You know, watching and listening to you and your team in the hospital reminds me a lot of behavioral psychology. You have to be keen observers and then put the pieces together to have it make sense."

"Have you worked on any criminal cases I might recognize?"

"Do you know the Cary Stayner case which involved the murders of a mother, her daughter and her daughter's friend just outside of Yosemite National Park? He also decapitated a Yosemite Park worker. "

"I remember. What did you do on that case?"

"I told them it was Cary Stayner."

"What do you mean, you told them it was Cary Stayner?"

"I figured it out, I led them to him...I did my job."

"Any other cases?"

"I provided assistance on the Robert Lee Yates case. You probably heard, it was the case involving the deaths of numerous prostitutes in Spokane, Washington. Tell me about your most interesting case."

House didn't realize it but he had just been redirected so that she wouldn't have to deal with his curiosity. The longer they were together it became easier for her to filter him out. His emotions and presence didn't overwhelm her. On one hand it was easier to filter his emotions out and on the other, it was easier for her to open the gate and let his feelings, thoughts and images in whenever she wanted.

He told her of the case of the lesbian with bubonic plague and a woman who had testicular cancer...because she was really a he. It was all very interesting and bizarre and it kept him from concentrating on her.

It was close to 1:00 p.m. and just outside of St. Louis she mentioned that they should pull over and get lunch.

"If you pick another Denny's I'll have to put you out of your misery. I'll do it by feeding you Grand Slams until you hemorrhage." House said with a look of evil.

Teagan chose Marcellus Barbeque restaurant and pulled in for lunch. It was a great restaurant, with a collection of musical instruments and photos of jazz and blues players on the wall. House spent ten minutes just looking at the photos before she could get him to sit down. He was impressed and told her, "I think just about every important jazz musician alive has eaten here. Sweet."

When they sat down, he ordered a beer and Teagan ordered a Diet Coke. She looked at him and realized that he was like a kid in a candy store. She could feel that he wanted desperately to play the upright piano in the corner.

"Go play it. The most they can do is to tell you to stop." She nodded in the direction of the piano. He didn't need to be told twice. He gave her his order to give the waitress and then went over to the piano. He started playing and no one asked him to stop. He was great. She thoroughly enjoyed listening and watching him. He was having a blast playing. When their meal came he stopped, the patrons all clapped for him and he gave a little bow and joined her in the booth.

"Don't eat too much, Naomi is feeding us dinner." she warned him.

"How do you know Naomi?" He asked.

"We went to college together. She graduated a semester before me. We were roomies."

"I can't wait to meet her." House smiled like a devil.

They pulled up in Naomi's drive around 4:40 p.m. and Naomi came out to meet them.

"Holy Mother of God." House said when he saw her. Naomi was incredibly hot. Teagan was right, she was his type and Teagan was picking up his interest in her.

When they got inside Teagan introduced House, "Naomi, this is Dr. Gregory House. He works at a hospital in Princeton. Actually Greg here is famous world wide for what he does and he's been dying to meet you."

"Me?"

"He likes brunettes." Teagan rolled her eyes.

Naomi smiled at House, "Oh, so you two aren't a couple?"

They both said simultaneously, "No, no, no.."

"Well, then I'll have to alter the sleeping arrangements. Come in and meet the other guests." Naomi opened the door for them and their luggage.

When they went into the brick, one story house, they put their luggage down in the front room and followed her into the family room. Sitting on the couch were three other women, all good looking and of various shapes and sizes. House was in heaven.

"Debbie!" Teagan ran over and hugged the woman who stood up to greet her. "Debbie, this is Dr. Gregory House. Greg, Debbie is Naomi's sister who I haven't seen in at least ten years. It's been too long."

"I know! Glad to meet you Dr. House. These are my two roommates, Eilene and Marcy." Debbie made the introductions quickly.

As he shook their hands he told them, "Please, just call me Greg."

Naomi announced, "Teagan, you're bunking with me. Greg, let me show you the guest room."

House followed her to the guest room which contained a dresser, a full bed and a nightstand. It looked very comfortable. "Thank you for putting us up." He said sincerely to Naomi.

"No problem Greg. We'll be eating in an hour, so if you'd like a shower, it's just down the hall."

"Thanks." House did just that. He grabbed his clothes and toilet bag and went into the bathroom. A minute later there was a knock, he opened the door and was standing in his shorts obviously shaving and getting ready to take his shower.

"Greg, Naomi is going to let me do a load of laundry. Let me have your dirty clothes."

He walked out into the hall and all the women could see him from the family room. There were a lot of cat calls and wolf whistles which made him smile from ear to ear. Teagan followed him into the guest room, shook her head and said, "I think you're going to have a fun evening."

"It sure looks promising." He handed her the few dirty clothes that he had. As she grabbed them out of his hand their fingers touched. He saw an image of her and Naomi at a party. They were young and happy, laughing at something they had said. He then saw Teagan, at the same party, making out with a young man. Teagan pulled the clothes from him and the image stopped.

I had just been reminding Naomi of the big Cinco de Mayo party where we both ended up in strange beds and so that image was still fresh in my mind when I went to get his clothes. I should have remembered to shut the gate but I was so happy to be around my friends and so relaxed, that I forgot about Greg. I forgot that he still didn't know me. I let the image out and I knew from his expression that he was receiving it like a radio station. He didn't understand what was happening and I could not only feel his confusion but see it on his face.

"I just had the oddest image of you and Naomi. You were college age and at a party."

"We went to a lot of parties."

"It seemed so real."

"That's odd. I need to get these in the washer if we're going to have them for tomorrow." she took off.

At dinner Greg was placed between Naomi and Eileen, both brunettes and buxom. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes off of all the cleavage in the room. Teagan was picking up on his sexual frustration and finding it very amusing. He looked over at her and their eyes connected. Teagan had been drinking Margaritas and her guard was down.

When our eyes connected at the table I forgot again. That's what booze does to me. My talent goes haywire, it's like a naughty child that's been let loose. I had picked up on his sexual frustration and it made me think back to last night in the shower. The image of him screwing me flew right out the gate and into him. Once again the look on his face told me that in his head all he was seeing was us on that bed banging our brains out. I had to get control and stop drinking.

House was amazed at how strong his reaction was to her gaze. He was immediately aroused by an image of her on the motel bed and him on top making love to her. He didn't understand. The other women at the table were more to his liking and here he was having mental pictures of screwing Teagan. He diverted his eyes and focused on Marcy's lovely tanned breasts.

Naomi knew that if she got Teagan tipsy, they could get her to do parlor tricks and that's why all the girls were there. They wanted her to read them. The only person at the table that wasn't familiar with Teagan's gifts was Greg. Naomi kept pouring Teagan Margaritas and then making toasts. It was working, when Naomi saw the look Teagan gave Greg she wondered what was going on between the two of them. When Teagan turned and looked over at Naomi, Naomi received an image of Teagan and Greg in a motel room having sex. Wow, that was hot. So Greg and Teagan had sex last night. Why did they deny they were a couple?

I had let an image slip to Naomi and now she thought we had been intimate. I sent her a quick message, "No, that was his fantasy last night...we didn't have sex." She received the message and allowed me to easily read her thoughts, "Ok, but he has some pretty explicit fantasies." I responded, "Yeah, tell me about it. He gave me an orgasm without touching me."

Naomi burst out laughing at the table for no apparent reason. Everyone looked at her and she contained her laughter quickly and continued eating. After they cleared and did the dishes the women started asking questions.

"Teagan can you tell me if I'm going to marry Jeff?" Debbie asked.

"I'd like to know if I'll meet anyone soon?" Eileen asked.

House looked at Teagan and she gave him a weak smile. He wondered why they were asking her these questions. Teagan took a big gulp of her Margarita and then excused herself so that she could go to the bathroom.

"What's going on?" House asked.

Naomi said, "You don't really know who she is, do you?"

"You mean Teagan?" He was very confused.

"Yeah. You're in the presence of the only psychic endorsed and given the seal of approval by the U.S. Government. Teagan is the government's secret weapon, of course that's when Teagan allows the government to use her."

House started laughing, they were all teasing him and having a good joke. "I'm sorry but I don't believe a word you're saying. She's a behavioral psychologist, I can understand that what she does seems like voodoo, but it isn't. It's based on science and statistics, not hocus pocus."

Teagan was standing behind Greg when he said this. They all stared at her as she shrugged her shoulders. He turned around and saw her. "They're trying to convince me that you are a some kind of psychic."

"I see. " Teagan came back to the table and took another swig of her Margarita.

"Of course, I've been sticking up for you and telling them it's a load of crap."

Naomi and Debbie looked at each other knowingly. They had already gone through this a dozen times with people who didn't believe. No one said anything more to convince him.

Teagan looked at the women, "I assume you want me to do readings?"

Naomi said sheepishly, "Would you mind?"

"It's ok, keep the Margaritas coming." Teagan sat down at the table and took Debbie's hand in hers. "You haven't been happy in your job, there's an opening at Statons. You need to apply for it, you'll get it and you'll be much happier. You'll do well enough that you'll get a promotion to their London office. I don't see a man or Jeff in your future. I don't see a real relationship in your life for the next three years...but you will find someone after that Deb, you'll be happy but it won't end that way. I...well, you know I don't like to give bad news...just know that you will find happiness even after that ends."

Deb nodded her head and got up from her seat with a hopeful heart. Eileen sat down. Teagan read her and House was smirking while this was going on. Naomi whispered to him, "You don't believe this do you?"

"Not one bit. She's telling them all what they want to hear."

Naomi said, "What if I get her to read you at the end."

"No thanks. I don't need any more fantasy in my life." House nodded his head no.

"No, I'll have her read your past. Something you can verify."

House didn't respond. But after the women had been read, Teagan was quite tipsy. She had a little nose bleed and had an ice cube pressed on her sinus to try and stop it. It stopped and she took a big sigh. Everyone was in a good mood except House who was a little annoyed. He didn't understand how these intelligent and good looking women could believe in this.

"Teagan, you need to make Greg a believer or he's going to be annoyed with you all the way to California." Naomi suggested.

"You aren't annoyed with me are you Greg?" Teagan gave his a sweet little smile.

"I find this psychic mumbo jumbo an affront to any intelligent human and I'm intelligent."

"Do you want some empirical evidence?" She asked.

"Yeah right." He looked around and everyone was glaring at him, "Ok, if I don't let you then everyone at this table is going to say I didn't give you a chance. So do your best."

"Well, let me see. Stand up. I'm going to give you a taste of what you gave me last night while I was in the shower."

The best way to send images is to touch someone. So I decided, in my alcoholic wisdom, that the best way to touch Greg while sending him these images would be with a kiss. Stupid, yes. I walked over and could smell him, a nice musky odor, just like the first day I met him. I put my arms around him and told him to kiss me. I was a little miffed when he refused to do so. I felt rejected. But after the girls egged him on he leaned down and gave me a soft, closed mouth kiss. I pressed into his lips and darted my tongue inside of him and then I sent him the same images he had sent me last night. I sent them until I could feel him physically responding, he got hard next to me. I took him all the way up to the point of his climax. When I stopped, I didn't dare move back or he would have been embarrassed by the bulge in his pants. I turned him around from the girls and pretended that I was reading his mind so that he could compose himself. When I finally pulled back and saw the look in his eyes I knew I had just blown a hole in his assumptions but he wasn't convinced.

House looked at her with an aching in his groin for the climax that never came. He started to concentrate on the issue at hand. Was that really a psychic experience or was he just reliving his fantasy because she was kissing him? Whatever it was, it felt all too real and if she hadn't stopped he would be cleaning himself up.

Naomi broke the ice, "Convinced now?"

House cleared his throat, "Sorry, but what I saw could have been my own making. I'm not convinced."

Teagan sat down and threw her hands in the air in frustration, "Ok, then what about this. About six months ago you downed Oxycontin with a large glass of Maker's Mark in a half-@ss attempt to kill yourself. Is that personal enough? Or what about the time you had sex with your ex-girlfriend while her husband was in recovery for a life threatening illness? Or what about the time you had sex with Lisa Cuddy and ...."

"ALRIGHT, enough, enough. You could have obtained that information from Wilson and this could be an elaborate hoax."

"Greg, come here and hold my hand and think of something that I wouldn't be able to get from Wilson or your team."

He put his hand out and thought of the time he played in a band at a local club. In the audience was Billy Joel who came up to him afterwards and complemented him on his piano playing. He hadn't told Wilson about it because Wilson would start haranguing him to join a band again.

"Oh, Greg, that's easy...Billy Joel likes the way you play piano."

House pulled his hands out of hers like he had just touched a hot stove. He jumped up from the chair and hobbled without his cane into the living room where he sat down and put his head in his hands. This was impossible, impossible. He couldn't get his head around it.

Teagan had opened the gate and was feeling his confusion and fear. Most people feared her talents at first. They wondered what she could and couldn't feel or hear or see. They wondered if she was always listening or monitoring them. She hated this part of the discovery process, the part where she had to convince them that she typically didn't tap into everyone's thoughts, it was too draining, too painful. She followed him out to the living room. When he saw her he jumped up from the chair, put his hands out in the stop position and backed up.

"Ok Greg, get over yourself. So I'm psychic, big deal. I know you have questions so when you're ready to ask them, I'll try to answer. And by the way, last night was the best orgasm I've had in years, thanks." She turned to go back.

House realized that she had seen everything in his mind last night and had just played it back like TIVO for him in the kitchen a few minutes ago. He wasn't embarrassed, it was fantasy sex, nothing else, but he was surprised as to how real it felt when she was kissing him and he was seeing those images. Telepathic sex, now that was funny! He smiled at the thought and then House asked himself, is she reading my mind now? Can she really read my mind or am I sending out non-verbal signals that she's picking up on. No, there's no way I could non-verbally communicate the name, Billy Joel.

House eventually joined the ladies and had a good time but he stayed away from Teagan for the rest of the night. Teagan knew he would, he had to come to terms with the whole idea. Teagan went to bed around midnight. House stayed up with the ladies until 1 a.m. when he managed to convince Marcy to see the view from the guestroom. He had sex with her and then they fell asleep.

*** Teagan got up the next morning and folded the clothes, packed hers and took Greg's to his room. She opened the door expecting Greg to be asleep and caught Greg and Marcy having morning sex. She jumped back and ran out the door. They finished and after a few minutes, Marcy came out of the room dressed, said her goodbyes and left. Teagan was in the kitchen having tea and a bowl of raisin bran when House came out to the kitchen and looked at her. He shook his head in disbelief without saying anything. He poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot Naomi had made before she went to the gym. Naomi and Teagan had said their goodbyes before she left. Naomi told her to tell Greg goodbye too.

"We have a long drive today, we can either drive twelve hours to get to Denver or we can break it up into two nights on the road. Which would you prefer?"

"Why don't you just read my mind, why bother to ask me?"

She gave him a dirty look and said, "It doesn't work that way Greg." She left the kitchen, brushed her teeth, grabbed her luggage and the keys and took it out to the Mustang and loaded it up. It was already hot as hell outside. She decided to put the top down again. She went back inside and lathered up in sunscreen. House had his bags ready when she threw the sunscreen at him.

"Better lather up, I'm driving with the top down."

House put on the sunscreen, his baseball cap and Ray Ban sunglasses. Teagan put on her Yosemite ball cap and her cheap, Walmart sunglasses. She stripped the guest bed and then made it for Naomi before they left.

House was very uneasy. He didn't want to sleep because he didn't want her reading his dreams or thoughts.

"How long have you been...been like this?" House asked.

"Since I was born. As a toddler I channeled emotions and reacted to everyone around me like a sponge. If someone cried, I cried, someone laughed, I laughed. At first my parents didn't pick up on it, but my Grandmother did. It turned out that my great grandmother on my Mom's side was a well known psychic in her area. It was assumed that I received my talent from her. But then we found out that my father's great great grandmother had been run out of town for being a witch. The government believes that I just hit the jackpot of psychic genes."

"The government? Naomi said you were a certified psychic."

"There is no certification. It's just that I spent two years of my life in various labs, including Princeton, and the CIA's farm taking test to disprove my gift. In the end they had a file the size of the Oxford dictionary and a conclusion that I was the read deal. That's what Naomi meant."

House was quiet and Teagan said nothing. She knew he had to absorb the information at this own pace and ask his questions when he felt he could handle the answer.

Eventually she did speak up. "Greg, could you please get me a diet coke out of the cooler?"He reached back, got her a diet coke, undid the bottle top for her and handed it to her. "Thanks."

"Ok, how does it work, are you always reading my thoughts?"

"No. I call the ability to read or not read someone's thoughts a "gate." I can usually open and close it at will, sometimes I can't, it just floods me or I can't get it open. When I first met you, you were so overpowering that I couldn't get the gate closed. If I was around you, I was feeling you. But, as we got to know each other, I was able to tune you out or close the gate. I don't know how you managed to open the gate in the motel room the other night ,because I thought I had it closed, but you did. Usually you have to touch something that belongs to the person to open it up as wide as you did. I have to admit, I was surprised as to how real it all felt. I couldn't get the gate closed and you sure took me with you."

"I picked up your panties, you had dropped them. I was holding them when I started to think of you in them." He didn't tell her that he had placed them on his chest while he had his fantasy, he was a little embarrassed by that.

"Oh, that explains it." She paused. "Normally I have to have the gate closed or I would be picking up on everyone's feelings thoughts, smells, and images. It would be overwhelming, extremely exhausting."

"You had a bloody nose last night and when you were out on the crime scene...oh wow, you weren't out there as a behavioral psychologist, you were using your psychic abilities to lead them to her body, weren't you?"

"Yes and no. I do a little of both. I really am trained as a behavioral psychologist and I did go through the school at Quantico. The FBI thought it would be easier to get a jury to believe that I had training in profiling rather than the fact that I was a psychic."

"The blood, what's that about?"

"Sometimes, but not all the time, when I have to do remote viewing or read someone telepathically, I bleed. It depends on how tired I am or what the case is about. If I really push to see something, my blood pressure goes so high from my effort that I start to burst capillaries and blood vessels. But it depends on what I am doing. I can usually pick up thoughts without bleeding or just bleeding a little, it's only when I really push myself to see in the past or future that I bleed a lot."

"You had a bloody nose last night, why?"

"When I am reading, I get the good, bad and the ugly. I don't like to talk about the bad so I pushed myself past that image to another, happier image. Sometimes, like in the case of Marcy, I had to push myself pretty far into the future to give her something hopeful. The next few years are going to be tough on her. I started to bleed when I pushed."

"You can read thoughts, read the future and past and smell things without smelling...what else can you do?"

She refused to tell him that sometimes, very rarely, she could perform psychic healings. It was very difficult for her to do and usually she had to stop because of the bleeding. And it wasn't always successful, but sometimes it was. Naomi knew this, because Naomi was alive because of it. In college they had been partying...too much. Naomi thought she was okay to drive and minutes later they were wrapped around a tree with Naomi slipping into a coma from a brain hemorrhage. Teagan had managed to stop the bleeding in Naomi's brain but when the paramedics arrived, Teagan had no deep cuts but was drenched in blood, her own blood and her blood pressure was so high they thought she was going to stroke out. Teagan was light headed and dizzy and if she had gone a few minutes more trying to heal Naomi, she would have stroked out and died. Naomi would do anything for Teagan, she owed her life to Teagan.

House was beginning to relax a little. She was telling him the truth about her gift. In an odd, twilight zone way, it made sense. If she went around all day opened to everyone's thoughts, feelings and images, how would she be able to have her own? How could she function?

"Can someone close this gate to you?"

"You mean, can you prevent me from reading your thoughts?"

He nodded yes.

"Sometimes I can't get in and I just don't know why. And, as we get to know each other you'll feel my presence in your head. When you do, you won't be able to shut it off, but you can certainly change your thoughts and tell me to leave." She smiled. "But we have to get close before you can feel my presence. Naomi can do it, one of my boyfriends could do it and a few others. But they had to be close to me. I have been receiving images that you send out. I know you don't mean to but you have a very big presence and when you throw an image out there or a thought or a feeling, it's hard to ignore. When I first met you, I had to spend a lot of energy pulling that gate down. You were like King Kong crashing through everything I put up. But now that we are getting to know each other it's getting easier to shut you out. Does that make sense?"

"No. None of it "MAKES SENSE." But I'm trying to deal with it."

"Ok, you've asked me questions, my turn."

"Why did you try to kill yourself?"

"Who said I was trying to kill myself?" He said defiantly.

She looked from the road to him with a look that said, ""I'm a psychic, remember?"

He took a deep breath. "My life hasn't been that great in the last few years and it got worse when this cop with a vendetta against me and almost got me struck off the books. I almost lost my license to practice medicine. The only thing left in my life that means anything to me is my ability to do my job. I just thought that if I couldn't do that, why live? I had pushed all my friends and loved ones away. I had no one in my life to mourn me, I'm in constant pain, I can't do the things I enjoy like playing golf, rock climb, ski, so what did I have left? I had medicine and when it looked like that was going to be taken from me, I didn't care anymore."

She felt tremendous sadness for the man sitting there that thought he had nothing left to live for if he didn't have his job. "Greg, you'd be surprised how many people would mourn your loss. I could feel how much the people close to you care about you."

He looked at her and then looked out the window. She knew he didn't believe it because he didn't want to believe it. House didn't want anything good in his life, it meant that he'd have to care about it, protect it, nurture it and he wasn't up to the task. He was worn down by life and the more he allowed himself to sink the less he cared about anything or anyone.

When they pulled into Las Vegas, New Mexico, she was sore from sitting and needed to do some walking. It was dry and it was hot. She drank a diet coke and got a bottle of water out of the cooler. They put the top up on the car and then she suggested a walk to get the kinks out. He needed to walk too, his leg muscles were cramping from just sitting.

They walked around the town , which wasn't very big, but it gave them a chance to get out of the car. House suggested that they have an early dinner since lunch had consisted of a hot dog from a gas station. They went into the local diner and both decided to indulge in a malt.

"Two chocolate malts. I want a tuna salad, Greg?"

"Reuben and side salad." He put the menu away behind the napkin holder. He looked at her and said, "What's that guy over there thinking?"

"Greg, that's really an invasion of privacy."

He gave her an onery look and she relented. She concentrated in his direction and opened the gate. "He's worried. His car needs a new head gasket...it's going to cost him $1200 and he doesn't know where he's going to get the money." She closed the gate and looked at House. "Are you happy? You see, that's why I keep the gate down. Most of our lives are spent thinking about the mundane. Imagine being open to that all the time, you'd go crazy."

"Not if you read my mind."

"Do you want me to?"

"Can I read yours?" he asked.

"Everyone has some psi in them. You could easily read what I projected for you to read." She opened the gate and projected a picture of her cabin in the mountains.

He saw a small log cabin with several windows and a couple of sheds and a pile of wood under a covered shelter. There were pines all around and it was quiet. "Is that where we're going?" He asked.

"Yes, it's my home."

"It's about as remote as it gets. Why there?"

"No one's thoughts, images, smells. No one begging me to find their daughter, the body or the murderer. I get to live a life. The locals think I'm a nice witch and that's fine with them. Californians, especially mountain people, are pretty tolerant. If you don't bother them, then they don't really care what you do or who your are."

"I thought that the FBI worked with you."

"We have an understanding, if I'm close to an area they need investigated, I get called in. But typically, they don't bother me anymore. The people, my friends, at the FBI know that it takes it's toll on me to do the work. So they try to use me sparingly."

"I know, where's Bin Laden?"

She laughed. "On September 15th, 2001 I received a visit in my cabin from the CIA and I told them, he's in Afghanistan, in the mountains and he's moving around. It wasn't really news to them, they just wanted confirmation."

"Where is he now?"

"I can't tell you. CIA, secrets...top secret. If I told you I'd have to kick you out onto the asphalt at a high speed without your cane ."

"Why are we going to Denver?"

"To see an old boyfriend."

"We're staying with an old boyfriend?"

"No, we'll go to a motel. I just need to see him, for a minute."

You're not going to blow him away and then take off?" He mused.

"I wish. No, I need to give him back something and tell him about a vision I had of him."

House started to laugh, "Oh that sounds entertaining."

House drove the rest of the way into Denver and then pulled over so that Teagan could take the wheel. She drove through the suburbs until she pulled up in front of a brown stucco, two story house. It was a plain house, nothing exciting. She went into the trunk and got out a large pipewrench. House started to worry that maybe she had been lying to him about killing him. He jumped out and followed her, ready to stop her if she turned violent. She turned and looked at him, not surprised that he had followed her.

She rang the door bell but there was no answer. House looked at her, "No one's home, let's go. You can leave that by the front door."

"He's here, I can feel him. How do you think I drove here? I didn't have his address, I just followed his psi."

"His psi?"

"He's a psychic too. Not as good as me, not nearly as good as me. But he has a gift. I'm going to tell him to get his butt out here or I'm going to wait on his doorstep until his girlfriend gets home...just a sec." She went quiet and closed her eyes. Within a minute the door open.

"ALRIGHT damn it. Come on in." He was angry but he opened the door anyway. "I didn't need the damn pipe wrench back."

"Oh, no, no...you screamed for years that I was hoarding your stupid pipe wrench...now shove it up your @ss!"

House stepped back out of the fray. He had never seen Teagan upset but he was about ready to bust out laughing. She was very entertaining.

"Fine, sit it down and get out."

"No, Richard, I wanted to tell you that if you keep telling the world where I am, I'm going to screw with your brain big time...and you KNOW I can."

"Oh go screw yourself." He looked over at House, "Who's the cripple?"

House was about to unleash a witty retort but Teagan jumped in, "The CRIPPLE is a guy who can give a girl an orgasm telepathically, something you couldn't do in three years of physical contact."

House liked what she had said so he remained quiet. Why ruin a good thing.

"Yeah, I can't help that when you opened your legs the refrigerator light went on...everyone knows what an ice queen you are. Christ Teagan, no man makes it out of a relationship with you without battle scars. Watch out mister...you don't know what she can do to you."

"Oh, just shut up. I'm going...but I want you to know something. I had a vision of you. Want to hear it?"

"No, it can't be good if you want to share it with me."

"Fine." She turned to go but knew it would be eating him and he'd ask her to share it with him before she got to the car. "Come on Greg, let's go."

They were in the driveway when he yelled at her, "OK, I want to hear it."

She turned to him and she was dead serious. "This winter a large semi-tractor-trailer will lose traction on an icy patch, it's going to come at you and you're going to freeze. You end up a paraplegic."

"Alright, so what do I do?"

"If you turn the wheel sharply to the right, the car will do a 180 and he'll hit you, but from behind. You'll be hurt but you'll walk."

Richard looked at her and shook his head. "Why do we do this to each other? You know it kills me to see you." He looked into her eyes and House knew they were talking to each other in their minds. Both of their faces softened and Richard turned to go inside. She got in the car. It was getting dark and they needed to find a motel.

"What did you say to him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Telepathically, what did you say?"

"He thanked me for giving him the information. I told him that if it was any consolation, he would never see me again, ever. He was sad and he told me, I'll..." Teagan started tearing up, "He said he'll always love me."

"Oh. Do you want me to drive?" House asked as he watched tears roll down her cheek. He wasn't good at giving comfort so he didn't even try. They drove for another half hour to get on the west side of Denver so that they could avoid the morning rush hour traffic. *** "How about that Radisson?" House suggested.

"Fine."

They pulled into the parking lot and went in to register. They got two adjoining rooms downstairs and unloaded their bags. They both took showers and then laid down in their respective rooms to watch television and read. House was in a lot of pain from such a long day in the car. He wanted to avoid taking the extra Vicodin, just in case he might need it later, but the pain was becoming too much. She was having trouble concentrating on her book because she kept feeling his pain. No matter how hard she tried to close the gate she couldn't keep the pain from creeping into her mind. It must be bad if she couldn't block it. She got up and knocked on the inner door that connected their two rooms. He opened it and then limped back to his bed.

"Mind if I come in?" She stuck her head inside his room.

He grimaced and said, "Come on in..."

She looked at him, laying on the bed with his boxers on and a t-shirt. She went over and ran the water in the sink to get it hot. She grabbed several hand towels and soaked them in the hot water. She grabbed one of them and then walked over to the bed.

She motioned for him to move over a little, "Scoot." He moved a little to the right, flinched in pain and then she sat down next to his legs. She placed the hot towel on his right thigh. She looked up at his face and felt pity for him. He really did hurt. They didn't say anything. She got back up and rotated the towels, grabbing the hot one and putting the cold one in the water. She did this several times until she was pretty sure the muscle had loosened a little.

"Ok, now lay flat."

She went back into her room and grabbed some olive oil lotion and brought it in. She began to massage his leg for a few minutes and then she would place a warm towel on it. Then she would massage it. She opened the gate to see if it was helping and she could tell it was. The pain was becoming manageable. He was breathing better too. She worked on his leg for another fifteen minutes and then told him to take off his t-shirt and turn over. He did.

She put the olive oil lotion on his back. He shivered because it was cold. She put some in her hand and warmed it up. She started at the base of his spine and in the muscle of his butt. She gave him a deep massage, making her way up his spine to his shoulder blade and then the shoulders and down his arms. She opened the gate and could feel he was relaxing, the leg was much better and so was the tension from the pain. She had him turn over again and she worked on his chest and shoulders. When she was almost done she started to massage his face. His eyes were closed and just when she was ending the massage he opened those blue eyes. She looked into them and started to feel tingly. She pulled back grabbed the lotion and got up. His hand grabbed her wrist and he sat up. She tried to close the gate quickly but his desire hit her like a blast furnace.

House pulled her down still looking into her eyes. Teagan sat on the bed next to him and he took his hand and traced her face and cheek with his fingers. He continued to glide his hand down her neck and over her shoulder blade to her breast which he could feel under her t-shirt. He fondled her breast while he leaned in to kiss her. He lowered her onto the bed and kissed her again, his tongue exploring inside. She responded by holding onto him and rubbing his back. He pulled up and started to take her T-shirt off. He threw it on the floor and took his hand and lightly played with both of her breasts and then kissed her.

