Hi again, people! This was a little project I started well over six months ago, then set it off to the side, and I had intended it to be a oneshot songfic. But when I showed it to a good friend, Essy, she begged me to finish it, and even jumped in to help. Then it evolved into this. And I'll warn readers now: Get your tissues. This is a VERY sad story. (lip quivers) We were both crying as we wrote it. So read, enjoy, and please review with your thoughts and comments.

Disclaimer: Not ours!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The living room was quiet, and the only light was a soft lamp in the corner of the room that bathed the room in an ethereal glow. Cameron sighed softly and stroked the head of hair that rested in her lap, her eyes stinging with unshed tears as she tightened the blanket around the shivering form in her lap.

He continued to shiver, and she carefully leaned against the arm of the couch, pulling his upper body along so that he was resting against her chest and between her legs. She rested her chin on the top of his head and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tightly to her.

"Allison?" His voice was so unexpected that she jumped, and she quickly chided herself and smoothed her palm over his cheek.

"What is it, Greg? I'm right here," she murmured in his ear, and he leaned his head back against her shoulder. He didn't speak again, but she kissed his neck and gently rubbed his abdomen.

She wanted so badly for all of this to be some hideous nightmare, but every time she opened her eyes, he was still lying terrifyingly still in her arms. She knew that they had so precious little time together, and he did too. So did everyone else that worked with them. So it was really not a surprise when she decided to take him home for what they knew would be the final days of his life.

The tears fell onto his forehead as she silently wept, and she somehow knew that their time together was coming to an end. It just hurt so much to think about it.

Later that night, he started missing a breath once in a while, and she knew it wouldn't be long. With shaking fingers, she called Wilson in hopes that she was wrong, but he only confirmed what she was dreading. He agreed to come right over, and Cameron hung up the phone, then snuggled down further into the couch with House carefully cradled in her arms.

She knew that the cancer was terminal, but some childish part of her had hoped that Wilson could cure him. House was strong enough to beat it. But here they were, only six months after his diagnosis. She had spent many nights in his arms, and oddly enough, he was the one who comforted her, not the other way around. At the beginning, he had fought, and she had been right there beside him every step of the way. But as the days melted into weeks, she could see the toll it was taking on him as the cancer ravaged his body.

And it was so damn familiar. Just ten years ago, she had gone through this same thing with her husband. It would have been so easy to just walk away from this, to not subject herself to the pain and loss all over again.

But she couldn't. She just couldn't bring herself to leave the man she had come to love to suffer through it alone. And she hadn't. She had been there every moment, from the failed chemo treatments and weight loss, to his every unsuccessful attempt to shove her away. And now, she was going to be there to see him take his final breath, which she knew would kill her emotionally.

His chest suddenly halted, and she held her own breath, not releasing it until his chest rose and fell again.

Her hand drifted up and gently buried itself in his damp hair, while the other slid under his shirt, coming to rest over his slowly beating heart.

He shifted in her arms and nuzzled his head into her neck.

"Shh, baby," she whispered soothingly, caressing his hair again.

The clock on the wall told her it was after midnight, and for some time, she watched the minutes creep by. And part of her wished desperately that she could stop time and stay right there with him. But his fading heartbeat and increasingly shallow breaths against her neck were cruel reminders that she couldn't.

"You'll be fine, Greg," she whispered, kissing his head. His entire body shuddered, and she gently tightened her grasp on him, as though her arms alone kept him tethered to that spot in that moment.

His breaths started coming in shallow gasps, and she held her hand over his heart again, tears flooding her eyes as she realized their hearts were beating together.

Thump, thump, breath.

Thump.

She felt as though her heart was being ripped out of her chest when his chest fell and didn't rise again. Somehow, she knew it wouldn't, and she splayed her fingers over his chest, sobbing as his heart ceased to beat below her fingertips.

Slowly, she sat upright on the couch, still holding onto the love of her life. Gently, she kissed his cheek, then sobbed again in anguish.

She heard the door creak open, and tentative footsteps announced Wilson's too late arrival.

"Is he...is he...Cameron?" he asked weakly.

"Yes," she managed through her tears.

Wilson swallowed hard and dropped his head, kneeling next to the couch where his best friend had died. He reached out and grabbed her free hand, trying to comfort her, but still needing his own comforting at the same time.

She squeezed Wilson's hand blindly, then she did the hardest thing she ever thought she would do. She carefully slid off of the couch, lowering House's head to the cushion with a shaking hand.

"Was it...I mean did he...Did he say...anything...about me?"

She reached behind herself and drew him against her. "He couldn't... he didn't talk, Jimmy..."

He nodded blindly. He understood, but it hurt all the same.

She pressed her fingertips against her mouth, then pressed her fingers against House's cool lips. With a strangled sob, she turned into Wilson and held onto him for all she was worth.

"Cameron...Cameron..." He tried to comfort her, but he couldn't form the words. He felt agony welling up inside of him, pushing him to the edge.

"I want him... Jimmy. I want him back!"

"I know," he sobbed, "I know!"

She clung to him tighter, her only life preserver as she drowned in a sea of emotions. "It's not... right. It's not! This shouldn't... he shouldn't..." She couldn't hold herself up any longer, and she dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

"I know," he whispered through his tears.

Blindly, she made it to the couch and draped her arm around House's stomach, as if that act could bring him back. With a muffled scream, she buried her face in his chest, her fingers tightly balling his shirt in her fist.

He dropped to his knees beside her, using one hand to rub small circles on her back, while gripping his best friend's limp fingers with the other.

"You said you were going to outlive us all," she whispered between sobs. "You promised, you bastard. You promised!"

"Cameron, please!"

She pushed away Wilson's hand and shook her head. "You promised... you wouldn't leave me," she finally said in a broken voice. What am I going to do now?

She ran her shaking fingers over the stubble that still stubbornly covered his cheeks, and for a moment, she could almost believe that he was just sleeping. But she knew she couldn't torture herself with that, and with that revelation, she finally quit fighting and buried herself in Wilson's arms.

TBC...

A/N: (sniff) Well, there ya'll have it. For the most part, we've finished the story, and there's three more chapters after this. We hope this was worth the time ya'll took to read it, and that ya'll will review!