The first time I heard the Bucky Covington song I'll Walk, I knew I wanted to write a songfic for it. But I agonized for days over which fandom to write it for. Then I sat down and really listened to the song, and I realized it was perfectly clear. House. So I finally wrote it, and I'm pretty proud of it. I hope everyone enjoys, and please remember to review!
Disclaimer: Not mine!
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Cameron House stared at her boyfriend, her mouth slightly parted. "I can't believe you, James." She turned her head and stared out the window. This was supposed to be the happiest night of their lives. It was their senior prom. They weren't supposed to fight. Not tonight.
He stared at the steering wheel, his mouth set in a grim line. "I didn't say anything that wasn't true," he muttered.
She shook her head. "Pull the car over."
"Cameron, I'm not-"
"Pull over, now."
He pulled the car to the side of the road, breathing deeply.
She unbuckled her seatbelt, tears trailing down her cheeks.
"I don't know why you're crying, Cam." He reached out and grabbed her hand as she reached to open the door.
She turned her head and looked at him, unable to see through the veil of tears and hurt. He had always told her that he would never hurt her. She should have listened to her father. Everyone lies.
We were eighteen, it was prom night
We had our first big fight
She said, "Pull this car over"
I did and then I told her
"I don't know what you are crying for"
I grabbed her hand as she reached for the door
He watched her, silently begging her not to get out of the car.
She sighed deeply, looking away. "I'll walk home. Just let go of my hand."
"Cameron, please..."
She shook her head. "I am... hurting so badly right now, and you don't seem to understand that."
"I understand-"
"No, you don't. Just... be quiet. We can talk later." She pulled her hand out of his and climbed out of the car.
"Cameron, you can't walk home this late..."
She held up a hand. "Don't worry about me, Jimmy." She managed a weak smile for him. "I'll be fine. I'll walk."
He watched with a knot in his stomach as she walked away from the car and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
She said, "I'll walk. Let go of my hand
Right now I'm hurt, and you don't understand
So just be quiet, and later we will talk
Just go, don't worry, I'll walk"
When he got home, his gut was tied in knots. His feet heavy, he walked through the front door with his hands shoved into his pockets.
Lisa looked up when she heard the door open, and she looked concerned as she watched her eldest son trudge into the living room. She stood up. "James, what's wrong? Where's Cameron?"
He couldn't bring himself to meet his mother's concerned eyes. "We... had a fight. She walked home."
Lisa crossed her arms over her chest. "You let her walk home by herself?"
He shook his head and turned to go to his room. "Not now, Mom. Please." He walked up the stairs slowly.
Lisa stared at her son's retreating form as her husband walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What's wrong with JJ?" James asked, kissing her neck.
"He and Cameron had a fight," she explained, resting her hands over his where they rested on her stomach.
"Oh."
"She walked home."
"Stubborn House spawn," James commented.
Lisa smiled. "Isn't it the truth?"
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JJ grumbled and stirred in his bed when the phone rang, and finally he looked at the clock by his bed. "Three thirty?" he groaned, reaching for the phone. "Hello?"
For a long few moments, there was no response, and JJ was about to hang up when he heard, "JJ?"
JJ sat up. "Mrs. House? What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"It's Cameron."
Those words knocked the breath out of JJ, and he barely remembered anything after that. Numbly, he listened to his girlfriend's mother cry as she told him that Cameron had been hit by a car walking home, and that while she was conscious, her legs weren't moving.
After promising to go there as soon as he could, JJ hung up the phone and woke his parents, then drove to the hospital as fast as he could, breaking several speed limits in the process.
When he walked through the automatic doors leading into Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, he felt the wind knocked out of him again. He had basically grown up in this place, and as he headed for Cameron's room, nurses and doctors who knew him gave him sympathetic looks. They knew...
Outside of her room, he could see her father pacing, his limp more pronounced than ever. He swallowed hard. He was young, but not young enough that he couldn't see the pain this was causing the older man. His own father had told him why House always walked with a cane, and to see it happening to his child...