"You're beautiful. You're breasts are perfect."

He looked down and saw she was wearing black lace panties. He smiled and pulled them down slowly, enjoying the view as he removed them, he yanked his boxers off and then pulled her under him. She guided him inside her. He held her down, going slowly at first, feeling all of her and fondling her breasts. He picked up the pace of his thrusts as she raised up to meet each one of them. She started to feel the orgasm . He watched her face contort with pleasure. Her back sank into the bed as she felt the orgasm fill her. He could feel her body's reaction to the climax and it pushed him into his. He started moaning in her ear as his thrusts got deeper and deeper. They both held on to each other as they enjoyed the last of the thrusts. When it was done, Greg raised himself up with his elbows and looked down at her. He shook his head like, "Whew" and then fell over to her side. He slowly rubbed her belly and thigh while they kissed.

House looked her up and down, tracing her hipbone and around her belly button. He shook his head, "What a waste."

"What? What do you mean by that?" she didn't know if she should be offended or not.

"Getting two rooms, we could have saved the money." He smiled as he pulled her into him for a kiss.

She let out a big sigh and responded to his kiss.

I was trying to keep this in perspective, the day after next we would get to my house, he would spend the night and then we would go to pick up a rental car in Stockton and he would be on his way. I thought about reading him, finding out what would happen to him, but I didn't want to be disappointed. This might last for a couple of nights and then it would be over but at least it was nice. And I hadn't had nice in a long time. At least I could pretend that I had made a difference in his life, if only for a week. If I read him and saw another woman in his future or I saw that the rest of his life was nothing but pain, it would hurt too much. I decided to just let it be. Let it be a normal progression of a short lived relationship. Two people meet, they build trust, they make love, they part, they have fond memories that help them learn how to trust others. It had been a long time since I had trusted anyone. It had been even longer since Greg had.

He was watching her. She wasn't there with him. He wondered what she was thinking, where she had gone and he was wishing he had her talent to read people. He waited and he soon saw her reconnect with him. He looked at her and gave her a weak smile. She gave him an apologetic one, "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about how nice it was to be here with you like this. It's been a long time since I have just enjoyed the company of a man."

"Would you like to enjoy my company on top?"

She giggled, "Oh yeah, I can do that!"

"That's my girl, now get on up and ride that horsey."

She enjoyed being on top and looking down at him and his blue eyes. She could see the vein coming from the side of his forehead and she could see the little indent in his nose where there had been some injury earlier in his life resulting in this tiny scar. She could see that he was enjoying the view.

He was enjoying the view, he was enjoying it so much that he had to close his eyes or this was going to be over quicker than he wanted. She could see that he was trying to hold back. She couldn't help but tease him with her body. She started tightening and releasing her Kegle muscles. And then she dipped down and rubbed her breasts on his chest.

"Oh God..Oh, no..." he started to explode. He pulled her down onto his chest as he heaved up and down. She was watching and enjoying it all from her advantage point. He held her steady to stop the movement and when she flexed her Kegle Muscles he moaned for her to stop, "Hold still, YOU KNOW it's too sensitive right now."

She giggled. He turned to her and said, "Now it's your turn. Let's watch you squirm with pleasure." He reached down and when she was ready to come she opened the gate and let him in to feel it. Within a minute she was screaming in his ear. He was feeling the waves of pleasure as if he was coming too. It was an incredible feeling, somewhat different from his own orgasms, but extremely pleasurable. Now it was his turn to laugh.

"That was nice." She kissed him as he turned onto his back.

"I've never experienced a woman's orgasm before. That felt really good." House was smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh yeah, it feels good. You did a great job. You're good, but then, you know that."

He got up to wash up and Teagan started to get up too.

"You're not going back to your room are you?" He sounded worried and disappointed.

"Just to get some water. I brought a couple of bottles in from the cooler. I hope you want me to come back to your bed."

"Ah, hmmm. Let's see. Yeah you moron, or course I want you to come back to bed with me."

"I don't see you as a cuddler."

"Sometimes it's nice to have a warm, sexy, voluptuous body next to you when you sleep. It's like having a nice teddy bear to curl up with. It beats a pillow."

She got the bottles of water and climbed back in bed with House. They talked about sex for awhile and he had her in stitches, telling her about some of his sexual mishaps. All she could say was that the funniest thing that ever happened to her in bed was when a one night stand's Golden Retriever sat next to the bed and stared at her the whole time they were having sex. It made it very difficult to reach orgasm and, in fact, she had faked it just to get out of there. *** The next morning they got up early and House slept while they made it through Colorado and into Utah. The scenery in southern Utah was boring, dusty and hot. He woke up an hour after entering Utah.

"Is all of Utah this boring?" House was tired of the scenery.

"I've spent a few months in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and going through northern Utah to get there is a real treat. The mountains are gorgeous and the people are really nice."

"They're Mormons, they have to be nice or the President of their Stake spanks them."

"Well, I don't care, they're nice people and helpful. I've thought about moving to northern Utah or Montana."

"Somewhere even MORE remote than Aspen Valley, California?"

"Maybe. Greg, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a freak of nature. No one understands my life except another real psychic. People are afraid of me, curious about me, repelled by me, attracted to me and I never know if someone is my friend because they want to use my talents or they like me for me."

House took over the driving in Salina, Utah and after driving into Nevada remarked, "Just when you thought the scenery couldn't get any more boring, you hit Nevada."

She had to admit, it was very boring but then she knew that tomorrow would be a treat, they would be going through the Tioga Pass. If they hadn't both been so tired of driving and House's leg giving him pain, she would have just driven straight through to Aspen Valley, but it was still another ten hours away and they needed a break. It was hot and dry under a perfect night sky. House pulled over and got out to stretch his leg because it was cramping. They stood outside the car and looked up at Orion's belt and could see the cluster of stars that mark his sheath. She looked over to find the Big Dipper and followed it's two lower stars to the north to find Polaris and the Little Dipper. She pointed it out to House. He pointed Jupiter out to her. He put his arm around her as they looked up into the big Nevada sky. She heard a coyote in the distance and smiled as she hugged House.

"Have you ever seen the coyotes in Yosemite?" she asked. House nodded, no. "Most people mistake them for wolves. You might see one tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" House asked.

"We're going to go across the Tioga Pass, right through the heart of Yosemite on our way to my house."

"Tioga Pass?"

"In the high Sierras, about an hour from Yosemite Valley. Most people are familiar with the Valley and the photos of Half Dome and El Capitan, but fewer know the beauty of the High Sierras, the Alpine areas of the Park. My favorite part of Yosemite is the area along the Tioga Pass. We'll drive it tomorrow." She pulled back from his arms, "I'll drive us to the next town and we'll get a motel. I'll give you a massage like I did last night." Teagan offered.

"JUST like you did last night?"

"Behave and we'll see what we can do. Now get in the car and buckle up."

He kissed her and then they got back into the car. She drove them into the next town and they found a motel. It wasn't a pretty scroungy motel but it had a bed and a bathroom.

"It reminds me of the Bates Motel." House said, throwing his bag on the floor.

"It is kind of creepy. I'm glad you're here." She said while checking the bathroom out.

She started to get undressed to take a shower and House took great pleasure in watching her. She was down to her bra and panties when she went in and turned on the water to heat up.

"Are you coming in too?" She yelled.

House started taking off his clothes as fast as possible getting down to his boxers. He poked his head in and she was naked and just about to step into the tub. "I'm right behind you." he offered.

He climbed in and they hugged and he bent down to kiss her as she tilted her head back to wet her hair. He kissed her shoulders and down to her breasts. He turned her around and soaped down her back and then reached around to soap down her front. She leaned back and looked back into his eyes. He kissed her forehead.

Teagan turned around and did the same for him, soaping his chest and then soaping his genitals. As they responded she stepped forward, pressing against him and soaping his back. As much as he wanted to take her then and there, he wouldn't be able to support her weight with his leg while having sex standing up. He could have taken her from behind in the shower, but he really wanted to see her face as he made love to her. She finished washing her hair and then she washed his for him. They rinsed and got out.

House grabbed her wrist and limped back to the hard mattress and thin sheets. They were laughing as they fell back into the bed. She went down under the covers and within minutes he pulled her up and entered her. It was rough but exciting and when they were done he pulled out of her and bent down and quickly kissed her lips.

They didn't say anything but they held each other. House was thinking that this would all be over in two days. He'd be out of her life and she would be out of his. He wasn't sure how he felt. He found her intriguing and interesting. But the psychic thing. That would make it hard to be with her and he wasn't sure he had the ability or desire to get past that. He found relationships hard enough. Having to overcome something as huge as dating someone who could read your mind was probably insurmountable in his book. He looked at her and realized she was asleep. She looked beautiful and vulnerable asleep.

The next day Teagan was openly excited about going through Yosemite and arriving home. "Would you please drive the first leg. I want to drive the Tioga Pass."

"Why?"

"It scares the bejeezus out of me. Plus, I want you to be able to see everything."

"It scares you?" House was amused.

"Just the section from Lee Vining into the park. It's a very steep grade and it's over a cliff. Granted, the cliff is on the south side and we'll be going west, but it still scares me. If I'm driving, I feel more in control and the acrophobia doesn't get too bad."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Ok with me."

He drove to the Benton, California where Teagan took over the driving. As they reached Lee Vining, House noticed that the geography changed from a high desert to a pine forest. Lee Vining was a cute little town, a good place to stop for gas and a quick bite to eat. After eating, they started the steep climb up the Tioga Pass into the High Sierras. The mountains went on forever around them. On their side of the road the pass climbed along the face of the mountain. But when he looked across the road to the other side he could see the sharp cliff that scared Teagan. He was conscious of the deep canyon and how far a drop it was off of the pass. He realized it would be frightening to drive it coming the opposite direction. The poor passenger would be staring directly over the cliff into the abyss.

They reached the gate into Yosemite and the ranger leaned out of the ranger hut. "Teags!! Welcome home sweetie, who's the friend?"

"Bill, this is my friend, Dr. Gregory House. Anything exciting happen while I was gone?"

"We had a bear mauling the other night near Glen Aulen and two bears attacked several cars in Wolf Lodge."

"Those onery critters. Anything left of the cars?" Teagan asked.

"Not much. We had three very upset families. But they left their dry food in the cars instead of the bear containers. Well, there's someone behind you who wants into the Park, see ya later."

"Bye Bill." She drove through without paying. The Rangers never made her pay, they knew she was a local and most locals got into the park for free, unless they abused the privilege. As they drove through the park, House noticed the slight smile on her face and had to admit she seemed genuinely happy. At Tuolumne Meadows she pulled over and pointed out to him the Tuolumne River and the beautiful path to Glen Aulin campgrounds. You could only get to Glen Aulin by hiking. The air was cool, crisp and very clean. They drove further and went past Tenaya Lake which was in the shadows of the Cathedral peaks. House was impressed. He had been to Yosemite, but not through the alpine areas or the Tioga Pass. As they passed the turnoff to White Wolf Lodge Teagan promised to take him there some day, if he ever came back. House smiled at her but made no effort to assure her that he would come back.

Teagan felt so at peace with the mountains and Yosemite. It was home to her. Her cabin was an important part of her healing, but she found her greatest peace when she was hiking the numerous trails in the Park. After an hour of traveling practically a straight line from east to west, they came down off of the Tioga Pass and then went towards the Park entrance/exit. On the way out House saw several deer and just before the exit, two beautiful coyotes crossed the road in front of them. House understood why the tourist would mistake the coyotes for wolves. They looked nothing like the coyotes in Southern California. These coyotes were bushy and grey with sharp noses and long grey tails.

They took a right turn just outside of the park and traveled through thick pine trees on a two lane road. The reached a campground with a restaurant that had a sign that said, "Camp Mather." It also had a post office sign in the window and one gasoline pump outside. He realized they were in Aspen Valley and this must be the lodge.

As they passed several people on the road they all smiled and waved at Teagan she waved happily back at them. They reached a road marked "Mather Road" and she turned left. They traveled about half a mile and he saw a small log cabin at the end of a 100 foot driveway. She turned into the drive and looked at him.

"We're home."

House looked at her home and it was as he had seen it, a log cabin with a porch and several out buildings, including one that stored cut wood. They got out and she went to the trunk to open it. A dog ran up to greet her, wagging it's tail. The dog looked like an Australian Shepherd and it looked very happy to see her.

"Meet Lizzy, my dog. Lizzy, go see Greg." Lizzy left Teagan and ran to greet House. He reached down and scratched her behind her ear and under her chin. Her black hair was soft and clean.

"Who's been taking care of your dog?"

"My next door neighbor. He lives about a quarter mile away and always looks after her when I'm gone. He kind of feels obligated since Lizzy was his dog. She started coming over here and then she just stopped going home. I adopted her by default. He didn't seem to mind even though he loves her. When I'm gone she goes back over there to eat and sleep. She's kind of fickle."

House had a wide grin and loved the idea that the community shared the chores of taking care of each other's pets. They went inside and he put his bag down on the hardwood floor. There were several large hooked rugs in the living room, dining area and her bedroom. It was homey and sweet inside. There was a love seat, an easy chair and a rocker all centered around the fireplace. There were built in bookcases all over the house and they were filled with books, cds, candles and oil lamps. She grabbed his bag and took it into the bedroom. There was a full bed with a quilt and big fluffy pillows.

"What is it with women and pillows?" House asked.

"They make life softer." She said.

The room had one nightstand, a chest of drawers and a small closet. There was another bedroom with a desk and a twin bed. Each room had both electric lights and oil lamps.

"What's with the oil lamps?"

"I'm off the grid." she said.

House was surprised, "You are? How do you get electricity?"

"Two ways. I have a gas generator and solar panels. But as you can see, the pine trees block a lot of the sun and in the winter it isn't that sunny anyways. I had the panels positioned where they would get the most light, but it's always iffy. We need to run to the store at the lodge before it closes and get some milk, bread, eggs, and margarine."

"My God this is so Back to the Prairie." House was amazed.

"Welcome to my world."

"You don't cook on that stove do you?" House was referring to the black iron stove that required wood to heat food.

"Yes, I do." She said with sincerity, "Can I ask a favor? Can you go back to the store and get the food and pick up my mail? I need to stoke the stove, get in wood, start up the refrigerator and check the solar panels all before the sun goes down in an hour."

"Ok." He did as she asked and returned with two grocery bags full of mail. Most of the mail appeared to be handwritten mail from all over the world. He suspected it came from people desperate for her to help them.

Teagan put the groceries away and put the kettle on to make a pot of tea. That evening they sat up around the fireplace talking. House realized that she didn't have a television, just games and books. They went to bed and he held her until House fell asleep.

Teagan got up and went back out to the living room. She lit an oil lamp and sat in the soft light thinking about the next day. It would start with her cooking him breakfast, then they would get into the truck and she would drive him to Stockton, to the Avis rental lot. He would get out, grab his bag and then give her a kiss and it would be over. No strings, no promises. House wasn't the kind to make promises of anything in the future and she was actually grateful for that. She would want desperately to believe him if he said he would be back. If he promised nothing, then there was nothing to believe in.

I'm so mad at myself. How could I let this happen? How could I let myself start to have feelings for someone so cynical, so unhappy and so soon to be gone? I thought I was smarter than this. I thought I could insulate myself by reminding myself it was a short term relationship and would be over as soon as it began. I don't dare open the gate to see how he feels, it would be too big a blow if I found out I was just a three day fling and it was all sex to him. Knowing House, I suspect that's what it is. Any port in the storm. But as long as I don't open the gate, I won't know for sure and I can delude myself that it is, that it was, more.

Teagan went to bed around 1:00 a.m. and finally managed to get to sleep an hour later. It was hard because House was snoring fairly loud and Teagan was used to the silence of the mountain nights. ***

Lizzy woke her up the next morning by licking her face. She looked at the clock, 6:33 a.m. Ugh. She got up and stoked the stove, got the coffee pot ready and put it on the stove to percolate. Then she grabbed a cast iron skillet out and made sure everything was ready for when Greg woke up.

He woke up around nine and wandered out to the kitchen where he could smell the coffee on the stove. He poured himself a cup and looked around, she was nowhere to be seen. He went out to the front porch and looked out . It was a nice view of meadows and pine trees. There were even a couple of deer in the meadow. He still didn't see her so he sat down on the porch to wait. A few minutes later she pulled up in a truck. She got out and came towards him.

"Good morning sleepy head! How do you feel?"

"Fine. Where were you? Is that your truck?" he asked.

"I went up to garage my Mustang and pick up the truck. I don't usually drive the Mustang around here. I rent a garage from Nelly up the road."

"What year is it?"

"1989 Ford 150."

He went in while she made him eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. They ate at the table and afterwards House went into the bathroom to take a shower. He was surprised that he had hot water, but he did. He got his shower, dressed and then packed his bag. When he was ready he threw his bag in the back of the truck and they took off. She didn't bother locking the door, which House thought was odd.

They drove west through Groveland and then another hour and half to Stockton.

"So what's your plan?" Teagan asked.

"I'm going to probably go over to San Jose and make my way down the coast through Monterey, Big Sur, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, L.A. and then into San Diego to see my parents."

"When is your seminar?"

"Two weeks from today." he turned and smiled warmly at her.

They were quiet for quite awhile. Finally she broke the silence. "We'll be in Stockton in less than twenty minutes, do you want to go to Avis, Hertz or Budget?"

"Avis.'

"Avis it is."

They traveled in silence. House wasn't sure what to say to her. He wasn't sure what he was telling himself. He just had to get through the next few minutes and the burden would be lifted.

She pulled up in the Avis Rental parking lot. House looked over at her and he could see she was grinning too hard. She was trying to make it easy on him. He didn't understand it. Why would she let him slip off the hook so easily? She wasn't like any other woman he knew.

"Well, I had a great time. Thanks for the lift. You have my email, address and phone number. If you make it back to Princeton, look me up."

"Yeah, you do the same. Now that you know where I live, feel free to stop by if you're near Yosemite. Lizzy and I would love to have you."

He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the lips and then opened the door. As his feet hit the pavement he grabbed his bag and gave her a wave. When he turned to go into the building he heard the engine rev and the truck take off. He felt sad, sad and ashamed. Ashamed that he couldn't give her more than just a "see ya."

I clenched my jaw as I left the parking lot, hoping that by doing so I could stop the feeling of loneliness and sadness. But it was there, lurking at the stop light. It hitched a ride all the way home. I don't think I had cried that hard in years.

*** House rented a Toyota Camry and when he left the parking lot he went and then south through Santa Cruz and then into Monterey. From there he went south to Carmel by the Bay, and ate dinner at the "Hog's Breath," the restaurant owned by Clint Eastwood. House remembered that somewhere he still had a sweatshirt from when Clint Eastwood was mayor of the Carmel. The food was delicious and afterwards he stayed to listen to a jazz pianist. He was told that Clint Eastwood frequently came in and played piano for his guests. Unfortunately, he wasn't there that night.

House got a room at a bed and breakfast and, after getting cleaned up he got to bed at midnight. He was laying in bed thinking of the day and how kind Teagan had been to him. Once again he had pushed a woman away. But then again, he hardly knew her.

The next day House took the 17 Mile Drive, a state park that consists of a road that runs along the ocean and through Pebble Beach, the famous golf course. He stopped and had lunch at Pebble Beach. He ate oysters and crab and chased it with a nice Pinot Noir from Napa Valley. When he was done he walked the around the golf club and heard a jazz band inside one of the restaurants. He went in and sat at the bar. He had a drink and was pleased to see a blonde giving him the eye. He gave her the eye back and then bought her a drink. She came over and sat next to him.

"Tourist?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm here for a legal convention, I'm a lawyer and you?"

"Just traveling through. I'm going to go visit my folks in San Diego." House knew that would score big. Women liked men who were still connected to their family.

The conversation went on for an hour and then House realized that he wasn't going to close the deal on this one. Not because she would resist, but because he had just had three nights of very hot sex and he really didn't need any tonight. He was tired. House said his goodbyes to a very frustrated lawyer and took off down the coast to Big Sur.

He thought that Teagan would have loved riding through Big Sur. It was a combination of gorgeous forests, rivers and the ocean. The wildlife consisted mostly of deer and smaller animals. Black bears hadn't quite made it back into the Santa Lucia Mountains that ran parallel to the ocean. He thought the views were spectacular and he wouldn't mind owning a house overlooking the ocean in Big Sur. He stopped overnight at the River Inn and was surprised to find a great Salsa band playing at the River Lodge Restaurant attached to the inn. He listened to music most of the night and then climbed in bed.

House thought about the road to San Diego. Tomorrow he would be traversing the famous Highway 1, the windy two lane road that ran the edge of the mountains as they cascaded down to the sea. It was breathtaking but dangerous, having claimed a lot of lives over the years. He thought about the rest of the road home. He was familiar with most of it because he had traveled it several times when he was a teen and when he and Stacy came out to California for a vacation. Stacy had insisted on coming out to California to meet his parents. House realized that he would soon be facing his folks.

He wasn't looking forward to seeing his Dad. His relationship with his dad was strained, always had been and probably always would be. When he went home it was to see his Mom. She was full of unconditional love and worried about him. She called him ever week just to monitor his highs and lows. He suspected that most mothers did that. He couldn't argue with Wilson about a mother's love but he could argue that a father's love was conditional.

The next morning was beautiful and the drive was so wild and rugged, he knew that Teagan would have been in seventh heaven. He was driving slow on Highway 1 because anything other than slow would result in your demise on the rocks below.

He knew he had gotten through the rough part of Highway 1 when he saw the lighthouse. The road ahead would be four lanes and straight. He arrived in San Simeon, the home of Hearst Castle at noon and had lunch. He could see the "Enchanted Castle" on top of the hill looking over the world. He remembered touring it with Stacy and her being impressed with both the Grecian outside pool and the gold plated indoor pool with the terrible accousitcs.

House realized that he just wanted to get home and get the visit with his parents over with. He decided not to stay in Santa Barbara but to keep on going. He thought he could be home around 9:00 p.m if he didn't stop except for gas and to take a leak. He took more than the allotted Vicodin and started for home.

*** Teagan had a lot to do to make up for the time she was gone. First, she had to concentrate on making some money. She put on her sun hat, sunglasses, grabbed her burlap bags, some water and made her way into the forest. Lizzy followed and she played her IPOD, her one true luxury bedsides her Mustang. She found the blackberry patch and was relieved to see it laden with blackberries. One summer she had come out and some tourists had stumbled on it and had picked half of them. She found out later that they threw most of them out when they couldn't finish them. It made her sick. She had several Blackberry recipes and would pick a quarter of the fruit today to start.

She spent two hours in the blackberry patch and brambles. She hauled the bags home with Lizzy in tow and began to make the pies first. It wasn't easy making pies without a regular oven, but she and her stove oven had come to an agreement long ago. She would keep it fed with the best, only oak and it wouldn't burn the food. She kept the oak separated from the other fireplace woods just for the oven. Oak burned pretty evenly and for a long time. It was perfect for the oven.

She packed up the pies after they cooled, all ten of them, and took them up to the lodge. They would sell them for her to the tourists, some who came back to the lodge for her pies. She had cooked a dozen of them which sold for $6.00 each. She gave the lodge $1.00 per pie although they frequently refused to take it when they knew she was low on money. When she returned home she decided to work on the blackberry jam the next day and focus on getting more wood. Wood was always a priority. In the summer it was only used for cooking. But she still had to bring it in on a regular basis to make sure she had enough for the winters. Occasionally one of the woodcutters would have some ends left over and drop them off for free. She always gave them jars of jam in exchange.

When the day was over she sat at the dining table and put on gloves. She opened the letters one by one to make sure that there was no money or checks in them. She had started receiving more than usual psychic requests because Richard had been giving her address out to people who contacted him. Occasionally money or a check would fall out of the envelope, trying to entice her into helping the corresponding family. But she took the money and returned it along with a printed flyer telling each of the persons who wrote that she was sorry but she no longer gave consults and referred them to the FBI profilers. She took great glee in giving the phone number to the Feds out. It probably pissed off the profilers but it served them right. They had abused her talents for years, almost causing her to stroke so she thought it was time for a little payback. She wore gloves to prevent picking up the pain in the letters or worse, a picture of the person that was missing or dead. The mail had piled up while she was gone and she had a lot to return. There had been $3,450 total in the letters that had come in. She could use the money but she sent it back.

She had thought of him while picking the blackberries. She tried not to be melancholy because there was always the chance that she would broadcast it to him and she didn't want him to feel guilty. At night she thought of the sex and it made her smile. She tried a mantra, "I hope he's happy, I want him to be happy, I want good things in his life." She said it over and over in he head until she finally gave in to her exhaustion.

*** House pulled into his parent's drive and got out to stretch. The automatic light that detected motion came on illuminating the drive. He got his bag and went around to the back door. He had called his Mom about an hour ago to let her know he was coming. He heard her shriek with delight and he had to laugh. Only his mother would be that happy to see Greg House pull up in their drive.

His Mom was already opening the door when he came up the back. She had her arms ready for him. She expected a hug and since no one was looking, she demanded a kiss.

"Greg, oh sweetie, you look tired. Come on in. Does your leg hurt?"

"Yeah a little. I need to stand for awhile. I've gotta pee Mom, let me go." He went down the hall to the bathroom, saw his Dad coming out of their bedroom. He looked genuinely happy to see him.

"Hello son."

"Hi Dad. I'll be right out, I need to use the head."

"Ok."

They asked him about his trip and his Dad asked why they took such a long route to California?

"We stopped to see friends of the woman who owned the car. You would have liked the car Dad, it was a mint 1965 Mustang. Ran great. Not a single problem."

"They were well made back then, simpler, easier to work on...especially clutches."

His Mom was fixing him some food and the conversation turned to their health, their travels, the neighbors, old friends. They stayed up until midnight talking and then John House excused himself to go to bed. When they were alone his Mom started in on him.

"Greg, when are you going to find someone and settle down? You're 48 now. You have to get over Stacy. What about that Lisa Cuddy?"

"We're friends and she's my employer. I don't think she has feelings like that for me. Don't worry Mom, I don't need woman in my life. I'm ok."

"What about the woman you just drove out with?"

"You are relentless, aren't you?" he squirmed in his seat a little and his mother smiled.

"Oh, so there is something."

"Not really. We had a good time but she lives in a remote part of the mountains and loves it. The relationship wouldn't work on a fundamental level."

His mother was obviously disappointed. She patted Greg's hand and sent him off to bed. Laying in bed he looked at the ceiling and remembered Orion's belt and the Big Dipper. He played with the dial on the radio and stopped when he heard the song...

...I ain't missing you No matter what My friends say ...

He could see her dancing in the caf, and he wondered if she was still upset over his leaving or if she had already moved on.

...And there's a message that I'm sending out Like a telegraph to your soul And if I can't bridge this difference, Stop this heartbreak overload...

He wondered? Would it be possible for him to open the gate and touch her mind? He tried. He thought of nothing but talking to her with his mind. Sending a telegraph to her soul. He did this for fifteen minutes and then he started to laugh to himself. Who did he think he was, Kreskin?

But as he rolled over on his side to go to sleep, he heard her softly say, "Yes, Greg?"

"You can hear me?" He thought.

"You're shouting at me, how could I not. You're pretty loud you know, it woke me up."

"I don't believe this is real. I'm asleep and dreaming this."

"If you need to believe that, fine. But in the meantime, are you ok? How was the trip?"

"I'm fine, I'm at my folks and the trip has been ok, nothing great."

"I'm glad you are well. I've been sending up prayers for you. Do you need anything?"

"No."

"Well then, good night and sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Goodnight Teagan."

House turned on the light and assured himself that he was dreaming. What a nice dream it was though. It was great to hear her calm, soft voice in his mind.

What was that about? God that man could be loud when he wanted to be. He certainly knew how to connect with me. Thank God i had let down the gate, i might have missed him. At least he's thinking of me, I'm not just a three night stand.

She chuckled and rolled over to go back to sleep.

***

Greg spent the next two days with his parents taking them out to eat; taking his mom to the swap meet; taking them both to the Starlight Opera to see Oklahoma and in general, just laying around doing nothing.

"I'll be going tomorrow." He told them. "I have to drive back up to San Francisco for my seminar." It was a lie, he still had eleven days before the seminar began, but he was feeling antsy and a couple of times he and his Dad had sniped at each other. It was time to get going.

When he left his Mom had given him a care package full of food and a small styrofoam cooler to put drinks in. His Dad gave him a hug, the first in years and told him not to be a stranger anymore, he enjoyed his company. House said something awkward back and they both smiled. His mother hung on to his neck, not wanting her only baby to go. "Mom, I need the neck, can I have it back?" She kissed him and he gave her a kiss back. "I love you Mom." And he did.

He didn't know where he was going until he got on route 5 going north. It would be the quickest route to Groveland and then to Aspen Valley. The trip took ten hours. It would have taken nine but House had to walk off a cramp for awhile. He wondered if she could feel him when he got to Groveland. Only twenty miles to Aspen Valley.

*** It was my birthday and my neighbors were giving me a party that afternoon at the lodge. We had hamburgers, fries and lots of booze. They each gave me money because they knew the trip back east had tapped me. It was incredibly kind of them and I was almost in tears. I had to keep the gate up because of all the tourists milling about. But still, I kept thinking that Greg was close. It seemed impossible considering he had just told me a few nights ago that he was at his parent's house in San Diego.

I was dancing with Fred, my next door neighbor and former owner of Lizzy. Fred grew marijuana up around Hetch Hetchy and harvested it during the late summer. Sometimes I'd go up with Fred and we would pick it together. He always gave me a good stash of dope. The Rangers and Sheriffs all knew what Fred did for a living but he sold locally and only to adults so they didn't bother him. Fred wasn't handsome but he wasn't ugly. He had the face of a character actor, someone you wouldn't notice in a crowd.

We were all laughing and having a great time when everyone looked behind me. I turned and he was standing there leaning on his cane. "Excuse me, is this where I get the prostate exam?" Everyone laughed. I ran over and hugged him. He bent down and gave me a kiss, a deep one.

