So You Could Be

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It was a dark night. So dark that it seemed there would never be light again. It was raining, a drenching downpour that soaked through clothes and chilled the skin. It was cold for June, and windy as well. The hour was late and getting later, but Gregory House didn't seem to notice. The wind and the rain, the cold and the darkness went unnoticed by the brilliant doctor as he sat in his apartment, the only light illuminating his sheet music as his fingers danced over black and white keys.

The music possessed him, removed him from the world, if only temporarily. He was a true master of it, reaching the level of musicality where he had to succumb to the music and let it play him. He played whatever keys his able fingers chose, not stopping to check for key signatures or tempo changes. Absorbed in his melody, he was blind to the storm raging outside.

A knock on the door interrupted his self-induced reverie and he was brought crashing back to the world of reality. After a few shocked seconds, he hauled himself off the piano bench and went to answer the door. There stood his former immunologist, the beautiful Dr. Cameron. She was dripping wet from the rain, but he didn't notice. The only thing he saw was the way that she held herself, her glowing skin, and her sparkling eyes. He stepped back, allowing her into the entryway of his apartment, and stared at her in silence.

"I'm leaving Princeton." She finally explained. "I got a job offer at a hospital in California, and I'm going to take it."

"So why are you here?"

"I wanted to say goodbye." She looked away from him. He didn't return the favor. A beat passed.

"Goodbye." He said softly. She met his gaze again and he could see her resolve shatter. "What?" He asked.

"Tell me not to go." She began, her voice soft at first, but gathering in intensity. "Tie me up, hunt me down, bribe me into staying. Just tell me that you need me. Here." Her eyes pleaded with him, and he ached to give in, to kiss her and run his hands through her soft curls as she cried into his arms, the way they both wanted. He didn't do that.

"I can't." He said, instead. She nodded slowly at him, her eyes filling with tears that spilled over when he leaned down and kissed her once, soundly, passionately on the mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and his went around her waist for one last stolen moment. When the kiss broke, he held her in his arms as her tears fell silently. When they broke apart, he looked straight into her eyes once more.

"Goodbye."She said, walking out into the downpour. He left the door open, walking out into the rain. His eyes tried to follow her, but she had already disappeared into the darkness. With that one word, she had broken his heart. He stood outside his own apartment door and acknowledged the rain that had soaked him to the bone. He fell to his knees, ignoring the pain that shot through his thigh, and for the first time in his life, Gregory House cried.

He'd given her the only gift that he had, told her he loved her in the only way that he could. He hoped that she'd be able to find someone less damaged than him, someone that she could be happy with. He hoped that she'd be able to have a family, to become the world-renowned doctor that she deserved to be. He hoped that one day he'd see again, with all the world at her feet, and say that he had loved her. He'd watch her change the world, but he'd never again amount to anything himself. He'd given up his own life to see her live.