You Could Meet Him on The Bus: If I Don't See You    The House Fan
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  You Could Meet Him on The Bus: If I Don't See You 
 by Taima Hiroshima  

 The snow was beginning to fly. House's car was fixed. But he had to ride
the bus one more time. Just once more. He had to tell her. He owed that to
her, didn't he?

 How many doughnuts had they shared? How many mouthfuls of coffee? How
many cold bus rides, on a vehicle laden with the desperate and the
desolate? How many times had he sat in this seat just to tease her?

 Tiffany. Much as he hated to admit it, he was going to miss seeing her.
Today she was wearing a heavy black jacket and a red scarf around her
throat. It was strange seeing her like that, standing against the blanket
of white that was falling fast. This was the first snowfall that was
actually going to stick.

 She stood out, a vision of black with the one spot of color. House
swallowed as the girl stepped onto the bus, looking fresh faced and
chilly. She was shivering slightly, and there was a delightful cold red on
her cheeks. 

 She spotted House and smiled, hiking her bag higher up onto her shoulder.
She trotted to the seat and dropped down, leaving a trail of snow behind
her. She reached into her bag and handed him two doughnuts.

 "Here," he passed her back a cup of hot chocolate. She grinned as she
wrapped her hands around it.

 "Sure is nice to have this now that it's cold, huh? You should really
start putting this in a Thermos, House, it'll be easier to carry that
way." She chattered. Rarely was she so awake in the morning, but maybe it
was the snow that did something to her.

 It always just depressed the hell out of him. 

 "That's not going to matter, Tiffany."

 "How come?" she asked as she wiped frosting from her mouth with the back
of her hand.

 "Because I'm not going to be riding the bus anymore."

 "What?" she blinked.

 "My car got fixed. You didn't think I was really riding this for fun, did
you?" he raised an eyebrow. Tiffany looked at him for a minute, and he
thought he saw her world shatter just then.

 "No, no of course I didn't." she shook her head. "You're a doctor, and
you'd be a piss poor one if you had to ride the bus forever. Of course
your car just got fixed." 

 "You're not upset or anything, are you?" House asked cautiously. Tiffany
looked out the window and shook her head.

 "No. Not at all. Why should I be? After all, you're just some guy I met n
the bus, aren't you? You never even learned my last name, and I never even
learned your first name. I only talked to you because it kept the real
freaks away from me."

 "The real freaks?"

 "Face it, House, you're a freak. But that's okay, because there are worse
ones on the bus. I guess I'll just have to get used to carrying my pepper
spray on me again, won't I?" she gave a wan smile. House examined her for
a second before turning around and facing forward.

 He thought, maybe, just maybe he heard her breath hitch. He thought he
saw her lift up her hand and swipe it across her face, but when he craned
his neck as subtly as possible, she was still as a stone, looking out the
window.

 The bus stopped at the hospital. House stood up and hovered nervously for
a second.

 "So... I guess I'll see you around."

 "No you won't," she didn't look at him. "If I go to the hospital then
there must be something very wrong with me, and we won't get a chance to
have a conversation. If you go back to high school, then there will
clearly be something very wrong with you and no one will want to speak
with you."

 "Right," House limped off the bus. He stood on the snowy sidewalk for a
moment, watching the bus go off into the distance. He stood there, feeling
the wetness from the snow seeping into his jacket. "Hey, if I don't see
you... I'm gonna miss you, kiddo." He mumbled, before carefully making his
way into the hospital. 

  
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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.