"Did you come just for my birthday party?" It hadn't registered that he had come just to be with me. I really thought he was there to celebrate my birthday and then he would be on his way.

"Birthdays are boring. I came back for the Blackberry Jam."

***

Despite the fact that House was House and acted like House, the mountain community liked him. They were all used to odd personalities. You don't isolate yourself from the world if you are normal. Everyone on the mountain had a tale to tell. The party ended at ten and House gave Teagan a ride to her cabin. They got out and Lizzy welcomed House back to the mountains. He petted her and then put his arm around Teagan as they climbed the porch and entered the house.

"It's good to be back. I kept thinking about Lizzy the whole time I was gone. I just needed to see her again." House said with a straight face.

"That dog grows on you."

They started taking off each other's clothes as fast as they could, House being frustrated by the little hook on her blouse. She undid it for him and he managed the rest of the buttons by himself. He looked at her body like it was the Venus de Milo and he kissed her up and down. They had sex in a position that gave House a lot of pleasure and when he came he laughed at how good it felt. He didn't leave Teagan hanging, he made sure she was happy too. They grabbed each other and held on as if there was an earthquake. Teagan was happier than she had been in years. She refused to allow her to get her hopes up but it felt good to know he had come back, she had meant something to someone again.

House knew he was crazy. By coming back he was sending signals that this relationship meant something to him. It did, but as he told his Mom, "Fundamentally, it won't work." He saw how much she enjoyed her community and how much they enjoyed her. It was unlikely that she would come back to Princeton with him and he certainly didn't see him living in Hicksville. Still they could have the next nine days together and that would have to do.

In the morning Teagan was up stoking the fire and making Blackberry Jam. He came out to the kitchen scratching and yawning.

"What are you doing up so early?" His voice sounded annoyed more than anything.

"I have to use these berries while they're fresh to make the jam. I have about three more hours and then we can do something. But I really need to get this jam to market."

"What do you mean, "to market?""

"This is one of the ways that I make money. I make pies and jams from the Blackberries. I sell them and from the profit I buy food for the winter. Usually I have a little vegetable plot to grow food for canning but I was gone during the time to plant it. So this winter I'm not going to have any canned food to live off of and I'm low on money from the trip. The cost of the room in Princeton and the food was a lot for me."

"You make all your money off of blackberry products?" He was shocked.

"No. I wait tables when one of the lodge owners or workers gets sick or has to go somewhere. I clean the campground, the bathrooms and the little laundry when they need someone. I help the Rangers sometimes and I get paid $10 an hour to give out information or clean their cabins. I do all kinds of things. Sometimes I even work in the Park hotels."

"You're a highly educated woman and you're cleaning bathrooms?" House was almost angry.

"Greg, I'm a behavioral psychologist living among nothing but misfits and none of them want to be fixed or they wouldn't be living here. I do what I have to do to stay alive."

"But what about your voodoo...why not do a few consulting jobs and live off of them for the rest of the year?"

"Didn't you see what happened to me in Princeton? I can't do that on a regular basis. Telepathy and dreams are one thing. But remote viewing and clairvoyance, when I have to push to do it, just wipes me out. Most of the people want me to find someone and that's the toughest thing to do."

"I'll help you through this winter. If you need money I can pay you each time we have sex for services rendered. What do you think is fair? A quarter per screw?" He smiled like an evil elf. " I figure at the rate we're going you'll make a fortune."

"Next you'll be telling me that you should get paid for your services!" she slapped his arm.

"Well now that you mentioned it."

He went back to bed while she wrestled with cooking the jam, adding just the right sugar and some other secret ingredients like a smidgeon of nutmeg and a little honey. She spooned the jam into sterile jars, poured wax on top of the jam, let it cool and then screwed on the mason jar top. She had two dozen jars of jam ready to sell. She drove them up to the lodge and then got back just in time to have wake up sex with Greg.

"Come on, you need to walk. You've been doing a lot of sitting. We're going to go up to Carrion Falls." She packed a back pack with snacks, fruit, water and juice. She added her camera, a small first aid kit, a space blanket and whistle.

He watched her and said, "Are you some kind of boy scout?"

"I've had to used each of these things at one time or another out on a hike, so don't give me any lip. Hand me that bear bell."

"Bear bell?"

"They've had a lot of bear sightings this year so you ring the bell every so often and the bears tend to run away. They don't like confrontation any more than you do."

"But I LOVE confrontation."

"Not with a 500 lb bear."

"You have a point."

They drove to the trailhead and parked. A truck of Forest Rangers went by and she waved. They stopped. "Hey Teag, good to have you back. I'll put you on the work roster for next month, ok?"

"Sounds great Tom, thanks." They took off and she grabbed the backpack and her walking stick and they started walking into the forest and along a beautiful river that raced by. It had been an unusually wet winter and all the rivers were running higher than normal as the snowpack melted slowly up around the Alpine Region of the Tioga Pass.

House had trouble navigating at first but he soon got his balance and was doing well on the uneven surface. They were making good time, House wasn't holding them back at all. He felt younger, like when he used to do this without even thinking. He and Wilson used to go camp in the Smokeys and they took a lot of hikes. He looked around as Teagan forged ahead. The forest was green and quiet except for the occasional mosquito and the sound of the river. It was calming.

They hit a part in the trail that required some climbing. Without batting an eye, Teagan took House's cane and turned it around, handing him the hook and pulling him up with just enough force that he could manage the rest of the climb by himself. He liked that she didn't treat him like a cripple. She helped him with the pain, but otherwise she ignored the chunk that was missing from his thigh.

They hiked about two hours with several rests and then finally reached Carrion Falls. There were several downed logs laying in the river and stretching out to rocks in the middle of the river. She traversed them like they were a paved highway. He didn't dare follow. She looked up the river at the falls and then turned to him with a grin. "Man, I love this!"

He could see that she did. She was in her element. There were no thoughts trying to crowd hers out, just the sound of the water rushing. She walked the rocks and logs with ease and found her way back to him. She made him pose for several photos with the falls in the background and then she set the camera up to take a timed photo of them.

They sat down and ate lunch. As he was chewing he thought of something he had wanted to ask her, "The other night I was thinking of you." She gave him a look of surprise, "Don't get excited, I was also thinking of the gas my Mom's cooking gives me. Anyway, I was thinking of you and I thought you answered me. I was ..."

"You were screaming at me. I couldn't sleep."

He went pale. "You heard me? It really was you?"

"Duh? Did you think Princess Di was talking to you? Greg, once I've intimate with someone the signal is like a radio, it can be transmitted and received. It sounds stupid but we get on the same wavelength. It's not just having sex, it's being close to someone. I can communicate with Naomi. But after awhile if you don't use it, you lose it."

"Can I communicate with others, am I psychic now?" He asked enthusiastically.

"We're all psychic but unless you know how to develop it and use it, you probably won't be communicating with too many people."

"Can I read your thoughts?" he asked with a little grin.

"Only if I want to send them to you."

"Bummer."

They got back to the cabin around five in the afternoon and sat down around the fireplace. He realized that there was nothing to do but read or play games or go for walks or work. Teagan went into the kitchen to stoke the fire again so she could put the kettle on the stove for tea.

When she got back out to the living room she saw him in the easy chair sleeping with a book on his chest. He looked nackered. She knew she was. She let him sleep for an hour while she went out and cut firewood out of a log one of her neighbors had dropped off in her yard. When he woke up he heard the sound of an ax and he went out to see this small woman hacking at this twelve foot log. He wasn't sure he could do any better. He wasn't very well balanced with his leg but she looked like she could use a break.

He went up to her and put his hand out for the ax. He stuck his right foot under the log itself to keep his balance and then started chopping. It was working. He managed to cut up several feet of log before she said that was enough for the day. He was glad, he was tired.

"Are you hungry?"She asked.

"Yeah."

"Ok, I'll go in and rummage up some dinner."

"Ok, sounds good."

They stayed inside and she cooked chicken and dumplings, one of his favorite dishes. He was full and ready to watch some tv, but there was no tv. He picked up his book but she came out from the kitchen with her hands on her hips.

"You need to get your butt in there and do the dishes. I'm not going to wait on you hand and foot."

"Don't you have a dishwasher?" He joked with her while he got up to do her bidding.

After the dishes were done, they both settled down to read books. Around ten she got up and went into bed, he followed. They talked a few minutes about books that they had read and which ones had actually meant something to them. They fell asleep spooning each other. Around midnight Lizzy went crazy barking in her deep, deep register at some perceived threat outside. Teagan yelled at her to be quiet but she wouldn't shut up. Teagan got up and made her way to the front door and then turned back to get a flashlight. House limped without his cane to the front door.

Teagan came back with a large flashlight. "Lizzy, stay. Stay." Teagan opened the door and Lizzy shot past her into the night barking. "Lizzy, Lizzy, Come back Lizzy." She heard a sound and immediately knew what was going on.

"What was that?" House looked at her his eyes large and round.

She turned on the flashlight and went out on the porch and shone the light in the direction of the barking dog. Caught in the bright halogen light was a fully grown male black bear up on its hind legs and rather annoyed with Lizzy.

"Here, hold this." She handed the flashlight to House. She ran inside and grabbed a pot and a big metal spoon. She ran past House and out to where Lizzy was barking."

"TEAGAN! For God's sake are you crazy, get back here." House was nervous and scared, he was trying to figure how he could save the dog and the onery woman fro the bear. The bear was not happy with Lizzy and now he was not happy with Teagan.

All the bear could see was this small woman with a big pot banging away and yelling, "Scat, scat...Greg, shine the light right into his eyes." She kept banging and before long the bear was scurrying away, off to a neighbor's house. "Lizzy, get your butt inside, get..." She was pointing at the house.

When she came back in she put the pot and spoon away. House turned off the flashlight and looked at her like she had just returned from Mars. "Could you be any crazier? Why not just let him walk around?"

"Because they keep coming back and if you do leave something out that you want, they'll destroy it. Didn't you see the scratch marks on the tool shed? If I hadn't gone out he would have taken the door and the frame down. He'll think twice before coming to my house."

"Is your life always this exciting?"

"Nah, it's really boring."

The next day she got up early and made more jam. House was getting used to smelling jam cooking when he woke up. He finally got up and went out to the kitchen. She poured him a cup of coffee.

"I want to take you to the Awhahnee tonight." House told her.

"You are joking, right?"

" Would I kid you?"

She gave him the look that said it all.

"No really...I'm going to take you. I asked the lodge to call and make a reservation for 7:00 p.m. So you better wear something special, it's a special event, some wine tasting thing. At first they said it was full but surprisingly they had an opening when someone told them that Teagan's boyfriend wanted to take her there. I don't know who the Teagan's boyfriend is but I'll take you."

"I can't go Greg. The last time I wore something nice was ten years ago. The only dresses I own are all ten to fifteen years old. They're way out of date and they hang on me. Plus they aren't very dressy, they're not something you would wear to the Awhahnee."

"Oh, it can't be that bad. Let me see my choices."

There were three choices and they were all pretty pathetic. They were worn and very outdated. None would be appropriate for the Awhanee. "Maybe you could borrow something from a neighbor?"

"Yeah, I'll go check with Fred, I'm sure he's got something in his closet."

"I'm not giving up. Let's go into Groveland and buy you something."

"No. I don't have the money." She was firm.

"I haven't gotten you a birthday present, this will be my present. I'm not in the mood to argue so get your stuff, we're going shopping."

Groveland consists of a thrift strore, a real western saloon, two hotels, several real estate agents, a Curves gym, six restaurants and one boutique. If she couldn't find a dress in the boutique, the closest place to shop would be Stockton and that was too far away to go for a dress and get back in time to go to the Ahwahnee.

They went into the boutique and it was House who described the dilemma to the shopkeeper. She looked at Teagan and said, "I think I've only got one dress in the shop that will fit you and be appropriate for the Ahwahnee wine tasting dinner."

The shopkeeper got down a lace and chiffon summer dress. It was midnight blue, with a built-in underwire bra that skimmed her curves and showed off Teagan's breasts. The hem was high in the front and lower in the back. She felt very self-conscious in it. She wasn't used to showing off her body like this. When she came out of the dressing room House, smiled and nodded affirmatively, so did the shopkeeper. She had to take their word for it because she thought she looked strange.

"You're damn good looking in that. No man will be able to look at anyone else."

She opened up the gate to find out what he really thought and was surprised to find that he was being honest with her. He really did think she looked good in the dress. Go figure?

"She'll need shoes, earrings, nylons and a purse." said the shopkeeper.

"I have earrings and a purse, but I do need nylons and shoes."

House asked, "Do you have shoes for a size..." He turned to Teagan.

"5 ?" Teagan knew this was going to be hard.

"I have some sixes, but I don't know about 5 ." The shopkeeper was skeptical.

She went in the back and found a pair of black strappy shoes in a 5 . They wouldn't be the best choice for the dress, but she wouldn't stick out if she wore them. Teagan tried them on and realized that she could maybe stand in them for an hour at most so she better be sitting a lot. They bought them because they had no choice.

They got back and got ready for the evening. When she was done House was very pleased. She was wearing her grandmother's sapphire earrings and she had her mother's dress purse. It would take an hour to get into Yosemite and down to the valley where the Awhahnee was located so they left around 5:30, just to give them a cushion.

"I know I sound like a kid, but I can't believe that I'm going to the Awhahnee wine tasting dinner. Do you know what a big deal this is?"

"Not really. I just know it ..." He was going to say that it cost $350 per person but realized that if he told her she would probably be upset. The $700 he was shelling out on the tickets was more than she probably made in a month (a fact which he still had a hard time believing.) "I just know it's hard to get tickets."

As they drove into the Park the Ranger at the entrance booth gave her a cat whistle despite House's presence. "Wow Teagan, you look great. Are you going to the Awhahnee?"

"Yes, we are! Isn't that a kick?"

"At $350 a pop, it better be more than a kick. You certainly look the part. Go on through and have a good time." the Ranger waved House through without paying.

"Thanks Mike." She looked at House as he rolled up the window. "$350 per person? My God. This dress was $130, the shoes $50...you're spending $1,000 in one night on a wine tasting party?"

"What are you, my mother? Sometimes when you are on vacation, you pay what you have to so that you can have experiences like this. I know it seems like a lot of money to you but I can afford it." He could see some of the wind was out of her sail. "Come on Teagan, this is my vacation too, let's have a good time."

She thought about it, "You're absolutely right. I may never be a fairy princess again. This will probably be my first and last ball...so let's enjoy it." She gave him a smile that melted his heart. He wanted to hug her right them and there. She looked so innocent and vulnerable.

They made the left turn into the drive and Teagan thought of all the times she had walked through the Ahwahnee as a seasonal employee or a temporary waitress. She loved the rock and wood exterior and the huge walk-in fireplace in the hall, game room and dining area. It also boasted the most beautiful views of the valley, especially Yosemite Falls. In the summer the Valley in Yosemite was hot, around 80-90 degrees during the day, falling to 50-60 degrees in the early morning. The air was still warm when they got out of the car.

The Ahwahnee is a luxurious hotel, opened in 1927 and a registered historical landmark. It provides urban comfort in the rugged Sierra mountains. Yosemite Miwok Indian woven cooking baskets, linguistic symbols and decorative patterns have been used thoroughout the Ahwahnee's rooms and halls. In the central lobby, six great figures, set in multiple mosaic borders add color and interest to the massive floor area. Walking through the downstairs corridor toward the Great Dining Room Indian motifs can be seen etched in the stone floor. Rising some 23 feet above the floor in the Great Lounge are elaborate stained glass window works refracting early morning and late afternoon sunlight. They too, are cast from Indian figures. Deeply carved wood panels and Colonial Shaker furniture are gathered around a massive eight-foot fireplace. The enormous mantel serves to connect and integrate the ceiling and the Oriental rug covered floor.

Teagan and House went straight to the Great Dining Room and were provided wrist bands by a little old lady who immediately recognized Teagan. "Ethyl, it's so good to see you again. How are you feeling?" Teagan patted her hand.

"Teagan, darling...you look gorgeous. I'm much better. I just can't get over how nice you look. You two make a lovely couple."

Teagan turned and smiled at House. It was the first time she had actually looked at him that evening. She had been so nervous that she didn't stop to admire how handsome he looked. God, how could she not notice? He was in a deep blue suit with a white shirt and a rich royal blue tie. His blue eyes seemed even bluer, making them look clear and lovely. His beard was closely cut and he smelled like Salvatore Ferragamo. She only knew this because she had seen his aftershave bottle on the counter that night.

"Greg." She whispered but he was looking around at the tables set up with wine. "GREG." She said in a louder whisper.

He said in a normal voice, "What?"

"I just wanted you to know that you are incredibly handsome tonight and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you earlier. I've just been so nervous."

He laughed at her. "Didn't your parents ever take you anywhere when you were growing up?"

"Getting dressed up meant we were going to a square dance. I lived in the mountains most of my life. I only went to the Big City when I went to college and then to Quantico. I never had the money in college to go anywhere dressy and I worked non-stop when I was associated with the FBI. I'm afraid I've lead a very boring life."

He broke into a big grin. "Oh Teagan, you have not lead a boring life. Your life reads like a science fiction meets John Boy novel. By the way, thanks for the compliment, I don't get them very often."

"You should. Even when you look crumpled you look hot." she gave him a quick hug.

He smiled but didn't say anything. They were ushered into the Great Dining Hall, a cavernous room with a huge wood paneled and open beamed ceiling with a fireplace that took up the entire west wall. The massive craftsman chandeliers did little to light the Grand Hall, it was so deeply paneled and rich in it's interior. As a result, the light was always soft, especially since the large windows faced southeast and were overhung by the huge roof. They were escorted from table to table as a Sommelier's demonstrated and discussed the wines. Teagan loved the Great Dining hall and frequently waited tables in it.

Teagan listened to the lecture on the wine; swished the glass to smell the bouquet; took a taste; swished it in her mouth for the taste to evaporate and then spit it out into the spittoons. It seemed like a waste of really great and expensive wines, but they were assured that at the end of the evening they would get a chance to drink the wine and take some home.

Teagan never told House that she really didn't like wine, never had. She was having the time of her life with him. He would make silly faces if he didn't like the wine and then he would pretend to "whine about the wines."

After going from table to table, tasting wine and eating cheeses from Petaluma, San Luis Obispo and other local dairies, they were seated for their four course meal. The massive fireplace was lit and Teagan was sitting in candlelight with Greg. It was romantic, exciting and she felt like Cinderella. *** When it was time to go, Teagan wasn't regretting a single moment. It had been perfect from the minute they entered until they walked out of the Grand Dining Hall. She started through the Great Hall and House stopped her.

"Where are you going?" Greg asked pulling her arm in a different direction.

"To the car?"

"I'm not driving home after that much wine. I booked us a room too." Her face went blank and he realized she was doing the math again. "Don't go there. I can afford it."

"What room number?" She asked quickly.

He looked at the card, "472."

She started to whisper as they got on the elevator with several other guests, "That's a junior suite. I know, I've cleaned it. That's $570 a night."

"I told you not to go there. You don't want me to have an accident do you?"

"No, but the Yosemite Inn is only $129 a night. I can screw just as well in a $129 a night room as a $570 a night room."

He started laughing at her and hugged her. "Wilson thinks I'm cheap, he should get a load of you. Just enjoy it. I want you to be able to say that you were screwed by Greg House in a Junior Suite at the Ahwahnee and I'm willing to pay $570 for the honor."

"I'd rather say that I was screwed by George Clooney in a Junior Suite at the Ahwahnee and I'm will to pay $570 for the honor..." She broke into a big smile.

"Oooo, you are cruel. Especially after all the trouble I've gone through to make sure you had a good time."

"Ok, I'm lying. The only person I want to be screwed by right now is you, Greg House."

He pinned her up against the back of the elevator and started to kiss her over and over with his tongue exploring her. The other guests in the elevator where either amused or upset by their behavior. "Get a room." One of them said as he got off on the third floor. When they got to their room, House went over to the television and turned on the channel for jazz and he smiled at her.

"Strip for me."

She pushed him down onto the edge of the bed and began by taking her shoes off and then her pantyhose. She leaned into him and kissed him. She lifted her dress for him to take her panties off. She was wearing his favorite blue satin and lace panties. He pulled them down and she stepped out of them. He took them and put them in his lap and told her to come close. He felt her legs and then rubbed up under her dress, grabbing her thighs and butt and pulling her into him. He reached up and around to her zipper and unzipped her, pulling down her straps and exposing her breasts. He held them and kissed them and then pulled her dress down letting if fall to the floor. She leaned into him as he fell back onto the bed. She straddled him and started to take off his tie and then unbutton his shirt. She removed his belt. He helped hurry the process by taking off his socks and pants. She reached into his boxers and stroked him and then removed them with a sexy smile. She climbed on top and refused to let him do anything. She made all the moves. He wasn't allowed to make any moves until he told her, "Teagan, I can't take it anymore. I ..." he couldn't even talk about it, he had to move, he met her with an opposite and equal force. He watched and held on to her beautiful hips as they both picked up the pace faster and faster. "Ahhhhhhhh." He yelled as the climax ripped through him uncontrollably. His head tilted back and she could see the veins in his forehead pop out until he stopped, paused and then his entire body relaxed.

He pulled her down and off of him. Without any words between them he began to give her the same pleasure. When the waves came, she held onto him tightly until she could no longer take the pleasurable sensations. He continued but she was too sensitive and crossed her legs so that he would have to stop. He pulled back and then slipped his arms around her waist.

"Teagan. I don't know what to do with you." He said sadly.

"What do you mean? You don't have to do anything with me."

"I feel so good right now but you know this is going to end badly. I can't live in the mountains and you can't live in the city. To top it off, your mountains are thousands of miles from my city. This is like a really bad opera."

She knew he was right but she didn't want to think about it coming to an end in a few days. "Shhhh. Don't think about that, think about how wonderful it's been and will be for the next few days. I can't think about the future for once. It's too painful."

"It's so damned ironic. I finally allow myself a little happiness and when I do, it's with someone who can't make me happy."

"I don't make you happy?"

"No, making me happy would mean you'd come back to Princeton and live with me."

Her heart sank, he was forcing her to think about him leaving and what it would do to her to see him go. "I want so much to say yes, but you know I can't, I just can't do it, at least not yet. I have some healing to do, I have to get healthy again, build up my strength. Please understand."

"Ahh, don't feel bad. I understand, but it doesn't make me feel any better. This is F#cked up beyond all repair...FUBAR!"

"No argument there. Now, since we're destined to play the star-crossed lovers, we should at least enjoy this part of the play while we can."

"You're right, let me kiss you." He put his hand to her cheek and then leaned in to kiss her."

The next morning they checked out at noon and ate breakfast downstairs in the dining room in their evening clothes. They both felt silly and yet had a good time watching the people watch them. The drive home was uneventful except that a bear crossed the road in front of them and House looked at her with contentment. He could understand why this would enchant anyone. The scenery was spectacular with its water falls, rivers, huge granite faces, pine trees. It was like living in a painting. He understood why Ansel Adams' favorite place on earth was Yosemite. *** When they got home Lizzy greeted them and after she changed, Teagan fed Lizzy. She hung her dress in the closet and took one last look at it before closing the door. She put the earrings away and wrapped the purse to put back in it's box. Cinderella was packing up her memories.

House gave her his dirty shirt and she grabbed the rest of the dirty clothes to take up to the lodge to wash at the little laundromat. She drove up, put the clothes in the wash and drove back to find House chopping up the rest of the log. He was sweating just a little. She went over to watch. After he was done with the log she gave him some water and then she grabbed him to hug him. She wanted to smell him. He smelled just like a man.

"I'm starting to get callouses in places that never had callouses before...my heels, my hands, my penis..."

"Cute."

They went up to the porch and sat down to rock in the Shaker Rockers. They held hands and rocked for the better part of an hour talking about his career in medicine and the fact that Cuddy took a chance on him when no one else would.

"I knew I liked her when I met her. She's strong but she has a weakness for you. You hit a chord in her and she feels almost indebted to you. You've done more for the hospital's reputation that she's willing to admit to your face."

"Maybe. But I owe her big time, for several things."

"Yeah, I know." She had seen the whole trial scene when she touched his piano and felt his surprise and gratitude when Cuddy took the stand. She had lied for him and it had kept him out of jail.

"Hey, don't you need to make some pies or jam or crochet a sampler or something?"

"Great way to change the subject. I need to go tomorrow to pick blackberries just northeast of here. If I don't get them, the birds and animals will get all of them. So I may not be here when you get up in the morning."

"Northeast?"

"About a mile northeast through the woods, across a stream just past a meadow. Why?"

"I've never picked blackberries..."

"I'd offer to get you up at 6:00 with me and take you, but you'd moan so much it wouldn't be worth it."

He reached over to her rocker, grabbed her nose between his middle and fourth finger and pinched it. Then he pulled her towards him and gave her knuckle noogies on her head. "OWWW. Gregory House, stop that. Next you'll be dipping my pigtails in the ink."

He got up and went inside to the bathroom. While he was taking a leak he worried about her. He knew she would find it hard to get through the winter and here he was eating up her supplies and keeping her from making a living.

The next morning Teagan grabbed her backpack, water and burlap sacks and started on her trek to the Black berry patch. She was just standing straight up to stretch her back when she saw Lizzy take off into the woods across the meadow. Within a minute Lizzy and House, complete with baseball cap and sunglasses came into the opening and crossed the meadow to where she was.

"Good morning, I see you found it."

"I followed your directions and I saw a few footprints that just happened to be a size 51/2!"

"I just have to fill the rest of the bag and we can go."

House started picking blackberries, putting two in his mouth and one in the bag, two in his mouth, one in the bag, two in his mouth, one in the bag...

"I need these blackberries to go into the bag, not your stomach! You'll get sick if you eat too many."

"Man, it's been a long time since I've eaten berries in the wild. I forgot how great they taste."

"Let me see." She went over to him and gave his a deep kiss with her little tongue darting into his mouth. "Yeah, you're right, pretty sweet. Actually, they're starting to get so ripe that they'll go bad in a week. I need to get out here and pick more tomorrow."

He pulled her back to him and as he felt her breasts she could feel him getting excited. He took her out to the meadow and then took off his shirt and laid her down on it in the soft grassy patch out in the open. He stood above her and took off his pants. Teagan pulled her t-shirt over her head. It was still a little chilly out and so her nipples were fully erect, making House very happy at the sight. They made love as Lizzy laid several feet away, guarding them from any danger. It was so sweet that Teagan did everything she could do to keep from crying. House saw her chin scrunch up and he was sure she was going to start tearing up, but she kept herself in check. There were no tears just a deep heartache in both of them. They were silent for several minutes.

Teagan grabbed her levis, t-shirt and panties and got dressed, all the time thinking that the blackberry patch would never be the same again. After they filled the last bag they headed back. House insisted that they go to Groveland, he wanted to buy some food to make her dinner.

"Greg, don't joke. I've never once picked up that you cook."

"Then maybe you don't know everything about me."

She drove them into town in the truck. Everyone at the grocery store said hi to her. She introduced Greg to them as they wondered through the store. Greg had the shopping basket and was going up and down the aisles. It was a medium sized grocery store but it had a fairly good selection of goods. He started in the dry goods grabbing large packages of toilet paper, "Yours isn't soft enough," paper towels, dish soap, a new pan scrubber, organic toilet cleaner and laundry soap.

"What are you doing?" She was very suspicious and she tried to open the gate.

He knew she would try to read him so he thought to himself, "Get out of my head and respect my privacy."

A look of frustration and embarrassment flashed through her face and he knew she had heard him. She said out loud, "You don't have to be snippy."

He grabbed a huge bag of the best dog food they had and then some dog treats because he really liked Lizzy, she was cool. She watched as cans of food started to fly off the shelf and into the basket. When she saw him put canned spinach in the basket she shook her head, "I only eat fresh spinach, the canned stuff is crap." He put the spinach back and grabbed tomato paste and sauce along with spaghetti sauce and pasta. The little cart was starting to fill up quickly. He bought oil, flour, sugar, rice, corn meal and just about every staple there was. When he couldn't fill another inch of the basket he grabbed a gallon of milk, a six pack of beer, a loaf of bread and cold cuts.

He looked at her and said, "Every time you open something up or feed me anything from your kitchen I feel like I'm taking food out of your mouth. I won't feel that way now."

"But you only have a few days left, we won't eat all of this in a month."

"I don't expect to eat any of it. It's to help you through the winter."

It only came to $598.00 and House thought he should go back and fill up another cart but he knew that Teagan was having a hard time taking this from him without feeling like a charity case.

As they drove home he had to ask, "Why don't you have any money? I can't figure what you blew your money on...you had to have made some when you worked with the FBI."

"My parents were ill for years. I paid off their hospital bills which ran into the hundreds of thousands. If I didn't pay the bills, they didn't get the treatment they needed. My Mom died in 1997 and my Dad died one week before 9/11. When he died he left me a life insurance policy worth $150,000. I used it to buy my house and the twenty acres it sits on but at least I own it outright. I used the rest to buy the truck and furniture and then I moved to the mountains. But I was wiped out financially by their illnesses. And like I told you, everyone around Aspen Valley is screwed up in the head but, just like you, they all think they're perfect and don't need help. Not much work for a behavioral psychologist in a town of 93. It isn't easy, but I get by and each year that I'm here I feel better and stronger. I live fairly simply. The only luxury I let myself have is my Mustang. It and the stereo in it! But then she's my baby and deserves a good stereo!"

"You deserve her." House wanted to do more but knew she wouldn't accept it. He felt helpless. He dropped thousands of dollars each month gambling or on hookers and he knew that just one month of his mad money would keep her warm all through the winter. This was madness. He had the money, didn't really need the money and she wouldn't take it. But at least he could offer, maybe he was wrong. "Teagan, the hospital gave me $3,000 in traveling expenses. Since you provide the ride, let me give it to you."

"No. You paid for half the gas, half the rooms, half the food. I would have had to pay for all the gas so that really helped. I know what you're trying to do. Thank you but the food was enough. If you give me any more I'll feel like a hooker."