House looked up when he heard someone approach, and he gave JJ a hard look. "Where were you?"
"Wh-what?"
"Where were you when she was walking by herself in the middle of the night?" House demanded, visibly shaking.
"I... I wasn't..."
"Of course you weren't! You weren't there!" House yelled, advancing on the young boy. "You didn't have the decency to make sure that she got home safe, and now she might never walk again!"
Hearing the yelling outside, Allison stepped out of her daughter's room and approached her husband. "Greg, it's not his fault..."
"The hell it's not!"
She wasn't afraid of his rage. She understood. Quietly, she approached him and wrapped her arms tightly around his trembling frame.
He struggled against her for a moment, then closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head.
JJ quietly slipped past them. House was right. This was all his fault... Several tears slipped down his cheeks as he walked into her room.
It was a dark night, a black dress
Driver never saw her 'round the bend
I never will forget the call
Or driving to the hospital
Where they told me her legs still wouldn't move
I cried when I walked into her room
Cameron looked up when the door opened, and she was surprised to see JJ standing there, tears cascading down his cheeks.
He met her eyes, ashamed. He had done this to her, the woman he loved. Her father was right. She might not ever walk again because of his stupid pride. He reached out and grabbed the wall.
"JJ..."
"I'm sorry," he blurted out, staring at the floor. "I'm so... I'm so sorry... I didn't mean for this to happen."
"I know you didn't," she whispered, holding her hand out to him.
He stared at her hand, wary and uncertain.
She waited patiently for him to take her hand. "Please..."
He finally moved across the floor until he stood by her bed. But he didn't take her hand. Instead, he stared down at the mattress, his heart pounding viciously against his ribcage.
"What did they tell you?" she asked softly.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Your mom... she called me. She said that... your legs..."
"Aren't moving," she finished weakly.
"God, Cameron, I'm so sorry-"
She held up a hand, shaking her bandaged head. "Don't, JJ. Please..." She settled her head back against the pillow. "I'll walk."
"You don't know that." He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth, and he closed his eyes.
She offered him her hand again. "I will walk. Please, just hold my hand," she pleaded softly.
He finally took her hand, running his thumb gently over her soft skin.
"I'm in so much pain... and I just can't understand it." She squeezed his hand. "Let's just sit here for a while, okay? We'll talk later."
He nodded and gently sat on the edge of the bed. "Okay..."
More tears began escaping her cerulean eyes, and without thinking, JJ gently scooped her up in his arms and held her to his chest. He didn't say anything as she wept in his arms. He just kissed her head and gently rubbed her back.
And she said, "I'll walk. Please come and hold my hand
Right now I'm hurt, and I don't understand
Let's just be quiet, and later we can talk
Please stay, don't worry, I'll walk"
House stared at his only child, the light of his life. He knew that she was just as stubborn as both of them, possibly more. But here she was, giving up before the fight had begun. He gripped his cane in a calloused hand and growled, "Don't, Cameron. You're not giving up."
She stared down at her hands. "You heard Dr. Davis. I can't-"
"The hell you can't!" he snapped, his eyes glowing furiously. "You can do anything."
"But walk," she whispered, defeated.
Shaking his head, he approached his daughter's bed. "Don't," he growled. "You can walk. You will walk. I know it."
"Sorry, Dad," she said sarcastically. "But you yelling at my legs until they move just isn't going to work."
He grabbed her arm, squeezing it. "You are not giving up, Cameron. Do you hear me?"
"Why not? You did."
He looked away from her for a moment. "And look what happened. I'll never walk normally..."
"But you can walk."
"You don't know what it was like, Cameron. Before your mother, I was a mess. I was addicted to pain killers and had already over-dosed more times than you can count. I was fucked up, all because someone told me I couldn't walk. I will not let that happen to you."
