Chapter 1

"Dr. House, are you ready?" the man asked.

She glanced down at her notes nervously, reviewing the words intently even though she had them ingrained in her memory. Her hands were shaking, her palms sweaty, and she glanced at the man, giving him a slight nod.

Peeking around the curtain, she surveyed the packed auditorium, her stomach jumping into her throat.

How did I get here? she thought. The light on the podium brightened and a hush began to fall over the waiting audience as they directed their gazes toward the lectern.

Breathe, just breathe, she reminded herself. All those faces, waiting, expecting, ready to listen to her words and then most likely throw a barrage of questions at her.

How did I get here? she asked herself again. It was almost surreal.

"Dr. House?" the man whispered to her. She turned and looked at him, startled back into reality, and she gave him a soft smile. Clutching her note cards tightly as if her very life depended on them, she straightened her shoulders and watched the man walk out to the podium, preparing to introduce her.

Her right hand nervously twisted the silver diamond band on her left ring finger, as it often did. One of her nervous ticks. Her eyes moved once more to the space between the curtain and the wall, darting from face to face until she found the eyes she hoped she would see, seated way in the back but still blazing as blue as the sky amidst all those unknown faces.

He had come, even though he said he wouldn't because he hated lectures. He was there, for her, her constant support.

As his eyes met hers, the rest of the world fell silent and they shared a moment, just the two of them, in that one single look. In his eyes she found the confidence she needed to do this, and her nerves began to settle. It was in his eyes that she found her strength, and she finally answered her own question. She knew exactly how she got there.

Seven months earlier…

Cameron was the first to admit that moving in with House may have been a bad idea. Sure they were in love, deeply, and sure they had an amazing sex life, but living with House was a whole new life to adjust to.

He was cranky, mostly due to the pain in his leg, he was slightly demanding, and it took him a while to be "ok" with having her stuff in his apartment. Of course, he never complained when he got to curl up next to her every night in their bed and worship her delicious body in whichever way he could imagine. Cameron didn't complain about that part, either.

Not only did they live together, they worked together, too, their offices directly next door to each other. Cameron had been successfully running the Immunology department for the past six months, and in that time she had taken a short sabbatical to study abroad in Norway under a leader in the field so she could get the research she needed to write her latest article, an article that had recently been published in a leading medical journal to much acclaim.

House had been proud of her accomplishments to date. He did support her. It was him who thought of the idea of her moving in with him. Honestly, he found it difficult to be apart from her, especially after she had left the country, and him, for two whole months. After that, he vowed he wouldn't let her leave his side again.

So she moved in, and it was great for about a week until he remembered what it was like to live with a woman. It took major adjusting on his part, having spent so many years on his own, to have a woman in his life again, mingling her things with his own, rearranging things in "his" place. But after a while he found himself happy for once, and the sight of her comfortably residing in "his" place brought a sort of peace to his soul, so much that he one day automatically began referring to it as "their" place.

Life settled into a routine that often began with glorious morning sex, followed by breakfast, followed by a shower together and more glorious sex, until they finally dressed and rode into work together…well, on most days. House refused to arrive on time to work every day of the week. Most days he went back to sleep after Cameron left for work.

House's team had settled in nicely and had finally adjusted to his personality quirks. Reynolds, Owens and Matthews could hold their own, and House liked that. Meanwhile Cameron still had her two interns, Kristin and Scott, at least for another few months before they graduated from medical school and began their residencies. She had been so busy with her article and other research that she was grateful for their capable help.

As for Wilson, he and Cuddy had been seeing each other for about three months, and Wilson reluctantly found himself utterly smitten with her…reluctantly because he knew his track record with women. But Cuddy was unlike any woman he had ever been with. She was severely independent, confident, opinionated…she didn't hang on him or swoon over his boyish good looks every time he looked at her. It was a different kind of relationship for him, and he was really liking it. As was Cuddy.

So life went on this way, until one day life took a very unexpected turn, as it so often does…