They spent the last few days hiking in Yosemite and although House was tired every night, he could feel his leg getting stronger. The last night that they were together he was in real pain, they had spent longer hiking than they should have and he was paying for it. After dinner she massaged his leg and applied heat compresses and a hot water bottle she had. He wanted to make love to her but the pain was too much. He took an extra Vicodin and eventually he fell asleep. She climbed into bed and cried softly knowing he was going in the morning and everything that they had dreaded would be coming true. *** She opened the gate to see how much pain he was in. Even with the Vicodin he was still in considerable pain. She got up and grabbed a towel and put it down on her pillow. She reached down and placed her hand on his thigh and then she pushed with her mind. She knew she couldn't heal him, she'd stroke out if she really tried to do that, but maybe she could take some of the pain away. She raised the gate and then sent all of her psi to his leg. The flow of pain into her was scary and intense. She started to cry some more from the pain, tears and blood flowing onto the towel. The blood started soaking through the towel and into the pillow. Her body started convulsing and she knew she had to shut the gate but she thought that maybe she could take just a little more.

House was dreaming of her and then he felt a storm inside of him, a flow of energy that he couldn't control. The pain he was feeling was swirling through him and out. The dream was so real, his pain was flowing out with the current he felt. He opened his eyes and saw her face in the light of the oil lamp, she was having a convulsion with blood coming from her nose, her mouth, her ears, her eyes. She had her hand on his thigh. He grabbed the hand and released her. She continued to convulse for a few more seconds and then it stopped.

House sat up, "Teagan, Teagan..." He slapped her lightly across the face. She didn't open her eyes. He grabbed her wrist and her pulse was flying. He knew her BP must be high and she was probably stroking...he put an extra pillow under her head to reduce the pressure on her brain. She was unresponsive but breathing so he placed her on her left side with her chin extended to assist in keeping her airway open and to allow vomit and secretions to drain from her mouth. He turned on the ceiling light.

He started to dress to get her to a hospital but realized the nearest hospital or doctor was in Yosemite Valley, an hour away. He needed a helicopter. He needed to get to the lodge because his cell phone didn't receive service until they got into Groveland. They had a phone in the lodge he could use.

He had just put on his shirt when she sat up and looked at him. The first thing out of her mouth was, "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"F#CK." He was relieved, angry, worried, so many feelings he couldn't sort them. "What did you do? What were you doing? Look! You're covered in blood. I wake up and you're having convulsions. What the f#ck were you doing? You silly, stupid cow, what were you doing?"

She looked around and saw that everything in the bed was drenched with blood.

I didn't realize that I had bled that much. It didn't seem like it at the time. I was just concentrating on pulling the pain out of his body. I don't remember much until I woke up. He was furious. It kind of scared me. I thought he was going to hit something, maybe me, but he didn't. He sat down as I started to clean up the bed. I took the towel and threw it in the garbage pail, the same with the pillow case. The pillow was worthless so I bagged it too. I continued to strip the bed and clean myself up while he calmed down. He grabbed my arm and stopped me just as I was about to go take a shower. I could see he was walking around with less of a limp, but he hadn't noticed, not yet. He was too upset to realize that he had less pain in the leg. I opened the gate and he could feel he was confused, scared, worried, and oh was he angry at me.

House grabbed Teagan's arm as she started to go to the bathroom to take a shower. "Ok, I'm calmer, tell me what you were doing."

"I really need a shower, but if you must know, I was trying to pull some of the pain out of your muscle. I was sending your blood to the area to give the muscle more oxygen. I was just trying to help."

It dawned on him that the pain was considerably less, that he hadn't felt this good since the Ketamine had worn off.

"You can heal people?"

"Yes and no. It depends on what it is. I can direct blood, chemicals or control internal organic problems but I can't make you grow new muscle or a blind person see...it's kind of like psychic first aid. I should have told you but you already had a lot to absorb and well, you can see what a mess I make when I try to do it."

"Promise me that you'll never do that again, never, ever. You were close to dying and I couldn't deal with you dying just to take pain away from me or anyone else. It's too dangerous for you. Promise?" He watched as she had a hard time coming to terms with a promise like that.

"I promise that I will only use it in emergencies. I won't give you the promise you're asking for, so you better accept this one."

He shook his head at her and looked at the caked blood all over her head and clothes. "You look like Carrie at the prom."

"I feel like Carrie at the prom. Let me go take a shower." He let go of her arm and went into the bedroom. She had changed out the entire bed, including the bedspread. He laid down and looked up at the ceiling. When she was done, she came in with her wet hair combed back and looking all sweet and clean.

He got up, removed his pants again and got back into bed. She climbed in on the other side and he pulled her over to him. He just kept shaking his head at her in disbelief. He kissed her forehead and put his arm around her to hold her to him. She could smell him and it gave her comfort.

"You are one weird chick. I don't know what attracts me to you...every logical instinct tells me to RUN."

"Well, after tomorrow it won't be a problem will it? You will be back in Princeton next week and back to normal."

"Teagan, nothing's ever going to be normal after meeting you. I look at my world and realize you've blown holes in so many assumptions I've had. I don't know how to put what I know to be true back together. I understand why Bob and your ex-boyfriend warned me. I'm confused about this world. I don't understand how you do what you do. It's still hocus pocus to me."

"One very bright scientist at Princeton told me that I was one of the few people that could tune into the continuum, that it is all quantum mechanics. Your thoughts, your pain, your blood are just chemicals and to do whatever they do they rely on electrical charges. I think I just know how to manipulate those electrical charges better than anyone else."

"Ahhg. Still it doesn't help me. I don't know how to leave you."

"You get in your car and start the engine. We'll both survive. It will hurt, but we'll both do what we have to do. You'll go back to saving lives and I'll try to heal mine. Just take some comfort that in an alternate universe somewhere we manage to work it out and stay together. I like to think of Greg and Teagan in Universe 1,249 living happily ever after. Of course, you know if Quantum Mechanics is right, there are millions of universes where we never even meet."

House sighed and looked into her eyes. She was unique. He closed his eyes and minutes later they were both asleep.

When they woke up they made love for the last time. She made him some sandwiches for the drive to San Francisco and they packed the styrofoam cooler with water and cokes and put it in the passenger side. He needed gas so he would get ice when he got the gas. He reached down and gave Lizzy a scratch behind the ears and then turned to Teagan.

"I wish I was in universe 1249 right now and not this one. Please think about coming to Princeton. I'd take care of you." He kissed her on the mouth and then held her.

She whispered into his ear. "If you ever get lonely for Lizzy, you're welcomed back. We loved having you. Drive safe and please be happy. You really do deserve it." She refused to let him see her cry. She made sure that whatever she was feeling stayed inside until she saw the last of the dust from his car as it pulled out of her drive.

She looked down at Lizzy, "Well babe, just you and me again. That one was hard to let go of huh?" She went in and started the stove so that she could make more jam and have a good cry.

She discovered later that afternoon that House had stopped in and bought every jar of Blackberry jam in the lodge and he paid a premium of $540, all the cash he had on hand, for the lot of it. When the young daughter of the owner rang it up she looked at him like he was crazy.

He told her, "In New Jersey I can make a fortune off of these jars. Make sure Teagan gets the money." She shook her head yes and he left.

House drove to San Francisco trying to concentrate on what he would say on the subjects he had been asked to address but he kept wondering if the gate was open. When he arrived at the Francis Drake he checked in, put his luggage in his room and then went down to register for the seminar. He noticed that Lisa Cuddy had not picked up her name badge. Too bad, it would have been good to have her to talk to just to take his mind off of "things."

Around 11:00 he went up to bed. He laid down and couldn't resist it. "Teagan, are you there? Are you there? Teagan? TEAGAN?"

"I'M HERE YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL, you're giving me a headache. Did you get there safely?"

"Yes, I'm at the Francis Drake."

"Wow, the Ahwahnee and now the Francis Drake...you know how to live."

"Will we be able to do this when I get to Princeton?"

"It depends."

"If you do it every day it should be no problem. But if you don't keep it up it fades...becomes harder to connect each time until I would have to push to find you and connect."

"So, if I talk to you each night we'll keep the line open?"

"You don't want to do that Greg."

"What do you mean?"

"We both need to go on and live our lives. You need to find someone in Princeton and I need to find...oh I just need to try and get on with life. We can't keep pricking open the wound each night. It's unfair to both of us."

I could feel his pain when I told him that we shouldn't talk to each other each night. He knew I was right, but he wasn't ready to let go. He could be such an adolescent, still believing that he could make it all work out. But I could feel the adult in him starting to understand and taking the painful steps to curb the desire to have a connection. He knew we would never move forward if we did this on a regular basis.

"You're right. I know you're right. I'm sorry, I won't do it again. I didn't tell you but I'm really going to miss you."

"Me too, me too. Bye."

"Bye."

I closed the gate and put a lock on it.

***

On Friday House was scheduled to give his lecture on emerging diseases. He looked at the table and noticed Lisa's badge had not been picked up. He had already spoken to the team that morning about a new patient and no one mentioned a problem with Lisa. She was probably held up and would fly in this afternoon. He called her assistant. There was no answer, he was redirected to Nurse Catalina.

"Hello?"

"Nurse, it's Dr. House, can I speak to Cuddy?"

"Dr. House, Dr. Cuddy flew to San Francisco for a conference."

He was relieved to know she would be here soon and he would have a diversion, "Thanks, if she calls in tell her I'm in room 553. " he decided to leave a note in her mailbox telling her what room he was in. He also wanted to yell at her for scheduling his next talk at 8:30 in the morning. It meant he couldn't sleep in.

House took the trolley down to Union Square and ate dinner there. When he got back to the hotel there was no message waiting for him. Cuddy was probably tired and went straight to bed. He'd catch up with her in the morning.

The next morning House was running late. He grabbed his handouts and ran for the conference room. He took the stage and gave the audience an insightful presentation. People were laughing at his witty remarks and caustic humor. Despite the fact that House hated to do it, he always received the highest ratings for his presentations because he was so irreverent and the doctors loved it. He was just about to go to the handouts when everyone heard noises coming from the lobby outside the room. The door burst open and House's mouth dropped open.

"Lady, you need help, let us get you some help." two guys were trying to grab her.

"Let me go, let me go. GREG, GREG..." Teagan struggled down the aisle to reach him on the podium. Once again she was drenched in her own blood and she looked scared to death. She looked at him and in a voice full of terror she said, "He's got Lisa, he's going to kill her...Greg..." Teagan hit the floor and started to convulse. House jumped down and reached her side as fast as he could.

The moderator yelled, "Call an ambulance." One of the doctors dialed 911.

House knelt down and grabbed her head and put it on his knee to elevate it. He held her hand and kept thinking as loud as he could, "Teagan calm down, I'm here, you need to calm down and tell me how to help you." He couldn't feel anything at first but he could see her body relaxing and the convulsions stopping. Her eyes flew open.

"Greg, no one is looking for her, no one. He's got her in his basement and he's going to kill her. She knows too much."

Greg looked around, "Ok folks, I know her and she has a special condition. She will be fine in a few minutes, please relax and let 911 know that she doesn't need an ambulance."

"Are you crazy House, she's bleeding like mad."

"I know her, I'll assume responsibility for her. Now someone please give us both a hand to get up."

Teagan got up and so did House. She wanted so bad to hold him but he was in his nice suit and she was covered in blood.

"Lisa is in trouble. She found out something about this guy, a doctor and he wants her dead. He's a sadistic, unfeeling man. He wants to punish her."

House was beginning to understand. He needed to check Teagan over but he also needed someone to look in on Lisa. He directed Teagan into an empty conference room where he took out his cell phone to call Wilson.

"Wilson, I have Teagan here...this is going to sound crazy but Teagan is a psychic, the FBI knows her and knows she is a psychic, so I want you to start by calling them. She says that Lisa was kidnaped and is being held by someone that is going to torture and kill her."

"What do you mean? I saw Cuddy Thursday, she was going home to get her luggage and then fly out there."

"She's NOT here."

"House! A psychic? Come on." Wilson thought House was pulling a joke on him.

"Wilson, call..." House turned to Teagan, "Who should Wilson contact at the FBI that knows you?"

"Agent Nick Milan. He'll believe Wilson if he tells him it's from me. Let me talk to him."

House handed her the phone.

"Dr. Wilson. I can feel your confusion and disbelief but when we hang up, call agent Nick Milan in Philadelphia at the FBI. Tell him Teagan had a remote viewing of a man who has kidnaped Dr. Cuddy from her house and is holding her in a basement. She is drugged and he is going to torture and then kill her. Milan needs to start an investigation right now. I will try to contact Lisa, but if he has questions, have him call Greg's cell phone. Ok?"

Wilson was skeptical but she sounded so sincere it was the least he could do for her. "I will, I'll do it right now."

House looked at her and said, "Let's get you up to my room."

People stared at the bleeding woman and steered clear of her. House got her into the bathroom and got out the bathrobe and hung it up. She went into the shower and washed her hair and her body. He took off his suit coat and tie and waited for her to finish. When she got out he was waiting there with the hotel robe which he wrapped around her little body.

He pulled her to him and hugged her. She started crying, sobbing. He waited until she was done and then walked her out to the bedroom and sat her down on the bed.

"How did you get here?"

"I drove my truck...I parked it in the building, was that ok?"

"It will be ok. Tell me what happened."

"I woke up last night to someone crying. Obviously they weren't in my little house so I focused and I could see this man, he was a doctor...." House went over and got a tablet to take notes. "He had been waiting for her at her house. Waiting inside. He had broken a window to get in. She was getting her luggage and he grabbed her and held a knife to her neck. He took out a syringe and told her to give herself the shot. She refused and he stuck the knife into her neck until she was bleeding. He assured her it was just a narcotic to put her out. She gave herself the shot. She knows him, not well, but she found out something about him and she was having someone at work review his files...Q...I keep thinking Q...he took her but I don't know where because she was drugged when he moved her. I'm getting the images from her when she is awake enough to send them. She is targeting me ...trying to send them to me because of my work on the Temple case. She's hoping I am a real psychic. She's groggy, in a basement chained to a pole. He comes down sometimes and taunts her. I only get images when she is awake and even then I have to push because she's so groggy. I have to get through the haze, it's so hard."

The phone rang. It was the FBI. "Dr. House?"

"Yes."

"This is Special Agent Nick Milan from the Philadelphia office. May I talk to Ms. Furey?"

He handed the phone to Teagan. "It's Elliot Ness."

"Nick?"

"Teagan. How are you? "

"Ok. What are you doing about the vision?"

"We've verified that her home was broken into and that her luggage was still in her house. We know she didn't get on any planes so we are going with the assumption that what you are seeing is correct. We need your help. Please tell us everything you know."

She recounted what she had told House. Whenever she left something out, House would remind her from his notes. House realized that Cuddy had someone at the hospital working on this guy's files which means someone at the hospital would know who it is.

"Teagan who at the hospital is working on his files. Can you see that?" House asked.

"Yes, Teagan that would help us." Nick had heard House ask her the question.

"I need to push it, so can I call you right back?"

He gave her his direct cell phone number and she hung up.

"I'm going to have to try and contact Cuddy. If she is groggy or asleep, I am going to have to really push to get this information. I need to know...how much blood can I lose and not die?"

"Don't worry, you probably haven't lost as much as you think. But it's your blood pressure that worries me. Your bleeding is a result of the pressure in your body and brain. You could stroke out on me. I could lose you."

"I tell you what..think my name really loud like you usually do. Come on...think."

He closed his eyes, "Teagan, TEAGAN, TEAGAN..."

"ALRIGHT, alright...that's good. Now if I start to convulse again, you do that. I'm probably more likely to hear you that way than if you communicate in the physical world. Ok?"

"If you say so." House didn't like this.

"Let's go into the bathroom, I'll do this in the tub."

She stripped off the robe and sat in the empty tub and told him it was very cold, could she please have a towel to wrap up in. He handed her a couple and draped them over her to warm her up. She closed her eyes.

It was early afternoon on the east coast, she suspected the doctor would have Cuddy drugged pretty heavily during the day when he was at work. She closed her eyes and put her head back and tried to followed the last message she had received and try to find her way back to Cuddy.

"Lisa, Lisa...it's Teagan. It's TEAGAN. Lisa, I need your help. Please respond, just say yes, or hello or something I'll recognize as you. Lisa, answer me, answer me." She paused and received nothing. "Lisa, let me know you're out there... please give me a signal."

She heard a faint voice, "Greg House is a jerk."

Teagan laughed. "I know, I know. Now you have to ..." she felt a void again, "Lisa? LISA?" Teagan knew she was on the right path to Lisa because Lisa had just responded but she couldn't figure out why it had stopped.

House waited and sat down on the toilet lid. He jumped up when he saw Teagan's eyes fly open and her hands come up in a defensive pose. She screamed bloody murder and started flailing. The blood was dripping out of her nose and ears. House didn't know if he should stop her or not.

"Get away, no,no....oh, God please don't, please don't....ahhhhhhhh" Teagan was scaring House. Whatever was happening was terrifying because the look in her eye was one of primal fear.

I couldn't get anything and I thought I had lost her. I hadn't, she had just gone quiet when she heard him come down the stairs. He took the blindfold off and the image was clear. I could see him, I could see the surgical knife coming at my hands as I held them up to keep him away. He was laughing. "I became a surgeon to cut people, because I like to cut people Lisa. I like to watch them bleed. I like to feel the pieces of flesh that I cut off. I rub them in between my fingers, like this." I saw the flash of the knife as it came down and sliced a piece of my skin the size of a dollar bill off of my forearm. I felt it sting, I felt the blood. The pain was horrible, excruciating. He had exposed and cut part of the muscle underneath. I couldn't do anything but raise my hands up in front of my face. I was chained by both my feet and my hands and I was standing there in my bra and panties. I was feeling faint, this was too much. "Let's take a look at that thigh, maybe we can do a little shaping without the lipo suction. I can see he no longer has an humanity left in him, he's pure evil now. The knife is cutting my thigh. I must ask her before we lose consciousness...Lisa who has his file at the hospital...who is reading his file...who, who? I am slipping away from her, Lisa, tell me now.........Cameron.

Her scream as she grabbed her thigh was all House could take. He thought hard, "Teagan, TEAGAN, TEAGAN, TEAGAN, TEAGAN, come back to me. PLEASE COME BACK..."

Her eyes opened and she looked at him shaking her head. "He's carving her up alive...they have to get there quick. Cameron has his file." House pressed the reverse dial on his phone and Agent Milan picked up.

"Teagan says that he is carving her up alive and that Dr. Cameron has the file. Yes, I'll call Cameron and have her call you." He hung up and pushed the quick dial for Cameron's cell phone.

"Dr. Cameron." she sounded bored.

"Cameron."

"House! We were just going to call you..."

"Shut up and listen to me. Cuddy is in danger and you need to call FBI Agent Milan at 209-547-1292 and tell him the name of the doctor who Cuddy wanted you to review...you have his files."

"You mean Dr. Griffin?"

"Yes, call that number NOW."

He hung up...he had all the faith in the world that Cameron would do what he asked. She knew when he was serious and he was serious. He went back to Teagan. "What do you want to do?"

"Before I get out of the tub I want to go back and tell her that help is on the way...I don't want to leave her alone but I am so afraid Greg. It was so painful and so horrible."

"Maybe you should just let the police do their job now. You've done enough."

"No. I can't leave her, she was so scared. I'm going back." Teagan closed her eyes and opened the gate to Lisa, the pain coming through was overwhelming. She now had pain in her forearm, thigh and oh god, he was sticking the knife in the bundle of nerves right next to the armpit...she was passing out.

Lisa, we told the FBI who he is, they are going to find you. Please hold on, it will be over soon. Lisa hold on. The pain from him twisting the knife in the nerves was making us feel nauseated. She's going to throw up...ughhg. She vomited all over herself. She's trying to hold on. I don't know if I can keep the connection. I want to hold on. Lisa, no, stay with me. Stay with me.

Lisa wasn't sending signals and Teagan wasn't sure what that meant. She hoped it only meant that she had passed out, but she couldn't tell. For God's sake please hurry.

Teagan came back to House and realized that she had vomited all over herself in the bathtub. House was using the towels to try and clean her up. He looked at her as if to ask what happened?

"I don't know, she went dark. The pain was so bad, she either passed out or...or she's gone. I just don't know."

Teagan took another shower and once again put on the robe. House put her to bed so that she could take a nap, she was exhausted. He sat on the bed and stroked her wet hair until she was asleep. He was worried. Her poor little body had taken a beating lately. She had been forced to march out her talents a lot lately and it was taking a toll. He turned on the television and turned the sound down a little. It didn't seem to disturb her. He had been watching television for two hours when he got a call, it was Agent Milan.

"Dr. House? May I please talk to Teagan?"

"She's taking a very needed nap, do you need her help or can she call you back when she wakes up?"

"I want her to know that we found Dr. Cuddy in the basement of a surgeon, Dr. Harold Griffin. She's been cut up. He managed to remove portions of flesh from both forearms and thighs and he was torturing her with a knife in her upper torso near the armpit. But she's going to live and for the most part, she'll be alright. Unfortunately, he had fed two of the slivers to his dog before we got there, but we were able to save the other two. They've reattached them and the doctors are hopeful. The only thing she said to us was to thank Teagan."

"Thanks, Dr. Cuddy is a close friend of mine and I'm grateful for the update. I'll have Teagan call you when she wakes up."

House wanted to wake her so that he could catch a flight back to Princeton to check on Cuddy, but he also wanted to make sure that Teagan was going to be alright. He made calls to Wilson and was kept posted on Cuddy's condition. House figured he couldn't really help much back there so he decided to let Teagan sleep. He went downstairs and bought her some clothes in the hotel boutique. He picked her up a pair of small sweat pants that had the Francis Drake emblem on it and also bought her a matching t-shirt. He went to the parking garage and checked on the truck which was still there. He went up to the desk and paid for two days of parking for it. They gave him a receipt to provide when she exited. He found out that he could catch a flight from San Francisco at 8:12 in the morning, so he booked a seat on it. He ordered a light meal in the bar and then went back up to the room. She was still asleep. He got undressed and crawled in next to her, remembering how it felt to be with her. He felt like he was in limbo. He was here with her, but he wasn't really here with her.

He had a wake up call at 5:00 a.m. Teagan sat up in bed and watched as he got up. He apologized to her, "I have to go. My flight is at 8:12 and I need to get back to check on Cuddy. They found her, she was alive, they performed surgery and she's doing well. She wanted to thank you."

Teagan didn't say anything, she just got up and went pee. As she was washing her hands, House said, "I bought you some clothes for your ride home, they're on the bed. I threw your bloody clothes away and I paid your parking. Here's the slip to get out of the garage."

Her voice was still crackly but she managed to say, "Thank you."

"Are you hungry, do you want room service?" I could arrange for you to stay in the room until noon if you want?"

"No, I'm ok. I'll get going and eat when I have been on the road for awhile. Thanks though."

"Damn it, Teagan, this feels like a repeat of the other day. I feel like crap."

She walked over to him hugged him and looked up into his blue eyes. "I know. I know. We just have to deal with it...again." She gave him a sweet kiss and a smile.

She walked back out to the bedroom and got dressed while he was in the shower. When he got out he yelled, "Why don't I postpone my flight for a few hours and we have a proper breakfast?" He walked out to the bedroom but she wasn't there. She was gone. He looked at the door, frowned and then went back into the bathroom to Cuddy was having trouble with the left forearm. The cuts had been on the underside of her forearm and the left one had been cut deep into the muscle. It wasn't going to fully recover. During her recovery, House had been coming to her hospital room and making himself at home. He took over the remote, ate her food, ordered juice for her and then drank it. He thought he was keeping her company but there were times when she just wanted to boot him out the door. Despite her moments of frustration with him, she was touched by the fact that when he flew back he drove straight to the hospital to see her and that he had been by her side through all of this.

House was in the room when the FBI agents came back for her statement. He wouldn't leave and so Cuddy just told the agents that he was furniture and to ignore him. It turned out that Cuddy had found out that Griffin was in the middle of a very antagonistic med mal lawsuit. When the lawsuit had been served on the hospital he had been assigned a lawyer by the insurance company but Griffin and the female attorney had bumped heads a lot. So he managed to get the insurers to hire his brother, a rather aggressive attorney. It got really ugly after that.

It turned out that the Plaintiff, the husband of the deceased patient, worked at a postal office outside of Philadelphia. Part of his claim was for "Loss of Consortium", the husband claimed he relied on his wife to help administer shots because he had a compromised immune system from taking drugs for a cancer that had recently gone into remission.

Griffin wasn't happy with the direction of the lawsuit and decided he needed to take things into his own hands. He purchased samples of a virulent strain of Q fever, supposedly for research purposes at PPTH. This was eventually determined to be the same strain that had killed several employees at the same post office, including the Plaintiff, who was easily infected because of his compromised immune system. The husband's lawsuit died with him.

Cuddy didn't normally have anything to do with orders of research strains of viruses or bacteria but she had received a call from Maggie Malone telling her that they had traced a vial of Q Fever back to PPTH and they just wanted to verify that it was used for research purposes. When Cuddy checked, it all looked legitimate and she sent the paperwork to Maggie who decided that there was nothing to follow up. But Cuddy saw an anomaly. Everything was in order except the shipping receipt. It showed that the package had been delivered to the Fourth floor charge nurse as was indicated on the order form and not the third floor charge nurse who handled the infectious disease lab deliveries. Cuddy couldn't make out the name of the doctor who had ordered it, it was blurry, but he had put the delivery down for the fourth floor, not the third.

The charge nurse on the fourth floor had remembered the delivery because when she discovered it was for infectious diseases, Dr. Griffin told her he was going down to the third floor and would deliver the package for her. That was the last time anyone had seen the package.

Cuddy gave Cameron the files since the team was without a patient and asked her to interview everyone on the third floor to see if Dr. Griffin had delivered the virus. In the meantime, Cuddy had called Griffin in and asked him who he had delivered it to. He claimed that he delivered it to a nurse he had never seen before. He didn't realize that Cuddy had already put into motion an investigation through Cameron. Thinking he could make it all go away, he broke into Cuddy's home and kidnaped her.

The CDC claimed that Dr. Cuddy was a hero, having followed up her hunch and catching a murderer. The hospital received praise for it's open door policy. Maggie Malone said that any other hospital would have covered it up but she had always known that the doctors and administration at PPTH were the best. Afterwards, there was a surge in patients being admitted to the hospital. It seems that the patients liked the fact that the hospital had aired it's dirty laundry and had cleaned house.

Cuddy had been told she could go home the next day but they had set her up with twice a week Psych appointments with a psychiatrist and psychologist. She wasn't happy about that but she was already having nightmares and so she decided it might be a good idea. House was sitting in the chair next to her bed playing with the remote control when she got the word that she could go home.

"I heard you arranged to have my window fixed?" Cuddy asked.

House just shrugged his shoulders like no big deal.'

"What's this about you and Teagan? Are you two an item now?" She was curious since Teagan had gone to him when Cuddy had contacted her. It raised a lot of questions.

"It's over."

"What? House it just got started. You've already screwed it up?"

"I'm not necessarily responsible for everything that goes wrong. She wants to live in the California Sierras and I choose gorgeous New Jersey. Get the picture?"

"You mean you actually got along but geography is keeping you two apart? That doesn't mean you can't keep in contact and go see her or she come see you."

"She's a hermit...no computer, no email, no telephone, no cell phone, no television...the only way to reach her is by the U.S. Mail."

"Wow, she is a hermit...really back to nature. How hippie-ish. I'm sorry House. I was hoping it would work out for you. She's an incredible person."

"Aaah, no use crying over spilt milk. Moving right along, do you need a ride home tomorrow? Do you want someone to sleep over...I could sleep in your bed or, if you don't like that option, I could sleep down the hall."

"No, I'll be ok. I don't need you of all people to babysit me."

The next night at midnight, House was on his way over to Cuddy's. She wasn't ok, she was sobbing when she called him. He knocked on the door and she opened it and let him in. She showed him the guest room and he threw his overnight bag inside. "Do you need me to look under the bed or in your closet?" he asked, a little miffed at the fact that she woke him up so late to come over.

"No. Just be here."

"I'm here. I'm tired, but I'm here." he gave her a look of exasperation.

"Thanks." She gave him a slight hug and went back to bed.

House continued to stay over with Cuddy and had just finished his first week as a resident of the Cuddy Inn. House arrived at the hospital and grabbed a cup of coffee from the pot. He laid back in his chair, put his feet up and closed his eyes.

"House we have a new patient, don't you want to join us?" Cameron yelled from the presentation room.

"Crap." he was tired.

Foreman looked at him, "Late night?"

"Slumber party with Cuddy, didn't get much sleep if you know what I mean?" He gave Foreman two winks.

"How is she?"

"It's tough, she just can't stand being separated from me. Can you blame her? Ok, what's the differential?"

Foreman and Case gave him the background and he ran them off to do some tests. Wilson came in. "Heard you're babysitting Cuddy...do you want me to rotate with you?"

"Ha! Hell no. Best gig in town. She feels so guilty asking me to sleep over that she makes me breakfast, dinner, does my laundry and actually makes my bed. I even got her to move her television in to my bedroom."

"YOUR bedroom?"

"I may never move out." He grinned like the devil.

Eventually Cuddy decided that she could probably go it alone. She was tired of House's dirty clothes all over the bathroom floor and his refusal to put any dirty dishes in the sink and rinse them. She thought this desire to have him gone was probably a good sign, she was starting to get a grip on her life.

The next morning Cuddy watched House, dressed in just a t-shirt and boxers, ramble into the kitchen and grab the pot of coffee. He was scratching and yawning and she realized what pigs men were, especially in the morning. House looked at the watchful Cuddy and realized she had something to tell him.

"You can sleep in your own bed tonight. I think I can get by without you in the guest room."

He looked at her and gave her a strange look of disbelief, "Yeah, right. We both know you'll just call me at midnight and beg me to come over and provide my services."

"Your services? You eat my food, watch television, make me pick up after you and let me do your laundry...that's a service?"