She didn't reply, so he continued. "You're going to do the therapy, you're going to get better, and you're going to walk away from this." He leaned over and kissed her head, sighing. "I know you can prove every one of these idiot doctors wrong." He gave her a weak smile. "Including me."
A soft sob escaped her lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, just like she had done when she was younger. He was right. She could do this. She buried her face in his neck, inhaling deeply.
He gently rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head, smiling when he heard her say with the utmost determination, "I will walk."
"That's my girl."
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JJ stayed by Cameron's side through the six months of physical therapy, pain and tears. Nearly seven months after the accident that had almost taken her life, JJ walked into her room, nervous. Her family was already in there, along with his parents, and he felt a little relief when House smiled at him.
He approached the bed, gently kissing Cameron before he sat down beside her and grasped her hand in his. "Cameron, I need to talk to you."
She looked around, confused, as everyone else in the room leaned in. "What?"
He reached into his pocket, exhaling nervously as he slipped a simple diamond ring onto her finger. "Cameron, will you marry me?"
She looked down at the ring, surprised and a little overwhelmed. This was the last thing she had expected. She looked up at everyone, who seemed to be leaning in for her response. She cleared her throat. "Could everyone... give us a minute, please?"
No one really moved until House stood up. "The lady wants us out," he said loudly. "Let's go."
Cameron and JJ watched everyone file out of the room, and when the door closed, she looked at the ring again. "It's... beautiful, JJ."
He smiled. "I hoped you would like it."
She twisted it around on her finger. "I do. I like it so much..." A grin lit up her face. "That my answer is yes. I'll marry you."
He scooted closer and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head as everyone watched from the door.
I held her hand through everything
The weeks and months of therapy
And I held her hand and asked her
To be my bride
A year later, Cameron sat in her wheelchair, looking at the mirror. She couldn't believe that they were finally here, and that this was happening.
House limped up to her chair, leaning down to kiss her head. "You're beautiful, angel."
She smiled. This was what she had dreamed of, from the time she was five years old. It was what every little girl, every woman, dreamed of.
He walked around until he was in front of her. "It's almost time, spawn," he joked, cursing when his voice cracked.
"I know, Dad." She looked up at him, smiling through her tears. "I'm almost ready."
I'm not, he thought, watching as she adjusted her veil. I'm not ready.
Finally she was ready, and she took a deep breath. "I'm ready, Dad. Let's go."
She's dreamed from a little girl
To have her daddy bring her down the aisle
So from her wheelchair
She looks up at him and smiles
He grasped her wheelchair with his free hand and followed. The music began as everyone rose to their feet.
Cameron smiled up at him and offered him her hand. "Help me up, Daddy."
He bit his lower lip, suddenly wishing that his baby was five years old again, and that his biggest fear was her falling off of her first big girl's bike.
She sighed when he didn't take her hand. "Dad, I'm going to walk." She slowly stood up, flinching at the pain. "I know this is going to hurt, and I know you understand, better than anyone."
He couldn't help it. A single tear slipped down his clean shaven cheek.
Smiling sadly, she reached out and wiped his tear away. "Please, don't be sad, Dad. This is already hard." She chuckled softly. "You'll finally be rid of me."
He chuckled, too, grateful for the joke. "And I'm going to throw a wild party, too."
She held her hand out. "Please hold my hand, Dad."
Keeping his cerulean eyes focused on hers, he slipped his rough hand around her soft, slender one.
Relieved, she lifted her veil and kissed his cheek, then lowered it again. "Let's go."
They both turned around, and he fought to keep his composure as he walked his only daughter down the aisle and gave her to the other man she loved.
And says, "I'll walk
Please hold my hand
I know that this will hurt
I know you understand
Please daddy, don't cry
This is already hard
Let's go, don't worry
I'll walk"
The End
A/N: I enjoyed writing this from their kids' angles, and I hope that ya'll enjoyed reading it and didn't find anyone too OOC. Oh, and if any of you readers are interested, I wrote and posted my first Buffy The Vampire Slayer story. Happy reading, and please remember to review!