"You better believe it. It provides a distraction. You can't be worried about evil surgeons if you are cleaning up the beard hairs in your bathroom sink."

"I think I will survive. But thanks, I really do appreciate that you came over and stayed with me."

"Are we joking or do you really want me to go home?"

"GO HOME HOUSE. Go back to the piano, go back to Steve, go back to your hole."

"Gee, you don't have to be testy."

House went home, back to his hole. He played his piano, watched television, fed Steve and thought about Teagan. He tried not to think about her, the time with Cuddy had helped distract him. At Cuddy's he only thought about her during those last few moments before he drifted into sleep. But since coming home, when he played piano he remembered playing for her in the barbeque joint; when he made toast, he thought of Blackberry jam (and the dozen jars in his cupboard.); when he listened to Led Zepplin, he thought of air guitar. He was trapped in the Teagan mind warp. He was f#cked. ***

Wilson was worried about House. Over the last three months he had fewer cruel retorts and he ate a lot of Blackberry jam. He seemed to be mooning for Teagan and Wilson wasn't sure how to get him to move on. It reminded him of when Stacy left him. He just wasn't himself for quite awhile. Wilson was hoping that he would snap out of it quicker this time. Hopefully, he hadn't really fallen in love but was just infatuated or in lust. He thought the best way to cheer him up would be to take him to their favorite strip joint, "Foxies."

House got drunk on Scotch and paid for a lap dance. The young blonde rubbed herself up and down his chest with her @ss and then with her breasts. He reached out and grabbed her. The bouncer came over and told him to stop. He held his hands up in the air to show he was no longer grabbing his dancer. Wilson was shaking his head.

"What color are your panties when you go home? Do you have blue satin panties with nude lace on the hips?" House asked, his eyes bloodshot.

"No. I wear thongs." She seemed annoyed.

House thought about what he was doing and then jumped up and back, away from the dancer. He smiled but the smile flickered out and he had the look of a sad puppy. He took his cane and left. Wilson realized it had been the real deal. House had fallen in love and he was in free fall.

House got home and went to bed. He lay in bed wishing she was there with him. He knew he wasn't suppose to but he needed to hear her voice. "Teagan, Teagan, TEAGAN... Come on Teagan, Teagan...TEAGAN, please Teagan , I can't stand this. Talk to me. Teagan please don't do this. Talk to me, please. Talk to me. Teagan, do you miss me? I miss you...Teagan. Teagan. Teagannnn.........." But there was no response. No soft voice in his head. He was f#cked.

I could hear him, I could hear him calling me and sounding lost. He screamed in my head, he pleaded and I said nothing. I said nothing. I put my pillow over my head to try and drown him out but I knew the voice was inside me. He told me he missed me and I said nothing. He asked me if I missed him. I said nothing. I have no choice, if I open the gate he'll know. He'll know and he'll want to work something out. And there is nothing to work out. There is no solution to this.

Teagan got up in the morning, tired from crying most of the night. It had been over three months and she had thought he had forgotten her. There was some comfort in thinking he had gone on with his life and didn't have second thoughts. It let her think she meant nothing to him and it gave her a reason to try and forget him. But now she knew he was as lonely and miserable as she was.

"Hi Fred."

"Hey Teagan, what's up?" Fred had driven over to her cabin to talk to her.

"Not much. What are you doing?"

"The Rangers called the lodge. They need workers in the Valley and they want to know if we want some hours."

"Yeah, that would be great. Do you know for how long?"

"Six on, three off."

"Yeah, that's great but who's going to look after Lizzy if we're both gone?"

"We'll take her up to the Lodge, they'll watch her."

"When are you going?"

"I thought I'd go check in tonight. They have an early morning shift. I could pick you up at 4:00 p.m."

"Ok, I'll be ready."

They dropped off Lizzy at the lodge and drove to the Park's housing office. They were assigned bunks in two different bunkhouses. Fred was assigned Curry Village. Teagan was assigned the Ahwahnee. They were given their linens and blankets and each assigned a locker too. Teagan was happy to see that Sylvia was back at the Park. She and Teagan always had a good time working together.

"Hey girlfriend." Teagan said to Sylvia.

"I am so glad you are here...it's going to be so much more fun with you."

They caught up on each other's news. Sylvia was getting her second divorce from her very abusive husband. Teagan told her about Greg.

"That sucks. Are you sure he couldn't open an office in Groveland or something?"

"Sylvia, that's kind of like asking Mick Jagger to take a job as a wedding disk jockey. Greg's famous for what he does...I couldn't ask him and he wouldn't give it up for me."

"It's a shame, you sound like you're in love."

"I wouldn't go that far."

The next morning Sylvia and Teagan got up at 5:30 and stood in line to get their free breakfast. Teagan ate toast and tea. She couldn't stomach the large pan of sausages and eggs."

Syliva looked at her, "Are you on a diet?"

"No, it just doesn't look appetizing. I'll pork out at lunch."

They walked over to the Ahwahnee and reported to housekeeping. They were provided a uniform and got dressed. Sylvia took her cart and hit the third floor south wing. Teagan took the third floor north wing.

Teagan started by spraying down the shower curtain, the tubs and the toilet bowl with cleaner. She stripped the bed, dusted the furniture, emptied the trash, cleaned the windows and mirrors, rinsed out the coffee maker, stocked the mini bar and vacuumed. Then she went back finished scrubbing the bathrooms, got on her knees to clean the bathroom floors. She restocked the towels and toiletries. She had approximately fifteen minutes per room to clean it. They worked 7.5 hours a day with a half hour lunch break. Food at the Ahwahnee was too expensive so most of the maids brought their lunches or went to the local Yosemite Valley store for lunch. They were each expected to clean 28 rooms during their shift.

Teagan wasn't surprised when she found several used rubbers in one of the beds. It was pretty common to find things in the rooms that people would never leave or do at home. She wasn't upset to find them especially since the guest had left a five dollar tip on the dresser. She always appreciated the tips, the work was hard and the pay was minimum wage. But she wasn't complaining. She wore gloves when she picked them up not just for health reasons but otherwise she would have connected with the person who had worn them. She knew from experience that she needed gloves on to do this work. Sometimes the emotions in the room would be so heavy they would seep through. She enjoyed the times when she would get rooms that had been used by honeymoon couples. The honeymoon rooms would usually be filled with such optimism and joy. Occasionally, she would feel the pain of someone who had realized that they had made a mistake. She always wondered what happened to them.

Teagan liked cleaning the rooms at the Ahwahnee because a lot of the guests would leave tips but she actually preferred the downstairs work more because there were less chemicals and more interaction with the guests and other workers. If you got assigned downstairs, you got to clean the Great Hall, corridors, reception, all the areas that the public traversed during the day including the bathrooms.

Teagan was cleaning room 468 when Peter came in to see her. "Teagan, we have a seasonal position open for night reception starting next Monday through January 3rd. You get paid $9.47 an hour plus 0.48 per hour night pay. It's only four days a week. But you can pick up an extra two days waiting tables in the Grand Dining hall if you want or filling in for any absent maids. Do you want it?"

"It sounds great. I need to go home this weekend though and make sure someone can take care of my place and my dog."

"Bring your dog with you, she can stay with us. You know Max, he gets along with just about everyone's dog. He won't mind the company. You can take her to your room at night."

"Oh, that would be great." Teagan continued until she got to room 472. She looked at the number on the door and choked. Sylvia walked up to her. "Hey, got any extra window cleaner?" She noticed that Teagan had frozen, "Teagan, what's your problem?"

Teagan looked at her with a sad face, "This is the room where I stayed with Greg, my summer fling."

"You stayed at the Ahwahnee?"

"We also went to the wine tasting dinner."

Sylvia whistled. "You let that rich SOB get away?"

Teagan laughed, "Yep, he lives on Mars and I live in Paradise. I was just thinking about it..." Actually Teagan was wondering if she was going to pick up any residue of their night in the room and she wondered if she could handle it.

When she opened the door, it was like a windstorm. She felt his breath, smelled his cologne, could feel his hands. She closed the door and ran after Sylvia.

"Can you clean 472? I'll clean your next one and you can keep the tips from both rooms. Please Sylvia, please?"

"Sure...but this guy really got to you, didn't he?"

"In more ways than you can know."

Teagan grabbed a ride with the Rangers headed to Hetch Hetchy that Friday. They dropped her off at the lodge and she walked the rest of the way to her cabin. The cabin was in great shape and her mail was on the table. Her neighbors had made sure everything was fine. She arranged for the two teenage daughters of the lodge owners to stay at her cabin while she was gone. They were pretty smart girls and had stayed in her house before. They knew how to stoke the stove and light the propane heater and start a fire. They liked being away from their parents, even if it was only a mile away.

On Sunday afternoon, she threw her luggage and "stuff" in the truck and opened the door so that Lizzy could ride shotgun. They took off for the Valley. As a temporary receptionist, she got to move into an actual house in the Park with two other workers, both males, Bill and Art. They told her that Lizzy could stay in the house, she didn't have to go live with Max. So Lizzy did stay in the house but occasionally Teagan would take her to stay with Max for some company. Max was a sweet natured Golden Retriever who tended to be afraid of his own shadow.

Teagan had brought her outdated dresses and a few skirts. She would be expected to wear appropriate clothing at the front desk. After all, she would be welcoming guests like Steven Spielburg, Matt Damon, Governor Schwarzenegger. She was working the 4:00 p.m. to midnight shift four nights a week. On her off days she filled in for the dining staff. She would wait tables, which helped a lot because the tips were good. Teagan was good at being a waitress. She seemed to "anticipate" everything the guest needed. Her tips were always good, but she was getting really tired from working two jobs. She decided to go see the doctor at the Valley clinic and see if he could give her something like a Vitamin B shot. The visits were free to the employees, they paid $9.88 a month out of their checks for the privilege of using it. The doctor was there to treat the staff and tourists who had minor accidents, allergic reactions, bacterial infections and sometimes the clinic was the first aid provider for those who were helicoptered out to Merced for emergency treatment.

"I typically don't get people in here with happy news. You are happy aren't you?" Dr. Medina asked.

"Yes, but scared."

"Well, you should be feeling the baby move soon. It will feel like a flutter at first. Have you received any prenatal counseling?"

"No." Teagan felt guilty for not seeking care when she first knew she was pregnant, but the truth was that the only free clinic for pre-natal care was all the way in Stockton, a two hour drive and she had been busy trying to make money to get her through the winter. "I did buy some Folic Acid and started taking it each day."

"That's great. You're lucky, I don't see any problems but if you're cleaning at the Ahwahnee, stay away from the fumes if you can."

"I'm at the desk right now."

"Good. Sit as much as you can, get off your feet, they're starting to swell. Let's see, you appear to be due on April 8th."

Teagan knew that she wouldn't be able to honor that request but she shook her head yes. Teagan had known Dr. Medina for years. She had waited on him at the various restaurants and had eaten with him and the other workers at the snack bar. He frequently went for drinks with them after work. He was a great guy.

"What about the father? Can't he help with the prenatal care, the hospital delivery?"

"Out of the picture."

"Sorry. His loss Teagan. You'll make a good Mother. Can I ask, weren't you using birth control?"

"Yeah, the diaphragm, but sometimes I didn't plan ahead for what was going to happen. I think I got pregnant at the Ahwahnee. I didn't know we were staying overnight and I forgot the diaphragm at home. But it's ok, it will all work out."

"I want you to come see me every two weeks. Set up the appointments with Marta. "

"Thanks Dr. Medina." Whenever Dr. Medina touched her she saw images of his daughters and wife. He loved them so much. His love for his family touched everything he did. Teagan always felt warm and safe after seeing Dr. Medina. ***

Wilson was excited about Thanksgiving. He had arranged for Jennifer and him to go out and spend the holiday in Yosemite. After House came back with photos and practically gushing (for House) about how gorgeous it was, Wilson thought the Ahwahnee was the perfect place to take her for Thanksgiving. He was leaving in four hours and really looking forward to getting away for awhile.

"Do you want me to take her anything? I'm renting a car and driving up from Fresno. I could swing by and see her while we're there." He was looking at a quiet House.

House shook his head no. "Nothing to give her. If you see her, say hello for me." He got up and grabbed his jacket. "I was invited to Cuddy's for Thanksgiving. Seems she's my new best friend."

"Cuddy always invited us. She has a buffet every year for her family and friends. But I'm glad you have somewhere to go. How did your date go with Patricia?"

"Uneventful. I shouldn't say that. She's funny, it was ok."

"She has a wicked sense of humor."

"It's my humor that's wicked, hers is just dry. I asked her out for Friday night. We'll see."

Wilson and Jennifer Waterson arrived in Fresno at six in the evening. Wilson was upset because the car he had reserved wasn't available and so they gave him a 4x4 Explorer. They drove north through Oakhurst and then reached the south gate of Yosemite National Park. The Ranger took their fee, handed them the map and newsletter and waved them through. Wilson hadn't realized how big Yosemite was. They told him at the gate that the Ahwahnee, which sits in the middle of Yosemite Valley, was an hour from the gate. It was now nine o'clock and dark and icy. They passed the Wawona Hotel, a lovely plantation style hotel overlooking a golf course, or at least that's what the signs said, they couldn't see the golf course in the dark. They passed signs that indicated a turnoff to a ski resort called Badger Pass. Wilson didn't know that Yosemite had a ski resort. Wilson was taking it slow because of the icy patches they were encountering. By the time they passed through the tunnel and came to the Valley overlook it was far too dark for them to see anything.

They arrived at the Ahwahnee at 10:15 and grabbed their luggage from the back. Jennifer was a petite brunette that Wilson had been dating for two months. She had met him at a fund raiser. She worked as a Grant Writer for Princeton University. When Wilson walked up to the desk he immediately recognized Teagan who was currently helping another couple. Teagan looked up, immediately recognized Wilson and gave him a look of genuine surprise. She waved at him and gave him the index finger to indicate she would be with him in one minute. The couple picked up the paperwork had a few pleasant words with Teagan and left.

Teagan came around the reception desk and gave Wilson a hug. "Dr. Wilson, it's so good to see you! How have you been?"

"I didn't expect to find you at the Ahwahnee. What are you doing here?"

"Picking up some seasonal work. Do you have a reservation here?" She asked as she went around to the back of the reception area to pull up his reservation. "Oh, you're here for Thanksgiving! That's wonderful. I'll be serving that day in the dining room."

"Jennifer, this is Teagan Furey, she's the cousin of a former patient of mine."

Teagan had Wilson sign in and she gave them the card keys to their room. She pulled out a map and made some suggestions for touring the Valley. "Unfortunately, my favorite part of Yosemite is closed for the winter, the Tioga Pass. It closes at the end of August because it usually starts to get snow about then. But Vernal falls is still open and several other gorgeous areas are open to see. You'll love it."

Wilson and Jennifer's bellboy came over and escorted them to their room. "Teagan is the psychic I told you about."

"The one House is in love with?"

"Yep, the one he won't admit he's in love with."

"Do you think she would read me?" Jennifer asked.

"I don't know. Maybe if I asked. Isn't it strange, she never asked about him."

"I was thinking that myself."

I knew someone was coming because I kept feeling a familiar force at the gate. All evening I could feel them getting closer and closer. I have to keep the gate closed tight when I work in the Valley. Tourists bring a lot of psychic junk with them and I have to fight it off every day.

I wanted so bad to ask about Greg. I wanted to hear that he was happy and doing well. But I didn't dare ask because it would just send me spiraling down to know one way or the other. If he was happy it would hurt because he had been able to get over me while I was still wallowing. If he was still sad then it would hurt even more, because deep inside I really wanted him to find happiness. So I didn't ask. I need to keep my emotional energy for the baby. He's already draining me of my physical energy. I felt him yesterday fluttering inside. I'm excited, scared, worried. I had never thought I would have a baby and now he's growing inside me. It seems so strange, I keep thinking it's like that creature in Alien that pops out of the man's stomach.

I'm showing a little, not much but I did have one person ask me if I was pregnant, Sylvia. She's fairly observant as it is. I asked her to keep it a secret but I don't know how long she can, she likes to gossip. My old dresses were big for me anyway but now they're getting pretty snug. I've got to get into the thrift store soon to get some maternity clothes. ***

The morning of Thanksgiving, Sylvia and Wilson slept in and then enjoyed some rather athletic sex, something Wilson had missed since his divorce. Although his third wife had been a real shrew, she had been good in bed. After they got up they went down to have a late breakfast. They were lucky, the kitchen was about to close to prepare for the Thanksgiving feast. They ordered their food and ate while in awe of the gorgeous hall, huge windows and towering fireplace. It was even better than House had described. Sylvia and Wilson were to be seated for Thanksgiving at the 6:00 p.m. seating so they had all of the afternoon to play. They took a map and started to walk the beautiful Yosemite Valley.

"Hey are you on for this evening?" Sylvia asked.

"Yes, I have the 6:00 to ten shift. You?" Teagan replied

"The same."

"Great, guess who's here from Princeton?" Teagan said with caution in her voice.

"Your Dr. House?"

"No, his best friend, Dr. Wilson."

"Do you think he'll tell Dr. House about the baby?" Sylvia asked.

"No. Dr. Wilson doesn't know."

"Are you sure? You're starting to look pregnant. Well, just a little."

"My dresses cover it pretty well so far." Teagan thought again about getting to the thrift store.

"Teagan, you can't keep working six days a week, it's not good. You need to take it easy." Sylvia was concerned.

"It's only until January and it will give me enough money to make it through the rest of the winter and buy some baby things. I really have no choice."

"There's always choices, what about the choice of calling Dr. House?"

"Funny...ha,ha."

Sylvia and the night crew went to have Thanksgiving dinner in the crew's dining room. It was a lot of fun because it was all the workers that had nowhere to go for the holiday and stayed to work because they received double holiday pay. Although no one imbibed any alcohol, everyone was in a good mood and a lot of ribbing went on between everyone.

"Hey Teagan, you've been stretching that dress out, you putting on weight or is there a bun in the oven?" Manny Jimenez loved to tease Teagan. He was a fresh 22 year old that usually lived in Fresno and worked the winters in Yosemite.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She smiled.

"Do I need to take a paternity test?" Manny joked.

"Only if the baby turns out ugly, then we'll have to test you." Everyone laughed. But now everyone was going to be looking at her with interest. "Ok, the cat's out of the bag. I am pregnant and it was the immaculate conception...ok?" There was some clapping and a lot of congratulations. A couple of the women came up and offered Teagan their used maternity clothes. Teagan said yes to the offers.

The Thanksgiving Feast at the Ahwahnee was famous nationwide for it's great choice of meats and deserts. The Dining Lodge was incredibly beautiful, decorated with pumpkins, squash, fall leaves, Native American Katankas and washed in gold, orange and green streamers. When everyone was seated the carvers rolled a dozen large turkeys individually out to the aisle and twelve men started carving. Cameras flashed like they were all celebrities. Out came the plates of ham, duck, marinated buffalo, goose and salmon. In the meantime the waitresses delivered bowls of hot vegetables and mashed potatoes with gravy. The food was served family style where everyone at the long tables passed the plates around.

Teagan had managed to get the maitre'd to put Wilson and Jenny close to the fireplace, the most coveted spot of all. Unfortunately, she was assigned tables on the opposite side of the aisle. Occasionally they would smile at each other but Teagan was grateful that she wasn't their waitress, it would have been awkward and hard for them to be romantic.

When the meal was done, the waitresses rolled out large carts of pumpkin pie, mince meat pie, pecan pie, sherry trifle, creme brulee, chocolate cake, cheesecake and bread pudding. Everyone clapped.

At the end of the evening Teagan was in pain. Her feet were swelling and her shoes were cutting into her. When her last guest left she went in the back and took off her shoes. When the staff saw that her feet were rubbed raw and cut, they brought her a pan filled with warm water for her to soak them in. She was soaking her feet when she felt Wilson coming. She opened the gate to find out why he was looking for her. It turned out he just wanted to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving

She watched as Manny showed Wilson through the door. Teagan smiled and said, "Happy Thanksgiving Dr. Wilson."

"Call me Jim. What's wrong with your feet?"

"They were swelling up tonight and I couldn't stop to do anything about it."

He looked down and said, you need to get them looked at and told her, "I suggest you buy sneakers to wear for awhile. Especially if your feet tend to swell. I was wondering if you have any time off, we'd like to take you to dinner tomorrow or Saturday."

"I work both days. But I don't start work until 4:00 p.m. Would you settle for lunch in the cafeteria at Yosemite Inn tomorrow?"

"Great, do you want us to pick you up?"

"No, I'll walk over. We do a lot of walking in the Valley."

When Teagan got back to the house she reached in and grabbed her five year old sneakers. They were pretty beat up and certainly not fit for the Ahwahnee. But she had no choice. She would have to talk to her boss. In the meantime, she took off her shoes again and wrapped her raw little feet in hot towels. Teagan reached down and petted Lizzy and fell fast asleep in front of the television.

"How do you like Yosemite?" Teagan asked as they paid for their food at the cafeteria.

"It is spectacular. I've never seen anyplace as beautiful as this. I can understand why you'd want to live nearby." Wilson said as they sat down at a table by the window. "I see you have your sneakers on."

Teagan was embarrassed by the condition of her sneakers but managed to say a cheerful, "Yes, I took your advice."

I opened the gate. Jennifer wasn't very talkative but she was very nice. She sensed that I was pregnant but hadn't said anything to Jim. She thought that I was showing a little and the swelling feet were a dead give away. Jim wanted to talk about Greg. He was dying to ask me to come to Princeton. Jim was going to start asking questions about me and Greg. I decided to beat him to the gun.

"So, is Greg seeing anyone?"

That stopped him in midstream. I already knew the answer was yes, I had felt that when I hugged him. But now he was trying to figure out what to say. If he said yes, then he thought I'd be unlikely to go to Princeton, if he said no, he took the risk that I was reading his mind and knew he was a liar. I felt sorry for him, he desperately wanted to do the right thing for his friend.

"He is dating but it's not serious. He misses you. He's in love with you Teagan."

"Jim, we both know he never told you that. That's your assumption."

"It's my assumption after nursing him back from his break up with Stacy. I can tell. He could use your steadying influence in his life."

She started laughing. "Jim, no one can contain the hurricane known as Greg House. He is a force of nature. You just have to batten down the hatches and ride it out."

Jim and Jennifer both laughed. They made a cute couple. She was smart, grounded and discreet. But she had a great sense of humor and she made Wilson laugh a lot when they were alone. "Please think about coming to Princeton."

"It's not going to happen Jim, I have obligations here that prevent me from doing anything right now." Teagan looked at Jennifer and they exchanged a look that confirmed Jennifer's suspicions. "I have to use the bathroom, Jennifer, would you like to join me?"

"Sure, don't women have to travel in packs to the bathroom...it's an unwritten rule."

When they reached the bathroom Jennifer said, "So you read my mind?"

"Not really, you projected it at me. I didn't seek it, I just let it in. I don't want Greg to know and that means that Jim can't know."

"He's a doctor, he can probably tell." Jennifer answered in a shocked voice.

"No, he doesn't know and I am begging you not to tell him. Please?"

"Teagan, that baby needs a father."

"Babies get born without fathers in their lives all the time. This baby will be raised by a very loving community with lots of males making their presence known. You don't have to worry."

"You're asking a lot." Jennifer didn't like deceiving Jim, especially since the relationship was new.

"Yes, but this is my life, not Jim's, not Greg's."

"Well, you have my word but I think you are making a big mistake. I will not tell Jim but I wish you would." Jennifer was firm but kind.

Teagan saw Jim and Jennifer a couple of more times when she was working at the desk. When they checked out Jim put his hand on hers and said, "I know which one of my patients is going to be the Ambassador. She made me feel good to be a doctor again. Please, for House's sake, come and live with him. He won't admit it but he's miserable without you."

Teagan smiled, "Oh, you do exaggerate. I'm sorry Jim but we live in two different worlds and mine is here."

When she saw them go through the doors she felt sad. She liked James Wilson, he was as good as they get. House was lucky that Jim had stuck with him through all his crap. She wished she had a friend as devoted and loyal as Jim.

Teagan was happy that Greg was seeing someone. Jim had provided her the best of both worlds. He had told her that Greg loved her and he also told her that he was moving on and seeing someone. She wanted him to have someone in his life. Now if she could find some handsome, rich guy who wanted someone else's baby and didn't mind living in the mountains...life would be hunky dorie. Right now she would settle for some new shoes.

A week later Teagan went to the Yosemite shoe store which, like everything else in Yosemite, was decorated with Christmas decorations. It carried climbing and hiking shoes mostly. She knew the owner, they weren't close friends, but they were friendly. The shoes in the store weren't cheap even with her 10% employee discount. There was only one pair in stock that would be somewhat acceptable and they were $110 with her discount. The owner was willing to take another $20 off for her, but still $90 was three months of diapers. She decided to wait.

On her one day off she usually liked to sleep and lay around, but she really needed to make a run to Groveland, about two hours away. Teagan let Lizzy in the cab of the truck and they went down the road towards home and Groveland. She stopped to see the cabin which was a little messy, but in good condition. She picked up some more socks, more sweaters, and a few other items, including her winter parka because the weather was getting really nippy.

When she got to Groveland Bertie went over and opened the Thrift Store for her. She found some shoes, a size 6. They were the type that old ladies wear, flexible and comfortable and Bertie let her have them for $5.00. She also bought some maternity skirts and loose fitting sweaters for another $20.00. After she left the store she started the long haul back to the Valley. This was her life.

Teagan spent Christmas and New Year's Eve waiting tables and making good tips. Dr. Medina told her at her last checkup that she could come to the Valley anytime for a checkup and he'd do it for free. She could feel that he was serious. On January 3rd Teagan gave everyone big hugs and went home for the winter. There was already a blanket of snow, Badger Pass was open for skiing and the roads were slicker than snot.

She had to start thinking about where the baby was going to be born. There was a midwife in the mountains that she was familiar with who charged $1,000 to deliver the baby at home. She was a licensed midwife so Teagan got in her truck and went to see her. Nora answered the door and greeted Teagan.

"I didn't know you were pregnant. When are you due?"

"April 8th."

"For your build that would be just about right. So you want me to deliver you?"

"Yes, but I don't have a phone. I'm hoping that I will be able to get to the lodge to call you when the time comes."

"Don't worry Aspen Valley will call me if you go into labor. They've done this before."

They talked about the delivery and the months leading up to it. She listened to the baby and checked Teagan's cervix. "You know, you're over 35, I highly suggest you get a sonogram just to make sure everything is ok."

"How much do they charge for one?" Teagan asked.

"About $800. But it would be worth it Teagan."

"I'll think about it."

Teagan was upset. She knew she was right but $800 was six months of formula. On the way back home Teagan started to panic. What was she thinking? How was she going to raise this baby. She could barely make ends meet for herself. Who was she kidding? Was it any way to raise a baby? Hand to mouth?

It started to snow. Teagan needed to get back to get some wood inside, just in case this was a big storm. Lizzy came out to meet her as she pulled into the drive. She saw the Littlejohn's truck and wondered what they were doing here?

She went inside and Yolanda greeted her. "There you are! We didn't know where you went so we just brought it in and set it up in the other bedroom."

"Set up what?"

"The crib. My son and daughter are done having kids and it was just sitting in their garage in Stockton. Come and see it."

It was a lovely Jenny Lind crib with a drawer set at the end of it complete with changing table. Teagan grabbed Yolanda and Luke and gave them a group hug. "Oh wow, it's beautiful and in such good condition. I really should give them something for it."

"Are you kidding? If you hadn't told Conrad to stay home he would have been in that Cessna that went down. He wouldn't take money if you forced it down his throat."

"Please thank them for me."

"We better get, they say this is going to be a big one."

Luke looked around, "Teagan, before I go, let me bring in some wood for you."

"I can do it Luke."

"Yeah, but I can do it better." They all laughed. Luke brought in some wood and kindling. He also topped up her generator with gas and made sure she was good for batteries. The snow was coming down fast when they left.

Teagan went inside to play with the crib and furniture. She opened and closed the drawers a dozen times. She made the bed up with the sheets Yolanda had left her. She was starting to realize that it takes a village to raise a child.

*** It was a big storm, dropping a foot in three hours. All the trees were heavy with snow. Several limbs cracked under the weight and lay dead on the ground. Few people were on the roads, everyone was waiting it out at home. That was, everyone but House and most of the team. They had been called in to handle a man who had just gotten back from London, England and was in bad shape. The team knew the patient, he sold medical equipment like MRIs, CT's, Dialysis machines, the big ticket items. He had been back less than six hours and he was rushed to the hospital an hour ago. The emergency room was worried about how fast the pneumonia was taking over his lungs and realized that this otherwise healthy looking man was dying in front of them.

Chase insisted that House listen to the man's chest. After seeing the xray, he didn't have to. The man had necrotising pneumonia. House looked up, took off the stethoscope and was frowning, "It sounds like pleuropulmonary complications."

Chase looked at House, "It's MRSA, right? Shouldn't we start him on Vancomycin?"

"It won't work. We have one shot at this before this guy dies. I think it's Panton-Valentine MRSA, it's necrotizing so fast we aren't dealing with just any old MRSA. This is the one that wiped out 100 people in Germany and four in Britain in less than 24 hours of contracting it. Give him linezolid it inhibits exoctoxin production."

"If we give him linezolid and it's not PV-MRSA, this guy's dead."

"Duh, well someone has to make the call and since it's age over beautiful hair, I guess we go with linezolid."

They waited three hours for the results of the treatment. House sat at his desk and watched the snow rapidly build up on the balcony and trees outside. He was hoping that he would be able to get out of here soon or he would be stranded. He had only been stranded once before at the hospital and it was boring.

The patient died. Not because House was wrong but because he had come into the hospital too late. House didn't blame himself because he had diagnosed the guy correctly and started the right anti-biotic but still, he realized that the CDC would be writing this up as a death and his name would be listed as the treating physician. He had to get one of his minions to write it up to put him in the best light so that everyone would know he solved the puzzle.

House grabbed his things and raced as fast as his leg would let him to the front door. It was useless. The snow was so deep outside that he was going nowhere fast. Chase and Foreman were right behind him and when they saw the parking lot they both let out a string of explicatives.

They went back up to the doctor's lounge to watch tv. House looked at Chase, "Where is Mrs. Good Hair today?"

"Puking her guts out at home."

House frowned, "Pregnancy does that to you. On the other hand, the trade off is the bigger boobs. Considering what she started with, any increase would be an improvement."

"I'll be glad when we get past the puking stage."

House had known almost immediately that Cameron was pregnant. He had been sitting in his office when he saw Cameron take her lab coat off. Her breasts were noticeably bigger...maybe a B cup. She had been going to the bathroom a lot. House could add 2+2. He started laughing.

"Cameron!" he had yelled. She walked over to him.

"Are you keeping it or selling it in Mexico?"

She was dumbfounded. How could he know? "House, Chase doesn't even know yet. Please keep your mouth shut."

"You've got 24 hours and then it's fair game. Let the jokes begin."

She had rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Chase is going to be delighted, he loves me and I love him."

"Great, you just keep telling yourself that. It's a shame it's not a Gregory House baby, they go for a lot more in Mexico. It's the shade of blue eyes that does it."

In reality, House envied Chase. He had someone to go home to at night. He had someone who loved him enough not to abort his baby. Not like Gerri in college. As soon as she found out that House had knocked her up, she was at Planned Parenthood before the rabbit could be buried. The fetus was sucked out like a Hoover after a frat party.

House took a nap to wait for the snow plows. He figured he wouldn't be getting home tonight. He started to dream of Yosemite. He hadn't dreamed about her in a long time and when he finally woke up he realized that he missed her, even if she was a little freaky with all that psi and stuff. He wondered if she still thought of him?

***

April in the Sierra mountains is spectacular. The rivers are rushing through boulders and fallen trees, the falls and cascades are at their peak volume, the trees are starting to turn green and the numerous spring flowers are blooming. It's an incredible site and never ceased to bring a smile to Teagan's face.

Teagan had been forced to come to terms with her life and the lack of money. She was having a baby and that meant she needed to have a backup plan. She was going to need money to make it through the first year so that she could stay home with the baby as much as possible.

The day the man came to pick her up was one of the worst in Teagan's life. She sat in the Mustang for a few minutes and looked over every inch of it, trying to memorize the little details, including the scuff from when House shifted his leg and caught his heel on the door. She was waiting at the lodge and when the 1957 T-Bird drove up she knew this was the collector.

"Teagan Furey? Lewis Thomas." He seemed nice and he stuck out his hand to shake hers. "So this is it?"

"Yes, I was the second owner and here are the maintenance records. She's had one modernization and that's the stereo. Here's the paperwork on the stereo."

"Man is she cherry. How can you stand to part with her?"

"You just have to set your priorities and I've got mine."

"I can see. When are you due?" He asked gently.

"Any day."

"Well, we agreed on $30,000 right?"

"Right. It's T-E-A-G-A--N and Furey is spelled with an e-y."

She watched as he wrote out the check and handed it to her. "I hope she brings you as much luck and joy as she has me."

"Thanks and thanks for selling her to me. I'll take care of her." Teagan filled out the back of the pink slip and handed it to him. His wife drove off in the T-Bird and she watched as Lewis adjusted the mirrors and started the Mustang. When she saw the last of the dust from the tires she started to cry. But then she realized it was very little to give up for what she was getting. She was trading a machine for her baby's welfare. It was a no brainer.

She wrapped her sweater around her and her belly and waddled the mile home to the cabin. She filled out the deposit slip and drove the truck to Groveland to make the deposit in her bank. Teagan checked the thrift store for baby clothes, grabbed some groceries and headed home.

Teagan was glad that the winter was over. It had been a cold one. But she had fared well. She had seen Dr. Medina twice and he seemed to be happy with her progress. The baby had dropped and his head was in the birthing position. Teagan could already tell that the baby was impatient and always would be.

On the way home from Groveland she decided to see Nora since she lived on the way home. As she pulled into the driveway Nora come out to greet her. "Don't you look good! I see the baby is lower. Let's get you in and check you out."

Teagan was putting on her panties, "Well?"

"Everything is good to go. You aren't going to last the week. I'm debating on whether to let you go home or keep you here."

"I've got to get back, I have things to do."

"You're close to delivering, make sure they know that at the lodge. Try to check in with someone each day."

"Yes, Mom."

She stopped in to get her mail at the lodge and announced, "I'm gonna pop soon, so can you guys check in on me every once in awhile, just in case?"

Stanley and Kate, the owners of the lodge, yelled out from the kitchen. "Sure thing, we'll send someone down each day to make sure you aren't dropping babies in the front room."

"Thanks!" Teagan drove down to her cabin.

Teagan had to admit that she was sick and tired of being pregnant but she wasn't quite sure she wanted to be a Mom. It was starting to freak her out. The baby was kicking her. She felt like he was a swimmer and he was using her to push off of. It wasn't funny anymore, he really wanted out.

Teagan was laying down trying to get some sleep when Mohammad Ali started kicking. She sent her energy to the baby and he kicked her even harder. "Oh man, you are going to be a pistol aren't you? You've got to take it easy on your old Mom, she's alone here trying to do the best she can." He kicked her hard again.

In the morning she went pee and noticed a milky looking substance in the toilet and remembered from her pregnancy book that this was known as the "show." It wouldn't be long, maybe 24 hours. She decided to walk up to the lodge and let them know. She walked by Fred's house and he poked his head out the window.

"Hey Teag, how are you doing?"

"I'm having the baby! I just had my first contraction! "

"Where are you going? Shouldn't you be in a hospital?"

"I'm having the baby at home with Nora's help."

"Hold on and I'll walk with you."

Teagan laughed. Fred was pretty protective of her, like a big brother. He was putting on his hat and running towards her. He caught up and they started walking to the lodge. "How was the crop this year?"

"Not bad, not as good as last year but that's because it wasn't quite as dry. Mary Jane loves the heat. Teags, is it a boy or girl?"

"Boy."

"What are you going to name him?"

"Gregory Scott Furey."

"Oh, after his Dad?"

"Yeah, after his Dad."

"When is Greg going to come back? Doesn't he want to see his son?"

"He doesn't know about the baby. He has his life and I have mine. He'd feel obligated to give me money and I don't want his money."

"What do you want from him?"

"I want him to go on with his life, find someone, be happy, leave me and my son alone. I figure if we can't get on the same coast, why torture him with the knowledge he's got a son?."

"Then why name your baby after him?"

"Just because I want him to leave us alone doesn't mean I don't care about him. He' a good guy, we're just on different planets."

Fred shook his head as if he understood but she could sense he was confused. She was confused too. It was a confusing world. Fred opened the door to the lodge for the very pregnant Teagan. "Hey Teags, you poppin' yet?" Stanley came out from the back.

"As a matter of fact I am. Can I use your phone to call Nora?"

"Of course Teag, not a problem."

She called Nora and told her about the show and contractions. "I'll stop by tonight around 6:00 p.m. to check on you. Can someone stay with you during the contractions?"

"I don't know. Just a second, I'll ask. Fred, can you sit with me today or can I sit at your house? I need someone to babysit me in case the contractions get too close."

"Yeah, I was just going to do some work on the fences for Matt, but I'll put it off until tomorrow."

"Ok, I have a babysitter Nora."

"I'll see you tonight then."

Fred and Teagan went back to his place. "Fred, if you want to do some work around here I can go home, get a book and come back."

"Would you mind? I'd like to patch the roof if I'm going to stay home today. It should only take a couple of hours."

"I'll be back in a few minutes." Teagan walked back to her cabin, grabbed her book, a couple pieces of jerky, a bottle of water and then hoofed it back over to Fred's. Fred's house was smaller and older than Teagan's and not quite as "cute." Fred maintained the house but he didn't think much about making it homey.

Teagan sat outside on the porch in her sweater and maternity sweat pants. It was a pretty day, kind of chilly. but not too bad. The contractions were ten minutes apart and not very strong. Teagan read for an hour and then got up and walked around. Fred was done with the roof. He got down, went inside and took a shower. Afterwards he walked with Teagan back to her house.

Teagan made sure Fred had food to eat while she drank her water. Fred got nervous whenever Teagan would make a face or squat when the pain came.

"Teag, maybe I should get Nora to come."

"Fred, I'm hours away from having this baby so you can relax."

By six o'clock Nora announced that Teagan was 100% effaced and 6 centimeters dialated. "Your baby will be born before midnight sweetie. I brought the plastic sheet and other things that will protect your bed so let's get them on."

Around 11:35 p.m. Teagan gave birth to her son and was exhausted. She suspected she was going to be very tired for a very long time. Gregory was active from the minute he was born, screaming and yelling off the top of his head.

"You have a live wire here Teagan. Try to get him to nurse a little, it might help to soothe him."

Teagan was tired but she tried to nurse Gregory. It took a few minutes but he finally latched on. There was no milk yet, just the colostrum. He nursed several minutes on each breast and then finally went to sleep. Nora helped Teagan get cleaned up. While Teagan washed herself, Nora cleaned the bedroom. Nora apologized for not being able to stay but she had to get up early and go down to Oakhurst to teach a class in parenting.

"Don't you have anyone who can come and stay with you? The first few days are going to be rough. You need some sleep and you aren't going to get it with a newborn." Nora was concerned. Teagan just shrugged her shoulders, "Well here's the stats, he's 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 24 inches exactly. You need to file his birth certificate at the Country registrar, I've filled it out for you."

"Nora, thanks so much. I appreciate everything you did."

"Get some sleep sweetie, you're going to need it."

Those were famous last words. In less than two hours Greg wanted to be fed. She dragged herself up on her pillow and reached over to pick up Greg who had been sleeping next to her in bed. She nursed him again and then slowly got up, bent over trying to find a diaper for him. She found a diaper, a changing pad and some wipes. She looked at her son as if for the first time. She saw his father in him. The long face, the eyes that saw everything and even his little fingers seemed awkwardly long for his body. His hair was dark blonde. He looked up at her as she took off his little diaper. When she done diapering him she put him into a little nightgown with a string on the bottom. She really needed to lie down and get some more sleep. They both went back to sleep for another two hours.

Every 2-3 hours Gregory woke up to be fed. When he would suckle she would watch him try to look at her. She knew that his eyesight was probably very fuzzy and he was trying to focus on her eyes. She smiled at him and then started singing to her son. She was in love. ***

Teagan managed the first month without help but she was getting more worn down by the day. She knew something wasn't right but she didn't know how she could take the time to go get checked. She did know she couldn't keep going much longer. Each day she felt weaker and it worried her. She could hardly take care of the baby let alone make herself a meal. She was eating directly out of the cans and trying hard to stay ahead of the laundry.

Yolanda stopped by late one morning and brought Teagan a sandwich from the lodge. "Sweetie, you aren't looking so hot and we're worried about you. Let me take Gregory this afternoon and you try and sleep. Have you got any milk pumped?

"I have a couple of bottles frozen."

"Good, I tell you what, when I run out of breast milk I'll come back and wake you. Now I'm going to get his diaper bag and you go to bed."

Around 7 p.m. Yolanda brought Gregory home. Teagan was dead to the world. Yolanda walked into her bedroom and tried to wake her but she was having a hard time. She felt Teagan's head and it was hot, she had a fever, a high one. "Teag, Teagan? Honey, wake up. Oh Christ."

Yolanda went back to her cabin and got Luke and then stopped and got Fred. They got Teagan into the van and then put Gregory in his portable car seat and took off. Gregory screamed his head off. He was hungry again.

They got to Groveland where they were met by an ambulance. Teagan was transferred to the ambulance. Yolanda made Luke run her to the grocery store where she bought formula and bottles. They went to Bertie's and Yolanda made up the bottles. She tried to feed Gregory. Gregory resisted the bottle at first; but he was hungry and finally he began to suck. After getting his fill he quieted down and went to sleep. They loaded Gregory up with several bottles and took off to Memorial Medical Center, Modesto, CA where Teagan was taken.

Teagan was on fire and hallucinating. Her blood pressure had gone sky high. She kept seeing Greg hovering over her. She opened the gate and began to talk to him as if he was in the room. She had opened the gate so far that everyone in the room was receiving her thoughts but didn't know where they were coming from, from whom or why. The doctors and nurses were looking at each other.

"Do you hear that?" The doctor asked the nurse.

"Yeah, who's speaking?" the nurse asked.

"I don't know but they're loud!"

Greg, Patricia, Wilson and Jennifer were at the Alchemist and Barrister celebrating Jennifer's promotion. Patricia was giving an imitation of Greg House sleeping, "zzzzz, ahhh,zzzz, ahhhh..." She pretended to snore with her mouth wide open. "It sounds like a construction site. I'm surprised that I even get to sleep at night."

House was amused, but the others were laughing out loud. He was about to say something witty when he heard her voice. He looked straight ahead and tried to concentrate on what she was saying.

"Greg, you came, you came to see him. He is beautiful...but I am so tired."

"House what is it?" Wilson watched as his face went quiet and he concentrated on something going on in his head. "House"?

House tried to send his thoughts to her,"Teagan I don't understand you. You sound like you've been drinking. Teagan?"

"He is beautiful...but I am so tired...I can't do it Greg, I thought I could but I can't...I'm too tired. "

House grabbed his head and closed his eyes to concentrate on sending out his thoughts. "Teagan, do what? Who's beautiful? You aren't making sense. Where are you, you seem close?"

Patricia was getting worried, "Greg, are you okay should we get you to the hospital?

But House wasn't hearing her, he was trying to figure out why Teagan was talking to him and why she sounded so strange.

"I thought I could but I can't...I'm too tired. I'm not good at this...I thought I would be good at it...but I am so tired."

House looked at Wilson. "It's Teagan, she's drunk or drugged or something and she's not making sense."

Patricia looked at him and said, "Greg, you aren't making sense honey. What are you talking about?"

But the other's knew what he was talking about. He was frustrated, he said out loud and in his head, "Teagan talk to me, where are you?"

"...I can't do it Greg, Please don't be mad at me...I wanted to do a good job. He's beautiful isn't he?"

"You can't do what? Teagan, I'm not mad. Tell me who he is." He thought as loud as he could but no response. He looked at everyone staring at him at the table. "Damn it. She keeps telling me that he's beautiful but she won't tell me who. She also said that she wanted to do a good job. I can't get her to tell me what she wants or why she's contacting me."

He jumped up from the table and looked around at them as they stared at him in disbelief. "She doesn't make any sense. And now she's gone quiet."

Wilson tried to console him, "Well, if she isn't making sense, not much you can do about it now. Sit down and we'll work on it tomorrow."

Jennifer thought she had an idea what she was talking about. But she had promised Teagan not to spill the beans.

House was frustrated but Patricia looked even more frustrated. Everyone seemed to know what was going on but her. "Greg, what are you talking about?"

House looked at Patricia, "I was intimate with a woman named Teagan. She's a psychic and she's talking to me...from California."

"You are joking." Patricia looked around at them.

They all shook their heads, "no."

"Do you have feelings for her?" Patricia asked soberly.

Greg shrugged his shoulders. "She's in my head and right now I am worried about her because she's loud and not making sense. I still have feelings for her, but I can't tell you right now what they are because I'm not even sure."

Patricia looked at Wilson who was looking down. She knew from Wilson's face that he believed House was in love with this woman. Even Jennifer looked guilty. "Greg, can you please take me home?"

The ride to her house was quiet and sad. She opened her door and then turned back to him and said, "Call me tomorrow and we can talk about it."

"Sure." He reached over and gave her a kiss on the lips and then drove off.

House went home and sat in a chair hoping he would hear her again. But he didn't, her voice was silent again.

I spent three days in the hospital and then Yolanda sent Luke to come and get me. The doctor made me stay an extra day because the exhaustion had made me susceptible to the infection I got and he wanted me to sleep. It was a staph infection and it was resistant to several antibiotics until they finally gave me vancomycin. The doctors warned me not to nurse Greg for a few days until the antibiotics were out of my system. I didn't know then that I had broadcast my thoughts all over the hospital and back to Greg, I had blanked that entire night out. All I knew was that I just wanted to get home to Greg.

I got back to the Lodge and there was my little baby boy all sweet and happy. He seemed glad to see me and I could sense that he was relieved to have me home. I felt weak and yet stronger.

"You need to learn how to ask for help. We would have given you a break and let you get the sleep you need. From now on Gregory is coming up here every Tuesday so that you can get some sleep or get caught up on whatever you need to catch up on. We won't take no for an answer. That doesn't mean you can't ask us to watch him more often. Ok?" Yolanda was standing there with her hands on her hip.

Teagan looked at her and said, "Thanks."

"Teag, we had a phone call. It was from Greg House." Yolanda watched Teagan absorb this information and noted a look of hopefulness that faded quickly into one of concern. "He said that you were sending him thoughts the night that you went to the hospital"

"What else did he say?"

"He wanted to know if you were ok. We told him that when you were sending those thoughts you had a fever and had gone to the doctors. We also told him that they said you would be fine. We didn't tell him the whole truth but we didn't lie until he asked us what you meant by, "I can't do it Greg,I wanted to do a good job. He's beautiful isn't he?" We told him we didn't have a clue."

"Go on, what did he say?"

"He asked if you needed him." Yolanda wanted to shake her and scream at Teag to call him and say, "yes, I need you" but Yolanda knew to keep her mouth shut and her nose out of it.

"And you said?" Teagan was nervous.

"We said that only you could answer that question."

"Oh no, that will be a red flag to him."

Teagan took Gregory home and put him down in the crib for a nap. She opened the gate and tried to find out what Greg was thinking. He was worried about a patient he had and was preoccupied with him. It seemed as if Greg House was back to normal.

House was trying to get the patient diagnosed and treated but he kept having a nagging feeling that something was wrong and that she needed him. But if she needed him she would have called back. He had to remind himself that it had been over nine months since they had seen each other and a lot could happen in nine months.

***

It had been a year ago that they began their road trip and Teagan allowed herself the rare pleasure of remembering her time with him. It had been a long time since he, or any man, had touched her or held her. She remembered his hands gliding over her body and the way he felt inside her. Teagan had Gregory on her back and they were making their morning trek to the Blackberry Patch. She took the burlap bag and started to fill the bag with the sweet little blackberries. It was hard work with a baby on your back, but she didn't dare put him down while he was awake because he would just start to howl. Gregory couldn't stand to be left on a blanket. He liked movement and being touched. He was always observant and always demanding something of her. He was greedy.

She stood up and remembered making love on the grass and smiled to herself. She was pretty sure Gregory was conceived at the Ahwahnee because she hadn't known they were going to stay over night and she didn't have her diaphragm. Plus the timing would have been right. Maybe she should have named Gregory Ahwahnee Furey. It had a certain ring. Gregory started crying and she tried to calm him down by bouncing him on her back but he was getting louder and her milk was letting down. If she didn't get him off her back and nurse him her shirt would be soaked.

She went over to a rock and got him off of her back. She lifted the shirt and he latched on. "Owww." Her nipples were chapped and sore from his rather aggressive feeding. It was actually getting better, a month ago she cried every time he nursed it hurt so bad when he first started to suckle. She looked down and he was happy. It gave her an opportunity to look around and enjoy the summer morning. She sang to her son as he nursed.

Can you tell me what happened to the blossom Blackberry blossom when the summertime came? The blackberry blossom, oh the last time I saw one Was down in the bramble where I rambled in the spring The bramble was wild I was torn by the briars My love he wooed me as I lie there With a flower in my hair and my cheeks all flush Was the blackberry blossom from the blackberry bush When I picked the berry I didn't miss the blossom The blackberry blossom was white as the snow But the berry that it brings is sweeter than molasses And black as the wings of the Arkansas crow The Arkansas crow is a devil and a demon Known for his cackling and his screaming Driving away the swallow and the thrush From the blackberry blossom and the blackberry bush I was picking berries when that crow flew above me Carrying my lover so far away Now each spring I lay a blackberry blossom By a cold gravestone on the Arkansas clay The Arkansas clay is rocky and hard With weeds growing over in the old graveyard And the day settles down to an evening hush Over the blackberry blossom and the blackberry bush

She could tell that Gregory liked to be sung to and it made her happy. He liked music, just like his Dad. Too bad she didn't have a stronger voice.

They had worked out a routine and Teagan was feeling much more capable and healthy. She had come to know her son and his different cries. She appreciated Tuesdays, when she took Gregory to Yolanda's and then she was able to take long naps or get some things done that she had been unable to do during the week.

The hospital bill had been a shock. It came to $12,333. Almost half of her savings. She thought of all the things she could have done with the money and it made her sick to her stomach. But life was steadily getting better as she figured out how to be a Mom to her son.

She took off his diaper and he had a little redness on his bottom. He was nodding off so she just left the diaper off of him so his bottom could get some air. She put the sleeping Gregory down on a blanket and went back to picking the berries.

*** House pointed it out to Wilson, "Look, a medical convention at the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite."

Wilson was annoyed, "House, it's an oncology seminar. Why do you want to attend an oncology seminar?"

"A good 20% of my cases involve cancer or ruling out cancer. I think I would benefit from it."

"And this has nothing to do with Teagan?"

"If I'm in the neighborhood I could drop in to see her." He suggested.

"That's not fair to Teagan or to Patricia."

"I want to know why she opened the gate." House was filling out the registration form.

"She had a fever, she probably didn't know she was doing it. Let it go, it's been two months."

"Blah,blah, blah, blah. Now go get your registration form. I'll attack Cuddy from the front and you cover my flank."

Lisa Cuddy was unconvinced that House needed this specific seminar but he did need several education credits to keep his license and since he actually volunteered to go to the seminar, she was willing to work with him.

"We'll pay for the room and the seminar but not the plane trip. You have to spring for that. There's several seminars that you could go to that are within driving distance."

"But none with Dr. Theodore Thompson as the speaker...that's worth the plane trip itself!" House suggested.

She directed her question to Wilson, "Who's this Thompson guy?"

"I haven't got a clue, he's not someone I know." Wilson admitted.

"See, that's exactly why we need to go...to find out who he is and why he would be speaking at such a prestigious seminar." House smiled like a small boy who wants something.

"Wilson, you can go and we'll pay for all of it because it's oncology and it does look like a good seminar, but YOU have to pay your plane fare or you can forget it."

House relented, "Fine, I'll pay for my plane fare." She signed off on the request form and they went down to the administration office and turned in their forms. The seminar was for Wednesday night through Saturday morning. Wilson's plane ticket would be provided by the hospital but House had to arrange his flight. He went to "Cheap Fares" and found a round-trip ticket to Fresno going out on Wednesday and coming home on Monday for $439 total. The seminar was to be held the following week on July 23rd through July 26th. House warned his team that he would be gone. House noted that they seemed a little too happy about it.

That night Patricia, Jennifer, Wilson and House went to Princeton University to see the University production of "The Importance of Being Earnest." Afterwards they were having a late supper when Wilson brought up the trip.

"What's the weather like in Yosemite during the summer? Should I pack for cold or hot?" He looked at House who had a look of annoyance. House kicked Wilson under the table. "Ow, what was that for?"

"What's this talk about Yosemite?" Patricia asked.

Jennifer answered her, "There's a seminar at the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite and these two are going. Wilson bought me a ticket and I'm going too. They have a whole program for spouses and partners while the doctors are in the seminar. Patricia, why don't you come with us?"

Patricia looked at House, letting him know she was upset that he hadn't told her. He stopped chewing his food and said, "I was going to tell you. Don't give me that look."

The subject was changed but when they got back to House's apartment Patricia laid down the law, "Do you want this relationship or am I just a convenience?"

House liked Patricia, a lot. She made him laugh and he liked that she enjoyed jazz as much as he did. They shared a lot in common and she was nice in bed. There was no getting around the fact that she turned heads when she went places with him. But he still felt like he couldn't completely commit to her until he had seen Teagan one more time.

"I want the relationship."

"Then I'm coming to Yosemite."

"But why? I'll be in the seminar each day, we won't have much time together."

"Because I know she lives near Yosemite, doesn't she?" she looked at House with steely eyes, "Doesn't she?"

"Yes, but she's at the other end of the Park and it's a huge park. She'll be two hours away from where we'll be staying."

"Greg, either I come or I'm walking." She was serious and House could see that.

"Alright, I'll get you a plane ticket for the seminar. But you come home with Wilson and Jennifer. I'm staying an extra day to go down and see my folks. I'm not ready for you to meet them, I have enough issues to deal with when I see them let alone introduce a girlfriend into the mix."

"I can accept that."

When they arrived in Fresno they rented two cars just in case they wanted to split up. House drove up through Oakhurst and Fish Camp and then on up to the south gate of Yosemite. When they got to the gate Bill leaned out of the ranger hut, "Hey, aren't you Teags' boyfriend? We met last year. I never forget a face."

"Well I wish you'd forget mine." House remarked as he put his hand out for his change and the map. Bill gave him a look of confusion and House pulled away from the booth. To the immediate right was the road to the Mariposa redwoods. There were two stands of these massive trees in Yosemite, Mariposa and then the second stand close to the Park exit to Teagan's cabin.

"Let's come back and walk the redwoods later on." Patricia suggested.

"Sure." House wasn't really listening, he was thinking about the last time he was in Yosemite. Twenty miles inside the gate they came to Wawona. It was a beautiful hotel and across the main road was a golf course with a small river running through it.

They all checked in and then had lunch. The girls were excited and making plans for when House and Wilson were in their seminars. House had an idea. "You know the most beautiful hike in Yosemite is up on the Tioga Pass at Tuolumne Meadows. It's the hike to Glen Aulen. The drive is about an hour from here and the hike another two hours but it's worth it, you'll never see anything like it again. House had hiked almost all the way to Glen Aulen with Teagan, they had taken all day because of House's leg and he wasn't lying to them about how beautiful the hike was. However, he did stretch the truth on how long the drive and the hike were. The drive was more like two hours each way and the hike was at least five hours round trip. It meant that they would be gone all day.

"Well if you think it's the best hike in the Park then I'd like to try it. What do you think Jennifer, up for a good hike tomorrow?"

"I love hiking. Sounds fine." Jennifer was athletic, one of the things that Wilson liked about her.

"You need to take lots of water, some food, rain gear and a good sun hat and you need to get an early start before it gets too crowded in the Valley. The traffic will slow you down. It's cooler up on the Tioga pass than it is the valley so be prepared for anything." House warned them. He showed them on the map where the trail-head was located. Wilson knew that House had something up his sleeve.

That afternoon they drove up to Glacier Point and looked out over the Yosemite Valley. The view of half dome and Yosemite Falls, the highest falls in mainland America, were breathtaking. The Ahwahnee was a large speck on the valley floor, a reminder to House of his night with Teagan. He was quieter that usual.

"This is incredible, beautiful. I've never seen anything so grand in my life." Wilson was duly impressed. Glacier Point had been closed and covered with snow when they had been to Yosemite in the late fall. House had to agree, the more he saw of Yosemite, the more he loved it.

The next morning Wilson and House packed the girls up and sent them on their way in Wilson's car. Wilson wasn't sure how it was decided that they would take his rental, but it just happened. As they drove off House started to pull his keys out of his pocket.

"NO. You aren't going to go see her. What about Patricia? You can't do this to her."

"I'll be back before her. They're going to be gone all day. The trip and the hike are twice as long as I told them. Now do me a favor and pick up my badge and materials so that I can catch up when I get back." House got into his car and smiled wickedly at poor Wilson.

House made a beeline for the Big Oak Flat entrance point. It took him over an hour just to get to the exit for the Park. It was 8:30 a.m. and he wondered if she would be home. He turned right on Evergreen Road, the road to Hetch Hetchy. He was getting excited. He knew she would feel him coming.

*** On Wednesday Teagan had felt him coming closer but it had been so long since they had connected she wasn't sure where it was coming from. He could be in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego...anywhere on the west coast. But she was nervous.

On Thursday morning Teagan packed up Gregory and went to pick the last of the Blackberries. House was thinking about her. She opened the gate. "Hello Teagan." House kept repeating as he drove closer. "I'm in California, would you like to see me?"

She didn't want to answer, let him know that she cared. She wanted him to get discouraged and go away. She shut the gate.

When he passed the lodge Yolanda was out front giving directions to a tourist. Yolanda and her husband were the managers of the lodge and knew the comings and goings of everyone in Aspen Valley. She smiled to herself when she saw him. He looked at her and they both waved at each other. He turned left on Mather Road and then into Teagan's drive.

Her truck was here so he got out of the car and went to the door. He knocked but there was no answer. He knew that the door would be unlocked but before he opened the door Fred passed by.

"Hey Greg!"

House turned around as Fred leaned out his window. "I saw her go to the Blackberry patch this morning. Good to see you." Fred leaned back in and drove off.

House went back to his car and grabbed a baseball cap and took off for the Blackberry patch. His heart was racing and he realized he hadn't been this excited in a long time.

Gregory and I were half way through our picking when he decided he needed a snack. I stopped and let him nurse. I had tried to close the gate but I still felt him coming. I knew he had to be close, maybe in Yosemite, maybe on his way from San Francisco. I decided that I needed to get out of Aspen Valley because he was going to show up any moment. As soon as Gregory stopped nursing I was going to run back to the house, get in the truck and take off. I put Gregory to the other breast when Lizzy ran barking into the woods. My heart sank, I knew I had run out of time. I opened the gate wide open and could feel him and how excited he felt. He was looking forward to seeing me. Lizzy came running out wagging her tail and right behind her was Greg. He was beautiful. So tall and lean. His beard was turning grayer and so was his hair. But he was essentially the same and I felt his shock when he saw Gregory at my breast. His excitement turned to confusion and curiosity.

"Teagan? What's going on?"

"Hello Greg, how are you doing?"

"Don't evade my question. You're nursing a baby." He hesitated and looked up in frustration, "This is my baby?" Silence. "Is this my baby?"

"Yes." She pulled Gregory off of her and the baby started to cry. She pulled down her shirt and started to grab her things and put them in the backpack to get out of there. She picked the backpack up, the burlap sack of berries and instead of putting Gregory on her back, she balanced him on her hip in a sling.

He grabbed her upper arm and stopped her. She looked up at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You'd try to fix it. It would be a puzzle and you would try to put it together, make it work, find a solution."

He looked deep into her eyes and held her gaze for almost a minute without saying anything. Then he took the sack of berries from her and they walked back quietly. He kept stealing glances at the baby, she could feel his curiosity about his son. When they got back to her cabin she put down the backpack and handed the baby to House. He looked up at her and hesitated. Then he took the baby in his hands and cradled him. She could feel him melting. His heart was going from sadness, anger, pain to curiosity, analysis and affection.

She put the berries in the kitchen and felt his emotions change back to anger, anger at her.

"Wilson told me you were working like a slave when he was here, that your feet were swollen and raw from being on your feet all day." His anger started to increase along with his voice, "I don't understand you! Are you some f#ckin martyr? I could have helped you, you didn't have to go through this alone." He realized he was holding the baby and so he calmed down. Gregory was staring up at his Dad with wide eyes. He wasn't used to someone yelling. Gregory started screaming.

House tried to hand him back to Teagan. "Hell no, you can start helping now...there you go Greg, take care of your son, I've got to go pee."

House looked at her with a look of trepidation, "That's not funny, he obviously needs some of that stuff you're packing. I don't nurse very well."

"He needs you to shut up and rock him." She disappeared into the bathroom.

House looked back at Gregory and yelled through the door of the bathroom, "What's his name?"

He heard her muffled voice come through, "Gregory...."

He was even more confused about all of this, "Gregory, come on buddy, what have you got to be upset about? You get a breast in your face every day. Enjoy it now buddy, enjoy it because it will be a long time before you get one in your face again."

Gregory started to calm down as House talked calmly to him and bounced him up and down in his arms. When Teagan got out of the bathroom House was in the rocker talking to the baby like he was a member of his team.

"And don't be a moron and crap in your own pants. You've got to get control over that...that's what they call anal retentive...if your mom screws with your head then you can blame her for toilet training you too soon. It's a good fallback position."

"What are you talking about? You're having your first conversation with your son about sticking me with his psych bill?" She laughed.

"He needs to know these things."

He sat for an hour asking her questions about her and the baby. "When you were in the hospital, do you remember sending me a message?"

"I don't, I really don't. I was pretty sick, I was in the hospital for four days and three nights. But since then I have been better, healthier."

"That must have been expensive. I didn't help with the pregnancy, let me help you with the hospital bills."

"They're already paid."

"That had to be several thousands of dollars...how did you do it?"

"I just sold a few things and scraped it together."

It finally dawned on him that she had sold the Mustang. "You didn't sell the Mustang?" She didn't say anything. "Damn. I'm sorry."

"I sold it before I got sick. I needed a cushion, you know, I didn't want to be living hand to mouth. It was just a machine."

He knew it was more than a machine but she had made that sacrifice for Gregory. She did it without griping or feeling sorry for herself. This sacrifice was so foreign to him. He started to realize that he was too selfish to do what she did. He was too selfish to make the sacrifices he knew would be necessary if this relationship was to work. He was beginning to see that she was right.

She looked at him and sighed, "So, where were we? You want to figure things out, fix this. You need things to be right in the world. Greg, you can't solve this puzzle. I can't go into your world yet and you can't join mine. It's too long distance to have a chance, especially since I'm not exactly reachable by today's standards. I appreciate that you want to make it work, but please be realistic, you just can't."

He hated her for knowing that there was no easy solution. He looked at the baby and it finally hit him that he was a father. A father. He had never wanted to be a father. He thought of his father. He didn't know how to be a father. He could play music, he could practice medicine, he could be witty...but he couldn't be a father, he didn't know how. What was he suppose to do? A tiger can't change its stripes. He knew that he could walk out and never contact her again and she wouldn't ask him for anything. He knew he had an out and he knew that he would probably take it.

"I don't have any answers."

"Greg, leave me. Leave us. I don't need the stress of trying to accommodate a long distance relationship. I can feel that you don't want to be a father, that it scares you. I want to be a mother so leave and forget that you know about the baby. I won't ask anything from you and when he gets older I'll tell him that you didn't know about him, that it wasn't your fault. He may show up on your doorstep, but he'll blame me for keeping you apart, not you. You don't have to solve this, this isn't a puzzle."

"How can I do that, just leave?"

"It's easy, just turn the key and let the car take you back from wherever you came." She let the gate open and let him feel that she really was ok with him going, that it would be alright and for the best. She let him feel that she understood and didn't judge him. She knew that he wanted to be more, but that he couldn't. They would be alright without him. There was a silence so full of sadness that she couldn't look at him.

It was unfair, he hated the fact that she was once again letting him off the hook. House looked down at his son and handed him back to Teagan. He stood up and gave her a look that said how guilty he felt. He took the keys out of his pocket and got in the car. Teagan did nothing but hold her son. She kept sending him feelings of understanding and kindness to make him not hate himself. She felt guilty herself. If he left now it was because he couldn't handle being a father. If he stayed and then left them later, he would be leaving her and Gregory, not fatherhood. That would hurt even more.

House drove into Yosemite but he wasn't really paying attention to how beautiful it all was. He was just wondering how he was going to be able to live with himself.

Wilson was shocked to see House back by noon. "What happened?"

"She wasn't there."

"Are you going to try tomorrow?"

"No. I'll give it a rest."

When the girls got back they went to dinner and House got drunk. At first he was funny but then he turned mean. He made some mean remarks to Patricia and to Wilson. When they went to bed Patricia was hurt and angry. She kept looking at House with disgust.

"Whaaa?" House looked her in the eye.

"You were cruel at dinner. There was no excuse for it."

"Hey, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Why don't you come over here, we can work on makeup sex." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"You're not very appealing right now."

"Fine, if you don't want sex, how about a blow j ob?"

"You must be joking...I don't want you touching me and I'm certainly not going to touch you." She was angry.

"I can do that. Come on, the world knows I'm a selfish jerk. My motto has always been, if it's not in my best interest then why should I care about it?'"

"What's going on with you?" She asked.

His face turned sad. "Do you want children Patricia?" He laid his head back on the pillow as the world was spinning around him.

"No, I don't. Why do you ask?"

"You're perfect. Have I ever told you that you're perfect?"

She started to soften, "No, you haven't"

"Well I should have. Come here and let me feel you up."

She laughed and went over to him. They started to make out and she reached down to play with him. She went under the covers and gave him what he had asked for. But what he really wanted was to be punished. He wanted someone to make him hurt for what he had done that morning.

The next morning he was sober and hateful. He went to the seminar while the women took their car and went to the Valley. Patricia noticed that there was very little gas in the car despite the fact that they had filled up in Oakhurst. She had to go to the Wawona gas station to fill up for the trip to the Valley. When she got back to Wawona she confronted House at lunch. "You're acting like an @ss because you went and saw her, didn't you? What, did she kick you to the curb?"

When House said nothing, Watson started in,"House, you said that she wasn't home. Did you see her?"

"Yes, I saw her."

Now Jennifer had an idea of what had happened. House was a daddy and either he left her or she kicked him out. She finally spoke up, "You saw your child and you don't know what to do about it."

Wilson looked at her, "What are you talking about?"

House looked at her with shock. How did she know?

Jennifer told Wilson,"I found out she was pregnant when we were here but she begged me not to say anything."

"That's why you wanted to know if I wanted kids?" Patricia pressed him. "Is Jennifer right?"

"I saw her and I saw the baby. I turned my back and walked out on them. Are you all happy?"

There was dead silence. Finally Wilson said, "You just walked out on your own child?"

House knew that Wilson really wanted kids and to him this didn't make sense.

House looked Wilson squarely in the eye, "I walked out on my son." He tossed down his scotch.

Wilson said nothing back. Patricia was horrified, she jumped up and went back to the room. Jennifer got up and nodded for Wilson to come with her which he did. House sat alone at the table with his empty glass. ***

Yolanda was excited, "Well what did he do?"

"I asked him to leave and not come back." Teagan said as she picked up her mail.

"You what?"

"It wouldn't work and I don't want any strings or attachments. I'll tell Gregory when he's older that his Dad didn't know about him."

"Well, if Greg could leave then he's a real @ss. I don't see how anyone could leave that little baby. He's such a doll."

"It's not his fault. He wants me to come to Princeton and you know I can't. The pressure of everyone's thoughts and the demands of my talent...I can't bear to see any more dead children, dead spouses, dead parents. Not yet."

"Teag, Gregory deserves to know his father."

"Maybe, but not right now."

"I have to take Gregory in for an exam and a vaccination so I better get going." Teagan put Gregory in his car seat and took off.

Patricia left and went back to Princeton. House tried, in a roundabout way, to apologize, but she wasn't interested in apologies. House went back to the seminar but heard nothing that was said. That afternoon Wilson and Jennifer invited House to go for a walk in the Valley. Jennifer could see that House was miserable and hated himself for what he had done. She also knew that Wilson would eventually forgive House, so it might as well be now as later. Jennifer was pretty wise.

They pulled into the parking lot near the Yosemite Valley store and walked to the Ansel Adams museum to look at the art. Wilson bought Jennifer one of the framed photographs and they had it mailed back to Princeton. After they were done, they walked back to the parking lot, passing the offices of Dr. Medina.

Wilson was asking House where he wanted to eat when House's face registered recognition. Teagan had been worried all afternoon. She kept feeling House getting closer and closer. She was hoping to get in and out of the doctor's office quickly and out of the Park, but there had been a room full of injured or sick tourists waiting to see Dr. Medina. She was starting to pick up on some of their physical pain and it was annoying her.

I knew he was somewhere close so I was hoping I could make a run for it. I was going to get in the truck and high-tail it out of the valley. But as soon as I stepped outside he saw me. Our eyes met and I had to chuckle, we just kept saying goodbye over and over. He was with Wilson and Jennifer and so I felt obligated to go over and say hello.

Wilson broke the ice, "Can I hold him?"

"Sure." Teagan smiled as she handed Gregory to Wilson.

"What's his name?' Jennifer asked.

"Gregory Scott Furey."

"He's three and a half months old." She said as Wilson took him and held him.

"He's lovely." Jennifer said.

There were pleasantries exchanged and finally Teagan said, "It's good to see you but I really have to go."

"Oh, can't you join us for dinner?" Wilson asked. He handed Gregory back to his mother. House was quiet but thinking and staring the whole time at the baby.

Gregory started to scream and cry. "He wants to be fed. I was hoping to get home before he made himself known, but apparently I'm going to have to feed him. Sorry, I've got to run. Bye."

House had said nothing but when she turned to leave she realized he wasn't going to let her. House had made a decision. She turned back to him and said, "Crap Greg. Please don't do this, let's make it easy on both of us."

Wilson and Jennifer looked at each other with surprise. House hadn't said anything.

"I have to go feed him, please don't follow me." She started to walk and House took off after her, she stopped and he stopped. "Greg, I'm begging you."

They were standing in the middle of the busiest parking lot in all of Yosemite with a screaming baby. She looked at him and could feel it coming, it was if he had let down his guard and she was seeing straight into the vulnerable, insecure heart of Gregory House. "I can't let you and the baby slip out of my life. I love you and I suspect that I'm going to grow pretty fond of the baby."

She ran away to the truck and was trying to get Gregory into his seat when he walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She was sobbing. "Greg, I'm so afraid to let you into our lives. It's not just the geography, it's my fear that you'll realize that being with me...living with a psychic isn't exactly a picnic."

He started laughing, "And you think living with me would be?"

She started laughing too. She realized it was useless to run, she could feel his desperation and overwhelming desire to be with her. She took the screaming Gregory back out of his car seat and climbed up into the cab to nurse him. House got in on the driver's side, rolled down the window and sat with her while she fed Gregory. He saw Wilson and Jennifer staring at them.

"Let me have your keys."

She thought he wanted them to turn on the radio so she handed them to him. Instead he got out and walked back over to Wilson and Jennifer. "We need some time to talk about how we're going to make this work. I'll find a way back to Wawona."

Wilson smiled broadly and patted House on the back. Jennifer nodded yes and the two of them walked off to find dinner. House went back to the truck.

"You took my keys so I couldn't leave, didn't you?" she started to shake her head at him.

"You bet your sweet @ss. I'm getting to know you. Do you think you can give me a ride back to Wawona?"

"Not until tomorrow. I need to get back to the cabin. I have a crock pot on at home."

"Ok, sounds fine to me."

She put the baby in his car seat between them and House started the truck and took off for Aspen Valley. On the way home he started talking.

"Ok, now hear me out. You say you aren't ready to join the real world yet, but you're getting better. What if you come and stay with me for a month every quarter and then we could increase it as you felt comfortable. And I could come out whenever I had vacation. I get four weeks a year starting next year."

"You're pushing me...I don't know." She went quiet. They rode in silence for another twenty minutes and finally she said, "I'll try it but you have to promise that if it is too much you won't get upset if I cut back on time in Princeton."

"Deal. So, when can you come out?"

"When you get a two bedroom apartment. The baby is going to need his own room, if not now, soon."

"I tell you what, you come out and help me find one."

"When is your lease up?"

"I was on a lease but now it's month to month."

They got back to the cabin and Teagan gave the baby to Greg, "Play with him and I'll dish out the stew."

He yelled out to her, "How do you play with one of these? They don't bounce, stick on dart boards or have keys."

"You show them rattles, touch them, talk to them and swing them."

House started telling Gregory about the importance of picking out the finest Scotch. He was shaking a rattle and Gregory was looking deep into his Daddy's eyes. House was amused with the intensity at which the baby stared at him.

Teagan brought him in the bowl and found House and the baby on the floor playing. House ate his stew while still entertaining the baby. Teagan giggled at the things House was telling his son. "...You know, you want to go with the lubricated ones and you'll probably need extra large if you're like your Dad."

Gregory enjoyed his Dad for another hour but then he started to fuss. "He's hungry and you've worn him out." She picked the baby up and offered her breast to Gregory who latched right on. House was finding the nursing to be a turn on and he smiled suggestively at Teagan.

"You are pathetic." The baby started to fall asleep. She took him to his bedroom and put him down for the night. Teagan walked out to the living room but House wasn't there. She looked in the bathroom and then the bedroom where she found him undressing.

"Gee, aren't you romantic? Don't I even get a french kiss or a feel up?"

"I could take my time but how long do you think we have before Gregory wakes up?"

She saw his point and started to take her clothes off. When he was naked he went over and grabbed her and pulled her down onto the bed. He removed her panties and stopped in mid motion, he looked down at her naked body. Her breasts were full and her hips wider but both were incredibly sexy.

"Birth control?" He thought he'd ask this time.

"None."

***His eyes flew wide open. He reached into his pants and got the new rubber in his wallet. She started kissing him from his belly button down the little trail of hair to his genitals. She continued to use her mouth to pleasure him and he couldn't hold back. House laid back and pushed his head into his pillow as the excitement rose up. He came quickly.

She drank some water and crawled back in bed next to him. "So that's the second blow job you've had in two nights huh?'

"You know, this is when it sucks that you're psychic."

"Who's better in bed?"

That was a no brainer to him, he thought of his favorite sexual encounter of all time, her bouncing on top of him as he held on to her hips.

She could see it clear as day, "Oh, I can give you an encore of that..."

"Not yet. I need a little time but in the meantime I could do a little french kissing and feeling up so you don't feel neglected.."

"Now that's my boy."

He honored his word. He gave her deep french kisses while fondling her. Her breasts felt different, larger, and he could tell from her flinching that her nipples were tender. He stayed away from the nipples and continued to touch the rest of her body. He took his hand and went down her back feeling the cheek of her butt and then around to her inner thigh. He teased her with light touches between her legs and finally he rolled on his back, put the rubber on and pulled her up and onto him. She guided him in and he laid back to look up at her. He was amazed at how full her breasts looked and how her nipples were larger and more erect. He liked the changes, they made her look very fertile. She used her muscles to clamp down as she rode up and down. He thought she wouldn't be as tight as before, but she was. She had been doing her Kegle exercises. He was amazed at how strong she was and how good it felt. Just when the rhythm would get going fast she would stop cold, teasing him. He looked up at her and she heard his thoughts, "you naughty girl' and then he began his own rhythm which she would join. After being taken to the edge and then backing off each time, he finally refused to back off. She took him up until he almost climaxed and stopped, he kept thrusting until they both felt the waves coming. She came first and when he saw her face and her body in the middle of the orgasm, he joined her. He raised up as she came down joining each other over and over until the waves had been ridden to their end.

When it was over they both collapsed exhausted and happy. He didn't even bother saying it, he knew that she could hear him think it. "Hands down you are the best piece of @ss I have ever had."

She smiled at him, "You're getting good at transmitting your thoughts, but remember, to talk to me like this I have to let the gate down and that means everything can get in...anything you say, anything you feel."

*** "I'm going to stay a few more days so let's get my stuff tomorrow and I'll check out. I'll buy an extra ticket for you and Gregory to come back to Princeton."

"What is the rush?"

"I just don't want you to change your mind."

They spent the next few days putting the cabin in order. She got the girls to watch the cabin and Lizzy while she was gone. When all the preparations had been made, they packed up his rental car and drove to Fresno. Seven hours later they were standing in his kitchen having tea and coffee.

"This is weird. I feel strange being so far from everything again. I need to let Quantico know where I am."

"Why? They don't need to know our business."

"Yes, they do. They consider me to be a walking weapon. The agreement is that I get to live my life if I just let them know where I'm living it."

"Weapon. I can see it when you get mad..but come on?"

"Depending on the circumstances, wouldn't you like to know where your enemy's nuclear weapons are? I told them that Sadam didn't have any WMDs, that he gave them to Syria, but no one believed me."

A chill ran down his spine. He realized exactly what she was saying and how dangerous it could be. It alarmed him because if anyone knew of her talent, they might want her all to themselves.

"Aren't they concerned someone will kidnap you and use your talents?" he asked.

"Of course they are. But they know I am loyal to this country. And while I'm in the mountains they don't get too concerned. Now that I'm not in the mountains we're going to see some guys in unmarked cars show up on occasion. They showed up after Gregory was born."

"WHAT?"

"They figure that having a child would make me more vulnerable. You know, threaten the mother with the life of her child and she'll do anything."

"I hadn't considered that." House was getting an uneasy feeling.

"It's ok. Most foreign governments don't believe I am for real. The ones who know I am for real are our allies. M6 knows, the Mossad know, the Swiss know and the Spanish believe in me. None of them would harm me."

"I feel like I'm in a very bad James Bond movie."

"Well, you're no Sean Connery and I'm no Ursula Andrews."

"Ah, but you could be Pussy Galore." he smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Yeah and you could be nice, but you aren't."

House opened a checking account for her and put $10,000 in it to start. She was furious. But he pointed out that if she found an apartment she would need the deposit and first month's rent. She'd also needed gas money.

"Plus, that's my kid. I want him out of thrift store outfits. Buy him some nice clothes and get him some toys."

"I'll have you know that we were happy just as we were." She defended her lifestyle.

"Yeah, I know the cliche. We was po' but we was happy.' You're not poor anymore and you can be just as happy with money, so get over it and stop adding it up in your head. This isn't bear country and you need a wardrobe. We'll go shopping later when I get home. I have to go earn this money. Go find us a new place to live."

It took her three weeks before she found something but it had been worth the wait and the work. It was a three bedroom townhouse nearer to the hospital and close to a grocery store. Both were in walking distance of the townhouse. There were plenty of restaurants and bars in the area but none that were too close to cause problems with traffic. It had a long narrow back yard but large enough for a barbeque and dining set. The rent was $2000 per month plus utilities but it was a great place.

She also received new clothes. When they went shopping, House wouldn't let her buy any levis or t-shirts. She found a dress and blouse in the Ralph Lauren Black Label section but when she saw the price tags she gasped and refused to try them on. House bought them for her and told her that if she didn't get her act together and start taking care of herself, he would do it for her and she might not like his taste in fishnet stockings and hooker heels. She finally agreed but only if they stuck to the sale racks.

He was extremely frustrated, "For God's Sakes...stop being so cheap. You don't understand. For the last six years I've had nothing to spend my money on...so give it a rest. I really am growing tired of this "Tammy meets the Doctor" act. Start enjoying it."

She was hurt. She just didn't want to seem like a gold digger and when he saw her hurt expression he was even more frustrated. "If I thought you were after my money I wouldn't have gone back for you. Do you understand? I actually trust you, now trust me. Trust me when I say we can afford this."

"You mean YOU can afford this. I'm just the parasite living off your talent."

"Gee, if I had a violin I'd play it. Since you're my favorite parasite, get me a beer out of the frig."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

One thing House had noticed, Teagan had started having frequent headaches while she was in Princeton. Sometimes they were so bad that she would start throwing up and her face would go numb on her right side. House thought that they were classic migraines but he wanted her to come in for an MRI. She told him she didn't have time but if they got worse she'd get one the next time she was in Princeton.

"So, you're going to run back to the mountains and I'm going to be stuck moving?" He sounded miffed.

"I agreed to one month per quarter. I'm already starting to stress out, please don't get mad, if you want me here longer then you have to let me stick my big toe in and then my foot and then my leg and then my butt..."

"Ok, I got the analogy back at foot. Alright. I'll get us moved into the apartment but you have to decorate it the next time you are back."

"Deal."

Teagan needed to get back to the mountains. Her anxiety levels were increasing on a daily basis as she tried to filter out the feelings of thousands of people. She had forgotten how tiring it was to be constantly bombarded with the minutiae of their daily lives. The gate was down but it still had cracks and she couldn't hold everything back. She could feel her health deteriorate on a daily basis as her headaches got worse and the exhaustion took over.

Gregory and his Mom flew back to Aspen Valley, California and the sanctuary of the Camp Mather community. When she arrived home she discovered that the girls had left some food outside on the porch and the bears had knocked down the railing going up to the porch trying to get to it. They were very apologetic but it wasn't a big deal, Fred promised to repair it in a few days.

It was the middle of September and the air was getting nippy. House had armed her with a cell phone, a credit card and a down comforter that had been ordered in Princeton and was on its way to the lodge post office. She felt like a kept woman. He had made it clear that she was to use the credit card to buy food for her and the baby, take him to the doctors, get gas and anything else they needed. It was a good thing she had the credit card because when she got home she discovered that the girls had gone through half of the propane and that the water heater was dying a slow, painful death.

She went up to the lodge to call House because the cell phone didn't get reception in the area. She called the hospital because she figured he would be there.

"Greg House."

"Greg?"

"Hi! Are you guys ok?" He was happy to hear from her.

She perked up when she felt how happy he was that she called. "I wish this was just a social call but I need to ask you a favor."

"What?"

"I need a new hot water heater and frankly I don't have the $300 for a propane one. I was..." She would have continued but she could feel his happiness change to anger. "...why are you mad at me?"

"Good. I'm glad you picked up on that. Damn it Teagan, do you think I'm going to let you and Gregory go without hot water because of a lousy $300? You know, this is ridiculous. I can't keep telling you that I can...no, that we can afford it. You know most couples have problems over one of them spending too much..." He paused, frustrated with her, "I'm coming out there. I'll be out in a couple of days. I'm going to make sure you two are ok for the winter."

Now she was angry. "I'm NOT a child. Gregory and I will do just fine through the winter. There's no need for you to come out. I don't need you to take care of the poor little girl. I'll buy the f#ckin hot water heater...ok? Happy?" She felt his anger turn to amusement and that made her even angrier. "Why do you always find it funny when I get mad?"

"I don't know, it just cracks me up." He was still chuckling and so she hung up.

She felt his amusement turn to worry and anger. She opened the gate and heard him, "Teagan, call me back...Teagan, call back and let's finish the conversation."

She closed the gate and put Gregory on her back. She started walking back to the cabin. She opened the gate one more time, "Greg?"

"Teagan?"

"F#CK YOU!" bam the gate came down.

House was furious. She was driving him nuts and it was always over money. She was so paranoid about it. He was so pissed off at her for hanging up because he had no way of reaching her. He wanted to pull out his hair, what little there was left of it.

The next day Teagan bought the hot water heater and Fred went with her to pick it up. She paid Fred $75 to install it. It was nice to have hot, and not just warmish, water again. Gregory was growing like a weed. In the last month his eyes had gone from dull blue to a sparkling blue with a blue rim around the corona, just like his Dad's eyes. He seemed to respond well to everyone and had developed an infectious laugh.

Teagan went up to the lodge and called House again.

"Greg House."

"Are you still laughing at me?"

"I'm not talking to you." He said it without any inflection. She could feel some hesitation. He wanted to talk to her but was ready to make a point by hanging up.

"Ok, well just let me do the talking ok?" She waited but no response. "I went into Stockton yesterday and bought the hot water heater. I got a 30- gallon heater. I paid Fred to install it and it's working great." She paused and waited, there was no response. "The baby flipped over by himself yesterday." She paused and waited, still no response, "and he started singing the Star Spangled Banner." No response. "I paid Fred by having sex with him. I didn't realize he was into S&M. It got a little freaky with him, you know, whips, chains, fish net stockings and hooker shoes. But the sex was just so-so." No response, but she could feel his amusement, "So afterwards we lit up a couple of cigarettes but then realized that the second hand smoke might be bad for Gregory so we grabbed some of his doobies and toked on them instead." No response but he was having a hard time trying not to laugh. "Ok, that's the news of the week." Click, she hung up. She felt his anxiety level go up and he was annoyed that she hung up.

Yolanda was listening and her face looked disturbed and worried for both Teag and Fred. "Teag, what was that all about?"

"Greg's giving me the silent treatment, so I'm giving him sh!t."

"Uh oh. You two having a long distance fight?"

"Nope, he is." She laughed. "Damn, I can feel his blood pressure going up, I better call him back before he has a heart attack."

She dialed his phone again and he picked up.

"Why don't you just yell and get it over with...or haven't you realized yet that I'm the one that controls the phone calls? I hang up this time, it's for good."

"Don't threaten me." He said with all sincerity.

"Don't be such an @ss." she said. He hung up.

Teagan wanted to throw the phone at him but he wasn't there. "She threw her hands up in the air, hung the phone up and looked at Yolanda. "Houston, we have a problem. He's crazy if he thinks I'm calling him back."

"Teag, you can't do that. You guys have to stop behaving like adolescents and talk to each other. You have to do it for Gregory's sake."

Teagan sometimes hated reasonable people, they could make you feel so foolish. She picked up the phone and called him back.

"Greg House."

"I'm sorry for escalating things. I don't want to do this. I actually miss you and don't want to fight." She could feel him softening.

"We have to set some ground rules."

"Ok."

"No more hanging up on each other."

"Deal." She agreed.

"No more asking permission to spend my money. You have my child, if what you need will benefit my child, then use the damn credit card. Ok?"

She had a hard time with this one but logically it made sense. "Ok."

"If you see something you want, buy it."

She was quiet. "I don't need anything."

"Let's go over this again. If you see something you want, buy it."

"Maybe. That's the best you're going to get so accept it."

He realized he wasn't going to get any more out of her. "What would it take for you to feel comfortable spending the money on yourself?"

"Does it matter?" She asked.

"Yes, it does. I want you to open the gate and feel what I am going to say. I want you to know that it's true, real."

"Lead on McDuff." She opened the gate.

"I make plenty of money, I have plenty of money, before I met you I spent thousands of dollars a month on gambling, hookers and booze. I was bored. I'm not bored anymore. I can curb back the money I spend on gambling, hookers and booze. And I want you to have it for you and Gregory. That would make me feel better about myself."

You would have thought from the way he worded it that he was being glib but he wasn't. He wanted us to have the money because we gave him something he hadn't had in a long time, self-respect. I was really touched by it because it was so raw and pure.

"Ok. But if you spend one cent on Paula, your @ss is grass. Do you hear what I am saying?"

House felt nervous, she knew about Paula? "I think you're saying no hookers. Where's the fun in that? After all, you have Fred and the whips."

"If you're good, I'm going to let you use the whips."

"Are you coming to Princeton for Christmas?"

"Wow, Gregory's first Christmas. Are you sure you don't want to come this way? Christmas in the mountains is great."

"I have some obligations on this end. Pack up the kid and I'll see you in December...or you could come sooner."

"Christmas is pushing it...I'll purchase a ticket...WITH YOUR MONEY."

"Yeah...now that's the spirit."

The next few months were busy for both Greg and Teagan. House had non-stop patients back to back, including a congressman's daughter and an opera singer. They made an appointment to talk once a week by phone on Friday nights. He would call the lodge at 5:00 pm and they would talk. He always found it slightly ridiculous that he had to talk to the infant. Teagan insisted that she put Gregory on the phone and he talk to him.

"Just let him hear your voice. Come on Greg. He loves hearing your voice. Ok, here, I've got the phone to his ear."

"Hey buddy, you know what, women are incredibly asinine and you'll find you have to put up with it or they won't put out." Teagan rolled her eyes. "So remember the three things every man needs, a good whiskey, a good bookie and a good bed."

Teagan announced, "Ok that's enough. I'll see you in December...maybe."

"Oh, come on, you know you love me." He was laughing. There was silence and House was surprised by it. "Excuse me, but I'm looking for some reassurance here?"

I uh, don't know what to say." There was more silence.

"You know I AM the father of your child."

"OH God you moron, I can't take it. Of course I love you. I've loved you since you gave me a telepathic orgasm. Hell, I'd be an idiot if I didn't fall in love with the guy who could screw me from fifty feet away." *** House was sitting waiting for Teagan and Gregory at the airport. Teagan was coming down the aisle to the baggage carousel with Gregory in his stroller. House stood up, went over to her and grabbed her from behind, scaring her.

"Ahhh. Oh God you scared me." She turned around and was struck by how handsome he looked. His face looked rested and he was smiling down at her. He was wearing a nice dark gray shirt tucked into his levis. The shirt was ironed but it wasn't as wrinkled as usual. His beard was cut close and she had never seen him look so sexy in all their time together. She felt herself flush with desire and she let it out of the gate by mistake.

He pinched her on the butt and whispered, "You want me, you want me bad." He was smiling slyly at her. "Hey dude, your Mom thinks I'm hot, she wants to get me naked. What do you think of that?"

Gregory was awake and looking around like an eight month old does. Everything in his stroller was going in his mouth as they waited for the luggage. Gregory looked at his Dad and laughed. "You've got a great sense of humor Gumby."

Greg turned and saw that Teagan had gone quiet and was thinking seriously about something. She had been watching Gregory's reaction to his father.

"Another headache?"

"Huh? Oh, no, not yet, but I'm expecting it. It hasn't gotten any better, I'm getting them on a daily basis."

"Why the vacant stares into the abyss? You haven't even spent the night with me yet."

"Just a hunch. Let's just get the luggage and go home."

He gave her a look of, "What's gotten into you?"

"It's been a long trip, Frank Sinatra there decided to serenade everyone on the plane. Some appreciated the effort and others thought they'd prefer to get some sleep. He hasn't been asked back for an encore."

"Then let's get his manager home and see if we can get him some singing lessons."

Teagan was right, by the time they got home her head was exploding. She got inside the new townhouse and realized that House hadn't unpacked. He was living out of a suit case and with a few household items that had been taken out of the boxes, but only the bare necessities.

She gave him a look of abject horror. "You did nothing?"

"I packed them and I got them here...I did my job."

She sat down on the sofa while House rolled the baby in and took him out of the stroller. He was holding the baby and looking down at her. Her eyes were pools of pain, bloodshot and the right one was tearing, he could tell she was losing weight and she had a slight continuous shake in her left arm and hand.

"We need to get married."

She went from overwhelming pain to overwhelming shock. "Where did that come from? I don't even know if I want to live with you let alone get married."

"I can afford an MRI but you're going to need serious medical attention, which I can't afford and you don't have insurance. If we get married my insurance will cover you."

"Oh whew...I thought you were going to say something like, I can't live without you' or gee, I want to grow old with you' or you're the love of my life', stupid me."

"Oh don't go getting all theatrical on me. I'm serious. You're ill. We need to get married soon so you can get help soon. If the condition is diagnosed first and then we get married it will be considered pre-existing and the insurance won't cover it. We need to get married soon, tomorrow. We'll drive down to Virginia tomorrow. They don't require a waiting period or any health exam."

"I'm ok."

"JESUS H. CHRIST...WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME?" He was so angry he almost hit the wall, "THIS IS WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING AND I TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE SERIOUSLY ILL." He took a deep breath when he saw the fear in her face. He lowered his voice and tried to talk calmly to her, "I do want to grow old with you, but that won't happen if you don't get health care and you won't get the care you need unless you have insurance. The quickest way to get you health insurance and get you help is for us to get married. Now I don't care how you feel about me, well ok, I do care, but if you want to be around for our son, you need to marry me...tomorrow."

When she started sobbing, Gregory started crying too. House wasn't sure who he was suppose to comfort first and since comforting wasn't his best skill, he was feeling totally inadequate. He sat down next to her and bounced the baby. He leaned back and grabbed her head and put it on his shoulder while he continued to pat the baby's back. Both of them cried for several minutes. When Teagan finally stopped, so did Gregory.

House took one look at her and handed her some Vicodin. Teagan told him, "I usually just take Excedrin and after awhile, if I can get to sleep, the pain subsides a little."

"No more Excedrin, the headaches are from high blood pressure and right now the caffeine in the Excedrin will just exacerbate the blood pressure. Take the Vicodin and go to bed. I'll take care of the Big G here. You'll be happy to know that I did change the sheets on our bed and I set up the crib in the baby's room."

House woke her the next morning at 7:30, "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine, you have yours, I have mine, get up and pee, the world's on fire and we need the water."

She opened one eye and looked at him like she wanted to kill him, "That's the stupidest wake up nonsense I've ever heard. That Vicodin was great, it's the most sleep I've had in a year."

"Hey, there can only be one addict in this family and that's me...I was first."

She got up and took a shower and when she came out in a robe she asked him, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

He took her into his arms and kissed her forehead. "Marrying you will be an adventure. What do you want me to wear for this event?"

"A suit would be nice. What you wore the night your son was conceived would be special."

"Ah, my lucky suit or some might say, I got lucky' suit."

"What do you want me to wear?" she asked.

He went over to the closet where he had put her clothes when he moved. This outfit looks great on you. He took out a suit that had a gold brocade jacket and a navy blue satin skirt with a gold band around the hem. She put it on along with the sapphire earrings and she unpacked her mother's purse. She put on navy blue pumps with an open toe. House thought she looked incredible.

"Make sure you bring the camera." he said.

"Who's going to marry us?"

"The clerk at the courthouse in Manassus."

"How do you know about quickie marriages?"

"Because my best friend decided he couldn't wait another day' when he married wife number 3.

She fed Gregory and then they both ate bowls of cereal. After they brushed their teeth he made her give him her birth certificate which she had brought so that they could apply for passports. House wanted to take them both to Europe in the summer.

"Get Gumby and let's go." House motioned to the door. ***

The trip down to Manassus took four hours and they arrived just before 1:00 p.m. The County Registrar was closed for lunch and so they went to get some food. Teagan opened the gate and felt how nervous House was and she could see it. He was fidgety just like Gregory who was also nervous and anxious. She wondered if Greg had noticed what his son was doing?

They ate and then walked down the street to the Registrar's office. After providing their birth certificates and driver's licenses, they had the piece of paper that said they could get married. They were directed one door down where they paid $23 and were married unceremoniously by a woman who had memorized the two minute ceremony by heart.

House was holding Gregory as Teagan finished her vows. "By the Authority vested in me by the Great State of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss."

House handed Gregory to the surprised clerk and then turned to his bride. He reached around and put both hands on her butt and pulled her close to give her an open mouth kissed with a little tongue. The clerk was playing with Gregory and not paying attention to the two star-crossed lovers.

When they pulled back, House looked at her with pure joy and she was so moved by it that she started to shed tears. "Hey, save those for the divorce." he teased her.

She hit him in his chest and said, "That's not funny."

They got home just before a light snow storm. Gregory did not want to go to sleep, his Dad was happy and so Gregory was happy too. House was down on the floor with his son, trying to tire him out so he could get a little action and finally Teagan thought it was time to tell him.

"Greg?"

He looked up at her.

"Have you ever noticed that when I'm happy, Gregory is happy? When I'm sad, he's sad? When you're nervous, he's nervous. When you're mad, he's upset? That his moods tend to mirror ours?"

"I would think that's pretty normal."

"Maybe, but I think he may be psychic."

"Wait a minute. I don't know of a single witch or psychic in my family and didn't you say you had psychics on both sides?"

"He doesn't need two sets of psychic genes, one will do the trick. It may mean the psi won't be as strong, but I think your son is going to have his mother's talents."

House sat back and looked at his son, "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. It's going to be hard to raise him once he learns what he can do. He'll be testing it out on both of us all the time. If he tries to manipulate people like you do, he could be the anti-Christ. You'll soon be looking for the 666 branded on him."

"You're scaring me. I'm trying to imagine me with psychic abilities and it's not pretty."

Gregory started to scrunch his face up to cry. He was picking up his father's uneasiness. Teagan picked him up and started to sooth him.

"I'll be here to make sure his feet are held to the fire and he doesn't get away with anything. Just try to remember that he's a child like any other child and needs guidance like any other child. He still needs a father, he still needs to be loved."

"Come on Teagan, you know how fond I am of that little wad of blubber. I'm not going to run screaming just because he can read his Dad's mind."

"I know, I just want you to remember that he is just a little boy and he'll need his parents. Ah, look at this, he's asleep, you might just get lucky tonight!"

"Houston, we have lift off!" House gave the sign of "goal."

They made love on their wedding night with a lot of laughter and giggling. They were both surprised as to how much they were comfortable with the idea of being married.

"Now that we're married maybe you can start thinking of it as your money too? You don't have to feel like it's "my" money...now it's ours."

"That's going to take some getting used to...I mean I didn't fly out here with the intent on getting married. We did this so I could get health insurance."

"I did it because I can't live without you; you're the love of my life; and, I want to grow old with you. Health insurance is just a bonus." He hugged her.

"What's next?"

"Tomorrow we get you on my insurance, then we buy you a proper wedding ring. That class ring of mine won't do. It looks a little overwhelming on your hand."

"But it's mine...I'm going to be buried in it...married and buried with this ring." She looked up at him and smiled.

"Come on, I think we have time for position 12 in the Kama Sutra before Gumby wakes up."

The next morning House took their Marriage certificate and Teagan's birth certificate to human resources and filled out the paperwork. She was immediately added to his insurance. Teagan waited in his office with the baby. When the team saw her walk in with Gregory they all jumped up to come over and see the spawn of the devil.

"There is no mistaking that he's House's kid. Did he get any of your genes Teagan?" Foreman teased her.

"A few." Teagan took him out of the stroller and let him stand up holding onto the ottoman of House's chair. Chase immediately picked him up and held him in the air over his head and began to rough house with him. Chase was happy and so was Gregory. He giggled and squealed much to Chase's delight.

Wilson walked by and saw Teagan. He came into the office, gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek. "It's so good to see you and the baby. How is he?"

"He won't crawl, he refuses to do that. But he does stand and pull himself around everywhere. I suspect he will be walking within the month."

Chase brought Gregory down and handed him to Cameron who had given birth to their little girl three months after Gregory was born. She smiled at Gregory and he smiled back. "He has the biggest bluest eyes and that long horse face of House. I can't believe how much he looks like House."

Wilson took Gregory from Cameron. He turned to Teagan and asked, "Is he psychic?"

Teagan turned red and they all looked at her strangely as she tried to recover, "Uh, maybe."

"From your reaction I take it that it is a yes." Foreman laughed at her.

"I'm not sure, but probably. He's showing signs of it already."

"Heaven help us, a psychic House. The world as we know it is doomed." Wilson lamented.

"I'm keeping Gwenneth away from your son." Cameron said. "Oh, by the way, we have a sitter for you. House asked us who we use. So I asked Tara and she said she'd be happy to watch Gregory."

"Oh thanks, how much do you pay babysitters these days?"

"She charges $6.00 an hour." Cameron wrote down a name and phone number on a slip of paper and gave it to Teagan.

"Fine. Thanks."

Everyone went back to their jobs when House showed up. Cameron, ever nosey when it came to House, asked him, "Where have you been?"

"None of your business but if you must know..."

Wilson burst in, "You're married?"

House ate his words and sat back. "I take it that little Janet couldn't keep it to herself. Man, you are so plugged into the grapevine. That was fast."

"Congratulations." Wilson was so overwhelmingly pleased that Gregory started laughing out loud. "Why wasn't I told or invited?"

"Didn't know I needed you to hold my hand. Next time I get married I'll remember that."

Teagan could feel Wilson feeling slighted, "Greg. Stop it. Let's tell him the truth. We've decided to have a second ceremony here and we'd like you to be best man. I'm going to ask Cuddy to be the Maid of Honor. "

Cameron was still in shock. "This is too much to absorb. You got married yesterday? That was rather hasty."

House looked at Chase directly, "Well, Cameron, if you find the love of your life, the person you want to grow old with and you couldn't live without, then you'd want to marry her as soon as you could."

"Hey, that's not fair." Chase lamented, "I've asked her a dozen times. She keeps saying no."

Wilson held his hand up, "Ok, ok. Let's table that for now. Congratulations you two. Uh oh, here comes Cuddy."

The door flew open and Cuddy ran straight for Teagan and gave her a hug. She looked at House and said, "Oh my God are you lucky. I can't believe she said yes! Teagan, what were you thinking?"

"I wasn't. I just threw caution to the wind."

"Boy House, a baby and now a wife. You're scaring me." Cuddy was smiling at him.

"Now all I need is a mistress, want to apply?"

Cuddy ignored his comment as usual. "We'll celebrate at the party on Saturday night. Did you two decide whether you're coming?" The question was aimed at Cameron and Chase.

"No, we're flying out tonight for Madison. My uncle is pretty ill, so we want to get to the Christmas reunion early so that we can spend time with him." Cameron was obviously sad, indicating that it must be serious.

Teagan didn't know what Cuddy was talking about and she looked at House with a big question mark on her face.

"The hospital Christmas party is Saturday night. Cameron said she had a sitter for us. I thought it would be good for you to meet some of the staff and doctors."

"It will be fun, you'll sit at my table." Cuddy was excited and Teagan tried to share her enthusiasm but parties always turned into reading sessions, people dying to get her to tell them their future. She didn't mind small parties with people who didn't know her talents or who were kind enough not to expect a reading, but big ones always ended up the same way."

House and Teagan got home and Teagan started getting anxious about the party, Gregory fussed. House insisted that she would be fine but Teagan was worried. After he got her calmed down he told her:

"They MRI is scheduled for Friday."

"So do they just scan my head?"

"No, I want them to scan your head and your kidneys."

"My kidneys? My problem is headaches."

He kissed her on the cheek and said in an exaggerated voice, "Trust me, I'm a doctor."

On Friday, House and Foreman were kept busy with a desperately ill patient that required all of their attention. Teagan asked Cuddy if there was anyone who could watch Gregory for an hour while she had an MRI.

"Why are you getting an MRI? What's wrong?"

"Bad headaches. I also have these tremors in my arm sometimes and my heart races."

"He can go to the daycare on the pediatric ward. Come on sweetie, I'll take you."

This was the first time that Lisa had worn a short sleeve sweater around Teagan and Teagan could see that one scar looked better than the other on her forearm. The cuts had been made on the underside of the forearm and so they weren't as pronounced as they could have been. Teagan was surprised at how good the plastic surgeon was. You could see the white line around the graft on the right side but otherwise, the flesh looked healthy and normal.

The MRI was taken by a serious technician behind a window. He took small sections because he knew this was Dr. House's wife. He didn't want to screw this up. Afterwards, he told her that Drs. Foreman and House would get the results on Monday. She thanked him and went to get Gregory. *** The baby sitter arrived Saturday night at 6:45 p.m., a little early. But that was fine with Teagan. Teagan was ready and waiting for Greg who had gotten home late and was just now in the shower. Tara was seventeen and came with her own DVDs. She asked for House's cell phone number, Teagan's cell phone and the phone number of the place they would be. Teagan had to look up the number to the hospital's hall where the party was taking place. She also gave her Wilson's phone number as a back up.

Gregory was already charming her with his antics and attempts to walk around the room. Teagan had at least gotten most of the kitchen and living room put together and the rest of the boxes were in the second bedroom. So the house was looking nice, not great, but getting there.

When House came out of the bedroom in his tux, both Teagan and Tara stopped in their tracks. "Honey, you look incredibly delicious."

"I second that Dr. House." Tara said. Teagan and House both looked at her. She stuttered, "I, I, ..uh, I mean you look nice."

House looked at his wife. "I'm glad I took you off the market. You look very sexy in that dress but don't you think it is a little low cut for a wife and mother?"

"No comment from you...you picked it out." It was white draped satin on the top and a clinging black satin skirt on the bottom with a jeweled belt. The skirt came about four inches above the knee and she had some lovely Stewart Weitzman shoes that went with it.

"You do look great Mrs. House." Tara said with a smile.

Teagan looked at her like she had just called her Madam X. Then she looked at House and saw the amusement on his face. He knew she wanted to correct Tara and tell her she was still Ms. Furey, but she decided it was too much effort. House grabbed their coats and they left.

There were many congratulations but when Teagan shook their hands she heard strange thoughts from the well-wishers.

"I give it one month."

"Welcome to the depths of hell lady."

"How did House score such a sexy chick, I'd like to screw that."

"She must not know House very well."

All night long Teagan listened to rude comments about her husband and their marriage. They all respected House's talents but he certainly wasn't winning a popularity contest. Finally one of the new doctors came up, she didn't know House well and so when she offered her congratulations it didn't have any negative strings attached.

Cuddy seemed to like the new doctor a lot. "Teagan, this is Margie Tarkington. Dr. Tarkington just joined us. She used to work with me at the Mayo Clinic. I finally got her to come over to PPTH. Margie, this is Teagan, the one I told you saved me."

"The psychic?"

Everyone at the table nodded yes including House.

"Teagan, could you read Margie? She just got asked out by a really nice looking Math professor and we were wondering if it was going to go anywhere?."

Teagan wasn't happy but hated to disappoint Cuddy who had done so much for House. "Ok, but I've been having headaches. I can't push too much to see in the future, ok?"

"I really appreciate this."

Teagan reached out and put her hand on top of Margie's. House had his hand resting on Teagan's shoulder while he looked around the room. He just wanted to make sure she didn't push because of the blood pressure concerns. ******************************

"I see the first date going very well. There's a lot of laughter...you date for several months...but in six months you have feelings for someone else..."Teagan sat up, looked incredibly shocked and pulled her hand away as fast as she could. House saw a drop of blood come from her nose which fell on the white tablecloth.

"Teagan, are you ok?" He asked her. She looked at him with shock and hurt. "What is it?"

She looked at everyone's horrified face. "It's nothing, I just couldn't get a fix on your future and I went blank, it's never happened before. Sorry I can't give you more."

"Well at least I'll have some fun." Margie said.

"Yes." Teagan agreed.

Teagan was quiet the rest of the evening and very distracted. She kept looking at House and finally he caught her. "What's wrong?"

"I just have a bad headache."

"Why didn't you say something, we can go."

"You seemed to be enjoying yourself."

"I'm fine with leaving, let's get out of here."

"We're going, Teagan has a headache. Merry Christmas everyone." House got up and helped Teagan to her feet. They got in the car and started to drive the few blocks back to the townhouse.

"Ok, what did you really see?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Can we just get home and go to bed."

"No. You are obviously upset and I want to know why. Don't give me the silent treatment."

They were home and Teagan jumped out of the car and went inside. They gave Tara $30 even though they only owed her $18 and she went happily out to her car and drove off. House took off his tux coat and bow tie and then started on the french cuffs.

"Teagan, please don't give me the silent treatment. I won't let you go to bed upset."

"You don't want to know this. Please don't make me tell you." She was going towards the bathroom to take off her makeup and brush her teeth. He blocked her way.

"We can't start a marriage with secrets. Please?"

The air went out of her, she went back to the bed and sat down in her bra and panties. "I saw her making love to you in June of next year. You were having sex."

He froze. This couldn't be true. In six months he was going to have an affair with Margie Tarkington? "That can't be true, your visions are wrong sometimes, aren't they? I wouldn't have an affair six months from now."

"I didn't say you were having an affair, I said you were having sex."

He felt his stomach clench. "We're divorced in less than six months?" He went over and sat down next to her. He was white as a ghost.

"No, we aren't divorced either." She looked at the palms of her hands, she couldn't look in his eyes.

He was confused at first, if they weren't divorced and it wasn't an affair, "No, NO, NO...I won't accept this. You have to tell me that your visions don't always come true. TELL ME THEY DON'T COME TRUE." He grabbed her wrists tightly and with his eyes begged her to stop the pain he was feeling.

House jumped up, grabbed his coat, keys, cane and ran out the door. He flew to the hospital and brought up the MRI...he printed every single cut and put them up around him. He started sobbing. This was too much.

I could feel him crying and I hated myself for even telling him but he would have found out on Monday. It was better he was alone. It would have humiliated him if he had cried in front of the other doctors on Monday. I just wish I wasn't alone. I was so scared. I wanted to be held so badly. I wasn't afraid for me, I was afraid for my two Gregs. All those plans you make. To actually know that you won't grow old together. It's hard.

House pulled out his cell phone and called Wilson. Wilson looked at the caller I.D. and realized it was House. He and Jennifer were still at the party.

"This better be good."

"I need you down at the hospital."

"Can't this wait until Monday?" There was no response but Wilson could tell that he was still on the phone. "Ok, I'll be there shortly."

Jennifer wanted to accompany him so they both went to the hospital. House was still sitting in the room with the MRI cuts when Wilson joined him. He looked around the room and went down the wall cut by cut.

"Ok, Mestatic Pheochromocytoma, with involvement in the liver, lungs, and brain, probably the bone too. I figure 2-6 months with chemotherapy, less without. What's this about House? This patient needs palliative care, it could have waited until Monday, I was..."

"It's Teagan."

"...having...Teagan?" Wilson ran back to the boards and looked through them hoping he had missed something. "House, are you playing a joke on me?" But then Wilson saw his eyes and realized he had been crying. His heart crashed for his friend.

"Anything new, any experimental treatments?"

"The University of California San Francisco Medical Center has had some luck with sending Mestatic Pheochromocytoma in late stages into remission with I-131 MIBG. The Pheochromocytoma is treated with a radioactive compound called I-131 MIBG which is taken up by the Pheochromocytoma and related tumor cells. It delivers the radioactive iodine to the cancer cells selectively resulting in their destruction. The treatment requires that the patient undergo a preliminary MIBG scan with a low dose I131-MIBG or I123-MIBG to see if the cancer cells actually absorb enough of the radioactive isotropes. A Pretreatment Evaluation and collection of Stem Cells is mandatory to determine if the patient is a candidate for the experimental treatment."

"How do we get her into it?"

"I'll call San Francisco on Monday."

Wilson walked over to House, "So this is why her blood pressure has been spiking up and down. Does she know?"

House shook his head yes.

"I'm sorry House."

House said nothing. He got up went back to his office and grabbed his coat. The longest drive in his life was the nine blocks home. He sat in his car for another half hour before going in. He hung his coat up and went into the bedroom. She was in bed asleep. He took off his shoes, his socks, his pants and shirt and then went in to brush his teeth. He looked at his bloodshot eyes and then stared down at the sink. He went into the bedroom and climbed in behind her and held her. He kissed the back of her head and felt completely and utterly hopeless.

I didn't want him to have to tell me tonight. He was already so upset and worried that I didn't want to put him through the task of telling me what's killing me. I was upset but he was devastated. I opened the gate to find out what he was thinking or feeling and he immediately felt me exploring his mind.

"I'm beginning to know when you're there. I don't know what to do. I can't fix this. I've failed you."

She turned over and looked directly into his eyes which were barely visible except for what little light there was from the moon outside. "You haven't failed me."

"The bleeding, I assumed it was from your psychic crap. It turns out that when you get stressed from the psychic crap you exacerbate a tumor on your adrenal glands that sends your blood pressure sky high. It's the tumor that caused the blood pressure problem, not your voodoo. I should have thought of that, I should have made you get checked."

"Look, I wouldn't have done it, I didn't have the money. Honey, don't beat yourself up over this."

"Right, I shouldn't beat myself up over the fact that I failed to diagnose my own wife?"

"I've only been your wife four days. Stop this. I don't want to look back and the only thing I want to know about the future is that you'll raise Gregory. Promise me that you'll take care of him and love him."

"What do you think I am? Do you think I'm going to send him out for adoption or sell him to the highest bidder?"

"No, I'm sorry, I'm just worried about him." And then she started to cry for her son.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry too. Of course you're worried about him, he's your baby."

"I'm worried about you too. You don't think much of yourself. You need to have more faith in me. I wouldn't have fallen in love with you if you weren't lovable. I want you to have someone and I want you to be happy. I could try to read you but I don't want to know. I want to think that you find someone and that you raise our son with someone who loves him. I know it's a bit of a fantasy, but it's my fantasy and right now, it's all I have to get me through this."

"There's an experimental program in San Francisco for what you have. Wilson's going to call on Monday."

"I won't qualify."

"F#CK ...stop this! Don't take away my hope."

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to get...I'm not good at this...does anyone get good at talking about their own death?"

House turned over on his back. He physically ached everywhere. If he closed his eyes maybe he could get to sleep and not have to think about it but neither of them slept that night.

On Monday Wilson talked to San Francisco and they sent the information and the prerequisites for the entrance into the treatment program. Teagan came to the hospital with the baby. She went with Wilson for tests that she knew were useless but if they helped House get through this then it was worth the discomfort. Wilson explained the main tumor was on the adrenal gland which sits on top of the kidney. The tumor caused her blood pressure to reach horrendous spikes and eventually, after the tumor had been there awhile, the blood pressure just remained elevated, causing damage throughout the body, including mini-strokes. Now the tumor had mestasticized and was in several of her organs and her bones. When she was done, they were headed back to the office and Wilson turned to her, "I am so sorry...for both of you. I thought for once he was going to have some happiness."

"He's going to be stupid for awhile, do stupid things. You're going to have to keep him steady. Keep reminding him of his son and his responsibilities. He won't like you much for doing that, but eventually he'll come to appreciate what you did for him and Gregory. So please don't lose patience with him. I don't know much beyond what happens in the next year because I don't want to know. I do know that between you and Cuddy, he's going to start to come out of it just when you think he can't sink any lower. I'm counting on you Jim. My son is counting on you too."

"This is asking a lot."

"Nothing you haven't done before only this time you'll have someone to complain to...you'll have Jennifer. She'll keep you steady."

They got back into the office and House got up and gave her a kiss. Cuddy came running in with tears welling up. She grabbed Teagan and just hugged her. She looked over at Wilson, "Is there anything out there we can try?"

"We're already working on it." Wilson told her.

They spent a few more minutes talking about her options. Teagan excused herself and told everyone that she had an appointment. House looked at her suspiciously.

"What appointment?"

"To get my hair done. Now Gregory and I have to get going."

Teagan drove to the lawyer's office and left him with her wishes for the will and trust. The Jersey lawyer worked with a lawyer in California and together they drafted the appropriate documents. She signed them on December 23rd. It was the same day they discovered that she didn't meet the prerequisites of the experimental treatment.

Christmas morning she woke up to House sitting in bed in a Santa's hat and nothing else. She laughed, pulled him down to her and then he pulled her t-shirt over her head. He looked down and thought how sweet her breasts looked, he reached down and kissed them. She reached down and stroked between his legs as he continued to play with her breasts. He wanted her and she wanted him. She opened her legs to take him and he hesitated. He wanted to look at her, her body ready to be taken. She was so sexy, so beautiful. He entered her and then slowly let the rhythm pick up until they were both in sync and making the sounds of two people working hard at what they were doing. He came first and then brought her to orgasm. When it was over they were quiet. He was going to miss this, the intimate moments when they had met each other's most basic needs and then fell into each other's arms.

Gregory woke up and they took him into the living room to the Christmas tree and proceeded to open gifts with him. He delighted them with sounds of happiness when he saw the toys. She handed House his gifts. There were books on Jazz artists and a three CD set of his favorite guitarists, socks, candy, a scarf that she had crocheted and his favorite gift, a framed photo taken the day they hiked Carrion Falls. He looked at it and realized that even in that photo they looked like they were in love.

He gave her his gifts, bought weeks ago. There were cashmere sweaters, speakers for her IPOD , diamond earrings and a box that contained a key. She felt the key and knew what it was. She started crying like a baby. Gregory started crying too. They went outside and there she was, her Mustang. She opened the door and got in.

Between the tears she asked him, "How did you get her back?"

I followed the title and told the guy your story, why you sold her and why we needed her back. I had to pay an extra two thousand, but she's yours.

"Thank you honey. Thank you. It's good to see her again."

They spent Christmas afternoon at Lisa's. Teagan brought a carrot dish and a pumpkin pie. Wilson and Jennifer brought a vegetable dish too. They all had a great time and when it was time to go home Teagan took Lisa aside and told her how grateful she was for this day. Lisa almost started to cry but Teagan gave her a stern look to hold it together.

That night Teagan insisted that Gregory sleep with them. She wanted to have both of her boys with her. They both watched Gregory sleeping between them and smiled. He looked so angelic when he was asleep. House reached over and brushed Teagan's cheek. They each reached across Gregory and kissed each other, "I love you." he said.

"I love you too."

The next morning Teagan told House that she was going to go to the store for milk. "Can you put the kettle on for tea?"

He nodded. "Are you taking the Mustang?"

"You bet I am!" She was happy.

She got into the Mustang and heard her purr. It gave her great satisfaction to be with her old friend again. She thought of her life and how much the Mustang had seen of it. When she got to the store, she sat in the car as her IPOD finished playing, "Blackberry Blossom." Just as she put her head back to listen she felt a sharp, incredibly painful headache hit. It was worse than any that she had before. She started to dial House but the face of the cell phone started to go black as did her surroundings. All she could hear was,

...I was picking berries when that crow flew above me Carrying my lover so far away Now each spring I lay a blackberry blossom By a cold gravestone on the Arkansas clay The Arkansas clay is rocky and hard With weeds growing over in the old graveyard And the day settles down to an evening hush Over the blackberry blossom and the blackberry bush

The pain was horrible, she was trying to open the gate to House..."Greg? Greg?"

"Teagan? What's wrong?"

"Honey, It's my head, it's exploding...it hurts. Can you come..........."

It was quiet, "Teagan?... Teagan? ...Oh no, no ...God no."

She had a massive brain hemorrhage and was found by the paramedics that House had called as soon as he felt her presence slip away. House arrived on the scene in the grocery story parking lot with Gregory and knew immediately that it was too late.

"Sir, you'll have to step back."

"I'm a doctor and she's my wife. I can see that she's dead. I just want to see her, touch her."

The paramedic stepped aside and House went up to the car. She looked like she was just laying back listening to music and would look up at him any minute now. He touched her cheek and it was freezing cold. The coolness of her skin brought tears to his eyes. He nuzzled Gregory who was trying to reach out to his mother. House stepped back with his son into the cold December wind and thought to himself that sometimes life just wasn't fair. He told his son, "It's time to take your Mommy back to the mountains, back home where she belongs."

THE END

Original Ending.

The Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), formerly the Division of Personality Studies , is a unit of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia. Utilizing scientific methods, we investigate apparent paranormal phenomena, especially:

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Legal Disclaimer: The authors published here make no claims on the ownership of Dr. Gregory House and the other fictional residents of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Like the television show House (and quite possibly Dr. Wilson's pocket protector), they are the property of NBC/Universal, David Shore and undoubtedly other individuals of whom I am only peripherally aware. The fan fiction authors published here receive no monetary benefit from their work and intend no copyright infringement nor slight to the actual owners. We love the characters and we love the show, otherwise we wouldn't be here.

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